the loss of the day because the Ground was so streight and the Enemy had such Hedges Copses and little Woods to cover them that there was nothing to do for the Horse so that when the Van-Guard began to engage they had none but part of the Infantry interlined with the Left Wing of Horse to second them the Body of the Infantry being almost a Mile in the Rear however as soon as the Action began the King made all diligence possible to get the Infantry up ordering a Brigade to march up to the Wood and forming a Line of Battel in the Plain with that Infantry as could come up the Soldiers shew'd such eagerness to come to the Enemy that they ran to the Relief of those as were engag'd even so fast that they put themselves into some disorder which was the reason that they took more time to form their Battalions than was at that time convenient this was the case of those Battalions as were sent to the Wood to the Relief of our Van-Guard so that when they came up our Van-Guard and Infantry of the Left Wing being over-powr'd by the vast many Battalions of the Enemy as charg'd them successively one after another and lastly by the survening of Boufflers's fresh Troops they were forc'd to retreat in great disorder and to leave the Wood in which they had lodg'd themselves entirely to the Enemies possession The Baron of Pibrack's Regiment of Lunenburgers being in great disorder in the skirt of the Wood and the Baron their Colonel lying dangerously wounded upon the place which he got in rallying of his Regiment the Earl of Bath's one of the Regiments that was commanded towards the Wood the other English being Brigadier Churchil's was order'd by Prince Casimir of Nassaw to their Relief two Sergeants of this Regiment rescu'd the Colonel who lay wounded almost in the Enemies hand and brought him off in spight of their fire upon these Orders of Prince Casimir of Nassaw Sir Bevil Granville who commanded the Earl of Bath's Regiment march'd up to the Relief of this Lunenburg Regiment bearing the Enemies fire before he suffer'd any Platton of his Battalion to discharge once by which method the Regiment lodg'd itself in the Trench or deep way that lay upon the skirt of the Wood which it maintain'd till it was commanded off again by the same Prince of Nassaw The King having form'd a Line of as many Battalions as cou'd come up in this little Plain the Enemy upon their Right and our Left of the Wood as wefac'd planted a Battery of about ten Pieces of Cannon to put them in disorder by their fire we at the same time brought another against it and thus continued firing one upon another for a considerable time What mischief we did to the Enemy by our Cannon then I cannot tell but theirs kill'd several of our Soldiers some in the Regiment of Fuzileers and some in the Battalion of the Second Regiment of Guards but the most considerable loss we sustain'd by it was Col. Hodges who was shot with a Cannon-ball at the Head of his Regiment of which he soon after dy'd There was likewise a Skirmish between some of the French and some of our Battalions between the Wood and that Farm which was fir'd by the Enemy but it did not last long what Regiments they were I cannot tell but I suppose they were some of the Dutch interlin'd in the Left Wing of Horse commanded by Brigadier Fagel The Van Guard being thus disorder'd for want of a timely Relief which was occasion'd by the narrowness of the Ground and consequently beaten out of their Post in the Wood Luxemburg being likewise joyn'd by the Marquess of Boufflers's fresh Troops who came time enough to compleat the Defeat of our Van-Guard with his Dragoons and besides the Night drawing on the King order'd the Army to retreat which was done with admirable Order for tho' the French did follow us for some time yet they did not fire a shot such was the order of our Retreat that they did not dare venture upon it the English Grenadiers brought up the Rear and whenever the French mov'd towards us they fac'd to the Right about and presented themselves to the Enemy then the Enemy would halt and so our Rear-Guard then march'd on this halting and facing and then marching continu'd for some time till the Night put an end to the Enemies farther motion And thus the Army came back to Halle on Munday Morning about Three of the Clock We lost in this Action several Pieces of Cannon some taken by the Enemy and some we could not bring off the Horses being tired we likewise blew up some of our Powder-Waggons in the Retreat which we could not bring off some having their Carriages broken and others their Horses tir'd The English lost two Colours and the Dutch likewise some we had about Two thousand Men kill'd and about Three thousand wounded in which number we comprehend the Prisoners taken by the French disabled by their Wounds to come off being about 8 or 900. Of the English and Scotch twelve Battalions engag'd viz. The Second Battalion of the First Regiment of Guards the First Battalion of Sir Robert Douglass's Col. Fitz-Patricks and Col. O Farrel's in the Van-Guard Cutts Hesse Mackay Graham Angus Leven and Lauder interlin'd in the Left-Wing of Horse Of the Body of the Infantry the Earl of Bath's Of the Danes Battalion of Guards the Queen's Battalion Prince Christians and the Finland Battalion Of the Dutch Waldeck Fagel Noyelles Torsey L'Fcluse Nassaw commanded by Colonel Goz. Lunenburgers in