The National Register.
London, England, 1813-06-06 00:00:00

JUNE 6.

orthe iMoskwa, under whose orders were the third corps, General
•Lauriston, a d Geceia! Reynier, to push forward rid Klix, to pass
the Spree, to turn the eocihy's right, and to carry his head-quarters
from Wurtchen to Weissenburg.
At noon the cannonade commenced. Tile Duke of Tarentum
had no occasion to throw his bridge of chevalets across the river,
as he found a stone bridge before him, over which he forced his
passage. rhe Duke of Ragu,a threw his bridge across, and the
whole of his c •rps passed over to the other bank of the Spree.
After six hours of a brisk cannonade, and several charges made by
the enemy without succe,s. General Compans caused Bautzen to
be occupied; General Bonnet occupied 'the vidage of Niedkayn,
and by a running chare took a plain which rendered himself mas-
ter of the whole centre of the enemy's position ; the Duke of Keg-
.

sio got possession of the heights, and at se% en o'clock in the even-
ing, the enemy was driven back on his teeond position. General
Dertrand passed one of the arms of the Spree; hut the enemy kept
the heights which supported his right ; and by this mei.us main-
tained hini.elf between tine Pi ince of Moskwa's corps and our army.
AA eight o'clock in the evening, the Emperor entered bautzri•,
and was received by the inli.ibitants and the constituted authorities,
with sentiments due from allies, who were happy in finding them-
selves delivered from Stein, from Kotzebue, and the Cossaelis Thi•
day, which, were it single, might he- called the Battle of Bautzen,
was merely the pr-; hude to the Battle of Wurtehen.
However, the enemy began to comprehend the possibility of being
forced in his positii.m. His hopes were no longer the same; and
he must, from this moment, have had the presage of his dereat.
Already were all his dispo-itions changed. The fate of the battle
Was no longer to be decided by hi, intrenehinevts. His immense
works, and Sim redoubts, became useless. The right of his position,
Ivhieli was opposed to the ,let corps, became' his centre ; and he
was obliged to otter hi* right, which formed a good part (if his army,
to oppose the Prince of Moskwii, in a place which he had nut
studied. and which he believed beyond his position.
On the 9,lst, at five in the morning, the rniperor marched to-
wards the heights, three-quarters of a league in advance of Bautzen.
The Duke of Reggio sustained a lively fire of musketry towards
the heighi.s which defended the enemy's left. The Russiaos, who
felt the importance of this position, had place:l a strong part of
their army, in order that their left should n the turned. The Em
perm. ordered tine Dukes of Reggio and Tarentinn to keep lip this
co:nbat, in order to prevent tine enemy's left from di•engaging itself,
and to hide from him the real attack, the result of which could not
be felt before noon or one o'clock. _

At eleven o'clock the Make of Treviso advanced 1000 toises from
-his position, and engaged in a dreadfirl cannonade before all the
.enemy's redoubts and eutrenchments. The guarlstand the reserve
of the army, concealed by a rising ground, hail easy debouches to
advance, by the left or right, according as the vicissitudes of the
thy might require. The enemy was thus kept in uncertainty re-
specting the real point of attack. During this time, the Prince of
Moskwa overthrew the enemy at. the vil!age of Klix, passed the
Spree, and advanced, fighting. what he had before him to the village
of Preiletz. The Duke of Dalmatia began to debonchi an hour after
noon. The enemy, who comprehended all the danger with which
he was threatened by the direction the battle had taken, knew that'
the only means of advantageously supporting the battle against the
Prince of Moskwa, was to prevent us from debouching. He en.
deavoured to oppose the Duke of Dalmatia's attacks.' Tlie moment
for deciding the battle had then arrived. The Emperor, by a move•
meat to the left, in twenty minutes marched with the guards, Ge-
neral Latour Maubourg's four divisions, and a great quantity of ar-
tillery, upon the right flank of the enemy's position, which had be-
. come the centre of the Russian army.
Morand's and the Wurtemberg division carried the rising ground,
which the enemy had made his point d'appui.
General Devaux. established a battery, the fire of which he di-
rected upon the masses which attempted to take the position. Ge-
nerals Dulanhoy and Monet, with t3O pieces of reserve artillery,
advanced. Lastly, the Duke of Treviso, with the divisions bu-
rnoutier and Bartois, with a detachment of the young Guard, took
• the road to the Inn of Klein-Baschwitz, crossing the road from Wurt-
ellen to Bautzen.

