On the following day Fergus started, riding the new horse the count
had given him, while Karl led Tartar. The journey to Breslau was
performed without adventure. He found on arrival that the king had,
ten days before, gone to Landshut, round which place a portion of
his army was cantoned. At Landshut he commanded the main pass into
Bohemia, was in a position to move rapidly towards any point where
Daun might endeavour to break through into Silesia, and was yet but
a few marches from Dresden, should the tide of war flow in that
direction.
Already several blows had been struck at the enemy. As early as the
16th of February, Prince Henry had attacked the Confederate army
which, strengthened by some Austrian regiments, had intended to
fortify itself in Erfurt, and driven it far away; while the Prince
of Brunswick had made a raid into the small Federal states, and
carried off two thousand prisoners. Early in March a force from
Glogau had marched into Poland, and destroyed many Russian
magazines; while on April 13th, the very day on which Fergus
arrived at Breslau, Duke Ferdinand had fought a battle with the
French army under Broglio, near Bergen. The French, however, were
very strongly posted, and Ferdinand was unable to capture their
position, and lost twenty-five hundred men, while the French loss
was but nineteen hundred.
On the same day Prince Henry crossed the mountains, and destroyed
all the Austrian magazines through the country between Eger and
Prague--containing food for an army of fifty thousand for five
months--captured three thousand prisoners, and burnt two hundred
boats collected on the Elbe, near Leitmeritz; and was back again
after an absence of but nine days. A fortnight later he was off
again, marching this time towards Bamberg, burning magazines and
carrying off supplies. He captured Bayreuth and Bamberg, took
twenty-five hundred prisoners, and struck so heavy a blow at the
little princelings of the Confederacy that he was able to leave
matters to themselves in the west, should the king require his aid
against Daun or the Russians.
On the 16th of April Fergus arrived at Landshut, and proceeded to
the royal quarters. On sending his name to the king, he was at once
ushered in.
"So you have returned, Major Drummond," Frederick said cordially,
"and in plenty of time to see the play! Though indeed, I should not
be surprised if it is some time before the curtain draws up. I had
some hopes that you might rejoin, for after your last escape I
doubted whether any Austrian prison would hold you long. I am glad
to see you back again.
"Ah! it was a heavy loss, that of our good marshal. None but myself
can say how I miss him. He was not only, as a general, one of the
best and most trustworthy; but as a friend he was always cheery,
always hopeful, one to whom I could tell all my thoughts. Ah! If I
had but taken his advice at Hochkirch, I should not have had to
mourn his loss.
"It was a heavy blow to you also, Major Drummond."
"A heavy blow indeed, your Majesty. He was as kind to me as if he
had been my father."
"I will try to supply his place," the king said gravely. "He died
in my service, and through my error.
"For my own sake, I am glad that you are here. You have something
of his temperament, and I can talk freely with you, too, whatever
comes into my head."
"I did not know whether I did rightly in coming to report myself
direct to you, sire; but your kindness has always been so great to
me that I thought it would be best to come straight to you, instead
of reporting myself elsewhere, having indeed no fixed post or
commander."
"You did quite right. By the way, Keith's brother, the Scottish
Earl Marischal, is here."
He touched a bell, and said to the officer who came in:
"Will you give my compliments to Earl Marischal Keith, and beg him
to come to me for a few minutes."
Two minutes later Keith entered--a tall man, less strongly built
than his brother, but much resembling him.
"Excuse my sending for you, Earl Marischal," the king said, "but I
wanted to introduce to you your young cousin, Major Drummond; a
very brave young officer, as you may well imagine, since he has
already gained that rank, and wears our military order of the Black
Eagle. He tells me that he has not hitherto met you; but he came
over here at your brother's invitation, was a very great favourite
of his, and was deeply attached to him."
"My brother mentioned you frequently, in his letters to me," Keith
said, holding out his hand to Fergus. "I knew but little of your
mother, first cousin as she is; for being ten years older than my
brother, she was but a little child in my eyes when I last saw her.
