Book: History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20

T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20




Tempelhof is well enough aware, as readers should continue to be,
that, primarily, and onward for three weeks more, not Dresden, but
the getting to Silesia on good terms, is Friedrich's main
enterprise: Dresden only a supplement or substitute, a second
string to his bow, till the first fail. But, in effect, the two
enterprises or strings coincide, or are one, till the first of them
fail; and Tempelhof's eulogy will apply to either. The initiatory
step to either is a Second Feat of Marching;--still notabler than
the former, which has had this poor issue. Soldiers of the studious
or scientific sort, if there are yet any such among us, will
naturally go to Tempelhof, and fearlessly encounter the ruggedest
Documents and Books, if Tempelhof leave them dubious on any point
(which he hardly will): to ingenuous readers of other sorts, who
will take a little pains for understanding the thing, perhaps the
following intermittent far-off glimpses may suffice. [Mitchell, ii.
162 et seq.; and Tempelhof (iv. 50-53 et seq.), as a scientific
check on Mitchell, or unconscious fellow-witness with him,--
agreeing beautifully almost always.]

On ascertaining the Landshut disaster, Friedrich falls back a
little; northward to Gross-Dobritz: "Possibly Daun will think us
cowed by what has happened; and may try something on us?" Daun is
by no means sure of this COWED phenomenon, or of the retreat it has
made; and tries nothing on it; only rides up daily to it, to
ascertain that it is there; and diligently sends out parties to
watch the Northeastward parts, where run the Silesian Roads.
After about a week of this, and some disappointments, Friedrich
decides to march in earnest. There had, one day, come report of
Lacy's being detached, Lacy with a strong Division, to block the
Silesian roads; but that, on trial, proved to be false.
"Pshaw, nothing for us but to go ourselves!" concludes Friedrich,--
and, JULY 1st, sends off his Bakery and Heavy Baggage; indicating
to Mitchell, "To-morrow morning at 3!"--Here is Mitchell's own
account; accurate in every particular, as we find: [Mitchell, ii.
164; Tempelhof, iv. 54.]

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2d. "From Gross-Dobritz to Quosdorf [to Quosdorf, a
poor Hamlet there, not QuoLsdorf, as many write, which is a Town
far enough from there]--the Army marched accordingly. In two
columns; baggage, bakery and artillery in a third; through a
country extremely covered with wood. Were attacked by some Uhlans
and Hussars; whom a few cannon-shot sent to the road again.
March lasted from 3 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon;"
twelve long hours. "Went northeastward a space of 20 miles, leaving
Radeburg, much more leaving Reichenberg, Moritzburg and the Daun
quarters well to the right, and at last quite to rearward;
crossed the Roder, crossed the Pulsnitz," small tributaries or sub-
tributaries of the Elbe in those parts; "crossed the latter (which
divides Meissen from the Lausitz) partly by the Bridge of Krakau,
first Village in the Lausitz. Head-quarter was the poor Hamlet of
Quosdorf, a mile farther on. 'This march had been carefully kept
secret,' says Mitchell; 'and it was the opinion of the most
experienced Officers, that, had the Enemy discovered the King of
Prussia's design, they might, by placing their light troops in the
roads with proper supports, have rendered it extremely difficult,
if not impracticable.'"

Daun very early got to know of Friedrich's departure, and
whitherward; which was extremely interesting to Daun: "Aims to be
in Silesia before me; will cut out Loudon from his fine prospects
on Glatz?"--and had instantly reinforced, perhaps to 20,000, Lacy's
Division; and ordered Lacy, who is the nearest to Friedrich's
March, to start instantly on the skirts of said March, and endeavor
diligently to trample on the same. For the purpose of harassing
said March, Lacy is to do whatever he with safety can (which we see
is not much: "a few Uhlans and Hussars"); at lowest, is to keep it
constantly in sight; and always encamp as near it as he dare;
[Tempelhof, iv. 54.]--Daun himself girding up his loins;
and preparing, by a short-cut, to get ahead of it in a day or two.
Lacy was alert enough, but could not do much with safety: a few
Uhlans and Hussars, that was all; and he is now encamped somewhere
to rearward, as near as he dare.

