Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-07-24
n
THE BATTLE Oh SIDOWI.
FULL DETAILS BY MAIL.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE
FIGHTING.
Slaughter in the Wood of SadOWa.
a WATERLOO OVER AGAIN.
,a1 a1ft5e
I" Would that Night or Butcher
Would Come" i
a WATERLOO OVER AGAIN.
Rluehsr Comes in the Shape of the
Crown Prince.
The Rout of the AustrIans.

1
The Rout Of the AuStrIans
The military correspondent of the Lon
Ion Times at Prussian head4.rartars give
the fullest and clearest account of the bat
tie of Sadowa that has yet been published
1t appears in the Times of the 10th. w,
copy the principal passages.
OPENING OF THE BATTLE.
The first shot was fred about half-pas
seven. The Prussian Horse Artillery
close down TO the river, replied to tht
Austrian guns, but neither side fired heav
lily, and for half an hour the cannonade
consisted of but little more than single
shots. At quarter before eight the King
of Prussia arrived on the field, and very
soon after the horse artillery were rein.
forced by other field batteries, and the
Prussian gunners began firing their shells
quickly into the Austrian position. But
us soon as the Prussian fire actively COM
meneed, Austrian guns seemed to appear,
as if by magic, in every point of the posi-
! ton from every road, from every village,
from the orchard Of Mokrowens on the
| Prussian right, to the orchard of Benatell
on their left, came flashes of fire and
| whizzing rife shells, which, bursting with
sharp crack, sent their splinters rattling
among the guns, gunners, carriages and
| horses, often killing a man or horse, some
times dismounting gun, but always
plOwing up the earth and scattering the
mud in the mems faces. But the Aus
trians die not confne themselves to firing
on the artillery alone, for they threw
their shells up the slope NNpsite to them
towards Dub, and on( anne slap into
q squadron of Uhlans %hes@ere close be-
side the King; burying itself with heavy
thud in the ground, it blew up columns of
mud some twenty feet in the air, and,
bursting moment after, reduced the
squadron by four files
FIERCE cANNoNADE.
As soon as the cannonade in front be-
came serious, the guns of the Seventh di-
vision began TO lombard the village of
Benatck, on the Austrian right. The
Austrians returned shot for shot, and
neither side either gained or lost ground.
In the center, too, the battle was very
even; the Prussians pushed battery after
battery into the action, and kept up a tre-
mendous fire on the Austrian guns, but
these returned it, and sometimes with in
terest, for the Austrian artillery officers
knew their ground, and every shell fell
true; many officers and men fell, and
many horses were killed or wounded.
More KraRkentragers were sent down TO
the batteries, and always returned carry
ing on stretchers men whose wounds had
been hastily bound up under fire, but who
seemed to be too much stunned to suffer
much from pain
Gradually the Prussian cannonade ap-
peared to get stronger, and the Austrian
batteries between Dohelnitz and Dohali-
cha retired higher Up the hill, but the guns
at MoBrowens still stood fast, and the
Prussians had not yet crossed the Bistritz
but many guns were now turned on Mo
krowens, and at 10 o'clock the battery
there was also obliged to retire little. {
FIGHTING AROUND THE VILLAGES. -
While this cannonade had been going
on, some of the infantry had been moved
down towards the river, where they took
shelter from the fire under a convenient
Undulation of ground. The Eighth divi-
sion came down on the left-hand side of
the causeway, and, under the cover of the
rising in the ground, formed its columns
for the attack on the village of Sadowa
while the Third and Fourth divi-
sions, on the right hand side of
the road, prepared to storm Dohelnitz
and Mokrowens. But little before their
preparations were complete the village of
Benatek, on the Austrians' right, caught
fire, and the Seventh division made dash
to secure it, but the Austrians were not
driven out by the flames, and here for the
first time in the battle was there hand to
hand fighting. The Twenty-seventh reg
iment led the attack, and rushed into the
orchards of the village; the burning
houses separated the combatants, they
poured volley after volley at each other
through the flames; but the Prussians
found means to get rcund the burning
houses, and taking the defenders in re-
verse forced them to retire with the loss
of many prisoners.
It was ten o'clock when Prince Fred
erick Charles sent General Stuhnapl to
order the attack on Sadowa, Dohelnitz
and Mokrowens. The columns advanced,
covered by skirmishers, and reached the
river bank without much loss, but from
there they had to fight every inch of their
way. The Austrian infantry held the
bridges and villages in force, and fired
fast upon them as they approached. The
Prussians could advance but slowly along
the narrow WAYS and against the defences
Of the houses, and the volleys sweeping
H. 4ho 70 toar hn col
diers down. The Prussians fired much
more quickly than their opponents, but
thev could not see to take their aim, the
houses, trees and smoke from the Austrian
discharges shrouded the village. Shell
tered by this the Austrian Jagers fired
blindly where they could tell, by hearing,
that the attacking columns were, and the
shots told tremendously on tho Prussians
in their close formations; but the latter
improved their positions, although slowly,
and by dint of sheer courage and persever-
ance,for they lost men at every yard of
their advance, and in some places almost
paved the way with wounded. Then, to
help the infantry, the Prussian artillery
turned its fire, regardless of the enemies
batteries, on the villages, and made tre-
mendous havoc among the houses. Mok-
rowens and Dohelntz both caught fire,
and the shells fell quickly and with fear
ful effect among the defenders of the
flaming hamlets; the Austrian gus
also played upon the attacking in
fantry, but at this time these were shell
tered from their fire by the houses and
trees between.
THE AUSTRIANs FLANKED.
In and around the villages the fighting
continued for nearly an hour; then the
Austrian infantry, who had been there
driven cut by q rush of the Prussians, re-
tired but only little way up the slope
into line with their batteries The
wood above Sadowa was strongly held,
and that between Sadowa and Benatek,
teeming with rihemen, stood to bar the
way of the Seventh division. But Cen
eral Fransky,who commands this division,
was not to be easily stopped, and he sent
his infantry at the wood, and turned his
artillery on the Austrian batteries. The