the States Service Boisdavid and Pibrac besides Epingers and Fitzhardings Dragoons and the Horse Granadiers who charg'd on Foot Officers killed of Note were Lieutenant General Mackay Sir John Lanier Lieutenant General of Horse mortally wounded who died few days after at Brussels Sir Robert Douglas Earl of Angus Colonel Hodges my Lord Mountjoy who had been two or three years in Prison in France and came upon his Liberty to serve the King as a Voluntier he was killed with a Canon Ball at the Head of Colonel Godfrey's Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Fullerton Foxon Hawley Wacup and Hamilton Major Carre of Angus's Regiment wounded mortally and died soon after Chief Officers wounded my Lord Cutts Colonel Mackay Lieutenant Colonel Eaton Courthop Major Fox of Fitzpatrick's Prisoners of Note Colonel Lauder Lieutenant Colonel Eaton Bristol and Courthop Several Officers of the Danes killed wounded and some Prisoners whose Names I cannot Insert As likewise of the Dutch Lietenant General Tetteau wounded Colonel Goz Commandant of Prince Casimir of Nassaws Guards and Colonel Moor Commandant of Torsey's Regiment both killed This is an Impartial Account of the Business of that Day of which the French notwithstanding their Te-Deum have no great reason to brag All as Impartial Men can say of their Advantage is that we attack'd them in their own Camp and that they repuls'd us though with the greater Loss both of
Soldiers and considerable Officers on their side If it had pleased God to have given us the Victory we must have been Masters of their Camp and great part of their Baggage whereas the Consequence of the Disadvantage on our side was not nor could not be so And therefore what ever Honour the French may assume to themselves in the Repulse yet it can't be deny'd us in the Attack And indeed the French Officers whatever the Paris Gazette may romance are just in this respect and are not unwilling to give the Honour due to the English and the rest of the Kings Forces who engag'd in this Attempt What Loss the French sustain'd or what Forces engag'd we cannot so just tell the Pavis Gazette says That the whole Body of our Infantry engag'd and insinuates That the French Infantry did the same since it says that it gave that day very good Proofs of Courage though they were not before valued by their Enemies Whether our whole Infantry engag'd as the Account published at Paris as sent to the French King I leave the Reader to judge I am sure none of the Body of Foot engag'd but three of the Four English and Scotch Regiments detach'd upon the Vanguard and the Earl of Bath's Regiment all the rest being interlin'd with the Left Wing of Horse except the Four Danish Battalions But by all the Informations that I could get from Officers who were taken Prisoners and who have been some time in their Hands both at Mons and Valenciennes who relate nothing but what they have had from French Officers above Fifty of their Battalions charg'd that day besides Seven or Eight Regiments of Dragoons Nay their Infantry was so harrass'd by our Fire that they seem'd unwilling at last to come to the Charge so far that the most considerable Princes in the Army of the Blood and others were oblig'd to head them and to lead them on by their Examples and Exhortations in which Action the Duke of Chartres receiv'd a Contusion in the Shoulder the Prince of Conti had two Horses shot under him and the Prince of Turenne receiv'd a Mortal Wound of which he dy'd afterwards at Enghien But the coming of Boufflers renewed their Efforts and his fresh Troops soon put our Vanguard in Disorder who had been sufficiently harrass'd for want of Relief The French lost on their side a Standard belonging to the Dauphin's Dragoons taken by those of Epinger and we made some Captains a Cornet and some other Officers Prisoners They have owned themselves to our English Officers that have been Prisoners amongst them that they have had 9000 Men killed and wounded Of the wounded a vast many dy'd afterwards because our Arms are stronger and carry better Balls than theirs I can't give an Account of their considerable Officers that they lost since I have not seen a List What I can remember of the Paris Gazette are the Prince of Turenne the Marquess Tilladet both Lieutenant Generals kill'd and likewise the Marquess de Bellfords and Collonel Polier There are great many others both kill'd and wounded whose Names I can't remember But before I quit this Relation of the Engagement I can't omit the generous Charity of the Princess of Vaudemont at Brussels I wish that all those of her Communion as the Popes have Canoniz'd had as good a Title to be Saints For the number of our wounded being greater than could be contain'd in the Hospital which the King had at Brussels a great many on the Monday in the Evening were lying with their Wounds up and down the Streets whereupon this excellent Princess moved with a Christian Principle of Charity went in her Coach attended with a great many Flambeaux up and down the Streets to find them out and had them conducted to the great Hall of her Palace where she saw them dress'd of their Wounds her self by her Surgeons she and the Ladies of her Attendance giving Linnen and other Necessaries for that purpose And here she maintained them till they could either be remov'd to the other Hospitals or till they were in