d ravaged fields stretched as far as the eye could reach on
the Halle, Lindenthal and Doelitch roads. It was worse than at Lutzen.
We saw the Prussians deploy, and advance their thousands over the
battle-field. They were to join with the Russians and Austrians and
close the great circle around us, and we could not prevent them,
especially as Bernadotte and the Russian General Beningsen had come up
with twenty thousand fresh troops. Thus, after fighting three battles
in one day, were we, only one hundred and thirty thousand strong,
seemingly about to be entrapped in the midst of three hundred thousand
bayonets, not to speak of fifty thousand horse and twelve hundred
cannon.

From Schoenfeld, the battalion started to rejoin the division at
Kohlgarten. All the roads were lined with slow-moving ambulances,
filled with wounded; all the wagons of the country around had been
impressed for this service; and, in the intervals between them, marched
hundreds of poor fellows with their arms in slings, or their heads
bandaged--pale, crestfallen, half dead. All who could drag themselves
along kept out of the ambulances, but tried nevertheless to reach a
hospital. We made our way, with a thousand difficulties, through this
mass, when, near Kohlgarten, twenty hussars, galloping at full speed,
and with levelled pistols, drove back the crowd, right and left, into
the fields, shouting, as they pressed on:

"The Emperor! the Emperor!"

The battalion drew up, and presented arms; and a few moments after, the
mounted grenadiers of the guard--veritable giants, with their great
boots, their immense bear-skin hats, descending to their shoulders and
only allowing their mustaches, nose, and eyes to remain visible--passed
at a gallop. Our men looked joyfully at them, glad that such robust
warriors were on our side.

Scarcely had they passed, when the staff tore after. Imagine a hundred
and fifty to two hundred marshals, generals, and other superior
officers, mounted on magnificent steeds, and so covered with embroidery
that the color of their uniforms was scarcely visible; some tall, thin,
and haughty; others short, thick-set, and red-faced; others again young
and handsome, sitting like statues in their saddles; all with eager
look and flashing eyes. It was a magnificent and terrible sight.

But the most striking figure among those captains, who for twenty years
had made Europe tremble, was Napoleon himself, with his old hat and
gray