Chapter XIV: After the Downfall (2)

What became of the other two Eagles, those of the “Garde de Paris” and of the Second Battalion of the 5th Light Infantry, and the fourteen Reserve Battalion flags that were taken at Bailen is unknown. They are not in Spain, although one trophy indirectly associated with the disaster is now at Madrid, the admiral’s flag of Admiral Rosily, who was at Cadiz with the French squadron which Dupont was marching to rescue. It is kept as a trophy in the Museo Naval of Madrid. Rosily had charge of the five French ships of the line which escaped into Cadiz after Trafalgar. When Spain rose against Napoleon, they were placed in danger from the garrison of Cadiz; being at the same time unable to put to sea because a British fleet blockaded the port. Dupont’s army was specially sent to bring away the 4,000 soldiers and sailors on board, who were then to abandon the ships. Just before Dupont reached Bailen, the Spaniards attacked Rosily, bombarding his ships with heavy cannon, and mortars and a gunboat flotilla, and he had to surrender, his admiral’s flag being carried off by the Spaniards, ultimately to find its way to its present resting-place.

[37] Years later these trophies were again brought to light, and by degrees, one at a time, or two or three together, found their way once more to the Hôtel, where they form part of the present collection. Among those now in the Invalides are six of Frederick the Great’s trophies annexed at Berlin by Napoleon in 1806; six Austrian and Bavarian flags, also of the Seven Years’ War period, removed by Napoleon from Vienna; an old German flag taken by Marshal Turenne, and in earlier times hung in Notre Dame; five Austrian colours of unknown origin; one Russian flag-trophy from Austerlitz; one Prussian standard from Jena; and a number of Spanish and Portuguese flags from the Peninsular War.

Three British regimental flags, originally captured by Napoleon’s Polish lancers at Albuera, found their way back in this manner to the Invalides. They were taken at Albuera in the first part of the battle, when, under cover of mist and rain squalls, the French cavalry, circling round one flank, swooped down on the leading British brigade before its regiments could form in square. Of the five other British flags at present in the Invalides, four were taken on March 8, 1814, just three weeks before the burning of the trophies, and had not yet reached Paris. They were taken from us in very tragic circumstances--at the disastrous attempt to storm the fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom; but the details of that painful story nor the identification of the flags do not concern us here. One of the four flags is kept beside Napoleon’s tomb. The fifth flag purports to have been a British sloop-of-war’s red ensign and to have been captured in the Baltic in December 1813, in an action of which the British Admiralty has no record, and the French account is only a tradition. It again, apparently, had not reached Paris by March 1814.

[38] To the Army, Louis XVIII. was only a King imposed on them by their enemies; by the triumphant enemies of France, the European Coalition. He was merely the “_protégé_ of foreign bayonets,” placed over them by the English and Prussians; “l’émigré rentré en croupe derrière un cosaque!” To the soldiers he only personified defeat and disaster; and the memories that they gloried in had been of set purpose obliterated by him and his creatures. The very charter under which he had assumed authority was dated the 19th year of his reign, as though Napoleon had never been. He had proscribed their Eagle standards before which all Europe had trembled. By his ordinances he had abolished and insulted the memory of their victories. In addition he had disbanded and turned adrift their officers, and had left them to starve, without the pay that was their due, in wretchedness and rags.

Fuel was added to the fires of disaffection in the ranks by the tales that went round of every barrack-room of personal ill-usage of and affronts to officers who had won the respect of all on campaign, and before the enemy under fire. _Ci-devant_ colonels and captains in long-forgotten corps of the old-time Royal Army were appointed at one stride Lieutenant-Generals and Major-Generals on the Active List, ousting and sending into unemployment men, whom Napoleon himself had picked out for command, whose names were household words to the Army. In almost every regiment officers who had grown grey in war-service before the enemy, who had won distinction on a hundred battlefields, were shelved; set aside for _émigrés_, who, a quarter of a century before, had been boy subalterns in the army of the _ancien régime_, and had not set foot in France since they fled the country at the outbreak of the Revolution. These were brought back and posted wholesale as colonels and _chefs de bataillon_ all through the Army, superseding and driving into poverty veterans who had raised themselves to their ranks and positions through personal merit and war-service, and had qualified step by step in the different grades. At a _levée_ one day, after a review before the Duc de Berri, a grey-headed old regimental officer stepped forward, according to custom, and made a request to have granted to him for his services the Cross of St. Louis. “What have you done to deserve it?” was the Prince’s reply, uttered in a cold and sneering tone. “I have served in the Army of France for twenty years, your Royal Highness!” “Twenty years of robbery!” was the cruel and insolent answer as the Duc de Berri turned his back on the veteran. The words were repeated everywhere among the soldiers and had the worst effect. Another tale that caused deep resentment throughout the Army was that of the treatment which Marshal Ney had received at Court when protesting against rudeness which had been shown by certain ladies of title to his wife one day at the Tuileries. They had openly insulted the Maréchale Ney by making sarcastic and contemptuous comments on her comparatively lowly birth. Marshal Ney personally complained to the King, but was coldly referred to the Court Chamberlain. He laid his complaint before that functionary and was personally rebuffed “in a harsh and insolent manner”--as the only reply to which the Marshal with his wife had withdrawn from Paris altogether. And more than one other officer of eminence, it was told, had in like manner been forced to cease attendance at Court. When the moment came for the reappearance of Napoleon in their midst, the Army was more than ready to receive their old leader with open arms and rally once more to the Eagles.

