which his Majesty of Poland took his place consisted of Horse and was commanded amongst other Officers by Tyskewitz Great Cup-bearer of Lithuania The Body of Reserve was commanded by Colonel Meydel Great Master of the Game and by Colonel Enhoff Starroste of Sokal and was composed of the Horse of Grudzinski and Rozraceuski and of the Foot of Prince Charles Brother to the King and of Koniespolski's and Colonel Du Plessis a Frenchman The Baggage and Ammunition was left in the Camp which was intrenched on one side and defended on the other by the Town and the River The King had left some Companies of Foot therein for a Guard who appeared afar of much more numerous then they were by reason of their Lances which by the Kings Orders the Huzzars had left to them every one of which had a Red Penon or Little Streamer at the end and when they were all drawn up in order made a very fair show The Sun dispersing the Mist which till that time had covered the Army it appeared to the Enemy like a beautiful perspective on a Theatre when the Curtain is drawing up who were surprised at their number and good order notwithstanding their Army was more numerous and covered all the Countrey as far as could be seen The Tartars possessed themselves of divers little Hills from whence there was an easie descent and filled up all the space in form of an Half-Moon They had the Cossacks on their Right Hand opposite to the Left Wing of the Polish Army with whom were also joyned some Squadrons of Tartars and near to them was the Tabor of the Cossacks composed of divers Ranks of Chariots in the middle of which were part of their Forces able to sustain all assaults whatsoever The two Armies being thus placed all the morning was spent in light skirmishes but the King doubting lest that the intention of the enemies was to amuse them with these small combats and to set upon them the night following when by reason of the darkness they might the better surprize them he prohibited all his Soldiers upon pain of death from stirring out of their places without order and commanded all the Bridges to be broken down which were built over the Ster that they might not be set upon behind and by this means to ingage his own Soldiers to perform their utmost all hopes of escaping being cut off and that the rest of the day might not be spent unprofitably which was scarce sufficient for a general Battel between two such numerous Armies he began to salute the Enemies with the Cannon at the head of his Army and so from time to time to discharge against them as they drew nearer to those Eminencies whereon the Tartars were placed Divers seeing the day so far spent were of opinion that the Fight should be deferred till the next morning but others insisted much upon the contrary fearing lest the Cossacks might fall upon the Polish Army in the night with their Tabor which they had extraordinarily reinforced and might therewithal constrain them to quit their Camp His Majesty therefore caused the Duke of Wisnowitz to begin the charge with twelve Troops of old Soldiers backed by the Palatine of Podolia with the Auxiliaries of the Palatinates of Cracovia Sendomir Lencicia and Przemistia the Cossacks received them briskly and the conflict lasted near an hour all which time the smoak and dust made them invisible to the rest of the Army and as the Poles began to give way they were timely assisted by fresh Forces which the King sent them upon whose arrival the Cossacks were driven into their Tabor together with the Tartars who ingaged them upon a rising Ground In the mean time the King marched against the great Body of the Tartars the Right Wing staying near a Wood side to hinder the design of many of their enemies who were in Ambush with intention to compass in the Polish Army in the heat of the Battel The King kept the Artillery still before him which Priemski caused to be discharged very opportunely and with great success So that they obliged the Tartars to leave the foot of the Hill and by degrees made themselves masters also of the top after they had sustained the discharges of the Janissaries Carbines who accompanied them In this place His Majesty of Poland was in great danger of his life having four Bullets shot from some pieces which the Tartars had by a Wood side passing very near him and one of them falling at his feet but the Poles soon returned them the like For Otuinouski Interpreter to his Majesty of Poland for the Turkish and Tartar Languages assuring them that the Cham was there in person where they saw the great White Standard The King ordered a piece of Cannon to be so levelled that the first shot took one of the Principal Officers who stood near the Cham which disturbed and frighted him so much that he thought not farther of any thing but retreating that part of his Army which had been driven from the Hill followed him also having left some Squadrons behind to disguise his retreat and amuse the Polanders for some time But they were soon put to their shifts and the Poles pursued them a League and a half till the Night and the swiftness of their Bacmates or Tartar Horses secured them yet they left many in their retreat wounded and slain which they were used to carry off and to burn in their march when they had leisure esteeming it abominable to leave the dead Bodies of their Friends in the hands of Christians They left also much of their equipage as Vestes Saddles Cimitars Chariots and the Tent and Standard of their Cham and his little Silver Drum guilded over and covered with a Skin which serves him for a Bell. Divers Polanders who had been Slaves to those Infidels did here recover their Liberty but many others were killed by them when they saw they could not carry them away with them in their retreat which was so hasty that they travelled Ten French Leagues the same day The King after he had sent out divers Troops of Horse in pursuit of the Tartars went with the rest of his Army against the Tabor of the Cossacks where they were still in great numbers and had Forty pieces of Ordnance which played continually Kmielniski was retreated with the Tartars in hopes to engage them again to fight but he could by no means perswade them to it but on the contrary was very ill treated by the Cham and reproached as one that had cheated him and not made known the true state of the Polish Army but had made him believe they were not above Twenty thousand and therefore he threatned to send him to the King of Poland in exchange for those Murza's which were Prisoners there and would not let him go free till he had sent order to Czeherin to deliver up a considerable sum of Money and part of the Booty which he had formerly taken
House of the Geereys shall be extinct The Religion of the Praecopian Tartars being Mahumetan and their Language the Turkish together with their nearness to Constantinople the Government also is very like to that of the Turks the Cham's first Minister of State is called the Vizier the same as the Grand Signior's they have also Priests and Caditi's to doe justice for the administration of which they have no other Code but the Alcoran and no other interpreter of that but their own common Sense the parties plead their own Cases which are briefly and readily dispatched the Cham himself doth Justice and determines Controversies especially when he goeth forth in publick without acception of persons hearing the poor as well as the rich Drunkenness Murder Adultery and Theft are most rigorously punished and though they be much accustomed to rob in War yet they totally abstain from it in their own Countrey where wearing of any Arms is prohibited them even in the Cham's Court. The forces of this Prince are very numerous for gathering together all the hords of the Tartars who doe either obey him or are his Allies he is able to bring into the field many thousand Horse they have no Foot but some Janisaries which they receive from the Turk upon any expedition which they make by his Order or Agreement there are some few Garrisons in the Castles and strong places of Taurica Chersonesus the most considerable is in the Fortress of Przecop or Or which hath notwithstanding but a bad Ditch four or five fathoms over and a Rampart of seven or eight foot high and two fathoms and half over here lieth always a strong Guard to defend the entrance of the Peninsula and he that is Governor is Commander of all the Hordes of the Tartars as far as the Boristhenes The wars which the Tartars ordinarily make are rather an inroad then any thing else How strict peace soever they have with the Christians their neighbors they doe not fail to visit them often either upon their inclination or upon the Command of the Cham who always pretends to a Tribute from the Moscovites and Polanders which they have paid sometimes when necessity hath forced them and refused at others as not being willing to subject themselves to these acknowledgements towards Infidels and those whom they dispise When the Tartars would make any great inroad either into Poland or Moscovy they choose ordinarily the full Moon of January all the Rivers Lakes and Marshes being then frozen and the Earth especially in the plain Desarts covered with Snow which is very commodious for their Horses which are not shod every Tartar carrieth two with him either for change or to carry his booty and provision neither is his provision very weighty consisting onely of a little Millet dried Flesh powdered after the manner of the Turks and some Garlick which they hold very proper to digest so many crude Meats as they eat and many times they carry nothing feeding onely upon the flesh of their Horses which perish in their march they take their way through the Valleys and most obscure passages that they may not be discovered by the Cossacks who always keep Centry and Watch and are out upon parties to hear news of them and so to allarm the Countrey That which is most surprising is That in the middle of winter they incamp without fire for fear of being discovered and eat little but Horseflesh stewed under their Saddles when they are arrived at those places where they intended whither it be in Vkrain or elsewhere their Generals let loose one third part of their Army which is