But
Friedrich
hopes the Reichs
Army is a feeble article; ill off for provision in those
parts, and not likely to attempt very much on the sud-
den.
Army is a feeble article; ill off for provision in those
parts, and not likely to attempt very much on the sud-
den.
Thomas Carlyle
CBAP.
XIV.
] BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH.
59
14th Oct. 1758.
berg, meeting something of check or hindrance where
he tried, pauses, for a good while, till he see how
others prosper. Their grand chance is their superiority
of number; and the fact that Friedrich can try nothing
upon them, but must stand painfully on the defensive
till Retzow come. To Friedrich, Retzow seems hugely
slow about it. But the truth is, Baden-Durlach, with
his 20,000 of Reserve, has, as per order, made attack
on Retzow, 20,000 against 12: one of the feeblest attacks
conceivable; but sufficient to detain Retzow till he get
it repulsed. Retzow is diligent as Time, and will be here.
Meanwhile, the Austrians on front do, in a sporadic
way, attack and again attack our batteries and posts;
especially that big Battery of Thirty Guns, which we
have to north of Rodewitz. The Austrians do take that
Battery at last; and are beginning again to be danger-
ous, -- the rather as DAhremberg seems again to be
thinking of business. It is high time Retzow were
here! Few sights could be gladder to Friedrich, than
the first glitter of Retzow's vanguard, -- horse, under
Prince Eugen of Wurtemberg, -- beautifully wending
down from Weissenberg yonder; skilfully posting them-
selves, at Belgern and elsewhere, as thorns in the sides
of D'Ahremberg (sharp enough, on trial by D'Ahrem-
berg). Followed, before long, by Retzow himself;
serenely crossingLobau Water; and, with grave celerity,
and the best of skill, likewise posting himself, -- hope-
lessly to D'Ahremberg, who tries nothing farther. The
sun is now shining; it is now ten in the day. Had
Retzow come an hour sooner; -- before we lost that
big Battery and other things! But he could come no
sooner; be thankful he is here at last, in such an over-
awing manner.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 60 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVm.
14th Oct. 1758.
Friedrich, judging that nothing now can be made
of the affair, orders retreat. Retreat, which had been
getting schemed, I suppose, and planned in the gloom
of the royal mind, ever since loss of that big Battery
at Rodewitz. Little to occupy him, in this interim;
except indignant waiting, rigorously steady, and some
languid interchange of cannon-shot between the parties.
Retreat is to Klein-Bautzen neighbourhood (new head-
quarter Doberschiitz, outposts Kxeckwitz and Pursch-
witz); four miles or so to north-west. Rather a shifting
of your ground, which astonishes the military reader
ever since, than a retreating such as the common run
of us expected. Done in the usual masterly manner;
part after part wending off, Retzow standing minatory
here, Mollendorf minatory there, in the softest quasi-
rhythmic sequence; Cavalry all drawn out between
Belgern and Kreckwitz, baggage-wagons filing through
the Pass of Drehsa; -- not an Austrian meddling with
it, less or more; Daun and his Austrians standing in
their ring of five miles, gazing into it like stone sta-
tues; their regiments being still in a confused state, --
and their Daun an extremely slow gentleman. *
And in this manner Friedrich, like a careless
swimmer caught in the Mahlstrom, has not got swal-
lowed in it; but has made such a buffetting of it, he is
here out of it again, without bone broken, -- not, we
hope, without instruction from the adventure. He has
lost 101 pieces of cannon, most of his tents and camp-
furniture; and, what is more irreparable, above 8,000
of his brave people, 5,381 of them and 119 Officers
(Keith and Moritz for two) either dead or captive. In
* Tempelhof, n. 319-336; Seyfarth, Beglagen, n. 432-453; Helden-Ge-
tchkhte, v. 241-257; Arcbenholtz, &c. &c.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. X1V. 1 BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 61
lith Oct. 1758.
men the Austrian loss, it seems, is not much lower,
some say is rather a shade higher; by their own ac-
count, 325 Officers, 5,614 rank and file, killed and
wounded, -- not reckoning 1,000 prisoners they lost to
us, and "at least 2,000" who took that chance of de-
serting in the intricate dark woods. *
Friedrich, all say, took his punishment in a wonder-
fully cheerful manner. De Catt the Reader, entering
to him that evening as usual, the King advanced, in
a tragic declamatory attitude; and gave him, with
proper voice and gesture, an appropriate passage of
Racine:
"Enfin aprds un an, tu me revois, Arbate,
"Non plus comme autrefois cet heuteux Mithridate
"Qui, de Rome toujour* balancant le destin,
"Tenait entre elle el moi Vunivers incertain.
"Je suis vaincu; Pompee a saisi Vwantage
"D'uno null qui laissait pen de place au courage;
"Mes soldats presque nus, dans" -- * *
Not a little to De Catt's comfort, f During the retreat
itself, Retzow Junior had come, as Papa's Aide-de-
camp, with a message to the King; found him on the
heights of Klein Bautzen, watching the movements.
Message done with, the King said, in a smiling tone,
"Daun has played me a slippery trick today! " "I
have seen it," answered Retzow; "but it is only a
"scratch, which your Majesty will soon manage to heal
"again. " -- "Glaubt Er dies, Do you think so? " "Not
"only I, but the whole Army firmly believe it of your
"Majesty. " -- "You are quite right," added the King,
in a confidentially candid way: "We will manage
"Daun. What I lament is the number of brave men
* Tempelhof, n. 336; but see Kausler, p. 576. f Rodenbeck, i. 354.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 62 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
14th Oct. 1758.
"that have died this morning. "* On the morrow, he
was heard to say publicly: "Daun has let us out of
"check-mate; the game is not lost yet. We will rest
"ourselves here, a few days; then go for Silesia, and
"deliver Neisse. " The Anecdote-Books (perhaps not mythically) add this: "Where are all your guns,
though? " said the King to an Artilleryman, standing
vacant on parade, next day. "Ihro Majestat, the Devil
"stole them all, last night! " -- "Hm, well, we must
"have them back from him. "**
Nothing immoderately depressive in Hochkirch, it
appears; --though, alas, on the fourth day after, there
came a message from Baireuth; which did strike one
down: "My noble Wilhelmina dead; died in the very
hours while we were fighting here! "*** Readers must
conceive it: coming unexpected more or less, black as
sudden universal hurricane, on the heart of the man;
a sorrow sacred, yet immeasurable, irremediable to
him; as if the sky too were falling on his head, in aid
of the mean earth and its ravenings: -- of all this there
can nothing be said at present. Friedrich's one relief
seems to have been the necessity laid on him of per-
petual battling with outward business; -- we may fancy,
in the rapid weeks following, how much was lying, at
all times, in the background of his mind suppressed
into its caves.
Daun, it appears, was considerably elated: spent a
great deal of his time, so precious just at present, in
writing despatches, in congratulating and being congra-
* Retzow, I. 359n. ** Arohenholtz, i. 299.
