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READING HALLTHE DOORS OF WISDOM |
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ANNALS OF WARTHE WARS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
1702.
1. DEATH OF WILLIAM III, KING OF ENGLAND, AND HIS
MILITARY CHARACTER.—2. WAR IN ITALY. 3. BATTLE OF LEZZARA.—4. THE EARL OF
MARLBOROUGH NAMED GENERALISSIMO OF THE ALLIES.— 5. THE SIEGE OF
KAISERSWERTH.—6. THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND MARSHAL BOUFLERS ASSUME THE COMMAND
OF THE FRENCH ARMY. — 7. MARLBOROUH TAKES THE FIELD.—8. SIEGE OF
VENLOO. 9. SIEGE OF LIEGE.—10. BATTLE OF FRIEDLINGEN.—11. MARLBOROUGH
NARROWLY ESCAPES BEING MADE PRISONER.—12. BRITISH NAVAL EXPEDITION TO CADIZ AND
VIGO.—13. NAVAL WAR IN THE WEST INDIES.—14. BATTLE OF CLISSAU. —15. WAR IN
RUSSIA.
1. Death of William III, King of England, and his
military Character.
The earliest and most important event of this year to
the military reader, was the death of William the Third, King of England, and
Stadtholder of the United Provinces. Greater as General of Holland, than either
king or stadtholder, he left behind him the character of a great politician,
though he had never been popular. He aspired to the honour of acting as umpire in all the contests of Europe. The distinguishing criterion
of his character was ambition, yet it was an object of his constant attention
to attend to the prosperity of that country to which he owed his birth and
extraction. He spoke Dutch, French, English, and German equally well; and he
understood Latin, Spanish, and Italian, so that he was well fitted to command
armies composed of several nations. Though his constitution was weak, delicate,
and infirm, he loved the manly exercises of the field, and was indefatigable in
war; he proved himself a formidable enemy, though he was seldom victorious. His
defects were manifestly due, in a great measure, to circumstances independent
on him, but that spirit which even these defects could not suppress was all his
own. He had a considerable degree of knowledge in fortification, and understood
military operations by land, but neither professed nor pretended to any skill
in maritime affairs. In courage, fortitude, and equanimity, he rivalled the
most eminent warriors of antiquity. His deportment was grave, phlegmatic, and
sullen; he was very sparing in speech, and dry in conversation; and his manners
were unpleasing, except in battle, when his deportment was free, spirited, and
animated. In tumult he was always dignified, cool, and serene, and a stranger
to violent transports of passion in public; yet in private he was frequently
harsh, passionate, and severe in regard to trifles. He was dead to all the warm
and generous emotions of the human heart, a cold relation, an indifferent
husband, a disagreeable man; perfectly indifferent about humouring mankind, yet not destitute of dissimulation and intrigue. Macaulay says of him,
that danger had the same effect on him that wine has on many people, and roused
him to cheerfulness and dash. His character and success served to show that
moderate abilities may achieve the greatest purposes, if the objects aimed at
be pursued with perseverance, and planned with ordinary judgment, even though
without genius. The best advice of William to his successor, was a strong
recommendation of the Earl of Marlborough, as the most proper person in England
to lead her armies and direct her councils in the field.
2.War in Italy.
