by Jakob Walter
When the Tyrolean insurgents heard of a large army reenforced by the allied Baden and French forces, they retreated, and we moved forward on all sides. The army then went through Ravensburg and to Hofen on the Lake of Constance while the enemy moved with several skirmishes to Lindau and finally back into the mountains.
In Hofen the Lilienberg Regiment was also stationed, in which my brother served, and we met in his quarters. It is easy to imagine that we two brothers rejoiced heartily at our reunion. The worry of one of us about the possible misfortune of the other was so much greater because we could seldom see and never protect each other.
After the aforesaid reunion I had to go through Buchhorn to Lindau. This latter city lies on an island in the lake, and a wooden bridge leads into it. The insurgents had to move out of this city for fear of being shut in. The first battalion of my regiment stayed ten weeks in this city, in which French horsemen were also stationed. During this time we had to make frequent attacks upon the enemy, among which the following were especially noteworthy.
As I stood at my outpost with the picket near the bleaching meadow facing Bregenz, the enemy moved in over the vineyards. The outposts had to move back to the picket. The picket fired, but the enemy approached. While each soldier fired wherever he could take a position, everyone stationed himself behind the bleaching house and took up the defense. To be able to aim better, I ran into a bleaching hut built of boards which lay well forward. A staircase went up from the outside, and I stationed myself on this, resting my rifle on the railing, where I could take aim at every man who approached. During the time while I was firing forty out of my sixty cartridges, the bullets kept raining down like hail upon my hut, and the enemy came too close upon me. Now I sprang down the steps and across the meadows back to the picket, which, however, was already retreating toward the city. Then I had to jump through gardens and hedges, and the enemy came to the gate just a little later than I did. I almost choked, gasping for breath.
When all of us had retreated into the city, the enemy remained outside the city three days, firing continually. We, however, had erected a bridge-head (breastwork) of sandbags and a trench and defensive iron spikes. We fired through the loopholes and from the wall with cannon and small guns. During the heavy shelling I shot a man in front of a garden house as he came a little way forward toward the breastwork and aimed into the loophole; but, after I shot and he suddenly fell, several others wanted to carry off this dead man, as was often done; however, the more openly it was done, the more often other men were hit too. Finally we fired with cannon, throwing projectiles into the large and beautiful garden houses, setting them all in flames. On the third day the enemy could no longer hold out, because of the heavy artillery fire, and moved back into the mountains.
As soon as the road was cleared, the trees standing in the gardens were cut down by the thousands, along with the beautiful box hedges which stood there tall and beautiful like walls, and the rest of the buildings were completely torn down, so that they would not be a hindrance to the shelling any more. This inflicted a damage of one million florins on the city.
After a time we again undertook a general attack, for which the Lilienberg Regiment, Baden and French soldiers, and the sharpshooters joined us. The enemy was attacked in front of Lindau and was driven in retreat back into the mountains. Before the attack volunteers were called upon to advance by skirmishes, and I went with them. The number was 160 men in all, and we were under the command of a lieutenant. Under the continual firing about fifty sharpshooters were cut off from us during the pursuit and led captive into the mountains. All of us volunteers pressed halfway up the mountain which was two hours distant from Lindau in order to recover the captives. When we saw that the columns advancing behind us were no longer following but were dividing in the middle and that our detachment had moved three quarters of an hour too far away, we heard the firing far to the left and far to the right as though it came from Kempten and, to the right, from Bregenz. This seemed to be a turning of our men into retreat, which assumption proved to be true. Now the lieutenant wanted to retreat with us, but we all complained at that and still wanted to bring back the captives from the mountains. The lieutenant would not give in, and we had to go back to a little village at the foot of the mountains. When we came into this village, we were fired upon from the houses and gardens and our army had already retreated halfway toward Lindau. Everyone then had to rely upon his legs; and, amid much firing, we had to run until we almost choked for want of air. We met the whole corps in an oak wood a half hour out of Lindau. Here we wanted to take a stand, but could not because of the danger of being surrounded by insurgents.
