In a little over two months, from January 25 to March 31 1814, Napoleon I, at the head of an army inferior in number and including many very young and summarily trained recruits (nicknamed the "Marie-Louise"), held out in an extraordinary way against the allied armies, Russo-Prussian and Austrian. This at the cost of a whirlwind journey through the French departments of Marne, Aube, Aisne and Seine-et-Marne.
Arrentières, a village between La Rothière and Bar-sur-Aube
We followed in the Emperor's footsteps, and searched not only for the battlefields, but also for the places where he stayed during this journey. The resulting iconography will be enriched as we continue to visit the site.
January 1814
- January 25 - Having left Paris early in the morning, Napoleon dined that same evening and slept at the prefecture of Châlons-sur-Marne (former Hôtel des Intendants de Champagne) where he was the guest of the prefect of the Marne Claude-Laurent Bourgeois de Jessaint , a former classmate at the Brienne Military School . This was his first Headquarters of the French campaign.
- January 26 - In the afternoon, Napoleon joined the army at Vitry-le-François . He stayed on Rue du Petit-Denier, in a house belonging to Mr. Leblanc-Bugnot [this house unfortunately no longer exists, destroyed like more than three-quarters of the town during World War II].
- January 27 - As squalls of mixed snow and rain soaked the ground and made the march exhausting, the imperial troops headed east. The First Battle of Saint-Dizier saw Napoleon defeat the vanguard of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. That evening, Napoleon lodged at Saint-Dizier.
- January 28 - The troops resumed their march southwest, towards Brienne-le-Château. They passed Valcourt , Eclaron , Braucourt , Planrupt then Droyes , a village near which an "Emperor square" had been prepared at the side of the road [48.53091, 4.74949] to pitch his tent ; but Napoleon decided not to stay there and to advance, despite the still terrible weather, to Montier-en-Der . In the evening, he set up his quarters in this latter town, at 35 Rue de l'Isle [the house no longer exists, but a commemorative sign indicates its location ] ; he was received there by General Rémy Vincent, mayor of the city.
- January 29 - That day took place the Battle of Brienne-le-Château, the first major confrontation of the French Campaign. To block Napoleon, Blücher had the bridge spanning the river Aube destroyed at Lesmont . The Emperor stayed in the evening in the village of Maizières-lès-Brienne at the priest's, Father Hanriot, Rue d'Épothémont [currently no. 3 Rue aux Chênes] .
- January 30 and 31 - On the 30th, Napoleon had the Lesmont bridge rebuilt using the wood from the hall . He slept at the Castle of Brienne , as well as the next day.
February 1814
- February 1st - A new confrontation with Blücher took place a few kilometers further south, at La Rothière and the surrounding area . [A monument commemorates this battle in the village]. Napoleon slept again at the castle of Brienne.
- February 2nd - The imperial troops headed west, and crossed the Aube River at Lesmont. The bridge was again destroyed by Michel Ney to stop the Cossacks, who to rebuild would have to use wood from 60 houses in the village (they would burn down 22 others, out of a total of 127 houses). Napoleon stayed in the evening at Piney , at the home of the mayor Mr. Collin, a notary [House of the Luxembourg, Place de la Halle].
- February 3, 4 and 5 - Napoleon stayed in Troyes , at 11 Rue du Temple [current Rue Général-Saussier]: this mansion belonged in 1814 to the merchant Jacques-Jean-Baptiste Duchâtel-Berthelin; the Emperor's bedroom, on the first floor, had a secret exit, so that visitors could enter and leave without meeting each other.
- February 6 - Napoleon left Troyes heading west, towards Nogent-sur-Seine. In the evening, he established his quarters at the Castle of Ferreux-Quincey.
- February 7 to 9 - Napoleon reached Nogent-sur-Seine and stayed there at 20 Grand'Rue Saint-Laurent, in a house belonging to Charles Bertin, a grain merchant from Sézanne, who had bought it in 1806 from the widow of the mayor Louis Robin, a former Montagnard Convention member and "regicide". On the 9th, the Emperor headed northeast by the road from Nogent to Sézanne, which crossed the Traconne forest and then the village of Barbonne. He slept that evening at Sézanne , at Madame de Chavigny's, Place du Champ Benoist .
