The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-07-27

lanes and IN the JnlcK corn. Inc
enemy, whose strength had been hid
den from us by the hills, now dis
played numbers which accounted for
the retreat of the Austrians on the
right. >r
The Austrian gunner& could not
hold up against the crossgire and the
weight of pieces opposed to them.
| What avail was it that they were win
ming 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 declaring
that the Prussians were all but beaten.
1t seemed as if a 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 CEN
ter, which had died out, broke forth
with fresh violence, and all the village
began to burn. The Prussians in the
center made another grand effort, and
it would only be a repetition of ad-
jectives, utterly feeble at the strong
est, to endeavor to give the smallest
conception of the roar of cannon
which announced and met this fresh
attempt to change 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
battlefield, now contracted to the CEN
ter and right, for all toward the
Prague road the fight had apparently
ended In the same discontinue of the
Prussian left AS it contract
ed it heaped up, and the Gals
sons and tumbrils blew up
repeatedly. The movements of the
Austrians from the right center to op-
pose the last effort of the Prussians
increased the open interval between
/ the left center and the extreme right,
retiring on the lower grounds near the
river, but the Austrians did not per-
ceive it, or if they did, could not pre-
vent the advance of the enemy along
the plateau, by the big tree, towards
| Klum. The Austrian right and re-
serves become more unsteady, but
their artillery contests every foot of
ground Suddenly scattering of
musketry breaks out of the trees and
houses of Klum right down on the
ABSTAIN gunners and the columns of
infantry drawn up on the slopes below.
The gunners fall on all sides, their
horses are disabled, the fire increases
in intensity, the Prussians on the
ridge press ON over the plateau-this
| is an awful. catastrophe-two columns
I1of Austrians are led against the vii
lage, but they cannot stand the fire,
and after two attempts to carry it re-
treat, leaving the hillside covered with
the fallen. 1t is a terrible moment
The Prussians see their advantage;
they here get into the very center of
the position. They spread away TO
the Prague road, and fire into the rear
of the. Austrian gunners.
THE AUSTRIAN RANKS BROKEN.
Thus a wedge, growing broader and
driven in more deeply every instant,
was forced into the very body of the
Austrian army, separating it at the
heart, and dividing its left and center
| from the right. The troops in the cen
| ter and left are dismayed at hearing
the enemy's guns in their rear, and are
soon exposed to the FIRE which most of
all destroys the morale of soldiers all
ready shaken by surprise. The right,
previously broken up and discom-
fit&d, hurry toward the Prague road
in something like confusion, and
| spread alarm among the reserves of
the center and left. The regular lines
of 9 the column below are gradually
bullying out, and are at last swallowed
UP in disordered multitude. 81
The falling of the trees on the Pra-
que road, the rush of the fugitives, the
near approach Of the Prussian shells
to the place, some of them bursting
over the railway station, were awful
warnings of the state of the battle.
All the roads were blocked up with
retreating trains and wagons. Men
were throwing down their arms and
wading through the foundations. The
Austrian gunners on the causeway be-
gan to catch a sight of the Prussians
near at hand in the woods, and opened
on them with shrapnel and shell. 1t
was now somewhere about 2:30, but it
was not possible to note when such
things were going on so near. The
genius of the Prussian Was in the as
cendant
TERRIBLE PRUssIAN ENERGY.
The spirit of Bismark or his genius
ruled the battlefield. While the Aus
trian was hesitating the Prussian was
acting The lines of dark blue which
came in sight from the right teemed
from the wales below as if the earth
yielded them. They filed the whole
back ground of the awful picture of
which Klum was the center. They
pressed down onthe left of the Prague
road In square, in column, deployed
or wheeling hither and thither-every-
where pouring in showers of deadly
precision penetrating the whole line
of the Austrians, still they could not
i n ! L. o..