THE DAILY EVENING TELEGiltAl'll PHILADELPHIA., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER. 21, 1870.
S E DA N.
The Orcut XJefent.
Dr. Russell's Description of
tho Finishing Stroke
toX&acXtlahon's
Army.
Dr. W. II. Russell sends the following ac
count of the battle of Sedan, and the soenes
en the field, to the London Times. lie writes
from Donchery on Sept. 8:
The greatest event of our tjme has oc
curred tinder the eyes of those who saw the
battle of Sedan. 1 think the British publio
must have had enough of battle-field horrors
And hospital scenes. There will be plenty of
letters describing Kranken-tragcrs, burial
Earties, wounded men, heaps of dead, the
ideous reverse f the medal on the other
side of which are the bright emblazonments
of glory and victory. I will not dwell on the
topic, but ask your readers to be content
With the assurance that no human eye ever
rested on such revolting objects as were pre
sented by the battle-fields around Sedan. Let
them fancy masses of colored rags glued to
gether with blood and brains, and pinned
into strange shapes by fragments of bones.
Let them conceive men's bodies without heads,
legs without bodies, heaps of human entrails
attached to red and blue cloth, and disem
bowelled corpses in uniform, bodies lying
about in all attitudes,
WITH SKULLS SHATTERED, FACES BLOWN OFF,
HITS SMASHED,
bones, flesh, and gay clothing all pounded to
gether as if brayed in a mortar, extending for
miles, not very thick in any one place, but
recurring perpetually for weary hours, and
then they cannot, with the most vivid imagi
nation, came up to the sickening reality of
that butchery. No nightmare could be so
frightful. Several times I came on spots
Where there were two horses lying dead to
gether in harness, killed by the same frag
ment. Several times I saw four, five, and
six men, four, five, and six horses, all killed
by the explosion of one projectile, and in one
place there lay no less man eight a rencn sol
diers who must have been struok down by
the bursting of a shell over a oompany, for
they lay all round in a circle with their feet
inwards, each shattered in the head or chest
by a piece of shell and no other dead being
within a hundred yards of them. A curious
and to me unaccountable phenomenon was
the blackness of most of the faces of the
dead. Decomposition had not set in, for
they were killed only the day before. An
other ciroumstance which struck me was the
expression of agony on many faces. Death
by the bayonet is agonizing, and those who
die by steel, open-eyed and open-mouthed,
have an expression of pain on the features,
with protruding tongue. A musket ball,
Which is at once vital, does not seem to cause
much pain, and the features are composed
and quiet, sometimes with a sweet smile on
the lips. But the prevailing expression on
this field of the . faces which were not muti
lated was one of terror and of agony unuttera
ble. There must have been a hell of torture
raging within that semicircle in whioh the
earth was torn asunder from all sides with a
teal tempest of iron hissing, and screeching,
and bursting into the heavy masses at the
hands of an unseen enemy. I cannot ima
gine anything so trying to the bravest man as
to meet death almost ingloriously in such a
scene as that nothing so maddening to soldiers
as to be annihilated without a chanoe of ven
geance nothing so awful to the fugitive as to
see his comrades blown to fragments all around
him. It is well that wives and mothers and
fond sisters were spared the sight of their
beloved ones, and it is well that in France it
is only mothers and sisters who will have to
deplore the slain. Whether the Prussians
buried their dead early the night of the bat
tle itself or not I cannot tell, but their
losses were almost nothing if they were to be
estimated by the number of bodies on the
field. Soldiers well know how deceptive is
the appearance of ground viewed from an ele
vated point; and during the battle which
raged for fifteen miles before and around hs
there were outbursts of firing from valleys
and knolls which seemed purposeless, but
which were at once explained when the posi
tions were gained. I was surprised, knowing
the French had capitulated, and that Jhe Em
peror had surrendered, to see great columns
of the German army in motion towards the
heights over the Meuse, and the Sixth Corps
and the Bavarian Corps, in reserve, hastening
up in the same direction. But it seems that
GENERAL WIMPFFEN, WHEN HE HEARD THE
TEEMS,
declared that he would die sooner than sign
them. He could not think his situation was
so desperate. lie was informed that if he
preferred the destruction of his army it was
his own affair; but to show him that such
destruction was inevitable, maps were pro
duced and the position and force of the corps
of the German army and of its batteries in
dicated. If at noon the capitulations were
not agreed to, the attack on Sedan would
commence.
General Wimpff en was in a deplorable con
dition, and one which his brave enemies
commiserated. lie had arrived only twa days
before from Algeria. He found an army al
ready beaten to his hands. Marshal MaoMa
hon was wounded early in the day, struck in
the back and hip by a piece of shell or ball,
and Wimpffen had to take command of the
troops without knowing the Marshal's plana,
or even the disposition of the corps on the
plateaux over Sedan, except through others.
"And now my name will go down linked
with a humiliating capitulation for all time ! "
To make assurance doubly sure, and to show
that the gros bataillons were on the Bide, of
the.victors, this display of force was made
all "around Sedan, and when I got to the
neignts oi xjoncnery tne plains at our
feet were covered with the masses of
the FruBBian army. The Wurtembergers
bad come up from the direction of
Mezieres; the Bavarians were on the
right of the second army. The hill-tops
were black with troops, and all along them
clustered the batteries in position. It was
Hot a bright day, but the atmosphere was
clear, and the position of the French ad
mitted of their further study. The Mease
twists in such an extraordinary way that no
one would suspect its stream runs in many
places right across what seems a continuous
champaign and undulating lamd, and thus it
was that the semicircular bluff above the
Village of Floing, on whioh the cavalry
Charges and many, most interesting episodes
of the fight went on, comes close to the bluff
over Donchery, although the road to it must
wind for six or seven miles by the banks of
Jhe river, in a coarse which cannot be seen
from the bluff . North of Floing Stands a
mamelon, or conical hill, with a
fenced patch of forests (firs) on the summit.
At each Bide of this wood the Prussian
batteries, which brought such ruin on the de
fenders of the intrenched plateau over Floing,
were established. This hill is about three
quarters of a mile from the bridge over
Floing, and Inside the ridge the French were
intrenched a breastwork taking the natural
line of the slope, and a series of detached
epaulements being formed higher up. Now,
it is purely the old story of Chlum over again.
Generals ovght to watch the weather. It may
be true that MacMahon's f oroe did not permit
him to occupy the mamelon. In that case
his position was very weak on the northwest;
but it was worth making a strenuous effort to
do it. At all events, he should have got a
great strength of artillery to sweep it and
check Frnsssian occupation.
BUT IT WAS A FOOQT MORNING.
The weather, as well as the gros batailloni,
helped the Prussians. Their advance and
their passage of the Meuse belowDonohery
by two pontoon bridges were unnotioed; so,
apparently, was their approach to the wood.
The force which Marshal MacMahon bad at
his disposal oonsisted of the First, Fifth,
Seventh, and Twelfth Corps, with part of the
Sixth Corps. It was thought that they may
have reached 110,000 men, with 4J0 guns,
but I have no precise information as to their
strength in either, nor will it be known for
some days. It is almost ridiculous to sup
pose that MacMahon, with an enormous army
under his nose, and with a river between
him and them, should not have watched most
jealously the slightest indication of an in
tention to throw pontoons across, and have
tried to vex and defeat it; but the Prussians
believe he was not informed of the ex
istence of the bridges, and that their ap
pearance before Floing was almost a sur
prise. Everything about the war is a sur
prise from beginning to end. The prisoners
Bay it was believed they could hold out for
five weeks in the intrenched position they
had made. The batteries of the 5th and 11th
Army Corps demolished their confidence.
From the plateau of Floing the ground falls
towards the Meuse, but retains its elevation
and bluff-like formations towards the north,
cut by several deep ravines running generally
noun and south, in one or tnese noiiows,
sweeping in a semicircle towards Sedan, lie
tne villages of La Chapelle, llley, Givonne,
Ac. Woods on the summits of the ridges or
sections formed by ravines conoeal the fea
tures of the country from a general view.
Sedan itself screens a good deal of the field
from the eye. On the right, towards
Bezeilles and over the road by which the
Prince of Saxony advanced, the woods are so
thick as to look like a continuous forest.
THE POSITION.
Any one with a good map (Herman's Special
Karte will do) can got an idea of the position
and nature of the ground by filling the line
from Cazal by Floing, and so on round by
Givonne to Bazeilles, and he can ' mark the
effect in cutting up the ground of the two
little rivulets which now into the Mease east
of Sedan. There were outposts in the villages
towards Mouzon, but generally the ground
held by tne a rencn was included within this
semicircular line. The army of the Crown
Prince of Saxony, consisting of three corps
and oi tne Prussian liuards, came from tne
east side, and had to deal with the principal
force of the French. It was at one time ex
posed to an offensive movement, and had to
attack positions most savagely defended, in
eluding those which covered the depots. Ouo
division of this army was not engaged at all,
but the losses were severe. (One battalion
of the Queen's Regiment of the Guards, the
Augusta, lost 28 officers and 500 men.) The
Bavarians attacked Bazeilles and the
works of Sedan. Of the Crown
Prince's army on the west only the
5th and 11th Corps attacked, and all
the divisions of these were not equally en
gaged. The Wurtembergers watched Me
zieres towards Donchery on the left, cover
ing the bridges. The Gth Army Corps was in
reserve. Altogether there were about 170,000
men engaged and in reserve on the attacking
force at the very least, and if we take Mac
Mahon to have bad 110,000, and count the
prisoners and capitulated 90,000 off, there
remain 20,000 to be accounted for as killed
or wounded. The disparity in force was,
however, more than compensated by the posi
tion held by the French as long as it was not
bulged in or contracted; but as soon as they
allowed their line to be foroed they were ex
posed to a converging fire from the semi
circle closing in from east and west and
north, and put in desperate straits. Then
there only remained the chance of breaking
the fence and of forcing back one or other
army, and their efforts were directed to
repulse the Crown Prince of Saxony, with
the result known by this time to all the
world. The Prussian guns were
AS SUPEBIOB IN NUMBER AS IN POWER;
in fact, if Marshal MacMahon could, he
ought to have evaded an encounter with such
a force, and would have done so. But what
men call fate was upon his track. The genius
of Prussia, in the heads of two men, was,
humanly, speaking, irresistible. The Em
peror and his army were hunted down,
fenced in, brought to battle, and over,
whelmed in a vast ruin, of whioh mankind
will speak and read as klong as history en
dures. THE PRISONERS.
Beyond the town a strange scene presented
itself. In the large fields near the railway
station there was a body of French prisoners,
nnwounded, fenced in by a line of Wurtem
bergers. They were about 2000 in number,
and were of several different regiments, com
prising all arms, drawn up as if in military
order to reoeive rations, their officers taking
down their names and calling out their num
bers. They were a remarkable fine body of
men, taking them all in all. Many were too
young mere boys, but even in their depres
sion, after a night of cold, after a day of ter
rible trial, they bad that military as distin
guished from a warlike air which is character
istic of the race,
A CONTBAST TO THE SLOUCHING, BHAMBLINO
look of the men who were guarding them.
Turcos and zouaves, lancers, chasseurs
d'Afrique, hussars, cuirassiers, artillerymen,
chasseurs, and line were there in ranks, many
lyiDg down, others fast asleep let us hope,
happy in their dreams, poor wretohes! They
had nearly all their great coats and oloaks,
but the miserable throng looked as gay as a
flower-garden, owing to the variety of kepis,
turbans, and shakos. Farther on lay a great
spoil of the Prussian proper a quadrangle
filled with an army without arms as many
men as we can show royalty on a field-day at
Aldershott, probably twelve thousand men
such a ppectaole I have never seen yet iu my
life. There seemed to be whole battalions of
them five hundred and six hundred of single
regiments. It is very unwise in a civilian to
speak with prisoners of war if he has not au
thority to do so. Sentries are very jealous
on that score, so I oould not make inquiries.
The men were passive and quiet no aiove-
ment, no voices in the multitude. Outside, 1
here and tnere, like sheep seeking to regain
the flock, were wounded men limping in
twos, as if for company s sake, quite free, as
their captors knew that a man wounded ts too
sensible to nee from his only chance or cure
and (care and feod. Streaming along the
road, there was almost a procession of such
objects, now Prussians, now r rencn, and now
a Prussian and a Frenchman ' togethei, with
shattered bands or limping gait or horrid face
wounds. I made for Floing in order to
begin
THB BEVIEW OF THE BATTLE-FIELD.
The road was crowded with regiments and
ammunition wagons, and, to my wonder, I
saw it winding for three or four miles by the
river bank towards the village or little tewn,
the steeple of whioh looks very near from the
Prince's hill. About a mile outside the vil
lage, ' on the roadside, I came upon dead
horses, and then I remembered the dust, the
firing of the Prussian infantry, and the wild
confusion of what I thought was a rash of
runaway steeds. And so it was, but the
riders lay further on cuirassiers and lancers,
who had either attempted to cut their way
through or had fallen in pursuit of the Prus
sians. I regret to Bay that the sheets I sent
from the field contained my notes of the
times of the occurrences I observed, as I can
not now remember them. There were many
cuirasses strewed in the field and by the
roadside outside 1 iomg, and here and there
among the turnips, wurzel, and potatoes,
which the Prussians were gathering, lay dead
men all French. But there were picket
haubes and needle-guns lying about also, and
multitudes of cowhide knapsacks. After a
most irritating ride, getting over useless
ground, I got into the village, which lies
directly under the cliff -like side of the pla
teau, l rom the south side there is a steep
stony lane, a continuation of it winding up
north to it again. The side is in places
scraped lor patches of vines and vegetables,
fenced with stone walls, and enclosures round
small cabins. Floing was full of wounded
men. The white flag and red cross floated
all around; but it needed not that to tell
there were victims of the fight here, for pale
faces and bandaged limbs were at every
doorway J and window. The Place was
almost impassable, owing to a wreck
of' arms, chassepots, needle-guns, helmets,
swords, accoutrements, bayonets, knapsacks,
littered all over with regimental accounts,
papers, "livrets" here and there wagons and
commissariat carts, ammunition boxes, tum
brils things that had cost poor Frenohmen
far away a great deal of money, for which
there was a barren return indeed. I pressed
my horse up the steep, the beast sniffling and
starting at the dead chargers which lay turn
bled over in the fatal onset. Some Prussians
were lying in the little churchyard covered
with blankets and wreaths of flowers on the
breasts till the grave-diggers came; rude
crosses marked mounds which showed where
they had done their work; a few hundred
yards and there came in view the epaulement;
over the ridges inside were rows of French,
The ground behind was rent in every direo
tion and scarred by Bhell.
THE BEAMS AND FBAOMENTS AND FUKBOWS
told how they had met their death. Many
were buried by the simple process of throw.
ing down the bank. It is very likely there
were many men there who had dug their own
graves, singing and laughing all the while,
These men had all been clean destroyed by
the batteries on the mamelon, and were thus
rendered unable to prevent the advance of
the Prussian infantry to the village and up
the slopes. The ground on the top is partly
in cultivation turnips, carrots, and pota
toes wnicn the I'russians were digging up;
and the plateau was dotted with burial par
ties, medical men, and idlers. The dead
were generally bootless, stockings and foot
gear gone, coats were torn open, pockets
turned inside out by plunderers. About 12
o'clock, while I was on the plateau, a squad of the
gendarmerie swept off the stragglers and
ordered them to bury the dead. An irregu
lar line of dead horses almost at right
angles to tne line oi the epaulement indi
cated the position of the French batteries.
which made a long and gallant bat ineffectual
attempt to check the murderous Prussian
guns, flanking and raking it from the ridge
beyond, at the same time that it was torn to
pieces by the batteries posted on the mame
lon. Men of the 32d Frenoh and the 83d
Prussian, the 37th and 89th French, were
lying together. A few 1'rassians scattered on
the trampled earth indicated the site of the
first and successful charge. Further on
towards the river there was evidence of the
terrible retribution. Such heaps of horses.
gray and white t And here were the luckless
riders as they fell Chasseurs d'Afrique, in
light blue; men with red kepis, marked
"I.," with blue band, and peaks
lined with green, whom I conjecture
to nave been hussars, and men in light
blue, with white facings; the luckless 4th
Begiment of Lancers, the 8 th Lanoers, not
more fortunate, what once belonged to the
life and beauty of the gallant brigade which
had tested the lance against the needle-gun.
Among these bodies, which were not thiok.
but scattered all over the plain, lay men of
the Cth Artillery Itegiment. Near them was
a Bort of earthwork, very rude, with embra
sures, six in number, for mitrailleuses, with
a profusion of empty cartridge cases all
about it. The direction of the two charges
the very formation of the Prussian companies
which met them could be traced, and then
the course of the flying cavalry round the
Hanks in a vain attempt to escape and re
form. On this field there were here and
there wounded men moving uneasily in the
blankets around them, and waiting for the
arrival oi the cacoleta and ambulances
Prussian and French medical officers were
going over the field together.
A JOUENALIST SHOT.
As I am writing this there comes news
which I hope is not true. It is of the loss of
a friend, of one who eagerly pressed to be
employed in your service, and who has in
that service lout his life in the field. I can
scarcely proceed. Perhaps, before these
lines reach you, the telegraph will have
broken tne intelligence to those to whom the
blow will be terrible. My last words to him
were to warn him that he was not to seek
danger, and that in the capacity in whioh he
was engaged it was his bounden duty not to
run risks, it is now 0 o clock, and Colone
Walker, in reply to an inquh-y, caused by a
rumor 1 had heard, has written to say that
the Crown Prince of Saxony informed him
the Ivnes correspondent, Lieutenant-Colone!
Pemberton, was killed by his side
during the battle, by a bullet.
I am shocked and grieved, as will also
be as many friends as a young man ever had
when they hear it by this news, that only a
eense of duty impels me to continue my nar
rative. Had be fallen xor his country in
battle it would have been some consolation
te those he has left to mourn his fate. Cheer
ful, witty, full of life, spirit, and talent, he
has met the death he, above all deaths, would
have desired a soldier's. "Kit Pemberton
dead:" I fancy how these words will fly
through many an English home. I have
written to the Crown Prinoe of Saxony, and
will try to nave his resting-place properly
marked, or obtain some clue to its locality.
But headquarters move on to-morrow, and the
place, now deserted by the army, where he
fell is many miles away.
THE CAVALRY CHARGE.
Let us leave the scene of the cavalry charge.
Never can I forget the prelude. When I saw
the trench who had lined the advanoed
trench on the first retiring to what I now see
was another epaulement, where they were
again raked by the flanking batteries of the
outer ridge and pounded and brayed by the
mamelon guns, I did not know how they had
Buffered and could not perceive why they
retreated. The Prussians coming up from
Floing were invisible to me. Never can I
forget the sort of agony with which I wit
nessed those who first came out on the pla
teau raising their heads and looking around
for an enemy, while, hidden away from view,
a thick blue band of French infantry was
awaiting them, and a brigade of cavalry was
ready on their flank below? I did not
know that Floing was filled with advancing
columns, mere was but a wide, extending.
loose array of skirmishers, like a flock of
rooks, on the plateau. Now the men began
to fire at the beads over the bank lined by
the French. This drew such a flash of mus
ketry as tumbled over some and staggered
the others, but their comrades came scram
bling up from the rear, when suddenly the
first block of horse in the hollow shook itself
np, and the line, in beautiful order, rushed
up the slope. The onset was not to be with
stood. The Prussians were caught en flagrant
delit. Those nearest the ridge slipped over
into the declivitous ground; those in advance,
runniDg in vain, were swept away. But the
impetuosity of the charge could not be stayed.
Men and horses came tumbling down into
the road, where they were disposed of by the
Prussians in the gardens, while the troopers
on the left of the line, who swept down the
lane in a cloud of dust, were almost extermi
nated by the infantry in the village. There
was also a regular cavalry encounter, I fancy,
in the plains below, but I cannot tell at what
time; the Cuirassiers, trying to cut their
way out, were destroyed, and a charge of
two Prussian squadrons, which did not quite
equal expectations, occurred. The feat of
these unfortunate cavaliers only cleared the
plateau for a little time. In a few minutes
up came the spiked helmets again over the
French epaulement, crossing their sabred
comrades, and. therefore, all alive to the dan
ger of cavalry. They advanced in closer
order, but still skirmishing, and one long,
black parallelogram was maintained to rally
on. As the skirmishers got to the ridge they
began to fire, but the c rench iatbe second line
of epaulement soon drove them back by a rat
tling fusillade. The French rushed out of the
epaulement in pursuit, still firing. At the
same moment a splendid charge was executed
on the Prussians, before whioh the skir
mishers rallied, on what seemed to me to be
still a long parallelogram. They did not
form square. Some Prussians too far on
were sabred. The troopers, brilliantly led,
went right onwards in a cloud of dast, but
when they were within a couple of hundred
yards of the Prussians one simultaneous vol
ley burst out of the black front and flank,
which enveloped all in smoke. They were
steady soldiers who pulled trigger there. Down
came horse and man; the array was utterly
ruined. There was left in front of that deadly
infantry but a heap of white and grey
horses a terrace of dead and dying and dis
mounted men and flying troopers, who turn,
bled at every instant. More total dissipa
tion of a bright pageantry could not be.
There was another such scene yet to oome.
I covld scarce keep the field-glass to my eyes
as the second and last body of cavalry
which was oomposed of light horse also
came thundering up out of the hollow. They
were not so bold as the men on the white
horses, who fell, many of them, at the very
line of bayonets. The horses of these
swerved as they came upon the ground
covered with carcasses, and their line was
broken, but the squadron leaders rode straight
to death, imce again
THE CUBLTNO SMOKE SPURTED
out from the Prussian front, and to the rear
and right and left flew the survivors of the
squadrons. The brown field was flecked
with spots of many colors, and, trampling on
the remains of that mass of strength and cou
rage of man and horse, the Prussians, to
whom supports were fast hastening np right
and left and rear, pressed on towards the
inner epaulement and became engaged with
the French infantry, who maintained for
some time a steady rolling fire in reply to the
volleys of the Prussians. To me the French
force seemed there very much superior in
number. But they had lost courage, and
what was left of it was soon dissipated by the
advance ' of a Prussian battery, which
galloped np to the right flank of their in
fantry and opened a very rapid
fire, to which there was no French
battery to reply. The French left
the epaulement and made for a belt of
wood, dropping fast as they retreated, but
facing round and firing still. In a few mo
ments more the plateau was swarming with
battalions of the 11th Corps, and the struggle
there was over. Only for a minute, however,
because from the flanks of the wood came out
a line of French infantry. The musketry fire
was renewed; but it was evident the Prus
sians were not to be gainsayed. Their ad
vance was only checked that they might let
their artillery play while their columns as
sisted it by incessant volleys. At the time I
stated in my former letter the plateau over
Floing was won. A fierce onslaught by the
French, made after they had retired behind
the wood, only added to their losses.
The Crown Prince's army, notwithstand
ing the cavalry success at the outset,
had by 8 o'clock won the key of the position
of the French right with comparatively small
loss. It was startling to be addressed, just as
I was about leaving this part of the position,
by an English voioe. There stood the speaker
not of the House of Commons, but a mem
ber of it Mr. Winterbotham, with the Jo
hanniter badge upon his arm, muoh inter
ested in what he saw for the first time a
battle-field; and not able, I fear, to do much
in the way of aidiag the wounded, but full of
zeal. I was about going towards Sedan when
a staff officer informed me that the approach
to the city was dangerous, as the Turoos
everything is laid to them fired on officers
in uniform. It was necessary, therefore, to
make a detour and turn inside the line of
Prussian sentries, but the deviation brought
us more immediately on the scene of other
combats, and to .the ridge running in the
direction of St. Menges, where a French
Cuirassier charge is said to have been de
livered, though I saw no traoe of it. A
French soldier, one of several who were either
prisoners at large or who bad ventured out of
Sedan, gave me a direction to find Bazeilles,
and within three hundred yards the French
sentries paced up and down the green ram
parts, but . did not fire. Captain von Girl
afebHred us they had wounded a son of Gene
ral .Frey berg, and fired repeatedly on the
Prussians; others repeated the statement.
adding that they had killed and wounded
some JKf ench prisoners, and had wounded the
A'russuuiB who were gnardmg them, lhe
ground I crossed towards Givonne gave a
view of tne lks de dos da Loup and of the
Bois de Francheville, portions of the great
Foret de Sedan through whioh the Baton
Prince's army had to fight its way. Every
where were traces of the terrible cross-fire of
artillery, which rendered the battle so hope
less as the day wore on. Near' a field hospi
tal south of La Chapelle there were great
numbers ef French, further on the remains of
a reserve ammunition train numbers of dead
so great that they explained the protracted
musketry from a large body of French in-
infantry cut off by the rapid advance of the
nth uorps at one side and the 5th Corps at
the other, so that the only resource left was
to sell their lives as dearly an possible. There
was between this point and that at which the
right of the Saxon Prince's army beat back the
French and gained the plateau only an in
terval which could be covered by musketry
fire at long ranges; through this a few thousand
Frenchmen fought their way into Belgium,
but a strong column which made an effort to
get through also was overcome by artillery
fire and suffered fearfully in their retreat
over the brow of the hill, where they were
also exposed to a very destructive fire of mus
ketry. The troops of the 2d Army were in
force at this point. A post of infantry stopped
us to pass inspection in the civilest possible
manner, but then, as on other occasions
through the day, it was insisted that I and
my companions were "Fransozen,"
though a Frenchman would not have
admitted it if he had heard us
speak. The village of Givonne lay at our
feet, and as a soldier led the way a "cheery"
but careful young officer came out from a
cottage and hailed us. The production of
papers produced a most agreeable result.
Our young friend, as he proved himself in a
minute, was a descendant of a family of Shet
land, as I understood him, named Barton, and
belonged to the Queen Augusta Itegiment of
the Guards. lie led us to the room iu the
hovel where dinner was laid in camp for him
and lor the omcers of the company, who in
sisted on our drinking "the Queen's wine,"
and partaking of their rations; but our ban
quet was short, for an order arrived at 330
for the party to move, and as they were hastily
packing up I proceeded on my way, and as
cended the ravine, arriving at the ground
where the Bavarians touched the left of the 2d
Army as soon as the latter had carried the
positions in front of them. It was always
the same story. Lines of dead Frenchmen
mangled by artillery fire, some Prussians,
some Bavarians, principally killed by the
Chassepot. Now we arrived on the Bavarians'
field of action, which extended from Bazeilles
to bedan. In their gallant and most in nidi
cious attack they lost 3000 men. It is said
there was a misunderstanding. Their ad
vance column seized the railway station at
Sedan. It is maintained at headquarters that
there were explicit orders gi ven'that they were
not to develope their attaok till the Crown
Prince of Saxony bad come oat on their nght,
but the authorities of their own corps declare
the orders they received were not quite to be
thus understood.
