SEDAN. (From a Photograph by D. Stévenin, Sedan.)
That commander, immediately he heard of MacMahon's movements, hastened in hot pursuit together with the Prince of Saxony. On the 27th MacMahon became aware that his plan was discovered and wished to retreat but was overruled by the Empress from Paris. On the 30th of August the 5th Corps (De Failly) was at Beaumont near the Meuse. They had arrived there only that morning after a fatiguing march, and a defeat on the previous day; the soldiers were engaged in cooking; and the scouting and outpost duties appear to have been shamefully neglected. While engaged in the multifarious avocations of a camp, and dreaming of no danger, the doomed men were startled by the bursting of shells among them, fired by a battery belonging to the 1st Bavarian Corps (Von der Tann) which had advanced unperceived through the woods. Von der Tann was presently supported by the 4th Corps (Alvensleben II.) and the 12th Corps (Saxons). Surprised and outnumbered, the French made a feeble resistance, and were driven in confusion from the field. Of the beaten troops, some succeeded in crossing the Meuse, others fled northward in the direction of Sedan. MacMahon was deeply distressed on hearing of the ill conduct of the 5th Corps—of the negligence that had allowed it to be surprised, and the ease with which it had suffered itself to be dispersed and demoralised. A portion of the beaten troops had been, as we have seen, cut off from the Meuse, and thrown back in the direction of Sedan: it was this probably, as well as the knowledge that the head of Vinoy's column was at Mézières, which induced MacMahon—although the 1st and 12th Corps had already crossed the Meuse and were marching upon Montmédy, and the 7th Corps crossed it at Villers below Mouzon in the course of the 30th—to give orders on the evening of that day for the abandonment of his former line of march, and the concentration of all the forces under his command upon the heights surrounding the fortress of Sedan and on the right bank of the Meuse above the town. In the course of the 31st this movement was effected. By gross negligence the 11th German Corps was allowed by the French to throw two pontoon bridges, apparently without opposition, across the Meuse at Donchery, over which the whole 11th Corps was transported to the right bank by the morning of the 1st of September, and was shortly afterwards followed by the 5th Corps. By this operation the doom of the French army was sealed, the only fear of the Germans being lest it should cut its way into Belgium. On the evening of the 30th, orders had been sent from the royal headquarters that the Army of the Meuse, occupying the right wing, should prevent the French left from escaping to the eastward, between the Meuse and the Belgian frontier; while the Third Army should continue its march northwards, and attack the enemy wherever he was fallen in with. These orders had been complied with, and the 11th Corps had been pushed across the Meuse at Donchery during the night of the 31st, so that on the morning of the 1st of September seven German Corps and a half, together with cavalry and artillery, forming a force of upwards of 200,000 men, with from 600 to 700 guns, were already posted in such positions as to leave no way of escape for the French. Two independent armies being on the field, the commander of neither of which could properly take orders from the other, the King of Prussia came upon the scene, as he had done before the day of Königgrätz, and assumed supreme command. The battle began very early on the morning of the 1st of September, while the summer haze still covered the low grounds, with the attack of the Bavarians on Bazeilles, which they carried after a desperate resistance. MacMahon, who had been severely wounded, handed over the command to General Wimpffen. Meanwhile the left wing of the Germans had been making alarming progress. The 11th Corps, having reached Vrigne aux Bois at 7 A.M., was ordered by the Crown Prince of Prussia to wheel round to its right and attack St. Menges. This village lies a little to the east of the extremity of the great horse-shoe bend of the Meuse, nearly due north of Sedan. Following the 11th, the 5th Corps also passed round the head of the bend, and took ground to the eastward of Bose. Then turning southwards and deploying into line, both corps advanced against the 7th French Corps, which occupied the hilly ground between Floing and Illy. Before one o'clock the ring of encircling fire had been so closed in that an interval of not more than 4,000 paces separated the left of the 5th Corps from the right of the Guards. Balan, the village between Bazeilles and Sedan, was taken and held by the Bavarians and the 4th Corps about two o'clock. About 4 P.M. the French troops about Balan were ordered to fall back upon Sedan.