THURSDAY, 3d JULY. "A rest-day; Army resting about Krakau, after
such a spell through the woody moors. The King, with small escort,
rides out reconnoitring, hither, thither, on the southern side or
Lacy quarter: to the top of the Keulenberg (BLUDGEON HILL), at
last,--which is ten or a dozen miles from Krakau and Quosdorf, but
commands an extensive view. Towns, village-belfries, courses of
streams; a country of mossy woods and wild agricultures, of bogs,
of shaggy moor. Southward 10 miles is Radeberg [not RadebUrg,
observe]; yonder is the town of Pulsnitz on our stream of Pulsnitz;
to southeast, and twice as far, is Bischofswerda, chasmy Stolpen
(too well known to us before this): behind us, Konigsbruck, Kamenz
and the road from Grossenhayn to Bautzen: these and many other
places memorable to this King are discoverable from Bludgeon Hill.
But the discovery of discoveries to him is Lacy's Camp,--not very
far off, about a mile behind Pulsnitz; clearly visible, at
Lichtenberg yonder. Which we at once determine to attack; which,
and the roads to which, are the one object of interest just now,
--nothing else visible, as it were, on the top of the Keulenberg
here, or as we ride homeward, meditating it with a practical view.
'March at midnight,' that is the practical result arrived at, on
reaching home."

FRIDAY, JULY 4th. "Since the stroke of midnight we are all on march
again; nothing but the baggages and bakeries left [with Quintus to
watch them, which I see is his common function in these marches];
King himself in the Vanguard,--who hopes to give Lacy a salutation.
[Tempelhof, iv. 56.] 'The march was full of defiles,' says
Mitchell: and Mitchell, in his carriage, knew little what a region
it was, with boggy intricacies, lakelets, tangly thickets, stocks
and stumps; or what a business to pass with heavy cannon, baggage-
wagons and columns of men! Such a march; and again not far from
twenty miles of it: very hot, as the morning broke, in the
breathless woods. Had Lacy known what kind of ground we had to
march in, and been enterprising--! thinks Tempelhof. The march
being so retarded, Lacy got notice of it, and vanished quite away,
--to Bischofswerda, I believe, and the protecting neighborhood of
Daun. Nothing of him left when we emerge, simultaneously from this
hand and from that, on his front and on his rear, to take him as in
a vice, as in the sudden snap of a fox-trap;--fox quite gone.
Hardly a few hussars of him to be picked up; and no chase possible,
after such a march."

Friedrich had done everything to keep himself secret: but Lacy has
endless Pandours prowling about; and, I suppose, the Country-people
(in the Lausitz here, who ought to have loyalty) are on the Lacy
side. Friedrich has to take his disappointment. He encamps here, on
the Heights, head-quarter Pulsnitz,--till Quintus come up with the
baggage, which he does punctually, but not till nightfall, not till
midnight the last of him.

SATURDAY, JULY 5th. "To the road again at 3 A.M. Again to
northward, to Kloster (CLOISTER) Marienstern, a 15 miles or so,--
head-quarter in the Cloister itself. Daun had set off for Bautzen,
with his 50 or 60,000, in the extremest push of haste, and is at
Bautzen this night; ahead of Friedrich, with Lacy as rear-guard of
him, who is also ahead of Friedrich, and safe at Bischofswerda.
A Daun hastening as never before. This news of a Daun already at
Bautzen awakened Friedrich's utmost speed: 'Never do, that Daun be
in Silesia before us! Indispensable to get ahead of Bautzen and
him, or to be waiting on the flank of his next march!' Accordingly,