*** On a common Business-Letter to Prince Henri, "Doberschtitz, 18th
October 1758," is this sadden bit of Autograph: "Grand jHmi, ran Samr rfe
Bareilh! * -- (Scheming, Der Siebenjdhrige Krieg, nach der Oriyinal-Cor-
respondenz &c. , uus (ten Staats-Archiven: Potsdam, 1851: I. 287. )
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? cbAp. xiv. ] I BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. , 63
14th Oct. 1758.
tulated; -- did an elaborate Te-Deum, or Ambrosian
Song, in artillery and vox humana, -- which with the
adjuncts, say splenetic people, as at Kolin, sensibly
assisted Friedrich's affairs. Daun was by no means of
braggart turn; but the recognition of his matchless
achievement by the gazetteer public, whether in exulta-
tion or in lamentation, was loud and universal; and the
joy, in Vienna and the cognate quarters, knew no
bounds for the time being. Thus, among other tokens,
the Holiness of our Lord the Pope, blessing Heaven
for such success against the Heretic, was pleased to
send him "a Consecrated Hat and Sword," -- such as
the old Popes were wont, very long ago, to bestow on
distinguished Champions against the Heathen, -- (much
jeered at, and crowed over, by a profane Friedrich*):
"the effect of which miraculous furnishings," says
Tempelhof, "turned out to be that the Feldmarschall "never gained any success more;" -- in fact, except
that small thing on Finck next Year, never any, as it
chanced. Daun had withdrawn to his old camp, on
the day of Hochkirch; leaving only a detachment on
the field there: it was not for six or seven days more
that he stept out to the Kreckwitz and Purschwitz
neighbourhood; more within sight of his vanquished
enemy, -- but nothing like vigilant enough of what
might still be in him, after such vanquishing! -- We
must spare this Note, for the sake of a heroic kind of
man, who had not too much of reward in the world:
"Tebay could not recover Keith's body: Croats had the
"plundering of Keith; other Austrians, not of Croat kind,
* (Euvrea de Frederic, xv. 122,124, 126, &c. &c. : in Prettss, ii. 196, com-
plete List of these poor Pieces; which are hearty, not hypocritical, in their
contemptuous hilarity, but have little other merit.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 64 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [boo* XViii
14th Oct. 1758.
"carried the dead General into Hochkirch Church: Lacy's
"emotion on recognising him there, -- like a tragic gleam of
"his own youth suddenly brought back to him, as instar-light,
"piercing and sad, from twenty-years distance, -- is well
"known in Books. On the morrow, Sunday October 15th,
"Keith had honourable soldier's-burial there, -- 'twelve
"canon' salvoing thrice, and 'the whole Corps of Colloredo'
"with their muskets thrice; Lacy as chief mourner, not
"without tears. Four months after, by royal order, Keith's
"body was conveyed to Berlin; reinterred in Berlin, in a still
"more solemn public manner, with all the honours, all the
"regrets; and Keith sleeps now in the Garnison-Kirche: --
"far from bonny Inverugie; the hoarse sea-winds and caverns
"ofDunottar singing vague requiem to his honourable line
"and him, in the imaginations of some few. 'My Brother
"' leaves me a noble legacy,' said the old Lord Marischal: last
"'year he had Bohemia under ransom; and his personal
"' estate is 70 ducats'" (about 251. )*
"In Hochkirch Church there is still, not in the Church-
"yard as formerly, a fine, modestly impressive Monument to
"Keith; modest Urn of black marble on a Pedestal of gray,
"-- and, in gold letters, an Inscription not easily surpassable
"in the lapidary way: * * 'Dum in Pr. euo non procul
"' HINC InCLINATAM SUORUM ACIEM MeNTE MANU VOCE ET EXMPI. O
"' RestituebAt PugnAns ut heroAsdecet Occubuit. D. XIV.
"' Octobris' -- These words go through you like the clang of
"steel. f Friedrich's sorrow over him ('tears,' high eulogies,
"'loua exlremement') is itself a monument. Twenty years
"after, Keith had from his master a Statue, in Berlin. One of
"Four; to the Four most deserving: Schwerin (1771), Winter-
"feld (1777), Seidlitz (1778), Keith (when? )ft -- which still
"stand in the Wilhelm Platz there.
* Varnhagen, p. 261.
f In Rodenbeck, 1. 149. Given also (very nearly correct) in Correspond-
ence of Sir Robert Murray Keith (London, 1849), i. 151. This is the junior
of the two Diplomatic Sir Roberts, genealogical cousins of Keith; by this
one (in 1771, not 1776 as German Guide-books have it) the Hochkirch Mo-
nument was set up. A very interesting Collection of Letters, those of his;
-- edited with the usual darkness, or rather more.
tt Nioolai [Betchreibung der Residenistadte, 1. 193,194) gives these dates
or the Three, and for Keith's no date.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHip. XIV. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKLECH. 65
Uth Oct. 1758.
"Hochkirch Church has been rebuilt in late years: a
"spacious airy Church, with galleries, and requisites, espe-
cially with free air, light and cleanliness. Capable perhaps
"of 1,500 sitters: half of them Wends. 'Above 700 skeletons,
"in one heap, were dug out, in cutting the new foundations. '
"The strong outer Door of the old Church, red oak, I should
"think, is still retained in that capacity; still shows perhaps
"half-a-dozen rough big qua. ai-keykoles, torn through it in
"different parts, and daylight shining in, where the old bullets
"passed. The Keith Monument, perhaps four feet high, is
"on the flagged floor, left side of the pulpit, close by the wall,
"-- 'the bench where Keith's body lay has had to be cased in
'"new plank' (zinc would be better) 'against the knives of
'"tourists. "'
Old Lord Marischal, -- George, "Marechal d'Ecosse"
as he always signs himself, -- was by this time seventy-
two; King's Governor of Neufchatel, for a good while
past and to come (1754--1763). In "James," the
junior, but much the stronger and more solid, he has
lost, as it were, a father and younger brother at once;
father, under beautiful conditions; and the tears of the
old man are natural and affecting. Ten years older
than his Brother; and survived him still twenty years.
An excellent cheery old soul, he too; honest as the
sunlight, with a fine small vein of gaiety, and "plea-
sant wit," in him: what a treasure to Friedrich at Pots-
dam, in the coming years; and how much loved by
him (almost as one boy loves another), all readers would
be surprised to discover. Some hints of him will per-
haps be allowed us farther on.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XI.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 66 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnt.
22d Oct. -- 9th Nov. 1758.
Sequel of Hochkirch; the Campaign ends in a Way sur-
prising to an attentive Public (22d October -- 20th No-
vember 1758).
There followed upon Hochkirch five weeks of rapid
events; such as nobody had been calculating on. To
the reader, so weary of marchings, manoeuverings, sur-
prisals, campings, and details of war, not many words,
we hope, may render these results conceivable.
Friedrich staid ten days, refitting himself, in that
Camp of Klein Bautzen, on one of the branches of the
Spree. Daun, who had retired to his old strong place,
on the 14th, scarcely occupying Hochkirch Field at all,
came out in about a week; and took a strong post near
Friedrich; not attempting anything upon him, but
watching him, now better within sight. Friedrich's
fixed intention is, to march to Neisse all the same;
what probably Daun, under the shadow of his laurels
and his new Papal Hat, may not have considered pos-
sible, with the road to Neisse blocked by 80,000 men.
Friedrich has refitted himself with the requisite new
cannon and furnitures, from Dresden; especially with
Prince Henri and 6,000 foot and horse, -- led by
Prince Henri in person; so Prince Henri would have
it, the capricious little man; and that Finck should be
left in Saxony instead of him. All which weakens
Saxony not a little.
