GENERAL HISTORY. 



Cl31 



ground before that city, and with- 

 drew into the suburbs and their 

 different works. At this time sir C. 

 Stewart says, that perhaps the his- 

 tory of war does not afford a period 

 in which two great armies stood 

 committed to such bold operations. 

 It had been the business of se- 

 veral months, during the occupa- 

 tion of Dresden by the French, to 

 strengthen it with fortifications, on 

 which all the art of the engineer 

 had been bestowed, and Napoleon 

 was within its wails with a force 

 estimated at 130,000 men. The 

 determination of the allied gene- 

 rals to make an assault upon it, 

 cannot therefore but be regarded 

 as of extraordinar}' boldness. An 

 attack upon the Grossen Garten, 

 or gardens in front of the town, 

 on the morning of the 27th, by 

 the light troops of Witgenstein 

 and Kleist, was attended with 

 some loss. At four in the even- 

 ing of that day, the allied army, 

 in different columns, moved to the 

 grand assault under a tremendous 

 cannonade. The Austrian* took 

 an advanced redoubt not 60 yards 

 from the main wall, and the troops 

 on all sides with the most un- 

 daunted courage approached close 

 to the town. But the enemy re- 

 tired from their outworks only to 

 take shelter behind new defences, 

 and the thick walls of the town 

 resisted the impression of the ar- 

 tillery. At the approach of night 

 a sortie was made by the French 

 guards, amounting to 30,000 men, 

 with the intention to separate the 

 allied troops, and to take one wing 

 in front and rear. This was frus- 

 trated by a skilful disposition, but 

 no hope now remained of carry- 

 ing the place. The loss in this as- 

 sault ii estimated at about 4,000 



men, which chiefly fell upon the 

 Austrians. 



On the following day the French 

 became the assailants. Napoleon, 

 supported by an immense artillery, 

 moved to the attack of the allies, 

 who occupied a very extended po- 

 sition on the heights surrounding 

 Dresden. The battle was chiefly 

 carried on by cannonade, though 

 charges were made in different 

 parts by the allied cavalry, which 

 had to contend with bad roads and 

 incessant rain. The main bodiesof 

 infantry on each side did not come 

 into contact. Among the disasters 

 of the day was the mortal wound 

 received by the celebrated General 

 Moreau, who had left his retreat 

 in America to visit his old fellow- 

 soldier, the Crown Prince of Swe- 

 den, and had engaged in that party 

 which he regarded as the true cause 

 of liberty and mankind. As he 

 was conversing with the emperor 

 of Russia, a cannon shot which 

 passed through his horje carried 

 off' one of his legs and shattered 

 the other ; and after suffering two 

 amputations with great fortitude, 

 he died of the consequences, uni- 

 versally regretted by those whom 

 he had joined. The result of the 

 day was, that the allies retreated in 

 the evening, with an acknowledged 

 loss of 6 or 7,000 men. The French 

 accounts of the two actions swell 

 the losses to an exorbitant amount. 

 That the check was severe, appear- 

 ed from the retrograde movements 

 of tl>e allies, which were directed 

 upon Bohemia, across the range 

 of mountains which separate that 

 kingdom from Saxony. It was not 

 to be expected that they should re- 

 treat unmolested from such an 

 enemy as they had to contend with. 

 A large division of the French ar- 