The earliest military event of the year occurred in
Italy. Prince Eugene, in his observations during the winter, had observed the
negligence of the French in their quarters, and was rather twitted to try the
effect of surprise upon them by an insolent remark of Marshal de Villeroy, in allusion to Eugene, Commerci,
and Vaudemont, “Il faut, disait Villeroy, que je fasse danser le rigodon à ces trois princes pendant le Carnival.” (“I must make these
three princes dance a jig during the Carnival”) Accordingly, on the 1st of
February, at three in the morning, a detachment of 400 men obtained admission
into a priest’s garden, through a dry watercourse or aqueduct, immediately
opened the gates of Cremona, and admitted 4000 men with so much secrecy, that
the Spanish governor and Villeroy were thoroughly
taken by surprise; the first, hastening into the streets, was killed by a
musket-ball, and the marshal, awakened by the fire, mounted his horse, and
suddenly found himself in the midst of the enemy, who quietly led him off
prisoner to Prince Eugene’s tent. The prince desired Commerci to ask his marshal to give orders for a surrender. “On
ne doit pas obeïr à un prisonnier,” (“ No one obeys a prisoner”) replied Villeroy. It happened that M. d’Entragues, who was colonel of a marine detachment
in the river, had ordered a review on board the boats at four in the morning,
and the marines were repairing to their rendezvous as the Germans entered the
town. These were immediately collected by d’Entragues,
and formed a nucleus, round which the surprised French, half naked and without
order or officers to command them, rallied. They soon made head against the
Imperial troops, and drove them from one street to another till they were fairly
forced out of the town. Two Irish regiments, forming part of the garrison,
defended the bridge across the Po, where Eugene had ordered a body of cuirassiere to penetrate, and M. de Praslin, who commanded
here, availed himself of a favourable moment to blow
up the bridge, so that Cremona was saved. The French, always ready with a jest,
made this couplet in allusion to the loss of a general whom they did not value,
and the recovery of the town after this surprise :—
« Par une faveur de Bellone
Et par un bonheur sans égal
Nous avons retrouve Cremone
Et perdu notre général »
“ The French have the luck of the devil-an’-all,
For they have taken Cremona and lost their general”
Marshal Villeroy was despatched prisoner to Innsbruck, and the Duke de Vendôme
was sent to replace him at the head of the French army.
Prince Eugene went to blockade Mantua, which was
defended by M. de Sesse, who contrived, notwithstanding, to introduce supplies.
The contending generals made all sorts of efforts against each other. Eugene
very nearly took Vendôme prisoner in his headquarters at Rivalta, on the lake
of Mantua. Vendôme opened a battery of twelve guns on Eugene’s house, and drove
him out of it. The house of Commerci was burned by
red-hot shot. Vendôme carried on against Eugene a war of artifice and surprises
and small affairs, in which some hundreds of men were killed, and nothing
gained. At length, the prince determined to raise the blockade of Mantua, and
to give Vendôme battle. Philip, the new King of Spain, had arrived in Italy on
a visit to his father-in-law, the Duke of Savoy, and repaired to the army of
the Duke de Vendôme, having forbidden him to attack Prince Eugene until he
should arrive in the camp.
3.The Battle of Luzzara. 15
August 1702
Prince Eugene had had an affair of cavalry with the
enemy at Crostolo, a few days previous to the 15th of
August, when he thought that with a force not above half that opposed to him
(in fact, 26,000 men), he might post himself behind the dykes of Zero close to
the Po, in such a manner as that the enemy, ignorant of his situation, or that
he had crossed that river, might be surprised at the moment of their
establishing their camp on the other bank. The camp was already marked out in
front of the castle of Luzzara, which was about to be
attacked, when by chance an adjutant with an advanced guard had the curiosity
to ascend the dyke in order to view the country, where he discovered the
Imperialists lying on their faces, with their horses in rear ranged in order of
battle. The French camp was immediately alarmed, but the Imperialists pushed
across the dyke and fell upon them before they could form. The ground was,
however, so intersected with hedges, that the former were in a posture of
defence before the assailants could deploy. Nevertheless, the prince attacked
them with great impetuosity. Commerci was killed in
the left attack, and was replaced by Lichtenstein, who was killed likewise.
Eugene attacked the centre, where he was opposed by
Vendome. Night put an end to the contest, but both armies kept their ground.
Out of compliment to the King of Spain, who was present, a Te Deum was chanted at Paris for this victory; and one was equally sung at Vienna.
Two days after this battle, the Bourbon king returned to Spain, and nothing
further occurred in Italy, where, nevertheless, Prince Eugene maintained his
ground, notwithstanding the great disparity of force between the opposing
armies. At the end of the year the prince also left the army and repaired to
Vienna.
4. The Earl of Marlborough named Generalissimo of the
Allies.
The Earl of Marlborough was despatched to the Hague within three weeks of Queen Anne’s succession to the English
throne, and war was formally declared against France on the 4th of May, by the
emperor, Great Britain, and the States General. Marlborough was forthwith named
generalissimo of the allied armies, and repaired to Nimeguen to assume the
command. Many of the small German powers sent their contingents to the Imperial
army, and he therefore found himself at the head of 60,000 men, well provided
with all necessaries, and long disciplined by the best officers of the age. On
the other hand, the main body of the French army was assembled on the Meuse,
and in the strong fortresses, existing in the bishopric of Liege, under the
command of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of the king, a youth utterly
inexperienced in the management of a company, but who was assisted and
virtually controlled by the celebrated Marshal Bouflers.
