Captain John Smith | Page 9

they had captured the important city of Caniza,
and just as he reached the ground they had besieged the town of
Olumpagh, with two thousand men. But the addition to the armies of
Germany, France, Styria, and Hungary of John Smith, "this English
gentleman," as he styles himself, put a new face on the war, and proved
the ruin of the Turkish cause. The Bashaw of Buda was soon to feel the
effect of this re-enforcement.
Caniza is a town in Lower Hungary, north of the River Drave, and just
west of the Platen Sea, or Lake Balatin, as it is also called. Due north of
Caniza a few miles, on a bend of the little River Raab (which empties
into the Danube), and south of the town of Kerment, lay Smith's town
of Olumpagh, which we are able to identify on a map of the period as

Olimacum or Oberlymback. In this strong town the Turks had shut up
the garrison under command of Governor Ebersbraught so closely that
it was without intelligence or hope of succor.
In this strait, the ingenious John Smith, who was present in the
reconnoitering army in the regiment of the Earl of Meldritch, came to
the aid of Baron Kisell, the general of artillery, with a plan of
communication with the besieged garrison. Fortunately Smith had
made the acquaintance of Lord Ebersbraught at Gratza, in Styria, and
had (he says) communicated to him a system of signaling a message by
the use of torches. Smith seems to have elaborated this method of
signals, and providentially explained it to Lord Ebersbraught, as if he
had a presentiment of the latter's use of it. He divided the alphabet into
two parts, from A to L and from M to Z. Letters were indicated and
words spelled by the means of torches: "The first part, from A to L, is
signified by showing and holding one linke so oft as there is letters
from A to that letter you name; the other part, from M to Z, is
mentioned by two lights in like manner. The end of a word is signifien
by showing of three lights."
General Kisell, inflamed by this strange invention, which Smith made
plain to him, furnished him guides, who conducted him to a high
mountain, seven miles distant from the town, where he flashed his
torches and got a reply from the governor. Smith signaled that they
would charge on the east of the town in the night, and at the alarum
Ebersbraught was to sally forth. General Kisell doubted that he should
be able to relieve the town by this means, as he had only ten thousand
men; but Smith, whose fertile brain was now in full action, and who
seems to have assumed charge of the campaign, hit upon a stratagem
for the diversion and confusion of the Turks.
On the side of the town opposite the proposed point of attack lay the
plain of Hysnaburg (Eisnaburg on Ortelius's map). Smith fastened two
or three charred pieces of match to divers small lines of an hundred
fathoms in length, armed with powder. Each line was tied to a stake at
each end. After dusk these lines were set up on the plain, and being
fired at the instant the alarm was given, they seemed to the Turks like
so many rows of musketeers. While the Turks therefore prepared to
repel a great army from that side, Kisell attacked with his ten thousand
men, Ebersbraught sallied out and fell upon the Turks in the trenches,

all the enemy on that side were slain or drowned, or put to flight. And
while the Turks were busy routing Smith's sham musketeers, the
Christians threw a couple of thousand troops into the town. Whereupon
the Turks broke up the siege and retired to Caniza. For this exploit
General Kisell received great honor at Kerment, and Smith was
rewarded with the rank of captain, and the command of two hundred
and fifty horsemen. From this time our hero must figure as Captain
John Smith. The rank is not high, but he has made the title great, just as
he has made the name of John Smith unique.
After this there were rumors of peace for these tormented countries; but
the Turks, who did not yet appreciate the nature of this force, called
John Smith, that had come into the world against them, did not intend
peace, but went on levying soldiers and launching them into Hungary.
To oppose these fresh invasions, Rudolph II., aided by the Christian
princes, organized three armies: one led by the Archduke Mathias and
his lieutenant, Duke Mercury, to defend Low Hungary; the second led
by Ferdinand, the Archduke of Styria, and the Duke of Mantua, his
lieutenant, to regain Caniza; the