Part 4

Having passed the night in order of battle, at day-break, on the morning of the memorable 7th of September, 1631, divine service was performed in the Swedish army, and the troops afterwards advanced against the enemy. The Swedes took the right, and the Saxons the left. The advance guard was composed of three regiments, two Scots and one Dutch, led by three Scots colonels; and HEPBURN'S SCOTS BRIGADE formed part of the reserve, which was commanded by Colonel Hepburn. The engagement commenced about mid-day; and after a tremendous cannonade, the cavalry of both armies advanced and engaged in a series of charges, in which the Swedish and Finland horse had the advantage; and the King was enabled to change his position so as to avoid the evil effects of a high wind and clouds of dust which nearly blinded his soldiers. At length the enemy attacked the Saxons on the left with great fury, and drove them out of the field. The Imperialists then directed their main force against the Swedes, and a detachment from the Scots regiments highly distinguished itself in a conflict with the enemy's cavalry.[23] During the heat of the conflict HEPBURN'S SCOTS BRIGADE was moved from the rear of the centre to the left flank, which had become exposed by the flight of the Saxons. Immediately afterwards two columns of the enemy were seen coming down upon the left of the Swedish army, and the King ordered HEPBURN'S SCOTS BRIGADE to wheel to the left and confront the enemy. Before this movement was executed, the Imperialists were within musket shot; in a moment the artillery on both sides opened a tremendous cannonade; this was followed by two volleys from the musketeers, and the next moment HEPBURN'S pikemen went cheering to the charge with distinguished bravery, and, breaking in upon the front of the first column, drove it back with terrible confusion and slaughter. Meanwhile HEPBURN'S right wing of musketeers, commanded by Colonel Monro, fell with great fury upon the enemy's troops which protected the cannon and captured the guns. The slaughter would have been great, but the ground where the battle was fought being very dry, and newly ploughed, and the wind high, the clouds of dust favoured the escape of the enemy.[24] When HEPBURN'S BRIGADE was attacking the enemy's columns, the King sent the Blue Brigade and a body of musketeers to its assistance; but before the arrival of these reinforcements the Scots were triumphant. The Imperial columns being broken, the Swedish horsemen pursued the fugitives until dark and made great slaughter. Success having attended the Swedish arms in other parts of the field, the victory was complete; but the conquerors had the misfortune to lose their baggage, which was plundered by their friends, the runaway Saxons.

The Scots gained great honour in this action, particularly the brigade of which HEPBURN'S regiment formed part. Colonel Monro, who commanded the right wing of musketeers, writes--"The victory and credit of the day was ascribed to our brigade; we were thanked by his Majesty for our service in a public audience, and in view of the whole army, and we were promised to be rewarded." In another place the same author observes--"His Majesty did principally, under God, ascribe the glory of the victory to the Swedish and Finland horsemen, who were led by the valorous Velt-Marshal Horne; for though the Dutch horsemen did behave themselves valorously divers times that day, yet it was not their fortune to make the charge which did put the enemy to flight; and though there were brave brigades of Swedes and Dutch in the field, yet it was the SCOTS brigades' fortune to gain the praise for the foot service, and not without cause, for they behaved themselves well, being led and conducted by an expert and fortunate cavalier, the valiant HEPBURN."[25]

The pursuit was continued until the Imperial army was literally cut to pieces, excepting a few regiments, which, being favoured by the clouds of dust and smoke, escaped. The Imperial camp was left standing, and the Swedish troops passed the night in their enemy's tents. The Imperial cannon, the greater part of the baggage, and many standards and colours, were captured by the victorious Gustavus. Such were the results of the famous battle of _Leipsic_,--the most important action which had been fought for more than half a century,--and where the regiment, which is now represented by the FIRST, or ROYAL REGIMENT, in the British line, acquired great honour.

