Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/230

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. vi. SEPT. 7, 1912.

Wurttembergers of Key's Army Corps and the Saxons of the 7th Army Corps, though they were run very close by the splendid behaviour of the Westphalians.

On the Russian left the centre of the defence was formed by two redoubts the so-called Bagration redoubts and of these that to the right was captured and held principally by the dogged valour of the Wurttembergers, who thereby also saved Murat from imminent danger of being taken. Herr Holzhausen quotes from the un- published papers of Von Stockmayer, who was present in command of a brigade, a ludicrous description of Murat striving to encourage the men :

" Da der Konig jedoch nicht gut oder beinahe gar kem Deutsch konnte, so klangen seine errnun- ternden Worte : ' Ah, brav Jager, brav Jager, seheuss, scheuss, Jager ! ' sehr komisch."

The Saxons seem to have excelled most of their compatriots in personal enthusiasm for Napoleon. Even those officers who for weeks had been unable to sit a horse through fever dragged themselves out of their carriages and mounted, determined not to be left out of the battle. Their first business along with a French division of infantry and a brigade of Westphalian cuirassiers was to get possession of Seme- nowskoie, a village perched on a difficult height, and hotly defended. This was at last taken by storm, but not held without the necessity of repulsing vigorous attempts on the part of the enemy to regain it. Beyond it was the Rayewsky redoubt, the core of the Russian right, against which Eugene de Beauharnais on the French left was directing operations. A con- necting link was needed between the left and the centre, and this the Saxons and Westphalians were next set to form. For hours it was a mere question of standing to be shot at, and their conduct under the rain of bullets and grenades is one of the finest actions of the day. Roth v. Schrechenstein, an eyewitness, tells how

"da fortwahrend Leute und Pferde erschossen warden so war die Mannschaft immer mit dem Abzahlen zu dreien beschaftigt, und es horte dieses Abzahlen von seiten der Mannschaft eigentlich gar nicht auf."

They were not the only Saxons thus exposed : another division, which had taken part in Eugene's first attack on the Rayewsky redoubt, stood from 10 o'clock till 3 in a hollow at the meeting-place of two streams under the full fire of the redoubt. This was taken at last, largely by the aid of the

Saxons in a final murderous assault, which was one of the most terrible scenes in the whole battle.

We may close this brief note with an incident related by Herr Holzhausen belong- ing to the close of this action :

" unweit der blutgetrankten Schanze (sass)

ein vierzehnjahriger Knabe neben einem sterbenden

Offizier Der Vierzehnjahriger war jener Kre-

felder Karl Schehl, der aus liebe zu den Pferden

in das 2. franzosische Karabiniersregiment geraten

war Beim Anreiten auf die Schanze hatte der

Karabinier Schehl sein Pferd verloren dem eine Kugel den rechten Vorderschenkel zerschmetterte. Der junge Held weinte, als er, urn die Leiden des stohnenden Tieres zu enden, dem treuen Schimmel den Kopf durchschoss. Danri fand er seiuen

Schwadronschef v. Berckheim einen Elsiisser, in

seinem Blute liegen. Eine Kartatschenkugel war ihm in den Unterleib gedrungen. Die Karabiniers, die ihn zur Ambulanz gebracht, hatte er in den Kampf zuriickgeschickt, den Regimentsarzt abge- wiesen : ' Lassen Sie raich, ich fiihle, dass ich sterben muss.' So blieb niemand als der kleine Reiter bei dem Sterbenden, dem er ein Strohlager bereitet und seinen grossen Sattel unter den Kopf geschoben hatte. Der Rittmeister gab dem Knabeu seine goldene Uhr zum Andenken. Dann starb er, und abermals brach der auf der weiten Heide verlassene Junge in Thranen aus'."

PEREGRINUS.

BBOADBENT PLACE-NAME. Canon Bards- ley naturally had no difficulty in deciding that Broadbent was a place-name. He did not discover the locality, but he guessed its approximate position. There is a place of that name in the parish of Oldham, on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and quite a short distance from Saddleworth, where so many Broadbents are entered in the parish registers. The place is mentioned several times in the Oldham registers ; it was the home of the Leese family for genera- tions. If the compiler of the ' Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames ' could have afforded the time to examine closely the printed registers of Saddleworth, he would have made the discovery himself, in an entry which, perhaps, might have had a particular interest for him, namely, the 1725 marriage of David Jackson of Broad- bent and Sara Bardsley of Saddleworth.

LEO C.

THE MARRIAGE OF QUEEN CAROLINE MATILDA or DENMARK. I have just come across a description of the marriage by proxy, to King Christian VII. of Denmark, of Prin- cess Caroline Matilda at St. James's, on 1 October, 1766, in a letter (dated 3 October) from Caroline, Countess of Dalkeith, to Lady