Were it not that I am past military work, I would gladly try to
fill my brother's place to you; but if I cannot aid you in your
profession, I can at least give you a share of my affection."
"As to his profession, Keith, that is my business," the king said.
"He saved my life at Zorndorf, and has in so many ways distinguished
himself that his success in his career is already assured. He is, by
many years, the youngest major in the service; and if this war goes
on, there is no saying to what height he may rise.
"He has just returned from an Austrian prison where, as I told you
when you joined me, he was carried after Hochkirch. I don't know
yet how he escaped. He must dine with me this evening, and
afterwards he shall tell us about it. Mitchell dines with us, also.
He, too, is a friend of this young soldier, and has a high opinion
of him."
That evening after dinner Fergus related to the party, which
consisted only of the king, Keith, and the British ambassador, how
he had escaped from prison.
"The next time the Austrians catch you, Major Drummond," the king
said when he had finished, "if they want to keep you, they will
have to chain you by the leg, as they used to do in the old times."
For months the Prussian and Austrian armies lay inactive. Daun had
supposed that, as the king had begun the three previous campaigns
by launching his forces into Bohemia, he would be certain to follow
the same policy; and he had therefore placed his army in an almost
impregnable position, and waited for the king to assume the
offensive. Frederick, however, felt that with his diminished forces
he could no longer afford to dash himself against the strong
positions so carefully chosen and intrenched by the enemy; and must
now confine himself to the defensive, and leave it to the Austrians
to attempt to cross the passes and give battle. The slowness with
which they marched, in comparison with the speed at which the
Prussian troops could be taken from one point to another, gave him
good ground for believing that he should find many opportunities
for falling upon the enemy, when in movement.
It was a long time before the Austrian general recognized the
change in Frederick's strategy, still longer before he could bring
himself to abandon his own tactics of waiting and fortifying, and
determine to abandon his strongholds and assume the offensive. When
July opened he had, by various slow and careful marches, planted
himself in a very strong position at Marklissa; while Frederick, as
usual, was watching him. Daun was well aware that Frederick, of all
things, desired to bring on a battle; but knowing that the
Russians, one hundred thousand strong, under Soltikoff, were
steadily approaching, he determined to wait where he was, and to
allow the brunt of the fighting, for once, to fall on them.
Fergus, by this time, was far away. The long weeks had passed as
slowly to him as they had to the king, and he was very glad indeed
when, on the 2nd of June, Frederick said to him:
"I know that you are impatient for action, Major Drummond. Your
blood is younger than mine, and I feel it hard enough to be
patient, myself. However, I can find some employment for you. Duke
Ferdinand has now, you know, twelve thousand English troops with
him. He has written to me saying that, as neither of his
aides-de-camp can speak English, he begs that I would send him an
officer who can do so; for very few of the British are able to
speak German, and serious consequences might arise from the
misapprehension of orders on the day of battle. Therefore I have
resolved to send you to him, and you can start tomorrow, at
daybreak. I will have a despatch prepared for you to carry to the
duke; who of course, by the way, knows you, and will, I am sure, be
glad to have you with him. Later on I must send another of my
Scottish officers to take your place with him, for I like having
you with me. However, at present you are wasting your time, and may
as well go."
"We are off again tomorrow morning, Karl," Fergus said, in high
spirits, as he reached his quarters.
"That is the best news that I have heard since the count's
messenger brought me word, at Erfurt, that you had returned, major.
It has been the dullest six weeks we have had since we first
marched from Berlin; for while in winter one knows that nothing can
be done, and so is content to rest quietly, in spring one is always
expecting something, and if nothing comes of it one worries and
grumbles."
"It is a long ride we are going this time, Karl."
"I don't care how how long it is, major, so that one is moving."
"I am going to join the Duke of Brunswick's staff."
"That is something like a ride, major," Karl said in surprise, "for
it is right from one side of Prussia to the other."
