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A63083
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An account of the imperial proceedings against the Turks with an exact diary of the siege of Newheusel and its taking : as also a relation of all the noted performances of the imperialists in all parts, from the beginning of this summers campagne, till the 27th of August / as it was taken by Mr. Travestin ... ; with an exact map of the town, and the works of the besiegers.
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Travestin, Mr.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing T2067; ESTC R10565
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23,087
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65
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July two Christians who got out of the Town July 1. were brought to the Duke of Lorrain who assured him that the Garrison consisted not of above 1500 men at most and that they were in want of all manner of Provisions July the 4th our Army began a slow march towards Newheusel which it had done sooner but that the Ordnance was wanting However the Lines of Circumvallation and Contravallation went on apace July the 5th the Duke of Lorrain sent Order to the several Troops to march up to us from Barkan Lewentz and Newtra July the 6th we encamped all together on the fide of a little River called Sohit that falls into the Danube near Comorra which we passed on the 7th and the same day came before Newheusel The true ancient name of this place is Oywar though the Germans call it Newheusel it is a large Fort and seituated upon a firm foundation though the Plain about it is full of Moras and Fenny Grounds which makes the Town almost inaccessible as its strength is invincible having six Bastions lined with very good Stone work without which there is a vast Ditch of about ten foot deep and twenty broad The River Newtra is on the East side not above a Pistol-shot from it On the South it has the Danube at about two furlongs distance and on the West it has the River Schit This City after a long Siege was surrendred to the Turks upon fair Terms Anno 1663 and has continued in their hands ever since In May 1683. the Duke of Lorrain being General of the Imperial Forces resolved upon the Siege of this place at that time with the approbation of the other Generals and particular assistance of Count Staremberg then Master-General of the Ordnance who thereupon venturing very far to view the scituation of the Town was in great danger of a Shot from the Turks who played very warmly upon the Imperialists However the Attack was carried on by him with so much Vigour and Success that the Imperialists made themselves Masters of part of the Subburbs and of a Building that had formerly been made use of for a Church into which Count Staremberg having ordered fifty men with a Lieutenant and Count of Herberstein Major of the Regiment of Scherffenberg bringing with him by mistake 150 filled the Church so full that they could not turn themselves in it much less use their Arms so that they were forced to break down the Benches and Seats to make room for themselves which occasioning a great Noise and Confusion it happened that some of the Imperialists that came to strengthen the Party hearing Noise and Disorder in the Church and believing the Enemy to be there made several Discharges upon their own men by one of which Captain Silberberg was killed as were several others by the Shot of the Turks In which Action Captain Craus of the Regiment of Staremberg who served as Adjutant to the General and Count Taxis were also killed and Count Kobb Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Beck wounded whereof he soon after died at Presburg The Grand Visier's coming with so numerous an Army with which he soon after besieged Vienna was the occasion of the raising of the Siege at that time But now we resolved to pursue it closer and to that end to have three Attacks one by the Imperial Troops under the Duke of Lorrain another by the Bavarian Troops commanded under the Duke of Lorrain by the Count de Serini and the third by the Troops of Lunenburg commanded by Monsieur Chauvet This day we took several Prisoners who assured us that the Garrison consisted yet of Eighteen hundred or Two thousand resolute men and that they had a great many Cannon in the place This Evening the Duke of Lorrain accompanied with divers Prince and General Officers went very near the place to observe it which the Besiege observing fired very fiercely upon them with their Cannon but to very little purpose onely a Servant of the Princes de Conti was killed who being a little distant from the rest of the Company had his head taken off by a cannon-Cannon-Bullet This night we took another Deferter who told us that the Besieged had broke one of their greatest Pieces of Ordnance which had killed John de Souches who was formerly a Christian and now their chief Cannonier with five more He told us further That they wanted Provisions and that the Bassa kept his Souldiers in heart by assuring them that the Serasquier is marching with a hundred thousand men to relieve them July the 8th the Troops of the Princes of Lunenburg commanded by Monsieur Chauvet came up to us with their Artillery these were in all about Twelve thousand men and by the Duke of Lorrain's order were encamped on a Line on the left hand the Imperialists being on the North part of the Town towards the River Newtra at B the Imperial Army designing to proceed with their Attack at A July the 9th the Bavarian Troops arrived here commanded by the Count de Serini these were in all about Ten thousand men and were by the Dukes order placed on the right side the Imperialists towards C and now having so brave an Army round the Town we could not question but we should be Masters of it in a short time our Lines of Circumvallation and Contravallation being finished we were beginning to raise several Batteries as at D and this Evening arrived in our Camp part of our Artillery from Comorra This day the besieged made a Sally of Two hundred men with a designe to hinder our Works but finding Five hundred of the Bavarians ready to receive them were forced immediately to retire and the Bavarians pursuing very desperately took three of their men without any loss on our side one of these in hopes of better usage told us that the Garrison contained yet Eighteen hundred men that there had been great want of Provisions but that the Bassa had now opened the great Magazine which he had reserved for the Siege July the 10th about eight a clock in the morning the Besieged made another Sally with Three hundred Foot and Two hundred Horse thinking to spoil the Batteries we were raising at D or to draw our men under the fire of their Ramparts upon which the Princes de Roch-sur-Yon and de Conti accompanied with several Volunteers went presently to charge them but the Count de Serini with the General Officers caused them to retire perceiving the danger by which many might have been lost The Prince de Roche-sur-Yon was in great danger a Cannon-bullet having taken off one of his Horses legs but he was presently remounted The Prince de Wirtemberg Colonel of the King of Denmark's Guards du Corps received a dangerous Wound by a Musket-bullet in the head the Prince de Commercy was wounded in the thigh and four other brave Volunteers were hurt However the Salliers were obliged without any more effect to retire the Baron de Rosencrans
