“I go to measure myself with Wellington.”

Napoleon.

Napoleon left Paris at dawn on the 12th June, and travelled to Laon. His troops were divided into the Army of the North, intended for the invasion of Belgium, which totalled a little over 124,000; the Army of the Rhine, commanded by Rapp, about 20,000, with a reserve of 3000 National Guards; Le Courbe’s corps of observation, watching the passes of the Jura, about 8000; the Army of the Alps, with Suchet, some 23,000; a detachment, under Brune, guarding the line of the Var, 6000; the 7th Corps, watching the line of the Pyrenees, 14,000, in two sections under Decaen and Clausel. The Army of the North was distributed at Lille, Valenciennes, MÉziÈres, Thionville, and Soissons, under D’Erlon, Reille, Vandamme, GÉrard and Lobau respectively; the Imperial Guard near Paris, and the Reserve Cavalry, under Grouchy, between the Aisne and the Sambre.84 Soult was chief of the staff, an appointment not particularly happy.85

In Belgium there was the nucleus of an army, consisting of some 10,000 soldiers, mostly British. Wellington arrived at Brussels on the 5th April, with the formidable task in hand of organizing a substantial body to oppose the returned Exile. He managed it, but the result was almost as motley a crowd of fighting men as Napoleon had for his disastrous Russian campaign. Wellington bluntly called them “not only the worst troops, but the worst-equipped army, with the worst staff that was ever brought together.” There were Hanoverians, Belgians, Dutch, Brunswickers, and Nassauers, as well as men of his own country. The 1st Corps, under the Prince of Orange, totalled 25,000, with headquarters at Braine-le-Comte; the 2nd Corps, commanded by Lord Hill, numbered 24,000, with headquarters at Ath; the Reserve Corps, with the Duke at Brussels, 21,000; the Cavalry, under the Earl of Uxbridge, 14,000; in the garrisons were 12,000, and the artillery and engineers reached 10,000—grand total 106,000.86 The Prussian Army, commanded by BlÜcher, reached 124,000 men, some few thousands of whom were already in Belgium in March. It was made up of four corps stationed at Charleroi, Namur, Ciney, and LiÉge, with headquarters at Namur. Both armies were in touch with each other, although distributed over a large extent of territory. It was intended that 750,000 men should be available for the invasion of France, but none of the other allies was ready. Napoleon acted promptly, his idea being to deal with each separately and drive them back on their bases before they were able to concentrate. He would then turn on the Austrians before the Russians were ready.

Napoleon succeeded in concentrating the Army of the North without definite particulars of his movements reaching either Wellington or BlÜcher. On the 15th June he was across the frontier and had made a preliminary success by driving Ziethen, who commanded BlÜcher’s first corps, from the banks of the Sambre, gaining the bridges, and securing Charleroi. The Emperor followed the Prussians to within a short distance of Gilly, where the French right wing defeated them with the loss of nearly 2000 men. The enemy then fell back in the direction of Ligny, and Napoleon made his headquarters at Charleroi. Meanwhile Ney, who had only arrived in the afternoon, was given charge of Reille’s and D’Erlon’s corps, and it is usually contended that he had told Lefebvre-DesnoËttes to reconnoitre towards Quatre Bras, then held by some 4500 Nassau troops, commanded by Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar.

Lefebvre first encountered the enemy at the village of Frasnes, some twenty-three miles from Brussels and covering Quatre Bras, where about 1500 men were stationed, who fell back towards Quatre Bras. The French General occupied the village in the evening after an indecisive action.

When information reached Wellington from Ziethen, vague because it was dispatched early in the morning, he ordered the majority of the troops at his disposal to be “ready to move at the shortest notice,” and a few only were told to change the positions they then occupied. He issued his final instructions at 10 p.m., and then went to the ball given by the Duchess of Richmond, who had invited some of the non-commissioned officers and privates in order “to show her Bruxelles friends the real Highland dance,” as Wellington afterwards averred. The Commander-in-Chief was quite easy in his mind, for he had done all that it was possible for him to do, and his appearance at such a festivity tended to allay the anxiety of the inhabitants as to Napoleon’s movements. Surely the capital was safe if Wellington was so unconcerned as to go to a dance?

Had Byron pictured the entry of Lieutenant Webster with a dispatch for the Prince of Orange he would have been more literally, if not artistically, correct. The nineteen words which the Prince read were momentous: “Captain Baron von Gagern has just arrived from Nivelles, reporting that the enemy had pushed up to Quatre Bras.” It had been written at Braine-le-Comte at 10.30 p.m. No further instructions were issued by Wellington, for he had already arranged “for a movement tending to draw the right of his forces in towards the left.”87 He therefore remained at the ball until about 2 a.m., on the 16th, and then went to bed.

He left the city very early and arrived at Quatre Bras about 10 o’clock. There he found, according to his own statement,88 “the Prince of Orange with a small body of Belgian troops, two or three battalions of infantry, a squadron of Belgian dragoons, and two or three pieces of cannon which had been at the Quatre Bras—the four roads—since the preceding evening. It appeared that the picket of this detachment had been touched by a French patrol, and there was some firing, but very little; and of so little importance that, after seeing what was doing, I went on to the Prussian army, which I saw from the ground, was assembling upon the field of St Amand and Ligny, about eight miles distant.

“I reached the Prussian army; was at their headquarters; stayed there a considerable time; saw the army formed; the commencement of the battle; and returned to join my own army assembled and assembling at the Quatre Bras. I arrived then at Quatre Bras a second time on that day, as well as I recollect, at about two or three o’clock in the afternoon.

