Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1870-09-14

SihhuE-- DEF EAT
Ere,
A correspondent at King Williams
headquarters furnishes continuation of
the report of Thursdays battle at Sedan,
as follows:
"There will be devil of a fight for
that crest before it is won or lost, said
General Sheridan, straining his eyes
through his 6eld-glass on the hill, which
was not three miles from us where we
stood, with the full shining on it from be-
hind us.
At half.rast one, the French cavalry
made another dash at the Prussians, who,
on their part, were met with the same fate
as their brethren in the iron jackets, and
were sent with heavy loss TO the right
about. The Prussians took advantage Of
their flight to advance their line couple
of hundred yards nearer the line which
the French infantry held.
These adventurous Prussians split into
two bodies, the two bodies having break
of one hundred yards in their line. We
were not long in seeing the object Of this
movement, for in little while pu1s from
the crest behind the skirnIishers, followed
by commotion in the dense French mas
ses, showed us that the Prussians had
contrved--Heaven only knows how-to
get couple Of four-pounders up the steep
ground, and had opened on the French.
Something must have been very wrong
with the French infantry, for instead Of
attacking the Prussians, whom they still
outnumbercd by at leas two to one, they
remained in a column on the hill. Seeing
their only hope Of retrieving the day van
isbing before their eyes, they still did not
stir Then the French cavalry tried to
do little Balakiava business, but without
the success Of the immortal six hundred,
who took guns Down came the Cuirras-
siers once a,ore, this time riding straight
for the two 6cd-pieces. but before they
got within two hundred yards Of the guns
the Prussians formed a line as if on pa
rade, and waiting until that furious French
horse had ridden to point not fifty yards
away, they fired. The fire seemed to US
to empty the saddles Of almost the whole
of the leading squadron. The dead SO
strewed the ground as to block the path
of the following squadron, and close be-
fore them they dangerous road the meant
to follow. %, ...t..... ....
When once this last effort Of the French
had been made and had failed-iailed, ,
though pushed gallantly as far as men
aud horses could 90, the French infantry
also fell swiftly back towards Sedan. 1t
fell back because it sawt that its last chance
of carrying that ficrcely contested hillwas
gone, and saw that with the Prussans
holding the honor of crowning it with
Guns of their own, the French line in its
place could not much longer be held.
|
In an instant, as the French retired, the
whole slope of the ground was covered by
swarms of Prussian Tierie, who seemed
to rise out of the ground and push forward
by the help of slight roughness and dent
on the surface.
As fast as the French went back the
restless enemies followed After the left
desperate charge Of the French cavalry,
Gen. Sheridan remarked to me that he
never saw anything so reckless, so utterly
foolish as that last charge. ltwas a sheer
murder. The Prussians after the French
infantry fell back, advanced rapidly SO
rapidly that the retreating squadrons Of
the French cavalry being pressed too
closely turned sulIenly around and charg-
desperately once again, but was all of no
use. The days of breaking squares are
over, and the thin blue line stopped the
Gallic onset,
1t struck me as most extraordinary
that at Loint the French had neither ar
tilery nor mitraileuses especially the
latter on the hill to cover the infantry.
The position was most important one,
and certainly worth straining every nerve
to defend.
One thing was clear enough, that the
French infantry, after once meeting the
Prussiaus declined to try conclusions with
them again and that the French cavalry
were seeking to encourage them by their
example.
About two o'clock other rcinforcements
came to the Prussians over this long dis
puted hill between Tarey and Sedan, to
support regiments already established
there. All the time this great conflict
was going on under Fritz's eyes and mine