He was, however, mistaken. The Austrians surprised his camp at
Hochkirch during the night of October 14th. The Prussians--the hussar
troop of the faithful Zieten, whose warnings had been neglected by the
King, alone excepted--slept, and were only roused by the roaring of
their own artillery, which Laudon had already seized and turned upon
their camp.

The excellent discipline of the Prussian soldiery, nevertheless, enabled
them, half naked as they were, and notwithstanding the darkness of the
night, to place themselves under arms, and the King, although with
immense loss, to make an orderly retreat. He lost nine thousand men,
many of his bravest officers, and upward of a hundred pieces of
artillery. The principal object of the Austrians, that of taking the
King prisoner or of annihilating his army at a blow, was, however,
frustrated. Frederick eluded the pursuit of the enemy and went straight
into Silesia, whence he drove the Austrian general, Harsch, who was
besieging Neisse, across the mountains into Bohemia. The approach of
winter put a stop to hostilities on both sides.

During this year Frederick received powerful aid from Ferdinand, Duke of
Brunswick, brother to Charles, the reigning Duke, who replaced
Cumberland in the command of the Hanoverians and Hessians, with great
ability covered the right flank of the Prussians, manoeuvred the
French, under their wretched general, Richelieu, who enriched himself
with the plunder of Halberstadt, across the Rhine, and defeated
Clermont, Richelieu's successor, at Crefeld. His nephew, the Crown
Prince Ferdinand, served under him with distinction.

Toward the conclusion of the campaign an army under Broglio again pushed
forward and succeeded in defeating the Prince von Ysenburg, who was to
have covered Hesse with seven thousand men at Sangerhausen; another body
of troops under Soubise also beat Count Oberg, on the Lutterberg. The
troops on both sides then withdrew into winter quarters. The French had,
during this campaign, also penetrated as far as East Friesland, whence
they were driven by the peasantry until Wurmser of Alsace made terms
with them and maintained the severest discipline among his troops.

The campaign of 1759 was opened with great caution by the allies. The
French reenforced the army opposed to the Duke of Brunswick, and
attacked him on two sides, Broglio from the Main, Contades from the
Lower Rhine. The Duke was pushed back upon Bergen, but nevertheless
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