of the Emperor, was in their rear, and
they were obliged to march all the rest of that day and the night
following in order to escape from their pursuers.

At six o'clock the battalion had taken a position near the village of
Temploux, and at ten the Prussians came up in superior force. They
opposed them in the most vigorous manner in order to give the baggage
and artillery time to get over the bridge at Namur.

Fortunately the whole army corps had escaped from the village except
the 4th battalion which, through a mistake of the commandant, had
turned off the road at the left, and was obliged to throw itself into
the Sambre in order to escape being cut off. Some of the men were
taken prisoners and some were drowned in trying to swim across the
river.

This was all that Martin told me; he had no news from home.

That same day we passed through Givet; the battalion bivouacked near
the village of Hierches half a league farther on. The next day we
passed through Fumay and Rocroy, and slept at Bourg-Fideles, the 23d of
June at Blombay, the 24th at Saulsse-Lenoy--where we heard of the
abdication of the Emperor--and the days following at Vitry, near
Rheims, at Jonchery, and at Soissons. From there the battalion took
the route toward Ville-Cotterets, but the enemy was already before us,
and we changed our course to Ferte-Milon, and bivouacked at Neuchelles,
a village destroyed by the invasion of 1814, and which had not yet been
rebuilt. We left that place on the 29th, about one o'clock in the
morning, passing through Meaux.

Here we were obliged to take the road to Laguy, because the Prussians
occupied that which led to Claye. We marched all that day and the
night following.

On the 30th, at five in the morning, we were at the bridge of
Saint-Maur.

The same day we passed outside of Paris and bivouacked in a place rich
in everything, called Vaugirard.

The 1st of July we reached Meudon, a superb place. We could see by the
walled gardens and orchards, and by the size and good condition of the
houses, that we were in the suburbs of the most beautiful city in the
world, and yet we were in the midst of the greatest danger and
suffering, and our hearts bled in consequence.

The people were kind and friendly to the soldiers, and called us the
defenders of the country, and even the poorest were willing to go to
battle with us.

We left our position at eleven o'clock in the evening of the 1st of
July, and went to S