Year: 1859

J tioh as wei as the nelghboring buildings and a
| square, solid Campanie, were filed with rifemen
! while the troops of the line massed themselves in
'front.' OF them. AS the troops came up they were
brought out here, and took the place of their ex-


hausted comrades To carry this strong position
| the Fnsileers and Chasseurs of the Guard were
| ordered forward. They broke through driving the


enemy before them, until their course was arrested


py the line OF strong wooden railings. A few can


non non i Shot would have easily brought them down,
out there was no place whence to bring them TO
pear, so nothing remained but to tear Il down bv


man lorce and the axes of the Sappers 1t was
aone ana the column entered the village Here ev-
cry house had become CASTLE held nv a dnsnorota
garrison, it required a regular combat IN tal-o -


and letter after letter could be written on the inc
dents in which these isolated combats abounded =


Ihere Is no doubt the Austrians fought desperately
even when everything seemed lost; an incredibIe


number of officers being killed and wounded. the


soldiers left entirely to themselves in these I
olated positions, from which there was no retreat
They had been told before that they had To eynect


no mercy as it was the habit Of the allies to kill all


prisoners and wounded; so they fought with this


imaginary halter round their necks.


"1he wounded crept into the cellars and hid


themselves where they could in order not to fall


into the hands of the cruel enemy there to starye


and to die. Numbers have been found thus con-


cealed, and either dead so exhausted that they


are scarcely expected to recover. Even now, three


days after the battle numbers are found and


brought into the hospital, or to be buried 7 saw


myself this morning, taken out of the cellars of the
railway station, two poor wretches-a Tyrolese
JAEGER and soldier of the Line, the first slightly
wounded, and the second almost diving with fear
and exhaustion. They heard below the discharge
OF the muskets found loaded on the field of battle


and thought it probably series of wholesale exc


cutions. And yet how different was the easel


Not even toward their own soldiers are the Franch


more humane than toward those who fell into


their hands by the chances of war. They nursed
them like children. handle them gently like moth
ers. and do everything in their power to relieve
their sufferngs


"Well, by o'clock the mission of the Due de


Magenta was fulfilled and Magenta taken. As the


attack of the latter had saved the connie of rari


ments which attacked at the Ponte Nuovo n; No
genta, so the advance of this column with the now
ertul reserves which had come up by thistim CON


t tIlouted to make the victory complete and swell


the number OF prisoners. 1t is well nigh imnossi-


Ole TO name the number of these latter every mo-
ment others are being brought in. but tbev must


De atleast 5000 The number of dead and wound
eu In the whole affair must be quite 10 OOO for


the French acknowledge themselves to have lost
1000. " nave loS'


'Ihat it was splendid and decisive victory
there can be not the slightest doubt. The colors Of
two Austrian regiments were taken and three ouna
on this side. This small number of Gums is nv
planned by the circumstance that the Austrians
could bring them little than their adversaries


nto pay ana when they did, it was done very eau
tiousy, as if they had foreseen accident


'Ihe best proof of the greatness of the victory
has been In the result-that the Austrians aband-
oned Milan the night, leaving 100 900 lire in
silver and 900 stand of arms in the citadel Their
retreat was so precipitate that thev did not even
take time to destroy the railway or to carry off the
mdter1e for the next morning the Milanese sent up
a tram TO Magenta, which happens to be the last
station toward the TicnO, to fetch the wounded
The mass of their army retreated toward Abbiate
Grasso, in the direction of Lodi They left like
wise the line of Pavia and Pacenza which becomes
untenable, now that the Allies are at Milan.


"The Emperor, in consideration of the distin
gulshed part which Gen. Mcmahon had in the bat
tie, has canned him Marshal of France and Due de
Magenta: Gen Regnault de ST. Angely. command


nrr thn I.1nr hos Al


named Marshal of France. 1t was he who command
ed the whole attack from the bridge of BuHalora
and, under him, Wmpfen the right and Dalton
the left column toward the village of Buffalora


"The day after the battle the corps of McMa-
hon advanced in the direction of Milan while
other troops were sent off to follow toward Abbiatc
Grasso.


