Middletown transcript., 1878-04-27
Aistorital.
THE BATTLE OF SEDAN,
BY VICTOR HUGO.

On August 81, 1870, an army fount
itself assembled and, as it were, massed
under the walls Of Sedan, in a place
called Fond de Givonne. This army
was French army 20 brigades, Il
divisions, four army corps, 10000
men. This army was at this place nc
one knew why, without order, without
purpose, pell nell, as kind of heap
Of men thrown there as though to be
grasped by giant hand.
This army did not experience or
seem to experience, for the moment,
any immediate uneasiness. 1t knew,
Or thought it knew, that the foe was
pretty remote Calculating the march
es at the rate of four leagues a day, it
was removed by a three days march.
Still, toward evening, the chiefs made
some wise strategical arrangements !;
as the rear of the army rested upon
Sedan and the Meuse river, they pro-
tected it by two lines of battle: one,
consisting of the Seventh Corps, and
extending from Floing to Givonne !;
the other, consisting Of the Twelfth
Corps, and extending from Givonne to
Bazeilles, a triangle of which the
Meuse formed the hypothenuse.
The Twelfth Corps, including the
three divisions Of Lacretelle, Lartigue,
and Wolf, drawn up in a straight line,
with the artillery between the brigades,
constituted a real barrier, having at its
extremeties Bazeilles and Givonne and
in its centre Daigny; the two divisions
Of Petit and Lheritier abutted the bar
rier. Gen. Lebrun commanded The
Twelfth Corps
The Seventh Corps, commanded BY
Gen. Douay, included only two divi-
sions. Dumont's division. and Cub
ert's, and formed the other line Of bat
tie covering the army from Givonne
to Floing, toward lily; this line was
weak-too open in the di-
rection Of Givonne, and only protected |
in the direction Of the Meuse by the
two cavalry divisions Of Marguerite
and Bonnemains, and by Guyomar's
brigade resting in a square upon Flo
ing. In this triangle were encamped
The Fifth Corps, under Gen. Wimpfen,
and the First Corps, under Gen. Du-
,rot. MichePs division Of cavalry
covered the First Corps toward Daig-
ny; the Fifth leaned upon Sedan.
Four divisions, each drawn up in two
ines, Lheritier's, Grandchamp's, Goze's
ind Conseil-Dumenil's, formed sort
# horse shoe turned toward Sedan and
the first line Of battle with
he second. AmeiIs division Of caval-
y, and Fontanges' brigade acted as
eserve for these four divisions. The
Fhole artillery was in these two lines
f battle. Two sections Of the army
we're in mid-air, one to the right Of
,edan, beyond BaIan, and the other
n the left, this side Of Ige5. Beyond {
'alan we're Vissoigne's division and
tebouls brigade; this side Of Iges i
rere Margueritte's and Bonnemains' {
vision Of cavalry. {
These arrangements indicated a sense {
f perfect security. First Of all the l
Emperor Napoleon would not have
ONE there had he not been quite easy /
| mind. The Fond de Giyonne is f
hat Napoleon l. was wont to call a i
ash-bowl, and what Admiral TrOmp !
alled a pot de chanaJre. No packing /
OK could be closer. An army on the il
oot is thoroughly at home, as to be t
20 much SO; it runs the risk Of not
eing able to leave the place. This I
ave preoccupation to few valiant Ii
nd prudent chiefs like Wimpfen, who Il
ere not listened to. If worst comes
worst, said the members Of the i'm G
erial suite, we are always sure to \
each Mezieres, and, happen what may, tt
le Belgian frontier. But ought such \
eventualities to be foreseen? b
n certain cases, to foresee is almost to a
fend. So all agreed for tranquility's S
Ike.
Had they been uneasy, they would ia
ave cut the bridges over the Meuse, W
ut no one thought of doing so. To tt
hat end? The enemy was far away. u
he Emperor, evidently we'll informed, al
,sertad If