[39] It was the action of Marshal Ney that sealed the fate of the Bourbon _régime_.

Ney had accepted the Restoration as bringing peace to exhausted France; he had given in his allegiance to the Bourbons. Angry and sick at heart as he was over the ill-treatment meted out to his brother officers, and the humiliations that the new _régime_ had inflicted on the Army, and sore over personal grievances of his own, he had, in spite of all, loyally held back from intriguing against the restored dynasty. Napoleon’s leaving Elba, when he first heard the news, he condemned outspokenly as a crime against France. Impulsive and headstrong by nature, he forgot his grievances, and hastened to Paris to offer his sword to the King. Napoleon, he said to the King at the interview at the Tuileries, which was immediately granted him, was a madman and deserved to be brought to Paris “like a bandit in an iron cage.” So hostile witnesses at Ney’s court-martial declared, though Ney himself emphatically denied using any words of the kind. His services were accepted gladly, for Ney was the most popular of all the marshals with the soldiers, and he was sent to lead the army against Napoleon. Besançon was proposed as his head-quarters, and he betook himself there.

Almost at once, however, anxieties and doubts beset Ney. On taking up his command he found but few regiments available. He was promised reinforcements, but none arrived, and while he waited, no news of the rapidly altering situation reached him from Paris. Meanwhile the news came steadily in from all sides that the soldiers could not be trusted to oppose Napoleon. Ney was still loyal to the Bourbons, and he moved his troops nearer the line of advance Napoleon was taking; to Lons le Saulnier, midway between Besançon and Lyons. To officers who hinted that the soldiers would not fight if Napoleon appeared, Ney answered angrily: “They _shall_ fight. I will take a musket and begin the firing myself! I will run my sword through the first man who hesitates!”

But events were moving too fast: the tide of Bonapartism was rising visibly on all sides. Napoleon, Ney heard, was being received everywhere with acclamation; the soldiers were said to be declaring for him by thousands. Already in every garrison the soldiers were displaying their old Eagle cap-badges and tricolor cockades. “Every soldier in the Army,” relates Savary in his Memoirs, “had preserved his tricolor cockade and the Eagle-badge of his shako or cap. It was needless for any order to be given for their resumption; that had been done on the first intelligence of the Emperor’s landing in France.” Everywhere too, officers who had kept back and hidden the old regimental Eagles and tricolor standards, were bringing them out openly. In regiments where the Ministerial order had been obeyed and the Eagles sent to Paris for destruction, the soldiers now took out the Bourbon arms from the white flags, substituting a tricolor shield for the royal shield with the three fleurs-de-lis.

Ney next began to doubt what line of conduct he ought to adopt. On one side was his oath of allegiance to the King. On the other was the prospect of a civil war which would be ruinous to France, which he, at the head of his army, had it in his power to prevent. It became borne in on him as his duty to the country in the circumstances to throw his influence on the side of his old comrades and Napoleon. His personal grievances against the Bourbons rankled in his mind, and self-interest urged him to go with the stream; but it was rather a sense of duty and patriotism, to avert a civil war, that impelled Ney to take the action that he did. His final decision was influenced by an insidiously worded letter from Napoleon, playing on Ney’s personal feelings and calling him by his old name of “the Bravest of the Brave.” The letter was brought to him by two secret emissaries on the night of March 13, who urged on the marshal that his soldiers were about to abandon him, and that it was impossible for him single-handed to hope to stem the current of national feeling. That and the letter turned the scale. Ney decided to abandon the cause of the Bourbons.

Assembling his troops on parade next day, he publicly declared for Napoleon in a fiery proclamation addressed to the Army. “Officers, under-officers, and soldiers,” Ney began, reading out the proclamation from on horseback in front of the assembled battalions, “the cause of the Bourbons is lost for ever! The dynasty adopted by the French nation is about to reascend the throne. To the Emperor Napoleon, our Sovereign, alone belongs the right of reigning in our dear country.” The proclamation concluded with these words: “Soldiers, I have often led you to victory. I will now conduct you to that immortal phalanx which the Emperor Napoleon is leading towards Paris. It will arrive there within a few days, when our hopes and our happiness will be for ever realised. Long live the Emperor!”

The declaration came as fire to a train of gunpowder. Ney had hardly uttered a dozen words before frantic exclamations and shouts burst forth; shakos and caps and helmets were raised and waved on muskets and swords, amid tumultuous cries of “Vive l’Empereur!” “Vive le Maréchal Ney!” The men broke their ranks and rushed headlong round Ney, catching hold of him and kissing his hands and feet and uniform: “those not near enough kissing his embarrassed aides de camp.” Shouted some: “We knew you would not leave us in the hands of the _émigrés_!” The marshal at the close was escorted back to his quarters amid a crowd of excited soldiers cheering frantically.

The scene there was very different. Arrived in his quarters, Ney found himself at once surrounded by a group of anxious and nervous staff-officers and aides de camp. Said some: “You should have informed us of it before, M. le Maréchal! We ought not to have been made witnesses of such a spectacle!” One or two officers protested and resigned on the spot. One aide de camp, indeed, a former _émigré_, broke his sword in two and flung the pieces at Ney’s feet. “It is easier,” he exclaimed passionately, “for a man of honour to break iron than to break his word.”

