Battle of Warsaw 1656 - Commonwealth army

 Salvete Omnes,

continuing with the battle of Warsaw Ad 1656

Polish National Library has a digitized set of prints showing the 3 day battle of Warsaw 1656.

Each print is titled separately - Beschreibung der Bataille, wie sie vor Warschau gestanden den 28/18 July Anno  1656, nachmittag: Welches wahr der Erste Tag [ Franckfurt au Mayn, Durch weyl. Matthai Merians seel. Erben 1663]

So on the eve of battle  the Polish Commonwealth army concentrated at Warsaw's Right Bank by  His Royal Majesty Jan II Kazimierz  Waza (Vasa) (king of Crown of Poland and grand duke of Lithuanian realm and all the vassals) and his commanders was as follows:

Polish historians, based on primary sources, estimate that there were circa 40 thousand men in the Commonwealth camps. (Majewski, 2012) 

---Polish Comput(regular)  Crown army: 
16,500-17,000 horse - Polish regular horse banners were divided into 17 so called 'pulk jazdy' commands.

the royal pulk - commanded by castellan of Kijow Czarniecki

the pulk of grand hetman Stanislaw Rewera Potocki

the pulk of field hetman Stanislaw Lanckoronski

the pulk of voivode of Sandomierz Aleksander Koniecpolski

the pulk of castellan of Sandomierz Stanislaw Witowski

the pulk of field scribe/notary (notarius campestris) Jan Sapieha

the pulk of vice-cupbearer Jan Zamoyski

the pulk of Crown guardian Aleksander Zamoyski

the pulk of Crown standard-bearer Jan Sobieski

the pulk of camp master - (praefectus currum or campestris) Andrzej Potocki

the pulk of Crown guardian (praefectus excubiarum seu vigiliarum)   Mariusz Jaskolski

the pulk of prince Dimitr Wisniowiecki

the pulk of starost of Bohuslaw Jacek Szemberk

the pulk of starost of Braclaw Seweryn Mikolaj Kalinski

the pulk of Jerzy Balaban

Lubomirski division marched away, so these above listed 'pulks' had 137 banners or 14-15,000 horsemen of the so called national 'autorament.' 

Plus the so called foreign autorament cavalry
The regiment of dragoon guard commanded by Jan Hernryk von Aten-Bockum and a squadron of royal reiters had 1070 horses.Several dragoon  companies, 500-700 horses.

-- 4,500 portions of Crown infantry 

Royal guard infantry commanded by major Wiljelm Butler - 963 portions

Major of artillery Krzysztof Grodzicki infatry regiment - 734 portions

Colonel Ernst Magnus Grotthauz - 997 portions

Voivode of Sandomierz Jan Zamoyski infatry regiment - 1168 portions

plus small various infantry companies of haiduk type infantry attached to the king and various Crown dignitaries. 

---Ducal, Lithuanian, army was estimated to circa 5,000-7,500 men - actually commanded by the ducal field scribe Aleksander Hilary Polubinski. - this division included two winged hussar banners (royal one and Lithuanian grand hetman Sapieha's one), plus another winged hussar banner within prince Michal Kazimierz Radziwill sub-command. More Lithuanian units were away from the battle .i,e., Gosiewski division and Lithuanian grand hetman Sapieha division.

The National Crown levy was estimated at 10,000-13,000 men, representing noblemen from the following voivodeships; Masovina, Greater Poland, Sieradz, Leczyca, some from Sandomierz, Lubin, Podlaskie, Ruskie, Wolynskie and Belzkie.

Crimean Tatar contingent commanded by Ghazi-aga- 2,000 (2-3 horses per a Tatar warrior ) up to 6,000*

'Holota' -volunteer peasant and servants bands - several thousand men (and presumably women, as many of them were massacred in their camps by the Swedes and Prussians during the retreat of the Polish army on the third day of battle)

*it is nopted that the Crimean and Nogai Tatars and Ottoman Turks counted both men and horses (and camels & mules) when giving the numbers of their army strength.

