Life 2 Lorges Guards 2 Villeroy 2 Gen d' Armes 1 Chevaux legers 1 Grand Monsquet 2 Mongon Cuirassiers 3 Bourgogne 3 Roquepine 3 Rotâ—â—mbourg Rottembourg 3 Berry 2 Cravats 3  Squadrons 39 Second Line Montrevel Lieutenant-General Montmorencey Luxembourgh and Pracontal Major-Generals Brigades Regim Squad Blanchefort Royal Alleman 3 Anjou 2 Bourbon 2 Cosse 2 Tiessenhausen Furstemburg 2 Fiates 3 Imecourt 3  Dauriac 3 Sully 3 Pujols 3 Massot Melun 3 Bissy 3 Massot 3  Squadrons 35 Body of FOOT First Line The Prince of Conti and the Duke of Berwick Lieutenant-Generals Messieurs d' Artagnan and Crequi Major-Generals Brigades Regim Battal Lux Piedmont 3 Provence 2 Charôt Bourbonnois 2 Vermandois 2 La Marche 1 Dantin Crussoll 1 Languedoc 2 Monroux 1 Cadrieux Humiers 2 Toulouse 2 Fourille Guards French 4 Guards Swisse 3 Thâ—â—y Du Maine 2 Rousillon 2 Bourbon 1 Villeroy Chartres 2 Royal Italien 1 Lyonnois 1 Surville du Roy  4 Guiche Guiche 2 Navarre 3  Battalions 43 Second Line Rubantel and Feuquieres Lieutenant-Generals Solrâ— and Albergoty Major-Generals Brigades Regim Battal Surlaubâ— Poitou 2 Surlaube 2 Saint Second 1 Greder Greder Alleman 2 Angoulesme 1 Montferrat 1 Tessé 1 Surbeck Swisse Reynold 4 Surbeck 4 Courtin 2 Reynold Artois 1 Lionnois 1 Perigeux 1 Royal Savoy 1 D'ormesson Berry 1 Irish Guards 2 Orleans 2  Battalions 29 LEFT WING First Line The Dukes of Bourbon and Du Maine Lieutenant-Generals The Duke of Elbeuf and Monsieur de Vandeuil Major-Generals Brigades Regim Squad Souternon Du Roy 3 Chartres 2 Toulouse 2 Villeroy 2 Prâlin Royal Roussillon 3 Villequier 2 Villars 3  Carabiniers 8 Cheladet Rohan 2 Du Maine 2 Orleans 2 Mestre de Ca Gen. 3 Dauvray Drag Frontenay 3 Dauvray 3 La Reine 3  Squadrons 43 Second Line Lieutenant-General Busca Major-General Count 〈◊〉 Brigades Regim Squad  Clermonâ— 3 Manderscheid 3 Saint Lieu 3  Vaillac 3 Quadt 3 Champlin 3 Lagny Conflans 3 Lagny 3 La Reine 3  Squadrons 27 With the Artillery Three Battallions viz. Royal Artillery 2 Bombardiers 1 Battallions 3 Total of Battallions 75 Of Squadrons 147 According to this List the Mareschal de Villeroy had at the General Rendezvouz of his Army 147 Squadrons which at 120 per Squadron Horse and Dragoons one with another makes 17640 Horse and 75 Battalions at 600 a Battalion makes 45000 Foot in all 62640 Men. Besides this Monsieur de la Mothe who Commanded in the New Lines had a body of Men to defend them but I have not heard the strength of it however when the Mareschal de Villeroy march'd in the Lines being reinforced by this Body he was then computed to be near 90 Battalions strong besides the Army Commanded by Monsieur de Montal and 't was then supposed that all these Armies added together made about 98850 effective Men. They had left â—0 Battalions in Namur which with the Body Commanded by the Marquis de Harcourt in the Frontier of the Pais de Luxâ—mburg they thought sufficient to make head against the Brandenburg Forces towards the Mâ—use So that if we include the strong Garrison of Namur there could not be 20000 Men difference between their Armies and ours Thus having made as just an estimation as possibly I could of the Forces on both sides which considering that I cannot get all the Liâ—ts of the Enemies Forces I must confess can't be so exact of their side as 't is of ours but I compute their Strength according to the general Rules at the beginning of a Campagne I shall now return to our Camp at Arseel and proceed to give an account of the Actions of these mighty Armies Though the King ordered the general Rendezvouz of his Forces in this place and that the Elector himself advanced towards the Scheld yet it is very reasonable to think that at the very beginning of the Campagne the Kings real design was to besiege Namur and to act towards the Meuse For the Elector of Bavaria had Orders to detach my Lord of Athlone with 40 Squadrons of Horse towards Louvain and Flanders of this side of the Lys being a close Woody Country which made Horse not so necessary to us as it was to the Elector at Ninove the Marquis de la Forest was commanded the First of June with she Brigades of Schack Boncourt and Montigny which made our Left Wing of Horse to reinforce the Elector of Bavaria's Army June and the Brigades of Coy and Hompes were ordered from the Right to the Left Wing in their place The same day Brigadier Erle was commanded with a Detachment of 1700 Men to Rouselar and Rombeck our Pioneers had made the way for the Army to march by Inghelmonster and Mulenbeck and this Detachment was made to cover our March the next day and to keep in the Parties of Ipre and Menin In the Evening we were joyn'd by the Regiments of Lauder and Offerrel from Deinsâ— and the Regiments of Strathnaver and George Hamilton remained there in Garrison under the Command of Brigadier Offerrel being reinforced by a Detachment from our Army Commanded by a Colonel The â—d the Army march'd in four Colomnes from Arseel to Rouselar dividing from the Center The Right of Horse and Foot marched upon the Right in two Colomnes The first left Thielt upon the Right and so march'd on by the Villages of Petâ—em Hardoye and Baveren The second march'd through Thielt and so by the Villages of Ayeghem and Colscamp and the High Road from Bruges to Rouselar The Left of Foot and Horse marched likewise upon the Right in two Colomnes the first led by the Regiment of Noyelles and the second by that of L'Ecluse The first Colomn of the Left marched by the cut ways upon the Left of the High Road by Denterghem Mulenbeck and Rouselar along the Mandel and the second kept the High-way The Artillery and Baggage marched in the Rear of the first Colomn of the Right by Thielt Ardoye and Baveren and so the Army came to the Camp at Rouselar where the King took his Quarter our Right at Hooghleed and our Left near Rombeck as the last Year only we were more advanced towards Ipre and Orders were given to march the next day The third the Army marched to Becelar near the Enemies Line between Ipre and the Lys. The first Line upon the Right by Roosebeck Passendal and the Abbey of Sonnebeck and the second upon the Left by the High Road from Râ—uselar to Moorsleede We made a Detachment of Four Hundred Dragoons towards Menin which was not far from our Left Flank to cover our March They met with a Party of the Enemies Dragoons which they pursued to the very Palissades of Menin and brought back Twenty Three Prisoners Captain Stanhop a Voluntier in this Campagne had a Horse shot under him in this occasion The Army marched in this order in the Enemies Countrey without any loss and incamped with our Right near the Abbey of Sonnebeck
once just as if it had vanished out of the Enemy's Sight The Prince and the Duke of Wirtemberg and other Generals kept to the Retrenchments till all was marched off forming with themselves Domesticks and Attendants a little Body of Horse still to impose upon the Enemy and followed the Army as soon as 't was all got off The Enemies finding themselves cheated did what they could to overtake and fall upon our Rear Montal particularly endeavoured to fall upon that Body commanded by Monsieur d' Auverquerque which march'd off by Winck to Nevel He overtook the Rear with some Squadrons of Horse and Dragoons But our Defilés were good and Brigadier Collier had ordered all the Granadiers of his Brigade to the Rear of all to face the Enemy from time to time as they advanced in their Defilès which was so well contrived that the Granadiers with their Fire kept the Enemies at a distance and made the Retreat good and Montal could not do us the least harm When they had fail'd here they endeavoured to fall upon the Rear of our body of Foot which was brought up by Count de Noyelles Lieutenant-General They ordered a Line of Foot to advance with some Horse and Dragoons but the Foot was got already so far that they could not hurt them However two Squadrons of their Dragoons put green Boughs in their Hats which is our sign of Battle and spoke some French and some English as if they had been some of our own Reer-Guard It was then the dusk of the Evening and with this Stratagem they were suffered to come up close to our Rear of Foot and marched with them a little way till they came to a convenient place that they fir'd upon our Rear and then fell in with their Swords This put the first Battallion in great disorder but the other immediately facing about oblig'd the Enemies to retire They kill'd us several Men and made some Prisoners The Lunenburgh Regiment of Luck suffered most in this occasion And this is the only loss we receiv'd from the Enemy in this great and renowned Retreat which is as fine a piece of the Art of War as can be read of in History and which can hardly be parallell'd in it which has shew'd more the Art Conduct and Prudence of a General than if the Prince had gain'd a considerable Victory And this is the Sense his Majesty was pleas'd to express of it in a Letter he writ to Prince Vaudemont upon this occasion By this Prince Vaudemont bafled all the Enemy's Designs which aimed at no less than the loss of Flanders by the ruin of his Army and for this Reason had laid aside all thoughts of besieging At h or Audenarde to get Newport 〈◊〉 so to have a passage free within our Canals which cover the Spanish Flanders This would not only have been the Consequence of the Prince's defeat but likewise the raising of the Siege of Namur must have follow'd it The Prince having made his Retreat in this order and the Army being pass'd Deinse and got as far as Nevel in the way to Ghent 't was ordered to halt and rest there for that night But Prince Vaudemont as he himself afterwards said it remembred a Maxim of that Great General Charles IV. Duke of Lorrain his Father That when an Army is upon the Retreat it must be sure to retreat out of the Enemy's reach for which Reason he sent Orders to Sir Henry Bellasis to march immediately with the Foot to Ghent and the Army came to Mary-Kâ—rk that night under the Walls of Ghent without Bruges-Port and it was all got here by six a Clock the next morning Whilst the Army was upon the halt at Nevel Major-General Churchill being just by the House where he had his Quarter the last Spring when we form'd a Camp between Deinse and Ghent as the Enemies were working at their new Lines went in to rest himself and ordered a Sergeant and twelve Men of the next Regiment for a Guard upon it But as the Army marched on the Regiment did not send to call off the Sergeant and his twelve Men and the whole Regiment and Army march'd without their knowledge they still expected to have found the Army by them the next morning Major General Churchill being fatigu'd went to sleep Lieutenant-Colonel Godolphin of Sir Bevil Granville's Regiment was with him and Major Negus of the Major-General's Regiment and Captain Lloyd his Aide de Camp The next morning very early as they were getting up they found that the Army was marched on and the Centries gave notice that a French Party was just upon theâ— They call'd in the Sergeant and six men the rest being dispers'd Centries into the House It prov'd that it was no Party but Maroders of the Army who came to plunder the Country The six Soldiers being got into the House and the Doors shut up fir'd upon the French which made them retreat In the mean time the Major-General made all haste to endeavour to make his escape and being got out of the House the French Maroders had rally'd with their Camarades to force the House so he fell in the Hands of two of them who plunder'd him took his Gold his Watch his Coat and Cravat but being jealous of one another they were for dividing immediately the Spoil and so they spoke to the Major-General to set down by a Hedge and that if he offered to stir they were so many about the House that they would certainly shoot him They got on the other side of the Hedge to share that which they would not trust with one another Whilst they were busie at this work the Major-General seeing no body to observe him slipp'd to the other side of another Hedge hard by and so having two Hedges between him and them he got out of their sight He pass'd by one of their Centries who took him for one of the French Army and ask'd him which way the Army march'd to which the Major-General answer'd accordingly and so made his escape and got to our Army at Mary-Kirk having marched most on Foot in his Boots As for Lieutenant-Colonel Godolphin Major Negus and Captain Lloyd which were still in the House they had not so good Fortune but the House was soon invironed The Maroders came with a Drum to make them believe they had an Officer with them and so these Gentlemen expecting good Treatment from an Officer yielded themselves Prisoners of War But as soon as the Door was open the mobb of Soldiers got in and fell on plundering There was a great deal of Baggage in the House as Saddles and Furniture for Horses and in the Barn suveral good Horses Those that got in first minded only the Plunder others follow'd who finding no other Booty stripp'd Colonel Godolphin naked and had him away Prisoner in this condition Major Negus and Captain Lloyd were not treated quite so ill having some of their Cloaths left them But they were all carried
Country than I have to my Labour and Expences I should never concern my self with these Matters Five Campagnes to One that should affect a studious and quiet Life is enough to put him out of conceit with War or giving an Account of it God continue the Success of His Majesty's Arms that our Enemies may be soon reduc'd to such Just and Reasonable Terms as may produce a speedy and solid Peace Amen â‚ The Style of this Account is the Julian or Old Style observ'd in England ADVERTISEMENT THE Engraving of the Plan of the Siege of Namur has retarded the Publishing of this Book for some time THE HISTORY OF THE Last Campagne IN FLANDERS 1695. THE Issue of the last Year's Campagne left the Scale of War beginning to incline favourably on our side for though the Enemies at first seem'd to command the Field and that their Army domineerâ—d to the very Gates of Maestricht yet at last they had much ado to cover the Conquer'd Flanders from an Invasion and were forced to leave Huy open to a Siege and suffer it quietly to fall in our hands when it was so convenient a Post for Liege and an Out-work not only necessary for its safety but that likewise gave us the liberty of the Meuse to the very Gates of Namur to form an attempt on that side when ever we should have the Superiority of the Field therefore whatever the Enemies may have boasted of their precipitate Marches the last year to cover their Towns in Flanders and to maintain their Frontier at Courtray yet what we did then open'd the way to the Great and Glorious Undertaking of this happy and successful Campagne This would be a very strange and surprizing turn to a Man that should know no more of the Affairs of this War thaâ— what he has read in the Flourishes of the French Panegyrists or that has been us'd hitherto to the frequent Musick of Te Deums for several Successes pretended to be due to the Justice of an ambitious aggresser's Cause When we loâ—t the Battle of Landen nothing less according to their accounts could be expected than the loss of the Spanish Netherlands and 't was the French Kings own expression That there was nothing but what he might expect from such a Victory and nothing but what we ought to fear after such a Defeat †Letter to sing the Te Deum And yet it is from the loss of this very Battle that we must date the declining of our victorious Enemies greatness The following Campagne they found themselves uncapable to pursue their so much boasted Success and to act offensively by the considerable increase of our Strength And in this the Success of the War has appeared signally of our side and we ought always to thank God for â—o extraordinary a Blessing This variety of Events in the Affairs of War ought to teach us at the expence of our Enemies not to be arrogant nor insulting in Success but still to be thankful to God to keep within the bounds of Moderation and not to suffer our selves to be transported to such Extravagancies which now upon this happy turn of the Scale of War render the flattering and insolent Writings of our Enemies ridiculous to the meaner and the most ordinary Reader If the Counsels of our Enemies during the precedent Winter-Quarters were still contriving some new designs to advance their Conquests they became so sensible the last Winter of the Increase of the Allies Strength and Power that far from projecting any new Attempts upon our Frontiers they began very early to provide for the defence and security of their own they found what shifts they were put to the last Campagne to cover their Conquests in Flanders from an Invasion and if they succeeded in the defence of it yet the undertaking made them jealous of our further designs against their Frontier of this side this made them resolve to leave no way open if possible to any attempt against them in this Countrey which bordering upon the Sea a Conquest here would be so much the more dangerous that it may draw the reduction of Dunkirk after it or at least it would expose it to the hazard of a Siege which of all their places in the Low-Countries is the most important for them to maintain The way was open from the Water of Ipre to the Lys and as for their Old Line from the Lys to the Scheld they found it of a troublesome length and difficult to keep and that it did not sufficiently cover their Countrey so long as Courtray lay exposed to us The Lys and the Scheld incline very much to one another in this place which makes the distance between these two Rivers half less than it is between Menin and Pont d' Espiers and therefore as for this reason it was so much the easier to deâ—end so likewise it was very necessary for the Safety of Courtray which though weak of Scituation yet could not be attack'd as long as they kept a Line here For this reason the Enemies resolv'd to make a new Line between the Lys and the Scheld which should begin at St. John's Porte at Courtray and should terminate â—t self on the Scheld between Bossu and Avelghem and likewise to make another from Ipre to Comines upon the Lys thereby to shelter their pais conquis from any design Accordingly about the middle of March last they summoned the Boors of all the Countrey round about to rendezvouz at Ipre and Courtray and being all ready towards the latter end of the Month the Mareschal de Bouflers who reâ—ided at Lisle as Governour of the French Flandâ—rs drew out all the Frontier Garrisons to cover the Pioneers whilst they should work at the new Line and incamp'd with them at Belleghem near Courtray where he had his head Quarters Upon this Motion of the Enemies our Garrisons had orders to be ready to march and the Duke of Holstein Ploen with the Duke of Wirtemberg waited upon the Elector at Brussels where they held a Council of War and resolv'd that a Detachment of Five Hundred Men out of every Battallion in Garrison in Flanders Brussels Malines Louvain and the Neighbouring Dutch Garrisons should be drawn out to form a Camp between Deinse and Ghent in order to oppose if possible this new work of the Enemies The Garrison of Malines Louvain and others the most remote march'd the first of April towards the General Rendezvouz and the Elector left Brussels attended by the Prince de Vaudemont the Dukes of Holstein Ploen and Wirtembergh and came to Ghent the 4th to put himself at the head of the Army In the mean time the Garrisons of Ghent and Bruges with the Regiments of Mackay and Graham from Ostend and Lorne from Damme march'd and by the 6th they were all at the General Rendezvouz between Deinse and Ghent commanded by the Elector of Bavaria who took his Quarters at Oydonck and the Duke of Holstein Ploen who took his at
Nevel our Right reach'd towards the Abbey of Drongen and our left was at Deinse and our whole Army consisted of about Seventy Battallions being a Detachment of Five Hundred Men aâ— Battallion so that our Strength was computed to be about 35000 Foot The Garrisons of the Meuse did not stir nor those in Holland but the Garrison of Dixmuyde and those quarter'd in or about Newport had orders to be ready to march being reinforced with the Regiments of St. Amand and Soutlandt from Sluys The Cavalry drew out 30 Men of a Troop from the same Garrisons so that our Army at Deinse consisted of near Fifty Thousand Men but the Season was yet so early that the Ground produc'd no Forrage which was so much the more retarded by reason of the rigour of the precedent Winter and the Troops were subsisted with dry Forrage from the Magazines of Ghent Whether 't was to make a diversion to oblige the Enemies to draw off some of their Forces from the defence of their new Lines to facilitate the forcing of them by our Army at Deinse or whether we were jealous of Dixmuyde that the Enemies might have some design upon it whilst the main Body of our Army was Incamp'd near Deinse I cannot determine but whil'st the Enemy were working very busily at their New Lines a Train of Artillery was sent from Ghent to Bruges with an Escort of Five Hundred Dragoons April which was followed the next day with all sorts of Ammunitions Convoy'd by Five Hundred Dragoons more and the â—est of our English and Scots Dragoons which had been quarter'd in the Winter between Ghent and Sasvan-Ghent marched the same way some days after and went to Dixmuyde where the Forces Quarter'd in the Camerlings Ambacht or Countrey about the Canal of Newport had orders to repair upon a Minutes warning with the Regiments of St. Amand and Soutlandt that had marched from Sluys to Newport But the Enemies who were resolv'd not to be interrupted in their Work but to bring it to perfection order'd all their Garrisons in Flanders to draw out and the Brigade of Foot-Guards both French and Swissers marched with all expedition from Paris to joyn the Army near Courtray so that at the same time that we form'd our Army near Deinse they had their Main Body with the Mareschal de Bouflers at Belleghem and sufficient Detachments to cover the Kenoque and the New Line they were making between Ipre and Comines upon the Lys. Of our â—ide we made a Bridge upon the Lys below Deynse to pass that River in case the forcing of the Enemies Work should be judg'd â—eâ—sible But because 't was now the beginning of the Spring and that it was very dangerous to hazard a Battle which at the best must ruine our Army though we should succeed in beating the Enemy from their Work and hinder it from any other Action of the Campagne but if beaten and repuls'd then the Enemies would have remain'd Masters of the Field with the advantage of a whole Campagne before them For this reason 't was not judg'd safe for the Interest of the Allyes to hazard a Battle to endeavour to force the Enemies Work but to remain incamp'd at Deinse whil'st the Enemies should keep the Field to cover our own Garrisons which Reasons were sent to and approv'd of by the King who was still in England expecting the Conclusion of the Sessions of the Parliament in order to pass the Sea and put himself at the Head of his Army Thus the Enemies were suffered to go on quietly with their Work which they advanc'd with all Expedition having above Twenty Thousand Pioniers imploy'd which they had summoned from the Chatellenies of Lisle Ipre and Courtray and from the Paiis d' Artois and having succeeded in this Work they thought they had provided effectually for their defence and reckon'd that this advantage wouâ—d draw the whole success of the following Campagne after it and considering that their design was to act Defensively they made as much of this Affair as if they had got a Victory or had taken some considerable Town because they suppos'd that what they had done contributed in spight of our attempts to their Wishes and Designs For now they had a very strong barriere from Dinant to the Sea every where cover'd either with a River or a Line which being provided with good Troops we must either force the passage of a River or their Lines to get into their Countrey Namur clos'd up the Meuse and the Sambre from Thuin on the Sambre to the Haine they had another Line to cover the Countrey between Mons and Maubâ—uge which River running by Mons falls into the Scheld at Condé The Scheld from Condé to Bossu between Audenard and Tournay is a very good defence which Nature has provided for the Enemies Countrey on the other side and their New Line which they have made this year Incloses all their Countrey from the Scheld to the Lys at Courtray From Comines upon the Lys they have continued their Line to Ipre and from Ipre they have a Canal which goes by the Kenoque to Furnes and so to Dunkirk fortified with good Redoubts and Forts from place to place So that if we consider the strength of the Enemies Barriers and the weakness of our Frontiers it must very much add to the Honour and Glory of a Conquest of our side and we need not much wonder at the Enemies Conquests whilst we have acted defensively and have been so considerably inferiour to them in Number in some of the foregoing Campagnes The Marquis de la Valette Lieutenant General who Commanded the Old Lines being dead of an Apoplexy the last Winter at Courtray the French King gave the Command of the New Lines to the Count de la Mothe Mareschal de Camp which they have made so much stronger than the lâ—st that they have not the Conveniencies of Water to fill the â—ossé for which reason they have made the Ditch so much the larger and the Breast-work equal to standing Fortifications with Redoubts â—alissâ—ded and Stockaded as well as the Angles Saillants or â—oints of the Line which flank it As soon as the Enemies had brought this work to some perfection they began to dismiss their Troops back into Quarters except such a Number as should be necessary for the defence of their Lines with orders to be ready at first warning and it being so early in the Year that our Forces could not subsist but at the Charges of dry Forrage all the Cavalry was sent back into Quarters and the Infantry of the Neighbouring Garrisons The Elector left the Field as soon as there appeared no probability of attempting the Enemies Line and went for Brussels the 16th together with the Prince de Vaudemont The Duke of Holstein Ploen return'd to Malines and Maestricht the 23th and the 25th the Garrisons of Ghent Bruges Ostend and Dendermond were sent back to their respective Quarters till we should take
