Bernadotte was already supposed to be in Dornberg when the order to accompany Davout were received at 0300 on the 14th. Interestingly, it took Bernadotte 6 hours to march the 8 miles to his 'objective' after he left Davout and Naumburg on the morning of the 14th. That definitely and clearly demonstrates a lack of urgency on Bernadotte's part.

Napoleon wrote to Bernadotte on the 23d regarding his absence from both Jena and Auerstadt:

'However, according to a very precise order, you ought to have been at Dornburg, which is one of the principal passages of the Saale, on the same day as Marshal Lannes was at Jena, Marshal Augereau at Kahla, and Marshal Davout at Naumburg. In case you had not executed these orders, I had informed you during the night that, if you were still at Naumburg, you should march with Marshal Davout and support him. You were at Naumberg when these orders arrived; it was communicated to you; but, nevertheless, you preferred to make a false march in order to turn back to Dornburg, and in consuence you did not find yourself in the battle, and Marshal Davout bore the principal efforts of the enemy's army.'-quoted in Foucart, II, 243.

Napoleon told Rapp at Jena: 'Bernadotte has behaved badly. He would have been enchanted to see Davout fail in that affair, which does him [Davout] the greatest honor, all the more so because Bernadotte had rendered his position difficult.'-Rapp, Memoirs, 84.

Savary said that Napoleon's remarks about Bernadotte were even more pointed: 'That is so hateful that if I send him to a court-martial it is equivalent to ordering him to be shot; it is better for me not to speak to him about it. I believe he has enough honor to recognize that he has performed a disgraveful action regarding which I shall not bandy words with him.'-Savary, Memoirs II, 292.

Sincerely,
K