The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1878-05-28
Misrenann
THE BATTLE OF SEDAN.
Victor HugO's Description of the
Great German Victory.
Let us define the situation.


hold the positions, crowd the heights,6ll
the forests, they are covered by all the
sleeps, tLey are masked by all the shad-
o VS., they have matchless artillery. The
French army is in hollow ", almost with
out artillery and ammunition, naked un-
der their grape-shot. The Germans have
ambush on their side, the French have
on theirs nothing but heroism. 1t is a
fine thing to die, but good thing to sur
prise. d rf1
This achievement at arms is sur
prise.
Is it fair war; Yes, but if this be fair
war, what is foul war?
The same thing.
Thus much said, the battle of Sedan
is recounted.
We would stop here. But we cannot.
Great though the horror of the historian
be, history is duty, and duty must.be
There is no more imperious
slope than this; to tell the truth, who
ever ventures upon it rolls TO the bottom.
1t must be so. The judge is doomed to
justice.
The battle of Sedan is more than a
battle which is fought; it is syllogism
which finished itself; dread premedita-
ton of destiny. Fate never hurries, but
always attains its goal. Its hour strikes
and 1t is there. 1t lets years 60 by, then,
when least thought of, it appears. Sc
dan is the fatal unexpected. From time
to time, in history, divine logic makes
sorties. Sedan is one of these sorties.
So, on the 1st of September at five
o'clock in the morning, the world awoke
under the sun and the French army un-
der the thunderbolt.
Bayeilles takes fire, Givonne takes fire,
Floing takes fire; the thing begins by q
furnace. The whole horizon is afame
The French camp is in this crater, stupe
fed, scared, startled, in funeral swarm.
A ring of thuudelbolts encireles the ar
my determination hens it in.
The immense murder is carried on on
all sides at oEce.. The French resistant
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 rain Of shells upon the
valley is such that "the earth is ruled, >
says witness, "as by rake" How
many guns? Eleven hundred, at least
Twelve German batteries on the Mon
celle only; the third and fourth abtheit
ung, a frightful artillery on the cresls ol
Givonne, with the Second Horse Battery
in reserve; opposite Doigny,ten Saxon
and two Wurtemburg batteries the cur.
tain of trees in the wood north of Vii
lers, Cernay conceals the mounted ab
theilung with the Third Heavy Artillery
as reserve, and from this gloomy thick
ct is poured formidable fire; the "a
pieces Of heavy artillery form battery
in the clearing near the road from L.
Moncelle to La Chapelle; the battery o,
the Royal Guard sets fire to the wood
de la Garenne the bombs and the bullet:
riddle Suchy, Francheval, Fauru -Sain
Rerny, and the valley between Heibe!
and Givonne and the triple and quadru
pie row OF guns extend, without break
to the cavalry of lily, the most remote
point of the horizon.
The German soldiers, seated or recum
bent before the batteries, look upon tht
artillery doing its work. The French
soldiers fall and die. Among the
corpses which cover the planets one, tina
of an officer, upon which they find, aflel
the battle, a sealed paper containing thil
order, signed by Napoleon: "This Sep
tember rest for the whole army" Th,
valiant Thirty fifth Regiment Of the Line
disappears almost entirely under tht
crushing mass of shells; the brave ma
rines hold the Saxons and Bavarians in
check for an instant, but being overflow
ed on all sides, fall back the whole admi
rable cavalry of Margueritte's Division
hurled against the German infantry stop
and breaks down when half way on it
road exterminated, says the Prussian re
port, "by well directed and quiet fire,
This field of carnage has three issues, al
of which are closed: the Bouillon roa,
by the Prussian Guard, the Cariguau roat
by the Bavarians, and the Mezrieres roa
by the Wurtembergers. The Frencl
have not thought of barricading the via
duct of the railroad ;three German battal
ions have occupied it all night; two isc
lated houses on the Balan road nigh
have been the pivot of prolonged resis
tance but the Germans hold them; th
Montvilers Park, at Bsyeilles, deep an
full ofthick foliage, might have prever
ted the Saxons, who are masters of L
Moncelle, and the Bavarians, who al
masters of Bayeilles from effecting
junction, but the French have been fort
stalled, and the Bavarians are seen ther'
cutting awsy the hedges with their sicf
les.
The German army moves all of q piec
with absolute unity: the Prince of Sal
ony is on the hill of Marry, whence h
commands the scene. In the Frenc
army the command oscllates at the outs
of the battle at As Mcmahon is woul
ded by the fragment Of a she'll; at seve
o'clock Ducrot takes his place; at te
o'clock Wimpfen takes Ducrot's.
From minute to minute the wall of fiji
approaches, the thunder-roll is continv
Gus, sinister pulverizing of 10000 me
Nothing like 1t was ever witnessed
never did an army sink under such a fo
ling mass Of grape Att o'clock all
lost. The regiments take refuge, pc
nell, in Sedan. But Sedan begins
burn; LIE Disjonval burns; the ambula
ces burn; nothing but dash through Il
lines is possible. Wimpfen, brave al
finn, suggests it to the Emperor The 3S
zouaves, maddened, have set the exampl
being parted from the remainder of tt
army, they have made their way throue
the foe and reached Belgium. A flight
lions.
Suddenly. above the disaster, above Il
enormous heap of slain and dying me
t above all hapless heroism appears sham
f The white flag is hoisted.
There were there Turennc an1 Va