our Left made an elbow from the Center at the Village of Becelar towards Moorsleede and Dadyseel So that our Camp faced from the Right to Becelar towards the Line between Ipre and Comines and from Becelar to the Left towards the Lys and Menin The Dragoons of the Left faced to Moorsleede covering the Kings Quarter which was at the Baron de Becelars House and St. Pauls Brigade which had the Rear-Guard in this March incamped also at the Kings Quarter with some of the Life-Guards and Dragoons Upon our coming to this Camp in the Evening the King went to view the Enemies Line being about three English Miles from our Camp with a good Escorte of Horse Commanded by Brigadier L'Etang and all the Granadiers that were then come up for the Second Line was still marching into the Camp Commanded by Major-General La Meloniere and the English by Colonel Ingoldesby and Lieutenant-Colonel Rook. Villeroy was not then come up and what Forces the Enemy had in the Line which were Commanded at first by Monsieur de la Mothe were now under the Commaâ—d of Lieutenant-General Rosen who with a Detachment of Villeroys Army had March'd before to reinforce the Line which was very well Palissaded and the Parapet very thick and strong flank'd with good Redoubts and Cannon mounted for the defence of them The King returned late to the Camp and our Artillery Baggage and Rear-Guard was not all come up by Midnight Orders were given to be ready to March the next Day The Mareschal de Villeroy March'd from his Camp between Blaton and Quievrain the 27th of May to Leuze and the 29th he March'd nearer to the Scheld having his Head Quarter at Cordes to be nearer to observe our Army at Arseel according to its motions if it passed the Lys or Marched on towards Rouselar The 3â—th he made the Detachment of which we have now spoken to reinforce the Lines and upon our motion to Rouselar and so towards their Line between Ipre and Comines he passed the Scheld and the Lys with all diligence and incamped with the main Body of his Army that very Night we came to Becelar within the Line with his Right at Sulebeck near Ipre his Left at Comines and the Head Quarter at Houthem near the Lys. The French had provided in the Winter for such quick Marches by making Royal Ways as they call them where a Squadron can march a breast from Mons to the Sea to facilitate the Marches of the Army cutting and pulling down all they met without any regard to Houses or Villages if they happened in the Line of the Royal Way At the same time that the Mareschal de Villeroy March'd with the Main Army towards Ipre to make head against our Forces the Mareschal de Bouflers who was incamped at Gosselies near the Sambre March'd with the Body under his Command to St. Guilain to observe the Elector of Bavaria who incamped near Ninove The 4th in the Morning the General beat for the Army to be ready to March and the King went again very early with a strong Detachment to observe the Enemies Countenance within their Line Colonel Lauder Commanded the English His Majesty found the Main Body of the Enemies Army incamped within the Line which had passed the Lys in the Night at Comines and came to incamp between Houthem and Sulebeck Upon the Kings approach to their Line with so considerable a Detachment the Enemy thought that it had been the Vanguard of our Army coming to attack their Line for which reason they all immediately stood to their Arms But Villeroy being come with his Army within the Line the King returned to the Camp and our Army did not stir from Becelar But though there was no probability of success in forcing the Enemies in their Lines yet it was convenient for our further designs to oblige them to bring all their Forces for the defence of them for which reason the Elector of Bavaria decamped from Ninove the 4th and March'd that Day to St. Lievens Houthem towards the Scheld The 5th His Electoral Highness passed the Scheld below Audenarde and incamped near this place The 6th he March'd with his Army and incamped near the Enemies Line between the Lys and the Scheld with his Right at Tighem towards Courtray and his Left between Veermande and Kirkhove and his Quarter at Castres Monsieur de Montrevel Lieutenant-General had been left here with a Body of Foot for the defence of the Line from Courtray to the Scheld but upon this March of the Electors the Mareschal de Bouflers who had advanced from Gosselies to St. Guilain upon Villeroys passage of the Scheld in order to observe the motions of the Electors Army March'd with his Body of Horse and Dragoons to Tournay where he passed the Scheld and so went on to the Line where he found a Reinforcement of Foot sent him by the Mareschal de Villeroy and took his Quarter at Clare So that the Enemies had now all their Forces in the Field except Harcourts Camp volant from the Scheld to the Neighbourhood of Dunkirk for the defence of their Lines The Mareschal de Bouflers Commanded between the Lys and the Scheld Villeroy with the Main Army observed ours between the Lys and Ipres Monsieur de la Mothe cover'd the Canal from Ipre to the Kenoque and from thence to Furnes and Dunkirk Montal Commanded and Monsieur de Capestan was put into the Kenoque for the security of that place Besides this the Enemies reinforced the Garrison of Ipres where they doubled the Posts and took a particular care for the Sas of Bonsingue which is a Sluys strongly fortified upon the Canal about a League below Ipres which if once master'd all the Water about Ipres which adds very much to its strength may be drawn away by letting loose this Sluys This being the disposition of the Enemies within their Lines I shall return to speak of our own Affairs at our Camp at Becelar The 5th Major-General Dopf Quarter-Master General of the Army was sent with a strong Detachment to mark a Camp at St. Janstein cappelle which made us expect that the Army should have March'd towards Dixmuyde or the Canal of Ipres but I believe it was to order the March of our design'd Detachments to Dixmuyde The same day the Second Troop of Guards Commanded by the Duke of Ormond came to the Camp having been in Winter-Quarters at Breda and Canton'd upon the Country to refresh their Horses after having Escorted His Majesty from Breda to Ghent The same day our Bread-Waggons were attack'd by a Party upon the way to Bruges but the Party was repulsed and Five and Twenty of the Enemies made Prisoners The Country all along till you come near Bruges was so close and woody and so convenient for lurking Parties that our Convoys never missed but they were attack'd by some Party or other which though they could gain nothing but still had the worse yet that incommoded our Camp very
misfortune to be killed in the action but this Detachment being reinforced from the Neighbouring Posts the Enemies were obliged to retire after having lost a Captain and some other Officers wounded besides Soldiers And this little place was then so unprovided for such engagements that they were forced to send a Drum to Dixmuyde for a Surgeon to dress their wounded Men because this Garrison consisted only of Detachments from Ipres relieved from time to time and so they had no Surgeons Upon the Duke of Wirtembergs arrival here the 7th we began to make Trenches to cover our selves being incamped almost within Musket-shot of the Enemies Works and we mounted our Guards towards the Enemy with Two Thousand Five Hundred Men upon the several Posts Commanded by a Brigadier and other Officers proportionably This Army was divided in Four Brigades Two of English Commanded by Colonel Tiffeny and Sir James Lesley who acted as Brigadiers being eldest Colonels the third by Brigadier Haxhausen composed of Danes and the Regiments of Auer and Belcastel and the fourth of Dutch Commanded by Brigadier Bernstorf who came here with Major-General Churchill The 9th in the Morning the Enemies fired very briskly upon our Men but without any damage In the Afternoon Major-General Churchill came to the Camp with his Eight Battallions having passed through Dixmuyde that Morning In the Evening the Duke of Wirtemberg ordered an attack to beat the Enemies from a Retrenchment and some Houses upon our Right near the Canal of Loo the whole was Commanded by Colonel Tiffeny as Brigadier and the Granadiers by Colonel Maitland Colonel Tiffeny was upon the Right and the Enemies fired very hard upon him from a Fort of the other side of the Canal which he returned very bravely He himself was wounded through the Hand with a Musket-shot and Major-General Churchill who was willing to have a share in the Action escaped very narrowly being shot through the crown of his Hat with a Musket-ball Colonel Maitland who was to dislodge the Enemy with his Granadiers did it with all the Success and Conduct that could be wish'd and the Men went on with a great deal of Bravery and Courage and drove the Enemy from their Post which they endeavour'd in vain to recover two or three times successively coming on with Sword in hand We had several Granadiers killed and wounded Colonel Tiffenys and Fergusons Regiments lost most in this Action Of Colonel Fergusons Regiment Captain Trumbal was killed Major Bruce of Maitlands wounded and an Ensign killed I have not seen the List of Colonel Tiffenys but it was generally computed that our whole loss in this Action amounted to about Four Hundred Men killed and wounded but they grew almost to Thousands by that time they came in the Paris Gazette which certainly could not fall without some slaughter among the Enemies We had three small pieces of Cannon which played during this Attack which is the onely Cannon we fir'd against the place The small Shot was indeed very brisk on both sides the whole Night and we could hear it very plain from our Camp at Becelar And though it does not appear that we had any real design against this place but only to amuse the Enemy yet it was necessary for us to make this Attack because the Posts from whence we drove the Enemy were very inconvenient to us upon our Right The Duke of Wirtemberg had some Artillery from Dixmuyde with Morter-pieces and Bombs but 't was never taken out of the Boats to mount upon the Batteries except the three Field-pieces now mentioned This Artillery had been sent by Water from Sas van Ghendt besides a great quantity of Ammunitions with the rest of our English battering pieces which remained under the Walls of Ghendt without being sent any farther Monsieur de Montal upon this motion of the Duke of Wirtembergs had advanced between the Canal of Loo and that of Ipres to defend this place and to hinder our passage of the Canals to invest it so that nothing could be undertaken without the bringing of both Armies to wrangle about this Post and ours to attack upon very disadvantageous terms So that after this attack of the 9th there happened nothing extraordinary before the Kenoque but only in the Night they generally fired pretty briskly to hinder our Men from making any approaches and their Artillery played ten times to our once hovvever the Duke of Wirtemberg still continued there to keep the Enemies in suspence As for what passed of the Elector of Bavaria's side which we have left incamped before the Enemies Line between Courtray and the Scheld with his Head Quarter at Castres between Tighem and Kirkhove he made upon his arrival here great preparations of Fascines as if he had designed to attack the Line And the 8th he went with Three Thousand Horse and Dragoons to observe the Enemies Works They had an out-post at a Mill without their Line near St. Denis which hindered our approach which Major-General Fagel was ordered to attack with the Bywacht of the Army that is a Captain Lieutenant and Ensign and Sixty Men of every Regiment which are still ready to march out upon any occasion with Field-Officers proportionably and with the Granadiers The Enemies had here a good Detachment commanded with a Lieutenant-Colonel and the Post was strong and they disputed it some time but at last were forced to abandon it Count Volkerstein of the Elector of Bavaria's Guards was killed upon this occasion As for the loss of both sides I have not seen an account of it The Elector of Bavaria after this Action continued in his Camp at Castres and we at Becelar still leaving the Enemies in doubt whether we should attack them in their Lines whilst matters were preparing for an important undertaking Whilst we continued in our Camp at Becelar Forrage vvas not very plentiful nothing being to be had here but Grass The Country hereabouts is altogether Woody with little Arable Land and yet most of that remained untill'd some said by order to hinder the subsisting of our Armies near this place The 10th the Enemy who had hitherto Forrag'd within their own Lines ventured to forrage without which occasioned some deserting among their Men who wanted that opportunity within their Lines The 11th the Fourth Troop of Guards Commanded by Monsieur d' Auverquerque with the Horse Granadiers came to the Camp the first having been in Winter-Quarters at the Hague and the last at Boisleduc The 13th our Cavalry forrag'd towards Ipres and this being a close Country and just by an Enemies Garrison the Troopers went on foot to cut down their Forrage which was guarded by a Detachment from the Infantry and then the Horses were brought from the Camp to fetch the Forrage ready made up inâ—Trusses by which precaution we forrag'd thus almost to the Gates of Ipres without losing One Horse and indeed though this Country is very convenient for such designs and that our Camp was
to invest Namur Six Battallions of Brandenburghs had had their Winter-Quarters at Liege and some at Aix la chapelle but the Cavalry and the rest of the Foot had Winter'd in the Diocess of Cologne and at Cleves and Wesel in the Lower Rhine so that they did not Rendezvouz by Liege till near the middle of June that they marched with the Liege Forces Commanded by Prince Cerclas of Tilly and incamped at Falais upon the Mehaigne between Liege and Namur waiting for His Majesties farther Orders And my Lord of Athlone with his Forty Squadrons of Horse and Dragoons who had been detached from the Elector of Bavaria's Camp at Ninove for the same design had marched to Tilmont to be ready to joyn them In the mean while Prince Vaudemont who Commanded the Army at Rouselar since the King left it to take care of the Siege of Namur marched the 20th to draw nearer to Ghent The Army marched upon the Left siding the River Mandel which we had upon our Right Flank in two Columns by the ways we had made when we were at the Camp at Arseel by Mulenbeck and Inghelmonster and so we came to the Camp at Wouterghem our Right at Dentherghem and Left at Grammon towards the Lys We had the Mandel before us and the height of Arseel behind our Right Some French Parties fell upon our Maroders near the Lys and made some Prisoners Prince Vaudemont staid near Denterghem to see the Army march into the Camp and every Battallion saluted passing by him as Commander in Chief of the Army At our Marching into this Camp we could see the French in their Camp upon a rising ground t'other side of the Lys by Harlebeck being computed near three Leagues from our Camp The Mareschal de Villeroy had passed the Lys at Comines immediately upon our March from Becclar to Rouselar and the 19th had marched without the Line at Courtray and incamped near this place to be ready to pass the Scheld if he was ordered to march towards Namur We have left the Brandenburg and Liege Forces incamped at Falais upon the Mehaigne and my Lord Athlone at Tilmont where he was reinforced with Dompres Brigade of Horse from Bilsâ—n But now they had Orders from the King to invest Namur Accordingly my Lord Athlone marched the 17th with the Body of Horse under his command and incamped between Malevrâ— and Perwys The 18th between la Falise and Temploux where he was joyned by the Brandenburg Troops The 19th he left a good Body of Horse at the Post of La Falise and marched with the Main Body towards Charleroy This motion put the Enemies in suspence whether we should attack Namur or Charleroy Whereupon the Marquis de Harcourt who had passed the Meuse at Dinant and was now posted between Charleroy and Philippeville reinforced the Garrison of Charleroy with a Body of Dragoons But my Lord of Athlone having passed the Sambre at Chasselet below Charleroy marched again down the Sambre towards Namur and pressed all the Boats upon the River to make a Bridge of Communication which were brought down to the Abbey of Floref upon the Sambre two Leagues above Namur Thus my Lord of Athlone took the Posts from the Sambre to the Meuse of the Town side about La Falise and t'other side of the Sambre from the Abbey of Floref to the Meuse But all the other side of the Meuse in the Pais de Condros remained open This was the 21th I do not know whether my Lord of Athlones Troops were not judged sufficient to invest the whole Town which taking a vast Circumference and divided by so many Rivers might have exposed any one quarter to be forced to put a Reinforcement into the Town or whether my Lord of Athlone had Orders to take no other Posts and to stay for the Elector to do the rest However the other side of the Meuse lying open it gave opportunity to the Mareschal de Bouflers to throw himself into the place This was with Eight Regiments of the best Dragoons in the Army He had left his Camp at Clare within the Line the 18th the same day that the Elector repassed the Scheld to march towards Namur and took along with him the Kings Dragoons the Dauphins those of Caylus Grammont St. Hamines de Ganges and du Barreau having Orders from the French King That if my Lord of Athlone had invested Namur with the Brandenburg Troops and the Horse under his Command to force his way in at any rate But t'other side of the Meuse remaining open he was not put to it The same day Bouflers repassed the Scheld at Tournay and marched up along this River as far as Mortaigne The 19th he came to Condé The 20th he passed the Sambre at Thuin The 21th he came to Dinant where he passed the Meuse and the 22th he got into Namur He sent back all the Dragoons Horses except those of the Kings and Asfeldt Estranger which he kept in the Town having made very great diligence to get in before my Lord of Athlone should be joyned by the Elector of Bavaria His getting into the place did chagrine us at first because that as we expected would render the taking of the Town very difficult by an obstinate resistance but as it has since proved it has added extreamly to the Glory of the Siege and has made it one of the boldest and finest undertakings of this Age. I dare say that if the French King had believed that we could have taken Namur with the strong Garrison that was in it he would never have commanded a Mareschal of France to put himself into it to defend it to add thereby so much the more Honour and Glory to the Enterprize being it may be the first that has been defended by a Mareschal of France with order from the King The Mareschal de Crequi defended Treves but every body knows how he was forced into it by the loss of a Battle and this was a place of Refuge where he made his escape and where he resolved to regain his Honour by a desperate defence My Lord of Athlone with the Dutch and Baron Heyden with the Brandenburg Forces having received Orders to take the Posts near Namur the Elector of Bavaria and the Duke of Holstein Ploen marched with all speed from their Camp near the Enemies Line to form the Siege of this strong and important place Accordingly the 18th the Electors Army decamped from Castres between Veermarde and Tighem and repassed the Scheld below Audenarde and marched that day as far as St. Lievens Houtheim The 19th this Army passed the Dender at Ninove where it incamped that night and the Elector went to Brussels to visit the Electoress The 20th the Army marched to Halle The 21th it passed the Senne and marched to Genap and Promell where the Elector returned to the Camp from Brussels The 22th the Elector passed with his Army the little River Dyle at Genap and marched as far as Masy within
Prisoners to the Marechal de Villeroy who made some Excuses for their ill Treatment and was himself very civil to them He gave them immediatly their Liberty and desired they should stay no longer but to refresh themselves He invited them to Dinner the next day and so sent them back without Ransom The Mareschal de Villeroy having slipp'd this opportunity of falling upon Prince Vaudemont by his wise and happy Retreat marchâ—d with the French Army to Rousselar and Prince Vaudemont who had march'd all night as far as Mary Kirk under the Walls of Ghent halted here till nine of the Clock in the morning that he judged all the Straglers were got up to the Army and so marched through Ghent and incamp'd without Brussels Port. And as Prince Vandemont foresaw that the Enemies having missâ—d this opportunity would march towards Newport so twelve Battallions had orders not to pitch their Tents but to be ready to march under the command of Sir Henry Bellasis Lieutenant General but the Army marching through Ghent and the Baggage this Detachment could not repass the Town to march towards Bruges till the next day early in the morning Brigadier Offerrel was left in Deinse and a Swedish Regiment besides a Detachment Prince Vaudemont had writ a Letter the 4th to the King to give him an account of his Circumstances and of the motions of the Enemy to attack him which made us very anxious before Namur for the success of that Affair The next day in the morning he sent an Express to the King to give his Majesty an account of his successful Retreat which the King received at night which good News caus'd an universal Joy before the Town and dissipated all the Apprehensions we had for the safety of Prince Vaudemont's Army This brings me back again from Flanders to speak of the progress of the Siege of Namur The 4th the English Army employed in this Siege were like to lose all their money coming from Louvain under an Escorte of about 100 Horse and 50 of Dopf's Dragoons Mr. Hill the Pay-master-general of his Majesty's Forces was with them They met by Perwys at a Defilé with a good Party of the Enemy's Horse and Dragoons from Charleroy which at first made ours give way thinking them stronger than really they were The Pay-masters of the Regiment had put their money into a Waggon which the Enemy overthrew and were taking out the Horses In the mean time the Officer commanding our Party who before had done his best to make his people stand rallyed them again who finding that the Enemy were not so strong as at first they apprehended them came on upon them and so the Enemy were obliged to retire in their turn But the Waggon being over-turned several Regiments lost their money in the confusion some taken by the Enemy and some by our own Troopers However the Enemy being near our Camp and afraid of another Party went off as fast they could to Charleroy their Garrison having no great occasion to brag of their Booty which they quitted as easily as they got it Mr. Hill was in a Coach but he made his escape upon a Led-Horse The same day Lieutenant-Colonel Billing of Sâ—lwyn's Regiment was commanded with 300 men to take Post upon the rising Ground of this side the Sambre over-against the House of the other side called the Ballance where the Enemy had a good Guard to defend the Passage of the River This was in order to make some Batteries upon the side of this Hill to dislâ—dge the Enemy from the Ballance and the Abbey of Salsen This Post was pretty warm at first being exposâ—d to the â—ire of the Battery of two upon the end of the Enemyâ—s Line of which we have before given an account But our men soon put themselves under Cover and this Post was daily relieved with a Lieutenant-Colonel and 300 men till we had gainâ—d the Passage of the Sambre At night Mâ—jor-â—eneral Hâ—uklom commanded the Trenches The 5â—h or about this time Baron Fleming Velt Mareschal-General of the Elector of Brandenburgh's Forces came to the Camp before Namâ—â—â— and took his Quarter on the other side of the Meuse with the Brandenburgh Troops under his Command which hitherto had been commanded by the Lieutenant-General Baron Heyden The same day it was resolved that the English Forces incamp'd at Tâ—empâ—oux should open the Trench upon the Right of the Enemys Retrenchment directing their Approaches towards the old Tower of Cocklé That three English Regiments should mount the Trenches here and three Dutch upon the Left towards the Meuse where they had opened the Trench near the Village of Bouge Accordingly in the Evening my Lord Cutts Brigadier was commanded with the Regiments Royal Selwyn and Trelawny for this Work and Major-General Salisch had the Trenches The Enginier missed in the night the Ground where we were to begin to work which was in a bottom upon the Right of the Enemy's Rettenchment or covered way And so these three Regiments returned without breaking Ground The 6th Major-General Lindeboom mounted the Trenches and Brigadier Fitzpaterick with the Regiments of Seymour and Columbine being that lately commanded by the Marquiss de Rada Son to the Marquiss de Montpouillan who dyed of a Fever at Bruges the beginning of the Campagne and the Regiment was given to Lieutenant-Colonel Columbine Captain of the Guards who had been Lieutenant-Colonel to it in the time of Colonel Babington the third was the Regiment of Fusiliers This night these Regiments opened the Trench before the Enemy's covered way upon the Hill of Bouge taking the opportunity of the hollow ground to begin their work very near the Enemy Captain Thilips of Selwyn's Regiment was wounded with the Workmen Thus the Trenches were mounted upon the Right by the King's Forces three Battallions commanded by a Brigadier and by the States Forces three Battallions upon the Left commanded by a Dutch Brigadier making two Attacks upon Right and Left under the Command of a Major-General 200 men were commanded every night upon each Attack with two Captains and other Officers proportionably to work and advance the Trenches whilst the Regiments of the Trenches covered their Work which they did under the shelter of Wooll-sacks with their Fire which generally continued more or less the whole Night The 7th Major-General Heukelom had the Trenches with my Lord Cutts's Brigadier upon the Right and the Battallions of Tidcomb Stanley and Collingwood I could not get a List of the rowling of the Dutch Brigadiers and Regiments upon the Left so that I must pass it over Captain Gaubet of Colonel Ingoldesby's Regiment and Enginier and another Enginier of la Meloniere's Regiment were killed in the Work this night The 8th several of the Regiments encamp'd at Temploux had Orders to march in the Lines of Circumvallation being the first Battallion of the Royal Regiment the Fusiliers Ingoldesby Saunderson Maitland and Lauder We continued still to fire with our small Battery upon the
