detachment to take possession of the heights that commanded the village
of Hochkirchcn; but by some fatality he miscarried. Mareschal Keith was
not in any tent, but lodged with prince Francis of Brunswick, in a house
belonging to a Saxon major. When the first alarm was given in the night,
he instantly mounted his horse, assembled a body of the nearest troops,
and marched directly to the place that was attacked. The Austrians had
taken possession of the hill which the Prussian officer was sent to
occupy, and this they fortified with cannon; then they made themselves
masters of the village in which the free companies of Auginelli had been
posted. Mareschal Keith immediately conceived the design of the Austrian
general, and knowing the importance of this place, thither directed
all his efforts. He in person led on the troops to the attack of the
village, from whence he drove the enemy; but being overpowered by
numbers continually pouring down from the hills, he was obliged to
retire in his turn. He rallied his men, returned to the charge,
and regained possession of the place; being again repulsed by fresh
reinforcements of the enemy, he made another effort, entered the village
a third time, and finding it untenable, ordered it to be set on fire.
Thus he kept the Austrians at bay, and maintained a desperate conflict
against the flower of the Austrian army, from four in the morning till
nine, when the Prussians were formed, and began to file off in their
retreat. During the whole dispute he rallied the troops in person,
charged at their head, and exposed his life in the hottest of a dreadful
fire, like a private captain of grenadiers. He found it necessary to
exert himself in this manner, the better to remove the bad effects of
the confusion that prevailed, and in order to inspirit the troops to
their utmost exertion by his voice, presence, and example. Even when
dangerously wounded, at eight in the morning, he refused to quit the
field; but continued to signalize himself in the midst of the carnage
until nine, when he received a second shot in his breast, and fell
speechless into the arms of Mr. Tibay, an English volunteer, who had
attended him during the whole campaign. This gentleman, who was likewise
wounded, applied to a Prussian officer for a file of men to remove the
mareschal, being uncertain whether he was entirely deprived of life. His
request was granted; but the soldiers, in advancing to the spot, were
countermande