But Friedrich hopes the Reichs
Army is a feeble article; ill off for provision in those
parts, and not likely to attempt very much on the sud-
den. Accordingly:
Friedrich marches, enigmatically, not on Glogau, but onReichen-
bach and Oorlitz; to Daun's astonishment.
Sunday Evening, October 22d, Convoy of many wagons quits
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. xIV. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 67
22d Oct. -- 9th Nov. 1758.
Bautzen ("Bautzen Proper, not the Village, but the Town),
laden with all the wounded of Hochkirch; above 3,000 by
count, to carry them to Dresden for deliberate surgery.
Keith's Tebay, I perceive, is in this Convoy; not ill hurt, but
willing to lie in Hospital a little, and consider. These poor
fellows cannot get to Dresden: on the second day, a Daun
Detachment, hussaring about in those parts, is announced
ahead; and (by new order from headquarters) the Convoy
turns northward for Hoyerswerda, -- (to Tebay's disgust with
the Commandant; "shied off," says Tebay, "for twelve hus-
sars! "* -- andl think, in the end, went on to Glogau instead
of Dresden. Which was very fortunate for Tebay and the
others. The poor wounded being thus disposed of, Friedrich
next night, at 10 o'clock, Monday 23d, in the softest manner,
pushes off his Bakery and Army Stores a little way, north-
ward down the Spree Valley, on the western fork of the Spree
(fork farthest from Daun); follows, himself, with the rest of
the Army, next evening, down the eastern fork, also north-
ward. "Going for Glogau," thinks Daun, when the hussars
report about it (late on Tuesday night): "Let him go, if he
fancy that a road to Neisse! But, indeed, what other shift has
he," considers Daun, "but to try rallying at Glogau yonder,
safe under the guns? " -- and is not in the slightest haste
about this new matter. **
United with his baggage-column, Friedrich proceeds
north-eastward; crosses Spree still northward or north-east-
ward; encamps there, in the dark hours of Tuesday; no
Daun heeding him. Before daylight, however, Friedrich is
again on foot; in several columns now, for the bad country-
roads ahead; -- and has struck straight sou/A-eastward, if
Daun were noting him. And, in the afternoon of Wednesday,
Daun is astonished to learn that this wily Enemy is arrived in
Reichenbach vicinity; sweeping-in our poor posts there-
abouts; immovably astride ofthe Silesian Highway, after all!
An astonished Daun hastens out, what he can, to take survey
ofthe sudden Phenomenon. Tries it, next day and next, with
his best Loudons and appliances; finds that this Phenomenon
can actually march to Neisse ahead of him, indifferent to
Pandours, or giving them as good as they bring; -- and that
* Second Letter from Tebay, in Mitchell, nbi suprA.
** Tempelhof, n. 341-347. J
5*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 68 Seven-yeArs wAr rIses to A heIght, [book xvra.
22d Oct. -- 9th Nov. 1758.
nothing but a battle and beating (could we rashly dream of
such a thing, which we cannot) will prevent it. "Very well,
then! " Daun strives to say. And lets the Phenomenon march (from Gorlitz, October 30th); Loudon harassing the rear of it,
for some days; not without counter harassment, much waste
of cannonading, and ruin to several poor Lausitz Villages by
fire, -- "Prussians scandalously burn them, when we attack! "
says Loudon. Till, at last, finding this march impregnably
arranged, "split into two routes," and ready for all chances,
Loudon also withdraws to more promising business. Poor
General Retzow Senior was of this march; absolutely could
not be excused, though fallen ill of dysentery, like to die; --
and did die, the day after he got to Schweidnitz, when the
difficulties and excitement were over. *
Of Friedrich's march, onward from Gorlitz, we shall
say nothing farther, except that the very wind of it
was salvatory to his Silesian Fortresses and interests.
That at Neisse, on and after November 1st, -- which
is the third or second day of Friedrich's march, --
General Treskow, Commandant of Neisse, found the
bombardment slacken more and more ("King of Prussia
"coming," said the Austrian deserters to us); and that,
on November 6th, Treskow, looking out from Neisse,
found the Austrian trenches empty, Generals Harsch
and Deville hurrying over the Hills homewards, --
pickings to be had of them by Treskow, -- and Neisse
Siege a thing finished. ** It had lasted, in the way of
blockade and half-blockade, for about three months;
Deville, for near one month, half-blockading, then
Harsch (sinceSeptember 30th) wholly blockading, with
Deville under him, and an army of 20,000; though the
* Retzow, i. 372.
** Tagebuch, ftc. ("Diary of the Siege of Neisse," 4th August, --26th
October, -- 6th November 1758, "1 a. m. suddenly"), in Seyfmrth, Beylagen,
n. 468-172: of Treskow's own writing; brief and clear. Helden-Geschichte,
V. 268-270.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. 33V. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 69
22d Oct. ? 9th Nov. 1758.
actual cannonade, very fierce, but of no effect, could
not begin till little more than a week ago, -- so diffi-
cult the getting up of siege-material in those parts.
Kosel, under Commandant Lattorf, whose praises, like
Treskow's were great, had stood four months of Pan-
dour blockading and assaulting, which also had to take
itself away on advent of Friedrich. Of Friedrich, on
his return-journey, we shall hear again before long;
but in the mean while must industriously follow
Daun.
Feldmarschall Daun and the Reichs Army try some Siege of
Dresden (9th - 16th November).
October 30th, Daun, seeing Neisse Siege as good as gone
to water, decided with himself that he could still do a far
more important stroke: capture Dresden, get hold of Saxony
in Friedrich's absence. Daun turned round from Reichen-
bach, accordingly; and, at his slow-footed pace, addressed
himself to that new errand. Had he made better despatch,
or even been in better luck, it is very possible he might have
done something there. In Dresden, and in Governor
Schmettau with his small garrison, there is no strength for a
siege; in Saxony is nothing but some poor remnant under
Finck, much of it Free-corps and light people: capable of
being swallowed by the Reichs Army itself, -- were the
Reichs Army enterprising, or in good circumstances other-
wise. It is true the Russians have quitted Colberg as im-
possible; and are flowing homewards dragged by hunger:
the little Dohna Army will, therefore, march for Saxony;
the little Anti-Swedish Army, under Wedell, has likewise
been mostly ordered thither; both at their quickest. For
Daun, all turns on despatch; loiter a little, and Friedrich
himself will be here again!
Daun, I have no doubt, stirred his slow feet the fastest
he could. November 7th, Daun was in the neighbourhood of
Pirna Country again, had his Bridge at Pirna, for com-
munication; urged the Reichs Army to bestir itself, Now or
never. Reichs Army did push out a little against Finck;
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 70 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
9th Nov. 1758.
made him leave that perpetual Camp of Gahmig, take new
camps, Kesselsdorf and elsewhere; and at length made him
shoot across Elbe, to the north-west, on a pontoon bridge
below Dresden, with retreating room to northward, and
shelter under the guns of that City. Reichs Army has like-
wise made powerful detachments for capture of Leipzig and
the north-western towns; capture of Torgau, the Magazine
town, first of all: summon them, with force evidently over-
powering, "Free-withdrawal, if you don't resist; and if you
do--! " -- At Torgau there was actual attempt made (No-
vember 12th), rather elaborate and dangerous-looking; under
Haddick, with near 10,000 of the "Austrian-auxiliary" sort:
to whom the old Commandant, --judging Wedell, the late
Anti-Swedish Wedell, to be now near, -- rushed out with
"300 men and one big gun;" and made such a firing and
festiculating as was quite extraordinary, as if Wedell were
ere already: till Wedell's self did come in sight; and the
overpowering Reichs Detachment made its best speed else-
whither. * The other Sieges remained things of theory; the
other Reichs Detachments hurried home, I think, without
summoning anybody.