"Yes, it is over four hundred and fifty miles."
"Well, major, we have got good horses, and they have had an easy
time of it, lately."
"How long do you think that we shall take?"
"Well, major, the horses can do forty miles a day, if they have a
day to rest, halfway. Your horses could do more, riding them on
alternate days; but it would be as much as mine could do to manage
that."
"We must take them by turns, Karl. That will give each horse a
partial rest--one day out of three."
"Like that they could do it, I should say, major, in about a
fortnight."
They rode first to Breslau, and thence to Magdeburg, passing
through many towns on the long journey, but none of any great
importance. At Magdeburg they heard that they must make for
Hanover, where they would be able to ascertain the precise position
of the duke's army, which was on the northern frontier of
Westphalia.
While the French, under the Duke of Broglio, were advancing north
from Frankfort-on-Maine; another French army, under Contades, was
moving against Ferdinand from the west. As it was probable that
there would, at least, be no great battle until the two French
armies combined, Fergus, who had already given his horses two days'
complete rest, remained for three days at Magdeburg; as it was
likely that he would have to work them hard, when he joined the
duke.
Five days later he rode into the Duke of Brunswick's principal
camp, which was near Osnabrueck, where was situated his central
magazine.
"I am glad to see you, Major Drummond," the duke said cordially,
when Fergus reported himself. "I thought perhaps the king would
select you for the service, and I know how zealous and active you
are. I am greatly in need of a staff officer who can speak English,
for none of mine can do so.
"I think that we shall have some hard fighting here, soon. You see
that I am very much in the position of the king, menaced from two
directions. If I move to attack Contades, Broglio will have Hanover
entirely open to him; while if I move against him, Contades will
capture Muenster and Osnabrueck and get all my magazines, and might
even push on and occupy the town of Hanover, before I could get
back. So you see, I have nothing to do but to wait in this
neighbourhood until I see their designs.
"I have some twelve thousand of your countrymen here, and I rely
upon them greatly. We know how they fought at Fontenoy. Splendid
fellows they are. There is a Scotch regiment with them, whose
appearance in kilts and feathers in no slight degree astonishes
both the people and my own soldiers. Their cavalry are very fine,
too. They have much heavier horses than ours, and should be
terrible in a charge.
"How long have you been on the road?"
"I have been eighteen days, sir. I could have ridden faster myself,
having a spare charger, but my orderly could hardly travel more
rapidly; and indeed, when I got to Magdeburg, and found that it was
not likely that there would be any engagement for some time, I
allowed the horses three days' rest, so that they should be fit for
service as soon as they arrived here."
A tent was at once erected in the staff lines for Fergus. He found,
upon inquiry, that the British division was at present at Muenster.
He was invited by the duke to dinner that evening, and was
introduced to the officers of the staff; who received him
courteously, but with some surprise that one so young should not
only bear the rank of major, but the coveted insignia of the Black
Eagle.
The duke, however, when the introductions were over, gave them a
short account of the newcomer's services, and after dinner begged
Fergus to tell them how he escaped from Linz; and they had a hearty
laugh over the manner in which he and his companions obtained their
first disguise.
"I have heard something of this," Colonel Zolwyn, the head of the
staff, said. "Captains Stauffen and Ritzer were both ordered here,
on their arrival at Berlin; and though I have not met them, I have
heard from others of their escape from Linz, which they ascribed
entirely to a major of Marshal Keith's staff, who was a fellow
prisoner of theirs."
For the next three weeks Fergus was on horseback from morning till
night. The movements of the troops were incessant. The two French
generals manoeuvred with great skill, giving no opportunity for the
Duke of Brunswick to strike a blow at either. Broglio, guided by a
treacherous peasant, captured Minden by surprise. Contades, with
thirty thousand men, had taken up an unassailable position: his
right wing on the Weser, and his left on impassable bogs and
quagmires, and with his front covered by the Bastau, a deep and
unfordable brook. Thirty thousand of his troops were occupied in
besieging Muenster and Osnabrueck, and other places, and succeeded
in capturing the latter, containing the duke's magazines of hay and
cavalry forage.
