CHAP. XXX.] FRANCO-GERMAN WAR, 1870-1871. 



503 



gallantly returning to the attack, were mown down in 

 Huch numbers as to leave piles of the dead and dying 

 men and horses all along the front of the Prussian lines. 

 The whole affair was a useless and terril)le sacrifice of 

 l^ravo men. 



The wiiter received a letter shortly after the battle 

 from a distinguished officer of much experience who 

 took great pains to inquire into the facts of this attack. 

 The details are well worth reproduction. He says : — 



" The question of cavalry charging infantry with 

 breech-loaders is, I think, settled conclusively by this 

 campaign. Wherever it has ])een tried l)y the 8th and 

 9th French Cuirassiers at Wcsrth, liy the 7th Prussian 

 Cuirassiers at Vionville on the 16th August, or by the 

 two French light cavalry l^rigades on their extreme left 

 at Sedan, the result has Ijeen the same — a fearful loss of 

 life with no result whatever. 



" General Sheridan was an attentive eye-witness of 

 the four charges made by the French light cavalry at 

 Sedan, and gave me a most minute account of them. I 

 examined the ground most carefully only thirty hours 

 after, while the dead men and horses all lay there, so 

 that I formed as correct an idea of it as if I had seen it. 

 The first charge delivered by the 1st French Hussars 

 was made under the most favourable circumstances 

 possible. They were very well handled. As the Prus- 

 sian infantry skirmishers in advance of the main body 

 (^ame over the hill behind which they had been waiting, 

 they were led round under cover of the brow till they 

 got completely in rear- of and on the right flank of 

 the skirmishers. They thus got within 100 yards of 

 them before they were seen, and then charged most 

 gallantly, charging down the whole line. But even 

 lender these advantageous circumstances the charge had 

 no result worth speaking of. The Germans ran into 

 knots and opened tire ; a very few who ran to the rear 

 — say twenty-five or thirty — were cut down. On the 

 other hand, the fire of these clumps and rallying squares 

 completely destroyed the hussars. The two rear squad- 

 rons wisely swerved oft' imd regained the shelter of the 