Meanwhile, Daun, with the proper Artilleries at last
ready, comes flowing forward (November Sth-9th); and
takes post in the Great Garden, or south side of Dresden;
minatory to Schmettau and that City. The walls, or works,
are weak; outside there is nothing but Mayer and the Free-
corps to resist, -- who indeed has surpassed himself this
season, and been extraordinarily diligent upon that lazy
Reichs Army. Commandant Schmettau signifies to Daun,
the day Daun came in sight, "If your Excellenz advance
farther on me, the grim Rules of War in besieged places
will order That I burn the Suburbs, which are your defences
in attacking me,"-- and actually fills the fine houses on the
Southern Suburb with combustible matter, making due an-
nouncements, to Court and population, as well as toDauii.
"Burn the Suburbs? " answers Daun: "In the name of
civilised humanity, you will never think of such thing! "
"That will I, your Excellenz, of a surety, and do it! "
answers Schmettau. So that Dresden is full of pity, terror
* Tempelhof, &c. ; "Letter from a Prussian Officer," in Ueldea-Ge-
schichtc, v. 286.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. XIV. l BATTLE OP HOCHKIRCH. 71
9th Nov. 1758.
and speculation. ' The common rumour is, says Excellency
Mitchell, who is sojourning there for the present, "That
Briihl" (nefarious Briihl, born to be the death of us! ) "has
persuaded Polish Majesty to sanction this enterprise of
Daun's,"-- very careless, Briihl, what become of Dresden
or us, so the King of Prussia be well hurt or spited!
Certain enough, November 9th, Daun does come on,
regardless of Schmettau's assurances; so that, "about mid-
night," Mayer, who "can hear the enemy busily building
four big batteries" withal, has to report himself driven to
the edge of those high Houses (which are filled with com-
bustibles), and that some Croats are got into the upper
windows. "Burn them, then! " answers Schmettau (such
the dire necessity of sieged places): and, "at 3 A. m. " (three
hours notice to the poor inmates), Mayer does so; hideous
flames bursting out, punctually at the stroke of 3: "whole
"Suburb seemed on blaze" (about a sixth part of it actually
so), "nay you would have said the whole Town was en-
"vironed in flames. " Excellency Mitchell climbed a steeple:
"will not describe to your Lordship the horror, the terror
"and confusion of this night; wretched inhabitants running
"with their furniture" (what of it they had got flung out,
between 12 o'clock and 3) "towards the Great Garden; all
"Dresden, to appearance, girt in flames, ruins and smoke. "
Such anight in Dresden, especially in the Pima Suburb, as
was never seen before. * This was the sad beginning, or
attempt at beginning, of Dresden Siege; and this also was
the end of it, on Daun's part at present. For four days more,
he hung about the place, minatory, hesitative; but attempted
nothing feasible; and on the fifth day, -- "for a certain
weighty reason," as the Austrian Gazettes express it, -- he
saw good to vanish into the Pirna Rock-Country, and be out
of harm's way in the mean while!
The truth is, Daun's was an intricate case just now;
needing, above all things, swiftness of treatment; what,
of all things, it could not get from Daun. His denun * Mitchell, Memoirs and Papers, i. 4fi9. InHelden-Geschichte, v. 295-302,
minute account (corresponding well with Mitchell's); ib. 303-33, the certi-
fied details of the damage done: "280 houses lost;" "4 human lives. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 72 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVHI.
20th Nov. 1758.
ciations on that burnt Suburb were again loud; but
Schmettau continues deaf to all that, -- means "to
defend himself by the known rules of war and of
honour;" declares, he "will dispute from street to street,
and only finish in the middle of Polish Majesty's Eoyal
Palace. " Denunciation will do nothing! Daun had
above 100,000 men in those parts. Rushing forward
with sharp shot and bayonet storm, instead of logical
denunciation, it is probable Daun might have settled
his Schmettau. But the hour of tide was rigorous,
withal; -- and such an ebb, if you missed it in hesi-
tating! Nnvemker l&th, Daun withdrew; the ebbing
coming. That same day, Friedrich was at Lauban in
the Lausitz, within a hundred miles again; speeding
hitherward; behind him a Silesia brushed clear, before
him a Saxony to be brushed. "Reason weighty" enough,
think Daun and the Austrian Gazettes! But such,
since you have missed the tide-hour, is the inexorable
fact of ebb, -- going at that frightful rate. Daun
never was the man to dispute facts.
November 20th, Friedrich arrived in Dresden; heard,
next day, that Daun had wheeled decisively homeward
from Pirna Country; that the Reichs Army and he are
diligently climbing the Metal Mountains; and that there
is not in Saxony, more than in Silesia, an enemy left.
What a Sequel to Hochkirch! "Neisse and Dresden
both! " we had hoped as sequel, if lucky: "Neisse or
Dresden" seemed infallible. And we are climbing the
Metal Mountains, under facts superior to us.
And Campaign Third has closed in this manner; --
leaving things much as it found them. Essentially a
drawn match; Contending Parties little altered in rela-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. XIV. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 73
20th Nov. 1758.
tive strength; -- both of them, it may be presumed,
considerably weaker. Friedrich is not triumphant, or
shining in the light of bonfires, as last Year; but, in
the mind of judges, stands higher than ever (if that
could help him much); -- and is not "annihilated" in
the least, which is the surprising circumstance.
Friedrich's marches, especially, have been wonder-
ful, this Year. In the spring time, old Marechal de
Belleisle, French Minister of War, consulting officially
about future operations, heard it objected once: "But
if the King of Prussia were to burst-in upon us there? "
"The King of Prussia is a great soldier," answered M.
de Belleisle; "but his Army is not a shuttle (navette)" -- to be shot about, in that way, from side to side of
the world! No surely; not altogether. But the King
of Prussia has, among other arts, an art of marching
Armies, which by degrees astonishes the old Marechal.
To "come upon us en navette," suddenly "like a shuttle"
from the other side of the web, became an established
phrase among the French concerned in these unfortunate
matters. *
"The Pitt-and-Ferdinand Campaign of 1758," says a
Note, which I would fain abridge, "is more palpably vic-
"torious than Friedrich's, much more an affair of bonfires
"than his; though it too has had its rubs. Loss of honour at
"Crefeld; loss ot Louisburg and Codfishery: these are serious
"blows our enemy has had. But then, to temper the joy
"over Louisburg, there was, at Ticonderoga, by Aber-
"cromby, on the small scale (all the extent of scale he had),
"a melancholy Platitude committed: that of walking into
"an enemy without the least reconnoitering of him, who
"proves to be chin-deep in abatis and fieldworks; and kills,
"much at his ease, about 2,000brave fellows, brought 5,000
* Archenholtz, i. 316; Montalembert, scepius, for the phrase "en
Miielle. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl.
