When I came in about ten o'clock, on returning from an errand three or four leagues from Landshut, Marshal Lannes gave me an order to carry to General Gudin. His division being a long way off, I was to remain with him till the marshal arrived in the field. This was embarrassing, for the horse which I had been riding was knocked up, the marshal had not one to lend me, and there was no French cavalry at Landshut which might be required to supply me with one. I could not go to the Emperor's quarters to tell the marshal that I was practically horseless, yet without a good steed how was I to carry an order on which perhaps the safety of the army depended? I got out of the difficulty by what I admit was a wicked act, but perhaps excusable in the circumstances. You shall decide. I called my servant, Woirland, a practised 'snapper-up of unconsidered trifles,' who had served his apprenticeship in Humbert's Black Legion, and was never at a loss. I imparted my difficulty to him, and bade him procure me a horse at any price; I simply must have one. 'You shall have it,' said he, and leaving the town he made for the camp of the Wurtemberg cavalry. The men were all asleep, sentries and all; Woirland inspected the horses at his ease, saw one that he liked, unfastened it, and, at the risk of getting knocked on the head if anyone saw him, he brought it out of the camp, turned everything off its back, came back to the town, put my saddle on it, and informed me that it was all ready. Now the horses of the Wurtemberg cavalry are marked on the near thigh with a pair of stag's horns, so I could easily recognise whence the new mount, which my Figaro had brought me, was procured. He did not deny it; the horse, to put it plainly, had been stolen. But see how a difficult situation stretches the conscience! To silence mine, I said to myself: 'If I do not take this animal, which belongs to the King of Wurtemberg, it is impossible for me to bear to General Gudin the orders which he has got to execute at daybreak. This may involve the loss of a battle, and cost the King of Wurtemberg his crown. Therefore, in making use of a horse from his army I am indirectly doing him a service. Besides, as the Emperor gave him a kingdom, he may very well lend the Emperor a horse, which I shall return when I have made use of it to their joint advantage.' Whether this reasoning would satisfy a casuist I know not, but matters were pressing; I leapt into the saddle, and galloped off. Master Woirland knew his business, it was an excellent horse. The only thing which disturbed me was that the infernal pair of horns stamped on its thigh, showing whence it came, exposed me to the chance of having it claimed by some Wurtemberg officer. Finally, at daybreak, I reached General Gudin, just as his troops were marching. I went with him until the Emperor and Marshal Lannes overtook us with the main body. The battle was fought, victory was never for a moment in doubt. Marshal Davout distinguished himself, earning the title which was given him later on of Prince of Eckmühl.

My horse behaved splendidly, but his last day had come. In the hottest of the action, Marshal Lannes sent one of his least experienced aides-de-camp to General Saint-Sulpice with orders to charge with his cuirassiers a brigade of the enemy's cavalry. The aide-de-camp explained matters so badly that the general was going off in quite a different direction, and the marshal perceiving this told me to place myself at the head of the division, and to guide it towards the enemy by the high road which runs through the village of Eckmühl. While Lannes was explaining his wishes to me, studying a map which he, I, and General Cervoni were holding each by one side, a cannon-ball came across it, and threw General Cervoni stone dead against the marshal's shoulder. He was covered with the blood of his friend, who had come from Corsica only the day before on purpose to make this campaign. Deeply grieved as he was, he continued to give me his orders with perfect clearness, and I hastened to General Saint-Sulpice, and rode beside him at the head of the cuirassiers towards Eckmühl.

The village was occupied by a regiment of Croats, who instead of firing upon us out of the windows where they were out of reach of our sabres, bravely but stupidly left their excellent position, and came down into the street, intending to form close column, and stop our squadrons with their bayonets. The French cuirassiers gave them no time for this; they came up so quickly that the Croats, caught in disarray just as they were coming out of the houses, were driven in and sabred, and soon the street was piled with their bodies. They did not, however, yield without a valiant defence. One battalion especially made a vigorous resistance, and my horse having received in the scuffle the point of a bayonet in his heart went forward a few steps, and fell dead against a corner stone in such wise that one of my legs was caught under the poor animal's body, and my knee pressed against the stone, so that I was quite unable to move. Woe to the dismounted horseman in such cases! No one stops to pick him up, nor, indeed, could he if he would; so the first regiment of our cuirassiers, after cutting down all the Croats who did not lay down their arms promptly, continued the charge, and passed through the village followed by the whole division at a gallop.