Hill against the old Tower and among the Palissades of the cover'd way The Brandenburghers did the same from their Battery upon the edge of the Hill of St. Barbe but being too far from the Meuse and to fire over this River upon the Enemy in their Works upon the Hill of Bouge it could not do very great execution But to make more serviceable Batteries of this side and to bring them nearer to the Meuse the Brandenburghs had opened the Trench the 1st against the Enemy's Work which they had to cover the Fauxbourgh de Jambe to drive them out of this place The Castle commanded all the bottom between the height of St. Barbe and the Meuse for which reason the Brandenburgh Troops were forced at first to open their Trench very high up the Meuse towards the Bridge of Communication and so to work downwards towards the 〈…〉 and by this time they had considerably advanced their Work But this day the Enemy made a Sally about two in the Afternoon upon the Brandenburghers Trenches which was commanded by a Colonel The Enemy were reckoned about 1200 strong being most Dragoons and two Squadrons of them mounted The Brandenburghers were at first forcâ—d to give way the Colonel that commanded was killed being a French Refugié a Lieutenant Colonel and 100 Soldiers killed and wounded The Enemies levelled 150 paces of their Trenches but the Brandenburghers rallied and being reinforced with some Horse they regain'd their Post and drove the Enemy back to the Fauxbourgh de Jambe who had the Count de Grammont Colonel of Dragoons wounded upon this occasion and about thirty men killed and wounded This is the only Sally the French made during the Siege of the Town In the Evening Major-General Ramsay was commanded to make an Assault upon the coverâ—d way which the Enemies had upon the Hill of Bouge with the five Battallions of Guards which were here to be employed in the Siege the other two remained with Prince Vaudemont These â—attallions were two of the first Regiment of English Guards the Coldstream Battallion of Guards of which my Lord Cuts is Colonel the first Battallion of Dutch Guards and the first of Scots Guards besides a Detachment of fifteen Grenadiers throughout the other Regiments of his Majesty's Forces here The Attack was disposed on this manner This Body was to form two Attacks the one upon the Right of the Tower of Cocklé the other upon the Left each Attack to begin with 120 Fusiliers commanded for that purpose out of the Regiments and 120 Grenadiers the Fusiliers to march first each carrying a large Fascine before him and his Fusil ready being drawn up in three Ranks the Granadiers immediately to follow each to carry three Grenades they were to advance in this manner towards the Line which they were to attack and then when they were come within forty paces of the Enemy's Work the Grenadiers were to divide to the Right and Left of the Fusiliers and to fire their Arms by Pelottons and then to advance clear to the Enemy's Palissades to fire in their Grenades after that the Fusiliers were to throw down their Fascines and then to make all the Fire they could the Grenadiers were to be followed by 100 Workmen to each Attack and two or three Ingeniers the Workmen to carry Wooll-sacks and Gabions and post them most conveniently to drive the Enemy from their Works 100 Grenadiers besides were to carry Fascines as the Fusiliers and march equally with them and 50 men behind them with an Enginier to plant them as the rest and these were to march in the Center between the two Attacks against the old Tower as many Grenadiers were to be disposed in the same manner upon the Right of all the Battallions were immediately to follow and sustain the Fusiliers and Granadiers and drive the Enemy from their Works The first Palissades being gain'd we were to lodge our selves there and to make use of the Enemy's rais'd Work for a Parapet The Regiments in the Trenches were to be ready to march out and sustain them upon occasion the Signal to be one of the Artillery Colours raised upon the highest of the Dutch Trenches and then all were to fall on which was accordingly done â—bout seven in the Evening Major-General Ramsay ordered none of the Battallions should fire till they could put their Pieces in the Enemies Palissades and to march with their Arms shoulder'd which he saw executed himself The Guards march very boldly with their Arms shoulder'd and sustained the Enemies Fire till they came up to the Palissades and then they gave a full fire which put the French in some confusion Nevertheless they still disputed the Retrenchment and after a little time they were forced to quit it and the Guards remain'd Masters of the Palissade The Enemies Palissades being gain'd the Major-General order'd our Men to break them and to get into the cover'd way Our Soldiers being flushed were very eager to go forward without bidding Having gained this covered way nothing could hold them but they went on very furously and attack'd the Palissades of the second covered way which they gained after a short dispute and the Enimies were in such a Consternation that they soon abandoned them all that their Officers could do could not keep them up but our Men got in with them and pursu'd them Sword in Hand among all their Forts which they had upon the Brow of this Hill and so down to the very Counterscarp of the Tower before the Porte de Fer the most forward went thâ—s far But the rest made a great Slaughter among the French that had got into the Stone-pits which are very common upon the side of this Hill where they endeavoured in the confusion to conceal themselves from the Fury of our Soldiers But the Forts made a considerable fire and killed us many men who were very thick all about them Where the Dutch Guards attack'd upon the Right the Enemies disputed their Post very hard and held them to it They were sustained by my Lord George Hamilton's first Battallion who had his share in the Honour of the Action though 't was not this Regiment's turn to mount the Trenches but being at hand in the Line of Circumvallation my Lord received Orders to be ready with his Regiment Brigadier Fitz-Patrick marched at the Head of it with his known Bravery The Dutch Guards notwithstanding the resistance they met with carried the Palissades they attack'd and the Royal Regiment maintain'd it and pushed on with the rest and indeed they all did wonders in this Attack And when they were once got in the first Palissades there was no distinction of Battallions but all mixed with one another and the Soldiers were very willing to obey their next Officer without distinction so that I shall omit the due praise which every Regiment deserved upon this occasion as well the Regiments of the Trenches as the Guards some of which were concerned in the Attack as the
Newport But the Duke of Wirtemberg and Sir Henry Bellasis were detach'd so a Propos by Prince Vaudemont and they made such diligence towards this place that they prevented their Design And the Marechal Villeroy continued in his Camp between Rousselar and Dixmuyde to expect fresh Orders from the Court The 11th The Duke of Wirtemberg being too far from Prince Vaudemont to be ready to joyn him if Villeroy should march towards Brabant thought it best to leave a good Garrison in Newport and to come back nearer to Ostend for which Reason he march'd and encamp'd this day under the Walls of Ostend and opened all the Sluices to drown all the Country about Newport The 12th The Duke of Wirtemberg marched on through Ostend and pass'd the Harbour upon a Bridge of Boats made for that purpose and encamp'd in the Pais de Nort over-against Placendal A Battallion pass'd the Canal for the Guard both of the Canal of Ostend and Newport and Belcastel was left in Ostend The Duke of Wirtemberg continued encamp'd here some time to observe the Motions of the Marechal de Villeroy and to be at hand to rejoyn Prince Vaudemont at Ghent But the Enemies being baulk'd at Newport as much as they had been at Arseel resolved to besiege Dixmuyde not so much for the importance of the place as for the Garrison that was in it which being impossible for us to relieve they were sure to have them Prisoners which would prove a great prejudice to us and to our Affairs to have so many Regiments out of Service And though it was plain that this place could not be kept yet considering that we had no Frontier for Ghent and Bruges which are great places and capable of no defence 't was very much our Interest to maintain not only Dixmuyde but Deinse as long as possibly we could to keep the Enemies in play if they continued in Flanders but if they marchâ—d towards Namur then they remained safe in our hands Monsieur de Montal had Orders to invest Dixmuyde whilst Villeroy continued encamped near this place to make good the Siege for though they did not expect so cheap a Bargain as they had of this place yet they were resolved to make the Garrison Prisoners of War and Montal had Orders from the French King to give no other Conditions for which reason the Marechal de Villeroy kept with his Army pretty near Dixmuyde to oblige the Besieged to come to these Conditions having given Montal a considerable Reinforcement to carry on the Siege The place was invested by Monsieur de Montal the 15th with what number of Men I could not precisely hear some say with about 13000 Men. Major General Ellemberg commanded in this place having in Garrison the Regiments of Foot of Brewer Lesley Graham Lorne Prince Christian being Ellemberg's own Regiment Aüer Holle and another Dutch the six first were in the King 's own immediate pay and the other two were in the States Service There was besides a very good Regiment of Dragoons in the place being the Queen's Dragoons commanded by Colonel 〈◊〉 but he himself went away sick from the Camp near Dixmuyde to Bruges and his Lieutenant Colonel was sick at Ghent all the Summer having had a dangerous fall the last Spring so that Major Brereton commanded the Regiment who behaved himself with Honour in this occasionâ— My Lord Lorne's Regiment was commanded by Major Doncaston in the absence of Lieutenant-Colonels Hume that had been wounded in the Assault before Namur the 8th of July All the other Regiments in the Kingâ—s Pay had their Colonels present The Garrison had twenty eight Pieces of Cannon and Stores for a considerable resistance the Regiments in it were good some of them having near 700 effective Men and with the Dragoons were computed 5000 strong Monsieur de Montal having invested Dixmuyde the 15th and opened the Trenches that very night at two different places to make his Approaches before the Rousselar Porte which is the weakest side of the Town being commanded here by a rising Ground and at the other side of the Canal that goes from the Kenoque to Newport to which Dixmuyde is join'd by a short Causfey from the Furnes Porte There is a Bridge over this Canal defended without by a Ravelin moted and palissadâ—d and within with a square earthen Work palissaded Their second Approach was of this side to attack this Ravelin that covered the Bridge We had begun a new Work by Rousselar Port to put the Town in a better defence against the rising Ground of this side but it was not finished The 16th the French began to fire before Rousselar Porte with a Battery of eight Pieces of Cannon and three Mortars but they did us very little damage The Enemies work'd very quietly without any disturbance from us and though they made their Approaches under our Cannon yet the Gunners had no orders to fire The 16th at night the Enemies advanced their Trenche within Musket-shot of the Palissades and the next day 17 in the morning Major-Generalâ— Ellemberg called a Council of War of the Commanding-Officers of the seueral Regiments and laid before them the State of the Garrison That the Enemies had brought their Trenches very near the Glacis particularly before the new Work which being as yet imperfect would bring the loss of the Town after it which could not then resist above four hours That the Enemies had made considerable Approaches before Furnes Port to attack the Ravelin that covers the Bridge and that they already began to fire against it That the Water from which he expected a considerable advantage for the defence of the Town on this side did not rise sufficiently notwithstanding that the Sluices of Newport were opened That he had consulted the Inginiers of the Garrison upon this matter and that they could not promise that the Town could hold out four hours if it was vigorously assaulted so that they were in danger of being taken by Assault if they resisted For which Consideration he proposed to them if it was not expedient to capitulate to deliver up the place upon honourable Terms and save the Garrison The majority of the Commanding Officers of the several Regiments consented to capitulate but whether they consented to capitulate upon the Honourable Terms they had afterwards I cannot tell Major Doncaston who was the youngest in the Council of War refused positively alledging That there was ro Breach made in the place That they had as yet suffered no loss and the Enemies were not yet Masters of the Counterscarp and that it would not be consistent with their Honour to deliver up the Town so soon But the Majority of the Council of War being of opinion to capitulate the Major-General's Aide de Camp was sent with a Drum to the cocovered way towards the Enemies Trenches before Rousselar Port and the Chamade was beat and Hostages exchanged The whole day was spent in Contestations In the evening the Cessation of
Arms was continued till the next day with Moutal's consent All this night the Enemies contrary to the Articles of the Cessation work'd on with their Trenches which they advanced close to the Glacis where the next morning they had a good Battery ready to tear the Rampart in pieces if we had not capitulated Our Soldiers were not suffer'd to fire to hinder the Enemies Work though it was a notorious Breach and infraction of the Cessation The next morning Montal still refusing any Terms but those of Prisoners of War according to the Orders he preâ—â—tended to have from the French King it was at last agreed upon and the Capitulation signed that morning 18 which consisted of the Articles following First That the Governour Field-Officers and all the other Officers and Soldiers of the Regiments in Garrison in the said place of Dixmuyde without exception of any Nation shall be Prisoners of War and shall be treated according to the Cartel made in the beginning of this present War II. That the Besieged shall deliver up the Rousselar Porte an hour after the signing of the Capitulation III. That the Regiments which composed the said Garrison shall draw up upon the Market-place and the other side of the Town in the Counterscarp without Bruges Porte and the several Regiments drawn up in Battallian shall lay down their Arms and march clear off the Ground and the Officers shall only have their Swords IV. That during the disarming of the Garrison neither the Officers nor Soldiers of the said Garrison shall be plundered or insulted by any Soldiers belonging to his Most Christian Christian Majesty upon any pretext whatever V. That before all this be done the Equipages and Baggage of all the Officers as well of the Hospital and Artillery as others shall have liberty to be transported out of Bruges Porte upon Waggons or by the Canal for such as shall go by Water to be safely convoy'd by his Christian Majesty's Troops as near to Newport as the Conductor of the Baggage shall think fit giving security for the return of the said Escorte VI. That an Officer shall be appointed by the Governour to conduct the said Baggage towards Newport which Officer shall return with the Escorte to joyn the Garrison in such a Town as his Most Christian Majesty shall appoint for the Prison of the Regiment to which he shall belong VII That all the Domesticks shall go along with and lead the Baggage though they have Soldiers Accoutrements on which shall not exceed two Soldiers a Company besides the Officers Livery-Servants who are not comprised in this Proviso and this shall be performed upon Honour VIII That the Officers shall have along with them as many Horses as they please IX That the Sick and Wounded shall have Boats to carry them to Newport but at the same time shall be comprised in the List of the Prisoners of War and that the Doctors and Surgeons shall remain with them to dress and take care of them which shall be done at the Most Christian King's Charges as long as he shall retain them X. That no Regiments of the Garrison shall be dispersed but Officers shall be allowed and kept protionably with every number of Soldiers XI That the Garrison shall not be sent out of the Country conquer'd in Flanders since the Year 1672. XII That the Garrison shall not march above five Leagues a day and when they march it shall be at his Most Christian Majesty's Expences XIII That Bread shall be given to the Soldiers during their Imprisonment XIV That the Prisoners for Contributions the Waggoners and Conductors shall be set at liberty and the Deputies which command them as soon as the Waggons of which the Garrison has occasion for the transporting of the Baggage shall be returned XV. That the Officers shall have the Towns where they are sent for their Prison upon their Word of Honour XVI That as for the Dragoons in the Garrison they shall be comprised in the present Treaty as well as the Regiments of Foot and shall deliver up their Arms Standards and Horses except the Officers Signed the 28th of July N. S. Montal. These are the Articles upon which the Garrison of Dixmuyde was surrender'd to the French which setting aside the liberty of the Baggage which should never be put in competition with the King's Service but should rather be undervalued for it are such as any Regiment could have in the open Field and which some Regiments actually had in the very Plains of Fleury after the loss of that Battle where being form'd into square Battallions and resolved otherwise to defend themselves they had the Terms of Prisoners of War given them though surrounded with the Enemies Horse This Treatment surpriz'd very much all the Officers and Soldiers of the Garrison who had hitherto been promised Honourable Terms to march out of the Garrison with their Arms they conceived such indignation at the news of it that several Soldiers broke their Arms to pieces even before the Enemy and wished that since they were made Prisoners of War they had sold their Liberty to the French as dear as possibly they could by a vigorous resistance As soon as the Capitulation was sign'd the French took possession of the Rousselar Port and were really Masters of the place before a great part of the Garrison knew any thing of the signing a Capitulation and the French Soldiers crowded in the place before it had been evacuated by our Garrison According to the Capitulation the Regiments drew out in Battallion and marched clear off their Arms which they left with their Colours except my Lord Lorne's Regiment which tore off the Colours from the Staff rather than suffer them to be a Trophy to the Enemy A great many Soldiers had broke their Arms to pieces and the rest the French took possession of and sent the Colours taken to be put up in Nostre Dame's Church in Paris The Garrison was at first sent to Ipre but was afterwards disposed without any regard to the Capitulation in several Towns in the Pays Conquis Some to Arras others to Bethune Bouchain Cambray and Doway And whereas it was expresly agreed in the Articles That no Soldiers should be sent Prisoners into any Town without the Pays Conquis since the Year 1672 yet they were sent to Arras and Doway both which places were conquered before that and some as far as Bethune in the Borders of Picardy But this is not the only Article in which the French violated the publick Faith of Capitulations There is hardly one which they observed they would not in several places suffer the Officers to come near the Soldiers that they may be debauch'd with more ease from our Service by the late Kingâ—s Officers A little before the taking of Namur they put the Officers in close imprisonment And whereas by the Cartel all Prisoners are reclaimable within a Fortnight after they are taken and that 't was expresly capitulated the Garrison
provided as much as possible they could for their defence They stopped up the Waters to drown the Country between the Lys and the Schâ—ld from Bruges Port to that of Courtray and made some new Retrenchments upon the Hill without Courtray Port which is the weakest and most commanded part of the Town They mounted all their Artillery upon the Ramparts and Prince Vaudemont order'd a Detachment of our Gunners for their Service 'T was reported they had made a great Provision of Bombs at Courtray which made this place fear a Bombardment This was the disposition of our Affairs in Flanders about this time which I shall leave to go on with the Siege of Namur where the ill news of Dixmuyde and Deinse did put us a little out of Countenance But first I must remember to give an account of my Lord of Athlone's Proceedings who had been detach'd with most of the Cavalry at the beginning of the Siege to the River Pieton to consume the Forage between the Sambre and Mons. He at first incamp'd at Pont de Celles upon this River where he continued several days and then advanced near to Binche and incamped at Herlaymont-Capelle near to Marimont from whence the 11th he detached the Count de Lippe Brigadier with sixteen Squadrons of Horse to march towards the Enemies Line at Givry between Mons and the Sambre to raise Contributions At his return he halted near Binch an old Town between Mons and the Sambre with decayed Walls about it The French make a Winter Quarter of this place and in the Summer they keep in it a small Garrison just enough to cover the Town from Parties Whilst the Cavalry was upon the halt near this place several Spanish and Walloon Voluntiers that wanted Booty endeavoured to force their way into the Town and there was a small Skirmish between them and the French which defended it Count Lippe hearing the Fire sent Orders to the Voluntiers to retreat and not to meddle with â—t But this handful of French not content to be rid of these Voluntiers pursued them and fir'd upon them for which reason Covnt Lippe sent a Detachment to repulse them which got into the Town with the Enemy and made themselves Masters of it It was a place which could not be kept and so we abandoned it I have left the Siege of Namur continued to the 17th when all things were ready to make an Assault upon the Counterscarp Major-General Lindeboom was then in the Trenches with Brigadier Selwyn and the Regiments of Lauder Ingoldesby Saunderson and Maitland The Attack was ordered for the Evening at the relieving of the Trenches to have a good number of Regiments ready to sustain the Assault Fifteen Grenadiers a Company were detached throughout the Regiments concerned in the Siege of the Town except the Guards which made about 500 Men commanded by Colonel Collingwood Major-General Ramsay mounted the Trenches this night with my Lord George Hamilton Brigadier and the Regiments of Nassau Selwin and Seymour and the Royal Regiment which was commanded extraordinarily for the occasion The Attack began about five of the Clock in the Afternoon by the Grenadiers who went on very couragiously to the Glacis and fir'd their Grenades over the Palissades in the cover'd way The Enemies had traverses palissaded all along this cover'd way from the Porte de Fer to the Meuse which added very much to the defence of the Counterscarp Notwitstanding the Grenadiers gained the Glacis But the Enemies under the cover of their Traverses very much annoyed our Men and pisputed the Lodgmentâ—s upon the Glacis very hard for which reason the Regiments of Ingoldesby and Sanderson marched out of their Trenches to the assistance but when they came to lodge the Wooll-sacks and Gabions upon the Palissades of the Glacis the Enemies who still defended themselves by the favour of their Traverses set them on fire and sprang two or three Fougaces or little Mines which did some damage Several Grenadiers leap'd over the Palissades in the coverâ—d way where they fought with a great deal of Bravery and Courage in the thick of the Enemies The Lodgment was made at last and the Enemies were forced to abandon the Counterscarp Our Cannon and Bombs playâ—d at the same time very dextrously and furiously from both sides of the Meuse and gallâ—d the Enemy very much in their Works at a time when they must fire with a great deal of Art to annoy the Enemies and not to hurt our own Men. The English made their Lodgment upon the Palislades of the cover'd way from before the Face of the Bastion de St. Roch next to St. Nicholas Gate to the left towards the Meuse and the Dutch Grenadiers who attack'd upon the left carried it from the Halfmoon of St. Nicholas to the point of the Demy-Bastion of the Meuse being sustained by Detachments from their Regigiments in their Trenches who behav'd themselves with the same Pravery as ours had done upon the Right Baron de Hasfert Colonel of a Swedish Regiment was killed in this Action and a Lieutenant-Colonel wounded besides several other Officers The Enemies who were still Masters of two detach'd Bastions upon the Hill of Bouge gall'd us very much during the Attack with several Drakes or Fauconners they had which they fir'd continually down upon our Trenches in the bottom and upon our Rear in the Attack 'T was by one of these Drakes that Mr. Godfrey Deputy-Governour of the Royal Bank of England who was come some days before from Antwerp to wait upon the King about the Affairs of the Payment of the Army had the misfortune to be he killed in the Trenches standing near the King and Lieutenant-Colonel Eck of the Dutch Troop of Guards had his Arm shot off by the same Ball. His Majesty as he does upon all like occasions remained upon the place during the whole Action without stirring till our Posts upon the Glacis were made sure and 't was then very late in the night Our loss was not very great considering the resistance of the Enemies who fir'd not only from the covered way but from the Bastion de St. Roch after we had gainâ—d it where the Officers were very busie to encourage their Men to make a good defence and expos'd themselves very much to keep their Soldiers to a vigorous Resistance Our loss may amount to 7 or 800 men killed and wounded Colonel Ingoldesby and Saunderson's Regiments sufferâ—d most among ours in gaining the Counterscarp In Trelawney's Regiment Captain Carter of the Grenadiers Son to Rear-Admiral Carter kill'd at Barfleur Fight was killed in the cover'd way and Major Carryl who went on with the Grenadiers with Colonel Collingwood was wounded In Colonel Seymour's Lieutenant Bethell of the Grenadiers wounded In Columbine's Captain Young of the Grenadiers killed Lieutenant Dorrington and Ensign Drobus wounded In the Fusiliers Lieutenant Dancey killed of the Grenadiers Captain Negus wounded with the the Workmen In Tidcomb's Regiment Lieutenant Williams of the
