Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	foot_n	horse_n	squadron_n	1,059	5	11.6685	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34352	Count Taaffe's letters from the imperial camp to his brother the Earl of Carlingford here in London giving an account of the most considerable actions, both before, and at, the raising of the siege at Vienna, together with several remarkable passages afterward, in the victorious campagne against the Turks in Hungary : with an addition of two other letters from a young English nobleman, a voluntier in the imperial army.	Carlingford, Francis Taaffe, Earl of, 1639-1704.	1684 (1684)	Wing C592; ESTC R20027	16,653	38

Count Taaffe's LETTERS FROM THE Imperial Camp To his BROTHER the Earl of Carlingford HERE IN LONDON Giving an Account of the most Considerable Actions both before and at the Raising of the Siege at VIENNA together with several Remarkable Passages afterward in the Late Victorious Campagne against the TURKS in HUNGARY With an Addition of two other LETTERS from a Young English Nobleman a Voluntier in the IMPERIAL ARMY LONDON Printed for T. B. and are to be sold by William Abbington near the Wonder Tavern on Lud-gate-Hill 1684. TO THE READER THE Siege of Vienna and the War of Hungary being at present the common Subject of Discourse I presume it will not be unpleasing to you if I give you a more faithful and distinct Account of those Successes of the Christian Arms against the Turks than hath yet been published an Account not collected from Fame or Transcribed out of Mercuries and Gazetts but Original Letters themselves which have been already seen and approv'd off by his MAJESTY and his ROYAL HIGHNESS and those written by a Cavalier of a high Reputation who was not only present in the Actions of which he writes but being a general Officer in the Imperial Army bore a considerable Part in them himself This is the Lord Taaffe a Subject of His Majesties who to his Elder Brother the Earl of Carlingford and to the Marquiss of Grana Governor of Flanders sends these Letters in which you may not only discern a vein of Truth but a certain Modesty and Nobleness of Nature since without arrogating any thing to himself he does not omit to do Justice to others By these Qualities and his prudent Conduct in a Forreign COURT he hath acquir'd much Esteem and Trust with the Emperor whom he serves the Affection and Confidence of his Highness the Duke of Loranie and a great Name over all the Empire So that he does honour not only to himself but to his Country and to his Loyal Family and Noble Ancestors of which he is descended An Example to awake the Vertue of the English Nation and make all Gentlemen sensible how much more it would be both for their Interest and Honour to imploy their Swords in this Occasion for the Defence of Christendom than to wast their Youth in Gaming-houses and Taverns and kill one another as they do in senseless and brutal Quarrels Passaw July 24. 1683 For the Earl of Carlingford at London I Had the Honour to hear from you by my Lord Lansdowne who had he not been very full of Courage and Bravery the Unhappy State of Affairs here had certainly diverted him from so generous a Design but since he is resolv'd to try his Fortune with us the Duty I owe to the King and his Royal Highness ' s Commands the pleasure I have in obliging so gallant a Gentleman as my Lord Lansdowne and the Interest you take therein ingages me to omit nothing for his Service as well as to seek an opportunity to acquire a Friend of his merit Instead of Seventy thousand Men which was promis'd the Duke of Loraine to carry on this Terrible War he never muster'd yet above Thirty Thousand and for these two Months we have lain in Hungary we have been Idle attempting little for fear of lessening our Strength before the Arrival of the Ottoman Forces having already what through Sickness and necessary Detachments reduced our Army to Three and Twenty Thousand Men and that was the utmost of our Force when the Grand Visier on the Seventh Instant with an Army of at least One Hundred and Threescore Thousand Fighting Men posted himself within Cannon-shot of us the small River Raab running between neither do I speak the most but on the contrary all the Prisoners we have taken as well as other Advices make them above Two hundred Thousand besides the Tartars and the Hungarian Rebels You may easily imagine my Lord whether this Appearance did not surprize us having always pleas'd our selves with the hopes That our Alliance with Poland might have obliged the Turk to divide his Forces however tho we sound the contrary we yet maintain'd our Post that day and repuls'd Twenty Thousand Tartars who forded the River under our very Noses The Enemy thus finding how difficult it was to force his way to us ordered out a Detachment of Thirty Thousand Horse to spread themselves all along the River over against our Right Wing with a Reserve of Hungarians commanded by the Count Budiani a Nobleman of that Country lately revolted and being inform'd at night that the Turks were come over the River without any difficulty Budiani with the said Hungarian Rebels joyning with them and declaring for the Rebel Teckeley as also considering the disproportion in our Numbers that the River was fordable in several Places the Enemy possest of all the advantageous Grounds and able when they pleas'd under protection of their Canon to force this Passage and at the