"SUNDAY, JULY 6th, Friedrich, at 3 A.M., is again in motion;
in three columns, streaming forward all day: straight eastward,
Daun-ward. Intends to cross the Spree, leaving Bautzen to the
right; and take post somewhere to northeast of Bautzen, and on the
flank of Daun. The windless day grows hotter and hotter; the roads
are of loose sand, full of jungles and impediments. This was such a
march for heat and difficulty as the King never had before.
In front of each Column went wagons with a few pontoons; there
being many brooks and little streams to cross. The soldier, for his
own health's sake, is strictly forbidden to drink; but as the
burning day rose higher, in the sweltering close march, thirst grew
irresistible. Crossing any of these Brooks, the soldiers pounce
down, irrepressible, whole ranks of them; lift water, clean or
dirty; drink it greedily from the brim of the hat. Sergeants may
wag their tongues and their cudgels at discretion: 'showers of
cudgel-strokes,' says Archenholtz; Sergeants going like threshers
on the poor men;--'though the upper Officers had a touch of mercy,
and affected not to see this disobedience to the Sergeants and
their cudgels,' which was punishable with death. War is not an
over-fond Mother, but a sufficiently Spartan one, to her Sons.
There dropt down, in the march that day, 105 Prussian men, who
never rose again. And as to intercepting Daun by such velocity,--
Daun too is on march; gone to Gorlitz, at almost a faster pace, if
at a far heavier,--like a cart-horse on gallop; faring still worse
in the heat: '200 of Daun's men died on the road this day, and 300
more were invalided for life.' [Tempelhof, iv. 58; Archenholtz, ii.
68; Mitchell, ii. 166.]

"Before reaching the Spree, Friedrich, who is in the Vanguard,
hears of this Gorlitz March, and that the bird is flown. For which
he has, therefore, to devise straightway a new expedient: 'Wheel to
the right; cross Spree farther down, holding towards Bautzen
itself,' orders Friedrich. And settles within two miles of Bautzen;
his left being at Doberschutz,--on the strong ground he held after
Hochkirch, while Daun, two years ago, sat watching so quiescent.
Daun knows what kind of march these Prussians, blocked out from
relief of Neisse, stole on him THEN, and saved their Silesia, in
spite of his watching and blocking;--and has plunged off, in the
manner of a cart-horse scared into galloping, to avoid the like."
What a Sabbath-day's journey, on both sides, for those Sons of War!
Nothing in the Roman times, though they had less baggage, comes up
to such modern marching: nor is this the fastest of Friedrich's,
though of Daun's it unspeakably is. "Friedrich, having missed Daun,
is thinking now to whirl round, and go into Lacy,--which will
certainly bring Daun back, even better.

"This evening, accordingly, Ziethen occupies Bautzen; sweeps out
certain Lacy precursors, cavalry in some strength, who are there.
Lacy has come on as far as Bischofswerda: and his Horse-people seem
to be wide ahead; provokingly pert upon Friedrich's outposts, who
determines to chastise them the first thing to-morrow.
To-morrow, as is very needful, is to be a rest-day otherwise.
For Friedrich's wearied people a rest-day; not at all for Daun's,
who continues his heavy-footed galloping yet another day and
another, till he get across the Queiss, and actually
reach Silesia."

MONDAY, JULY 7th. "Rest-day accordingly, in Bautzen neighborhood;
nothing passing but a curious Skirmish of Horse,--in which
Friedrich, who had gone westward reconnoitring, seeking Lacy, had
the main share, and was notably situated for some time. Godau, a
small town or village, six miles west of Bautzen, was the scene of
this notable passage: actors in it were Friedrich himself, on the
Prussian part; and, on the Austrian, by degrees Lacy's Cavalry
almost in whole. Lacy's Cavalry, what Friedrich does not know, are
all in those neighborhoods: and no sooner is Godau swept clear of
them, than they return in greater numbers, needing to be again
swept; and, in fact, they gradually gather in upon him, in a
singular and dangerous manner, after his first successes on them,
and before his Infantry have time to get up and support.

