[Sidenote: 1759.]
Never in the whole course of her history had come to England such
a year of triumph as 1759. Opening with the capture of Goree in
January, its later months had brought one unbroken tale of success,
of Madras saved and Masulipatam taken in India, of Quebec captured
in Canada, of Minden won in Germany, of one French fleet worsted
by Boscawen off the Portuguese coast, of another defeated by Hawke
in the romantic action of Quiberon Bay. Such was the story with
which King George the Second met his Parliament for the last time
in his life; and Pitt did not fail to turn it to good account. A
monument was voted to Wolfe in Westminster Abbey; thanks were given
to Hawke, Saunders and Holmes of the Navy, and to Monckton, Murray
and Townsend of the Army; and the military estimates were passed
with little difficulty. It was ordered that Ferdinand's army should
be augmented from Great Britain, Brunswick, and Hesse alike. The
full number of national troops voted for the British Establishment
exceeded one hundred thousand men; the embodied militia augmented
this total by twenty thousand, and the German troops in the pay
of England by fifty-five thousand more; while another twelve
thousand men at home and abroad, which were borne on the Irish
Establishment, raised it to close on one hundred and ninety
thousand men. Before the campaign of 1760 was opened, the infantry
of the British Line had increased to ninety-six regiments; England
contributing one new corps, Wales one, Scotland five, and Ireland
four, all of which were disbanded at the close of the war.[356]
To these there were added later in the year six new regiments
of Light Dragoons. The first was formed in August under Colonel
John Burgoyne, which took rank as the Sixteenth Dragoons, and is
now known to us as the Sixteenth Lancers; the second, created in
October by Lord Aberdour, soon perished and left no mark behind
it; and the third was raised under rather remarkable conditions
by Colonel John Hale in November. Colonel Hale, originally of
the Blues and later of the Forty-third Foot, was the officer who
brought back the despatches reporting the victory of Quebec.
Finding on his arrival in England in October that there was still
some alarm of a French invasion, he volunteered to form a regiment
of the footmen and chairmen of London and to lead them against
the best household troops of France; an offer which so delighted
Pitt that he reported it to the House of Commons. Finally, he
engaged himself to raise a strong regiment of light dragoons
without levy-money for men or horses, promising that any men or
horses objected to on review by the inspecting officer should be
replaced without expense to the country, and that the whole corps
should be completed within two months. The offer was accepted,
and the regiment was raised at the sole expense of the officers
within the space, as it is said, of seventeen days. The number
was not inappropriate; for though first known, during the few
years while Aberdour's lasted, as the Eighteenth, this regiment,
still conspicuous by the white facings and the badge of skull
and crossbones which Hale selected for it, remains with us as the
Seventeenth Lancers. The three remaining corps, which raised the
number of regiments of dragoons to twenty-one, were too short-lived
to merit more than mere mention.[357]
[Sidenote: 1760.]
[Sidenote: Feb.]
The menace of French invasion was rather ludicrously realised
in February by a descent of the French privateer, Thurot, with
five ships upon Carrickfergus. Landing about a thousand troops,
he received the surrender of the town after a skirmish with the
garrison, plundered it, contrary to the terms of the capitulation,
and re-embarked. His squadron, however, was almost immediately
caught by three British men-of-war, when after a short action
Thurot was killed and every one of his ships captured. This tragic
termination to Thurot's escapade relieved the general tension, and
restored the country's confidence.
So foolish a raid was not likely to produce any change in Pitt's
preparations for the reinforcement of Ferdinand, who needed to be
specially strengthened after the disasters that had befallen King
Frederick at Kunersdorf and at Maxen. In January it was decided
to send three more regiments of British cavalry to Germany; and a
few weeks later the number was increased to five. In May a further
reinforcement of six battalions and two regiments of Highlanders
was promised, and in June two additional regiments of cavalry;
making up a total of close on ten thousand men.[358] The troops
were shipped to the Weser instead of, as heretofore, to Emden, and
seem to have been despatched with commendable promptitude; for the
six regiments of foot, though only warned for service on the 1st
of May, were actually reviewed by Ferdinand in his camp at Fritzlar
on the 17th of June, and were declared by him to be in a most
satisfactory condition.[359]
[Sidenote: May.]
[Sidenote: June 20.]
[Sidenote: June 22.]
[Sidenote: June 24.]
[Sidenote: July.]
