Frederic Shoberl Narrative of the Most Remarkable Events Which Occurred In and Near Leipzig | Page 8

The cattle collected from far and near were
driven along in immense herds with the baggage. Their cries for food in
all the high roads were truly pitiable. Often did one of those wretches
drive away several cows from the out-house of a little farmer, who in
vain implored him upon his knees to spare his only means of
subsistence, merely to sell them before his face for a most
disproportionate price. Hay, oats, and every species of corn, were
thrown unthreshed upon the ground, where they were consumed by the
horses, or mostly trampled in the dirt; and if these animals had stood
for some days in the stable, and been supplied with forage by the
peasant, the rider had frequently the impudence to require his host to
pay for the dung. Woe to the field of cabbages, turnips, or potatoes, that
happened to lie near a bivouac! It was covered in a trice with men and
cattle, and in twenty-four hours there was not a plant to be seen.
Fruit-trees were cut down and used for fuel, or in the erection of sheds,
which were left perhaps as soon as they were finished. Though Saxony
is one of the richest and most fertile provinces of Germany, and the
vicinity of Leipzig has been remarkable for abundance, yet it cannot
appear surprising, that, with such wanton waste, famine, the most
dangerous foe to an army, should have at length found its way into all
the French camps. Barns, stables, and lofts, were emptied; the fields
were laid bare; and the inhabitants fled into the woods and the towns.

Bread and other provisions had not been seen in our markets for several
days, and thus it was now our turn to endure the pressure of hunger. It
was a fortunate circumstance that many families had laid in a quantity
of potatoes, which indeed might yet be purchased, though at an
exorbitant price. The bakers of this place were obliged to work up the
small stock of flour in their possession for the use of the troops; and all
other persons were driven from the doors by the guards with the
butt-ends of their muskets; though the citizen who came in quest of
bread had perhaps twenty men quartered upon him, who all expected
him to find wherewith to satisfy their craving appetites.
Such was what might be termed the prologue to the grand tragedy
which was about to be performed in an amphitheatre of many square
miles, and to the catastrophe of which we looked forward with an
anxiety that had risen to so high a pitch, because, in case of the longer
continuance of this state of things, our own annihilation might be
hourly expected. That the grand armies of the allies were approaching
Leipzig, on every side, we had heard through several private channels.
Napoleon had quitted Dresden, which he had been compelled to
abandon almost solely by the want of all the means of subsistence. We
were long uncertain respecting his route, and so perhaps was he himself
at first. Many, who were qualified to form a judgment respecting
military operation's, were of opinion that he would make a push with
his whole force upon Berlin and the Oder. They supposed that those
parts were not sufficiently covered, and considered the fortresses on the
Elbe as his _point d'appui_ in the rear. This opinion, however, seemed
to lose much of its probability, as other French corps, under Ney,
Regnier, Bertrand, and Marmont, kept arriving here, and were
afterwards joined by that of Augereau. We had received authentic
information that prince Schwarzenberg had already advanced to
Altenburg with the grand combined army of Austria, Russia, and
Prussia; and also that the crown-prince of Sweden had his
head-quarters at Zörbig. Upon the whole, however, our intelligence was
unsatisfactory. For several days (that is to say, from the 10th) it was
reported that the emperor of the French would certainly remove his
head-quarters hither; that he had taken the road to Wurzen, and was
coming by way of Duben. This account was confirmed by several

detachments of the French guard. It is universally known that this
general preferably chooses those days on which he founds his claim to
glory, in order to distinguish them by new achievements. His proximity
to us, and the approaching 14th of October[2], strengthened the
anticipation of some important event in our neighbourhood. The light
troops of the allies, whom we took for the advanced guard of the
crown-prince of Sweden, were distinctly to be seen from the steeples of
the city, on the north side of it, towards Breitenfeld and Lindenthal.
Daily skirmishes ensued, and wounded French were hourly brought in.
The bustle in the city increased; the king of Naples had arrived, and
fixed his head-quarters