Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1870-08-26
Tho Conrse Of the Campaign.

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New England centre of trade.
The Course of the Campaign.
1t is difficult without constant study and
frequent consultation of the maps, to com
prehend fully the moves in the mighty mill
tary game which now attracts the attention
of the world We condcnse from more e1-
tended accounts Of the mannuvring Of the
French and Prussian armies, the following
resume of the campaign from Saarbruck-
en- to Yeriun As the lines were orig
inally formed General L'Admirault, com
handing the Fourth Corps held the French
left at Thionyille; next to him came the
Second Corps, under General Frossari, at St.
Avoid, forming. with the Third Corps under
Marshal Bazaine at Metz, the left centre;
next the Fifth Corps, under General De
Failly, at Bitsche, forming the right centre
and then the First Corps, under Marshal
MacMahon, at liaguenau. forming the French
right Back Of the Third Corps, was the
Eighth Corps, under General Bourbaki.
Opposed to the French line, the Prussan
right, under General Steinmez, lay from
Trier to Saarbruckcn. the centre, under
Prince Frederick Charles. between Saar-
brucken and Dahn; and the left, under the
Crown Prince, from a point opposite Worth
/ to one in front Of Weissenburs
The French opened the campaign by NOV
ing upon the left flank of the Prussan right,
General Frossari leading. Pushing on from
s.. Avoid, through Forlach, he assaulted
and took >iarbrucken on the p instant
Next day the Crown Prince Of Prussia ad-
yanced the prussian left upon Weissenburg,
and carried that point upon the 4th. On
the 9Th Marshal MacMahon advanced on
Wci-senburg to retake it, and simultaneous
ly the Prus-ian right under General Stein
metz, advanced upon Saarbrucken to rctake |
that. the right Of each army moving upon .
victorious left. and the centres Of both armies
lying on thei- arms In both encounters
the French were outnumbered worste1 and
driven back General Fr1ssard lost heavily at
saarbrucken, but drew off in some tolera-
bic order under cover of his artillery. At
Froschweiler. OF Worth. Marshal Mcmahon
claims to have fought 5000 against no.
goo, and the loss was heavy on both sides.
As a result Of these reverses at Saarbrucken,
Weissenhurg, and Froshweiler, or Worth, the
French left centre and right were disorgan-
lied, the right centre and left were equally
in danger of being fanked, and a retreat and
reformation Of the whole centre and right Of
the line became necessary. Advancing their
whole army from Saarbruck to SUI. the
Prussians occupied Forhach. st. Avoid, Luz
elstein and Haguenau. with intermediate
villages, thus holding the original French
line, the French falling back until a new
line was formed from Thionville to Nancy.
Afterwards this line was narrowed down to
from Metz to Nancy. At this time Marshal Ba-
zaine was made commander-in-chief of the
entire French army. Pushing on, the
Prussians confronted this new line Of the
French; but before a complete reconnois-
sance could be obtained the French army
again took up the line of retreat for the
Meuse. This was on the 18th. and on as
the movement the Prussians at
once assaulted in force. General Steinmetz !
advanced upon Bazaine rearguard as it was
covering the transfer Of the main army over d
he Moselle, but was repulsed The Prus- :
sian centre, crossing at OF about Pont-a-
Nousson, marched northcastwardly. and 5
truck tie French left between Metz and
ierdun, the Crown Prince advancing mean
while from Nancy, which he had taken on G
he retreat of Mcmahon towards Chalon-. P
Last week opened with heavy fighting on Il
unday, continued on Tuesday, Wednesday ?
nd Thursday, the object of the Prussians
eng to prevent Bazaine' retreat to Chalons.
unday's battle took place three miles west :,
Metz, commencing at , in the afternoon Il
nd continuing till night fall. when heavy c
orm set in, and both sides vacated the field Al
While this battle was in progress the En- n
error was on his way to Chalons, which place n,
e reached on Wednesday with a small body pi
1ard On Tuesday the Prussians renewed TT
le attack on the French army. between tn
etz and Verdun The battle continued W
r three days No decisive result was reach tr
on Tuesday and Wednesday, but on Thurs at
", the Prussians, commanded by King VIII W
Am in person, carried the field at all points. - 81
lzaine. with what was the main body of the
-ench army, now sadly shattered, sought :.
fuge in the strong Publications of Metz, h.
hence he again sailed on Saturday, only to
again thrown back, as Prussian advices
', with tremendous loss The victorious ="
russians have cut him of from all communi-
ton with Chalons or Paris, and all hope of -D'
junction with Mcmahon must have dis
peared. The situation could hardly be =,
ore desperate for the French, and another -,
aek may sec the Prussians knocking at the y
ties of Paris -