Protestantism in Switzerland - James Aitken Wylie

those valleys of Unterwalden, whose echoes are
awakened by the avalanches of the Jungfrau; from
the grassy plains of Schwitz on the east, armed
men poured forth prepared to fight for the faith of
their fathers, and to quench in blood the new
religion which Zwingli and Zurich had introduced,
and which was spreading like an infection over
their country. The place of rendezvous was the
deep valley where the waters of Zug, defended all
round by mighty mountains, and covered by their
shadows, lie so still and sluggish in their bed.
On the 9th of June, 4,000 picked soldiers, fully
armed, and well furnished with artillery and
provisions, under the command of Captain George
Berguer, with Conrad Schmidt, Pastor of
Kussnacht, as their chaplain, issued from the gates
of Zurich, and set out to meet the foe.[2] The walls
and towers were crowded with old men and women
to witness their departure. Among them rode
Zwingli, his halberd across his shoulder,[3] the
same, it is said, he had carried at Marignano. Anna,
his wife, watched him from the ramparts as he rode
slowly away. Crossing the Albis Alp, the army of
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