The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-09-06
Sheridan at Grayelotte.
Cincinnati Commercial! Gazette.


The death of General Sheridan and
the announcement that he had prepared
an article on the battle of Gravelotte,
reminded me of letter of his to General
Grant, in which he discussed the Franco
German war. I was in England at the
time, and had been requested by MIR.
Froude to furnish paper on that war
for Frazer's Magazine. wrote to Gene.
raj Grant, then President, asked him if
he could help me, and he replied as fol.
lows:
~ am in receipt of your letter in which
you speak.of the article you propose
writing for the British press, and ofget-
ting something from Sheridan to aid you
in preparing it. Ihsve received but one
letter from Sheridan since he has been
with the Prussians. 1t is probably too
late for that letter to be of any s'rvice to
you, but send it,"
RE1Ms, FRANCE, Sept. Is, 1870.
NV Dear Gen. Grant.-The capture of
the Emperor Napoleon and MacMahon's
army at Sedan on the LIST of September,
has thrown France into chaos which
even embarrasses the Prussian author.
ties. It seems to quiet observer as
though Prussia had done too much.
Who TO negotiate with? who 10 hold
responsible in the final settlement? are
becoming grave questions, and. one can
not see what will be the result. was
present at the battles of Beaumont,
Gravelotte, and Sedan, and have had my
imagination clipped in seeing these bat
Ties, of many Of the errors it had run
into in it's conceptions of what might be
expected of the trained troops of. Eu.
rope.
There was about the same percentage
of sneaks, or runaways, and the general
conditions OF tho battles were about the
same as our own. 0ne thing was espe.
.cialIy noticeable, the scattered condition
of the men iu going into battle and their
scattered condition while engaged. At
Gravelotte, Beaumont and Sedan, the
men engaged on both sides were so scat.
tered that it looked like thousands ofmen
engaged in deadly skirmish without
any regard to lines or formation. These
battles were of this style of fighting,
commencing at long range, and might be
called progressive fighting, closing at
night by the French always giving up
their position, or being driven from it in
this way by the Prussians. The latter
had their own strategy up to the Moselle,
and it was good and successful. After
that river was reached the French made
the strategy for the Prussians, and it was
more successful than their own. The
Prussian soldiers are very good, brave
fellows, all young, scarcelya man over
27 in the first levies. They have gone
into each battle with the determination
to win. tits especially noticeable also
that the Prussians have attacked the
French wherever they have found them,
let the number be great or small, and 30
far as have been able to SEQ, though the
grand tactics of bringing on the engage
ments have been good, yet the battles
have been Won by the good square fight.
ing of the men and Junior officers. Its
true the Prussisns have been two to one,
except in one of the battles before Metz,
that of the 18th of August; still the
French have had the advantage of very
strong positions.
Generally speaking the French soldiers
have not fought we'll. 1t may be because
the poor fellows have been discouraged
by the trap into which their commander
had led them, but must confess to hay
ing seen some of the tallest running at
Sedan have ever witnessed, especially
on the left of the French position all at
tempts to make the men stand seemed to
be unavailing. So disgraceful vas this
that it caused tae French cavalry to make
three or four gallant but foolish charges
as if it were to show that there was at least
8 ,me manhood left in mounted French
soldier.
lam disguised; all my boyhood's fan.
cies of the soldiers of the great Napoleon
have been dissipated, or else the soldiers
of the Little Corporal have lost their elan
in the pampered parade soldiers of the
"Man Of Destiny"
The Prussians will settle, I think, by
making the line of the Moselle the Ger
man line, taking in Metz and Strasburg,
and the expenses of the war.
Ihave been most kindly received by the
King and Count Bismarck and all the of.
ficers at the headquarters of the Prussian
army have seen much of great interest,
and especially have been able to observe
the difference between European battles
and those of our own country. l have
not found the difference very great, but
that difference is to the credit of.our own
country. There is nothing to be learned
here professionally, and it is q satisfaction
to learn that such is the case. There is,
much, however, which Europeans could
learn from US the use of rifle pits, the
use of cavalry, which they do not use
we'll; for instance, there is q line of
communication from here to Germany
exposed to the whole of the south of
France, with scarcely soldier on the
whole line, and it has never been touched.
There are hundred things in which they
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