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READING HALLTHE DOORS OF WISDOM |
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ANNALS OF WAR
1709.
1. FRANCE MAKES PROPOSALS FOR PEACE, WHICH FAIL.—2.
WAR IN THE LOW COUNTRIES.—3. THE SIEGE OF TOURNAY.—4. MARLBOROUGH INVESTS
MONS.—5. BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET.— 6. MONS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.—7. WAR ON THE
RHINE.—8. WAR IN ITALY.—9. WAR IN SPAIN.—10. WAR IN THE NORTH. BATTLE OF PULTOW
A.
1. France makes Proposals for Peace, which fail.
The French had become so reduced by their constant ill
success, and by the general decline of their credit, (the most eminent bankers of
Paris and Lyon having been obliged to stop payment,) that they entertained a
desire to try negotiations with the States. M. Rouillé was accordingly despatched to Holland with general offers of peace. France
hoped to take advantage of Marlborough's absence in England, to detach Holland
from the alliance, but in vain. The States General admitted M. Rouillé very cautiously into their confidence, and gave
notice to the courts of Vienna and London of what had passed : these despatched
to the Hague respectively, Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough, with full
powers to treat, who arrived on the 8th and 9th of April. The foundation of the
proposed treaty was, that King Charles should be restored to the Spanish
monarchy within two months. The other preliminaries agreed upon were—the
restoration of all the places in the Netherlands, except Cambray and St. Omer,
to the French, and the demolishing or restoring of Dunkirk to the allies; the
restoration of the German towns to the Emperor, of Savoy to the Duke, and of
Newfoundland to England; the dismissal of the Pretender from France; and the
acknowledgment of the King of Prussia’s royal dignities. At length, after much
discussion, Prince Eugene received a letter from the Marquis de Torcy, importing “ that his most Christian Majesty, “having
examined the project of peace concluded at the Hague, found it impossible for
him to accept it, and therefore had sent “orders to the President de Rouillé, to notify the same to the potentates engaged in
the war, and that it was to be hoped that more favourable terms would offer
themselves for the establishment of a peace so necessary to all Europe, and
consequently so much desired by every body.” It has been very much doubted
whether Louis XIV was from the first sincere in his desire for peace, or
whether it was other than a political attempt to break the alliance. He certainly
accepted the preliminaries, which included a renunciation of the crown of Spain;
but unquestionably the ultimatum presented for his acceptance, that the King of
France was to concur with the allies in expelling the Duke d’Anjou from the Spanish throne, was neither a very delicate nor a very reasonable
condition to require. If I must then
continue the war,” said Louis XIV, with dignity and spirit, “it is better for
me to fight my enemies than my own children.” On the other hand, Eugene
exclaimed, “If France has no better propositions to make to us, the allies will
treat of peace in the summer with 150,000 plenipotentiaries.” On the 9th of
June M. de Rouillé set out from the Hague and
embarked at Rotterdam for Antwerp on his return to Paris, and all sides
prepared for war. The Duke of Marlborough set out the same day, to put himself
at the head of his army. Eugene went to Vienna to report the failure of the negotiations,
and to obtain permission to return and serve with the Duke’s army. Louis XIV
sent Marshal Villars to command the French army in Flanders, the Duke d’Harcourt was sent to the Rhine, and the Duke de Berwick
to Dauphiné.
2. War in the Low Countries.
As the Duke of Marlborough had not trusted much to the
negotiations of peace, he had taken care to have every thing in readiness to
open the campaign. On the 21st of June he assembled an army of 110,000 men at
Menin; two days afterwards Eugene rejoined him and took command of the right
wing, and the army marched and encamped in the plain of Lille, on both sides of
the Upper Deule. Marshal Villars assembled his army in the plain of Lens, and
began to cast up intrenchments to cover his troops. His advantageous and
fortified camp was reported to be too strong for the allies to attack, and it
was decided to commence the campaign by the siege of Tournay. This was not
determined on without an ardent desire again expressed by Marlborough to carry
the war to the banks of the Seine, and dictate peace at Paris; and Marshal
Villars has left on record his opinion, that the confederates could have pushed
on to Boulogne, and laying all Picardy under contribution, have penetrated even
to Paris; but if such an idea was indeed entertained by Marlborough, it was far
too bold for the States General. Tournay was one of the strongest places in the
Netherlands, but Villars had been misled by the Duke’s movements, and believed
that his design was upon Ypres, so that being under no apprehension for
Tournay, Villars had unadvisedly weakened the garrison. In seems that in order
to mislead him, Marlborough had ordered up his train of artillery to ascend the
Lys to Courtray; but now, on the 27th of June,
Tournay was suddenly invested, and with so much secrecy that the enemy could
have no notice of the design, nor time to reinforce the garrison. The Biege
train was ordered back to Ghent, and to come up by water along the Scheldt to
Tournay, and the Prince of Nassau was sent to surprise St. Amand, a post
necessary to cover the siege, while another detachment went to take possession
of Mortagne at the junction of the Scarpe and
Scheldt.
