Journal of Horace St. Paul
1757: Waiting on Events

August 2, 1757

Translated and Edited With Additional Materials By Neil Cogswell


The second division of Croats reached the army this morning. It consists of 2,000 men, of whom 1,000 are to serve on the far side of the Elbe under the orders of Colonel Loudon. After the Battle of Prague, a body of grenadiers had retired to Beneschau. They had then been sent to Moravia to recover from their fatigues and to be re-equipped with the haversacks and other equipment that they had lost. These men, to the number of 900, have now rejoined their regiments; thus the grenadier companies once again have their full complement.

All the sick and wounded from the hospitals at Prague, Kolin and Kuttenberg who have been found fit to serve have also rejoined their respective corps; these amount to 1,500 men The reports from the advanced posts assure us that a considerable body of Prussians, who had been encamped behind the Weissenberg, have marched towards Rothenburg. They seem to wish to go to Silesia. We are impatient to know if this surmise is true and if the whole Prussian army will follow the same route.

We hear that, at the end of last month, the Army of Marshal Keith had moved as though it intended to pass the Elbe at Pirna. Apparently, it was prevented from doing so by a detachment of Croats and hussars, who had taken post at Lohmen. As a result, Marshal Keith was obliged to make his way to Dresden; there he was able to cross that river without the least obstacle.

The Prussian partisan Mayr, who had clung on in the mountains with his Freicorps acting as a kind of rearguard during the retreat to Pirna, has gone to join the Army of Marshal Keith. The Prince of Prussia has quit the Prussian army. It is supposed that this is because of the displeasure that he is under after the recent operations. It is said that he has retired to Dresden escorted by a battalion of infantry and a squadron of cavalry. Those troops have subsequently returned to the Army of the King bringing with them 4 to 500 wagons of bread.

A cadet of the Saxon Regiment Bruhl named Walther, who subsequently became an officer in the same regiment when it was taken into the service of the King of Prussia under the name Willich, came to join the Austrian army with 17 deserters. He reports that his regiment has dissipated; the few soldiers who remain have been incorporated into those Prussian regiments that have suffered heavily. He said also that Lieutenant-Colonel Jago, who had commanded in the castle at Tetschen, has been sent to Spandau for having abandoned that castle without orders.

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