"Friedrich was too impatient in this provoking little haggle,
arresting him here. He had ordered on the suitable Battalion with
cannon; but hardly considers that the Battalion itself is six miles
off,--not to speak of the Order, which is galloping on horseback,
not going by electricity:--the impatient Friedrich had slashed in
at once upon Godau, taken above 100 prisoners; but is astonished to
see the slashed people return, with Saxon-Dragoon regiments, all
manner of regiments, reinforcing them. And has some really
dangerous fencing there;--issuing in dangerous and curious pause of
both parties; who stand drawn up, scarcely beyond pistol-shot, and
gazing into one another, for I know not how many minutes;
neither of them daring to move off, lest, on the instant of
turning, it be charged and overwhelmed. As the impatient Friedrich,
at last, almost was,--had not his Infantry just then got in, and
given their cannon-salvo. He lost about 200, the Lacy people hardly
so many; and is now out of a considerable personal jeopardy, which
is still celebrated in the Anecdote-Books, perhaps to a mythical
extent. 'Two Uhlans [Saxon-Polish Light-Horse], with their
truculent pikes, are just plunging in,' say the Anecdote-Books:
Friedrich's Page, who had got unhorsed, sprang to his feet,
bellowed in Polish to them: 'What are you doing here, fellows?'
'Excellenz [for the Page is not in Prussian uniform, or in uniform
at all, only well-dressed], Excellenz, our horses ran away with
us,' answer the poor fellows; and whirl back rapidly." The story,
says Retzow, is true. [Retzow, ii. 215.]

This is the one event of July 7th,--and of July 8th withal;
which day also, on news of Daun that come, Friedrich rests. Up to
July 8th, it is clear Friedrich is shooting with what we called the
first string of his bow,--intent, namely, on Silesia. Nor, on
hearing that Daun is forward again, now hopelessly ahead, does he
quit that enterprise; but, on the contrasy, to-morrow morning, July
9th, tries it by a new method, as we shall see: method cunningly
devised to suit the second string as well. "How lucky that we have
a second string, in case of failure!"--

TUESDAY, 8th JULY. "News that Daun reached Gorlitz yesternight;
and is due to-night at Lauban, fifty miles ahead of us:--no hope
now of reaching Daun. Perhaps a sudden clutch at Lacy, in the
opposite direction, might be the method of recalling Daun, and
reaching him? That is the method fallen upon.

"Sun being set, the drums in Bautzen sound TATTOO,--audible to
listening Croats in the Environs;--beat TATTOO, and, later in the
night, other passages of drum-music, also for Croat behoof
(GENERAL-MARCH I think it is); indicating That we have started
again, in pursuit of Daun. And in short, every precaution being
taken to soothe the mind of Lacy and the Croats, Friedrich silently
issues, with his best speed, in Three columns, by Three roads,
towards Lacy's quarters, which go from that village of Godau
westward, in a loose way, several miles. In three columns, by three
routes, all to converge, with punctuality, on Lacy. Of the columns,
two are of Infantry, the leftmost and the rightmost, on each hand,
hidden as much as possible; one is of Cavalry in the middle.
Coming on in this manner--like a pair of triple-pincers, which are
to grip simultaneously on Lacy, and astonish him, if he keep quiet.
But Lacy is vigilant, and is cautious almost in excess. Learning by
his Pandours that the King seems to be coming this way, Lacy
gathers himself on the instant; quits Godau, by one in the morning;
and retreats bodily, at his fastest step, to Bischofswerda again;
nor by any means stops there." [Tempelhof, iv. 61-63.]

For the third time! "Three is lucky," Friedrich may have thought:
and there has no precaution, of drum-music, of secrecy or
persuasive finesse, been neglected on Lacy. But Lacy has ears that
hear the grass grow: our elaborately accurate triple-pincers,
closing simultaneously on Bischofswerda, after eighteen miles of
sweep, find Lacy flown again; nothing to be caught of him but some
80 hussars. All this day and all next night Lacy is scouring
through the western parts at an extraordinary rate; halting for a
camp, twice over, at different places,--Durre Fuchs (THIRSTY FOX),
Durre Buhle (THIRSTY SWEETHEART), or wherever it was; then again
taking wing, on sound of Prussian parties to rear; in short,
hurrying towards Dresden and the Reichsfolk, as if for life.