The duke's position became very grave, and the French believed
that, in a very short time, they would be masters of all Hanover.
Broglio's force of twenty thousand men was on the east side of the
Weser, and Ferdinand was unable to move to strike a blow at the
detached force of Contades; for had he done so, Broglio would have
captured the city of Hanover, which lay perfectly open to him
within a day's march.
Fergus had been specially employed in carrying despatches to the
British division, and had made many acquaintances among the
officers. As the army gradually concentrated, when the French
forces drew closer together, he often spent the evening in their
tents when the day's work was done.
In the Scotch regiment he was soon quite at home. The fact that he
was related to Marshal Keith, of whom every Scotchman was proud,
and had been one of his aides-de-camp, sufficed in itself to render
him at once popular. The officers followed with eager interest the
accounts of the various battles he had witnessed, and little by
little extracted from him some account of the manner in which he
had won his steps so rapidly in the Prussian service. He found that
they, and the British troops in general, had a profound dislike for
Lord Sackville; who commanded them, but who was especially in
command of their cavalry. All described him as a heavy, domineering
fellow, personally indolent and slow, on ill terms with the Duke of
Brunswick, whom in a quiet and obstinate way he seemed bent on
thwarting.
"He is an ill-conditioned brute," one of the officers remarked.
"The only thing to be said for him is that he is not deficient in
personal courage. He has fought several duels, into which he
brought himself by his overbearing temper."
Although he had frequently carried despatches to Sackville, Fergus
had not exchanged a word with him. The English general had taken
the paper from his hand, barely acknowledging his salute; and not
indeed glancing at him, but turning on his heel and walking off to
read the contents of the despatch, which generally appeared to
displease him, judging by the manner in which he spoke to his
officers. Then he would go into his tent, and one of his
aides-de-camp would shortly come out with a letter containing his
reply.
Fergus naturally came to regard the English commander with the same
dislike that his own officers felt for him. One day, when handing
him a despatch, he omitted the usual salute. Sackville noticed it
at once.
"Why do you not salute, sir?" he said, raising his head, and for
the first time looking at the duke's aide-de-camp.
"This is the twelfth time, sir, that I have brought despatches from
the Duke of Brunswick. Upon each occasion I have made the military
salute. By the regulations of the army, I believe that the superior
officer is as much bound to return a salute as the inferior officer
is to render it. As you have not chosen, upon any one of those
twelve occasions, to return my salute, I see no reason why I should
continue to give it."
Sackville looked at him as he shouted in English, with astonishment
and rage:
"And who the devil are you?"
"I am Major Fergus Drummond, a companion of the order of the Black
Eagle, and an aide-de-camp of the King of Prussia."
"The deuce you are!" Sackville said insolently. "I did not know
that the King of Prussia promoted lads to be majors, chose them for
his aides-de-camp, and made them companions of his order."
"Then, sir, you know it now," Fergus said quietly; "and for an
explanation of my rank, I beg to refer you to the Duke of
Brunswick; who will, I doubt not, be not unwilling to explain the
matter to you."
"I shall report your insolence to the duke, at any rate, sir. Were
it not for my position here, I would myself condescend to give you
the lesson of which you seem to me to be in want."
"I should doubt, sir, whether I could receive any lesson at your
hands; but after this affair has terminated, I shall be happy to
afford you an opportunity of endeavouring to do so."
Lord Sackville was on the point of replying, when the colonel of
his staff, whom Fergus had met at dinner at the duke's, and who
spoke German fluently, came up and said:
"Pardon me, general. Can I speak to you for a moment?"
Fergus reined back his horse a length or two, while the officer
spoke rapidly to Lord Sackville.
"I don't care a fig," the latter burst out passionately.