3. Siege of Tournay.
The governor of Tournay was not a little astonished
and chagrined to find his town invested, unprovided, as it was with necessaries
for a long siege. The garrison did not exceed twelve weakened battalions and
four squadrons, under the command of M. de Surville. The governor was a man
possessed of admirable talents, and the place was strong both by art and
nature. The garrison,, though unequal to the defence of the town, was quite
equal to that of the citadel, and the vast subterranean defences with which the
outworks and glacis were perforated, rendered the approaches highly perilous
and difficult. On the 7th of July the trenches were opened. In proceeding by
the sap, the besiegers came suddenly upon the counterworkings of the enemy, and both sides fought with bayonet and pistol in underground
encounters. Mines and countermines were exploded on every side, some kindled by
accident and some by design; and whole battalions were blown up, stifled, or
burned in the ruins. No less than thirty-eight mines were exploded in
twenty-eight days of siege. On the 28th of July the breach was practicable, and
while the dispositions for an assault were made, the town surrendered on
conditions. Such were the courtesies of the time that the next day M. de
Surville, the governor, was entertained at dinner by Prince Eugene, and in the
afternoon he and the garrison retired to the citadel. Villars vainly
endeavoured to throw in a reinforcement of 7000 men, but the besiegers broke
ground immediately before the citadel, and on the 5th of August De Surville
offered articles for surrendering the citadel, if not released in a month; but
the King refused to ratify the terms proposed, except on the condition that
there should be a cessation of arms throughout the whole Netherlands till the 5th
of September. On the 15th of August the garrison made a sally which the
besiegers drove back; but pursuing their advantage, and effecting a lodgement
on one of the outworks, a mine was sprung, and 150 men blown into the air. On
the 23rd a mine was happily discovered which would have blown up a whole
battalion. On the 25th 300 men, posted in a mine not discovered to the allies,
were crushed by the explosion of another one below where they stood, and 100
men were suddenly buried under it. On the 30th of August De Surville again
offered to surrender the citadel, but Marlborough rejected the terms. At length
on the 3rd of September, his provisions being quite exhausted, De Surville surrendered
himself and his garrison of 3400 men prisoners of war, but obtained the
condition that they should be permitted to return to France, on giving their
parole that they would not act in the field until a like number of the allies
should be released. Thus, after twenty-one days of open trenches a place was
reduced which was thought impregnable, and that in the sight of a numerous army
of the enemy, who made no attempt to relieve it.
4. Marlborough invests Mons.
The possession of Mons appeared to be a matter of such
great importance that on the 31st of August Lord Orkney, with a considerable
force, was despatched from the allied camp to prevent the French army from
getting possession of their intrenchments on the banks of the Trouille, which might impede the projected siege of it. At
four in the afternoon of the 3rd of September, the day on which Tournay
surrendered, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel with a detachment was ordered to follow
Lord Orkney, and if he found him successful, to cross the Haine, and invest
Mons on the south-west. At nine the same evening a third detachment under
Cadogan was sent in the same direction. Notwithstanding the severity of the
weather, the Prince of Hesse prosecuted his object with such unremitting
ardour, that on the 6th, at noon, he entered the French lines of the Trouille without opposition, and established his headquarters
at the abbey of Belian. It has been computed, that with sixty squadrons of
horse and 4000 foot, the Prince had marched forty-nine English miles in
fifty-six hours, through bad roads, and in a rainy season. Marshal Villars, as
soon as he heard of the Prince’s march, sent the Chevalier de Luxembourg to
anticipate him; but he did not reach the vicinity of Ciply till the 7th, when he found the Prince too strong to be dislodged; both armies
now broke up to follow their respective detachments. Marshal Villars marched
from his lines on the Scarpe, and took up a position between Montroeul and Attiche. On the 7th
Marlborough and Eugene with equal celerity established their forces so as to
observe with particular attention the defiles of Wasmes and St. Ghislain, and the roads leading to Mons through the woods of Blangies and Sart. Mons was thus
invested by the superior promptitude of the allied commanders. The place itself
was scantily provided, ill prepared for a defence, and with a very sickly
garrison.