The campaign of 1759 having been prolonged so far into the winter,
Ferdinand gave his army rest until late in May. At length on
the 20th he called the infantry of the army of Hesse from its
cantonments, and posted the main body under his own command at
Fritzlar, with one corps advanced to Hersfeld on the Fulda to
protect his left, and a second under General Imhoff at Kirchhain,
on the Ohm. It was his intention that, in case of the enemy's
advance, Imhoff should call in the detachment from Hersfeld to
Homberg, a little to the south of Kirchhain on a bend of the
Ohm, where there was a position, before long to be better known
to us, in which he could bar the way to a far superior force.
Simultaneously the army of Westphalia moved to its line of the
previous year, from Coesfeld eastward to Hamm. In these positions
the Allies remained for nearly a month before the French made
the least sign of movement; when at last the army of the Lower
Rhine under the Count of St. Germain assembled at Düsseldorf, and
crossing the Rhine advanced to Dortmund. From this centre it was
open to St. Germain to advance either northward against Münster
or eastward against Lippstadt; but it was tolerably evident that
his real design was to join the army of the Main, and to operate
against the right flank of the Allied army of Hesse. At about the
same time Broglie concentrated the army of the Main a little to the
east of Giessen, and began his advance northward. The Hereditary
Prince at once fell back from Hersfeld with his detachment towards
the Ohm, while Ferdinand moved southward as far as Ziegenhain to
join Imhoff, with every intention of making Broglie fight him
before he advanced another mile. To his infinite disgust, however,
he learned that Imhoff had abandoned the position entrusted to
him, and had ordered the whole of the advanced corps back to
Kirchhain. Thus the most effective barrier in Hesse was opened
to the French; Ferdinand perforce halted; and Broglie pushed on
without delay to Homberg, whence turning eastward he encamped in
the face of Ferdinand's army at Neustadt. In this situation both
armies remained for a whole fortnight inactive, though not two
hours' march apart, neither daring to attack the other, and each
waiting for the other to make the next movement.
[Sidenote: July 8.]
[Sidenote: July 10.]
Broglie brought the deadlock to an end. Sending orders to St.
Germain to march from Dortmund on the 4th of July, and to meet
him at Corbach, he marched on the night of the 7th north-westward
upon Frankenberg. Ferdinand on learning of his movements next day
marched also northward with all speed, pushing forward a strong
advanced corps under the Hereditary Prince by way of Sachsenhausen
upon Corbach, to bar the outlet of the defile through which
Broglie's army must pass into the plain, and so to hinder his
junction with St. Germain. The French, however, had gained too long
a start. St. Germain, though he distressed his troops terribly by
the speed of his march, succeeded in passing through the defile
from the north; and Broglie, hastening up from the south, found his
troops forming in order of battle just as the Hereditary Prince
debouched into the plain from Sachsenhausen. As not more than ten
thousand of the French were yet deployed, the Prince attacked;
but was soon driven back by superior numbers as the rest of the
French came up, and finally retired with the loss of five hundred
men and fifteen guns, seven of which last were British. It fell to
the British infantry with the Prince, the Fifth, Twenty-fourth,
Fiftieth, and Fifty-first regiments, to cover the retreat; but so
hard were they pressed that the Prince only extricated them by
putting himself at the head of two squadrons of the First and Third
Dragoon Guards, and leading them to a desperate charge. Fortunately
the squadrons responded superbly,[360] and so the rear-guard was
saved; but the Prince had received an unpleasant reverse, and the
French had secured their first object with signal success.
[Sidenote: July 12.]
The Allied army of Westphalia, under General von Spörcke, arrived
on the scene in obedience to orders two days after the action, and
was posted at Volksmarsen on the Diemel to protect Ferdinand's
right; and then once more the two hosts remained motionless and
face to face, the French at Corbach, the Allies at Sachsenhausen.
Ferdinand's total force was sixty-six thousand men only, while
that of the French numbered one hundred and thirty thousand;[361]
yet such was the difference in the quality of the two armies that
Broglie dared not act except with extreme caution. His principal
object was to envelope Ferdinand's right and cut him off from
Westphalia at the line of the Diemel; and Ferdinand accordingly
resolved to distract Broglie's attention to the opposite flank.
[Sidenote: July 15.]
[Sidenote: July 16.]
