Marshal Lannes ordered General Saint-Hilaire to send 500 men to the island of Schwarzelaken, which is separated from the left bank by a small arm of the river, and almost reaches the end of the Spitz bridge. General Saint-Hilaire composed this force of men from two regiments under two majors, which was likely to interfere with combined action. Thus, on reaching the island these officers, not acting in concert, committed the great mistake of having no reserve in a large house well placed for protecting the landing of more troops. Then dashing on blindly, without organisation, they pursued some detachments of the enemy who were defending the island. These shortly received reinforcements from the left bank, and though our soldiers repulsed the first attacks with vigour, forming square and fighting with the bayonet, they were overwhelmed by numbers, more than half being killed and all the rest wounded and taken before support could reach them. The Emperor and Marshal Lannes arrived on the river-bank just in time to witness this disaster. They bitterly reproached General Saint-Hilaire, who, though he had much experience of war, had made the mistake of first composing his detachment badly, and then of letting it go before he was in a position to support it promptly by successive reinforcements. It is true he had few boats at his disposal, but plenty more were coming up, for which he might have waited, and not acted precipitately. In this affair the Austrian troops were commanded by a French émigré, General Nordmann. He was very soon punished for having borne arms against his country, for he was killed by a cannon-ball at the battle of Wagram.

In despair at having caused the deaths of so many brave men, the Emperor and Marshal Lannes were hastening along the bank in a state of great agitation, when the marshal, catching his foot in a rope, fell into the Danube. Napoleon, who was alone with him at the moment, dashed into the water up to his waist, and had got the marshal out when we ran up to his assistance. This accident did not improve their tempers, already tried by the check which we had received, and which compelled the idea of a passage by the Schwarzelaken island to be given up. Having ascertained our purpose, the enemy had occupied it with several thousand men. Ebersdorf was now the only point at which we could cross the Danube. The village lies on the left bank, and in order to reach it we had to cross four branches of the river; the first being 500 yards in breadth, from which may be judged the immense length of the bridge that we had to throw across. Then comes an island, and then the second branch, the most rapid of all, 320 yards wide. The third stream is not more than 40. After passing these obstacles the huge island of Lobau is reached, which again is separated from the main land by the fourth branch, 140 yards across. We therefore had over 1,000 yards of water to traverse, and four bridges to build. The advantage of the crossing opposite Ebersdorf was that the Lobau island served as an immense place of arms, from which one could reach the left bank with more security, and further, as it formed a re-entering angle, offered a very advantageous debouchment upon the middle of the plain, which stretches between the villages of Gross-Aspern and Essling. No better configuration could be desired for the passage of an army.

Finding, when he arrived opposite Vienna, that Napoleon was checked by the river, the Archduke Charles hoped to prevent his crossing it by threatening his rear. He attacked our forces at Linz, and at Krems made arrangements to cross the river with all his army. But his troops were everywhere repulsed, and he confined himself to resisting our passage opposite Ebersdorf. Many obstacles were in the way of our building the bridges; we had to use boats of different shapes and dimensions, and materials lacking the necessary strength; we had no anchors, and had to supply their place with boxes full of cannon-balls. The works were carried on under cover of the plantations, and protected by Masséna's division. Lannes' division, posted over against Nussdorf, was to make apparent preparations for a crossing, in order to distract the enemy's attention. But this demonstration was merely a feint; and the marshal himself accompanied the Emperor on the 19th, when he went to Ebersdorf to direct the establishment of the bridges. After examining everything most thoroughly, and ascertaining that everything had been procured that was possible under the circumstances, Napoleon caused a brigade of Molitor's division to cross to the island of Lobau in eighty large boats and ten rafts. The breadth of the river and its roughness made this difficult, but once on the island the troops met with no obstacle; the enemy, pre-occupied with the idea that we meant to cross above Vienna, having omitted to guard that point. The construction of the bridges lasted all night, and, the weather being fine, was completed by noon on the 20th, when all the divisions of Masséna's corps crossed to the island. Probably, such great works have never been completed in so short a time. By four o'clock in the afternoon the fourth branch of the Danube was bridged by Masséna's infantry divisions, commanded by Generals Legrand, Boudet, Carra-Saint-Cyr, and Molitor, followed by the light cavalry divisions under Lasalle and Marulaz, with General Espagne's cuirassiers, 25,000 men in all, debouched from the island, with the intention of occupying the villages of Essling and Aspern. Only a few squadrons of the enemy appeared on the horizon; the bulk of the Austrian army was still at Gerhardsdorf, but was about to march to prevent us from establishing ourselves on the left bank. Marshal Lannes' corps was to leave Nussdorf for Ebersdorf, but, being delayed in its passage through Vienna, it did not come up till late the next day. The infantry of the guard followed.