a condition to go abroad themselves The Day following the Mareschal de Luxembourg sent a Trumpet in our Camp to give leave to Officers Servants to go to the place of Battel to take care of their Masters Bodies as were kill'd upon the place and likewise to assure that care would be taken of all such wounded Prisoners as they had But Orders were given out in our Army only for Field-Officers Servants to go and bring off the Bodies of their Masters as lay dead upon the place by which means the Bodies of Sir Robert Douglas and Lieutenant Colonel Fullerton were brought off and buried in our Camp at Halle As for my Lord of Angus his Governour went but could not find his Body amongst the Dead nor hear of him amongst all the Prisoners He had a Pass on purpose to go to the French Army to enquire for his Lord. Our Army Forag'd towards Haute Croix and a Detachment of Horse under the Command of Lieutenant General Sgravenmoor sent to cover our Foragers met with a considerable Detachment of French Horse and was oblig'd to retreat The Alarm came quickly to our Army and it appeared immediately under Arms but there was no considerable harm done of either side in the two Detachments This day one Chevalier de Millevoix so called for his Excellency in Singing and a great Master in Musick who by it had got himself to be one of the Elector of Bavaria's Domesticks and was very much consider'd of him insomuch that he had a very good Pension and made a very great Figure was hanged upon a Tree in the Front of our Right Wing of Horse for a Spy and for having given and endeavoured to give Intelligence to the Mareschal of Luxembourg which was intercepted by the Elector The Boor he employ'd bringing two of his Letters one after another to his Electoral Highness and pretending to Millevoix that he had fallen amongst some of our Detachments and had been oblig'd to fling them away His true Name was Jaquet born at Lisle in the French Conquests in Flanders The King being advertised that the French Army march'd from Enghien to Gislenhem the King march'd with all the Army except those had been harrass'd at Steenkirk to charge them in the Rear but the Advertisement having been given too late his Majesty could not overtake them The French decamp'd in great Secresie without any general Beating before or any Beat of Drum upon their March and their Pikes trail'd which sufficiently shews they did not care notwithstanding their Victory for a Second Brush They left all our wounded Prisoners behind them at Enghien who were sent the next day in Carts to Brussels His Majesty this day went as far as Enghien and had full view of the place of Battle of the Enemies Camp as it was before they march'd off and before we engag'd Our Army not being able to
A RELATION Of the Most Remarkable Transactions Of the Last CAMPAIGNE IN THE Confederate Army Under the Command of His Majesty of GREAT BRITAIN AND AFTER Of the Elector of BAVARIA IN THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS Anno Dom. 1692. LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the King's-Arms in the Poultrey 1693. To the Right Honourable John Earl of Bathe Viscount LANS DOWNE Baron Granville of Kilkhampton and Biddiford Lord-Lieutenant of the Counties of Devon and Cornwall Governour of Their Majesties Royal Cittadel of Plimouth Colonel of one of the English Regiments of Foot in the Low-Countries and one of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. My LORD THE desire I have to do something as may express that Respect I owe to your Lordship is the chief reason that I have undertook the Relation of the last Campaigne for since those Years which your Lordship has so signally spent in the Service of the Crown and those important Governments you have in this Kingdom at this Juncture of time do not only dispence but even oblige your Lordship not to be present with your Regiment in the Low Countries I hope this Relation may be acceptable to your Lordship in which your Regiment has not had a small share in the most remarkable Occurrences of the Campaigne There may be some Solaecisms in Soldiery in this Relation but I hope your Lordship will be pleas'd to Pardon them since they proceed from a Clergy-man who may be allow'd such Mistakes and who ventures upon so Forreign an Undertaking to his Function which ought to have been perform'd by abler Pens to express the Honour of English-men to assure your Lordship that I am My LORD Your Lordship 's most humble and obedient Servant and Chaplain ED. D'AUVERGNE TO THE READER WHEN I drew up this Relation I was far from designing to publish it What I did was for the particular Satisfaction of some Persons to whom I am obliged But since I have finished it a great many Friends have desir'd Copies of it which I found both tedious and chargeable to get written over This is the particular Reason as makes me comply with their Desires to have it Printed For I declare that 't is with some Reluctancy that I appear in publick in this case However since 't is done I must needs let the Reader know that as I had no Design of having this Relation publick so first this is the Reason that it has been so late coming out when the French by their early and active Motions do already enter upon the following Campaign And besides this is the reason that I have expressed my self with more Freedom in the following Relation which