n with twenty guns. At
first Napoleon could bring against him not many more than that number
of men and guns, to which must be added Nansouty's small cavalry
division. And Olsuvieff, with all the advantages of the position, made
a magnificent defense. As a defensive fighter the stubborn Russian
took a back seat for no soldier in Europe. But the most determined
resistance, the most magnificent courage, could not avail against
overwhelming numbers, especially directed and led by Napoleon in
person, for with every hour the numbers of the assailants were
increased by the arrival of fresh troops, while with every hour the
defense grew weaker through casualties.

Olsuvieff might have surrendered with honor at midday, but he was a
stubborn soldier, and he realized, moreover, that it was his duty to
hold Napoleon as long as possible. Even the most indifferent commander
could not fail to see the danger to Bluecher's isolated corps. Couriers
broke through to the east to Sacken and Yorck, who together had over
thirty-five thousand men under their command, and to the west to
Bluecher, with as many more men, telling all these commanders of the
extreme peril of the center and of the frightfully dangerous situation
in which their carelessness and the ability of their great enemy had
involved them. The noise of the firing, too, was carried far and wide
over the broad open fields and cultivated farms of the rolling prairie
of Champagne.

Bluecher, however, could not credit the intelligence. He believed it
impossible for Napoleon to have escaped from Schwarzenberg. He could
not conceive that Napoleon would leave the Austrians unopposed to march
to Paris if they would. He could not think that even Napoleon would
venture to attack eighty thousand men with thirty, and, if he did, he
reasoned that Sacken and Yorck and Olsuvieff, singly or in combination,
were easily a match for him. The messengers must surely be mistaken.
This could only be a raid, a desperate stroke of some corps or
division. Therefore, he halted and then drew back and concentrated on
his rear guard waiting for further news.

Sacken and Yorck were nearer the fighting. They could hear and see for
themselves. They at once gave over the pursuit of Macdonald and
retraced their steps. Olsuvieff made good his defense until nightfall,
when the survivors gave up the battle. Fifteen hundred men of his
brave division had been killed on the plateau. As many more we