CHAPTER XXIV.

On arrival on the position in front of Waterloo on Saturday evening the 17th, the regiment bivouacked in a ploughed field, a picket being thrown out to its front. Everyone was drenched to the skin, the baggage could not be found, the peasants had removed the ropes from the neighbouring drawwells, so that a drink of clean water could not be got; they cut clover in a field to keep them off the wet ground, and unless one had something in his haversack, there was nothing to eat. Imagine the situation of a man, cold, wet and hungry, without fire, meat or drink, sitting on a bunch of damp grass with his feet deep in a puddle; a powerful army opposite led by the greatest general of the age-not a situation in which to feel heroic! "But," says Sergeant Robertson, "we tried to cheer our drooping spirits by the thought that we had never run out of the field; and the call began to pass from one to the other what we should do when we had beaten the enemy." A false alarm, owing to Belgian cavalry answering the sentries' challenge in French, caused them to stand to their arms at midnight; it still rained hard, but the men lay down again in fours, covered by their united blankets. At daylight on the morning of Sunday the 18th June the troops stood to their arms, shivering with cold; an allowance of gin was served out, which put some warmth into them, and appears to have been highly appreciated; * beef was also brought. Soon the day cleared and the sun shone out; the regiment was withdrawn from its position in the puddle to a drier one farther to the rear, where they were able to light fires and cook, clean their arms and dry their clothes. Many were fast asleep when the order was given to fall in,

"Am bheil sin math, a Dhonnachaid?" asked a Highland captain of his piper as he quaffed the reviving spirit. "Nan robh bainne mathar cho maith, bhithinn a' deoghal fathast!" ("Is that good, Duncan?" "If mother's milk was so good, I would be sucking yet!")

prime and load, and take up their position; then Wellington, looking calm and confident, rode along the line on his favourite horse, named after his first European victory, "Copenhagen."

The allied army in position in front of Waterloo amounted to about 67,600 of all arms,* of whom 12,500 were cavalry, with 156 guns; about 24,000 were British, and 5800 were of the gallant King's German Legion in British pay. The rest were Hanoverians, Brunswickers, Nassau contingent, Dutch and Belgians; Napoleon, in estimating the chances of success, which he thought greatly in his favour, considered one British soldier equal to one Frenchman, and one French soldier equal to two of Wellington's other troops. The British were not in composition and discipline equal to the army which fought on the Pyrenees and at Toulouse, with which its leader said "he could go anywhere and do anything." A large part of that army was in America, and was replaced by battalions which had seen no service; but several of the most distinguished Peninsular regiments were there. Many of the Continental troops had served under Napoleon, the country of others had been conquered by him, and all were inclined to believe him invincible; Wellington, therefore, placed most reliance on the British and the German Legion, the other troops being posted alternately between them.

The position taken by Wellington was along the ridge, half a mile south of Mont St Jean, a hamlet two miles south of the village of Waterloo, which is nine miles south of Brussels. From the hamlet to the crest of the ridge the ground rises gently, and along the ridge runs a road or lane from Wavre and Ohain on the east, to Braine-la-Leude on the west. This lane crosses the high road from Brussels by La Belle Alliance to Quatre-Bras and Charleroi; on the east of the crossing it was fenced by hedges, and on the west it was

* Alison. Wellington had in addition troops stationed at Hal, Antwerp, Ostend, etc., but these were not engaged.

On the 18th June the 92nd had present :-Field-officer, 1; captains, 2; subalterns, 15; staff, 4; sergeants, 27; drummers, 12; rank and file, 361.Wellington's Dispatches.

N.B. Several officers and men were able to take their places, though smarting from wounds at Quatre-Bras. Batman, baggage guard, surgeon's orderlies are included, though not actually in the ranks.

formed by a cutting with high banks on each side. These banks and hedges were pierced for the passage of cavalry and artillery. From this road the ground slopes down into a shallow valley.

About three hundred yards down the west side of the road to Charleroi stood the farm of La Haye Sainte, and on the other side of the road was a gravel pit. Near La Haye Sainte an abattis was placed across the road, which then crosses the hollow and ascends gradually to La Belle Alliance on another ridge parallel to that of Mont St. Jean. About twelve hundred yards east of La Haye Sainte, and five hundred yards south of the Ohain road, were the farms of Papelotte and La Haye, and a little further south was the hamlet of Smohain. At some distance west of the Charleroi road, and about five hundred yards south of the Ohain road, was the château of Hougoumont, with walled garden and woods. The position had its right thrown back to a ravine near Merke Braine, which was occupied, as were the house and gardens of Hougoumont and the farm of La Haye Sainte, and also Papelotte and La Haye, while a picket of the 10th Hussars was posted at Smohain. By the left Wellington communicated with Blucher at Wavre through Ohain, and the Marshal had promised to support him with one or more corps as might be necessary.

