CHAPTER XV: THE BATTLE OF MARIENTHAL
The decision had scarcely been made when one of the lieutenants ran in."Captain Mieville requests me to state that sounds have been heardin the forest, and that he believes there is a large body of menapproaching."
"Then, ladies, I must beg you to mount the stairs to the turret at once.I will place six men on guard there. The main body I must keep in frontof the chateau, as that affords a protection to our rear. Do not bealarmed. I do not think the place is likely to be attacked; but shouldit be, the six men could hold it for any time. As soon as I have beatenthe main body I will at once attack those who may be assailing theturret, though I hardly think that they will do so, for they know thatthere is nothing to be obtained that would in any way repay them for theloss that they would suffer. They are marching here for the purpose ofattacking us."
He called to the two sentries.
"See the ladies up the stairs to the turret, and take up your post onthe lower stairs. Four more men shall join you at once."
He found that Mieville had already got all the men under arms, and hadranged them between the bivouac fires and the still glowing chateau.
"Move your men along farther, Mieville. Let your left flank rest on theangle of the old castle, then we shall not be made anxious by anotherattack on the turret. Let the right flank rest upon the chateau wherethe old castle joins it. We shall then be in darkness, while theassailants, if they come from that side, will have to cross the groundlit up by the glow from the ruins. Let the centre of the line be someten yards in front of the building; let the line be two deep."
As soon as this disposition was made he called down the six men, as theywere no longer required to defend the staircase.
"Now, men," he said when all were formed up, "I need not admonishsoldiers who were so firm under the attack of the whole of the Bavarianarmy of the necessity for steadiness. I have no doubt that if we areattacked it will be in considerable force; but it will be by half armedpeasants, and there probably will not be a gun among them. But evenpeasants, when worked up into a state of excitement are not to bedespised. My orders are: The front rank shall continue firing until theyare close at hand, and shall then fix bayonets. Until this is done thesecond line are not to fire a shot; but as soon as the front rank areready to repel the enemy with fixed bayonets, you will begin. Don'tthrow a shot away, but continue loading and firing, as quickly as youcan; and unless very closely pressed, let no man empty his musket untilhis comrade on the right has reloaded, so that there will always be someshots in reserve. Should they rush on in spite of the fire, I shallgive the order, 'Empty your muskets and fix bayonets,' and we will thencharge them. Hunter, you and your three comrades and Paolo will keepclose to me, and if we find the men wavering at any point we will go totheir assistance. If, however, we charge, remember that you six men Itold off to guard the turret are at once to pass through the gates andtake up your post on the steps, for some of them may slip in behind usand endeavour to rush up."
The horses, that had been turned loose when Hector and the troopersmounted the steps, had been seized by the peasants, and tied up to sometrees close by when the latter began to feast. They had been recoveredwhen the insurgents were scattered by Mieville's company and had thenbeen placed in the courtyard of the castle. As soon as the alarm wasgiven, Hector, the four troopers, and Paolo had mounted. The threeofficers were also on horseback.
"In case the company charges, Mieville," he said, "we nine mounted mencan cover the rear and charge any of the insurgents who try to rush inand take them in the rear. I hope that we shall keep them off with ourmusketry fire; but I don't disguise from myself that if they fall uponus at close quarters we shall have to fight hard. Ah, here they come!"
Suddenly in the darkness from the other side of the chateau a greatcrowd of men poured out, shouting and yelling furiously, and brandishingtheir rough weapons, which shone blood red in the glow of the fire inthe ruins. Someone had evidently been placed on the watch, and had toldthem where the troops had taken up their post, for they came on withouthesitation, bearing outwards until they faced the centre of the line, ata distance of fifty yards; then one of the men, who appeared to be theleader, shouted an order, and they rushed impetuously forward. The frontline at once opened fire. Many of the peasants dropped, while the othershesitated a little, and so gave the men who had first fired time toreload; but, urged on by the shouts of their leaders, the peasants againrushed forward.
"Fire a volley, and then fix bayonets!" Hector shouted. The fiftymuskets flashed out, and as the peasants were but fifteen yards awayevery shot told, and their front rank was completely swept away.