divided into divers Troops and these over-run and pillage all the Countrey five or six Leagues about the wings of their Army their main body in the mean time keeping close together to be in a posture to fight their Enemies if their should be occasion afterwards this party being returned they let loose another in its turn observing always this Order That all their Troops which run up and down may in a few hours return to the body of their Army after they have pillaged and harrased the Countrey five or six days they return as fast as they can that they may not be set upon in their retreat and having regained the open desart Plains where their Body consisting of Horse they have great advantage in fight they make a halt to refresh themselves awhile and to share the Booty and Prisoners They make their incursions also in Summer but not in such great numbers seldom so many as ten thousand together and these are the Tartars of Budziak who at that season lead their Horses and Cattel into the Plains to feed and so getting ground they of a suddain run out and take away all they meet nor is it easie to stop them but with a thousand men marching always in Tabor The Tartars fight not but in great Troops of two three or four thousand Horse and seldom give battle but when they are much the stronger and when their Army is forced and broken up by the enemy they scatter and disperse themselves into so many little Troops that the Polanders and Germans who march close and by squadrons know not which to set upon in their retreat they shoot their Arrows from behind them with such exactness as to hit those who pursue them at two hundred paces distance and at a quarter of a League from thence rally their forces again and return presently to charge this they repeat often it being their manner of fighting but it is onely thus when they are the greatest number for otherwise when they once run it is full speed and not to return again and it is difficult to surprise them they keeping strict watch all night not easie to defeat them unless it be in some streight or upon some pass of a River The prisoners which they take they make Slaves and sell them to the Merchants of Constantinople and Caffa and other places of the East who either keep them to wait upon themselves or to look after their Cattle or till the Ground entertaining with the same face as we have formerly spoken of as divers Polish and French Officers have related unto me amongst others Lieutenant-Collonel Nicolai and Captain Croustade who most unfortunately fell into their hands but the Poles are even with them for except those Children whom they choose to wait upon them and Baptize and instruct in the Christian Religion or some Murza which they shut up and treat well enough and hope to exchange for some Polish Nobleman prisoner in Tartary the rest are kept as Slaves having always Irons upon their feet and are made use of as Beasts to carry all manner of burthens Lime Brick and all other materials for building Wood for their Kitchins and Chambers and to make clean their Houses and Plough and other labors being always followed by one who keeps them to their work yet these poor people get some time to make Whips
parties to hear news of the Cossacks The Marshy Moorish places which he was to travel through and the great number of Carriages caused his Forces to march scatteringly So that he thought it necessary to divide them into Ten Brigades if we may so name a Body of Ten or twelve thousand men of which number each was composed he reserved the first for himself gave the command of the second to the great General Potoski the third to the General of the Campagne Kalinouski Palatine of Czernihovia the fourth to John Simon Szcavinski Palatine of Brestch the fifth to the Duke of Wisnowitz Palatine of Russia the sixth to Stanislaus Potoski Palatine of Podolia the seventh to the Grand Marshal of the Kingdom Lubomirski the eighth to Stanislaus Landskoronski Palatine of Braclaw the nineth to the Vice-chancellor of Lithuania Sapieha the tenth to Koniespolski the Great Ensign to the Crown The Polish Army came the next day being the Sixteenth to Wygnanka a place abounding in Water and good Pasture Grounds where they understood by a Soldier who had left the Cossacks Army that Kmielniski was gone from his Camp which lay between Zbaras and Wisnowitz to go meet the Cham whom he expected with impatience having called for his assistance not trusting enough in his own Forces although he had a prodigious multitude of revolted Peasants joyned with his Cossacks but had as yet but Six thousand Tartars with him The King arriving at Berestesko of which Town the Count of Lesno under Chamberlain of Brzestia is Lord he incamped near it all along the River of Ster which washes this place on all sides and then sent out Three thousand Horse under the command of Stemkouski and Czarneski to be certainly informed of the enemies march and understood by some prisoners whom they took that the Cham was come to Kmielniski with a numerous Army and that he had sent out parties to learn in what place and condition the Polish Army was Upon this news it was resolved of in a Council of War to dislodge from Berestesko and to place themselves at Dubno a Town belonging to the Palatine of Cracovia The Baggage began to move and the Army was about to march with a resolution to encounter the Cossacks wheresoever they should oppose them when the Duke of Wisnowitz who was of the Guard sent to advertise the King that Kmielniski and the Cham were coming in all haste towards him And the Grand General understanding by a Peasant that the enemies promised themselves assured victory if they could fall upon the Polish Army intangled in the way resolved to stay at Berestesko and the Baggage was ordered to be brought back which was upon the way Scarce were they returned into the Camp but the Scouts brought word that the whole Army of the Cossacks and Tartars were near to Pereatin a Village within five hundred paces so that the Generals presently drew up the Polish Army left the River Ster on one side of them and lined all the Wooded places near with divers Companies of Foot for fear of an Ambush The Twenty seventh of June about night Ten thousand Tartars drawn out from the rest came near to the Polish Army to take a view of it making as if they came to provoke them to fight The Grand Marshal and Grand Ensign not being able to suffer their insolence went out with their Regiments by the permission of the Great General and the assistance also of Wisnowitski his Regiment and ingaged them a long while repulsed them and drove them back half a League Upon the Eight and twentieth there was another more fierce skirmish the Cham placed himself and his whole Army upon certain Eminencies in sight of the Poles strengthned with some of the choice Forces of the Cossacks The Polish Army being also drawn up in order the Regiments of the Palatine of Brzestia and Pomerania of the Duke Bogislaus Radzevil and the Palatine of Witebsko with the Horse of Przemislia and Volhynia went to set upon the Tartars who to revenge the defeat they received the day before seeing that the Horse was backed but with a small number of Foot they poured in upon them great numbers of Men. Landskoronski was the first who could put a stop to this torrent neither was it done without the loss of many of his own Men and of his Brother and he himself was so incompassed by a great number of those Infidels that to disingage him there were sent out the Regiments of the Great General of the General of the Campagne of the Palatine of Russia of the Grand Marshal and of Sapieha The fight grew hot upon the arrival of this reinforcement and many were slain on both sides the Tartars lost about a Thousand Men and divers prisoners of considerable note were taken amongst others the Secretary to the Cham. The Poles had Three hundred of theirs slain and amongst them Casanouski Governor of Halicz Ossolinski Starroste of Lublin Nephew to the Great Chancellor deceased Stadniski Under-Chamberlain of Sanoc Ligeza Sword-bearer of Przemislia Rrecziski Captain Jourdan and divers Gentlemen of the Palatinate of Lencincia and so ended the Engagement of the Eight and twentieth of June The Night following having considered in their Council of War that the Enemies design was to delay time and to reduce the Polanders to extremities for want of Provision in a Countrey too far distant from any place whence they might draw their subsistance they thought it better to employ their Army while it was in its strength and vigor and determined to give Battel the next day The King spent most of the night at his devotions and in ordering his affairs so soon as it was day he drew up his Army without the enemies perceiving it in the least by favor of a great Mist which continued till Nine in the Morning The Right Wing of the First Line was commanded by the Grand General Potoski and under him by Landskoronski Palatine of Braclaw Opalinski Palatine of Posnania Lubomirski Grand Marshal of the Kingdom Sapieha Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania Koniespolski Grand Ensign to the Crown the Count Vladislaus of Leszno Under-Chamberlain of Posnania the two Zobieski's Sons to the Governor of Cracovia deceased and some other great Persons who had raised Forces at their own expences The Conduct of the Left Wing was committed to Kalinouski General of the Campagne to the Dukes of Ostrog and Zaslaw to the Palatine of Brzestya the Duke of Wisnowitz Palatine of Russia to Stanislaus Potoski Palatine of Podolia to John Zamoiski and to Colonel Enhoff of Liefland many of which had joyned the Forces which they had raised in their own Countreys to those of the States The King took charge of the main Body of the Army composed of the German and Polish Foot at the Head of which stood the Artillery commanded by Sigismond Priemski who was General of it and had been a long time Major General under the Swedes in Germany The Second Line in the middle of
