GERMAN-FRENCH WAI:. 



303 



bills, and began n vigorous bom- 

 n I >eoember 3d. Th sortie* wfaleb 



ni.i'lo by tho garrison on November 10th 



:ui'l - '"I \voro repulsed. Tho technical diroo- 



of tho siogo was assumed by <ii-inT:il 



IH, who had greatly distinguished him- 



iii this respect before Strasbourg. 



The headquarters of General von Werder 

 romniiiod throughout tho month of November 

 in Dyon. Day by day flying column* wore 

 -.it in every direction, to harass the ene- 

 my, to prevent tho concentration of hostile 

 ill-mil's, to toi-ii^o, and to enforce requisitions. 

 Amid incessant skirmishes with the franc- 

 tiivurs, \vho found a safe refuge in the Odto 

 d'Or Mountain, tho flying columns advanced 

 partly on the road leading to Dole, and partly 

 in a southwesterly direction toward Nuits. 

 On November 19th, Ricciotti Garibaldi sur- 

 prised three battalions of infantry and one 

 squadron of cavalry, stationed at Chatillon- 

 sur-Seine, capturing about one hundred men. 

 The place itself was soon retaken by the Ger- 

 mans, who received reBnforcemcnts, and se- 

 verely punished tho inhabitants of Chatillon 

 who had aided in tho execution of tho sur- 

 prise. An attempt, made by Garibaldi him- 

 self on November 25th, to capture Dijon, 

 failed. The advance of his troops, which num- 

 bered about 10,000 men, was arrested before 

 he reached Dijon. While on. the retreat to 

 Autun, he was attacked by three German 

 brigades, at the village of Pasques, and lost 

 about 400 men. The conduct of the French 

 Gardes Mobile, during this movement, was 

 severely censured by Garibaldi, who says of 

 them in a letter: "These cowards cannot 

 stand the fire ; they either throw themselves 

 into the ditches, or fly like frightened sheep." 

 In the evening of November 27th, General 

 Werder returned to Dijon, and imprisoned 

 about 200 of the inhabitants, who, hoping to 

 be soon delivered by Garibaldi from the Ger- 

 man occupation, had, during his absence, com- 

 mitted excesses against tho Gorman garrison. 

 In order to reconnoitre the enemy's base of 

 operations, his resources, and his connection 

 with the regular troops, the brigade Keller, of 

 the Baden troops, was ordered to make a raid 

 against Autun. They arrived before the town 

 on December 1st, but, while preparing for an 

 attack, received an order from General Werder 

 to return. While near tho little town of Van- 

 denesse, on December 3d, the brigade was sur- 

 prised by a murderous fire from the castle 

 Chateauneuf, which is situated on a steep and 

 woody hill, and had been occupied by mobil- 

 ized National Guards under General Creraor, 

 and a battery. The whole brigade was in 

 danger of being lost, but, through the heroic 

 bravery of the first battalion of the Fifth 

 Ki^riment of infantry, which stormed the hill 

 and engaged the enemy for seven hours, it es- 

 caped with a loss of 153 men, and on Decem- 

 ber 4th safely arrived at Dijon. 



While the corps of Werder, at the beginning 



of October, marched against Vesoal, Bcn: 

 and Dijon, another corps advanced upon < >r- 

 leans on the Loire. Orleans, situated on the 

 northern bond of tho groat curve which tho 

 Loire forms from tho town of Never* toward 

 the north, has been of groat strategical im- 

 portance in the wars of ancient as well as 

 modern times. For an army advancing from 

 tho south toward Paris, it has great advan- 

 tages as a sally-port, while, on the other bond, 

 it is a main point of support for an anny which 

 intends to isolate Northern France and cut it 

 off from the south. From Orleans a railroad 

 runs southward to Vierzon, and from there on 

 tho right through Limoges to Bordeaux, and, on 

 the left, through Bourges to Lyons. If the Ger- 

 man troops, advancing as far as Bourges and 

 N overs, could establish a connection with the 

 army near Dijon, they would draw a line al- 

 most across the whole of France from east to 

 west, dividing tho country into two nearly 

 equal parts, and would find it comparatively 

 easy to retain a firm hold of the northern 

 and more fertile part. The French Army 

 of the Loire was found, by a large recon- 

 noissance, to number from 80,000 to 40,000 

 men. It was to advance on three different 

 roads toward Paris, to attack the army of the 

 crown prince, and thus furnish an opportu- 

 nity to the besieged to break through the Ger- 

 man lines and raise tho siege. To forestall this 

 movement, the Bavarian General von der 

 Tann was ordered to advance toward Orleans 

 with the First Bavarian Corps and three Prus- 

 sian divisions. Setting out from Lonjzjumcau 

 on October 6th, and advancing over Etampes 

 and Angerville, Von der Tann pushed back 

 the French centre which had chosen this road, 

 and on October 10th reached Artenay, about 

 ten miles from Orleans.- There a French force, 

 consisting of three batteries, four regiments 

 of cavalry, and a numerous infantry, made a 

 stand; but, after a severe hand-to-hand fight, 

 in which six battalions of Zouaves distin- 

 guished themselves by great bravery, while the 

 remainder of the infantry showed the greatest 

 cowardice, the position of the French was 

 flanked by tho German cavalry, and they had 

 to make a hasty retreat. They lost about 200 

 dead and wounded, and nearly 2,000 prisoners, 

 while the total German loss amounted to about 

 100. On the next day, October llth, a larger 

 French force, numbering about 25,000 men, 

 and commanded by the aged General La Motte 

 Rouge, was met, and a hot battle was fought 

 at the village of Ormes and near and in tho 

 suburbs of Orleans. Well intrenched in an ad- 

 vantageous -position, the French successfully 

 resisted until German pioneers secured for the 

 artillery the occupation of a vineyard which 

 commanded the whole battle-field and the 

 French lino of retreat. Now tho German 

 batteries soon silenced the French ; the latter 

 fell back and left the infantry at the mercy of 

 tho Germans. Several thousand were cap- 

 tured. The remainder, about 5 o'clock in the 



