The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-05
NAPOLEON IN THE FIELD.
How the Great Emperor WINS Attend
ed In His Movements.


The, admirable celebrity and accuracy of
Napoleon's movements in the field were due
TO the excellent arrangements by Which
they were made. His two inseparable COM
panions were the Grand Marshal Duroc and
Caulaincourt, master of the horse The lat
ter had always the map of the country
through which they were driving or riding
ready Tor instant use. The seats OF the
imperial carriage could be converted into a
couch for the Emperors frequent night
Journeys, but ordinarily Berthier and Mu-
rat took turns at sitting at his side while
Caulaincort rode close beside the door. Be
hind, and as near the wheels as possible
rode seven adjutants. fourteen ordnance of
hcers and four pages, who must be ready
on the instant to receive and carry orders.
Two or the officers must be familiar with
the speech of the country. Russian, his
There were also two mounted lackeys, each
carrying maps, papers and writing mate
rails. This escort was protected by a body
OF mounted chasseurs In case the En-
these instantly did likewise, and surround
ing him with fixed bayonets, or loaded
pfs tpe pointed outward to the four points
srtion as he moved Last Of all came the
grooms with extra horses; for the EN-
perors personal use there were from seven
TO nine. These were substantially the ar
rangements still in vogue during the Prus-
sian campaign. Thereafter his distrust OF
toward the end of his career it became
acute, and then. as a consequence, the
numbers of his suite were much diminished.
whenever there was need Of post haste the
Emperor found relays of nine saddle horses
or six carriage horses prepared at inter-
walls of from seven to ten miles along his
route In this way he often journeyed
hour for six hours at a time Sim
lar arrangements on much small
er scale was made for the STAFF. This body
was so numerous as to be practically cap
able of subdivision into several. In 1906
there were thirteen adjutants, three heads
of departments with five adjutants, thirty
one staff officers and thirty engineers.
Under the chief of artillery was a personal
staff OF eighteen officers, under the chief
engineer aes the nnetesn and one
Of forty-three. Arriving at his night
quarters, the Emperor found his Office
in the center for himself, and one at each
corner for his private secretaries. On his
own was map oriented and dotted with
every body of his troops. For this cam
paign he had the only one in existence,
prepared long in advance, by his own
orders. 1t is significant Of the Prussian
overconfidence and supineness that they
had none. AS soon as possible was ar
ranged the Emperor's bed chamber across
joining it was another for the officers on
duty. Dinner occupied less than twenty
minutes, for in the field Napoleon ate lit
tie and that rapidly: BY Z in the evening
commander-in-chief arose, entered his Of
fce, where the secretaries were already at
work. found all reports from the divisions
ready at his hand, and then, pacing the
floor. dictated his dispatches and the orders
for the coming day. There is an accepted
tradition that he often simultaneously COM
posed and uttered in alternate sentences
two different letters, so that two secretar-
les were busy at the same time in writing
papers on different topics. The orders. when
completed and revised were handed to
Berthfer. By in the morning they were
on their way. and reached the separate
corps fresh from headquarters just before
the soldiers set out on their march 1t
was by such perfect machinery that ac-
curacy in both command and obedience
was assured.