[363, June 1815]

CHAPTER XXIV

N arrival on the position in front of Waterloo on Saturday evening the 17th June, the regiment bivouacked in a ploughed field, a picket being thrown out to its front. Every one was drenched to the skin, the baggage could not be found, the peasants had removed the ropes from the neighbouring draw-wells, so that a drink of clean water could not be got; the men 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 sitution 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;[1] 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 Soon the day cleared and the sun shone out; the regiment was withdrawn from its position in the puddle to a drier one further to the rear, where they were able to light fires and cook, clean their arms and dry their clothes.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, 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,[2] 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 [364, June 1815] 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 l’Alleud 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 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 chateau of Hougoumont, with walled garden and woods. The position had its right thrown back to a ravine near Merbe 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 Blücher 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 [365, June 1815] nation, animated by an enthusiastic confidence in their leader and in themselves. Napoleon also expected Grouchy’s Corps of about 20,000 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 Blücher 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[3] 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 Blücher 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.

[366, June 1815] 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 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 (i.e. east) of the Charleroi road, having Bylandt’s Dutch-Belgian Brigade in front. The Eighth or Kemp’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-manœuvring them.”[4]  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 coats, red epaulettes, white breeches and long white gaiters; light infantry in blue, green epaulettes and black gaiters. The Old Guard in campaigning dress, blue pantaloons, long greatcoat and bearskin cap (their full dress, white breeches and gaiters and red plumes, was carried in their haversacks for the expected triumphal entry into Brussels); they had red epaulettes and wore the queue, [367, June 1815] and had earrings as big as a crown piece. The gunners of the Guard in bearskins marching beside their twelve-pounders, which Napoleon called his ”belles filles”;[5] cuirassiers with steel helmets and floating horse-hair, short-tailed blue and red coatees, white breeches and high jack-boots, armed with long straight sword and pistol; gigantic carabineers wearing Grecian helmets with red crests, white coats and breeches, and gilt cuirasses; horse grenadiers in high bearskins and red hackles, in blue turned up with scarlet, and epaulettes and aiguillettes of orange, armed like the cuirassiers. Green and white dragoons, chasseurs, and hussars, armed with sabre and carbine, whose pelisses and dolmans differed in each regiment; chestnut and blue, green and scarlet, red and sky-blue, grey and blue; green lancers, lancers with yellow epaulettes on red jackets, and red overalls, armed with lance, sabre and pistol, a brilliant kaleidoscope glittering with gold and silver.[6]  Their music and their shouts of “Vive l’Empereur!” could be faintly heard by the Highlanders, who fully realised the power they had to contend with, and that the fate of Europe depended on the result of the approaching combat.

After this they were visited by the Duke of Richmond, who had ridden from Brussels. After congratulations to officers present on having come safe through the affair of the 16th, he told them he had just seen the General-in-Chief, and that Prince Blücher was on the march to their assistance. This news produced an extraordinary effect on the minds of the soldiers; “but it may fairly be doubted,” says the officer to whose memoirs I am so much indebted, “whether the speedy prospect of being succoured by the Prussians, or the two following verses, produced the most powerful effect on the hearts of the Highlanders.”  The lines were chanted by the men, having been altered to suit the occasion by one of them.

Now’s the day and now’s the hour,
See the front of battle lour,
See approach Napoleon’s power,
Chains and Slavery.
 
Lay the proud usurper low,
Tyrants fall in every foe,
Liberty’s in every blow,
Let us do or die.