"Every other man in the second line fire!" Hector ordered, andtwenty-five shots added to the confusion among the peasants. Theslaughter, however, only had the effect of maddening the great crowd,who numbered upwards of two thousand, and with a howl of fury theyrushed forward again. Hector waited until they almost touched the row ofbayonets, and then gave the order for the remaining men to fire and allto fix bayonets. The instant this was done he shouted "Charge!" for hesaw that while standing quiet his men were no match for the peasants,whose long poles with the scythes at the end gave them great advantageover the shorter weapons of the soldiers. With a cheer the latter threwthemselves upon their opponents, their close formation and more handyweapons depriving their enemies of this advantage. Thrusting andoverthrowing all in front of them, the line burst its way throughthe mob, the little party of cavalry charging furiously whenever thepeasants endeavoured to fall upon their rear, and the latter, boldly asthey fought against the infantry, shrank back before the flashing swordsand the weight of horses and riders.
As soon as they had passed through the crowd Hector gave the order forhis troops to face about, and they again burst their way through the mobthat had closed in behind them. Four times was the manoeuvre repeated,the resistance growing fainter each time, as the peasants foundthemselves unable to withstand the charge of the disciplined troops.When for the fifth time they reached the gate of the castle the crowd nolonger pressed upon their rear, but stood hesitatingly some fifty yardsaway. Hector took advantage of the pause, and ordered his men, who werepanting from their exertions, to load again. He formed them in singleline now.
"Don't fire a shot until I give the word," he said; "then pour in yourvolley, fix bayonets instantly, and charge."
Standing in the shade as they did, the movement of loading wasunobserved by the peasants, who, as they saw the line again advancing,prepared to meet them, but gave a yell of surprise when a terriblevolley was poured into them at a distance of twenty yards. Then, beforethey had recovered from their surprise, the long line was upon them withlevelled bayonets. Only a few stood their ground. These were instantlyoverthrown. The rest, throwing away their weapons, fled in alldirections.
"Thank God that is over!" Hector said, as he told the troops to halt andreload. "If they had all been as courageous as their leader theywould have annihilated us, but each time we charged I observed thata considerable number fell away on either flank, so that it was nota solid mass through which we had to make our way. What is our loss,Mieville?"
"I rode along the line and counted the numbers. There are butseventy-five on foot," he said, "and most of these have got more or lesssevere wounds with their ugly weapons."
"Let the ground over which we have passed be carefully searched," hesaid, "and any of our men who show signs of life be carried in front ofthe chateau."
Twelve men were found to be living; their wounds were at once attendedto and bandaged.
"I think most of them will do," Captain Mieville said. "They are uglylooking gashes, but it is not like a bullet in the body."
The men who had been killed were found in most cases to have beenslain outright from the blows of hatchets, which had in several casescompletely severed their heads. While the wounds of the soldiers werebeing attended to, Hector went to the gate at which the baroness and herdaughter were now standing.
"Yo
u are unhurt, I hope," the lady said as Hector approached.
"I have two or three more wounds," he said, "but, like those I hadbefore, they are of little account."
"It was a terrible fight," she said. "We watched it from the top of theturret, and it seemed to us that you were lost each time you plungedinto the crowd, you were so few among such numbers. Have you lost anymen?"
"We have only had thirteen killed outright," he said. "Twelve more arevery seriously wounded, but I think most of them will recover. As tothe rest of the company, I fancy that most of them will require somebandaging. And now I shall recommend you and your daughter to return toyour shelter. I have no fear whatever of their coming back again."
"That we cannot do," she said firmly. "It is our duty to do what we canto aid those who have fought so bravely."
"The men are now attending to each other's wounds," Hector said. "Everyman in my regiment carries, by my orders, a couple of bandages. We foundthem most useful at Freiburg, and many a life was saved that would havebeen lost but for their use; but if you insist upon doing anything, Iwould ask you to carry wine and water round. The troopers will draw thewater for you from the well in the courtyard here."
"That we will do willingly," she said.
For the next two hours the ladies were busy at work, moving among themen and supplying them with refreshments. Not until all their wants wereamply supplied did they retire.