On the 7th Marshal Bouflers arrived in the French
camp. He and Marshal Villars were great friends, and though he was the senior
officer, yet, with the spirit of a Roman, he asked his King’s leave to repair
to the army and serve under Villars, as soon as he heard that the affairs in
Flanders were on the eve of a decisive battle. The two armies were nearly equal
in numbers, and both eager for the fight. The allies had 139 battalions and 252
squadrons, or about 93,000 men, and the French 130 battalions and 260
squadrons, or 95,000 men; while the former had 102 guns, and the latter eighty.
Villars had obtained the consent of his court to risk a general action; and at
a council of war held in the camp of the allies it was resolved, after debate
and considerable opposition, that the advice of Marlborough and Eugene should
be followed, namely, to attack the French as soon as they had assembled all
their forces, if the enemy did not previously bring on an engagement.
Marshal Villars, however, instead of attacking the
allies, as Marlborough had expected, resolved to intrench himself, and during
the interval that the allies were waiting for the assembly of their forces, he
had made considerable progress in the works. In this interval, in order to
complete the blockade of Mons, and for the purpose of obtaining more direct
communications, it was resolved by the Duke I to attack by escalade the
fortress of St. Ghislain; accordingly, on the 10th, General Dedem accomplished
the capture with equal vigour and promptitude, taking in the fort 200 prisoners,
and five pieces of cannon.
5. Battle of Malplaquet.
This was the most bloody battle of the war, and it has
been doubted whether there were sufficient military reasons for either
commander to have incurred it. The possession of Mons, either way, would not
justify it, and it could not, so late in the Beason, much affect the issue of
the campaign. The French Marshals were the least chargeable with the
responsibility of the battle, because they acted on the defensive, and awaited
the attack by intrenching themselves. But in the factions that distracted his
country at this time, Marlborough was severely censured for having wantonly
sacrificed human life against a well-prepared enemy in a well-fortified position,
and the most outrageous imputations were attached to him for it, which, it is
almost unnecessary to add, have never been justified. It was the only rash
thing the Duke was ever guilty of. The responsibility may with most justice be
laid at the door of Prince Eugene, since he has left us his opinion in his
Memoirs, that he recommended a battle: and he appears to have been one of those
ardent spirits who always most revelled in a fight. But if the battle was not
the fault of the French Marshals, the position in which they received it was
wholly of their choosing. It was a most singular one. No great communication
crossed it. It defended no passage of a river. It occupied no prominent ridge
of country. It was merely a gap (literally Trouée d’Aulnois)
between two considerable woods entirely occupied by farms and cultivated land,
excepting near Malplaquet, where there was a small
heath. The gap was about 4000 paces in width, a very insufficient position for
two armies of nearly 100,000 men each to meet in combat. Accordingly the French
army were doubled up in three lines, and Marlborough’s force in two lines was
obliged to refuse its right, and to extend a long way beyond the wood on that
flank, in order to find room in position. The French threw up every kind of épaulement, flêches, redans, and parapets, in successive lines,
and had even commenced a third connected intrenchment. These were strengthened
by abattis and every natural obstacle. The defect of the position was
considered to be that the wood of Blangies lying in a
more parallel form to the French position than the other wood, called La Lanière,
concealed from their eyes the formations behind it—for although the French side
of the wood was comparatively the more elevated, (since several streams took
their rise upon its surface,) yet it afforded no opportunity of seeing beyond
the woods. On the other hand, the gap was defended and raked on both flanks, so
as to be almost unapproachable. “C’étoit une espèce de gueule infernale, un gouffre de feu, de soufre, et de salpêtre,
dont il ne semblait pas qu’on pût approcher sans périr.”
