His ardent appeal stirred the troops to new enthusiasm.  Regardless of a shot that carried away his hat, Bernhard charged at their head, broke over the trenches and into the battery, retook the guns, and drove the imperial troops back in confusion, regaining all the successes of the first assault.

The day seemed won.  It would have been but for the fresh forces of Pappenheim, who had some time before reached the field, only to fall before the bullets of the foe.  His men took an active part in the fray, and swept backward the tide of war.  The Swedes were again driven from the battery and across the ditch, with heavy loss, and the imperialists regained the pivotal point of the obstinate struggle.

But now the reserve corps of the Swedes, led by Kniphausen, came into action, and once more the state of the battle was reversed.  They charged across the ditch with such irresistible force that the position was for the third time taken, and the imperialists again driven back.  This ended the desperate contest.  Wallenstein ordered the retreat to be sounded.  The dead Gustavus had won the victory.

A thick fog came on as night fell and prevented pursuit, even if the weariness of the Swedes would have allowed it.  They held the field, while Wallenstein hastened away, his direction of retreat being towards Bohemia.  The Swedes had won and lost, for the death of Gustavus was equivalent to a defeat, and the emperor, with unseemly rejoicing, ordered a Te Deum to be sung in all his cities.

On the following day the Swedes sought for the body of their king.  They found it by a great stone, which is still known as the Swedish stone.  It had been so trampled by the hoofs of charging horses, and was so covered with blood from its many wounds, that it was difficult to recognize.  The collar, saturated with blood, which had fallen into the hands of the cuirassiers, was taken to Vienna and presented to the emperor, who is said to have shed tears on seeing it.  The corpse was laid in state before the Swedish army, and was finally removed to Stockholm, where it was interred.

Thus perished one of the great souls of Europe, a man stirred deeply by ambition, full of hopes greater than he himself acknowledged, a military hero of the first rank, and one disposed to prosecute war with a humanity far in advance of his age.  He severely repressed all excesses of his soldiery, was solicitous for the security of citizens and peasantry, and strictly forbade any revengeful reprisals on Catholic cities for the frightful work done by his opponents upon the Protestants.  Seldom has a conqueror shown such magnanimity and nobility of sentiment, and his untimely death had much to do with exposing Germany to the later desolation of that most frightful of religious wars.

His defeated foe, Wallenstein, was not long to survive him.  After his defeat he acted in a manner that gave rise to suspicions that he intended to play false to the emperor.  He executed many of his officers and soldiers in revenge for their cowardice, as he termed it, recruited his ranks up to their former standard, but remained inactive, while Bernhard of Weimar was leading the Swedes to new successes.