Now the detachment retreated slowly until near the city, and then took up again the position for firing. Here we held out for half an hour, everyone firing as much as he could. The cannon were hauled out, but the grapeshot fire did not help either, since the enemy formed a half-moon line and only a few could be hit, for they lay down on the ground behind the hedges, trees, and hills, while every shot of theirs could hit our compressed column. Finally too many of our men fell, and the enemy drew near the city gate in order to cut everyone off; this hurried our retreat into the city.
Noteworthy was the state of the peasants who had to drive the wagons to pick up the wounded and who had to come right along at the time of the attack. Four men and four horses were hitched to each wagon. As soon as the firing began, they had to stay with us. From then on, none of them could be seen sitting upright on his horse: they were all lying down on their horses, and those on the wagons flung themselves down amidst a fearful howling. In addition, they were given blows because of their fear.
3. NEAR EVE, 29 JUNE 1812. A. CUANTH, LITHOGRAPHER. A FORAGING PARTY ON THE MOVE.
During this time that I was at Lindau, the second battalion of the Franquemont Regiment, which was stationed at Wangen and Isny, was made completely captive. Later peace was made, and we marched into Bregenz, a town up on the Lake of Constance. However, the entrance into this city was looked upon as a somewhat hostile move. For the sake of security several regiments coming from the mountains entered it from behind, and those from Lindau moved in from the front.
Indeed, the Regiment of Lilienberg had once before been forced to flee after a conquest of the town. It happened in this way: while the soldiers were looking about for booty in the cellars and houses, the enemy moved into the town and drove everyone out through the narrow pass in the mountain, which has three outlets. On this occasion the enemy should have pressed their advantage. Rather than rushing dispersed into the attack, they might better have occupied the three outlets and made captives of everyone. Instead, they only fired down from the mountains at their fleeing enemies in the pass, not having occupied the outlets strongly enough.
When our before-mentioned entry into Bregenz began, there was once more disorder among the soldiery. Cellars were broken into, and wine was carried out in buckets everywhere. Even several kegs were left running. Everyone became intoxicated until finally a strict order put an end to all this. We drank especially a great deal of very thick red Tyrolean wine, and we had everything in abundance. When, however, a new day arrived and all had moved into their quarters, everything became quiet, and the property of the citizens was safeguarded.
I stayed there almost three weeks at the home of a chimney sweep, together with nine other men, and we had everything, in particular as much as we could drink, wine and cherry brandy. After three weeks my regiment was moved to Dornbirn, which was a large marketing center lying in the Rhine Valley between Switzerland and Tyrol. In this town I came into the house of a furrier, who himself was still with the insurgents. His wife had a little child about three-quarters of a year old. This child was remarkably beautiful, and I, too, had my fun with it.
Once I gave this child some brandy to drink. Little by little the child took a liking to it, so that it became a bit intoxicated and so gleeful that I had to keep it from falling down from the pillow; this was great fun and did n
ot do the child any harm. I stayed another period of about three weeks in these quarters, and in the entire village the people were quite friendly.
The householders in this village and the surrounding region have several maids who come from the Tyrolean Alps. These maids are especially remarkable for their dress. All their black skirts are of one piece with the bodice and have a great number of pleats all around. Upon their heads they wear large black caps, which likewise have curious pleats and are large and round like beehives in form. These maids have especially pretty and rosy-colored faces, which is said to come from eating milk and cheese. As to sociability, however, there is not much to say for them, since they are shy and not very talkative. They showed this even more toward orderly soldiers, as I know from experience, since there were two such maids in my house. It often happened, when they were sitting at their meal and I would joke with them decently, that they would jump up from the table and run out of the room, and then it was difficult to get them to come back again.
Regarding the fertility of this region, there is not much rye or German wheat, so much the more corn, however. The bread in particular is usually of nothing but corn. When you look at the bread, you believe that it is made of the finest kernels. When eating it, however, you notice it is coarse, heavy, and soggy. Wood is not cheap either; and in place of it in the entire Rhine Valley they dig peat, that is, sod which is a grayish red. This is cut and piled up, dried in the air and sun, and then burned in stoves instead of wood.
