No More Learning

51
14th Oct. 1758.
short, Daun has got through his nocturnal wildernesses
with perfect success. And stands, dreamt of by no
enemy, in the places appointed for his 30,000 and
him; and that poor old clock of Hochkirch, unweariedly
grunting forward to the stroke of five, will strike up
something it is little expecting! --
The Prussians have vedettes, pickets, and small
outposts of Free-corps people scattered about within
their border of that Austrian Wood, the body of which,
about Hochkirch as everywhere else, belongs wholly
to Croats. Of course there are guard-parties, sentries
duly vigilant, in the big Battery to south-east of Hoch-
kirch, -- and along south-westward in that potence, or
fore-arm of Four Battalions, which are stationed there.
Four good Battalions looking southward there, with
Cavalry to right; Ziethen's Cavalry, -- whose horses
stand saddled through the night, ready always for the
nocturnal "Pandourade," which seldom fails them.
There, as elsewhere, are the due vigilances, watchmen,
watch-fires. The rest of the Prussian Army is in its
blankets, wholly asleep, while Daun stands waiting for
the stroke of five.
That Daun, bursting in with his chosen 30,000,
will trample down the sleeping Prussian potence at
Hochkirch; capture its big Battery to left, its Village
of Hochkirch to rear, and do extensive ruin on the
whole right wing of Friedrich; rendering Friedrich
everywhere an easy conquest to the rest of Daun's
people, who stand, far and wide, duly posted and pre-
pared, waiting only their signal from Hochkirch: much
of this, all of it that had regard to Hochkirch Battery
and Village, and the Prussians stationed there, Daun
did execute. And readers, from the data they have
4*
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? 62 SEVEN-YEARS wAe rIses TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnl.
11 Ui Oct. 1758.
got, must conceive the manner of it, -- human de-
scription of the next Two Hours, about Hochkirch, in
the thick darkness there, and stormful sudden inroad,
and stormful resistance made, being manifestly an im-
possible thing. Nobody was "massacred in his bed,"
as the sympathetic gazetteers fancied; nobody was
killed, that I hear of, without arms in his hand: but
plenty of people perished, fierce of humour, on both
sides; and from half-past five till towards eight, there
was a general blaze of fiery chaos pushing out ever
and anon, swallowed in the belly of night again, such
as was seldom seen in this world. Instead of confused
details, and wearisome enumeration of particulars,
which nobody would listen to or understand, we will
give one intelligent young gentleman's experience, our
friend Tempelhof s, who stood in this part of the Prus-
sian Line; experience distinct and indubitable to us;
and which was pretty accurately symbolical, I other-
wise see, of what befel on all points thereabouts. Faith-
fully copied, and in the essential parts, not even
abridged, here it is:
Tempelhof, at that time a subaltern of artillery, was stationed with a couple of 24-pounders in attendance on the
Battalion Plothow, which with three others and some cavalry
lay to the south side of Hochkirch, forming a kind of fore-arm
orpntence there to right of the big Battery, with their rear to
Hochkirch; and keeping vedettes and Free-corps parties
spread out into the woods and Devil's Hills ahead. Tempel-
hof had risen about three, as usual; had his guns and gunners
ready; and was standing by the watch-fire, "expecting the
customary Pandourade, and what form it would take this
morning. "Close on five o'clock; and not a mouse stirring!
We are not to have our Pandourade, then? " On a sudden,
noise bursts out; noise enough, sharp fire among the Free-
corps people; fire growing ever sharper, noisier, for the next
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? CHAP. XIV. ] . BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 53
14th Oct. 1758.
half hour, but nothing whatever to be seen. "Battalion
"Plothow had soon got its clothes on, all to the spatterdashes;
"and took rank to right and left of the fleche, and of my two
"guns, in front of its post: but on account of the thick fog
"everything was totally dark. I fired off my cannons" (shall
we say straight southward? ) "to learn whether there was any-
"thinginfront of us. No answer: 'Nothing there -- Pshaw,
"a mere crackery (Geknacker) of Pandours and our Free-
"corps people, after all! ' But the noise grew louder, and
"came ever nearer; I turned my guns towards it" (southward,
south-eastward, or perhaps a gun each way? ) -- "and here
"we had a salvo in response, from some battalions who seemed
"to be two hundred yards or so ahead. The Battalion Plothow
"hereupon gave fire; I too plied my cannons what I could, --
"and had perhaps delivered fifteen double shots from them,
"when at once I tumbled to the ground, and lost all con-
"sciousness " for some minutes or moments.