- February 10 - Napoleon left Sézanne heading north, and joined Marshal Auguste Viesse de Marmont in front of the defiles of Saint-Gond . The Battle of Champaubert pitted the Imperial Army against the Russian Army on a battlefield extending from Champaubert to Baye further south (between the two was the Hannoterie Farm , the site of fierce fighting) and to Bannay , a few kilometers to the west. Napoleon spent the night of the 10th to the 11th in the Blue House also known as the House with the Cannonball (a cannonball is in fact embedded in its facade ). There he invited to his table the Russian general Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev (Захар Дмитриевич Олсуфьев) and his staff, who had just been taken prisoner. [In front of this residence, a column surrounded by eight cannons was erected to commemorate this victory].
- February 11 - Napoleon left Champaubert at 5 o'clock, heading west. In the town center of Montmirail , he stopped at the castle of the Duke de La Rochefoucauld and had breakfast on the morning of the battle. He joined the cavalry at 10 o'clock near Marchais . The Battle of Montmirail-Marchais then began. [A little after Montcoupot, on the border of the departments of Aisne and Marne, a column erected on August 15, 1866 on the orders of Emperor Napoleon III marks the location where Napoleon I stood during the battle. Another, more modest column honors the memory of the imperial army in the hamlet of Tremblay ]. The imperial headquarters was set up in the hamlet of Haute-Epine on the evening of the battle. Napoleon spent the night of February 11-12 at the Greneaux Farm , owned by Jules François Paré, former Minister of the Interior during the French Revolution.
- February 12 - At 8 o'clock, Napoleon left Greneaux for Château-Thierry, to the north. He passed through Viels-Maisons then joined Marshal Adolphe Edouard Mortier at Viffort , in front of the Dolloir stream . A few kilometers further on, the battle of Château-Thierry began. After the capture of the plateau of Nesles , the Emperor established his Headquarters for two days at the castle of Nesle-la-Montagne [this castle no longer exists, a commemorative stele recalls its location]. He spent the night of the 12th to the 13th at the Lumeron Farm .
- February 13 - Napoleon entered Château-Thierry and stayed with the postmaster, Mr. Jean Souliac, at the Hôtel de la Poste .
- February 14 - Napoleon left for Vauchamps , to the southeast. There he inflicted a new defeat on the Army of Silesia commanded by Blücher (a column commemorates this battle in the village). The Emperor pursued the Prussians to Champaubert , then returned to sleep at the Castle of Montmirail.
- February 15 - In the morning, Napoleon left west towards Meaux. On the way, he had lunch at the Hôtel de Metz in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre . In Meaux , he spent the night of the 15th to the 16th at the Bishopric .
- February 16 - Early in the morning, he left Meaux heading south, passed Couilly , Crécy , Fontenay and arrived at Guignes . He slept there at the Sainte-Barbe inn [48.63696, 2.79691].
- February 17 - While the Battle of Mormant saw the French troops of Marshal Victor and General Étienne Maurice Gérard defeat the Bavarian and Russian troops commanded by General Pyotr Petrovich Pahlen (Пётр Петро́вич Па́лен) , Napoleon went directly to Nangis, further east, where he slept at the home of the justice of the peace Mr. Salmon, at a place called “La Baraque” , on the road to Paris.
- February 18 and 19 - The Emperor headed south, passing Villeneuve-le-Comte-Champagne [Villeneuve-les-Bordes ] and Orvilliers . Around 3 p.m. he stormed the town of Montereau , at the confluence of the rivers Yonne and Seine , held by the Austrians, whom he forced to withdraw. He slept on the evening of the 18th at the castle of Surville [this castle no longer exists], as well as the following day.
- February 20 to 22 - Napoleon left towards the east, passed Bray-sur-Seine then reached Nogent-sur-Seine, where he stayed again at 20 Grand'Rue-Saint-Laurent, at Mr. Bertin-Delaunoy.