Having intelligence that a party of the enemy under General
Glaubitz, consisting of six battalions, a regiment of Hussars,
and a number of light troops, was on its way to Ziegenhain
from Marburg, evidently with the object of disturbing his
communications, Ferdinand, on the night of the 14th, detached the
Hereditary Prince to take command of six battalions which were
lying at Fritzlar, and to attack it. Accordingly on the following
morning the Prince marched rapidly southward, being joined on
the way by a regiment of German hussars, and by the Fifteenth
Light Dragoons, which had just arrived from England. On reaching
the vicinity of Ziegenhain, he found that Glaubitz was encamped
farther to the west, near the village of Emsdorff. His troops
being exhausted by a long march, the Prince halted for the night
at Treysa, and continuing his advance early on the morrow, picked
up two more bodies of irregulars, horse and foot, which were on
their way to him, and pushed on with his mounted troops only, to
reconnoitre the enemy's position. He found the French posted at the
mouth of a gorge in the mountains, fronting to north-east, astride
of the two roads that lead from Kirchhain to Fritzlar and to
Ziegenhain. Their right lay in rear of the village of Erxdorff, and
their left in front of the village of Emsdorff, resting on a forest
some three miles long. The Prince and General Lückner, who was with
him, entered the forest, but found neither picquets nor sentries;
they pushed forward through the corn-fields to within half a mile
of the camp, but saw neither vedettes, nor patrols, nor so much as
a main-guard; nay, Erxdorff itself, though within less than a mile
of the camp, was not occupied. They stole back well content with
what they had seen.
Waiting till eleven o'clock for his infantry to join him, the
Prince posted one battalion, Lückner's regiment of hussars and
the Fifteenth Light Dragoons, in a hollow a mile before Erxdorff;
then taking the five remaining battalions, together with the
irregular troops and four guns, he fetched a compass through the
forest and came in full upon the enemy's left flank. The French
were completely surprised. Two battalions had barely time to form
towards the forest before the Prince's infantry came upon them,
poured in a volley which laid three hundred men low, and drove back
the rest upon Glaubitz's remaining infantry, which was falling
in hurriedly in rear of the camp. Simultaneously Lückner, at the
sound of the firing, came galloping up on the French right with his
cavalry; whereupon the entire French force abandoned its camp and
retired through the woods in their rear towards Langenstein. Here
they rallied; but Lückner's single battalion hurried on beyond them
to bar their way over the Ohm to westward, while the Fifteenth,
pressing on along their flank, stationed itself across the road
to Amöneberg, and charging full upon them headed them back from
that side. With some difficulty the French repelled the attack,
and turning about to south-eastward made for a wood not far away,
hoping to pass through it and so to escape to the south. But on
arriving at the southern edge of the wood they found every outlet
blocked by the Prince's mounted irregulars. Perforce they turned
back through the wood again and emerged on to the open ground on
its western side, trusting that some marshy ground, which lay in
the way of the Prince's cavalry, would secure them from further
pursuit. But they had not marched over the plain for more than a
mile before the hussars and light dragoons were upon them again,
and the Fifteenth for the second time crashed single-handed into
the midst of them, cutting them down by scores and capturing one
battalion complete. With great difficulty the remnant of the French
beat back their pursuers and continued the retreat: half of them
had been killed or captured, or had dropped down unable to march
farther, but the rest struggled gallantly on. Reaching an open wood
they again halted and formed for action. The Prince, still close
at their heels with his cavalry, thereupon surrounded them and
summoned them to surrender; and the French commander, despairing
of further resistance in the exhausted state of his troops, was
obliged to yield.
So ended the action which is still commemorated on the appointments
of the Fifteenth Hussars by the name of Emsdorff. The French camp
had been surprised at noon; and the last fragment of their force
capitulated at six o'clock in the evening, having striven manfully
but in vain to shake off the implacable enemy that had hunted them
for nearly twenty miles. The loss of the French in killed and
wounded is unknown, though it must have been considerable, but the
prisoners taken numbered twenty-six hundred, while nine colours and
five guns were also captured. The total loss of the Prince's troops
did not exceed one hundred and eighty-six men and one hundred and
eighty-one horses, of which one hundred and twenty-five men and
one hundred and sixty-eight horses belonged to the Fifteenth.
