The National Register. — London, England, 1814-02-27 00:00:00

FEB. 27. right, and pressed the Russians against a wood, and a lake between the roads to F.prrnity and hat to Chalons : the enemy had but little cavalry; .mein; himself without retreat, bin masses became Con fused, al tillery, cavalry, intapitry. all fled, peWmell, into the wood ; .2000 men were drowned in the lake 30 pikes of cannon, and vOO carriages were taken ; the General in Chief, the (ienerals, the Colonels, more than 100 officers and' 4000 men, *ere 'male pri soners. This corps, of two divisions and twelve regiments, ought to have con , isted of 18,000 men ; but sickness, lone marches, and battles, had reduced it to 8000; scarcely 1,500 escaped t,y ineans of the woods and the dal kness. General Blaciter remained at hi,. head-quarters at Versus, where he witnessed the disasters of this part of his army, without being able to remedy them. Not a man of the guard was cogned, except two of the four squadrons the service. whf , behaved valiAntly. :file coil .tssiers of the Ist corps of cAvitiry have displayed the tarest intrepidity. • ' " At eight General NansosJty having deboncried in the causeway,' advanced upon Montmirail with tit:: division of the cavalry of the guard of Generals Colbert and La FFrticre, took the town, cul t;O4 Cossacks who were in it. " The llth, at five in the morning, the division of General Guyat also alvanced upon Montnyirail. Several di%isions of in fintiy were delayed, by being obliged to wait for their artilery. `ihe tomb, Ifuni ' . .iezanne to Champ Anbert are execrable. Our ar tillery could Hut hive paspied them but for the diligence of the can nonier,r, awl by the aisistance furnished by the inhabitants, who brought their horse;4. " The %diem at Champ Anhert, where a pert of the Russian' ar my was destroyed, did not cost us above CO, killed or wounded. The Galeria of Division LagrAnge, is amon g the latter, having . a alight woofed in the head. . . Tile Emperor arrived on the 11th, at ten in the morning, half a league in advance of Moutmirail. General Nausonty was in his position with the cavalry of the guard, mid kept in check the army of Sacken, which began to snow itself. lufornjed• of the disasters of a part of the Russian army, this General had quit, ted Fate suus•Jouarre, on the 10th, at nine in the evening, and anarched,the whole night. General Yorek .had also quitted Cha teau Thierry. At eleven in The morning of the 1 tth he began to tbrm, and all f , ..‘reboded the battle of Montmirail, the issue of which was of such vat importance. The Duke of. Itagnsa with Lis corps, and the first corps of the cavalry, ,had placed his head ()starters at Etoges, on the road to Chalons. The division of Ri cart, and the Old Guard, arrived at ten in the morning. The Emperor ordered the Prince of Moskwa to line with troops the village of Marchais, by which it seemed the enemy's in tention to deboneh. This village was defended by the brave divi s-ion of General Ritart with rare firmness ; it was taken and re taken several times during the course of the day. At noon the Empf.ror ordered General Nansonty to advance to the right, cut ting the road to Chateau Thierry, and formed the sixteen battalions of the Old Guard, uruler the command of General Friant, in a single column,. along the' road, the battalion columns being 1000 paces frtan - each other. " Daring this tine our batteries of artillery successively ar rived. At three o'clock the Duke of Treviso, with the sixteen bat talions of the -2(1 di..isibn of the O'd Guard,. which had left Sezanne in the morning, debouehed on Montmirail. " The Emi-vror would have wished to wait fon. the coming up of the °On r divi‘ions, but night was uporoachinz. H e , ordered Ge neral Friant to march with tour battalions of the Old Guard, two of the (2d regiment of Gendarmerie, and two of the :24 re;iment of Chassenrs, upon the farm of Epine-aux-Rois, which was the key of the position, and to Carry it. The Duke of Treviso, with six Inittalions of the ttil divisor of the (mid Guard, advanced to the tight of General rriant's attack. " The sncces4 of the day dell( OM on the position of the farm of Epinc-aux-Hois. The enemy was Ft ” A ibk o f this ; he had placed there forty pieces of cannon, and hued the lied ; , ,es with a triple row of tiraillcurs, and loomed behind masses of infantry. " Meantime, to render this attack more easy, the Emperor or dered General Niinsonty to extent his line to the right, which wide the enemy apprehen , ive of being cut off. and forced to nn (over a pan t. of his centre to cover his right. At the vune time, he ordered Generid Rieart to it'd a part of , the village•of Mai•chais, tchiclt also induced the even v to nreovtr his centre to reinforce thi , attack, on the Nneves c f which he supposed the gaining of the bathe to tkp:inl. As,soim as General Friant had begun his move ment, earl the enemy had weakened his centre to take advantage of an apparent success, which he believed real, General Friant at cite farm of liaut £pine , with the four battalions of the `l3l Old Guard. They came up to the enemy ramninO, and produced oe him the ellect of the head of Medina. The Prince of NIO4k- V.