The French army, 74,000 strong, of whom over 15,000 were cavalry, with 246 guns, was superior in numbers, in horsemen, and in artillery, and was composed of experienced soldiers of the same nation, animated by an enthusiastic confidence in their leader and in themselves. Napoleon also expected Grouchy's Corps of about 30,000 men, which had been sent to observe the Prussians.

The French position was along the ridge or plateau of La Belle Alliance, opposite and parallel to that of the Allies. The distance from right to left of the army was less than three miles; at no point were the opponents a mile apart, and in some places they were much nearer.

Two men seldom agree in their account of a fox-hunt or a battle, and I am not going to try to tell exactly what took place on the whole field of Waterloo, but only on that part of it where the Gordon Highlanders were posted, so far as it can

be gathered from dispatches, histories, and the letters or reminiscences of those who were present. Suffice it to say generally that the battle was a defensive one on the part of the Allies. Wellington's object was to keep Napoleon at bay till the Prussians could join him. Napoleon strove to break through the British before Blucher could come up, but he was prevented from attacking till the sun had rendered the wet clay land fit for the operations of cavalry and artillery. At about ten to eleven o'clock * he commenced a furious attack on Hougoumont, held by a few foreign troops and a detachment from Byng's Brigade of Guards, who maintained the post throughout the day with the greatest gallantry. This attack was accompanied by a heavy cannonade upon our whole line, followed by repeated attacks of cavalry and infantry, occasionally mixed, but sometimes separate. In one of these the enemy carried the farm of La Haye Sainte, after a desperate resistance by the detachment of the King's German Legion who held it. They had expended their ammunition, and the enemy occupied the only communication there was with them. The repeated attacks of cavalry were uniformly repulsed by our artillery and infantry, and they afforded opportunities to our cavalry to charge. These attacks were continued till about seven p.m., when the enemy made a desperate effort with cavalry and infantry supported by artillery, to force our left centre near La Haye Sainte, which, after a severe contest, was defeated. Wellington observed that the troops retired from this attack in great confusion, and that the march of Bülow's Prussians by Frischermont upon La Belle Alliance had begun to take effect; and as Marshal Prince Blucher had joined in person with a corps of his army to the left of our line by Ohain, he determined to attack the enemy, and advanced the whole line of infantry, supported by cavalry and artillery. The attack succeeded at every point, the enemy was forced from his position, and fled in the utmost confusion.

Many of the Allies kept their ground during the day, as firmly as the British and Germans, but others gave way, and some could not be rallied even in second line; some without * Historians differ as to the hour. Wellington's dispatch says "about ten o'clock." Houssaye says about 11.35.

firing a shot rode off to Brussels, filling the city with consternation and dismay.

The Fifth Division, commanded by Sir Thomas Picton, was stationed immediately on the left (ie., east) of the Charleroi road, having Bylandt's Dutch-Belgian Brigade in front. The Eighth or Kempt's Brigade formed the right of the division; the Ninth or Pack's Brigade was some little distance to the left, and in rear of the Ohain road on the reverse of the ridge, in the following order: the 1st Royals on the right, 42nd, 92nd, and 44th on the left, the Light Companies being extended in front. On the left of Pack were Hanoverian and Belgian infantry, some of them holding the farm of Papelotte, supported on the extreme left by Vandeleur's and Vivian's British Light Cavalry, while the Third and other Divisions were on Picton's right. The reserve, including most of the cavalry, was in the rear, and artillery was posted at intervals along the front line.

Napoleon's only fear had been that the Allies would retreat during the night to join the Prussians. "Now," he said, "Wellington has thrown the dice, and they are for us.' Napoleon had never encountered British infantry. Soult, who knew their quality, advised him to hasten Grouchy's recall. "Because you have been beaten by Wellington," retorted the Emperor, "you think him a great general. I tell you Wellington is a bad general, and the British are bad troops." He then asked Reille's opinion, as he also had often fought against them in Spain, who answered, "Well posted as Wellington knows how to do, and attacked in front, I look on the British infantry as invulnerable by reason of its calm tenacity and the superiority of its fire, but they do not manœuvre so quickly; if one could not vanquish them by a direct attack, one might do so by out-manoeuvring them."* Napoleon broke off the conversation with an exclamation of incredulity, and proceeded to pass his columns in review as they took up their ground. It was little more than 1000 yards from where the Emperor made this his last inspection to the station of the Gordon Highlanders, who could see the formidable force of their antagonists, and with a telescope could distinguish the gorgeous columns; the infantry in blue Houssaye.

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