A force under the command of the French general, Count de la Motte, and the
Marquis de Bodmar, who commanded in the name of Philip, covered the western
portion of the Netherlands; and Marshal Tallard, with 13,000 men, was posted as
a corps of observation to interrupt the siege of Kaiserswerth.
5. The Siege of Kaiserswerth.
This place was invested in the month of April, in the
name of the Elector Palatine, by the Prince of Nassau-Saarbrück,
Maréchal-du-camp to the emperor, under whom the Dutch troops served as
auxiliaries, because war had not yet been declared by the States General. The
whole, Prussians, Palatines, and Dutch, amounted to 25,000 men, and their
commander was a general who had been put forward, as a prince of the empire, to
command in chief in lieu of Marlborough; but he and the Earl of Athlone, a
Dutch general, who at the time commanded at Nimeguen, had mutually withdrawn
their pretensions in favour of the English general.
The French garrison at Kaiserswerth made a desperate defence. They worsted the
besiegers in divers sallies, and maintained the place until it was reduced to a
heap of ashes. At length, however, the allies made a general assault, attacking
the counterscarp and ravelin, which they carried, after a very obstinate
engagement, with the loss of 2000 men. Then the garrison capitulated on honourable terms. The siege lasted from the 18th of April
to the 15th of June.
6. The Duke of Burgundy and Marshal Bouflers assume the command of the French army
The Duke of Burgundy arrived in the French camp in
May, accompanied by the celebrated Duke de Berwick, and it was evident that
Marshal Bouflers would signalize the arrival of a
French prince by some decisive exploit. Athlone had rather expected this, and
had thrown a garrison of 12,000 men into Maestricht, after the surrender of
Kaiserswerth; and had taken post at Cranenburg, in
the vicinity of Cleves. The Duke of Burgundy, being joined by the troops under
Marshal Tallard, suddenly pushed forward, on the 18th of June, towards the
Waal, with a view of surprising Nimeguen, which was without a garrison or a
single gun upon its ramparts. The whole force collected under the French prince
was fifty-six battalions and one hundred squadrons. Athlone’s whole force did
not exceed twentyseven battalions and sixty-two
squadrons. This general was thoroughly taken by surprise, for the Marquis d’Alegre had been left before him with some cavalry, to
keep him occupied. On discovering the deception, Athlone decamped at eight in
the evening; d’Alegre kept upon his track, but could
not check his march, and he entered the town at the very moment when the enemy
was within gunshot of the works. He immediately threw the troops into the
houses, behind the hedges, and along the covered way of the place—so that the
French were just too late, and failed in their project, acknowledging to a
loss of 300 men; but although the Dutch rejoiced in their deliverance, they
were in consternation at having been exposed to so much peril.
7. Marlborough takes the Field.
The French army established itself behind the Meuse,
in a place between Goch and Genep,
and the allied army along the Waal, between Nimeguen and Fort Schenk. Here, on
the 2nd of July, Marlborough took the command. His very first movements were
much thwarted by the rivalries of the Dutch, Hanoverians, and Prussians. No one
but a man of the temper and address of the generalissimo could have set such an
army in motion. On the 7th he crossed the Waal, and established his
head-quarters at Duckenberg, a little to the south of
Nimeguen; the same day he threw three bridges over the Meuse below Grave. On
the 26th, lie crossed that river and encamped with the right at Uden and the
left at Zealand. At Hamont he was joined by a
reinforcement of British cavalry and artillery, and by part of the corps of
General Henkelm. The French hastened by forced
marches in the direction of Peer and Bray; and, as Marlborough calculated, they
directed their march through Sonhoven to Beringen. He proposed to attack them in their passage over
the heaths or in their camp at Sonhoven, which was so
ill chosen as to render defeat inevitable; but the Dutch deputies refused their
consent to this resolve; and the French succeeded in reaching Beringen unmolested on the 8th of August. On the same day
the confederate army established itself in the rear of Peer, with their right
on the Dommel, and their left at Erlicum. They were
now joined by ten battalions and several squadrons, and with artillery from
Maestricht, the garrison of which was disengaged by this advance. With a view
to ulterior operations, Marlborough prepared to pass the Dommel, but the French
commanders broke up from Beringen on the 9th, and
detached the Duke of Berwick on the 12th to cut off a valuable convoy, which
had been long expected from Bois-le-duc. This obliged
the duke to make a retrograde movement to Everbeck.