On the evening of May 20, the Emperor and Marshal Lannes being lodged in the only house which existed on the island, my comrades and I took up our quarters close by, in brilliant moonlight, on beautiful turf. It was a delicious night, and with the carelessness of soldiers, thinking nothing of the morrow's dangers, we chatted gaily, and sang the last new airs—among others, two which were then very popular in the army, being attributed to Queen Hortense. The words were very appropriate to our circumstances; there was:—

And then again:—

Captain d'Albuquerque was the most joyous of us all, and after charming us with his fine voice, he sent us into fits of laughing by relating the most comical adventures of his adventurous life. Poor fellow! he little thought that the next day's sun would be his last—as little as we guessed that the plain which lay over against us on the other bank was soon to be watered with the blood of our kind marshal, and with that of almost every one of us.

On the morning of the 21st the Austrian lines showed themselves, and took up their position facing ours in front of Essling and Aspern. Marshal Masséna ought to have loopholed the houses of these villages, and covered the approaches by field-works, but unluckily he had neglected to take this precaution. The Emperor found fault with him, but as the enemy was approaching, and there was no time to repair the omission, Napoleon did his best to supply it by covering the last bridge with a tête de pont, which he traced himself. If Marshal Lannes' corps, the imperial guard, and the other expected troops had been present, Napoleon would certainly not have given the Archduke time to deploy, but would have attacked him on the spot. Having, however, only three divisions of infantry and four of cavalry to oppose to the enemy's large force, he was constrained, for the moment, to act on the defensive. To this end he rested his left wing, consisting of three divisions of infantry under Masséna, on the village of Aspern. The right wing, formed by Boudet's division, rested on the Danube, near the great wood lying between the river and the village of Essling, and occupied that village also. Lastly, the three cavalry divisions, and part of the artillery, under the orders of Marshal Bessières, formed the centre, spreading over the space which remained empty between Essling and Aspern. The Emperor compared his position to an entrenched camp, of which Aspern and Essling represented the bastions, united by a curtain formed by the cavalry and the artillery. The two villages, though not entrenched, were capable of a good defence, being built of masonry surrounded by low banks, which protected them against the inundation of the Danube. The church and churchyard of Aspern could hold out for a long time. Essling had for its citadel a large enclosure and an immense stone house built of hewn stone. We found these points very useful.

Although the troops composing the right and centre did not form any part of Lannes' corps, the Emperor wished in this difficulty to make use of the marshal's talents, and had entrusted the command-in-chief of them to him. He was heard to say to Marshal Bessières, much, as it appeared, to Bessières' annoyance, 'You are under the orders of Marshal Lannes.' I shall relate directly the serious quarrel to which this declaration gave rise, and how, greatly against my will, I got mixed up in it.

About 2 P.M. the Austrian army advanced upon us, and we were very hotly engaged. The cannonade was terrible; the enemy's force was so much superior to ours that they might easily have hurled us into the Danube by piercing the cavalry line which formed our only centre, and if the Emperor had been in the Archduke's place he would certainly have taken that course. But the Austrian commander-in-chief was too methodical to act in this determined way, therefore instead of boldly massing a strong force in the direction of our tête de pont, he occupied the whole of the first day in attacking Aspern and Essling, which he carried and lost five or six times after murderous combats. As soon as one of these villages was occupied by the enemy, the Emperor sent up reserves to retake it, and if we were again driven from it, he took it again, though both places were on fire. During this alternation of successes and reverses, the Austrian cavalry several times threatened our centre, but ours repulsed it and returned to its place between the two villages, though terribly cut up by the enemy's artillery. Thus the action continued till ten in the evening, the French remaining masters of Essling and Aspern, while the Austrians, withdrawing their left and centre, did nothing but make some fruitless attacks on Aspern. They brought up, however, strong reinforcements for the morrow's action.

