The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-23
THE PARAGuAYAN RAR.

August says:-. ,
xardng the affair Of the 10th OF July, the fol-
lowing account of 1t has INTEREST,"
At daybreak General 0sorio received oruers
to advance on Humaita. Hardly nau our
columns got beyond the ditch, and before they
had passed the piece of entrenchment IN front or
our advanced batteries q cloud OF white smoke
cannon balls fell on the ground we we're march
ing over. The enemy was telling us he was at
his post; the place had not been evacuated. But
no order being received to retire, General Osorio
continued his movements. His army advanced
in the best order In spite OF the vacuums lett in
his ranks from the corpses and wounded falling
force was composed Of the Fourth, Thirteenth,
and Thirty-ninth battalions, OF O contingent of
sappers and of the First corps OF the Rio Grande
cavalry. The General and his staff follo wed
behind the explorers, that is, in front
of the column of attack. The other battalions
and cavalry corps took positions for the
sustentation of the van, or to take part in
the combat according as circumstances would
require. From the first opening OF the enemys
fre his artillery never ceased for moment to
throw missiles corresponding to the distance.
Grape rained on our columns as soon as they
were within range. at that moment the com Dat
was formally undertaken. The General, beside
his soldiers, threw himself upon the euemy's
entrenchments, exhorting his men to yalor by
his example and his words. Meanwhtle the
grape and musketry gave no truce. In fact, as
between two deep and wide lakes it suddenly
became compromised between the sides of re-
entering angle whose extremes we're tue vertices
of two other salient angles, each defended by
three cannon, whose cross fire was augmented
by musketry and by other cannon placed at
the sides of re-entering parallels to the
principal entrenchment, composed of wide
tosse and a high parapet, and it encouu-
tered wide ante-fosse, line of abAttis,
and between the two a network of pits.
The vehicles carrying the material for the
assault failed in great part to come within reach
of the assailants because of the darkness when
they set out and because OF the frightening and
slaughter of the animals by the enemy's fire.
After cutting up picket of twenty men, the
First cavalry dismounted at the ditch and
sienced the artillery OF Que of the angles. The
infantry however, notwithstanding Its unheard-
OF OF efforts, could not gam ground owing to the
When Osorlo saw his soldiery shaking he ad-
vanced IN person, forget,ul of danger whittier
his, military honor called him. He wished to
declare with his blood, perhaps with his lfe the
Impotence of vaIor against such formidable
obstacles. sudden spark of enthusiasm
electrified the ranks as they saw hun grandly
and imposlngly enter cloud of smoke wherein
active and inexorable Death was reaping with
his funeral scythe. A generous aad sublime
impulse impelled the soldiers that still remained
on foot, and all advanced. The enemy redoubles
nus efforts. 1t is the crisis OF the struggle. The
Generals horse falls, shot through. Dsmounted,
the General seizes the musket of a dead soldier
beside him, aims at and shoots an artllerist in
the act OF pushing cartridge into a cannon.
Enthuslastlc at his example, his staff surrounded
him at the ditchs side. Major Joao Ramos, to
whom the General gave his lance, dies while
thrusting, it into the entrenchment. Brandao
tails with his skull riven by a grapeshot. Dlas
lies insensible on the ground. Adjutant- General
Iarouco IT receives ball. to die of it some hours
him, lifeless. Donysio Amaro and
SILVA are confused. The latter receives a ball,
and two others plough his neck aud hand; the
former has the skin of his stomach cut BY a
grapeshot. Pires loses horse; he inmps on
another; ;n.N round-shot trayerses it, throws it
INTO the air, and dashes the rider far away,
bruising his limbs severely. Rodrigues, brave
as the brave, is respected BY che baiie: n5cna,
Osorio, and Torres are likewise miraculously
saved, and are the only ones yet standing.
Young Ensign Rocha Osorio, nephew to the
General, and commanding picket, rushes
forward with his little squadron, and receives
wound in the arm while sticking his lance into
the enemy's bulwark; Of the twenty or SO body
guards of the General only five remain the
rest are dead or wounded. The commanders off
the 4th and 39th are decapitated; the Majors of
the 4th and 18th are killed. General Osorio,
being recognized by the enemy, was the target
for their shots; three or four balls tore his
clothes without touching him. Ensign Roch
Osorio rushes to the General, aud snatches tn
carbine from hun, brings him horse an
obliges him to mount.
BY this time the Field Adjutant, sent to the Mar
quis de Caxias for orders and TO communicate the
state OF the fight, the losses endured and the
resistance of the enemy, returns with the re-
sponse that Osorio might do the BEST he could
The General, seeing the garrison of the entreDch-
ment getting stronger every moment, under
stood that the enemy was concentrating his
forces there, he not being troubled az other
points.
To sacrifice more men would be useless, would
be frultless. The reconnaissance by main forc3
had been made, the entrenchment attacked, and
the order of the General-in. Chief accomplished.
At a coat of nine or ten hundred men killed aud
wounded the system of the enemy's entrench-
ments was ascertained together with the
obstacles they presented: An appropriate ob-
seryation suggests itsef:-0sorio had not an
engineer with him to make plan of the work
attacked.
The retreat of General Osorio was effected in
the same order as the attack, according to those
precepts OF tactics of whose knowledge he has
shown himself possessed, giving thereof pre-
viously an evident proof in his Reconnaissance
OF the Fort OF Espinilla, which was reported one
ot the most brilliant and regular operations of
the war. Of the fifteen officers of the battalion
OF engineers which entered into action nine
were killed or wounded.
Admiral lnhaama explains why only six iron.
clads were sent past Humaita, and the com
paratiVe inaction OF them, as arising from the
extreme difficulty of supplying them with coal,
munitions, and other supplies. Although the
railway made did good service it was only
temporary, owing to the rise of water over it.
In sending up three more ron.clads upon the
2lst or July, he was induced by the belief that
no further rise of the river was to be feared
and by the knowledge that much ar5ilIery had
been removed from Humaita, and that from
This and other similar reasons little risk would
be run by the iron-clads then sent up, as proved
TO be the case.
The cannon found in Humaita mum mbered III.
The largest was a l20-pounder rifle, aud the
Others varied from 32-pounders down, exclusive
OF lO-nch mortar. The Paragaayans are
known to have had another l20 FOUNDER rife,
Dut II Is supposed to be out of sight liz the river
along with many others from the river bate.
rles. Three 6-pounder rocket tubes were also
got. rev muskets were left behind aud of