midnight
The nearer we approached the city the more detachments , cannon and baggage we encountered hastening to Leipzig . Toward ten o'clock we passed through the faubourg of Rendnitz . The general of brigade , Fournier , took command of us and ordered us to oblique to the left . At midnight we arrived at the long promenades which border the Pleisse , and halted under the old leafless lindens , and stacked arms . A long line of fires flickered in the fog as far as Randstadt ; and , when the flames burnt high , they threw a glare on groups of Polish lancers , lines of horses , cannon , and wagons , while , at intervals beyond , sentinels stood like statues in the mist . A heavy , hollow sound arose from the city , and mingled with the rolling of our trains over the bridge at Lindenau . It was the beginning of the retreat .