4. A BIVOUAC NEAR MALIATHUI, 5 JULY 1812. PRINTED BY G. KÜSTNER. SOLDIERS TRADING FOR FURS WITH LOCAL JEWISH MERCHANTS.
During this time, from spring to fall, we always had the great snow-capped mountains before, and later around us. Every time that it had rained, even in the greatest heat in August, one could see that the mountains were covered with new snow to a third of the distance down from the top.
In the month of October, we again marched homeward, and the route led through Wangen, Ravensburg, Altdorf, and Waldsee, and from there to Biberach, where we all had to stay for some time, being quartered in the surrounding villages. I also was assigned to a village and to the house of a well-to-do peasant who had a sister, a nun who was living at home. Since I would read books frequently on certain days and the nun noticed my behavior, she asked me why I always read and was so thoughtful. I said that my former circumstances gave me occasion to do that.
Since I kept trying to be pleasant to her and was able to draw her attention more and more toward me, she asked others about my situation. Now I thought that since this thing had been started it must be carried on. I spoke to all my comrades located in the village, saying that they should call me at times “Miller,” at other times “Walter,” and again “Kapuziner.” This was done. Then the nun said to me, “Now I know, indeed, where your devout reading comes from. You may as well confess it to me.” So then I did her the favor and told her that my brother had been a priest and I a Capuchin monk, that I had already vowed my chastity, and also that my name had been Miller instead of Walter, which the malicious soldiers always applied to me. I finally told her that she had evidence here in my beard which I still wore on my chin.
From now on, these pious hosts were very sympathetic toward me, and the nun told me her entire cloister story, and they had a liking for me above all other soldiers, so much so that the old father wept tears. Especially when I left, he wept with the others, begging that if I loved them I should inform them of my future fate in distant places. They even wanted to accompany me for several hours.
After the years 1810 and 1811 had passed by and I was, in 1811, at the house of my godfather, Master Craftsman Häfele, the innkeeper at Ellwangen, war once more broke out.
Campaign
of
1812 and 1813
IN THE MONTH OF JANUARY, 1812, I was recalled to the garrison of Schorndorf. From here the line of march went through Calw, Wüstenroth, and Oehringen. In the villages about Oehringen the regiments remained four or five days until the inspection was completed in Oehringen. From here the entire corps marched through Künzelsau, Mergentheim, Weikersheim, and through the Würzburg district, where it was generally rumored that we were going to Spain and would embark on the Baltic Sea. Although the outlook did not seem good, I and all the soldiers were very merry, always singing and dancing, especially since throughout the entire Würzburg country the quarters and eating and drinking were very good, particularly because of the large supply of wine, so that everyone had his field flask voluntarily filled with wine and his pockets with cookies at the time of departure. Moreover, the beautiful villages on the Main River, surrounded by vineyards, fruit trees, and grain fields, put everyone in a happy mood.
About the middle of March, the army continued on its way through Saxe-Coburg, where a wooded and mountainous region began; the pine trees were especially plentiful. In these mountains we came upon a valley which led out of the Thuringian Forest. In this valley there were sawmills every two or three hundred paces, and between them were little hamlets. When the valley turned to the right and our march to the left, as it went through the Thuringian Forest itself to Saxe-Weimar, we had to climb high as if up a roof. In this huge forest, snow still lay two feet deep, though during the whole march no more was to be seen. In the middle of the forest was a game park which was tightly enclosed with planks to a height of twelve feet and which was about an hour’s walk long. The city where we afterward spent the night lay about an hour’s walk away in the valley. From Weimar we turned somewhat to the left, continued through a few cities toward Leipsic, and in April entered Leipsic.
