about the event.

It was about four in the afternoon when one of his aid-de-camps came at
full speed from the city, and made a report. The drums instantly beat to
arms, and the divisions of the guards broke up. The emperor immediately
mounted his horse, and followed them. He directed his course towards the
Kohlgärten[3], leaving the field of battle on the right. I soon
perceived the cause of this movement: the message informed him of the
arrival of the whole of his guards, for whom he had been waiting. They
came from Düben, entering by the Halle gate, and now made a countermarch
upon Dresden. When I beheld their endless files and cannon without
number pouring out of the city, I certainly gave up the allies for lost.
I was thoroughly convinced that Napoleon had no other plan than to
strike off to the right behind the Kohlgärten, with his new army, and,
proceeding from Stötteritz, to turn his enemies on the right flank, and,
as he had often done before, to attack and annihilate them. I was
however egregiously mistaken. The emperor went with his retinue scarcely
a thousand paces, to the first houses of the Kohlgärten, where he took
up his quarters, and quietly passed the night. The guards and the whole
train likewise stopped in that neighbourhood, and there bivouacked. It
grew dark. The palisades at the gate had left but a narrow passage,
through which troops and artillery kept pouring without intermission.
People on horseback and on foot, who wanted to return into the city, had
been already detained for several successive hours; the crowd every
moment increased, and with it the danger. To seek another entrance was
impracticable, as a person would run the risk of being detained by the
thousands of pickets, and shot, or at least dragged to the filthiest
bivouacs. The night was dark as pitch, and no hope left of getting home.
It rained fast, and not a corner was to be found where you might take
shelter. I was in the midst of more than a thousand horses, which