At length the convoy, which had engrossed the attention of both armies, arrived
from Bois-le-duc, having traversed the heath near
Geldorp, within sight of Berwick, who was deterred from attempting to interrupt
its march by the position of the allied detachment, and it therefore proceeded,
and on the 20th reached the camp in safety. Marlborough was determined to
oblige the enemy to withdraw from Bois-le-duc, and
therefore advanced on the 22nd to Great Breugel,
which movement alarmed the French commanders; and, on the following day, they
came in sight of his line of march in such disorder, and with such apparent
ignorance of the ground, that Marlborough determined to take the opportunity he
had long desired, of risking an engagement. He, accordingly, gave orders to his
army to advance, and approached so near the enemy that a cannonade was opened
on both sides, but his orders were so slowly and reluctantly obeyed, that it
was night before lie could get his troops to the attack. On the ensuing day, he
found the enemy stronger than he expected; and in the night of the 28th they
silently decamped, effecting their retreat to Beverloo,
with no further detriment than a few casualties during the cannonade and a
trifling attack on their rearguard. The Duke of Burgundy here quitted the
command of the army in disgust at being obliged to retreat before the allies,
and gave it over to Bouflers.
Marlborough having now the whole of Spanish Guelderland at his discretion, listened to the deputies
from the States General, who represented to him the necessity of dispossessing
the enemy of the places they maintained in it, which obstructed the free
recognition of the Maese. The French army consisted at this time of 70
battalions and 114 squadrons, and the allies of 92 battalions and 150
squadrons. Unable to prevent the reduction of the fortresses, Marshal Bouflers made a movement, in hopes of some favourable opportunity to obstruct the confederates in
their operations. On the 10th of September he marched, and on the 13th
established his camp between Tongres and Borchloen, fixing his head-quarters at Bedol.
Marshal Tailard was detached, with 17 battalions and
25 squadrons, to favour the retreat of the Elector of
Cologne from Bonn, and to throw a garrison into that city. Meanwhile, the
requisite preparations being matured, the investment of Venloo was completed by the allied generals.
8.The Siege of Venloo.
On the 5th of September, 32 battalions and 36
squadrons were detached for the siege, under the command of the Prince of
Nassau-Saarbrück, and on the 7th the attack was opened on both sides of the
Maese, under the direction of the celebrated engineer Coehoorn. To cover the
operations, Marlborough on the 13th took up a position with his right at Sertendal, and his left at Lonaken.
The trenches were rapidly pushed forward. The first attack was directed on the
18th against fort St. Michael, on the other side of the river, which was
connected with the place by a bridge of boats, and formed its principal
defence. Lord Cutts and a detachment of English troops were ordered to assault;
they stormed the covered way, and carried the ravelin at the point of the
bayonet, notwithstanding the explosion of a mine. Then, forcing their way over
a bridge which connected this ravelin with the interior works, they obtained
possession of the fort itself. Two hundred of the enemy were killed in the
attack, and 600 drowned in attempting to get across the river. Batteries were
now raised in the captured fort, and on the 23rd a tremendous fire was opened
on the defences of the place. Before midday, an
accessible breach being effected, the preparations were made for assault. At
this moment news arrived in the camp of the reduction of Landau, and the event
was announced by a salute of artillery that was to form the signal for attack.
A flag of truce was immediately displayed, the capitulation arranged, and
before the close of the day the garrison quitted the breach with the honours of war, and were conducted to Antwerp. Stevensvaert was next attacked on the 1st of October, but
being provided with a small garrison, made bat a faint defence, and was
surrendered on the 5th. The siege of Ruremonde was
begun on the 2nd by the Prussians on one side of the river, and the English on
the other. The batteries were opened on the 6th, and the same afternoon the
garrison capitulated. In the midst of these operations the army of the empire,
under the command of Joseph, the young King of the Romans, had resumed the
offensive. In the beginning of June Landau had been invested, which was regarded
as an outwork of Alsace. After an arduous struggle, this citadel was taken by
assault on the 9th of September, and the place was surrendered on the 10th by Melac the governor.