During this first day of the battle, though Marshal Lannes' staff, being always engaged in carrying orders to the most exposed points, had incurred great danger, we had yet no loss to deplore, and we were beginning to congratulate ourselves when, as the sun went down, the enemy, wishing to cover his retreat by a redoubled fire, sent a hail of projectiles at us. At that moment d'Albuquerque, La Bourdonnaye, and I, standing facing the marshal, were reporting to him upon orders which we had been sent to convey, having our backs consequently towards the enemy's guns. A ball struck poor d'Albuquerque in the loins, flinging him over the head of his horse, and laying him stone dead at the marshal's feet. 'There,' he exclaimed, 'is the end of the poor lad's romance! But he has at any rate died nobly.' A second ball passed between La Bourdonnaye's saddle and the spine of his horse without touching either horse or rider, a really miraculous shot. But the front of the saddle-tree was so violently smashed between La Bourdonnaye's thigh, that the wood and the iron were forced into his flesh, and he suffered for a long time from this extraordinary wound.

I had been between my two comrades, and saw them both fall at the same moment. I went towards the escort to order some troopers to come and carry La Bourdonnaye away, but I had hardly gone a few steps when an aide-de-camp of General Boudet, having come forward to speak to the marshal, had his head taken off by a cannon-ball in the very spot which I had just left. Clearly this place was no longer tenable. We were right in front of one of the enemy's batteries, so the marshal, for all his courage, thought it advisable to move a couple of hundred yards to the right.

The last order which Marshal Lannes had given me to carry was addressed to Marshal Bessières, and gave rise to a brisk altercation between the two marshals, who hated each other cordially. In order to understand the scene which I am about to relate, it is necessary that you should know the reasons of this hatred.

General Bonaparte, when on his way to assume the command of the Army of Italy in 1796, took as his senior aide-de-camp Murat, whom he had just promoted to colonel, and for whom he had a great liking. Having, however, in the first actions noticed the military capacity, zeal, and courage of Lannes, then commanding the 4th of the line, he granted to that officer an equally large share of his esteem and friendship, thus exciting Murat's jealousy. When the two colonels had become generals of brigade, Bonaparte was accustomed, on critical occasions, to entrust to Murat the direction of the cavalry charges and put Lannes in command of the reserve of the grenadiers. Both did splendidly, and the army had nothing but praise for either. But between these gallant officers there grew up a rivalry which, if the truth must be told, was not at all displeasing to the commander-in-chief, as tending to stimulate their zeal and their desire of distinction. He would extol before Murat the achievements of General Lannes, and enlarge in Lannes' presence on the merits of Murat. The rivalry soon led to altercations, in which Bessières, then merely captain in General Bonaparte's Guides and in high favour with the commander, always took the part of his compatriot 1Murat; while taking every opportunity, as Lannes was well aware, of depreciating him. After the Italian campaigns Lannes and Murat accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt. About this time both conceived a wish to marry Caroline Bonaparte, and Bessières found an opportunity to injure Lannes' suit irretrievably. As a member of the administrative council, charged with the distribution of the military fund, he became aware that Lannes had exceeded the allowance for the outfit of his regiment, the consular guard; by 300,000 francs. He revealed this to Murat, who brought it to the ears of the First Consul. Lannes was dismissed from the command of the guard, and allowed a month to make up the deficit, which, without the generous aid of Augereau, 2he would have found it hard to do. Napoleon afterwards received him back into favour; but meantime Murat had married Caroline Bonaparte. As may be supposed, Lannes never forgave Bessières, and the antipathy was in full vigour when they came in contact at the battle of Essling.

At the moment of the brisk cannonade which had just killed poor d'Albequerque, Lannes, observing that the Austrians were making a retrograde movement, thought it a good opening for a cavalry charge. He called me to carry the order to Marshal Bessières, who, as I have said, had just been placed under his command by the Emperor. I was on duty; so the next aide-de-camp in course for service came up. It was de Viry. Marshal Lannes gave him the following order: 'Go and tell Marshal Bessières that I order him to charge home.' This expression, conveying that the charge must be pushed till the sabres are in the enemy's bodies, obviously is very like a reprimand; as implying that hitherto the cavalry has not acted with sufficient vigour. The expression 'I order,' employed by one marshal to another, was also very rough. Lannes used the two phrases intentionally.