In the morning Hector said: "Now, Madame de Blenfoix, I have beenthinking the matter over, and consider that it would be a whollyunnecessary journey and a loss of four days were you to travel to Nancywith us. You are only ten days' journey from Poitou, and I shouldadvise you to start at once. My man, Paolo, and two of the troopers willaccompany you as an escort. Your road will lead through Orleans, whichwill be almost halfway, and you will also pass through Tours. At boththese towns you can, if you will, stay for a day to rest. I will ridedown with you into Blenfoix, where I shall be able to get paper andpens, and will write letters to Captain MacIntosh and to my intendantexplaining exactly the position that you will occupy. One of thetroopers will ride forward with these from your last halting placebefore you arrive there, in order that you may find everything preparedand be received properly on your arrival. Do you both ride, or would yourather have a pillion's place behind the troopers?"
"We both ride," she said; "but I should prefer, on a journey like this,that my daughter should ride behind me on a pillion. You are altogethertoo good, Colonel Campbell. You are heaping kindnesses upon us."
"Not at all, madam. And now you will doubtless be glad to hear that insearching round the place this morning, we have discovered that two ofyour horses that had doubtless been turned loose by the peasants havefound their way back. No difficulty will therefore arise on that score.The saddles are hanging from the beams in the stable, so that everythingis in readiness for your departure."
A quarter of an hour later the whole party left the ruined chateau, thetroops taking their way to the point at which they had left the road,while Hector with his four troopers and Paolo rode down into Blenfoixwith the ladies. Here the baroness purchased a few necessaries for thejourney while Hector was writing his letters. Hunter and Macpherson wereto form their escort, and were by turns to lead the spare horse, whichon alternate days was to carry the double burden. Paolo carried thepurse, which contained a sum ample for the expenses of the journey.When all was ready the adieus were said, and the baroness repeated theheartfelt thanks of her daughter and herself for the kindness shownthem. Paolo took his place beside the ladies, the two troopers fell inbehind, and they started west, while Hector with the other two troopersgalloped off to overtake his company.
At Joinville they found that de Thiou's company had just marched in, butit was not until the next day that the other two returned. All had metwith scattered bodies of peasants, but these had dispersed as soon asthe troops were seen, and there had been no actual fighting except withthe parties Hector had met. The bodies of the soldiers that had fallenwere buried near the chateau. Those of the peasants were left where theylay, and would doubtless be carried off by their friends as soon as thelatter knew that the troops had left. The lesson had been a severeone indeed, upwards of two hundred and eighty being killed in the twoencounters. The insurgents were completely disheartened by their loss,and during the rest of the winter the aid of the troops was not againcalled for.
As soon as spring set in, the Poitou regiment marched to join themarshal. The Bavarian army had been weakened by the withdrawal of fourthousand men to aid the Imperialists, who had been defeated by theSwedes in Bohemia. Turenne, on hearing the news, at once prepared totake advantage of it, crossed the Rhine on a bridge of boats at Spires,and passed the Neckar, General Merci retiring before him. Stuttgartopened its gates, and Turenne established himself at Marienthal on theriver Tauber. Merci, as he fell back, had caused a rumour to be spreadthat he was making for the Danube.
There was a great scarcity of forage in the country round Marienthal,and the officers of the cavalry strongly urged upon Turenne that theyshould divide and take up stations at various points where they couldobtain food for their animals, which were much exhausted by their longand heavy marches. Turenne for some time resisted their entreaties, butat last, seeing that the cavalry would speedily be ruined unless theycould obtain food, permitted this course to be taken. Before allowingthem to leave, however, he sent parties of horse forward in variousdirections to discover what the enemy were doing. These returned withthe news that the Bavarian army had broken up, and was fortifying itselfin the towns among which it had been divided. Turenne, however, wasstill apprehensive. He kept his cannon and the greater part of theinfantry with him, and also General Rosen with a portion of his horse,and refused to let the rest of the cavalry go farther than three leaguesfrom the army. He himself rode out with a regiment of cavalry some tenmiles beyond Marienthal, along the road by which the Imperialists wouldadvance were they to assemble to attack him.
