The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign WarsGrant, James
History
The Cavaliers of Fortune; Or, British Heroes in Foreign Wars
Grant, James
British -- Foreign countries; Great Britain -- History, Military
In the war of the Hungarian Succession, after the cowardice and
extraordinary mismanagement of the Duke of Cumberland had covered the
British army with disgrace in the Low Countries, by allowing it to
be outflanked at Khloster Seven, by failing to defend the position
at Maestricht, and forcing it shamefully to capitulate, on the 8th
of September, 1757, and thus abandon our ally, Frederick the Great
of Prussia, that warlike monarch only pushed on the war with greater
vigour. In this disastrous contest the activity and vigilance of
Count Lacy soon recommended him to the notice of Leopold Count Daun,
a native of Bohemia, and son of Philip Lorenzo, Prince of Tiano, the
pupil of Kevenhueller; and he improved the good opinion of that great
soldier by his fascinating manner and courtier-like behaviour. The
friendship of Daun soon won him the rank of major-general; and as such
he commanded a brigade in his division, when, in 1757, conformable to
the defensive system taken by Russia, Austria, and Sweden, the army of
the Empress-Queen was broken into four great columns, to prosecute the
war against the Prussians, French, and Bavarians, the violators of the
famous Pragmatic Sanction.
One column, under the Duke d'Aremberg, was posted at Egra; a second,
under Marshal Count Brown, was posted at Budyn; a third, under Count
Konigsegg, held Reichenburg; a fourth, under Marshal Daun, occupied
Moravia.
In his column were the brigades of Lacy and Lowenstein, whom Frederick
of Prussia styles "two young officers who ardently sought to
distinguish themselves." Lacy was then in his thirty-eighth year.
In Lusatia, during the winter of 1756 and the spring of 1757, these
officers had given infinite trouble to the troops of Frederick. They
had frequently attacked, sword in hand, his post at Ostritz, a Saxon
town on the Queiss; at other times, his intrenchments at Hirschfelde,
a manufacturing town on the left bank of the Neisse, and also at
Marienthiel. Hirschfelde, which was garrisoned by one battalion of
Prussians, they assailed at four o'clock one morning, with 6000 men;
two redoubts, which stood without the gates, each defended by two
pieces of cannon, were repeatedly taken and retaken; but after losing
500 men, Lacy and his brother-brigadier retired, bringing off the
Prussian guns as a trophy. These assaults were ineffectual, and many
men were slain. Among others fell Major Blumenthal, of the Prince
Henry's regiment--a brave officer. The Prussian corps of Lestwitz
at Zittace, and of the Prince of Bavern at Gorlitz were harassed
by perpetual alarms; and such was the activity of young Lacy and
Lowenstein, that they kept them continually under arms, if not in
action, during the winter months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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