same time a great Body of their Horse who being already on this side were in a posture to charge us either in Flank or Rear his Highness judg'd that Post not safe quitting it that night having first put Six Thousand Men into Raab which of all Places seemed most in danger to be besieged Our Foot marched towards Presburgh by the Isle of Schutz where they were out of the reach of their insulting numbers and our Horse through the Plains which extend from Raab to Presburgh The Thirteenth Instant I commanded the Rear Guard of Four hundred Horse when I was attack'd by Two Thousand Tartars upon the Plains of Peternel and at the same time as ill luck would have it they had Alarm'd our Avaunt-Guard with a Party falling upon our Baggage and his Highness fearing least the Enemy might cut us off from Vienna where the Emperor with the whole Courtas yet was made the Horse march with all possible speed thither leaving only behind one Regiment to Mount the Guard this Regiment seeing the hasty march of the other Troops supposing it was occasion'd by the Terror of those that fell upon us in the Rear under that apprehension in the most shameful manner in the World fled without once drawing a Pistol or offering to stand the least shock of the Enemy whereupon those Four hundred Horse of the Rear Guard under my Command were surrounded and I cannot tell by what Providence I was deliver'd having for at least half an hour marcht pesle mesle amongst the Enemy there was at this time so great a dust that those who fled could not as yet discern the coming of their Succours and in that confusion disordered several of our own Squadrons that were wheeling to their Relief The first that rallyed were Five Troops of my Regiment one Squadron being wholely broken by the Regiment which fled the other behaved themselves so bravely that the poor Prince of Aremberg and Count Millini Brother to a Cardinal of that Name and at present Nuntio in Spain both Captains in my Regiment with

being enrag'd at this Disgrace discharged his Fury upon the Officers of his Army having strangled the Visier of Buda a Man of Eighty years of Age and as he was perhaps the most able Person of the Ottoman Empire so would he have prov'd the more dangerous Enemy to him with four other Bassa's and Four or Five Hundred other Officers upon pretence that they did not do their parts and disobeyed his Orders The Count Budiani an Hungarian Lord who after our Retreat at Raab revolted with a considerable Party of his Country-men to the Rebel Teckeley to give the Emperor a convincing Proof of his sincere Repentance cut in pieces two thousand Auxiliary Turks that the Grand Visier had sent to reinforce him and tho the advantage we got by his Treason was very great yet we could not but abhor the Traitor On the Fifth instant the Polish Army with our Cavalry past the Danube at Gomorra leaving our foot one days march behind but the Duke of Loraine having resolved to attack Barrakan was forc'd to stay some time for the Foot because those of Bavaria were for some unhappy Reasons six days march from us The King being told that there were not above Five Thousand Turks in Barrakan made his Troops hastily advance towards it without once acquainting his Highness with the Design and thinking himself sure and that his very Avaunt Guard would have carried it hè did not so much as march his Troops in Battalia but his Ambition and the great contempt he had of the Enemy upon the Success of Vienna cost him dear instead of the Five Thousand Men which he was told of he found in a bottom under the very Cannon of Barrakan a Body of Twelve Thousand who instantly attackt the Avaunt Guard of the Poles with such a Fury that though they behaved themselves bravely they were at last forc'd into their main Body and that in such confusion that the whole Army which had not then time to draw up into Battaile seized with a panick Fear had been entirely routed had not the Duke of Loraine who by this time heard of the Kings departure made his Troops hastily follow and so kept them from farther disorder My Brigade had this day the Avaunt Guard and his Highness ordering me to make haste tho we had a Defile to pass about half an hours march from the Enemy yet our Troops carryed on with a desire to redress the loss and repair the affront received by their Allies past it with all chearfulness and so in a very little time we drew up in a Line of Fifteen Squadrons The Arrival thus of our Troops put soon a stop to the Carriere of the TURKS and gave us an Opportunity thereby of passing the rest of our Men and to the Poles of knowing each other The Enemy thus contenting themselves with the advantage they had gotten over the Poles retired in good order into the bottom where they were first and we thought it not then safe to follow them farther with the Poles who were as it were stund with the blow they had received and under an apprehension that the Grand Visier's whole Army was there They thereupon encamp'd themselves about an hours distance from Barrakan near the Danube and the King was then of opinion to stay for the coming up of the Foot before they should attempt any thing farther There were about One Thousand Poles kill'd most of them Dragoons who having alighted from their Horses in a Plain were abandoned by the Horse and so cut in pieces by the Enemy the King ventur'd as far as any Man with his usual undaunted Courage and had it not been for a German