Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1881-09-15
From Sedan to Waterloo.

Having left Sedan Mt A. NJ, this morn
ing, / have already reached Les Quatre
Bras with four hours of daylight before
me. Leaving the railway at Charleroi,
| there took II carriage and followed the
poplar-lined highway which leads from
Charleroi to Brussels, through Quatre
Bras and Waterloo. 1t was by this road
that Ney advanced, while Napoleon,
also starting from Charleroi, took to the
right, that leading through Fleurus to
Ligny. At Les Quatre Bras the high
road from Charleroi to Brussels cuts
that from Nivelles to Namur at right
angles.
Already on the evening of June 10,
Neys advanced guard commenced the
attack on the allied position at Quatre
Bras, which at that moment was defend
ed by single battalion of Orange Mas
sauers, commanded by the gallant young
Prince of Weimar, who did such good
service on the English left at the battle
of Waterloo. Had Ney continued his
attack he must have carried the position,
but his men were tired, and he believed
that the post was defended by a strong
force.
When the attack was renewed the fol-
lowing morning the Prince of Weimer
was strongly reinforced by Dutch and
Brunswickers, whose Duke, as all the
world knows, was killed here at the head
of his troops. 1t was not till the early
part of the afternoon that any English
troops reached the scene of action, the
first to arrive and stem the tide of the
advancing French being the Reserve
Division under Pictou, from Brussels,
consisting of Packe and Kemp's Bri-
gades. About 5 p. M. Cookies Division
of Byng's and Maitland's Brigades of
Guards arrived, with Halkett's Brigade,
all by the Nivelles road. No English
cavalry arrived in time to take part in
the action, during the earlier part of
which the French Lancers galloped
clean through the allied position at Qua
ire Bras, and nearly captured the Duke
of Wellington, who had arrived at about
10 A. NJ, in advance Of Picton's division
The action not having commenced at
that hour, the DUKE rode off by the
Namur road toward Ligny to consult
with Blucher, who mounted with the
Duke into windmill, whence they sur
veyed Napoleon disposition of his forces
just before the commencement of the
battle of Ligny. From about noon, June
Is, to nightfall, the battles of Ligny
and Quatre Bras were fought simultane-
ously, resulting in a French victory at
Ligny, and n drawn battle at Quatre
Bras, where the English passed the night
on the field of battle, the French retir-
ing on the village of Frasnes. Had Ma
poleon advanced on Quatre Bras at early
dawn on the 18th, and had Ney renewed
his attack simultaneously, the English
must have been taken between the two
fires and the position carried. As 1t
was, Napoleon failed to put his army in
motion from Ligny till the afternoon of
the 18th, which gave the English ample
time to retire leisurely on Waterloo.
Captain Siborne, in his well-known his
tory of the Waterloo campaign, relates
that SO high was the rye at the battle of
Quatre Bras, that the English infantry
were completely concealed 10y it. have
Just measured the height of the finest
crop of rye ever beheld growing on the
Waterloo road, and found it to be seven
feet high.
In another letter from the field of
Waterloo, written on the following day,
our correspondent says:
In his admirable lectures on the Wa
terIoo campaign, Colonel Chesney is, as
far as 1 know, the first English writer
who does full justice to the Importance
of the part played by the Prussians at
Waterloo. As you approach the field
from Quatre Bras, about a mile before
reaching La Belle Alliance, you perceive
on your right, lying about 1000 yards
off the high road, village half concealed
in a wooded hollow, from which the
church spire emerges conspicuousfy
The name of this village is Plancenoit,
and round that church took place the
fercest and bloodiest fighting which
June IS witnessed. Between 4.30 p. M.
and S.3O-i. C., in four hours-the Prus-
slams lost more men than the English
during the whole day, the Prussian loss
in killed and wounded being about 6, 300,
that of the English, exclusive of the
allies, 6, 100.
There were, in fact, two battles of
Waterloo-the battle of Mount st. Jean
and the battle of Plancenoit-and Ma
poleon had to do with two distinct
armies. 1t is commonly believed in
England that the Prussians merely came
up at the close of the day, and assisted
the English to crown their victory but
| it is the fact that Bulow's corps came
seriously into action by 4.30 P. NJ, and
that twelve out of the twenty-four bat
talions of the Imperial Guard, besides
Loban's corps and several other divisions,
were detached to Plancenoit, on the
French extreme right, at the very mo-
ment they were most required to take
part in the assault of the Allied position