Awakening with the blood running down his face, poor
Tempelhof concluded it had been a musket-shot in the head;
but on getting to his hands and knees, he found the place
"full of Austrian grenadiers, who had crept in through our
"tents to rear; and that it had been a knock with the butt of
"the musket from one of those fellows, and not a bullet," that
had struck him down. Battalion Plothow, assailed on all
sides, resisted on all sides; and Tempelhof saw from the
fround, -- I suppose, by the embers of watchfires, and by rare
ashes of musketry, for they did not fire much, having no
room, but smashed and stabbed and cut, -- "an infantry fight
"which in murderous intensity surpasses imagination. I was
"taken prisoner at this turn; but soon after, got delivered by
"our cavalry again. "*
This latter circumstance, of being delivered by the
Cavalry, I find to be of frequent occurrence in that
first act of the business there: the Prussian Battalion,
surprised on front and rear, always makes murderous
fight for itself; is at last overwhelmed, obliged to retire,
perhaps opening its way by bayonet-charge; -- upon
* Tempelhof, n. 324 n.
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? 54 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
14th Oct. 1758.
which our Cavalry (Ziethen's, and others that gathered
to him) cutting in upon the disordered surprisers, cut
them into flight, rescue the prisoners, and for a time
reinstate matters. The Prussian battalions do not run
(nobody runs); but when repulsed by the endless odds,
rally again. The big Battery is not to be had of them
without fierce and dogged struggle; and is retaken
more than once or twice. Still fiercer, more dogged,
was the struggle in Hochkirch Village; especially in
Hochkirch Church and Churchyard, -- whither the
Battalion Margraf-Karl had flung themselves; the poor
Village soon taking fire about them. Soon taking fire,
and continuing to be a scene of capture and recapture,
by the flame-light; while Battalion Margraf-Karl stood
with invincible stubbornness, pouring death from it;
not to be compulsed by the raging tide of Austrian
grenadiers; not by "six Austrian battalions," by "eight,"
or by never so many. Stood at bay there; levelling
whole masses of them, -- till its cartridges were spent,
all to one or two per man; and Major Lange, the
heroic Captain of it, said, "We shall have to go, then,
my men; let us cut ourselves through! " -- and did
bo, in an honourably invincible manner; some brave
remnant actually getting through, with Lange himself
wounded to death.
I think it was not till towards six o'clock that the
right wing generally became aware what the case was:
"More than a Pandourade, yes;" -- though what it
might be, in the thick fog which had fallen, blotting
out all vestiges of daylight, nobody could well say.
Rallied Battalions, reinforced by this or the other
Battalion hurrying up from leftward, always charge in
upon the enemy, in Hochkirch or wherever he is busy:
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? CHAP. XIV. ] BATTLE OF HOCIIKIHCH. 55
14th Oct. 1758.
generally push him back into the Night; but are then
fallen upon on both flanks by endless new strength,
and obliged to draw back in turn. And Ziethen's
Horse, in the mean while, do execution; breaking in
on the tumultuous victors; new Cuirassiers, Gensdarmes dashing up to help, so soon as saddled, and charging
with a will: so that, on the whole, the enemy, variously
attempting, could make nothing of us on that western,
or rearward side, -- thanks mainly to Ziethen and
the Horse. "Had we but waited till three of our Bat-
talions had got up! " say the Prussian narrators. But
it is thick mist; few yards ahead, you cannot see at all,
unless it be flame; and close at hand, all things and
figures waver indistinct, -- hairy outlines of blacker
shadows on a ground of black.
It must have been while Lange was still fighting,
perhaps before Lange took to the Church of Hoch-
kirch, scarcely later than half-past six (but nobody
thought of pulling out his watch in such a business! )
-- about six, or half-past six, when Keith, who has
charge of this wing, and lodges somewhere below or
north of Hochkirch, came to understand that his big
Battery was taken; that here was such a Pandourade
as had not been before; and that, of a surety, said
Battery must be retaken. Keith springs on horseback;
hastily takes "Battalion Kannacker" and several
remnants of others; rushes upwards, "leaving Hoch-
kirch a little to right; direct upon the big Battery. "
Recaptures the big Battery. But is set upon by over-
whelming multitudes, bent to have it back; -- is pas-
sionate for new assistance in this vital point; but can
get none: had been "disarted by both his Aide-de-
camps," says poor John Tebay, a wandering English
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? 56 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
14th Oct. 1758.
horse-soldier, who attends him as mounted groom;
"asked twenty times, and twenty more, 'Where are
my Aide-de-camps! '"* -- but could get no response
or reinforcement; and at length, quite surrounded and
overwhelmed, had to retire; opening his way by the
bayonet; and before long, suddenly stopping short, --
falling dead into Tebay's arms; shot through the
heart. Two shots on the right side he had not re-
garded; but this on the left side was final: Keith's
fightings are suddenly all done. Tebay, in distraction,
tried much to bring away the body; but could by no
present means; distractedly "rid for a coach;" found,
on return, that the Austrians had the ground, and the
body of his master; Hochkirch, Church and all, now
undisputedly theirs.
