Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-08-17
farticulars of the Battle of Weissem
hnurp

AafticuihfS OF the Battle of WejSSpm
b0urg.
LONDON, Aug. 8. .-Tribune's Snecial
Our special correspondent writes from
Mayence Thursday.
"Ihls evening came q dispatch fro \
Wlssembourg announcing a Prussian vic
tory and the occupation of Wissembouro
l nave obtained the following details: HI,
hlng, on his arrival at Mayence, called ,
council OF war and urged that the soone
The existing lnaction ceased the better. anf
pressed an advance. His opinion wal
adopted, and orders were telegraphed t,
attack the French outposts in the neiob
borhood of Landau and Wissembonro
A Prusslan force, composed of two
line regiments, one regiment of Ba.
Varlan troops, and some artillery
aitcgether about 5000 strong, dro, the
french before them into Weissembourp.
Inc artillery was then brought I'D, and
| opened on the Notifications of the town.
! Lhe town soon caught fire. Seeing this
| ana some confusion among the French
! troops, the Prussians could no LONGER he
restrained by the officers, who were amy.
lous to reduce the town by cannonade. =
The soldiers rushed forward with the bay.
onet and surprised the French, who. not
| expecting the infantry to attack for hours
TO come, were barricading and entreneh-
ing. The Prussians lost heavily, but took
| SUI prisoners and the town.
The same correspondent writes from
Mayence, Friday night: "Half the prison
ers taken at Weissembourg were first
marched from the citadel to the railway
Ihey put on good face, and showed
true French gaiety. A large crowd re-
celved them very well, throwing packages
OF OF tobacco and cigars to their beaten foes,
Ihe soldiers all belonged to the Seventy
Fourth OF the line. The officers VIZ re al
lowed to retain their swords and be paroled
on reaching Munich. The other four hun.
ofed taken at Weissembourg went last
nlght to Erturt. There were eight hun
dred IN all. AS before, wine and cioars
were offered by the Germans. but thew de-
sired to pay for everything. The privates
were disarmed, bat keep their steel bavo-
nets, sheath and knapsacks I ~ =
L personally know that the French Story
of ~, 900 Prussians at Saarbruck is false"
another correspondent writes from May
ence on Thursday that none but official
telegrams will be permitted to be published
for the next few days. = =
Our special correspondent sends from
Nancy, Friday morning, the following ac
count of the battle of Weissemburg from
the French side: ..- -
"While General Douay's division. com.
posed OF the 74th and 5Oth regiments of
the line, sixteen battalions of the Chas-
seurs on foot, one regiment of Turcos. and
one regiment of mounted Chasseurs, were
busy yesterday i'll the neighborhood of
We1ssembourg, they were actually
startled by tremendous dis
charge of artillery. AS the patrols
which had been posted all along the
1rontler had not slgnalled the pres nee of
any Prusslan troops, the men believed for
moment that they were surrounded by
the enemy. This was not the case, but
the Prussians, in great force and we'll sup
phed with artillery, appeared on the heights
OF Schwergen, occupying the whole coun-
try near the small Bavarian village of that
name. General Douay ordered his troops
to advance before the enemy, keeping as
much as possible behind Weissemboura.
which lay just behind them and the Prus-
sian forces; but this precaution proved
quite useless, because the guns were pour
ing tremendous fire upon them, and the
troops were falling IN great numbers in the
village OF -Neissem]9aurg itself
The French retired from their former
position and commenced marching on the
right side of the village. The Pruss1an
guns We're firing at a tremendous rate, and
three rounds fell equally in Weissembourg
and III the midst of the French troops
Several houses were on fire, and large
number of soldiers lay dead or wounded.
AT about IL O'Clock General Voheans divi-
sloH was commencing to retire. However,
new attack was' ordered, the Turcos led
the way, and, bayonet in hand, threw
themselves on one of the Prussian bait r
les of artillery. All proved useless. Had
the French insisted on attacking the enc
my any longer, there would not have been
one OF them alive on the ground
As soon as what was left of Gen. Douay's
forces began retiring, the Prussian artillery
was after them. 1t was about twelve
o'clock when Gen. Douay fell victim to
the Prussian artillery The troops, run
ming with order, crossed the roads and
vineyards until they again reached the far
thest part of Weissembourg. The number
of dead and wounded must be very large
indeed. The remaining troops are eager
to revenge the deatL Of their late General.
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