Thread by @2econd_crossing

#OTD 21 December, 1812, Dr. Larrey, Sergeant-in-Chief of the Grande Armée, arrived at Königsberg and found 10,000 wounded and ill men.
Among them was General Lariboisière, Chief of the Artillery of the Imperial Guard, who had failed to outlive the day.
#Voicesfrom1812

The III Corps, except for Ney and Marchand, left for Marienberg on the day after their arrival.
“We were hardly outside the Königsberg gate when we all marched to the left again toward the Thorn highway," wrote Jakob Walter, a speck in the masses of French and German soldiers.

Because other generals had either gone ahead or died, Fezensac directed the five days’ march to Marienberg. Murat marked the Vistula as their westernmost point of retreat, and anyone who makes a crossing there would be “regarded as a deserter to the enemy.” (Fezensac)

With each units going their own way, Königsberg became increasingly dominated by those unable to move further.
Dr. Larrey finally made appearance, "almost exhausted by fatigue" that he would start reorganizing the army hospital from the next day. (Larrey)

He was often surprised how "the men of sanguine temperament who were natives of the south of France or of Italy, better resisted the action of cold than the men of lymphatic temperament, as the Dutch , the Hanoverians , and the Prussians."
(Larrey)

This even applied to the enemy, many of whom Larrey generously tended for:
"So benumbed and stupefied were the Russian armies by the cold of that terrible winter, that they were incapable of distinguishing the French prisoners who marched in the middle of their columns. (Ib.)

Personal experience may help explain the perplexing phemonena. Those from colder environments tend to take for granted the availability of warm clothings and insulated housings, while those unused to cold weather make extensive preparations for the winter.

His arrival could not prevent the death of Lariboisière, who had fallen to "the most cruel torments" since 10 December, alongside Eblé and Laboussaye. (Labaume)
A day ago he was carried into Königsberg, “so ill and dejected that he could no longer speak.” (Planat)

The 53-year-old general had served under Napoleon for nearly two decades, accompanying him from his spectacular rise to power to the beginning of his endgame.
Born into a family of noblesse d'épée, he joined the fatal expedition with his two sons, Ferdinand and Honoré-Charles.

It was he who ordered the 102-gun salute of hellfire at 6 o'clock on 7 September, commencing the Battle of Borodino.
His youngest son, Lieutenant Ferdinand Baston de Lariboisière, commanded the 1st company of the 1st squadron in the 1st Carabiniers-à-Cheval Regiment.

Before charging into the Semeonovskoy to support Ney's frontal attack, Ferdinand gave his father a sincere salute-a scene immortalized by the painting of Antoine-Jean Gros.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the young officer became mortally wounded. (Planat de la Faye)

Planat de la Faye, aide-de-camp to the father Lariboisière, became mortified to find the 22-year-old officer lying helplessly in a makeshift hospital:
"Although I'd known him but slightly, I'd taken a great liking to him." (Ibid, Austin)

Just like his father, who maintained a lasting rapport with the Emperor ten years younger than himself, he was "a charming young man, as frank and loyal as could be."
Five days later, when the army staggered into Mozhaisk, it was clear that his time has come.
(PDLF)

Sitting beside his deathbed, the general "remained for a few hours, waiting every moment for his son to breath his last." Shortly thereafter, he was forced to watch his son dragged out of "this house of pain."
One can only imagine his depths of devastation.
(Ibid)

On the day of his arrival at Königsberg, the bereaved father "went to bed at night, never to get up again."
Traumatized by the death of his son, and with the frost tearing open a chest wound he had received at Smolensk, the once affable man was completely drained of his smile.

At five o'clock in the morning, on 21 December, Planat was wakened by Chief Medical Officer Gibert, who told him "that the general has just passed away."
In his quarter, the aide found Captain Honoré, the older son, who "threw himself into [his] arms." (Ibid)

Planet mourned the father who had followed his son:
"I lost in General Lariboisière a protector and a friend who, during the short time I served near him, had treated me with a kindness and a confidence which I will always preserve as a grateful memory."

When he urged Honoré to leave for Paris as soon as possible and console his poor mother, the last of the Lariboisières made him "promise to bring back to Paris his father's body and heart of his brother Ferdinand."
To keep his promise, Planet left for Danzig on the next day.

Honoré-Charles Baston, comte de Lariboisière, the only survivor among the three, carried the legacy of his military family. He was raised to the peerage of France in 1835, and, in commemoration of the family tragedy, found Hôpital Lariboisière in 1854. He lived to the age of 80.

-The End-

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