Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-06-18
NAPOLEON'S MISTAKE.
A veterans Reminfscence of bona
parties Disastrous Invasion of Hussia.

parties Disastrous invasion OF " uHSih'
At that moment, writes st Peters
burg correspondent to The New YORK
Times. esped in a corner an ola
man In the uniform OF Russian
Major general, from whom Tourgnen-
eff had lust turned away after ex-
changing a few words with MN, lie
was evidently verging upon extreme
age, and mis- thin dark face, framed IN
snow-whlte hair looked ike some
old Italian painting, But, bowed
and feeble though he now was, there
was pameless something in his look
and bearing which suggested that he
must have been gallant soldier IN
his prime, long years ago. ] was sun
watching him when Nine Mlluntlne
came up and: "Go and talk to that
old gentleman he's one OF the last OF
our Borodino soldiers, and he can tell
YOU more about Napoleon and the
retreat FROM Moscow than any man
alive. Pavel Yakovitch paul son OF
James,, here is q gentleman from
England who would like to hear some
thing of what you saw IN the year
1912"
off you will be so good, Pavel Yak
ovitch, added I, you will oblige me
very much. Everything is interest
ing that has to do with the greatest
year of Russian history, when
"Barklai dc Toll Tutoozon "
F'dvaynadtzatom godu morozili Frentz9ozoff.'
Barclay de folly and KutOozotf IN
the year 1912 froze the French.
"Ahal have you picked that up al
ready2n said the veteran, with thin,
piping laugh Eyes, that was year
for Russia To- b3 proud of and our chill
dren's children win talk Of it hundreds
of years after we are dead and gone.
He came against us in all his power
and pride and fury, like an enemy Of
God as ne was: but ne melted like
snow in the sunshine, and shlnk away
as a wolf sinks into the forest at
dawn. / felt when saw him he
couldn't lastm
Have you really seen Napoleon
face to face, then2' asked !, beginning
to be interested. AYE, that / have,
upon the greatest of all his battle
fields. l was only boy then, but ]
wasn't going to hang back when the
Russian flag was flying against an in
vader, and ] begged my father to let
me serve with his battery "a the Grand
redoubt, which was the center Of our
line at Borodino. When the morning
broke ii was all one great sea OF gray
mist on every side of us, but through
the gloom in our front we could hear
the voices of the enemy and the neigh
ing of their horses and the rumble of
their artillery wheels Then sudden
ly the cannon on both sides began to
roar, making the very earth tremble
under our feet Even when the fog
rose the smoke was so thick that
couldn't see anything except a flash Of
fire now and then like lightning in
cloud, but from the sound of the firing
it seemed to me as If the battle was
hot along the line except just where
we were. ! thought our turn would
never come, but when it did, it came
with vengeance. Allthe fights that
ever fought" land the old warriors
eyes flashed fire as he spoke "were as
nothing to the battle of that day.
Three times all our gunners were
killed to the last man, and three times
others came forward to take their
places. All the air seemed shaking
with the whoop of cannon balls and
the howl Of shells, the crash of burst
ing bombs, and the whiz of bullets fly
ing thick as hail Men dropped dead
or maneled every moment, and no one
minded them Our blood was on fire,
and all looked red before our eyes.
Everyone was mao. At last we heard
a strange sound far in the distance
like rain pattering ON withered leaves,
which grew louder and louder till il
filled the air like the roar of stormy
sea, and all at once a great wave Of
bright swords and helmets and horses
heads came surging up over the breast
work in front of us. The cavalry of
the imperial guard were upon us and
in moment l felt shock like fall
ing mountain, and down went to
the earth md then / lost all conscious
ness.
when / came to myself again all
was still except few dropping shots
in the distance The battle seemed to
be over, although there was q red
glare low down in the sky, showing
where Borodlno village was on fire.
My father lay within three PAGES of
me, crushed and dead, and beside him
shot through the heart, was Colonel
Caulaincourt, the French man who
led the charge. Suddenly | heard q
rampling of hoofs and several voices
talking loudly ia French, and I had
Just time to creep under gun car
rage when q group Of gaily dressed
horsemen came past, whom ] guessed
at once 10 be Napoleou's staff riding
over the battlefield, for there were
several of them whom / knew by sight
already Then the group parted sud,
denly. and there was the man him
self in the midst of them, With his
face hard and immovable as marble
amid all that blood and agony, and a
'faraway kind of look in those cold
gray eyes of hls, as If he saw Moscow
somewhere up in tn sky and could
a