Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1866-11-22

ioau Ny WHICH tue enemy must advance.
Then he ate heartily of the provisions
which he had brought with him, and sat
down to wait. He absolutely formed the
, heroic resolution to defend the tower alone
against the enemy.
There was something in his favor in
such an undertaking. The pass was steep
and narrow, and the enemy's troops could
enter it only in double files, and doing
this would be fully exposed to the fire
from the tower The original garrison Of
thirty men could easily have held it against
a division, and now one man was about
to hold it against a regiment
1t was dark when La Tour D'Auyergne
reached the tower, and ne had to wait
sometime for the enemy. They were
longer in coming than he had expected,
and tor a while he was tempted to believe
they had abandoned the expedition.
About midnight, however, his practiced
ear caught the tramp of feet. Every
moment the sound came nearer, and at
last he heard them entering the defile.-
Immediately he discharged couple of
Inuskets into the darkness to let them know
that he knew of their presence and inten-
lions, and he heard the quick, short COM
mands ofthe officers, and, from the sounds,
he supposed that the troops were retiring
from the pass. Until the morning he was
undisturbed The Austrian commander,
feeling assured that the garrison had been
informed of his movements, and was pre-
pared to receive him. saw that he could
not surprise the post as he had hoped to
do, and deemed it prudent to wait until
daylight before making his attack.
At sunrise he summoned the garrison
to surrender. a grenadier answered the
summons.
''Say TO your commander he said,
in reply 20 the messenger, that this gar
rlson. viii defend this post to the last
extrernity-
The officer who had borne the nag Of
truce retired, and in about ten minutes a
piece of artillery was brought into the pass
and opened on the tower But TO effect
this the piece had to be placed directly in
front of the tower, and within easy musket
range of it. They had scarcely got the
gun into position when rapid fire was
opened on Il from the tower, and contin-
ued with such marked effect that the piece
was withdrawn after the second discharge.
with a loss of five men.
This was bad beginning, so half an
hour after the gun was withdrawn the
Austrian Colonel ordered an assault
AS the troops entered the defle they
were received with rapid ard accurate
fire, so that when they had passed over
half the distance they had to traverse they
had lost fifteen men. Disheartened by
this, they rcturrsed to the mouth Of the
defile.
Three more assaults were repulsed in
this manner, and the enemy by sunset had
lost forty-five men, of whom ten were
killed
The firing from the tower had been
rapid and accurate, the Austrian comman-
der had noticed this peculiarly about it
every shot seemed to come from the same
place. For awhile this perplexed him. !
but at last he came to the conclusion that
there were number of loop-holes close |
together in the tower, so constructed as to
command the ravine perfectly.
At sunset the last assault was made and !
repulsed, and at dark the Austrian COM
,nander sent second summons to the |
garrison.
This time the answer was favorable -
The garrison offered to surrender at sunrise
the next morning, if allowed to march out !
with their arms and return to the army
After some hesitation the
terms were accepted.
Meantime, La Tour D'Auvergne had
passed an anxious day in the tower. He
had opened the fight with AN armament of
thirty loaded muskets, but had not been
able to discharge them all He had fired
with surprising accuracy, for it was well
Known in the army that he never threw
away shot. He had determined to stand
% his post until he had accomplished his
md, which was to hold the place twenty
our hours, in order to allow the French
lrmy time TO complete its man9vre. At
er that, he knew the pass would be of no
to the enemy.
When the demand for surrender came
O him after the last assault, he consented
o it upon the conditions named.
The next day at sunrise the Austrian
roops lined the pass in two files, extend
ne from the mouth to the tower, leaving
space between for the garrison to pass
ut.
The heavy door of the tower opened
lowiy, and in few minutes bronzeG
nd SCARED grenadier, literally loaded
own with muskets, came out and passed
own the line of troops. He walked with
ifficulty under his heavy load