After passing the night on the field of battle the army assembled in column, and divine service was again performed; after which the King of Sweden addressed the several regiments on the subject of their exploits on the preceding day, and again returned thanks to HEPBURN'S SCOTS BRIGADE for its distinguished gallantry.[26] From the field of battle the army advanced to _Leipsic_, and invested the town, but the recapturing of this place was left to the Saxons. Meanwhile part of HEPBURN'S BRIGADE proceeded to _Halle_, and captured the town and castle on the 11th of September. While the army lay near this place several protestant Princes, with the Elector of Saxony at their head, visited the King, on which occasion his Majesty passed many encomiums on the Scottish nation, and beckoning to Colonel Hepburn, who stood in another part of the room, recommended him, Lumsdell, and Monro, to the Elector's more immediate notice.[27]

From Halle the brigade marched to Erfurt, in the famous forest of Thuringia, and was afterwards destined to take part in the reduction of the Circle of Franconia. From Erfurt the brigade advanced, with other troops, through the forest of Thuringia,--proceeded a distance of one hundred and eleven miles along difficult roads, and took by capitulation six large towns, in the short period of eight days. Having arrived at _Wurtzburg_, the town soon surrendered; but a strong castle, called _Marienberg_, standing on an eminence on the other side of the river Maine, being garrisoned by a thousand men, well provided with every means of defence, held out against the Swedish arms, and the Scots were selected to commence operations against this place. The approach was hazardous beyond description; one arch of the bridge was blown up, and the batteries raked the bridge from one end to the other. A few daring Scots musketeers, however, passed the river in small boats on the 5th of October, and, leaping on shore in the face of a sharp fire, were soon warmly engaged. A plank had, in the meantime, been laid across the broken arch of the bridge, and a number of veteran Scots running across one after another, joined their companions in the fight, and a lodgment was effected beyond the river, and some advantage gained. The castle was afterwards taken by storm; and this having been deemed an impregnable fortress, it was found well stored with corn, wine, ammunition, and treasure; and small arms were found for seven thousand men.

While the brigade lay at Wurtzburg, the King sent out so many detachments that he had only about ten thousand men at head-quarters, and an army of fifty thousand men, commanded by the Duke of Lorraine, advanced against him. His Majesty having received information that the enemy designed to pass the Maine at _Oxenford_ and attack him, the King proceeded, on the same evening, after dark, to the quarters of HEPBURNS'S SCOTS BRIGADE, and commanded the men to assemble under arms immediately. Having selected eight hundred musketeers, his Majesty commanded them to follow him, while the pikemen and colours remained behind. The musketeers, being led by Brigadier-General Hepburn, and accompanied by eighty Swedish horsemen, continued their march throughout the night, and at two o'clock on the following morning arrived at _Oxenford_, and formed up in the market-place, while fifty of the horsemen advanced to observe the motions of the enemy. Soon afterwards the report of pistols was heard, when his Majesty sent out a lieutenant and fifty musketeers to skirmish and to cover the retreat of the horse, which service was gallantly performed. The enemy, however, proved too numerous, and the fifty musketeers were forced to retire, when the King sent a hundred musketeers, under Lieutenant-Colonel Monro, to restore the fight, and they drove back a superior body of the Imperialists, for which they were applauded by the King. These few Scots having thus frustrated the designs of the enemy, his Majesty returned to Wurtzburg, leaving Hepburn, with his musketeers, to defend the place; and this excellent officer made such a formidable disposition of his men, and kept so good a countenance, that, although the enemy advanced with his army up to the town with drums beating and colours flying, as though he was about to storm the place, yet he afterwards retired. The musketeers, having thus boldly confronted a large army and maintained their post, were afterwards ordered to return to Wurtzburg.

On the 7th of November HEPBURN'S SCOTS BRIGADE, or the GREEN BRIGADE, advanced with the army towards _Frankfort on the Maine_, a place celebrated throughout Europe for its annual fairs; and while traversing the rich plains and beautiful scenery of one of the most fruitful parts of Germany, several strong towns surrendered to the army. The brigade crossed the Maine at Aschaffenberg, on the 14th of November, and arrived at Frankfort on the 16th, when the city surrendered.