Marshal Villare took the
command of the left, opposed to Prince Eugene : Marshal Bouflers was honoured
with that of the right, opposed by Marshal Count Tilly and the Prince of
Orange. Marlborough was in the centre, or every where. Never in so narrow a space
of ground were there so many assembled who were either in themselves great or
about to become so; the Prince of Hesse-Cassel and the Prince Royal of Prussia,
about to become Kings; the youthful Pretender, the Chevalier de St. George;
Schulenburg, Lottum, and Albemarle, among the Dutch;
Cadogan, Argyle, and Lumley, among the British; D’Artagnan, Legal, Puységur,
St. Hilaire, and Folard, among the French; Dohna, Spaar, and Rantzau, from
other countries. In the French army there were no less than twelve officers who
afterwards became Marshals of France; and on the side of the allies were Saxe,
Schwerin, and Munich, all subsequently Marshals and leaders of armies.
As the morning of the 11th of September began to dawn,
a mist overspread the woods and concealed the armies from each other. In the
camp of the allies Divine Service was solemnly performed at three in the
morning. At half-past seven the sun broke forth, and the fire immediately
commenced on both sides. The battle was more a struggle of brute force than of
strategic combinations. At nine o’clock Schulenburg with forty battalions moved
along the edge of that part of the wood of Blangies called the wood of Sart, and went into action, whilst
General Withers with fifteen battalions, which he had brought up from Tournay,
was advancing on the other side. They were received with a furious storm of
musketry from five brigades under the command of M. d’Albergotti;
but, nevertheless, began to penetrate into the woods opposite Choux-Fleury, as
fast as the obstructions they encountered would permit. The line as it advanced
was broken into parties, and every tree became a subject of dispute. Scarcely
did this attack begin, before Marlborough in person led on Count Lottum with twenty-two battalions on the left of the former
column, to the attack of the enemy’s left centre. The Earl of Orkney with
fifteen battalions remained in reserve, either to attack the right centre, or
be within reach to support Lottum. The troops, led on
by Eugene, struggled through the hollow way, and made a furious effort to
ascend the breastwork opposed to them, but were repulsed by the French troops,
under M. de Guébriant, encouraged by the presence of
Villars himself. Marlborough now placed himself at the head of D’Auvergne’s
cavalry to sustain Lottum, and the Duke of Argyle
brought up a British brigade, when the whole renewed the attempt, but the
access by the swampy approach Boon became impassable. The presence of
D’Auvergne’s cavalry however staggered the defenders of the intrenchments. Now,
while a desperate conflict was going on in the mass of wood on the right of the
allies, known generally as the Forest of Taisnière, General Withers, with the
corps he brought up from Tournay, was gradually creeping on to La Folie on the
other side of it, and this rendered it impossible for Villars to maintain the
wood any longer, and forced the French back to their second line of works.
The interval appointed for the left attack having now
transpired, the Prince of Orange, impatient of delay and without waiting for
the consent of Marshal Tilly, began his attack on the breastworks that defended
the wing where Marshal Bouflers commanded. On the left of the whole line,
Generals Hamilton and Douglas with the Scottish brigade in four lines entered
the wood of La Lanière, and encountered the grenadiers that covered the right
flank of the enemy, under D’Artagnan. Fifteen Dutch battalions under Generals
Spaar and Oxenstiern advanced against the intrenchments, that covered the road
to Malplaquet: other Dutch and Danish troops under
Generals Wildren and Pallart were to advance on either side the enclosures that
formed the farm of Bleron. The whole was supported by twenty-one squadrons
commanded by the Prince of Cassel, and covered by the artillery of the several
corps engaged. The Prince of Orange led the attack under a tremendous shower of
grape and musketry, which killed General Oxenstiern at his side. Several of his
aids-de-camp were also struck down and his royal highness’s horse was killed
under him. On foot he rushed forward, and though whole ranks were swept down he
reached the intrenchments, and waving his hat exclaimed, “Follow me, my
friends, here is your post.” But before the assailants could form, after having
obtained actual possession of the works, they were driven from their posts by
the impetuous charge of the French brigades, Royal, Picardy, Navarre, and
Piedmont. Again and again the Dutch returned to the assault, and again and
again were driven back. Spaar lay dead on the field. General Week shared his
glorious fate. The veteran Steckemberg on the side of the French closed his
long and honourable career, and Tullibardine, who had sought honour in a
foreign service, died the death of many of his gallant race. Hamilton and many
others were wounded. The Prince of Orange bad another horse shot under him.
Again the onset was renewed, but it was no longer possible to force the enemy.
The disordered ranks of the Dutch were beaten back over heaps of their slain
companions; and even their advanced battery fell into the hands of the French.
