CHAP. LVIII. 1809. 46. Battle of and total Bavarians. the highest degree by the intelligence of the battle of Aspern, which had been communicated with extraordinary rapidity to the most secluded valleys, and by a proclamation issued by the Emperor Francis the day after that glorious event, dated Breitenlee, 23d May, in which he solemnly engaged 'never to lay down his arms till the Tyrol was reunited to the Austrian monarchy."* 66 The attack on Innspruck was combined with more military skill than could have been anticipated from the untutored character of the leaders by whom it was conInnspruck, ducted. Spechbacher, who, in spite of the utmost vigidefeat of the lance of the Bavarians, had contrived to warn the peasants on both sides of the Inn of the approaching gathering, menaced the bridge of Hall, and the line of retreat down the valley of the Inn from the northern side, while Colonel Reissenfels co-operated in the same direction from the southern valleys, by a descent along May 29. * Hofer addressed the following characteristic letter to the inhabitants of the Upper Innthal :- Dear brethren of the Upper Innthal ! For God, the Emperor, and our Fatherland! To-morrow, early in the morning, is fixed for the attack. With the help of the blessed Virgin we will seize and destroy the Bavarians, and confide ourselves to the beloved Jesus. Come to our assistance: but if you fancy yourselves wiser than Divine Providence, we will do without you.-ANDREW HOFER."-Gesch. A. HOFER, 238. The proclamation of the Emperor Francis to the Tyrolese, dated 1st June 1809, bore" Operations at all points are about to recommence; I will send you a helping hand. We will combat together for our country and our religion. Your noble conduct has sunk deep into my heart: I will never abandon you. The Archduke John will speedily be amongst you, and put himself at your head."-ERZH. JOHAN. Feldzug in jahre 1809, 162. "All the passages over the Inn, and especially the bridge of Hall, were vigilantly guarded by the Bavarian posts, who justly deemed it a matter of especial importance to prevent any joint measure being concerted on the opposite sides of the river. Spechbacher, however, undertook the perilous mission of opening up a communication between the northern and southern valleys. Accompanied by his trusty companions, George Zoppel and Simon Lechner, and a young peasant girl, Zoppel's servant, he set out on the evening of WhitMonday. In the evening they encountered a body of a hundred Bavarian dragoons Spechbacher and his companions concealed themselves behind some pine-trees at the foot of a cliff, fired on the party from their ambush, and immediately scaling the precipice, loaded and fired again. The Bavarians, conceiving they were attacked by a numerous body of sharpshooters, fled, and left the passage open. Spechbacher met with Hofer accordingly, and a general assemblage around Innspruck was arranged for the 28th May. On his return, however, fresh difficulties were encountered: the bridge of Hall and all the points of transit were vigilantly guarded, and every person rigorously searched who attempted to pass from one side to the other. In this perplexity he was relieved by the inventive genius of his trusty companion, George Zoppel, and his servant maid. The girl first crossed the bridge: and, as nothing suspicious was found upon her, she was allowed to pass. Then George Zoppel presented himself; after him came Spechbacher's great poodle-dog, in whose woolly tail the despatches were concealed; and, while the sentinels were busy employed in searching Zoppel's pockets, the dog, obedient to the call of the servant-maid, brushed past the soldiers and ran up to her. Spechbacher came last; but being unknown, and nothing found upon him, he was allowed to pass."-BARTHOLDY, Krieg 1809, 168, 172. CHAP. LVIII. 1809. the right bank of the Sill and an attack on the castle of Ambras. Hofer descended with all the strength of the southern and central valleys of Tyrol, from the Brenner and Mount Ysel; while Teimer, with a small band of six hundred resolute followers, was sent by a circuitous route to the heights of Hottingen on the north of the town, and in the rear of the Bavarians, to make his appearance in the middle of the action, and spread terror among the enemy, from the belief that they were beset on all sides. Thus the battle consisted of a variety of detached combats in different directions around Innspruck, contemporary with the now furious struggle at the foot of Mount Ysel, between the main body of the combatants on either side. By daybreak, Spechbacher was at the post assigned to