which they sell and buy provisions with the Money their ordinary allowance being onely Bread and Water unless when they get a dead Horse when I was at Warsaw I had opportunity to take notice of two or three hundred of them who lived after this manner either under the King or some great Polish Nobleman THE HISTORY OF THE WAR OF THE COSSACKS AGAINST POLAND POland hath had often very powerful Enemies to deal with as the German Empire the Knights of the Teutonick Order since their establishment in Prussia often backed by German Forces the Tartars who have made frequent incursions and sometimes traversed the Countrey from one end to the other The Turks who came in the year 1621. to Choczin upon the Niestre with an Army of four hundred thousand men and seemed to swallow up the Kingdom and the rather because at the same time the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus entred into Liefland with a considerable force yet have the Poles made head against all these Enemies though never so redoubtable and those Wars never appeared so dangerous to them as that which insued upon the defection of the Cossacks in the year 1648. almost at the very moment of the death of their King for these Rebels did not onely ingage all those of Black Russia to rise with them but at once laying off all that mortal and irreconcileable hatred which they have always had for the Tartars they made a League with them and did proceed further to implore the assistance of the Turk towards the total ruine and destruction of Poland Having therefore joyned their forces with those of the Infidels they made in less then four years time four great irruptions into this Kingdom with Armies of two or three hundred thousand fighting men who were the more formidable by reason that their Infantry hardned to all labor and injuries of the weather and sufficiently warlike by their frequent incountring the Tartars invasions were now sustained and backed by the Tartar Cavalry which without contradiction would be the best in the world if it were exercised with the same Martial Discipline as that of Christendom Bogdan Kmielniski was the first spark which kindled this fire and the hinge upon whom this war moved he was born a Gentleman son to the Podstarroste of a Polish General being inrolled young in the Cossackian Militia from a private soldier he attained by degrees to the charge of a Captain and was deputed from this Militia to the Diets of Poland was afterwards made Commissary-General and in the end General having besides this some tincture of literature a thing very rare in any of those people King Vladislaus being weary of languishing in a slothful quietness while that most part of the other Kings and Princes of Christendom were in action in the year 1646. designed a war against the Praecopian Tartars whom he pretended to drive out of Crimea and judged Kmielniski worthy to Command the Cossackian Army of which he made very great account especially in this expedition but the Kings designe not being seconded by the Christian Princes who were employed otherwise nor by the Venetians themselves upon whose assistance he did very much depend and on the other side the States of Poland being jealous of his raising forces he was obliged to disband and pay off his Troops with a good part of his Queens Dowry Kmielniski was by this means out of service yet soon found occasion of imploying himself upon a dispute which happened about his Estate between him and Czapliniski Lieutenant to Konielpolski Great ensigne of the Crown and was the more exasperated by the ill treatment which his own Wife and Son received who in the strife happened to be struck with a Cudgel he was not long before he returned the injury for discovering that the Russes were disposed to set themselves free and could no longer relish that peace which instead of procuring them repose gave a greater opportunity to their Noblemen to keep them in servitude and oppression he very well managed their discontents and assured himself of the Cossacks retiring himself about the beginning of the year 1648. towards the Porohi or Isles of the Boristhenes there to fortify and put himself in defence against any assault of the Polanders Some thought and with great probability that King Vladislaus being willing to take in hand again the designe of his expedition against the Tartars entertained a private correspondence with him and was the cause under-hand that the Cossacks revolted to the end that the States of Poland furnishing him with an Army to suppress them when they came to meet they might joyn their forces and the greatest part being strangers and Commanded by those who are intimate with them they would little have regarded the Orders of the States but followed this Prince against the Tartars and against the Turks also with whom they would necessarily have been ingaged having attacqued the former but howsoever it was Kmielniski seeing that the Letters which he sent into Poland to complain of the injuries done to the Cossacks and to him in particular although full of submission and protestations of Obedience were of no effect but on the contrary the Great General Potoski was preparing to come against him and distrusting his own strength he called for assistance from the Tartars who passed the winter in the desart Plains seeking their opportunity to make their ordinary inroads and plunder in Vkrain conducted by Tohaibeg one of their Captains a brave Commander but often mutinous and refractory to the Orders of the Cham. The great distance of places was favourable to Kmielniski and kept the Polish Generals some time from the knowledge of his private Treaties but so soon as they had certain advice thereof they resolved to march with all diligence towards the Zaporovian Islands and to stifle this revolt in its Cradle they dispatched therefore on that side a part of the Polish Army designed for the Guard of the frontiers and particularly the body of Cossacks entertained in the service of the States under the conduct of Schomberg their Commissary Stephen Potoski Son to the General Sapiha Czarnecki and some other Officers Part of the Cossackian Militia which was imbarked upon the Boristhenes being arrived at the Porohi went immediately over to Kmielniski violating in favour of their Countrey-men their Oath of Allegiance to the Polanders which they had so lately taken Kmielniski marching with this recruit against the rest of the Cossacks easily obliged them to follow the example of the former among these latter there were some Troops of Dragoons which did excellent service in this war against the Polish Nobility who to save the charges of a German Guard which the Gentlemen of that Countrey used to have about their persons had Armed and Habited many of those Countrey-men after the fashion of the German Dragoons renewing thus their courage by the change of their condition and bringing them out of the baseness of slavery Kmielniski fortified with
same time the better seize upon the fortress of Bar. Jeremiah Michael Duke of Wisnowitz arriving on the borders of Russia with some Troops to whom were joyned those of Janus Tiskewitz Palatine of Kiovia and the Kings Regiment of Guards Commanded by Ossinski Lieutenant-General of Lithuania opposed these incursions of Crzivonos and stopped his progress who would otherwise have overrun the Kingdom with those great numbers with him Many other Troops and the Rear made up of the Nobility of the Frontiers making a new Army they marched against the Cossacks and the rebellious Peasants after they had endeavoured a second time but all in vain to make an accommodation with their Commanders The State of Poland was made more sensible upon this occasion then ever before of the greatness of that loss which it sustained by the death of their King there being now no person of Authority enough to Command so many Great men as were at that time in the Army who would by no means give place to one another and their dissentions and disorders at length grew so high that the most judicious considering in what condition affairs were thought it absolutely necessary to avoid fighting in pursuance of which Council it was resolved that they should retreat in good order in the middle of their Tabor towards Constantinow but these Orders were so ill understood then when some Troops about Pilaucze began to move others not waiting their times marched away before the rest and began a confusion which being increased by the obscurity of the night and communicated to all that followed it struck such a panick fear into the whole Army that even the most brave were not exempt from it who could not be so soon informed of the cause of this general flight and consternation This would have secured an intire victory to Kmielniski if he had not been involved in the same ignorance but he knew so little of what passed that he took this flight of the Polanders for a stratagem nor could he beleeve the truth of the report and instead of pursuing them with all diligence he contented himself to follow them slowly and with all circumspection till at length being undeceived with a sad heart he turned his forces against Leopold a Town very considerable for its Trade especially into the East and indifferently strong but at that time not furnished with Forces or Provisions fit for its defence Arcissenski an old Officer who had a long time served abroad and been a Commander under the Hollanders in Brasil was left therein and put in hopes of being speedily relieved from the Lesser Poland The Inhabitants Commanded by this Officer made a strong resistance for some days but the Castle forsaken by those who defended it being taken by the besiegers and there being little hope left of holding out long against so numerous an Army as lay before the Town and the want of Provisions being afflicting already they redeemed themselves and bought off the Enemy from the Walls with a considerable sum The Cossacks having quitted Leopold came before Zamoscie a Town fortified after the modern way by John Zamoski Great General and Great Chancellor of Poland in the time of King Sigismund Father to the two last Kings This place was at that time the onely Asylum for the Nobility of Russia who had been driven from their Estates by the revolted Peasants and there being a good party in the Town from the Palatinates of Belz and Sendomir and fifteen hundred men which Louis Weiher Palatine