Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. V, No. XXV, June, 1852Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. V, No. XXV, June, 1852
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Napoleon ascended this mountain ridge, and upon its summit, quite
exhausted with days and nights of sleeplessness and toil, laid himself
down, in the shadow of the rock, and fell asleep. The long line filed
carefully and silently by, each soldier hushing his comrade, that the
repose of their beloved chieftain might not be disturbed. It was an
interesting spectacle, to witness the tender affection, beaming from
the countenances of these bronzed and war-worn veterans, as every foot
trod softly, and each eye, in passing, was riveted upon the slender
form, and upon the pale and wasted cheek of the sleeping Napoleon.
The artillery could by no possibility be thus transported; and an army
without artillery is a soldier without weapons. The Austrian commander
wrote to Melas, that he had seen an army of thirty-five thousand men
and four thousand horse creeping by the fort, along the face of Mount
Albaredo. He assured the commander-in-chief, however, that not one
single piece of artillery had passed or could pass beneath the guns of
his fortress. When he was writing this letter, already had one half of
the cannon and ammunition of the army been conveyed by the fort, and
were safely and rapidly proceeding on their way down the valley. In
the darkness of the night trusty men, with great caution and silence,
strewed hay and straw upon the road. The wheels of the lumbering
carriages were carefully bound with cloths and wisps of straw, and,
with axles well oiled, were drawn by the hands of these picked men,
beneath the very walls of the fortress, and within half pistol-shot
of its guns. In two nights the artillery and the baggage-trains were
thus passed along, and in a few days the fort itself was compelled to
surrender.
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