History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 15Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 15
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
Late in the dusk, Dumoulin and Winterfeld, whom we saw silently on march
some hours ago, have silently glided past Striegau, and got into the
Three-Hill region, which is some furlong or so farther north:--to his
surprise, Dumoulin finds Saxon parties posting themselves thereabouts.
He attacks said Saxon parties; and after some slight tussle, drives them
mostly from their Three Hills; mostly, not altogether; one Saxon Hill
is precipitous on our hither side of it, and we must leave that till the
dawn break. Of the other Heights Dumoulin takes good possession, with
cannon too, to be ready against dawn;--and ranks himself out to leftward
withal, along the plain ground; for he is to be right wing, had the
other troops come up. These are now all under way; astir from Jauernik
and Schweidnitz, silently streaming along; and Dumoulin bivouacs
here,--very silent he: not so silent the Saxons; who are still marching
in, over yonder, to westward of Dumoulin, their rear-guard groping out
its posts as it best can in the dark. Elsewhere, miles and miles along
the foot of the Mountains, Austrian-Saxon watch-fires flame through the
ambrosial night; and it is an impressive sight for Dumoulin,--still more
for the poor Schoolmaster at Pilgramshayn and others, less concerned
than Dumoulin. "It was beautiful," says Stille, who was there, "to see
how the plain about Rohnstock, and all over that way, was ablaze with
thousands of watch-fires (TAUSEND UND ABER TAUSEND); by the light of
these, we could clearly perceive the enemy's troops continually defile
from the Hills the whole night through." [Cited in Seyfarth, i. 630.]
Serenity of Weissenfels, after all, does not lodge at Pilgramshayn; far
in the night, he goes to sleep at Rohnstock, a Schloss and Hamlet on
that fork of Roaring Neisse, by the foot of the Mountains; three or
four miles off, yet handy enough for picking up Striegau the first
thing to-morrow. His Highness Prince Karl lies in Hausdorf, tolerable
quarters, pretty much in the centre of his long bivouac; day's business
well done, and bottle (as one's wont rather is) well enjoyed. Nadasti
has been out scouting; but was pricked into by hussar parties, fired
into from the growing corn; and could make out little, but the image
of his own ideas. Nadasti's ultimate report is, That the Prussians are
perfectly quiet in their camp; from Jauernik to Schweidnitz, watch-fires
all alight, sentries going their rounds. And so they are, in fact;
sentries and watch-fires,--but now nothing else there, a mere shell of
a camp; the men of it streaming steadily along, without speech, without
tobacco; and many of them are across Striegau Bridge by this time!--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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