ions for
intrenching himself near Naumburg, with the intention of awaiting
there the reinforcements which the Duke of Luneburg was bringing up.
Undecided whether to advance against the king through the narrow
passes between Weissenfels and Naumburg or to remain inactive in his
camp, he called a council of war, in order to have the opinion of his
most experienced generals. None of these thought it prudent to attack
the king in his advantageous position. On the other hand, the
preparations which the latter made to fortify his camp plainly showed
that it was not his intention soon to abandon it. But the approach of
winter rendered it impossible to prolong the campaign and by a
continued encampment to exhaust the strength of the army, already so
much in need of repose. All voices were in favor of immediately
terminating the campaign, and the more so, as the important city of
Cologne upon the Rhine was threatened by the Dutch, while the progress
of the enemy in Westphalia and the Lower Rhine called for effective
reinforcements in that quarter. Wallenstein yielded to the weight of
these arguments, and, almost convinced that, at this season, he had no
reason to apprehend an attack from the King, he put his troops into
winter-quarters, but so that, if necessary, they might be rapidly
assembled. Count Pappenheim was dispatched, with a great part of the
army, to the assistance of Cologne, with orders to take possession, on
his march, of the fortress of Moritzburg, in the territory of Halle.
Different corps took up their winter-quarters in the neighboring
towns, to watch, on all sides, the motions of the enemy. Count
Colloredo guarded the castle of Weissenfels, and Wallenstein himself
encamped with the remainder not far from Merseburg, between Flotzgaben
and the Saal, from whence he purposed to march to Leipzic and to cut
off the communication between the Saxons and the Swedish army.

Scarcely had Gustavus Adolphus been informed of Pappenheim's
departure, when, suddenly breaking up his camp at Naumburg, he
hastened with his whole force to attack the enemy, now weakened to one
half. He advanced, by rapid marches, toward Weissenfels, from whence
the news of his arrival quickly reached the enemy and greatly
astonished the Duke of Friedland. But a speedy resolution was now
necessary; and the measures of Wallenstein were soon taken. Though he
had little more than 12,000 men to oppose to the 20,000 of the enemy,
he might hope to mainta