destruction of the army of prince charles.—dismay in vienna.—testimony of napoleon i.—of voltaire.—wretchedness of the king.—compromise rejected.—new preparations for war.—treaty between england and prussia.—plan of the campaign.—siege of olmütz.—death of prince augustus william.—the baggage train.—the irreparable disaster.—anxiety of frederick for wilhelmina.—the march against the russians.—the battle of zorndorf.—anecdotes of frederick.
the army of prince charles was so utterly destroyed or dispersed by the battle of leuthen that the morning after his terrible defeat he could rally around his banners, by count, but fifty thousand men. these were utterly disheartened. stragglers were wandering all over the country. a few thousand of these again joined the ranks. seventeen thousand men left in breslau were soon captured. prince charles, abandoning guns and wagons,446 fled through rain, and mud, and sleet directly south toward k?niggr?tz, in bohemia. the sufferings of the troops were awful. several hundred sentinels, in one night, were frozen stiff at their posts. the dreadful retreat continued for ten days.
“the army,” writes prince charles, mournfully, “was greatly dilapidated. the soldiers were without clothes, and in a condition truly pitiable. so closely were we pursued by the enemy that at night we were compelled to encamp without tents.”
having reached the shelter of k?niggr?tz, he counted his troops, and found that he had in rank and file but thirty-seven thousand men. of these, twenty-two thousand, from sickness, exhaustion, and wounds, were in hospital. thus, out of the army of ninety thousand men with which he had commenced the campaign early in december, at the close of the month he could array but fifteen thousand on any field of battle.
the astonishment and indignation in vienna, in view of this terrible defeat, were intense. prince charles was immediately relieved of his command, and general daun appointed in his stead. it is the testimony of all military men that the battle of leuthen was one of the most extraordinary feats of war. napoleon, speaking of it at st. helena, said,
“this battle is a masterpiece of movements, of man?uvres, and of resolution. it is enough to immortalize frederick, and to rank him among the greatest generals. it develops, in the highest degree, both his moral and his military qualities.”
voltaire, in summing up a sketch of this campaign of 1757, writes in characteristic phrase:
“even gustavus adolphus never did such great things. one must, indeed, pardon frederick his verses, his sarcasms, and his little malices. all the faults of the man disappear before the glory of the hero.”
on the 19th of december, the day of the capitulation of breslau, frederick wrote from that place to his friend d’argens as follows:
“your friendship seduces you, mon cher. i am but a paltry knave in comparison with alexander, and not worthy to tie the shoe-latchets of c?sar. necessity, who is the mother of industry, has made me act, and have recourse to desperate remedies in evils of a like nature.
447 “we have taken here from fourteen to fifteen thousand prisoners. in all, i have above twenty-three thousand of the queen’s troops in my hands, fifteen generals, and above seven hundred officers. it is a plaster on my wounds, but it is far enough from healing them.”
it was now midwinter. frederick, having established his troops in winter quarters, took up his residence in breslau. his troubles were by no means ended. vastly outnumbering foes still surrounded him. very vigorous preparations were to be made for the sanguinary conflicts which the spring would surely introduce. frederick did what he could to infuse gayety into the society at breslau, though he had but little heart to enter into those gayeties himself. for a week he suffered severely from colic pains, and could neither eat nor sleep. “eight months,” he writes, “of anguish and agitation do wear one down.”
his sister amelia and several other friends visited him at breslau. among others was his reader, henry de catt.
“should you have known me?” the king inquired of de catt.
“hardly,” he replied, “in that dress. besides, your majesty has grown thinner.”