In the city of Leipsic anyone could see what was going to happen, since as many “Frenchies” as could slip through came crowding through the gates. Leipsic was packed with soldiers, and I was in quarters with 150 men; yet the landlord to whom we were assigned put us all in one building, the former theater building, which was a hall 100 feet long and 60 feet wide. Triple rows of tables stood ready in the hall, very beautifully set and loaded with beer, brandy, butter, cheese, and white bread. After all had sat down, everybody ate and drank while eight servants brought in the warm meal, which consisted of white soup, two kinds of meat, and several kinds of vegetables. In addition, something cold was served for dessert, and drinks were served in abundance throughout the whole afternoon. We stayed here two days until the line of march formed by columns and the departure was ordered.
After leaving Leipsic, we found the quarters somewhat worse on account of the huge army of soldiers, and the march turned toward Torgau. I had been in Torgau in 1807. In the meantime the city had built new fortifications. About the city, which it took an hour to walk around, there had been added two moats and besides four buttressed walls of nothing but beautifully hewn stones which had been shipped down the Elbe from Bohemia. These new huge walls especially attracted my attention, since I could examine them as a mason and a stonecutter; and so I saw that each of them was ten feet thick and that buttresses were set into the ground every ten feet behind them, each of them in turn ten feet thick and ten feet long. I noticed especially the beautiful jointing of the stones, most of which were ten feet long and three feet square and had been laid over the wall lengthwise. On the other side of the Elbe there were also casements facing eastward, which were all, even the roofwork, built of beautifully hewn stone.
5. BETWEEN KIRGALICZKY AND SOUDERVA, 30 JUNE 1812. DAVID & VANDERBUCK, LITHOGRAPHERS. SOLDIERS FORDING A RIVER.
And then we went farther and came to Fürstenwalde, a middle-sized city in the Brandenburg district. It was the region where my regiment had lain in fixed quarters for eleven weeks in 1807, and so many of us went to see our former landlords; several women also found their once beloved soldiers, although several men were hiding for good reason and did not wish to be found for fear they would be called a father. In this city I was quartered with a beer brewer. We stayed there several days. The opportunity was also taken to invite soldiers to communion, for which four Catholic and four Lutheran clerg
ymen had been sent along with the corps from home. The church was Lutheran, but we held the Catholic services there, too; so I received communion. We were still very lively in this town, singing and living cheerfully, although we could imagine the unusual campaign before us; but everyone always believes in, and hopes for, the best. I also looked after my saber and made it very sharp at a turner’s and tempered it in fire so that it would not break off. I saw in the eastern suburb of this little town a house, the timber framing of which was filled with bones cross-wise; instead of being walled in, these bones had moss between them. In general, the types of buildings in this region are of a poor appearance and quality so that a like condition may be assumed about the farming. From there the line of march turned toward Frankfort-on-the-Oder, where a halt was made. Here we were quartered for three days, and by this time we had to be contented with poor food and army bread. We had to drill even on Ascension Day; so General Hügel tried to remind his royal highness, the Crown Prince, not to drill, saying that it was a holiday. The Crown Prince, however, gave this answer: “I will do you a favor, General, and not arrest you. Do you think I don’t know what day it is?” This indignant mood of our Crown Prince might well have been caused by the transfer of the Württemberg corps to General Ney, since the day before Ney had attached us to his 25th division and the 3rd army corps; and our Crown Prince, feeling his honor injured, was, therefore, angry with us.
From Frankfort the march was continued to Poland through the village of Reppen, where the use of the German language stopped, and the manners and culture made a strange impression. It was the month of May, and the air swarmed with May bugs so amazingly that it was hard to keep your eyes open in the evening. The bugs were so very thick that they darkened the atmosphere, and everyone was busy shaking them out of his face and hair. Here it became necessary for each person to seek and cook his own provisions, although requisitioning was forbidden. However, everyone still had his full strength, and courage was still alive in every soldier. But from day to day privation and hunger increased, and it became necessary for the regiment to requisition and slaughter livestock so that the men could have some meat in addition to the potatoes and grits which they found here and there. Bread was rare, and there was nothing at hand to buy.