VALMY, a small village on the main road between Verdun and Paris, just west of Ste. Menehould, famous for the French victory of Sept. 20, 1792. Eastward of Valmy lies, roughly north and south, the long barrier of the forest of Argonne. Dumouriez, with the belated assistance of Kellermann, was attempting to hold this in September against the advance of the duke of Brunswick's German troops. Heavy and continuous rains had made the chalky and clayey soil a greater obstacle even than the thick undergrowth and wild country, but the French revolutionary troops were unable to hold the forest. In their previous conflicts with Austrian or Prussian troops they had met continuous, immediate and shameful defeat ; and their morale was going from bad to worse. The duke's forces broke through easily, not by the main road it is true, but to the north by a pass known as the Cross in the Woods. In great haste, on the 19th, Dumouriez was able to withdraw under the cover of darkness the forces guarding the northern portions of the Argonne, which would otherwise have been cut off, and to complete his junction with Kellermann. By the morning of Sept. 20 his army was on the flank of Brunswick's advance and was facing towards Paris, with its back to the Argonne. It consisted chiefly of troops of the ancien regime, disorganized by the defec tion of their officers, and young and wholly untrained volunteers. Dysentery, the long detour necessitated by his holding a northern pass, and the general badness of the Prussian communi cations forced Brunswick to attempt immediately to clear Dumouriez's force off his flank and make safe his sources of supplies. As soon as the heavy mist lifted on the morning of Sept. 20, therefore, he commenced an attack on the French by heavy artillery preparation. The French line was drawn up on a slight elevation, of which the most prominent feature was the famous mill of Valmy. Between them and the Prussians was a shallow
depression of about a half to three-quarters of a mile in breadth; the Prussians were drawn up on the opposite undulation. The French artillery, which was less heavy in metal than the German, was the sole important arm which had not been disorganized, and was able to reply effectively to the Prussian cannonade. Early in the afternoon, however, the Prussian guns did tremendous damage by a lucky shot which struck the French ammunition reserves near the mill, blowing them up with a tremendous report and great damage. A German mercenary brigade in the French service broke, and the effect on the whole sorely-tried French line was such that Brunswick decided that the right moment had come for a general attack, and gave the signal.
The Prussians advanced en echelon under a severe fire, but steadily, some two-thirds of the intervening distance. The shaky ranks of the French were rallied by Kellermann, and were more or less prepared to meet the attack, when the Prussians hesitated, and, still apparently without disorder, retreated to their original position. Some mystery surrounds this, the central event of the battle : it seems probable that the Prussian advance was impeded by unsuspected thick mud at the foot of the hill, as well as by the accurate French gunnery--the support of their own guns neces sarily ceasing as they approached the French lines. The can nonade continued till nightfall. Brunswick, having failed to defeat his enemy, realized that his position was strategically untenable and, after a few days, retreated. (See FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS.)