of Pomerania had brought thither out of Prussia all the attempts which the Cossacks and rebellious Peasants made for a months time were all in vain so that after they had lost many men they retreated to the bottom of Russia We must not pass over in silence the assistance which the Poles received from his most Christian Majesty who although the fire of Civil war began already to be kindled in France permitted that the eight hundred Auxiliaries raised at his expence by Colonel Christopher Przemski who Commanded a Polish Regiment in Flanders should be joyned to the Poles Army under the same Colonel who out of this recruit formed one good Regiment Kmielniski being retired with his Forces into their Winter Quarters some great persons on the behalf of Poland begun to treat with him of Peace but they received very haughty answers all the advantages of the last Campagne having rendred him more insolent then before so that it was as much as they could doe to prevail with him to consent to a truce for some moneths The Praeludes of a new war began on both sides before the time was expired the Rebels forces provoked the Polish in divers places but bore away the marks of their fool-hardiness having been worsted almost every where by Andrew Firley Governor of Belz and Stanislaus Landskoroniski Governor of Camieneche between whom the new King John Casimir presently after his election divided the Command of his forces they received amongst others very notable shocks at Zwiehal Ostropol Bar and other places which were retaken with great destruction of the Rebels and rich booty to the Polanders Kmielniski seeing that the Spring approached which he expected with impatience after that he had called in the Tartars again took the field to make a new inroad into Poland the Poles also gathered together to cross his design and their Commanders having deliberated in what place they ought to stay till the rest of the Forces of the Kingdom were come up to them amongst many advices of which one amongst others was to lodge under the Cannon of Camienesche the importance of which Fortress being a bar against the Turks was such that the preservation of it deserved that it should be preferred before any other consideration whatsoever the advice of Firley prevailed who judging it not fit to draw off the Army from the frontiers lest they should be exposed to the irruption of the Enemy made choice of the Town of Zbaras belonging to the Duke Wisnowitski as a place most convenient for his design and for the reception of those recruits which they expected he had no more then nine thousand men with him taking in those Troops which some Noble-men had raised at their own expences he had with him amongst other Commanders Landskoronski the Count of Ostorog Great Cup-bearer to the Crown joyned with him as Colleagues Duke Demetrius Jeremiah Michael Wisnowitski and Alexander Koniespolski Great Ensigne to the Crown Son of the defunct Great General of the same name General Firley foreseeing that he should soon be environed with an Army almost innumerable did presently furnish himself with provisions and repaired the old Fortifications as well of the Town as of the Castle of Zbaras and secured his Camp by a good intrenchment flancked with Forts and Redoubts and taking a particular care of a certain Lake which furnished him abundantly with water that it might by no means be turned away by the enemy He was no sooner intrenched
first excused himself for serving under the Cossacks to which he was induced by the outrages which he had received from a certain great person and by the turn of the Fortune of the Poles the year before but yet that he had not for all that lost his love and zeal for his Countrey as he had testified to them in three other Letters which he had sent to them in the same manner and did now give them notice that the King was certainly coming to their relief and already arrived at Zborow that the Cossacks being informed of his coming would not fail to redouble their assaults against them but for the same reason they ought to redouble their courage and prepare themselves to repulse them with their utmost vigor The most part of the besieged could not put any confidence in this Letter supposing it to be a new invention of the Generals But soon after it was found to be true and that the King was advanced as far as Zborow to deliver his besieged Forces having surmounted all those obstacles which might retard his preparations and his march True it is that his Army was thought by the most intelligent not onely insufficient to confront that terrible number of enemies which he went against but even to sustain the least Onset from them it consisting in all but of Fifteen thousand Soldiers in pay and Five thousand others raised by the Nobility at their own charge the rest not being able to come so soon having been too slow in their Levies notwithstanding the continual instances of the King and his earnest diligence in this affair Kmielniski and the Cham understanding of the march of the King of Poland divided their Forces and leaving Forty thousand Tartars with a great number of the Cossacks and revolted Peasants before Zbaras with the rest of their forces marched towards Zborow and were not discovered by the Kings forces either by reason that the King had sent none out to inform himself or that the Countrymen thereabouts more inclined to favor the Cossacks as being of the same Religion with them had not faithfully reported what they knew of it insomuch that the Cossacks and Tartars arrived at the Kings Camp without being any ways discovered being assisted therein by the Woods the thick Mists and the negligence of their enemy Nay Kmielniski himself found means to enter into the Town of Zborow and there to consider at his leisure the posture of the Polish Army And no sooner were the Poles gotten over the Causeys and Bridges which are in the Marshes about the Town and began to put themselves in order but they found that they were on a sudden charged by the Cossacks and Tartars The fight began about the Baggage the Tartars came soon after and fell upon the back of the Kings Forces having crossed a Water where the Peasants by a remarkable Treachery had broken down a Causey which kept it up and so rendred it fordable to the Infidels The Nobility of Premislie and the Cavalry of the Duke of Ostrog sustained the first Onset but being not able to resist the great numbers of their enemies many of that Nobility were lost and all their Baggage Stanislaus Wituski and Leon Sapicha Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania coming to their relief repulsed the Tartars for a time but these returning with more impetuosity against the Troops of the Vice-Chancellor they must now have been suppressed after a contest of six hours if that the Governor of Sendomire and Baldovin Ossolinski Starroste of Stabnitz had not given the Infidels a diversion In which Ossolinski and divers Gentlemen of the Palatinate of Russia were slain while this passed in the Rear and Flanks of the Polish Army Kmielniski with his Cossacks and a Party of Tartars attacked the Front The King who at the first noise of their arrival had put his Forces into Batalia gave the Leading of the Right Wing to the Great Chancellor Ossolinski This Wing was composed of the Cavalry of the King and of that of the Palatines of Podolia Beltz and Enhoff Scarroste of Sokal and other Regiments And ordered the Left Wing to be commanded by George Lubomirski starroste of Cracovia and the Duke Coreski where besides the Regiments of Horse were divers Companies of Voluntiers The Main Battel made up of the Infantry and where the King himself was in Person was commanded by Major General Hubald of Misnia who had served a long time in the German Wars and had afterwards commanded the Militia of Dantzick and by one Wolff a Gentleman of Liefland Governor of Cracovia both which had their German Regiments with them The Tartars extending themselves wide before the Vant-guard as if they came onely to observe them after they had closed of a suddain after their manner of fighting threw themselves upon the right wing where they were received bravely and finding that the Foot were defended with their Pikes and not in a condition to be broken up they passed to the left wing which they were able to shake more then the other Coreski who was at the head of them had his Horse shot from under him Ruzouski was wounded with an Arrow through the Cheeks yet did not neglect with the Arrow sticking still in the wound to goe and advertise the King of the danger wherein the left wing was his Majesty of Poland not regarding the Dignity of his person ran in all haste to encourage his soldiers by his presence bringing them on again which were flying away and complaining that he had no more Officers to Command them yet notwithstanding he himself would take their place and he had been insenbly ingaged in the hottest of the battel if those about him had not detained him The presence of the King who exposed himself in this manner for their safety did reanimate his soldiers as much as the dreadful number of their enemies had discouraged and astonished them and afterwards they fought with more heat nor would be forced to give ground Some Tartars having broken in on one side were repulsed again by the discharge of their Cannon and by two Companies of Foot Commanded by Ghiza Captain in the Kings Guards and in the end the Enemy not being able to get any advantage over them answerable to those great endeavors against the Polish Army the night coming on terminated that days engagement in which in all likelihood they were to have been cut in pieces most of the night was spent in consulting and giving Order how to receive the Enemy the next day they made some intrenchments in haste to defend themselves by and in others they placed their Baggage but while the King was consulting with the principal Commanders and Nobility a report was spread through the Camp that his Majesty had a design to retreat that night with most part of his The extream danger into which affairs were brought rendered the report of this Retreat more probable and it wanted little but the same consternation had happened there as
