The Adventures of Henri Bonhomme - Episode 5: Epilogue

Previous Episodes

Episode 1: The Affair at Seusslitz

Episode 2: The Battle of Blasthof Bridge

Episode 3: The Battle of Wurzen

Episode 4: Leipzig 

Epilogue

With the failure to break out to the south of Leipzig on the 16 October, significant defeats on 17th and 18th in the northern sector and shortage of artillery ammunition, the Emperor resolved to retreat though Leipzig and across the Elster River. Weak rearguards were posted at some of the outlying villages while the bulk of the army began to retreat across a single bridge on the night of the 18th. Oudinot’s, Reynier’s, Poniatowski’s and Macdonald’s corps were left to defend the city for as long as possible.

Severe street fighting continued throughout the morning of the 19th. Bonhomme's division was withdrawn  around 1:30 PM. The officer commanding the bridge had been instructed to and blow it when the last of the army had crossed, but he left the bridge in charge of an NCO who either misunderstood the instructions or panicked and blew the bridge while it was still crowded with retreating soldiers. The destruction of the bridge caused a panic amongst those trapped. Thousands of French troops were killed and some 30,000 surrendered. Thousands more tried to swim the river to escape, Marshals Oudinot, Macdonald and Poniatowski among them. Poniatowski, who was badly wounded, drowned in the attempt, but Oudinot and Macdonald made it across where they were met on the opposite bank by Bonhomme who managed to find dry clothes for them both. 

As he was guiding the two exhausted and half frozen marshals to safety they came under fire from Coalition guns across the river. A howitzer shell exploded near to Bonhomme and a piece of iron smashed into his left leg, breaking it in two places. He was carried away from the river to a makeshift hospital where surgeons wanted to amputate the leg, but Bonhomme refused to allow it and the leg was splinted. A grateful Macdonald arranged for Bonhomme to be placed in his ambulance to join his personal baggage train. Bonhomme made the painful journey back to France in the company of the ever faithful Baillard...and his wagon full of loot.  

In time his wound healed, but he was never able to take the field again and he forever thereafter walked with a cane and a limp. He returned to his estate near Bordeaux there he developed a fine reputation as a vintner. Every day, regardless of the weather, he could be seen walking his beloved vines, often in the company of his lifelong friend Baillard. His success in this field brought him great wealth and allowed him to build an exquisite chateau in which he displayed many of the artifacts he had ‘collected’ during his time in Egypt, Italy, Austria, Russia and Germany.

Henri Bonhomme died in 1862 at the age of 84, outliving two wives and two of his five children. He left behind a vast wine empire and a huge fortune. In the early 20th Century most his eclectic art collection was donated to the Musée Beaux Arts Bordeaux.

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Holzinger was correct in his assumption that Hockmeister would call him out after his rant on the field south of Liebertwolkwitz, but he seriously under estimated Hockmeister's ability. In the ensuing duel Holzinger's shot missed by a wide margin, but Hockmeister's struck its target straight between the eyes. 

Hockmeister remained with the army through the campaign in France in 1814, enjoying the delights of Paris throughout the summer as a part of the Army of Occupation. He returned to Austria in November 1814 as a decorated staff officer. He left the army almost immediately on his return to take up his old life of extravagance and excess. His end came in 1830 when he slipped and fell from the third floor balcony of a Venetian Palazzo while trying to evade an irate husband. 

His vast fortune and family title was argued over for the next decade between several cousins and three illegitimate children.

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Boris Knockerov survived another day's fighting at Leipzig on 19 October, participating in the vicious street fighting. He went on to serve in the 1814 campaign and was severely wounded at Arcis-Sur-Arbe on 20 March, losing his left leg and eye when an artillery caisson exploded but a few paces from him. He spent the summer in Paris recuperating, setting out for home in late-August. On that journey, near Smolensk, his wound reopened. Written off by the city's physicians he was taken in by a local healer who nursed him back to health. As a measure of his gratitude Knockerov, the old batchelor, married the woman, with whom he fathered four children.

He was awarded the Imperial Order of Saint Anna (Second Class, with swords) for this services in the wars against Napoleon, placed around his neck by the Tsar himself, along with a gift of 200,000 roubles. He retired from the army to his estate at Drezna, east of Moscow, in 1815. In a period noted in Russia for its extreme autonomy, he ran his estate along very liberal lines, freeing all his serfs and granting those who chose to stay a share of estate's income. He worshiped at the local church and ate lunch with the peasants every Sunday without fail.

He lived another 30 peaceful years, drawing his last breath in 1845 at the age of 96.

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Little is known of the life of  Helmut von Pannewitz after Leipzig. No record exists of any service in 1814 or in the Hundred Days, but he continued in the army for another 35 years, rising to the rank of General of Infantry. Sent to observe the operations against the revolutionary forces in Baden in 1848, he fell badly from his horse during a minor skirmish and died four days later.

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So ends the Adventures of Henri Bonhomme and other characters.