The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-06 00:00:00

TIIE BATTLE OF SEDAN.
(From the Pall Mall Gazette.).

We have received from our correspondent at the Ger-
man headquarters the following account of Thursday's
battle, of which he was an eye-witness :
Cheveuge, near Sedan, 4 a.m., Sept. 2.
_

Having witnessed the great battle of yesterday from a
hill above the village of Cheveuge beside the King and his
staff, I describe to you what I saw myself.
Above Cheveuge rises a hill, from which a magnificent
view, not only of the town of Sedan, but of the whole
valley of the Meuse for many miles, is to be obtAined.
The battle began about 6 a.m., and the King left the
village of Vendres, where he had slept, at 7.30 a.m. for
the scene of action. I arrived there about half an
hour after his Majesty. A more splendid panorama
than that which stretched for miles beneath us
it would be impossible to imagine. The hill
on which the King, Bismarck, Von Roon, General Moltke
and a numerous staff (including Generals Sheridan and
Forsyth, in the uniform of the United States) stood is
about three miles from the town of Sedan, which lies on
the Meuse some thousand feet below. On our left, about
half a mile off, was another eminence, crowned by a
château, in front of which the Crown Prince and his staff
were placed. On our left, in the valley beim% , were heavy
masses of Prussian cavalry out of range of the
French guns. Still farther to the left were
the Wurtembergers, in reserve, in case the doomed and
hemmed-in French army should attempt to break out in
that direction. About half a mile in front of the cavalry
ran the Meuse, the broken railway bridge forming a
most conspicuous point de mire . from our hill. On the m
right bank—the French side, I may say—the Prussians
had a battery of six guns, which did them great
service during the first six hours of the action.
Beyond this battery was a large village, named Floing,
all on fire by the French shells early in the day. The
Prussian line extended for miles beyond the village, as
far ar the great woods of Conde and Sedan, which run to
the Belgian frontier, only some ten miles from where we
stood, and form part of the great forest of Ardennes.
To the right—our right—of the Prussian Ene, and dis-
tant about three miles, lay Sedan ; but between Floing
and Sedan there is first a plain and then a low
hill running out as a promontory into the plain. Right
of this hill lies Sedan, its buildings and old-fashioned
fortifications plainly visible to the naked eye. We could
easily distinguish not only the fortifications, but
all the larger buildings, a new looking stone
church with a handsome Gothic spire, being
conspicuous. To the right or east of this
were large barracks close to the Meuse, and beyond these
again on old castle, I believe the arsenal of Sedan. Above
this château to the north-eastward was the citadel. Above
Sedan is the wood of La Garenne, and in the faubourgs
between these woods and the town itself were the French
troops in masses, some of the columns apparently inactive
all day. On the east of the town was a tolerably open
space for about three or four miles, and then a gentle rise
on which the French batteries were placed ; beyond
them were large woods, in front of which were the
Saxons under Prince Albert, the heirito the throne.
Behind the Saxons were the Prussian Guards in reserve,
at first to prevent the French attempting to cut their
way out to Carignan and Montmedy. Between the
Saxons and ourselves, and south-east of Sedan on both
sides the Meuse, were the two Bavarian corps,
their left flank extending to our hill, and
joining the two Prussian corps on the west
and south-west of the beleaguered town. On the
immediate right of our hill was the large wood of La
Marfee, famous for a battle in the wars of the League.
Between this and Sedan the ground sloped away,
forming a plateau half way down to the river, which
was occupied by the Bavarian batteries, thundering all
day at our feet.
The inumber of the Prussian troops engaged was esti-
mated by General Moltke at 240,000, and that of the
French at 100,000. We know that MacMahon had with
him on Tuesday 120,000—i. e. four corps—his own ; that
lately commanded by General de Failly, now under
General Lebrun; that of Felix Douay, brother of General
Abel Douay, who fell at Wissembourg ; and a fourth
corps principally composod of Gardes Mobiles. MacMahon
being wounded, General Wimpffen commanded in chief
on the French side. The commander-in-chief of the
Germans was Von Moltke, with the Crown Prince and
Prince Albert of Saxony immediately next in command.
There was hardly any manoeuvring at all during the day.
The Prussian, Bavarian, and Saxon army corps formed a
crescent round the town, with its horns towards the Bel-
gian frontier. About twelve o'clock this crescent
became a circle, the junction between the Prussians
on the left and the Saxons on the right being
effected near the road to Bouillon, not far from
La Chapel e. This circle grew ever smaller and smaller,
until at length its circumference was inside the outworks
of Sedan itself. There had been a few stray cannon shots
fired as soon as it was light, but the real battle did not
begin until six o'clock, becoming a sharp artillery fight at
nine, when the batteries had on each side got within
easy range, and the shells began to do real mischief.
At 11.55 the musketry fire in the valley behind Sedan,
which had begun about 11.25 became tremendously
lively, being one continued rattle, only broken by the loud
growling of the mitrailleurs, which played with deadly
effect on the advancing Saxon and Bavarian
columns. General Sheridan, who was standing by me
at the time, told me that he never remembered to have
heard such well-sustained and long-continued small-arm
fire. It made itself heard above the roar of the batteries
at our feet. At twelve precisely the Prussian battery—
six guns—on the slope above the broken railway bridge
over the Meuse near La Villette had silenced two bat-
