Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-07-25

shutters were closed, doors aud oatu'
Sage pulled in with daehpy hyerybody VII
bad cart and horse, ounted y and started =
saw Zouave, Who hai been hmping though
the street not q moment before, seizo horse
which stood at tle entrance of a stable yard,
without saddle, bridle, or even halter, leap on
his back, and holding by the mane, Kick and
alloo him into a keen gallop down tho street.
Everybody was running for dear lie. we
went with the crowd until we cleared the town
and reached the high road to Lonato.
A French officer whom l recognized rs one l
/ had seen in command Of the Guard Of the
wounded, came dashing along in grand galop
! | called TO him as he rushed past, Are the Aus.
trians therel' on d. was his only reply
Following close TO his heels, came one ol the
large wagons belonging to the Imperial SUITE
and in it young man TO whom had seen tle
eurpeons Of the Imperial household especially
deierential the day before Next came an open
chaise with two civilians, one Of whom was
lashing the horses and the other fighting of the
soldiers, who we're trying their best to climb
up behind
By this time, we lad stopped running and
| fallen to a leisurely walk, when those IN the
chase, who were touching sympathetic, eonsol'
| ingly shouted to us that we were certainly lost
as the Austrian Dragons were slashng thei'
way right and left directly in our rear. This
decided us to quit running altogether as n
was quite hopeless TO run away from pursuing
| cavalry.
This relaxation of our pace, and the recovery
of our wind induced cooler view OF the whole
affair and we were already beginning to sec
its farcical character, when our cowardly coach
man came putting aud blowing behiod us, lis
lace swelling with fear aud red with heat. lie
raised his eyes, and clasped his hands IN pity
| aG he passed us, and soon turned of from thu
road and buried his stalwort form in field o
wheat. This quite reconcied US to the desper
ate state of things, and laughing at his sorrows
we entirely forgot our own.
Reasoning, moreover, as we walked, W.
thought it most possible that corps OF Aus
tuan horse might have dashed in from Pescfieri
to rescue the prisoners, Of whom there were
six thousand in Castiglione, but ANYTHING be
you'd this seemed quite impossible. The Whol'
bcdy of fugiives upon our road was out n
sight, but a long cloud Of dust on the road tC
Montechiaro, showed that in that direction th'
panic was unabated. As we had agreed to
meet Malakoff ON his return from Brcseia, Al
| Montechiaro, we struck into the cross roads
leading through the farms and country distrlcu
and after a couple of hours brisk walking
reached that place We found It in the very
height of the fever, and it was with good
deal of difficulty that we prevailed on the land
lord of The Inn to open his doors and give us
possession of the rooms we had engaged This
was certainly the most remarkable instance o
pure panic ever saw. and the most striking
feature of it was the Tapidity with which II
increased in forco and volume as it rolled
along
We heard afterward that it produced The
most serious results, when it overlook the
trains of wounded on the road to Brescia. They
were tumbled headlong from the carts into the
roadside, and many of them were run over by
the artillery wagons, as they were entirely con
cealed from sight by the dense cloud of dust
which hung over the road.
l have since tried haId to find out how it
originated, but with only Indifferent success =
At first VIC were told that a squadron Of Pied
montese cavalry, who were promenading the
country in the direction of Castiglione, had
been mistaken for AustTians. But an officer in
the camp Of Gen. Canrobert, which was visited
the next day, upon the farthest extreme OF the
field Of battle told US that it came from five Aus
tran soldiers, who had concealed themselves in
the bushes after the fight, and now came in to
surrender They were said to have stated that
the Austrian army was rapidly coming up in
full force and would soon be in possession of
Castglione.
In that camp no alarm seems to have been
created; but when the rumor reached the ann
munition train, mile or SO in the rear, it set
them scamperng off in the manner have re-
heirsed. They ran their horses all the way 10
Rrescia. some seventeen miles, and reached
there about three oCluuk.