Magenta, an Italian town, 18 miles W. of Milan by rail. Pop. 5573. Here, on 4th June 1859, 55,000 French and Sardinians defeated 75,000 Austrians, the latter losing 10,000 (besides 7000 prisoners), and the allies only 4000. For this victory MacMahon received his dukedom.—For the coal-tar colour, see DYEING.
Magenta
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 6: Humber to Malta, p. 791
Source scan(s): p. 0806