The enemy was obliged to uncover his right, to prepare for this
new attack. The Prince of Moskwa took advantage of it by ad-
vancing in front. He took the village of PreiSig, and having come'
up with the enemy's army, marched on to Wurtchen. It was at
three o'clock in the afternoon, and whilst the army was in the
greatest incertitude of success, that a heavy firing was heard along
a line of *three leagues, and announced to the Emperor the battle
was won. •

The enemy, finding that his • right was turned, began to retreat,
and this retreat soon became a flight. At seven o'clock iu the even.
jog, the Prince of Moskwa and General Lauriston, arrived at Wurts
then. 'fife Duke of Ragusa then received* orders to make an in.
verse movement to that which the Guard bad made, occupied sla
the entrenched villages, and all the redoubts, which the enemy
were obliged to evacuate, advanced in direction of Hochkerch
and thus took the whole of the enemy's left in flank, which then
fell into an unavoidable rout. The Duke of Tarentum on-him side
•
briskly pushed this left wing, and did it considerable mischief.
The Emperor slept on the road in the midst of his guards, at the
Inn of Little Baschwitz. 'Thus the enemy being forced from all
his positions, left the field of battle in our power, covered with his
dead and wornded, and several thousands of prisoners.
On the (2•24, at four o'clock in the morning, the French ar'Dy put
itself in motion. The enemy had fled_ the whole night by ;ill the
roads, and in every direction. We had not found his first posts
until past ‘Veissenberg: nor did he offer to make any resistance
until he had gained the heights in the rear of Reickenbach. The ene-
. my had not yet seen our cavalry.
General Lefebure Desnouettes, at the head of I,.'S'oo horse of the
Polish lancers, and the red lancers of the (bards, charged and over.
threw the enemy's cavalry in the plain of Reitenbach. The enemy
believing that these were alone caused a division of their cavalry to
advance, and several divisions were successively engaged. •Ge-
neral Latour Maubourg with his 14,003 horse, and the French and
Saxon cuirassiers, arrived to their assistance, and several charges
of cavalry took place. The enemy*, quite astonished to find 1:5 or
16,000 cavalry before him, whilst he believed as to be unsupplied
with any, retired in disorder. The red lancers of the Guards is for
a great part composed of the volunteers ot Paris, and its neighbours
hood. General Lefebure Desnoucttes, and General Colbert, their
Colonel, bestow the greatest enlogiums on them. In this affair of
cavalry, General Ltruyere, of the light cavalry, and an officer of the
highest distinction, had his leg carried off by a cannon-ball.
General Replier with the Saxon corps gained the heights behind
Reitenbach, and pursued the enemy as far as the village of Hots
terndorf. Night overtook us, at a league from Goerlitz. Although
the day had been extremely long, we finding ourselves now at the
distance"of eight leagues from the field of battle, and that
the troops had undergone so much fatigue, the French army was to
have slept at Goerlitz; but the enemy having placed a corps of their
rear guard on the heights in Omit, and as it wonid have required
half an hour more daylight to turn his left, the Emperor ordered
the army to take a position.
In the battles of the,2oth and 21st, the Wurtemberg General
Franqucmont, and General Larencez, were wounded. Our loss
on these days may be estimated at 1 i or 11,0 r.:O men in killed and
wounded. At seven o'clock in the evening of the day of the Vsd,
the Great Marshal, Duke of Frioul, hieing on a small eminence
along with the; Duke of Treviso and General Kirgener, all three
with their feet on the ground, and at a sufficient distance from the
fire, one of the last balls fired by the enemy struck down. close to
the Duke of Treviso, tore the lower part of the Great Marshal, and
killed General Kirgener on the spot. The Doke of Prioul immes
diately felt that ho was mortally wounded, and expired Is! hours after.
As soon as the posts were placed, and that the army had taken its
bivonaques, the Emperor went to see the Duke of Frioul. He found
him perfectly master o; himself and showing the greatest sang froid.
The Dake offered his hand to the Emperor, who pressed it to his
lips. -44 «v whole life," said he to him, has been consecrated to
your service, nor del 1 regret its loss, but foe the use it still migist,
have been of to you!" " Duroc,"' replied the Emperor," there is a
life to come: it is there you are going to wait fur me, and where me
shall one day meet again !" " Ves, Sire, but that will not he these.
thirty years, when you will have triumphed over your enentiei, and
realised all the !tapes of our country. I have lived an honest man ;
I hare nothing to reproach myself with. 1 leave a daughter behind
me ; your Majesty will fill time place of a fitther to her.'' The Em-
peror graving the right hand of the Great Marshal, rmained a
quarter of an hour with his head reclined on his right band, in deep
silence. The Great Marshal was the first who broke the silence
Ale Sire, cried he, go away : this sight gives you pain ! The E.
peror, supporting himself on the Duke of Dalmatia, and the Great
Master of the Horse, quitted the Duke of Frioul, without being
able to say more than these words : Farewell then, my friend! His
Majeity returned to his tent, nor would he receive any person the
whole of that night,.
On the 23d, at nine o'clock in the morning, General Reynier
entered Goerlitz. Bridges were thrown over the Neisse, awl tha

army crossed that river.
On the 23d0 in the evening; the Duke of Pelham vs. nes, Dat6

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