Andreas Hofer: An Historical NovelMühlbach, L. (Luise)
History
Andreas Hofer: An Historical Novel
Mühlbach, L. (Luise)
Hofer, Andreas, 1767-1810 -- Fiction; Tyrol (Austria) -- History -- Uprising of 1809 -- Fiction
The Bavarian cavalry, to avoid the disgrace of such a capitulation,
galloped in wild disorder toward the gate and the Hofgarten. But
there Speckbacher had taken position with the peasants, who, mostly
armed only with pitchforks, had hurried to the scene of the combat
from the immediate environs of Innspruck. But these pitchforks
seemed to the panic-stricken cavalry to be terrible, murderous
weapons; cannon would have appeared to them less dreadful than the
glittering pitchforks, with which the shouting peasants rushed upon
them, and which startled not only the soldiers but their horses
also. The soldiers thought the wounds made by pitchforks more
horrible and ignominious than utter defeat, and even death.
Thunderstruck at their desperate position, hardly knowing what
befell them, unable to offer further resistance, they allowed
themselves to be torn from their horses by the peasants, to whom
they handed their arms in silence. The Tyrolese then mounted the
horses, and in a triumphant procession, headed by Joseph
Speckbacher, they conducted their prisoners back to Innspruck.
[Footnote: Hormayr's "History of Andreas Hofer," vol. i., p. 250.]
There the enemy had likewise surrendered in the mean time, and the
barracks which, until yesterday, had been the quarters of the
oppressors of the Tyrolese, the Bavarian soldiers, became now the
prisons of the defeated. Escorted by the peasants, the disarmed and
defenceless Bavarians were hurried into the barracks, whose doors
closed noisily behind them.
Innspruck was now free; not an armed Bavarian soldier remained in
the city, but the Tyrolese, to the number of upward of fifteen
thousand, poured into the streets, and the citizens joined them
exultingly, and thanked the courageous peasants for delivering them
from the foreign yoke. The city, which for three hours had been a
wild scene of terror, havoc, bloodshed, and death, resounded now at
the hour of mid-day with cheers and exultation; nothing was heard
but hurrahs, songs, and cheers for the Emperor Francis and the
beloved Tyrol.
Every minute added to the universal joy. The victorious Tyrolese,
mounted on the horses of Cite Bavarian cavalry, and headed by the
proud and triumphant Speckbacher and a rural band of music, appeared
with their prisoners. Two badly-tuned violins, two shrill fifes, two
iron pot-lids, and several jews'-harps, were the instruments of this
band. But the musicians tried to make as much noise with them as
possible, and the citizens considered their music sweeter and finer
than the splendid tunes which the bands of the Bavarian regiments
had played to them up to this time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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