418 
TflE BROME-WALTON FAMILY. 
extends along that river from the town of Aschaffenberg to the large 
village of Dettingen—when Geo. II. arrived, from Hanover, on 19th 
June, with his second son, the Duke of Cumberland (then 22 years of 
age). The arrival of the King infused new spirit into the Army, and 
a la guerre les trois quarts sont clcs affaires morales. On 26th June, in 
the evening, the King gave orders that the Army be ready to march early 
next morning—in view to effect junction with Prince George of Hesse 
and the eight Hanoverian battalions, under General Druckleben (who 
had been ordered to halt at Hainan), and to secure provisions. The 
only available road, however, was between a mountain and a river, in 
the face of an active and superior enemy ; and at such close quarters 
were the armies that the King had scarcely quitted Aschaffenberg 
when it was seized by the French. On 27th June was fought the 
battle of Dettingen, the Artillery services in which, as now collated 
from the London Gazettes of 1743, 1 2 have been ignored by all historians. 
Battle of Dettingen. 
At 4 a.m.j 27th June, 1743, the Allies struck their tents and began 
to file off in two columns, the heavy artillery and the cavalry being in 
rear, where the King himself commanded, which, from ignorance of 
de Noailles's movements he considered the post of danger. The bat¬ 
talion guns marched on the right of their respective regiments. 3 
Noailles at once altered his positions, and, by means of two bridges 
which he threw over the Maine, despatched 23,000 men under the 
Due de Grammont to secure the defile of Dettingen, the infantry 
crossing bridges towards Selingenstadt, the cavalry fording the river 
higher up, and the artillery forming the arriere garde. Thus he was 
master of Aschaffenberg in rear of the English, and of Dettingen in 
their front : while the Allies were cooped up in a narrow plain, closed 
in by hills, woods, and morasses on the right; and on the left by the 
Maine, the steep bank on opposite side of which was planted with 
numerous cannon. The King, riding to the front and perceiving the 
-Allied front to be chiefly threatened immediately drew up the army in 
order of battle in a rapid and masterly manner, under heavy fire at 200 
paces from a French battery, which was soon answered by our artil¬ 
lery. 
On the right of our army, at the entrance of the wood, the Hano¬ 
verians u erected ” a battery, which flanked the enemy; another was 
erected by the English Royal Artillery on the left ; and a third by the 
Austrians in the centre. “ These did great service, ;; but were from the 
first greatly over-matched in numbers and weight of metal by the enemy, 
whose fire could not be subdued. 3 
The French, under Gramm ont, having advanced into the plain of 
Dettingen from the formidable position originally assigned by Noailles, 
1 Whitehall Gazettes , Nos. 8236, 8240, of 1743. 
2 Orders by Colonel Pattison, P.A.—“ It has alwaj’s been a custom for the artillery to take the 
right of all corps, and on all occasions.’ 5 (Colonel Belford’s Orders, MSS. in P.A. Institution, 
dated 14th November, 1755). The precedence of artillery over all dismounted corps was con¬ 
firmed by the Duke of Montagu’s Order dated W.O. 3rd April, 1746.” 
3 The French had 4-prs. and 8-prs., as field guns. 