“You are children,” was the marshal’s answer. “It is necessary to do one thing or the other. What would you have me do? Can I stop the advancing sea with my hands? Can I go and hide like a coward to avoid the responsibility of events I cannot alter? Marshal Ney cannot take refuge in the dark! There is but one way to deal with the evil--to take one side and avert civil war. So we shall get into our hands the man who has returned, and prevent his committing further follies. I am not going over to a man, but to my country.”

[40] The silken standard flags attached below the Eagles were plainer in design than the flags of 1804 and 1808. They were of the ordinary pattern of the national banner, three vertical bands of colour, edged with golden fringe. Lettered in gold on the white central band of the flag was the Imperial dedication, worded similarly to the inscription on the older flags, and on the reverse the names of the battles in which the corps had taken part--“Austerlitz,” “Jena,” etc.

[41] Napoleon left Paris for the front on the early morning of June 12, after spending several hours in his cabinet, issuing orders and making arrangements for the carrying on of the Government in his absence. Caulaincourt, acting for the time being as Foreign Minister, was with Napoleon until the last moment, and witnessed his departure. “The clock struck three, and daylight was beginning to appear. ‘Farewell, Caulaincourt!’ said the Emperor, holding out his hand to me, ‘Farewell! We must conquer or die!’ With hurried steps he passed through the apartments, his mind being evidently fully taken up with melancholy thoughts. On reaching the foot of the staircase, he cast a lingering look round him, and then threw himself into his carriage and drove away.”

[42] Trafalgar, on the French side, it may be added by the way, had a distinguished representative at Waterloo in the person of the officer at the head of the Artillery of the Imperial Guard, General Drouot. He had fought against Nelson as a major of artillery doing duty in the French fleet. His ship was one of the few that escaped into Cadiz after the battle, whence he was recalled to join the Grand Army in the Jena campaign. Drouot was the officer who, during the retreat from Moscow--where he brought the artillery of the Guard through without losing a gun--“washed his face and shaved in the open air, affixing his looking-glass to a gun-carriage, every day, regardless of the thermometer!”

[43] Napoleon--it may be of general interest to add--passed the whole of the day, between the review in the forenoon and late in the afternoon when he rode forward to witness the Guard start for the last charge, on the ridge of high ground near Rossomme, So the memoirs of the officers of his staff unanimously record. At no time was he near the so-called “observatory,” in regard to which there has recently been a controversy, based on the publication of a letter by the eminent surgeon, Sir Charles Bell, who was at Waterloo, and rendered very valuable service to the wounded. This is the story as told in his letter by Dr. Bell:

“About half a mile of ascent brought us to the position of Bonaparte. This is the highest ground in the Pays Bas. I climbed up one of the pillars of the scaffolding, as I was wont to do after birds’ nests.... We got a ladder from the farm-court; it reached near the first platform. I mounted and climbed with some difficulty; none of the rest would venture.... The view was magnificent. I was only one-third up the machine, yet it was a giddy height. Here Bonaparte stood surveying the field.

“This position of Bonaparte is most excellent; the machine had been placed by the side of the road, but he ordered it to be shifted. The shifting of this scaffolding shows sufficiently the power of confidence and the resolution of the man. It is about sixty feet in height. I climbed upon it about four times the length of my body, by exact measurement, and this was only the first stage. I was filled with admiration for a man of his habit of life who could stand perched on a height of sixty-five feet above everything, and contemplate, see, and manage such a scene.”

Mention of the scaffold-platform is also made by Sir Walter Scott, who rode over the field in August 1815. Sir Walter gives this version, in a letter to the Duke of Buccleuch:

“The story of his (Napoleon’s) having an observatory erected for him is a mistake. There is such a thing, and he repaired to it during the action; but it was built or erected some months before, for the purpose of a trigonometrical survey of the country, by the King of the Netherlands.”

Thomas Kelly, an enterprising London publisher, went further. He had a picture of the erection drawn, and brought it out as a popular print in October 1815, under the title of “Bonaparte’s Observatory to view the Battle of Waterloo.” The print shows a three-tiered structure, apparently quite lately constructed, with three platforms, and ladders leading from one platform to the other. Napoleon himself is depicted on top, his spy-glass at his eye, and with two staff officers in attendance.

There certainly was a structure of the kind on the field. Such a thing, in a dilapidated condition, is to be seen in miniature on the Siborne model of the battlefield at the Royal United Service Institution. It is made to scale, and in its essential features bears out Dr. Bell’s description. It stands close to the “wood of Callois” by the Nivelle road, rather more than a mile to the south of Hougoumont. It has only one platform, whence it would overlook the trees and give a good view of the battle.

On the other hand, in addition to the silence of all Napoleon’s officers on the subject, we have this plain statement from Frances Lady Shelley, an intimate friend of the Duke of Wellington, who was in Paris during the occupation after the battle and was also taken over the battlefield by the Duke of Richmond some three months after Waterloo. It appears in her recently published Diary, at p. 173, and may be taken as settling the fate of the story of “this towering and massive perch,” “that wonderful scaffold,” “that huge scaffolding,” “part of Napoleon’s equipment at Waterloo,” as a modern historical writer calls it.

This is what Lady Shelley wrote at the time:

“Throughout the battle of Waterloo Napoleon remained on a mound, within cannon shot, but beyond the range of musketry fire. He certainly was not in the observatory after the battle began; nor could he have from that spot directed the movements of his troops. That observatory was built for topographical reasons by a former Governor of the Netherlands something like a century ago.”

