A desperate fight ensued, but the French made their way across,
and Hamilton, falling back with his infantry, opened to the right and
left, permitting the Irish horse to charge through them.
These rushed with fury upon the French regiment of Colonel La Callimot,
and cut their way right through them. Then, wheeling, they charged them
in flank again, broke them, and drove them into the river. La Callimot
himself was killed, and but few of his regiment regained the opposite
bank.
In the meantime the Dutch guards, now reinforced, were advancing slowly,
the Irish infantry holding fast to the hedges and brushwood, and
contesting every inch of the ground, while, wherever the ground permitted
it, the Irish horse burst down upon them, evincing a gallantry and
determination which would have done honour to the finest cavalry in
Europe. The king continued to make repeated efforts to support his Dutch
troops, and, after the French were broken, he pushed forward the Danish
horse; but no sooner had they crossed the bank than the Irish cavalry
burst down upon them, broke them, and drove them back into the river.
They fled across the stream in disorder, and dispersed in all directions.
So far, success had rested principally with the Irish; the Dutch guards
alone remained unbroken in the centre; the French infantry and Danish
horse were broken and destroyed.
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