Off went de Viry, fulfilled his instructions, and returned to the marshal, who asked, 'What did you say to Marshal Bessières?' 'I informed him that your excellency begged him to order a general charge of the cavalry.' Lannes shrugged his shoulders, and cried, 'You are a baby; send another officer!' This time it was Labédoyère. The marshal knew he was of firmer character than de Viry, and gave him the same message, emphasising the expressions 'I order' and 'charge home.' Labédoyère did not see Lannes' intention, and did not like to repeat the words verbatim to Bessières; so he too employed a circumlocution. Accordingly when he came back and reported the words he had used, Lannes turned his back on him. At that moment I galloped up to the staff. It was not my turn for duty, but the marshal called me and said, 'Marbot, Marshal Augereau assured me that you were a man I could count on. So far I have found his words justified by your conduct. I should like a further proof. Go and tell Marshal Bessières that I order him to charge home. You understand, sir, home.' As he spoke he poked me in the ribs with his finger. I perfectly understood that Lannes wished to mortify Bessières, first by taking a harsh way of reminding him that the Emperor had put him in a subordinate post to himself, and further by finding fault with his management of the cavalry. I was perturbed at being obliged to transmit offensive expressions to the other marshal. It was easy to foresee that they might have awkward results; but my immediate chief must be obeyed.

So I galloped off to the centre, wishing that one of the shots which were dropping thickly about might bowl over my horse, and give me a good excuse for not accomplishing my disagreeable mission! I approached Marshal Bessières with much respect, and begged to speak with him in private. 'Speak up, sir,' he replied stiffly. So I had to say in presence of his staff and a crowd of superior officers, 'Marshal Lannes directs me to tell your Excellency that he orders you to charge home.' Bessières angrily exclaimed, 'Is that the way to speak to a marshal, sir? Orders! charge home! You shall be severely punished for this rudeness.' I answered, 'Marshal, the more offensive the terms I have used seem to your Excellency, the more sure you may be that in using them I only obeyed my orders.' I saluted and returned to Lannes. 'Well, what did you say to Marshal Bessières?' 'That your Excellency ordered him to charge home.' 'Right; here is one aide-de-camp at any rate who understands me.' In spite of this compliment, you may imagine that I was very sorry to have had to deliver such a message. However, the cavalry charge came off; General d'Espagne was killed, but the result was very good. Whereon Lannes said, 'You see that my stern injunction has produced an excellent effect; but for it M. 1e Maréchal Bessières would have fiddled about all day.'

Night came on, and the battle ceased both in the centre and on our right, on which Lannes determined to join the Emperor, who was bivouacking within the works of the tête de pont. But hardly had we started, when the marshal, hearing brisk firing in Aspern, where Masséna was in command, wished to go and see what was taking place in the village. He bade his staff go on to the Emperor's bivouac, and, taking only myself and an orderly, bade me guide him to Aspern, where I had been several times in the course of the day. I went in that direction; with the moon and the blaze of Essling and Aspern we had plenty of light. Still, as the frequent paths were apt to be hidden by the tall corn, and I was afraid of losing myself in it, I dismounted in order to find the way better. Soon the marshal dismounted also, and walked by my side chatting about the day's fighting and the chances of that which would take place on the morrow. A quarter of an hour brought us close to Aspern, the approaches to which were lined by the bivouac fires of Masséna's troops. Wishing to speak to him, Marshal Lannes bade me go forward to ascertain his quarters. Before we had gone many steps, I perceived Masséna walking in front of the camp with Marshal Bessières. The wound in my forehead which I had received in Spain prevented me from wearing a busby, and I was the only one among the marshal's aides-de-camp who had a cocked hat. Bessières, recognising me by this, but not yet noticing Marshal Lannes, came towards me, saying, 'Ah! it is you, sir; if what you said recently came from you alone, I will teach you to choose your expressions better when speaking to your superiors; if you were only obeying your marshal, he shall give me satisfaction, and I bid you tell him so.' Then Marshal Lannes, leaping forward like a lion, passed in front of me, and seizing my arm, cried: 'Marbot, I owe you an apology; for though I believed I could be certain of your attachment, I had some doubts remaining as to the manner in which you had transmitted my orders to this gentleman; but I see that I was unfair to you.' Then, addressing Bessières, 'I wonder how you dare to find fault with one of my aides-de-camp. He was the first to mount on the walls at Ratisbon, he crossed the Danube at the risk of almost certain death, he has just been twice wounded in Spain, while there are some so-called soldiers who haven't had a scratch in their lives, and have got their promotion by playing the spy and informer on their comrades. What fault have you to find with this officer?' 'Sir,' said Bessières, 'your aide-de-camp came and told me that you ordered me to charge home; it appears to me that such expressions are unseemly!' 'They are quite right, sir, and it was I who dictated them; did not the Emperor tell you that you were under my orders?' Bessières replied with hesitation, 'The Emperor warned me that I must comply with your opinion.' 'Know, sir,' cried the marshal, ' that in military matters people do not comply, they obey orders. If the Emperor had thought fit to place me under your command, I should have offered him my resignation. But so long as you are under mine, I shall give you orders and you will obey; otherwise I shall withdraw the command of the troops from you. As for charging home, I gave you the order because you did not do it, and because all the morning you were parading before the enemy without approaching him boldly.' ' But that's an insult,' cried Bessières, angrily; 'you shall give me satisfaction!' 'This very moment if you like!' cried Lannes, laying his hand on his sword. During this discussion, old Masséna, interposing between the adversaries, sought to calm them, and not succeeding, he took the high tone in his turn. 'I am your senior, gentlemen; you are in my camp, and I shall not permit you to give my troops the scandalous spectacle of seeing two marshals draw on each other, and that in presence of the enemy. I summon you, therefore, in the name of the Emperor, to separate at once.' Then, adopting a gentler manner, he took Marshal Lannes by the arm, and led him to the further end of the bivouac, while Bessières returned to his own. You may suppose how distressed I was by this deplorable scene. Finally, Marshal Lannes, remounting, set off for the Emperor's bivouac where my comrades were already established. On reaching it, he took Napoleon aside, and related what had happened. The Emperor at once sent for Marshal Bessières, whom he received sternly; then they went some distance away, and walked rapidly, the Emperor appearing to be reprimanding him severely. Marshal Bessières looked confused, and must have felt still more so when the Emperor sat down to dinner without inviting him, while he made Marshal Lannes take a seat at his right hand. My comrades and I were as sad this evening as we had been cheerful the night before. We had just seen poor d'Albuquerque killed; we had close beside us La Bourdonnaye horribly wounded, and groaning so as to break our hearts; and we were, besides, agitated with sad presentiments with regard to the result of the battle, of which we had seen only the first part. Moreover, we were on our legs all night, seeing Marshal Lannes' corps across the Danube, followed by the imperial guard. Meanwhile, the river was rising visibly; great trees, borne down by the flood, kept striking the bridges of boats, more than once breaking them. They were, however, promptly repaired, and, in spite of accidents, the troops which I have mentioned crossed the river, and were assembled on the battle-field by the time that the dawn of May 22 appeared, and the roar of cannon announced that the fight was being renewed.

