, 1870-09-17
The Hattie Of 11nrA-1n-T0ur.

at last We have detailed accounts Of the
most eang71iEary Aatflo Of the war-that Of
Mars.la-Tour, at r1auville, on the 10th inst.
Fur 4 whole week it almost seemed as though
II veil were to be thrown upnn the horrors OF
II is particular cncol,iter, fut the silence has
lcru b,uI4r, at length. aud pubic a. we'll as
n,sv,:c letter. permit us to form q prettv ac-
cl.,ate idea at what occurred on that fatai day.
AZ will he remembescl, the battle wss fought
between the san OF Prince Frederick Charles, ,
and thu eteatcs part Of tho French armr un-
der General flazainc. The Princes van, ha =
inS crossed the Mo>clfe, was marching north,
on ,li;, lift hank st the river to intercept the
rr;rcat of the French to Patis. 1n tho i'm
rartt the defeated eueEa- had been completing
hi- preparations for . RETREAT. the Prus5ians
fell in with French army.
tuietakiue The troops before them Tor the
II BE- in full mar,h westward. they STACKED
ut once. but the fight had not lasted long
when they became aware Of their error. They
bad to deal, not with a last lingering rcn,nant
OF tho FRI nch. but With tho main body ITSELF.
Considerably DELAYED by a'l manner OF doubts
eva :nated Mttz. but was ttif encamped on
the western bank of the fortress, pEepasa-
tory to his march upon the capital. It WAS
tlisagrcea1,le discovery to make for the
p,ubsiaas. They we're about $1,000 stsong:
the force which tle;y had ehallsnged counted
$1,000 mors within the walls OF The
sdiolriuG stronghold. With his guns aud
mitraiileuscs posted on the bills commanding
the plain on which the pEussianb were. the
snemy presented AZ aspect ~hica 1oi;f.t asl
have staggered the rtoutent heart. Bat the
| rrustians k..ew their duty, aIl in their BUSH
| rcss-1ikr, Enhttef-of. course wav dutesmlled to
| do it. Finding themselves rltted Against such
superior nunsbers. 1hey easily di.coEncd that il
they had any 7rnepeet OF e*cai,ng de- 'ra'tlon
| il las in bcldlr assuming tho Offensive. II they
could but put them -eiveB in possession Of lhe
| rising sr; ,1nd on which the euemy had pfaccl
his csmr. they might. perhaps. be able to hold
out until the Lead. IT their main body ar-
| rived. Accordingly they at once fell t.,
st''ta # Cultured ID soo zonaves " aud T.: rurcos. o.
Then establishing Themselves in the enc
ua,'- quarters, and judciously nlaklnS us8 Of
| every advantage offered By tho cou6gutation
Of the ground, they stood on the defensive
| 1hus they stood aud tasslcd for nearly eight
hour. srx times they were charged hS the
| imperial Guard: fix times they Tepi11sad the
atsack. and. pursuing tho enemy in their turn.
drove him from position to positlon. One
after tho other The corps VI dsnerals Fros.
sn1d, Canrohert, Dec.en. L'Admirault, aud
lie Second Division Of General FA1ily sero
forced to give way before the Pr1assau on
-laught I'm their sr1nmph vas dearly bought
by ,he esl's't baud.
/ EH14cr tie telll51c3 Ire OF Tue fHGul* lucy udi
suffered grievo,lsly from tue drSt. GratInally
! tEtir tnm'ters were more and moro reduced !:
at lat they vera 10 few, ana t1ese 90 tired,
tiAt the Frcrcl could venture to attack their
gang. Once more they varied off tho charge,
.uowing they could not do 80 ss;ain. Yet they
paw the enemy missing his columns IN the
11s,ance fnr laaf, decisive attempt. Il
was 3 O'Clock in the afternoon. a11 they had
lt en- nntfcr iirs from in the morning. Whit
VIZ to be doue: In thi: critical emergency
there rccrntd to be nothing. left but to let
!rssr the eavairr and 7epd il right into the
/ jaw Of the Io-t11e battaGons. t. be sure,
10 let cav1lry charge ag,inst the chassepot.
; a1.l tllat 1t distance permitting OF several
! r-ans.s being hred agtinst them, would be te
sacrifice vast nun,ber.. without per-
, sn!t. In point OF fact, it would be doing q
. thing regarded as absurd, II not absolutely
impossible. By modern military s:ien:s. BAT
: | necessity knows no law. The attack was or
! | dered and executed. Two regiments OF dra
coon guards and one OF enirassiers, the Who'll.