“that may well be,” rejoined the king, “with the cursed life i have been leading.”
frederick still sought recreation in writing verses which he called poetry. to d’argens he wrote, “i have made a prodigious quantity of verses. if i live i will show them to you. if i perish they are bequeathed to you, and i have ordered that they be put into your hand.”
again he wrote d’argens on the 26th of december, “what a pleasure to hear that you are coming. i have sent a party of light horse to conduct you. you can make short journeys. i have directed that horses be ordered for you, that your rooms be warmed every where, and good fowls ready on all roads. your apartment in this house is carpeted, hermetically shut. you shall suffer nothing from draughts or from noise.”
frederick, having regained silesia, was anxious for peace. he wrote a polite letter to maria theresa, adroitly worded, so as to signify that desire without directly expressing it. the empress queen, disheartened by the disasters of rossbach and leuthen, was rather inclined to listen to such suggestions; but the duchess448 of pompadour verified the adage that “hell has no fury like a woman scorned.” she governed the wretched louis xv., and through him governed france. in her intense personal exasperation against frederick she would heed no terms of compromise, and infused new energy into all warlike operations. large subsidies were paid by france to austria, sweden, and russia, to prepare for the campaign of 1758.
frederick was soon aware that peace was out of the question without farther fighting. before the 1st of april he had one hundred and forty-five thousand men ready for the field. of these, fifty-three thousand were in silesia. many of the austrian deserters were induced to join his standards. but the most important event secured was forming a subsidy treaty with england. the british cabinet, alarmed in view of the power which the successful prosecution of the war on the part of the allies would give to france, after much hesitation, came to the aid of frederick, whom they hated as much as they feared france. on the 11th of april, 1758, a treaty was signed between the english court and frederick, containing the following important item:
“that frederick shall have six hundred and seventy thousand pounds ($3,350,000), payable in london to his order, in october, this year, which sum frederick engages to spend wholly in the maintenance and increase of his army for behoof of the common object; neither party to dream of making the least shadow of peace or truce without the other.”
schweidnitz was strictly blockaded during the winter. on the 15th of march, the weather being still cold, wet, and stormy, frederick marched from breslau to attack the place. his siege artillery was soon in position. with his accustomed impetuosity he commenced the assault, and, after a terrific bombardment of many days, on the night of the 15th of april took the works by storm. the garrison, which had dwindled from eight thousand to four thousand five hundred, was all captured, with fifty-one guns, thirty-five thousand dollars of money, and a large quantity of stores. thus the whole of silesia was again in the hands of frederick.
it was supposed that his prussian majesty would now march southwest for the invasion of bohemia. austria made vigorous preparations to meet him there. much to the surprise and bewilderment449 of the austrians, the latter part of april frederick directed his columns toward the southeast. his army, about forty thousand strong, was in two divisions. by a rapid march through neisse and jagerndorf he reached troppau, on the extreme southern frontier of silesia. he then turned to the southwest. it was again supposed that he intended to invade bohemia, but from the east instead of from the north.
general daun, in command of the austrian forces, rapidly concentrated his troops around leutomischel, where he had extensive magazines. but frederick, leaving leutomischel far away on his right, pressed forward in a southerly direction, and on the 12th of may appeared before olmütz. his march had been rapidly and admirably conducted, dividing his troops into columns for the convenience of road and subsistence.
olmütz was an ancient, strongly fortified city of moravia, pleasantly situated on the western banks of the morawa river. it had been the capital of moravia, and contained about ten thousand inhabitants. the place subsequently became renowned from the imprisonment of lafayette in its citadel for many years. the city had become an arsenal, and one of the most important military store-houses of austria.
olmütz was ninety miles from troppau, in silesia, where frederick had established his base of supplies. this was a long line of communication to protect. general daun, with a numerous austrian army, all whose movements were veiled by clouds of those fleet and shaggy horsemen called pandours, was forty miles to the west, at leutomischel. cautious in the extreme, nothing could draw him into a general battle. but he watched his foe with an eagle eye, continually assailing his line of communication, and ever ready to strike his heaviest blows upon any exposed point.
the king’s brother henry was in command in saxony, at the head of thirty thousand troops. frederick wrote to him the characteristic and very judicious advice, “do as energetically as possible whatever seems wisest to you. but hold no councils of war.”
the plan of his prussian majesty was bold and sagacious. he supposed that he could easily take olmütz. availing himself of the vast magazines to be found there, he would summon450 his brother henry to join him by a rapid march through bohemia, and with their combined force of sixty thousand troops they would make a rush upon vienna. the austrian capital was distant but about one hundred miles, directly south. as the austrian army was widely dispersed, there were but few impediments to be encountered. the success of this plan would compel the allies to withdraw their forces from the territories of the king of prussia, if it did not enable frederick to dictate peace in the palaces of maria theresa.
