The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-07-03
Charge of EEssrns az Eyissu.

4
| 1t is a; Ey,a,, that Murat always appears
I in bis most terrible aspect This battle,
fought in midwinter, in 1907, ,-was'the most
important and bloody one that had then oc-
Cured France and Russia had never before.
opposed such strength to each other and a
complete victory on either side would have
settled the fate of Europe; Bonapait re-
maincd il possession Of the field, and that
was al; nc y.ctory was ever SO like q de
feat.
The fc!l Of Eylau was covered with snow,
and the little ponds that lay scattered over
it were frozen sufficiently hard to bear the
artillery. Seyenty-one thousand men en-
one side, and eighty-fve thousand on the
other, arose from the frozen field on which
| they had slept the night of February, without
tent or covering, to battle for Continent
| AugereaI, on the left, was utterly
routed in tie morning Advancing th;ough
snow sorm so thick lie could not see the,
enemy, the Russian cannon moved down
| his ranks with their destructive FIRE, while
the Cossack cavalry, which was ordered to
charge, came laundering on, almost hitting
/ the French infantry with their long Ian
ces before they were visible through the
| storm
Rcmmei in and overthrown, the whole
division, composed Of l6, 900 men, with the
exception Of 800, were captured or slain.--
just then the snow storm clearing up re-
vealed to Napoleon, the peril to which he
was brought, and he Immediately ordered a
grand charge by the Imperis Guard and the
whole cavalry. Nothing was further from
Bonapartes wishes or expectation than the
bringing of the reserve into the engagement
at this early stage ofthe battle, but there wts
no other resource left him.
Murat sustained his high reputation on
this OCCASION and proved himself, for the
hundredth time, worthy Of the great conf
dence Napoleon placed in him. Nothing
could be more imposing than the battle field
at this moment. Bonaparte and the Empire
trembled ir the balance, while Murat pre-
pared to lead down his cavalry to save them.
Seventy squadrons, making in all $4,000
well mounted men, began to move over the
slope, with the Old Guard marching sternly
behind.
Bonapart it is said was more agitated at
this crisis than when, a moment before, be
was SO near being captured by the Russians.
But as he saw those seventy squadrons come
down on plunging trot pressing hard after
the white plume of Murat, that streamed
through the snow storm far in front, smile
passed over his countenance.
The earth groaned and trembled as they
passed, and the sabres above the dark and
angry mass below looked like the foam Of
sea wave as it erests on the deep. The rat
/ tling of sheir armor and the thunder Of their
tread drowned all the roar ofbattle, as with
frm set array and swift steady motion they
bore down with their terrible front On the
foe.
/ The shock Of that immense host was Ikea
falling mountain, aud the front line of the
Russian army went down like fros.-woril
before it, Then commenced protracted
fight Of hand to hand, and sword to sword,
as in the cavalry action ct Echmuhl. The
| clashing of steel was like the ring Of count
less hammers, and horses and riders were
blended in wild confusion together. The
Russian reserve were ordered up, and on
these Murat fell with his fierce horsemen,
crushing and trampling them down by thou
sands. But the obstinate Russians disdained
to fly, and rallied again and again so that
it was no longer cavalry charging on infan-
try, but squadrons of horse galioping
through broken hosts that, gathering into
knots, still disputed, with unparalleled
bravery, the red and rent field.
! 1t was during this Strange fight that
Murat was seen to perform one Of thse des-
perate deeds for which he was so renowned.
Excited to the highest pitch of passion by
the obstacles that opposed him, he seemed
endowed with ten fold strength, and looked
more like a superhuman being treading
down helpless mortals than an ordinary man.
Amid the roar OF artillery and rafting OF
musketry, and falling of sabre strokes like
Ihghtenig abort him, that lofty white plume
rCant;nucd on fourth pace