14th Oct. 1758.
berg, meeting something of check or hindrance where
he tried, pauses, for a good while, till he see how
others prosper. Their grand chance is their superiority
of number; and the fact that Friedrich can try nothing
upon them, but must stand painfully on the defensive
till Retzow come. To Friedrich, Retzow seems hugely
slow about it. But the truth is, Baden-Durlach, with
his 20,000 of Reserve, has, as per order, made attack
on Retzow, 20,000 against 12: one of the feeblest attacks
conceivable; but sufficient to detain Retzow till he get
it repulsed. Retzow is diligent as Time, and will be here.
Meanwhile, the Austrians on front do, in a sporadic
way, attack and again attack our batteries and posts;
especially that big Battery of Thirty Guns, which we
have to north of Rodewitz. The Austrians do take that
Battery at last; and are beginning again to be danger-
ous, -- the rather as DAhremberg seems again to be
thinking of business. It is high time Retzow were
here! Few sights could be gladder to Friedrich, than
the first glitter of Retzow's vanguard, -- horse, under
Prince Eugen of Wurtemberg, -- beautifully wending
down from Weissenberg yonder; skilfully posting them-
selves, at Belgern and elsewhere, as thorns in the sides
of D'Ahremberg (sharp enough, on trial by D'Ahrem-
berg). Followed, before long, by Retzow himself;
serenely crossingLobau Water; and, with grave celerity,
and the best of skill, likewise posting himself, -- hope-
lessly to D'Ahremberg, who tries nothing farther. The
sun is now shining; it is now ten in the day. Had
Retzow come an hour sooner; -- before we lost that
big Battery and other things! But he could come no
sooner; be thankful he is here at last, in such an over-
awing manner.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 60 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVm.
14th Oct. 1758.
Friedrich, judging that nothing now can be made
of the affair, orders retreat. Retreat, which had been
getting schemed, I suppose, and planned in the gloom
of the royal mind, ever since loss of that big Battery
at Rodewitz. Little to occupy him, in this interim;
except indignant waiting, rigorously steady, and some
languid interchange of cannon-shot between the parties.
Retreat is to Klein-Bautzen neighbourhood (new head-
quarter Doberschiitz, outposts Kxeckwitz and Pursch-
witz); four miles or so to north-west. Rather a shifting
of your ground, which astonishes the military reader
ever since, than a retreating such as the common run
of us expected. Done in the usual masterly manner;
part after part wending off, Retzow standing minatory
here, Mollendorf minatory there, in the softest quasi-
rhythmic sequence; Cavalry all drawn out between
Belgern and Kreckwitz, baggage-wagons filing through
the Pass of Drehsa; -- not an Austrian meddling with
it, less or more; Daun and his Austrians standing in
their ring of five miles, gazing into it like stone sta-
tues; their regiments being still in a confused state, --
and their Daun an extremely slow gentleman. *
And in this manner Friedrich, like a careless
swimmer caught in the Mahlstrom, has not got swal-
lowed in it; but has made such a buffetting of it, he is
here out of it again, without bone broken, -- not, we
hope, without instruction from the adventure. He has
lost 101 pieces of cannon, most of his tents and camp-
furniture; and, what is more irreparable, above 8,000
of his brave people, 5,381 of them and 119 Officers
(Keith and Moritz for two) either dead or captive. In
* Tempelhof, n. 319-336; Seyfarth, Beglagen, n. 432-453; Helden-Ge-
tchkhte, v. 241-257; Arcbenholtz, &c. &c.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. X1V. 1 BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 61
lith Oct. 1758.
men the Austrian loss, it seems, is not much lower,
some say is rather a shade higher; by their own ac-
count, 325 Officers, 5,614 rank and file, killed and
wounded, -- not reckoning 1,000 prisoners they lost to
us, and "at least 2,000" who took that chance of de-
serting in the intricate dark woods. *
Friedrich, all say, took his punishment in a wonder-
fully cheerful manner. De Catt the Reader, entering
to him that evening as usual, the King advanced, in
a tragic declamatory attitude; and gave him, with
proper voice and gesture, an appropriate passage of
Racine:
"Enfin aprds un an, tu me revois, Arbate,
"Non plus comme autrefois cet heuteux Mithridate
"Qui, de Rome toujour* balancant le destin,
"Tenait entre elle el moi Vunivers incertain.
"Je suis vaincu; Pompee a saisi Vwantage
"D'uno null qui laissait pen de place au courage;
"Mes soldats presque nus, dans" -- * *
Not a little to De Catt's comfort, f During the retreat
itself, Retzow Junior had come, as Papa's Aide-de-
camp, with a message to the King; found him on the
heights of Klein Bautzen, watching the movements.
Message done with, the King said, in a smiling tone,
"Daun has played me a slippery trick today! " "I
have seen it," answered Retzow; "but it is only a
"scratch, which your Majesty will soon manage to heal
"again. " -- "Glaubt Er dies, Do you think so? " "Not
"only I, but the whole Army firmly believe it of your
"Majesty. " -- "You are quite right," added the King,
in a confidentially candid way: "We will manage
"Daun. What I lament is the number of brave men
* Tempelhof, n. 336; but see Kausler, p. 576. f Rodenbeck, i. 354.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 62 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
14th Oct. 1758.
"that have died this morning. "* On the morrow, he
was heard to say publicly: "Daun has let us out of
"check-mate; the game is not lost yet. We will rest
"ourselves here, a few days; then go for Silesia, and
"deliver Neisse. " The Anecdote-Books (perhaps not mythically) add this: "Where are all your guns,
though? " said the King to an Artilleryman, standing
vacant on parade, next day. "Ihro Majestat, the Devil
"stole them all, last night! " -- "Hm, well, we must
"have them back from him. "**
Nothing immoderately depressive in Hochkirch, it
appears; --though, alas, on the fourth day after, there
came a message from Baireuth; which did strike one
down: "My noble Wilhelmina dead; died in the very
hours while we were fighting here! "*** Readers must
conceive it: coming unexpected more or less, black as
sudden universal hurricane, on the heart of the man;
a sorrow sacred, yet immeasurable, irremediable to
him; as if the sky too were falling on his head, in aid
of the mean earth and its ravenings: -- of all this there
can nothing be said at present. Friedrich's one relief
seems to have been the necessity laid on him of per-
petual battling with outward business; -- we may fancy,
in the rapid weeks following, how much was lying, at
all times, in the background of his mind suppressed
into its caves.
Daun, it appears, was considerably elated: spent a
great deal of his time, so precious just at present, in
writing despatches, in congratulating and being congra-
* Retzow, I. 359n. ** Arohenholtz, i. 299.