Tomorrow the Emperor and the Kinc are 70 in
augurate their entry into Milan With the taking
of Milan the first phase of the war is finished


every possibly the Austrians in their precipitate
retreat may not be able to withdraw their forces
spread all along the long line from the mountains
to the Po so that some of those which are further
distant may be cut Off 1t is known that the hyino
column of Gen. Urban, for instance which opposed
Garlbaldi, is in the neghborhood of the latter; and
dispositions have been made by which his road will
be intercepted, especially if as it is likely in the
confusion at Austrian headquarters he has been
forgotten. He is said to have 1000 men with him
and several guns


81 hear just at this moment that the first troops
of the Allies have crossed the AIDA at Lodi"


''MHAN, June S.-If some one had told me that
just on the ninth day after my arrival at the camp
at Nercelll should 90 by rail from Magenta to
Milan, should have thought him mad: and vet So
it is. arrived here yesterday afternoon with a
tram OF wounded and prisoners. As | told Won in
my last, the Mi!anese Immediately after the Austrian
evacuation, sent up a train to fetch the wounded =
AS they were found they brought in success
sion to the station by the soldiers detachment Of
two companies OF the first FusieerS of the Guard
At the station the surgeons were in attendance TO
apply the nrSt dressing, and the
went to and fro to carry them off The trains con-
sisted of nothing but thrdclass carriages and Goods
wagons, partly covered, partly open Those who
were only slightly wounded and could walk were
put into the carriages, while the others were laid
In the goods wagons, which were made as soft as
the circumstances admitted by putting straw and
hay at the bottom. To these the unfortunate
wretches were carried, in agOnies of pain caused
by the movement. large barrel of cooling drink.
made of water and syrup, was near, as we'll as
another filled with wine, with which to assuape the
fiery thirst caused by their wounds Bourbs were
cut to make an awning over the open goods trucks
so as to protect their n iserable inmates from the
rays of a real Italian sun.


'Ihs station and the railway itself were certain
~ the most shocking scenes of misery which one
can possibly conceive 1t was the darkest side of a
brilliant victOry-lookng behind the scenes bv dav
light; wounded in all stages of agony and pain only
half clad. torn, dusty, and muddy in their town
blood. The priests walking about with the Watt
cum to administer the last sacrament to the DIVING:
the glazed eye of death in some showing that tbey
udu cedseu 10 suHeF tne working OF others and
the kneeng priest before them, showing that thew
were on the point OF sighing their last; near them
were others, whom you would have thought dead
had it not been for the imperceptble movement of
the eye or convulsive twist of the limb. You be-
came involuntarily silent when you entered and
took of your cap at the sight of so much misery.
Even the lively French soldiers who ministered to
the wants of these defaced specimens of humanity
became grave, and this dead silence was only bro
ken, from time to time, by the solemn words of the
priest a faint sob, frantic shrek of pain, or
weak sigh. You forgot almost that there was
victory to redeem this dark scene, and these men,
who would otherwise have peacefully followed their
domestic occupations, summoned to expose
to all this for which is not their
own, which they know nothing about nor care for,
1t was, indeed, hard lot


E'But it was, above all, when the wounded had
to be moved to the carriages that the neghborhood
became almost intolerabIe. Such shrieks such
pale faces contracted by pain. such torn Ibis The
soldiers ordered to transport them seemed forget
everything in their anxiety to alleviate the pain of
The sufferers. The philanthropist would have been
ouched by so much care, and the cynic might have
neered at the idea that the very men who had
made the wounds should now try to cure the mis-
,hef, ready to begin again. Before starting, a new
of drink took place, for which there
vas craving AT last the train was off and the
lose of the train drowned all others, while a few
urns of the wheels took out of sight of the sta
ion. On our arrival at Milan number of volun-
eer nurses were ready waiting with glasses of lem
made to assuage the burning thirst after passage
,f more than hour.


1.-THE rest of this letter was published in The Er-
,bcao of4