Cavalier that serv'd him he had then certainly been either kill'd or taken Prisoner and his Majesty in Requital made him a Colonel The next day the Mareschal Comte de Staremberg who so bravely defended Vienna came with Eight Thousand Foot to us The Poles were so disheartened by their wounds which were yet bleeding and apprehending that the Grand Visier with the rest of his Army might be near at hand that they did endeavour to divert the King from any farther vigorous Action at that time but the Duke of Loraine did so strongly press the contrary that they were at last brought to it We march'd in Battalia the ninth instant towards the Enemy his Highness giving the Poles their choice where to post themselves but instead of the right wing which till then they always affected they divided themselves on both the Wings and on our Reserve The Enemy seeing us thus march towards them came out of their bottom ranging themselves in Battaile and by the Confession of those Prisoners that make them the most the Turks did not exceed Sixteen Thousand Men and certainly there never was committed a greater nor worse supported rashness but yet they stood us with that boldness at first that the whole Grand Visier's Army could not have done more and not being able to front our whole Line they drew up to the Right and without once attempting to attack the German Squadrons fell with an incredible Fury on those Poles they found on our Left hoping to find as cheap a business of 't as they had done the day before But the Great General of Poland Iablonouski receiv'd them so briskly that it stopt their Fury and at the same time we charging them with our first Line of Curiasseers put them totally into disorder The Defeat of those was immediately followed with a general Rout of all their Troops and the shock of the first Line of our said Left Wing was so vigorous and succesful that neither my Lord Lansdowne to whom I had given the Command of a Squadron in my Regiment nor I my self who commanded the Second Line of the Wing that was attacked had either of us occasion to fire a Pistol His Highness let loose the first Line of Curiasseers the Croats and some Poles to the pursuit of those that fled whom we chased with the points of our Swords in their backs to the very Fort of Barrakan making a most terrible Slaughter of them the Crowd of those that thought to save themselves by the Bridge was so great that the Bridge broak under them and there were abundance of them who threw themselves into the Danube rather than they would stand the Fury of our Men and the Revenge of the Poles It is most certain that with those who were slain and those who were drown'd the better half of their Number perished and one shall seldome find in a pitch'd Battle a greater loss of Men these were the very flower of the Turkish Army commanded by the new Visier of Buda Ali Bassa of Aleppo and Six other Bassa's the Visier of Buda was kill'd the Bassa's of Aleppo and Silestria are taken Prisoners and a third Bassa was drown'd We have also saved about six hundred Prisoners from the Fury of the Poles and there are certainly taken above three thousand Horses and at

Prince Aremberg's Cornet and Eighty Cavaliers were kill'd upon the place The Duke of Lorrain at length having with much difficulty drawn up the rest of the Horse hastned himself to us where finding the foremost Squadrons yet under a panick Fear alighted from his Horse at the Head of his Men to let them see there was no danger this Example gave fresh Courage to our Troops and the Dust being somewhat abated we discovered that all this Disorder was only occasion'd by Six Thousand Turks and Tartars We made up then to them his Highness being in the Head of us but they would not endure the very sight of our Troops and 't was in vain to follow them with our heavy German Horse since our Light Horse was wanting the Enemy flying with an incredible Swiftness But we learn'd from this that which we since found that these Six Thousand Horse were only to cover the gross of their Army with the which they thinking it not so much for their purpose to Attacque Raab as suppos'd was first design'd were marching directly to Vienna You will perhaps think it very strange that we should be no better inform'd of the Design and Marches of the Enemy but not so much when you hear that all Hungary was against us and not so much as a Peasant but for Teckeley And as for the Party that we sent out to scout on the Plains between Raab and Vienna there could not a Man of them ha've escaped had they been discovered such is the Number and Swiftness of the Enemy To conclude my Lord we are in a very desperate Condition All Hungary is against us the Court removed to Passaw All Austria round Vienna from Newstat and St. Hippolitt in flames and we not able to hinder it having now only a Body of Ten Thousand Horse at most left with the Duke of Lorrain Vienna has been besieged these ten Days and had not his Highness out of his great Prudence and Conduct clapt in Ten or Eleven Thousand Men into the Town in that nick of Time and the which was all the Foot he had in his Army by this time the Place had certainly been lost Bavaria is sending us Ten Thousand brave but unexperienced Souldiers and we shall be reinforced with Ten Thousand more from the Emperor The King of Poland is obliged by our Treaty to march himself in Person at the Head of his Army to the Relief of Vienna and the least Delay is lookt upon as most dangerous Saxony Franconia and Brandenburgh promise us their Troops God grant they may all come in time If Vienna should be taken I cannot see the end of our miseries but I hope God will not forsake his Cause nor the House of Austria that has been ever so devoted to him From the Camp at Angrem Aug. 17. 