Battalions including Mackay and Torsay that lay Incamped upon his Right to defend the passage of the Canal of Sasvan-Ghendt at Mulenstein and 22. Squadrons of English Horse and 7. Dutch all the Dragoons were with the Duke of Wirtemberg near Bruges Villeroy was Encamped with the French Army since the taking of Deinse near Ghendt with his Right at Nevel and his Left at Gothem upon the Lys where he remained five or six days but before we attend his Army from hence to Brabant we must not forget the Barbarities and Inhumanities which the French Soldiers Committed in this Desolate Country which was all at their devotion of the French side of the Canal of Bruges They Plundred all the Inhabitants and stripp'd a great many naked and not only the Villages and Country People felt the Barbarous Usage of the Soldiers but the Churches and Cloisters and nothing though never so Sacred and Holy could escape their Sacrilegious Hands They stole all the Chalices that they could find either in Churches or Priests Houses without any regard to their God and Saviour whom they pretend to be in it and Robbed the Transubstantiated Sacrament of his Dwelling and Habitation At Torhout a considerable Borough they Ruined the Place Plundered the Inhabitants stripping the best of them naked and their beastly Fury carried them to the very Cloister Ravishing without distinction the Nuns as well as other Women And yet these are the Men whom the French pretend to be the only Defenders of the Catholick Cause as if the Emperor and King of Spain were the greatest Betrayers of this Interest by their Alliance with the King and the States of Holland Whereas not only those whom they brand with the name of Hereticks but the very Turks and Barbarians would scarce be guilty of so much disrespect to their Holy Places This is a short Account of the crying Mischiefs the Enemies committed in Flanders whilst it was exposed to the Licentious Fury of their Soldiers and no doubt they could have done more they could have Crown'd this Master-piece of Cruelty by the Bombarding of Ghendt and Bruges but the French King thought it would make more noise in the World and more Mischief in the Spanish Netherlands to Bombard its Metropolis the Seat of its Governors its chief place of Wealth and Trade and the dwelling of the Court and of its chiefest Nobility and then afterwards to Raise the Siege of Namur and command or give as they term it Peace to Europe 'T is in the pursuit of this important Attempt that we must now follow Villeroy and his Army Prince Vaudemont having Intelligence of the Enemy's Designs to pass the Scheld and march towards Brabant drew Sir David Collier with his eight Battalions from the Guard of the Canal of Bruges and the Dragoons from the Duke of Wirtemberg's Army who joyn'd him back again at Oostackre the day before he marched to Dendermonde The 26th the Marâ—echal de Villeroy re-passed the Lys at Wacken and Incamped near the Scheld within the Line Prince Vaudemont having notice of this Motion of the Enemies decamped the same day from Oostackre having then 26 Battalions with him and all the English Horse and Dragoons except the Dragoons of Rosse and Cunningham which remained with Lieutenant-General Bellasis and those which went with the King of which we have given an Account making in all 48 Squadrons he passed the Scheld this day about a League above Dendermond upon a Bridge of Boats with the Foot which Encamped along the Scheld as far as this place the Horse and Dragoons passed the Scheld at Dendermond and encamped between Dendermond and Baesrode The next day the Prince had information that Villeroy was re passing the Lys which made him suspect that Villeroy had made the motion the day before only to send him towards Brabant and in the mean while to come back and pass the Canal of Bruges to put the Paijs de Waes under Contribution for which Reason the Prince was hastning back again to his former Camp of Oostackre and had re-passed the Scheld when he received a more certain Account of Villeroy's Motions that he was then passing the Scheld to march towards Brabant the Prince then caused the Columnes of the March to Face to the Right-about and march back towards the Scheld where the Horse and Foot passed as they had done the day before and so went with all speed towards Brussels having then a good Account of Villeroy's Orders and Designs The Army marched the whole night except a halt it made of two or three hours about the middle of the night but the Baggage still continued loaded and the Soldiers rested upon their Arms. The halt being over the Army march'd on towards the Canal of Brussels which it pass'd the next Day the Foot at Vilvorde and the Horse at Burnt Bridge and so gain'd that Evening being the 28th the Camp of Deghem having march'd two Days and one Night about Thirty six Hours and notwithstanding the feeble and valetudinary Disposition of the Prince yet in so long a March he was very often on Horseback taking care of every thing his Zeal for the Cause and Affection for the Service overcoming all the Infirmities of his Body which seem'd to make prodigious Efforts to execute the wise Orders of his Mind By this great March he gain'd the Advantage of the Enemy to get between them and Namur tho' he could not hinder the Bombarding of Brussels At the same time that Prince Vaudemont left the Camp of Oostackre to march towards Derdermond the Duke of Wirtemberg left the Neighbourhood of Bruges to follow the Prince with all speed in order to join him with the 12 Battalions under his Command and march'd the same Day being the 26th to Ghendt Villeroy who had pass'd the Scheld the same Day at Escanaffe march'd with his whole Army to Lessines upon the River Dender below Aeth which being a considerable March to pass the Scheld and advance thus far oblig'd him to halt the next Day and to stay till all the Artillery Baggage and Stragglers were come up Montal was left in the Lines with no more Men than was just necessary to do the Duty of a Guard upon them Sir Henry Bellasis who encamp'd at Placendal whilst the Duke of Wirtemberg was at Bruges came up to this Place upon the Duke's marching to Ghendt and the Regiments of Tiffany and Buchan were detach'd from his Body to re-inforce Prince Vaudemont's Army so that Sir Henry Bellasis had at Bruges under his Command 10 Battalions and 2 Regiments of Dragoons having drawn off the Regiments of Strathnaver and George Hamilton from Newport and Belcastell from Ostend The 29th Prince Vaudemont march'd through Brussels from Deghem and encamp'd without Halleporte and Fort de Monterey with his Right upon the Hill that lies just over the River Senne and his Left at the Namur Port where he immediately order'd the Army to retrench and fortifie this Rising Ground which
was very strong and where it had been very difficult for Villeroy to have forc'd even this small Army The high Ground near the Senne this River and the Fort de Monterey fortified his Right besides the Retrenchments in the Front it was cover'd by the Bois de Sogne which came up close to the Left and Brussels remain'd just in the Rear Prince Vaudemont could have taken the Camp of Anderleck where he could being join'd by my Lord of Athlone and Count Nassau have prevented the Bombarding of Brussels but then the Enemies would have had the Advantage of us in marching towards Namur so that it was impossible at the same time to cover the Siege of Namur and to prevent the Bombarding of this Place The Foot only of Prince Vaudement's Army encamp'd within the Retrenchment between Halle Porté and that of Namur the Cavalry and Dragoons being re-inforc'd with the 22 Squadrons detach'd from the Siege of Namur with Count Nassau Weilbourg encamp'd at Scarbeck between Deghem and Brussels to guard the passages of the Canal being commanded by Monsieur D' Auverquerque But Prince Vaudemont being extreamly fatigu'd with the long March to Deghem was forc'd to keep his Bed at Brussels Villeroy who halted the 28th at Lessines for all his Army to come up march'd the 29th to come nearer to Brussels and at the same time to receive a Convoy of Provisions of Artillery Mortars and Ammunitions from Mons pass'd the Dender at Lessines and encamp'd with his Right near Steinkirk and his left towards Enghein and here he halted the next day for the Convoy from Mons which was escorted by the Marquis de Harcourt who had pass'd the Sambre some days before to join and re-inforce the Maréchal de Villeroy My Lord of Athlone with the Horse and Count Nassau with the Foot whom we have brought to the Camp of Genap the 29th halted here the next day The Enemies being then at Enghien and Steinkirk we had not one Piece of Cannon and we were very much afraid that Villeroy instead of going to Brussels should have march'd to Nivelle for then we must have retreated from Genap which is but a League from Nivelle to the Camp of Masy And Prince Vaudemont being encamp'd at Brussels the Enemies from Nivelle would have hinder'd his Passage by the Bois de Sâ—gne and Genap so that he must have march'd about by Louvain to come to Namur which consequently would have given the Enemies the Advantage of a March for the Relief of the Siege But Villeroy had Orders to Bombard Brussels and he must execute them which has lost the French the best opportunity they could have to relieve the Siege of Namur The 30th Prince Vaudemont was re-inforc'd by the Duke of Wirtemberg who came up to Brussels this Day with the 12 Battalions under his Command and encamp'd within the Retrenchment between the Gates of Halle and Namur where we had now by this junction 38 Battalions And this is the mighty Army in whose presence Villeroy bombarded Brussels which as the Paris Gazetteer boasted dar'd not attack the French Army which sought by this undertaking an occasion of fighting and to bring us to a Battel The French being now Masters of all the Country between Brussels Ghendt and Dendermond Sir Henry Bellasis sent Sir Bevil Granville's Regiment to re-inforce the Garrison of Dendermond where the Lunenbourgh Regiment of Luck had been order'd before and march'd himself with the Body under his command to Ghendt The 31st the Maréchal de Villeroy being expected before Brussels my Lord of Athlone had Orders to march from Genap to come nearer to Brussels to be ready to join Prince Vaudemont if Villeroy should offer to attack him in his Retrenchment Accordingly my Lord of Athlone pass'd the little River Dyle below Genap upon two Bridges and encamp'd with his Right at Waterloo in the Skirts of the â—â—is de Sâ—gne where the Marquis de Gastanaga has built a very pretty Chapel made in the Figure of Four Demi-Domes join'd together and one in the Centre rais'd upon them This Chapel was dedicated by him to the Virgin Mary to interceed for Issue to the King of Spain My Lord of Athlone's Left was at Braine Alleu and here he had his Quarter in the House where Prince Vaudemont was born The Causey between Brussels and Genap remain'd in the Rear Upon our March to this Place we had 12 Pieces of Cannon sent by Prince Vaudemont Besides this Count Nassau-weilbourg was order'd by the Prince to post himself with about 30 Squadrons of Horse along the way through the Bois de Sogne to make the Communication good from the Army at Brussels to that at Waterloo In the Evening his Majesty came from the Camp before the Castle of Namur with a good Escorte of Horse to Waterloo where his Majesty lay that Night to conferr with Prince Vaudemont upon the present Conjuncture of Affairs who waited the next Day tho' still indispos'd upon the King The same Day 31. the Maréchal de Villeroy march'd from Enghien and Steinkirk in order to execute the Commands of his Master against Brussels and encamp'd with his Right within two English Miles of Anderlecht and his Left at Halle My Lord of Athlone commanded a good Guard at Braine le Chasteau to defend the Passage from Halle to his Camp and the same Evening Rantzaw's Brigade was commanded from the Army within the Retrenchment to encamp between Anderlecht Porte and that of Flanders for the Defence of the Town on this side being the only Place where the Enemies could make an Attack The Magistrates upon the first News of the Enemies coming towards them had stopp'd up all the Sluces of the River Senne which run under the Walls of this Town and through the lower part of it which by degrees o'erflow'd all the bottom from the Canal before the Gates of Flanders and Anderlecht quite to that of Halle and all the Meadows near the Banks of the Senne from Brussels to Anderlecht But the Country between Anderlecht Porte and that of Flanders being pretty high and the bottom near the Ramparts but narrow the Water could not so overflow here but that the Enemies cou'd make their Batterie of Cannon and Mortars just by the Place and near enough to ruine afterwards the best and the most wealthy part of the Town The first of August the French advanc'd to come close to Brussels August and encamp'd this Day with the Right towards the Canal of Brussels and the Left beyond Anderlecht towards Halle The Marquis de Harcourt was left at Halle to make the Communication good between Monâ— and the Army All this being join'd together Villeroy was suppos'd to have full â—00 Battalions and about 220 Squadrons for besides the Regiments he had from Montal's Army to encrease his own the French King had order'd out of his Frontier Garrisons all the Regiments he could possibly spare to make up a formidable Army So far that I have heard
of Namur let it fall where it will I have yet omitted a considerable Reflexion upon this Letter and that is That the Maréchal de Villeroy would have an Answer from the Town in Five Hours about a Proposal to make a Cessation of Bombarding on both sides which regarded not only the King but all the Allies and yet this Answer must be given in Five Hours else he must execute without delay the Orders of his Master which makes his Letter a Jest and nothing else As Villeroy had promis'd to execute the Orders of his Master after Five of the Clock he was then as good as his Word Between Five and Six the Enemies began to throw their Bombs into the Town firing them one by one and their red Balls till about Ten of the Clock at Night The Marquis de Mirmont Major-General had then the Guard towards the Enemy with Brigadier Packmoer About this time of Night the Enemies began to play most furiously with their Mortars and red Balls by whole Batteries The Fire was then in several Places of the Town and there they were sure to throw their Bombs and fire their red Balls to encrease the Fire and to hinder the Inhabitants from quenching of it They had 25 Mortars in two Batteries behind the two Barns which I reckon they fir'd three times an Hour round at least and all together so that one could see 25 Bombs at once in the Air which they immediately follow'd with their Batteries of Cannon charg'd with red Balls which did so much the more Execution that the most wealthy part of the Town is all open on this side lying upon the descent of a Hill towards the River The Enemies continu'd this Fire-work all Night The next Day we fir'd upon them as much as we could from our Batteries by the Gate of Anderlecht still endeavouring to beat down the Barns about their Ears which cover'd their Mortars The Chevalier de Montgon and Two Officers of the French King's Guards were kill'd with a Cannon Ball by the Duke du Maine The whole Day the Enemies fir'd with their Mortars and Cannon as they had done the Night before and by this time the Stadthuys and Market-Place was all burnt down and several Streets about it They neglected the nearest part of the Town towards the Gates of Anderlecht and Flanders as being the poorest The upper or nobler part of the Town about the Court and towards the Gate of Namur they could not reach but 't was the Wealthy and Trading Part they were resolv'd to destroy which lay about the Heart of the Town In the Evening Major-General La Meloniere had the Guard with Brigadier St. Paul The Elector of Bavaria order'd besides a Detachment of Ten Squadrons of our Horse encamp'd at Scarbeck to guard all the Streets leading to the Fire to prevent Rogues and Thieves from going in and to prevent all Disorders the Ten Squadrons were commanded by a Brigadier A Detachment of Foot was also order'd to go in and help the Burghers to pull down the Houses and quench the Fre. At Night the Wind grew high and stormy which very much enrag'd the Fire and made the Mischief of the Enemies Bombs and red Balls greater than it would otherwise have been Notwithstanding the Care that was taken to prevent Plundering in the Confusion of the Fire several Soldiers made a shift to get within the Guards and plunder'd the Houses whilst they were burning The Elector of Bavaria caus'd one to be hang'd upon the spot Several Thieves of the Town took no doubt this convenient occasion to make Booty for the Inhabitants thought that the Enemies Bombs could not reach beyond the Market-Place which made them crow'd all their Wealth in the Houses beyond it where they thought them secure but 't was in these very Places that the thickest of the Enemies Bombs fell which made the Inhabitants Loss so much the greater The 5th about Nine of the Clock in the Morning the Mortars ceas'd and about Noon the Cannon having fir'd from Saturday Six of the Clock in the Evening to this time and always except the first three or four Hours by whole Batteries which made the most terrible Bombarding that I believe ever has been known and render'd the Town a most piteous and dismal Spectacle They fir'd their Mortars being 25 in number 39 hours full which being as I computed it fir'd three times an hour at least amounts to 2925 Bombs thrown into the Place The fire of the Cannon lasted from the same time Saturday Night till Monday Noon in all 42 hours which at three times an hour amounts to 2268 red Balls This Computation of the Bombs and Red Balls is I dare say much within compass And indeed the Damage done to the Town has too much answer'd the Enemies terrible Preparations all the Heart of the Town the Wealthy and Trading Part of it being burnt down to the very Ground and as the Figure of the Town is Oval so are the Ruines caus'd by the Enemy rekoning your cross Diameters of the Circle the one from the Stein Porte to the Fish-Market and the other from half way up the Berg-street and near the Wood-Market over the Market-Place and so towards the Rampart between Halle Porte and that of Anderlecht all this is in a manner burnt down to the Ground with a great many rich Churches and fine Cloysters involv'd in the Ruines The last Church they burnt which was that without Steine Porte they seem'd to do it on purpose on the Monday Morning firing all their Red Balls upon it and this was the wealthiest Parish-Church in Brussels being enrich'd within with very costly Ornaments such as Altars which were the finest and the most stately in the Town Pictures and Images and abundance of Marble and Porphyry to adorn and set out the Altars It is no wonder that several Churches should suffer in the thick of such a Conflagration and so this cannot be taxed of particular disrespect to these Holy Places But that this Church shou'd be particularly singl'd out as it was in the Monday Morning cannot but be thought on with horrour by Persons who believe that their Saviour dwells there Bodily And yet this has been done by those very Persons who pretend to be the only Asserters and Maintainers of this Catholick Cause A little before the Enemies Mortars had done we at last fir'd with our Red Balls one of the Barns behind which the Enemies had made their Bomb-Batteries and it had been well for the Town if they had pull'd them down at first as soon as they heard of the Enemies approach they had then wanted this Conveniency of bringing their Mortars under cover so close to the Town After the Enemies had done with their Mortars and Cannon they began this Afternoon to draw them off their Batteries and because 't was expected the Army wou'd have march'd back towards Halle the General beat in our Camp by Brussels to be ready to march
King of Spain's Hands He does not aggrandize his Dominions by it and has no other Interest in it but the glory of doing so much Good to the World in general and of establishing the Welfare and Security of his Subjects in particular by the Reduction of this strong Key of the Spanish and United Provinces Thus much for this Preface I believe the French depended more upon the strength and greatness of their Army than upon any Hopes the Dean and Chapter 's Preface could give them The 16th the Maréchal de Villeroy left the Camp of Seneff and Nivelle He commanded all the heavy Baggage away to Mons and march'd with the whole Army to the Plains of Fleury where he encamp'd with his Right between St. Amand and Fleury and his Left towards Sombref the head Quarter was at Marbais At Night he caus'd about 50 Pieces of Cannon to be drawn at the Head of his Camp upon the Causey that goes to Namur which were discharg'd round to give the Besieged notice of his Arrival who now made every Night some Signals from the top of the Cavalier of the Terra nova with lighted Torches sometimes Four and Three and Two which we suppos'd to signifie the time of the Resistance they could make The Besieged did not answer Villeroy's Signal and as 't was told after the Siege did not hear it the Wind being contrary tho' 't was a still Night The King upon Villeroy's Approach with the French Army left his Quarter at Malogne and the Siege of the Castle to the Elector of Bavaria and the Duke of Holstein Ploen and took his Quarter that very Night at the Castle of Bovesse a Gentleman's House in the Rear of our Right Wing of Horse but most of His Majesty's Domesticks remain'd at the more convenient Quarter in the Abbey of Malogne The next Day the King was very early with Prince Vaudemont at his Quarter at Golsines being then indispos'd which hinder'd him from waiting upon the King at his own Quarter Measures were then taken for the Security of our Camp by making Retrenchments where they were requisite The King brought with him from the Siege Velt-Maréchal-General Fleming and Count d'Arco General of the Bavarians to command our Right-Wing of Horse and Lumley's Brigade of English Horse was detach'd from the Left to the Right Wing which was most expos'd to the Enemy to re-inforce it They encamp'd at St. Denis between the Hesse Troops and the Right of our Army which we advanc'd yet farther in the Front and drew our Line closer to the Woods and the Avenues between them The same Day 17th the second Battalion of Dutch Guards and the second of Scots which had reliev'd some Days before my Lord Cuts his Battalion and the first Battalion of Dutch Guards were countermanded back to the Camp and 12 Battalions more of the Elector of Brandenbourgh's and States Forces besides more of the Horse imploy'd in the Siege so that 't was computed we had this Day 97 Battalions and 237 Squadrons to oppose to the Maréchal de Villeroy besides about 30 Battalions which continu'd the Siege and Six in Garrison in the Town This is the true state of our Forces in this great Conjuncture and at this time 500 Men is the most that we can rate a Battalion at one with another and 110 each Squadron in either Armies I leave the Calculation to the Reader and the difference of the two Armies will appear upon it This Day we began to work at our Retrenchments to fortifie the House and Bridge of Masy we made a Retrenchment at Bossire before Fits-patrick and Selwyn's Brigades which had before Prince Vaudemont's Quarter at Golsines in their Rear and Bossire upon their Left but upon the approach of Villeroy they chang'd their Ground and encamp'd with their Right at the Prince's Quarter and Left towards the little River which runs by Gemblours and Masy to the Sambre and Bossire in their Rear their Line being perpendicular to the Line of our Army This Retrenchment defended the Plain which runs with a Wood upon the Right and another upon the Left towards Conroy and Gemblours Farther towards Conroy we cut down Trees to barricade the High-ways and plac'd there a Captain and 60 Men detach'd out of the two ' fore-said Brigades with Orders to maintain the Post as long as possibly they could to give notice of the Enemies Approach These two Brigades were then under the Command of Major-General Ramsay The same Day 17th Brigadier Fitspatrick was detach'd with 8 Battalions 3 whereof were Maitland Tiffeny and Ferguson the rest Dutch and Germans to the Village of St. Denis which lying upon the skirt of a Wood they fortified very strongly The Hessians were more to the Right where they defended with a good Retrenchment the little Plain between St. Denis and Meux situated on the skirts of another Wood more towards the Mehaigne Velt-Maréchal Fleming and Count d'Arco with Lumley's Brigade and the Brandenbourgh Horse and Bavarian Cuirassiers were order'd more to the Right between the Wood of Meux and the Village of Du where they made another Retrenchment over the Plain from the Wood upon the Left to Du upon the Right The Mehaigne has several little Springs and some in this Place This was the Disposition of our Affairs the 1â—th in the Army As for the Enemies they did not march this Day but continued in their Camp between Fleury and Sombref they had made a considerable March the Day before with such a vast Body that they halted this Day to compleat their Army to Forrage and give out Bread to the Soldiers The 18th they march'd more upon their Left towards Gemblours to come nearer to our Right which was the most open part of our Camp our Left towards the Sambre being very strongly encamp'd as we have describ'd it above They encamp'd with their Right at Gemblours and Left at Grandléz the head Quarter at Saunier Upon which Motion of the Enemy Orders were given in our Army not to stir out of the Camp and every Body to be ready at a Minute's warning which should be given by the firing of three Pieces of Cannon The same Day 18th 22 Grenadiers per Company out of his Majesty's Forces were order'd to be ready to march and make an Assault upon the Breach we had made in the Terra nova jointly with the rest of the Besiegers who were to attack the Breach of the Cohorne and other Out-works But his Majesty expecting the Enemies should attack us the next Day thought it more convenient to deferr the Assault longer and in the mean while to widen and applanish the Breaches with the usual violence of our Cannon these Grenadiers being more necessary in our Camp at this time The Maréchal de Villeroy intended to attack us the next Day the King was inform'd of it and the Army expected it for which Reason all Officers and Soldiers were order'd to lie in their Cloaths with their Arms ready to
turn out upon call Prince Vaudemont tho' very much indispos'd came by Three of the Clock in the Morning in his Coach and stood at the Head of the English Guards notwithstanding that he had kept his Bed Three or Four Days before and had then a Feaver upon him the whole Army turn'd out an Hour before Day We form'd our Battalions and Squadrons in a readiness and the King came at the same time to see us in a posture of defence and went in Prince Vaudemont's Coach to conferr with him upon the present Conjuncture The Weather was very thick and foggy so that we could hardly see 50 Yards before us but we had Out-guards all along beyond our Retrenchments to prevent any surprize nevertheless we were very much concern'd at the unseasonableness of the Fog tho' 't was as inconvenient to the Enemy as to us In the Morning the Brigade of Guards was commanded to the Right at St. Denis under the Command of Major General Churchil to form a Reserve and sustain the Eight Regiments that had been posted here under Brigadier Fitspatrick which were all fresh and had not been concern'd in the Siege of Namur This was the most convenient Passage in our Camp and 't was expected that the most vigorous Attack of the Enemies would be here therefore there was a great deal of Care taken to fortifie all the Avenues and Church-yard of this Village The Brigade of Guards continu'd the Retrenchment from the Village within the Hedges and a marshy bottom by which they continu'd it to the Hesse Retrenchment And we had now provided so well for the defence of this Passage that we had no great Apprehension of the Enemies coming here The Hessians had made very good Batteries upon their Retrenchments cover'd with Gabions from whence they commanded the whole Plain There was another Passage to the Left of St. Denis about an English Mile before our Right Wing of Horse which we retrench'd and fortify'd and Sir David Collier was posted here with his Brigade and some Artillery We retrench'd all the Rising Ground within Masy and Golsines and so to the Woods we had upon our Right This was the Posture of our Camp this Day The Enemies had made several Motions the Night before and this Morning sending several Bodies sometimes to their Right and sometimes to their Left and their whole Camp was under Arms most part of the Night before and this whole Day About Noon the Weather began to clear up upon which Villeroy advanc'd to St. Denis to observe our Posts and our Army We had barricaded the way through the Wood with several Trees we had cut down and the Boughs being thick and green and there being a large Barn hard by he came by this way through the Wood and took the opportunity of this Cover to come up close to this Retrenchment As soon as he was perceiv'd all our Men within the Retrenchment took the Alarm and stood to their Arms expecting it to be the Van-guard of the Enemies Army The King was at Dinner in his Tent which was pitch'd hard by for that purpose who immediately got on Horse-back to observe the Enemy But Villeroy finding himself discover'd retir'd immediately having seen enough to convince him that 't was not fit to meddle with us here The Day being pass'd without any Action and the Time pressing for now we began to wait in our Camp the King thought it not convenient to deferr the Assault of the Breaches of the Terra nova and Cohorne any longer wherefore a Detachment was made this Evening 19th of 36 Grenadiers per Company out of those Regiments of His Majesty's Forces which had not been concern'd in the Siege and 18 out of those that had been employ'd in it The Grenadiers of the Brigade of Guards were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Evans Captain of Grenadiers in the first Battalion and the rest by Colonel Epping Colonel of one of the Danish Battalions But before I proceed to give an Account of this Assault it is necessary to continue the Affairs of the Siege to this time The 15th as we have said it before we took the Half-moon of the Sambre which would otherwise have flank'd our Trenches if we had not beat the Enemies from it and likewise our Assault upon the Breach of Terra nova The 16th being Masters of this Half-moon we began to work at a Pattery of 10 Pieces of Cannon upon the Left of our inferiour Trench between it and the Half-moon which fir'd upon the inward Face of the small Bastion at the Foot of the descending Courtin of Terra nova Our Batteries from the Town could only fire upon the outward Face towards the Sambre and besides this Battery firing more perpendicular upon the Breach of Terra nova had yet a better effect than those from the Town Captain Hart of Colonel Courthop's Regiment was killed this Day in the Trenches In the Evening his Majesty left the Siege to put himself at the Head of the Army upon Villeroy's Approach Major-General Lindeboom reliev'd the Trenches this Night with the Prince of Holstein Norbourg Brigadier and Colonel Mackay of our Forces This Night we advanc'd our Trenches between the side of the Cohorne and the Sambre The Descent of the Hill from the Cohorne to the Sambre being steep this gave the Enemies opportunity to make use of a Machine to hinder our Work they fill'd some Casks with Powder Bombs and Grenades with a Fuzee at each end of the Cask which they tumbl'd down the Hill upon our Men but the Bombs and Grenades being too heavy in the Casks for the Powder caus'd an unequal Motion of the Machine which hinder'd its Effect for it could not roul down strait but inclin'd either to the Right or to the Left and if it fell per chance among our Workmen they only open'd to the Right and Left and let it run down the Hill tho' at first it put them into some disorder but the Machine made more Noise than Mischief The 17th early in the Morning our Battery of 10 Pieces of Cannon upon the Left of our inferior Trench began to play with very good success and contributed very much to level the Breach of the Terra nova for a more easie Assault By this time most of the Enemies Cannon were dismounted except some great Pieces upon the Cavalier of Terra nova which could not bear low enough upon us that attack'd from the bottom of the Hill and so did us no harm but their Drakes were still troublesome which being light they could easily draw up and down where they were most convenient for them In the Afternoon we discover'd a Party of the Enemies of 20 Troopers from the Garrison of Dinant which had posted themselves in Ambuscade just by our Line of Circumvallation towards the Meuse where a Detachment of the Elector's Guards were posted who attack'd them killing 6 of the Enemy and made the Lieutenant Prisoner and 7 more of his Party