In the early part of December HEPBURN'S or the GREEN, and the Blue brigades, were employed in the siege of a strong fort near _Oppenheim_, and while performing this service, these hardy veterans were encamped in the midst of a deep snow. The enemy made a sally in the night, but were repulsed by the Scots pikemen, and on the following morning the fort surrendered. The two brigades afterwards attacked a fort, and also the castle belonging to the town. A party of gallant Scots having stormed the wall between the outward fort and castle, they found the drawbridge down, and, forcing an entrance into the castle, they put the Spanish garrison to the sword; at the same time another party stormed the fort with such fury that nine companies of Italians were soon overpowered and forced to surrender. These Italians afterwards engaged in the Swedish service, and were attached to the GREEN BRIGADE; but they all deserted during the following summer. The King having passed the Rhine with part of his army to attack the town on the other side, the place surrendered.

Notwithstanding the severity of the season, the King resolved to continue operations, and one Sunday afternoon, in the early part of December, in tempestuous weather, with frost and snow, the army appeared before _Mentz_. HEPBURN'S SCOTS,[28] or the GREEN BRIGADE, took its post before the town; and the men having prepared the batteries during the night, the fire of the cannon commenced at day-break with such fury that the besieged were dismayed, and they surrendered in the middle of December. The brigade was afterwards placed in garrison in the town, where it continued during the remainder of the winter.

[Sidenote: 1632]

During the preceding campaign, several additional regiments arrived in Germany from Scotland, namely, Sir James Lumsdell's, the Master of Forbes', Sir Frederick Hamilton's, and Colonel Monro's; also Colonel Austin's English regiment; recruits also arrived for the old regiments; and in the beginning of 1632 there appear to have been thirteen Scots regiments and five English regiments in the service of the King of Sweden. There were also two Scots generals, three major-generals, three brigadier-generals, twenty-seven colonels, fifty-one lieutenant-colonels, and fourteen Scots majors,[29] in the Swedish army: and the FIRST, or ROYAL, REGIMENT OF FOOT, in the British line, being the only one of these eighteen British regiments which has continued to exist to the present time, it is the representative of the whole of this gallant force.

HEPBURN'S veterans remained in garrison at Mentz, recruiting in vigour and in numbers, until the beginning of March, 1632, when they proceeded to Frankfort on the Maine, and, advancing from thence to Aschaffenberg, were reviewed in the fields before the town on the 6th of March, by the King of Sweden. From Aschaffenberg the brigade continued its march to Weinsheim, where it was reviewed by the Elector Palatine, who complimented this distinguished body of Scots on the high character it had acquired for deeds of valour.

After this review the brigade advanced with the army to invade Bavaria, and on the 26th of March it appeared before _Donawerth_ on the Danube, when the King posted part of the troops on the heights above the town. On the following day, a battery having been constructed to command the bridge, the enemy made a furious sally, and, having driven back some Swedish troops, captured the guns; but a number of HEPBURN'S veterans rushing forward sword in hand, the Bavarians were repulsed and driven back into the town. During the night, Sir John Hepburn marched his brigade with great silence five miles up the Wernitz, and having crossed the river, returned by the opposite bank to an angle which commanded the bridge over the Danube, where he posted his musketeers behind garden-walls and hedges, and formed the pikemen into three bodies under the cover of the enclosures. At day-break the enemy's garrison attempted to force its way through the besieging army; eight hundred musketeers rushed suddenly out of the town towards the bridge where HEPBURN'S men were posted, when the Scots musketeers opened a destructive fire, and before the smoke had cleared away, the pikemen came cheering forward to the charge, while the musketeers drew their swords and joined in the attack, and the enemy's column was broken and cut to pieces. Many of the Bavarians fled towards the town; HEPBURN'S veterans, following in full career, entered the town with the fugitives, and made great slaughter in the streets. Meanwhile, the enemy's troops, which sallied on the other side of the town, were also nearly all destroyed. The governor escaped, but he saved only a small portion of his garrison. Thus Donawerth was captured in forty-eight hours after the army appeared before the town; and in this exploit the gallant veterans under Sir John Hepburn acquired new laurels.[30]

This success enabled the King to penetrate into Bavaria; and in the early part of April HEPBURN'S BRIGADE took part in the brilliant enterprise of forcing the passage of the river _Lech_ in the face of a superior army, and the success which attended this daring exploit alarmed one half of Europe, and astonished the other.

