The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-07-13
NEWS BY TELEGRAPH,
BY THE E. q W. LINE.

/ The Times publishes a letter from the
/ battle field OF Sal Ferina, giving the first
! accurate details. The battle commenced at
/ little before clock in the morning, not
! far from sunrise. Just back OF Castiglione
/ rises high range of hills, which projects a
I a mile or Whereabouts into the plain, and
! then breaks OFF towards wide surface.
1 which makes that portion of the plain.
The AustrianS had taken position upon
these hills, planting cannon upon those
! nearest to Castiglione, which they could ap-
approach, as the French army was ia full
! force, and around that little village, and had
/ stationed their immense army all over the
surrounding hills. As nearly as We can
now learn, the Emperor Francis Joseph had
collected here not less than 22o,000 troops,
and commanded them in person.
! His evident purpose was TO make n stand
here, and risk the fortunes of the war upon
the hazard Of the day.
Napoleon promptly accepted the challenge
and commenced the attack as soon as il was
light this morning, by placing cannon upon
! the hills'stiil nearer 10 Castiglia than those
held by the Austrians, and opening fire upon
the heights beyond. lie took his own stand
upon the highest of these, n steep, sharp
/ backed ridge, which commands magnif-
4 cent view of the entire circuit of the plain and
I from that point directed the entire move
ments of his army
! During the early portion of the day the
! French very soon drove the enemy out Of
/ the posts they held nearest TO the town, and
( followed them into the small villages of the
plain below. The first of these was Sal
I Farino, where they had sharp engage
ment The Austrians disputed every inch
of the ground, and fought here us they did
throughout the day, with the utmost des-
! peration. They were three times driven out
of the town before they would stay out. The
| people OF the village, moreover, took part
against the French, upon whom they fired
! from their windows, and the French were
compelled in self defence 10 burn the town,
When they found il impossible 10 hold their
ground any longer, they fell back slowly
and steadily until they reached the village
of Villa Dirretdi, south-ea2t from Castiglione,
and is only abous n mile from the river
Mincio, from which, however, ii is separated
by n range of hills Upon these hills, in
the rear of the town and overlooking il
completely on the south and south east sides
} the Austrians had planted very formidable
aud went at once TO the height where the
Emperor had stood At the opening of the
engagement, but which he had left an hour
before TO follow his victorious troops these
batteries were blazing away upon the French
troops who was stationed on the plain below
The general result was soon made evident
by the slackenng of the Austrian fire, and
by falling back Of their ranks and cor
responding advance of the French. The
cannonading at that point lasted for over All
hour, but in precisely what direction the
Austrians retreated it was not possible FROM
the position ! occupied to see Part of the
Austrian force probably crossed the NIincio
river, which flows southwark from the low
er end OF Lake Gwardo, and cmptieS into
the 20.
But the battle continued To rage all over
the region northwest of line connecting
the town of CaStiglione, Sal Farino and
Volta. At one point after another short
cannonading would arise and continue for
half OF three-quarters Of an hour and after
each successive engagement OF this kind the
result became apparent in the retreat of the
Anstrans aud the advancement of the
( French.
had been clear, and the weather hot, but
clouds began TO gather about noon and at .
o'clock, while the canonading was at it's
height, a tremendous thunder storm rose up
from the northwest. The storm lasted for
about an hour, and the cannonading, so far
as we could distinguish, was suspeuded.-
Then the rain ceased, the clouds blew away,
and the sun shOne out again, and the air
Was cool and perfectly delightful Though
the cannon may have ccpsed for "a time 10
take part in it, the fight hal in the mean
time gone on, and when iagaiu resumed my
position OF observation, from which the
storm had expelled mc the cann5aadng
commenced quite on The extreme left Of the
field, and on the very borders of the lake
northwest from Castglionc, and west of
Peschiera.
The PledmOntese troO,.s under their King,
who commands them in person, had been
posted there, and recciS ed the AuStrians as
they came around, from about seven o'clock
until nishtfali. IN incessant and most ter
rible combat was here kept up. The bat
teries Of the two armies were apparently
about half mile apart, and at the outset
they were both served with equally effec-
tive vigor, hut the Austrians gradually
slaekened their fire, and several times took
mp their positions, while the Sardinians
poured a rapid and uninterrupted shower of
p balls upon them, suspended only for a few
minutes at a time, and then renewing il
again with redoabled fury
The wind had now gone down the air
was still, and the sound Of musl,etry, rs
well rs of cannon, was distinctly heard
Sometimes only single fash would be- seen
then two OF three az once; sometime
half dozen would break forth at onre. Ii
was beginning to be dark when ! turned
TO descend the hill, aud all the way down !
still heard the roar of cannon and the ciat-
tering of the guns OF the infantry The
Ausirians had sustained an oyerw belmine
defeat and IL seems TO me not unlikely
that the Emperor may now be- induced, by
the representations of the neutral powers, TO
accept peace, which Napoleon will he likely
To tender him.
! am afraid 10 venture upon any COM ct-
, ure ~ 10 the number killed and wounded,
but the loss must be enormous. ann con
fdent that not less than ten thousand wOun-
. ded have ieeu brought into this village
alone during the day, TO say nothing oi
those left on the field, or taken 10 other