olmütz was found very strongly fortified. it was so situated that, with the force frederick had, it could not be entirely invested. baron marshal, a very brave and energetic old man, sixty-seven years of age, conducted the defense.
siege of olmütz, may 12—july 2, 1758.
a a. stages of the prussian march. b. daun’s encampment. c. prussian batteries and intrenchments. d d d. prussian camps. e e. loudon’s march against mosel’s convoy. f f. mosel’s resting quarters. g. convoy attacked and ruined.
his garrison consisted of about fourteen thousand infantry and six hundred dragoons. general daun was at the distance of but two marches, with a larger austrian force than frederick commanded. nothing can more clearly show the dread with which the austrians regarded their antagonist than the fact that general daun did not march immediately upon olmütz, and,451 with the aid of a sally from the garrison, overwhelm and crush frederick beneath their united assaults.
for seven weeks the siege of olmütz was prosecuted with great vigor. with much skill frederick protected his baggage trains in their long and exposed route of ninety miles through forests and mountain defiles. general keith was intrusted with the details of the siege facing the town toward the east; frederick, with a vigilant corps of horse and foot, was about twenty miles to the west, watching every movement of general daun, so far as he was able through the thick cloud of pandours, behind which the austrian commander endeavored to conceal all his man?uvres.
while engaged in these labors the tidings reached him of the death of his brother augustus william. he was prince of prussia, being, next to the childless frederick, heir to the crown. frederick seems to have received the news very heartlessly.
“of what did he die?” he coldly inquired of the messenger.
“of chagrin, your majesty,” was the reply.
frederick turned upon his heel, and made no answer.
the unhappy prince of prussia, on his dying bed, wrote a very touching letter to his brother frederick, remonstrating against his conduct, which was not only filling europe with blood and misery, but which was also imperiling the existence of the prussian kingdom.
“the slow fever,” he wrote, “which consumes me, has not thrown any disorder into my understanding. condescend to listen to me, sire, now that i can not be suspected of any illusion or deceit. there is an end to the house of prussia if you continue to brave all europe confederated against you. you force all europe to arm to repel your encroachments. the princes of europe are leagued against your majesty by justice and by interest. their subjects regard your ruin as essential to the re-establishment of peace and the safety of monarchical government. they read in your success the slavery of the human race, the annihilation of laws, the degradation of society.”
in reference to the course which the king had allowed himself to pursue in obtaining access to the archives of saxony by bribing an officer to betray his trust, augustus william wrote:
“the more you have proved that you were acquainted with452 the intentions of saxony, the more odious have you rendered its invasion. in order to procure this knowledge, your minister has degraded his character. by means proscribed in society, you have discovered only that the king elector of saxony did not love the power of prussia, that he feared it, and that he even dared to form projects to defend himself against it. documents which are stolen make against the accuser who produces them, if they do not prove the crime which they impute.”116
in conclusion, in most pathetic terms he entreated the king to listen to terms of peace, and thus to prevent the ruin of himself, of his people, and of his royal house.
at the same time that the tidings of the death of augustus william were communicated to the king, he received also the tidings, which to him were truly heart-rending, that wilhelmina, worn down with care and sorrow, was fast sinking into the grave.
early in june, the cautious but ever-vigilant general daun succeeded in throwing into olmütz a re-enforcement of eleven hundred austrian troops. they were guided by peasants through by-paths in the forests. crossing the river some miles below olmütz, they entered the city from the east.
still, on the whole, the siege progressed favorably. large supplies of food and ammunition were indispensable to frederick. thirty thousand hungry men were to be fed. a constant bombardment rapidly exhausts even abundant stores of powder, shot, and shell.
in the latter part of june a large train of over three thousand four-horse wagons, laden with all necessary supplies, left troppau for olmütz. it is difficult for a reader unfamiliar with such scenes to form any conception of the magnitude of such an enterprise. there are twelve thousand horses to be shod, harnessed, and fed, and watered three or four times a day. there are three thousand wagons to be kept in repair, rattling over the stones and plowing through the mire. six thousand teamsters are required. there is invariably connected with such a movement one or two thousand camp-followers, sutlers, women, vagabonds. a large armed force is also needed to act as convoy.