At two o'clock the next morning a party he had sent to watch theBavarians brought in the news that Merci was advancing with all hisforce. Rosen was ordered to hurry forward to the spot where the advanceddivision was lying. Messengers were sent off in all directions to recallthe scattered cavalry, and having seen that everything had been done toplace affairs in a better position, Turenne rode off with what troopshe could gather to aid Rosen. The latter had made a serious blunder. Infront of the position held by the advanced division was a large wood,through which the Bavarians must pass. Instead of taking possession ofthis and holding it until reinforcements came up, he fell back, drew uphis troops on the plain, and allowed the Bavarians to occupy the woodwithout resistance. With the troops which arrived with him, the marshalhad now under him some three thousand infantry and seven regiments ofhorse. He placed his infantry on his right with two squadrons to supportthem; with the rest of his cavalry, he formed his left wing.
He himself took the command here. Rosen commanded on the right. Merci,after passing through the wood, drew up his army in order of battle andopened fire on the French. The artillery, however, in no way shook theirfirmness, and seeing more troops in the distance advancing to reinforcethem, Merci began the battle by an attack on a little wood on which theFrench right rested; while at the same time Turenne charged the Bavarianright wing with his cavalry, broke it up, and captured the cannon andtwelve standards. But while on this side the victory was almost won,on the other side disaster had befallen the French. Their infantry,perceiving that the Bavarians, who were advancing to attack them, weremuch superior in force, were seized with a panic and scattered inall directions. The left wing of the Bavarians advanced rapidly, and,throwing themselves behind Turenne's wing, prepared to fall upon him inthe rear.
Turenne ordered his cavalry to retire, and passing through the woodfound beyond it three regiments that had just arrived. These with thefifteen hundred horse that had been with him in the battle placed him ina position to make a vigorous defence, but the Bavarians did not venturet
o attack him. He now sent an officer to rally the scattered infantry,and gave orders that they should at once retreat without a stop toPhilippsburg, a distance of seventy miles. He himself with his cavalrystarted for Hesse, whose landgravine was in alliance with France. Withtwo regiments he covered the retreat, and so enabled the rest of thecavalry as they came up from their distant quarters to cross the Tauber.This was a bold and successful movement, for had he fallen back with hisinfantry to Philippsburg the enemy would have possessed themselvesof all the towns he had captured, whereas they could not now advancewithout exposing their line of communication to his attack.
The Poitou regiment had, when Turenne advanced to Marienthal, beenleft at a town some four leagues away. A messenger reached Hector fromTurenne with a note scribbled in pencil:--
We have been beaten. The infantry behaved shamefully, and are hastening,a crowd of stragglers, towards Philippsburg. I shall retire along theTauber with the cavalry and make for Hesse, do you march with all speedfor that river. If as you approach the river you hear that we havealready passed, do you direct your march to Hesse. I leave the choice ofroute to you, and you must be guided by circumstances. At any rate youare unlikely to be attacked except by cavalry, and these, if not in toogreat numbers, you may be trusted to beat off.
Ten minutes after the receipt of this order the regiment was on themarch. They arrived on the Tauber just in time, for a quarter of an hourafter they had piled arms, after a tremendous march, the cavalry camealong. They were in scattered parties, for the roads were terribly bad,and they were obliged to break up and make their way as best they couldby mere tracks across the rocky and hilly country. Turenne himself, whenhe arrived, had but twenty horsemen with him.
"I hardly expected you to be up in time, Campbell," he said, as hedismounted. "Your men must have marched well indeed. As you see, thoughunbeaten, for we on our side defeated the enemy's horse, we are as muchdispersed as if we had suffered a disaster. I am trying to cover theretreat with two regiments of cavalry that were not engaged in thebattle. Half an hour since we charged and drove back in confusion aparty of Bavarian horse, but they formed up again. The main body isahead, but is as scattered as we are, for besides the difficulty ofkeeping together on these horrible roads, it is necessary that we shouldoccupy every track by which the enemy's horse could move, or they mightget in front of us and play havoc with us.