The battle had begun by a furious attack on Hougoumont, Napoleon hoping that Wellington would weaken his centre to repel it; but being disappointed in this, and being aware by an intercepted dispatch that the Prussians were advancing, he ordered Marshal Ney to force the centre by an attack which was accompanied by a cannonade along the whole line. A battery of eighty [368, June 1815] guns thundered from its position immediately opposite the 92nd, which suffered some loss. Wellington retired his infantry (except Bylandt’s Brigade, and part of the 95th, who held the gravel pit) so as to shelter them behind the crest of the ridge, while his artillery remained in advance and replied to that of the enemy for half an hour. About 1.30 four divisions of infantry in echelon, supported by cavalry and led by Ney and d’Erlon, with drums beating and colours flying, descended into the valley (which was covered with crops of grass and standing corn, and without fences); the cannonballs crossing each other above them till they neared the British, when the French guns ceased, but those of the Allies continued firing. The valley was filled with smoke by the musketry of the light troops who covered the assault on La Haye Sainte. The advanced companies of the 95th were driven from the gravel pit, and Bylandt’s Dutchmen, who had suffered terribly from artillery fire in their exposed position, were broken, after some resistance, by Donzelot’s troops; they finally fled through the Fifth Division, and were no more seen. Picton was shot through the temple as he gave Kempt’s Brigade his last order to charge. Donzelot’s masses were driven back, but renewed the fight; so close was it that the wadding of the cartridges remained smoking on the coats of the combatants. The post abandoned by Bylandt’s Brigade was reoccupied by the 3rd Battalion Royal Scots and the 2nd 44th; these two weak battalions poured a heavy fire of musketry on the assailants, and for some time maintained their ground with the unflinching courage of true British soldiers, but were at last compelled by superior numbers to give way for the moment.[7]  Papelotte had been taken from the Nassau troops who held it. “The situation was very critical,” Kempt says in his report; and no doubt it was so, for had the French columns penetrated the allied line at this point and gained the heights, the victory would have been more than doubtful.

There had been changes of position by the battalions of Pack’s Brigade, and the 42nd was posted at an important spot considerably to the left of the 92nd, who were now reduced to less than 300 men, and were lying down concealed from the French. Marcognet’s column, 3000 strong, had passed by Donzelot’s right; his leading regiment had reached the hedge of the Ohain road, crying “Victory!” when the Gordons were ordered to stand to their arms. Sir Denis Pack said earnestly, “92nd, all the troops in your front have given way, you must charge this column.”[8]  He then ordered the line to form fours deep, and close on the centre.

[369, June 1815] The enemy on reaching the hedge, thinking themselves victorious, had ordered arms; but becoming aware of the advancing Highlanders, were in the act of shouldering when they received a volley at twenty yards from the 92nd, which they at once returned. At this moment the Scots Greys, who were the left regiment of the Union Brigade (Royal Dragoons, Greys, and Inniskillings), came up, the pipers played, and the regiments mutually cheered each other, calling out, “Scotland for ever!”  The Greys doubled round the flanks, and through the openings made by the Highlanders, as best they could, and both regiments charged together, the wildest enthusiasm pervading the ranks of each; many of the Highlanders caught hold of the Greys’ legs and stirrups to support them as they ran, determined not to be last. “I must own it had a most thrilling effect on me,” says one of the Greys. “‘I didna think ye wad hae saired me sae,’ cried some of the Highlanders who were knocked down by the horses, but in our anxiety we could not help it.”[9]  “The Highlanders seemed half mad, and it was with the greatest difficulty the officers could preserve anything like order in the ranks.”[10]  “I never saw the soldiers of the 92nd Regiment so extremely savage as they were on this occasion.”[11]  An old piper, it was said, in his excited imagination cried out that he saw “Fassiefern” waving his bonnet in front as of yore.[12]  Long after that day, individuals who witnessed the charge used to speak of the thrilling sensation which overcame them when they beheld the small body of bonnets and plumes lost, so to speak, amid a crowd of shakos.[13]

[370, June 1815] Staggered by the Highlanders’ volley, charged in front and flank by cavalry and infantry, paralysed by its own press, the heavy French column could make but a poor resistance. The men fell back on one another, grouping together so closely that they had hardly room to strike or fire at the Highlanders and horsemen who penetrated their confused ranks; the dragoons traversed these splendid regiments, scattering them and cutting them off as the broken battalions rolled down the slope under their blows. “In three minutes the column was totally destroyed, and numbers of them were taken prisoners.[14]  The grass field in which the enemy was formed, and which had been as green and smooth as the Fifteen Acres in Phoenix Park, was in a few minutes covered with killed and wounded, knapsacks and their contents, arms and accoutrements, etc., literally strewed all over, so that to avoid stepping on one or the other was quite impossible; in fact, one could hardly believe, had he not witnessed it, that such complete destruction could have been effected in so short a time. Some of the French soldiers who were lying wounded were calling out ‘Vive l’Empereur!’ and others firing their muskets at our men who had advanced past them in pursuit of the flying enemy.”[15]  To those who cried “Quarter!” “Prisoner!” the answer was generally, “Well, go to the rear, d—— ye.”

