chiefly on the
besiegers, who were slain in heaps; while the garrison suffered very
little, and could be occasionally relieved or reinforced from the lines.
In a word, it was generally believed that count Lowendahl would
be baffled in his endeavours; and by this belief the governor of
Bergen-op-Zoom seems to have been lulled into a blind security. At
length, some inconsiderable breaches were made in one ravelin and
two bastions, and these the French general resolved to storm, though
Cronstrom believed they were impracticable; ind on that supposition
presumed that the enemy would not attempt an assault. For this very
reason count Lowendahl resolved to hazard the attack, before the
preparations should be made for his reception. He accordingly regulated
his dispositions, and at four o'clock in the morning, on the sixteenth
day of September, the signal was made for the assault. A prodigious
quantity of bombs being thrown into the ravelin, his troops threw
themselves into the fosse, mounted the breaches, forced open a
sally-port, and entered the place almost without resistance. In a word,
they had time to extend themselves along the curtains, and form in order
of battle, before the garrison could be assembled. Cronstrom was asleep,
and the soldiers upon duty had been surprised by the suddenness and
impetuosity of the attack. Though the French had taken possession of the
ramparts, they did not gain the town without opposition. Two battalions
of the Scottish troops, in the pay of the states-general, were assembled
in the market-place, and attacked them with such fury, that they were
driven from street to street, until fresh reinforcements arriving,
compelled the Scots to retreat in their turn; yet they disputed every
inch of ground, and fought until two thirds of them were killed upon the
spot. Then they brought off the old governor, abandoning the town to the
enemy; the troops that were encamped in the lines retreating with
great precipitation, all the forts in the neighbourhood immediately
surrendered to the victors, who now became masters of the whole
navigation of the Schelde. The French king was no sooner informed of
Lowendahl's success, than he promoted him to the rank of mareschal of
France; appointed count Saxe governor of the conquered Netherlands;
and returned in triumph to Versailles. In a little time after this
transaction, both armies were distributed into winter quarters, and the
duke of Cumberland embarked for En