THE BATTLE OF SEDAN.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2360, 25 October 1870, Page 2

THE BATTLE OF SEDAN.

Althongh thf public mind, before the receipt of the Safi Francisco mail, bad arrived at the conclusion that the victory of the Prussians at Sedan and the surrender of Louis Napoleon were indisputable facts, it seemed very improbable that so large a force as 90,001) mm could have lain down their arms. By the San Francisco mail we are put in possession of the details of the battle that led to this astounding event, as related by the special correspondent of the Xew York Tribune, and from other sources. As usual with American accounts, they are diffuse and fragmentary ; but we will try to compile a connected narrative from the chaos of telegraphic news before us. Last month, we were informed of the check the French had received under M ‘Mahon and the Emperor ; of the seige of Strasbourg, and the investment of Melz. The difficulties of the French daily increased. On the 27th August the situation of the two armies was thus described The French under M-‘Mahon occupied a line from Bethel to Stenay, leaninz on Mozieres. Sedan, and Montmedy, with the Belgian frontier behind. Marshall Bazaine was shut up in Metz with some 60,000 men, and a Prussian army, that had been marching in the direction of Paris, changed their r«ute. The troops around Troyes marched towards Romilly ; those around Chalons towards Suippos, while {others who were between Stenay .and V.areunes, directed their course towards Bethel by Grand Pre aud Vouzhrs. Strong Prn sian columns were also advancing from Luneville and Joinville to St. Dizier. These movements placed the French under M'Mahon in great peril, as ho had enemies in front, in his right flank, and gatlnring round him in the rear. Some partial fighting appears to have taken place on the 31st August and other days with advantage to the Prussians. On the 2nd September the Prussians attacked M‘Mahon’s army, and drove it across the Meuse. The French fell back on Sedan, a town in the department of Ardennes, about 157 miles from Paris. Although fortified, it cannot really be considered a very strong place, when subjected to modern methods cf attack. It is a small neat town of perhaps 15,000 inhabitants or more. There is an old castle there, rema-kable chieflv as having been the birthplace of Marshall Turenne. The manufacture, of wollens is carried on, anl the Mcu?o flows through the town. From the account given by the Correspondent of the Kew York Tribune, it appears that M'Mahon, hy making a stand at Sedan, thought if airan defeated, he would be able to makego -d his retreat in the direction of Mezieres. The result showed that Die Prussians had effectually prevented that. On the evening of Wednesday, August 31, the head quarters of the King of Prussia were about eight miles from Sedan The Crown Prince was about seven miles south rr south-west of it on the miin road. The object of the Prussians was to drive the French towards the Belgian frontier, and thus to prevent all possibility of their forming n junction with or co-operating with Bazaine. A glimpse of the war trim of the Prussians is given hy the correspondent of the Tribune who describes the 37tb in the lightest possible marching order. They had no knapsacks, and were only carrying c’oaks slung over their left shoulders and he ivily-loadcd cartouche-case? in addition to their arms. He says ho could imaviuo nothing more “splendid than the men’s marching.” He saw men lame in both feet, hobbling along in the ranks, kind comrades, less footsore, carrying their needle-guns. Men who were actually incapable of putting one foot before the other, had pressed the peasants’ waggons and other available conveyances into the service, and were following in the rear, so as to be ready for the great battle which all felt sure would come off the next day. He especially compliments the Bavarians on the rapidity of their movements, which could not be called marching in the ordinary sense of the term. In anticipation of the attack, the French had flooded the low meadows in a valley before coming to a railroad bridge at Bazeilles, but had left that bridge undestroyed. This is considered by the Tribune