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Warsaw 1656 - Swedish-Brandeburg-Prussian armies and Dahlberg's day one print

 Salvete Omnes

Battle of Warsaw - day 1 - 

Swedish-Brandeburg-Prussia armies come from Nowy Dwor - the map comes from collection at Polona, Polish National Library, and was based on the drawings by Erik Dahlberg

. Swedish army under Karl X Gustavus*

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.Brandenburg-Prussian army under  Friedrich Wilhelm, de jure Polish vassal in mutiny against his Polish sovereign. *

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total - 

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*according to Riese' work (1870) - now, the modern Polish historians (Herbst, Wimmer,, Nagielski etc) give the number at 18,000 soldiers. Swedish historians, based on Carlbom (1906) who worked from Pufendorf's book and Swedish army archives, provide a slightly smaller number - 17,000 plus 50 to 60 cannons.  
the cavalry (including dragoons) was more numerous than the infantry in this allied army.

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Stefan Czarniecki at Warsaw 28-30th July 1656

 Salvete Omnes,

the battle of Warsaw 1656 topic continued -

The summer 1656 concentration of various crown & and ducal divisions ordered by His Royal Majesty Jan Kazimierz found the most stalwart Polish commander Stefan Czarniecki, castellan of Kijow, in the king's camp but unconvinced as to the need for a field battle against the Swedish-Prussian-Brandenburg alliance.  
Czarniecki seemed to have been opposed outright to the battle, having experienced various successes and defeats during the winter and spring 1656 campaign against the Swedish divisions (perhaps, God willing, next year, in the more rounder year as per the anniversary, I will spend some time discussing this cavalry battles - eg Golab, Klecko, Kcynia, Warka etc).

Ad rem,

while Swedish monarch having concentrated  his armies at Nowy Dwor  and commenced his armies  march, after crossing the Bug & Narew River, on the freshly liberated Warsaw and Polish camps around the city, Czarniecki was advocating return to the more guerrilla (hit-and-run & harassing the invaders) style of warfare, as more suitable for the Polish and Lithuanian divisions and the royal national levy. 

Czarniecki was supposed to have said to the king  that the rouge hit-and-run guerrilla warfare had laid down at king's feet 12,000 enemies' heads. It was working and would continue to work. The king obstinately insisted on having a field battle, having amassed largest Commonwealth army in this conflict).
Polish-Lithuanian divisions and national levy crossed the Vistula river on the 27th of July, and all contenders marched towards the battlefield, seemingly unaware of each others designs.  Polish king sent a letter to duke Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia demanding that he would quit the Swedish side,a s per his status as Polish Crown vassal. Naturally, traitor and sly and treacherous Prussian-Brandenburg ruler refused.

The reluctant Czarniecki, commanding perhaps 2,000 strong cavalry force, was ordered by the king to reconnoiter and make difficult if possible for the enemy any crossings of Vistula at the Zakroczym ford, where the Swedish side was building a bridge. He spent there the 28-29th of July, and was recalled to unite with the Commonwealth army  during the night of the 29th, when already many wagon trains were moving across the Vistula on the left bank, as the battle was lost. Czarniecki, who was officially the  lieutenant of the king's winged hussar banner, took command of the unit, and the 12 banners of cavalry of the southern cavalry division, and eventually the whole southern group of the cavalry.
Thus this  'new' Czarniecki's division, augmented a bit later by by the Crimean Tatar contingent operating as the rearguard of the royal cavalry and also by the Gosiewski group,  fought  the battle in its last, third, day of July 30th, and was operating north-west of Okuniew, eventually involved in the fighting retreat to Okuniew and fording the Vistula to fight another day (on the 31st Czarniecki's command fought a scrimmage at Okuniew, defeated a 2,000 strong Swedish combined detachment, took  6 regimental cannons, and while in pursuit of the retreating Swedes took Brodno, and put the folwark and village to torch. 