*** On a common Business-Letter to Prince Henri, "Doberschtitz, 18th
October 1758," is this sadden bit of Autograph: "Grand jHmi, ran Samr rfe
Bareilh! * -- (Scheming, Der Siebenjdhrige Krieg, nach der Oriyinal-Cor-
respondenz &c. , uus (ten Staats-Archiven: Potsdam, 1851: I. 287. )
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? cbAp. xiv. ] I BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. , 63
14th Oct. 1758.
tulated; -- did an elaborate Te-Deum, or Ambrosian
Song, in artillery and vox humana, -- which with the
adjuncts, say splenetic people, as at Kolin, sensibly
assisted Friedrich's affairs. Daun was by no means of
braggart turn; but the recognition of his matchless
achievement by the gazetteer public, whether in exulta-
tion or in lamentation, was loud and universal; and the
joy, in Vienna and the cognate quarters, knew no
bounds for the time being. Thus, among other tokens,
the Holiness of our Lord the Pope, blessing Heaven
for such success against the Heretic, was pleased to
send him "a Consecrated Hat and Sword," -- such as
the old Popes were wont, very long ago, to bestow on
distinguished Champions against the Heathen, -- (much
jeered at, and crowed over, by a profane Friedrich*):
"the effect of which miraculous furnishings," says
Tempelhof, "turned out to be that the Feldmarschall "never gained any success more;" -- in fact, except
that small thing on Finck next Year, never any, as it
chanced. Daun had withdrawn to his old camp, on
the day of Hochkirch; leaving only a detachment on
the field there: it was not for six or seven days more
that he stept out to the Kreckwitz and Purschwitz
neighbourhood; more within sight of his vanquished
enemy, -- but nothing like vigilant enough of what
might still be in him, after such vanquishing! -- We
must spare this Note, for the sake of a heroic kind of
man, who had not too much of reward in the world:
"Tebay could not recover Keith's body: Croats had the
"plundering of Keith; other Austrians, not of Croat kind,
* (Euvrea de Frederic, xv. 122,124, 126, &c. &c. : in Prettss, ii. 196, com-
plete List of these poor Pieces; which are hearty, not hypocritical, in their
contemptuous hilarity, but have little other merit.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 64 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [boo* XViii
14th Oct. 1758.
"carried the dead General into Hochkirch Church: Lacy's
"emotion on recognising him there, -- like a tragic gleam of
"his own youth suddenly brought back to him, as instar-light,
"piercing and sad, from twenty-years distance, -- is well
"known in Books. On the morrow, Sunday October 15th,
"Keith had honourable soldier's-burial there, -- 'twelve
"canon' salvoing thrice, and 'the whole Corps of Colloredo'
"with their muskets thrice; Lacy as chief mourner, not
"without tears. Four months after, by royal order, Keith's
"body was conveyed to Berlin; reinterred in Berlin, in a still
"more solemn public manner, with all the honours, all the
"regrets; and Keith sleeps now in the Garnison-Kirche: --
"far from bonny Inverugie; the hoarse sea-winds and caverns
"ofDunottar singing vague requiem to his honourable line
"and him, in the imaginations of some few. 'My Brother
"' leaves me a noble legacy,' said the old Lord Marischal: last
"'year he had Bohemia under ransom; and his personal
"' estate is 70 ducats'" (about 251. )*
"In Hochkirch Church there is still, not in the Church-
"yard as formerly, a fine, modestly impressive Monument to
"Keith; modest Urn of black marble on a Pedestal of gray,
"-- and, in gold letters, an Inscription not easily surpassable
"in the lapidary way: * * 'Dum in Pr. euo non procul
"' HINC InCLINATAM SUORUM ACIEM MeNTE MANU VOCE ET EXMPI. O
"' RestituebAt PugnAns ut heroAsdecet Occubuit. D. XIV.
"' Octobris' -- These words go through you like the clang of
"steel. f Friedrich's sorrow over him ('tears,' high eulogies,
"'loua exlremement') is itself a monument. Twenty years
"after, Keith had from his master a Statue, in Berlin. One of
"Four; to the Four most deserving: Schwerin (1771), Winter-
"feld (1777), Seidlitz (1778), Keith (when? )ft -- which still
"stand in the Wilhelm Platz there.
* Varnhagen, p. 261.
f In Rodenbeck, 1. 149. Given also (very nearly correct) in Correspond-
ence of Sir Robert Murray Keith (London, 1849), i. 151. This is the junior
of the two Diplomatic Sir Roberts, genealogical cousins of Keith; by this
one (in 1771, not 1776 as German Guide-books have it) the Hochkirch Mo-
nument was set up. A very interesting Collection of Letters, those of his;
-- edited with the usual darkness, or rather more.
tt Nioolai [Betchreibung der Residenistadte, 1. 193,194) gives these dates
or the Three, and for Keith's no date.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHip. XIV. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKLECH. 65
Uth Oct. 1758.
"Hochkirch Church has been rebuilt in late years: a
"spacious airy Church, with galleries, and requisites, espe-
cially with free air, light and cleanliness. Capable perhaps
"of 1,500 sitters: half of them Wends. 'Above 700 skeletons,
"in one heap, were dug out, in cutting the new foundations. '
"The strong outer Door of the old Church, red oak, I should
"think, is still retained in that capacity; still shows perhaps
"half-a-dozen rough big qua. ai-keykoles, torn through it in
"different parts, and daylight shining in, where the old bullets
"passed. The Keith Monument, perhaps four feet high, is
"on the flagged floor, left side of the pulpit, close by the wall,
"-- 'the bench where Keith's body lay has had to be cased in
'"new plank' (zinc would be better) 'against the knives of
'"tourists. "'
Old Lord Marischal, -- George, "Marechal d'Ecosse"
as he always signs himself, -- was by this time seventy-
two; King's Governor of Neufchatel, for a good while
past and to come (1754--1763). In "James," the
junior, but much the stronger and more solid, he has
lost, as it were, a father and younger brother at once;
father, under beautiful conditions; and the tears of the
old man are natural and affecting. Ten years older
than his Brother; and survived him still twenty years.
An excellent cheery old soul, he too; honest as the
sunlight, with a fine small vein of gaiety, and "plea-
sant wit," in him: what a treasure to Friedrich at Pots-
dam, in the coming years; and how much loved by
him (almost as one boy loves another), all readers would
be surprised to discover. Some hints of him will per-
haps be allowed us farther on.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XI.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 66 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnt.
22d Oct. -- 9th Nov. 1758.
Sequel of Hochkirch; the Campaign ends in a Way sur-
prising to an attentive Public (22d October -- 20th No-
vember 1758).
There followed upon Hochkirch five weeks of rapid
events; such as nobody had been calculating on. To
the reader, so weary of marchings, manoeuverings, sur-
prisals, campings, and details of war, not many words,
we hope, may render these results conceivable.
Friedrich staid ten days, refitting himself, in that
Camp of Klein Bautzen, on one of the branches of the
Spree. Daun, who had retired to his old strong place,
on the 14th, scarcely occupying Hochkirch Field at all,
came out in about a week; and took a strong post near
Friedrich; not attempting anything upon him, but
watching him, now better within sight. Friedrich's
fixed intention is, to march to Neisse all the same;
what probably Daun, under the shadow of his laurels
and his new Papal Hat, may not have considered pos-
sible, with the road to Neisse blocked by 80,000 men.
Friedrich has refitted himself with the requisite new
cannon and furnitures, from Dresden; especially with
Prince Henri and 6,000 foot and horse, -- led by
Prince Henri in person; so Prince Henri would have
it, the capricious little man; and that Finck should be
left in Saxony instead of him. All which weakens
Saxony not a little.