to terrifie them That they must not expect to be treated as Prisoners of War but as Rebels But this was making a Triumph before the Victory as it prov'd to their Confusion The King being inform'd of the Enemies March upon their Left towards Perwys order'd the Army to march upon the Right at the same time that our Besiegers were engag'd in the Assault against the Castle and Outworks The King took his Quarter this Day at a Gentleman's House call'd Ostin near the Village of Du. The Brigade of Guards being now in the Reserve encamp'd upon the Right of the King's Quarter in a third Line near the Hesse Troops Our Body of Foot encamp'd within the Retrenchment of Du and our Cavalry encamp'd behind them to sustain the Foot in the defence of the Retrenchments We abandon'd the perpendicular Retrenchment at Bossire between Masy and Gemblours Livingston's Dragoons with the Regiment of Foot of Holstein Ploen was left to guard the Post of Masy my Lord George Hamilton Brigadier was left to guard the Retrenchment of Golsines with three Battalions This was made upon the quitting of the Retrenchment of Bossire leaving Golsines Prince Vaudemont's Quarter before it who was Quarter'd at Ostin in the same House with His Majesty Brigadier Fitspatrick continu'd with his Eight Battalions at St. Denis We had a good Body of Horse posted at Ypignies before our Right At our coming to this Ground we saw the Enemies encamp'd with their Left near the Mehaigne between Ramelies and Taviers and their Right stretching towards Orbais with Perwys before them and Malevre in their Rear At Night we continu'd our Retrenchment from Du to the Wood upon our Right to be defended by the Hesse Troops and some of the Body of Foot The 21st we continu'd our Fire against the Castle with the usual Fury to make all Things ready for another Assault We began to apply the Miner to the Breach of the Cohorne for our Cannon firing from the Town and the other side of the River up the Hill could only break down the upper part of the Work whilst the Foot of it remain'd entire under the Shot of our Cannon and besides having gain'd the Counterscarp of this Work our Cannon could not play against the Cohorne without doing harm to our own Men And this I suppose was the Reason why we design'd in the last Attack to carry the Counterscarp and Breach all at once At Night Major-General Lindeboom mounted the Trenches with Brigadier Dedem The same Day the Maréchal de Villeroy pass'd the Mehaigne with a good Body of Horse and advanc'd as far as Ypignies The grand Guard we had here retreated to the Camp upon his Approach their Orders being not to engage The Maréchal de Villeroy left the main of his Body of Horse and rid on full speed with two Squadrons of Hussars whose Horses are very fleet and fit for such a purpose close to our Retrenchments upon our Right to view our Works and to observe our Camp He continued here wheeling sometime to the Right and sometime to the Left near a little Hedge that cover'd him We brought down some Pieces of Cannon to fire upon him which as soon as he perceiv'd it he rid off full speed with his two Squadrons under the shelter of a Wood we had before the Hesse Retrenchment At the same time that we brought down our Cannon we drew up several Regiments of Foot within our Line expecting the Enemies but no Action happen'd only some pickeering as they term it that is when single Men detach themselves voluntarily from both sides to meet and fire upon one another and then retire to their several Bodies again The Maréchal de Villeroy having observ'd the Posture of our Camp and our strong Retrenchments rid back again full speed with his Hussars to the main Body of Horse he had left at the heighth of Ypignies We detach'd some Squadrons after him the grand Mousquetaires of Brandenbourgh being one of them but without any other Action than the former Pickeering Villeroy having found us so well posted in this Place would yet try to find out a Passage for the Relief of Namur between our Right and the Meuse and therefore he went with his Detachment of Hussars towards the Village of Verderin where there is another narrow Plain upon the skirt of a thick Wood which from hence continues to the Meuse The Dragoons of Dopf and Eppinger were posted here where they made a Retrenchment and the Cavalry of the Right was commanded this Day with Lumley's Brigade to join these Dragoons for the Defence of this Post with Collier's Brigade which hitherto had continu'd in the little Retrenchment in the Wood between St. Denis and Golsines Thus Villeroy found all the Passages guarded before the Town from the Sambre where the River of Masy falls into it by all these Villages we have mention'd round to the Meuse below Namur at our Bridge of Communication making with Woods Rivulets and Retrenchments a kind of an outer Line of Circumvallation near Twelve English Miles in length And this was thought a better Defence than to have disputed the Passage of the Mehaigne to the Enemies when they came to Perwys Although Villeroy had now lost all Hopes of doing any thing for the Relief of the Castle for he found that he could not attack us without hazarding the Loss of his whole Army and that ours was in a good Condition and strongly posted and indeed our Strength was such that I believe had not the Siege of the Castle depended upon the Issue of a Battel we should hardly have put a Spade in the Ground to have made a Retrenchment yet the Enemies Presence at Perwys was very inconvenient to our Army which was now shut up in a kind of a Line of Circumvallation where Forage was very scarce They had cut off all Communication with Brussels and Louvain from whence we had our Provisions They were now Masters of the River-side between Namur and Liege so that we could have nothing from thence by Water but must be brought by Land on the Dinant side through a difficult Country But the Maréchal de Villeroy had secur'd his Communication with Charleroy and Mons by leaving the Marquis de Harcourt with a small Army near Fleury From whence it appears that if the French had not left the Castle to the last Extremity before they came to Relieve it it might have prov'd of a very dangerous Consequence to our Army which would have been in a manner depriv'd of Subsistance for Man and Horse But they must bombard Brussels first and so they came too late and I cannot imagine the Reason of this Proceeding unless they believ'd all the Reports of our Losses publish'd in the Paris Gazette and so to let the Siege run on to shatter our Army and then to come at last with their Army to give the finishing Stroke to our Ruine If they say their Rhine Detachment was not yet come up
from Maestricht to the French Frontier by a Captain of Dragoons to whom he gave a Rich Sword for a Present and other Presents to the rest of the Officers besides a Louis d' Or to every Dragoon of the Detachment In his way going to Dinant he met with the Brevet by which he was Created Duke and Peer of France as a Mark of the French Kings satisfaction of his Conduct in this Siege The Count de â—uisâ—ard was at the same time promis'd the Order of the Holy Ghost in the first promotion Monsieur de Megrigny Ingenier and Major-General was made Lieutenant General and the Brigadiers Laumont Quelus St. Laurens and L' Abadie Major-Generals and several Colonels Brigadiers as a Mark of his Favour and that he was sensible they had done their Duty in this Siege The Armies having now done on both sides all that could be expected this Campagne His Majesty left the Field the 4th in order to go to Loo to divert himself in Hunting after the Fatigues of the Campagne and went this day as far as Malines Prince Vaudemont waited upon the King at Vilvorde half way between Brussels and Malines From Malines His Majesty went to Breda the next day and arriv'd at Loo the 10th The King having now left the Field I shall hasten to bring both Armies to their Winter Quarters The 5th part of the Dutch Cavalry to be Quarter'd in Guelderland and Towns upon the Mâ—use were sent from the Camp to Cantoon that way and the Brigades of Boncouâ—t and Schack which were to Quarter at Bruges march'd near Ghent to Incamp there for the better conveniency of Forage The 6th the Regiment of Slabenâ—orf was sent to Garrison in Hâ—y to relieve that of Oxensterne to be sent to Brussels The 8th being appointed for a Solemn Thanksgiving-day for the taking of Namur in His Majesties Forces in the Camp as it was Appointed to be kept at the same time by the Lords Justices of England in London Westminster c. The same was observ'd accordingly with Prayers and Sermons suitable to the occasion the first Compos'd by Dr. Willis Chaplain-General to supply our want of the Form set out for that purpose by Authority in England The 9th we still continued Incamp'd at Halle though â—â—â—age was scarce the Ways being not only very bad by reason of the foul Weather and consequently difficult for our Artillery but also because Namur was not yet in such a condition of defence as to venture the Enemies between the Sambre and our Army who were still incampt in the Plains of Cambron to ruine all the Forage and Countrey about Aeth but that Garrison was very troublesom to them in this Camp sending out dayly Parties to take their Horses and to make Prisoners in which they had such success that before the French had left this Camp they had got above 500 Horses from them and Count Nassau himself one of the Major Generals upon their Left Wing of Horse narrowly escap'd falling into the hands of one of these Parties who fell one Night upon his Quarter he was in Bed and made his Escape in his Shirt but the best of his Baggage was lost The 11th The Marechal de Villeroy march'd upon the Right from Cambron and Chievres to Leuze where the Army had Orders to Hurt i.e. to make Straw Barracks instead of Tents The Duke of Chartres with most of the Princes of the Blood left the Army here to repair to Court The 12th our Army marched from Halle upon the right to St. Quintin Linneck where we Incamp'd with our Right near Ternath and our left a little beyond St. Quintin Linneck towards Halle The Elector had his Quarter at Esringen the Duke of Holstein Ploen at St. Quintin The 13th our Army had orders to Hutt the Ways were very bad and difficult to fetch Straw The 14th Prince Vaudemont came from Brussels to the Camp to wait upon the Elector The 15th the Duke of Wirtemberg and Count Nassau Lieutenant-General went to Brussels to wait upon Prince Vaudemont to receive his Orders for our Army before he went to Loo where the Prince was to go the next day to concert with His Majesty the business about Winter-Quarters and to be present at a Conference with the Elector of Brandenburgh about the Operations of the next Campagn But the Duke of Wirtemberg and Count Nassau missed very narrowly falling into the hands of a French Party that had crept between Halle and Brussels in their return to the Camp Count Nassaus two Aide de Camps were made Prisoners just behind him and carried to Charleroy These were not the only Gentlemen that had the misfortune to fall into their hands Their Little Sculking Parties were very troublesom between the Camp and Brussels having the way open to get between our Camp and this Town by Halle if they came in great Parties they were more apt to be discovered for which reason they came but few together and if they met with Parties of Strangers to the Countrey as English Germans c. they would pretend themselves to be Walloons in the King of Spains Service The 17th Captains Hamilton and Hemsly of Colonel Seymour's Regiment with the Surgeon fell into the hands of one of these little Parties they endeavour'd to resist Captain Hemsly had a dangerous Wound upon his left Wrist and they were all Three made Prisoners but the Party left Captain Hemsly wounded at Halle upon the promise of the other two to see his Ransom paid The Breaches of the Town and Castle of Namur being now considerably repair'd and the French Line upon the Hill between the Sambre and the Meuse produc'd down to the Sambre besides some Works began to defend the passages of this River between the Line and the Castle and others to defend the side of the Cohorne against the Town that it may not for the future be attack'd the same way we reduc'd this strong place this I say being now the Condition of Namur the Hesse and Lunenbourgh Troops Decamp'd from the Mehaigne to march by the Meuse which they passed between Liege and Maestricht to Germany And the Brandenbourg Forces Canton'd in the Neighbourhood of Liege expecting to go into their Winter Quarters as formerly at Liege Aix la Chapelle c. Upon our coming to the Camp at S. Quintin Linneck the Spanish and Bavarian Cavalry was likewise sent to Canton along the Dendre between Alost and Dendermond And the Weather having been very bad now and most part of the Summer and Forrage scarce and the Troops very much fatigu'd and no fear of any Enterprize from the Enemies this made our Army separate very early to go into Quarters The 19th our heavy Artillery consisting of Thirty Pieces of Canon began to march to Winter-Quarters at Ghent being escorted by the Regiments of Colonel Frederick Hamilton and Cinqvilles The 20th My Lord of Athlone General of the Dutch Horse Reviewed all the Cavalry here in the States Service The 21th The Life-Guards
flank'd of both sides with Ipres upon the Right and Menin and Courtray upon the Left and the Enemies Line in our Front yet we lost but very few Horses there being still good Guards upon the Woods to cover our grazing which was still done by order The 14th the King was informed that the Enemies had a design upon our Bread-Waggons coming from Bruges and that they were to fall upon them at Rouselar for which reason my Lord Essex was detached with Five Hundred Dragoons to joyn our Convoy at Rouselar and my Lord Portland went with Five Hundred Dragoons more Commanded under his Lordship by Brigadier Wynne sustained by some Horse to endeavour to meet with the Enemies upon their way being advised that they were to pass that Evening by Moorsleede accordingly my Lord Portland overtook them in this place and the Dragoons had orders to dismount and attack them which they did with a great deal of Courage The Enemies were Commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel about Four Hundred strong they had made some Barricades of Waggons which they defended no longer than to gain time to make their escape but notwithstanding a Captain with about Thirty Men remained Prisoners and they had several killed and wounded The fire was very hot for above half an hour and the Count de Soissons who was here as Voluntier very much incouraged our Men and was very well pleased with their way of falling on Count de Soissons is Brother to the Prince Eugene of Savoy Velt-Mareschal General of the Emperours Forces in Piemont and a near Kinsman to the Duke of Savoy The French King would oblige him to serve in Piemont with his Regiment against the Duke of Savoy which he refused and quitted and retired with the French Kings leave out of the Country But the French King hearing he was gone into England he was so netled at it that he ordered the Countess de Soissons his Wife immediately to leave the Kingdom He served in our Army this whole Campagne as Voluntier being waited upon by the Kings own Servants and he was still with the King upon all occasions He is a Person of a very fine Education very civil and obliging and very brave which has gained him the esteem and affections of all Persons of Quality in our Army But to return to the business of Moorsleede Lieutenant Webb was killed in this occasion Brother to Lieutenant-Colonel Webb of the Guards Brigadier Wynne was wounded in the Knee which though it was not esteemed very dangerous at first yet he dyed afterwards of this Wound at Ghent being generally regretted The King has since given his Regiment of Dragoons to Colonel Rosse Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment who has been one of the Kings Aide de Camps the three last Campagnes Captains Collins and Holdgate were likewise wounded both Officers of Dragoons The next day our Convoy of Bread-Waggons came safe to the Camp and with them my Lord Rivers Major-General of Horse Monsieur de Zuylenstein Lieutenant-General created by His Majesty Earl of Rochsord and my Lord Cutts Brigadier being lately come over from England Besides the miscarriage of the Enemies upon the coming of our Bread-Waggons to the Camp they had received the same misfortune before upon their going to Bruges above Fifty of them having been carried Prisoners into this place by our Detachment The 15th at Night a Party of the French fell upon an Outpost of Bannieres Brigade at Sonnebeck where they made several Prisoners most of them Swissers of Tâ—harâ—ers Regiment The 17th the Duke of Wirtemberg had Orders to withdraw his Forces from before Kenoque and to march back to Dixmuyde Nothing extraordinary happened in the attack of this place from the 9th of which we have given an account to the time of raising the pretended Siege save that the 10th Montal passed the Canal of Loo with a good Detachment of his best Troops with a design to have surprized out Out guards but the Duke of Wirtemberg had notice of it and the Guards were so ordered that upon some fire of both sides which allarmeâ— the Camp the French retreated fearing an Ambuscade which was ready for them The 17th in the Afternoon the Artillery and Baggage had orders to march from our Camp at Becelar to Rouselar Escorted by Bannieres Brigade from Sonnebeck and St. Pauls from the Kings Quarter They marched all Night meeting now and then with French Parties which would have broken in upon the Line of Baggage but the Brigades were so disposed upon the Front Flanks and Rear that they were still repulsed Orders were given for the Army to march the next Day The 18th the Army marched the first Line upon the Right by Sonnebeck Passendal and Roosebeck to Rouselar the same way that we had come to this Camp the second Line marched upon the Left gaining by Moorsleede the high way from Menin to Rouselar Packmoeâ—'s Brigade had the Rear-guard with seven pieces of Cannon to make good our retreat out of the Enemies Country The King remained with the Rear-guard to see all safely march off Villeroy had a great mind to have fallen upon our Rear in this March having upon notice of it ordered a Detachment of many Squadrons of his best Horse and Dragoons with which he marched very early out of the Line to observe our motion directing his way from Ipres towards the Windmill of Gelâ—velt to have come into our Camp by Becelar But such was the order of our March that he was obliged to see us march quietly off That day we came to Rousela with our Camp as before between Hooghleed and Rombeck Bannieres Brigade incamped upon the Right before the Village of Hooghleed where Prince Vaudemont had his Quarter The Army halted the next day but matters being ready for the great and glorious undertaking of this Campagne the King left the Camp at Rouselar very early the 19th in the Morning to go towards the Meuse with the Troops of Life-Guards of Ormond and Auverquerque the Horse Granadiers my Lord Portlands Regiment of Horse and Dopfs Dragoons Commanded by Brigadier L'Etang The main of which Body kept with the Kings Domesticks and Baggage but His Majesty had a sufficient Escorte to hasten on before We had made great preparations at Maestricht of Artillery Mortars Bombs and all manner of Ammunitions and all the Boats of the Meuse at Liege Maestricht and Huy were detained for the States Service And tho' all this threatned Namur yet the French had brought all their Forces within their Lines without keeping any Body to guard the passages of the Sambre Whether it was that they thought Villeroys Bouflers and Montals Forces were but sufficient to defend their Lines against the King and the Elector of Bavaria's or that they depended upon the strength of Namur and the goodness of the Garrison in it and the difficulty of a Siege They left the Sambre unfurnished of Troops But His Majesty expected only the junction of the Brandenburg and Liege Forces
whence Lieutenant-Colonel Macartney was sent to the King to receive further Orders and the 26th we marchâ—d to Perwys Lieutenant-Colonel Macartney returned with Orders to halt the next day We were then reinforc'd by the Regiments of Tidcomb Stanley and Maitland besides the First Battallion of Dutch Guards which had come strait from Dixmuyde and marchâ—d this day to the Camp before Namur The same day Brigadier St. Paul came up to Perwys with the Hanover Regiments of â—t Paul Cinqvillâ—s and Hulsen They had left Prince Vaudemoâ—ts Camp the 22th The 28th Count Nassau and Major-General Ramsay march'd to Temploux with the Body under their command within a League and a half of Namur not far from the Sambre The day before the King had remov'd his Quarters from La Falise nearer the Town to the Farm of the Maison rouge upon the Hill near the Village of Flavennes on the Samâ—â—â— And the same day we began to work at our Line of Circumvallation tracing the Ruins of that which the French had made when they besieged this place July which we found ready cut out to our hands except at Maulx where we made it run a little more out than the French had done before Upon Count Nassaus arrival to Temploux the two Dutch Regiments of Aâ—entz and Weed which had march'd with the English Detachment march'd and took their Post with the Dutch in the Line of Circumvallation and the same day a Major a Captain and 2 Lieutenants of the Dragoons within Namur were made Prisoners endeavouring to get in and were sent to Huy Hitherto the French were not much disturbed by us in the Town of Namur for we had not yet broke ground before the place and the Water of the Meuse was so low that we could not get our Cannon up so soon as we expected for when they were come up to Huy the River was found so shallow that we were forced to unload our Cannon and put them in lesser Vessels to bring them which as it requir'd time so consequently it retarded very much the vigorous prosecution of the Siege Nevertheless the King with the Elector went every day to visit the Posts near the Town and among the rest July 1st as the King was riding near the Town to observe the Enemies works a Lieutenant and Cornet of Dragoons deserted from the Enemy and came to the King pretending themselves to be of Liege and that they would not serve against their own Forces and the Allies of their Prince The same day my Lord Cuts came to the Camp at Temploux with six Battallions the Second of the First Regiment of Guards his own or the Coldstream Battallion of Guards with the Regiments of Trelawney Ingoldesby Nassau and Heyden The last being Dutch went into the Line of Circumvallation My Lord Cuts had been detach'd from Prince Vaudemonts Army the 24th of June with ten Battallions but at Vilvoâ—de he received Orders to send back Mackays Regiment and three more Dutch to Aâ—ost From Alost Colonel Mackays and Count d'Oâ—nas Regiments went back to Prince Vaudemont but the other two went to reinforce the Garrison of Aeth For upon our undertaking of this Siege the Mareschal of Villeroy whom we have left incamped near Courtray without the Line had passed the Scheld near Pottes and Escanaffe lying with his Army on both sides the River to be in readiness to follow the Orders of the French Court in this important conjuncture and At h being now exposed to the Enemies Army these two Regiments were commanded from Alost to reinforce that Garrison and besides the Prince of Anhalt Brigadier was sent with two Battallions more from Prince Vaudemonts Army to command there where he got with some difficulty We were so long before Namur without breaking ground against the Town that people began to talk very variously about this Siege as if we had not design'd it but rather having lodg'd a strong Garrison in this place to undertake an easier work and besiege Charleroy for from the 23th of June that the Town was invested to this time we had done nothing but work'd at our Line of Circumvallation and made our Bridges of Communication one upon the Sambre between Flavennes and the Abbey of Malogne the second upon the Meuse above Namur towards Dinant and the third upon the Meuse below Namur towards Huy But the true reason of our slowness proceeded from our want of Cannon part of which came up the last day of June and then we opened the Trenches the day following being the 1st day of July The Dutch broke ground at night near the Village of Bouge upon the Plain before the Retrenchments and cover'd ways the Enemies had made upon this Hill from whence the Town is commanded Major-General Fagel had the Trenches with six Dutch Battallions We did not advance our work very far this night because the Trench was flank'd from the Castle which could easily fire over the Town here for which reason we were obliged to make Traverses in the Trench to cover our selves from the Cannon of the Terra Nova so that the Work could not be so far advanced as it would have been if we had been obliged only to make a simple Trench The Enemies fired very briskly to hinder our Workmen particularly from an old Tower which they had just before their cover'd way called la Tour de Cocklé The Brandenburgs of t'other side of the Meuse work'd to make a Battery upon the height of St. Barbe to beat in reverse upon the Enemies within their covered way upon the Hill of Bouge The 2d Major General Salisch had the Trenches and Major General Fagel had the misfortune to be shot in the Neck as he was dismounting but without danger We work'd at a little battery of three pieces of Cannon near the Village de Bouge to play upon the Tower of Cocklè and this night we advanced considerably our Trenches and in both these nights we had not above 16 Men killed and wounded The 3d the King declar'd Brigadiers Lindeboom and Heukelem Major Generals and the Colonels Frisheim and Heyden Brigadiers in their places The same day one of the Electors Chaplains was returned to the Kings Quarter by the Enemies They had made him Prisoner the day before near their Line between the Sambre and the Meuse where his Curiosity had carried him This day our Cannon began to play a Battery of three pieces of Cannon from the Village de Bouge against the old Tower and from the edge of the heighth of St. Barbe being a Brandenburgh Battery of six or seven pieces of Cannon which fir'd over the Meuse in reverse within the Enemyâ—s Retrenchments upon the Hill of Bouge At night the Enemy lessened their Fire and we advanced our Work considerably The 4th early in the morning Brigadier St. Paul was detachâ—d back from Count Nassau's Camp at Temploux to reinforce Prince Vaudemont with the Hanover Guards the Batallions of St. Paul Cinqvilles Hulsen and Zeelandt and indeed
