The Lion of the North: A Tale of the Times of Gustavus AdolphusHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
The Lion of the North: A Tale of the Times of Gustavus Adolphus
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden, 1594-1632 -- Fiction; Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 -- Fiction
About the same time the important town of Ulm on the Danube opened its
gates to the Swedes, and Sir Patrick Ruthven was appointed commandant
with 1200 Swedes as garrison, Colonel Munro with two companies of
musketeers marched to Coblentz and aided Otto Louis the Rhinegrave, who
with a brigade of twenty troops of horse was expecting to be attacked
by 10,000 Spaniards and Walloons from Spires. Four regiments of Spanish
horse attacked the Rhinegrave's quarters, but were charged so furiously
by four troops of Swedish dragoons under Captain Hume that 300 of them
were killed and the Elector of Nassau taken prisoner; after this the
Spaniards retired beyond the Moselle.
In other parts of Germany the generals of Gustavus were equally
successful. General Horn defeated the Imperialists at Heidelberg and
Heilbronn. General Lowenhausen scoured all the shores of the Baltic, and
compelled Colonel Graham, a Scotch soldier in the Imperial service,
to surrender the Hanse town of Wismar. Graham marched out with his
garrison, 3000 strong, with the honours of war en route for Silesia, but
having, contrary to terms, spiked the cannon, plundered the shipping,
and slain a Swedish lieutenant, Lowenhausen pursued him, and in the
battle which ensued 500 of Graham's men were slain and the colonel
himself with 2000 taken prisoner.
General Ottentodt was moving up the Elbe carrying all before him with a
force of 14,000 men, among whom were five battalions of Scots and one
of English. This force cleared the whole duchy of Mecklenburg, capturing
all the towns and fortresses in rapid succession. Sir Patrick Ruthven
advanced along the shores of Lake Constance, driving the Imperialists
before him into the Tyrol. Magdeburg was captured by General Banner, the
Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel reduced all Fulda-Paderborn and the adjacent
districts, the Elector of Saxony overran Bohemia, and Sir Alexander
Leslie threatened the Imperialists in Lower Saxony.
Thus the campaign of 1632 opened under the most favourable auspices. The
Green Brigade marched on the 5th of March to Aschaffenburg, a distance
of more than thirty miles, a fact which speaks volumes for the physique
and endurance of the troops, for this would in the present day be
considered an extremely long march for troops, and the weight of the
helmet and armour, musket and accoutrements, of the troops of those days
was fully double that now carried by European soldiers. Here they were
reviewed by the king.
By the 10th the whole army, 23,000 strong, were collected at Weinsheim
and advanced towards Bavaria, driving before them the Imperialists under
the Count de Bucquio. The Chancellor Oxenstiern had been left by the
king with a strong force to guard his conquests on the Rhine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account