But Friedrich hopes the Reichs
Army is a feeble article; ill off for provision in those
parts, and not likely to attempt very much on the sud-
den. Accordingly:
Friedrich marches, enigmatically, not on Glogau, but onReichen-
bach and Oorlitz; to Daun's astonishment.
Sunday Evening, October 22d, Convoy of many wagons quits
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. xIV. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 67
22d Oct. -- 9th Nov. 1758.
Bautzen ("Bautzen Proper, not the Village, but the Town),
laden with all the wounded of Hochkirch; above 3,000 by
count, to carry them to Dresden for deliberate surgery.
Keith's Tebay, I perceive, is in this Convoy; not ill hurt, but
willing to lie in Hospital a little, and consider. These poor
fellows cannot get to Dresden: on the second day, a Daun
Detachment, hussaring about in those parts, is announced
ahead; and (by new order from headquarters) the Convoy
turns northward for Hoyerswerda, -- (to Tebay's disgust with
the Commandant; "shied off," says Tebay, "for twelve hus-
sars! "* -- andl think, in the end, went on to Glogau instead
of Dresden. Which was very fortunate for Tebay and the
others. The poor wounded being thus disposed of, Friedrich
next night, at 10 o'clock, Monday 23d, in the softest manner,
pushes off his Bakery and Army Stores a little way, north-
ward down the Spree Valley, on the western fork of the Spree
(fork farthest from Daun); follows, himself, with the rest of
the Army, next evening, down the eastern fork, also north-
ward. "Going for Glogau," thinks Daun, when the hussars
report about it (late on Tuesday night): "Let him go, if he
fancy that a road to Neisse! But, indeed, what other shift has
he," considers Daun, "but to try rallying at Glogau yonder,
safe under the guns? " -- and is not in the slightest haste
about this new matter. **
United with his baggage-column, Friedrich proceeds
north-eastward; crosses Spree still northward or north-east-
ward; encamps there, in the dark hours of Tuesday; no
Daun heeding him. Before daylight, however, Friedrich is
again on foot; in several columns now, for the bad country-
roads ahead; -- and has struck straight sou/A-eastward, if
Daun were noting him. And, in the afternoon of Wednesday,
Daun is astonished to learn that this wily Enemy is arrived in
Reichenbach vicinity; sweeping-in our poor posts there-
abouts; immovably astride ofthe Silesian Highway, after all!
An astonished Daun hastens out, what he can, to take survey
ofthe sudden Phenomenon. Tries it, next day and next, with
his best Loudons and appliances; finds that this Phenomenon
can actually march to Neisse ahead of him, indifferent to
Pandours, or giving them as good as they bring; -- and that
* Second Letter from Tebay, in Mitchell, nbi suprA.
** Tempelhof, n. 341-347. J
5*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 68 Seven-yeArs wAr rIses to A heIght, [book xvra.
22d Oct. -- 9th Nov. 1758.
nothing but a battle and beating (could we rashly dream of
such a thing, which we cannot) will prevent it. "Very well,
then! " Daun strives to say. And lets the Phenomenon march (from Gorlitz, October 30th); Loudon harassing the rear of it,
for some days; not without counter harassment, much waste
of cannonading, and ruin to several poor Lausitz Villages by
fire, -- "Prussians scandalously burn them, when we attack! "
says Loudon. Till, at last, finding this march impregnably
arranged, "split into two routes," and ready for all chances,
Loudon also withdraws to more promising business. Poor
General Retzow Senior was of this march; absolutely could
not be excused, though fallen ill of dysentery, like to die; --
and did die, the day after he got to Schweidnitz, when the
difficulties and excitement were over. *
Of Friedrich's march, onward from Gorlitz, we shall
say nothing farther, except that the very wind of it
was salvatory to his Silesian Fortresses and interests.
That at Neisse, on and after November 1st, -- which
is the third or second day of Friedrich's march, --
General Treskow, Commandant of Neisse, found the
bombardment slacken more and more ("King of Prussia
"coming," said the Austrian deserters to us); and that,
on November 6th, Treskow, looking out from Neisse,
found the Austrian trenches empty, Generals Harsch
and Deville hurrying over the Hills homewards, --
pickings to be had of them by Treskow, -- and Neisse
Siege a thing finished. ** It had lasted, in the way of
blockade and half-blockade, for about three months;
Deville, for near one month, half-blockading, then
Harsch (sinceSeptember 30th) wholly blockading, with
Deville under him, and an army of 20,000; though the
* Retzow, i. 372.
** Tagebuch, ftc. ("Diary of the Siege of Neisse," 4th August, --26th
October, -- 6th November 1758, "1 a. m. suddenly"), in Seyfmrth, Beylagen,
n. 468-172: of Treskow's own writing; brief and clear. Helden-Geschichte,
V. 268-270.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. 33V. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 69
22d Oct. ? 9th Nov. 1758.
actual cannonade, very fierce, but of no effect, could
not begin till little more than a week ago, -- so diffi-
cult the getting up of siege-material in those parts.
Kosel, under Commandant Lattorf, whose praises, like
Treskow's were great, had stood four months of Pan-
dour blockading and assaulting, which also had to take
itself away on advent of Friedrich. Of Friedrich, on
his return-journey, we shall hear again before long;
but in the mean while must industriously follow
Daun.
Feldmarschall Daun and the Reichs Army try some Siege of
Dresden (9th - 16th November).
October 30th, Daun, seeing Neisse Siege as good as gone
to water, decided with himself that he could still do a far
more important stroke: capture Dresden, get hold of Saxony
in Friedrich's absence. Daun turned round from Reichen-
bach, accordingly; and, at his slow-footed pace, addressed
himself to that new errand. Had he made better despatch,
or even been in better luck, it is very possible he might have
done something there. In Dresden, and in Governor
Schmettau with his small garrison, there is no strength for a
siege; in Saxony is nothing but some poor remnant under
Finck, much of it Free-corps and light people: capable of
being swallowed by the Reichs Army itself, -- were the
Reichs Army enterprising, or in good circumstances other-
wise. It is true the Russians have quitted Colberg as im-
possible; and are flowing homewards dragged by hunger:
the little Dohna Army will, therefore, march for Saxony;
the little Anti-Swedish Army, under Wedell, has likewise
been mostly ordered thither; both at their quickest. For
Daun, all turns on despatch; loiter a little, and Friedrich
himself will be here again!
Daun, I have no doubt, stirred his slow feet the fastest
he could. November 7th, Daun was in the neighbourhood of
Pirna Country again, had his Bridge at Pirna, for com-
munication; urged the Reichs Army to bestir itself, Now or
never. Reichs Army did push out a little against Finck;
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 70 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
9th Nov. 1758.
made him leave that perpetual Camp of Gahmig, take new
camps, Kesselsdorf and elsewhere; and at length made him
shoot across Elbe, to the north-west, on a pontoon bridge
below Dresden, with retreating room to northward, and
shelter under the guns of that City. Reichs Army has like-
wise made powerful detachments for capture of Leipzig and
the north-western towns; capture of Torgau, the Magazine
town, first of all: summon them, with force evidently over-
powering, "Free-withdrawal, if you don't resist; and if you
do--! " -- At Torgau there was actual attempt made (No-
vember 12th), rather elaborate and dangerous-looking; under
Haddick, with near 10,000 of the "Austrian-auxiliary" sort:
to whom the old Commandant, --judging Wedell, the late
Anti-Swedish Wedell, to be now near, -- rushed out with
"300 men and one big gun;" and made such a firing and
festiculating as was quite extraordinary, as if Wedell were
ere already: till Wedell's self did come in sight; and the
overpowering Reichs Detachment made its best speed else-
whither. * The other Sieges remained things of theory; the
other Reichs Detachments hurried home, I think, without
summoning anybody.