The brigade was afterwards engaged in the siege of _Augsburg_, which place capitulated on the 10th of April. From Augsburg the brigade proceeded with the army to _Ingoldstadt_, and, being engaged in the siege of this town, it had one very trying night's service: the King, expecting a sally from the garrison, ordered Hepburn's veterans to stand all night under arms on some high ground near the town; the enemy kept up a constant fire against the brigade with dreadful execution, and the men had to stand like targets to be shot at, without the power of making resistance. "To my mind," observes the brave Colonel Monro, "it was the longest night in the year, though in April, for at one shot I lost twelve men of my own company." The first attack not succeeding, the King raised the siege and retired.

After quitting the precincts of Ingoldstadt, the brigade was detached against _Landshut_, a pretty little town with a castle, in Bavaria, which place surrendered on the 29th of April.

Having completed this conquest, the brigade proceeded to Freysingen, where it rejoined the main army, and advanced from thence to _Munich_. This celebrated city surrendered immediately, and the King being desirous of preserving it from plunder, he made a present of about five shillings English to every soldier in the army, and posted HEPBURN'S SCOTS BRIGADE at the bridge to prevent the ingress of stragglers. The army was afterwards encamped without the town, excepting the old Scots brigade, which entered the city with the King, and HEPBURN'S own regiment furnished the guard at the market-place, while the remainder of the brigade furnished the King's guard at the castle. As no other brigade was admitted into Munich, this circumstance proves the high estimation in which this old Scots corps was held. Its commander, Brigadier-General Hepburn, was appointed governor of Munich.

Leaving this city on the 1st of June, the brigade again directed its march towards Donawerth, where it arrived on the 4th. It subsequently marched to the relief of _Weissemberg_, which was besieged by the enemy; but the garrison surrendered before the troops marching for its relief arrived. The brigade then continued its march to Furt, where an encampment was formed. It was afterwards employed in several operations of a defensive character. The King having to defend _Nurenberg_, and to confront an army of 60,000 men with only 20,000, his Majesty formed an entrenched camp round the city, where the brigade was stationed some time.

The enemy's army, commanded by the Duke of Bavaria and Count Walstein, appeared before Nurenberg, and by means of their immense superiority of numbers endeavoured to cut off the supplies of provision from the Swedish army, but were unable to accomplish their object. The opposing armies lay watching each other's movements until the 21st of August, when, reinforcements having arrived for the Swedes, the King attacked the enemy's fortified camp; the old Scots Brigade was sharply engaged in the attack of the heights of Altenberg, and in the attempt on Altenberg Castle, in which service it lost many officers and men; but the attack failed at every point. The King afterwards formed a fortified camp within cannon shot of the enemy, and the two armies confronted each other until the 8th of September, when his Majesty retired, and five hundred musketeers of the old Scots Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sinclair, covered the retreat to Neustadt. A few days afterwards, the Marquis of Hamilton being about to return to England, Brigadier-General Hepburn obtained permission to accompany him, and the regiment was left under the command of the Lieutenant-Colonel. When the gallant Hepburn and several other officers took leave of their companions in arms, Monro informs us that "the separation was like the separation which death makes betwixt friends and the soul of man, being sorry that those who had lived so long together in amity and friendship, also in mutual dangers, in weal and in woe, the splendour of our former mirth was overshadowed with a cloud of grief and sorrows, which dissolved in mutual tears."

