Wissembourg

or We is sen bourg . A small fortified town of Alsace, in what was formerly the French department of Bas-Rhin, situated on the Lauter. It was formerly an imperial city, was seized by Louis XIV. in 1673, and annexed to France by the treaty of Ryswick, 1697. The “lines” of Wi embourg, erected by Villars, in 1705, were taken by the Austrians and retaken by the French, 1793, after Hoche’s victory at Geisberg. On August 4, 1870, the crown-prince of Pru ia cro ed the Lauter and gained a brilliant but bloody victory over the French (a part of MacMahon’s division), storming the lines and the Geisberg. Gen. Abel Douay was mortally wounded, and about 500 prisoners were made. The killed and wounded on both sides appear to have been nearly equal. The German army, composed of Pru ians, Bavarians, and Würtembergers, were, it is said, about 40,000, against about 10,000 French, who fought with desperate bravery.