9. The Siege of Liege.
Marlborough now extorted the consent of the deputies
to attempt the reduction of Liege, which commanded the navigation of the Maese
above Maestricht. This enterprise he executed with his usual diligence and
success. Apprised that Bouflers had examined the defences of the place, and was preparing to post himself
under the walls, he suddenly broke up his camp, and marched with such celerity
as to anticipate the enemy on the very ground they intended to occupy. So
secret and so well combined was this movement, that the French commander
approached within cannon-shot of the confederates before he was conscious of
his danger. Bouflers might have made an intrenched
camp behind Liege, and kept possession of the city with a good garrison; but he
was now too late, and had only time to reinforce the citadel, which contained a
garrison of eight battalions. He himself made a precipitate retreat to Orp-le-petit, and placed his camp between Lannuye and Landen. The city of Liege opened its gates to
Marlborough on the 13th of October, and preparations were instantly made to
attack the citadel. Ou the 20th the batteries were opened, and on the 23rd a
breach was effected, and the approaches sufficiently advanced for an attack on
the covered way. The troops, headed by the hereditary Prince of Hesse Cassel,
descended the counterscarp and advanced to the breach, which they took, after a
resistance of half an hour. The governor, the Sieur de Violaine, was made
prisoner in the assault by an English lieutenant, and the citadel was carried
with much vigour and bravery. Preparations were next
made to attack the Chartreuse, a detached work on the opposite side of the
Maese; but the garrison, being discouraged by the fate of their companions in
the citadel, would not abide the consequences of an assault, but surrendered,
at the first fire of the batteries, on the 29th. Three hundred thousand florins
were found in the citadel, besides notes for above a million, drawn on
substantial merchants in Liege, who paid the money, and the booty became the
prize of the conquerors. After this the French returned behind the Mehaigne, with their right at Boneff and their left on the Josse; and Marlborough distributed his troops in
winter-quarters, and prepared to return to England.
The French were not quite so unfortunate on the Rhine
as in Flanders. On the 15th of June M. de Plainville surrendered Keiseven, in the electorate of Cologne, after fifty-nine
days’ open trenches; and the Elector of Bavaria surprised the city of Ulm by a
stratagem in a fog, and then declared in favour of
the house of Bourbon, which had by this time complied with all his demands. The
French made themselves masters of Neuburg in the circle of Suabia,
while Prince Louis of Baden, weakened by sending off detachments, was obliged
to lie inactive in his camp near Friedlingen.
10.The Battle of Friedlingen.
14 October 1702
Marshal Villars having been detached towards the
Rhine, posted himself near Huningen, which was
threatened by Prince Louis of Baden. The latter was stationed in the plain
between the Rhine and the hills, with his left towards Basle, and his right
extending towards the village of Friedlingen, before
which he had raised a large redoubt. As winter approached, the Prince of Baden
thought it best to retire, but did not apprehend that, in making his retreat,
he had any thing to fear from an army posted on the other side of the river,
which had a long bridge to pass over before they could come up with him; and he
accordingly sent off his troops in two detachments— his infantry in one, and
his cavalry in the other. Villars observed this movement, and ordered the army
to cross the river. He then divided it into columns to follow the prince. The
column led by M. Desbordes followed the infantry, but could not come up with
it; the other column, under the direction of M. de Magnac,
advanced rapidly on the enemy, that it was with difficulty they could recover
themselves from the defile into which the head of the column had become
entangled, and form themselves under the fire of the cannon of the redoubt,
which supported their right. Here they were prepared to receive the attack of
M. de Magnac; but with great judgment he feigned to
retire, and drew on him the advance of the cavalry column, who thus quitted the
protection of the redoubt In presence of M. de Magnac’s unbroken force, they now attempted to execute a change of formation, and whilst
thus employed were attacked by the enemy, who put them into utter confusion.