It was the Fifteenth, in fact, that did all the fighting. The
other regiments engaged did not lose twenty men apiece. The
infantry could not keep pace with the pursuit after they reached
Langenstein, and the two other corps of cavalry, though they did
excellent work in heading back the enemy, never came to close
quarters. Lückner's hussars did not lose a man nor a horse, and of
the mounted irregulars but twenty-three men and horses were killed
or wounded. It was the Fifteenth alone, a young regiment that had
never been under fire, which thrice charged five times its numbers
of French infantry and rode through them; and the success of the
action was ascribed to them and to them only. Their gallantry
indeed was the amazement of the whole army.[362] The tradition of
charging home, as shall be seen in due time both in Flanders and in
Spain, remained with the regiment, and doubtless remains with it to
this day.
[Sidenote: July 23.]
[Sidenote: July 25-27.]
[Sidenote: July 29.]
[Sidenote: July 30.]
This brilliant exploit was some compensation to the Allies for
past mishaps; but a week later Broglie sought to turn the scale
by more serious operations. On the 23rd he divided his army into
three corps, of which he sent one round Ferdinand's left flank
under Prince Xavier of Saxony to threaten Cassel, and a second to
force back Spörcke on his right from Volksmarsen, while the main
body under his own command advanced to Sachsenhausen. Perforce
Ferdinand retreated north-westward to Kalle, his rear-guard being
incessantly and severely engaged throughout the movement; whereupon
Broglie, seeing the way to be clear, detached a corps under the
Chevalier de Muy, who had recently arrived to relieve the Count
of St. Germain, across the Diemel to Warburg, in order to cut off
the Allies from Westphalia. The Marshal himself meanwhile moved
up parallel to Ferdinand on the eastern side towards Kalle, and
Prince Xavier pressed still closer upon Cassel. It being evident
to Ferdinand that either Cassel or Westphalia must be abandoned,
he detached a force under General Kielmansegge to strengthen the
garrison of Cassel and resolved to attack de Muy. Accordingly, on
the afternoon of the 29th Spörcke's corps crossed the Diemel to
Liebenau, followed on the same evening by that of the Hereditary
Prince; and on the 30th their combined force, not exceeding in all
fourteen thousand men, encamped between Liebenau and Corbeke with
its left on the Diemel, facing west. At dawn of the same morning
Broglie's army debouched from several quarters simultaneously
against the Allied camp at Kalle, but drew off after some hours of
cannonade; and Ferdinand, satisfied through other signs that this
demonstration was intended only to cover the movement of the French
towards Cassel, resolved to pass the Diemel without delay and to
deliver his stroke against de Muy.
Spörcke and the Hereditary Prince had meanwhile reconnoitred de
Muy's position and had recommended that their own corps should
turn its left flank, while Ferdinand with the main army advanced
against its front. De Muy, with about twenty thousand men, occupied
a high ridge across a bend of the Diemel, facing north-east, with
his right resting on Warburg and his left near the village of
Ochsendorf. To his left rear rose a circular hill crowned by a
tower, and on his left front lay a village named Poppenheim. It
was arranged that the corps of Spörcke and the Hereditary Prince
should advance westward in two columns from Corbeke and form up in
three lines between the tower and Poppenheim, so as to fall on de
Muy's left flank and rear, while Ferdinand crossing the Diemel at
Liebenau should attack his centre and right. As the camp between
Liebenau and Corbeke lay about ten miles from de Muy's, and as
Ferdinand's camp lay some fifteen miles to the south of the Diemel
from Liebenau, the operation called for extreme nicety in the
execution.
[Sidenote: July 31.]
At nine o'clock on the evening of the 30th Ferdinand's army
marched from Kalle, and at six o'clock on the following morning the
heads of his columns passed the Diemel and debouched on the heights
of Corbeke. They arrived, however, at later than the appointed
hour. The passage of the Diemel had caused much delay; and not all
the haste of officers nor the eagerness of men could bring the army
forward the quicker. At seven o'clock Spörcke and the Hereditary
Prince, after much anxious waiting, decided to march from Corbeke
before more time should be lost. The northern column, which
included the right wing of all three arms, moved by Gross Eider and
Ochsendorf upon the tower; the southern, composed of the left wing,
by Klein Eider and Poppenheim. Both columns were led by British
troops--the northern by the Royal Dragoons, whose place was on the
extreme right of the first line, while the British grenadiers,
massed in two battalions under Colonels Maxwell and Daulhatt,[363]
marched at the head of the infantry. The southern was headed by
the Seventh Dragoons, with Keith's and Campbell's Highlanders[364]
following them to cover the grenadiers in second line.