- February 22 - The French army left Nogent early in the afternoon, still heading east, for Méry-sur-Seine . The Emperor slept in the hamlet of Châtres , at the home of the mayor, Mr. P. Dauphin (a wheelwright), on the road from Paris to Basel [48.49913, 3.84597].
- February 23 - Napoleon continued south-east towards Troyes. After passing through La Corne-de-Cerf, Rue des Marots in Saint-Martin-ès-Vignes, he slept in the village of Noës, or at the castle of Pouilly [destroyed in 1840].
- February 24 to 27 - On the morning of the 24th, the Emperor entered Troyes. He was received enthusiastically, the inhabitants having suffered greatly from the Allied occupation. He stayed again until the 27th at 11 Rue du Temple, where he had already stayed from February 3 to 5.
- February 28 - Napoleon continued his route towards Fère Champenoise . He crossed Semoine , made a point on Fère then turned due west and entered Sézanne at 1 p.m. He slept that evening at the home of the Baroness d'Aurillac at the Castle of Esternay , west of Sézanne, while his army of 40,000 men was camping in the park .
March 1814
- March 1st - Napoleon left Esternay heading west, passed La Ferté Gaucher, then Rebais, and stopped at Jouarre , where he slept at Mr. Huet's [current rue Petit-Huet] .
- March 2nd - Napoleon observed the enemy troops , standing on a stone bench [48.93454, 3.12091] in front of the Castle of Venteuil , in Jouarre. He left for La Ferté-sous-Jouarre , where he stayed in the evening in the Faubourg de Paris.
- March 3rd - He left at 2 a.m. heading northeast, passed Château-Thierry around 2 p.m., and continued to Bézu-Saint-Germain. There, he spent the night of the 3rd to the 4th in the house of Jean-Baptiste François Harmand, mayor of the commune .
- March 4 - Napoleon, still on his way to the northeast, passed at 11 o'clock at the foot of the castle of La Fère en Tardenois, cut the road from Soissons to Reims near Fismes and reached this town on the river Vesle in the evening. He spent the night there at the Haubertin house [now gone].
- March 5 - Maintaining his course, he left in the morning, crossed the Aisne above Gernicourt and arrived at Berry-au-Bac , on the banks of the same river ; he slept there in the old presbytery.
- March 6 - Napoleon left around noon to join Corbeny , to the northwest, where he slept at the Hôtel de l'Ecu de France [this hotel no longer exists], while his troops positioned themselves at the foot of the Craonne plateau , a few kilometers to the southwest.
- March 7 - Napoleon defeated Blücher's Russians and Prussians at Craonne. At the end of the fighting, the Emperor marched west and spent the night at Bray-en-Laonnois , in the house (or a grape harvest room?) of the widow of Charles Louis de Villers (or Devillers), major of the bourgeois militia of Laon.
- March 8 to 10 - Napoleon stayed at the former Hôtel Saint-Pierre [which no longer exists but whose location is commemorated by a plaque ], 3 Rue Saint-Pierre in Chavignon . On the 9th and 10th, the Battle of Laon took place , which did not allow the Emperor to impose himself.
- March 11 and 12 - On the 11th, he withdrew his troops to the southwest and arrived at Soissons at 3:30 p.m. He slept two nights at the Bishop's Palace .
- March 13 - He left in the morning for Reims. It was around Mont Saint-Pierre [49.25738, 3.97286], a hill culminating at 108 meters above sea level, located in the communes of Champigny and Tinqueux, at the gates of the Champagne capital, that the Battle of Reims, "the last smile of Fortune" took place. The Emperor watched the fighting from the top of Sainte-Geneviève hill [today Parc de la Cure d'air], where he bivouacked in the evening surrounded by his General Staff: Marshals Berthier, Marmont, Ney and Lefebvre, Generals Drouot and Bertrand. He returned to the city a little after midnight.
- March 14 to 16 - Napoleon stayed for three nights at the Hôtel Ponsardin [destroyed in 1914-1918]. On the 14th, he was cheered by the crowd on the steps of the city hall then in front of the cathedral , while the cavalry pranced along presenting the enemy flags.