! enemy, a thnrdering block OF steel. pecimat
! ed long before theE conld flash their swords
: their shattered remnants sutfice1 to cut dowI
. , OF disperse whole bat.alsous. Then, attacked
!. ! IN their turn by Chaaseuss dAtrsqne. and i'm
: mediateiy rescued By their own swift hnss,ra
: they again cut path for thetn telses into tht
t. eremy ranks, AID actually succeeded 10 pre-
! venting hiA contemplated assault. Shorti.
{ after this repetition Of the DalsklAls exploit,
: lrlnce Frederick Charles appeared on the bat
i t}e-ieIa and assumed the command.
+ Eager to share the dangers, and, II posi-
e bic, the lau1els OF his troops, ho had rlddel
. the eighteen miles from Ponr-a-3lonsson /!
!, an hour. He Was just ewing orders to hi
y Y brother.in-law. Duke Wilhelm Of Mscklen
: ture. who had led tho cavAlzs chsEge. vhel
e the long-expeesed succor At last made its sp
J. pe1rauce. il was the hc.d Of the Haaove
% Corps dAs1nee. under General von Fulg
= Renx, which, after forced mar.h on III
- plateau ri4,ne from the valley Of tho rase.
= astist theif onward march the cavalry va
.e sent rourd. But. although the H&nove.ian
d adsAGced with = confident ga1lAuttr, worthy q
le The military renown OF their race. and wer
= he battle rensiaed stationary 70
Z Z M liter oe.eck, when. eome Rhenirb .eginens
il cpuit.E up, the Germans we're no longer =
. very much outnumbe1e1, did the scale Of sie
y tory begin to incline IA their favor. Erentu
y ally general charge forced the e1etnT 70 fal
- vark, hotly pursued br the Hauovesian hors
,e md artillery. As usual, in French retreat
D. confusion now ereue5, and rapidly a.datned
degree ont Of proportion to i.le ostess a., ~ =,
u ptotect,on it affor5ed to the discou1ftte
- Troops. there might have been ano:ber disa:
~ Ter Ike that Of Worth. This wAs avoided b
IS I the nesrness Of tho detached foEta, but froo
II 1 military potDI OF VIEW, feIEat ~ AsA7
"a whence there il no escApe, uas, perhaps. ese
=. lese eligible than nishs to Paris, hosaver pr
&c cipitate and calamltons.
n. The day Of Mars-la-Tout has cost German
er alruott twice natx men in killed ar
= wounded ~ the day Of koniggyAtz- This ia
ed fact which makes al the usual epithats, sut
ae as s.te11ihle,~ "avfrl," DC, appear pitiab
nn pe below tho u1rk. Fortunately. 50 per cent
en the VICTIMS re sliGhtl: wounded, and viii 81
.es sire, although more or less in:spacitated i
nt work. The French losses arc quite ss laIg
aw and include even 4 greater number OF dea
r.. Putting the cssu.lt,es on both sides togethe
u excess Of 5000. Some regiments ha
he Jared b4il5. The Twelfth Infantry 1o
~ si1sy-one officers Of tho sixsy-aine it hs
T. and 1.5o0 rank and file OF the 80
r. forming it's full complement. The Forts-re
"a. enth, almost equally unfortunate, had II O
re cers and !, 100 men removed from the rlul
I'd the sixty-souftb, II of6cere and 1000 ne'
as the SeSensy-second, about 50 officers. u
sat whom are dead. and 1000 men. Gloomiest
ta eas I'll eeenaa to hare been the doom OF I
Hi Twent5-fourh, which is said to have be
iD- deprived Of 1000 men and nearly al it, o
&: eers.. OF the Dragon Gnaras We Saes y
wD dead OF wounded Nearly Ill their officers
u gone OF il, = ethical condition The
" W: nouncements Of officers deaths in the pap
NJ fiji whole colunns. Fathers. brntnefs,
,m | brides are leaving IN ehoa!s seS tae sons -
-. fetch the cprpses Of their beloved ones. 80,
- / inE there terrible lists. one u aotaeuMes
on to think that whole generat!on oss pa:
up: p away. Alas! at the mama OF .aarsa' -
t 'rTs mary = heart will ache ior nah' 'e"
r. Hme! ..,.