At half-past one the Hereditary Prince, having posted his artillery
on the outskirts of Ochsendorf and Poppenheim, opened fire as the
signal for attack; and at the same time the British grenadiers
began to file through Ochsendorf. Certain French battalions, which
de Muy had thrown back _en potence_ to protect his left flank,
thereupon retired without firing, until it was perceived that
the Allies were making for the steep hill in rear of the French
position. Then one battalion of Regiment Bourbonnois deliberately
faced about and marched off to occupy the hill. To permit such a
thing would have been to derange the whole of the plans of the
Allies, so it was necessary to prevent it at any cost. Colonel
Beckwith with ten grenadiers ran forward, keeping out of sight
of the French, to reach the hill before them; the Prince himself
with thirty more hurried after him; and with this handful of men,
all panting and breathless, they crowned the crest of the height.
Bourbonnois arriving on the scene a little later found itself
greeted by a sharp fire, and, being unable to see the numbers
opposed to it, halted for ten minutes to allow its second battalion
to come up. The delay gave time for Daulhatt's entire battalion
of grenadiers to join Beckwith's little party; and then the two
battalions of Bourbonnois attacked in earnest, and the combat
between French and British, at odds of two against one, became most
fierce and stubborn. The disparity of numbers however, was too
great; and Daulhatt's men after a gallant struggle were beginning
to give way, when Maxwell's battalion came up in the nick of time
to support them. This reinforcement redressed the balance of the
fight; Daulhatt's men speedily rallied, and the contest for the
hill was renewed. The French, however, prepared to send fresh
battalions in support of Bourbonnois, and the situation of the
British became critical; for a battery of artillery, which was on
its way to the hill to support them, got into difficulties in a
defile near Ochsendorf and blocked the advance of the rest of the
northern column. Fortunately it was extricated, though none too
soon, and being brought up to the hill was speedily in action;
while the head of the southern column likewise coming up took the
French reinforcements in flank and drove them back in disorder. The
Royals and Seventh Dragoons were then let loose upon the broken
French battalions, completing their discomfiture and taking many
prisoners.
So far the turning movement had succeeded; but its success was
not yet assured, for only a portion of the southern column was
yet formed for action, and the troops on the field were becoming
exhausted. De Muy might yet have hoped to turn the scale in his
left, when his attention was suddenly called to the advance of
troops upon his front. After desperate but fruitless efforts it
had been found that the infantry of Ferdinand's army could not
hope to arrive in time to take part in the action. The British
battalions, urged by General Waldegrave, struggled manfully to get
forward, but the day was hot, and the ground was difficult and in
many places marshy: the men would not fall out, but they dropped
down insensible from fatigue in spite of themselves. Ferdinand
therefore ordered Lord Granby, who had succeeded to Sackville,
to advance with the twenty-two squadrons of British cavalry and
the British artillery alone. Away therefore they started at the
trot, the guns accompanying them at a speed which amazed all
beholders.[365] Two hours of trotting brought them at last within
sight of the enemy; and Granby at once turned them upon the cavalry
of de Muy's right wing. The pace was checked for a brief moment
as the squadrons formed in two lines for the attack. In the first
line from right to left were the First, Third, and Second Dragoon
Guards, in one brigade, the Blues, Seventh, and Sixth Dragoon
Guards in another; in the second line were the Greys, Tenth, Sixth,
and Eleventh Dragoons. Then the advance was resumed, Granby riding
at the head of the Blues, his own regiment, and well in front of
all. His hat flew from his head, revealing a bald head which shone
conspicuous in the sun, as the trot grew into gallop and the lines
came thundering on. The French squadrons wavered for a moment, and
then, with the exception of three only, turned and fled without
awaiting the shock. The scarlet ranks promptly wheeled round upon
the flank and rear of the French infantry; whereupon the three
French squadrons that had stood firm plunged gallantly down on the
flank of the King's Dragoon Guards, and overthrew them. But the
Blues quickly came up to liberate their comrades; and the devoted
little band of Frenchmen was cut to pieces. The French infantry,
finding itself now attacked on both flanks, broke and fled; and the
whole of de Muy's men, horse and foot, rushed down to the Diemel,
and, without even looking for the bridges, threw down their arms
and splashed frantically through the fords. A party of French
irregulars in Warburg tried likewise to escape, but was caught
by the cavalry and well-nigh annihilated. Finally, the British
batteries came down to the river at a gallop, unlimbered on the
bank, and played on the fugitives so destructively as wholly to
prevent them from reforming. Granby presently crossed the river in
pursuit with ten squadrons; and the fragments of de Muy's corps
retired in disorder to Volksmarsen. Thus brilliantly ended the
action of Warburg.
