Edward Cotton

“ If so, it was not to be wondered at: a crowd of men, heaped helplessly together, exposed to an incessant cross-fire of musketry, round and grape-shot poured in like hail upon both front and flank, and our lines converging to enclose and bayonet them, was enough to occasion a panic. We may here observe, that the attack of the Imperial column is almost incredible, unaccompanied as it was and entirely unsupported by cavalry, with the flanks perpetually exposed, and never attempting to deploy into line, till fired into; halting to engage with musketry against troops in line. ”

“ In the pursuit of the enemy from Rossomme to Genappe, the Prussian lance and sabre were busy in the work of death. Many a brave soldier, that had escaped the bloody field, fell that night beneath the deadly steel. In vain did the French make a feeble effort to check the Prussians at Genappe, by barricading its long and narrow street with their remaining guns and tumbrels. ”

“ The French are a brave people, and no troops in the world surpass, if any equal them, for impetuosity of attack; but many men will stand fire and face distant danger, and yet shrink from the struggle when closing in desperate grasp with an enemy. It is not bravery alone which decides the battle, calmness is often absolutely necessary, and in this, the most valiant are at times found wanting. Never did a battle require more cool and determined courage than that of Waterloo. Nothing can be more trying to troops than passive endurance of offence ”

“ With this additional force, Ney had a stupendous body of cavalry in comparison with ours. The attack, like the previous ones, was covered by a tremendous fire of artillery, which played on every part of our right wing; the round-shot ploughing up the ground, or tearing open the files of the close and serried ranks; shells exploding in all directions; and at every moment the flashes of the guns, amidst expanding volumes of dense smoke, challenging the attention of every man to the sources of destruction, the well-worked batteries on both sides. ”

“ On this occasion, the Spanish general Alava, whose enlightened patriotism and high military qualities had endeared him to the Duke, thus accosted him, “Here you are with a couple of weak divisions in front of the whole French army; and you seem quite at your ease! Why, it is enough to put any man in a fever!”—“I have done according to the very best of my judgment all that can be done,” was the characteristic reply of the British commander, “and therefore I care not either for the enemy in front, or for anything which they may say at home.” ”

“ Sergeant-major Cotton shows us how the lion-hearted Glengary, with Hepburn, Saltoun, and their indomitable brother guardsmen, immortalized Hougoumont. He carries us with Hamilton and his Grey squadrons into the thick of the onslaught, where the Household cavalry and Union brigades, the pride of English chivalry, hurled themselves upon their brave antagonists. He does not forget the ‘Up, guards, and make ready!’ or the resistless charge that followed; nor does he pass over in silence the unflinching valour with which Baring’s Hanoverians so long maintained their dangerous post. ”

“ Why should a man desire to be struck down, if, as the fond tale goes amongst some of his indiscriminate admirers, he had thrice won the battle of Waterloo? He desired death, because he saw that all his resources were gone, and that the British, notwithstanding the day’s dreadful carnage, were about to deal the decisive blow with irresistible force. ”

“ They were led by generals of undoubted skill and gallantry, who with their brave troops had won laurels in many a hard-fought battle, and who believed themselves to be, what their ambitious chief had so often declared, invincible, and as such they were still regarded by most of the continental nations. At Waterloo we had to contend against soldiers of undaunted spirit, full of enthusiasm and careless of life. Never did these heroic men, grown grey in victories, better sustain their reputation than on this occasion. ”

“ They are the far-famed cuirassiers of France, led on by a Kellermann: gallant spirits, that have hitherto overcome the finest troops that could be brought against them, and have grown grey in glory. Trumpets sound the charge; in the next instant your ears catch the low thundering noises of their horses’ hoofs, and your breathless excitement is wound to the highest pitch as the adverse lines dash together with a shock, which at the moment you expect must end in their mutual annihilation. Observe the British, how they seem to doubt for a second in what manner to deal with their opponents. ”

“ At the moment the shouts that proclaim its triumph reach your ear, you are struck by the majestic advance, close to your left, of another line of British horsemen. These halt just under the brow of the ridge. In their left front your eye now also embraces a line of British infantry moving quickly up the steep; whilst at the same time you see the heads of two hostile columns issuing through the hedge, and crowning the ridge amidst shouts of Vive l’Empereur! ”

“ Upon the question, who really fought and won the battle of the 18th, no discussion, much less contention, ought to have arisen. Without in the slightest degree impeaching the just share of Prussia in the victory, or losing sight for a moment of the fact that she bore a great share of the danger, and drew much of it from her allies and upon herself at a decisive moment, no unprejudiced person can conceal from himself that the honour of the day is due to the Anglo-Netherlandish army, and to the measures of its great leader. ”

“ Now and then, they saluted our ears with well-known music, the whistling of musket-balls.
Their columns, preceded by mounted officers to take up the alignments, soon began to appear; the bayonets flashing over dark masses at different points, accompanied by the rattling of drums and the clang of trumpets.
Could any one behold so imposing a spectacle without awe, or without extreme excitement? Could any one witness the commencement of the battle with indifference? Can any one forget the impressions that are made upon the mind at such a moment? ”

“ Never yet, I believe,” said he at St.-Helena, “has there been such devotion shown by soldiers, as mine have manifested to me; never has man been served more faithfully by his troops.”
The two armies were now fairly in presence of each other.
The French lines being completed, the Emperor passed along them, attended by a brilliant and numerous staff: a forest of plumes waved around him. The troops hailed him with repeated shouts of Vive l’Empereur! the infantry raising their caps upon their bayonets, and the cavalry their casques or helmets upon their swords and lances. ”