Bouflers sent forward his horse-grenadiers to improve the advantage; but the
Prince of Hesse and his brave squadrons presented so firm a front as to awe
these fresh assailants. In these attacks 2000 were killed, and the number of
wounded was frightful.
Goslinga, the Dutch deputy, who had led on the troops
of his nation with unexampled courage, and had been a witness of the unequal
conflict, now galloped off to seek Marlborough, to obtain assistance. Not
meeting him, he endeavoured to induce General Rantzau, who was posted with four
battalions of Hanoverians near the wood of Tiry, to aid him; but the General
stated his positive instructions not to move without orders. After much
importunity, however, and sad representations of the critical situation of the
Dutch, Rantzau sent them a reinforcement of two battalions. Having despatched
them, Goslinga again sought and at length found the Duke, who immediately
ordered back the troops despatched by Rantzau, and directed the Prince of
Orange only to act on the defensive, and not to renew the attack. Here Eugene
came up to Marlborough to represent the state of his right wing, where the
enemy were about to renew the attack with increased numbers, and to solicit
some more strength to meet it.
Marshal Villars, in the attack on his flank, had been
alarmed by the unexpected appearance of General Withers, and his fifteen
battalions, at La Folie hamlet, on the French side of the wood of Taisnière,
and had ineffectually sent for reinforcements from Bouflers, which that Marshal
was not in a condition to spare. He therefore reluctantly felt compelled to
draw troops from his centre, so he resolved to send the Irish brigade, and that
of Bretagne to the aid of his left; and in the sequel, he sent also the brigade
of La Sarre. It was this attack that induced Eugene
to seek Marlborough, and now his return animated his men to fresh exertions,
but in the act of leading them to the charge Me was struck by a musket-ball
behind his ear. His friends pressed his highness to leave the field. “What does
it signify,” he replied to them, “to be healed, if we must die here ? and if we
beat, we shall have plenty of time for it.” His battalions, for a time,
recovered their lost ground, and pressed forward in great numbers towards a “coulie,” or open glade, between the woods on both sides of Sart and Taisniere. In the mêlée, Chemerault and Pallavicini fell; and the several
brigades were mingled together in the thickest parts of the wood in
considerable disorder. Eugene advanced at the head of five German regiments,
and opened a destructive fire. These were charged with the by the new
brigades from the centre, under the immediate direction of Villars, when one
ball killed the Marshal’s horse, and another struck him above the knee. Unable
to ride, he called for a seat, that he might continue on the field, until
fainting from the anguish of the wound, he was carried senseless to Quesnoy. The allies had during this time been driven back
to the edge of the wood, from which they did not for the moment again attempt
to advance.
Marlborough observed with delight the departure of the
troops that Villars had drawn away from his centre to attack Eugene: it was one
of the most remarkable characteristics of this great commander, that he had
such firmness of purpose and resolution to carry out his plans, that he could
coolly await the proper moment of onset. He had witnessed, with equal concern
and admiration, the efforts of the brave Dutch troops under their Prince of Orange,
and had refused to them, or had withdrawn from them, the succour that Goslinga
had obtained by his importunities from General Rantzau. He had also responded
to the representations of Eugene in person, of the state of his right wing, by
very provisionary orders, all that he could give at
such a moment. Nevertheless, Rantzau was steadily kept to the possession of the
farm of Bleron and the wood of Tiry, and Lord Orkney, with fifteen battalions,
bad not up to this time fired a shot. As soon therefore as the enemy were seen
to draw their men out of their intrenchments in the centre, the Duke ordered
Lord Orkney to make a decisive effort upon the redans that had been raised
there. At a single onset he took possession of them, overpowering the Bavarian
and Cologne guards, who were left to defend them almost unsupported, in
consequence of the draughts that had been made to reinforce the left. Heavy
batteries from the British centre were now brought forward and turned against
the retiring troops. The Prince d’Auvergne, with thirty squadrons of Dutch
cavalry, supported by the British cavalry under General Wood, the Prussians and
Hanoverians under General Bulow, and the whole imperial cavalry under the Duke
of Würtemberg and Count Vehlen, now moved forward and
passed between the abattis and the French redans. Rantzau moved up from the
farm and turned the troops of Bouflers at the same moment that the Prince of
Orange, undaunted by bis former ill success, stormed anew, and carried the most
forward intrenchments.
The crisis of this sanguinary battle had now arrived.
