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GEEMAN-FEENCH WAE. 



establishment of a connection with Luneville, 

 on the road leading from Strasbourg, through 

 Nancy and Chalons to Paris, secured this Ger- 

 man line against attack. On October 21st the 

 headquarters of General von "Werder were 

 established at Yesoul, on the line leading from 

 Muhlhausen through Belfort to Paris. As in- 

 formation was received of the concentration of 

 a large body of French troops under General 

 Oambriel near Besancon, the whole divison 

 of Baden troops, under command of Lieuten- 

 ant-General von Beyer, was ordered to drive 

 them back. The division began its march on 

 October 22d, defeated two French divisions 

 which were to guard the French line of de- 

 fence along the Oignon Eiver, at the villages 

 of Eioz and Etus, crossed the Oignon, and 

 drove the French out of the village of Auxon- 

 Dessus, where they rallied for the last time, 

 back toward Besancon. The Fourteenth Corps 

 now was ordered to advance westward toward 

 Dijon, formerly the capital of the kingdom of 

 Burgundy. The town is of some strategical 

 importance, as it is situated on the Paris-Lyons 

 Eailroad. The march of the corps was greatly 

 harassed by franc-tireurs, as the rumor of a 

 great French victory near Besancon was gen- 

 erally believed, and the peasants were eager 

 to aid in cutting off the retreat of the Germans. 

 A serious encounter took place on October 

 27th at Talmay, or Gray, with one-half of the 

 corps of General Michel, who had succeeded 

 the deposed General Cambriel, and it required 

 four hours' fighting to drive the French from 

 their strong positions. As the corps had been 

 for several weeks cut off from the base of its 

 supply, and had to live entirely upon the con- 

 quered country, General von Werder, on Oc- 

 tober 29th, deemed it best to order a retreat 

 to Vesoul. Immediately after issuing this 

 order, he learned that Dijon was not occupied 

 by the French. General Beyer was conse- 

 quently directed to take possession of the city, 

 but, before this order could be executed, new 

 French troops had arrived in the town. On 

 October 80th the French made a desperate 

 attempt to arrest the advance of the Germans, 

 at first on the heights of St. Apollinaire, a vil- 

 lage near Dijon, subsequently, when they were 

 driven from St. Apollinaire, in the suburbs, 

 and, finally, in the streets of the town. Sev- 

 eral parts of the town were set on fire by the 

 German artillery, and late in the evening the 

 white flag was hoisted. On October 81st the 

 capitulation was signed, and the town occupied 

 by the Germans. 



Fear the scene on which the operations of 

 the Fourteenth Corps were conducted, a new 

 army was forming about this time under the 

 command of Garibaldi. At the beginning of 

 the war, the old revolutionary general had de- 

 nounced the aggressive policy of Louis Napo- 

 leon ; but, after the proclamation of the French 

 Eepublic, his sympathies were strongly enlist- 

 ed on the side of France. The French Gov- 

 ernment expected to be able to turn the fame 



of Garibaldi to advantage, and he could not 

 resist an invitation to draw his sword for the 

 defence of a republic. He left his insular 

 home at Caprera on October 6th, and at Bo- 

 nificio, in Corsica, embarked for Marseilles, 

 where he arrived on October 7th. He had 

 been preceded by a Garibaldian Legion, num- 

 bering from 500 to 600 men, who, on Septem- 

 ber 26th, had left Marseilles for Tours. On 

 October 9th he arrived at Tours, and at once 

 received from Gambetta the chief command 

 over all the franc-tireurs and free corps. He 

 expected that he would soon be joined by 

 many thousands of red shirts from Italy and 

 other countries, while Gambetta promised to 

 add a sufficient number of National and Gardes 

 Mobile to make " the Army of the Vosges " an 

 irresistible corps. On October 14th, Garibaldi 

 arrived at Besancon and Belfort, where he 

 met with any thing but a friendly reception on 

 the part of the commanding general, Cambriel, 

 and the chief of the free corps for the defence 

 of Southern Alsace, the deputy Keller. Gam- 

 betta had to hasten from Tours to Besancon 

 (October 16th) to settle the conflict of author- 

 ity. On October 18th, Garibaldi went from 

 Besancon to Dole, where he applied himself to 

 the organization of the Army of the Vosges. 

 He formed three brigades, which were com- 

 manded by the Polish General Bossak, Colonel 

 Marin, and his son, Menotti Garibaldi. In his 

 proclamation, Garibaldi assured his soldiers 

 that they were fighting, not only for the 

 French, but for the universal republic. The 

 plan of Garibaldi embraced a march through 

 the Southern Vosges and Upper Alsace, and 

 an invasion of Baden, in the mountains of 

 which country he hoped to be able to carry on 

 a successful guerrilla war, and to cut the Ger- 

 man communications. The plan was never 

 executed, and, on November 8th and 9th, 

 while the German troops occupied Montbeli- 

 ard, Garibaldi marched westward to Autun. 

 The town of Montbeliard or Mompelgard, 

 which for several centuries was in the posses- 

 sion of the Dukes of Wurtemberg, was in 1792 

 annexed to France, and in 1801 formally ceded 

 to it. It is distant no more than thirteen miles 

 from Belfort, one of the Strongest fortresses 

 of France, and its well-fortified castle com- 

 mands the railroad leading from Belfort to 

 Besancon, and the canal connecting the Ehine 

 with the Ehone. The operations of the Ger- 

 mans against Belfort had begun on November 

 3d, and, on November 9th, when Montbeliard 

 and Delle, a small place near the frontier of 

 Switzerland, were occupied, the fortress was 

 completely isolated. The town of Belfort has 

 about 8,400 inhabitants. The citadel which 

 commands it is situated on an almost vertical- 

 ly ascending rock; it is, moreover, defended 

 by the Forts de la Miotte and de la Justice, and 

 by the strong bastions Des Barres and Des 

 Hautes Perches. Tower and fortress were 

 wholly inaccessible for ordinary artillery. The 

 Germans established batteries on several of the 