To appearance, it was this news of Keith's repulse
(I know not whether of Keith's death as yet) that first
roused Friedrich to a full sense of what was now going
on, two miles to south of him. Friedrich, according
to his habits, must have been awake and afoot when
the Business first broke out; though, for some consider-
able time, treating it as nothing but a common crackery of Pandours. Already, finding the Pandourade louder
than usual, he had ordered out to it one battalion and
the other that lay handy: but now he pushes forward
several battalions under Franz of Brunswick (his
youngest Brother-in-law), with Margraf Karl and Prince
* "Captens Cockoey and Goudy" he calls them -- (Cocceji, whose
Father the Kanzler we have seen, and Gaudi whose self), -- who both had,
in succession, struck into Hochkirch as the less desperate place, according
to Tebay: See Tebay's Letter to Mitchell, "Crossen, October 29th" (in
Memoirs and Papers, n. 501-505); -- which is probably true every word,
allowing for Tebay's temper; but is highly indecipherable, though not
entirely so after many readings and rcsearchings.
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? CHAP. XIV. ] BATTLE OP HOCHKIRCH. 57
14th Oct. 1758.
Moritz: "Swift you, to Hochkirch yonder! " -- and
himself springs on horseback to deal with the affair.
Prince Franz of Brunswick, poor young fellow, cheerily
coming on, near Hochkirch had his head shorn off by
a cannon-ball. Moritz of Dessau, too, "riding within
twenty yards of the Austrians," so dark was it, he so
nearsighted, got badly hit, -- and soon after driving
to Bautzen for surgery, was made prisoner by Pan-
dours;* never fought again, "died next year of cancer
in the lip. " Nothing but triumphant Austrian shot and
cannon-shot going yonder; these battalions too have to
fall back with sore loss.
Friedrich himself, by this time, is forward in the
thick of the tumult, with another body of battalions;
storming furiously along, has his horse shot under
him; storms through, "successfully, by the other side
of Hochkirch" (Hochkirch to his left): -- but finds,
as the mist gradually sinks, a ring of Austrians massed
ahead, on the Heights; as far as Steindorfel and farther,
a general continent of Austrians enclosing all the
south and south-west; and, in fact, that here is now
nothing to be done. That the question of his flank is
settled; that the question now is of his front, which
the appointed Austrian parties are now upon attacking.
Question especially of the Heights of Drehsa, and of
the Pass and Brook of Drehsa (rearward of his centre
part), where his one retreat will lie, Steindorfel being
now lost. Part first of the Affair is ended; Part second of it begins.
Rapidly enough Friedrich takes his new measures.
* In Archenholtz (i. 289-290), his dangerous adventures on the road to
Bautzen, in this wounded condition.
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? 58 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XViii.
Mth Oct. 1758.
Seizes Drehsa Height, which will now be key of the
field; despatches Mollendorf thither (Mollendorf our
courageous Leuthen friend); who vigorously bestirs
himself; gets hold of Drehsa Height before the enemy
can; Ziethen cooperating on the Heights of Kumschiitz,
Canitz and other points of vantage. And thus, in effect,
Friedrich pulls up his torn right skirt (as he is doing all
his other skirts) into new compact front against the Aus-
trians: so that, in that south-western part especially, the
Austrians do not try it farther; bat "retire at full gallop,"
on sight of this swift seizure of the Keys by Mollendorf
and Ziethen. Friedrich also despatches instant order to
Retzow, to join him at his speediest. Friedrich every-
where rearranges himself, hither, thither, with skilful ra-
pidity, in new Line of Battle; still hopeful to dispute
what is left of the field; -- longing much that Retzow
could come on wings.
By this time (towards eight, if I might guess) Day
has got the upper hand; the Daun Austrians stand
visible on their Ring of Heights all round, behind
Hochkirch and our late Battery, on to westward and
northward, as far as Steindorfel and Waditz; -- ex-
tremely busy rearranging themselves into something
of line; there being much confusion, much simmering
about in clumps and gaps, after such a tussle. In front
of us, to eastward, the appointed Austrian parties are
proceeding to attack: but in daylight, and with our
eyes open, it is a thing of difficulty, and does not
prosper as Hochkirch did. Duke, D'Ahremberg, on
their extreme right, had in charge to burst in upon
our left, so soon as he saw Hochkirch done: D'Ahrem-
berg does try; as do others in their places, nearer
Daun; but with comparatively little success. D'Ahrem-
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? 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.
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? 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.
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? 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.
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? 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. )
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? 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.
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? 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.
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? 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.
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? 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
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? 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*
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