before at Pilaucze The King who was just retired to repose himself a little being informed of it got presently on horseback and riding up and down through the Camp undeceived them and by his presence shewed how vain the impression was they had received of his retreat of which he did declare he never so much as thought of but was resolved to stand it out against the Enemy putting them in hopes of a favourable success in the next days undertaking Amongst the proposals at the Council of War upon the present conjuncture of affairs that of attempting to disingage Kmielniski from the Cham was most approved of and therefore a Tartar prisoner was sent with a Letter from his Majesty in which he gave him to understand that he could not beleeve that he had lost all sense and memory of those favours which he had received from King Vladislaus from whom when he was formerly taken prisoner in Poland he had received so favourable an entertainment and his liberty and to whose bounty he was beholden for his present Dignity and that after this it was strange he should associate himself with Rebels and Slaves but that he ought not to promise himself any great advantages from so unjust a confederation Since God would give no blessing on such designs in the mean time his Majesty thought it convenient to put him in mind of the obligation which he had to the King his predecessor and withal to offer him his own friendship if so be that he esteemed that more then an Alliance with Rebels the answer of this Letter was not so suddenly received and the next day morning so soon as it was day the Army of the Cossacks and Tartars appeared in Batalia the first against the City of Zborow and the latter fell upon the Baggage Four hundred light Horse were able for some time to amuse the Cossacks with divers skirmishes and afterwards being sustained by a greater number they drove them off beyond the Town and those who did attend the baggage having taken Arms preserved it against the Tartars The enemies afterwards divided themselves into three bodies and at as many places attacked the Kings Camp after having first of all seized upon a Church which did Command it where having planted a Battery by their continual shooting from which they had forced many who defended it to retire they had almost made themselves Masters of it and one of their most resolute soldiers had already planted Colours upon the Works when that a great body of the Kings party running together made so brave a resistance that the enemy did not onely give over the assault but the fight the servants sallied out to pursue them and shewed such courage upon this occasion that some proposed they should have Horses given them and be ordered into Troops to increase the number of their forces and being reinforced with this supply drawn from the Army it self they might then hazard a Battel others were of the opinion that it could not be expedient to venture so far seeing that after a defeat they would necessarily be reduced to the same extremity as those at Zbaras out of this diversity and incertainty of Council wherein the Poles then floated knowing not which way to steer it pleased providence to conduct them happily to their Port. The Cham who before all these assaults upon both the Polish Armies had promised himself a speedy and certain victory and now finding to the contrary so much fearless resolution among them began to be weary of this war and to shew himself more inclined towards an accommodation wrote a civil answer to the Kings Letter in which he acknowledged himself obliged to the Crown of Poland and that if his Majesty after his Election had applied himself to him he would have set a greater value on his friendship and embraced it sooner then the interest of the Cossacks but they had neglected it so much that they scarce considered him as an ordinary man although they might well perceive how advantagious his friendship might be and now seeing there was an occasion of renewing their antient Alliance he would not be backward on his side but promised to oblige the Cossacks to lay down their Arms and to return to their obedience provided that the Articles of the former Treaties were observed and that if his Majesty desired to name a place to confer in and send his Chancellor thither he would send his Vizier This Letter was also accompanied with one from Kmielniski full of respect and in which he assured the King of his fidelity and future services The Conference being accepted of by his Majesty of Poland and the place appointed between both the Armies The Vizier and the Great Chancellor Ossolinski met according to appointment The Vizier demanded that they should pay the pension which they were accustomed to give the Cham for the services which he was bound to render to Poland which King Vladislaus had refused to pay that they should satisfy the Zaporouski Cossacks and for the dammages and expenses which the Tartars had been at in this expedition and the blood they had lost it should be permitted them to make their excursions and plunder the Countrey in their return in the mean time there was a suspension of Arms granted though interrupted by some hostilities the next day which was the seventeenth of August the Plenipotentiaries returned to the same place of Conference each accompanied with two others The Chancellor of Poland took with him the Palatine of Kiovia and the Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania The Visier brought Sieferkaz and Sulimaz Aga to whom Kmielniski was joyned to desire a Bill of Oblivion for himself His Cossacks and the revolted Peasants and that they should provide for the maintenance of their Liberty and the Greek Religion and after divers contests the Peace was concluded the same day with the Cossacks and Tartars upon these Conditions I. THat there should be Peace and Brotherly friendship for the future between John Casimir King of Poland as also the Kings His Successors and Islan Gierey Cham of Tartary and the whole Family of the Giereys II. That the King should freely pay the ordinary Pension of the Tartars sending it to Camienesche by Deputies appointed thereto III. That in consideration of this the Cham should be bound to assist the King with all his Forces against any Enemy as often as it should be required IV. That the Cham should secure the Frontiers of Poland from the Incursions and Robberies of his Subjects V. That the rest of his Forces before Zbaras should immediately dislodge and let the Polish Army which was there march with all liberty to any place where it should please His Majesty of Poland to command them VI. That the Cham should without any delay leave the Countreys and Dominions belonging to the King and all his Forces the same and those Turks which he had with him VII That the King in consideration of the Cham would grant a
their quarters and to chastise the Peasants who had taken Arms against their Lords This Letter was received with great respect in appearance but he proceeded with much slowness to execute what the King required of him and on the contrary was very industrious at the same time to make a strict League with the Turk and Great Duke of Moscovy whose friendship he desired with the more importunity by reason that he promised himself more security and advantage in his Alliance then in the others because of the Conformity of the Religion of the Muscovites with the Cossacks The Great Duke approved not of this Rebellion yet desired to make his advantage by it The great success which Kmielniski had had against the Poles made him esteem them as a defeated and depressed people and to begin a causless quarrel with them in hopes to obtain from them during the bad condition of their affairs a revocation of the Treaty which he had been forced to make with King Vladislaus before Smolenko when his whole Army was disarmed and taken which besieged that Fortress He demanded also in satisfaction for the affronts done him by some of the Polish Nobility and among others by Prince Witnowitski and Koniespolski who had not onely neglected to give him all his titles but had also written in terms injurious to the reputation of the Moscovite Nation that the States of Poland should give up to him the City of Smolensko with its dependances and should pay him the sum of an Hundred and fourscore thousand Ducats VVhereupon his Majesty of Poland having sent a Gentleman named Barlinski to the Great Duke to be more clearly informed concerning the insolent demands of his Ambassador upon whom in the mean time he had set a Guard This Envoy brought back an Answer which testified rather the inclination the Moscovite had to observe the former Treaties with Poland then to come to a breach and in effect although the Great Duke would with much joy have seen the increase of the Greek Religion yet he could not look with a good eye upon the growing greatness of Kmielniski nor be without some apprehension that the Rebellion of the Cossacks and Peasants might also spred it self into his own Countrey whither already some sparks had flown of that fire which had burned Poland So that the Moscovite Ambassador was forced to declare in the presence of the King and the Senators That he of his own head had prepared those Propositions which he had delivered and the Peace was confirmed between the Poles and the Great Duke The continual correspondence which Kmielniski held with the Turks of which the King of Poland was advertised by the Neighboring Princes and his insolent carriage towards the State obliged his Majesty to call a General Diet of the Kingdom in the end of the year One thousand six hundred and fifty in which this Prince represented the insupportable behavior of the General of the Cossacks the contempt he had both of the King and State the injuries which many of the Nobility had received the loss of their Estates and their not being able to be restored against Kmielniski his great forces which he strove to increase by the addition of Tartars and Turks so that he was in a condition to gather together on the suddain an Army of more then Fourscore thousand Men every Cossack inrolled of which the number by the last Treaty amounted to Forty thousand had a