However, Archduke Charles defeated Jourdan's army at Amberg and Würzburg in the late summer, forcing the French to retreat to the Lahn.

On the 16th, Charles launched an attack at Giessen on Jourdan's left flank, but his main assault was intended to crack the French center at Limburg an der Lahn.

Though both Austrian thrusts stalled, Jourdan was forced to withdraw when the French right flank commander Jean Castelbert de Castelverd ordered his troops to fall back.

During the next three days, the French center under François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte made a fighting retreat back to Altenkirchen so that Jourdan's left flank troops could escape.

After the battle Jourdan pulled most of his army back to the west bank of the Rhine, effectively ending the campaign in the north.

The 20,000-man right wing under Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg stood on the east bank of the Rhine behind the Sieg River, observing the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf.

Reconsidering the situation, the Aulic Council gave Archduke Charles command over both Austrian armies and ordered him to hold his ground.

[1] On the French side, the 80,000-man Army of Sambre-et-Meuse held the west bank of the Rhine south to the Nahe and then southwest to Sankt Wendel.

Similarly, in the south, by Basel, Ferino's column moved speedily across the river and proceeded up the Rhine along the Swiss and German shoreline, toward Lake Constance and into the southern end of the Black Forest.

Jourdan also moved eastward, pushing Wartensleben's autonomous corps into the Ernestine duchies and neither general seemed willing to unite his flank with his compatriot's.

The defeat of Jourdan's army at the Amberg, Würzburg and Limburg an der Lahn allowed Charles to move more troops to the south.

There Jourdan's army was joined by 16,000 fresh troops commanded by General François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers (Marceau), who had abandoned his blockade of Mainz.

His determined pursuit prevented the French from turning south to join with Moreau's sizable force crossing the Black Forest.

When he learned that the main army had started to pass through Altenkirchen, he realized he should begin his own retreat from Molsberg and Freilingen, but he arrived at the northern edge of the Höchstenbach before Grenier's and Championnet's divisions had completely passed through the town Jourdan ordered Marceau to make a stand at Altenkirch so that Grenier's and Championnet's divisions could get through safely.

Marceau led the main body of his division back to support the rearguard but, while he was scouting the Austrian positions, he was shot and mortally wounded.

[Note 2] Marceau's rattled troops rallied for long enough to prevent the Austrians from breaking the army apart; realizing that the French had escaped him, Charles camped the night at Freilingen.

[2] Badly injured, Marceau remained in Altenkirchen and received several visits from Austrian officers, including Paul Kray.

[2] The French retreated further north, to the River Sieg, and Charles left a small force commanded by Franz von Werneck at Altenkirchen to keep them contained; he himself turned southward to deal with Moreau and his army crossing through the Black Forest.