After this brilliant affair[16] the regiment was recalled; Sir Denis Pack rode up and said, “you have saved the day, Highlanders, but you must return to your former position; there is more work to be done.”[17]  As they re-formed, they saw the impetuous career of their countrymen as they encountered two batteries half-way up the opposite slope, sabred the gunners and drivers, upset the guns into a ravine, and then, intoxicated by success, assailed the great battery. The recall was sounded in vain, they did not or would not hear it. Napoleon also noticed and admired “ces magnifiques chevaux gris,” and sent a regiment of cuirassiers and one of lancers against them. The Greys had lost their colonel and many officers; their horses were blown; every man did what he could, and faced his foes manfully. “Conquer or die” was the word. “At night,” wrote Colonel Wyndham, then a lieutenant of the Greys, “Brevet-Major Cheney brought out of action four or five officers and [371, June 1815] under thirty men. The lancers did us as much mischief as the round shot and shell.”[18]

Nor had the conduct of the troops on the right been less effective. The infantry repulsed their assailants, the cavalry routed them. Life Guards and dragoons rode across the valley, their swords ringing on the armour of the cuirassiers with the” noise of smiths at work.”  The fight at Hougoumont still raged, but elsewhere the action was arrested while both parties regained their positions. During the interval a cuirassier left his regiment and crossed the valley towards the British, who, thinking him a deserter, did not fire; he rode close up to the hedge, stood up in his stirrups, waved his long sword, crying “Vive l’Empereur !” to the British infantry on the other side, and galloped back unhurt!

At the close of the charge a 92nd officer captured a beautiful charger; it was richly caparisoned, and its new owner expected to furnish himself with a handsome pair of pistols from the holsters, but was by no means disagreeably surprised to find a cold fowl in the one and a bottle of champagne in the other. Thirsty as they were, he and those with whom he shared voted it the best glass of wine they ever tasted.

It was now about 3.30. Napoleon determined again to try to drive away the British before the Prussians could arrive. “Heavy,” says a 92nd officer, “as was the cannonade in the early part of the action, it was trifling in comparison to what followed”; the balls rolling along the ground towards them, flying over their heads, or carrying off men in the ranks. “Never,” said General Alten, “had the oldest soldier seen such a cannonade.”  Then Ney and d’Erlon led the second attack; a brigade, deployed as skirmishers, [372, June 1815] ascended the slope east of the Charleroi road, but were driven back. Wellington had again retired his infantry for shelter behind the crest, and Ney, seeing this and the escorts of prisoners and wounded going to the rear, thought the British were giving way and ordered a charge of 5000 horsemen. But the British General had no idea of retreat; his infantry stood up and formed squares; the artillery horses were sent to the rear, but the guns remained in action, their fire at close range causing such destruction to the cavalry coming up at a trot through the deep ground and standing corn, that the survivors of the leading squadrons hesitated. Their trumpets again rang out the “Charge.”  “Vive l’Empereur!” The gunners ran to the shelter of the squares, the guns were taken, but the enemy had not the means of spiking or carrying them off. “The bullets rattled on the cuirasses with the noise of hail on a slate roof, “yet the musketry, though it broke their ranks, did not dismay them. Cuirassiers, lancers, chasseurs rode on, whirling round and between the squares, striking at the front rank with the sword, firing pistols in their faces, some even throwing their lances at the men’s breasts;[19] but as a breach was made, “Close up!” was heard, and the place of the fallen filled. Like wave succeeding wave, squadron succeeded squadron, but the squares stood firm.

The cavalry even charged squares in the second line. Then Uxbridge sent the Dutch and Brunswick cavalry, who had not been engaged, to charge the enemy in their disorder; they fell back between the squares, escaping the sabres only to fall under the bullets. They abandoned the plateau, the gunners ran back to their guns, and again the British batteries belched forth their destructive fire. But these gallant horsemen rallied and re-formed in shelter of the ground, then once more advancing slowly, but with admirable courage and discipline, under a fire of grape-shot, they again crowned the height of Mont St Jean.