“The straggling fire there had continued from morning; the Prince of Orange was with the line troops still in the same position. I was informed that the army was collecting in a wood in front. I rode forward and reconnoitred or examined their position according to my usual practice. I saw clearly a very large body of men assembled, and a MarÉchal reviewing them, according to their usual practice, preparatory to an attack. I heard distinctly the usual cries: ‘En avant! en avant! L’Empereur rÉcompensera celui qui s’avancera!’

“Before I quitted the Prince of Orange, some of the officers standing about had doubted whether we should be attacked at this point. I sent to the Prince of Orange from the ground on which I was standing, to tell him that he might rely upon it that we should be attacked in five minutes, and that he had better order the retreat towards the main position of the light troops and guns which were in front, and which could make no resistance to the fierce attack about to be made upon us. These were accordingly withdrawn, and in less than five minutes we were attacked by the whole French army under MarÉchal Ney. There was in fact no delay nor cessation from attack from that time till night. The reserves of the British army from Brussels had arrived at the Quatre Bras at this time; and the corps of Brunswick troops from the headquarters, and a division of Belgian troops from Nivelles, Braine, &c.”

Ney did not begin his attack until 2 p.m. He had only Reille’s corps at his disposal, and he was uncertain as to the movements of the Prussians. But when a move was made against the farm of GÉmioncourt,89 the key of the position, the 7000 troops of the Prince of Orange were speedily driven back, and the wood of Bossu also fell into the enemy’s hands. It was at this precise moment that Wellington and reinforcements arrived. Picton with his brave 5th Division, although exhausted by a long march on a sultry day, were ordered to retake the wood. It was then that Ney hurled his cavalry at them in a determined endeavour to save the situation at all costs.

“One regiment,” we are told, “after sustaining a furious cannonade, was suddenly, and on three different sides, assailed by cavalry. Two faces of the square were charged by the lancers, while the cuirassiers galloped down upon another. It was a trying moment. There was a death-like silence, and one voice alone, calm and clear, was heard. It was their Colonel’s, who called upon them to be ‘steady.’ On came the enemy—the earth shook beneath the horses’ feet; while on every side of the devoted band, the corn,90 bending beneath the rush of cavalry, disclosed their numerous assailants. The lance-blades approached the bayonets of the kneeling front rank—the cuirassiers were within forty paces—yet not a trigger was drawn. But when the word ‘Fire!’ thundered from the colonel’s lips, each piece poured out its deadly volley, and in a moment the leading files of the French lay before the square, as if hurled by a thunderbolt to the earth. The assailants, broken and dispersed, galloped off for shelter to the tall rye; while a stream of musketry from the British square carried death into the retreating squadrons.” At length Maitland’s division of the Guards secured possession of the wood. The French continued to attack with ardour, but with the close of day Ney fell back upon the road to Frasnes. The British remained at Quatre Bras.

Many brave incidents are recorded. A soldier of the 92nd was wounded in the thigh. After having been attended by a surgeon the medical man dismissed him by saying, “There is now no fear of you, get slowly behind.” His reply, unpremeditated and instant, was, “The presence of every man is necessary,” and calmly went back to his post, from which he never returned. Another fellow had his knapsack carried away from his shoulders by a cannon-ball. He caught it by a dexterous movement before it reached the ground. Wellington happened to be near, and the incident afforded him considerable amusement.

The 2nd Battalion of the 69th Regiment of Foot91 had its flag captured, the precious symbol being wrenched from the hands of the officer almost at the same time as the attempted capture of another colour during a charge of French cuirassiers. The latter was preserved, although the bearer received severe wounds. Ensign Christie also saved a flag by throwing himself upon it. As the soldier lay on the ground a portion of the colour was torn off by the lancer who had made the attempt, but before the prize could be taken the captor was shot and the piece recovered.

Wellington lost 4600 killed and wounded at Quatre Bras, but although he remained in possession of the field, Ney’s grim determination had precluded him from sending reinforcements to BlÜcher, who had been contesting Napoleon at Ligny, eight miles distant. On the other hand, the Emperor had ordered his Marshal to assist him at Ligny after having dispersed the troops at Quatre Bras, which he was far too heavily engaged all day to do, although it is conceivable that had he begun his attack earlier he might have carried out his Chief’s instructions. Napoleon himself delayed his attack because some of his soldiers had not arrived, and when he was ready to open fire he totalled 20,000 men less than the Prussian commander. D’Erlon’s troops, forming Ney’s reserve, were sent for, but before they were pressed into service were ordered back by Ney to assist him. Had D’Erlon remained, Napoleon would have won a decisive victory. As it was, BlÜcher’s losses reached over 20,000, and he narrowly averted capture. He was thrown during a cavalry charge and badly injured. The Prussians abandoned the field, retiring towards Wavre, which enabled them to be in touch with Wellington, and where they later formed a junction with the fresh corps of BÜlow. Napoleon, who had 11,000 men killed or wounded, was convinced that the enemy would fall back on Namur and LiÉge, which would enable him to deal with Wellington alone on the morrow.

Napoleon was unusually lethargic on the following day, and squandered much precious time until noon in various useless ways. He then ordered Grouchy, with 33,000 men, to ascertain the position occupied by the Prussians, while he joined Ney. Wellington, hearing of BlÜcher’s defeat and realizing that every moment was of value, had evacuated Quatre Bras almost without interference, although Napoleon’s cavalry came up with the British rear and the situation was saved by a propitious downpour of rain which soon transformed road and field alike into a quagmire. Still, Napoleon chased in pursuit to the ridge of Waterloo, where a heavy cannonade put an end to his advance. The Emperor made his headquarters at the Caillou farm, retiring to rest only after he had seen that Wellington’s army was not retreating from the position it had taken up at Mont St Jean. Unable to sleep, he again satisfied himself that the army he was bent on shattering had not stolen a march on him, and when the 18th June dawned he was still gazing in the direction of Wellington and his men.