History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 12Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 12
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
Glasenapp: these are the men Friedrich heard swearing-in under his
window, one memorable morning when he burst into tears! At half-past
Twelve, the Ramparts, on all sides, are ours.
The Gates of the Town, under axe and petard, can make little resistance,
to Leopold's Column or the other two. A hole is soon cut in the
Town-Gate, where Leopold is; and gallant Wallis, who had rallied behind
it, with his Artillery-General and what they could get together, fires
through the opening, kills four men; but is then (by order, and not till
then) fired upon, and obliged to draw back, with his Artillery-General
mortally hurt. Inside he attempts another rally, some 200 with him; and
here and there perhaps a house-window tries to give shot; but it is
to no purpose, not the least stand can be made. Poor Wallis is rapidly
swept back, into the Market-place, into the Main Guard-house; and there
piles arms: "Glogau yours, Ihr Herren, and we prisoners of War!" The
steeple had not yet quite struck One. Here has been a good hour's-work!
Glogau, as in a dream, or half awake, and timidly peeping from behind
window-curtains, finds that it is a Town taken. Glogau easily consoles
itself, I hear, or even is generally glad; Prussian discipline being so
perfect, and ingress now free for the necessaries of life. There was
no plundering; not the least insult: no townsman was hurt; not even
in houses where soldiers had tried firing from windows. The Prussian
Battalions rendezvous in the Market-place, and go peaceably about their
patrolling, and other business; and meddle with nothing else. They
lost, in killed, ten men; had of killed and wounded, forty-eight; the
Austrians rather more. [Orlich, i. 75, 78; _Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 829;
irreconcilable otherwise, in some slight points.] Wallis was to have
been set free on parole; but was not,--in retaliation for some severity
of General Browne's in the interim (picking up of two Silesian Noblemen,
suspected of Prussian tendency, and locking them in Brunn over the
Hills),--and had to go to Berlin, till that was repaired. To the wounded
Artillery-General there was every tenderness shown, but he died in few
days.--The other Prisoners were marched to the Custrin-Stettin quarter;
"and many of them took Prussian service."
And this is the Scalade of Glogau: a shining feat of those days; which
had great rumor in the Gazettes, and over all the then feverish Nations,
though it has now fallen dim again, as feats do. Its importance at that
time, its utility to Friedrich's affairs, was undeniable; and it
filled Friedrich with the highest satisfaction, and with admiration to
overflowing. Done 9th March, 1741; in one hour, the very earliest of the
day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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