The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-08-23 00:00:00

A WAR SCENE.

The environs of the village of Ganstett were the

seeu.• of • deperate action between the French right and
the Prussian left during the memorable battle of
Woe', h. Like several others of the villages, it was
crowded with wounded, and pale faces looked out of
the windows of the cottages, with heruls bound up ; bu
there were soor, more terrible evidcootts of the struggle.
The dlbeis of knapsacks, pouches, ninalvta, shoes,
fragments of of clothing, shakos, thickened as we went
; ilead hor,es swollen to an enormouf size, with
their legs stuck up in the air, lay about in the fields ;
and now we came on a dead Pruuian, who had fallen
stiff as in the act of charging, and then came Zottaves
and Times, mostly thn latter, in all the fantastic rigidity
of death in battle, the faces in most case, covered by the
decent care of the country people with little pieces of
linen, which the rain had beaten in on the lineaments
In relief. The burial parties were busy close at hand,
and all over the country, but the harvest was too
11, airy for the reapers. I have now seen many fields—
and the more I see of them the less I like them—but
never have I beheld • sight so extraordinary as I came
on try the little *tr.:ambit the Sauer, which flows by
Gunstett. At an angle of the road, by• sine plantation,
there had evidently been • sanguinary combat between
the infantry ; but • little beyoud it lay the scene of a
cavalry charge, the relics of which formed the 'strange
spectacle I ant writing of. There were 'teepee( cuirasses
still bright, and brass belmeta with Ilium, which had
been taken from the dead, wounded, and prisoners, and
piled at intervals along the road. Between these lay &ad-
dles, swords in the ground, horse trappings, valises with
" ti" and "6" on them, here and there single cuirasses,
dead horses, helmets, swords, muskets, the ground tram-
pled, the vines beaten down, pools of blood, a foul sour
smell everywhere; this literally for two miles on each
side of the road. In the village itself was a pile of 30 or
40 cuirasses and helmets, then another pile of the same.
Farther on, mixed up wi,h these " trophies " of the
haplcsa Cuirassiers, we came on the aigns of disaster to
a regiment of Lanoers—staves with red and white
streamers in all directions, lancer shakos, saddles,
valises, and tunics—blue laced with white. One would
think Lancers and Cuirassiers bad all fallen together ;
but to whatever regiments lance and cuirass belonged,
it was plain they had been rented and destroy, il. One
remarkable circumstance is this—not • °ulnas was
pierced by • bullet. I looked most narrowly—others
did the same. And yet what had been the fate of the
wearers? That is a problem that I cannot solve, nor
could any one else; but it is plain that the Cuiruidere
were annihilated. It is said that one regiment charged
a battery and got in among the guns, but was smitten
by the infantry on the flanks with • leaden shower that
beat them to the earth never to rise again—unhorsed,
or dead and wounded, the unhurt all taken in • few
seconds. As I said, this sort of work was visible for
quite two miles along the road. The rain cleared up
before noon, and that most have been some little relief
from suffering to the wounded, who wore still met in
carte There were some with faces upturned, *old and
stiff, who cared no more for what the elements might
do. I shall dwell no longer on such SOCUCA. There
will, I fear, be many more of them, and worse.
110 W SAARGEYWND WAS TAKEN.

A certain yoaog lieutenant of the Brunswick Hussar'
had orders to patrol towards the town with only a
couple of his men. Aa be approached ft, to his aritonish
m -
ent, aaw no signs of French troops in it ; and,
with the audacity of youth, he cantered into it with
his two Hussars clattering after him. He reined up
opposite the market-place, demanding the nearest way
to the burgomaster's house, which was pointed out to
him ; but in the meantime • crowd had collected, who
began to show soniewbat hostile indication& He had
his revolver In his hand, and one of the peasants, with
more courage than his neighbour', said, " What's the
good of that Ile dare not fire at us." "Daren't If"
replied the Hussar, levelling hi, pistol, and firiog over
the man's head, which, I need not say, so intimidated
the valorous townsfolk that they Immediately cheered
him, which wee, of course, tantamount to running
away. He then proceeded to the burgomaster and
demanded quarter' for two infantry reOments and a
battery of artillery. which be expected would shortly
inter the town. This being worded, he sent one of
his Hussars back to his regiment, about five miles off,
with the intelligence that the town was empty, and in
two hours efterwards the Brunswick Humane, trotting
into the place, proclaimed It • captured town. The
lieutenant in question, quite a boy, Herr Von Emig
by name, was for two hours entirely at the mercy uf
1,000 inhabitants at the very least.
PIC-NIC ON A BATTLE FIELD.

- ---•
Now will it be credited that amid all these sad traits
of human suffering (the battle field of Saarbruck)
crowds of countrywomen wandered chattering and
laughing, and that I even came upon a party pic-
nicking among the debris of blood-stained uniforms, one
of whom made use of a stieteher, which had evidently
done its duty roPinear, as a table? These people, so
long am they are not molested in their own homes, seem
perfectly indifferent as to what happens outside them,
and, if by chance the blast of war should pass them on
one Aide, look upon an excursien to a battle-field as One
of the pleaaanteat trips that can be made. I I.IW a
little ruffian of • boy walking about with • Prussian
helmet on throush whioh a bullet had passed, and he
WU pointing out to his confreres in
_a 1,44,4 half
German, half French, what an escape be had had.
GERMAN GOVERNOR 4 OF LORRAINE AND

ALSACE.

SAAKIIRCCIL, Wedoesl.- -E--vening.—Tho King has
appointed General Von Bonin, Caminander-in-Chief of
the third and fourth army corm to rile poet of Gover-
nor-General of Lorrain.; aid Lient.-Genoral Count
Bi,mark Bohleo, hitherto C..onnatulant
Ouvornor-Guneral of Ala&