Notwithstanding all the misery of a three-days-march to Moshaisk all were
hopeful. The distance from Moshaisk to Smolensk was covered in seven or
eight days; the weather, although cold during the night, was good during
the day, and the soldiers gladly anticipated to find, after some more
hardship, rest, abundance, and warm winter quarters in Smolensk.
[Illustration]
On the march the army camped on the battlefield of Borodino when they saw
50 thousand cadavers lying still unburied, broken wagons, demolished
cannons, helmets, cuirasses, guns spread all over--a horrid sight! Wherever
the victims had fallen in large numbers one could see clouds of birds of
prey rending the air with their sinister cries. The reflections which this
sight excited were profoundly painful. How many victims, and what result!
The army had marched from Wilna to Witebsk, from Witebsk to Smolensk,
hoping for a decisive battle, seeking this battle at Wiasma, then at Ghjat,
and had found it at last at Borodino, a bloody, terrible battle. The army
had marched to Moscow in order to earn the fruit of all that sacrifice, and
at this place nothing had been found but an immense conflagration. The army
returned without magazines, reduced to a comparatively small number, with
the prospect of a severe winter in Poland, and with a far away prospect of
peace,--for peace could not be the price of a forced retreat,--and for such
a result the field of Borodino was covered with 50 thousand dead.
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