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
The Imperialists on their side lost 1000 killed and 1500 wounded; but
the accounts of the losses on both sides differ greatly, some placing
the Imperial loss higher than that of the Swedes, a palpably absurd
estimate, as the Imperialists, fighting behind shelter, could not have
suffered anything like so heavily as their assailants, who were exposed
to their fire in the open.
Hepburn bore the order from the king for Munro's troops and those of
Duke Bernhard to retire from the position they had won, as they were
entirely cut off from the rest of the army, and would at daylight have
had the whole of the Imperialists upon them. The service was one of
great danger, and Hepburn had to cut his way sword in hand through the
Croats who intervened between him and his comrades of the Green Brigade.
He accomplished his task in safety, and before daylight Munro's men
and the regiments of Duke Bernhard rejoined the army in the plain. But
though repulsed Gustavus was not defeated. He took up a new position
just out of cannon shot of the Altenburg, and then offered battle to
Wallenstein, the latter, however, well satisfied with his success,
remained firm in his policy of starving out the enemy, and resisted
every device of the king to turn him from his stronghold.
For fourteen days Gustavus remained in position. Then he could hold out
no longer. The supplies were entirely exhausted. The summer had been
unusually hot. The shrunken waters of the Pegnitz were putrid and
stinking, the carcasses of dead horses poisoned the air, and fever
and pestilence raged in the camp. Leaving, then, Kniphausen with eight
thousand men to aid the citizens of Nuremberg to defend the city should
Wallenstein besiege it, Gustavus marched on the 8th of September by
way of Neustadt to Windsheim, and there halted to watch the further
movements of the enemy.
Five days later Wallenstein quitted his camp and marched to Forsheim.
So far the advantage of the campaign lay with him. His patience and iron
resolution had given the first check to the victorious career of the
Lion of the North.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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