Bouflers himself, with the gallant host of the gendarmerie of France, after a
short and cheering address, dashed upon the advancing hosts of the allied
cavalry, and D’Auvergne was overthrown and driven back; but Lord Orkney had
taken the precaution to post his infantry in the works he had gained, and
poured in so destructive a fire, that it repulsed the gens d’armes in their turn. Marlborough now came up and led forward the British and Prussian
cavalry under the command of Wood and Bulow, who fell upon the discomfited
squadrons, but he presently came upon a formidable body of 2000 men, consisting
of the garde-du-corps, mousquetaires, and other
cavalry of the enemy. The onset was tremendous, but the French phalanx was
unable to make any impression, and retired from the attack sorely shattered by
the allied artillery. At this critical moment, the whole of Eugene’s cavalry
arrived at full gallop, headed by the Prince himself; and the Prince of Hesse
also pushed past the redans, took the right of the hostile cavalry in flank,
and drove this intrepid and distinguished body behind the rivulet of
Camp-Perdu.
Whilst the Marquis de la Vallière and his noble
comrades rallied the French household troops, and the rest of the cavalry on
the plain, Marshal Bouflers, on whom, in consequence of Villars’ wound, the
whole command now rested, cast an anxious and scrutinizing eye over the field.
He beheld his centre pierced, his right dislodged, and all communication with
his left cut off. Eugene had immediately availed himself of Marlborough’s
advance against the centre, (which exposed his opponent’s flank) to attack the
enemy’s leftwing; and M. de Legal, who had succeeded to the command of it, was
pushed back into full retreat with his cavalry, and about fifty battalions
under Puységur. Marshal Bouflers reluctantly ordered a general retreat, which
he effected, in the direction of Bavay, and across the Honneau,
carrying with them many standards and trophies they had won from the Dutch.
General Legal and the left retired to Quevrain. The
allies halted in the plain on which the French had stood, extending from Malplaquet to Chaussée le Bois, and Voltaire says, “On compta pour une victoire l’honneur de coucher parmi les morts.” (“It was considered a victory to have the honour of
sleeping among the dead”)
This was in honest truth the principal glory obtained
to the victors; only a few guns (about fourteen) were taken, and about
twenty-five colours, and amongst them “la cornette blanche,” or principal standard of the light cavalry of France; but the
conquerors lost 18,250 killed and wounded. Count Lottum was amongst the former, and Lieutenant-General Webb was severely wounded. The
15th of September was set apart by Marlborough and observed very devoutly by
the whole army, as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God for this victory.
6. Mons besieged and taken.
The trenches were opened against Mons on the night of
the 25th of September, and the siege was carried on with great vigour, under
the command of the Prince of Orange, with a force of thirty battalions, and as
many squadrons, appointed for that service; having under him four
lieutenant-generals and nine major-generals. In a sally from the garrison
General Cadogan was wounded, a circumstance of deep concern to the Duke, but it
was not seriously. On the 9th of October a lodgement was effected on the covert
way, and on the 16th another on the counterscarp. On the 20th the breaches were
declared practicable. The danger impending over Mons at length induced the
French commander to risk something for its relief. Marshal Berwick had been
recalled from Italy to assist Marshal Bouflers, and joined the main army, near Quesnoy, on the 18th. He immediately recommended a
reconnaissance, and found the covering army posted with the left towards the
Upper Trouille, and the right towards the Haine,
their front covered by woods and marshes. This position was deemed too strong
to risk the consequences of an attack. The Governor Grimaldi therefore, to
avoid the effect of an immediate assault, beat a parley on the 26th, and
capitulated. With the taking of Mons both armies retired into winter-quarters
on the 22nd of October.
7. War on the Rhine.
The campaign on the Rhine produced nothing hut one
sharp encounter on the 26th of August, between a detachment of the French army,
commanded by the Count Dubourg, and a body of the Imperialists under Count
Mercy, who had passed the Rhine in order to penetrate into Franche Comté. With
his army divided by the river, De Mercy was met at Rumersheim,
and was worsted in the encounter, with the loss of 2000 men, when he was
obliged to repass the river and retire to Fribourg.