Lacy's retreat, I hear, was ingeniously done, with a minimum of
disorder in the circumstances: but certainly it was with a velocity
as if his head had been on fire; and, indeed, they say he escaped
annihilation by being off in time. He put up finally, not at
Thirsty Sweetheart, still less at Thirsty Fox, successive Hamlets
and Public Houses in the sandy Wilderness which lies to north of
Elbe, and is called DRESDEN HEATH; but farther on, in the same
Tract, at Weisse Hirsch (WHITE HART); which looks close over upon
Dresden, within two miles or so; and is a kind of Height, and
military post of advantage. Next morning, July 10th, he crosses
Dresden Bridge, comes streaming through the City; and takes shelter
with the Reichsfolk near there:--towards Plauen Chasm; the
strongest ground in the world; hardly strong enough, it appears, in
the present emergency.

Friedrich's first string, therefore, has snapt in two; but, on the
instant, he has a second fitted on:--may that prove luckier!



Chapter II.

FRIEDRICH BESIEGES DRESDEN.

From and after the Evening of Wednesday, July 9th, it is upon a
Siege of Dresden that Friedrich goes;--turning the whole war-
theatre topsy-turvy; throwing Daun, Loudon, Lacy, everybody OUT, in
this strange and sudden manner. One of the finest military feats
ever done, thinks Tempelhof. Undoubtedly a notable result so far,
and notably done; as the impartial reader (if Tempelhof be a little
inconsistent) sees for himself. These truly are a wonderful series
of marches, opulent in continual promptitudes, audacities,
contrivances;--done with shining talent, certainly; and also with
result shining, for the moment. And in a Fabulous Epic I think
Dresden would certainly have fallen to Friedrich, and his crowd of
enemies been left in a tumbled condition.

But the Epic of Reality cares nothing for such considerations;
and the time allowable for capture of Dresden is very brief.
Had Daun, on getting warning, been as prompt to return as he was to
go, frankly fronting at once the chances of the road, he might have
been at Dresden again perhaps within a week,--no Siege possible for
Friedrich, hardly the big guns got up from Magdeburg. But Friedrich
calculated there would be very considerable fettling and haggling
on Daun's part; say a good Fortnight of Siege allowed;--and that,
by dead-lift effort of all hands, the thing was feasible within
that limit. On Friedrich's part, as we can fancy, there was no want
of effort; nor on his people's part,--in spite of his complainings,
say Retzow and the Opposition party; who insinuate their own
private belief of impossibility from the first. Which is not
confirmed by impartial judgments,--that of Archenholtz, and others
better. The truth is, Friedrich was within an inch of taking
Dresden by the first assault,--they say he actually could have
taken it by storm the first day; but shuddered at the thought of
exposing poor Dresden to sack and plunder; and hoped to get it
by capitulation.

One of the rapidest and most furious Sieges anywhere on record.
Filled Europe with astonishment, expectancy, admiration, horror:--
must be very briefly recited here. The main chronological epochs,
salient points of crisis and successive phases of occurrence, will
sufficiently indicate it to the reader's fancy.

"It was Thursday Evening, 10th July, when Lacy got to his
Reichsfolk, and took breath behind Plauen Chasm. Maguire is
Governor of Dresden. The consternation of garrison and population
was extreme. To Lacy himself it did not seem conceivable that
Friedrich could mean a Siege of Dresden. Friedrich, that night, is
beyond the River, in Daun's old impregnability of Reichenberg:
'He has no siege-artillery,' thinks Lacy; 'no means, no time.'

"Nevertheless, Saturday, next day after to-morrow,--behold, there
is Hulsen, come from Schlettau to our neighborhood, on our Austrian
side of the River. And at Kaditz yonder, a mile below Dresden, are
not the King's people building their Pontoons; in march since 2 in
the morning,-- evidently coming across, if not to besiege Dresden,
then to attack us; which is perhaps worse! We outnumber them,--but
as to trying fight in any form? Zweibruck leaves Maguire an
additional 10,000;--every help and encouragement to Maguire;
whose garrison is now 14,000: 'Be of courage, Excellenz Maguire!
Nobody is better skilled in siege-matters. Feldmarschall and relief
will be here with despatch!'--and withdraws, Lacy and he, to the
edge of the Pirna Country, there to be well out of harm's way.
Lacy and he, it is thought, would perhaps have got beaten, trying
to save Dresden from its misery. Lacy's orders were, Not, on any
terms, to get into fighting with Friedrich, but only to cover
Dresden. Dresden, without fighting, has proved impossible to cover,
and Lacy leaves it bare." [Tempelhof, iv. 65.]

