The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-07-26
.ORITZ. July 4, 1866.

Us IL IN Cailcu ih thc TTuSslan army, mas
been even q more decisive victory than
the victorious generals themselves knew il
to be last evening. Eighteen thousand
Austrian prisoners have already been
brought In, and more are arriving; one
hundred and sixteen guns have been
taken, eleven sets Of colors, and three
cavalry standards. The total loss of the
AustriaDs by the battle is not clearly
known, but think that it might be fairly
stated as 10000 men in killed. .,Younded,
and prisoners. Three AustrianAprinces
and three generals have been wounded,
and two generals (Windischgratz and cLih-
tenstein) have been taken. The Prussian
loss is not yet known, but it cannot be
much below 5000 in killed and wounded.
4 RAMDLE OVER THE Battlefield.
A further inspection of the field this
morning shows how formidable a position
the Austrians held, and also how fcarfully
they must have suffered. All round the
village of Lipa, where they took up their
position after being driven from the viii
lagos on the banks Of the Bistritz, were
entertainments and made batteries, the
guns from which searched out every inch
of ground over which their assailants
could advance. The village itself was sur
rounded by barricades formed of cut-down
trees, the houses we're loopholed, and guns
had been placed so as to sweep every ap-
proach. 1t seems perfectly astonishing
how such position could have been car
ricd. 1t had evidently been prepared
some days ago, for all the entrcnchments
were regularly dug and had not been
thrown up in haste. Hundreds of guns
must have fired against the advancing
Prussians, which were not exposed, but
were placed in batteries, and so shielded
from the fire Of the attacking army, and
were also defended by lines of infantry,
themselves screened by earthworks.
SEVERITY OF TIE FIGHT.
The field Of battle this morning shows
the severity Of the fight. The wounded
have all been removed, but few of the dead
have been buried, for the number of
wounded was so great that every man who
could be spared from duty was required to
look after them. All night long the
" Krankentrager have been at work, and
have been assisted by a large number of
soldiers. Every village near the field of
battle has all its standing houses converted
into hospitals, and all the surgeons in the
army have been busy all night long. In the
woods and in the broken ground the bodies
of Austrians and Prussians are tolerably
eaual in number, generally lying in groups
of four or five OF either nation together,
marking the spot where q shell has burst;
but in the open ground and down the re-
verse side Of the Lipa slope the Austrians
lie terribly thick, and hardly a Prussian
uniform is to be seen. Wherever the Aus
trians fought unprotected by cover, and
wherever the Prussian riiiemen, armed
with needle guns, could see their enemies,
the disproportion of the dead becomes i'm
mediately apparent. The corn is troddsn
down all over the field as Hat as if it were
straw laid on stable floor, and the ground
is ploughed up and dug into holes with
shells so thickly that it is hardly possible
to ride in q straight direction for twenty
yards.
On the top of the Lipa ridge, and near
the village, stand large number of the
captured guns, with all their wagons and
carriages beside them, and on the slope
away from Sadowa the rest are placed
under the charge of the corps of the guard
which in the Crown Princes attack
stormed the batteries. Everywhere about
the field fatigue parties are digging large
trenches, in which the Austrian and Prus-
sian killed are being placed side by side,
clothed in their uniforms. No other
tombstone is put to mark each grave than
plain wooden cross, on which is written
the number Of each regiment that lies be-
low. The officers are placed i'll single
graves near beside the men. But here and
there few are seen silently carrying some
. comrade to more retired spot. On one
part of the field q Prussian general, with
his staff, was burying his son, who had
fallen in the attack on the Austrian right.
Close by, the wife of private soldier, who
had found her husbands body on the
field, had it buried by some sol okiierS, and
hung some oak branches on-the little
wooden cross at the head, and was sitting
on the freshly-turned earth sobbing her
heart out, with his shattered helmet in her
lap. She had followed his regiment in
order to be near him from the beginning
of the campaign through all the long
marches the army has made.
THE WOUNDED.
The less severely wounded have been
moved to IIoritz, from which, on the ap-
proach ofthe Prussans, the inhabitants had
nearly all fed. The vacated houses have
been converted into hospitals, and at nearly
every window and every door men are
hanging about listlessly, with heads or arms
bound up, with half stupefied look, as if
they had not yet recovered from the stun.
ming effect of the blow which had disabled
them. Many are Austrians, and are pri-
soners of war; but the greatest liberty
seems to he accorded to them, for they are
allowed to wander about the streets and to
mix freely with the Prussian soldiers.
THE PRISONERS.
Long columns Of unwounded prisoners
-. sl.o b,a, ,,arobad confinually