The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-09-10
a large body of troops. They moved in

a large body OF troops. Iney moVen In
to position under the eyes Of the King
: yet neither the King nor any of hi
staff could account 70. this appearance
Their march was begun at the tim
I have mentioned, and their advance
did not cease till dark. But the mys
terry that hung over them was not dis
PEELED. Whose was this new arniy
The staff insisted that at the poin
: whence did it come The staff insis
ted that at the point whence it moved
there " ere, or at any rate ought to bt
no troops of the armies of either Stein
metz OF Frederick Charles. The ru
NOR began and spread among the gronf
of men who surrounded the King that
this fresh, mysterious force was a part
of the army of the Grown Prince, anc
that a new junction had been effected
| know no reason to suppose this true
Doubt Ass the staff soon cleared up the
matter to their own satisfaction. That
there ever could have been any doubt
about the identity of so great body
Of men arriving on so great Il battle.
field, illustrates the difficulty with which
even the most eminent officers follow
the movements of their forces over a
broken and wooded ground. l no long
er wondered that to me the same task
was almost an irnpossibility.
la any event it cannot be doubted
that the presence of that large body of
men made itself known upon the for
tunes of the field. They We're visible
to the French as to us. Here was an
other example of the moral effect that
may be, and SO often is, cxerted in Il
battle BY masses of men whose presence
is known to the enemy, but who may
not fire shot From their line of
march it is clear the divisions were f.
nally posted little in the rear and on
the left of the Prussian centre, at time
when the attack, so long directed
against the key Of the French lines,
had ceased, in fact had failed for the
time. 1t is possible the French, having
suffered far less in holding their ground
than the Prusslans in attacking, might
have advanced, in their turn undertak-
ing vigorous offensive movement. If
they had any such purpose it is not
unlikly they abandoned it on sight Of
the Prussian reinforcements. Instead
of advancing the French now eontented
themselves with mere occupation of
the ground, to which, earlier in the day,
they had been driven back
At no time did they seriously strive
to regain the westermost line of hills,
which had been theirs in the morning.
At no time did they recover Or seek to
recover by any vigorous forward move
ment the junction nf the roads at Grave
lotte. From seven to eight the weight
of the battle tended more to the north of
the road. There was lull, the mean
ing of which, the French failed, appar-
emily, to interpret. By seven they may
have believed themselves partly victo-
rious. They were still, perhaps, in a
condition to renew on the morrow the
struggle that had gone on all day for
that fated road from Metz to Verdun.
If they had not gained the road or the
battle, they had not clearly lost the lat
ter. Two hours later they had lost both
A little before eight large white house
on the height beyond Gravelotte caught
fire. 1t seemed through the gloom to
be a church. Its spire grew into flames,
and vast black cloud of smoke arose.
contrasting strangely with the white
smoke OF the battle.
As evening fell, the movements of
the troops could be followed now by
lines of fire that ran Pickering along the
front of regiment as it went into action
No General likes fighting by night in
ordinary circumstances, for chance then
takes the place of skill, but the fankipg
movement of the French right had been
resolved Oh by daylight, and it was the
necessity of moving troops to great
distance over difficult ground which
delayed Its execution and brought about
what seemed renewal of the battle af.
ter day was done. To leave the French
in their positions during the night would
have been to imperil the plan on which
the Prussian commander had resolved.
So. from eight or half-past eight to nine
o'clock the decisive blow was struck.
When the battle OF Gravelotte had ac-
tually ended, we knew the Prussiaps
held the strong heights beyond the Bois
de Vaus, which commands the surround-
ing country to the limits of artillery
range from Metz. We knew that the
two great Prussian armies lay across
| the only road by which Bazaine cnuld
| march to Paris for its relief or fol- his
own escape. We new victory greater
than Sundays, more decisive than the
triumph Of Tuesday, had been won.
We believed the French army. which
had fought as valiantly and as vainly as
before, was now hopelessly shut mp in
it's fortress. As | went back to the vii.
lage Of Geerse to pass the night, turned
at the last point to look upon the battle
field It was long, bound cloud,
with two vast fires of burning buildings
at either end. The day had been beau
tiful, so far as nature was concerned, and
the stars looked down in splendor upon
a work of agony and death, such as no
one could ever wish to see again.
-~--~-~~-AsaNs-.~--~~-~
PRussIa READY Two YEARS AGO
Two years ago distinguished Ameri-
can soldier Gen. McClelland |? called