New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-08

| Flelgreuse on the north.
Behind the town rises hill dotted with
cottages and fruit-ladcn orchards, covered
by the wood of Largarene, which runs down
to the valley of which | have just spoken
Between this wood and the town were sew
eral French camps, their white shelter tents
| standing out clear along the dark fruit
trees. In these camps one could sec through
out the day huge masses OF troops which
were never used; even during the height OF
the battle they stood as idle as Fitz John
Porter at the second battle Of Bull Run.
We imagined that they must have been un.
disciplined gardes mobiles, whom the
| French generals dared not bring out
| against the enemy.
To the Prussian LETT Of these French
camps, separated from them by Il wooded
ravine, was q long, bare hill. something
like one of the hills on Long Island. This
hill, on which was some Of the hardest
fighting of the day, formed one of the keys
OF the position of the French army. When
once its crests were covered with Prussian
| artillery. the whole town of Sedan was com
pletely at the mercy of the German guns, as
! they were not only above the town, but the
town was almost within 1rusket range of
| them.
Still further to the left was the village of
lily, set on fire early III the day BY the
| French shells. South of this was Il broken
| railway bridge, blown up by the French to
protect their right. which was conspicuous
| object. Right above the railroad bridge, on
| the line TO Mezieres. was a wooded hill,
| crowned by the new and most hideous
chateau" as he calls it, of one Monsieur
| Pave. 1t was here that the Crown Prince
and his staff stood during the day, having
| a rather more extensive but less central
view; and therefore less desirable than ours,
where stood the King, Count Bismarck, Won
Room. the war minister, General Moltke,
aud Generals Sheridan and Forsyth, to say
| nothing of your correspondent.
| Having thus. endeavored to give some
| faint idea of ne scene of what is in all
| probability the decisive battle of the war,
will next give an account of the position of
| the different corps at the commencement of
! the action, promising that all the move
| ments We're of the simplest possible nature,
the object of the Prussian generals being
merely to close up the crescent of troops
| which they began into d circle by etfectlng
| a .iunctionietweeu the Saxon corps on their
| right and the Prussian corps on the left
| This junction took place about noon near
| the little village of Dely, on the Bazeillcs
ravine behind Sedan, OF which have al
ready spoken of. Once their terrible circle
formed. and we'll soldered together, it grew
steadily smaller and smaller, until at last
the fortress Of Sedan itself was entered.
On the extreme right were the Saxons. one
corps d'arTee, with King Williams guard.
also corps darmee in reserve behind them.
The guards had suffered terribly atsGrayel-
lotte, where they met the imperial guard;
and the king .would not allow them to be
again SO cruelty decimated. Justice COM
pels me to state that the arrangement was
very far indeed from being pleasing to the
guards themselves, who are ever anxious to
be in the forefront of battle. The guards
and Saxons, then. about 5000 strong, were
Il IL. 49, l..
tween Rubecourt and La Chapelle, at which
latter village Prince Albert Of Saxony,
who was III command OF two corps. which
have been formed into n little extra army
by themselves, passed the night OF Thurs
day.
The ground from Rrbecourt to the Meuse
was occupied by the first Bavarian corps.
The second Bavarian corps extended
their front from near the Bazeilles railroad
bridge to Il point on the high road from
Donchery to Sedan, not far from the little
village of Torcy, below the hill on which
the Crown Prince was placed.
The ground from Torcy to lily through
the village of Floiny was held by the first
corps and the third Prussian corps belong
ing to Prince Frederick Charles and tenn
porarily attached to the army of the Crown
Prince.
This was the position OF the troops about
nine o'clock on Thursday morning. Septem-
ber |. And no great advance took place
until later than that; for The artillery had
at first all the work to do.
Still further to the left, near Doncherv,
were 10000 Wurtembergers ready to cast
off the French from Mezieres in case of
their making push for that fortress.
The number of the Prussian troops en-
gagged was estimated by General Moltke at
24O, 900, and that of the French 10000.
We know that Mcmahon had with him on
Tuesday l20, 900 men, that is four corps, his
own; that lately commanded by General de
Failly, under General Bruno; that of Felix
Douay, brother of General Abel Douay,
killed at Weissenburg; and q fourth corps,
principally composed of Garde Mobile, the
name of whose commander has escaped me.
Mcmahon, although wounded was the
commander -in-chief on the French side.
1t is almost needless to say that the real
commander in-chief on the Prussian side
was Won Moltke, with the Crown Prince
and Prince Albert of Saxony immedia CIV
next in command
There were few stray cannon shots
fired, merely sighting shots. however,
as soon as the range was obtained. But the
real battle did not commence until six
o'clock in the morning. There was a sharp
artillery fight at nine, when the batteries
had each got within easy range and the
shells began to do serious mischief
At Ii:55 o'clock the nlIsketry fire in the
valley in the rear of Sedan, which had
opened about ll:25 o'clock, became exceed
ingly lively, being one continuous rattle,
only broken by the growing of the mitrail-
leuses, which played with deadly effect ON
the advancing Saxon and Bavarian columns.
General Sheridan, by whose side | was
standing, told me that he did not remember
ever to have witnessed such well sustained
small arms fire. 1t made itself heard above
the roar of the batteries at our feet
At twelve o'clock precisely % Prussian
battery of six guns on the slope above the
broken railway bridge over the Meuse at La
Vilfette had silenced two batteries of French
guns at the foot of the bare hills already
mentioned near the city of Flering.
At ten minutes past twelve O'clock the in
fantry. no longer supported by their artile
lery, were compelled to retire to Flering, and
soon atterward the junction between the
Saxons and Prussians behind Sedan was
announced to us by General Won Room, who
was eagerly peering through a large tele-
scope, as being safely completed. From
no longer be doubtful. The French were
completely surrounded and brought to bay.
At twenty-five minutes past twelve we
were all astonished to see clouds Of retreat !
ing French infantry on the hill between |
Flering and Sedan, a Prussian battery
making good practice with percussons
among the retreating ranks. The whole hill |
for a quarter of an hour was literally COW |
cred with Frenchmen running rapidly. |
Less than half an hour after, at fifty minutes |
past twelve, General Won Room called our |
attention to another French column in full |
retreat to the right Of Sedan, on the road |
leading from Bazeilles to La CAYENNE wood. |
They never halted til! they got to a small |
red rooted house on the outskirts of Sedan |