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At the reduction, early in the year, of the important Fort of Kehl, by the Marshal de Villars, Major-General Andrew Lee was among his most distinguished officers, as well as a young Irishman, named Mac Sheehy, acting as an Engineer; who, reconnoitring the breach, correctly pronounced it, in opposition to the other Engineers, to be practicable; and the operations against that fort cost the Regiment of Clare 1 Captain, and nearly 90 men. The engagement, called "the 1st battle of Hochstedt," was fought, September 20th, by the Marshal de Villars, and the Elector of Bavaria, against the Imperial General, Count de Stirum. At the commencement of this action, the Count, having a much inferior force to deal with, under Lieutenant-General D'Usson, (the same who formerly commanded in Ireland,) gave that force a very rough handling. But the Marshal, and the Elector, after a long and harassing march, coming up, and falling to work with their cavalry, while their artillery and infantry advanced as quickly as possible to second them, the Count was then so outnumbered, that he endeavoured to retreat, fighting, towards Nordlingen. And he continued to do so most creditably, until, after a combat altogether of 9 hours, his army were broken, and routed; having between 7000 and 8000, (if not more,) killed, or made prisoners, and their entire artillery, consisting of 33 pieces, taken, with 22 colours or standards, tents, baggage, &c.; the French and Bavarian loss not amounting to 1000 men. The reputation of the Irish Brigade was much increased at this victory. According to the official letters, or those of D'Usson and Villars, Major-General Dorrington always led on his infantry, with great regularity, and valour. Major-General Lee, in command of a French corps broken by the enemy, displayed his usual resolution, by the manner in which he exposed his person, to remedy the disorder that occurred; and, in doing so, received 5 or 6 wounds. In hastening up to gain a village in the centre, which it was requisite to possess, in order to advance in front with effect against the enemy, the Irish, under Lord Clare, occupied that post, with an ardour for fighting that could not be sufficiently praised; and they continued to manifest their usual good-will and corresponding ardour, being the 1st body of infantry, followed by the brigade of Artois, and some companies of grenadiers,) to which was due the final or decisive breaking and dispersion of the German infantry, attended by a great slaughter of that infantry, during the night, in the woods, through which they endeavoured to escape. Count Arthur Dillon adds respecting this battle-"The Regiment of Clare highly distinguished itself there. Having lost, at the commencement of the action, I of its colours, it precipitated itself, à l'arme blanche, upon the enemy, recovered that, and took 2 other colours from the enemy." This was being "double and quit" with the Germans.

* Villars, mentioning to Louis XIV. how "l'on attendit que l'infanterie eût gagné un village, qui était dans le centre, pour marcher de front aux ennemis," states, "les Irlandais, commandés par milord Clare, l'avaient occupé, avec une ardeur de combattre que l'on ne peut assez louer." And again, or in reference to their general conduct in the action, he alleges, "les Irlandais ont marqué leur bonne volonté et leur ardeur ordinaires." As to the infantry, whose coming up, &c., with that of the enemy, decided the event of the contest, the Marshal writes, "la brigade des Irlandais, celle d'Artois, et quelques compagnies de grenadiers, ayant joint leurs derniers rangs, le désordre s'y mit; elle fut entièrement rompue; nos troupes en tuèrent beaucoup dans les bois, où le massacre fut très-grand, et dura même toute la nuit."

↑ Le Régiment de Clare s'y distingua beaucoup.

Ayant perdu, au commence

The greatest efforts of the Allies, in 1704, were made in Germany, to save the House of Austria, attacked by the Bavarians and French on one side, and by the Hungarians on another. For this purpose, in June, the Anglo-Dutch and Imperial armies joined in Swabia, under the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Lewis of Baden. Each was to command day about, and they proceeded in July to enter Bavaria. To oppose them, the Bavarian Field-Marshal, Count d'Arco, was stationed on the hill of Schellenberg, extending from Donawert on his left, towards a wood on his right. That eminence, very steep, rough, and difficult to ascend, had been, some time before, ordered to be intrenched along the summit. But, according to an Italian officer there, the Marquis Scipio Maffei, Lieutenant-General in the Bavarian and subsequently in the Imperial service, the works commenced were on a scale that would have accommodated 15,000 men, and yet were so little advanced, that they could not be completed before they were to be attacked; while the Bavarian and French force for the defence were no more, at most, than 8000 men, and 14 guns. July 2nd, Marlborough, whose day it was to command, cannonaded the imperfectly-intrenched eminence, with a corresponding advantage on his side, from 5 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and then ordered the post to be attacked in form. In artillery, from the Allied train being previously mentioned as having included 44 field-guns, he appears to have been much superior. His infantry, by Allied accounts, consisted of 5580 select British and Dutch, 3000 Imperial grenadiers, 30 additional battalions, half on the right and half on the left, that, at 500 men per battalion, would be 15,000, or, with the 8580 British, Dutch, and grenadier Imperialists, 23,580; his cavalry amounted to 30 British and Dutch squadrons, that, at 150 men each, would make 4500; and his entire force would thus be (exclusive of officers) 28,080 strong. The assault was commenced, on the side of the hill towards the wood, by the British and the Dutch; the former headed by a party of their Guards, under Lord Mordaunt, with shouts of "God save the Queen!" and both being seconded by the rest of the troops present. But the assailants, for an hour or more, were repulsed, and with such a smashing, especially of the British, that, it is said, the survivors could not be gotten to make another effort, when the remainder of the Allies opportunely came up, to attack the hill towards Donawert. This they did gallantly, under Prince Lewis of Baden, who was wounded, and had a horse shot, under him; and the works having been most imperfect there, and the orders respecting the most effective mode of defending them not having been followed by the French officer at Donawert, Brigadier Dubordet and the 2 battalions of Toulouse and Nettancourt, the lines on that side were forced, in about half an hour, by the infantry of the Imperialists; the general assault upon the position, from its commencement by Marlborough at 6 o'clock, having occupied from an hour and a half to an hour and 3 quarters. Exposed, on the storming of their imperfect intrenchments, to such "a world of enemies "-or, by line of battle, 71 battalions and 152 squadrons against but 19 battalions and 6 squadrons! -the Gallo-Bavarians were obliged to abandon their artillery, (but first spiked or rendered useless,) their tents, their baggage, and 13 standards; yet had not, according to Maffei, in or after the action, 2500 slain or taken. The killed and wounded of the Allies are recorded, on their side, ment de l'action, 1 de ses drapeaux, il fondit, à l'arme blanche, sur l'ennemi, et le reprit, avec 2 autres drapeaux ennemis.