1683. For the Earl of Carlinford at London I Received yours of the Seventeenth of July from London and render God a thousand Thanks for saving our Royal Master the King and the Duke from that execrable Design of those wicked Assassines Good God! What Madness is this Let us view all Europe and see if we can find any Subjects so well treated or who do enjoy so blessed a Peace as those of England Or if there be any Nations in the World that do not envy the Happiness of ours I have so great a Detestation for those Infamous Villains that I shall henceforth look upon Turks and Tartars as the most honest Men. You have by this time doubtless received the Account I sent you of our Campagne from Passaw The Lord Lansdowne delivered it to the Spanish Ambassadour who promised to send it in his Pacquet to Don Petro de Ronquillio into England The Duke of Lorrain has since had the good Fortune with Fourteen Thousand Horse to give a Defeat to Tcckeley's Army consisting of Twenty Thousand Hungarians and Six Thousand Turks near Presburgh where he was going to possess himself of the Town and to be Crowned King of Hungary We marcht up towards them by a Defile i. e. Narrow Passage which they had lined with Dragoons and though the Enemy were drawn up in good Order they had not the Courage to make any opposition Our Avaunt Guard was scarcely past when a Panick Fear so seized those Rebels that they presently fled leaving the Turks to shift for themselves who for a time retreated orderly but the Poles seconded by some Regiments of our Curiasiers fell so furiously upon them that at last they were routed leaving a Thousand of their Men dead behind them with Twelve Hundred Wagons of Baggage whereof our Men had the plunder the Rebels Cavalry saving themselves by the Swiftness of their Horses and the few Foot they had in Woods and Mountains which were inaccessible to our Horse this blow was such a Terror to Teckeley that we saw him no more Vienna has now been five weeks besieged and although the Enemy took their Post the First day at the Foot of the Glassis under protection of the Suburbs which we neglected to demolish they have spent four weeks in only gaining one Point of the Counterscarp betwixt the Bastion of the Pallace and that of Lebell Five days ago they sprung a Mine under the Point of the Ravelin betwixt the said two Bastions where they gave a furious Assault in hopes to have made a Lodgment of it but they were repuls'd with great Loss and we have it from the Prisoners themselves as well as Spies we have in their Camp that they have already lost above Twelve Thousand Janizaries The Bavarian Succours of Nine Thousand Men are already arrived at the Bridge of Crembs those of Franconia being Eight Thousand will be here to Morrow The Elector of Saxony with Ten Thousand Men more is upon his March but can hardly be with us before the end of the Month. The King of Poland is also coming with Three or Four and Twenty Thousand Men and we are now about Three and Twenty Thousand Imperialists with which Troops we are resolved towards the end of this Month to succour Vienna or dye in the Attempt but if the King of Poland delay coming and we find the Town much press'd we shall endeavour the Relief of it without him they assure us that the Emperor intends to be with us in Person and I heartily wish it for his greater Glory We think to pass the Danube at Crembs a little Town about Ten Leagues up the River from Vienna the Country thereabouts is very Mountainous and Woody till you come within a little League of the place We shall have a Body of Thirty Thousand Foot if the Enemy come to meet us they must then forsake some of their Posts if they do not we shall have them betwixt us and the Town and the Scituation thereof is such that their Horse will be of little use to them in which consists their greatest Force My Lord Lansdowne is in great esteem with his Highness the Duke of Lorraine and

extreamly beloved by all the Officers and best Men of our Army From the Camp at Korn Neigburgh upon the Danube Aug. 25 th 1683. For the Earl of Carlinford at London I Have given you in my Letters under Cover of Don Petro de Ronquillio as well as in those from the Camp at Maregg sent in the Governour of Flanders's Pacquet a faithful Account of the State of Affairs here as also what hath happened most remarkable in this Campagne The Twenty First instant the Duke of Lorrain left the Mark a little fordable River that divides Austria and Moravia from Hungary that he might the better get to the Banks of the Danube above Fulme and Crembs there to pass over for the disposing Matters for the great Affair I mean the relieving of Vienna hoping that those two blows the Enemy had already received as well as the King of Poland's March towards their Confines might for a while retard their advancing in the Siege Yesterday we encamped at Stockeraw where we were told that a considerable Body of Turks and Tartars had past the Mark and we were quickly convinc'd of the Truth of it by the Flames of Five or Six Villages which we saw Burning within a few Miles of our Camp it being a barbarous