the river, and commenced pouring a murderous fire of cannonballs and grenades upon the nearest French troops, which retreated into the woods with the loss of many men. As a regiment of Cossacks now crossed the Marne, and threatened to cut off the troops in Saint-Dizier, these men, who had bravely stood their ground until now, likewise fled to the woods. However, the French were not long exposed to this fire, as a portion of their artillery, placed on the heights of Valcourt, commanding the road which lay through a narrow gorge, soon silenced the Allied guns. The French held the heights of Valcourt until evening, and then pursued their retreat towards Wassy. Tettenborn followed close at their heels, and drove them out of the village of Humbecourt, but found it impossible to penetrate further, as the adjoining villages were full of infantry, who offered the most obstinate resistance; a sure sign that the main body of the French army was close by, with the result that the Allied troops could not approach any nearer. The skirmishing continued all the night, during which the Allies saw the whole surface of the country between them and Wassy lighted up with numerous watch-fires, which stretched a long way to the Allies' right along the wood, almost reaching their headquarters. Tettenborn passed the night in Eclaron, while General Wintzingerode fixed his headquarters in Saint-Dizier, and sent a considerable number of troops from Vitry towards Montier-en-Der, so as to secure the Allied right flank. Battle Early on the morning of 26 March, The French, numbering roughly 30,000 men, advanced against the Allies on all sides, forcing the Cossacks to retreat: considerable bodies of cavalry showed themselves on both sides of the Allied force. On first seeing these masses of troops, Tettenborn assured Wintzingerode that the whole French army had turned and was marching against the Allies. The danger was imminent, the nature of the ground prevented the Allies using even one regiment of Cossacks with any advantage, and all the French had to do to entirely cut off the Allied force would be to capture the village of Valcourt in the Allied rear before the Allies did. Nothing, therefore, remained but to retreat immediately across the Marne, which Tettenborn did, remaining as long as he could on the left bank of the river, to give Wintzingerode time to take such measures as he might