T 



CHAP. XXIV.] CAVALRY UNDER NAPOLEON. 



381 



horsemen under Grouchy were at first victorious, and 

 drove back Rosenberg's cavahy with great shiughter. 

 Hohenlohe's cuirassiers were at once brought up to 

 restore the action, and Grouchy was in turn defeated, 

 and forced to the rear, when Montbrun, coming to his 

 assistance with a fresh corps, charged the Austrians 

 when blown and disordered by their success, and settled 

 the fate of the struggle in favour of the French. 



In the left of the field the French cavalry lost so 

 severely by artillery fire as to be unable to effect any- 

 thing, and the result was that the horsemen, worn out 

 by the exertions of a long day's fighting, and weakened 

 by their serious losses, were unable to operate with any 

 vigour in the pursuit, so that scarcely any prisoners were 

 taken, and no guns. Napoleon was much displeased, 

 and blamed severely his cavalry generals. " Was ever 

 anything seen like this ? " said he. " Neither prisoners 

 nor guns. This day will be attended with no result."' 



At the battle of Dresden, Murat, who commanded the 

 French horsemen, was able, under cover of the mist and 

 rain, which concealed his movements, to steal around 

 the allied left flank, and to form up his whole force close 

 to and perpendicular to the enemy's lines, without being 

 discovered. Then in the heat of the battle, while pressed 

 by the French infantry, 12,000 chosen horsemen sud- 

 denly burst out of the mist upon the enemy's flank and 

 rear. In an instant their lines were scattered and cut to 

 pieces, three-fourths of the entire corps which formed the 

 left wing being killed or captured. This gallant charge 

 gave Napoleon the victory.^ 



The cavalry were employed very effectively in many 

 of the subsequent campaigns of Napoleon, as, for instance, 

 at Leipsig, F^re Champenoise, and Waterloo, but as by 

 this time the other European nations were beginning to 

 use the cavalry somewhat upon Napoleon's system, and, 

 as we shall have occasion, when considering the cavalry 

 of the other countries, to refer to these battles, we -will 

 not discuss them at this moment, but treat of them in a 

 subsequent chapter. 



' Due de Rovigo, iv. 114 ; Alison, iii. 253. - Alison, iv. 138. 



