The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-02 00:00:00

from it part of the fire of the allies. In the north The materiel of the Austrian army was, however,
front of Guiddizzolo a furious combat was proceed- saved by the speedy destruction of flying bridges
ing, the Austrians fighting to enter Medole, the on the river below Volta, and as night fell the
allies to enter Guiddizzolo. In the rear of the Austrians remained in possession of Monzambano,
French guns two heavy lines of dust, covering as Valleggio, and Guiddizzolo.
with a pall the trees which concealed the roads, in- I can give you no adequate idea of the losses sus-
dicated the advance of heavy masses of troops, while tained on the field of Solferino. These will not be
south of Guiddizzolo similar lines of dust gave known for some days. This morning as I left Villa-
tokens of similar preparations on the part of the franca there was heavy firing in the direction of
Austrians. Far up to the north rose the hills on Monzambano.
the side of which stands the town of Castiglione, The Emperor and all his Staff are now in' Verona.
the domes of which were visible to the naked eye. The cause of the loss of this great battle by the
The sun alternately shone out in overpowering bril- Austrians is not difficult, I think, to fathom. The
liancy, anon concealed itself behind clouds over the troops are not less brave nor less forward in action
field of battle. Lists so vast, so enormous a congre- than others. The Croats I observed shrank from
gation of men engaged in a deadly struggle, I had the field, and Count Nugent, who, notwithstanding
never seen. The small puffs of the muskets explod- his great age, did duty as a volunteer, might have
ing were lost in the immensity of the landscape. It been heard at a great distance as he abused them in
was only when volleys of artillery followed each the streets of Cavriana; but as for the other troops,
other in rapid succession that the smoke took a dis- I never saw any that fought better. The cavalry
tinct form. It was soon lost, however, in the gene- was really splendid, and the artillery as cool and
ral haze, and only broken again by the white para- collected under fire as possible. But " pluck" is of
bola of rockets, of which the Austrians were making no use unless the greatest care is taken in the dis-
considerable use. The forms of the men were lost to position of an army.
the eye in the vast proportions of the fight, andit was When Solferino was to be saved from an over-
only when heavy masses lay together, and assumed whelming attack the last man was doing his duty.
an aggregate shape, that any conception could be ob- There was no reserve or covering corps of any kind,
tained of their presence. With a telescope one so that when the French broke through at last they
could see, as it were, myriads of men on each side did so like the waters of a sluice, which spread
fighting at all points; dead bodies of men and themselves at once over the surrounding country.
horses strewn on the ground, with the wreck of lam forced here to close my letter, which Ishall
uniforms and arms ; but to the naked eye it seemed continue to-morrow.
as if a vast anthill were in motion--men becoming
pigmies, as they doubtless are in encounters of
such magnitude.
The movemen ts of the contending armies had been
as follows :—At 6 o'clock in the morning the Pied-
montese, who occupied the left of the allied posi-
tion, advanced against the Bth corps under Benedek,
while the French attacked the sth under Stadion on
the heights of Solferino. These movements were no
sooner commenced on the French left than the Aus-
trians moved on their left also, the 3d corps, under
Schwarzenberg, advancing on the road to Cas-
tiglione through Guiddizzolo ; the 9th, under
Schaffgotsch, on the parallel road to Medole. The
latter had hardly moved a mile from its bivouack
when it met the enemy in front of Medole.
Schwarzenberg sent two batteries forward on the
Campo di Medole, where the French, as I before
observed, had placed three batteries in a crescent,
the two extremes or horns of which placed the
Austrians under a cross fire. On the heights of
Solferino, and to the Austrian right, the attack of
the French and Piedmontese was repulsed with
severe loss, several prisoners falling into the hands
of the Austrians. The corps Shaffgotsch success-
fully advanced, and fought its way in the direction
of Medole, but Schwarzenberg's batteries had got
into a position in which they were incurring serious
losses, and it was found necessary to withdraw
them. In order to do this, Mensdorff's brigade of
cavalry moved out to the right of Schwarzenberg
into the plain, advanced fearlessly on towards the
French batteries, thus drawing upon itself part of
the fire which was then pressing so heavily upon
the Austrian guns. While the latter retired the
cavalry charged a party of French cavalry, which
it is said to have terribly cut up, and finally fell
upon a square of French infantry. It was well and
splendidly done, but at the price of heavy losses.
Scores of men and horses fell, and two squadrons of
Hussars I saw returning reduced to 30 men. The
Austrian guns, having now assumed a position in
rear of that which they had previously occupied,
reopened fire, and in spite of all obstacles the 3d
corps endeavoured to advance on the plain mad take
the French artillery with the bayonet. This they
failed, however, to accomplish, and ultimately they
had to fall back. From that moment, however,
till late in the ' day the cannonade on that point
continued fast and furious. As for the Austrian
cavalry, it appeared no more on the field, as far as
I could see. It was now past 9 o'clock, and though
the first attack of the Allies on the Austrian right
had failed, from the gallantry with which the Bth
and sth corps had repelled it, the Frehch and Pied=
montese were but too well aware that. Solferino
was the key of the Austrian position to spare efforts
for carrying it. They seem, as far as I can judge,
to lin vp rnmmoneed at a very early period to con-
centrate their best troops and largest efforts against
it. The French Grenadiers several times made their
way to the very top of the rock on which stands
" the spy tower," but were repeatedly repulsed by
the Ist corps, which had been thrown forward from
Cavriana to Solferino to strengthen the sth, then
beginning to show symptoms of fatigue. The French
however, continued their efforts, and pressed Sol-
ferino not only in front but on both flanks. Under
cover of the tremendous artillery fire which they
kept up in the plain of Medole—a fire which had
already forced Schwarzenberg to fall back, and
while Shaffgotsch was merely, as it seemed, kept in
play on the Medole-road, the French advanced two
heavy divisions from their front to San Cassiano.
These were soon lost sight of in the open, and doubt-
less acted as a column of assault in flank upon Sol-
ferino. Till about half-past 1 o'clock the Austrians
had repelled every assault except one. They held
firmly at Solferino, at Medole, and on the extreme
right of the position, but it soon became obvious
that they were being rapidly outnumbered. The
whole Piedmontese army attacked Benedek's corps
on the Austrian extreme right, and was forced to
retire, still fighting, on the road to Monzambano.
The sth corps, now fighting beside the Ist, which
should have been its support, was driven slowly into
the hills to the eastward in the direction of Castel-
laro Lagusello. The Ist corps, hard pressed, could
no longer maintain itself against attacks made, at
once in front and flank, and retired through Cav-
riana. It is true the 7th corps, Zobel's, which held
the road between San Cassiano and Volta, endea-
voured to assist in the defence of Solferino, but, not-
withstanding all their efforts, the French in over-
powering numbers forced the position, and crowned
the heights of Solferino, from which they rapidly
prepared to storm Cavriana.