servant on Horsback and another on Foot besides a Laborer to Till the Grounds that their design was to shake off utterly all obedience and to set up a new Government under the Protection of the Grand Signior So that they would be capable of performing any thing if that they did not soon put a stop to the course of their pernicious designs There were some in the Assembly who calling to minde the evils caused by the last VVar were of opinion That Peace at any rate was to be preferred before it and alledged that the Forces of the Kingdom were now notably decreased whereas those of the Cossacks were very powerful both of themselves and by the assistance of the Ottoman family which protected them so that it would be much better to keep close to the Treaty of Zborow But the greater number making reflections upon what was passed and what was to be expected considered that there were but two ways to be taken the one to ruine the Cossacks or the other to let the Kingdom perish miserably that the King had onely a title and precarious authority over them no more then they pleased themselves that they were now upon the design of forming a Principality from whence they were to expect most dismal events if they gave them time to increase and establish themselves that they interpreted the Treaty after their own manner and gave it what sence they pleased that the State had yet considerable Forces if they were well imployed and that as affairs then stood they were better able to give a stop to their new and rising power then they could afterwards resist them when they were raised fortified and established by time that the King was brave and active and with small Armies having done great exploits he would obtain more signal advantages over his enemies when the States should proceed to a more vigorous and powerful undertaking These Reasons but much more the new demands of the Cossacks at the same time caused all the rest of the Diet to be of this opinion and unanimously to resolve of a VVar against them The Cossacks Demands were these That according to the Articles of the Peace at Zborow the Union of the Greeks and Roman Catholicks should be abolished that Kmielniski should remain Soveraign beyond the Boristhenes that none of the Nobility or Gentry of Poland should for the future have any power over the Peasants of that Province that if the Gentlemen would live there they should be obliged to work as well as the Peasants that Nine Bishops should swear in full Senate to see all this observed that for Hostages they should give up four Palatines to Kmielniski which he should chuse in consideration of which Articles he promised to pay to the King of Poland yearly a Million of Florins and afterwards they reduced their Demands to Four 1. THat they might be put in possession of a Countrey wherein they might live without any Communication with the Poles 2. That His Majesty and Twelve of the Principal Senators of the Kingdom should bind themselves by Oath always to observe the Peace of Zborow 3. That for their greater security three of these Senators should remain with their General 4. That their should be no further Vnion of the Roman and Greek Churches But all there Demands being very exorbitant and no body willing to trust to the Faith of a Man who was not contented with the promise which the King and State had given him by their Confirmation of the Treaty of Zborow at the last
Diet they had no other thoughts but of making VVar. To perform which the more advantagiously they resolved to raise Fifty thousand Soldiers to whom were to be joyned the Auxiliaries of the Noblemen and their Attendants in case of need and many thought it fit that the Auxiliaries should be spared as a party reserved against the last extremities and that it were better to augment the number of the Soldiers to be raised It was proposed also that the War should be begun before the Spring to hinder the Cossacks from making their due preparations and to come at them with the more facility while the Rivers and Marshes were yet frozen in which they ordinarily secure themselves in their Marches and in their Incampings Besides which they could not but with great difficulty be assisted either by the Turks or Tartars the former not being accustomed to so rigorous a cold and the latter would scarce finde Forrage in this season for their Horses But this project could not immediately be put in execution the Forces which were ordered by the Diet could not so soon be raised so that the King sent onely the Field Marshal Calinouski to cover and defend the Frontiers from the assault of the Cossacks if they should resolve upon War rather then Peace which was also to be once again offered them upon the same terms as at the Treaty of Zborow The intentions of Kmielniski quite contrary to Peace were soon made known by the Hostilities which he began to commit upon the Frontiers Nieczai one of his Major Generals put all the Countrey to Fire and Sword and massacred those who were deputed to him from the Palatine of Braclaw in the presence of a Turkish Envoy but by the Forces of the same Palatine and those of Kalinouski he was driven into the City of Crasna and part of his Men were cut in pieces in their retreat after they had forsaken the Castle which they could no longer hold and amongst others Nieczai himself whom a Gentleman named Baibuza killed with his own hand the rest were driven into a Village where they were together with it either plundred or reduced to Ashes Bohun another General of the Cossacks in the place of Nieczai made head against Kalinouski and seised upon the City of Winnicza seated upon the River Bog but the Poles having crossed the River with great pains took the Castle by assault in which they slew a number of their enemies who had been assisted by Gluki one of their Colonels At last Bohun being reinforced by the Cossackian Regiments of Czherin Prziluka Lubiecz and Braclaw each consisting of Two thousand Men Kalinouski was obliged to go out of the Town after that he had left a Guard therein of Foot and some Servants with the Baggage belonging to his Army and to draw up his Forces in Bataglia in the Fields adjoyning but some sudden fear possessing those who were left in Winnicza they forsook the Town and the Cossacks encompassing the Polish Forces constrained them to retreat in disorder under the Cannon of Bar with the loss of Four thousand five hundred Footmen and their Artillery This shock obliged the King of Poland who was gone on Pilgrimage to Zurowitz a place of Devotion in Lithuania to take his journey in all haste towards the Frontiers where the great General Potoski was gathering together his Forces about Sokal This Prince being arrived at Lublin was informed of the irruption of the Cossacks into Podolia and the Confederation between the Grand Seignior and Kmielniski and that the Emperor had sent an Ambassador to Constantinople so that he saw himself obliged to use his utmost endeavors and to Summon all his Auxiliaries together Kalinouski who was retreated from Bar to Kamienecz having received orders to come with all diligence towards the Army After that he had lest a sufficient garison for the defence of that Fortress which was a place of so great importance to Poland and all Christendom was followed in his march by Eighteen thousand Cossacks and Two thousand Tartars while the rest of their Forces which amounted to more then Threescore and ten thousand Men resolved to attack Kamienecz without the order or knowledge of their General And having taken the Castle of Panocze near to it by composition where they got considerable booty They made many assaults upon this Fortress but all in vain being continually repulsed with so great a loss that they were ready to cut their Officers in pieces who had exposed them to so dangerous an enterprise without acquainting Kmielniski with it who so soon as he knew it sent them orders to remove Those who were bent upon the pursuit of the Forces of Kalinouski had not much better success in setting upon them sometimes in the Front sometimes in the Flank and sometimes in the Rear being always repulsed with great valor by the General although with the loss of many of his own Upon the Fourteenth of May 1651. they set upon Zobieski his Regiment but were so received that they left many behinde them and amongst others Canowiecz one of their Colonels and a Tartarian Murza At length Kalinouski was constrained by reason of the difficult Passages and the bad ways to leave his Carriages To repair which loss and to make his Army appear more numerous to the enemy he set the Servants upon those Horses which drew the Baggage and after having sustained many assaults and escaped the many difficulties and inconveniences of the March he arrived most fortunately at the Camp Royal in the end of May. The Forces raised at the expence of the States and by the Noblemen came in daily from all parts there were reckoned Ten thousand of these latter and the whole Army together with the Nobility made up an Hundred thousand fighting Men besides the Servants who were very numerous and most of them furnished with Horse and Arms. This great Army not being able to subsist long in one place without suffering the want of Provisions after that all care possible was taken to furnish them it was resolved they should be employed as soon as could be In a great Council of War which was held thereupon and lasted a whole night some proposed to divide the Army into two Bodies and to send the first consisting of the Common Soldiers against the enemies while his Majesty might attend the success of the War at Sokallo with the Voluntiers and Auxiliaries for a reserve against the greatest extremity But this advise was not approved by the King nor by many of the Principal Officers who remonstrated that if the Army were thus divided it might be more easily encountred and defeated by the enemies but being all in one Body they would not onely be in a condition to oppose but also to overcome them They concluded therefore to march directly towards them by the most short and easie way which was that by Berestesko The King set forward with all his Forces upon the Fifteenth of June and sent out divers