correspondent to have been a mistake, as the position proved of immense service to the Prussians, who threw up earthworks on the iron bridge itself to protect it. The French in the battle attempted to storm the bridge, in the hope of breaking the Bavarian communication between the right and left banks of the Mcu.sc, Their cannon even destroyed the parapet of the bridge, but no material damage was done to the structure itself. The Bavarians, on the projecting spurs of a hill, crowned by the wood of L'irnifee, planted two batteries of sixpounder rifle breach-loading steel Krupp guns. They do not appear to have been much service beyond diverting the attention of the siege guns at Sedan. The Prussian plan of battle seems to have been to completely surround the army of M‘Mahon, who, however, being wounded, was unable to command, and the French forces were under the direction of General Wimpffen. Sedan formed the centre upon which the Prussians advanced, their forces being arranged in the form of a crescent. Above the village of Bazeilles is an undulatory plain terminating about a mile and a half west of Sedan at some woods near Rubicourt, and in a line from Bazeillc north is a ravine with a tiny brook flowing through it. At this brook the most desperate struggle and the most frightful slaughter took place that occurred throughout the battle. The writer did not ascertain the name of the stream. The French, of whose plan of battle we have no account, were encamped in three camps; and separated from them by a wooded ravine was a long bleak hill, which formed one of the keys of their position. When the" Prussians carried that position and placed artillery upon the bill, their guns commanded the town, which was nearly within musket range of them. At some little distance, to the Prussian left, was the village of Illy, which early in the day was set on fire by the French shells. A railway bridge at this place had been blown up by them to protect their right. The object of the Prussian generals was “ merely to close the crescent of troops with which they began to form a circle, by effecting a junction of the Saxon corps on their left with the Prussians on their right.” This junction was effected near the village of lily or Bazeilles, behind Sedan; .and the circle formed, its circumference was then gr . d a’ly contracted until the ‘ ‘ fort Mentions of Sedan were entered.” The position of the Prussian army at nine o’clock on the monrng of the battle is thus stated : On the right bank of the Meuse and of the Pi ussian army were the Saxons, one corps d armee with the King’s guards to the number of 50,000. The Saxons were commanded by Prince Albert of Saxony. The ground from Rubicourt to the was occupied by the first Bavarian Corps. The second Bavarian Corps extended their front from near the Bazeilles railroad bridge to a point near the village of lorney. The ground from Torch to Illy, through the large village of Ploing, was occupied by the first and second Prussian Corps, belonging to Prince Charles, and temporarily attached to the army of the Crown Prince. Still further to the wes 4 , near IJouchery, were 20,000 Wurtemburgers ready to cut off the French from Mez'erts should they attempt to reach that fortress. Tuis precaution was the more necessary as th j fortifications of Mezieres are considered remarkably strong. The total number of Prussian troops engaged was estimated by General Von Moltke, the commanderin chief of the Prussian army, at 250,000/ and that of the French at 120,000. The Crown Prince and Prince Albert of Saxony were in immediate command. A few shots from cannon were fired by tLe Prussians to try the range, which was socu obtained, and about six o’clock in the morning.the battle began. At nine the artillery had been brought into action on both sides at easy distance, and the shells did serious mischief. A sharp and well-sustained musketry fire was opened about half-past eleven o'clock “in the valley in the rear of Sedan,” the continued .rattle “ being.only broken by the growling of the guns which played with deadly effect on the Saxon and Bavarian columns.” This continued until about noon, when a Prussian battery of six "guns, placed on a f-lopc broken by the railway bridge over the Meuse, near Lavalette, silenced two batteries of French guns at the foot of the bald hills near Floring. No longer supported by their artillery, the French w*re compelled to retire upon Floring. Just at this time •the junction between the Saxons and Prussians was effected!,' and the French were completely surround d. The retreat of the troops upon Floring soon became a rout, and great destruction was. effected by the Prussians, who fired percussion shells amongst them. Half an hour after this another French column retreated from the road which leads from Bazeilie to the Sagavenne woods, and never halted until they reached a small red-roofed house in the outskirts of Sedan. The French still endeavored to check the advance of the Prussians by ad. vanning fresh troops, and about 1.15 they opened a de-tructive fire upon the third corps of Prussians, who by their movements threatened to storm the, hill north-west of Savagenne, which would have given them the command of the position ou that side. The Prussians kept shifting their ground, so ns to avoid offering a good marie for the French shells until their preparations were completed, wh-n their skirmishers gained the crest of the hill, bat in insufficient force, and they were driven back. “In five minutes they returned to the attack in greater numbers, when they were charged in squadrons by a regiment of cuirassiers, who dashed down upon them. Without trying to form otherwise than in line, they received the cuirassiers with a crushing quick fire, at about one hundred yards distance, loading and firing with extreme rapid ty and unfailing precision. The effect was startling : over went men and horses in numbers, in masses, in hundreds.” ■ The regiment, sadly reduced iu numbers, went back faster than they had a Ivauced, broken and in disorder. The Prussians dashed forward in pursuit at double-quick—rather a curious, but we should think a hopele-s chase. When the French infantry saw the flight of the uinssiers, they came forward, and in their turn attacked the Prussians, who waited quietly and endured a rapid and telling fire from the chassepots, until the French were within one hundred yards of them. They then returned the lire with the needle-gun with such effect that the French gave way and retired beyond'a ridge some five hundred yards ou the way to Sed n Another dash was made by a regiment of French cavalry witli no better success than before, for they were repulsed .with heavy loss. On their retreating the Prussians .advanced two hundred yards nearer the French, and divided, into two bodies, leaving a break of one bun- * drpd yards in their line. This was to allow