THE BAVARIANS OF VON DEB TANN's CORPS,
on whom devolved the difficult task of carry
ing the village or town of Bazeilles and Balau
(a suburb of bedan, outside the fortiuca
tions), suffered enormously. They were ex
posed to a fire of infantry in the houses, and
to the guns of the works and the musketry
from the parapets. The inhabitants joined
in the defense, and as soon as the Bavarians
had crossed the Meuse by their pontoons and
by the railway bridge they could receive but
little protection from their artillery placed on
the heights. The French made the most
strenuous attempts to repulse them, in which
the marines were particularly distinguished
and three divisions of Bavarians, which began
to fight at 4 o'clock, were exposed to three
distinct onslaughts from the town and from
the corps under the walls. At one time it
appeared as if they would be overpowered,
although it seemed as if success against them
would scarcely have secured the French army
from its ultimate fate. It is believed by the
Bavarians that MacMahon himself was wound
ed very early in thejday, when directing his
troops in an offensive movement against Ba-
zeuies.
GENERAL DUCBOS THEN TOOK COMMAND
of the whole army, but General de Wimpffen,
producing a sealed letter, showed that he was
authorized to assume the control of the ope,
rations of the army in case of any accident
to Marshal MacMahon. The Marshal was
wounded early in the morning, and accord
ing to the reports of French oilioors, prison
ers to the Bavarians, there was a difference
of opinion between General Duoros and
General Wimpffen respecting the plan of
attack which the French adopted at one
period of the day as the best means of de
fense. Having beaten the Bavarians out of
Balan at one time, the French made a rash
in the direction of Illy, as if determined t
cut their way through on the flank of the
Saxon army and pass towards Metz. But the
Crown Prince of Saxony had by that time
resumed the offensive and had brought an
overwhelming force to block their way.
They were driven back, delivering the Bava
rians from the stress to which they had been
exposed. Their divisions advanced once
more, and Bazeilles, or as much as remained
of it, was firmly occupied. But the fight
about Balan lasted much later. Here it was,
according to Bavarian reports,
THAT THE EMPEROR,
declaring that he only served as a private sol
dier, went with the attacking column, com
posed of the remnants of various regiments,
to drive out the Bavarians. But the artillery
on the heights above the road were too much
for troops shaken by incessant fighting and
fearful losses. Shot and shell rained fast
about the Emperor, one of them bursting
close to his person and enveloping him in
smoke. The officers around entreated him
to retire, and the Bavarians quickly following
occupied Balan and engaged the French en
the glacis of the fort. I cannot Bay whether
this was previous to the period referred to by
General Wimpffen in his address to the
army, ne speaks therein of a supreme
moment when it was necessary to make a
final effort and cut their way through the
masses of the enemy at any hazard. But of
all that great host of 90,000 men, there were
only 2000, he Bays, left who answered to tho
appeal. Of the remainder there were pro
bably 20,000 in the hands of the Prussians,
but 00,000 men, deducting killed and
wounded, had by this time become a disorga
nized mass, without cohesion, "willing to
wound, but yet afraid to 6trike," and crushed
out of all semblance of military vita'ity by
an overwhelming and most murderous artil
lery, of which the moral effoot was at least
as great as the physical. The bitterness of
recrimination between offloers and men
shows that long before the battle a radical
element of force was wanting. There was
fiot only a deficiency of cordial relations in
ineir aina Dciwecn me omcer and tne sol'.. .
dier, but a worse evil still an actual appre-
hension on the part of the officers of those
whom they were to command a fear to en
force the ordinary rules of discipline, lest the -,
soldier should become unmanageable alto- ;
gined or described which occurred when the
army, or that uniformed rabble, had been .
fairly driven in by the beaters, to be shot
down at will, lhe 1 renoh artillery had prac
tically ceased to exist as a protecting arm.
The guns on the works are ridioulous small
ordnance of the date of. 1815, with a few
heavy pieces here and there, and Sedan, com
manded completely from the South bank of
the Meuse, was to all intents and purposes an
open town, with the inconvenience of having .
a walled enceinte to embarrass the movements
of the troops. The Emperor retired, I be
lieve, within the place, but not, surely, for
safety, but rather to escape from the surging
mass of impotent soldiery. There was a rain
of Prussian and Bavarian bombs upon the
town, filled with terrified citizens who had
had no time to escape. The troops outside
had been fighting without food since the
morning, and there were no resources within
the city to meet their wants. They were in
an angry and terrible mood, upbraiding their
omcers, mutinous, and every shell that fell
increased the evil of their spirit To one of
many missiles was now reserved a great mis
sion. A shell tell into a warehouse or manu
factory in which was stored some inflamma
ble material. A vast volume of flame rushed
for a moment into the air, and a volume of
thick white smoke whioh towered and spread
out bo as to overshadow half the city gave
rise to the apprehension on one side and ex
pectation on the other that soma central
magazine bad gone up. But no noise ensued.
Still, at the moment the resolve was taken
that Sedan and all that it contained should be
)laced in the power of the victor, in the be
ief that it was impossible to resist with any
frospect but that of ruin complete, however
ingering.
