As Bressonet can be relied upon for substantial information on the Jena Campaign of 1806 I thought the following might be helpful on a sometimes contentious subject:
The following comment was made about Bernadotte in a posting on the Napoleon Series:
‘Bernadotte did not refuse anything, he just obeyed his orders which he had to fullfill, as Davout had to do his. Also he cannot be blamed that both Napoleon as well as Berthier did forget him.
You can read this very well in the work of Foucart'
Unfortunately, that poster did not quote Foucart on Bernadotte's performance on 14 October 1806, but Bressonet's comments are interesting on the subject:
'On 13 October, while in Naumburg, Murat and Bernadotte received at four o'clock and at six o'clock in the evening, respectively, the first of the Emperor's orders, and had decided to begin marching towards Dornburg, when the arrival of the message for marechal Davout, written at three o'clock in the afternoon, halted the 1st Corps' movements. Bernadotte wrote to the Major General the following letter:
'Naumburg, 13 October 1806, eight o'clock in the evening
Marechal Davout has given me at this minute, Monsieur le duc, your letter of today, brought by M. Perigord, your aide-de-camp; according to its content, I have thought it necessary to stop the movement for which I accounted in my previous letter, dated of this evening at six o'clock, since you ordered marechal Davout to maneuver to the enemy's left only if marechal Lannes was attacked this evening at Jena, and you added that if the attack did not occur, he will receive the Emperor's instructions for the next day. Since I believe that these measures will be inclusive of all [the corps], I stopped my troops where they were, and I wait for new orders. I am still with my entire corps around Naumburg, I am ready to execute the movements that the Emperor orders.'
'As for Murat, having received at four o'clock the two messages that had been sent to him at seven and nine o'clock in the morning, he did not hesitate to go to Dornburg; not having been affected by the message which stopped Bernadotte, Murat reached Dornburg fairly late and personally went to Jena during the night.'
'The night of the 13th to the 14th was spent in Naumburg by marechaux Davout and Bernadotte, who were waiting for the Emperor's orders. These orders are not recorded in the registry of the Major General. We know them only through what is said in teh Journal des operations du 3e corps, which is quoted here:
'Early on the 14th, marechal Davout called his divisional genereaux and other officers to Naumburg in order to give them their orders, pursuant to those that had been received from the Emperor during the night. The orders from Napoleon arrived at three o'clock in the morning; they were dated the 13th, written at ten o'clock in the evening and dispatched from Imperial Headquarters on hills overlooking Jena. The Emperor, who had scouted a Prussian army that stretched over one league in front of and on Jena's hills up to Weimar, had planned to attack the next day. He therefore ordered marechal Davout to move towards Apolda, so taht his corps could fall upon the rear of that army. He left the choice of the road up to the marechal, as long as he took part in the battle. His Serene Highness the Major General added: 'If marechal Bernadotte is with you, you can march together, but the Emperor hopes that Bernadotte will already be in his assigned position at Dornburg.'
'Marechal Davout distributed the orders to all his generals, who left immediately to carry them out; then Davout went to see Bernadotte, commander of the 1st Corps, who had indeed arrived in Naumburg during the night. The Marechal gave him written notice of the orders he had just received from His Majesty; and asked him to declare what he was going to do. Bernadotte told Davout that he would not move towards Apolda with the 3d Corps, but would instead march for Kamburg [and from there, to Dornburg].'
'Both marechaux had therefore received the order to go to Apolda, sur les derrieres de l'enemi, marching together in case Bernadotte was still in Naumburg. Bernadotte had not received any other order, otherwise he would have mentioned it in his explanatory letters to the Major General, dated 14 October from Apolda, and dated 21 October from Bernburg. 'It was only at four o'clock in the morning', he wrote in the letter, 'that I re3ceived your letter to marechal Davout which said that the Emperor really wanted me to be in Dornburg.' Berthier's letter to marechal Davout was very clear: 'If marechal Bernadotte is with you, you can march together, but the Emperor hopes that he will be at his assigned position in Dornberg.'
'For anyone obeying the spirit of military matters, it is clear what this quote means: that on 13 October, at ten o'clock in the evening at Jena, Napoleon preferred Bernadotte to be in Dornburg during the night, as to have him in position in order to cooperate with the action which should allow the army to come onto the plain. The intervention, on the morning of 14 October, of the 1st Corps coming from Dornburg against the flank and rear of the Prussian defenses in Closewitz and Lutzeroda would have really simplified taking over these places, ensured the Emperor of their possession, and guaranteed the army's deployment, with a minimum of time and effort.'
'But it is clear that if, at the time that Davout's order to march to Apolda arrived, Bernadotte was still in Naumburg, he could not have arrived in time to join in the first fighting. In such a case, it would be preferable that the 1st Corps join with the 3d corps, and that both combine their march through Apolda against the rear of the Prussian army, which would already be engaged with the Emperor's forces concentrated in Jena.'
'Did Bernadotte not understand, or did he not want to understand this reasoning? It is not for us to judge. It would seem however that his desire to leave his colleague had supplanted everything else for him. So, during the entire day of 14 October, like what happened with d'Erlon at Ligny, Bernadotte remained useless between two battles, but, contrary to Drouet d'Erlon, Bernadotte's inactivity was due to suspicious motives.'
So, it seems as if Bressonet believes that Bernadotte did disobey orders and that his motives in doing so were 'suspicious.'
Sincerely,
Kevin