(From another Correspondent.)
The following account of the Battle of Solferino
is from the pen of the same correspondent who has
described the previous operations of the French and
Sardinian armies :
" CAVRIANA, JUNE 25, 4 A.M.
" Another name has been added to the number
of those places in this little hilly triangle which
have been illustrated in the military history of
Italy by a battle. Solferino—a name yesterday un-
known to most but antiquaries and local curiosity-
hunters—has to-day an historical signification. It
represents one of the the greatest battles of modern
days. It was the first meeting, with full force, of
the two great armies which are fighting for the
fate of Italy. In all the battles and engagements
hitherto fought, each side had only part of its forces
on the field, or, at any rate, engaged : yesterday,
both brought up what they could. It was, then,
the first occasion to judge of their respective power
and ability. Both Emperors were at the head of
their armies, surrounded by all their most expe-
rienced advisers.

" What the immediate result of this gigantic duel
was you will know long before this letter reaches
you ; what its real influence will be on the warfare
we cannot yet judge ourselves. Except in those few
cases where an army is completely broken up by
defeat, the result of the greatest battle becomes
only clear some time after. Although a great and
decisive victory, the battle of Solferino does not
belong to those of the former class: 'The Anstrians
were beaten, driven from position to position, but
whether they are able or not to make another,taind
in the open field, welave as yet to learn„.
"There is some element in the Austrian councils
of war which we don't understand, but which:givea
to their operations in this second phase of the
paign just as uncertain and vacillating a eharactei
as they possessed in the first part of it. On Monday
they are in full retreat over the Mind°, and on
Thursday they are back again with all their forces,
have taken up their position, fortified it, and are
waiting to receive us. It mayhave been a feint for
aught we know, but it is 'rather tae much to sap-
pose of the credulity of his adversary to be taken in
by an attempt to play at hide and seek with an army
estimated at 180,000 or 200,000' men. Although,,
therefore, everything rather indicated thatthe lAus-
trians intended to withdraw behind the Muncio, not
,accepting a battle on this side of it, but preparing
to defend the passage of it with all their forces, the
advance was as careful aS.,,if • every moment they_
had, 'expected. to Meet the vzleixty.- From point
poipt, the different eo*.i:;te're,puihed forward, one
taking the' place. of the 'other, and feeling to the
right and left for the enemy.
"'When the Chiese was crossed, and the allied.
armies approached the ground where, if anywhere,
the enemy had to make his stand, their attitude
became quite that of an army advancing to the
battle-field. Each body took up the position which
it was to occupy in the battle. You could see this
plainly if you went along the line occupied by the
Allies the day before the battle, as during the whole'
advance the left somewhat overlapped the right,
while on the, extreme right itself was a detached
corps far enough to the rear to protect that flank,
and yet close enough to enter into line in the hour
of battle.

" The day before the battle the position extended
from the shores of the lake of Garda at Desenzano
all along the western edge of the hilly country from
Lonato down to Castiglione, and bending back to=
wards Carpenedolo, touched there the Chiese ; the
Emperor himself, with the Guards, as a reserve,
at Montechiaro, and the King, with his Staff, at
Lonato.

