masters of the whole course of the Rhine and even of the Palatinate.

The Duc d'Enghien declared for this plan. Turenne went at once to
Breisach, and arranged for the transport, by boat down the Rhine,
of all the necessaries for the siege of Philippsburg. The army
started on the 16th of August, a part of Turenne's army being
detached to capture small towns and castles. On the 23rd of August
Philippsburg was invested by Turenne, Enghien's force arriving on
the following day. Philippsburg stood on the Rhine, which at this
point formed a sharp elbow, and the land being low, many morasses
surrounded the town, and the approach therefore was exceedingly
difficult. Eight hundred paces from the town stood a square fort,
which commanded the river, and was connected with the town by
a causeway. The town itself had seven bastions, round these ran
a very thick hedge, and the moat was wide and full of water. The
garrison was a weak one, not exceeding a thousand men, but they
had a hundred pieces of cannon and a large store of ammunition.

Feeling that he could not hold a fort so far from the town, the
commander withdrew the garrison from it, and Turenne seized it, and
placed a strong force there. Enghien then threw up strong lines in
a semicircle round the town to protect the army in case any large
force of the enemy should endeavour to relieve it. This occupied
four days, and in the meantime the boats had arrived with cannon,
ammunition, and provisions. A bridge was thrown across the river
in twenty-four hours, and a force was sent over; this attacked and
captured Germersheim, and then marched to Spires, which at once
opened its gates on the 29th of August. In the meantime the siege
of Philippsburg was begun in earnest. The approaches could only be
carried on in one place, where the ground was sandy, and continued