The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-21
No. 655.

When the ASstrianS found il impossible TO
hold their ground any longer, they fell back.
slowly and steadily, until they reached the vii
lagesof Vota, which, as you will see by the man.
lies directly southeast from Castigione, and is
| only about u mile from the river Mincio. from
which, however, n is separated by range of
hills Upon these hills, III the rear of the town.
and overlooking 1t completely on the south and
| southeast sides, the Austrans had planted very
formidable batteries; and when | arrived upon
the FIELD, and went at once to the height where
the Emperor had stood at the opening of the
engagement, but which he had left an hour be.
fore 20 follow his victorious troops, these bat
terles were blazing away upon the French, who
| werec stationed on the plain below
vas too far off to observe with any accura-
| cy TIE successive steps of the action, but
could distinctly see the troops stationed upon
the broad plain, and moving up in masses to-
wards the front, where the artillery was posted,
as their services were required. But as soon as
they reached this point they were speedily en-
veloPed In the smoke of the cannon and dis
| appeared from observation. But the general
| result was soon made evident by the slackening
of the Austrian fire, and by the falling back of
their smoke, and corresponding advance on
| the part OF that which rose from the French mr.
tillers. The cannonading at that poift lasted
ton lhe Austrians retreated ii was not possible
from the position occupied, to see Part of
the Austrian force probably crossed the Minco
river, which flows southwark from the lower
| end of Lake Guarda, and emptieS into the Po
But the battle continued to rage all over the
region northwest of line connecting the towns
OF Cashghone, Solferino, and Volta At one
point after another a sharp cannonading would
arise and continue for half or three-quarters of
an hour, and after each successive engagement
of THIS kind the result became apparent in the
retreat of the Austrians and the advance of the
French forces.
During all the early part of the day the sky
had Been clear and the weather hot. But clouds
began to gather at about noon, and at five
| o'clock, while the cannonade was at its height,
tremendous thunderstorm rolled up from the
nor<Awest; the wind came first, sweeping from
| the 1arched streets an enormous cloud of dust
| and was soon followed by heavy fall of rain,
| acc zrupanied with vivid lightning and rapid ex-
| poS uns OF rafting thunder. The storm lasted
| Tor zbout an hour, and the c;nnonnding, so far
as - could distinguish, was suspended Then
the yain ceased, the clouds blew away the sun
shesg out again, and the air was cooled and
| perL-cty delightful.
1Sough the cannon may have ceased for u
time 10 take part in il. the fight had meantime
gone on; and when again resumed my post
of observation, from which the storm had ex-
| PEELED me, the cannonading commenced quite
on the extreme left of the entire field aud on
the qery borders of the lake. northeast from
CAST glione and west of PtSchiera The Pied
montese troops, under the King, who commands
| them IN person, had been posted there aud re
| celved the AuStrlans they came around.
| Froel about seven O'Clock until after mightfall
an idcessant and most terrible com bat wa here
kept up. The batteries of the two armies were
apparently about halt mile apart, aad at the
outset, they were both served with nearly equal
and effective vigor but the Austrans gradually
| slackened their fire, aud several times took up
| new positions, while the Saffinians poured a
| rapid aud uninterrupted shower OF balls upon
them, suspending only for ~ few minutes AT a
| time, and then renewing II AGAIN with rrdouhled
| fury.
The wind had now gone down, the air was
still, and the sound of musketry, as well as Of
the cannon, was distinctly heard. The lorul",
was continuous, sharp, and ino,ess'tht, sounding
like the constant and irregular pattcring of bail
| upon a roof, while the latter was occasionally
suspended, but while it lasted was overwhelm.
iugy grand and terrible. Over the Sandman
park rose a dense white cloud of smoke. direct.
ly upwards, its sides perfectly upright and well
defined, and spreading Outwartls both ways at
the top like all enormous sheaf of wheat. The
sun was making glorious setting in the west
and as his light gradually departed, the vivid
flashes at each discharge of the cannon CLEAN
ed through the smoke like sharp lightning
through the breast Of an enormous cloud
Sometimes only single flash would ha Aoen !;
then two or three AT once and sometimes half
dozen would break iortI, in instant succession
1t was begin1,ae to be dark when | turned
to descend the hill, and all the way down still
heard the roar ol the cannon and the Gathering
of the guns OF the infantry, hut the Austrans
were clearly falling hack, and could Scarcely
have failed to Sustain u TOTAL .,odute. II il DOS
aihle they may he i" condition to make one
'''u'e e'' IN the morning, but Judging from
-, own observation, it certainly rs not proba
| BILE. They have sustained an overwhelming de-
feat and il seems 10 me not unlikely that the
| Emperor may now be induced, by the repre-
sensations of the neutral Powers, To accept the
peace which Napoleon will be very likely to
tender him.
Just before nghtialI tremendous cannon
aiding was distinctly visible in the direction of
Mantua, and it was supposed by one or two
French officers that Prince Napoleon was as
saulting that fortress as part of the general
plan of the days operations, while the Empe-
ror was engaging the enemy in the open field.
as Prince Napoleon could scarcely have reach
ed Mantua by this time, as he was in Florence
only week ago.
have thus given you very general outline
of this great battle, as it came under my own
observation. | am afraid to venture upon any
conjecture as To the number Of killed and
wounded in this battle; but from the nature of
the case it must be enormous. 1 am confident
that not less than ten thousand wounded have
been brought into this village alone during the
day, to say nothing of those that were left on
the field or taken to other places
MoNTEcHIARo-M Morning oCHe 25M.
/ was obliged to return here this morning,
which is four miles on the road TO Brescia, in
order TO get food for man and horse, intending
to return again to the battlefield in the after
noon During the two hours ] have been here,
one continuous train of wagons has been pass
ing with the wounded, seeking, wherever they
can find, far or near, but always towards home,
a resting place to get cured of their wounds.
The women and the priests carry them out wine
and congresses for their wounds, while the men
of the town help soldiers, such as wish to rest
awhile on their feet, TO descend and remOunt
again into their wagons. If did not already
know the result of the battle, ] would be ready
To suppose, from the enormous number of
wounded soldiers at this moment passing my
window that the French army had been literal
Is destroyed. am quite sure, no matter what
til, French official report may say, that my pre-
ceding estimation of the number of wounded is
small.
In and about Castiglone there were 10000
soldiers in charge of the enormous train Of the
army, while in the rear of the town there re-
NAMED a reserve Of $1,000 men to support the
army in case of disaster. Add to this 10000
or IL, 900 wounded men in Castiglione, and sew
eral hundred thousand men scattered over the