The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1904-10-21
SOME MIGHTY BATTLES.
THAT OF Llo-YANG is RECORD
BREAKER.
No Fight of the Napoleonic Era Rival
led the Struggle Between the Jap
anese and the Russans-Battles
of the Civil War.


fare has there been a battle between
armies of greater magnitude than
those that have been struggling for
supremacy upon the Manchurian plain
about Liao-Yang, if the numbers
ascribed to the combatants are cor
rect. To find parallel to the num-
bers of Japanese and Russians one
has to turn back to the days of Alaric
the Goth, Atilla the Hun, Xerxes the
Persian or Genghis Khan the Mon
gol. These, however, led unframed
and undisciplined nations rather than
armies. While the army with which
Napoleon started for Moscow, num-
bering over four hundred thousand
men, exceeded in total that of either
combating force at Liao-Yang, NO bat
tie of the Napoleonic era rivalled the
present struggle. The Franco-Prus
sian War offers no rival, while Gettys-
burg, Chickamauga, and even the des-
perate battle in the Wilderness, from
the Rapidan to Petersburg, in the
Civil War, seem inconsiderate in com
parison.
Two conflicts in the nineteenth cen
fury, however, both in the magnitude
of the contest and in their actual ply
steal surroundings, suggest the strug
gle in Manchuria. One was the bat
tie of Leipsic, where Napoleon en-
dured his first great defeat and the
grande armee it's first route. It was
waged for a week about the old city
of Leipsic, in SaxOny Russians,
Swedes, Prussians, Austrians and
numberless contingents of smaller
States overwhelmed the French in
the battle, which is still known as
''the Combat of the Nations. In
the several battles of Leipsic 10000
French and over 100000 allies were
engaged. The battles were fought
for several days on several fields,
from October 16 to 18, 1918. In the
end the French were driven through
the city, thousands captured, more
were drowned in the untimely des-
truction of bridge across the Elbe,
and the total French loss in killed,
wounded and captured exceeded 49,
900, while the allies lost more than
$4,000. The results of the battle,
while not Immediately conclusive,
since Napoleon managed to extricate
the wreck of his army and retreat to
France, practically marked the end
of his empire.
The other example of warfare about
city situated like Liao-Yang was the
struggle about Metz in 1871, when
the French, under Bazaine, were
forced back into the city by flank
ing movement similar to that prac-
tised by the Japanese. Marshal
Bazaine was driven back from the
road to Paris and finally captured.
In Gravelotte, the deciding battle of
this campaign, the Pruss,ans over
whelmed the French by force of num-
bers, the forces engaged in this fight
comparing faVorably with those en-
gagged in Manchuria. The French
numbered nearly 100000, while the
Prussians exceeded 100000. The
French loss amounted to $4,000, the
Prussians to more than $1,000.
AS direct consequence of this
fight, Bazaine was penned up in Metz,
as many experts expected Kuropat-
kin would be at Liao-Yang, and two
months later surrendered over 49,
900 men, the entire regular army of
France, together with a vast number
of cannon and huge supplies. The
battle Of Sedan, which ended similar
ly, was not dissimilar in geographic
cal conditions; and the French army
under Marshal MacMahon, with Ma
poleon III. by his side, was surround
ed and captured after bloody battle
lasting a single day. Hero Won
Moltke and the Prussian army sue
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