"The Lieutenant answered shortly, that we might do so, as he had not sufficient force to prevent him. The Major rode immediately to the guards, drew his sword, and approached the Lieutenant to see whether he would consent to treat; but he would not stir from the spot. The Major asked him once more, whether he would yield up the ground? But he remained firm. Thereupon the Major gave his orders to the guard: March! March! and broke through.
"While they were passing, it happened that one of the horses pushed against the Meiningen Lieutenant and threw him down. But he soon recovered himself, seized his weapon, and shot the serjeant-major of the guards, Starke, and then took to flight. A horseman however, whose name was Stähm, pursued him forthwith, and would have cut his head in two, but the Lieutenant held his weapon obliquely over his head, so that the horseman Stähm cut in half the powder sack on the barrel. But my good old Lieutenant thought he would run further, and sprang over a ditch, where the horseman might not be able to follow him, and thought he was now safe. But the grenadier Hellbich fired and shot my old Lieutenant Zimmermann behind the right ear as he ran, so that he fell suddenly to the ground, and not a muscle quivered. The militia still standing there looked on at the game; but the grenadiers fired some grenades among them, and they then took to their heels and ran away.
"Meanwhile all the streets of the village had been barricaded with carts and wagons; but the Mayor and the peasants seeing their old Lieutenant lying dead, whom they had at all times considered as their bulwark, and observing that some grenades had fallen into their gardens, were in great terror, and began to ring the alarm bells that all the peasants might speedily assemble.
"In a moment all the wagons and carts were moved out of the way so that we might march. The militia had fled to the village of Schwallungen, through which also we had to pass, and where again there was an officer in command of thirty militia, to whom they reported what had taken place in the village of Niederschmalkalden. So the officer, who was a shoemaker by profession, when he heard this report from the fugitives, took such of his men as would go with him and tore off to Wasungen before he had even caught sight of us.
"When we came to the afore-mentioned village, we formed ourselves in column, fixed our bayonets, and thought what will now take place? We marched on, and when we came to the gate the officer and all the troops had fled, and there to not a single man to make resistance. We marched straight through with fixed bayonets; then we saw the portion that had remained of the runaway shoemaker-Ensign's troop in their uniform, with their cartridge boxes, peeping out of the windows.
"My good shoemaker-Ensign was off, and had posted himself and the men who thus went out with him at the gate of Wasungen, where again a Lieutenant, who was a good barber--as I knew by experience, having myself been shaved by him--had posted himself, and was awaiting us. The gate of Wasungen was firmly closed with strong double doors, but a sentinel stood without; so Major von Benkendorf called to him that the gate must be opened. But the sentinel excused himself, saying he could not. The said Major asked him, 'Who is there besides?' He answered: 'The Lieutenant.' The Major said he must call his Lieutenant; whereupon he ran hastily and fetched him out. Then came up my good barber-Lieutenant; the man was already well nigh dead of fright, and his face was whiter than his shirt. The Major accosted him sharply, asking how it was that the gates were fastened, and whether a public high road did not pass through there? He answered, Yes! So Major von Benkendorf said he must that instant open the gates, or we would do it ourselves. When he heard this, being half dead with fright, he begged for pardon, saying it was not he that could open the gates, but the councillors who had closed them. The answer was, that he must forthwith produce the councillors. Good gracious! was there ever any one more glad than the good barber, who ran as if his head was burning; but meanwhile there was nothing seen or heard of the shoemaker-Ensign.
"At last the councillors came.
"When I saw these men creeping out of the little gate, I thought, 'What the devil! are these councillors? they are a fine lot!' The councillors looked a little respectable, but the burgomaster was up to the knees in cow-dung, and must have been fetched from clearing away the dung in the stable. Hereupon, Major von Benkendorf asked whether they were the councillors? They answered: 'Yes, and what did we desire?' The Major asked whether this was not the highroad to Nuremberg? They said, 'Yes.' 'Why then were the gates closed and barricaded, and we not allowed to pass through?' Then the president of the council answered: 'They were commanded by their government not to let any troops pass through, therefore they must keep the gates closed; they must do what their master commanded them.' But Major von Benkendorf repeated his former words, and said to them: 'They must open to us, and that quickly, for that we must march further; and if they did not open, we would do it ourselves.' The president of the council answered this, and said: 'We might do as we liked, but he could not open the gates to us.' But the dung-bespattered burgomaster then began: 'Nay! if you wish to march further, you can do so by the back road.' I thought to myself, 'If thou couldst but kill that cursed dirty fellow!' The Major then forthwith called to me, and desired that all the carpenters of the whole division should be summoned; which was done in a moment. Hereupon he asked once more whether they would amicably open the gate? if not, he would have them immediately hewn open. They might now see that we ourselves would open the gates if they did not prefer preserving them whole.
"The Major thought they would resolve to open them, but they said they would not, and we might do what we liked. Hereupon the Major called out: 'Proceed carpenters! hew the gates down!' Thereupon the carpenters set to work. When the knocking and cracking began, it was well worth seeing how the councillors, among whom was the Burgomaster, and the frightened barber-Lieutenant, began to ran, as if carried off by the devil. In a moment both gates were hewn down, and the whole detachment marched with trumpets, drums, and fifes, into the city.
"As we marched in through the gates, the good barber-Lieutenant, and the shoemaker-Ensign, with their men, presented arms, and saluted both the officers of our detachment.