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to the Swedes.
The Imperialists accordingly evacuated their position and fell back in
good order during the night on Neuberg, and then to Ingolstadt. Rain and
Neuberg were occupied the next day by the Swedes. Gustavus despatched
Marshal Horn to follow the retreating enemy to Ingolstadt, and he
himself with the rest of his army marched up the Lech to Augsburg, which
was held by Colonel Breda with four thousand five hundred men.
The Imperialists had broken down the bridge, but Gustavus immediately
built two others, one above and the other below the city, and summoned
it to surrender. Breda, hearing that Tilly was dying, Altringer severely
wounded, and that no help was to be expected from Maximilian, considered
it hopeless to resist, and surrendered the town, which Gustavus,
attended by the titular King of Bohemia and many other princes, entered
in triumph on the following day, April 14th. The capture of Augsburg
was hailed with peculiar satisfaction, as the city was regarded as the
birthplace of the Reformation in Germany. Leaving a garrison there the
king retraced his steps along the Lech to Neuberg, and marched thence to
join Marshal Horn in front of Ingolstadt.
This town was one of the strongest places in Germany and had never been
captured. It was now held by a formidable garrison, and the Imperialist
army covered it on the north. Tilly had implored Maximilian to defend
it and Ratisbon at all hazards, as their possession was a bar to the
further advance of Gustavus.
The king arrived before it on the 19th, and on the following day
advanced to reconnoitre it closely. The gunners of the town, seeing a
number of officers approaching, fired, and with so good an aim that
a cannonball carried off the hindquarters of the horse the king was
riding. A cry of alarm and consternation burst from the officers, but
their delight was great when the king rose to his feet, covered with
dust and blood indeed, but otherwise unhurt.
On the following day a cannonball carried off the head of the Margrave
of Baden-Durlach, and on the same day Tilly expired. With his last
breath he urged Maximilian never to break his alliance with the emperor,
and to appoint Colonel Cratz, an officer of great courage and ability,
to the command of his army.
Gustavus remained eight days before Ingolstadt, and then, finding that
the reduction of the place could not be effected without the loss of
much valuable time, he raised the siege. On his ma
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