" The reconnaissance, as you will remember, was '
sent that day in the direction of Solferino, and fell
in with some Austrian posts ; this proved that the -
place was occupied, but gave no key as to whether
it was only a detachment left to observe the advance
of the Allies, or whether it was the avant- ~
garde of tha Austrian army. It looked very suspi-
cious. There was that kind of silence all about the
neighbourhood which you remark almost always
under similar circumstances ; the only sign of life
and movement being clouds of dust in the direction
of the Mincio passage towards Goito and, Mantua.
In the afternoon M. Goddard was to have 'made
another ascent on a larger scale with his balloon,
from one of the high hills which rise close behind
Castiglione. I had to descend before the ascent took
place, so I cannot tell if it came off, and whether it
threw any additional light on the position of the
enemy. At any rate, there was no stir in the even.
ing at Montechiaro, where the Guards remained
still encamped, and the Emperor himself had his
hamd.cpiarters.

The Emperor, after paying a flying visit to
Volta, was now standing with all his staff on the
hill in front of the last-named village. There
seemed to be no news of the 10th and 11th corps,
which had been sent a long way to the left or
west of Medole, in order to turn the flank of the
French army in that direction. These two corps,
indeed, never reached the scene of action, and
are now intact. Though the 9th corps had made
good progress towards Mcdole, and kept up E.
sharp discharge of rockets and artillery on the
French guns, the artillery fire of the latter seemed
to increase in intensity every minute, and whole
volleys were discharged at once, making the air
resound again. It became necessary, therefore, to
give the order for a retreat, which was accordingly
done at three o'clock in the afternoon. It was just
at this moment that the position of Cavriana was
assailed. The French from Solferino began shell-
ing it at short range, and it was no longer a fit
place for the Emperor and his staff. They retired,
and as I passed through the streets and saw them
encumbered with the sick in hospital and in ambu-
lances, I thought what a terrible fate might await
those poor men who had already been wounded in
the field, and who must remain passive spectators
of a new combat.

The Emperor went not far to the rear. Leaving
his Staff at a farmyard on the road to Volta, he
turned back with a chosen few,
and looked on whileor
a last effort was made to fight for the possession of
Cavriana. The last effort was made, but to no pur-
pose. Nearer and nearer fell the French shells, till
one actually cracked over the head of the Emperor
and another burst in the middle of the Staff. The
order for a general retreat had in the meantime
been carried out, and while the Emperor and the
Archduke retired by a cross-road to Valleggio the
Ist army began to withdraw towards Mantua. Its
retreat was made with little difficulty, as the 9th
corps still held Guiddizzolo, which stopped the pro-
gress of the enemy and prevented a dangerous pur-
suit. The 2d army, however, had to submit to serious
losses. The centre of the Austrian positions having
been forced by the occupation of Cavriana at half-
past five o'clock, the 2d army had to repel attacks
which became every instant more dangerous, and
the Allies followed their success with great rapi-
dity, cutting off the Valleggio road and foreing the
corps on their inoper left back to Monzambano
and other poluts ou the upper part of thc,

_

" Yesterday morning, at 5 a.m., the sound of
cannon showed that at, last the enemy had turned
at bey; it was a strong reconnaissance which had
rushed forward and made him show his teeth.
Before an hour had passed the Emperor was at '',4la
Castiglione and the Guard on the way there. Be-
fore another hour had passed the dispositions had
been made for the attack. Whether these disposi-
tions were made on the inspirations of the moment, ; "
suggested by tne position of the enemy, or whether' 4,7: t 1
his Majesty knew before that the Austrians had
taken up their position, and were ready to dispute
the passage of the Mincio, I cannot presume to say, -
but there is no doubt that the whole had the ap-
pearance of a plan improvised on the spot, and the'
orders were given out at the last moment.
" Before I speak of these dispositions I will
attempt to give you an idea of the position of the 4
Austrians. The Mincio, coming out of the Lake of.
Garda, runs due south, while the direction of the ,
hills on both banks runs at right angles almost to- 7CI
wards it. Those on the right bank, with which
alone we have to deal, here come down from the
north-west in a southerly direction as far as Cas-
tiglione, and then making a bend strike the Mincio
in a south-easterly direction. The hilly country.
forms thus a tolerably regular parallelogram from'
north-east to south-west, the four angles of which '
are Lonato, Peschiera, Volta, and Castiglione. Thii!V:wt
parallelogram of hills is about 12 miles in length
and nine miles in Ividth, and is divided almost in
its middle by a little stream, which runs into the '":;'1,
Mincio. The hills rise gently from the shores of
the lake, and attain their highest elevation about
the source of this stream, falling off again towards the Mincio. This is just about the centre of the •
s
parallelogram, at Rondoletto and Pozzolengo on
the left, and at Solferino, Monte Oliveto, and Cav-
riana on the right banks' of the stream. These '"
points were ohosen by the Austrians as the pivot of '
their line. The line itself extended from Peschiera, , i; •
on which they leant their extreme right, through
this pivot, down into the plain of the Mincio, in-
tersecting the great road to Goito. The whole line It9.‘
was not less than twelve miles in length. Cavriana
was the centre of it, which the Emperor of Austria
had chosen for his head- quarters, while S•lferinco
v