though 't is an Argument of its being so much the more impartial yet it may be the less taking for it As I am a Clergy-man I think that there is a greater Obligation upon me to speak Truth and nothing but what is Truth And therefore if there is any thing in this Account that is not so or if I have said any thing that may detract from the Reputation of any Man or Country or if I have done them any Injustice in not publishing their Merits I shall be very ready to give both them and Truth Satisfaction as publickly as I do them wrong However I think my self obliged to declare that I have endeavoured to know the Truth and what I do not know of my self to be so I have in that made use of creditable Informations from Parties concerned If I say little of Foreign Nations concerned in the Alliance and which made by far the greater Number of our Army 't is not out of any Principle of Partiality to my own Countrey-men but 't is because I cannot be so well inform'd of their Actions as of our own they being Strangers to me What I say of Grandval concerning his having killed the Mares chal de Humieres Nephew and his Adventures in Savoy as also what I speak concerning the Prince of Brabancon and of the Elector's Design to take him into the Field the last Campaigne to withdraw him by this piece of Policy from the Government of Namur I would have no more stress laid upon the Truth of it but as a common Report If the Publick does kindly accept these my Endeavours it will oblige me to be more exact and curious the next Campaign if God grants me Life and Health and I shall be more early in satisfying my Countrey with it And I pray God so to unite the Hearts Counsels and Powers of our Allies under the Conduct of our glorious Monarch as may answer his Endeavours and our Expectations that we may see the French Power reduc'd to such Limits as may procure a lasting Peace to Christendom A RELATION Of the Most Remarkable Transactions Of the Last CAMPAIGNE HIS Majesty endeavouring to be before-hand with the French this Campaigne came very early over from England to the Hague about the beginning of April where having spent some time in Conferences with the Ministers of the Allies His Majesty afterwards went to Loo to take some Divertisement before he enter'd upon the Fatigues of the ensuing Campaigne expecting till matters were in a readiness to take the Field which prov'd not so early as may be was design'd both by reason of the foul Weather that happen'd the latter end of April and the beginning of May and of the great remoteness as well as slow motion of some of our Confederate Forces The French King who owes his great Success chiefly to that quickness and activity wherewith he can execute his Undertakings and which is proper to the Nature of his Government began very early to move with his Forces threatning both Flanders with some considerable Siege and England with an Invasion to restore the late King to his pretended Dominions To this end he causes most of his Forces to march towards Flanders and to rendezvous about Mons leaving the Rhine entirely destitute of Troops to render the Army in Flanders the more powerful and formidable being pretty secure both by the slowness of the Germans to take the Field and that Interest he had among some of the Princes of the Empire that nothing could be undertaken upon the Rhine by the Confederates before the execution of his Designs in Flanders to compass these vast Undertakings the French King not only drew off his Forces from the Rhine but likewise most of those he had in Savoy and Piedmont leaving Monsieur Catinat so weak that he hath not been able to attempt any thing this Campaigne but even to suffer the Duke of Savoy to enter into Dauphiné and to leave it expos'd to the Fury of the Germans who have plunder'd burnt and destroy'd where-ever they have been in it By this means the French King has not only been able to bring a very numerous and powerful Army in Flanders to undertake so considerable an Attempt as the Siege of Namur but also to think of restoring the late King to the
left behind by order at the Camp at Hall About Nine or Ten in the Morning our Vanguard came to the Advanc'd Posts of the Enemy the Mareschal of Luxembourg as the Paris Account gives it having been informed of our Design by Monsieur de Tracey who commanded a Detachment of Horse that Night between the Enemies Camp and ours had taken care to possess himself of the most considerable Posts in the Defilés but notwithstanding our Vanguard oblig'd the Enemy to retreat from them all till they came to a little Wood just upon the Right of the Enemies Camp except a small Guard in a Village upon the Left of our Columns almost a League from the Enemy's Camp who upon the March of our Army were all made Prisoners of War their number about Thirty Men and an Officer Between Ten and Eleven of the Clock in the Morning our Advanc'd Guards under the Command of Prince of Wirtemberg lodged themselves in the Wood that fronted the Right of the Enemy's Army the Danes and the Battalion of Guards taking their Post upon the Left in the Wood and Sir Robert Douglas Fitzpatrick's and O Farrel's upon the Right of them on the other side of the Wood was the Enemy's Camp a little Valley remaining between and a great many Hedges which the Enemy resolved to maintain with all Vigour possible though they yielded so easily