we were in some trouble and pain at this time about Prince Vaudemont For the Marechal de Villeroy who had advanced as far as the Scheld at Pottes and Escanaffe expecting Orders to have march'd to the relief of Namur or to undertake some Siâ—ege for a Diversion received Orders to repass the Lys to attack Prince Vaudemont in his Camp at Woutergâ—em which if it had succeeded would have been an effectual way to raise the Siege of Namur 'T is a very easie thing to find Miscarriages and Faults in ill Success and when an Enemy has come to the worse by taking wrong measures t is no hard matter to tell how he might have done better The Attempt upon Prince Vaudemont was doubtful for either Villeroy may come to the worse or the Prince may retreat But if whilst Villeroy was advanced as far as the Scheld the French King had undertaken the Siege of At h or Ardenard one of these two places must of necessity have fallen into his Hands whilst we were besieging Namur or we must have raised the Siege to have hindred it However whether it was that the Enemies who had no other designs but to act defensively had not prepar'd themselves for a Siege or whatever other reason there was for it Villâ—roy easâ—d us of the Jealousie we were in for At h and Aâ—denarde and received orders to repass the Lys For this end he made his Army as strong us possibly he could and order'd Monsieur de Ximenes Lieutenant-General and Pracontal Major-General who were near Mâ—ns with a good Detachment of Horse to come and join him Being reinforced with these Troops he ordered Bridges to be made upon the Lys the 2d at night at Vive St. Eloy where he pass'd that River the 3d. and encam'd at St. Barbon Montal at the same time had Orders to march with the Body under his command from the Neighbourhood of Kenoque towards Thielt Prince Vaudemont being informed of this motion of the Enemy's made a movement of his Camp at Wonterghem to bring his Right more to the Rear to take up the rising Ground of Arseel which he thought more defensible This was the third in the Evening the Prince ordered then Retrenchments to be made upon the Left towards VVacken and the Lys and the 4th the Army retrench'd and fortified upon the Right all the rising Ground of Arseel and the Regiments of Strathnaver and George Hamilton with Brigadier O Farrel came from Deinse to the Camp to reinforce our Army the Garrison being supplyed by Detachments Prince Vaudemont had then about fifty Battallions and fifty one Squadrons of Horse and Dragoons and with these Forces he was then resolved to expect the Marechal de Villeroy and to venture the issue of a Battle in his Retrenchments which he had made very strong though Villeroy had near the double of his number and that Prince Vaudemont had not above 36000 men Whilst we were working at our Retrenchments at Arseel the French Army commanded by the Marechal de Villeroy was marching in the morning towards our Camp with their Left upon our Right near Caneghem and their Right towards our Left at Beâ—â—â—ghem and VVacken We had a Dutch Major posted with two hundred Foot at Inghelmonster upon the River Mandel the Castle or Gentleman's House was pallâ—saded and moted from whence he interrupted the Enemy's march for some time who had a Colomne to march by this place His Post being strong and palissaded he would not surrender till they brought Cannon against him and then he surrender'd himself and Detachment Prisoners of War Some of the French Officers would have had him made an Example for pretending to hinder the march of a Royal Army with a handful of men but on the contrary the Marechal of Villeroy approved of his Courage and Bravery and was pleas'd to applaud it The Mareschal de Villeroy came early enough in presence of our Army that day to have attack'd it and to have decided the Fate of our Army by a Battle But whether it was that he found our Camp strongly fortified and that he would not then hazard it or that he had orders to stay till Montal bad taken the Posts in the Rear of our Right between Arseel and VVirk to attack us there and that he thought it more sure and expedient to stay till then He remained in presence of our Army that Evening expecting to have attack'd the Pâ—ince very early the next morning and in a manner to have caught him in a Net by invironing him upon the Right Prince Vaudemont was informed of this motion of Monsieur de Montal's Our Army was then posted in the Retrenchment expecting the Enemy and though Montal had already pass'd Thielt and was drawing near to Caneghem Prince Vaudemont chang'd Resolution and thought it very hazardous to venture a Battle which promis'd the total ruin of his Army and then though the time was urgent and pressing he immediately with a most admirable Judgment resolv'd upon and contrivâ—d a Retreat The Prince had very wisely provided for such an Accident in the morning by ordering all the Baggage to load immediately and to march by Deinse to Gâ—ent that it might not embarrass the motions of the Army The Prince order'd first the Cannon to be drawn off the Batteries and to march towards Deinse which was done so secretly that the Enemies did not perceive it He had wisely ordered the Artillery to be moving from Battery to Battery all the Afternoon so that when it went clear off the Enemies thought it had been but the ordinary motion After the two Lines of Foot march'd upon the Left along the Retrenchment To cover this march of the Foot the Prince ordered a Body of Horse to come and post in the Retrenchment as 't was quitted by the Foot The Foot march'd with their Pikes and Colours trailing to conceal their march neither did the Enemies perceive this motion till the Cavalry mounted again and abandon'd the Retrenchment and then the Infantry was already got in the bottom between Arseel and VVouterghem marching towards Deinse At the same time that the Foot were filing off from the Retrenchment the Prince ordered Monsieur d Auverquerque with the Right Wing of Horse interlinâ—d with Colliers's Brigade of Foot to make a Line facing towards Caneghem extending himself from the Windmill of Arseel towards Winck This motion was to make Montal believe that this Line was design'd to oppose his Attempt upon the Rear of our Right but his secret Orders were to march off by Winck to Nevel and so to Ghent At the same time that the Foot marchâ—d by Wouterghem and Deinse my Lord Rochford who was posted with the Left Wing of Horse and two Battallions towards the Lys made the Reer Guard towards the Left with a Line of Foot upon one side and three Squadrons of Eppinger upon the other All this was so contriv'd by the Prince from the Right to the Left that the Army disappear'd all at
Fusiliers Tidcomb c. The fire continued till past nine of the Clock and both the Regiments that mounted and dismounted the Trenches remained to make good the Attack My Lord Cutts had the Trenches the night before with the Regiments of Tidcomb Stanley and Collingwood and did not dismount till the whole Attack was over where he hazarded himself very freely as he does upon all occasions of Service Brigadier Fitz-patrick being to mount the Trenches with the Regiments of Lauder Ingoldesby Saunderson and Maitland and Brigadier Frisheim with the Dutch relieved the Posts which had been gained The Guards come off about mid-night and marched back to the Camp at Temploux where they came very early in the morning after having gained a very great Reputation in the Attack For whereas they were only to to gain the outer covered way by the disposition of the Attack yet they beat the Enemies from all the Retrenchments they had upon this Hill and pursued them among their Forts down the Hill to the very Porte de Fer where most of them were killed at the very Palissade but several of our Men that had advanced so far were made Prisoners among the rest Lieutenant-Colonels Pierce and Morrison Captains of the second Regiment of English Guards Ensign Atkins of the same Regiment and Ensign Ross of the Scots Guards and several Soldiers Major-General Ramsay who had the conduct of this Attack had his Horse wounded under him with a Musket-shot and his Servant's Horse was killed just by him with a Cannon-ball which came very thick from the Castle which fir'd over the Town here He had the thanks of the King for this great Success who was present in the whole Action and the Compliments of the chief Generals and Prince Vaudemont writ him a Letter of Congratulation upon this occasion If the English did such considerable Actions in this Attack the Dutch were not idle upon the Left but at the same Signal with ours they marched out of their Trenches and attacked the Left of the Enemies Retrenchments towards the Meuse Major-General Salisch commanded the Trenches this night and the Attack of this side with the Regiments of the Trenches and those that were to mount in all 7 or 8 Battallions The Enemies Fire was more opiniatre of this side than it had been upon the Right of our Attack which caused a considerable slaughter among the Dutch Regiments but in spight of their resistance they gained the Work and beat the Enemies from their Renchments The Regiments of Salisch and another Dutch Oxensten and Braha of the Swedes suffered very much in this Action for which reason the two first were sent to Garrison in Maestricht and the two last to Huy and four other Pattallions were sent from Maestricht to take up their place in the Line of Circumvallation being the Regiments of Du Thiel Anhalt d'Essau and if I am not mistaken two Swiss Battallions of Lochman The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Regiment of Salisch was killed and the Major wounded with several other Officers killed and wounded of which I have not seen a particular account As for our own loss I shall here insert as exact an account of it as possibly I can In the Brigade of Guards who were most concerned in this Action we had 177 Soldiers killed and 366 wounded 41 missing supposed Prisoners In the first Regiment of the English Guards they had Officers killed Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson who commanded the second Battallion Captains Montague and Hide and Ensign Cavendish Lieutenant-Colonel Davis and Captain Vpcot dead of their Wounds Wounded Lieutenant-Colonel How Captains Evans Etheridge Newton Jane and Amstin Ensigns Clerk St. Denuis and Desaulnais In the second Regiment of English Guards killed Captain Weston and Ensign Holmes Ensign Whiterong dead of his Wounds Wounded Colonel Matthews Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment Lieutenant-Colonels Edgworth Jones and Pierce and Captain Markham Ensigns Hill and Miller and Adjutant Wyvil Prisoners Lieutenant-Colonels Pierce and Morrison and Ensign Atkins In the Dutch Guards killed Captain Hooghwitz and Adjutant Verhoop wounded Lieutenant-Colonels Gaudecker Hutzler and Pagnies Captains Tilly and Boisroux and Ensign Windeseim In the Scots Guards killed Captain St. Clair Ensign Borthwick dead of his Wounds Ensign Ross Prisoner and dead since of his Wounds Wounded Lieutenant-Colonel John Hamilton Captain Southerland and Ensign Iyster I shall add to those Lieutenant-Colonel Hume Commandant of my Lord Lornes Regiment Son to the â—arl of Argyle then in Garrison in Dixmuyde who came a Voluntier to see the Siege he waited upon Major-General Ramsay in this Occasion and received a Wound in the Shoulder of which he died since at Liâ—ge Of my â—ord George Hamilton's or the Royal Regiment kill'd Captain anderson Lieutenant Penfather and Ensign Cokbourn Captain Dixon dead of his Wounds My Lord George Hamilton received a Contusion upon the Elbow and Captain Hamilton and Ensigns Carre and Vernal were wounded In Selwyn's Regiment Lieutenant Gyles and Hamilton were wounded one with the Grenadâ—ers and the other with the Workmen In Trelawney â—s Captain Sely was wounded with the Workmen In Tidcomb's Regiment which had the Trenches Lieutenant Rivasson killed dead of their Wounds Captain Carew and Ensign â—errot Wounded Captains Pope Jackson and Forbes and Ensign Cormack In Collingwood's Regiment Lieutenant Lee wounded In Colonel Ingoldesby's one of those that mounted the â—renches this night killed Captain Hamilton and Lieutenant Jassaâ—t In Saunderson's Lieutenant Swain klled wounded Captain Knight and Lieutenant Bernard In Maitland's killed Captain Melvil with the Workmen and Lieutenant Arrot with the Grenadiers Captain Gordon of the Grenadiers wounded I have not seen the List of Lauder's As for our loss among the Soldiers it was generally computed that we had in all in the English and Dutch Attacks about 500 men killed and about 1200 wounded and that our whole Loss Officers and Soldiers put out of Battle amounted to near 1800 men at most and this was the only assault where we had any considerable loss before the Town The Enemies had their choicest Troops for the defence of these Retrenchments upon the Hill and as soon as they perceived that we designed an attack upon this place they ordered a great body of Foot and their best Dragoons to march out of the Town and to reinforce their Post upon the Hill we could see them march very easily from the King's Quarter So that reinforcement and all they had 8 or 9 Regiments of foot besides Dragoons within the retrenchments 'T is certain that we made a very great slaughter among them when once our Soldiers got in and pursued them they lay very thick in the pits and up and down their retrenchments but because the Besieged always conceal their losses as much as they can we could not get a perfect account of it but 't is very reasonable to think that their loss was not much inferiour to ours They had a Brigadier killâ—d in this occasion the Count de Maulivrier and two Colonels the
Count de Merstein Colonel of the Regiment of Foix the Marquiss de Vieuâ—bourg Colonel of the Regiment of Beauvoisis and the Count d' Albert Colonel of the Dauphins Dragoons dangeroâ—sly wounded besides several other Officers We intercepted afterwards a Letter from Monsieur de Megâ—igny to Monsieur Barbesieux Secretary of State and War which gave him an account of this Attack that they had defended it very vigorously but that finding by our pouring in still of fresh Troops upon them that we were resolved to carry these works cost what it would had at last quitted them to reserve their Troops for a more necessary defence and that they had made a great slaughter amongst us having lost 4 or 500 of their own This was the account sent to Court which we intercepted I must not forget to speak of a Battery which the Bavarians made of two pieces of Cannon near the Sambre against the end of the Enemies Line and another of the same number a little more to the left which began to fire upon the Enemies lodg'd in the Fascine work at the end of the Line just at the time of our attack upon the Hill of Bouge The Evening of this Assault we began to mount four Regiments of the English and four Dutch Major General Salisch and Brigadier Fits-Patrick as we have said before had the Trenches the Kings Regiments were Lauder Ingoldesby Sanderson and Maitland The same Evening more Artillery and Ammunitions came from Huy to the Camp under the Escorte of the Hesse Dragoons Hitherto the Artillery came up but leisurely and had as yet done but little execution and this night we secured our lodgments in the Posts we had gained The 9th We had several Waggons loaden with Spades and Shovels and other Instruments to work in the ground from Lovain At night Major-General Lindeboom had the Trenches and my Lord Cutts was to mount but Colonel Selwyn was declared Bigadier by his Majesty who accordingly mounted the Trenches this Evening with the Regiments of Nassau Selwyn Trelawne and Seymour We worked to advance our Trenches towards the descent of the Hill before St. Nicholas his gate to embrace the detached Bastion the Enemies had here The Dutch upon the left worked towards the Meuse to bring their Trench by the Jesuits House under the Clifts which hung over this River upon which they worked at a Battery to flank the side of the detached Bastion The Brandenburgs who had opened the Trench along the Meuse above the Castle the first Instant had begun another the 5th along the same River below the Town which they had now considerably advanced in order to make two parallel lines all along the River to cover the Batteries we designed against St. Nicholas his gate from the other side of the Meuse and to bridle in the Enemies who were still masters of the Fauxbourg de Jambe The 10th Major-General Heukelom had the Trenches with my Lord Cutts and the Regiments Royal Columbine Fusiliers and Tidcomb and this day the Regiments of Collingwood and Tidcomb had left Temploux to go into the line of Circumvallation The same day the Brandenbourghs having almost finished their parallel lines along the Meuse the Enemies abandoned the Fauxbourg de Jambe and set it on fire and retired to the Bastion upon the Meuse-bridge More Cannon and Morters came up from Huy The 11th the rest of the King's Troops incamped at Temploux went into the line of Circumvallation the Brigade of Guards incamped at the foot of the Hill below the King's quarter near the Sambre and the rest towards the Village de Bouge at Maulx and Bernacomen Count Nassau had his quarter at Bernacomen and Major-General Ramsay at Maulx We had now in all 78 Battalions before the Town in the whole line of Circumvallation The Prince of Tilly with the Leige Forces was incamped of the Condros side of the Meuse to secure the Navigation of the river At night Major-General Ramsay commanded the Trenches with Brigadier Fits-Patrick who were relieved by the Regiments of Stanley Collingwood Lauder and Ingoldsby As the Royal Regiment march't out of the Trenches Major Macilvaine was killed with a Cannon ball from the Castle which besides wounded Ensign Loggins of Collingwoods Regiment and three Soldiers His Majesty declared my Lord George Hamilton Brigadier in the Trenches The same Evening we had a Battery of three pieces of Cannon upon the rising ground of this side of the Sambre which began to play upon the Enemies posted in the Ballance The King was every day in the Trenches from morning till night and to lose no time had his dining Tent pitched near Lieutenant-General Tettau's quarter at Bouge to be just by the Trenches Several persons were both killed and wounded near the King in his dayly visits of our approaches but it pleased God to spare his Sacred Person in all those dangers to which he so freely exposed himself His Majesty was generally accompanied by the Duke of Ormond my Lord Portland and the Count de Soissons and though 't was contrary to orders yet the Officers who followed the King in the Trenches were too apt to crowd about him which made the King 's going in the Trenches so much the more remarkable to the Enemies and consequently dangerous The 12th we had finish'd a Pattery on the Brandenbourgh side of the Meuse just opposite to the Demy Bastion of St. Nicolas his Gate and a round Tower having only the River between them and this day it began to play At night Major-general Salisch had the Trenches with Brigadier Selwyn and the Regiments of Sanderson Maitland Nassau and Selwyn The 13th in the morning we had finished another Battery upon the River side in a Line with the former from both which the Cannon fired very furiously against the half Moon before St. Nicolas his Gate the Demy Bastion of the Meuse and a thick stone Digue or Damme which at this place keeps up the water in the Fosse of the Town There was in all about 30 pieces of Cannon upon these Batteries besides a Battery upon the Hill of Bouge against the Enemies Forts upon the edge of this Hill another upon the descent of the Hill to flank the detached Bastion they had here besides a Battery of Morters to incommode the Enemy in their Works at St. Nicolas his Gate where we were making our Approaches All these Batteries began this day to make a noise which before had done no great execution The Town Wall was weak along the Meuse opposite to the left of our Batteries for which reason the Enemies made within parallel to the left of the Meuse Battery a blind of a great heighth and thickness made up with Earth and Fascines the rest of the Batteries in this Line had its effect against the old Tower and Works of whith we have now spoken At night Major-general Lindeboom mounted the Trenches with my Lord George Hamilton Brigadier and the Regiments of Trelawney Seymour Royal and Columbine
Crenadiers killed Captain Devaux wounded with the Workmen In Stanley's Ensign Gardiner killed and Ensign Devreux wounded In Collingwood â—s Adjutant Gordon mortally wounded Captain Booth and Lieutenants Kemp and Adams wounded In Lauder's that had the Trenches Sir John Keith Captain killed Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart wounded In Ingoldesby's killed Lieutenant Brooker and Ensign Paget Wounded Captains Purefoy Jones and Stedman Lieutenants Ogilby Moor Disney and Lloyd Ensigns Patterson and Johnson In Sanderson's wounded Captain Fowke Lieutenant Hazard Ensigns Pallaster and Parâ—ridge In Colonel Maitland's Lieutenant Orcharston and Price kill'd Captain Lundy and Ensign Gairnes wounded Monsieur Du Puy Inginier-General of Holland was wounded of which he died at Maestricht and 5 Inginiers were killed and 11 wounded The gaining of the Counterscarp was not the only advantage of this day we had now four Batteries which play'd very briskly upon the Enemies posted at the Abbey of Salsen and the Ballance upon the Sambre a House so called where the Besieged had made a Retrenchment to defend the Passage of the River between their Line and the Cohorne The Forces quaitered between the Sambre and the Meuse being Dutch and Bavarians forced this Passage of the Sambre at the same time we were driving the Enemies from the Counterscarp of St. Nicholas his Gate 1â—00 Bavarian Grenadiers and 500 Musketeers were commanded for this Enterprize with a Colonel Lieutenant-Colonel Major and Officers proportionable to the Detachment there was a Detachment of an equal number of Dutch and the same number of Officers A Major with 150 Fusiliers followed to sustain them These pass'd the Sambre at the Bridge of Communication above Flavennes to be ready to pass the Bridge at the Ballance as soon as it should be made which Work they were to cover 50 Grenadiers and 300 Musketiers went of the other side of the River commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel and 600 men commanded by a Colonel to sustain them These were to march by the Maison Blanche along the way made to draw the Boats upon the River and so under the Hills to the Ballance They had besides six Squadrons of Horse and Dragoons to march after them and cover them from the Enemies Sallies out of the Castle Six Bilanders or great Boats were made ready to go down the River at the same time as the Foot marched on both sides of it These Boats were contrived for the making of a Bridge at the Ballance and had a Breast-work made upon their sides Musket shot proof to cover about 200 Bavarian Soldiers they had on Board During these Preparations our Batteries upon the Sambre played as fast they could to dislodge the Enemies out of the Ballance which House they beat down about their Ears and spoil'd the Retrenchments they had made to cover themselves As soon as our men came near the point of the Hill upon which the Line begins that goes from the Sambre to the Meuse they fir'd very hard with Small-shot out of the â—ascine Work at the end of this Line down the Hill and the Bavarian small Batteries before this Hill fir'd against them The Enemies had made a little Battery of two Guns about half way down the Hâ—ll to bear nearer upon the River but our Batteries from the Sambre soon dislodged the Enemies from hence They made another of two upon the descent of the Hill between the Cohorne and the Ballance for the same purpose Our Soldiers being got at the Foot of the Hill on both sides of the River under the metal of the Enemies Cannon they received little or no damage Being now come near the Ballance our Foot on the Ballance side of the River attackâ—d the Enemies in the Retrenchment of this House and in the mean while the Soldiers in the Boats and those of the Town side of the River made the Bridge and pass'd it The French order'd three Battallions and four Squadrons of Dragoons to come down between the Cohorne and Casotte to fall upon our Men. But the Besieged being attackâ—d at the same time at the Counterscarp of St. Nicholas his Gate they could not spare men enough to hinder us from being Masters of the Ballance which was immediately gained as soon as the Bridge was made over the River and the Detachments the Enemies had made from the top of the Hill between the Cohorn and Casotte where they were incamp'd were only Witnesses to the taking of the Passage without attempting any thing for the defence of it As soon as we had made our selves Masters of this Post we sent a Detachment to the Abbey of Salsen which the Enemies immediately abandoned and we took possession of it with a Captain and 100 men Our loss was very inconsiderable in the gaining of this important Pass we had not above forty men killed and wounded A Captain of the Regiment of Swerin was killed with a Cannon-ball We relieved afterwards this Post every Evening with a considerable number both of Horse and Foot who made a Retrenchment at the end of the Bridge where they were under shot of the Cannon of the Cohorn which could not hurt them The 18th Having gain'd the Counterscarp we began to work at a Battery at the Foot of the Hill to fire against the Half-moon of St. Nicholas and the Bastion de St. Roch which Battery was very near the Glacis The same day the Brandenbourghs having finished their parallel Lines along the Meuse they made a Line of Communication between them which so inclosed the Fauxburg de Jambe and the â—astion of the Meuse Bridge that there was no fear of any more Sallies of that side This gave us such a command of the River all along the Castle and Town that the Marechal de Bousters ordered all the Boats they had under the Town-Wall to be set on fire least they should be serviceable to us to pass and attack the Breach our Batteries had made along the Meuse The Enemies for the farther defence of the Town having lost the Counterscarp made a Retrenchment within the old Tower in the Figure of a Horn-work from the West-end of St. Nicholas his Church to the Meuse Our Batteries play'd very furiously The Brandenburghs from the other side of the Meuse play'd as hard as they could against the Stone Digue that holds up the Water in the Fossé to beat it down and drain the Ditch in order to assault the Breach of the Demy-Bastion and of the Halfmoon â—ut the Digue was so strong and thick that it resisted very much the fury of our Cannon The Reader is to observe that what I call Brandenbuâ—gh Batteries are the Dutch Batteries of the Brandenburgh side for the Brandenburgh Forces had no Battering Pieces here At night â—8 Major General Salisch and my Lord Cutts mounted the Trenches with the Brigade of Guards The Battallion of Scots Guards did Duty at the King's Quarter In the dusk of the Evening we fir'd all our Artillery and Mortars from the Batteries and the small shot from the Trenches