this train filled the road for a distance of twenty miles. to traverse the route of ninety miles required six days. the road453 led through forests and mountain defiles. a bold and vigorous foe, well equipped and well mounted, watched the movement. to protect such a train from assault is one of the most difficult achievements of war. the enemy, suddenly emerging from mountain fastnesses or gloomy forests, can select his point of attack, and then sweep in either direction along the line, burning and destroying.
on the 26th of june this vast train commenced its movement from troppau. a convoy of about seven thousand infantry and eleven hundred cavalry guarded the wagons. they were in three bodies, on the front, in the centre, and on the rear. the king also sent forward about six thousand horse and foot from olmütz to meet the train.
the wagons had accomplished about half the distance, when, on friday, the 30th of june, as they were emerging from wild ravines among the mountains, they were simultaneously attacked in front, centre, and rear by three divisions of the austrians, each about five thousand strong. then ensued as terrible a scene of panic and confusion as war has ever witnessed. the attack of horsemen with their gleaming sabres, the storm of bullets, thick as hailstones, the thunders of the cannon, as the ponderous balls tore their way through wagons, and horses, and men, soon presented such a spectacle of devastation, ruin, and woe as mortal eyes have seldom gazed upon.
“among the tragic wrecks of this convoy there is one that still goes to our heart. a longish, almost straight row of prussian recruits stretched among the slain, what are these? these were seven hundred recruits coming up from their cantons to the wars. see how they have fought to the death, poor lads! and have honorably, on the sudden, got manumitted from the toils of life. seven hundred of them stood to arms this morning; some sixty-five will get back to troppau; that is the invoice account. there they lie with their blonde young cheeks, beautiful in death.”117
a large portion of the train was utterly destroyed. the remainder was driven back to troppau. the disaster was irreparable. the tidings were conveyed to frederick the next day, july 1. they must have fallen upon him with crushing weight. it was the annihilation of all his hopes for the campaign, and454 rendered it necessary immediately to raise the siege and retreat. this extraordinary man did not allow himself to manifest the slightest despondency. he assembled his officers, and, with a smiling face, and hopeful, cheering words, announced his decision.
all saturday night the bombardment was continued with increasing fury. in the mean time four thousand wagons were packed, and, long before the dawn of sunday morning, were on the road. the retreat was so admirably conducted that general daun did not venture even to attempt to harass the retiring columns. instead of moving in a northerly direction to silesia, frederick directed his march to the northwest, into bohemia. on the 8th of july his long column safely reached leutomischel. he there seized quite an amount of military stores, which general daun, in his haste and bewilderment, had not been able to remove or to destroy. five more marches conducted him to k?niggr?tz.
general daun, with the utmost caution, followed the retreating army. though his numbers were estimated at seventy-five thousand, he did not dare to encounter frederick with his thirty thousand prussians on the field of battle. with skill which has elicited the applause of all military critics, frederick, early in august, continued his retreat till he reached, on the 8th of the month, grüssau, on his own side of the mountains in silesia. on this march he wrote to his brother henry from skalitz:
“what you write to me of my sister of baireuth makes me tremble. next to my mother, she is the one i have most tenderly loved in this world. she is a sister who has my heart and all my confidence, and whose character is of a price beyond all the crowns in the universe. from my tenderest years i was brought up with her. you can conceive how there reigns between us that indissoluble bond of mutual affection and attachment for life which in many cases were impossible. would to heaven that i might die before her!”
on the 9th of august he wrote from grüssau to wilhelmina herself: “oh, you, the dearest of my family, you whom i have most at heart of all in this world, for the sake of whatever is most precious to you, preserve yourself, and let me have at least the consolation of shedding my tears in your bosom!”
