Litchfield enquirer., 1862-01-16
THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.


 Aeld of Waterloo, on the anniversary of that great battle. The fields were waving with the tpening grain, just as they were on that morn ing, before being trodden down by charging squadrons. AS stood where Wellington naa stood, on the ridge occupied by the Englisl1 lines, and surveyed the entire field, and iookea down upon the narrow valley where the Iate oI an Europe was once put up and battlea TOT, world of conflicting emotions struggieo TOT the mastery within me. The magnificence ana pomp of that stern army was before me; and my car seemed distinctly to catch the first cannon shot that opened the conflict. Far on the right comes down Jerome Bonaparte, with his twelve ,thous- and men. A sheet of fire runs along the walks of the chateau, and gap opens in the advanc- ing columns of the foe. Its mangled head melts like frost work before the battle covers them from sight, and rolls up the valley, and To! see nothing but the melee of horses and riders, the tossing of banners and the soaring of the French eagle amid the cloud of war, and hear naught but the roar of the artillery the praying of trum pets, the blast of the bugle sounding the charge and the heavy shock of the cavalry.
 The great battle of Europe was to be fought. All it's kings stood looking on with breathless silence. for their thrones were at stake. Tho feelings of these two great military chieftains themselves, as they thus for the first time stood face to face and battled for continent, were stirred. The British veteran, wiping the sweat from his brow, exclaimed, o, that Butcher or night would come" The next moment an i'm. mense body of French cavalry came laundering down on one of the English squares It had al whole ranks which the French artillery had mown down, but withstood the desperate shock with true bravery. The French came down in . plunging trot, then breaking into galop. fell like rock hurled back from the mountain; they recoiled from the shock. Driven to desperation by their repeatedly foied attempts, they stopped their horses and coolly walked them around that brave square, and whenever a man fell dashed ir. Such desperate resolution. such recklessness of life, began at length to tell on the conflict. The square began to shake and waver, when Yelling ton came dashing up with his guard-they open cd and he was in it's bosom. The chief was in their keeping-hs fate voluntarily thrown into their hands, those British hearts could not yield. Rank after rank fell, but not man stirred from his footsteps. The French at length gave it up and retired to their position. Again, on sepa- rate squares, were those terrible charges made, and again as they wavered, did Wellington fling himself into their midst. Thus from eleven in the morning, until four o'clock in the evening had the battle ragged, when dark object was
 
 and larger it grew, till whole column stood re- vealed. with banners waving in the breeze. Blu cher and his Prussians had come Both armies saw that the hour had arrived for a final issue.
 Bonaparte then rode up to his old and we'll tried Imperial Guard that had not been in bat tie all day. Placing himself at their head, he half led their way down the slope, when he hal. ted and addressed them in his impetuous and fiery manner. He told them that the fate of the battle and of France was in their hands. He was answered by those devoted hearts, Emper- or forever ]" with shout that rang over the storm of battle, and was heard all along the lnes Then he placed them under Ney, with orders to force the British centre and prevent the juno tion of Butcher with the allied forces. That hitherto invincible guard came down in beauti- high hopes. They knew that their Emperor and the civilized world were looking on. They need ed nothing to fire their steady courage. No drum or trumpet, or martial strain cheered them on. No bugle sounded the charge In perfect order and dead silence they marched over the plain. Above them scared the French eagle no power had ever yet wrested from their grasp and on them was the eye of Bonaparte. The allied army saw with awe and dread the approach of that unconquerable legion. The terror of Europe was on It's march. For a moment the firing ceased along the lines. The battle was hushed. The muffled tread of that magnificent legion was heard. The sudden calm was but momentary. The artillery again opened like a volcano on the foe Whole ranks went down before that destructive fire, yet they faltered not for moment. Over their fallen comrades, with the same steady front they moved on, across the valley and up the slope.
 Before their cool and resolute charges the English lines melted like frost work. They took the last fire of the artillery full on their bosoms, and then walked over the cannon, arillerymen and all On, on, like @ resistless wave they swept, carrying everything down in their pass age, till they approached within a few rods of where Wellington stood All seemed lost, when @ rank of men who had lain flat on their faces behind low ridge of earth, suddenly heard the ringing order, " Up, Guards, and at 'em ?! They started up as from the bowels of the earth, and poured in their destructive fire in the very faces of.that mangled guard. They recoiled from the discharge as if smitten with sudden blow. A second and third followed. They reeled and The battle was over. The thunder of the first cannon came at intervals on the night air, tell ing where Blucher trod down the foe Yelling ton had left to him the pursuit, and was leading back his weary and bleeding army over the bat tie field. The full round moon was riding the quiet heavens, lighting up the mangled masses of human flesh that weighed down the feld- Here an epaulette-there shivered sword flash. ed back in it's beams. Groans loaded the air, while death shriek came at intervals on the ear. Wellington wept. The excitement and rage was over, and his heart sickenei at the aw- full scene before him.
 / On the surface of two square miles, it was as. certained that fifty thousand men and horses were lying. The luxuriant crop of ripe grain which had covered the field of battle, was re- duced to litter, and beaten into the earth, and the surface tredden down by the cavalry, and furrowed deeply by tue cannon wheels, strewed with many relic of the fight. Helmets and the cuirasses, shattered firearms and broken swords, and all the variety of military ornaments, lancer caps and Highland bonnets, uniforms of every color, pluines aud pennons, musical instruments, the apparatus ofartillery. drums, buges, but good God: why dwell on the narrowing picture of foughten battle? each and every ruinous display bore mute testimony to the misery of such Q bat ae. Could the melancholy appearance of such . scene of death be heightened, it would be by witnessing the researches of the living amid its deeOlation, for the object of their love.
 ID many places the dead lay four fee, deep on each other, marking the spot which some Brit isn square had occupied, exposed for honrs to ne murderous fire of French battery. Outside lancer and cnirassier were scattered thickly on the earth. Madly attempting to force the scr. ned oayonets of the British. they had fallen in nootiess essay by the musketry of the inner files. Further on you trace the spot where the cavalry ot France and England had encountered chas. seuf and nassar were intermingled, and the henyv Norman horses or the Imperial Guard were in- teEposed with the gay chargers which had carried A rnks tXono Al~