About ten o'clock
It was true ; he had carefully put aside three biscuits , in case there should be a fight , knowing that men are often hungry on the battlefield . And then , besides , he had just eaten a potato ; that would be sufficient for him . Perhaps something would turn up later on . About ten o'clock the 7th corps made a fresh start . The marshal 's first intention had been to direct it by way of Buzancy upon Stenay , where it would have passed the Meuse , but the Prussians , outmarching the army of Chalons , were already in Stenay , and were even reported to be at Buzancy . Crowded back in this manner to the northward , the 7th corps had received orders to move to la Besace , some twelve or fifteen miles from Boult-aux-Bois , whence , on the next day , they would proceed to pass the Meuse at Mouzon . The start was made in a very sulky humor ; the men , with empty stomachs and bodies unrefreshed by repose , unnerved , mentally and physically , by the experience of the past few days , vented their dissatisfaction by growling and grumbling , while the officers , without a spark of their usual cheerful gayety , with a vague sense of impending disaster awaiting them at the end of their march , taxed the dilatoriness of their chiefs , and reproached them for not going to the assistance of the 5th corps at Buzancy , where the sound of artillery-firing had been heard .