Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-07-01

]
casting one democratic vote on election day,
there is not a County in Kansas which this
party can carry"
THE FIELD OF MAGENTA.
The description Of the battle of Magenta,
and the account Of the state Of the armies
before and after that action. by the cores
pendent Of the London Tunes, (said TO be
VIM. Russell, the TlD1ss' correspondent from
tac Crimea,) is more luminous than any
other which we have seen. Wccan give bat
a few extracts. After describing the strong
position occupied by the Austrians on both
sides Of the bridge at Bufllorl, and the plan
Of the allies 10 turn the right flank Of the
Austrians by a force under Gen Mcmahon,
who was 10 cross the river at Turbigo twelve
/ miles above, and to cross the Ticino at other
! places near Bufalora, on temporary bridges,
the assault on the Austrian position which
drove them from the bridge with ut giving
/ them time 10 destroy 1t, and the dangerous
position of the small force Of GreDadiers and
! Z'uaves who had thus placed themselves
| whore they were exposed to be crushed by
accumulating masses Of the Austrian army,
before McMahon's force could come to their
aid. the narrative proceeds
1t was O'Clock, almost. and yet the gal
Int little band was without support from
anywhere. The enemy had sufficient force
to "ppose 70 General Mcmahon 5 corps. be-
sides which the broken nitUsC, 4.t... ia i.s !
march too much to enable bis div rson to |
have the desired IF ct. The columns against [
DunLora found the bridge over the canal (
broken up. and the troops ordered as "a sup
port from the rear had not vet had time to |
arrive. In the meantime the enemy pre-
pared to take the offensive on his side, and /
To regain the lost position. New and new |
battalions brought up by the railway, the /
whistle Of which was heard. began 10 adj /
vance to the attack Of the position. t. abln- /
don the position Sd dearly bought would not |
only have been to acknowledge a defeat hat /
likewise to make the reganing of it in front .
almost impossible. The enemy would have /
had time to blow up the bridge and thus /
make tue position almost impregaaLie. ma .
the time tnus allowed would have cHl5 ed /.
fnd tins position.
Everything then babe the two regiment, .
which at The beginning had numbered bot .
more perhaps than 500 to l 900 defenders. .
each. to hold out as long as a man remained /
And they did it, too, like men, against all .
the masses the enemy could bring against
them. On they came, but usales>lY. for their
RANKS being thinned by the fire from the RI
4 e 1 (. ..
attacked at the point of the bav0net and
driven back. leaving hundreds dead on the
field. The vineyards in front Of the houses
and the two roads. the farm yard to the right
of them. were even to-day, after masses haye
been buried, full Of their corpses. In vain
were all their attempts; not only did the
two regiments succeed in keeping their posi-
ton, but they even advanced several times
in pursuit, and in order to encounter the
new masses.
This state Of things lasted until p ".
but TIE time was drawing near when, in spite
Of their heroic eff'rts the little band would
scarcely have been able to 20 on much longer
1t had had terrific losses, their ammunition
was beginning to fail, and their strength too.
after two hours Of gigantic fghtagainst ever
odds At this moment Il cloud Of
dust behind the road showed the advance of
the long looked for help, and the brigade
Picard Of the division Renault was seen ad-
vdncing. About the same time the rps If
General N Mahon had overcome the difficult
ties Of the ground, and was attacking Mag
enta, while from behind battalion arrived
after battalion, and several divisions were
5 mt to the right to surround and crush the
enemy. Their forces carried everything be-
E 81 .lSo
cpitate a retreat that above 5 900 prisoners
lmong them 70 officers, were taken by the
Allies. Besides the two guns taken By the
5renadiers, and which have seen, a good
many Others are said to have been taken,
some say as many as thirty-six. | have not
seen Inen' and 50 cannot say. but even If
not, the day was glorious one fer the Al
lies. OF the prisoners have seen q hatch
Of at least so officers myself. and one mass of
3 200 otner prisoners, besides several smaller
patches
From Turbigo to Magenta there are NJ, .ho
shortest road more than u miles. II isonI,
a hy-road branching off from the main 30;
leading from Turhigo towards the latter ~
most places more than sufficient 10 allow two
carriages TO pass each other The country
on both sides OF il is much more thickly
IlCln0- ]
and EXTENSIVELY planted with vineyards |
was obliged to draw your attention to this in
order to show the difficulty which existed for
a body OF men like the Division of the
Guards, from p geo TO 80 coo strong. TO
march II miles to the battlefield. You will
now better understand this difficulty if | tell
you that the division Of the Fusliers and
Chasseurs Of the Guard, which formed the
reserve, started at ! A. VI. from Turbigo.
md could not take part in the battle before
+: NJ while the araqf garde Of the Sar-
1nian army, formed Of the division Fanti.
lid not reach the battlefield till7 NJ
-oo late to take any partin the action.
| spoke with an Austrian feld-of6cer who
.ook prominent part in the action. was {
wounded and taken prisoner lie saws the s
Austrlans had no idea of an attack on their
light flank from Turbigo. In general, dur
ng the whole campaign, the great difficulty
hey had to contend with Was want of in /
diligence of the movements of the allies. i
Neither money nor threats could in duce the ,
euDtry people to divulge ANYTHING, while,
n the other side, such was the vigilance of v
he allies that spies were almost of no use. Il
hes-it came. that they never could make out T
ihere. the chief force of the allies was, and !,
oT far they had advanced with their pre-
Athens. ~ sis explains likewise the vague h
1certltrde which puzzled >all Europe So o
lucb. They had nothing to'go upon, and /
ere obliged, to feel their way about like
Ind meB-frst towards Turin. Ind then p
wards the P6 and Be- eh6 Itiasq 1857 sdi. p