The loss of the French was set down at from six to eight thousand
men, killed, wounded, and taken, while twelve guns remained as
trophies in the hands of the victors. The Allies lost just over
twelve hundred men, of whom no less than two hundred and forty
belonged to Maxwell's grenadiers; Daulhatt's battalion also
suffering very severely. The losses of the cavalry were trifling.
Altogether the action was a brilliant little affair, well designed
and, despite the tardiness of Ferdinand's arrival, well executed.
For the British it redeemed the character of the cavalry which had
been so shamefully sacrificed by Sackville at Minden; since it was
evidently the recollection of that disgrace which spurred Granby on
to so rapid an advance and so headlong an attack. For Ferdinand the
victory effectually opened the way into Westphalia.
[Sidenote: Aug. 10.]
Meanwhile it had been found impossible to defend Cassel against
Broglie's overwhelming numbers; and the town was accordingly
abandoned. It was no fault of Ferdinand's that Hesse was thus laid
at the mercy of the French; indeed, with an army weaker in numbers
by one-half than his enemy's, he had done well to save Westphalia.
He now took up a position along the Diemel from Trendelburg to
Stadtbergen, so as to seal up every passage over the river, while
Broglie posted his main army over against him on the opposite
bank. The Marshal's superiority in numbers, however, enabled him,
while holding the Allies in check with the bulk of his army, to
detach independent corps for minor operations, though he took
even such enterprises in hand with redoubled caution after the
lessons of Emsdorff and Warburg. His first essay was the reduction
of Ziegenhain, which surrendered after a siege of ten days; and
concurrently he moved a corps under Prince Xavier eastward against
Münden, which occupied Göttingen and pushed detachments forward as
far north as Nordheim and Einbeck. This latter movement carried
the war unpleasantly far into Hanoverian territory; but Ferdinand
none the less remained immovable on the Diemel. Broglie thereupon
broke up his camp on that river and shifted his position eastward
to Immenhausen, to support the operations of Prince Xavier. This
placed Ferdinand in an awkward dilemma. He had sent a few troops
to Beverungen on the Weser to check Xavier's advanced parties; but
this detachment, though it had done its work well, was not strong
enough to make head against an invasion in real force. Moreover
Einbeck was disagreeably near to the border of his brother's
dominions of Brunswick, which he would fain have saved from
invasion if he could. Yet he could not move to the east bank of the
Weser without uncovering Lippstadt, the one fortress which enabled
him to prevent the perfect concert of the French armies of the
Rhine and Main. In fact the situation was one of extreme trial and
embarrassment.
[Sidenote: Sept.]
Ferdinand, whose light troops and irregulars were never idle while
they could make mischief, first tried the effect of a raid with a
flying column upon Broglie's communications with Frankfort; but
this enterprise, though it alarmed the French and somewhat threw
back their preparations, only partially achieved its object. On
the other hand, it was always open to Ferdinand to stay where he
was till want of forage should compel Broglie to retire; but this,
though an infallible method, was slow, and would mean that the
country would be converted into a desert, through which it would be
impossible to follow the French during their retreat. He therefore
resolved to make a diversion by carrying the war suddenly to the
Rhine. Broglie, in his anxiety to invade Hanover and Brunswick, had
denuded Wesel of the greater part of its garrison. If Ferdinand
could snatch Wesel, the base of the Army of the Rhine, from him,
the diversion would be a telling stroke indeed.[366]
[Sidenote: Sept. 23.]
[Sidenote: Oct. 1-2.]
[Sidenote: October.]
