The Shasta courier., 1861-07-13
The Battle OF Borodino.

great day--the day OF the battle or borodlno.
i awoke with start; one of my comrades
shaking me roughly by the arm, and the
sharp roll of the drum ringing in my ear
day was just breaking; cold, damp, au.
tumnal day, with fine rain driving in oul
faces and almost extinguishing our biveuae
fires, which smoked and fixed upon the
muddy ground.
I staggered to my feet and gazed around
upon the thousands Of poor half-frozen
wretches who rubbed and stretched their be
numbed limbs. and shook the damp clothes
which clung to their. shivering forms. Fan
off towards the north stretched the dreary
plain, very picture of ruin and desolation,
with sacked and burned villages, ruined
roads, broken hedges, and vast fields of rye
trampled in the mire; and still further the
hills and woods of Borodino and of Semen
ofseo, in front of which could be seen through
the mist the smoke and last glimmers of the
Russian camp fires. There they stretched as
far as the eye could reach, in vast semi-cir-
Gle, protected by the river on the right, and
BY three redoubts on the left and center.
But now there was another roll of the drum
and our men began falling into their lines.-
Then we saw stir towards the head quar-
tiers, and the Emperor himself, surrounded
by his staff, dashed along our line, kindling
the flame of enthusiasm as he went, and
causing the whole mass to quiver with cleo
tric impulse, and the vast PLAIN to ring with
a spontaneous shout which spread, and
swelled, and rolled from hill to hill, until the
very sky seemed to rend with the cry. And
then amid it all, four hundred pieces of artil-
lery thundered forth the first peal, and Gen.
eral Compans rushed at the head of our lines,
calling out, !" En- arant!"
On we went through the dense smoke
which obscured the plain, pressing eagerly
forward on the men before us. was about
the center of the column, and could see moth
ing but the quickly receding forest of bayo-
nets vanishing in the smoke. All were silent
with emotion and suspense, except when a
stray shot came tearing through our ranks,
marking its bloody path with groans and
shrieks of agony, or when the shouts and
cries of those who fought aud fell in our van
rose even above the roar of the artillery,
causing our men to start, and some explana-
ton of anxious excitement to escape from their
painting breasts.
On we rushed, forced onwards by the re-
sistless crowd behind us, as the waves of a
raging sea swept before the storm-the cries,
the groans, the deafening roar grew louder
anu dpprOdcHeu pulletS anu sueilo CdLie
crashing thicker and thicker through our
rank. strewing the CORY ground with mutila
ted forms who twisted, and shrieked, and
clung in despair to the cruel feet which tram
pied them to death-we closed our eyes upor
their imploring gaze, shouted to drown, thei1
cries; rushed on, on, blindly, madly on
over the writhing mass. Then came pause
"a fearful shout-again short advance
then the whole mass recoiled, pressing back
upon us, and amid the wild tumult caught
the cry, " cavalry cavalry !" and saw the
dragons of General Bruyere sweeping past
our column-on they rushed, each man bent
eagerly forward upon the neck of his mad
dened horse, each sword flashing through the
smoke and pointed, eager for carnage, to the
hated foe. l felt the earth tremble under the
strokes of the thousands of Gathering hoofs /;
| heard the shock, the rending shouts of VIC
tory; and again our column pressed forward
-Bruyere had cleared the way. At that
moment | saw man carried back to the
rear, and heard his fainting voice, as they
bore him along, urging US to stand frm.-
That man was General Rapp-it was his
twenty wound
Then an explosion-so terrible as to check
my very breath, and to upset all power of
thought, broke upon me; the ground seemed
to tremble and rock felt conscious of being
swept rapidly forward as if by raging and
resistless wave saw hundreds of men be-
fore and around me, hurled, struggling, to
the ground, and was forced over the quiver-
ing mass; saw low stockade and grena
diers in white uniforms bending with lower
ed bayonets over the intrenchment then
came another concussion which swept me
back as in sheet of fame, and with another
surging swell swept over the crumbline
wall, and felt heavy mass struggling on the
point of my bayonet; then felt and knew nc
more until awoke a week after in the hos
pital, and learned that we had stormed the
great redoubt and won the battle of Boro
dino.
A WRITER in the Marysville Appeal, de
scribing trip down the Sacramento river,
says:
lone sees queer things while travelling,
and I saw glimpse of female nature worth
relating. Just after dinner, as the passen-
-,,. ..-o-o leo x.yo tho fol h1a lr