"You will have to march all night, and I should advise you to breakup your command into half companies, with orders to each to attachthemselves as far as possible to such parties of my two regiments ofcavalry as they may come across. We shall not proceed at any great pace,as we must give time for the troops ahead of us to get clear. The horsesare utterly worn out, being half starved and fatigued with their march.So far we know not whether the whole of the Bavarian cavalry is behindus, but it is probable that one of their two divisions is pursuing theinfantry. I wish you had been there with them. In the first place yourexample would have prevented their breaking, and in the second you couldhave covered their retreat. As it is, I fear that but few of the threethousand who were with me will reach Philippsburg. I shall be glad ifyou yourself will remain near me. If your regiment were going to keeptogether I would not take you from them, but being broken up intofragments, you could exercise no supervision over them in the darkness."
Hector at once called the officers together, and gave them the necessaryorders. "You understand," he said, "that your main object is not so muchto save yourselves, though that is most important, but to enable thecavalry to beat back the Bavarian horse."
It was a terrible march; both horse and foot made their way along withdifficulty through the darkness. Men and horses were alike fatigued, andthe cavalry for the most part dismounted and led their animals along.There were several sharp fights with bodies of the enemy, who, ignorantof the line by which the French were retreating, feared to pressthe rearguard too close, lest they should find them in very superiornumbers. Once, when they passed a lane running down to the river,Turenne--who had taken every opportunity of making his way across theline of retreat and seeing how all was going on--said to Hector, "Willyou ride up here, Campbell, and cheer up any parties you may comeacross. Tell them that all is going on well, and that by morning weshall find that the enemy have given up the pursuit, and shall be ableto halt and take a few hours' rest, and give battle should the enemycome up in force. Their horses must be as fatigued as ours, for theymust have been marching for eight or ten hours since the morning."
Hector had only Paolo now with him, having appointed the four troopersto go with different parties of the infantry, and to act as orderliesto their captains. He rode rapidly up the lane, and presently heard thecavalry passing across it.
"There is one party, Paolo," he said, urging his horse into a gallop. Intwo or three minutes he came up with the column of horse.
"Where is your officer?" he asked, drawing rein as he reached them.
"Seize him!" a voice cried in German, and before he and Paolo could turntheir horses half a dozen troopers were upon them.
"I surrender," he cried in German, seeing that resistance wasimpossible.
"Who are you, monsieur?" an officer demanded.
"I am colonel of the Poitou regiment of infantry," he said. "This man ismy lackey."
"Where are your cavalry, sir?"
"That I cannot tell you exactly, seeing that no one knows. I thoughtthat you formed part of our rearguard."
"How comes it that you, an infantry officer, were there? We heard thatthere were no infantry with them."
"We joined them just before nightfall, and were at once divided up amongthe various regiments of horse."
"I must inform our colonel of that. Come along with me," and they pushedpast the troopers until they arrived at the head of the column, when theofficer reported to the colonel.
"Donner Blitzen!" the latter exclaimed, "it is well that we learned thisnews, for we should have fared very ill if we had come upon horse andfoot together. The Poitou regiment! That is the one that we heard beatback our charges so often at Freiburg, and they say the best regiment inthe French service. It is no use our going farther; we might well fallinto an ambush, and in these lanes they could shoot us down helplessly.We will move on quietly until we get to a place where there is spaceenough for us to dismount and bivouac. We could not have gone many moremiles, for if we did we should be a regiment without horses tomorrowmorning."
They proceeded very slowly and cautiously until, when they came upon anopen tract of ground, the colonel ordered them to dismount and sound thetrumpets. His regiment, like those of Turenne, had been broken up, andhe had but half a squadron with him. In an hour the whole regimentwas assembled; a few fires were lighted, but most of the men threwthemselves down by their horses and at once went off to sleep. Thecolonel and his officers sat down at one of the fires, where Hector wasrequested to join them.
"I suppose that your regiment took no part in the battle?"
"No, sir; we were some way from Marienthal, and I received orders onlyafter the day was lost, to join Marshal Turenne and his cavalry onthe Tauber. We arrived on the river just at sunset, having marched tenleagues in eight hours. I regret bitterly that my regiment was not onthe field, for assuredly they would not have given way. Had they stood,the rest of the infantry would have stood."
"And in that case you would now be the pursuers," the colonel broke in,"for Turenne completely shattered our right wing. Well, sir, it is thefortune of war, and we at least have the honour of having given yourmarshal a defeat. He is a grand general, but we caught him nappingtoday."