All through the first days of September Ferdinand's preparations
for this undertaking went steadily and silently forward; and on
the 22nd a powerful train of siege-artillery, under the Count of
Lippe-Bückeburg, marched away for Wesel, followed three days later
by the Hereditary Prince with about ten thousand Hanoverians and
Hessians. The Count was to conduct the siege and the Prince to
cover it. Broglie, on learning of their departure, at once detached
a strong corps under the Marquis of Castries to follow them; to
which Ferdinand retorted by sending to the Prince one Hanoverian
and ten British battalions, together with a Hessian regiment and
three British regiments of cavalry.[367] Meanwhile the Prince's
advanced parties had crossed the Rhine below Wesel on the 29th of
September, and had surprised two or three small garrisons. The
commandant of Wesel thereupon broke down the bridge which connected
it with the western bank of the Rhine; and none too soon, for on
the 30th the Prince came up and invested the fortress. The siege,
however, progressed but slowly owing to rain and stormy weather;
and meanwhile Castries was advancing by forced marches, despite the
dreadful state of the roads, along a route full fifty miles south
of the Prince's, to the Rhine. On the 12th of October he crossed
the river at Cologne and pushed on without delay to Rheinberg,
where he was joined by reinforcements from Brabant. Considering
the unspeakable difficulties of foul weather and almost impassable
roads, this march of Castries stands out as a very fine feat of
resolution and endurance.
The advance of French troops from the side of Brabant was a
complication which neither Ferdinand nor the Hereditary Prince
had foreseen. In fact it almost deprived the advance to Wesel of
the character of a diversion. Castries had in Rheinberg thirty
battalions and thirty-eight squadrons besides irregular troops,
and was expecting further reinforcements; whereas the Prince,
weakened by the absence of men in the trenches before Wesel, could
muster but twenty-one battalions and twenty-two squadrons to meet
him. It was open to the Prince either to fight against superior
numbers or to retreat; and he elected to fight. Castries had taken
up a position behind the Eugenian Canal, facing north-west, with
his right resting on Rheinberg, and with the abbey of Kloster
Kampen, on the northern side of the canal, before his left front.
Immediately before his left, but on his own side of the canal,
stood the village of Kampenbröck, consisting of several scattered
houses with gardens, ditches, and hedges. In front and to the
left, or western, side of Kampenbröck was a morass covered by a
straggling wood of sparse and stunted trees, through which were
cut paths to a bridge that connected the village with the abbey on
the other side of the canal. Across this bridge lay the Prince's
only way to penetrate into the French camp; and Castries had been
careful to guard the passage by posting no less than two thousand
irregular troops in and about the abbey. The only possible chance
for the Prince lay in an attack by surprise.
Waiting until the 15th to collect his troops, the Prince marched
from before Wesel in dead silence at one hour before midnight. The
force was disposed in five divisions. The Fifteenth Light Dragoons,
Royal and Inniskilling Dragoons, and Prussian hussars formed
the advanced guard; then came the support, of two battalions
of Highlanders and as many of British grenadiers; then the main
body of the Twentieth and Twenty-fifth British Foot, with eight
Hanoverian battalions, all under command of General Waldegrave;
then the reserve, of the Eleventh, Twenty-third, Thirty-third and
Fifty-first British Foot, with three German battalions, under
General Howard; then a rear-guard of the Tenth British Dragoons and
ten German squadrons.
[Sidenote: Oct. 16.]
At three o'clock on the morning of the 16th the advanced parties
of the Allies come upon the outposts of the French irregulars, a
mile and a half beyond Kloster Kampen. Despite the strict orders
of the Prince one or two shots were fired, but fortunately without
alarming the enemy; and the Allies pursued their march unmolested
to the bridge, thus cutting off the irregulars in the abbey from
the French main body. These isolated troops were then attacked and
utterly dispersed; and while the musketry was still crackling loud
round the abbey's walls the Prince stealing silently on with the
British grenadiers penetrated into the wood and into the village
of Kampenbröck, so quietly and yet so swiftly that he was in
possession before the enemy were aware of his presence. The French
in camp had, however, been alarmed by the firing, and some of the
principal officers had turned the men out and gone forward to the
wood to reconnoitre. One of these, the Chevalier d'Assas, on his
way to visit the picquets of his regiment, suddenly found himself
among the British grenadiers, but distinguishing no one but the
Prince in the darkness advanced towards him with the words, "Sir,
you are my prisoner." "On the contrary," answered the Prince, "you
are mine, for these are my grenadiers"; and as he spoke the men
closed round d'Assas with bayonets fixed. "Auvergne, Auvergne, the
enemy is on us,"[368] shouted d'Assas to his regiment without a
moment's hesitation at the top of his voice; and before the words
were out of his mouth a dozen bayonets pierced through his body and
laid him dead on the ground. None the less the devotion of the
gallant man sufficed to save the French army. Regiment Auvergne
came down at once to d'Assas' call; Castries hastily brought down
two more battalions to support it; and three more battalions
arrived directly after to protect their flank. The supports of
the Allies came up in their turn; and the fight swayed furiously
backward and forward until daylight, when the French brought
up additional battalions from their right. The reserves of the
Allies were promptly and frequently summoned, but through some
mistake were not to be found. Still the little force of British
and Hanoverians fought desperately on, until the Prince himself
fell wounded from his horse; and then, their ammunition being
exhausted, they yielded to superior numbers in front and flank and
suddenly gave way. The French broke their ranks with loud cries
of exultation for the pursuit, when the Fifteenth Light Dragoons
swooped down upon them, charging home as their custom is, broke
up two battalions completely, and drove the rest flying back in
confusion upon their comrades. The French cavalry now came forward
in overwhelming numbers and handled the British squadrons very
roughly; but the charge of the Fifteenth had given the infantry
time to rally, and to make their retreat in good order. The reserve
appeared at Kloster Kampen in time to cover the retiring troops,
and by noon the fight of Kloster Kampen was over.
