This victory gave a moral boost to the Hungarians and shook the overconfidence of the Austrian main commander Field Marshal Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz who reported after the Battle of Kápolna from 26 to 27 February, that he scattered them and destroyed the rebellious hordes, and that he will capture the nest of the rebellion, Debrecen in a few days.

[6] And since the cavalry led by Major General Ferenc Ottinger could hardly arrive in time, so in the case of a retreat Szolnok's garrison brigade could easily lose its baggage, ammunition, and supplies.

[2] But the new commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński, probably planned the decisive attack on the Upper Tisza region, on the Eger-Gyöngyös-Hatvan route, so he only intended to defend the Szolnok-Cibakháza area.

force moving in the direction of the planned main attack, he ordered Damjanich in a letter sent from Eger at 11 a.m. on 26 February to occupy Szolnok starting from Cibakháza and to damage the railway line.

[9] However, the attack failed, as the left of the two columns of the main force (about 7000 men and 23 guns), led by Damjanich from Cibakháza and reinforced by Vécsey's troops, got lost in the wilderness and did not arrive at Vezseny, the designated meeting point.

In the meantime, Vécsey's vanguard attacked the Imperial outpost in front of the bridgehead at Szolnok at dawn, but as the main Hungarian forces did not arrive, he finally broke off the battle and retreated to Törökszentmiklós.

[11] The 6th Division, which departed from Törökszentmiklós in the greatest silence, picked up its vanguards at Szajol, and reached its planned starting position in the fog around 4 a.m.[11] The vanguard of the I Corps, the brigade led by Major Bátori-Sulcz (about 2300-2400 men and 6-8 guns) was hurrying, but the exhausted troops, who had been marching on muddy roads for two days without rest, reached Törökszentmiklós only at dawn on the 5th, around 6 a.m.[11] Even though the commander Bátori-Sulcz, had rushed ahead to inform Vécsey of the expected arrival time of his troops, the brigade still had a good two-hour march to Szolnok in the snowfall.

[13] The Royal Cavalry quickly retreated, then, having evacuated the suburb, withdrew to the southwestern edge of Szolnok; their commander immediately reported the incident to Major-General Karger, who alerted the garrison at half past 6.

[7] The city was secured from the north, east, and south by the Tisza, the Zagyva, and the well-built bridgehead and gun emplacements; while from the southwest and west, although the planned entrenchments were still only on the drawing board, the defense was not completely hopeless.

[21] The Hungarian troops, deployed about 1500 paces from the railway line, on the higher southern edge of the flatter area mentioned above, were deployed as follows: the right wing and the rights side of the center were formed by the reinforced and reorganized brigade led by Lieutenant Colonel Józef Wysocki, while the left side of the center and the left wing was formed by the brigade led by Colonel József Nagysándor.

[24] Karger, sensing a problem, had earlier tried to help by bringing the seven-pounder howitzer of the half infantry battery from the bridgehead and then sending the dragoon squadron from the standby reserve to the right flank; but these did not improve the situation very much.

[24] The weakness of the enemy flank was noticed also by Damjanich, as well as the fact that the longer Hungarian front due to its numerical superiority, offered an opportunity to bypass the imperial order of battle.

[25] On the right flank, probably the squadron from the edge of the 3rd Battalion of the 19th Infantry Regiment turned east and occupied the Szentjános (St. John) suburb without resistance, then advanced along the river bank towards the north.

[28] The two six-pounder guns of the 5th infantry battery in the trenches could not successfully return the fire for a long time, so here the commander of the Imperial defending force, Captain Eduard Ghilain, ordered their withdrawal from the bridgehead relatively soon.

[32] This was further complicated by the fact that Lieutenant Colonel Schön, who took over command of the southern part of the town, sent the two six-pounder guns (and probably a 12-pounder cannon withdrawn from the fortress) that had been there at the Tisza bridgehead, accompanied by half a company of Imperial Kaiserjägers and a few platoons of border guards, to the northern part of Szolnok, and that the border guard platoons that had been protecting the city's entrances to the eastern streets, left their positions, and they mostly rejoined their retreating regular units.

[34] However, he apparently did not inform, about his retreat, Captain Ghilain, whose troops, while holding up Vécsey's advance and trying to burn the bridge, noticed that a Hungarian infantry squad had appeared on the right bank of the Tisza.

Ghilain then turned the bulk of his troops against them and drove them back with a bayonet charge as far as the salt depots; here, however, he ran into the main force of the 65th Honvéd Battalion, which was approaching from the reserve along the riverbank.

The 3rd Hussar Regiment's 1st Company of the 2nd Major's Squadron (perhaps its 2nd wing ) led by First Lieutenant János Melczer, which until then had probably been covering half of the 1st Cavalry battery, also received permission to charge.

[38] In the meantime, however, four companies of the 3/3 Line Regiment Battalion of the Imperial Army arrived at the bridgehead, followed by the sappers in a rather disorganized state, as well as the first refugees from the chapel, announcing the breakthrough of the Hungarian cavalry.

baggage was sent to the north, to the so-called "Mill Corner", to cross the Zagyva and turn westwards, leaving the road to Zagyvarékas on the south side of the river open for the troops, this could not be accomplished because of the earlier demolition of the bridge there.

[40] It was only a matter of time, however, before the well-functioning Hungarian artillery would disperse them, so that the cavalry could launch an all-out charge, which would have led to the complete destruction of the still combat-ready units of the Imperial Brigade covering the routing soldiers.

[40] But then the Hungarian pursuit was suddenly interrupted, and only the half of the 1st Cavalry Regiment led by Lieutenant Tóth continued to follow the retreating rearguard of the imperial army towards the nearby forest.

[40] Since he believed that Karger could hold Szolnok with his reinforced brigade until he arrived, he did not head straight for the city, but south of the railway line, on the road to Tószeg, in order to threaten the retreat of the attacking Hungarian army by getting to its left side.

[41] When they were half an hour from Tószeg, Ottinger and his escort rode towards Szolnok, hearing the increasing sound of cannon roar, where he could first notice that the firing line of the Hungarian artillery was already visible on the northern side of the railway.

Then, climbing on the top of a small hill on the south side of the railway, he was shocked to see that the fighting was already north-west of the town and that Karger's brigade, strongly pressed by the Hungarians from three directions, was retreating towards Zagyvarékas.

[42] As the repair of the Tisza bridge had meanwhile been completed, the major-general moved his cavalry and artillery to the town, then hurried with his own troops towards the western edge of the city, while he left two battalions of Bátori-Schulz's infantry to secure Szolnok and guard the prisoners and booty.

[43] The 5,600 men and 30 guns thus available seemed sufficient to hold back a possible further Hungarian attack, so Hartlieb began here that evening and during the night to reorganize the fleeing units of the Karger Brigade, which started to arrive.

[7] The exact number of casualties on the Hungarian side is not known, but is usually put at around 300,[43] including Lieutenant Colonel Puchly, the enthusiastic commander of 3d Hussar Regiment, and Captain Károly Szilvay, who received 12 wounds.

[7] Damjanich, however, ascribing to himself the credit for the success of the enterprise, not only wished to retain his autonomy as division commander but, despite his subordinate relation to Vécsey, reproached him for the delay in carrying through the attack, using even offensive words.

[7] The unpleasant affair was finally settled when Damjanich was appointed commander of the III Corps in recognition of his merits,[7] while Vécsey, having handed over his division, traveled to Debrecen on 6 March.