The whole
presented a pitiful sight, and the soldiers' contempt of life excited
horror.
We shall return to von Scherer's dissertation when describing the retreat
from Moscow.
While the dissertation of von Scherer treats on the fate of the
Wuerttembergian corps of Napoleon's grand army, a memoir of First
Lieutenant von Borcke who served as adjutant of General von Ochs in the
Westphalian corps relates the fate of the Westphalians in the grand army of
1812.
The Westphalians, 23,747 men strong, left Cassel in the month of March,
1812, to unite with the French army. One of the regiments was sent later
and joined the corps while the army was on the retreat from Moscow at
Moshaisk. This regiment, like another, which followed still later and
joined the army on the retreat at Wilna, was annihilated. Of the 23,747 men
a few hundred finally returned. On March 24th., the Westphalians crossed
the Elbe, von Borcke (it is a common error in American literature to spell
the predicate of nobility _von_ with a capital V when at the beginning of a
period, while neither von nor the corresponding French de as predicate of
nobility should ever be spelled with a capital) at that time suffered from
intermittent fever, but was cured by the use of calisaya bark. I mention
this to call attention to the fact that quinine was not known in the year
1812. When the corps marched into Poland the abundance of provisions which
the soldiers had enjoyed, came to an end.
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