and round the whole Line of Circumvallation three times for the taking of Casal in Italy by the Duke of Savoy and the Allies all the Regiments being drawn out about the Line of Circumvallation for that purpose made a very fine running sire in such a vast compass of Ground The 19th in the Morning we had finished a Battery of seven pieces of Cannon on the Bavarian side upon the highest part of the Hill between the Sambre an the Meuse which play'd very hard to make a Breach upon the Left of the Gate of the Enemies Line In the Evening the Elector of Bavaria made a very great Detachment of the Dutch and Bavarian Troops to the Ballance in order to have attacked the Enemies within their â—ine between the Sambre and the Meuse but because a considerable resistance was expected the King judg'd it too late and deferrâ—d it till the next mornining However the said Detachment lay all night upon their Arms at the Ballance to be ready to fall on in the morning The Enemies who foresaw they could not keep their Line whilst we could attack them within drew away their Cannon from it this night Major-General Lindedeboom mounted the Trenches with Brigad er Fitz-Patrick and the Regiments of Columbine Fusiliers Tidcomb and Stanley The Dutch upon the Left had push'd their Trenches to the Meuse along the Palissades of the covered way and this night they made some Traverses along the narrow Beach under the bank of the River before the point of the Demy Bastion of the Meuse to come at the Foot of the Digue to mine it this Digue joyns the point of the Demy-Bastion to the covered way to damm up the Water in the Fossé The 20th early in the morning being then rainy weather the Detachment we had ready at the Ballance to attack the Enemies in the inside of their Line march'd out for this Enrerprise The Detachment consisted in all of about 8000 men whereof about 40â—0 march'd from the Ballance up the Hill to get in between the Line and the Casotte and the other 4000 march'd from the Line of Circumvallation between the Sambre and the Meuâ—e to attack the Line in Front the Dutch and Bavarians upon the left of the Gate and the Brandenburgh's upon the right The Elector of Bavaria was present in the whole Attack A considerable Detachment of about 1000 Horse and Dragoons was posted between the Ballance and the Abbey of Salsen to hinder the Enemies from sallying this way upon our Men and the ascent of the Hill of Cohorn coverâ—d them pretty well from the Enemies Cannon-shot Major General Suerin commanded the Dutch at the Attack in front of the Line upon the left of the Gate where the Bavarian Battery of 7 pieces of Cannon had began to spoil the parapet The Dutch and Bavarians march'd up from the Ballance in several Lines being coverâ—d on the left Flank with a good Body of Horse and Dragoons towards the Cohorn of which we have now spoken When they came up the Enemies did not long dispute their two Traverses they had made within the Line but retired to the perpendicular Line of Communication between the Line and the Casotte This gave Major-General Swerin opportunity to get over the Line at his Attack and so to joyn and fall upon the Enemies in this Retrenchment of Communication The Brandenburghs at the same time kept the Enemies employâ—d upon the right of the Line towards the Meuse so that they could not so well defend this Communication which they were forced at last to yield and the whole Line being near an English half Mile in length and a prodigious Work cut into the very Rock which cost the Enemies a vast deal of Money and Labour We gain'd this hardly without any loss not having as yet above 20 men kill'd and wounded The Enemies had a Battery of 2 pieces of Cannon upon the descent of the Hill of Cohorn towards Salsen 300 men were detached out of the Bavarian Troops to force the Enemies from this Battery which they disputed a little but when they abandon'd it to retire in the Cohorn we found that they had before sent off the two pieces of Cannon A Dutch Battallion with some Bavarian Dragoons sustained the 30 men detach'd who having forced the Enemy from the Battery pursued them to the covered way of the Cohorn where they went as if they had been to make themselves Masters of the Work but a great many paid for their rashness and perished near the upper point of the covered way of the Cohorn After we had gain'd the Enemies Line we work'd to make a Lodgment within the Line-parallel to the covered way of the Casotte which took up all the top of the Hill between the two Rivers The Enemies disputed the Lodgment very hard making a continual sire from the covered waâ— before the Casotte and with the Cannon they had in this place but we at last finished it which continued in this condition till we besieged the Castle the Guardbeing relieved daily at this Post by a Brigadier and four or five Regiments 'T was in making of this Lodgment and before the Cohorn that we lost most Men which amounted to about 300 men killed and wounded A Captain of the Elector's Guards was killed one of the Elector's Ingeniers and one of his Gentlemen wounded I have not heard of any other Officers of note Thus we took this mighty Work designâ—d to render the Castle impregnable and which would indeed have render'd the attacking of the Castle very difficult if it had been continued down the Hill to the Ballance upon the Sambre for this Passage being once gain'd the Line can be attac'd within which renders it weak and not defensible And since we have made our selves Masters of Namur we have work'd to produce this Line down the Hill to the Ballance to fortifie this Pass of the Sambre The same day 20. we sprung a Mine under the Digue to blow it up to let the Water by the ruining of this Work out of the Fossé but being just upon the River so that we could not get under the Foundation and the Stone-work being very hard it could not have any axtraordinary effect However by this time a great deal of the Digue was beat down and the Water was considerably sunk in the Fossé The King had this Day the unfortunate news of Dixmuyde at which the whole Army was very much concern'd In the Evening Major General Ramsan had the Trenches and Brigadier Selwyn with the Regiments of Collingwâ—od Lauder Ingeldesby and Sanderson 21st The English Battering-pieces which had come from Ghent to Malines by Water came pretty near our Camp under a strong Escorte having been brought by Land from this place and drawn with our own Horses a Horse of a Company being commanded out of all the Regiments upon English Pay In this Siege The Captains were very willing to do this Service and some Colonels sent several Horses more than
of this present Capitulation shall be restor'd of both sides after the full Accomplishment of it Granted And that besides the Besieged shall discover faithfully all their Mines and Fougaces to Persons appointed which shall be but Three and the Besieged shall not commâ—â— any Disorder among nor insult the Inhabitants in quitting the Town Emanuel Elector Guiscard Signed at the Camp before Namur Aug. 4. 1695. New Stile The Evening after the Capitulation sign'd Colonel Lauder took Possession of the Porte de Fer with 500 Men as 't is agreed upon in the Eighth Article putting a Guard in the inner Gate in a Line opposite to the Guard of the Besieged His Majesty was present and the French Officers crowded very much upon the Rampart to see the King asking still where the King was and which was the King After we had Possession of this Gate we began to draw off our Batteries and the Day following in the Morning the Garrison of the Redoubts of St. Fiacre St. Anthony and Pieanoir the two first upon the side of the Hill before the Town between St. Nicolas's Gate and the Porte de Fer and the last at the Foot of the Hill before the Porte de Fer covering the Sluyce of the Brook of Vederin which runs in the Fossè at this Place We found their Falconnets in these Forts which had so gall'd us in our Trenches before the Counterscarp one was of King Henry the Fourth's Reign with his Artillery Devise upon it Ratio ultima regum As soon as the Capitulation was sign'd Count de Nassu-weilbourg Major-General was detach'd with about 22 Squadrons of Horse towards Brussels to join and re-inforce Prince Vaudemont's Army The Elector of Bavaria nam'd the Count de Brouay Governour of Namur till such a time as the King of Spain should approve of him or appoint another this Government with that of Mons the Citadels of Antwerp and Ghendt and the Town of Ostend being always reserv'd to the King 's own Nomination the rest is at the Choice of the Governours of the Low-Countries The 27th the Count de Brouay Governour of Namur and Sergeant-General de Bataille took Possession of the Place with Six Dutch Regiments after the French had withdrawn into the Castle The Town was not much endammag'd by the Siege that Street only which leads to St. Nicolas's Gate being batter'd by our Cannon and Bombs it being impossible to fire 'em so justly always but that some must get into the Town however we avoided it as much as we could And as for the Condition of the Breaches they were such that the Besieged could yet have sustain'd another Assault for the Breach of the Bastion of St. Roch was not yet sufficiently applanish'd to attack it and if it had been carried by Assault the Besieged had still a Fosse and an old Wall within besides the Retrenchment they had made within the old Wall to make their Capitulation But I believe the Truth is they had lost so many Men in the defence of the Town that the Maréchal de Bouflers and Count de Guiscard thought it convenient to reserve the rest for the more necessary defence of the Castle and its strong Appendencies where they expected a certain Relief and therefore they would provide for a good Resistance there to expect it The Garrison marched into the Castle 7000 effective Men having lost about 5000. in Defence of the Town killed wounded and deserted of the last there were a great many and particularly the day that they evacuated the Town several hundreds hid themselves in the Inhabitants Cellars and others got over the Walls near the Gate we had in Possession The French in quitting this place broke the Bridge over the Sambre that leads to the Castle and pulled down all the Houses along the Sambre opposite to the Town to make a good Breast-Work against it The same day we took Possession of the Town Count Nassau Lieutenant-General with Major-Generals Ramsay Salisch and Heukelom Brigadiers Fitzpatrick Selwyn and Lord George Hamilton Frishyem and Heyden were sent away from the Siege with 30. Battalions to march towards Brussels to re-inforce Prince Vaudemont and to make an Army capable for the future to make Head against Villeroy Thirteen of these Battalions were English and seventeen Dutch Six English remained for the Siege of the Castle the Battalion of the second Regiment of English Guards the first Battalion of Dutch Guards Seymour Columbine Stanley and Lauder That day the 30. Battalions Commanded by Count Nassau encamped at Templeux the same place where we encamped the beginning of the Siege The English having left a Horse a Company as before to bring up our Mortars from Louvain to Namur The 28th we marched by Masy to Sombrâ—f and were re-inforced by 32. Squadrons of Horse and Dragoons Commanded by Lieutenant-Generals du Puy and la Forest Lieutenant General du Puy Commanded the Spanish Cavalry and la Forest the King 's and that of the States The 29th we Marched to Genap through the Plains of Fleuri and by Mellâ— we passed by my Lord of Athlone's Camp at â—â—bercey which remained on our right Flank After my Lord of Athlone had consumed the Forrage at Herlaymont Capelle Marimont and about Binch he Marched back to the River Piâ—tâ—n to Pont de Celles where he had Encamped before at the begining of the Siege of Namur From thence when the Town Capitulated he marched to this Camp of Libercey in order to advance towards Prince Vaudemont's Army The same Evening we came to Genap my Lord of Athlone came up to us and took the Command of the Army he brought along with him 80. Squadrons of Horse and Dragoons so that we had now beside the 30. Battalions 112. Squadrons The Cavalry Encamped higher up the Dyle before the Foot and the Foot with the right at Genap and left toward the Abbey of Villers-Perwys with the Causey that goes to Namur before them The 30th my Lord of Athlone took his Quarter in Genap and we halted to observe the motions of the Maréchal de Villeroy who was now advanced as far as Enghien in order to march back and take the Post of Masy if Villeroy should march on to Nivelle or else to be ready to joyn Prince Vaudemont if Villeroy should make towards Brussels In order to this Lieutenant General du Puy was Detach'd with 1000. Horse to observe the motions of the Enemy the 30th and to secure the strong Pass of Braine le Chasteau if we should be obliged to march nearer to Brussels by which the French could otherwise cut off the Communication between us and the Prince and have hindred us from Incamping at Braine-Alleu and Waterlo This brings me back from the Siege of Namur to speak of our Affairs in Flanders and of the motions of Prince Vaudemont and the Enemy's Army We have left Prince Vaudemont Encamped at Oostackre without Antwerp-Porte at Ghendt between the Scheld and the Canal of Sasvan-Ghendt with 18.
Prince's Quarter besides the little River now mention'd with several thick Woods as far as Gemblours and there was no passage from the Enemy into this Camp but by Gemblours Conroy le Chasteau and so to the narrow Plain before our Camp taken up by the Brigades of Fitspatrick and Selwyn which Plain goes from Gemblours to Bessire with a Wood upon the Right and another upon the Left This we took care to fortifie with a Retrenchment from the River of Masy which the Maps call Orne to Prince Vaudemont's Quarter cross this narrow Plain to defend the Passage from Gemblours to our Camp Masy which is a Gentlemen's House just upon the little River now mention'd where it commands a Stone Bridge over it is two Leagues distant from Namur and is the Passage from thence to Brussels Mons and Charleroy And being now so near this Place it brings me to speak of our Progress in the Siege of the Castle Cohorne and other Out-works between the Sambre and the Meuse which render it one of the strongest Fortresses of Christendom We took Possession of the Town as we have said before the 27th of July after the French had all withdrawn into the Castle for the defence of it We quitted likewise the Line of Circumvallation before the Town which of it self with the Sambre and the Posts we had upon it at the Abbey of Salsen and the Ballance did sufficiently invest the Castle Thirty Battalions English and Dutch were sent the same Day out of this Line of Circumvallation to join Prince Vaudemont and the day after 28th the King left his Quarter at Maison rouge to get t'other side of the Sambre at the Abbey of Malogne which hitherto had been the Elector's Quarter he left it to the King and took his Quarter during the Siege of the Castle at a Cloyster of the Carmelites near the Meuse The rest of the Troops before the Town pass'd the Sambre whereof Six were English to be employ'd in the Siege So that we had now before the Castle to carry on the Siege 42 Battalions The English Regiments of Seymour Columbine Stanley and Lauder encamp'd at the Maison Blanche the Duke of Holstein Ploen's Quarter opposite to Flavennes The next Day Collonel Seymour's Regiment mounted in the Line we had made before the Casotte when we gain'd the Stone Line made by the French Captain Congrave of the same Regiment was kill'd And this Day the manner of mounting the Trenches before the Castle was agreed upon That it shou'd be mounted by Detachments of 100 Men out of each Regiment making the Number of 4000 Men besides 700 Men to work commanded by a Major-General a Brigadier Four Collonels Four Lieutenant-Collonels Four Majors and one Major of Brigade 37 Captains 40 Lieutenants and 35 Ensigns The two Battalions of Guards gave none The 30th according to this Regulation Count de Rivera Major-General of the Bavarians mounted the Guard of the Lines and my Lord Cuts Brigadier with the Colonels Lauder Stochausen Marquet and Count d'Enhoff Colonel of the Brandenbourghs who had the Misfortune to be wounded The 31st the King went from hence to my Lord of Athlone's Camp at Waterlo At Night Major-General Arnheim of the Brandenbourgh Troops mounted the Guard with the Prince of Holstein Norbourg Brigadier and Colonels Stanley Sparre Capol and Bekel the last of Brandenbourghs The Enemies still fir'd from the Casotte and cover'd way upon our Line but hitherto with little damage The 1st of August Major-General Lindeboom commanded with Brigadier Dedem and Colonel Seymour commanded the English Detachment We had by this time finish'd several Batteries to fire against the Castle and Cohorne being ready for the Cannon and Mortars The 2d some of the said Batteries began first to play 20 Pieces of Cannon dispos'd in Three Batteries at the Fauxbourg St. Croix upon the Sambre just without Brussels Porte which fir'd against the side of the Cohorne opposite to the Sambre We had another Battery of the Brandenbourgh side of the Meuse to fire against the Lower Town along this River besides several Mortars to incommode the Enemies in the Lower Town and to hinder their coming to the Water-side We had another of 〈◊〉 Haubitz and Four Mortars upon the Left of our Line before the Casotte towards the Sambre But all this did no great damage to the Enemies Major-General Cohorne who had the Management of the Siege of the Castle was preparing another Entertainment for them from the Town For tho' Count Guiscard pretended to deliver up the Town for its Safety and Preservation not that they were forc'd to it by the Necessity of their own Affairs yet it was forgot in the Capitulation wherein there was no Provision made to prevent Hostilities between the Town and Castle as it had been agreed upon in the Capitulation made with the French when they took it At Night Major-General Sweryn commanded with my Lord Cuts Brigadier and Colonel Columbine of the English We open'd the Trench this Night before the Cohorne in two places to make two parallel Lines for our Approaches between the Cohorne and the Sambre The first upon the Right was open'd at the Left of our Line against the Casotte producing it down the Hill towards the Sambre The second upon the Left where the English mounted was open'd in the Descent of the Hill nearer to the Sambre A Brandenbourgh Major was wounded this Night The 2d in the Evening His Majesty came back to the Siege from the Camp at Waterlo by Brussels and the next Morning his Electoral Highness went to see the Elect'ress that had miscarried upon the Approach of the French before Brussels and to be present to give his Orders during the bombarding The same Day Major-General la Cave of the Brandenbourgh Forces reliev'd the Trenches with the Prince of Holstein Norbourg Brigadier and Colonel Lauder I shall omit the Names of the other Colonels being Forraigners and unknown in England We continu'd to advance our Trench upon the Right down the Hill and the other upon the Left nearer to the Sambre between which we began to work at a Line of Communication The Besieged had Three Fauconets or Drakes within the Pallisado's of the Casotte to fire upon our Workmen from whence they would sometimes detach small Pellotoons of Men to incommode our Work The 4th Major-General Rivera and Brigadier Dedem mounted the Trenches Colonel Stanley commanded the English We advanc'd our Trenches near 250 Paces which Work we travers'd with Fascines to hinder it from being flock'd by the Enemy On the other side of the Meuse opposite to the foot or first precinct of the Terra nova at the bottom of the Hill we open'd a Battery of 17 Pieces of Cannon to fire against the Lower Town and the Horn-work of Bale We re-inforc'd at the same time our Battery before Brussels Porte at Sancte Croix against the side of the Cohorne Upon the Right of all towards the Meuse where our great Line
against the Works of the Castle finishes we plac'd three 12 Pounders in the room of three others of a lesser Calibre to fire in the Lower Town which lay open to our view from this Place Lieutenant Wallis of the Royal Regiment one of our Engineers that serv'd in the Siege of the Castle was wounded this Night The other English Engineers were Major Blood then of Colonel Seymour's Regiment now Lieutenant-Colonel to Sir Matthew Bridges his Regiment known before for his Services of this kind in Ireland Captain Burgh of the Royal Regiment Son to the late Lord-Bishop of Ardagh and Lieutenant Richards of Brigadier Selwyn's Regiment Brother to Colonel Richards who all gave very good Proofs of their Abilities in this kind The 5th we produc'd our Trenches 100 Paces turning the Line to the Left towards the Sambre and the Point of the Cohorne where we made an Angle saillant turning again a little to the Right which we advanc'd 100 Paces more About 60 Dragoons sallied out of the Cohorne which at first put our Workmen in some disorder but they were immediately rally'd by the Care of the Officers The Enemies plac'd this Day Three Fauconnets oâ— Drakes upon the point of the Cover'd-way of the Cohorne which looks towards the Sambre to incommode us from hence in our Lines A Bomb fell this Day in the Casotte which put fire to some Grenades not without some damage to the Enemies Major-General Arnheim commanded the Trenches this Night with the Prince of Anhalt Brigadier of the English Colonel Seymour The 6th we advanc'd our Trench upon the Left 170 Paces and that upon the Right considerably to bring both between the side of the Cohorne and the Sambre But the Rain was very troublesome to us at this time which coming down in Torrents from the top of the Hill fill'd our Trenches with Water which were made upon the side of it The Enemy work'd at anouter Line before the Cover'd-way of the Ravelin of the Cohorne upon the Descent of the Hill and indeed from the taking of the Town to this time they have still been making new Retrenchments down the Hill before the Cover'd-way of the Cohorne They plac'd Three Pieces of Cannon more in one of these Trenches to fire upon our Works for the Cannon of the Cohorne being considerably high upon the Hill could not bear down upon our Trenches for which reason they were oblig'd to make these Retrenchments lower without the Cover'd-way Major-General Lindeboom had the Trenches this Night with the Duke of Holstein Norbourg Brigadier and Colonel Columbine of the English We began at this time to work at several Batteries within the Town some along the Sambre and others upon the Rampart between the Porte de Fer and the Sambre which were to fire over the Town upon the Terra nova Upon which the Maréchal de Boufflers threaten'd to lay the Town in Ashes if we should offer to make any Batteries from thence But 't was reply'd of our side That above 500 Sick and Wounded which they had still in our Hospitals which could not be transported to Dinant where we had sent above 1600 since the Town was taken should answer for it This Answer besides that they could only do Mischief to the Town if we would sacrifice it without hindering our Batteries made them civil and never offer'd to fire in the Town but where they saw us work to attack them The 7th we began to draw a Line of Communication from the upper Trench upon the Right to the lower upon the Left We advanc'd the upper Trench with an Angle saillant towards the side of the Cohorne we continued to work at our new Batteries in the Town and re-inforc'd the old ones with several Pieces of Cannon and Mortars Major-General Swerin reliev'd the Trenches this Night with Brigadier Dedem and Colonel Lauder of the English The 8th the Elector of Bavaria return'd to the Siege from Brussels Major-General la Cave commanded the Trenches and Brigadier Horne of Brandenbourgh with Colonel Stanley of the English The Rain hinder'd us this Night from advancing our Works so that we only apply'd our selves to put what we had done in a better defence Our Works were now brought near the Enemy which made them fire very briskly upon us both with Cannon and Small-shot The 9th Major-General Rivera and my Lord Cuts Brigadier mounted the Trenches and Colonel Seymour of the English In the Evening a French Officer was taken swimming down the Meuse endeavouring to get into the Place He came from Dinant and had swam a great way to come undiscovered in the beginning of the Night He deny'd that he had any particular Commission but that his Regiment was in the Place and that he endeavour'd to repair to his Post About Midnight the Enemies made a Sally of 200 Dragoons and 600 Grenadiers Major-General Rivera commanded the Right Trench and my Lord Cuts the Left Major General Rivera had plac'd a Captain and 60 Men without the Trench upon the Right to lie down upon their Arms and to have Centries to observe the Enemy to prevent surprisal My Lord Cuts had done the same upon the Left The Centries of the Right gave notice That they saw a Body of Men coming down the Hill from the Casotte Upon which we stood all to our Arms in our Trenches and made some Detachments without to oppose to the Enemies The French Grenadiers came down with a mighty Fury making a great Noise as soon as they came near our Works to strike a Terror amongst our Men but we were ready for them which they found by the briskness of our fire The Van of the Enemies would then have retreated the same way they came but being hinder'd by those that sustain'd them they were oblig'd to turn to the Right where they fell into the fire of the Out guards we had plac'd to cover our Trenches The Dragoons sallied much about the same time with the Grenadiers out of the Castle coming between the Cohorne and the Sambre where they fell among the Out-guards plac'd by my Lord Cuts to cover our Left Trench We had then as we had every Night a Body of Dragoons commanded by a Major between our Left Trench and the Abbey of Salsen this Night they were Spaniards commanded by Major Zuniga My Lord Cuts brought him up immediately with his Body to succour our Men where he fell upon the Enemies Dragoons and pursued them to the very Palisiades of the Castle making a considerable Slaughter among them The Major had his Horse shot under him in this Action for which and for his considerable Service at this time his Majesty sent him a Horse out of his Stable the next Day with rich Furniture and a very fine Sword We had in this Occasion but Four English One Brandenbourgh and Three Dutch Soldiers killâ—d One English Ensign and Seven Soldiers One Bavarian Lieutenant and one Soldier one Major one Lieutenant and 17 Brandenburgh Soldiers one Dutch
