The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-09-09
,conc,uded from First Pa9e.l

rConcluded from First Pa9e'l
,,ss.,,s ~ d,scoyer. They were much too far
t.ore onr most advanced columns To do the
ai,rrh+sst mischief Possibly they hoped to at
tract the attention of their own right hank
The Emperor was with them, and they may
well enough have been nervous about MS
safety. ,..,. h,,.o-
ries advanced up the slope and shelled the
Stonne road for half an hour to see they
could get reply. About O'CLOCK we
advanced rapidly from our hill to that Oh
.Stonne. The columns climbing the slope
below the village cheered loudly as tne neir ~
the throne passed them. l was, OWL. .,nce ne
very much inclined to cheer, as the PtiIDe +, me
had ,een compelled. by the nature Oh .har tnT
ground to keep well away from at any of f' the
point which would give us Sood viem no- baavr
right. In that direction We co"iu ie"' ''e'
fighting which we could not see'
FRENCH DIVISION SURPRISED n LII ILL., ahono
However, when we got on tne na-,n nm ~' the
hnia ~ th rirht: and one aid-de-camp COM
inn nm with The news, we soon learned what
Wss nassinr there Awhole French division
had been surprised near Beaumont IN camp,
and had fed, leaving all their tents and bag,
cage. When say "had fed" mean all neu
Who could, and whom the Prussians were not t
too quick for. More tnan t,NN, Svuu were nau'
The peasants in the village told us tnat tne
Emperor had been there only two hours oelore
the Prusslan skirmishers entered l. AnIs !" as
confirmed by some prisoners taken: III lne
woods on our lett, the troops thst nad oesn
opposed to us had fallen back to the otner sue
OF fhe descent beneath us, and had occupied
the sides of a narrow valley leading toward
Rsncourt. It was most important for the
French to defend this valley, as had the Prus-
siaps been able to reach down 1t, they would
hay. turned the French right flank, gettlng
between its position at Mouzon, Whither u nao
fallen back from Beaumont ana inc roau "
Sedan.
TIE BATTLE WAS BEGUN TOO LATE.
The French had concealed their sklrmlsners
so Wen that we on the hill were astonished TO
hear Independent firing suddenly begin as our
foremost tiruille,irS entered the low GROUND
and pushed up the Rancour. road. IL vas
necessary for us to act vigorously, Tor tne sun
was sinking and there was hardly an noap !
more of good light. ut is too late, too late ,
said one OF lhe staff to me; 1tad we got here
at 2:30. instead of nearly $50, we coulo nave
forced that battery and got down on the valley
of the Meuse BY Rancourt to Remilly, broken
the bridge there, and so caught the french De-
tween the river and our troops"
II wish could understand clearly" sald,
..what the French are trying to do this morn,
ing: are they trying still to advance toward
Meiz. or are they In retreat toward Sedan,
having abandoned all hope of relieving
Raznines In other words, are we hghung
their advance guard or their rear guard :"
THE FRENCH ADVANCE BECAME RETREAT.
Both, my dear sir" answered TINS omcer,
VINO, though did not then know II, oelng
stranger at the Grown Princes neaoquarErs,
was the Count Won Gutenberg himself, ne
lieye. though no one Is certain, 'for you nave
probably discovered that 1T does not do TO In
fer from ordinary rules what the French are
doing. For nv part, believe they were
thinking of going on toward Metz When lne
Bavarians surprised DeFailly in camp near
Beaumont Now, of course, they are retreat-
inp on Sedan, and what was this morning
meant for their advance guard is now their
MEANWHILE the Prussia1s had put two guns
nm rise of ground from which they could
shell the French skirmishers IN the WOODS
overhangfng the valley leading to Ranco1rt.
But soon their own skirmishers got so iar ior-
ward that The had to nfpg 1er csn
lac ground, the French, however. struggling
hard. knowing that they were lost II they let
their enemy get down the valley.
BAyARIANs CHARGE ON THE MTTRAHLEURS-
To our RIGHT we could see the Bayarians for
ward of Remilly from Beaumont: out tnere Inc
valley grew broader, and the French mltrall-
leurs did much execution, the Bavarians gong
in with great determination, nos Wauns h,t iUt
the artillery to silence the mtraiiieurs' out
themselyes dashing at the batteries.
It now became SO dark that we could see oy
the flashes of the guns that the Ba7arians were
steadily advancing up the valley toward Re-
milIy. At I, and from Z till 8, the hre nom the
mitrailleurs was very hot-not single expio'
sions, but one continuous roar.
FRITZ. HAVING THE RHEUMATISM, RIDES HARD.
Soon after 8, The Crown Prince turned his
horses head, and we rode back to little village
named Vaux. as We came down the hillside
we had most picturesque view OF the regl-
ments encamped about US. The bivouac dres
shone brightly out the moon not having risen.
AS we passed through the men came trooplng
out, leaving their cooking and their letters to
give cheer for Fritz, who, poor fellow, had
he rheumatism, and, dreading the night ar,
took us home at q tremendous pace over Wild
crossroads, to the great danger OF our horses
knees and our own necks. ,.