The Nagyvradi Brothers

by Laszlo Endrody

  On the day that we were to leave, we all assembled in the village square. I was automatically the leader. I told my men that I had some news of where Colonel Damjanich was fighting and I wanted to join with him. I appointed Luke as my second in command, and I split our troops into two platoons. Uncle John unbuckled his sword and told me to put it on. He said that it had been in battles before. Then my father unbuckled his sword and gave it to Luke. Before we rode out of town, he embraced Luke and told him to take care of himself. He said that he couldn’t afford to lose a fine son like him. My father gave Luke and me each two cavalry saddle pistols. They were double-barrel pistols. Most of us had our carbines. We only had six men that had only swords, and two of the six carried the Hungarian flag. We rode through five villages and picked up 25 more boys.

  Eight days after leaving home, we heard some cannons go off while we were making camp. Needless to say, we didn’t spend much time in camp. As soon as everybody was ready, I took the troop towards the firing. I had scouts and outriders patrolling.

  About four hours later, one of the outriders came sliding in and reported some Austrian artillery moving toward the fighting. I sent Luke to investigate. He came back and reported four heavy Napoleons, about 40 troops, and a carriage with some Austrian officers alongside.

  I called my scouts in and we headed for the road ahead of the Austrians. They were strung out quite a ways, so I told Luke to take the cannons and I would get the carriage and the mounted troops. We ambushed the bunch from both sides of the road. We shot down 12 men before we hit them. When the fighting was over, we had 14 prisoners. We ended up losing one of our men and we buried him right away. One of the officers was a general. I had scouts out to see if anybody had heard us. I put the general on a horse and I tied the horse behind the carriage. We had a wounded man that we put in the carriage.

  Luke came up with the captured cannons and reported two of his men wounded, so we put them in the carriage too. Then we proceeded towards the fighting. Luke’s prisoners were tied up on the cannon charges and our prisoners were on horseback with their hands tied up behind their backs.

  When we stopped, I let the men start four fires and we made some tea. Everybody got some bread and then we rode out towards the fighting.

  About an hour later, one of our scouts rode in and reported some Austrian infantry bringing some Hungarian prisoners.

  I asked him, “How many?”

  He said, “I counted one officer riding and 10 infantry with about 25 to 30 prisoners.”

  We rode ahead and then waited for them in some trees. As soon as they got closer, we rode down on them. The Austrians dropped their weapons and raised their hands in the air. I noticed that all of the Hungarians, with the exception of a major, had no shoes or boots on. There was an old hussar sergeant with a big white mustache. I rode over to him and told him that he was now third platoon.

  I asked him, “What happened to the men’s boots and shoes?”

  He said, “The enemy takes all of the boots and shoes so the men don’t run, but they let the officers keep theirs.”

  I told him, “We have some Austrian prisoners. Go ahead and help yourselves to their boots and shoes. There are enough weapons on one of the cannon charges to go around for your platoon, and we have enough horses for your men.”

  I then ordered my scouts to go back out. I got off my horse and walked over to the major, saluted him, and introduced myself. I then told him what we were up to.

  I said, “We are still irregulars. We want to meet up with Colonel Damjanich. He is a friend of my father’s, but any Hungarian Calvary Regiment will do.” Luke then came up and I introduced him. The major asked us where we had gotten the cannons. I told him, “We took them away from the enemy. We captured one of their generals, Van Stollen, in the process too.” The major just laughed.

  I asked Luke to get the Major a sword and a mount, so he went after a horse. We went over to the carriage and I asked him what was ahead and what he recommended we do. I got out a captured map and he recommended staying on the road for five more kilometers then going up into the high ground. As soon as the third platoon reported that they were ready, we proceeded.

  The Major asked me what I had in mind for him and I told him I wanted him to take charge of our artillery since he was a regular officer. I also told him that as soon as he got familiar with our unit, I wanted him to take command.

  He asked me, “What kind of military experience have you had?”

  I told him, “Military school and the battle that we just fought to get those guns.”

  He said, “All right, I will look things over.”

  I told him he could take all the men he needed.

  I got moving up the road a ways and I saw a place where we could get up to high ground with a gradual slope, so we started up. It was easy for a while but the wheels on the carriage started sinking in and the big Belgian horses tired out after a while. We had to double up on the teams to get up one of the slopes.

  Evening set in and we found a good place with a terrific field of fire. We could see the big valley below us about 20 kilometers across. We called a halt for the night. The major placed the four big guns in firing position. He had one corporal that was an artillery man. The rest of the men he picked were all regular army men.

  We had some meat, so we made a big bunch of goulash and everybody had a big meal. I had half of the men sleeping and the other half were taking care of the horses grazing them. I laid down for a while and fell asleep. One of my men woke me and told me that there were Austrians below. I looked and found the valley below us loaded with troops. I got the major and he looked and said, “They are moving back. Damjanich is up in those hills by that pass.”