The Prince of Baden, having lost 2000 men, abandoned the field, and retired
towards Stauffen; but in the moment of victory the French were unaccountably
seized with a panic, so that if the Imperial guards had stood firm a moment or
two longer, the victory would have turned to a defeat. Voltaire says of this transaction,
“La plus grande peine qu’eut le général, ce fut de rallier les vainqueurs.” (“The greatest difficulty the general had was to rally the conquerors”)
The next day Friedlingen surrendered. The certain
result of this battle was that the Imperialists could not re-enter Alsace. For
this feat of arms Villars obtained the bâton of marshal.
Towards the latter end of October Marshal Tallard arrived with a body of 18,000
men, and reduced Treves and Traerbach; but on the
other hand, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with a detachment from Marlborough’s
army, reduced several small towns.
11. Marlborough narrowly escapes being made Prisoner.
Whilst the presence of Marlborough, who was already
regarded as their saviour and protector by the Dutch,
and by the English as one who had retrieved the ancient honour of the nation, was eagerly looked for both at the Hague and at London, both
nations were in imminent peril of losing the great commander, on whom all their
expectations and hopes were placed. On the 3rd of November he quitted
Maestricht for the Hague, and descended the Maese with the Dutch deputies in a
boat, accompanied by a guard of twenty-five men. At Ruremonde he was joined by Coehoorn, in another boat, with an additional escort of fifty
followers. In this situation they were surprised by a French partisan from
Gueldres, who with thirty-five men was lying in ambush among the sedges of the
river. The duke’s tow-rope was suddenly seized, a volley poured into the boat,
and the guard overpowered. The Dutch deputies were provided with passes; not
the general; but he did not lose his presence of mind in this moment of danger.
One of his attendants, who had fortunately preserved a French pass (that had
been granted to his brother, General Churchill, who had been obliged to quit
the army from ill health), slipped it unperceived into his hand. The date had
expired, but with undisturbed confidence he presented it to his captors. The
darkness of the night, and the confusion of the moment, prevented a discovery;
and Marlborough was suffered to proceed, and continued his journey to England,
where he arrived, on the 28th of November. He was received with great favour by the queen, who ordered a patent of a duke to be
conferred on him, and he was enthusiastically received by the parliament and by
all classes of the British nation.
12.British Naval Expedition to Cadiz and Vigo.
The late king had formed a plan for the reduction of
Cadiz, and accordingly an attempt was made upon it this year by sea and by
land. Admiral Sir George Rooke, commanding a fleet of twenty five
line-of-battle ships, with fire-ships and others, amounting to 160 sail,
English and Dutch, and the Duke of Ormond, with a force of 13,000 men, entered
the bay of Cadiz, and summoned the governor; but on his refusal, the commanders quarrelled as to what should be done. At length it
was agreed to make for Vigo, where a rich flotilla from America had taken
refuge. The combined French and Spanish fleets were moored in the harbour, protected by a strong boom, and a ship of the line
at either extremity. Within the boom, five ships of from sixty to seventy guns
with their broadsides bore upon the entrance. On the 11th of October the
expedition anchored in the bay. On the 12th, Ormond with 2500 men landed in a
sandy nook on the south side, about two leagues distant from the town; meeting
with no opposition, the grenadiers, under Lord Shannon and Colonel Pierce,
marched directly to the fort, which guarded the passage into the harbour. Vice-Admiral Hopson, in the “Torbay,” led the
naval attack, and having broke the boom, was in a little time between the two
ships placed to defend the harbour. Hopson, although
a very brave and enterprising officer, had his misgivings as to his ability to
break the boom, and sent to inform Sir George Rooke that he thought it could
not be broken. The admiral accordingly at once repaired on board the “Torbay”
himself, and observing that the length across the harbour exceeded half a mile, determined that no boom of such a length could resist a
ship, and ordered Hopson to proceed; the other ships following found a way
through the same passage. The “Torbay” suffered severely, having 115 men
killed, besides many wounded, and was so disabled that Hopson shifted his flag
into the “Monmouth.” Meanwhile the Duke of Ormond with the rest of the troops
took post in the hills to sustain Lord Shannon’s detachment, which having
driven the enemy from the fort, made themselves masters of the lower platform,
mounting thirty-eight pieces of cannon. Hereupon Churchill’s regiment advanced,
and the enemy, retiring into an old town, were kept at bay for some time. Here
Captain Lovel, of the French navy, who commanded, thought to make a rush for
their lines, but the British grenadiers following him, forced their way with
them into the castle, and made themselves masters of the fort. The land forces
having thus gained possession of the town, the French admiral gave orders to
set fire to the ships of his fleet, so that seventy French ships, with 334
guns, were destroyed, besides three Spanish men-of-war carrying 178 guns. The
English and Dutch captured however ten ships with 626 guns, and of the fifteen
galleons nine were taken and four destroyed. The booty on board the captured
fleet was computed at six millions of dollars. Chateau Regnaux proclaimed that he had nevertheless carried off the greater part of the gold
and silver by the sailors of the fleet in carts to Madrid. The glory which the
English acquired in this expedition was in some measure tarnished by the
conduct of the forces, whose scandalous disorder and neglect of discipline were
only exceeded by the indecent acrimony and conflicting accusations of the
officers commanding the sea and land forces in the expedition.
