broken up, and was fortifying itself in the towns among which it had been divided.  Turenne, however, was still apprehensive.  He kept his cannon and the greater part of the infantry with him, and also General Rosen with a portion of his horse, and refused to let the rest of the cavalry go farther than three leagues from the army.  He himself rode out with a regiment of cavalry some ten miles beyond Marienthal, along the road by which the Imperialists would advance were they to assemble to attack him.

At two o’clock the next morning a party he had sent to watch the Bavarians brought in the news that Merci was advancing with all his force.  Rosen was ordered to hurry forward to the spot where the advanced division was lying.  Messengers were sent off in all directions to recall the scattered cavalry, and having seen that everything had been done to place affairs in a better position, Turenne rode off with what troops he could gather to aid Rosen.  The latter had made a serious blunder.  In front of the position held by the advanced division was a large wood, through which the Bavarians must pass.  Instead of taking possession of this and holding it until reinforcements came up, he fell back, drew up his troops on the plain, and allowed the Bavarians to occupy the wood without resistance.  With the troops which arrived with him, the marshal had now under him some three thousand infantry and seven regiments of horse.  He placed his infantry on his right with two squadrons to support them; with the rest of his cavalry, he formed his left wing.

He himself took the command here.  Rosen commanded on the right.  Merci, after passing through the wood, drew up his army in order of battle and opened fire on the French.  The artillery, however, in no way shook their firmness, and seeing more troops in the distance advancing to reinforce them, Merci began the battle by an attack on a little wood on which the French right rested; while at the same time Turenne charged the Bavarian right wing with his cavalry, broke it up, and captured the cannon and twelve standards.  But while on this side the victory was almost won, on the other side disaster had befallen the French.  Their infantry, perceiving that the Bavarians, who were advancing to attack them, were much superior in force, were seized with a panic and scattered in all directions.  The left wing of the Bavarians advanced rapidly, and, throwing themselves behind Turenne’s wing, prepared to fall upon him in the rear.

Turenne ordered his cavalry to retire, and passing through the wood found beyond it three regiments that had just arrived.  These with the fifteen hundred horse that had been with him in the battle placed him in a position to make a vigorous defence, but the Bavarians did not venture to attack him.  He now sent an officer to rally the scattered infantry, and gave orders that they should at once retreat without a stop to Philippsburg, a distance of seventy miles.