The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-08-09
THE BITTER BITTEN.
BADLY Biften-ThO Russian Piercing the
Ottoman Empire is Stuug to the Quick
Graphic Description of Tuesdays
Rattle and the Shattered Con-
dStIOD of the VanguisEaed

Graphic Description of TUesdny's
Rattle and the Shattered Con-
dStIOD Of the VanquIsEaed.
A correspondent sends from Poredin,
| near Plevna, graphic account of Tues
days battle, which conveys a vivid idea
of the extent of the Russian disaster.
The correspondent is with Prince
Schkoskoyski's command, and says that
now all hope of success anywhere was
dead, nor did the chance offer to make
the best of the defeat Prince Schkos-
koyski had not a man left to cover his
retreat. The Turks struck without stint,
they had the upper hand for once, and
were determined to show that they knew
how to make the most of it. They ad-
vanced in swarms through the dusk upon
their original first position, and captured
the Russian cannon before the batteries
could be withdrawn. Turkish shells once
more began to whistle over the ridge
above Radishova and fall into the village
behind, now crammed with wounded
The streams of wounded vending their
painful way over the ridge were incessant; !;
the badly wounded mostly lay where
they fell. Later on in the darkness a
baleful sort of " "krankeutrager" swarmed
over the battlefield, in the shape of
Bashi- -BazOuks, who spared not. Linger-
ing there on the ridge until the moon
rose, the staff could hear from below on
the still night air cries of pain
and entreaties for mercy, and yells
of blOOdthirsty, fanatical triumph. 1t
was indeed an hour to wiring the sternest
heart. We stayed there to learn if it
might be what troops were coming out
of the Valley of Death below were there
indeed any at all to come. The Turks
had our range before dark, and we could
watch the flash of the fame over us and
then listen to the scream of the shell as
it tore by us. The sound of rihe-bullets
was incessant, and the escort and retreat
| ing wounded were often struck. De
tachments at length began to come
struggling up, but it will give an idea of
! the disOrganization to say that when
company was told off to go and recover
some of the wounded in RadishOva, it
had to be made up of men of several
regiments. About nine o'clock the
staff left the ridge, leaving it Uttered
with grOaning men, and moving gently,
| lest we should tread on the PROSTATE
wounded, we lost our way as we had lost
our army. We could find no rest for the
sOles of our feet, by reason of alarms of
the Bashi- -BazOuks swarmiDg In among
| the scattered and retiring Russians. At
| length, at one o'clock in the morning,
/ having been in the saddle since 8 O'Clock
on the previous morning, we turned
! into stubble-feld, and, making beds of
reaped grain, correspondent and COssack
| alike rested under the stars; butwe were
not even then allowed to rest before four
alarms came that the Bashi-Bazouks
were upon us, and we had to rouse and
tramp away. The only protection of the
| chief of what in the morning was fine
army was now a handful of wearied Co.'S
sacks. General Krudener sent word in
| the morning that he had lost severely,
and could make no headway, and had
resolved to fall back on the lineOf the river
Osma. There had been talk, his troops
| being fresh, of reviewing the attack
to day, with his cooperation, but it is a
| plain statement of fact that we have no
| troops to attack with. The most moder-
ate estimate is that we have lost two
regiments -Eay five thousand men-Out
of our three brigades-a CHASTITY number,
beating Eylau or Friedland This takes
no account of General Krudener's losses.
| We, too, shall retire on the Osman river,
about BulgarenI, and, to the best of our
weak strength, cover the bridge at Sis
| tova. One cannot, in this moment of
| hurried confusion, realize all the possible
results of this stroke so rsshly cOurted.
| Not a Russian soldier stands between
| Tirnova and the victorious Turks in Lo-
tia and Pleyna, and only weak division
of the eleventh corps stands between Tir-
nova and Shumla. The army look on
SChkokoyski's force as wrecked and no
longer for the campaign to be counted on
as fighting material. It is not ten days
since the thirtieth division crossed the
Danube in the pride of its superb condi-
tion. Now, what of it is left is demoral-
lied and shattered. So on this side of
the Balkans there remains but the ninth
corps, already roughly handled, once at
NikopOlis and once at Plevna. one divis-
ion of the eleventh corps, and the Rust
chuk army. Now, if the Rustchuk army
is marched TO the west against PIevna
then the Turkish army of Rustchuk Is
let loose on the Russian communications
to Tirnova. One cannot avoid the con.
clusion that the advance over the Bal
kans is seriously compromised. The Rus
sian strait is so bad that scattered detach
ments have been called up from out o1
Roumania. and a RoumaHian division
commanded by General MaUna. which
crossed a day or two ago at NikOpOlis
has been called up to the line of the Os
ma river An aid-de-camP Of GRAND
Duke Nicholas was present al
the battle, and at once started fol
Tirnova with the evil tidings
We are Just quitting this bivouac anc
falling back on Bulgareni with all speed
leaving the Bulgarian villages to the
tender mercies of the Turks. As I Close
I learn that on our left General Scobelof
was very severely handled, having los
three hundred men out of his single In
fantry battalion.
The correspondent of the Daily News
with Prince Schockosky's force, tele
graphing from Simnitza, under date o
August lst, gives an account of the re
treat. He thinks the whole force Ios1
between six and seven thousand men il
killed and wounded. A brigade of tn,
Thirty second division suffered mos
heavily. Besides the terrible loss of men
it sacrificed the imperial banner of one o
its regiments. The whole of the thirtieti