Four hundred of the best men, mostly of Florian Geyser's host, remained in the ditches, dead or wounded.Two days later, May 17, Wendel Hipler appeared and ordered a military council.He proposed to leave at Frauenberg only 4,000 men and to place the main force, about 20,000 men, in a camp at Krautheim on the Jaxt, before the very eyes of Truchsess, so that all reinforcements might be assembled there.The plan was excellent.Only by keeping the masses together, and by a numerical superiority, could one hope to defeat the army of the princes which now numbered about 13,000men.The demoralisation and discouragement of the peasants, however, had gone too far to make any energetic action possible.Goetz von Berlichingen, who soon afterwards openly appeared as a traitor, may have helped to hold the troop back.Thus Hipler's plan was never put into action; the troops were divided as ever, and only on May 23 did the Gay Bright Troop start action after the Franconians had promised to follow quickly.On May 26, the detachments of the Margrave of Anspach, located in Wuerzburg, were called, due to the word that the Margrave had opened hostilities against the peasants.The rest of the besieging army, with Florian Geyser's Black Troop, took position at Heidingsfeld not far from Wuerzburg.
The Gay Bright Troop arrived on May 24 in Krautheim in a condition far from good.Many peasants learned that in their absence their villages had taken the oath at Truchsess' behest, and this they used as a pretext to go home.The troops moved further to Neckarsulm, and on May 28 started negotiations with Truchsess.At the same time messengers were sent to the peasants of Franconia, Alsace and Black Forest-Hegau, with the demand to hurry reinforcements.From Neckarsulm Goetz marched towards Oehringen.
The troops melted from day to day.Goetz von Berlichingen also disappeared during the march.He rode home, having previously negotiated with Truchsess through his old brother-in-arms, Dietrich Spaet, concerning his going over to the other side.In Oehringen, a false rumour of the enemy approaching threw the helpless and discouraged mass into a panic.The troop was rapidly disintegrating, and it was with difficulty that Metzler and Wendel Hipler succeeded in keeping together about 2,000 men, whom they again led towards Krautheim.In the meantime, the Franconian army, 5,000 strong, had come, but in consequence of a side march over Loewenstein towards Oehringen, ordered by Goetz apparently with treacherous intentions, it missed the Gay Troop and moved towards Neckarsulm.This small town, defended by a detachment of the Gay Bright Troop, was besieged by Truchsess.The Franconians arrived at night and saw the fires of the Union army, but their leaders had not the courage to brave an attack.They retreated to Krautheim, where they at last found the remainder of the Gay Bright Troop.Receiving no aid, Neckarsulm surrendered on the 29th to the Union troops.Truchsess immediately ordered 13 peasants executed, and went to meet the troop, burning, pillaging and murdering all along the way through the valleys of Neckar, Kocher and Jaxt.Heaps of ruins and bodies of peasants hanging on trees marked his march.
At Krautheim the Union army met the peasants who, forced by a flank movement of Truchsess, had withdrawn towards Koenigshofen on the Tauber.Here they took their position, 8,000 in number, with 32 cannon.
Truchsess approached them, hidden behind hills and forests.He sent out columns to envelop them, and on June 2, he attacked them with such a superiority of forces and energy that in spite of the stubborn resistance of several columns lasting into the night, they were defeated and dispersed.As everywhere, the horsemen of the Union, "the peasants' death," were mainly instrumental in annihilating the insurgent army, throwing themselves on the peasants, who were shaken by artillery gun fire and lance attacks, disrupting their ranks completely, and killing individual fighters.The kind of warfare conducted by Truchsess and his horsemen is manifested in the fate of 300Koenigshof middle-class men united with the peasant army.During the battle, all but fifteen were killed, and of these remaining fifteen, four were subsequently decapitated.
Having thus completed his victory over the peasants of Odenwald, the Neckar valley and lower Franconia, Truchsess subdued the entire region by means of punitive expeditions, burning entire villages and causing numberless executions.From there he moved towards Wuerzburg.On his way he learned that the second Franconian troops under the command of Florian Geyer and Gregor von Burg-Bernsheim was stationed at Sulzdorf.He immediately moved against them.
Florian Geyer, who, after the unsuccessful attempt at storming Frauenberg, had devoted himself mainly to negotiations with the princes and the cities, especially with Rottenburg and Margrave Casimir of Anspach, urging them to join the peasant fraternity, was suddenly recalled in consequence of word of the Koenigshofen defeat.His troops were joined by those of Anspach under the command of Gregor von Burg-Bernsheim.The latter troops had been only recently formed.Margrave Casimir had managed, in true Hohenzollern style, to keep in check the peasant revolt in his region, partly by promises and partly by the threat of amassing troops.He maintained complete neutrality towards all outside troops as long as they did not include Anspach subjects.