-3 marched - the first, and chewed them the road to hononr. Toe tirailletws retired afire ht upon the moves cf infantry. which were attacked: The artillery could no looger piny. the print , tiff small arms beerme dreadful, auctsuccessavas balanced ; hut at the same moment General Guyat, at the head of the first regieient of lancers of the old tiragoons, mid old grenadiers of tete Imperial Guard n hieh filed along the right road in full trot, nod with cries of Vac l'Empereur," passed to the right of Hant Epicene. 'they fel! on the rear of the masses of infantry. broke them, threw them into disorder and kille.4 all that were not taken prisiaters. 'Dee Doke of Trevi , .o, with six' buttalioes of the iliviston of General Alichel.. st eon(' the attack of the Oki reached the wood 2 carried tit vii rtae of and took a whole park of mail !cry. • " The division of the Guard' of Honour fihsd off after the 01:1 Guard • on the high road, tted helm; arrived at the height of !piece :oix Bois turned to the left to ..airy what had olvant eel oil the vil hoe of Mareitaise General l'ertrand, Orval Marslea 14-the Palace, and the Duke of Dieozie at the load oi* two battalions o e th e Old Guard, marched opoothe village and placed it net two lire's. All that were in it were killed or taken.: " In less than a quarter of an hour a profound silence succeeded to the noise of the cannon, and a diTA ,. .ffal re.e of tousl .etry. te:e enemy no longer sought safety but in diolit. Ot infantry, oterals, o ffi cers, sol diers, cal/Wry, artillery, all fled pellonell. 44 At eight p. tn. the night being obscure, it was necessbry to take a position. The Emperor placed his head quarters at the fartu of lipieee au% 'lois. " General Michel of the Guard, has been wounded by a ball In the ann. Our loss amounts to more than 1,010 men killed or wounded. That of the enemy is at least 8,000 men kilted or prisoners. We have taken many crouton and six stands of colours flow hits. his memorable day, which confuunds the pride and boastio; of-40 enemy, has annihilated the eate of the Russian' army. The fourth of our army has not beeia engaged. " The next clay, the 12th, at nine in the morning*, the Duke of Treviso followed the enemy, upon the road of Citation Tide' ev. The Emperor, with two divisions of cavalry of the :g u ard and . somo battalions, went to Vieux-maisons, and from thence took the road which goes right to Chateau Thierry. The enemy covered his re treat with eight battalions, which arrived late the preceding even ing, and had not been engaged. He supported them with. some squadrons and three pieces of cannon. Arrived at the small vill..ge Caccinerets, he appeared determined to defend the po‘ation which behind the rivulet, and to cover the road of ChatC4ll 'Merry. company of the old guard-tom tiled npott La Petite Neue, over t nrew the enemy's tirailleurs, wltu were pursued to their last position. Six battalions of the old ;guard, at proper distitucee for deploying, occupied the plain on both sides of the road. Genera! Naosouty, with the divisions of cavalry-of Generals -Lefernere and ()drone, had orders to make a movement to the right; and march between Chateau Thierry and the enemy's rear guard. This movement was executed with eqoal skill and intrepidity. TOe enemy's coy:l4y marched from all points upon his kit to oppose the French cavalry. It was overthrown, and obliged to, quit the field of battle. The brave. Gen. Letort, with the dragoons of the ad division of the guard, after Navin, repulsed the enemy's cavalry, moved upon the flanks alai rears of eight - masses of infantry, which formed the env oty's rear-unard. 'lists division binned with desire to equal what the head horse, the dragoons, aml the mounted greeadiers of' Ge neral fin)-at hard done the preeedine evening. It surrounded •on ad .ailes these masses, and made an horrible caruage amouo theno The three pieces of caution of the .Rtissian General'ereollenieh, who commanded the rear-guard, . were killed or mote of ;sinters. The number or priAouers made in this lei:hoot affair anionets to m o re than two thousand. Colonel Curely; of Cie l'Ols hussar , , goislied himself. We then arrived ern the heiehts of Chateau Tilierry, from whence we saw the retiotioder of that army flvirg in the greatest disorder, and gaining with all haste , it 4 bsidge.4. The great toads ‘sere cut off from them: they suligla their salvahoa Anon the : righthank of the Maroe. Prince :V. iiiaam of I;rns•ta. who had retrained at Chao-an Thierry wi th a reserveof to nir.a, viticed to the head of the suieoto to protect the th , ..:Ot tal. otg4toised mass. Two battalions of the guard at aJ rweittie. At the sight of them, tie: suburh am! left hank w pre Geared ; tite. enemy harried Isis bridces, an-t unnuol.ed opot. the right batik a battery of 11 Ikea's of caution; 300 awn of the re serve of Prince William were taken. On the Ml', in ale evening, the Emperor bad his hoad - quartv r e ill the small castle of Nislos THE- NATIONAL REGIgTEIL