Meanwhile, Daun, with the proper Artilleries at last
ready, comes flowing forward (November Sth-9th); and
takes post in the Great Garden, or south side of Dresden;
minatory to Schmettau and that City. The walls, or works,
are weak; outside there is nothing but Mayer and the Free-
corps to resist, -- who indeed has surpassed himself this
season, and been extraordinarily diligent upon that lazy
Reichs Army. Commandant Schmettau signifies to Daun,
the day Daun came in sight, "If your Excellenz advance
farther on me, the grim Rules of War in besieged places
will order That I burn the Suburbs, which are your defences
in attacking me,"-- and actually fills the fine houses on the
Southern Suburb with combustible matter, making due an-
nouncements, to Court and population, as well as toDauii.
"Burn the Suburbs? " answers Daun: "In the name of
civilised humanity, you will never think of such thing! "
"That will I, your Excellenz, of a surety, and do it! "
answers Schmettau. So that Dresden is full of pity, terror
* Tempelhof, &c. ; "Letter from a Prussian Officer," in Ueldea-Ge-
schichtc, v. 286.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. XIV. l BATTLE OP HOCHKIRCH. 71
9th Nov. 1758.
and speculation. ' The common rumour is, says Excellency
Mitchell, who is sojourning there for the present, "That
Briihl" (nefarious Briihl, born to be the death of us! ) "has
persuaded Polish Majesty to sanction this enterprise of
Daun's,"-- very careless, Briihl, what become of Dresden
or us, so the King of Prussia be well hurt or spited!
Certain enough, November 9th, Daun does come on,
regardless of Schmettau's assurances; so that, "about mid-
night," Mayer, who "can hear the enemy busily building
four big batteries" withal, has to report himself driven to
the edge of those high Houses (which are filled with com-
bustibles), and that some Croats are got into the upper
windows. "Burn them, then! " answers Schmettau (such
the dire necessity of sieged places): and, "at 3 A. m. " (three
hours notice to the poor inmates), Mayer does so; hideous
flames bursting out, punctually at the stroke of 3: "whole
"Suburb seemed on blaze" (about a sixth part of it actually
so), "nay you would have said the whole Town was en-
"vironed in flames. " Excellency Mitchell climbed a steeple:
"will not describe to your Lordship the horror, the terror
"and confusion of this night; wretched inhabitants running
"with their furniture" (what of it they had got flung out,
between 12 o'clock and 3) "towards the Great Garden; all
"Dresden, to appearance, girt in flames, ruins and smoke. "
Such anight in Dresden, especially in the Pima Suburb, as
was never seen before. * This was the sad beginning, or
attempt at beginning, of Dresden Siege; and this also was
the end of it, on Daun's part at present. For four days more,
he hung about the place, minatory, hesitative; but attempted
nothing feasible; and on the fifth day, -- "for a certain
weighty reason," as the Austrian Gazettes express it, -- he
saw good to vanish into the Pirna Rock-Country, and be out
of harm's way in the mean while!
The truth is, Daun's was an intricate case just now;
needing, above all things, swiftness of treatment; what,
of all things, it could not get from Daun. His denun * Mitchell, Memoirs and Papers, i. 4fi9. InHelden-Geschichte, v. 295-302,
minute account (corresponding well with Mitchell's); ib. 303-33, the certi-
fied details of the damage done: "280 houses lost;" "4 human lives. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 72 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVHI.
20th Nov. 1758.
ciations on that burnt Suburb were again loud; but
Schmettau continues deaf to all that, -- means "to
defend himself by the known rules of war and of
honour;" declares, he "will dispute from street to street,
and only finish in the middle of Polish Majesty's Eoyal
Palace. " Denunciation will do nothing! Daun had
above 100,000 men in those parts. Rushing forward
with sharp shot and bayonet storm, instead of logical
denunciation, it is probable Daun might have settled
his Schmettau. But the hour of tide was rigorous,
withal; -- and such an ebb, if you missed it in hesi-
tating! Nnvemker l&th, Daun withdrew; the ebbing
coming. That same day, Friedrich was at Lauban in
the Lausitz, within a hundred miles again; speeding
hitherward; behind him a Silesia brushed clear, before
him a Saxony to be brushed. "Reason weighty" enough,
think Daun and the Austrian Gazettes! But such,
since you have missed the tide-hour, is the inexorable
fact of ebb, -- going at that frightful rate. Daun
never was the man to dispute facts.
November 20th, Friedrich arrived in Dresden; heard,
next day, that Daun had wheeled decisively homeward
from Pirna Country; that the Reichs Army and he are
diligently climbing the Metal Mountains; and that there
is not in Saxony, more than in Silesia, an enemy left.
What a Sequel to Hochkirch! "Neisse and Dresden
both! " we had hoped as sequel, if lucky: "Neisse or
Dresden" seemed infallible. And we are climbing the
Metal Mountains, under facts superior to us.
And Campaign Third has closed in this manner; --
leaving things much as it found them. Essentially a
drawn match; Contending Parties little altered in rela-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. XIV. ] BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 73
20th Nov. 1758.
tive strength; -- both of them, it may be presumed,
considerably weaker. Friedrich is not triumphant, or
shining in the light of bonfires, as last Year; but, in
the mind of judges, stands higher than ever (if that
could help him much); -- and is not "annihilated" in
the least, which is the surprising circumstance.
Friedrich's marches, especially, have been wonder-
ful, this Year. In the spring time, old Marechal de
Belleisle, French Minister of War, consulting officially
about future operations, heard it objected once: "But
if the King of Prussia were to burst-in upon us there? "
"The King of Prussia is a great soldier," answered M.
de Belleisle; "but his Army is not a shuttle (navette)" -- to be shot about, in that way, from side to side of
the world! No surely; not altogether. But the King
of Prussia has, among other arts, an art of marching
Armies, which by degrees astonishes the old Marechal.
To "come upon us en navette," suddenly "like a shuttle"
from the other side of the web, became an established
phrase among the French concerned in these unfortunate
matters. *
"The Pitt-and-Ferdinand Campaign of 1758," says a
Note, which I would fain abridge, "is more palpably vic-
"torious than Friedrich's, much more an affair of bonfires
"than his; though it too has had its rubs. Loss of honour at
"Crefeld; loss ot Louisburg and Codfishery: these are serious
"blows our enemy has had. But then, to temper the joy
"over Louisburg, there was, at Ticonderoga, by Aber-
"cromby, on the small scale (all the extent of scale he had),
"a melancholy Platitude committed: that of walking into
"an enemy without the least reconnoitering of him, who
"proves to be chin-deep in abatis and fieldworks; and kills,
"much at his ease, about 2,000brave fellows, brought 5,000
* Archenholtz, i. 316; Montalembert, scepius, for the phrase "en
Miielle. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:29 GMT / http://hdl.