13.Naval War in the West Indies.
In the West Indies, Admiral Benbow, a bold, rough
seaman, fell in with a French squadron under Admiral Du Casse. The British had
seven ships of the line, with one Dutch ship and five smaller vessels. The
French had six ships of much heavier calibre. Chase
was immediately given, but the ships were so much separated, that it was some
time before Benbow could make the attack. The brunt of the action was borne by
the flag-ships, “Breda,” Captain Fogg, and “Ruby,” 50, Captain Walton; both
these ships, and the “Falmouth,” 48, Captain Vincent, pursued the enemy, and
were closely engaged; but from want of energy in some of the others, the enemy
effected their escape. On the 24th, the “Breda” came up with the sternmost French ship, which Benbow in person boarded three
times. In these attacks the gallant officer had his right leg shattered by a
chain-shot, but he insisted on being placed on deck, his leg lying in a cradle,
from which he gave directions during the rest of the action. At the same time
Benbow was deserted by his captains, and the enemy perceiving this assailed the
“Breda,” but making no hand of it sailed away. The heroic Benbow,
broken-hearted at this sad desertion and misconduct of his officers, gave over
the pursuit, and proceeded with his squadron to Jamaica, where he died of his
wounds on the 4th of November. When one of his lieutenants expressed to the
admiral his concern for the loss of his leg, “I am sorry for it too,” replied
the gallant Benbow, “but I would rather have lost them both than have witnessed
such dishonour brought upon the English nation; but,
do you hear, if another shot takes me off, behave like brave men and fight it
out.” It is said that the boisterous manner of Benbow had so disgusted the
captains, that they entered into a regular confederacy against him to let him
be cut off. Captains Kirby and Wade were, however, both tried by court-martial,
and shot for their misconduct. The French admiral was a brave man, and felt for
his foe as he would under similar circumstances have felt for himself, and the
following letter written by him to the vice-admiral is said to be still extant
in the Benbow family:—
“ Sir,—I had little hopes on Monday last but to have
supped in your cabin, but it pleased God to order otherwise. As for those
cowardly captains who deserted you, hang them up, for by----they deserve
it.--------------------- “ Du Casse.”
14.The Battle of Clissau.