The officer continued to speak. The general listened sullenly, then
turning to Fergus, he said:
"Well, sir, we shall leave the matter as it is. As soon as this
battle is over, I shall waive my rank and meet you."
"I shall be ready at any time," Fergus said; and then, formally
saluting, he rode away.
"I suppose you have no answer, Major Drummond," the duke said, when
he returned to his quarters; "but indeed, there is none needed."
"I have no answer, sir, and indeed did not wait for one. Lord
Sackville and I had a somewhat hot altercation;" and he related,
word for word, what had passed.
"It is a pity, but I cannot blame you," the duke said, when Fergus
had finished. "The man has given me a great deal of trouble, ever
since he joined us with his force. He is always slow in obeying
orders. Sometimes he seems wilfully to misunderstand them, and
altogether he is a thorn in my side. I am glad, indeed, that the
British infantry division are entirely under my control. With them
I have no difficulty whatever. He was entirely in the wrong in this
matter; and I certainly should address a remonstrance to him, on
the subject of his manner and language to one of my staff, but our
relations are already unpleasantly strained, and any open breach
between us might bring about a serious disaster."
"I certainly should not wish that you should make any allusion to
the matter, sir. Possibly I may have an opportunity of teaching him
to be more polite, after we have done with the French."
By two sudden strokes the duke, in the third week of July, obtained
possession of Bremen, thereby obtaining a port by which stores and
reinforcements from England could reach him; and also recaptured
Osnabrueck, and found to his great satisfaction that the French had
also established a magazine there, so that the stores were even
larger than when they had taken it from him.
The great point was to induce Contades to move from his impregnable
position. He knew that both Contades and Broglio were as anxious as
he was to bring about a battle, did they but see an advantageous
opportunity; and he took a bold step to tempt them.
On the 30th of July he sent the Hereditary Prince, with a force of
ten thousand men, to make a circuit and fall upon Gohfeld, ten
miles up the Weser; and so cut the line by which Contades brought
up the food for his army from Cassel, seventy miles to the south.
Such a movement would compel the French either to fight or to fall
back. It was a bold move and, had it not succeeded, would have been
deemed a rash one; for it left him with but thirty-six thousand men
to face the greatly superior force of the French.
The bait proved too tempting for the French generals. It seemed to
them that the duke had committed a fatal mistake. His left, leaning
on the Weser was, by the march of the force to Gohfeld, left
unsupported at a distance of three miles from the centre; and it
seemed to them that they could now hurl themselves into the gap,
destroy the duke's left, and then crush his centre and right, and
cut off whatever remnant might escape from Hanover.
On Tuesday evening, July 1st, the French got into motion as soon as
it was dark. During the night Contades crossed, by nineteen bridges
that he had thrown across the Bastau; while at the same time
Broglio crossed the Weser, by the bridge of the town, and took up
his position facing the Prussian left wing, which rested on the
village of Todtenhausen, intending to attack him early in the
morning, and to finish before the duke could bring the centre to
his assistance.
Feeling sure that the French would fall into the trap, the duke
ordered his cavalry to mount at one o'clock in the morning, and
moved in with his troops from the villages around which they were
encamped; closing in towards Minden, whereby the centre gradually
came into touch with the left, the whole forming a segment of a
circle, of which Minden was the centre.
The French also formed a segment of a similar circle, nearer to
Minden. Contades was a long time getting his troops into position,
for great confusion was caused by their having crossed by so many
bridges, and it took hours to range them in order of battle.
Broglio was in position, facing the duke's left, at five o'clock in
the morning. He was strong in artillery and infantry; but as the
ground on both flanks was unfavourable for the action of cavalry,
these were all posted in the centre. The cavalry, indeed, was the
strongest portion of the force. They numbered ten thousand, and
were the flower of the French army.
The duke placed six regiments of British infantry in his centre.