The loss of the Allies amounted to nearly twelve hundred killed
and wounded and sixteen hundred prisoners, in addition to which
one gun and one British colour were captured. That of the French
was as heavy and heavier, amounting to twenty-seven hundred
killed and wounded and three hundred prisoners. The struggle was
unusually stubborn and murderous, and the fire of the British was
so rapid and deadly that three French brigades were almost wiped
out of existence.[369] Yet it is said that after this action the
Hereditary Prince would never take British troops under his
command again.[370] He admitted that General Waldegrave did wonders
in the combat,[371] but he complained of the behaviour of his
troops, though Waldegrave bore witness that not a man retired until
his ammunition was exhausted. It may have been that the Prince
was irritated by the failure of the reserve to arrive when it was
wanted; but no blame is imputed to any one for this mischance,
which appears to have been due simply to bad luck. Mauvillon, who
is always very frank in his criticism of the British, says flatly
that he does not believe in their misconduct on this occasion;
and as the only extant list of casualties, though very far from
complete, shows that they lost five hundred killed and wounded, it
should seem that the Prince's strictures were ill deserved. It was
hard, too, that he should have forgotten all that they had done for
him at Emsdorff and at Warburg, to say nothing of the fact that the
heroic charge of the Fifteenth probably saved his force from total
destruction at Kloster Kampen itself. Whether he himself should
have hazarded such an action against odds of two to one, with
the French bringing up reinforcements from the west, is another
question; for it was not as though the fall of Wesel were likely to
ensue speedily even if Castries were beaten, while the diversion
had proved to be no diversion whatever. On the other hand, the
destruction of his corps, or of the best part of it, would have
been a severe blow to Ferdinand. Nevertheless the stake, if he
should win it, was worth winning; though if he could have foreseen
what was immediately before him he would probably have hesitated to
play so desperate a game.
[Sidenote: October.]
After the action he retreated northward to Büderich, to find that
the bridge which he had thrown over the Rhine had been swept away
by floods, and that he could go no farther. His situation was
now desperate, for not only was his retreat cut off, but his
ammunition was exhausted. Still, wounded though he was, he faced
his difficulties with his usual energy, entrenched himself among
his waggons, reconstructed his bridge, and on the 18th crossed
the river unmolested, picking up the troops from before Wesel on
the eastern bank. Castries followed him as he retreated eastward,
thereby forcing him to remain in Westphalia for the protection of
Lippstadt and Münster, though the Prince none the less made shift
to detach a portion of his force to the assistance of Ferdinand.
[Sidenote: Aug. 15 and Nov. 3.]
For to Ferdinand also the failure before Wesel was a serious
matter. Any further stroke upon the French was impossible; and
the utmost for which he could hope was to drive them out of Hesse
and to hold Westphalia safe. He made an effort to expel the
French from Göttingen, but without success; and at last, driven
to desperation by three months of continuous rain, he cantoned a
force in winter-quarters before the town and closed the campaign,
leaving the French in possession of Hesse, of the Principality
of Göttingen, and of the defiles of Münden, which gave them free
ingress into Hanover and Brunswick. His own headquarters were fixed
at Warburg; those of the French at Cassel. Despite all his efforts,
superior numbers had told heavily against him; and though he had
fired a _feu de joie_ for the capture of Montreal, he probably
found less consolation in this than in the victories of his master
Frederick at Leignitz and Torgau, and in the expulsion of his
enemies' forces from Saxony.