Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-08-08
THE PRUssIANs DRIVEN.

Herwarth, too, seemed checked upon
the right. The smoke of his musketry
and artillery, which had hitherto been
pushing forward steadily stood still for g
time. Fransky's men, cut to pieces,
could not be sent forward to attack the
Sadowa wood, for they would have ex-
posed themselves to be taken in the rear
by the artillery on the right Of the Aus.
trian line formed in front of Lipa. All
the artillery was engaged except eight
batteries, and these had to be retained in
case of a reverse for at one time the firing
on the Sadowa wood, and of the Prussian
artillery on the slope, seemed almost as
if drawing back toward Bistritz. The lst
Army was certainly checked in its ad-
vance, if not actually pushed back.
Then the Prussian commanders began
to look anxiously to the left for the COM
ing of the Crown Prince. Some Austri-
an guns near Lipa were seen to be firing
toward the Prussian left, and it was
hoped they might be directed against the
advanced guard of the I'd army, but at
three o'clock there were no signs of
Pruss:an columns advancing against Lipa.
The Generals became manifestly uneasy,
and they drew the infantry out of the
battle; cavalry was also formed up, so that
it would be available either for the pur-
suit of the Austrians, or for retarding
their pursuit, and General Won Rhetz
himself went off to look for the I'd Army.
THE AUSTRIAN RIGHT WATERING.
As the Austrian left and centre gained
ground the right yielded, and column
after column of Prussians came upon the
ridge firing as they advanced, while their
guns on the hanks swept the slowly re-
treating, but not disorderly, Austrians
with sharpnel and she'll
The enemy was indeed quite inexhaus-
tible in number, though still he could
not hold his own on the left. Suddenly
an Austrian battery, galloping from the
left center, began to NOW down the Prus-
behind the burning Trothinia. But their
artillery was at hand again.
THE CRITICAL MOMENT.
From lane above the village battery
opened on the Austrians, and at the same
time another battery wheeling over the
slope below the big tree, crossed its fire
on the devoted Austrians. This combat
now assumed larger proportions. The
Prussian right showed in great force, and
the hills were covered with their regi-
ments, advancing in the most perfect or
der. I'll over the field were hundreds
of wounded limping away, and piles OF
dead lay in rows along the lanes and in
the thick corn. The enemy, whose
strength had been hidden from US by the
hills, now displayed numbers which &C
counted for the retreat of the Austrians
on the right.
The Austrian gunners could not hold
up against the cross-fre and the weight
of pieces opposed to them. What avail
was it that they were winning on the
center? Through the glass they could
be seen pressing on from point to point
in a tempest of smoke and fame. 1t
was now near 2 o'clock. On the left and
center there could be no hesitation in de-
claring that the Prussians were all but
beaten. 1t seemed as if charge en-
masse of the horse deployed for miles
on the plateau could roll up their center
on the left, or crumble the left into pieces.
The fire at Klum, in the center, which
had died out, broke forth with fresh vio-
lence, and all the village began to burn.
The Prussians in the center made anoth-
er grand effort, and it would only be a
repetition of adjectives, utterly feeble at
thez strongest, to endeavor to give the
smallest conception of the roar of cannon
which announced and met this fresh at
tempt to charge the fortunes of the day.
The strong wind could not clear away
the smoke, which poured in banks as
agitated as the sea itself over the battle
field, now contracted to the center and
right, for all toward the Prague road the
fight had apparently ended in the same
of the Prussian left. As it
contracted it heaped up, and the caissons
and tumbrils blew up, repeatedly. The
of the Austrians from the
right center to oppose the last effort of
the Prusiians, increased the open inter-
val between the center and the extreme
right retiring on the lower ground near
the river, but the Austrians did not
perceive it, or, of they did, could not
prevent the advance of the enemy
along the plateau by the big tree toward
Klum. The Austrian right and reserves
become more unsteady, but their artille-
ry contests every foot of ground. Sud.
denly scattering of musketry breaks
right down on the Austrian gunners, and
IN the columns of infantry drawn up on
The slopes below. The gunners fall on
Ill sides-their horses are disabled-the
ire increases in intensity-the Prussians
IN the ridge press on over the plateau:
his is an awful catastrophe-tWoc columns
IF Austrians are lead against the village,
,ut they cannot stand the fire, and after
.hree attempts to carry it retreat, leaving
he hillside covered with the fallen. It
S a terrible moment. The Prussians see
heir advantage; they here get into the
-ery center of the position. They spread
way to the woods near the Prague road,
nd fire into the rear of the Austrian
,unners.
THE AUSTRIAN RANKS BROKEN.
Thus a wedge, growing broader and
Iriven in more deeply every instant, was
orced into the very body of the Austrian
rmy, separating it at the heart, and di-
iding its left and center from the right.
he troops in the center and left are dis
mayed at hearing the enemy's guns in
heir rear, and are soon exposed to the
ire which most of all destroys the morale
# soldiers already shaken by surprise.
The right, previously broken up and dis
,omfted, hurry toward the Prague road
n something like confusion, and spread
larm among the reserves of the center
nd left. The regular lines of the col
INN below are gradually bulging out, and
re at last swallowed up in disordered
multitude.
The falling of trees on the Prague road,
he rush of the fugatives, the near ap-
,roach of the Prussian shells to the
,lace, some of them bursting over the
ailway station, were awful warnings of
he state of the battle. All the roads
we're blocked up with retreating trains
md wagons. Men were throwing down
heir arms and wading through the inun-
lations. The Austrian gunners on the
began to catch sight of the
Russians near at hand in the woods, and
,pened on them with shrapnel and shell.
t was now somewhere about 2:30, but it
vas not possible to note time when such
hings were going on so near. The gen.
us of the Prussian was in the ascendant.
TERRIBLE PRUssIAN ENERGY.
The spirit of Bismark or his genius
uled the battlefield. While the Aus
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