The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-09-24
THE DECISIVE BATTLE.
HOW THE NAPOLEON DYNASTY RE.
CEIHED ITS CoUP-DE-GRACE.
FULL DETAILS OF THE BATTLE OF
SEDAN.
THE FORMAL TIE RMS OF
CAPITULATION.

DR.. W. n. Russell sends the following &C
count of the battle Of Sedan, and the scenes
on the field, to the London Times. He writes
from Donchery on September 8:
The greatest event of our time has occurred
Sedan. think the British public must have
had enough of battlefield horrors and hospital
scenes. There will be plenty Of letters
describing KrdnEc1,-trdge,s, burial parties.
wounded men, heaps Of dead, the hide0us re-
verse of the medal, on the other side Of which
are the bright emblaZonments Of glory and
victory. / will not dwell on the topic, but ask
your readers to be content with the assurance
that no human eye ever rested on such revolt
Ing subjects as were presented by the battle
fields around Sedan. Let them fancy masses
OF colored rags glued together with blood and
brains, and pinned into strange shapes by
fragments of bones. Let them conceive mems
bodies without heads. legs without bodies,
heaps OF human entrails attached to red and
blue cloth, and disemoowelled corpses in uni
form, bodies lying about in all attitudes,
WITH SKULLS SHATTERED, FACES BLOWN OFF,
HIPS SMASHED,
bones flesh and gay clothing all pounded to.
gether as If brayed In mortar, extending for
miles, not very thick In any one place, but re-
curing perpetually for weary hours, and then
LIey CduuOI, VIII Tie IuOsI PlVlu lUlas5luallOQ,
come up to the sickening reality Of that butch.
cry. No nightmare could be so frightful.
Several times / came on spots where there
were two horses lying dead together in har-
ness, killed by the same fragment. Several
times saw four, five and six men, four, five
and six horses, all killed by the explosion of
one projectile, and In one place there lay no
less than eight French soldiers who must have
been struck down by the bursting. of a she'll
a m q
circle with their feet inwards, each shattered
In the head or chest by piece of shell, and no
other dead being within hundred yards of
them. A curious and, to me, unacc0untable
phenomenon was the blackness of most OF the
iaces OF the dead. Decomposition had not set
in, for they were killed only the day before.
Another circumstance which struck me was
by the bayonet Is agOnlzing, and those who
die BY steel, open-eyed and open-mouthed,
have an expression of pain on the features,
with pr0truding tongue. A musket bali, which
Is at once vital, does not seem to cause much
pain, and the features are composed and quiet,
sometimes with sweet smile on the lips. But
the prevailing expression on this field, of the
faces which were not muCilated, was one OF ter
ror and of agony unutterable. There must
have been hell OF torture raging within that
semi-circle In which the earth was torn
asunder from all sides with q real tempest Of
iron Kissing, and screeching, and bursting Into
the heavy masses ut the hands OF an unseen
enemy. cannot imagine anything so trying
to the bravest man as to meet death almost
ingloriously In such scene as that-notninS
so maddening to soldiers as to be annihilated
without chance OF vengeance nothing 80 aw-
full to the fugitive as to see his comrades blown
to fragments all around him. It is well that
wives and mothers and fond sisters were
spared the sight Of their beloved ones, and it
Is well that in France 1t Ia only mothers and sis
ters who will have to deplore the slain.
the night of the battle itselC-or not cannot
tell, but their losses were almost nothing 1t
they were to be estimated by the number of
bodies on the field. Soldiers we'll know how
deceptive is the appearance OF ground viewed
from an elevated point; and during the battle
which ragged for fifteen miles before and
around us there were outbursts of firing from
valleys and knolls which seemed purposeless,
but which were at once explained when the p0-
sItIons were gained. was surprised, know
Ing the French had capitulated, and that the
Emperor had surrendered, to see great col
umns OF the German army in motion towards
the heights over the Meuse, and the Sixth
Corps and the Bavarian Corps, in reserve, has
tening un in the same direction. But 1t seems
that
GENERAL wIMPFFEN, WHEN he HEARD THE
TERMS,
declared that he would die sooner than sign
them. He could not think his situation was
40 desperate. He was informed that If he pre-
ferred the destruction Of his army It was his
own affair; but to show him that such destruc,
lion was inevitable, maps were produced, and
the position and force OF the corps OF the Ger
man army and of its batteries Indicated. II at
noon the capitulations were not agreed to, the
attack on Sedan would commence.
General Wimpfen was in deplorable con-
dIttou. and one which his brave enemies COM
miserated He had arrived only TWO days
before from Algeria. He found an army already
beaten to his hands. Marshal McManon was
wounded early In the day, struck In the back
and hin by a piece of shell or ball, and
Wimpffsn had to take command Of the troops
without knowing the Marshars plans, or even
the disposition Of the corps on the plateanX
over Sedan, except through others. "And
now NV name will 60 down linked with
humlliatIng capitulaton for oil time " 10
make assurance doubly sure, and to show that
the oros batailions were on the side Of the
v;ctors. this display OF force was made all
around Sedan, and when got to the heights
of Donchery the plains at our teet were cover
ed will the masses OF the Prussian army. The
Wurtembergers had come up from the direc-
finn al Mezieres; the Bayarians were on the
riUht of the second army. The hill-tops
were black with troops, and all along
them clustered the batteries in position.
It was not bright day, but the atmoss
phere was clear and the position OF
he Erench admitted of their further study.
The Meuse twists in such an extraordinary
,,.,y that no one would suspect Its stream runs
IN many places right across what seems con-
tinnons champagne and undulating land, and
Tins Il was that the semi-circular bluf ABOVE
the village of Flolng, on which the cavalry
charges and many most interesting episodes OF
tho trLt went on, comes close to the bluff over
Donc6ery, although the road to it must WIND
for six or seven miles by the banks OF the
river. in a course which cannot be seen from
the blur. North OF Flolng stands q mamelon,
~ cr conical hIll. with fenced patch Of forests
Cars1 m the summit At each side OF this
wood the Prussian batteries, which brought
anch rnln on the defenders of the lntrenehed
nIateau over Floing, were established. This
Xii 10 about three-quarters of mile from the
r,,iae over Floing, and inside the ridge the
Frsncb were intrenched-a breastwork taking
the natural line of the slope, and q series OF
detached epauements being formed higher up.
Now. t is surely the old story OF Chlnn over
araIn. Generals ought to watch the weatner.
# NAV be true that McMahon's force did not
pssa his posItion was very weak on the north
vast. but it was worth making strenuous
afsorf to do it. At all events, he should nave
Tnt n ereat strength of artillery TO sweep II
and cheek Prusslau occupation.
BUT 1T WAS \ FoGGY MORNING.
Tho weather. as we'll as the gros bataillons,
baInai the Prussaus. Their advance and their
M ssa~e of the Meuse below Donchery by TWO
ppontoon BRIDGES were unnoticed; so, apparent
r. was their approach to the wood. The force
w wytbich Marshal McMahon had at his disposal