  I looked the high ground over and spotted the Hungarian flag. I pointed it out to the major and he speculated that it could be a calvary unit that might give them a push. He said, “I am going to load the guns because if the calvary comes off the mountain, it would be only to drive the Austrians into the river and get some of their supplies that they can’t get across.”

  Half an hour later, some guns opened up and we could see where the shells were hitting among the Austrians, but they were firing from a long distance off. I asked Luke to send a man up a lone pine tree with an axe to chop away the branches so we could put a Hungarian flag up there.

  Twenty minutes later we saw some horsemen coming off the mountain about 15 kilometers away. I told Luke to send a flag up there. The major was anxious to start firing to soften things up for our hussars. He opened up with the big 32 pounds and then all hell broke loose down below. The hussars were almost down flat below and were riding like hell. The Austrians were running in places and trying to form up in others. Our artillery corporal was going from gun to gun, aiming the guns and doing a beautiful job. I asked the major how many men he needed up there. I told him I wanted to go down and help out the hussars. He told me to leave him 20 men.

  I called Luke and told him to keep 20 men and to say close to the guns. I then told the rest of the men to mount up. I said, “We are going to give those Austrians a push.”

  I called the hussar sergeant over and told him to take half the men and start down the mountain trying to work as close to our hussars as we could. I told him that if we got into any trouble that would be our escape route and we could gain higher ground again.

  The sergeant started down with his men and I was following behind him with my men. The hussars were already fighting some lancers. Half way down, I spotted 15 wagons and decided to cut them out and angled their way. The sergeant must have seen what I was up to and angled over too. We rode through a bunch of infantry on the run. They threw their guns down. We did not stop. When the waggoneers saw us coming they stopped. Some of them started unhitching the horses and they got away. All the others were captured.

  Our big guns were still firing. It was a real route now with weapons lying ev
erywhere. I saw other hussars coming too, so I told half of our men to start with the wagons and pick up what they could and then assemble all of the prisoners.

  I went after two cannons that were still moving and ran the Austrians away from them and took them back to the wagons. I saw Luke coming with some teams. As soon as he got there, we assembled everything. We took all of the captured equipment over where he had come off the mountain. I saw other hussars herding prisoners over our way. A hussar lieutenant was riding for us. When he arrived, he saluted me and wanted to know who we were.

  I told him, “My name is Nagyváradi. I am trying to join with Colonel Damjanich.”

  He asked me, “Whose guns were up there?”

  “They were my guns,” I answered.

  He said, “I must report back to Colonel Damjanich and let him know that you have arrived, Sir.”

  “Please give him my regards and tell him that I am awaiting further orders from him.”

  He rode off and we went ahead in organizing everything. We saw the Hungarian infantry moving up to our side of the river. I looked at everything in the wagons and we had food, ammunition, and fodder. All 18 of our wagons were pretty well loaded.

  We made a temporary camp and started some fires for cooking. I went up to talk to the major and told him that contact had been made with Colonel Damjanich and we were awaiting his orders.

  A hussar company rode into our camp and we fed them and gave their horses some oats from one of our wagons. They made camp next to us. Their captain was praising us for our part in the fight. Pretty soon a major rode in with a hussar and gave the captain his orders, which were that our troops were to go to the river and cross the next morning to keep the Austrians moving out of the valley.

  We then saw some officers coming with a big bearded man riding a black stallion. I told my men to fall in on horseback. I sent the sergeant to get Major Szalasi in the best military manner. I saluted him and reported for duty with my men.

  He just smiled and said, “I guess you know that you made this day for us.”

  I said, “We are just trying to do our duty.”

  “That Van Stollen will try to come in here if he can,” he replied.

  “That Van Stollen is no longer in charge,” I told him.

  He asked, “What makes you think that?”

  “I took him prisoner four days ago. He is up there with our artillery.”

  He started laughing and asked me to tell him all about it. I told him, “We came upon a column of four big guns and a bunch of Austrians. My brother and his men cut out the big guns and I took the troop and in the process took General Van Stollen prisoner.”

  I called Luke over and introduced him to the colonel.

  The colonel said, “This is great.”

  Then he asked how my father was and we chatted for quite some time. He then excused himself for a minute and talked to the hussar major. He then told me to consider myself a captain company commander under Major Liptay.

  Our sergeant rode in with Major Szalasi. Major Liptay wanted to know where the sergeant had been. The sergeant reported that he had been taken prisoner while checking his pickets and then got recaptured by his own troop. I cut in and stated that the sergeant had been a great help to me throughout the fight and I told the major that the sergeant was one of my officers. Major Szalasi went over to Damjanich and reported. Everybody was laughing.

  Damjanich came over to me and asked, “How were you able to get those guns up there?”

  I told him, “The same way we came in here. It was a hard pull, but we wanted a good field of fire. Major Szalasi took over the guns from us. He has been a lot of help.”

  Damjanich said, “Major Szalasi can go back to his battalion and all artillery will be turned over to Captain Horvatu, our artillery officer.”

  Before Damjanich left, he told Luke to consider himself a lieutenant.

