The devastation caused by the pestilence in Metz was no less than frightful. Maréchal and Didion[173] give us a picture of this severe epidemic. On November 19, 1813, some 5,000 sick soldiers were assigned to that city; it was necessary to see that they were sheltered, and at the same time measures were adopted to prevent the disease from spreading. According to the report of the astute Mayor of Metz, Baron Marchant, the 5,000 soldiers, all of them suffering from an infectious disease, arrived, and sixty of them died every day. All the physicians in Metz contracted the disease, and several of them died. It was impossible to procure sick-attendants, since those who had performed this service had all contracted the disease, conveyed it home, and infected their families. Sick soldiers who were quartered privately, and particularly convalescents, also helped to spread the disease throughout the city; more than 150 houses were infected. In the latter part of December the number of patients greatly increased. On January 1, 1814, after Blücher had crossed the Rhine, the Germans marched against Metz, and then an enormous crowd of people from the surrounding country fled to that city for protection. This caused typhus fever to spread far and wide throughout the city. Furthermore, sick and exhausted soldiers were constantly being sent to Metz, and it is estimated that some 30,000 of them arrived there. The worst month was February, and 7,752 soldiers, all told, died in six months: November 463 December 1,602 January 1,360 February 2,365 March 1,622 April 340 1,294 civilians also died, the largest number (371) likewise in February. In the entire Department of Moselle, which at that time had some 400,000 inhabitants, no less than 10,329 people succumbed to this epidemic, and this number does not include the soldiers. Regarding the wide dissemination of typhus fever in the Departments east and south of Paris, which formed the scene of the war in the first part of the year 1814 (the Departments of Haute-Marne, Côte-d’Or, Aube, Yonne, Marne, Seine-et-Marne), no further information is available. Troyes, Besançon, Dijon, Avallon, and Auxerre are mentioned as places that were attacked by the pestilence.