was also dangerously wounded on this occasion The same day the Duke of Lorrain observed the place very near and appointed the chief Attack to be about the Bastion at E and the Western Gate F which is in the same place where the Turks made theirs when they took this Fortress from the Christians Anno 1663. The following night Colonel Beck with two Lieutenant-Colonels two Majors twelve Captains with Lieutenants and Ensignes and Twelve hundred men were detatched to take several Posts The Enemy fired upon them very warmly but with little effect there being onely three killed and four slightly wounded July the 11th the rest of our Cannon and Mortars arrived in the Camp being in all a hundred Pieces of Cannon and twenty six Mortar-pieces This day the Duke of Lorrain sent to the Inhabitants of Newtra commanding them to provide a hundred thousand Faggots for the filling up of the Ditch and to bring them to the Camp This night the Trenches were opened by Three thousand Foot the besieged fired upon them but did very little execution One of the chief Commanders in this Action was the Baron de Beck who posted himself very advantageously about G though he was fired upon so fiercely that he had much ado to maintain that Post This day arrived here the Count de Rabata Commissary-General of the Army who took such care that Provisions coming down the Damibe every day we never had amongst us the least scarcity Besides other money from the Emperour he brought with him a hundred thousand Florens which were given towards this Siege by Cardinal Bonvisi the Popes Nuncio at Vienna July the 12th little passed this day worthy of remark onely the Trench was carried on at night a great length from the right to the left at H and we began to raise two Batteries at I and K to ruine the Defences of the place Mean while they within fired so thick upon us that Colonel Beck was fain to retire a little into the Trenches notwithstanding which there was a Lientenant and three common Souldiers killed and five wounded July the 13th This night we finished the Redoubt at K and carried on the Trenches within fifty paces of the Ditch they were made narrower than the night before and the Souldiers covered themselves so well from the Enemies fire that there was not a man killed this night There was also a Redoubt doubt made at the head of each Trench to secure them from the Enemies Sallies July the 14th the besieged as soon as it was day began to fire upon us with their Cannon and continued it most part of the day by which they somewhat disobliged our Battery at I killed John Martin Trach a Captain of Foot one Corporal and three common Souldiers and the Duke de Croy's Page besides some few that were wounded But we in the mean time stood not idle for from the foresaid Battery and that at K we dismounted several of their Cannon from the Bastion at E and by the Carcasses and Bombs of a new invention made by Don Risco a Spaniard which we now began to cast into the Town we perceived some part of the Town that was next us on fire but it was soon extinguished by the care of the besieged Towards evening about One hundred and twenty Horse came out of the Town and with great sury made towards a Guard of the Bavarians at L which consisting of onely about Thirty Horse retired but Colonel Soyer with about Three hundred immediately horsed them selves and approaching the Enemy with great bravery soon beat them back into the Town with the loss of four or five on the Enemies side July the 14th at night we finished another Redoubt on the left at M and the Line of Communication between the Trenches in the middle whereof at N we began to raise a Battery of ten Pieces of Cannon This night we also began a false Attack at O on the South side opposite to the true one which diverted the besieged that way so that we had the greater liberty to make our approaches to the Ditch which was carried on with all the expedition imaginable and all this night we had onely one man wounded July the 15th this morning we played from a Battery of three great Pieces of Cannon new raised which did as much service notwithstanding the Enemy played upon us all day without intermission but effected little to our disadvantage onely a presumptuous Fellow out of a bravado standing on the Mold between the Trenches was deservedly for his impudence taken off by a Cannon-bullet This night we got to the Ditch at several places at O both on the right and left which was a very desperate Attempt but was favoured by the darkness of the night notwithstanding which the besieged behaved themselves so briskly that we had above fifty men killed and wounded amongst which the Baron de Asty Lieutenant-Colonel was one two Engineers and two Ensignes also John Colalto a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Grana was likewise killed and Joshua Pentz a Captain of the Regiment of Baden was wounded We had in all fifteen killed We also this night tryed the Ditch with long Sticks but to little purpose by reason of the Enemies Fire and a Party of Turks that sallied out upon us but were soon forced to retreat July the 15th we had advice sent us by our Scouts abroad that the Turkish Troops that assembled at Novigrad had passed the Danube at Pest and had joyned with a Body encamped near Buda making together an Army of Sixty thousand men and that they had provided all things necessary for a Siege which made us suppose they had a designe upon Vicegrad or Gran. In which case the Duke of Lorrain resolved to march with the Imperial Army onely leaving about Fourteen thousand here to maintain the Siege to which end the Duke had before provided three Bridges for passing the Army over the Danube near Comorra July the 16th as I was for curiosity amongst the rest in the Trenches we observed about seven a clock in the morning a Christian-slave who was got upon the Bridge endeavouring to escape but three Turks observing him followed and took him and cut off his head upon which I cannot but observe the ingenuity of one Rummel a Relation to the Major-General of that name who from our Trenches at R at two shots with his Musket killed two of the Turks and perhaps the third had not escaped but that he got so nimbly into the Town This day we began a new Battery against the Pallisadoes before the Gate at S which had so good effect that we made them abandon that place and set fire on the Pallisadoes on which there were three or four hundred heads of Christians We observed them also making Retrenchments and raising Batteries within the two attackt Bastions which we had almost ruined This night the Enemy made a continual fire upon us and shot a great many Arrows which much annoyed