[44] The “fanion” of the second battalion of the 45th shared the fate of the regimental Eagle. It fell to Private Wheeler of the 28th, the “Slashers,” the present 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. The 28th, on the left of Picton’s line, had, like the Highlanders, charged forward among the French, following close after the Greys. Wheeler, after a fierce fight with the bearer of the “fanion,” in which he was severely wounded, bayoneted the French sergeant and carried off the trophy. It disappeared in an unexplained manner some days later, during Wellington’s march on Paris, while being forwarded to the Duke’s head-quarters.

[45] The news of Waterloo reached Paris just twenty-four hours earlier than it reached London--during the night of Tuesday, June 20. How it was broken to the French capital forms a story little less dramatic than the other story of how the news of Waterloo arrived in London. In Paris they had had news of the successful opening of the campaign. On the 18th, just as Napoleon was holding his last review, before Waterloo opened, the “triumphal battery” of the Invalides was firing a _feu de joie_ in honour of victory over Blücher at Ligny. On Monday and Tuesday, the 19th and 20th, Napoleon’s Ligny Bulletin, with details, was published in the _Moniteur_. When the cafés closed that evening, there was as yet no word of Waterloo. But at that same moment the news was arriving--in a private message to Carnot, the Minister of the Interior. What had happened leaked out first at his house.

“On that evening,” describes M. Edgar Quinet, “several persons were assembled at the house of M. Carnot, and they vainly asked him for news. To evade these importunate questions, Carnot went to a card-table and sat down with three of his friends. He from whom I have this story sat opposite the Minister. By chance he raised his eyes and looked at Carnot; he saw his countenance, serious, furrowed, with tears pouring down it. The cards were thrown up; the players rose. ‘The battle is lost!’ exclaimed Carnot, who could contain himself no longer.” The news spread through Paris like wild-fire. It was not believed at first; the catastrophe was too stunning, too terrible. To that succeeded a gloomy stupor (une morne stupeur).

“They had not long to wait. All was known next morning. The astounding news of the rout of the army in Belgium, and the still more astounding news of the arrival of Napoleon in Paris, were spread through the great city almost simultaneously, and stirred to the depths its restless and volatile population. Twice before had Napoleon suddenly returned to Paris--from Moscow, from Leipsic--and each time alone, without an army. Thus had he again presented himself.”

[46] The Campaign of the Hundred Days, it has been estimated, from first to last cost Napoleon in round numbers, in killed, wounded, and prisoners taken in the field:

Ligny (Killed and wounded) 10,000
Quatre-Bras (Killed and wounded) 4,300
Waterloo (Killed and wounded) 29,500
Waterloo (Prisoners unwounded) 7,500
Wavre (Killed and wounded) 1,800
Lesser actions (Killed and wounded) 2,100
------
Total 55,200
======

Out of the 126,000 men with whom Napoleon took the field, he lost some 43 per cent. of his army in the week between June 15 and 22.

[47] Five Eagles were on show in London in the autumn of 1815, in the so-called “Waterloo Museum,” having been acquired somehow on the occupation of Paris. Two were described as the Eagles of the 5th of the Line and of the Seamen of the Guard, and two as National Guard Eagles--all four having been presented at the _Champ de Mai_. The fifth purported to be the Eagle of the “Elba Guard.” None of the five had ever been in action.

INDEX

Alexander, Czar of Russia, 96, 104, 109, 111, 275, 292, 318, 324, 326

Aspern, Battle of, 204–10;
Eagle buried on the battlefield, 204;
two Eagles lost at, 205;
at bay in the burning village, 207;
Napoleon demands to see both Eagle and colonel, 208

Auerstadt, Battle of, 127, 133–6;
Davout under fire at, 134–5;
Eagles under fire at, 135;
Napoleon and the Third Corps, 136

Augereau, Marshal, 37, 145, 155, 156, 157, 158, 164, 169;
wounded at Eylau, 158;
sends Marbot to save a regiment, 179;
in disgrace, 364

Austerlitz, Eagles in the battle:
Eagle of the 15th Light Infantry rescued by the Commandant, 101;
Eagle of the 111th rallies the regiment, 102;
Eagle of the 108th in peril, 103;
Eagle of the 10th Light Infantry rescued, 106;
Eagle of the 24th Light Infantry lost, 108;
fate of Eagle of 4th, 108–10;
Eagle of the Chasseurs of the Guard saved by a dog, 112, 113;
trophies sent to Notre Dame, 120–121;
trophies disappear in 1814, 342

Barrosa, Battle of, trophy stolen from Chelsea Hospital, 227–8;
Colonel Vigo-Roussillon’s narrative, 229–31;
how the 87th advanced, 229;
fighting with their fists, 231;
French colonel and General Graham, 230;
French account of taking of “Eagle with Golden Wreath,” 232–3;
as reported in the _Moniteur_, 233;
Napoleon refuses to replace lost Eagle, 234;
the “Aiglers,” 235

Battalion Eagles, abolished, 183, 187–8;
Napoleon’s anger at the Amsterdam review, 188;
some supplied surreptitiously, 188;
final orders issued, 189

“Battle-honours,” as first authorised by Napoleon, 14, 15;
adopted in other armies, 14;
only selected names allowed, 191;
on the flag of the Old Guard, 315;
abolished at the Restoration, 350

