Under this murderous hail, Ney’s soldiers remained astonished, motionless, looking at their chief, waiting his decision to be satisfied that they were lost, hoping they knew not why, or rather, according to the remark of one of their officers, because in the midst of this extreme peril they saw his spirit calm and tranquil, like any thing in its place.  His countenance became silent and devout; he was watching the enemy’s army, which, becoming more suspicious since the successful artifice of Prince Eugene, extended itself to a great distance on his flanks, in order to shut him out from all means of preservation.

The approach of night began to render objects indistinct; winter, which in that sole point was favourable to our retreat, brought it on quickly.  Ney had been waiting for it, but the advantage he took of the respite was to order his men to return to Smolensk.  They all said that at these words they remained frozen with astonishment.  Even his aide-de-camp could not believe his ears; he remained silent like one who did not understand what he heard, and looked at his general with amazement.  But the marshal repeated the same order; in his brief and imperious tone, they recognized a resolution taken, a resource discovered, that self-confidence which inspires others with the same quality, and a spirit which commands his position, however strong that may be.  They immediately obeyed, and without hesitation turned their backs on their own army, on Napoleon, and on France!  They returned once more into that fatal Russia.  Their retrograde march lasted an hour; they passed again over the field of battle marked by the remains of the army of Italy; there they halted, and their marshal, who had remained alone in the rear-guard, then rejoined them.

Their eyes followed his every movement.  What was he going to do; and whatever might be his plan, whither would he direct his steps, without a guide, in an unknown country?  But he, with his warlike instinct, halted on the edge of a ravine of such depth, as to make it probable that a rivulet ran through it.  He made them clear away the snow and break the ice; then consulting his map, he exclaimed “That this was one of the streams which flowed into the Dnieper! this must be our guide, and we must follow it; that it would lead us to that river, which we must cross, and that on the other side we should be safe!” He immediately proceeded in that direction.

However at a little distance from the high road which he had abandoned, he again halted in a village, the name of which they knew not, but believed that it was either Fomina, or Danikowa.  There he rallied his troops, and made them light their fires, as if he intended to take up his quarters in it for the night.  Some Cossacks who followed him took it for granted, and no doubt sent immediately to apprise Kutusoff of the spot where, next day, a French marshal would surrender his arms to him; for shortly after the noise of their cannon was heard.