two guns (four-pounders) whmh they bad dragged up a steep incline to play upon the French masses. The French infantry, although in superior force at this point, seemed to have lost heart, and, instead of attacking the Prussians, retreated in column up the hill. The Cuirassiers here made a charge which equalled in courage the Balaclava charge of the “six hundred.” Onward they rode straight for the guns, but “ before they got within two hundred yards of them, the Pruss’ans formed line as coolly as if on parade. They waited until the cavalry were within fifty yards, and then fired. “The fire seemed to the spectators to empty almost all the saddles of the foremost French squadron, and the dead so strewed the ground as to block up the path to the following squadron. Though the attack was pushed w th courage and gallantry never excelled, of necessity the attempt had to be relinquished. Both cavalry and infantry, finding all chance of carrying the position gone, fell back towards Sedau. With incredible rapidity as the Fren hj retired, the whole slope was cjvcivd by Prussian mitralleurs, which harrassed them on their retreat. Followed thus closely, the French cavalry, annoyed, turned su idcnly, and once more charged ; but “ the thin blue line ” of Prussian soon stopped the-onset. It was a last effort. Suddenly there was a lull in the firing. Shortly after three o’clock the Bavarians entered the fortifications of Sedan, and worked themselves from house to house to maintain their position. At four a short struggle took place for possession of the lidgo above Bazeilles. The Prussians carried it at 4.40, and as then the Prussian guiis commanded the town and fortifications, further resistance seemed hopeless. The whole French line ceased firing, and at five o’clock a French officer, bearing a flag of truce was escorted to the Prussian headquarters, asking terms of surrender. A short consultation took place between his Prussian Majesty and General Von Moltko, and the messenger, who was a French colonel, was told that in a matter so important as the surrender of 80,000 men and an important fortress, it was necessary to send an officer of high rank. The colonel was, therefore, directed to return to Sedan, and to toll, the Governor to report himself immediately to the King of Prussia. If he did not arrive in an hour the guns would again open fire. The Colonel was directed to say that it was no use trying to obtain any other terms than unconditional surrender. The Colonel returned to the town, and shortly afterwards General P.eilly (we presume the Governor) rode out with a letter for the King of Prussia. The General was received by his Majesty with his slender escort of dragoons and cuirassnrs drawn up two deep. The King advanced about ten yards in front of them, when the General presented him an autograph letter from Louis Napoleon. It was said to be as follows “As I cannot die at the head of my army, I lay my sword at the feet of your Majesty.” On the arrival of the flag of truce, the Crown Prince had ridden over the hill, and he, with Count Bismarck, who had been on the field during the greater part of the day, and Generals Von Moltke anti Von Boon consulted with the King. After a few minutes consideration his Majesty sat down on % rush-bottomed chair and, using another chair for a writing desk, wrote to the Kmperor, begging him to come to his headquarters at Vendri. So ended the battle of Sedan, where 20,000 Prussians and 10,000 French lay dead on the field. How many were maimed for life or how many will die of their wounds, future accounts must tell. The heavy loss of the Prussians resulted from having to attack strong positions held by a concentrated force on the defensive. The correspondent of the New York Tribune appears to have been in company with General Sheridan during the battle, and takes care to intimate his being on friendly terms with Bismark, and even the Prussian King. He records many of Sheridan’s sayings and criticisms on the affair. They are not, however, of any value, even if true, beyond giving an'idea of bis being a homely sort of man, and that his companion was even a more servile tea >y than Boswell. After 4 he battle. General Wimpffen issued the following address to the soldiers at Sedan:—

“Soldiers, on Thursday you fought against a force greatly superior in numbers ; from daybreak until dark you resisted the enemy ■with the utmost bravery. When you had fired your last cartridge, you Were worn out with fighting, and, noticing able to respond to the call of your General and officers, in the attempt to rejoin Marshal Bazaine, by the road to Montmedy, you were forced to retreat on Sedan; in tliis desperate effort but 20,000 men could be got together, and your General deemed the attempt utterly hopeless and impracticable. “ Your General found, with deep regret, when the enemy was united within the Avails of the town, they bad supplies neither of food nor ammunition, and could neither leaA'e the place nor defend it, means of existence Ving alike wanting for the population. I was therefore reduced to the sad alternative of treating with the enemy, and sent yesterday to the Prussian b,ead-quarters, with full power from the Emperor, but could not at first bring myself to accept the conditions imposed by the enemy. “ This morning, however, menaced by a bombardment to which we could not reply. I decided to make a fresh attempt to get honorable terms. I have conditions in Avhich Ave are saved as much as po-sible the annoying and insulting formalities Avhich the usages of Avar generally impose. “Under the ' present circumstances in which we find ourselves, it only remains for ns, officers itnd soldiers, to accept with resignation the consequences of this surrender. We hav'C, at least, the consolation of knowing a useless massacre has been avoided, and wo yielded only under circumstances against Avhich no army could fight—namely, a want of food and ammunition. “ Now, soldiers, in conclusion, let mo say that you are still able to render brilliant services to your country without being needlessly slaughtered.” “Dk Wimpffev, General Commanding in Chief.” General Wimpffi u, Avbo surrendered Sedan and the army of MacM ihnn, has made an explanation of his connection Avith the negotiations for the capitulation of the fortress, of which the following is a history : General Witnpffon had only arrived in France two days from Algeria, Avhen he was ordered to a command under MacMahon. He hastened to join the command to Avhi hj he had boon assigned, and arrived at Sedan. H«>ro he found that Marshal Mao'S fab au was smTeriug from severe Avounds in his hip and back, recutting from the explosion of a shell, the fragments of which had struck him, incanacitating him from the active direction of the movements of the grand army. General

Wimpffen was thus compelled to assume the command of an army which was always beaten. Though ignorant of the position, still ho refused to sign the articles of capitulation. The Prussians produced a, map, which showed the position of the German troops and batteries, and convinced him that the destruction of the French troops was inevitable. “Then, and then only, was the surrender concluded upon,” General Wimpffen feelingly declared ; “and now my nanm will go down to history linked with the humiliating capitulation for all time.