the next Diet. 5. That as to their Priviledges which they might pretend to those onely should be continued to them which were granted by the deceased General Koniespolski in the year One thousand six hundred and twenty eight The Deputies returning to their Camp and making known these Conditions of Peace brought back the next day this Answer That as to the first Article they would promise to do their utmost to put Kmielniski and his Secretary into the Kings hands and would yield to the Second and third but as for more they could never agree to nor hold to any other Articles then those of the Treaty of Zborow The King much offended at this Answer redoubled his Batteries and resolved absolutely to exterminate them as they on the contrary would chuse rather to die then to recede from that Treaty They answered to the discharges of the Polish Artillery but not so often which gave suspition that their Powder was spent Some were so bold as to advance so near to the Polish Camp that they heard the orders which were given to the Polish Soldiers which being known they were obliged to change their orders as also the design they had formed of giving a general assault to their Tabor And so strongly did the Cossacks resist all the attempts of the Polanders against them that their valor had merited extraordinary Commendations if it had not been accompanied with many detestable cruelties as Fleaing alive burning by degrees and doing a thousand other mischeifs to the Polanders who fell into their hands So much did the proposing of those Conditions wherewith they were to buy their Peace inspire them with Rage and Fury in which they were kept on by their Popes for so they call their Priests who ceased not to encourage them with the hopes of the quick return of their General and the Tartars But the inconveniences which they suffered and the long absence of Kmielniski undeceiving them from the false hopes they sustained of a speedy assistance they began to desire Peace very earnestly their Commanders who saw that it could not be effected but to their prejudice resisted with all their power And seeing that Dziadziali whom they had substituted in the room of Kmielniski did lend an Ear towards an accommodation they forsook him and set up Bohun in his place who to signalize the beginning of his new Generalship upon the information he received that the Palatine of Braclaw had passed the River with some Forces to shut up those Passages which the Cossacks made use of to go out to Forrage and by which they might at last retreat he went out with a good number of the Old Cossackin Militia and two pieces of Cannon to drive them back and to reinforce the Guards which they had placed in the Forts made for the preservation of the Passage But scarce was he out of the Camp when as the jealousie and suspition which they had a long time harbored That the old Soldiers and Officers had a design to retreat and leave the rest began now to break out and a new raised Cossack having published it aloud That Bohun was gone out to this intent The noise of it immediately spred it self throughout the Camp and caused such a consternation that every one began to flie in the greatest disorder The Ways and Causeys which they had made in the Marshes near their Camp were too straight and many falling in stuck fast in the Mire although they laid their Vests Cloaks and other garments to draw them out Bohun perceiving this confusion came with his old soldiers to remedy it but could not and the Torrent drawing them in also along with it they were forced to follow the example of the rest The Palatine of Braclaw seeing the enemies Army come out of their Tabor so precipitously could not imagine what it meant and thinking at first that they came to fall upon him he placed himself with the two thousand men which he had onely then with him in a posture the most advantagious to hinder his being encompassed in but taking more notice of the enemy a while after he was better informed and began to pursue them but was stopped by the force and confusion of the rout as they saved themselves yet he set upon them as soon as he could being seconded by the Auxiliaries of the Palatine of Plosko who making a review at the same time when the flight of the Cossacks began was the nearest to pursue them The rest of the Polish Army which did not expect that their enemies should be so sodainly routed and consequently were not on horseback except those who guarded the Camp ran streight to the Tabor of the Cossacks where finding sufficient booty they imployed themselves about it instead of pursuing their enemies the Cossacks lost no less in this flight then twenty thousand men either killed by the Polanders or lost in the Woods Briers Marshes and Boggs two thousand of them retreating to a little hill within their Tabor not in hopes of any relief but as men resolved to sell their lives as dear as they could when they saw themselves constrained to yield to the multitude of the Polanders some cast themselves into the River others into the Boggs and in one place three hundred of them were in a body together and defended themselves valiantly against the great number of those who assaulted them and set upon them on all sides yet that these also might not despair and set too little value upon their lives the Poles offered them both that and any thing else they had of value about them but this rather incensed them the more and immediately they took out of their Pockets and Girdles all their Money or whatsoever they had considerable and threw it into the water and after that fought till the last man every one as it were resolving to fight singly against the force of Poland and what was very remarkable one of them held out three hours against all assaults whatsoever for having got a little Boat in a Pond in the Marshes and covered himself with the sides of it he avoided all the shot which they made at him and in answer shot away all the Powder he had at them and with his Sithe repulsed all those who attacked him A Muscovite who set upon him with the same weapon could doe nothing and for all his skill hardly escaped from being cut off by the middle next a Gentleman of the Countrey of Czechanou and a German Foot-soldier seeing that the Muscovite could not accomplish his designe went into the water up to the neck and begun the fight again and were received with as much vigor by the Cossack who was now wounded with fourteen Musket Bullets to the great astonishment of the Army and the King of Poland himself in whose sight this was performed the King who could not enough admire the valour of the man called out that they should give him his life upon condition that he would
Colonels of the Cossacks and Niebaba their General was slain overthrew their Army killed three thousand men took many prisoners and amongst the rest the Nephew of Niebaba the rest saved themselves in their Camp which was not far from the place of Battel which they also sodainly abandoned as also the City of Lubiecz and Czernobel near to it who yielded up themselves without making any great resistance to Gonsieuski General of the Artillery of Lythuania after which Prince Radzevil took his way towards Kiovia to put an end to the remainder of the Rebellion in those parts General Potoski imployed himself to the same purpose in Volhynia where the difficulty of getting Provisions having forced him to divide his Army into many parts he appointed their Rendezvous to be at Lubertowa a Town which in the heat of all the war had preserved it self by the convenience of its scituation and number of its Inhabitants and from thence to goe and make an attempt upon Pawolocz and Bialacierkiew giving a strict Command that the Officers should order it that their Soldiers should so behave themselves in that manner that the Peasants might by no means be constrained to quit their Houses or to destroy what Provisions were left The Gentlemen also took all care to bring the Peasants to their former duty promising them by Letters and Messages that they should be most favourably dealt withal if they would return to their obedience In the mean time Kmielniski having with a summe of Money appeased the Cham and freed himself returned into Vkrain to strengthen and confirme the minds of those people which the last defeat and his absence had very much shaken and taking the same course as formerly in those places where he could not be in person by his Letters and Emissaries he gave new heat to their courage which was very much abated exhorting them to maintain the cause of the Publick and putting them in mind how fortune was momentary and changeable and if of late she had declared her self in favour of the Poles yet she had left the Cossacks Strength and forces sufficient to renew the war and recover their losses and to feed their hopes he gave out that one Ragoci in Poland was revolted and thereby had obliged the King to draw back the greatest part of his Army to stop his progress that the Flower of the old Cossackian Militia was gathering together and that in few days the Tartars would come and joyn with them again to revenge their last defeat and to keep up the hopes of this people still more high from time to time he dispatched several Embassies to the Cham which he accompanied with magnificent promises to induce him to afford him new supplies remonstrating to him that the security of both their fortunes depended upon it and that the ruine of the one would infallibly expose the other to the Polish power he sent also three Envoyes to the Ottoman Court to represent to them that if the Cossacks were assisted by the Grand Signior they might be in a condition to make head against all the Forces of Poland but if they were abandoned they must be necessitated to an accommodation and in the end to make war against himself Prince Janus Radzevil to whom Hlebowitz Palatine of Smolensko was joyned having left Fronckewitz Lieutenant-Collonel of the Hussars with some Forces about Czernihow to hinder the excursions of that Garrison went towards Kiovia after they had forced from those Quarters the Cossackian Collonels Antonio and Orkussa and put their Forces into such disorder that they were constrained to burn