him, and amidst loud shouts, carried the important bridge of Hall with such vigour, that it gained for him the surname of "Der Feuer-Teufel," the Fire-Devil. The castle of Ambras soon after yielded to the impetuous assault of Reissenfels, and the whole right bank of the Sill was cleared of the enemy; but they long held their ground at the bridge of Passberg, commanding the passage of that torrent by the great road on the south of the Inn. From this position, however, they were at length driven about noon, by the more skilled attacks of Captain Hofer, 240, Dobrawa; and the left flank of the enemy being thus 245. Barth. completely turned, and their retreat down the Inn cut off, Inglis, ii. 183. they were thrown back in great disorder to the village and abbey of Wilten.1 1 Gesch. A. 192, 196. 47. Bloody action of Hofer and While affairs were proceeding so prosperously on the east of Innspruck, a more dubious conflict was raging in the centre and on the left, at the foot of Mount Ysel. Haspinger, with a huge wooden cross in his hand, here Haspinger. led on the attack, and animated his followers not less by his example, than by the assurances of Divine protection which he held forth. He was followed by Colonel Ertell with the most disciplined part of the Tyrolese, two thousand strong; while Hofer, with the peasants of the Passeyrthal, descended from Mount Ysel by the great road direct upon Innspruck; his brave but tumultuous array shouting aloud-" For God, the Emperor, and our Fatherland!"* The outposts of the enemy were speedily * "Fur Gott, den Kaiser, und Vaterland." CHAP. 1809. driven in by the superior numbers and unerring aim of the Tyrolese riflemen; but when they advanced out of the woods and broken knolls to the open ground in front of the town, where the Bavarians were drawn up in line in admirable order, the usual superiority of discipline and organisation became apparent, and the peasants were driven back. Rallying, however, among the rocks and thickets, they again poured down a destructive shower of balls on their assailants, and both sides maintained the contest with the most undaunted resolution. The ammunition of the Tyrolese, with which they were very scantily provided, at length began to fail; they were compelled to reserve their fire till it could be given with decisive effect; and balls could be obtained only by the women and children, who picked up those of the enemy which fell in the rear of the combatants. In this anxious moment, Teimer's bands appeared on the heights of Hottingen in the rear of the Bavarians; and though their attack was restrained by the troops which Deroy sent to oppose his progress, yet this circumstance, joined to the disastrous accounts of the progress of Spechbacher on the left, determined Deroy to retreat. At four in the afternoon, a sort of suspension of arms was agreed to by the leaders on both sides; and as soon as it was dark the Bavarians 184. Pel. iv. commenced their retreat by the left bank of the Inn, and, rian Account evacuating Innspruck and the great road, withdrew by of the battle, mountain paths amidst rocks and forests to Kufstein, June 22, 1809. from whence they continued their march to Rosenheim in the Bavarian plains.1 1 Gesch. A. Hofer, 238, 249. Barth. 202, 212. Inglis, ii. 183, 34, 36. Bava Moniteur, In this battle the Bavarians lost four thousand men ; but, what was of still more importance, they were deprived by it of the possession of the whole of the Tyrol. Intoxicated with joy, the peasants crowded into Innspruck in such numbers, that they were an oppression *Spechbacher was attended in the battle by his little son Andrew, a boy of ten years of age. When the fire grew warm, his father ordered him to quit the field the boy did so, but soon returned, and was again at his side. Irritated at this disobedience, Spechbacher struck him, and ordered him to withdraw. He did so; but, without retiring out of reach of the shot, observed where they struck the ground, and bringing his hat full of them next morning to his father, begged that they might be used against the enemy. The wounded in this battle refused to be carried from the field, lest those who conveyed them to a place of safety should weaken the combatants; and numbers of women throughout the day were to be seen behind the ranks, bringing up ammunition, water, and refreshments to the wearied men.-See BARTH. Krieg 1809, 204-216; Gesch. A. HOFER, 248. CHAP. LVIII. 