The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1885-11-28
THE GREAT.
Description BY = Russian Omcsr Who ssw
Him at Borodino.

Description BY . Russian Omcer Wno Saw
Him at Borodino.
Major General Yakovitch. of the Rus
sian army. is one of the few men now
living who saw the great Napoleon on
a battlefield. TIE old General saw
the French Emperor at Borodino. AT
that battle Yakovitch. then a mere
boy, served with q battery in the grand
redorbt which was the center Of the
Russian line. He gives a vivid descrip.
ton OF the battle. When morning
broke a sea OF gray mist shut out the
iie!d from view. The voices Of the
enemy were heard, the peighing of
their horses, and the rumbling of ar
tillery wheels. Then came the thunder
Of cannon. making the very earth trem.
bic. Three times all the Russian gun
ners were killed, aud three times new
men took their places. Bullets flew
thick as hail, and men dropped dead or
mangled every moment
At last a strange sound was heard in
the distance like rain pattering on
withered leaves. 1t grew louder and
louder, until it filed the air like the
roar Of q stormy sea. All at once a
great wave of bright swords and
helmets and horses's heads came surg
ing up over the breastworks. 1t was
the Imperial Guard. Before the shock
of that mighty wave the Russian center
crumbled away shattered wrecks.
When Yakovitch came to his senses
and opened his eyes he saw around
him the corpscs Of his father and COM
rades. Suddenly the tramping of
hoofs called his attention to a group of
gaily-dressed officers, and Napoleon's
staff came riding over the field. The
young Russian pecred anxiously into
their faces. In bis graphic language:
There we're the hard faces OF Rapp
and Darn and broad-chested Sebastian,
and Nansouty, with the saber scar
r his cheek and the low broad
forehead and bulldog jaw of grim old
Ney, the bravest OF them all. There,
too, was Murat, with his white plumes
and his braided jacket, his long, dark
curls hanging down his neck, and his
riding-whip in his hand, just like a cir
cus-rider. And then the group parted
suddenly, and there was the man him
self in the midst of them, with his face
hard and immovable as marble mid all
that blood and agony, and o far.away
look in those cold gray eyes of his, as
if he saw Moscow somewhere up in the
sky, and could see nothing between.
"A glorious victory! cried Murat, way
ing his hand, What a stir there'n be
among the good folks in Paris when the
bulletin arrives!' We've lost half our
army in doing it, though growled Ney.
Hadn't we better fall back q little and
wait there for enforcements? Then Ma
poleon turned his head slowly, just as
the statue might do. and looked him
full in the face. Thou advising a re-
treat MichaelP That is something new,
indeed! No no falling back now. l
must date my bulletin from Moscow.
As for the army, you can't make an
omelettee without breaking a few
egggs.'' Yakovitch says that when be
heard that he knew that God had for
saken Napoleon, for nc mar save one
doomed to destruction could have
spoken so lightly Of the slaughter of
thousands of brave men. In three
months from that day the French En-
peror was flying for his life across the
border with the Cossacks at his heels
like hungry wolves. -Novoe Ncmya.