BATTLE OF ROSBACH.

The king of Prussia had tried several times to bring the combined army under the princes Saxe-Hilburghausen and Soubise to an engagement upon fair ground, but finding them bent on declining it, notwithstanding the superiority of their numbers, he had recourse to one of those strokes in war, by which a general is better seen than by the gaining of a victory. He made a feint, soon after the beginning of October, as if he intended nothing more than to secure his own dominions, and march his army into winter-quarters back to Berlin, leaving mareschal Keith, with only seven or eight thousand men, to defend Leipsic. Upon this the enemy took courage, passed the Sala, and having marched up to the city, summoned the mareschal to surrender; to which he answered, that the king, his master, had ordered him to defend the place to the last extremity, and he would obey his orders. The enemy then thought of besieging the city; but, before they could prepare any one implement for that purpose, they were alarmed by the approach of the king of Prussia, who, judging that his feint would probably induce them to take the step they did, had, by previous and private orders, collected together all his distant detachments, some of which were twenty leagues asunder, and was advancing, by long marches, to Leipsic; upon notice of which the enemy repassed the Sala. The Prussian army was re-assembled on the twenty-seventh of October, and remained at Leipsic the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth, when everybody expected a battle would be fought in the plains of Lutzen. On the thirtieth, the king drew nigh that place, and on the thirty-first, in his way through Weissenfells and Meresbourg, he made five hundred men prisoners of war. The combined army had repassed the Sala at Weissenfells, Meresbourg, and Halle, where they broke down the bridges; but these were soon repaired, and the whole Prussian army, amounting to no more than twenty thousand men, having passed that river, through these towns, in each of which they left a battalion, joined again on the third of November, in the evening, over against the enemy, whose forces consisted of forty thousand French, and twenty-five thousand Imperialists. On the fifth, about nine o’clock in the morning, the Prussians received intelligence that the enemy were every where in motion. They likewise heard the drums beating the march, and, so near were the two armies to each other, plainly perceived from their camp that their whole infantry, which had drawn nearer upon the rising grounds over against them, was filing off towards their right. No certain judgment could, however, yet be formed of the enemy’s real design, and as they were in want of bread, it wras thought probable that they intended to repass the Un-strut; but it was soon perceived that their several motions were contradictory to each other. At the same time that some of their infantry were filing off towards their right, a large body of cavalry wheeled round towards their left, directing its march all along to the rising grounds with which the whole Prussian camp, that lay in a bottom between the villages of Eederow and Rosbach, was surrounded within the reach of large cannon. Soon after that the cavalry were seen to halt, and afterwards to fall back to the right; though some of them still remained where they were, whilst the rest marched back. About two in the afternoon the doubts of the Prussians were cleared up; it plainly appearing then that the enemy intended to attack them, and that their dispositions were made with a view to surround them, and to open the action by attacking them in the rear. A body of reserve was posted over against Eederow, to fall upon their routed troops, in case they should be defeated, and to prevent their retiring to Meresbourg, the only retreat which could then have been left them. In thiss situation the king of Prussia resolved to attack them. His majesty had determined to make the attack with one wing only, and the disposition of the enemy made it necessary that it should be the left wing. The very instant the battle was going to begin, his majesty ordered the general who commanded the right wing to decline engaging, to take a proper position in consequence thereof, and, above all, to prevent his being surrounded. All the cavalry of the right wing of the Prussians, except two or three squadrons, had already marched to the left at full gallop; and being arrived at the place assigned them, they formed over against that of the enemy. They then moved on immediately, the enemy advanced to meet them, and the charge was very fierce, several regiments of the French coming on with great resolution. The advantage, however, was entirely on the side of the Prussians. The enemy’s cavalry being routed, were pursued for a considerable time with great spirit, but having afterwards reached an eminence, which gave them an opportunity of rallying, the Prussian cavalry fell upon them afresh, and gave them so total a defeat, that they fled in the utmost disorder. This happened at four in the afternoon. Whilst the cavalry of the Prussians charged, their infantry opened. The enemy cannonaded them briskly during this interval, and did some execution, but the Prussian artillery was not idle. After this cannonading had continued on both sides a full quarter of an hour, without the least intermission, the fire of the infantry began. The enemy could not stand it, nor resist the valour of the Prussian foot, who gallantly marched up to their batteries. The batteries were carried one after another, and the enemy were forced to give way, which they did in great confusion. As the left wing of the Prussians advanced, the right changed its position, and having soon met with a small rising ground, they availed themselves of it, by planting it with sixteen pieces of heavy artillery. The fire from thence was partly pointed at the enemy’s right, to increase the disorder there, and took their left wing in front, which was excessively galled thereby. At five the victory was decided, the cannonading ceased, and the enemy fled on all sides. They were pursued as long as there was any light to distinguish them, and it may be said, that night alone was the preservation of this army, which had been so formidable in the morning. They took the benefit of the darkness to hurry into Fribourg, and there to repass the Unstrut, which they did on the morning of the sixth, after a whole night’s inarch. The king of Prussia set out early in the morning to pursue them with all his cavalry, supported by four battalions of grenadiers, the infantry following them in two columns. The enemy had passed the Unstrut at Fribourg, when the Prussians arrived on its banks, and as they had burnt the bridge, it became necessary to make another, which, however, was soon done. The cavalry passed first, but could not come up with the enemy till five in the evening, upon the hills of Eckersberg. It was then too late to force them there, for which reason the king thought proper to canton his army in the nearest villages, and to be satisfied with the success his hussars had in taking near three hundred baggage waggons, and every thing they contained. The whole loss of the Prussians in this important engagement, did not exceed five hundred men killed and wounded. Among the former was general Meincke, and among the latter prince Henry and general Seydelitz. The enemy lost sixty-four pieces of cannon, a great many standards and colours, near three thousand men killed on the field of battle, and upwards of eight thousand taken prisoners, among whom were several generals, and other officers of distinction. Three hundred waggons were sent to Leipsic, laden with wounded French and Swiss. Upon the approach of the Prussians towards Eckersberg, the enemy retreated with great precipitation; and, after marching all night, arrived the next day at Erfurth, in the utmost want of every necessary of life, not having had a morsel of bread for two days, during which they had been obliged to live upon turnips, radishes, and other roots, which they dug out of the earth. The French, under the duke de Richelieu, were preparing to go into winter-quarters; but, upon the news of this defeat of the combined army, they again put themselves in motion, and a large detachment of them advanced as far as Duderstadt, to favour the retreat of their countrymen under the prince de Soubise, who, with great precipitancy, made the best of their way from Erfurth to the county of Hohenstein, and from thence bent their march towards Halberstadt. Of the remains of the imperial army, which was now almost entirely dispersed, whole bodies deserted, and went over to the king of Prussia soon after the battle.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760