“ The Emperor’s guards, their country’s pride, they who had never turned their backs on foe or fled the battle field, were, for the first time, about to attack men who, like themselves, acknowledged no victor; the unconquered were to measure their prowess with men who had never been vanquished, the world waiting with anxious expectation the result of this memorable day. The Imperial guard, led by the undaunted Ney, “le Brave des Braves,” advanced towards a point occupied by the first brigade of British foot-guards, and the 5th or Halkett’s British brigade. ”

“ Their bearing throughout the day was that of gallant soldiers: their attacks were conducted with a chivalric impetuosity and admirably sustained vigour, which left no shadow of doubt upon our minds of their entire devotedness to the cause of Napoleon, of their expectation of victory, and the determination of many of them not to survive defeat. The best and bravest of them fell; but not till they had inflicted almost equal loss upon their conquerors. To deny them the tribute of respect and admiration which their bravery and misfortunes claim, would tarnish the lustre of our martial glory. ”

“ Being there exposed to the fire of our batteries, the French horsemen would at times call out aloud, “En avant, en avant! (Forward, forward!) here we are knocked to pieces;” upon which their chiefs would again advance and assail our position. About this period our attention was drawn to the firing of a battery in our rear; we all, to a man, looked round, as if by word of command: but found it to be our own guns, which, from the second ridge across the Nivelles road, were firing upon some lancers that were attacking our Brunswick squares upon the rear face of our right wing. ”

“ Your attention is now irresistibly drawn to that part of the foreground immediately facing you, where you have barely time to catch sight of a line of British infantry just as it forces its way through the hedge that runs along the crest of the ridge, to charge a column advancing up the other side. ”

“ The first subject of controversy we shall notice, is the strange, but oft repeated charge, against Wellington’s military judgment, in choosing his position in front of Mont-St.-Jean, with a forest in his rear, in case of defeat. I must be excused if I show some little indignation at the repetition of this charge; a British soldier must be allowed to be as jealous of the fame of his illustrious commander, as our gallant opponents were of that of their idolized Napoleon. Well, what is the charge? That the Waterloo position was not well chosen for a retreat, having defiles and a wood in its rear. ”

“ Lightning may slumber; but Time will ceaselessly march on, heedless of the errors of heroes! The Emperor’s delay enabled our noble Picton, with his gallant band, to come up from Brussels, closely followed by the Brunswickers, headed by their cherished and chivalrous duke, who found Quatre-Bras to be his last battle field. Such foes occupied Ney: and Napoleon knew it not!
Observe, Napoleon (who, according to French historians, could not err,) intrusting the fate of France to a flank movement by Ney, who was unable ultimately to hold his own position! ”

“ In an instant, the whole army was nothing but a mass of confusion; all the soldiers, of all arms, were mixed pell-mell, and it was utterly impossible to rally a single corps. The enemy, who perceived this astonishing confusion, immediately attacked with their cavalry, and increased the disorder, and such was the confusion, owing to night coming on, that it was impossible to rally the troops, and point out to them their error. ”

“ Cavalry we had none that could stand the shock of the French; the Brunswick and Belgian cavalry, it is true, made an attempt, but were scattered like chaff before the wind by the veteran cuirassiers, who, to render them the more effective, had been mounted on horses taken from the gendarmes throughout France. The British cavalry had had a long march, some nearly forty miles, and consequently did not arrive until the battle was over. The gallant Picton, seeing the cavalry driven back, led on our infantry in squares into the centre of the enemy’s masses of cavalry ”

“ Their guns commanded the whole of the French right en potence; which, like the Prussian line, was parallel to the Genappe road, and nearly at right angles to their former front. The undulating ground over which the Prussians were advancing, rose like an amphitheatre, and their guns, in consequence, could open from the summit of numerous little heights; whilst at the intervals between the batteries, their troops advanced into the plain. Nothing could be more favourable for a force attacking an enemy’s flank. ”

“ On the 15th of June, 1815, the French general Bourmont, colonels Clouet and Villoutreys, with three captains, deserted Napoleon, and came over to the Prussians. When Bourmont was presented to Blücher, the latter could not refrain from evincing his contempt for the faithless soldier. Some officers tried to impress him more favourably towards the general, by directing his attention to the white cockade which he wore in a conspicuous fashion: the Prince bluntly remarked, “It matters not what a man sticks in his hat for a mark; a mean-spirited scoundrel always remains the same.” ”

“ See, the struggle is but a moment doubtful: the cuirassiers, seemingly encumbered by their coats of mail, are yielding to superior strength, dexterity and bravery combined; men and horses reel and stagger to the earth: gaps open out in their line; numbers are backing out, others are fairly turning round; their whole line now bends and breaks asunder into fragments: in the next moment they appear, as if by a miracle, to be swept from off the crest of the position, and being closely and hotly pursued by the victors, the whole rushing down the other side of the ridge, are snatched from your view. ”

“ The tide of destruction now sets in strongly against the lancers: their pursuit is checked; the heavy dragoons are relieved from the pressure. A mêlée ensues, but you are not kept long in suspense; for in another moment this newly arrived force, making good its way, succeeds in driving the lancers in confusion down to the foot of the valley. The arena in your front is speedily cleared of both friends and foes; the discharge of rockets which now attracts your attention appears like a display of fireworks in celebration of the glorious triumph. ”

“ Our confidence in the Duke was unbounded, notwithstanding that our army was much exhausted and reduced. Disorder and confusion continued in our rear: the roads were crowded with broken carriages, baggage, wounded officers, soldiers, dismounted dragoons, and trains of followers from the combined army; more particularly the foreigners, many of whom gave as a reason for abandoning the field, that Napoleon and his legions were invincible, he would certainly be victorious, and that it was quite absurd to contend against them. ”