178 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
'owing to two causes, the veiy great contempt he had of the enemy,
and the unwillingness I have long observed in him to give any degree
of credit to intelligence that is not agreeable to his own imaginations'
(Mitchell, 1850, I, 455). Four days after the battle Frederick received
a hurt that was no less painful for having been long expected. He had
already written to Prince Henry of his peculiar concern for their
ailing sister Wilhelmine, explaining that he had been brought up
with her since his earliest infancy. News of her death reached him on
18 October, and for some time his sobbing rendered it impossible for
him to speak.
In the context of Frederick's life, the word 'heroic' has been devalued
by over-use. However, it is not easy to think of a more suitable
adjective to apply to a man who, after the ordeals which he had
undergone, could now present a face of outward confidence to his
army, and snatch the initiative from his enemies.
Frederick believed that he should linger no more at Doberschiitz,
facing Daun, at a time when the Austrians were feeding 20,000 troops
into his beloved Silesia and had begun to lay siege to Neisse. After the
losses at Hochkirch, Frederick sent word to Prince Henry to detach
reinforcements from the Elbe, and he was delighted when his brother
arrived in person on 20 October, bringing with him eight battalions
and five squadrons. For the first time since the battle Frederick began
to talk openly about military affairs, and he was cheered by the
realisation that Daun was doing nothing to exploit the Austrian
victoiy.
On the evening of 23 October the Prussian army slipped away
from Doberschiitz and began its swift and stealthy march on Silesia.
The details were executed by the dour Lieutenant-Colonel Saldern,
and on 26 October the Prussian advance guard gained the impor-
tant road junction of Gorlitz. Three days later Daun gave up all hope
of anticipating Frederick at Neisse, and resolved instead to double
back to the Elbe, where the Austrians might now have the chance fo
reduce Dresden and Torgau undisturbed, and the Reichsarmee under
the Prince of Zweibriicken could reduce Leipzig. For the next week,
therefore, Frederick and Daun recoiled in opposite directions. The
Austrian siege corps under General Harsch decamped from before
Neisse on 5 November, and Frederick entered this town two days
later, having reached the eastward limit of his march.
The Austrian light troops swarmed across the routes between
Silesia and Saxony, which left Frederick for some days uncertain of
Daun's whereabouts. Only on 13 November, two days after the event,
did Frederick learn that Daun had arrived before Dresden. Fortunate-
ly the commandant. Count Schmettau, won a useful span of time for