  The next couple of days we spent getting organized in becoming a hussar company. Major Liptay spent a lot of time with us. He assigned a young lieutenant to me from the academy. Our sergeant ended up as our first sergeant.

  A week later, our battalion moved up for the final push of the Austrians out of the valley. We fought between two veteran hussar companies. All of the men from home were with me throughout the war. They assigned a lot of NCOs to us at first to teach our men the way. They were good boys.

  I took turns with the men and let them go home sending with them letters to my father. In return, he sent me letters back. He usually sent some horses too. He had uniforms made up for us and some warm clothing. The horses he sent usually had packsaddles on them loaded with supplies.

  Luke went on patrol one time and found himself a company of Austrians in Bilvac. They had about 150 horses out on some grass. He decided to wait and try to take the horses. He waited until 3:00 a.m. and then sent six of his men in to try to get the guards and herd the horses out. His men got in trouble and shooting started, so he got the rest of the men and rode in. Later, we were told that he personally cut down about 15 enemy soldiers that had just been waiting for someone to try to steal their horses. Luke lost three men but he got 140 horses and brought them to our camp.

  After Damjanich heard what Luke did he put him in for the highest decoration a solider could earn in Hungary and Luke received it. He was made a Vitéz (brave). From then on when they said his name, they also said Vitéz. Shortly after that, he got promoted to a captain and was made a company commander.

  The Austrians were getting beat, so they brought in the polish calvary and were recruiting all over Europe for men willing to fight, putting terrible pressure on the Hungarian Army. In the end, we gave ground.

  My unit was driven back into Transylvania. Regiment after regiment was driven to surrender. Finally, Damjanich ran out of supplies and our troops were hungry so he decided to save his men. He called all of his officers in and told us that he was going to surrender too.

  Luke and I decided to go home with our boys that were still with us. Our old sergeant went with us too. He wanted to retire, so I told him that our village was as good as he could find and he now had some widows to pick from.

  We rode that night. I was still riding my spotted Hungarian and I had four beautiful young mares that were all spotted like my stud horse. Luke lost his black, but he had two geldings that he was bringing home. All of our men were bringing horses back with them.

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  It took us two weeks to get home. We rode in at night. I told the men to go home quietly, to hide their guns and uniforms and then go in to work that next morning as if they had never been gone.

  Luke and I went to Uncle John’s house. We put our horses in his stable. Uncle John was up when we got there and he fixed us a meal. Then he let us rest. We heard from him that Damjanich and all of the brigade commanders that were regular army were going to hang. All of the officers that they had something on were going to Austria to prison.

  That next morning my dad and Maria came to see us. He said that Maria was now his wife. He told us how proud he was of us he stayed most of the day with us. Uncle John went to work that morning as always. I told him about the sergeant that I left with the priest the night before. He told me that he would find him a home before the day was done. Both John and my dad wanted us to get out of the country for a while.

  My dad told me that Peter was at the big house. Dad said, “He is helping us now. A lot of the families have lost their land or part of their land because they turned against the king. Since Peter served the king, they have not bothered us.”

  We had been home six days and the tailor made us some new clothes. We each got us a sheepskin coat as well. We loaded down with food, blankets, and ammunition for our guns. We made plans to go over to the Carpathians into Romania.

  We rode out of our village after midnight and headed east for the high mountains. Luke was riding his stronger g
elding and left his second horse home for our sergeant. Around 10:00 a.m. we stopped and made some tea and let our horses graze until early afternoon. Then we rode again. There was a lot of movement still, so we tried to stay way off the main trail. Living in the open was no problem. We were certainly used to it.

  After we were up in the mountains, about ten days from home, we saw a couple girls working a potato field next to the wagon road. We angled over toward them so I could ask them where the nearest town was. I wanted to know how far we had gone at our snail pace. We were in some trees still when we saw some soldiers coming and we stayed concealed. They pulled up to the girls and started talking to them, but the girls just ignored them. The two soldiers were Austrian and one was a sergeant. They got off their horses and tied them to a tree. The girls then started to run away and the soldiers ran after them. Luke thought that one of the soldiers was pulling his pistol, so he reached for his rifle and put a shot in the dirt close to the sergeant. I got my rifle and put a shot by their feet. They now started running. Luke was reloading and I did too. Then Luke shot again. They were now splashing across a creek and I shot into the water.

  When the girls started heading back, Luke went out with his gelding and went over to the soldiers’ horses. Luke took their carbines and put two more shots after them. He then hung their carbines back on their saddles. The girls came up to him and he told them to get on the horses and ride home. He also got the information we needed. We then watched the girls ride off on the soldiers’ horses. We stayed undercover and got out of there too.

  On our map it showed that we were about halfway to the pass. We kept riding and made camp a little later. We had a mountain village in our sight. That next morning we rode out and stayed in the trees. We made good time and stopped around noon to let the horses graze. Twice we saw Hungarian soldiers walking but we didn’t get near them. We needed our supplies and horses. They could go in to any Hungarian village and get food. We saw Austrians on the road more and more, so we concentrated on keeping out of sight.