Horses, unless very tired, seldom set their feet on the body of a man lying on the ground. Thus the whole division of cuirassiers passed over me without doing the slightest injury. Still, I could not free myself, and my situation became more unpleasant when I foresaw that our cuirassiers would be repulsed and driven back through the village by a very strong force of the enemy's cavalry, which I had seen before the charge on the further side of Eckmühl. I was afraid that the Austrian troopers would serve me out by way of revenging the Croats. During the moment of quiet which succeeded the uproar of the street fighting and the passage of cavalry, I perceived at no great distance two grenadiers of the enemy's who had laid aside their pieces, and were helping their wounded comrades to rise. I beckoned them to come to me and assist me in getting my leg free; whether from good nature or from fear that I might have them killed, although at that moment I had no Frenchmen at my orders, they obeyed. They knew that our cuirassiers were in front, and probably regarded themselves as prisoners; anyhow, these kind of soldiers do not reflect much. They came up, and I admit that when I saw one of them pull from his pocket a knife to cut the leather of the stirrup which held my foot under the horse, I was afraid that the fancy might seize him of sticking it, as he might quite safely have done, into me. But he was honest, and with the help of his comrade succeeded in setting me on my feet. I made them take my saddle and bridle, and left Eckmühl to rejoin our infantry, which was still outside.

The two Croats followed me in the most docile manner, and it was lucky for them they did, for hardly were we out of the village when a fearful noise arose behind us. It was caused by the return of our squadrons, who, as I expected, were driven back by the enemy's superior force, and these in their turn were sabring all who lagged behind. Our cuirassiers, furious at their repulse, tried as they galloped past me to run through the Croats who were carrying my saddle. The men had helped me; I objected, therefore, to their being killed, and ordered them by signs to lie down in a ditch, where the sabres could not reach them. I should have put myself there if I had not observed at the head of the Austrian force some Uhlans, who could easily have reached me with their lances. Luckily for us, help came to Saint-Sulpice's division before it had gone 300 or 400 paces, for, seeing it in retreat, the Emperor sent forward two divisions of cavalry, which were rapidly hastening to meet us. But short as was the distance which I had to traverse to escape the Austrian lances, it was a long way for a dismounted man. Two cuirassiers took me between them, and each giving me a hand carried me along so well that with the help of long strides, I could keep up for a couple of minutes with their galloping horses. This was all that mattered, the supports came up promptly, the enemy stayed their pursuit and were even driven back beyond Eckmühl, which our troops re-occupied. I was glad to be at the end of my more than double-quick march, for I was out of breath, and could not have kept it up. I had a good opportunity of observing how ill-suited for war are such big and heavy boots as our cuirassiers then wore. A young officer of the squadron which saved me had his horse killed, and two of his men stretched out their hands to help him to run as I had done, but although he was tall and slight and far more active than I, his stiff and heavy foot-gear prevented him from moving his legs quickly enough to keep up with the horses. He was compelled to let go of the helping hands, and the next time we saw the ground which we had so rapidly crossed, we found the lieutenant killed by the stroke of a lance. We could see that he had been trying to get rid of his large boots, one of which was pulled half off. My little hussar boots, being light and flexible, had been no if hindrance to me.

Hoping to recover my saddle and bridle, I returned to the ditch, where I had made the two Croats hide, and found them, quietly lying there. Several charges had taken place across their lair without their receiving the least scratch. I rewarded them, and marched them in front of me to the hillock, where the Emperor and Marshal Lannes were, knowing well that my chief would not wish to lose my services during the rest of the battle, and would make one of the regiments which were near him lend me a horse. He gave orders accordingly, but as at the moment there were none but cuirassiers in the neighbourhood, they brought me an immense heavy animal, quite unfit to carry an aide-de-camp rapidly from point to point. The marshal having remarked this, a colonel of Wurtemberg Light Horse, who happened to be behind the Emperor, eager to do a polite thing, bade his orderly dismount; and there I was again on an excellent horse, marked with the stag's horns. The colonel's kindness renewed, in some measure, my remorse for the crime I had committed in the morning, but I silenced it by repeating my somewhat Jesuitical arguments. The joke of the thing was that, as I was bearing an order to the reserve, I fell in with my servant, Woirland, who, coming up to give me some provisions out of his always well-filled saddle-bags, exclaimed, 'Why, that horse is the devil! He was grey this morning, and now he's black!'