by Serjeant Millner of "the Honourable Royal Regiment of Foot of Ireland," * as 1536 British, of other nations 3772, of whom 1331 were Dutch, and 2441 Germans, making a general total of 5308 men, including 360 officers! Such was the famous combat at the lines of Schellenberg, where Marlborough, at the head of a much superior force, was beaten, till aided by the Prince of Baden, with still greater numbers; and where, considered apart from the mere circumstance of ultimate success, which, in war, as well as in peace, is too often not the reward of the greatest merit, the very vigorous defence, and unparalleled slaughter of their enemies, by the Gallo-Bavarians, with every advantage against them but that of position, unquestionably entitled them to the principal glory of the day. At this action, there were no Irish troops. But Major-General Andrew Lee commanded upon the Gallo-Bavarian right, where the British were so roughly handled previous to the entrance of the lines by the Imperialists, on the left, or towards Donawert. Being thus cut off from retiring by Donawert, Lee proceeded to withdraw his men, in the direction of the wood, to Neuburgh. And this, he, says a French contemporary, "executed with so much prudence, by availing himself of some squadrons of dragoons, that he suffered no loss, although closely followed by the enemy as far as the wood, where, having totally despaired of being able to break in upon him, they retired."

The next and most famous engagement of the campaign of 1704 was "the 2nd battle of Hochstedt," or Blenheim, fought, August 13th, between the Allies under the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the French and Bavarians under the Marshals de Tallard and Marcin, and the Elector of Bavaria. Of the Gallo-Bavarians, the army of the Marshal de Tallard formed the right; the army of the Marshal de Marcin and the Elector formed the left. The former force extended from the village of Blenheim, which it occupied on its right, to the vicinity of the village of Oberglau, on its left. The latter force extended from the village of Oberglau, which it occupied on its right, to beyond the village of Lutzingen, which it held on its left. The general position of the 2 armies was along a sloping eminence, with the Nebel, a marshy rivulet, before them; a hostile passage of which was, however, much facilitated by the dryness of the season. The army of the Marshal de Tallard was opposed, on the Allied left, by the British, Dutch, German, and Danish troops, under the Duke of Marlborough. The army of the Marshal de Marcin and the Elector was opposed, on the Allied right, by the Prussians, Danes, Imperialists, and other German troops, under Prince Eugene of Savoy. The following were the proportions of men and artillery on both sides, by the best contemporary accounts of each, respecting its own strength.

The 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot, a most distinguished corps, from the capture of Namur under King William III., to the half-capture of Sebastopol under Queen Victoria.

+ The Dutch, as 378 killed and 953 wounded in Millner's table, would have 1331 killed and wounded; which last number is also consistent with his general total of the Allied loss as 5308. I have therefore corrected into 1331 an evident misprint of the Dutch total killed and wounded as but 1311. Of the 1536 British hors de combat, 115 were officers, and 1421 soldiers.

The medal, struck by the Dutch, on this occasion, had Prince Lewis of Baden's bust on one side, and, on the other, the intrenchments of Schellenberg, a plan of Donawert, with the Genius of the city, represented by an old man leaning upon an urn, and an inscription in Latin, thus translated-"The enemy vanquished, put to flight, and their camp taken, at Schellenberg, near Donawert, 1704.”

