The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1845-10-28
VOL. X.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Field of Waterloo.

Kew. ). L. tleduley, puOllsueu III 'hS w"
York Observer, gives most graphic
scription ola field of battle, and ofthat great
one where the sun Of Bonaparte set forever.
We have rarely seen more vivid picture:
will step over the manufacture of Co.
logne water, and even the Town OF LouvaIn,
with its surprising Gothic Hotel de Vile,
covered with bossi relievi from top to bottom,
each illustrating some sin recorded in the
Bible. and treat also the charming Brussels
with neglect, and end my letters with
elimpse at Waterloo. The morning was
overcast as we trotted the beautiful beech
forest of Sognies, on the route taken by
| Wellington and his suite the night before the
battle, and passed on to this terrible battle
| field. | have trod many battle-helds OF an
cient and modern glory, but never one with
the strange feelings with which | wandered
over this. To understand the description,
imagine two slightly elevated semi-circular
ridges, or, as they might more properly be
termed, slopes curving gently tow ards each
other like a parenthesis, and you have the
position Of the two armies. On the summit
CT one of those slopes was arrayed the French
army, and on the other the English. The
night of the seventeenth Of June was dark
and stormy. The rain fell in torrents, and
the two armies lay down in the tall rye,
| dreuched with rain 10 await the morning that
was to decide the fate of Europe and Napo-
| leon. From the ballroom at Brussels
manv an officer had been summoned in haste
| to the field, and shiverng and cold, was COM
PEELED to pass the night in mud and rain in
his elegant attire. The artillery had cut up
the ground so that the mud was shoe deep.
while the tall rye lay crushed aud matted be-
meath the feet Of the army. The morning
Of the 18th opened with adrizzIing rain. and
the two armies, benumbed with cold and soak
Ing wet, rose from their damp beds TO the
contest. Eighty thousand French soldiers
were seen moving in magnificent array on
the crest of the ridge, as they took their sew
eral positions for the day. Upwards Of sew
| enty thousand of the allied forces occupied
the ridge at eminence oppos tie them, form
ed mostly into squares.
In n moment the battle was all beloie me.
I could almost see Bonaparte as, after having
disposed his forces and flush with hope.he
gaily exclaimed to his suite, NOW TO break
fast and galloped away. The shout Of
'Vive rEmpereur' that followed, shook the
very field on which they stood, and seemed
ominous ofdisaster TO the allied army. Two
hundred and sixty 1.-Two cannon lined the ridge
like a wall of death before the French, while
| Wellington had but one hundred and eighty
six 10 oppose them. At eleven the firing
commenced; and Immediately Jerome Bo-
naparte leads column of six Thousand ;;:CI
down on lIougOumont, an old chateau which
defended Wellington's right, and was as
good as fort. Advancing in the face of the
most destructive fire, that gallant column
pushed up to the very walls of the chateau
and thrust their bayouets through The door.
But il was all in vain; and though the build
ing was set on fire and consumed, and the
roaring of the flames was mingled with the
shrIeks of the wounded that were perishing
in il, the rage of the cOmbattants only IN
creased. But the Cold-s:ream guards held
the court ward with invincible Ohstlnacy, and
Jerome Bonaparte was compelled TO retire
after leaving | 400 men in little orchard be-
side the walls, where it does not seem so
MANY men could be laid. In short time The
battle became general along the whole lines,
and prodigies OF valor were performed on ev-
ery rod of the ensauguined field. The heavy
French cavalry came laundering down on
the English squares, that had already been
wasted by the destructive artillery, and
sirove, with almost supcrhuman energy. TO
break them. Driven TO desperation by their
repeated, foiled attempts, they al length stop
ped their horses and cody walked them round
and found the squares, and wherever man
fell dashed in vain valor. Wherever one oil
these rock fast squares began 10 waver, wei
lingtop threw himself into its centre, and II
became immoveable as mountain.-Whole
columns went down like frost-work before
the headlong charges of cavalry and infant
nv. In the centre the conflict at last became
| FL e. z.l,a 81, lattI
fixed. Wellington stood under tree while
the bows were crashing with the cannon
shot over head, and nearly his whole guard
smtten down by his side, anxiously watching
the progress of the fight. His brave squares
torn into fragments by bombs and ricochcr
shot, still refused to yield one foot Of ground.
Napoleon rode through his ranks, cheering
on his exhausted columns of infantry and cav
airy, that rent the heavens with the shout OF
'Vire I Empereur,' and dashed with unpar-
allied recklessness on the bayonets of the
English The hero of Wagram, and Boro-
dine, and Austerlitz. and Malens @, and Gena.
euraged at the stubborn obstinacy OF the
British, RACES over the field and is sure Of
victory. Wellington, seeing that he cannot
much longer sustain the desperate charges OF
the French battalions, wipes the sweat from
his anxious forehead and exclaims, 'Oh, that
Butcher or night would comet
Thus from eleven till four did the battle
rage with sanguinary ferocity, and still
around the centre it grew more awful every
moment. The mangled columns staggered
up to the exhausted British squares, which
though diminished and bleeding IN every part
seemed rooted to the ground they stood up
on. AT length dark object was seen to
emerge from the distant wood, and soon an
army Of 80 900 men deployed in the feld,an
began to march straight for the scene ofcon-
fiict Butcher and his Prussians came, but
no Grouchy. who had been left TO hold him
in check, following after. In moment Ma
poleon saw that he could not sustain the
charge of so many fresh troops, ii once al
lowed to form a junction with the allied Tor
ces, and so he determined 10 stake his fate
on one bold cast and endeavored TO pierce
the allied centre with one bold charge OF the
Old Guard, and thus throw himself between
the two armies, and fight them separately.
For this purpose the Imperial Guard was
called up, which had remained inactive du-
Al~@ .l.-I-