The French on La Belle Alliance, seeing them through the smoke, cried “Victory!”  Fresh brigades were sent to smash the British by their weight, more than sixty squadrons were advancing;[20] it seemed like a sea of steel. Some among the Allies thought all was over, but the squares stood firm.[21]  The gunners felled entire ranks as a mower cuts a swathe of grass, ere they ran to the sheltering bayonets; still the squadrons in rear came boldly on; charge succeeded charge till the squares seemed submerged in the tide of cavalry, but as the smoke of their fire cleared away they reappeared, [373, June 1815] hedged with glittering bayonets, while the squadrons receded from them like waves broken on the rocks.[22]  The squadrons crossed and interfered with each other, their charges became less vigorous; the atmosphere was like a furnace of fire and smoke; the horses were blown, men could hardly breathe. Thirteen French cavalry generals were wounded; Ney had three horses killed under him[23] and stood brandishing his sword near an abandoned battery; the whole field was encumbered with the dead, wounded men dragging themselves away, riderless horses galloping about frightened by the whistling bullets. Wellington ordered his cavalry forward, and for the third time the French left the plateau.

These attacks continued with little intermission; in vain the horsemen, reduced in numbers, pressed their tired chargers against the squares, now protected by a rampart of dead men and horses. After these two long and hardly contested hours, the infantry became assured they were invincible;[24] it was the hostile cavalry who were demoralised, and retired discouraged, though not dismayed, from each attack. Nevertheless, the Allies’ powers of resistance were severely tried. Papelotte had been taken by the French, many guns were without gunners, General Ponsonby was killed and his brigade was reduced to two squadrons; several other generals were wounded, most of Wellington’s staff were hors de combat, brigades were reduced to handfuls of men. Some of the allied troops had fled to Brussels, some even of the British made the excuse of helping the wounded to the rear; ammunition was short, officers arrived telling Wellington of desperate situations, and asking for orders. “There are no orders, except to hold out to the last man.”  The state of affairs was summed up by a private soldier as he bit another cartridge, “ The one that kills longest wins.”

Ney sent to Napoleon for fresh troops. “Troops!” exclaimed the Emperor; “where does he expect me to take them from? Does he think I can make them?” He had, however, fourteen battalions of his Guard, and others of that chosen body [374, June 1815] had at four o’clock partially arrested the advance of the Prussians. The near approach of the First Prussian Corps now made Napoleon play his last card in the desperate game. Seeing the allied line disordered, he desired his batteries to redouble their fire; he gave the command of the attack to Ney, and harangued his Guards, whose advance was seconded by the other divisions and by the cavalry.

Click on map for a full size image

Wellington passed along his line of battle giving his orders. The brigades were again advanced from their shelter, the reserve artillery was brought to the front, and ordered not to reply to that 0f the enemy, but to concentrate their fire on the columns of assault.[25]  The centre was strengthened, and the 92nd, which at this time, about seven o’clock, was near the extreme left of the line, was ordered up to the left of the main road near the gravel pit at La Haye Sainte; they were moving in column at quarter-distance when a shell fell in the midst of the battalion; the companies in rear of it faced about, and doubled to the rear till it had burst, when they doubled back to their proper distance without any word of command, and arrived in time to take part with the Fifth Division in driving the enemy from the crest of the position above La Haye Sainte.

The French Guards advanced in squares, in admirable order, two guns of the Horse Artillery of the Guard with each, and were supported by the whole army. Those who attacked the British right were repulsed after a gallant struggle; those above La Haye Sainte, who were fighting with the Fifth Division, saw the Guard on their left defeated, and the cries “La garde recule !”  “Nous sommes trahis!” sounded the knell of the grand army of France. The charge of the British forced many pell-mell into the gravel pit from which they had before driven our troops. The enemy retired in confusion, but still protecting his rear with skirmishers along the other side of the gravel pit and of the farm of La Haye Sainte, and many, keeping their formation, still prepared to show a bold front. Then the Gordons could see an extraordinary movement on the right of the French, troops dressed like them in blue had turned their right, and were advancing. An aide-de-camp came galloping towards the Duke, calling out as he passed that the first troops of Blücher’s army had come. All eyes were now turned on Wellington, who was on the edge of the plateau. Quick to seize the favourable opportunity, he held his cocked hat high in the air, and waved it forward. The cheers that answered this signal for a general advance were the heartiest of the day. The army moved [375, June 1815] forward in the order it happened to be in, battalions, batteries, and squadrons side by side, to the sound of drums, bugles and bagpipes.