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From about 9 o'clock in the morning, the cannonading was kept up till near 1, when the charging began; and the contest was not entirely terminated till after sunset. By that time, the army of Tallard, from its great disparity in number to its opponents, from the very inferior condition of its horses, owing to long marches and a vast mortality among them, from the sun and wind having been against it during the most difficult and critical portion of the engagement, and from some defects in its arrangement, and some faults in its conduct, was routed, destroyed, or surrounded. The Marshal himself was taken, with upwards of 90 colours, 25 standards, and 34 pieces of cannon; and so many as 27 of his battalions and 12 of his squadrons, cut off from the rest, had finally, or about 8 o'clock, to surrender en masse as prisoners at Blenheim. But Marcin and the Elector, being differently situated from what Tallard was with reference to Marlborough, or not having to contend, like Tallard, against a force so superior in number, were proportionably fortunate, on their side of the field. They maintained their position, and repulsed Eugene's attacks until about 7 o'clock, when, obliged not by him, but by Tallard's overthrow, to retire, they retreated honourably; abandoning, indeed, along with Eugene's artillery, which they had captured, 13 pieces of their own cannon, but carrying off the rest, or 43 guns, accompanied by 36 Allied colours or standards, 4 pairs of kettle-drums, and 2084 prisoners. On this disastrous day, the Gallo-Bavarians admitted a diminution of nearly 22,100 men; of whom the killed and wounded, by the Paris account of the action, were 12,000 at most, and the prisoners, by the Archives of the Dépôt de la Guerre, were 1076 officers and 9019 soldiers, or, 10,095 of both ranks; † and, with these, there fell into the hands of the Allies,

*The Allied battalions are admitted to have averaged 500 men, the Allied squadrons 150 horses, each; those of the Gallo-Bavarians but 400 and 100 respectively. The proportion of the confederates of Marlborough to his insular contingent, (in both cases, exclusive of officers,) would be

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+ The Allies claim many more; but must not this have been by including supernumeraries, or mere camp-followers, as military?

Q

according to Marlborough's and Engene's bulletin, a total of military ensigns and guns, amounting to above 115 colours or standards, and 47 pieces of cannon. Many men also perished in the subsequent retreat, under Marcin and the Elector, towards the Rhine; all the French, that were found straggling, being knocked on the head by the German boors. The Allies enumerated their killed and wounded, as in Millner's tables, at 2234 British, and 10,250 other Confederates, of whom 2196 were Dutch, and 8054 Germans and Danes, making, in all, 12,484 slain or hurt; that, with the 254 men, previously referred to as captured, would form a general loss of 14.508 men.

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The Irish, at this celebrated battle, consisted of the 3 battalions of Majors-General Andrew Lee, and William Dorrington, and Brigadier Charles O'Brien, 5th Lord Clare. Those battalions had been recruite 1 from France, in May, with 300 of their countrymen. By the Instruc tion du Roi à M. le Comte de Marcin, 14 Octobre, 1703," &c., it would seem that Louis was particularly desirous to fill up, with their own countrymen, the Regiments Irlandais dans l'Armée d'Allemagne," from the excellent opinion he entertained of those national corps“Sa Majesté etant persuadée, que ce qu'ils pourront, ils le feront, et que ce qu'ils promettront, ils le tiendroat"-an eulogium of the Irish regiments, by the French Monarch, the more valuable, as expressed in a document, not intended for the public eye. The 3 Irish corps, as attached to the army of the Marshal de Marcin, formed a portion of the infantry, stationed, under the gallant Marquis de Blainville, (son of the great Minister, Colbert,) about the centre of the Gallo-Bavarian position, or at the village of Oberglan. Partly by the road, passing, on the Allosi side of the Nebel, immediately through Undergiau, and then, on the Gallo-Bavarian side of the stream, leading, in a curving direction, to Obergian, and partly by a fordable place to the right of Underglan, the Duke of Marlborough had to advance against, and cause Obergian to be assailed on its right. Still farther away to the Allied right, or bevor i Wilheim, with such of the Dutch infantry (or German and Swiss infantry in Dutch pay) as were nearest to Prince Engene's army, an i were accordingly designed to be aided by some Imperial cavalry, another attack was to be made, un ler the Prince of Holstein-Beek, or HolsteinBeck, on Oberglan in front; an almost straight road conducting to it there, on both sides of the water.

The troops of Marlborough, to act against Oberglau on its right were Danes, Hanoverians, and English of these, the Danes and

of it.

The small difference between the Galle Parasians and the Allies in killed an 1 woanded may be explained by the very severe execution of the superior and welserved artillery of the former against the latter, for several hours before both sides eud actually charge or enje; so that, if the Gale-Bavarians lest mest men towards the end of the day, the Als seem to have lost most in the eariser pars From about 9 to 16 dick, dunng which the Galls-Pararian artillery olivel uninterruptedly uron the Alltid masses, the - were snused to have sind to the amount of about 240 men. Eugene, be, was not well mauiei, Fy Marin and the Elector, färgagi in the day. If Marler ah was so very successtil against Tallard on the Goal-Favarian milit alleges the Firs na tive of September 6th, Dade anche de l'infanterie, commandée par le Mary's le Planville, avoient, en 5 diterents cargos, paljours enfance et`rma la diete des ennemis avec un mand camaze. artleme, et pris hestecup detendarts et de drapean, de manière que Elster ont la victime criade leur a pris 36 etendarts et imiems, et 4 pains de tunaes. details of the accompanying 2984 prauders are given by Lieutenant-General Pelet.

The numerical

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