- March 17 - Napoleon left Reims for Epernay , where he stayed at the home of his friend, Mayor Jean-Rémy Moët.
- March 18 - He continued south, passed Avize, Vertus , and arrived in the evening at La Fère-Champenoise , where he slept at the notary Louis Josse's [the house, which had become the gendarmerie at the beginning of the 20th century, was unfortunately destroyed during the Second World War].
- March 19 - Napoleon left for Plancy-L'Abbaye ; there he settled in the castle , property of the Count and Prefect Adrien Godard d'Aucour de Plancy.
- March 20 - It was the day of the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube, south of the city between Villette and Torcy-le-Grand , and in Arcis itself . In the evening, Napoleon established his quarters in the castle belonging to his chamberlain Pierre Arnauld de La Briffe [current town hall of Arcis] .
- March 21 - Continuation of the Battle of Arcis. The Imperial army had to leave the city by retreating to the right bank of the Aube by the small bridge of Arcis , which was then blown up. Napoleon, who intended to cut the Allied lines of communication, marched towards the northeast. He slept at Sompuis at the home of the philosopher Pierre-Paul Royer-Collard [the latter owned two houses, on either side of the street; the one that housed the Emperor no longer exists, it was located in the center of the photo ].
- March 22 - Napoleon descended on Humbauville then resumed his route towards the east; he passed through Huiron , bypassed Vitry-le-François and headed for Saint-Dizier. Halfway there, he set up his quarters in the evening at Orconte, at the Château du Plessis , owned by Mr. Leblanc-Bugnot.
- March 23 - Napoleon was in Saint-Dizier where he was once again housed by the mayor Joseph Varnier-Cournon [nowadays at 60 Rue du Docteur Mougeot] .
- March 24 - At the Cense farm , in Blacy, a few kilometers west of Vitry-le-François, the Allied General Staff held a council of war, in the presence of Tsar Alexander I (Александр I Павлович Романов) and the King of Prussia Frederick William III (Friedrich Wilhelm III.); it was decided to march on Paris, whatever Napoleon did. The latter, for his part, left for Doulevant-le-Château , to the south, where he stayed in the house of the notary Jeausson . He slept there for two nights.
- March 25 - Marshals Marmont and Mortier were defeated at La Fère-Champenoise.
- March 26 - The second battle of Saint-Dizier ended with the victory of the French troops commanded by Napoleon over the Russian troops led by General Baron Ferdinand von Wintzingerode (Фердинанд Фёдорович фон Винценгероде) , who was pushed back beyond Saudrupt. Napoleon slept at Saint-Dizier.
- March 27 - Napoleon went to Vitry, then returned to St Dizier.
- March 28 - Napoleon returned to Doulevant-le-Château, stopping at 5 p.m. at the notary Mr. Jeausson, who had been killed by a Cossack a few days earlier. There he found a courier announcing that the Bourbon partisans were beginning to stir in the capital and that only his return could prevent the surrender of Paris.
- March 29 - He left at 2:20 a.m. for Troyes via Dolencourt and Vandoeuvres . In Troyes, he slept at the Castle of Pouilly [destroyed in 1840].
- March 30 - At dawn, he set off at a gallop with Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier and Colonel Gaspard Gourgaud towards Villeneuve-la-Guyard, Moret and Fontainebleau and slept in Juvisy, in a post house at Fontaines-de-Juvisy.
- March 31 - While the capitulation of Paris was signed at two o'clock in the morning and the allies entered the capital at eleven o'clock, Napoleon was at the Castle of Fontainebleau .
Map of the Campaign in Northeast France of 1814
All of Napoleon's movements from 1769 to 1821
Acknowledgments
In memory of Mr. Christian Lemoine († 2021), mayor of Sompuis, who during our visit told us about the Emperor's stay in his town.Photos credits
Photos by Lionel A. Bouchon.Photos by Didier Grau.
Photos by Michèle Grau-Ghelardi.
Photos by Marie-Albe Grau.
Photos by Floriane Grau.
Photos by various authors.