Shortly after the appearance of the Swedish King before Ingolstadt, the wounded Tilly, after experiencing the caprice of unstable fortune, terminated his career within the walls of that town.  Conquered by the superior generalship of Gustavus Adolphus, he lost, at the close of his days, all the laurels of his earlier victories, and appeased, by a series of misfortunes, the demands of justice, and the avenging manes of Magdeburg.  In his death, the Imperial army and that of the League sustained an irreparable loss; the Roman Catholic religion was deprived of its most zealous defender, and Maximilian of Bavaria of the most faithful of his servants, who sealed his fidelity by his death, and even in his dying moments fulfilled the duties of a general.  His last message to the Elector was an urgent advice to take possession of Ratisbon, in order to maintain the command of the Danube, and to keep open the communication with Bohemia.

With the confidence which was the natural fruit of so many victories, Gustavus Adolphus commenced the siege of Ingolstadt, hoping to gain the town by the fury of his first assault.  But the strength of its fortifications, and the bravery of its garrison, presented obstacles greater than any he had had to encounter since the battle of Breitenfeld, and the walls of Ingolstadt were near putting an end to his career.  While reconnoitering the works, a 24-pounder killed his horse under him, and he fell to the ground, while almost immediately afterward another ball struck his favorite, the young Margrave of Baden, by his side.  With perfect self-possession the king rose, and quieted the fears of his troops by immediately mounting another horse.

The occupation of Ratisbon by the Bavarians, who, by the advice of Tilly, had surprised this town by stratagem, and placed in it a strong garrison, quickly changed the king’s plan of operations.  He had flattered himself with the hope of gaining this town, which favored the Protestant cause, and to find in it an ally as devoted to him as Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Frankfort.  Its seizure by the Bavarians seemed to postpone for a long time the fulfilment of his favorite project of making himself master of the Danube, and cutting off his adversaries’ supplies from Bohemia.  He suddenly raised the siege of Ingoldstadt, before which he had wasted both his time and his troops, and penetrated into the interior of Bavaria, in order to draw the Elector into that quarter for the defence of his territories, and thus to strip the Danube of its defenders.

The whole country, as far as Munich, now lay open to the conqueror.  Mosburg, Landshut, and the whole territory of Freysingen, submitted; nothing could resist his arms.  But if he met with no regular force to oppose his progress, he had to contend against a still more implacable enemy in the heart of every Bavarian—­religious fanaticism.  Soldiers who did not believe in the Pope were, in this country, a new and unheard-of phenomenon; the blind zeal of