The brigade was now commanded by Colonel Monro, and towards the end of September it marched to the relief of _Rayn_, which was besieged by the enemy; but this garrison also surrendered before the troops marching to its relief arrived. The King, however, resolved to retake the town, and having arrived before the walls on the 3rd of October, he took advantage of a thick fog, and brought his cannon to bear upon the works unperceived, when the garrison immediately surrendered.

The brigade being much exhausted and decreased in numbers from its recent hard services, it was placed in quarters of refreshment in Bavaria, while the King marched with part of the army into Saxony. Before his departure, his Majesty expressed his approbation of the conduct of these veteran Scots on all occasions, and exhorted the commanding officers to use every possible expedition in replacing the casualties in the ranks of their respective regiments; but this proved the final separation between the great Gustavus Adolphus and these distinguished regiments; his Majesty marched to Saxony, and was killed at the battle of Lützen,[31] which was fought on the 6th of November, 1632.

After the death of the King of Sweden[32] the old Scots Brigade served for a short time under the Elector Palatine, and was employed in the siege and capture of _Landsberg_, a town of Upper Bavaria on the Lech; and while before this place a dispute about precedence arose between this and another (Ruthven's) brigade: "But," observes Colonel Monro, "those of Ruthven's Brigade were forced, notwithstanding their diligence, to yield the precedence unto us, being older blades than themselves, for in effect we were their schoolmasters in discipline, as they could not but acknowledge."

When the capture of Landsberg was effected, the old Scots Brigade marched to the relief of _Rayn_, which was closely beset by the Bavarians, who raised the siege on the approach of the Scots, and retired into Saxony.

From Rayn the brigade marched to the vicinity of the ancient city of Augsburg, where the men lay two months of extreme cold weather in the open fields; the loss of the great Gustavus Adolphus was now seriously experienced, the generals were indecisive, and operations were suspended.

[Sidenote: 1633]

But in February, 1633, the brigade was again called into action. It proceeded, in the first instance, to Ulm, a considerable town on the banks of the Danube, and from thence towards _Memmingen_, to attack a division of the enemy stationed in the town; but, having halted at some hamlets within three miles of the place, the houses took fire in the night, and the brigade lost much baggage, and saved its cannon and ammunition with difficulty. This misfortune did not, however, prevent the troops from marching against their adversaries, who after some sharp skirmishing, retired.

Soon afterwards the brigade proceeded to _Kaufbeuren_, a small town on the Wertach, and having invested the place, the garrison held out two days, and then surrendered. Having refreshed the men with three days' rest at Kaufbeuren, the brigade marched with part of the army towards the Iller, and, having passed the river by a temporary bridge, besieged _Kempten_ (the ancient _Campodunum_). But while the brigade lay before the town, it was suddenly ordered to proceed by forced marches to the Duchy of Wirtemberg.

Having been recalled from Wirtemberg, the brigade proceeded to Donawerth on the Danube, where it was stationed during a great part of the summer; while a convention of the Protestant princes of Germany was held at Heilbronn. The pay of the troops being a long time in arrear, they resolved not to engage in any further operations until their arrears were paid. Thus disorder and confusion found its way into the Swedish army, and the Scots regiments were no longer recruited with the same facility as formerly.

[Sidenote: 1634]

The old Scots Brigade, however, continued at its post of duty, and it formed part of the army, commanded by Marshal Horn and the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, which advanced to the relief of _Nordlingen_; and this movement brought on a general engagement, which was fought in the vicinity of the town on the 26th of August, 1634, when the confederates were defeated, and the Scots Brigade suffered so severely, that one of the regiments (Monro's) was reduced a few days afterwards to one company.[33] After the battle, the wreck of this distinguished brigade retreated to Worms, a town situate on the left bank of the Rhine; and, Marshal Horn having been taken prisoner, the veteran Scots were under the orders of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar.

The loss of the battle of _Nordlingen_ almost ruined the protestant interest in Germany, but soon afterwards the court of France agreed to support this depressed and declining cause. The prospect of immediate succours from France allayed the consternation which prevailed amongst the confederate princes. A French army approached the Rhine, and several towns in Alsace admitted French garrisons.