frederick had left grüssau on the 18th of april for his moravian455 campaign. he returned on the 8th of august, after an absence of sixteen weeks. the campaign had proved an entire failure. a russian army, fifty thousand strong, under general fermor, had invaded brandenburg, just beyond the extreme northern frontier of silesia. these semi-barbarian soldiers had burned the town of cüstrin, on the oder, were besieging the small garrison in its citadel, and were committing the most horrid outrages upon the community around, not only plundering and burning, but even consigning captives to the flames.
on friday, the 11th of august, frederick, leaving forty thousand men to guard silesia, took fifteen thousand troops, and commenced a very rapid march to attack the fifty thousand russians. upon the eve of his departure he wrote to his brother henry:
“i march to-morrow against the russians. as the events of war may lead to all sorts of accidents, and it may easily happen to me to be killed, i have thought it my duty to let you know what my plans were; the rather, as you are the guardian of my nephew,118 with unlimited authority.”
he then gave minute directions as to what he wished to have done in case of his death. marching rapidly through liegnitz and hohenfriedberg, he reached frankfort-on-the-oder on sunday, the 20th of august. he was now within twenty miles of cüstrin, and the bombardment by the heavy siege guns of the russians could be distinctly heard. frederick took lodgings at the house of a clergyman’s widow. frequently he arose and went out of doors, listening impatiently to the cannonade. an eye-witness writes:
“i observed that the king took a pinch of snuff as the sound of each discharge reached him. and even through that air of intrepidity, which never abandoned this prince, i could perceive the sensations of pity toward that unfortunate town, and an eager impatience to fly to its relief.”
the next morning, taking with him a small escort, and leaving his army to follow with as much speed as possible, he rode rapidly down the western bank of the oder to g?rgast, where he had an encampment of about fifteen thousand prussian troops. at five o’clock in the morning of tuesday the two bands were united. he now had at his command thirty thousand men.456 cüstrin was on the eastern bank of the oder, near the confluence of the warta. a few miles below cüstrin, at schaumburg, there were portions of a bridge across the oder. here the russians had erected a redoubt. frederick ordered a violent attack upon that redoubt. during the night, while the attention of the russians was occupied by the assault, frederick marched his army twelve miles farther down the river, and crossed, without any loss, at güstebiese. his baggage train he left, carefully guarded, on the western bank of the river.
pressing straight forward, wednesday morning, to the east, he encamped that night about ten miles from güstebiese. he had so successfully veiled his movements that the russians knew not where he was. on thursday morning, august 24, at an early hour, he resumed his march, and crossed the mützel river at various points. his confidence of victory was so great that he destroyed all the bridges behind him to prevent the retreat of the russians.
general fermor was now informed, through his roving cossacks, of the position of frederick. immediately he raised the siege of cüstrin, hurried off his baggage train to klein kamin, on the road to landsberg, and retired with his army to a very strong position near the village of zorndorf. here there was a wild, bleak, undulating plain, interspersed with sluggish streams, and forests, and impassable bogs. general fermor massed the russian troops in a very irregular hollow square, with his staff baggage in the centre, and awaited an attack. this huge quadrilateral of living lines, four men deep, with bristling bayonets, prancing horses, and iron-lipped cannon, was about two miles long by one mile broad.
at half past three o’clock on friday morning, frederick, with his whole army, was again upon the march. he swept quite around the eastern end of the russian square, and approached it from the south. by this sagacious movement he could, in case of disaster, retreat to cüstrin.
the morning of a hot august day dawned sultry, the wind breathing gently from the south. bands of cossacks hovered around upon the wings of the prussian army, occasionally riding up to the infantry ranks and discharging their pistols at them. the prussians were forbidden to make any reply. “the infantry457 pours along like a plowman drawing his furrow, heedless of the circling crows.” the cossacks set fire to zorndorf. in a few hours it was in ashes, while clouds of suffocating smoke were swept through the russian lines.
the attack was made about eight o’clock, with the whole concentrated force of the prussians, upon the southwest wing of the quadrilateral. the carnage produced by the prussian batteries, as their balls swept crosswise through the massed russians, was terrible. one cannon-shot struck down forty-two men. for a moment the prussians were thrown into confusion by the destructive fire returned by the foe, and seemed discomfited. the russians plunged wildly forward, with loud huzzas. in the eagerness of their onset their lines were broken.