July 19, 1702
In Poland affairs were so embroiled by the cardinal
primate, that King Augustus entered into negotiations for his own personal security
with Charles XII, but the king seized his brother king’s ambassador for daring
to come without a passport, saying that he only negotiated with the kingdom and
not with the king. A deputation accordingly presented themselves from the diet,
but he told them he would only confer with them at Warsaw, whither he forthwith
advanced on the 5th of May, and the gates were opened to him on the first
summons. He plainly told them he would listen to no terms from the Poles till
they had elected another king. Augustus saw clearly that he had no hope but in
a battle. He had secretly collected together a body of Saxon troops from his
electorate, for he was not popular in Poland; and the Palatines, frightened,
tampered with, and irresolute, deserted his ranks. On the 13th of July, the two
kings came in presence of each other on a vast plain near Clissau,
between Warsaw and Cracow. Augustus had collected together 24,000 men. Charles
had not above 12,000. The fight began with artillery, and when one of the first
shots struck down the Duke of Holstein, commanding the Swedish cavalry, Charles
is said to have shed a tear in passing on hearing of his death, and then dashed
forward at the head of his guards. Augustus in like manner headed his troops,
and did all that man could do to save a throne. The Polish portion of his
troops, which formed his right wing, deserted him in the battle. Charles saw
it, and that he had attained the ascendant in numbers; his victory was a
complete one; he captured everything, and pursued the fugitive King of Poland
into Cracow. Augustus in trying to escape from the conqueror passed through the
town, and Charles in hot pursuit following him, fell from his horse and broke
his collarbone; he was carried back to Cracow, where he was confined for six
weeks, but he still turned his attention to the deliberations of the diet at
Warsaw, and declared that if he remained fifty years he would not budge till
they had dethroned the King of Poland. The army of Augustus retired towards
Prussia, to the north-west of Warsaw. Charles, as soon as he was cured,
hastened after it, and came up with it on the banks of the river Bug, at a
place called Pultesk-Gad. Stenau commanded the Saxons there, to the number of 10,000 men. Charles passed the
river à la nage, at the head of his cavalry,
and such was the terror of the reputation he had acquired, that the Saxons fled
at his approach. Stenau held his ground for a moment
with two regiments, but the flight soon became general, the larger portion of
the troops dispersing themselves, that there were not above 1000 prisoners, and
600 killed. Augustus reached Thorn, on the Vistula. Charles advanced to besiege
it, and Augustus not thinking himself safe again fled. Charles had been so
rapid in all his movements, that he had no artillery to besiege Thorn; he was
obliged to send for it from Sweden, when fourteen frigates and forty transports
arrived with the artillery and reinforcements at Dantzio to ascend the Vistula. The magistrates refused to admit them, and allow them to
disembark; and General Steinboch put the town under a
contribution of 100,000 crowns. The siege of Thorn was begun on the 22nd of
September. Robel, the governor, had a garrison of 5000; and he defended the
place for a month, when he surrendered at discretion. Charles then entered
Elbing, on the Vistula, on the 13th of December, and raised heavy contributions
on the inhabitants of both these towns.
15.War in Russia.
The Czar Peter continued to make repeated attacks on
the Swedes wherever they were to be met with, either by sea or land; and
although their king was absent in Poland, the spirit of his subjects every
where rivalled that of their sovereign. General Schlippenbach commanded the Swedish forces, and was opposed by General Sheremetoff,
who appears to have been both a land and a sea officer; for in a naval action
on the lake Peipus he succeeded in capturing a Swedish frigate. This success
encouraged the czar to make a forced march to defend Archangel against a
Swedish fleet On the 19th of July, Sheremetoff encountered Schlippenbach on the river Embre, where he gained a victory, and took sixteen colours and twenty guns. Advancing to the confines of
Livonia and Ingria, he took the town of Marienburg, when he destroyed the town
and carried away the inhabitants. There, in the house of the Pastor Gluck,
resided a young Livonian peasant who, included among the captives, was destined
afterwards to become the Empress Catharine, wife of Peter the Great. On the
lake Ladoga, the Russian fleet compelled the Swedes to retire to Viborg, from
whence they beheld the strong town of Noteborg not
only besieged, from the 18th of September to the 12th of October, when it was
taken by assault, but also destroyed to make way for the fort of Schlusselburg (that is, the town of the key), which almost
immediately arose in its place, and of which the celebrated Menschikoff was made governor. Before the surrender of Noteborg,
it is related that the Swedish commandant desired to send for two Swedish
officers from the nearest port to certify, that having only eighty-three
surviving combatants and 156 wounded men, he could not successfully defend the
breach or maintain the place against the enemy any longer.
1703.
1. DEFECTION OF THE DUKE OF SAVOY FROM FRANCE.—2. WAR
ON THE RHINE.—3. SIEGE OF BONN. 4. MARSHAL DE V1LLER0Y COMMANDS THE FRENCH
FORCES.—5. MARSHAL VILLARS GAINS THE BATTLE OF HOCHS'! ADT OVER COUNT
STYRUM.—6. OPDAM ROUTED BY MARSHAL BOUFLERS.—7* MARLBOROUGH TAKES HUY AND
LIMBURG. 8. MARSHAL VILLARS REPLACED BY THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.— 9. BATTLE OF
SPIREBACH.—10. WAR IN IT4LY.—11. WAR IN SCANDINAVIA.—12. NAVAL WAR.
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