At this sight the last divisions of French infantry, and almost all the cavalry, precipitately regained the plateau of La Belle Alliance. When Napoleon saw the sudden crumbling of his line of battle, he felt that he was irretrievably beaten, but at first he tried to organise the retreat; he formed the Old Guard in squares, and sent some squadrons against the British light cavalry, who, comparatively fresh, easily defeated them. The allied troops halted a minute in the valley, and then pressed on, sweeping all before them; artillery drivers cut the traces and abandoned their guns, brigades were broken and dispersed. All was confusion, relieved, however, by many heroic instances of devotion and discipline. General Pelet, with the chasseurs of the Guard, was trying to cover the retreat of the French right; they were surrounded by Prussian cavalry and infantry, their eagle was in danger of being taken. Pelet halted his men on a rising ground calling, “A moi, chasseurs! Sauvons l’aigle ou mourons autour d’elle” (To me, chasseurs ! Let us save the eagle or die round it!). The band of heroes rallied, dosed their ranks, and with levelled bayonets made a way through their foes, and reached the main line of retreat. Sergeant Robertson mentions one division at the house of La Belle Alliance who made an attempt to stand; “such ,vas our excited and infuriated state of mind at the time, and being flushed with the thought of victory, we speedily put an end to their resistance.”

Wellington rode with his advanced troops, regardless of bullets from friend and foe which were falling round him; when urged not to expose himself so much, he replied, “Never mind, let them fire away; the battle’s gained, my life’s of no consequence now.”

The rout was complete. None gave orders which none would have obeyed, each man saved himself as best he could. Napoleon fled, attended by a small escort. Grouchy’s Corps remained intact, but when the Emperor quitted Laon for Paris on the 20th, 2000 soldiers assembled at Philippeville and about 6000 at Avesnes were all that remained together under arms of the French army engaged at Waterloo.[26]

Wellington and Blücher met about 9.15 near La Belle Alliance. The bands of the Prussian cavalry played “God save the King,” their infantry soldiers sang Luther’s hymn, “Now thank we all our God,” and the troops mutually cheered each other. Blücher, it is said, wished the battle to be called after La Belle Alliance, in memory of this meeting; but Wellington decided that his victory should [376, June 1815] be named after the village where his headquarters were established the night before—Waterloo.

The British General represented that his men were exhausted and were hardly able to continue the pursuit. “Leave that to me,” replied Blücher, “I will send every man and horse after the enemy”; and Ziethen continued the pursuit during the whole night without intermission, giving no rest to the wearied and dejected French, of whom only about 40,000 crossed the frontier out of the 74,000 who fought at Waterloo, and these escaped only to disperse; they lost 227 guns. The loss of the Allies (exclusive of the Prussians) on the 18th was 15,380 officers and men in killed, wounded, and missing, of whom 8481 were British and of the King’s German Legion in British pay.[27]  The honours of the day must be divided; the British gained the battle, the Prussians made the victory complete.

The Gordon Highlanders, who were commanded throughout the day by Major Donald MacDonald (Dalchosnie), bivouacked by the light of the young moon near the place where Bonaparte had stood most of the day.[28]  They had to mourn the loss of Sergeant-major Taylor and thirteen other n.c. officers and soldiers killed in action. Captains Peter Wilkie and Archibald Ferrier, Lieutenants Robert Winchester, Donald MacDonald, James Ker Ross, and James Hope, and ninety-six n.c. officers and men were wounded, of whom many died of their wounds. The following is a list of the names of those killed in action, and of those who died of their wounds at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo, with their place of enlistment or birth as far as possible:—[29]

