GENERAL HISTORY. 



leon had drawn up his army in two 

 lines, of vvhich the village of La 

 Rotliiere was the centre. The force 

 of the allies was between 70 and 

 80,000 men. That of the French 

 is by themselves estimated at much 

 less. There were however in the 

 field the corps of Marshal Victor, 

 Marmont, and Mortier, besides 

 those immediately attached to the 

 person of the Emperor. At noon, 

 on Feb. 1, Marshal Biucher be- 

 gan the attack by advancing the 

 corps of Guillay towards Dienville 

 on the enemy's right, and forming 

 the divisions of his own corps in 

 front of La Rothiere. About the 

 same time the Prince Royal of 

 Wurtemberg advanced from Mai- 

 son upon the village of Giberie, 

 which, after a sharp contest^' he 

 carried, and afterwards repulsed an 

 attempt of the enemy to regain it. 

 Gen. Wrede, assisted by the Aus- 

 trian Uhlans, possessed himself of 

 the village of Tremilly, on the ene- 

 my's left, and these successes in- 

 duced Gen. Sacken to attack the 

 enemy's central position of La Ro- 

 thiere, which he carried, and frus- 

 trated all theattempts of theFrench, 

 and of Napoleon in person, to re- 

 cover it. Tlie fruits of the day 

 were thirty-six pieces of cannon 

 and tliree thousand prisoners. At 

 night the enemy still held the 

 ground beyond La Rothiere, and 

 were in possession of the heights 

 of Brienne ; but before morning 

 had determined upon a retreat, 

 and gradually abandoned all his po- 

 sitions aboutBrienne ; his whole loss 

 being seventy-three pieces of can- 

 non and about four thousand pri- 

 soners. His retreat was followed by 

 the allies, who obtained some advan- 

 tages, but ihe great fall of snow 

 prevented any decisive success. 

 Napoleon continued his retreat ou 



Troyes and Arcis, and thence to 

 Nogent ; and the allies advanced 

 their head-quarters; Schwartzen- 

 bergto Bar-sur-Seine, and Biucher 

 to l^lanci on the Anbe. On Feb. 

 5 Gen. D'Yorck made a success- 

 ful attack upon the rear of Mac- 

 donald's army near to Chausse, 

 between Vitry and Chalons, and 

 took three pieces of cannon and se- 

 veral hundred prisoners. 



The intelligence from the Low 

 Countries at this period, announced 

 that Gen. Bnlow and Sir Thomas 

 Graham had made an advance upon 

 Antwerp, in which, after carrying 

 the village of Merxem, they esta- 

 blished a battery of cannon and 

 mortars against that citj', which 

 played for two days and a half, 

 when a summons of Bulow to 

 march to the southward, in order 

 to act with the grand army of the 

 allies, obliged the British to march 

 back to their cantonments. The 

 French garrison in Gorcurn entered 

 into a capitulation on Feb. 4, the 

 conditions of which were, that if 

 not relieved before the 20th, they 

 were to surrender prisoners of war, 

 and iii the mean time an armistice 

 was to take place. 



The consequences of the ac- 

 tion at La Bothiere were rendered 

 conspicuous in the occupation 

 by the allies of the important 

 town of Troyes, the chief city of 

 Champagne, containing a popula- 

 tion of 30,000 souls, and being the 

 point at which a number of roads 

 to the capital unite. It was en- 

 tered on Feb. 7 by the Prince of 

 Wurtemberg, who had turned the 

 enemy's position near Ruvigni. 

 A detachment from the army of 

 Gen. D'Yorck on the 5th took pos- 

 session of Vitri ; and that general 

 pursuing Macdonald to the gates 

 of Chalons, bombarded the town. 