In the aftermath of the battle Czarniecki's camp became the rallying point for many units, often disgusted with the officially commanding chief general, the Crown grand  hetman  Potocki and their officers' performance during the Warsaw battle. 
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Battle of Warsaw 1656, July 28-30th

 Salvete Omnes,

the famous battle in the fields of Warsaw's suburb Praga took place between July 28th to 31st, 1656AD.

King of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Swedish king saw their forces struggle for supremacy and glory, while soldier and their horses  fought the actual battle

Carolus X Gustavus

The events of July 29th, i.e., the maneuvers and epic fighting of  the second day are the most notoriously debated - it was the day of the Polish (actually the grand duchy) winged hussars banners famous charge[1] against the allied armies commanded  by the Swedish king.

This three day battle ended in a tactical victory of the Brandenburg-Swedish allies, but Swedish king Charles X Gustavus failed to destroy or even dent the main body of the Polish king's army, and in winning this battle the Swedish side faced again and again the guerilla-style warfare  waged by Stefan Czarniecki and other Polish commanders. On the other hand the withdrawal of the Polish forces from Warsaw led to another surrender of the city and the infamous pillages carried by the allied Swedes and Brandeburg-Prussian soldateska continued for another season..  
We are fortunate to have several prints made by Erik Dahlberg, who participated in the battle, of this momentous event in military history. And some primary sources writtten by this battle's participants, including Lithuanian magnate, Boguslaw Radziwill, who fought on the allied side against his king and country. 

Swedish-Prusian-Brandenburg forces come south from Nowy Dwor

the Polish king's army included an allied light cavalry Crimean Khanate Tatar contingent. Its size has been variously interpreted from the sources (like our Polish participant and poet Wespazjan Kochowski gave the size of the Tatar division at 6,000)  - see the XIX century German researcher August Riese's assessment from a German 1870 book on the battle.

Johan Philip Lemke painted the battle, here a detail from his painting showing winged Tatars with short cirit javelins and swords

I may write more about what the present Polish scholarship presents about the numbers of the king's army 28-30th July 1656.
..to be continued

ps

I could note here that we also have the memoirs or recollection of a westerner on the Polish side, namely, shortly after the battle a certain Scottish officer in Polish service (since March 1656) one Patrick Gordon was taken prisoner by the Brandenburgian soldiers, and general Douglas of the Swedish army came to his rescue, so to speak, hence Gordon went to serve his old masters, the Swedish king's army, but was to be taken prisoner several more times during the Deluge, and eventually ended up in the Muscovite army where he became one of the most strongest supporters of tsar Peter I. But this is for another day.
[1]My friend Radoslaw Sikora wrote a chapter in his dissertation on the winged hussar charge at Warsaw. I may do a little synopsis of his findings.

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Will Comstock - Army scout

 Salvete Omnes,

Will Comstock in Harper's illustration from June, 1867

a little article from Old West Magazine 1969 on this US Army Scout and soldiers' guide - William 'Medicine Bill' Averil Comstock (1842-1868). His mother, Sarah Sabina Cooper. was a nice of James Fenimore Cooper, famous American writer.  

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the contest between Buffalo Bill and Comstock in killing bison

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Fort Wallace 

From general G. A. Custer's  Wild life on the Plains and horrors of Indian warfare - the killing of Comstock by the Cheyenns near Fort Hayes in 1868- 

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W.E. Webb's recollections about Comstock from Harper's Monthly Magazine, Nov 1875.

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Genetic History of Scythia - Herodotus & DNA

 Salvete Omnes

a short entry -  

The Science Advances portal they published this article -  Genetic history of Scythia  - Tatiana V. Andreevea et al.,

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enjoy

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May Crommelin in gaucho, criollo & huaso country p.1

Salvete Omnes,
Maria Henrietta De la Cherois- Crommelin or May Crommelin left us a very interesting depiction of the gaucho & hauso and their horses in her late XIX century travel book:

first, the criollo country illustrations from her books

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to be continued

valete