Richard Cannon - Historical Record of the First Regiment of Foot

After this review the brigade advanced with the army to invade Bavaria, and on the 26th of March it appeared before Donawerth on the Danube, when the King posted part of the troops on the heights above the town. On the following day, a battery having been constructed to command the bridge, the enemy made a furious sally, and, having driven back some Swedish troops, captured the guns; but a number of Hepburn's veterans rushing forward sword in hand, the Bavarians were repulsed and driven back into the town. During the night, Sir John Hepburn marched his brigade with great silence five miles up the Wernitz, and having crossed the river, returned by the opposite bank to an angle which commanded the bridge over the Danube, where he posted his musketeers behind garden-walls and hedges, and formed the pikemen into three bodies under the cover of the enclosures. At day-break the enemy's garrison attempted to force its way through the besieging army; eight hundred musketeers rushed suddenly out of the town towards the bridge where Hepburn's men were posted, when the Scots musketeers opened a destructive fire, and before the smoke had cleared away, the pikemen came cheering forward to the charge, while the musketeers drew their swords and joined in the attack, and the enemy's column was broken and cut to pieces. Many of the Bavarians fled towards the town; Hepburn's veterans, following in full career, entered the town with the fugitives, and made great slaughter in the streets. Meanwhile, the enemy's troops, which sallied on the other side of the town, were also nearly all destroyed. The governor escaped, but he saved only a small portion of his garrison. Thus Donawerth was captured in forty-eight hours after the army appeared before the town; and in this exploit the gallant veterans under Sir John Hepburn acquired new laurels. 29 29 "Here also we see the valour of Hepburn and his brigade praiseworthy, being, first and last, the instruments of the enemy's overthrow." — Monro's Expedition. "The King returned Hepburn public thanks for suggesting the idea of crossing the Wernitz, and for executing his plan with such judgement and valour." — Harte's Life of Gustavus Adolphus.

This success enabled the King to penetrate into Bavaria; and in the early part of April Hepburn's Brigade took part in the brilliant enterprise of forcing the passage of the river Lech in the face of a superior army, and the success which attended this daring exploit alarmed one half of Europe, and astonished the other.

The brigade was afterwards engaged in the siege of Augsburg , which place capitulated on the 10th of April. From Augsburg the brigade proceeded with the army to Ingoldstadt , and, being engaged in the siege of this town, it had one very trying night's service: the King, expecting a sally from the garrison, ordered Hepburn's veterans to stand all night under arms on some high ground near the town; the enemy kept up a constant fire against the brigade with dreadful execution, and the men had to stand like targets to be shot at, without the power of making resistance. "To my mind," observes the brave Colonel Monro, "it was the longest night in the year, though in April, for at one shot I lost twelve men of my own company." The first attack not succeeding, the King raised the siege and retired.

After quitting the precincts of Ingoldstadt, the brigade was detached against Landshut , a pretty little town with a castle, in Bavaria, which place surrendered on the 29th of April.

Having completed this conquest, the brigade proceeded to Freysingen, where it rejoined the main army, and advanced from thence to Munich . This celebrated city surrendered immediately, and the King being desirous of preserving it from plunder, he made a present of about five shillings English to every soldier in the army, and posted Hepburn's Scots Brigade at the bridge to prevent the ingress of stragglers. The army was afterwards encamped without the town, excepting the old Scots brigade, which entered the city with the King, and Hepburn's own regiment furnished the guard at the market-place, while the remainder of the brigade furnished the King's guard at the castle. As no other brigade was admitted into Munich, this circumstance proves the high estimation in which this old Scots corps was held. Its commander, Brigadier-General Hepburn, was appointed governor of Munich.

Leaving this city on the 1st of June, the brigade again directed its march towards Donawerth, where it arrived on the 4th. It subsequently marched to the relief of Weissemberg , which was besieged by the enemy; but the garrison surrendered before the troops marching for its relief arrived. The brigade then continued its march to Furt, where an encampment was formed. It was afterwards employed in several operations of a defensive character. The King having to defend Nurenberg , and to confront an army of 60,000 men with only 20,000, his Majesty formed an entrenched camp round the city, where the brigade was stationed some time.

The enemy's army, commanded by the Duke of Bavaria and Count Walstein, appeared before Nurenberg, and by means of their immense superiority of numbers endeavoured to cut off the supplies of provision from the Swedish army, but were unable to accomplish their object. The opposing armies lay watching each other's movements until the 21st of August, when, reinforcements having arrived for the Swedes, the King attacked the enemy's fortified camp; the old Scots Brigade was sharply engaged in the attack of the heights of Altenberg, and in the attempt on Altenberg Castle, in which service it lost many officers and men; but the attack failed at every point. The King afterwards formed a fortified camp within cannon shot of the enemy, and the two armies confronted each other until the 8th of September, when his Majesty retired, and five hundred musketeers of the old Scots Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sinclair, covered the retreat to Neustadt. A few days afterwards, the Marquis of Hamilton being about to return to England, Brigadier-General Hepburn obtained permission to accompany him, and the regiment was left under the command of the Lieutenant-Colonel. When the gallant Hepburn and several other officers took leave of their companions in arms, Monro informs us that "the separation was like the separation which death makes betwixt friends and the soul of man, being sorry that those who had lived so long together in amity and friendship, also in mutual dangers, in weal and in woe, the splendour of our former mirth was overshadowed with a cloud of grief and sorrows, which dissolved in mutual tears."

The brigade was now commanded by Colonel Monro, and towards the end of September it marched to the relief of Rayn , which was besieged by the enemy; but this garrison also surrendered before the troops marching to its relief arrived. The King, however, resolved to retake the town, and having arrived before the walls on the 3rd of October, he took advantage of a thick fog, and brought his cannon to bear upon the works unperceived, when the garrison immediately surrendered.

The brigade being much exhausted and decreased in numbers from its recent hard services, it was placed in quarters of refreshment in Bavaria, while the King marched with part of the army into Saxony. Before his departure, his Majesty expressed his approbation of the conduct of these veteran Scots on all occasions, and exhorted the commanding officers to use every possible expedition in replacing the casualties in the ranks of their respective regiments; but this proved the final separation between the great Gustavus Adolphus and these distinguished regiments; his Majesty marched to Saxony, and was killed at the battle of Lützen, 30 30 In some accounts of the battle of Lützen the Green Brigade , of which Hepburn's regiment formed a part, is mentioned by mistake amongst the troops engaged, instead of the White Brigade . As Colonel Monro commanded the brigade at the time the battle was fought, his narrative is considered sufficient authority for stating that it was not present. which was fought on the 6th of November, 1632.