of the Czar (the Kremlin), before the city, probably fired by persons whom the Russians had left behind for this purpose, burst into flames. After waiting about the ruins until the middle of October, in hopes that the Czar would accept proposals of peace, Napoleon was forced to give the command for the return of the army to France.
The retreat was attended with incredible sufferings and horrors. The Russian winter setting in earlier than usual and with terrible severity, thousands of the French soldiers were frozen to death, and falling upon the snow traced with a long black line the trail of the retreating army. The spot of each bivouac was marked by the circles of dead around the watch-fires. Thousands more were slain by the wild Cossacks, who surrounded the retreating columns and harassed them day and night. The passage of the river Beresina was attended with appalling losses.
Soon after the passage of this stream, Napoleon, conscious that the fate of his empire depended upon his presence in Paris, left the remnant of the army in charge of his marshals, and hurried by post to his capital. Marshal Ney, "the bravest of the brave," performed miracles in covering the retreat of the broken and dispirited columns. He was the last man, it is said, to cross the Niemen. His face was so haggard from care and so begrimed with powder, that no one recognized him. Being asked who he was, he replied, " I am the rear guard of the Grand Army."
The loss by death of the French and their allies in this disastrous campaign is reckoned at about 300,000 men,[1] while that of the Russians is estimated to have been almost as large.
"The Battle of the Nations" (Leipsic, 1813).—Napoleon's fortunes were buried with his Grand Army in the snows of Russia. His woeful losses emboldened the surrounding powers to think that now they could crush him. A sixth coalition was formed, embracing Russia, Prussia, England, and Sweden. Napoleon made gigantic efforts to prepare France for the struggle. By the spring of 181 3 he was at the head of a new army, numbering over 300,000 men.
- ↑ The Russians took 100,00 prisoners, and about 100,000 recrossed the Niemen.