Ensign and 11 Soldiers wounded We continued this Day 9th to work with great vigour upon our new Batteries in the Town from whence we expected the Success of this Siege for hitherto we had done no damage to the Enemies Works and had only advanc'd our Trenches The 10th the Enemies beat a Parley to reclaim some considerable Officers they had lost the Night before if Prisoners or to have leave to look for their Bodies among the Dead At Night Major-General Arnheim commanded in the Trenches with the Prince of Anhalt Brigadier and Colonel Columbine of our Forces We perfected this Night our Communication between the upper and the lower Trench Prince Vaudemont came and encamp'd at Masy this Evening as has been said before The 11th early in the Morning we open'd all the Batteries we had made in the Town which made a most terrible noise and no doubt caus'd a great Disorder and Consternation among the Enemies for the Bombs play'd incessantly in all their Works and from all sides so that the Besieged could hardly stirr without running the hazard of being wounded or knock'd on the Head with our Bombs that were still showring down among them Our Batteries were made along the Sambre the first at the Village of Sainte Croix where we had 20 Guns dispos'd in Two Batteries the next in the Sambre and Brussels's Bastions these fir'd against the side of the Cohorne towards the River to make a breach Some from the Brussel's Bastion fir'd against the Courtin of the Terra nova which comes down the Hill towards the Sambre Several other Batteries were made upon the very Bank of the Sambre within the Town upon the Wall they have along this River which fir'd very furiously upon the â—fore-said Courtin of the Terra nova We had some other Batteries of a lesser Calibre the others being generally 24 Pounders dispos'd upon the Walk or Chemin des rondes of the Courtin between the Porte de Fer and that of Brussels these fir'd in reverse over the Town and the River upon the ascent of the Terra nova and old Castle which over-looks the Town and lay open to our view which very much incommoded the Enemies for they could hardly stir in the Castle without being seen and all the Houses in it lay expos'd to this Cannon Our Mortars were dispos'd up and down in several Courts and Gardens along the Sambre where the Houseâ— or Walls serv'd for Blinds to cover them some in the Governour 's Garden and in the Court of his House which is a very stately Fabrick built by the Prince of Barbarâ—â—n others in the Jesuits-Garden and in that of the Ursuline Nuns others in the Garden of the Refuge and the Court of the Arsenal and most of the Lanes which go to the Sambre had Mortars or Haubitz these are little Mortars which have under a Foot diameter in them cover'd with Blinds The Batteries from the Brandenburgh Quarter of the other side of the Mâ—use play'd with equal Fury against the Lower Town and Horn-work of Bulâ— to ruine the Work and to incommode the Enemies who had their Stables and Stores in the Lower Town along the Meuse and a great many both Officers and Soldiers were quarter'd here being more under cover 'T was computed that we had now 136 Pieces of Cannon dispos'd in several Batteries against the Castle and Out-works and 50 Mortars and Haubitz which from this Day till the Surrender of the Castle play'd without Intermission And this being the first Day that we open'd our Batteries to make a breach we may reckon that we have carry'd the Castle with all its prodigious Out-works in 11 Days having capitulated the 22d The Besieged had 9 Pieces of Cannon and 3 Mortars with which they endeavour'd to incommode us in our Batteries in the Town but they were soon silenc'd Monsieur de Rondeau formerly Governour of the Castle for the King of Spain and 82 Years old was kill'd this Day by one of these Cannons Prince Vaudemont having encamp'd with his Army at Masy the over-night the King went this day to his Camp who with the Elector had hitherto gone twice a day in the Trenches to visit our Approaches and to give their Directions At Night Major-General Lindeboom and the Duke of Holstein-Norburg Brigadier mounted the Trenches with Colonel Buchan of our National Forces the Regiments of Seymour Columbine Stanley and Lauder having been reliev'd this Day by the Regiments of Courthop Mackay Friderick Hamilton and Buchan from the Camp at Masy The 12th our Batteries continu'd with the same Fury they had began Yesterday and we found that they play'd to the purpose for they had already tore up the side of the Cohorne and the descending Courtin of the Terra nova where they had made breach in so little time Major-General Swerin and Brigadier Dedem mounted the Trenches with Colonel Mackay of our Forces The 13th Major-General la Cave and Brigadier Horne with Colonel Friderick Hamilton commanding our Forces mounted the Trenches The 14th Major-General Rivera my Lord Cuts Brigadier and Colonel Courthop The 15th Major-General Arnheim the Prince of Anhalt Brigadier and Colonel Buchan These Four Days our Artillery and Mortars continu'd as before and widen'd very much the Breaches and struck such a Terror among the Enemies that they kept close hardly daring to shew their Heads over their Works for which reason we lost but very few Men in our Trenches having had but 2 killed and 9 wounded the 4 last Days in which we advanc'd our Trenches considerably having brought them now under the side of the Cohorne between it and the Sambre The Enemies were Masters of a Half-moon upon the side of the Sambre at the foot of the bottom which runs down between the Terra nova and the Cohorne This was made for an Out-work to the Town formerly before the Cohorne was built for which Reason it faces outwards towards the Hill of the Cohorne Our Trenches being now so far advanc'd between the Cohorne and the Sambre it was thought fit to dislodge the Enemies from it This Place was so much under the command of our Batteries along the Sambre on the Town side that the Enemies did not dare to shew themselves in it We put a Detachment in a Bilander at the Abbey of Salsen which came down the River to attack this Post but upon the approach of our Men the Enemies made little Resistance and deliver'd it up a Lieutenant and 17 Men were made Prisoners in it having liv'd in the Vault several Days without appearing The Brandenbourghers at the same time made another Attack to dislodge the Enemies out of some Houses they had along the Meuse just without the Gate of the Horn-work of Bulé upon the way that goes to Givet from whence they beat the Enemy with little or no loss and made some Prisoners The Maréchal de Villeroy being now expected for the Relief of the Castle of Namur Orders were given to fortifie the Avenues of
In the Evening Major-General Swerin commanded the Trenches with Brigadier Dedem and Colonel Friderick Hamilton The Breaches being now considerable the Enemies work'd hard every Night to make Retrenchments and Traverses within the Breaches of the Terra nova and Cohorne and our Bombs playing without intermission in these Works did no doubt kill them a great many Men. The 18th Major-General la Cave had the Trenches and Brigadier Horne with Colonel Courthop of the English Our Artillery from all Parts continu'd its usual Fury and the Enemies whilst we work'd in our Trenches still us'd their Machines to interrupt our Men they tumbl'd down Six Bombs this Night but with as little effect as before The 19th upon expectation that the Maréchal de Villeroy would attack the King's Army the Elector waited upon his Majesty But Villeroy having thought it more convenient to let it alone the King with the Elector and Prince Vaudemont and other chief Generals concerted the Assault for the next Day A MEMOIR of the General Attack made upon the CASTLE of NAMUR The Disposition of this Attack was as follows MY Lord Cutts with 3000 English was to attack the Counterscarp and Breach of the Terra nova and that part of the Line of Communication between the Cohorne and the Terra nova which was next to the Terra nova The Count de Rivera was to attack the Breach of the Cohorne and that part of the aforesaid Line of Communication next the Cohorne with 3000 Bavarians and others Major General la Cave was to attack on the Right of Count Rivera with 2000 Brandenburghers the upper point of the Cohorne and part of the Communication to the Casotte Major-General Swerin was to attack the Casotte with 2000 Dutch and at the same a time Colonel was to attack the Lower Town with 600 Men. The Signal was to be a considerable Quantity of Powder blown-up upon the old Battery near the Brussels Port and the Word of Battle given by the Elector of Bavaria was God-with-us The Directions given by the Elector of Bavaria to the aforesaid General Officers that were to Command the respective Attacks in chief were as follows That a certain Number of Men should be commanded in each Attack upon the Forlorn-hope another Number to sustain them and the rest to be upon the Reserve and as to Particulars he left it to each General Officer commanding an Attack in chief to do as his own Judgment and the Occasion should direct him only it was order'd that Count Rivera's Attack and those upon the Right of him should begin some Minutes before the English Attack because that was like to be the most difficult The Lord Cutts the Night before the Attack receiv'd a Detachment from the King of 1000 chosen Men which were to be part of his 3000 For His Majesty was now at the head of the Confederates Army and had left my Lord Cutts to command all the English that stay'd with the Duke of Bavaria to carry on the Siege It was order'd by the Duke of Bavaria the Night before the Action That all the Troops design'd for the several Attacks should march into the Trenches before Day there to lie undiscover'd till the Hour of the Signal The Lord Cutts in pursuance of this Order march'd into the Trenches with his Men some Hours before Day but there not being room enough to cover all his Men he was forced to place Three Regiments at the Abbey of Salsen which was the nearest Place to the Trenches where they could lie undiscover'd The Disposition which my Lord Cutts made for the English was as follows He commanded 4 Sergeants each with 15 Men promising in His Majesty's Name Advancement to the Sergeants and Rewards to the private Men if they did their Duty to go upon the Forlorne Hope These were to be follow'd by the Grenadiers of the Guards under the Command of Colonel Evans and those by the rest of the Grenadeers design'd for the Attack of the Breach making in all 700 under the Command of a Colonel 300 Grenadeers were order'd to attack the Line of Communication Colonel Courthop and Colonel Mackay's Regiments were order'd to sustain those that attack'd the Breach Colonel Hamilton and Colonel Buchan's Regiments were to make the Reserve And that this might be the better perform'd it was order'd that the Regiments of Mackay Hamilton and Buchan which were plac'd at the Abbey of Salsen should immediately after the Signal given march to the Place of Action and draw up-behind the Regiment of Courthop there to receive further Orders About Noon or soon after the Attack was begun the English marching out of the Trenches drew up under the Enemies Fire and notwithstanding they had 900 Paces to march before they came to the Breach expos'd all the way to the Enemies great and small shot which fir'd sorely upon their Flank all the way they went on with a great deal of firmness and resolution Immediately after the Grenadeers follow'd Colonel Courthop's Regiment with Drâ—â—â—eating and Colours flying The 〈◊〉 of this Attack look'd very hopeful but the Three Regiments at Salsen not marching so soon as was intended either by a failure or mistake in the Signal the English Troops that were already engag'd were over-power'd by the Numbers of the Enemies and that which contributed to their Misfortune was the Count de Rivera's being shot dead upon the spot the Count de Marsilly who commanded the 600 Men that were to attack the Line of Communication next the Cohorne with his Lieutenant-Colonel being both immediately shot dead Colonel Courthop being likewise shot dead and his Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Bridges desperately wounded most of the Officers of the Grenadeers being kill'd or wounded particularly Captain Mitchel of the Guards shot dead and Colonel Evans desperately wounded my Lord Cutts receiving a shot in his Head which disabl'd him for some time the Count de Mercy Colonel Windsor Colonel Stanhop Mr. Thompson and several other Gentlemen who went Voluntiers with my Lord Cutts in this Action being wounded and totally disabled And Count Rivera's Attack not beginning quite so soon as was intended by reason of the aforesaid Mistake of the Signal all the Fire of that part of the Cohorne which was next the Terra nova fell upon the English which had been otherwise employed if every thing had succeeded as was intended After some time the 3 Regiments from Salsen arriv'd but things were then in such a Posture that they were forced to begin a new Attack instead of sustaining that already begun For Count Nogent and Monsieur L'Abadié were by this time come down by Order of the Maréchal de Boufflers as we were afterwards inform'd by the French Commanders in the space which is between the Cohorne and Terra nova with 1200 Foot and Dragoons all fresh Men whereof 200 were of the Dragoons of the French King's Houshold and with these Troops they charg'd our Forces in Flank and Rear which were already in the middle
Lieutenant d' Aneau kill'd in Seymour's Lieutenant Campbel kill'd in Columbine's Captain Cummins kill'd Lieutenant Twinhoe wounded in the Fusiliers Captain Groves and Lieutenant Rainsford wounded in Tidcomb's Lieutenant Sowell wounded in Stanley's Lieutenant Mordant kill'd in Ingoldsby's Captain Parry kill'd in Saunderson's Lieutenant Midlemore kill'd in Maitland's Lieutenant Arthurs wounded All these were Officers of Grenadeers There were yet some others of the same whose Names I could not get The Loss of the Four Regiments concern'd in the Attack was as follows In Colonel Courthop's Regiment the Colonel Captain Coot and Lieutenant Evans kill'd Sir Matthew Bridges Lieutenant-Colonel who now has the Regiment wounded Captains Wolf and du Bourguay Lieutenants Disbordes and Ash Ensigns Foncebran Eyres and Denis with 101 Soldiers kill'd and 149 wounded In Colonel Friderick Hamilton's Regiment Lieutenant-Colonel Ormsby Captains Purefoy Pinsent and Carteret Lieutenants Fitsmorris and Ramme Ensigns Fettyplace Blunt Baker and Hayter kill'd Captain John Southwel and Ensign Lister dead of their Wounds Colonel Friderick Hamilton Captains Kane du Roure Seymour and William Southwel Lieutenants la Planche Brereton Hybert Arphaxad Râ—leston Ensigns John Gifford Ormsby and Blackney wounded Soldiers kill'd 86 wounded 185. In Colonel Mackay's Regiment Captain Catenberg Ensign Macdoâ—gal kill'd Major Cunningham Captains Cunningham Mackenzy Camerone and Bruce Lieutenants Macleod Monro Dickson and Wilson Ensigns Neil Macleod Monro John Macleod Macdonald Gordon and Martyn wounded Sergeants and Soldiers kill'd 73. wounded 166. In Colonel Buchan's Regiment Captains Johnston Baily and Wear Lieutenant Bailly kill'd Lieutenant-Colonel Guilliams Captains Dalham Cassin and Orach Lieutenants Levingston and Windram Ensigns Gordon Lesley and Urguhart wounded Soldiers and Sergeants kill'd 65 wounded 140. The Loss in these 4 Regiments of Officers and Soldiers kill'd and wounded being join'd together amounts to 1028. besides the Grenadiers which I 'm sure had near 300 kill'd and wounded So that the whole Loss of His Majesty's Forces concern'd in this Action amounted to about 1400 Men tho' most Prints that speak of this Business make the whole Loss of the Allies to come to little more than this 'T is true that the other Forces concern'd in the Attacks of the Cohorne and Casotte did not suffer near so much as we did or rather their Loss was but inconsiderable except the Dutch and Bavarians employ'd in the Attack of the Breach of the Cohorne under Major-General Rivera who had many both Officers and Soldiers kill'd and wounded and if the Loss of all the rest of the Allies put together be suppos'd equal to that we sustain'd we must have had in all kill'd and wounded in this Action near 3000 Men. We had a great many Voluntiers to signalize themselves in this Occasion If I could have got a List of all these worthy Gentlemen I would have mention'd them in this Place What Loss the Enemies sustain'd particularly in this Attack is not known no more than in any of the others but we need not doubt but such an Attack which lasted so long and where our Bombs play'd at the same time incessantly in their Works must destroy them a great many Men. This Night 30th Major-General Arnheim had the Trenches with the Prince of Anhalt Brigadier We work'd all Night to strengthen and fortifie the great Lodgment we had made the Day before To return to the two Armies in presence of one another the one to endeavour to relieve the Besieged and the other to cover the Besiegers Villeroy had been the Day before to visit our Posts at St. Denis and though he began then to apprehend the great Difficulty there was to attack us in our strong Posts and the apparent Hazard of a Battel yet to endeavour all Ways possible to relieve the Place he order'd the Army in the Morning 20th to march upon the Left towards Perwys to try a Passage at the Springs of the Mehaigne the Country being more open thereabouts The King who expected this Motion of the Enemies order'd in the Morning our Cavalry of the Right under the Command of Velt-Marechal Fleming and Count d' Arco with Lumley's Brigade to march on upon the Right towards the Mehaigne The Hesse Troops made the same Motion and they all encamp'd with a Wood upon their Right their Left towards the Village of Du and that of Ypigny's before them Lieutenant-General la Forest was detach'd at the same time with 20 Squadrons of Horse to Taviers and Bonef upon the Mehaigne to observe the Enemies March who came early in the Afternoon to their Camp near the Mehaigne Lieutenant-General la Forest continu'd in his Post till the Left Wing of the Enemies Horse which upon this March had the Van of the Army was come up to the Ground which extended it self along the River between Ramelies and Harlue and Taviers upon the Mehaigne As soon as the Left Wing was come up they detach'd about 40 Squadrons of Horse and Dragoons to beat us out of the Post of Bonef But la Forest who was here posted had Orders not to dispute it but only to observe the Enemies March and abandon it the Enemies being so near and so much superior to him in number this occasion'd some disorder in his Retreat The Detachment of Dopf and Eppinger's Dragoons that had been posted in some Hedges to make good our Retreat were forc'd out of it and the Enemies having gain'd the Pass endeavour'd to flank our Horse which march'd off in two Columns and to surround them with their Line of Squadrons However after some Skirmishes on both sides our Cavalry made their Retreat good Major Crowther commanded a Squadron of Brigadier Lumley's Regiment in this occasion with which he fac'd about in the Retreat and with some others skirmish'd with the Enemies The French expected that this would bring both Armies to a Battel and the Princes of the Blood put themselves at the Head of the Cavalry to shew a good Example in so important an Action The Duke du Maine had a Horse kill'd under him the Marquis de Villequier was dangerously wounded On our side the Major of Eppinger's Dragoons was kill'd and Lieutenant Alexander of Brigadier Lumley's Regiment was made Prisoner and we lost about 10 Horses The French made much of this inconsiderable Success an Express was immediately dispatch'd to give an Account of it to Court They had already broke in upon our Right Wing of Horse and nothing less was expected by the next Courier than the Defeat and Rout of our Army and the Relief of Namur nay the thing was thought so sure that 't was immediately communicated to Foreign Ministers as 't is credibly reported This also contributed very much to the Oppression of our Dixmuyde and Deinse Prisoners who were now very ill treated and abused though afterwards the Pretext was for Reprisal of their Sick and Wounded in the Town of Namur which they pretended were not well us'd among us Some of the most hot-Headed of our National Enemies abroad would then tell the Soldiers
and Horse-Granadiers were ordered to their Winter-Quarters the first to Breda and the last to Boisleduc The 23th the Dutch Artillery march'd to Malines its usual Winter Quarter under the Convoy of the Regiments of Seymour and Collingwood to be quarter'd there and some Dutch Regiments going to the Frontiers of Holland Colonel Collingwood's Regiment afterwards was sent to Ghent and Colonel Trelawnyes to Malines where it had been formerly This day the Elector had notice that the French Army had broke up the day before not to go yet into Quarters but to Canton in the Villages between the †A little River which falls into the Scheld at Escanaâ—â—e Ronne and the Scheld Villeroy having his Quarter at Cordes upon which the Garrisons of Ghendt and Bruges Ostend Camerlings Ambacht and Canal of Bruges march'd the 24. towards their respective Winter-Quarters with the remainder of the English Train of Artillery and Foot under the Command of the Duke of Wirtemberg Count Nassau c. the Horse under the Command of Monsieur d' Auverquerque We incamp'd this day upon the Dender which we passed at Alost at Arenbodeghem The 25th at Mallem near Ghent where the Artillery and Garrison began to march into Quarters the next day The Garrisons of Bruges Ostend c. march'd on under the Command of Major General Ramsay to their Winter-Quarters as the Ten Battallions of Foot and Two of Dragoons Incamp'd at Bellem upon this Canal had done some days before Sir Henry Bellasis who Commanded them went to the Hague to receive His Majesties Instructions about the Tryal of the Officers concern'd in the Capitulations of Dixmuyde and Deinse being appointed President of the High Court Marshal to try them For about this time the foresaid Garrisons were set at liberty by the French Kings Order and come to Ghendt but the Officers Commanding the respective Regiments of these Garrisons were either Confin'd in Ghent or sent Prisoners to the Sas van Ghendt Major-General Ellembergh Governour of Dixmuyde was among the last These Garrisons were sent back with the usual Fidelity of the French they still retain'd those whom by their ill usage and infraction of the Cartel and Capitulation they had forc'd to take on in their Service 'T is true as 't is said that they publisht by Beat of Drum in several of their Frontier Garrisons that those who had so been Listed among them had liberty to return but they took care that none of the Parties concern'd should have any benefit by it however many of these forc'd Soldiers have deserted back to us this Summer as English Scots and Danes and do Desert dayly The 26th the Elector left the Army at St. Quintin Linneck to go to Brussels and the 27th the Duke of Holstein Ploen and the rest of the Army here separated into Winter Quarters The same day His Majesty came from Loo to the Hague with Prince Vaudemont and the 28th the Elector of Brandenbourgh who had been retarded at Cleves by some extraordinay Business and so could not come to Loo The State of our Army in Flanders was resolv'd upon here for the next Campagne and to Augment considerably our Forces whereby notwithstanding the great preparations of the Enemies and their new Levyes we may still be proportionably Superiour to them in the Field and pursue that Success which it has pleased God to give us the last Summer over our Enemies to advance the great and necessary work of asserting our Liberties and the Liberties of all Christendom the only end of our Just and Righteous Cause and thereupon to ground a firm lasting and happy Peace which if we maintain that Power over our Enemies it has pleas'd God to give us the last Campagne we need not doubt of effecting very speedily One thing is certain That if the Allies Money holds out as long as that of the French Kings as 't is very reasonable to think it should his Forces must fail before ours for he has only France and his Conquests with part of Switzerland to recruit his Forces and to make new Levyes but the Allies have all the rest of Christendom for an Inexhaustible Supply to make up their Armies The King having spent some days in Conferences with the Elector of Brandenbourgh and States-General concerning this Important Work Sailed the 9th for England where His Majesty Arriv'd the 10th at Margate and lay that Night at Canterbury and so His Majesty came the next day to Kensington being every where receiv'd by His good and loving Subjects with all the demonstration of the greatest Joy imaginable for the preservation of His Sacred Person amidst all the Dangers to which the King has expos'd Himself and for the great Success of his Arms during the Campagne which next under God is due to His Majesty Though our Armies were separated into Winter-Quarters Octob. yet the Enemies still continued to Canton up and down the Countrey near their Lines to cover their new Works here and at Courtray The First of October the French Army Quarter'd along the Ronne passed the Scheld and canton'd along their Lines between the Lys and the Scheld and the 2d they passed the Lys by Courtray to Canton between the Lys and the Mandel where they continued till about the 18th of October that the Merechal de Villeroy went to Court and the Army into Quarters but upon their passage of the Lys to Canton along the River Mandel they made a Detachment of all their Forces design'd to quarter near the Sea to form a Body near Furnes which gave us some Jealousie for Newport and upon this Motion the Duke of Wirtemberg drew out 125 Men out of every Regiment of Foot of our Forces besides the Regiments of Fairfax Danish Guards and Packmore intire which made a Body of about Ten Thousand Men and Incamp'd with a small Train of Artillery sent from Ghent for that purpose upon the Sandhills near Newport for the safety of that place But it does not appear that the Enemies had any other design than to make some new Works about Furnes and Kenoque which the Marechal de Villeroy came to view and the Fortifications of Dunkirk before his going to Court The Weather was extraordinary fair and favourable more than is usual at this time of the Year which I suppose kept the Enemies out so much the longer The 22th the Duke of Wirtemberg with the Detachment under his Command returned from the Neighbourhood of Newport back into Winter-Quarters after the Enemies had separated on their side Sir Henry Bellasis having receiv'd His Majesties Instructions at the Hague came to Ghent the beginning of October to be President of the Council of War appointed for the Tryal of the Commanding Officers in the Garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deinse which sat at the Golden Apple a great Inne in Ghent where all the said Officers were brought and detain'd Prisoners The Council of War began to sit the 9th Composed of Sir Henry Bellasiss Lieutenant-General