8. War in Italy.
In Piedmont Field-Marshal Daun commanded the
confederates in the room of the Duke of Savoy, who refused to take the field
till Bome differences between the Emperor and him should be adjusted. The
French troops were commanded by the Duke de Berwick, and consisted of
eighty-four battalions and thirty squadrons. His headquarters were at Briançon
in Dauphiné. Daun’s design was to besiege Briançon, but the Duke de Berwick had
correctly informed himself of its means of defence, and with much prudence he
intrenched himself on the heights surrounding the place, encamping the bulk of
his army in the valley of Monnestier, so that he
completely frustrated the intention of the imperialist general. On the 7th of
August, however, Daun advanced from Turin to Suza, and on the 28th had an
affair near Conflane, with the division under M. de Thouy, and made himself master of Annecy. On the 23rd of
August Berwick defeated and entirely dispersed the Camisars,
near Vernoux.
9. War in Spain.
The course of military operations in the peninsula,
though far from being decisive, had this year been favourable to the Bourbon
King. On the 7th of May the Portuguese and English, under the Marquis de la
Frontiera and Lord Galway, had been again defeated at La Gudina, on the
frontier of Estremadura, by the Spaniards, under the Marquis de Bay. The
Portuguese general, contrary to the advice of Lord Galway, passed the river
with most of his forces: they were immediately charged by the Spaniards, who
were three times bravely repulsed by the English and Portuguese infantry. De
Bay, commanding the Spaniards, then made a charge upon some raw Portuguese
cavalry, who were routed, with the loss of some guns. Galway rashly advancing
to recover these guns, with two other English battalions, displayed, as usual,
far more personal courage than military skill. Major-General Sankey, the Earl
of Barrymore, Brigadier Pearce, and the Conde de San Juan, a Portuguese
general, with two British battalions and one Spanish, newly raised, were
overcome, and obliged to surrender themselves prisoners of war : Lord Galway
escaped with difficulty, and the remaining English, with .some Portuguese
infantry, still presented an unbroken front to the enemy, and made an orderly
retreat. The Spaniards obtained the victory without sharing it with their
French allies, and it was a very complete one. The allies are said to have left
1700 on the field.
On the east of the peninsula, the castle of Alicante,
guarded by two English regiments, had been besieged, and held out, during the
whole winter. At length D’Ashfeldt, finding all other means ineffectual,
ordered the rock to be undermined, and gave notice of it to the Governor Syburg, inviting him to send out two officers to see the
condition of the work. This offer having been accepted, D’Ashfeldt in person accompanied
them to the mine, and told them he could not bear the thought of seeing so many
brave men perish in the ruins of a place they had so gallantly defended. He
then gave the governor twenty-four hours to consider the resolution he should
take. Syburg, with an obstinacy that savoured more of
stupidity than of valour, where no military operations were depending on the
surrender of the place sooner or later, was deaf to this appeal; and the
explosion took place, carrying the governor and many officers to destruction.
Notwithstanding this dreadful incident, Colonel d’Albon,
who succeeded to the command, resolved to defend the citadel to the last
extremity. An attempt was made to relieve it by an expedition under Sir Edward
Whitaker, which arrived off Alicante on the 15th of April, but the enemy had
erected such works as effectually prevented them from landing; and at last,
General Stanhope, who was on board the “Northumberland,” entered into terms for
the garrison, which marched out with all the honours of war, and embarking on
board Whitaker’s squadron, were transported to Minorca. Nothing was gained this
year by the allies but the town of Balaguer, on the frontier of Catalonia,
which General Stahremberg reduced, and he put a strong garrison into it before
he went into winter-quarters. Marshal Bezons commanded the French forces in the peninsula this year, but was thought to have
been too supine in all his operations, and as King Philip was not satisfied
with him, he returned to France.
10. The Battle of Pultowa.
Charles XII had now taught the art of war to his
enemies, who had discovered how to take advantage of his errors, and to foil
him at his own weapons. With the reckless daring of his character, he had
resolved to dethrone the Czar, as be had dethroned the King of Poland, and
accordingly marched into the heart of Russia. Towards the month of April, he
found that his whole Swedish army, who had survived through the coldest winter
in the Ukraine, was but 18,000 Swedes, and the sole ally who remained true to
him was Mazeppa, who had brought a body of Cossacks and others, which raised
the force of the King to 30,000 men of all kinds. Towards the end of May he
passed the Dnieper, and determined to invest Pultowa, or Pultava,
a considerable town on the river Vorskla. Menschikoff, who commanded the
Russian army opposed to Charles, threw reinforcements into the town; and the
garrison made sorties, sprang mines, and defended themselves according to rule;
but on the 27th the Czar himself advanced to its relief with an army of 70,000
combatants. The King attacked one of the advancing detachments, and in the
skirmish received so severe a wound in the heel, that it was thought he must
lose his leg; but a bold surgeon thought he could save this necessity by making
incisions. With characteristic endurance, he ordered the doctor to proceed at
once to his task, and holding his own leg said, “Cut away—cut boldly, don’t be
afraid.” Unable from his wound to command his army, he ordered Reinschild to
attack the Czar on the 8th of July. The Czar had crossed the river a league
from Pultowa, and formed his camp behind seven redoubts mounted with cannon.
