Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-04-16
SLAUGHTER AT Al'STERIITZ.
\ Battle That Lasted from Dawn In.
Ill Noon


Ill Noon
At five IL the morning payout
marched from Raisern, arriving about
nine, to reinforce l.cgrand and engage
the cntmy's lett, Meantime. nj a
quarter To eight Scult began to climb
the rrataen slopes with the divisions
of Nandammo and Saint lltlairc. In
about twenty mitutes the exact time
IN which he had declared he could do
SO he had made good his position, and
VAS tert ely engaged with the column
VI kollowwrath which formed the
rromN's center, nud with which kutu-
SON WAS present in person The latter,
realizing for the first time what The
loss Of rrat2en would mean, endcav-
orrd to concentrate toward the right {;
hut his efforts were unayailmg, he
could only stand and fight.
The two Austro Russian columns ON
his left swooped down to the Goldhach
and seized both Tcmita and Sokolnit7
simultaneously with Soult's advance
RCrnadotte and Murat moved forward
CnrounterinE between Gir2tSowit2 and
BIasowita the encmy's cavalry under
Prince liChtcnstein, and the Russian
imperial guard under tho Grand Duke
Constantine. NAPOLEON advanced to
observe this conflict. and ltttle before
eleven, nj the critical moment. when
the regiment OF his brother Joseph wns
on tho verge Of being engnlfed and
lost, he threw In tho cavalry Of his own
guard under Bessi,res and Rnpp. upon
the Russian guard, turned the scale
against them and with his own eyes
saw Constantine withdraw
The Russian vanguard under llagra-
! tion had meantime come In from }os
cnit2, and was hotlS engaged with n
portion of the French left. The entire
cavalry mass of lichtenstein and
Murat was comminglcd In bitter con
ilict. With the retreat of Constantine
began the rout Of the entire Austro-
Russian right wing. l,anncs. sup
ported by the Santon redouht mad
stood like a rock until then, at once he
procipitated himself with the divisions
Of Suchot and Caftarclli, upon Ragra-
ion, and drove him back. l.Ichten-
stein. who, up to that moment, had at
least held his own If, indeed he had
not shown himself The stronger could
no longer stand, and late In the after
noon he too began to yield.
Between eleven and twelve Soult had
cleared the pratAon heights. and push
ing ever toward the right, had finally
Just as the sun burst In splendor
through the clouds, separated the
enemy's left wing from It's center. The
latter had been sadly weakened both by
detachmcnts TO strengthen the left and
by It's losses IN conflict At noon 1t
began TO retreat, and Napoleon, having
satisfied himself that all was well on
his left to the north, rode south to join
Soult and in passing dispatched
Drouot's division against the fugitive
Kutusoif, whose column was thus over
powered and thrown into utter confu
sion
Since nine In the morning DaYout
GoldbaCh, Ringing back the successive
charges of the enemies oVcrgrown left
The continuous struggles had been
terrific, The stream literally flowed
blood az the soldiers Of both sides
crashed through the Ice, and unable 10
disengagc themselves from tho muddy
bottom. stood fighting until they died.
4
the great move Of the day, Soult's
cchelon march, right shoulder forward.
was complete Saint-IIilaire and Van
damme had recaptured the villages Of
Sokolnitz and Aujezd; the three south
ermost Austro-Russlan columns were
entirely surrounded. and only few
from each escaped to join the remnants
Of their right, center, and reserve, run
ming for life across frozen ponds and
bitches. by dikes, and over rough
pluWed fields towards AustelitZ
About 5000 Of the fugitiyes, mostly
Russians under Doctoron and Lang.
eron, had riskcd themselves on the ice
Of the sataohan lake and were hurry
ing across when Napoleon arrived. lie
ordered the feld-pieces to be turned on
the ice 10 that the balls weakened and
cracked IT, In few moments II gave
way. with shriekp and Rroans the null
titnde sank into the slowly rising
waters and disappeared under the toss-
Ing Ice-noes. Nearly 1000 OF them
were drowned The fighting strength
or the coalition was destroyed; 10 like.
wise was their moral courage. Shortly
after KntusonB retreat General Toll
found Alexander seated weeping by the
wayside and accompanied by only a
single adiuiant Prof. w. NJ Sloane,
In the Century.