Beauharnais, Eugène, Viceroy of Italy, 29, 204, 275, 88

Berlin, insolence of Prussian officers, 124;
their fate, 146;
Napoleon’s triumphant entry, 144–6;
in the uniform of a French general, 145;
demeanour of the citizens, 145;
French soldiers in the streets, 143;
march through, of Davout’s corps, 143–4;
parade of captured Prussian flags in, 144;
deputation of Senate carries trophies to Paris, 147

Bernadotte, Marshal, 38, 98, 112, 139, 144, 151, 152, 295, 364;
surprised at Möhringen, 150

Berthier, Marshal, chief of the general staff of Grand Army, 10, 11,
39, 40, 41, 125, 145, 188, 194, 195, 288, 296, 322, 323, 364;
on campaign with Napoleon, 39–41;
at an Eagle presentation, 194

Bessières, Marshal, 29, 38, 110, 111, 177, 364

Borodino, in the battle, 269–72;
Eagles have several narrow escapes, 270–2;
soldier’s personal narrative, 270

Boulogne Camp, 10, 15, 19, 58, 61

British trophies, destroyed at the Invalides, 333–5;
naval flags among them, 335;
the trophies now there, 344

Brune, Marshal, 34, 39, 363

Caesar, Eagle of, adopted by Napoleon, 9, 10

Cambronne, General, 355, 60

Campaign of 1813, fate of Eagles in: at the battles of the Katzbach,
Dennewitz, Kulm, Grossbeeren, 298;
Irish Legion saves its Eagles, 294–5;
heroic feat of a soldier, 295–6;
a short-sighted colonel, 297;
the Eagle of the 17th escapes, 297–302;
one lost in first day’s fighting at Leipsic, 303;
Eagles buried or flung into the Elster, 304–305;
dashing rescue by young officer, 306;
Eagles after the capitulation of Dresden, 306–307;
Eagle lost in a river in Eastern France, 307–8;
“One against eight,” 308

Caulaincourt, 169, 172, 173, 305, 322, 323, 373, 374

“_Champ de Mai_,” 1815, 362–72;
distribution of Eagles to the Last Army at, 369–72;
why so called, 362;
varying opinions on effect of, 372

Champ de Mars, presentation of Eagles on, 15, 16, 20–1, 22–3, 43–59;
personages who were there, 28–9, 31, 32, 35–42;
taking the oath, 46–7;
the final contretemps, 56–7

Chapel Royal, Whitehall, reception of Wellington’s trophies in, 226,
242, 430–1

Charlemagne, Eagle and Insignia of, 8, 9, 27, 44

Chasseur Eagles ordered to be withdrawn, 182

Chasseurs, 4th, deputation to Napoleon, 31

Chasseurs of the Guard, 25, 111, 416–20

Chelsea Hospital, trophies, 214, 227, 243, 255;
Barrosa trophy stolen, 227–8

Clark-Kennedy, Sir A. K., takes an Eagle at Waterloo, personal
narrative, 399, 401, 402, 403

Cock proposed as National Emblem, Napoleon objects to it, 3, 4, 6

“Cou-cous,” barrack-room nickname for the Eagles, 53;
adventure of one at Jena, 133

Cüstrin, surrender of fortress, 126, 142

Danube flotilla in Austerlitz campaign, 82–3

Davout, Marshal, 19, 29, 42, 98, 100, 101, 103, 4, 14, 34, 35, 36,
143, 145, 166, 167, 267, 268, 269, 275, 363, 369

Decoration of “Trois Toisons d’Or” proposed for Eagles, 186

De Coster, Napoleon’s Waterloo guide, 377, 386, 397

D’Erlon, General Drouet, at Waterloo, 381, 382, 384, 388, 392

Disbandment of the Grand Army, Eagles at, 434–5

Donzelot, General, at Waterloo, 391, 392, 410

Dragoon Eagles ordered to be withdrawn, 182

Dresden, surrender of, 1813, fate of the Eagles at, 307, 348–349

Dupont, General, 64, 65, 66, 82, 83, 86–91, 93, 94, 106, 135;
surrender of Bailen, fate of, 336, 7, 338;
Minister of War at the Restoration, harsh conduct of, 349, 350

Dürrenstein, combat at: Napoleon’s alarm on hearing sudden cannonade,
81–2;
forlorn-hope charge of the 100th and 103rd to save the Eagles, 89;
heroism of Marshal Mortier at, 90;
Eagles of the 9th and 32nd taken and retaken, 91;
just saved at the last, 93

Durutte, General, at Waterloo, 391, 410

Eagle lost in Masséna’s retreat found in a river in Spain and now at
Chelsea, 259–60;
of Chasseurs of the Guard at Waterloo, 415;
captured at Bailen recovered at Cadiz by French officer, 337

“Eagle with the Golden Wreath,” taking of, at Barrosa, 231–3;
fate of, at Chelsea, 227;
origin of the Wreath, 235, 6

“Eagle Guard,” institution of, after Eylau, 183–6;
why Napoleon created it, 182;
costume designed for Napoleon by Baron Lejeune, 185

Eagles, allowed by Napoleon to be kept back on occasions, 260;
ordered to be withdrawn from Spain, 261;
proscribed at the Restoration, 246, 350, 434–6;
those now at Invalides, 307–8, 435;
two that were taken and retaken at Waterloo, 403–4;
how all but two got through in the end, 420–1