The Swedes left 3000 men in the trenches, and all but four pieces of artillery,
with which they advanced to the attack—Charles himself leading, carried on a
litter.
The battle began at half-past four in the morning. The
Swedish cavalry advanced to the attack of the Muscovite left wing. Menschikoff
received them with his Russian cavalry placed between redoubts lined with guns.
Notwithstanding, the Russian cavalry were overthrow ; and the Czar, going
forward to rally them, received a ball in his hat Menschikoff had three horses
killed under him. The Muscovites now charged the Swedes, who gave way; and the
Swedish General Schlippenbach was taken prisoner. The
Russian infantry, defiling from their intrenchments, on this advanced to attack
the Swedes. The Czar sent Menschikoff to pass to the right of the Swedish army,
between them and Pultowa—a movement which he executed with great success, and
dispersed a body of 3000 of the enemy, on his march, with great slaughter.
Charles now rallied the rest of his troops in two lines; the infantry in the
centre, the cavalry on the wings; and the Czar made a similar arrangement, and
placed his seventy-two guns in position. At nine o’clock the battle
recommenced. At the first volley the litter of Charles was struck and broken
down, and the horses killed. He ordered another. Twenty-one of those who
attended the King were struck down or killed. The cannon continued to decimate
the first line of Swedish infantry, who at length gave way, and retiring on the
second line, all took to flight. The Prince of Würtemberg, Reinschild, and
other principal general officers, were taken prisoners. The King would not
leave the field, but carried on the pikes of four grenadiers, and covered with
blood and dirt, he called out “Swedes,” “Swedes”, but it was all in vain, their
confusion was irretrievable. Poniatowski, who attended the King, gave orders in
spite of him to the bearers of the litter to lift him on a horse, and rallying
500 cavalry, they cut their way through the Russian line, and carried Charles
away. The King’s horse was killed under him; and Colonel Gieta, himself
wounded, gave him his own. They fortunately came upon Count Piper’s carriage,
and placed him safely in it, and carried him off the field. Löwenhaupt managed
to get together some 16,000 troops, Swedes, Poles, and Cossacks, to defend the
King, whose carriage again broke down, so that he was again obliged to be
placed on horseback. The whole force was at length collected on the 10th, on
the banks of the Dnieper: Mazeppa and the King now crossed the river in a boat.
Many men swam across, and a great many were drowned; the rest, with the General
Löwenhaupt, remained on the side of the river, but being without food or
resources they surrendered, in a day or two afterwards, to the Russians.
Charles, with his escort of 500, reached the Turkish frontier in safety, but
the Pacha of Oczakov did not feel himself justified
in receiving more than the King, with one or two attendants; and whilst Charles
endeavoured to negotiate, even they were made prisoners almost in his sight The
King then removed to Bender, where he was kept in honourable captivity for some
years.
Upon this reverse in Charles’s affairs, King Augustus
pretended that his resignation of the crown of Poland had been extorted from
him, and Stanislaus was not able to make any resistance to his resumption of
it. The King of Denmark, who was travelling in Italy, immediately returned home
and sent an army over the Sound, about the middle of November, to invade
Sweden. But the Queen of England and the States General of Holland interfered,
and the peace of the northern parts of Europe was secured for the moment.
The use of mines was not until this time much
understood as a means in the defence of fortified places. It had originally
been found effectual in the formation of breaches. At this time mines had been
found of considerable service to the besieged, by not only impeding the
progress of the besieger, but in inspiring his troops with uncertainty and
dread. How brave soever in the field a soldier is, he evinces great repugnance
in engaging in this perilous service ; and at Tournay it was only by the
officers personally visiting the trenches and offering high rewards to the men,
that they would enter upon the task of countermining.
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