1809. in the entire rather than a source of strength to the Austrian commanders, who were totally destitute of ammunition or military arms for the ardent multitude. A proclamation was immediately issued, calling on all persons to bring, Results of forth their little stores of money and powder for the use these victories of the troops; and considerable supplies were obtained in deliverance of this way, though in no degree proportionate to the wants the Tyrol. of the people. The desperate struggle in the heart of Austria required every sabre and bayonet around the walls of Vienna; the intervening country was all in the hands of the enemy, and not a dollar or a gun could be obtained from that quarter. Such, however, was the 1 Gesch. A. native vigour of the inhabitants, that without any exter- 265. Barth. nal aid, or the support of regular troops, they not only 212, 215. cleared their territory of the enemy, but carried their in- 39. cursions into the adjoining provinces of Swabia, Bavaria, and Lombardy.1 Hofer, 259, Pel. iv. 38, incursions On the west, the peasantry of the Vorarlberg repulsed a body of French and Wirtemburghers who attempted to 49. penetrate into Bregentz; on the east, Chastellar, who The Tyrolese had collected four thousand regular troops, raised the even make blockade of Sachsenburg, and drove the enemy back to into all the neighbouring Villach; in the south, Leinengen cleared the whole country. valley of Trent of the enemy, and then turning to the June 3. left, descended the defile of the Val Sugana, and made himself master of Bassano at the entrance of the plains of June 6. Treviso. Returning from thence to the banks of the Adige, he threw himself into the castle of Trent, where he was soon besieged by a division of Eugene's Italian army. The landsturm of the upper Adige, however, flew June 9. to his relief; the Italians, overwhelmed by numbers, retired with considerable loss to Dolce; and the whole valley of the Adige, as far as Verona, was cleared of the enemy. The Vorarlberg followed the example of Tyrol : all the valleys took up arms, and seven thousand wellarmed marksmen, besides a landsturm of equal force, carried terror and devastation over all the adjacent provinces of Germany. Moeskirch and Memmingen were successively occupied, and laid under contribution; Constance fell into their hands; their victorious bands appeared even at the gates of Munich and Augsburg; June 29. and, in conjunction with the inhabitants of Swabia, who CHAP. 1809. 39. Ann. Reg. 1809, 218. Gesch. A. Hofer, 259, 277. were highly discontented with the exactions and tyranny of the French troops, delivered no less than seventeen thousand of the prisoners taken at Echmuhl, Ebersberg, and Vienna, who found refuge in the valleys of the Tyrol, and were speedily formed into fresh battalions. To the south of the Alps, Bassano, Belluno, Feltre, were repeatedly in their possession; they communicated with the Austrian regulars in Carniola; levied contributions to the gates of Verona, Brescia, and Como; and, spreading the flame of insurrection from the Black Forest to the 1 Pel. iv. 38, plains of Lombardy, and from Salzburg to the Grisons, soon had twenty thousand infantry and eight hundred horse, regularly organised and equipped, under arms, besides a still greater number of brave men, undisciplined, indeed, but skilled in the use of arms, ready, in case of invasion, to defend their native valleys.1 Barth. 212, 220. 50. While this heroic contest was going forward in the Tyrol and Vorarlberg, the generous flame had extended Rise of the to the north of Germany, and the indignant feelings in the north of an insulted people had wellnigh induced a general of Germany. revolt against the French authority in Saxony and Westphalia. insurrection It has been already detailed with what ardent though inconsiderate enthusiasm the people of Prussia had rushed into the contest of 1806, and what oppressive burdens were laid upon them after its disastrous termination.* Since that time the continued presence of the French troops, and the enormous plunder levied by their authority under the name of contributions, had still farther spread the flame of discontent: dear-bought experience had dispelled all the illusions in favour of French principles, and the people were no where so ready to throw off the yoke as in those principalities where separate thrones had been erected in favour of members of the Buonaparte family. Such was the weight of the oppression under which they laboured, that the ramifications of a secret and most formidable insurrection were spread over all the north of Germany. The ancient Gothic blood, slow to warm, but enduring in purpose, was every where inflamed; the feeling of patriotism, a * Ante, Chap. xliii. § 89; and Chap. xlvi. § 82. |