“Elba Guard,” Eagle of the, 353–5

Elchingen, Ney’s heroism at, 66–8

Elephant proposed as National Emblem, 5

Ewart, Sergeant Charles, of the Scots Greys, takes an Eagle at
Waterloo, personal account, 396, 397, 398

Eylau Campaign, twelve Eagles lost, 166;
Eagle of the 9th Light Infantry lost at Möhringen and found in a
Russian ammunition wagon, 151–3;
two Eagles taken on first afternoon of Battle of Eylau, 154;
the 14th and 24th annihilated, and their Eagles carried off by
Cossacks, 155–63;
Marbot’s daring ride and narrow escape, 158–63;
10th Light Infantry and 28th also annihilated and Eagles lost, 164;
the 25th saves its Eagle, but loses all its officers, 165–7;
Eagles of the 18th and 51st taken, 166–7;
narrow escapes of the Eagles of the 17th and 30th, 168–9;
four cuirassier regiments lose their Eagles, 169;
Eagle of the Old Guard shot down, 172–3;
two more Eagles lost at Friedland, 175–6

“Fanions,” institution of, 183, 190;
ordered for all second and third and extra battalions, 183;
regulation colours of, 190;
Napoleon’s opinion of their value, 190

“First Grenadier of France,” Heart of the, narrow escapes in battle,
164–5, 382

Flag on the Eagle, design and details of, 10, 12–14, 191–3, 371

Flags lost under the Republic recovered in arsenal at Innsbrück, 79;
Marshal Ney presents on parade, 79;
Napoleon’s special Bulletin, 80

Fleur-de-lis proposed as National Emblem, 4, 7

Fontainebleau, Eagle of the Old Guard at, 312–14

Frederick the Great, 123, 124, 127, 134, 137, 144, 148, 149, 239,
292, 293, 330, 332, 336, 344;
his sword seized by Napoleon at Potsdam, 148, borne through the
streets of Paris, 149;
fate at the Invalides, 330, 332, 336

Garcia Hernandez, action at, French square broken by the Hanoverian
Dragoons, 255–8, 400

Gazan, General, 82, 83, 86, 92, 94, 95, 232, 233, 262

Golden Wreaths voted by Paris municipality for Eagles of Jena and
Friedland, 177, 235–8;
Napoleon orders the Austerlitz Eagles to be also decorated, 236

Gough, Major Hugh, commanding 87th at Barrosa, 222, 235

Graham, General, at Barrosa, 228, 229, 233

Grätz, combat at, special inscription, “One against ten,” placed on
Eagle of the 84th, 202–4

Grouchy, General, 363, 385, 389, 390, 410, 411, 421, 422

Guillemin, Porte-Aigle, of 8th of the Line, killed at Barrosa, 232

Günsburg, storming of the bridge of, in the Ulm Campaign, heroism of
Eagle-bearer of the 59th, 63–5

Halle, rearguard, action at, after Jena, 125, 136–7

Haslach, brilliant defence by Dupont, 65–6

Horse Grenadiers after Waterloo, British officer’s tribute to,
414–415

Horse Guards Parade, display of captured Eagles on, 217–27, 241–2,
429–31

Hussar Eagles ordered to be withdrawn, 182

Ice disaster at Austerlitz, 114–15

Invalides, on the day of the destruction of the Eagles, 30;
Frederick the Great’s sword and Jena trophies sent to, 148, 149;
destruction of trophies at, in 1814: no orders till too late, 328–9;
holocaust in the Court of Honour, 331–9;
Russian officer sent to demand an account, 339–42;
dome gilded by order of Napoleon from Moscow, 338;
attempt at salvage of trophies, 339;
Napoleonic trophies now at, 344, 435

Irish Legion Eagle, presented by Napoleon on the Field of Mars, 51;
narrow escape of coming to Chelsea, 293;
saved from the Prussians in 1813, 294

Jena Campaign, in the battle, 127–133;
Napoleon and the Eagle of the 64th at Jena, 129;
Eagle of the 76th at bay, 131;
Eagle pocketed by a soldier, 132–3;
Eagle of the 111th of the Line at Auerstadt, 135;
Eagle of the 32nd at Halle, 136–7;
Eagles paraded at the surrender of Magdeburg, 140;
in the triumphal march through Berlin, 144;
trophies paraded in Paris, 147–9;
half trophies recovered in 1814, 343

Jourdan, Marshal, 39, 363

Katzbach, incident in battle at the, colonel sacrifices his life for
his Eagle by mistake, 296–7

Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Napoleonic trophies in, 150, 263–5,
292

Kempt, General, at Waterloo, 393, 407

Keogh, Ensign Edward, 87th Royal Irish Fusiliers, heroic attempt to
capture Eagle at Barrosa, 232

Kleist, General, Governor of Magdeburg, surrenders to Ney, 139, 140–1;
insulted by his officers, 143

Kulm, defeat of Vandamme at, 1813, Eagle of the 17th saved after
extraordinary adventures, personal narrative, 297–302

Lannes, Marshal, 37, 38, 82, 98, 113, 114, 131, 132, 137, 139, 145,
176, 332, 364

Last Eagle presented to a regiment, 433–4

Lefebvre-Desnouettes, General, 34, 288, 364

Legion of Honour decoration affixed to a regimental standard, 186–7

Leipsic, Battle of, fate of the Eagles cut off on right bank of the
Elster, 303–6

