Wallenstein
was therefore obliged to abandon his campaign against the Danes and
to follow him. Mansfeldt joined the Hungarian army, but so rapid
were his marches that his force had dwindled away to a mere skeleton,
and the assistance which it would be to the Hungarians was so small
that Bethlem Gabor refused to cooperate with it against Austria.
"Mansfeldt disbanded his remaining soldiers, and two months
afterwards died. Wallenstein then marched north. In the meantime
Tilly had attacked King Christian at Lutter, and completely
defeated him. I will tell you about that battle some other time.
When Wallenstein came north it was decided that Tilly should carry
the war into Holland, and that Wallenstein should deal with the
King of Denmark and the Protestant princes. In the course of two
years he drove the Danes from Silesia, subdued Brandenburg and
Mecklenburg, and, advancing into Pomerania, besieged Stralsund.
"What a siege that was to be sure! Wallenstein had sworn to capture
the place, but he didn't reckon upon the Scots. After the siege
had begun Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Leslie, with 5000 Scots
and Swedes, fought his way into the town; and though Wallenstein
raised fire upon it, though we were half starved and ravaged
by plague, we held out for three months, repulsing every assault,
till at last the Imperialists were obliged to draw off; having lost
12,200 men.
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