their Tabor and their Bridge and fly into the Town neither did they stay there any time for the terror of the march of the Lythuanian Army spreading it self through the rest of the Cossackian Forces who thought to shelter themselves in the Countrey about they quitted that Town which was one of their principal Retreats The Inhabitants seeing they were deprived of their Garrison and all other means of defending themselves sent their Supplications to the Polish General by their Archbishop and their Archimandrit or Abbot of their chief Greek Monastery requesting of him that he would spare that City which the King had always the goodness to preserve and which during the last wars had served for a place of refuge to the Polish Nobility which request was granted by Prince Radzevil who onely disarmed them to take away from them for the future the opportunity of doing ill Kmielniski hearing of the loss of Kiovia doubled his diligence and sought out all means imaginable to bring a new Army into the Field able to stop the progress of his enemies and the unfortunate posture of his affairs suggested counsel to him full of fury and despair in the middle of which he found not only his Cossacks but a great part of the Peasants also inclined to try again the fortune of the war and among these latter there were some who openly declared that it was disgraceful to them to be dejected for the ill success of one Battel and that those who overcame them now they had formerly overcome and the same might be performed again but if that Fortune should obstinately declare her self for the Poles there was still a place left them to retreat into the Countrey of the Turks where they might live with more freedom then in Russia to which intent they had already wrote to the Bassa of Silistria So that many of the Peasants went every day to joyn with Kmielniski and the Cossacks began their incursions and violencies in many places particularly those who inhabit near the Niester and Wallachia who are more accustomed to these Robberies then the other General Potoski had sent out two thousand men under the Command of the Starroste of Kamienecz his son against them but instead of sending him the recruits which he demanded he called him back again judging it more convenient to to keep his Forces in one body the General sent afterwards seven Squadrons towards Bialacierkiew to hear news of the Cossacks but instead of obeying their Orders they fell to plunder a Town called Pawolocz and were met withal by two thousand Cossacks and five hundred Tartars not far from thence who set upon them and drove them to the Gates of that Town took away all their booty and had utterly defeated them had not the Forces of the Duke of Wisnowitz arrived in time to their assistance by whose help they made head against those who pursued them and drove part of them into their Tabor and part into Bialacerkiew it was known by some Tartar prisoners taken upon this occasion that there were but two thousand of them with Kmielniski but that in a few days four thousand others were expected and that the rest of those Infidels were gone to refresh their Horses in the Pastures of the desart Plains and had received Orders to be in readiness to return upon the first occasion into Poland This news made General Potoski
to delay his march till the arrival of his Foot and Baggage when deliberating in Council with his Officers what was to be done they determined to seize upon Chzastowa a Town on the way to Kiovia to facilitate their communication with it and their joyning with Prince Radzevil while they lay expecting the Foot at Pawolocz which marched but slowly the Plague took away in the flower of his age Michael Koributh Duke of Wisniwitz who had given sufficient proof of his Valor and singular Conduct in all this War by which he was deprived of the Revenue of a great Estate in Vkrain After that the Army had spent the five and twentieth of August in rendring their last Devoirs to this great person they marched the next day towards Trylisicz a place well fortified this Garrison having sent a fierce answer to the summons of the Polish General to surrender themselves he Commanded Priemski-General of the Artillery and Commissary of the Army and Berg Lieutenant-Colonel to the Regiment of Prince Bogislaus Radzevil with seven hundred German Foot to attacque them they lost threescore or fourscore men in the approaches with Captain Strayse and Captain Wahl but being relieved with the Polish Foot in two hours time they made themselves Masters of the Town and Castle notwithstanding the obstinate resistance of the besieged among whom even the Women did good service and fought with their Sithes all here were put to the sword without distinction of Sex or Age. The Governor of the place a Cossack was hanged in the heat of blood the Town was plundered and what could not be carried away was with it reduced to Ashes and this severity wrought better effects then perhaps Clemency could have done for the Flames being perceived by those of Chwastowa the three hundred Cossacks which guarded that Town forsook it and the Inhabitants also followed their example although they might well have resisted the Poles and put them to the expense of a great number of men Prince Radzevil expecting the Kings Orders and that the Polish Army should come to him kept himself always near to Kiovia not without some danger the Enemy endeavouring by all means possible to surprize him or at least to hinder the General Potoski from joyning with him Upon the sixteenth of August Colonel Nold being sent out by this Prince discovered by the Windmil near to the Gate of Kiovia called the Gilded Gate a great body of Cossacks mingled with Tartars which soon allarmed the Camp and a party of Light Horse set upon them with such courage that after they had taken a Bridge which the enemies put much trust in for the securing themselves they killed a thousand of them upon the place some of the prisoners confessed that this body of three thousand men was to have joyned with a thousand more with designe of falling upon the Lythuanian Army in their intrenchments Prince Radzevil after this advantage set forward to joyn with the Polish Army after that he had left a sufficient Garrison in Kiovia and furnished it with all things necessary for its preservation General Potoski having sent fifteen hundred men before him advanced with the rest of his Army as far as Vasilikow to facilitate their conjunction Kmielniski finding himself unable to hinder this and foreseeing the dammage he must receive from it deputed divers to the General to Treat with him about an accommodation and to desire him to interpose the credit he had with the Senate and the Polish Army to prevent the effusion of so much blood as was ready to be spilled and to bring the Cossacks in favour again with his Majesty of Poland assuring him they would remain faithful in his service and most Religiously observe the Treaty of Zborow these propositions of peace presented by Kmielniski made small impressions upon the mind of the Polish General who being well informed of the continual addresses which he made to the Port and to the Cham to obtain a speedy supply and consequently understood that all what he did was but to gain time and leisure to establish his affairs he resolved without delay to terminate this controversie by force of Arms. The Polish Army being now considerably reinforced by the conjunction of the Lythuanians consisting of nine thousand chosen men Kmielniski although he had received a fresh supply of six thousand Tartars did not neglect to make another attempt towards an accommodation and the Palatine of Kiovia endeavoured with divers arguments to induce the Generals to put an end to this War rather by a general Pardon then by the continuation of so many cruelties representing to them that the many troubles which the soldiers had undergone in this Campagnia and the Diseases reigning amongst them had diminished and did diminish daily a great number of them so that the Generals Potoski and Radzevil condescended to receive the Cossacks deputed to come and desire peace Kmielniski desiring that some one might be dispatched to him to conferre with Vihouski his Secretary and intimate Friend they sent to him Makouski a Captain of Horse with a Letter to him from the General Potoski but because he gave him not the Title of General of the Zaporovian Army this omission was taken for a great injury and made a disturbance among the Cossacks but Makouski having appeased them by giving them sufficient reasons for what was done the conference began in which the Polish Deputy proposed that Kmielniski should send away the Tartars and come himself to the Polish Camp and pay his respects to their Generals he was against the first of these propositions for a long time whatsoever his Secretary could doe to draw from him his consent but in the end he agreed to one as well as the other although his Officers and the Russian Peasants expressed a great deal of repugnancy for the latter But finding it not convenient to continue this conference in the Cossacks Camp lest that the Tartars suspecting what they Treated of might attempt something against the persons of the Commissioners Vihouski did very much instance that it might be removed to Bialacierkiew Makouski giving an account to the Generals of the Polish Army of his Negotiation with the Cossacks it was thought expedient to send Commissioners to Bialacierkiew as they desired to this intent were deputed the Palatines of Kiovia and Smolensko Zowzieuski High Steward of Lythuania and Cossacouski second Judge of Braclaw whom they guarded with a great Convoy of which five hundred Horse onely were permitted to enter the Town These Commissioners Treating with those of Kmielniski agreed of all the conditions of peace excepting some few points which were afterwards to be decided in the two Camps but were in great danger of their lives first in the Army of the Cossacks where Kmielniski and his Officers had enough to doe to defend them from the violencies of the Tartars and the Peasants who could not endure any propositions of Peace suspecting always that one of their Articles would be to