They were the 12th, 20th, 23rd, 25th, 37th and 51st. Some regiments
of Hanoverians were in line behind them. The British cavalry were
on the duke's right. The morning was misty, and it was not until
eight o'clock that both sides were ready, and indeed even then
Contades' infantry was not finally settled in its position.
The battle began with an attack by some Hessian regiments on the
village of Hahlen, and by a very heavy fire of artillery on both
sides. The orders to the English regiments had been, "March to
attack the enemy on sound of drum," meaning that they were to move
when the drums gave the signal for the advance. The English,
however, understood the order to be, "You are to advance to the
sound of your drums." They waited for a time, while the attack on
Hahlen continued. It was repulsed three times before it succeeded,
but before this happened the English regiments lost patience, and
said, "We ought to be moving." The drums therefore struck up and,
to the astonishment of the Hanoverians, these English battalions
strode away towards the enemy. However, the regiments of the second
line followed.
As the British stepped forward, a tremendous crossfire of artillery
opened upon them, thirty guns on one side and as many on the other;
but in spite of this the six regiments pressed on unfalteringly,
with their drums beating lustily behind them. Then there was a
movement in their front, and a mighty mass of French cavalry poured
down upon them. The English halted, closed up the gaps made by the
artillery, held their fire until the leading squadrons of the
French were within forty paces, and then opened a tremendous file
fire. Before it man and horse went down. At so short a distance
every bullet found its billet and, for the first time in history, a
line of infantry repulsed the attack of a vastly superior body of
cavalry.
Astonished, and hampered by the fallen men and horses of their
first line, the French cavalry reined up and trotted sullenly back
to reform and repeat the charge. The British drums beat furiously
as the French rode forward again, only to be repulsed as before.
Six times did the cavalry, with a bravery worthy of their
reputation, renew the charge. Six times did they draw back
sullenly, as the leading squadrons withered up under the storm of
shot. Then they could do no more, but rode back in a broken and
confused mass through the gaps between their infantry, throwing
these also into partial confusion.
"Ride to Lord Sackville, and tell him to charge with his cavalry,
at once," the duke said to Fergus; and then checking himself said,
"No, I had better send someone else," and repeated the order to
another of his staff.
Sackville only replied that he did not see his way to doing so. A
second and then a third officer were sent to him, with a like
result, and at last he himself left his cavalry and rode to the
duke and inquired:
"How am I to go on?"
The duke curbed his anger at seeing the fruits of victory lost. He
replied quietly:
"My lord, the opportunity is now past."
Harassed only by the fire of the British and Hanoverian guns, and
by that of the British infantry, Contades drew off his army by the
nineteen bridges into his stronghold. Broglio, who had done nothing
save keep up a cannonade, covered the retreat with his division.
The total amount of loss on the duke's side was two thousand eight
hundred and twenty-two, of which more than half belonged to the
British infantry. The French loss was seven thousand and
eighty-six, with their heavy guns and many flags; but had Sackville
done his duty, their army would have been annihilated, pent up as
it was with the river on each flank, convergent to each other at
Minden; a perfect rat trap from which no army could have escaped,
had it been hotly pressed by cavalry.
The feat performed by the British infantry astonished Europe, who
were at first almost incredulous that six regiments in line could
have repulsed, over and over again, and finally driven off the
field, ten thousand of the best cavalry of France.
While the battle was raging, the Hereditary Prince had done his
share of the work, had fallen upon Gohfeld, crushed the French
division guarding it, cutting the French from their magazines and
rendering their position untenable. They received the news that
evening, and at once commenced their retreat, Broglio towards
Frankfort and Contades straight for the Rhine. The latter was
obliged to abandon all his baggage, and many of his guns; and his
army, by the time it had reached the Rhine, had become a mere
rabble. The general was at once recalled in disgrace, and Broglio
appointed commander-in-chief; although by failing to carry out the
orders he had received, to fall upon the allies left at five in the
morning, he had largely contributed to the defeat that had befallen
Contades.