Light Infantry Eagles ordered to be withdrawn, 182

Lion proposed as National Emblem of France, 7, 8

Lobau, Count, at Waterloo, 383–384, 390, 416–17

Lübeck, Blücher’s surrender at, and spoils from, 125, 139

Macdonald, Marshal, at Wagram, 210, 211, 283, 293, 294, 318, 364

Mack, General, in Ulm Campaign, 61, 62, 71, 72, 82

Magdeburg, surrender of, to Marshal Ney, 125, 139–143

Mamelukes of the Guard, 24–5, 110

Marbot and the Eagle of 14th at Eylau, 158–63

Marcognet, General, at Waterloo, 391, 393, 394, 395, 397, 410

Marmont, Marshal, 75, 82, 244, 245, 246, 255, 317, 318, 319, 320,
323, 324, 326, 327, 328, 364

Masséna, Marshal, 35, 36, 79, 206, 209, 210, 259, 364, 415;
heroic defence of Aspern, 206–10

Masterton, Sergeant, 87th Royal Irish Fusiliers, captor of Eagle at
Barrosa, 232–3

“Mes braves Enfants de Paris,” Napoleon and 45th of the Line, 395–6

Möhringen, surprise of Bernadotte at, 150–3

Moncey, Marshal, 38, 149, 363

Morlay, Lieutenant, Eagle-bearer of the Old Guard at Eylau, 171

Mortier, Marshal, 29, 38, 81–7, 90–4, 106, 288, 317–19, 320, 324,
326, 363

Moscow Campaign, Russian trophies, spoils, and other mementoes of the
retreat, 263–266;
fate of Eagles at Borodino, 270–1;
Cuirassier regiment loses its Eagle and finds it again, 272;
surprise of Murat, at Vinkovo, 275;
at Wiasma, the only survivor of a regiment, 276–7;
after Wiasma, midnight ride of two officers, 282;
Ney orders the Eagles to be destroyed, 284;
at Krasnoi, loss of the Eagle of the 18th, 285;
concentrated near the Imperial Guard, 287;
at the Beresina, Eagle broken up and buried, 289;
after the Beresina, Eagles buried in the snow, 290

“Moustache,” dog of Chasseurs of Guard, at Austerlitz, 112–13

Murat, Prince, King of Naples, 23, 38, 43, 44, 45, 46, 57, 61, 66,
67, 113, 114, 125, 128, 138, 154, 169, 170, 182, 274, 283, 288,
352, 364

Napoleon: with Berthier on campaign, 40–1;
oration at Eagle presentations, 46;
at the surrender of Ulm, 70–4;
sees the rout of the 4th at Austerlitz, 109–10;
at Eylau, 158–9, 169–170, 172–4;
meeting Eagles on the march, 193;
numerous wounds of, 201;
forlorn-hope attempt to save Paris, 319–23;
during the battle at Waterloo, 386–7, 389–90, 397, 409–10;
witnesses the rout of the Guard, 409;
retreating in the square of the Old Guard, 411–14

Naval Eagle, only one now existing, 46–50

Ney, Marshal, 19, 42, 62, 63, 65–9, 71, 75, 78–9, 80, 82, 130, 131,
136, 139–41, 144, 150, 176, 259, 267, 276–7, 281–6, 288, 291,
293, 303, 318, 336, 354, 357–60, 377, 385, 389, 390–2, 406–8;
superintends the surrender at Ulm, 70–1;
defilade of garrison of Magdeburg before, 140–1;
heroism of, in retreat from Moscow, 281–4, 286;
orders his Eagles to be destroyed, 284;
at Waterloo, 390, 2, 406–8.

Officers’ guard accompanies Eagles throughout Moscow retreat, 286–7,
289–90

Official Eagle regulations and instructions, 11, 12, 13, 188–90, 268–9

Old Guard, full-dress uniform always carried for triumphal parades,
146, 273, 382;
Eagle of, at Eylau, 169, 171–2;
charge of, at Eylau, 170–1;
how recruited and privileges, 179–80;
Eagle of, recrosses the Niemen, 291;
existing Eagle of the Grenadiers, 314–15;
escort Napoleon from Waterloo, 411–415

Oudinot, Marshal, 54, 98, 112, 287, 293, 308, 318, 364

Pack, General, Sir Dennis, at Waterloo, 393, 407

Percy, Major the Hon. Henry (11th Light Dragoons), brings
Wellington’s Waterloo despatch to England, 424–5, 427–428

Petit, General, at Waterloo, 311, 312, 313, 314, 350, 412, 413, 417

Picton, General Sir Thomas, at Waterloo, 246, 389, 393, 394, 399

Pierce, Lieutenant, 66th Regiment, takes Eagle at Salamanca, 253

Polytechnic, school flag burned after surrender of Paris, 327

Pope and the Coronation, Napoleon’s first views as to presence of in
Paris, 3

Pratt, Ensign, 30th Regiment, takes Eagle at Salamanca, 254

Presentation of Eagles by Napoleon in the field, 194–6, 268–9, 305

Prussian army, before Jena, 123–5;
hopeless demoralisation of after, 125–126, 137–8, 142–3;
fugitives from Jena cause break-up of Auerstadt troops, 127–8