 

Sergeant-major George Taylor, Sergeant    Alexr. Dunbar,       “          Kenneth MacKenzie,       “          John Patterson, Corporal James Cameron,       “          Donald Ross,       “          John Leadingham,       “          Donald Fraser,       “          James Gibb.       “          James Grubb, Private William Appleton,       “          Peter Bethune,       “          John Bremner,       “          Charles Brown,       “          Thos. Benson,       “          John Burnet,       “          William Burnet,	Fraserburgh, Aberdeen. Duffus, Moray. Ross. New Machar, Aberdeen Keith, Banff. Edderton, Ross. Banff. Inverness.   Monymusk, Aberdeen. Edinburgh. Kilmorack, Inverness. Drumblade, Aberdeen. Farfar. Durham. Boyndie, Banff. Fyvie, Aberdeen.
[377] Private Robert Breddon,       “          Donald Cameron,       “          Donald Cameron,       “          John Carr,       “          Colin Campbell,       “          Peter Dustan,       “          Lachlan Duncan,       “          Robert Duncan.       “          Robert Elliot,       “          John Fraser, 1st,       “          William Fraser, 2nd,       “          Donald Fisher,       “          Donald Gow,       “          Alexr. Grant,       “          John Grant, 1st,       “          Lewis Grant,       “          John Glenny,       “          David Graham,       “          Timothy Griffin,       “          Charles Higgin,       “          James Hutton,       “          Alexr. Kenedy,       “          Archibald Lamont,       “          John MacCallum,       “          William MacCrackin,       “          Roderick MacLeod,       “          Angus MacLellan,       “          Malcolm MacLeod,       “          William MacLean,       “          William Macgregor,       “          Patrick MacGowan,       “          William MacIntosh,       “          William MacDonald,       “          William MacDonald,       “          Donald MacDonald, 5th,       “          James MacDonald, 2nd,       “          John MacKenzie,       “          Roderick MacKay, 2nd,       “          Thos. MacNeil,      “          John MacSwine,       “          John Mathers,       “          Robert Millar,       “          Charles Masterton,       “          William Marshall,       “          John Munro, 2nd,       “          Peter Munro,       “          Donald Mathieson, 1st,	Monaghan, enlisted as boy Glasgow. Inveravon, Banff. Kilmallie, Inverness. Dumbarton. Reay, Caithness. Ruthven, Banff. Kent (soldier’s son, enlisted as boy  at Banff). Galway (? Galloway). Beauly, Inverness. Fearn, Ross. Enlisted at Birmingham. Dunkeld, Perth. Tulloch, Ross. Perthshire. Kingussie, Inverness. Edinburgh. Creich, Sutherland. Kilmorack, King’s Co. Antrim. Brechin, Forfar. Inverness. Argyllshire. Cardross, Perth. Inch, Galloway. Snizort, Inverness. Inverness. Inverness. Argyll. Urquhart, Inverness. Antrim. Abernethy, Inverness. Dunfermline, Fife. Pettie, Inverness. Kiltearn, Ross. Enlisted at Paisley. Inverness. Sutherland. Dumfries. Kilmuir, Inverness. Rescobie, Forfar. Dunfermline. Forfar. Kirkmichael, Argyll. Aberdeen. Old Machar, Aberdeen. Sutherland.
[378, June 1815] Private Jas. Nellison (? Mollison),       “          Matthew Orr,       “          Robert Pirie,       “          Alexr. Petrie.       “          William Reid,       “          James Russell,       “          Donald Ross,       “          Donald Ross, 3rd,       “          Findlay Smith,       “          Duncan Simson,       “          John Stewart,       “          William Stewart,       “          Donald Skinner,       “          Alexr. Sutherland, 1st,       “          James Thomson,       “          Frederick White,       “          John Whitaker,       “          Frederick Zieger,	Glenmuick, Aberdeen. Ayr. Culsalmond, Aberdeen.   Rogart, Sutherland. Rothes, Moray. Fearn, Ross. Tain, Ross. Strathmore, Inverness. Inverness. Inverness. Bute. Edderton, Ross. Moray. Renfrew. Glasgow. Essex. Germany (musician).