THE EMPEROR COULD NOT OPPOSE COUNSELS
dictated by obvious prudence, nor could he
encourage the despair of brave men. A
white flag was called for, but none was forth
coming. A lancer's flag was raised aloft. .
General Lauriston Btood upon the battle
ments and waved it, while a trumpeter
sounded, but in that infernal din neither
sight nor sound attracted the besiegers, and
it was only when the gate was opened, after
attempts in which officers and men were
killed and wounded, that the Prussians
recognized the first omen of their stupendous
victory. The firing suddenly ceased after
the discharge of a few dropping shots,
and then, . as all along the bloodstained
hills and valleys in which the smoke of bat-
tie bad been hanging the news, or rather
the instinct, prevailed that the enemy had
asked for terms, there rose, I am told, cheers
such as only can be given by a triumphant
soldiery. Shakos and sabres rose in the air.
Whit an additional pang of agony that must
have been to the wounded French, who felt
that they had given their blood in vain, while
the Prussians beside them, maimed as they
were, tried to swell with their feeble voices
the chorus of joyl An officer related to me
that he saw a huge Prussian who had been
lvincwith his hand to his side in mortal
agony, rise suddenly to his feet as he com
prehended the reason of the ringing voices,
utter a loud hurrah, wave his bands on high,
an A fVion an tha YAnnA msVmrl frnm hta
wound, fall dead across a Frenchman.
The officer who came out eventually and
met General Moltke in consultation was, I
believe, General Reille, who was the officer
in attendance on the Kin a when ha -xna at
Compiegne. He was the bearer of an auto
graph letter from the Emperor addressed to
his Majesty, and written in no agitated hand.
You already know the terms: " J01 Frere
A7'a mat if im ttif n 71. t si a gji vtsi svmvi
je depose mon epee aupied de votre Majeste."
This letter was immediately conveyed to the
King, who, with Count Bismarck, General
Moltke, and his staff, were looking down
from a height above Wadelinoourt on the ex
tinction of an empire. His Majesty's answer
was courteous and firm, and meantime General
Wimpffen was informed that the terms offered
to the army was the surrender of the whole
force, guns, horses, and material, to the
Prussians. I do not know whether the officers
were then exempted from general surrender,
but, any way, the French commander declared
he would sooner perish in the field than sign
such a disgraceful capitulation, and so the
sun went down in the west, lighting the path
of the King to Yendresse, through the most
enthusiastic ovation from all the soldiery
along the road south of the Meuse. The
Crown Prince reoeived a not less joyous
reception as he proceeded back to Chimery.
It was known that the Emperor had absolute
ly surrendered, and that the army was about
to capitulate. As a German soldier ex-
! tressed it, "Kaiser eaptirt; armee capitu
irt." The street in the mean little village
in whioh the Prince lodged presented an ex
traordinary spectacle. It was lined by sol
diers holding lighted candles, which did not
flicker in the quiet air. It was almost a dis
appointment to them when the Crown Prinoe
came unattended by the Emperor. And what
a people these good French are to govern !
The cottagers feigned to partake of the joy
at the overthrow of their Imperial master.
They stuck lights in the window. My host,
an eld soldier of Africa in Louis Philippe's
time, who had of ten doubtless shouted " Vive
VEmpereur!" too, begged of me to lend him
a second candle to put in his window, for,
said he, "Cela sera plus digne." It was late
WHEN THE CROWN PEINCE BAT DOWN TO DINNER,
and for the first time during the campaign
a toast was proposed by his Royal Highness,
"The King and the Army." It was drunk in
champagne also an innovation at the royal
table which was intended for the Emperor
Napoleon, and was captured with other stores
by a Prussian dragoon regiment and pre
sented to the Crown Prince. Although the
army in general believed that peace was now
secured, those around the Prinoe 's table dis
cussed the question with less security of the
result. The hesitation to sign the capitulation
did not signify much, for a night's reflection,
strengthened and matured by the sight of the
preparations for main taining possessionof what
remained of the French army by f oroe, would,
it was felt, render a positive refusal oat of
the question. The French officers at the
parley had admitted that the demoralization
of the troops was complete. They were ap
prehensive even that the Prussians who might
return with the answer to the Emperor's
letter might be fired at; and one of them, ap
plying a coarse expression to his own men,
said, "11 tire sur not leurs officiers." Orders
were sent to the various corps to close up
around the town, and when the watch-fires
were alight Sedan seemed a black spot in a
broad belt of fire, which lighted up the
heavens. What a night it must have been
for the wounded cannot be imagined by those
who have not seen how great . are the suffer
jogs which kind nature, however, appeases,1
generally as time wears onaod, life ebts away.