"It was not his fault, sir. General Rosen and his officers insisted sostrongly that unless they were allowed to move off in search of forage,the whole army would be disabled by the loss of their horses by hunger,that he was almost forced to comply with their request."
"But, even so, he made a mistake," the colonel said. "If instead ofmarching to meet us in front of Marienthal he had fallen back directlyhe had the news of
our coming, he could have been joined by all hisdetached troops before we came up with him."
"He said as much to me tonight," Hector replied; "but even the greatestgenerals are liable to make a mistake sometimes. And, indeed, hadGeneral Rosen with the advanced division held the wood in front of them,instead of retiring on to the plain, they should have been able to keepyou at bay until all our troops came up."
"Undoubtedly that was a terrible blunder on his part," the colonelsaid, "and he rather than Turenne is to blame. And now, sir, may Iask how is it that you, who cannot be more than twenty, come to be acolonel, and in command of a regiment?"
"I have been five years an officer, and was fortunate on two occasionsto obtain the approval, once of Monsieur de Turenne, and once of the Ducd'Enghien."
"I congratulate you, sir. It is seldom indeed that so young an officerhas opportunities of distinguishing himself. I myself had seen well nighthirty years service before I came to command a regiment. And now, sir,will you give me your parole not to attempt to escape?"
"Certainly, sir," Hector replied promptly. He knew that should he refusefour or five troopers would be set to watch him, and even if he evadedthese, which was well nigh impossible, he might be recaptured on thefollowing morning, as detachments of the Bavarian horse would be sure tobe pressing hard upon Turenne's troops. The pursuit was indeed taken upagain during the night, but Turenne succeeded in keeping his pursuersat bay, and reaching the frontiers of Hesse. There he found the infantryand cavalry who had not been engaged already assembled, for they hadreceived orders to march instantly to that spot. He had now with himsome four thousand horse and two thousand foot, and was joined by sixthousand troops from Hesse and four thousand Swedes. He was thus soonin a position to advance with a much stronger force than that which hecommanded before the battle of Marienthal.
The Bavarian cavalry that had followed him rejoined General Merci atKirchheim. Hector was with Paolo taken to that place, and upon hisrefusal to continue his parole, was confined in a prison there, Paolobeing allowed at his request to remain with him. He had had an interviewwith General Merci, who had treated him with much courtesy; for therewere Scotch and Irish officers serving in the Imperial army as well asin that of France, and they were held in high esteem for their courageand daring.
The battle of Marienthal was fought on the 2nd of May, and it was latein July before any fresh movements took place. Turenne would willinglyhave advanced with his army, but his movements were arrested by aperemptory order from Paris, sent on receipt of the news of the defeat,that he was not to take the offensive until joined by Enghien, who hadwith him a force of eight thousand men. He therefore marched to join thereinforcements, and the two armies met at Spires on the 2nd of July.As before, Enghien was in supreme command, with de Gramont as hislieutenant general. Long conferences took place between these generals:Turenne, General Geis, who commanded the Hessians, and Konigsmark,who commanded the Swedes. The Bavarians were known to be very stronglyposted, and to have been reinforced by four thousand Imperialists underthe command of General Geis.
There was much difference of opinion between them as to the best courseto be pursued, but Enghien, who was always in favour of great battles,finally determined so to place the army that the enemy would be forcedto come out and fight. He therefore marched to Venecher, capturedWimpfen, and threw a bridge across the river, whereupon General Mercifell back twenty leagues into Franconia. As soon as they had passedthe river an occurrence took place that threatened to overthrow all theplans of the campaign. Some hasty words spoken by Enghien so angered theGenerals Geis and Konigsmark that they determined to retire at once withthe Swedes and Hessians. Turenne was requested by Enghien to endeavourto arrange matters, and by his kind and gentle manner succeededin conciliating Geis, who consented to remain with the Hessians.Konigsmark, however, as hot tempered as Enghien himself, refused to doso, and with his whole force retired to Bremen, in Lower Saxony.
The French and Hessians marched towards the Tauber, captured Rothenburgand other towns, and thereby obtained a large quantity of provisionsand stores; and hearing that the Bavarians were advancing to Nordlingen,marched in all haste to give them battle there.