The days seemed to blend together, but finally safety had been reached, for now. The remnants of commands and officers started to come in. All the fatigued troops, the wounded and dying. They gather around the Generalfeldmarschall Scott Kronprinz "Vorwärts" Ludwig von Preußen has he took account of who was still present after the crushing defeat the armies had suffered. All the eyes of those gathered around were sunken, lusterless and tired....
"Real" missing. A hard fighter.
"Riza" missing, feared dead. A strong heart.
"Hartwick" missing. Good bye friend.
"Bogue" missing, feared captured. A good man.
"Chimara" missing. An old & good friend. A champion of the battlefield.
"Caldwell" missing, feared dead. A sound commander.
"Cohen" missing, feared captured. A good warrior.
"Whitfield" missing. A great personality.
"Petro" missing. Has the Heart of a Lion.
"Doncel" missing, feared dead. A good thinker.
"Dudas" missing. Strong with the sword.
"Duggan" missing, feared captured. A very old and close friend.
"Hames" missing. A very good man, a good friend and our oldest serving officer.
"Moehle" missing. A principled man, a great friend and a strong heart.
"Stotsenburgh" missing, presumably dead, as last seen charging alone headlong into the French Old Guard Grenadier Cavalry with two pistols in his hands. A great fighter and a great friend.
"Nelson" AWOL.
"Fitzgerald" missing. An old friend.
"Whalen" captured and enlisted with the French. A strong voice.
"Hill" missing. A skilled cavalier.
"Remeta" missing. A gifted commander & strong winner.
"Kyriakou" missing. Strong with the musket.
"Roubaud" missing, will be remembered. An old, old friend.
Then came the last name, "Reuter" missing. Goodbye old friend, Our Great Generalfeldmarschall, gone. No one will ever be so good of a commander as you.
23 officers gone. 12 Generals, 7 Colonels, 1 Major and 3 Lieutenants. The Kronprinz hung his head low, just shook it back and froth and wiped his brow, trying to hide the tears.
The day had been hard. "Enter in the information into the log book", he said to and aide.
He turned to another aide, "The names of Real, Riza, Hartwick, Bogue, Chimara, Caldwell, Cohen, Whitfield, Petro, Duggan, Hames, Moehle, Remeta, Roubaud, Stotsenburgh and Reuter shall be inscribed on the walls of the Prussian and Austrian Ruhmeshalle (Hall of Honor)....Valhalla...."
Long shall they be remembered and their loss not forgotten.
The Kronzprinz had heard of similar terrible fates in the other Coalition armies.
Goodbye to all my old friends and former officers, from near and far. May they be remembered fondly and hopefully seen one day again.
NWC
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