The Portland daily press., 1881-02-03
THURSDAY MORNING. FEB. 3.
The Field of Gravelotte.

On warm August day rode out over the
battlefield of Gravelotte. The dusty road
leads out through the suburbs, crosses the
Moselle at Devant les Points, and gradually
ascends to the plateau along which the French
army lay, through what were then woods, but
are now, for military reasons, cut away. Rid
ing through the little village of Amanvillers,
we came to the village of st. Privat, and, a
little further ON to the hamlet of Carriers de
Jsumont. Around st. Privat and this last
named hamlet was the right wing Of the
French, and where they were finally driv en-
back by the Saxons. Naturally, the fighting
was hot, and the houses and walls still bear
evidence of the rough storm of iron and lead
that played around them. 1t must be reco
lected that French village is not at all like
ours. 1t IS collection of stone houses with
tile roofs, crowded together, side by side,
along one or two narrow Streets; and the walls
which surround the little gardens and enclos-
ures around it are compact stone structures,
laid in mortar and covered with a coat of
plaster.
These walls are usually about five feet in
height, so that the village is like little forti-
fcation to the troops in possession of it. The
French troops had their lines for miles along
the plateau, the centre and left along and in
front of the woods already mentioned. In
front the open country falls away in slight
declination. One can look for miles across
fields, which just now were being harvested,
and were coated with the yellow stubble,
Here and there are the huddled together vii
lagos and hamlets. with their red tiled roofs.
L then turned and rode along the rear Of
the German line to Gravelotte, where L stop
ped for lunch at the little inn with the mag
niloQuent name of the Horse OF Gold.
Scattered all over its stretch of miles over
which the armies fought are monuments
erected to the fallen, the more pretentious by
the different German regiments to their per-
ished members Here and there are mounds
with simple cross, where perhaps hundred
or two bodies were collected and hastily buried.
After lunch took a walk about the village of
Gravelotte, and seeing collection of persons
in a graveyard, walked IN. In this little en-
closure, was told, about two thousand men
had been buried. There were few head
stones and monuments, hut the mass were
left without mementoes. One little headstone
attracted my attention from the little wreath
of oak leaves, which had evidently been re-
Gently placed on the grave. The inscription
neatly traced upon it ran thus:
"Here reposes in God fallen for king and father
land in the battle OF Gravelotte, my dearly beloved
and never-to-be forgotten husband, Fritz Denbard
captain, Flfty-nlnth Infantry Regiment We shall
see each other again.
1 found the people were watching laborer
digging up bones, skulls, and bits of shoes
and clothing, and throwing them pell-mell in
to a long wooden box. The box was already
nearly full, and yet he had not gone more than
a foot below the surface. / was told that hun
dreds had been thrown into pit here, and
they were transferring the remains to another
point. The spectacle was not a very pleasant
one, and soon turned away.
A little way out of Gravelotte toward Metz.
about where was the centre of the French left
rode over piece of road bounded on one
side bya ravine and ON the other by bluff
bank, up which four hundred German cavalry
charged to take battery of mitrdiLeuSe on
the plateau on the top, and every man and
horse was killed or wounded. All about this
point the fighting was terrific, and all around
are the monuments and crosses over the burial
places of the fallen. My way back into Metz I
led through Ronzeviles, where the extreme
left OF the French was posted 1t is not diff
cult on the ground for even an unmilitary per-
son to see that the French had the advantage
Of position, and that the Germans, in order to
attack all along the line with vigor, had to
have many more men than their opponents,
and in order to turn the right wing had to
march long distance over an open country,
where there was no cover from the sweeping
fire of batteries and infantry, with long range
arms. One can, therefore. understand why
the Germans lost so many men, and can also
appreciate tho obstinate nature of their on
slaught.-San Francisco Californian.