Maumee City express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1838-184?, 1838-10-20
MISCELLANEOUS.
From Mr. Siephsa's hc,o Incidents Of T'rausl.
THE, BATTLE OF GROKOW. .'s,p

The battle of Grokow, the greatest in Eu
rope since that Of Waterloo, was fought on the
twenty-ffth Of February 1881, and, the, place
where i stood commanded view of the whole
ground. The Russian army was under the
command Of Diebi.sch, and consisted Of one
hundred ndforty-two thousand infantry, for
ty thousand cavalry, and three hundred and
twelve pieces of cannon. This enormous
force was arranged in two lines of combatants,
and a third of reserve. Its left wing, between
Navre and the marshes of the Vistua, couf
sisted of four divisions of infantry of forty
seven thousand men, three of cavalry Of ten
thousand FIVE hundred, and one hundred and
eight pieces Of cannot; the right consisted OF
three and half divisions Of infantry Of thirty
one thousand men, four divisions Of cavalry Of
fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty men,
and fifty-two pieces Of cannon. Upon the Dor. \
-ders ofthe great forest opposite the Forest of
Elders, conspicuous from where stood, was
placed the reserve, commanded by the Grand
Duke Constantine. Against this immense ar
my the Poles opposed less than fifty thousand
men and hundred pieces of cannon, under
the command of General Skrizynecki! ~
! Atthe break of day the whole force of the
Russian right wing, with terrible FIRE of fifty
pieces of artillery ard columns of infantry,
charged the Polish left with the determination
of carrying it by a single and oyerpowcring Of
fort. The Poles, with six thousand five hund-
red men and twelve pieces of artillery, not
yielding foot ofgronnd, and knowing they
could hope for no succor, resisted this attack
for several hours, until the Russians slackened
their fire. About ten O'clock the plain was
suddenly covered with the Russian forces, issu-
ing from the cover of the forest, seeming one
undivided mass oftroops. Two hundred pieces
of cannon, posted on single line, commenced
a fire which made the earth trembe, and was
more terrible than the Oldest officers, many of
whom had fought at, Marengo and Austerlitz,
had ever beheld. The Russians now made an
attack upon the right wing, but failed in this
as upon the left; Diebitsch directed the
strength of his army against the forest of ell
ders, hoping to divide the Poles into two parts.
One hundred and twenty pieces OF cannon
were brought to bear on this one point, ard
fifty battalions, necessarily pushed to the at
tack, kept up scene Of massacre unheard Of in
the annals of war. A Polish officer who was in
the battle told me that the small streams which
| intersected the forest were SO choked with
dead that the infantry marched directly over
4 their bodies. The heroic Poles, with twelve
/ battalions, for four hours defended the forest
against the tremendous attack. Nine times
! they were driven out, and nine times, by Sc
ries ofadmirably executed marevres. they re-
pulsed the Russians with immense loss. Bat
teries now concentrated in one point were in a
moment hurried to another, and the artillery
advanced to the charge like cavalry, sometimes
within hundred feet of the encmy's columns
and there opened murderous fire Of grape.
AT three o'clock, the Generals, many O
whom were wounded, the most of whom hat
their horses shot under thea, and fought OF
foot at the head of their divisions, resolved up
. on retrogade movement, 50 as to draw the
Russians on the open plain. The Russlal
troops then debouched from the forest, u CLOUD
of Russian cavalry, with several regiments O
heavy crirassiers, at their head, to the attack
\ Colonel Pientka, who had kept up an unremit
ting FIRE from his battery for five hours, witt
perfect sang froid, upon disabled piece %
! cannon, remained to give another effective fire
then left at full gallop post which he had 81
l long occupied under f the terrible fire Of TIN
enelnys artillery. This rapid movement Of hi
battery animated the Russian forces. The ca
cavalry advanced upon a trot upon the line o
abattery Of rockets. A terrible discharge wa
, poured ihte their ranks, and the horses, gale
to madness by the fakes of fire, became whol
ly ungovernable, and broke away, spreading
: disorder N every direction; the whole bod
swept helplessly along the fire OF the Polish in
t fantty, iDa few minutes was 81, completely az
: initiated that, Of regiment of curassiers VIII
tbore inscribed on their helmets the slnvinc
bles," nota man escaped. The wreck Of tn
!, routed cavalry, pursued by the Iances along
its flight the coIums Of infantry. A gener
retreat commenced, and the cry Of "Poan
foreyerr' reached the walls of Warsaw to che'
the hearts fits anxious .inhabitapts. So te
rible was the fire of that day, that in the, =,
j. lish army there was not single general
It staff officer who had not his horse killed !
o wounfed under him; wo-thrds of the officer
and, perhaps, Of the soldiers, had their cloth
pierced with balls, and more than tenth pa
|ofthe army were wounded Thirty thousal
Z. Russians and ten thousand Poles were let
ID the field of battle: rank upon;rank lay postra
on the earth, and the forest Of elders W
}. strewed with bodies that it received from tn
re day, thes name lot the aforest of the dead
re The Czar heard with dismay, and oil Euro
I'd with bastonishment, that the cresser of t
i'd Balkan had been foiled under the walls of WI
saw. - SIC afies la' ar8 81 tiI
~ All day my companions said, the cannor
to ding was terrible. Crowds of citizens, ofbt
n sexes and allages, were assembled on the 81
where we stood, earnestly watching the 'f
.lgress ofthe battle. sharing in all it's 'vicis
OF tudes, in the highest state Of excitement as
ed clearing mp Of The columns of smoke show
OF when the Russians or Poles had fed; and
;, described the entry Of the remnant ofthe Pol
no into army Warsaw assubhme and terrible; tn
rs, hair and faces.were bcgrimnled dwithpopder
pc blood; their armor shattered and brokenS {
alb even dying men, were singing patrl'
IL songs; and when thef fourth regiment, amt
Ter whom was a brother Of my companiony-
st. who had particularly distinguished themsel
in 4, 81 z n, f,a hrs,iere af,I lad e1n