Reely's Poetry Blog

Just added After Blenheim by Robert Southey since it is the anniversary of the 1704 Battle of Blenheim.  Southey was not there, of course -- he wouldn't be born for another 70 years.  I thought we might want to take a look at what someone who was there wrote about it, too.

"On the memorable 13th of August, at two in the morning, the allied generals having detached their baggage to Rietlingen, broke up their camp, leaving the tents standing; and at three the troops, amounting to 52,000 men, passed the Kessel in eight columns. The right wing was commanded by Eugene, the left by Marlborough, and the aggregate force amounted to 52,000 men, with 52 pieces of artillery and a train of pontoons.

"The army of Eugene, filing by the right, was divided into two columns of infantry and two of cavalry, the artillery following the infantry, and the cavalry closing the march. The army of Marlborough filing by the left, broke also into two columns of infantry and two of cavalry, the cavalry being on the left, and the artillery following the infantry. On reaching the bank of the Reichen, they came into parallel order and halted. Here the out-posts joined their respective corps. The two brigades of Wilkes and Rowe, which on the preceding evening had been stationed in front of Dapfheim, were formed into a ninth column, and reinforced with eleven battalions from the first line, and fifteen squadrons of cavalry. This column was designed to cover the march of the English and Dutch artillery along the great road, and to attack the village of Blenheim, the possession of which would facilitate the passage of the main army over the Nebel and open the right flank of the enemy.  The troops of Marlborough were directed to form on the ground stretching,from Welheim to Kremheim, while those of Eugene, passing along the skirts of the hills in the rear of Wolperstetten, Berghausen, and Schwenenbach, were to prolong the line to the extremity of the valley, as far as Eichberg. From these general arrangements, it appears that the allied commanders intended to make their first efforts against Blenheim and Lutzingen, which covered the flanks of the enemy. The subsequent changes arose from the locality of the ground, and the order adopted by their antagonists. After these preliminary dispositions ,the troops resumed their march in silence. Meanwhile Marlborough and Eugene, escorted by forty squadrons, rode forward to observe the situation of the enemy. They were accompanied by.the Prussian general, Natzmer, who had been made prisoner in the battle fought here between Stirum and Villars, in the preceding year, and was acquainted with the local peculiarities. About six, they descried the advanced posts of the enemy falling back on their approach, and at seven, reaching the higher ground near Wolperstetten, they came in full view of the hostile camp. From hence they could trace the course of the Nebel, and learned that it might be traversed at the houses and water-mills, near the right of the enemy; but that the islet and the banks towards Oberglauh were deemed too swampy to be passable. They observed also, that the ground on the hither side,as far as Unterglauh, was sufficiently high to protect the passage of the rivulet, but that the plain beyond the farther bank, on which the troops must form for the attack, was commanded by the eminence occupied by the enemy. To these peculiarities they adapted their plan. ...

continue here to read how "the particularly hazy morning" and some false intelligence helped the English defeat Tallard's superior numbers.