their Advanced Posts Prince Wirtemberg planted upon a little Rising on the Left of the Wood a Battery of Canon which began to play about Eleven of the Clock and another upon the Right by Sir Robert Douglas his Battalion Captain Macrackan of the same Regiment who afterwards was killed pointed a Canon from this Battery so successfully that it put a whole Battalion of the Enemies in disorder sweeping almost an entire Rank before it Whilst Prince Wirtemburg was playing upon the Enemy with these Batteries of Cannon the Army marcht up to the Head of the Defile about half an English Mile from the Wood where it open'd in a little Plain upon our Right not above half a League over which terminated upon the Right of the Wood where our Van-Guard was and at the Right of our Army upon several Rows of high Trees which seem'd planted in great order as if 't was the Avenue of some Person of Quality's House which being towards Enghien makes me suppose that they may belong to the Duke of Arschot's House where these famous Gardens be as are said to be the Pattern of Versailles through these streight before us on the other side of the Plain we could see the French Infantry drawn up in two Lines and making towards their Right to defend the Post upon the Wood. Upon the Right of this Plain not far from these Groves and Rows of Trees there was a pretty considerabâ—e Farm which soon after the Engagement was set on fire by the Enemy to cover as 't is said several of their Battalions by the Smoak who were order'd this way and was afterwards engag'd with Fagel's Brigade between this House and the Wood where our Advanc'd Guard was posted From the Head of our Defile upon the Left of the Plain there went for almost half a Mile in length a deep hollow way with high Trees and Hedges upon the Banks of it which reach'd as far as the Wood where the Van-Guard was posted and where it branch'd itself in three other deep ways one going through the Wood upon the Left to the Danes Attack and to that of the Guards one almost streight forwards and the other upon the Right going along the outside of the Wood between these two last was the place where Sir Robert Douglass Col. Fitz-Patrick's and O Farrel's Regiments were posted On the other side of the deep way as went from the Head of our Defile to the Post where was our Van-Guard went several narrow Fields which lay between it all along and a part of the Wood which reach'd as far as from our Advanc'd Guards to our Defiles When the Army was come up to the Head of these Defiles and just entring into the small Plains they were order'd to halt except the English Life-Guards and Horse and Dragoons which were commanded upon the right skirts of the Wood where was our Van-Guard and my Lord Cutts's Lieutenant-General Mackay's Sir Charles Graham's and Earl of Angus's Regiments which being interlin'd with the English Horse were commanded at the same time to the outside of the Wood on this side of that way as branch'd upon the Right which made the Figure of the Arch of a Circle as the skirts of the Wood did here before us these four Regiments were posted here to be ready to second the Attack of our Van-Guard Prince of Hesse's Col. Lauder's and Earl of Leven's Regiments who were also interlin'd with the Left Wing of Horse were likewise posted upon the side of the Wood. Things being thus dispos'd and our Army continuing on the halt Prince Wirtemberg after he had Cannonaded for above two Hours begun the Attack with the Danes upon the Right which was immediately follow'd by the other four English Regiments as compos'd our Van-Guard and seconded by Cutts Mackay Angus Graham Lauder the Prince of Hesse and Leven's Regiments Certainly never was a more dreadful and at the same time bolder firing heard which for the space of two Hours seem'd to be a continu'd Thunder and equall'd the Noise even of the loudest Claps our Van-Guard behav'd in this Engagement to such wonder and admiration that tho' they receiv'd the Charge of several Battalions of the Enemies one after another yet they made them retreat almost into their very Camp so far that the Second Battalion of the First Regiment of Guards possess'd themselves of a Battery of the Enemies Cannon which the Enemy were oblig'd to quit by the vigour of our Charge and Colonel Wacup who commanded the Battalion and who behav'd himself extreamly well in this occasion plac'd a Serjeant and Guard upon it but the French having cut off the Traces and taken away the Horses we could not bring them off but were oblig'd afterwards to leave them Sir Robert Douglass with his first Battalion charg'd several of the Enemies and beat them from three several Hedges and had made himself Master of the fourth where going through a Gap to get on the other side he was unfortunately kill'd upon the spot all the other Regiments performing equal wonder and behaving with the same Bravery and beating the Enemies from their Hedges so far that in this Hedge-fighting their fire was generally Muzzle to Muzzle we on the one side and the Enemy on the other But to return to our Army As soon as we were come to the Head of the Defile it was order'd to halt particularly our Left Wing of Horse that the Foot that were interlin'd with them which were most English and Scotch and which I have before mentioned might march up through the Horse we were oblig'd to this halt tho' it was