charge of general seidlitz at zorndorf.
general seidlitz, with five thousand horsemen, immediately dashed in among them. almost in an instant the shouts of victory458 sank away in groans of death. it was an awful scene—a maelstrom of chaotic tumult, shrieks, blood, and death. the stolid russians refused to fly. the prussians sabred them and trampled them beneath their horses’ feet until their arms were weary. this terrible massacre lasted until one o’clock. the whole of the western portion of the quadrilateral was destroyed. the russian soldiers at a little distance from the scene of carnage, reckless and under poor discipline, broke open the sutlers’ brandy-casks, and were soon beastly drunk. the officers, endeavoring to restrain them, dashed in many of the casks. the soldiers, throwing themselves upon the ground, lapped the fiery liquid from the puddles. they killed many of their own officers, and became almost unresisting victims of the sabres and bayonets of their assailants. the prussians, exasperated by the awful acts of cruelty which had been perpetrated by the russians, showed no mercy. in the midst of the butchery, the word ran along their lines, “no quarter.”
the eastern half of the immense quadrangle endeavored to reform itself, so as to present a new front to the foe. but, before this could be done, frederick hurled his right wing, his centre, and all that remained disposable of his left wing upon it. his cavalry plunged into the disordered mass. his batteries, with almost unprecedented rapidity of fire, tore the tumultuous and panic-stricken ranks to shreds; and his line of infantry, like a supernatural wall of bristling steel, unwaveringly advanced, pouring in upon the foe the most deadly volleys.
at one moment the russian horse dashed against this line and staggered it. frederick immediately rushed into the vortex to rally the broken battalions. at the same instant the magnificent squadrons of seidlitz, five thousand strong, flushed with victory, swept like the storm-wind upon the russian dragoons. they were whirled back like autumn leaves before the gale. about four o’clock the firing ceased. the ammunition on both sides was nearly expended. for some time the prussians had been using the cartridge-boxes of the dead russians.
and now ensued a conflict such as has seldom been witnessed in modern times. the russian soldiers would not run. indeed, the bridges over the mützel being broken down, they could only plunge into the river and be drowned. frenzied with brandy,459 they fought like tigers. “then began a tug of deadly massacring and wrestling, man to man, with bayonets, with butts of muskets, with hands, even with teeth, such as was never seen before. the shore of mützel is thick with men and horses, who have tried to cross, and lie swallowed in the ooze.”119
battle of zorndorf, august 25, 1758.
a a. prussian army about to cross the mützel. b b b. russian army ranked for battle. c. russian baggage. d d. prussian infantry. e e. prussian cavalry. f. prussian baggage.
this lasted till nightfall. as darkness veiled the awful scene the exhausted soldiers dropped upon the ground, and, regardless of the dead and of the groans of the wounded, borne heavily upon the night air, slept almost side by side. it is appalling to reflect upon what a fiend to humanity man has been, as revealed in the history of the nations. all the woes of earth combined are as nothing compared with the misery which man has inflicted upon his brother.
during the night bands of barbarian, half-drunken cossacks ranged the field, plundering the wounded and the dead, friends and foes alike, and thrusting their bayonets through those who presented any remonstrance, or who might, by any possibility, call them to account. four hundred of these wretches the equally merciless prussians drove into a barn, fastened them in, set460 fire to the building, and burned them all to ashes. during the carnage of this bloody day the russians lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, 21,539. the prussians lost 11,390, more than one third of their number.
general fermor availed himself of the darkness in withdrawing his troops, now numbering but 28,000, a mile west from the battle-field to a dense forest of firs, called drewitz heath. frederick arranged his little remaining band of but eighteen thousand men in two lines, facing the foe. the next morning, saturday, the 26th, general fermor sent a request for a truce of three days to bury the dead. the reply was, “your proposal is entirely inadmissible. the victor will bury the slain.” there was no serious resumption of the conflict on that day. both parties were alike exhausted, and had alike expended nearly all their ammunition. frederick’s hussars had, however, found out the position of the russian baggage train, and had effectually plundered a large portion of it.
