On September 21st, 1805, the three divisions under Bernadotte, took their position at Butzbach, in the province of Gros-Herzogth; and on the 30th of the same month, the whole army was united before Wurtzburg. General Marmont arrived at Mayence with his corps, joining Bernadotte and the Bavarians.

The different columns of the army arrived successively upon the Rhine from the 20th to the 26th of September; these corps were commanded by Marshals Soult, Davoust, Ney, and Lannes; Murat commanding the reserve of cavalry. They formed a line of which the right was at Strasburg, the centre at Spire, and the left at Mayence.

The reserve of cavalry, composed of five divisions, crossed the Rhine on the 25th of September, at Kehl. Lannes and his corps, consisting of the grenadiers under Oudinot, and of a division under Suchet, crossed the Rhine at the same place; and Marshal Ney, with his divisions, under Dupont, Loison, and Malher, and the dragoons of Baragny d’Hilliers, followed on the 26th.

Soult with the divisions of Vandamme, Legrand, and St. Hilaire, effected his passage at Spire; and Davoust at Manheim at the head of the divisions under Friant, Gudin, and Bouvrier.