176 Wallenstein
man and horse, so many of both as were left unkilled: wee were
scarcely laid downe on the ground to rest and in dead sleep but
comes a commaund from the Generall to all Coronells and Sergeant
Majors to give in a Note how strong every Regiment was found to
bee. ... I could give hym but account of 3 Officers of my Companie
which lay there downe by my side. It seemes hee found most of his
Companies as weake as myne, for presently that night the Army was
commaunded to march away without sound of Drum or Trumpet.^39Bernard of Weimar, young, ambitious, and for the first time in over-
all command, preferred to hold his position rather than risk being
thought over-cautious, besides which retreat had its own dangers.
Wallenstein, older, more prudent, and himself ill, was not inclined to
take a chance on what the morning might bring, particularly with the
safety of Leipzig within marching distance for his army. Moreover he
was worried that help might be on its way to the Swedes from Torgau
or even from Arnim’s Saxon army, so he withdrew that evening.^40
The newly arrived regiments from Halle provided a rearguard, but the
Swedes made no attempt at pursuit, and the following morning they
themselves retreated back to Naumburg.
As the Swedes were left in possession of the field they were able to
claim victory under one of the established conventions of the day.
Using another common measure Wallenstein counter-claimed that he
had won, as he had captured far more of the enemy’s standards than
vice versa. This propaganda battle has been going on ever since between
the protagonists of the two sides, while neutrals usually describe the
outcome as a draw. Certainly neither side can be said to have won in
any wider sense, as both suffered heavy casualties and were unable to
proceed with their original intentions, while neither was able to elimi-
nate the other as a force to be reckoned with, or even to inflict enough
damage for the setback to outlast the winter.
Those who had certainly lost still lay where they had fallen. Lieutenant
Augustin Fritsch, arriving in the evening with Pappenheim’s infantry,
was sent to reconnoitre under cover of darkness around the captured
Imperialist artillery battery. He found the big guns which had been the
centre of so much fighting standing unguarded, ‘with not a single man
there from the enemy’. Instead ‘the whole field, as far as we could see, was
full of lights, which I took for musketeers’ slow matches, causing me some
alarm, but when we came down from the windmills and went further
I saw for the first time that they were only torches, which the soldiers had
in their hands as they went looting among the dead on the battlefield’.^41