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

from it part of the fire of the allies. In the north
front of GuiddizzoTO a furious combat was proceed-

ing, the Austrians fighting to enter Medole, the
allies to enter Guiddizzolo. In the rear of the
French guns two heavy lines of dust, covering as
with a pall the trees which concealed the roads, in-
dicated the advance of heavy masses of troops, while

south of Guiddizzolo similar lines of dust gave

,okens of similar preparations on the part of the

Austrians. Far up to the north rose the hills on
the side of which stands the town of Castiglione,

he domes of which were visible to the naked eye.

The sun alternately shone out in overpowering bril-

Liancy, anon concealed itself behind clouds over the

field of battle. Lists so vast, so enormous a congre-

gation of men engaged in a deadly struggle, I had
never seen. The small puffs of the muskets explod-
ing were lost in the immensity of the landscape. It
was only when volleys of artillery followed each
other in rapid succession that the smoke took a dis-
tinct form. It was soon lost, however, in the gene-
ral haze, and only broken again by the white para-
bola of rockets, of which the Austrians were making

considerable use. The forms of the men were lost to

the eye in the vast proportions of the fight, and it was
only when heavy masses lay together, and assumed
an aggregate shape, that any conception could be ob-

tained of their presence. With a telescope one

could see, as it were, myriads of men on each side
fighting at all points ; dead bodies of men and
horses strewn on the ground, with the wreck of
uniforms and arms ; but to the naked eye it seemed
as if a vast anthill were in motion—men becoming

pigmies, as they doubtless are in encounters o:

such magnitude.
Themovements of the contending armies hadbeen
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 Sofferino. 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 and 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 French• 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 have commenced 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 Shaffgotseh 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
file heights of Solferino, from which they rapidly
prepared to storm Cavriana.
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 Medole, and kept up r
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 while
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
pur-
suit.
r _
pro-
gress of the enemy and prevented a dangerous
suit. The 2d army, howeyer, 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 mare dangerous, and
the Allies followed their success with great rapi-
dity, cutting off the Valleggio road and forcing the
theirits o h
properllte l;vr t
ftv
elaagte o z amhan o
candorp so
tohneo
of the Mincio.