Prussian prisoners in France, Napoleon’s orders in regard to, 46, 7

Rapp, Colonel, of the Mamelukes, at Austerlitz, 110–11

Ratisbon, heroic fight in defence, 199;
Eagle of 65th buried in cellar, 197–201

Reception of the Old Guard in Paris after Friedland, 177–9

Regimental numbers abolished by the Bourbons at Restoration, feeling
among the soldiers, 351–2

Reille, General, at Waterloo, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 388, 410

Retiro, Madrid, two Eagles taken at surrender of, now at Chelsea,
259–60

Russian Cuirassiers of the Guard at Austerlitz, 108–9

St. Cyr, Marshal, 9, 283, 291, 302, 307, 348, 364

St. Hilaire, General, at Austerlitz and Eylau, 104, 7, 163

St. Petersburg Dragoons take two Eagles at Eylau, 153–4

Salamanca, Battle of, 243–5;
Wellington’s diploma victory, 243;
Marmont carried wounded off the field, 244;
charge of Heavy Cavalry at, three regiments ridden down, 250–2;
two Eagles taken at, 253–5

Saving of the Eagle of the Chasseurs of the Guard at Austerlitz,
418–20

Schönbrunn review after Austerlitz, 4th of the Line censured by
Napoleon at, 116–20

Serrurier, Marshal, Governor of the Invalides, 34, 328, 9, 330, 331,
2, 363

Smolensk, Eagles in the attack on, 267–8;
new regiment wins its Eagle at, 268–9

Soult, Marshal, 19, 29, 41, 42, 58, 98, 99, 100, 103, 4, 12, 13, 14,
16, 127, 129, 139, 155, 163, 164, 197, 337, 363, 377, 385, 386,
390, 414, 416

Spandau, surrender of fortress of, to squadron of hussars, 126

State procession of Napoleon to Champ de Mars for presentation of
Eagles, 24–30

Stettin, surrender of, 126, 138

Styles, Corporal, 1st Royal Dragoons, at Waterloo, takes charge of
captured Eagle, 402

“Temple of Victory” for the trophies of the Grand Army, Napoleon’s
proposals for the Madeleine as, 175

Trophies taken in the Jena Campaign, Napoleon’s disposal of, 138–9,
141, 144, 147–8

Trophy Eagles at Vienna, 204–5, 292

Tyrol Campaign, 1805, storming of the heights before Innsbrück by
Marshal Ney, Eagles signal main attack, 78–9

Ulm Campaign, Eagles in:
Eagle of 59th at Günsburg, 63;
Eagle of the 6th Light Infantry heads the attack at Elchingen, 67–8;
paraded at the surrender of Ulm for the Austrian prisoners to pass
before, 69;
humiliating march past of defeated Austrian army, 69–77;
trophies sent by Napoleon to Paris, 77–8

Vandamme, General, 104, 107, 116, 297, 298, 299, 300, 422

Victor, Marshal, 238, 287, 288, 318, 364

Vigo-Roussillon, Lieut.-Col., of the 8th of the Line, at Barrosa,
229, 230, 231, 233

Villeneuve, Admiral, after Trafalgar, 49, 50, 120, 382

Vincennes, Artillery Depôt of, Eagles sent to, for destruction at the
Restoration, 346–7, 434

Wagram Campaign:
Eagle of the 65th hidden in a cellar at Ratisbon, wrapped in
Austrian flags, unearthed, and presented to Napoleon, 200–1;
“One against ten,” the Eagle of the 84th, 202–4;
Eagle of the 9th buried on the battlefield at Aspern, 204;
Eagles of the 35th, 95th, and 106th taken, 204–5;
Macdonald’s column at Wagram; five regiments rally round their
Eagles, 212–13

Waterloo Campaign:
Eagles in, Napoleon’s parade of, before the battle, 380–2;
taking of Eagle of the 45th, 396–7;
two other Eagles stated to have been taken and recovered, 398–9,
403–5;
“fanion” of the 45th taken and lost while on the march, 399;
taking of the Eagle of the 105th, 400–3;
“fanion” of the 105th found at Abbotsford, 403;
Eagle of the 1st of the Line before Hougoumont saved by colonel,
405;
Eagles of the Guard in the last attack, 406;
Eagles of the 8th and 95th, 408;
Eagle of the Old Guard escorts Napoleon off the field, 412–14;
news of, in London, 426–9;
in Paris, 429.

Wellington, mentioned, 51, 223, 224, 8, 33, 34, 242, 243, 245, 246,
250, 253, 259, 260, 336, 380, 383, 384, 385, 388, 389, 390,
399, 400, 404, 424, 429

_Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations.

Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of the pages that referenced them, have been collected, sequentially renumbered, and placed at the end of the main text, just before the Index.

Odd-page running headings appear here as Sidenotes, usually placed near relevant text. Some of the sidenotes refer to text in footnotes, and the footnotes in this eBook are at the end of the main text, not on their original pages.

The index was not systematically checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.

The index often shortened page numbers in a sequence, e.g., “144, 51, 52”. In this ebook, those page numbers have been expanded to their full size, e.g., “144, 151, 152”. However, it is possible that some were missed.

Page 8: “éploye” was printed that way, without an acute accent on the final “e”.

Page 68: “Duc D’Elchingen” was printed as “Due D’Elchingen”; changed here.

Page 387: “A present il est fini” was printed that way, without an acute accent over the “e” in “present”.

Page 413: “presentaient” was printed that way, without an acute accent over the first “e”.