nine
o'clock
It was determined therefore to seize the Weinberg at once , and the execution of this step was committed to Horn . The choice was most unfortunate . The service was one upon the prompt carrying out of which victory depended , and Horn , though a brave and capable commander , was slow and cautious , and particularly unfitted for executing a service which had to be performed in a dark night across a country with which he was not familiar . Taking with him four thousand chosen musketeers and pikemen and twelve guns he set out at nine o'clock , but the rough road , the dikes , and ditches which intercepted the country impeded him , and the fact that he was unacquainted with the general position of the country made him doubly cautious , and it was not until midnight that he reached the foot of the hill . Here , unfortunately , he came to the conclusion that since he had encountered such difficulties in crossing the flat country he should meet with even greater obstacles and delays in ascending the hill in the dark ; he therefore took the fatal resolution of remaining where he was until daylight , and accordingly ordered the column to halt . Had he continued his march he would have reached the summit of the Weinberg unopposed , and the fate of the battle on the following day would have been changed . But the Imperialist leaders , Gallas and Cardinal Infanta Don Fernando , had not been unmindful of the commanding position of the hill upon which Horn was marching , and had given orders that it should be occupied before daylight by four hundred Spaniards .