teries of French guns at the foot of the hill
already mentioned, near the village of Floing. At
ten minutes past twelve the French infantry, no
longer supported by their artillery, was com-
pelled to retire from Floing, and soon afterwards
the junction between the Saxons and Prussians behind
Sedan was announced to us b y General Von Roon,
eagerly peering through a large telescope, as being safely
completed. From this moment the result of the battle
was as good as foregone, the French being completely sur-
rounded and brought to bay. At 12.25 we were all
astonished to see clouds of retreating French
infantry on the hill between Floing and Sedan,
a Prussian battery in front of St. Menges
making good practice with percussion shell among the
retreating ranks. The whole hill for a quarter of an hour
was literally covered with " Frenchmen running rapidly."
Shortly after we saw the first Prussian skirmishers on the
crest of the La Garenne hill above Torcy. They did not
seem in strength, and General Sheridan standing beside me
exclaimed, •'Ah ! the beggars are too weak, they can
never hold that position against all those French." The
General's prophecy soon proved correct, for the French
advancing at least six to one, the Prussians were forced
to retire down the hill to seek reinforcements from the
columns which were hurrying to their support. In five
minutes they came back again, this time in greater force,
but still terribly inferior to the huge French columns."
" Good heavens ! the French Cuirassiers are going to
charge them," said General Sheridan; and sure enough
the regiment of Cuirassiers, their helmets and
breastplatee flashing in the September sun,
form up in sections of aqua drons and dash
down on the Prussian scattered skirmishers. Without
deigning to form line—squares are never used by the
Prussians—the infantry received the Cuirassiers with a
most tremendous " schnell-feuer " (quick fire), at about
108 yards, loading and firing as fast as possible into the
dense squadrons. Over went men and horses by hun
dreds, and the regiment was compelled to retire much
faster, it seemed to me, than it came. The moment the
Cuirassiers turned bridle the plucky Prussians actually
dashed in hot pursuit after them at the double. Such a
thing has not often been recorded in the annals of war.
The French infantry then came forward in turn and
attacked the Prussians, who waited quietly under a
most rapid fire of Chassepots until their enemies got
within about 100 yards, when they gave them such a
dose of lead that the infantry soon folloWed the
cavalry to the " place from whence they came "—that is,
behind a ridge some 600 yards on the way to Sedan,
where the tiralleurs could not hit them. The great
object of the Prussians was gained, as they were
not dispossessed of the crest of the hill, and it was
fair betting that they would do all that in
them lay,to get some artillery up to help them
before Napoleon 111. was much nearer his deposition.
"There will be a h— of a fight for that crest," says Sheri-
dan, peering through his field-glass at the hill, which was
not three miles from where we stood, with the
full fire on it from behind us. At half-past one the
French cavalry, this time I fancy a regiment of
Carabiniers, made another attempt to dislodge the
Prussian; who were being reinforced every minute.
Something-must have at this point been very wrong with
the French infantry, for instead of attacking the Prus-
sians—whom they still outnumbered by at least two to
one—they remained in column on the hill seeing their
only hope of retrieving the day vanishing before
their eyes without stirring. -The cavalry then
tried to do a little Balaklava business, but
without the success of the immortal six hundred. We
took the guns in the Balaklava valley. Down came the
cuirassiers once more, this time riding straight for the
two field-pieces. But before they had got within 200 yards
of the guns the Prussians formed line as if on parade, and
waiting till they were within fifty yards, gave them
a volley which seemed to us to destroy almost the
whole of the leading squadron, and so actually
block up the way to the guns for the next one
following. After this last charge, which was as complete
a failure—although most gallantly conceived and executed ,
—as the two preceding ones, the infantry fell back
rapidly towards Sedan, and in an instant the whole hill
was covered by swarms of Prussian tirailleurs, who
appeared to rise from the ground. ' After the
last desperate char.;e of the French cavalry, General
Sheridan remarked to me, " I never saw anything so
reckless, so utterly foolish, as that last charge—i;, v,
sheer murder."
At 2.5 p.m. the French totally abandonded the hill be-
tween Torcy and Sedan, and fell back on the faubourg of
Caral, just outside the ramparts of the town. " Now the
battle is lost for the French," says General Sheridan to
the L;reat delight of the Prussian officers. One would •
al most have fancied that the French had heard his words, for
they had hardly been uttered before there was a lull in the
firing all along the line, or rather circle, as it has now
become. Count Bismarck took advantage of
this to come and have a talk with his
English and American friends. I was anxious
to know what the Federal Chancellor had done
about the threatened neutrality of Belgium, and my curl.
,;sity was soon gratified. " I have told the Belgian
Minister of War," said Count Bismarck, " that so long
as the Belgian troops do their utmost to disarm any
number of French soldiers who may cross the frontier,
will strictly respect the neutrality of Belgium, but if, on
the contrary, the Belgians, either through negligence or:,
inability, do not disarm andi capture every man in French
uniform who sets his foot in their country, we shall at once
follow the enemy into neutral territory with our troops,
considering that the French have been the first to violate
the R..le;ia,n soil. I have been down to have a look at the
Belgian troops near the frontier," added Herr von Bismarck