Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-04-18
THE BATTLE OF SEDAN.
Victor Hugo's Description Of the
Great Battle.

The BATTLE Of SEDAN.
Victor Hugos Description Of the
Great Battle.
The Courier des Flats Unis,o of New
York City, published on the 3Oth ult.
the second volume of Victor Hugo's
"Histoie dun Crime" The Courier
has allowed the account of the battle
of Sedan to be translated, and the fol-
lowing description Of the surrender of
the French army is eminently char
acteristic of the author.
Baveilles takes FIRE, Givonne takes
fire, Floing takes fire; the thing be-
gins by a furnace. The whole hori-
zon is afiame. The French camp is
in this crater, stupefied, scared, start.
led, in fnnereal swarm. A ring of
thunderbolts encircles the army. Ex-
termination hens it IN.
This immense murder is carried on
on all sides at once. The French re-
sist, and they are terrible, for they
have nothing left them but despair.
Our guns. almost all old fashioned,
and carrying badly, are Immediately
dismounted by the terrible and precise
aim of the Prussians. The density Of
the rail- OF shells upon the valley is
snch that "the earth is ruled" says q
witness "as by rake" How many
guns /? Eleven hundred at least
Twelve German batteries on the Mon
celle only the third and fourth ab-
theilung, fright. ii artillery. on the
crests OF Givonne, with the Second
Horse battery in reserve; opposite
Doggy, ten Saxon and two Wurtem-
burg batteries !. the curtain of trees
in the wood north of ViIlers Cernay
conceals the mounted dbtheilunq, with
the Third Heavy Artillery as re-
serve, and from this gloomy thicket
is poured formidable fire; the twen-
ty- four pieces Of heavy artillery form
a battery in the clearing near the
road from La Moncelle to La Chap
ellie; the battery of the royal guard
SITS fire to the woods de la Garenne:
the bombs and the bullets riddle Su-
cby, Frankeval Fauru-Saint Rerny,
and the valley between Heibes and
Givonne, and the triple and quadru-
pie row of guns, extends, without
break, to the cavalry of lily, the
most remote point of the horizon.
The German soldiers, seated or re-
cumbent, before the batteries, look
upon the artillery doing its work.
The French soldiers fall aud die.
Among the corpses which cover the
plain, is one, that of an officer, upon
which they will find, after the battle,
a sealed paper, containing this order,
signed by Napoleon: "T'his Septem.
Der rest for the whole army" The
valiant Thirty fifth Regiment of the
line disappears almost entirely under
the crushing mass of shells; the brave
marines hold the Saxons and Bavar.
ians in check for an istant, but being
overfiowed on all sides fall back; the
whole admirable cavalry Of Marguer-
itte's division, hurled against the
German infantry, stops and breaks
down when half way on its road, ex.
terminated, says the Prussian report,
"by well directed and quiet fire."
This field of carnage has three issues,
all of which are closed the Bouilion
road by the Prussian Guard, the
Carignan road by the Bavarians, the
Mezrieres road by the Wurtemhar-
gers. The French have not thought
of barricading the viaduct of the rail
road /; three German batteries have
occupied it all night; two iso.
lated houses on the Balan road might
have been the pivot of prolonged re-
sistance, but the Germans hold them
the Montvillers Park, at Baveilles,
deep and full OF thick foliage, might
have prevented the Saxons, who are
masters of La Moncelle, and the Ba-
varians, who are masters of Baveilles,
from effecting junction, but the
French have been forestalled, and the
Bavarians are seen there. cutting
away the hedges with their sickles
The German army moves all of a
piece with absolute unity; the Prince
of Saxony is on the hill of Marry,
whence he commands the scene. In
the French army the command oscil-
lates; at the outset of the battle, at
5:45, MacMahon is wounded by the
fragment of shell at I o'clock Du-
crot takes his place at 10 o'clock
Wimpfen takes Ddcrot's.
From minute to minute the wall of
fire approaches, the thunder roll is
continuous, sinister pulverising of
10000 men. Nothing like it was ever
witnessed, never did any army sink
under such falling mass of grape.
AT l o'clock all is lost. The regi-
ments take refuge, pell nell, in Sedan.
But Sedan begins to burn, lie Dis
ionval burns; the ambulances burn
nothing but dash through the lines
is possible. Wimpten, brave and firm.
suggests it to the Emperor. The
Thirty-eighth Zonaves, maddened,
have set the example; being parted
from the remainder of the army, they
have made their way through the foe
and reached Belgium. A plight of
lions.
Suddenly, above the disaster, above
the enormous heap of slain and dying
men, above all this hapless heroism
appears shame. The white flag is
hoisted.
There were there Turenne and
Vauban-both present. one in his
statue, the other in his citadel.
The statue and the citadel assisted
at the horrible capltulation. The two
virgins, one of bronze, the other Of
granite, felt themselves prostituted.
0, august brow of our country! 0,
eternal blush of shame
Mr.. T. f. SMITH, of Eminence,