Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-11-19
Napoleon IN Battle.
n ~. p,


Major General Yakovitch. 81 the
Russian army, il one Of the few men.
now living Who saw the great Napo-
leon on the battle field. The old gem
eral saw the French emperor from
Boridino. At that battle, Yakovitch,
then mere boy, served with q bat
terry in the grand redoubt which was
TIT center OF the Russian line. He
giV6s . vivid description ofthe battle.
When morning broke, q sea Of gray
mist shut out the field from view.
The voices Of the enemy were heard,
the neighing Of their horses, and the
rumbling Of artillery wheels. Then
came the thunder of cannon, making
the very earth tremble. Three times
all the Russian gunners were killed,
and three times new men took their.
places. Bullets few thick as hail, and
men dropped dead or manglsd every
moment. ..'- =.
At last q strange sound was heard
in the distance, like rain pattering on
withered leaves. It grew louder and
louder, until it filled the air like the
roar of q stormy sea. An at once a.
great wave of bright swords and he'll
NETS and horses heads came surging
up over the breastworks. It was the
Impeplal Guard. Before the shock of
that mig hty wave the Russian centre
crumbled away g. shattered wreck.
When. Yakovitch came to, his senses
and opened his eyes, he saw around
him the corpses of his father and COM
rades. Suddenly the trampling Of
hoofs called his attention to- g. group
OF gaily- dressed officers, and Napo-
Icons staff came riding over the field.
The young Russian peered anxiously
into their faces. In his graphic. lam
guage he thus describes Them:
There were the hard faces of Rapp
and Darn, and broad chested Sebas-
tian, and Nansouty, with the sabre
scar across 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 riding whip in hand, just
like a circus rider. And then the
group parted suddenly, and there
was the man himself in the midst of
them, with his face hard and immov-
able as marble amid all that blood
and agony, and T. far away look in
those cold gray eyes of his, as if he
saw Moscow somewhere up in the sky,
but could seenothing between.
"'Aglorious victory!' cried Murat,
waving his hand. What stir there'll
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 little and wait
| for reinforcements
'Then Napoleon turned his head
slowly, just as astatue might do, and,
looking him full in the face, said:
""Thou advising retreat, Michel?
That is something new, indeed! No.
no falling back now! I must date my
bulletin from Moscow AS for the ar
my, you can't make an omelette with
out breaking q few EGGS"
Yakovitch says that when he heard
this he knew that Napoleon's day was
passed, for no man 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 Emperor was fly
ing for his life across the border, with
the Cossacks at his heels like hungry
wolves.-London Exchanges: