Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-07-02
The Battle of Magenta!

y THRILIING AcCouNT-HEARrREH-
DING SCENES "A correspondent of the
London News, under date of June 7th,
says
Yesterday evening, not without great
difficulty, | succeeded in getting here, to
inspect the field of the glorious battle fought
on Saturday last. NIypen is not adequate
to describe the hcart-rcnd;ng scene which
surrounds INC, Trees thrown down by the
dreadful effects of artillery; heaps of dead
bodies, human limbs scattered about, car
riogcs broken, farm-houscs burnt, crops
tramplcd, vineyards devastated, houscplun-
dcrcd-such is the dcplorable sight which
has met my eyes since my arrival in this
town. Town, however, Magenta is no
more. The small inn whence am now
writing these lines bears marks of the trc-
mendous struggle, for it was thrice taken
and rctakcn during the action. Not a
piece of furniture is to be found, not even
a chair to sit upon.
Some of. the details sent you on Sun
day were not quito correct. The field guns
captured by our troops wcrd not twenty but
fonr. / was led into an error by n. man
who showed nc sOMc other guns which
were captured at Palcstro and Borgo Ncr-
cell. The battle of Magenta was not be-
gun by our troops but by the Austrians,
who, although in full retreat toward Pavia,
were ordered to change their front and at
tack our advanced guard which had cross
cd the Ticino.at Builulora One battalion
of the Zouavcs and two companies of tho
same regiment, together with two rcgim-
onts of Grcnadicrs, all belonging to the
Imperial Guard, were suddenly attacked
! by % 600 Austrians under the order Cen
Iobcl, Our gallant allies had three bat
tcriGs with them, but only two field pieces
were brought.to play upon the advancing
columns of the enemy You must not
forget that the country which lies between
this vllagHand Abbiatcs Grlsso is intcr-
Scctcd by numbcrless canals which supply
the water to the rice fields of the district.
All these folds had been of course in
undated for agricultural purposes 50 the
| guns of our advanced guard could not be
placed except on the main road, which by
the by is very narrow, ard by which the
Austrians were advancing The right wing
of the French advanced guard thus at
tackled, was formed by the above mention7
cd troops. Five other companies of Tou-
ayes of tile Imperial Guard were marching
OH the left. This heroic column, which
gallantly disputed the advance of Zobcl's
corps d'armce for FIVE long hours, scarcely
numbered 1000 men. The rolling of
musketry, the ponding of field guns, the
crash of STEEL have been told by an ac-
tor of the bloody drama-wcrc dcafcning.
The Austrians advanced -haltcd-adyan-
ced again, received and returned close
and deadly fire but the bayonct is the
queen of capons-NIaechta proved it
The brave band of cur allies were vainly
| clinging to their guns.
After two hours of fearful struggle.
three of them were captured by the enemy.
IT was then that brave, kind hearted Gen.
Clcrc fell dead from his horse. The Col
onel of the LIST T0hnvcs soon followed. A
minute later the lieutenant Colonel and
twelve fiecrs Of the same regiment were
no more. The battnlion-if you can dcs-
ignate by such word tho 800 lcft--wns
now Sighting for life; it was surrounded
by division of the encmy--thcre wns no
help visible. But Les Zouaycs sont les
HOuaves," said my informant, who has tho
honor to belong to this famous corps. The
five companies on the left, seeing the peril
of their comrades, rushed with such impet-
uosity against tile cncmy's division that
the 300 were left alone, and all the force
of Crotians and Bohcmians was brought to
bear against the new comcrs. This last
hand-to-hand fight lasted two hours.
The disproportion of numbers, was, how
ever, too gIeat-tbc French were exhaust
ed with lighting but at last came the help
About IL O'clock the reinforcoments ap.
pcarcd on their lcft-a joyful .ghs to our
struggling regiments. The threo field gums
already captured y'thc enemy were soon
reconpered at the point Of the bayonet.