Having at his disposal twice as many troops as on the previous day, the Emperor took steps to attack. Marshal Masséna and three of his infantry divisions remained in Aspern; the fourth, that of General Boudet, was left at Essling, under the command of Marshal Lannes, whose corps occupied the space between the two villages, having as its second line Bessières' cavalry, still under the orders of Lannes. The imperial guard formed the reserve. The Emperor's reprimand to Marshal Bessières had been so severe that, as soon as he saw Lannes, he came to ask him how he wished his troops to be placed. The marshal, wishing to establish his authority, replied, 'As you await my orders, sir, I order you to place them at such a point.' The expression was harsh, but one must remember how Bessières had behaved to Lannes in the days of the Consulate. He appeared hurt, but obeyed in silence.

The Archduke, who might, by a vigorous attack, have pierced our weak line between Essling and Aspern the day before, renewed his efforts against those villages. But, as we had then resisted his whole army, with only Masséna's corps and part of our cavalry, we were all the more able to do so now that we had been joined by the imperial guard, Marshal Lannes' corps, and a division of cuirassiers. The Austrians were repulsed at all points; one of their columns, consisting of 1,000 men under General Weber, with six guns, was actually cut off and captured in Aspern.

So far the Emperor had been acting on the defensive while the troops were crossing the river, but now that the numbers whom he had on the battle-field were doubled, and Marshal Davout's corps had assembled at Ebersdorf, and begun to cross, Napoleon judged that the time had come for assuming the offensive, and ordered Marshal Lannes at the head of the infantry divisions of Saint-Hilaire, Tharreau, Claparède, and Demont, followed by two divisions of cuirassiers, to break the enemy's centre. Lannes advanced proudly into the plain; nothing could resist him. In a moment he captured a battalion, five guns, and a flag. At first the Austrians retreated in good order, but as their centre was obliged to extend in proportion as we advanced, it was at last broken through. Their troops fell into such disorder that we could see the officers and sergeants striking their soldiers with sticks, without being able to keep them in the ranks. If our advance had continued a few moments longer, it would have been all up with the Archduke's army.