Sutherland and the Reay country

224 SUTHERLAND AND THE REAY COUNTRY.
which continued for three days, was of the most desperate
character, and ended in a drawn battle. No less than 10,000
citizens and 20,000 soldiers were left dead in and around the
devoted city. Both armies remained in their respective
positions till the 14th September, when Gustavus, leaving
5,000 men in Niirnberg, retired with the remainder of his
forces towards the south, and Wallenstein, as soon as he
discovered that Gustavus had marched away, also took his
departure, marching however towards the north, and burning
all the villages that were near.
The heavy losses sustained by the Scots Brigade had so
reduced its numbers that the King, at the end of September,
gave orders that it should go into quarters to rest and wait
for recruits. On the nth of October he took leave of
what was left of the gallant Scottish regiments, in view
of the whole army, and thanked them for their services.
They never saw their great leader again, for in less than
a month (on the 6th November, 1632) he was found dead on
the battlefield of Liitzen.* It is remarkable that the battle
of Liitzen was the only one in which he had engaged the
enemy without the mass of his Scottish troops. Several
* The death of Gustavus Adolphus was a mystery. His body
was found on the battlefield, and it was reported that no one saw
him killed. But in the Archives at Marburg I found a document
giving- a circumstantial account of his murder. The witness of the
deed had one of his legs shot off shortly before the foul act was
committed, and was unable to move or render assistance. The
murderer is believed to have been the Duke of Lauenburg, who
had a grudge against the King, and had sworn to be revenged.
[See article on this subject by the present writer, in The Scottish
Revieiv, Vol. XIX., p. 400.]