The battle of Eckmühl began and lasted all day on broken ground, covered with small hills and copse-wood; but, as one advances towards the Danube, the country grows level and bare until one enters the immense plain which extends to Ratisbon. The Austrian cavalry is one of the best in Europe, but under the plea that they must reserve it to cover their retreat in the event of their being beaten, they employ it not at all, or very little, during the fight. This leads to their defeat, and compels a retreat which they might have avoided. Then, however, their cavalry does cover their retrograde movement admirably. This happened at Eckmühl, 1for, as soon as the Archduke Charles saw that the battle was lost, and that his infantry, driven out of the hilly ground, were exposed to the French squadrons, while making it difficult to retreat in the plain, he caused the whole of his cavalry to take the offensive. They came bravely forward to check us, while the Austrian infantry, artillery, and baggage were retiring upon Ratisbon. The Emperor, on his side, advanced our hussars and chasseurs, supported by the strong brigades of Saint-Sulpice and Nansouty, to which the enemy opposed two brigades of the same arm. The light cavalry on both sides drew off promptly to the flank, to avoid being crushed by these formidable steel-clad masses, who advanced rapidly upon each other, met with a shock, penetrated each other, and became one immense mêlée. A faint twilight, and the beams of a rising moon, alone gave light for this terrible and majestic combat. The shouts of the fighters were drowned by the sound of repeated blows of heavy sabres upon thousands of helmets and cuirasses, from which the sparks flew in numbers. Austrians and French both wished to remain masters of the field. Courage, tenacity, and strength were well matched, but the defensive arms were unequal, for the Austrian cuirasses only covered them in front, and gave no protection to the back in a crowd. In this way, the French troopers, who, having double cuirasses and no fear of being wounded from behind, had only to think of thrusting, were able to give point at the enemy's backs, and slew a great many of them with small loss to themselves. This unequal fight lasted some minutes; finally the Austrians, with immense loss in killed and wounded, were compelled, for all their bravery, to abandon the ground. When they had wheeled about, they understood still better what a disadvantage it is not to have a cuirass behind as well as in front. The fight became a butchery, as our cuirassiers pursued the enemy, and for the space of half a league the ground was piled with killed and wounded cuirassiers. Few would have escaped, had not our men stayed to charge some battalions of Hungarian grenadiers, which they broke up and captured almost entirely. This fight settled a question which had been long debated, as to the necessity of double cuirasses, for the proportion of Austrians wounded and killed amounted respectively to eight and thirteen for one Frenchman.

After this terrible charge, the enemy, unable to resist any further, fled in the greatest disorder, briskly pursued along the road—fugitives pell-mell with victors. Marshal Lannes proposed to the Emperor that he should profit by the rout of the Austrians to destroy their army completely, hurling it back on the Danube, and entering Ratisbon with it. But the other marshals pointed out that we were still three leagues from that place, that our infantry was weary, and that it would be dangerous to risk a night engagement against an enemy which had shown such obstinate courage. The Emperor therefore ordered the pursuit to cease, and the army bivouacked in the plain. The Austrians admitted a loss of 5,000 killed, and 15,000 prisoners, twelve colours, and sixteen guns; of ours they only captured a few men, and killed 1,500. In such disorder did the enemy retreat that in the night one of their cavalry regiments was straying about our camp, unable to find any line of retreat open. Colonel Guéhéneuc, bearing an order, stumbled upon this force, and the commander, after having seized M. Guéhéneuc, said, 'You were my prisoner, now I am yours,' and we saw Guéhéneuc come up, much to the Emperor's amusement, and the Austrian regiment which had surrendered to him.

After such a success, captured horses were, as you may suppose, plentiful in the camp. I bought three capital animals for a few louis, and being thus completely mounted for the rest of the campaign I gave up the two screws which I had previously acquired, and returned to the Wurtembergers the horse which they had lent me.