saturday night was very dark. a thick mist mantled the landscape. about midnight, the russians, feigning an artillery attack upon a portion of the prussian lines, commenced a retreat. groping their way through the woods south of zorndorf, they reached the great road to landsberg, and retreated so rapidly that frederick could annoy them but little.
several well-authenticated anecdotes are given respecting the conduct of frederick on this occasion, which illustrate the various phases in the character of this extraordinary man. the evening before the battle of zorndorf, the king, having completed his arrangements for a conflict against vastly unequal numbers, upon whose issue were dependent probably both his throne and his life, sent for a member of his staff of some literary pretensions, and spent some time in criticising and amending one of the poems of rousseau. was this an affected display of calmness, the result of vanity? was it an adroit measure to impress the officers with a conviction of his own sense of security? was it an effort to throw off the terrible pressure which was upon his mind, as the noble abraham lincoln often found it to be a moral necessity to indulge in a jest even amidst scenes of the greatest anguish? whatever may have been the motive, the fact is worthy of record.
461 immediately after the battle sir andrew mitchell called upon the king to congratulate him upon his great victory. general seidlitz, who had led the two decisive cavalry charges, was in the royal tent. the king, in reply to the congratulations of the english minister, pointed to general seidlitz and said,
“had it not been for him, things would have had a bad look by this time.”
the town of cüstrin, it will be remembered, was utterly consumed, being set on fire by the shells of the russians. the commandant of the citadel was censured for not having prevented the calamity. he immediately sought an interview with the king, endeavoring to apologize for his conduct. the king, perhaps justly, perhaps very unjustly, interrupted him, saying,
“i find no fault with you; the blame is entirely my own in having appointed you to such a post.”
the utter ruin of the town of cüstrin, and the misery of its houseless and starving population, seemed to affect the king deeply. to the inhabitants, who clustered around him, he said, kindly,
“my children, i could not come to you sooner, or this calamity should not have happened. have a little patience, and i will cause every thing to be rebuilt.”
as has often been mentioned, the carnage of the battle-field constitutes by no means the greater part of the miseries of war. one of the sufferers from the conflagration of the city of cüstrin gives the following graphic account of the scene. it was the 15th of august, 1758:
“the enemy threw such a multitude of bombs and red-hot balls into the city that by nine o’clock in the morning it burned, with great fury, in three different places. the fire could not be extinguished, as the houses were closely built, and the streets narrow. the air appeared like a shower of fiery rain and hail. the surprised inhabitants had not time to think of any thing but of saving their lives by getting into the open fields.
“i, as well as many others, had hardly time to put on my clothes. as i was leading my wife, with a young child in her arms, and my other children and servants before me—who were almost naked, having, ever since the first fright, run about as they got out of bed—the bombs and red-hot balls fell round462 about us. the bombs, in their bursting, dashed the houses to pieces, and every thing that was in their way. every body that could got out of the town as fast as possible. the crowd of naked and in the highest degree wretched people was vastly great.
“among the women were many of distinction, who had neither shoes nor stockings, nor hardly any thing else on, thinking only of saving their lives. when i had seen my family in the open field, i endeavored to return and save something, if possible, but in vain. i could not force my way through the multitude of people thronging out at the gate, some few with horses and carriages, and others with the sick and bedridden on their backs. the bombs and red-hot balls fell so thick that all thought themselves happy if they could but escape with their lives.
“many thousands are made miserable, inhabitants as well as strangers. many from the open country and defenseless towns in prussia, pomerania, and the new marche had fled hither, with their most valuable effects, in hopes of security when the russians entered the prussian territories; so that a great many who, a little while ago, were possessed of considerable fortunes, are now reduced to beggary. on the roads nothing was to be seen but misery, and nothing to be heard but such cries and lamentations as were enough to move even the stones. no one knew where to get a morsel of bread, nor what to do for farther subsistence. the fire was so furious that the cannon in the store and artillery houses were all melted. the loaded bombs and cartridges for cannon and muskets, with a large quantity of gunpowder, went off at once with a most horrible explosion. the fury of the enemy fell almost entirely upon the inhabitants. they did not begin to batter the fortifications, except with a few shot, till the 17th, after the rest was all destroyed.”