Custom amongst those Infidels to set all on Fire wheresoever they march Upon this his Highness with a Flying Body of Ten Thousand Horse resolved to march immediately towards them we found them being about Twelve Thousand drawn in Battalia near the Bridg of Vienna His Highness in person charged on the right Wing where the Turks gave a furious Onset disordering some of our Polish Troops but being presently seconded by some of our German Horse they were put to flight with the loss of Three hundred of their Men and Five Hundred more that were sent from the Grand Visier's Camp over the Danube in Boats thinking by the same means to save themselves were so hotly pursued that they were most of them drown'd in the River leaving their Horses for a booty behind them Our right wing extended it self to a little Wood the left Wing where I commanded spreading it self all along the Plains which the Enemy seeing encouraged them to bend their chiefest Force against us that they might fall upon us both in the Flank and Rear but Prince Lewis of Badin ordering some of the Horse on the Right Wing by easie Movements to close in with us and the Enemy finding after several Attempts that they could not break us but were always repulsed with Loss despairing of Success they drew off their Squadrons upon a little Hill within Musket-shot of us by which they kept us from seeing any Reserve that might possibly have lain hid behind them At the same time that they seem'd thus ready to engage us a hundred and fifty desperate Turks and Tartars perceiving the distance that was betwixt our Squadrons and the Right Wing sliping behind the Wood fell upon us in the Rear but I ordering two Squadrons of our Second Line to charge them they were quickly disperst and few of them escaped We did expect the Enemy would have made use of this Disorder to attack us with their whole Body but it was far otherwise it serving them only as an opportunity to save themselves by a hasty Retreat We by this time finding that those Squadrons of theirs drawn up before us upon the said Hill were only to amuse and cover the Retreat of the rest and it had been time lost to pursue them with our Curiasseers who could not overtake them in a Race Campagne they never keeping together and are very nimble and run with great Swiftness and impossible to get them into a Body unless they please themselves Our Poles might have indeed pursued them but seem'd unwilling and his Highness judging that they might probably be reinforced by Teckeley who but few days before was encamped near the Mark thought not fit to pursue them any further but to return to mind the great Affair which now drew near The Enemy lost besides those kill'd on the place several Kettle Drums and above twenty Colours in their Retreat His Highness with singular Courage and Bravery conducted this Engagement with the Enemy but too much exposed his Person as he does too often upon all occasions We are here still intent and at the Eve of our great bussiness the Relief of Vienna His Majesty of Poland with above Twenty Thousand Men will be with us in seven days Bavaria Saxony and Franconia have already sent us Seven and Twenty Thousand Men and we are above Twenty Thousand Imperialists If God be not against us I hope in a few days to send you a Relation of a glorious Victory My Lord Lansdowne did particularly signalize himself in this Action being always in that part of the Fight where it was hottest and he is certainly a very gallant young Man From the Grand Visier's Camp at Midnight Septemb. 12th 1683. For the Earl of Carlingford at London VVE have relieved Vienna but if the Victory be not so compleat as we promised our selves it should it proceeded only from the Cowardise of our Enemies whom from Morning till Night we drove before us beating them from Post to Post without their having once the Courage to look us in the Face and that through several Defiles i. e. Narrow Passages which had they any reasonable Courage we could never have forc'd The Combat held longest where the King of Poland was but that only added to his Glory he having beaten them with the loss of their Canon and a great number of their Men They have left us their whole Camp in general with their Tents Bagg and Baggadg and time will tell us more particulars We intend to follow them to morrow and it is impossible but there must be much more than we yet know If night had not come on at our very entring the Suburbs we had certainly given them a total overthrow My Lord Lansdown hath done me the Honour to accept the Command of a Troop of Horse in my Regiment He is a very brave Youth and Courts all Occasions to shew his Courage and to distinguish himself attracting the Friendship and Esteem of all our Army I am just now told we have taken all the Grand Visier's Treasure you shall hear more by the next From the Grand Visier's Camp at Midnight Septemb. 12. 1683. For His Excellency the Marquiss of Grana Governour of the Spanish Netherlands c. INstead of Vienna being relieved and the Turks utterly defeated I beg your pardon if I tell You that the Siege is only raised and the Enemy forc'd to fly away which was not our fault for from Kalemberg as far as Filberg-Bastie we pursued them from Hill to Hill and from one Desile i. e. from one narrow Pass to another to another they never having the Courage to stand before our Troops I refer my self for the rest to Monsieur Preudhomme who is a very good Man