The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-09-10 00:00:00

REVLEWINH THE BATTLE•FIELP.

I made for Floing in orderto begin the review of the battle-
field. The road WAS crowded with regiments .d antemni-
lion waggons, and, to my wonder, maw it winding for three
or four miler by the river beak towards the village or little
town, the steeple of which looks very near front tne Prince's
hill. About a mile outside the village, on the roadside. I.
came upon dead horses, and then I remembered the dust,
the firing of the Prete/earl Infantry, and the wild eolifutnon
of what I thought wee a rich of Tenancy iteeds. And 101 l
it was, but the riders lay further in—Cuirasinet a and Lancers,
who had elan r attempt, d to cut their way thmugh, or had
fallen in penult of the Prussians. There were many cnirivisee
strewed in Mos fickle and by the roadside outside Floitig, and
here and there anieng the turnips, aurae', and potatce.,
sliieh the Prussians were gatheriog, lay thew! men—all
French, but there were pick'o Is tliken and needle-gun, lying
shout also, and multitudno of cowhide keenest:lu. After a
Most irrltatmg ride, getting over useless ground, I hit into
the village, which lies directly under the clifflike stele
of the plateau. From the south :hie there is a steel,
atoll) lane, a contimustloa of It "Amami up north to it
agalu. The aide is 10 places no .rocel for pati hes of vines
viei fenehd with thole walls, and enclosures
reditio small cabins. Fmitil was tun of wounded men. Tim
white tlig and red cross flirted all rouad ; hut it needed
not that in tell there were victims of the fight here, for pale
face. and b outage.' limbs were at everyiluerway sod window.
The ['lace w. almost Impassable, owing to a wreck of arms,
chalsep as, needle-gun., lielniets, neceutrenimita,
bayonets, knapsacks, littered all over with resin:mit:l ac-
counts, tapers, " is—hero and tl,te wr..g.,7ens and com-
missariat eerie. ammunia awboxes. rued-ohs—things that
had cost poor Frenchmen far away a greatileal of money,
for which there was a barren returti indeed I pressed
my horse up the steep. the beast sniffing and starting
at the dead chargers which lay tumbled over in the
h.tal onset, home Fro,omis ly hog in tho little
elosr,ity tad covered with blankets sri wreaths of ilosets
on the breasts till tte, gravediggers cone ; tulle eres-,
Marked monads Which showed where they had done
their work ; slew hundred yards end there cm. i, vbw
the euattle merit : over the ridges inside were rows of French.
The ground behold was rent 1,, every direction and scarred
by shell. The seams hall fragments and furrows told how

_ met their death. Many were Mules' by the simple
process of throwing down the honk. -ft is very likely there
were many men there who had dug their own graven, singing
and laughing all the while. These men bad all bogs elects
destroyed by the batteries on the Maruelon, and wtre thus
rendered unable to prevent the advance of the Prussian
inf.mtry to the village arid up the elopes. Tina sir,und
on the top Is partly in cultivatioa—turnips, carabts, end
potatoes, which the Prussians were digging 4p; and
the plateau wee dotted with lmrial parties, media .1 men,
and id!ers. The dead were generally lo,otleu, slot kings
and foot-gear gone, costs were torn open, pockets unreal
inside out by pluuderera. About tweve o'cl. clt. while I wee
Ott He plateau, a 1110311 of the gendarmerie swept elf the
stragglers and ordered them to bury the dead. Ann irregular
line cf dead bum a almost at right angles to the lino of the
ment Indicated the position of the french batteries,
which made a long and gallant but their sctual attempt to
check the murderous Pnuslan runs, flanking and raking it
from the ridge beyond, at the same time that it was knelt to
nieces by the batteries posted on the Mamelon. Men of the
32m1 French end of the 83i d Prussian, the 37th and btn.lt
French, were lying together. A few Pros-slant scattered on
the trampled elm indicated the alto of the first and sun-
eta:int charge.
TERRIBLE RETRIBUTION !

Further on towards the river there was evidence of the
terrible retribution. Such heaps of horses, grav and white !
And here Were the luckless riders as they felt—Chasseurs
, d'Afriome, In light bloc; men with red kepis, marked 1.,"
with Imre band, :LA peeks lined with green, whom I conjec-
ture to have been Hussars ; and roes In light blue, with
white facings ; the !maims 4th Regimmt of Lancers, the Bth
Lancers, not more fortunate, what once belonged to the tile
and beauty of the millatit brlgale which had tested theistic.
al:sleet the needle-gun. Amon: these bodies, which were not
thick, but scattered all over the plain, lay flies of the 6th
Artirlery ll.giment. !tear them was a sort of earthwork,
very rule, with embrasures, six in number, for mltrailleu.es,
with a promslon of empty catrldge cases all it,Nant rt. Tne
directioa of the two charges—the very formation of the Prus-
sian ownieu.ien v,iir.rii Mot them—coal be traced, and then
the comae of the flying cavalry round the thinks iu a vain at-
f erupt GI eleape lielorre. Our this deb! there were here
and there wounded men reeving uneasily In the blankets
around them, and wattles for the arrival of the carol eta and
ambulances. Prussian and French medical officers weregolng
Over the Mid together.