"At Kaditz," says Mitchell, "where the second bridge of boats took
a great deal of time, I was standing by his Majesty, when news to
the above effect came across from General Hulsen. The King was
highly pleased; and, turning to me, said: 'Just what I wished!
They have saved me a very long march [round by Dippoldiswalde or
so, in upon the rear of them] by going of will.' And immediately
the King got on horseback; ordering the Army to follow as fast as
it could." [Mitchell, ii. 168.] "Through Preisnitz, Plauen-ward,
goes the Army; circling round the Western and the Southern side of
Dresden; [a dread spectacle from the walls]; across Weistritz Brook
and the Plauen Chasm [comfortably left vacant]; and encamps on the
Southeastern side of Dresden, at Gruna, behind the GREAT GARDEN;
ready to begin business on the morrow. Gruna, about a mile to
southeast of Dresden Walls, is head-quarter during this Siege.

"Through the night, the Prussians proceed to build batteries, the
best they can;--there is no right siege-artillery yet; a few
accidental howitzers and 25-pounders, the rest mere field-guns;--
but to-morrow morning, be as it may, business shall begin.
Prince von Holstein [nephew of the Holstein Beck, or "Holstein
SILVER-PLATE," whom we lost long ago], from beyond the River,
encamped at the White Hart yonder, is to play upon the
Neustadt simultaneously.

MONDAY 14th, "At 6 A.M., cannonade began; diligent on Holstein's
part and ours; but of inconsiderable effect. Maguire has been
summoned: 'Will [with such a garrison, in spite of such
trepidations from the Court and others] defend himself to the last
man.' Free-Corps people [not Quintus's, who is on the other side of
the River], [Tempelhof, v. 67.] with regulars to rear, advance on
the Pirna Gate; hurl in Maguire's Out-parties; and had near got in
along with them,--might have done so, they and their supports, it
is thought by some, had storm seemed the recommendable method.

"For four days there is livelier and livelier cannonading;
new batteries getting opened in the Moschinska Garden and other
points; on the Prussian part, great longing that the Magdeburg
artillery were here. The Prussians are making diligently ready for
it, in the mean while (refitting the old Trenches, 'old Envelope'
dug by Maguire himself in the Anti-Schmettau time; these will do
well enough):--the Prussians reinforce Holstein at the Weisse,
Hirsch, throw a new bridge across to him; and are busy day and
night. Maguire, too, is most industrious, resisting and preparing:
Thursday shuts up the Weistritz Brook (a dam being ready this long
while back, needing only to be closed), and lays the whole South
side of Dresden under water. Many rumors about Daun: coming, not
coming;--must for certain come, but will possibly be slowish."

FRIDAY 18th. "Joy to every Prussian soul: here are the heavy guns
from Magdeburg. These, at any rate, are come; beds for them all
ready; and now the cannonading can begin in right earnest. As it
does with a vengeance. To Mitchell, and perhaps others, 'the King
of Prussia says He will now be master of the Town in a few days.
And the disposition he has made of his troops on the other side of
the River is intended not only to attack Dresden on that side [and
defend himself from Daun], but also to prevent the Garrison from
retiring. ... This morning, Friday, 18th, the Suburb of Pirna, the
one street left of it, was set fire to, by Maguire; and burnt out
of the way, as the others had been. Many of the wretched
inhabitants had fled to our camp: "Let them lodge in Plauen, no
fighting there, quiet artificial water expanses there instead."
Many think the Town will not be taken; or that, if it should, it
will cost very dear,--so determined seems Maguire. [Mitchell, iii.
170, 171.] And, in effect, from this day onwards, the Siege became
altogether fierce, and not only so, but fiery as well; and, though
lasting in that violent form only four, or at the very utmost
seven, days more, had near ruined Dresden from the face of
the world."

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