Von Falckenstein from Minden, and Von Manteuffel from Altona, moved
upon Hanover, and Von Beyer invaded Hesse-Cassel from Wetzlar. On
the night of the 15th the Hanoverian army, accompanied by the blind
monarch, King George, retreated, chiefly by rail, to Göttingen; the
retreat being conducted in such haste that even the reserve ammunition
and hospital supplies were left behind. On the 17th Von Falckenstein
entered the Hanoverian capital; on the 19th Von Manteuffel marched into
the city; and by the 22d all Hanover, except Göttingen, was in the
possession of the Prussians.
Von Beyer pushed into Hesse-Cassel, the Hessian army retiring before
him, by way of Fulda, upon Hanau, where it formed a junction with the
Federal forces. On the 19th the Prussians entered Cassel, and an army
was thus placed across the path of the retreating Hanoverians.
The Hanoverian army, which had been compelled to wait several days
at Göttingen to complete its organization, resumed its march on the
21st, intending to cross a portion of the Prussian territory _via_
Heiligenstadt and Langensalza, and thence through Eisenach or Gotha, to
form a junction with the Bavarians in the neighborhood of Fulda. Von
Falckenstein pursued from Hanover, detachments were sent from Magdeburg
and Erfurt to Bleicherode and Eisenach, and Von Beyer occupied the
line of the Werra between Allendorf and Eisenach. Though the route
through Eisenach was thus blocked, energetic measures on the part of
the allies might easily have extricated the Hanoverian army from the
constricting grasp of the Prussians. Gotha was occupied by a weak
force of six battalions, two squadrons and three batteries, while
the retreating army numbered 20,500 men. Had the Bavarian army been
well prepared and ably led, a junction might have been formed with
the Hanoverians, and the Prussian force at Gotha captured. But the
Bavarian commander was inefficient, and the over-estimate placed by
King George upon the number of his enemies at Gotha was strengthened
by the receipt, from the commander of the petty force, of an audacious
summons to surrender. Negotiations were entered upon by the Prussian
and Hanoverian representatives; but the armistice (begun on the 24th
and continued until the 26th) produced no other result than the
reinforcement of the force at Gotha; General Von Flies, with five
battalions, being detached from Von Falckenstein’s army, and sent by
rail, _via_ Magdeburg and Halle, to Gotha.
At Treffurt, Kreutzberg, Eisenach and Gotha, points on a semi-circle in
front of the Hanoverians, and within a day’s march of them, were nearly
30,000 Prussians.
On the 27th General Von Flies, advancing through Warza upon
Langensalza, with about 9,000 men, struck the army of King George,
which was well posted on the left bank of the Unstrut river. A battle
followed, in which the Hanoverians defeated Von Flies, and drove his
army several miles towards Warza.
But the Hanoverian victory was a barren one. Von Flies was reinforced
at Warza by a strong detachment from Von Goeben’s division at Eisenach.
Von Goeben and Von Beyer advanced from Eisenach upon Langensalza,
and Von Manteuffel, moving _via_ Heiligenstadt, Worbis, Dingelstadt,
Mühlhausen and Gross Gottern, closed upon the Hanoverians from the
north. The army of King George was now surrounded by 40,000 Prussians,
united under the command of Von Falckenstein. Further resistance was
hopeless, and on the 29th of June the Hanoverians surrendered. The men
were dismissed to their homes, the officers were paroled, and King
George was banished from his kingdom.