MARSHAL MACMAHON. (From a Photograph by E. Appert, Paris.)
At 5 P.M. the heads of all the German columns pushed forwards, and commenced to bombard Sedan with field pieces. It is a small town of 15,000 inhabitants, without detached forts, and powerless to resist artillery. The whole French army being now pent up within its walls, a scene of indescribable confusion arose. Shells fell and exploded upon houses and in the streets; and the shrieks and groans of the wounded, the execrations of the infuriated soldiers, the cries of the miserable inhabitants, the helpless clamour and hubbub that reigned everywhere, combined to form a picture such as only a Virgil or a Dante could paint.
Wimpffen desired to resign his command into the Emperor's hands; but to this Napoleon naturally would not consent. However, the Emperor himself caused a flag of truce to be hoisted over the gates of Sedan. To this it had come; and the sun of France, as the first military Power in Europe, set on that fatal day.
The Emperor desired to surrender his own person into the hands of the King of Prussia, and sent to the latter, by General Reille, who accompanied the German envoy on his return, a letter thus expressed:—
"Sire, my Brother,—Not having been able to die in the midst of my troops, nothing remains for me but to place my sword in the hands of your Majesty."
The King sent a courteous reply, in which he prayed the Emperor to nominate an officer of rank to negotiate with the officer whom he had named on his side, General Moltke, for the capitulation of the French army. Wimpffen undertook the sad and humiliating duty, and met Moltke at the Prussian headquarters, in the village of Donchery. The Frenchman tried hard to obtain terms that fell short of unconditional surrender. But the logic of facts was against him and Moltke, calm as fate and cold as the grave, unfolded to him with pitiless accuracy the full horror of his situation. The terms of surrender were settled at six o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of September and, being ratified by the King, soon afterwards, came into force. The French army became prisoners of war; and all arms and material of war, whether belonging to the army or to the fortress, were to be handed over by a French to a German commission; the officers were to retain their freedom, their arms, and their personal property on giving their word of honour not to serve against Germany during the continuance of the war. There were many officers, however, who preferred the nobler part of sharing captivity with the men rather than renounce the right of bearing arms against Germany so long as the war lasted. The wild excitement, rage, and grief that seized upon the soldiers, when they knew that they were to surrender their arms and go into captivity, surpass the power of description. By batches of about 10,000 at a time, they were transported, during several days, by rail, to Saarbrück and thence to various parts of Germany.
Seeing the struggle it had cost Wimpffen to agree to the terms proposed, Napoleon thought that could he see Bismarck, he might perhaps obtain from him some alleviation of their rigour. About six in the morning, therefore, of the 2nd of September, he set out in a carriage towards Donchery, having sent forward a messenger to inform Count Bismarck of his desire for an interview. Bismarck was still in bed, but immediately rose and rode out to meet the Emperor. He met the carriage a little distance on the Sedan side of the Donchery bridge and, dismounting, respectfully approached it and asked his Majesty's commands. Napoleon said that he wished to speak with the King, whom he imagined to be at Donchery; but Bismarck replied that the King of Prussia was then at Vendresse, some fourteen miles away. Indeed the Count, knowing his master's kindly nature, had removed him to a distance until the terms were signed. Later in the day a meeting was arranged between the Emperor and the King at a country house near Donchery, called the Château de Bellevue. The interview was brief, but Napoleon's eyes filled with tears when he learned that Prince Frederick Charles was still before Metz, and consequently that there was no hope for Bazaine. The Emperor quitted the Château on the morning of the 3rd of September, and proceeded in a close carriage (it was raining heavily) to the Belgian town of Bouillon. Thence escorted by rail to Liége, and entering Prussian territory at Verviers, the illustrious prisoner reached Wilhelmshöhe, near Cassel, on the evening of the 5th of September, where suitable preparations had been made for his reception.