The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-08-27
HOW WATERLOO WAS LOST.
Napoleoa's Version Of It from q
Recently Published Account.

Tho Great ee.~r.rs Description OF tho
rs1oss BasAis In Which uis
Forces suffered Sore
Defeat.
Napoleon's version Of the battle of
Waterloo, which. 80 the London GloS,
asserts, has never been published be-
fore in English, is to appear in the na@.
number Of the United Service Gazette.
The Globs yrints tho following extracts:
After detailing the preparations for
the battle Napoleon says: "Thc can
nonadc commenced; the enerly support
ed the troops he had advanced to guard
the wood by thirty pieces of c&ano1l.
We, on our side. also posted Some ;,rtil-
lery. At one time Prince Jerome be-
came master of the whole wood, and
the whole English army retired behind
a ridge. The Count d'Erlon then at
taclscd the village of Mont Saint Jean;
he supported his attack with ei,;hty
pieces of cannon. lie commenced there
an ovcrpowering cannonade, which
must have greatly harassed the English
army. The whole action took place on
the plain. brigade of Count 4 Erlon's
First division took possession of tho
village of Mont Saint Jean second
brigade was charged by n corps Of Eng
lish cavalry. which inflicted upon it great
loss At the same moment g division
of English cavalry charged upon Count
d'Erlon's battery on its right and dis
mounted several gins; hut Gen. Mel
hauds cuirassiers charged this division,
of which t.1rce regiments were routed
and fed"
In the afternoon the Prrssian divis-
ion became engaged with Count Lcbau's
skir1nishere and the whole strength of
the reserve was held ready to assist
Count Lobau and crush the prussian
corps when It should edvancc. lIc con-
tinaes: This done, the emperor IL
tended TO make an attack in tho direc-
ton of the village Of Mont Saint Jean.
which it was expected would prove
decisive blow, but by movement Of
impatience, SO frequent in our military
annals, and which has SO often been
disastrous to us, the cavalry IN reserve,
perceiving = retrograde movement of
the English TO place themselves under
shelter frora our batteries. from which
they had already suffered so much,
Sio"hCu Va Inolt EislnD OSil
and charged the infantry. This move
ment. made at the right moment, and
backed by the reserves, ought to have
decided the day: made separately, and
before the operations on the right were
completed, it proved fatal Having 10
means to courtermand it, the enemy
showing large masses of infantry and
of cavalry, and the two divisions Of
cuirassiers being engaged, the whole of
our cavalry started at the same moment
to support their comrades.
'"There during three hours they made
numerous charges, by which we gained
the breaking OF several squares and SIX
flags OF the British infantry, an advan-
tage hardly commensurate with the
losses sustained by our cavalry fror,
grapeshot and musketry. 1t was i'm
possible to use our reserves of infantry
until the attack Of the Prussian corps
on our flank was repulsed. This attack
still continued and directly on our right
flank. The emperor sent there Gen.
Duchesne with the Young guard and
several reserve batteries. The enemy
was checked, was repulsed, and re-
treated; he had exhausted his forces,
and there was nothing further to fear
from him. This was the moment suit
able for an attack on the center of the
enemy. AS the cuirassiers were suffer
ing from musketry fire, four battalions
OF the Young guard were sent to sup
port the cuirassiers, to aid their posi-
ton, and if it were possible to disengagc
and withdraw part of our cavalry to
fha r,1osr FHxn1 0thn,. hot FOL,
sent to hold the eminence on the cx-
treme left of the division which had
maneuvered on our fianks in order that
there might be no cause for uneasiness
in this direction; the rest were placed
in reserve, one part to occupy the emf
nence in rear of Mont Saint Jean, the
other on the plain behind the field of
battle, which formed our line of retreat
Under these circumstances the bat
tie was gained; we occupied all the po-
sitions that were occupied by the enc
my at the commencement of the action;
our cavalry having been too quick ard
badly employed, we could no longer
hope for decisive success. But Mar
shall Grouchy, having learned OF the
movement Of the Prussian corps,
which assured us a splendid success fer
the next day. After eight hours Of FIR
ing and Of charges of infantry and Of
cavalry the whole army saw with salts
faction the battle gained ard the fell
of battle in our power. At half-pas.
eight the four battaHons of the You-,s,.
guard, which had been sent to the plaia
beyond Mont Saint Jean to support the
cuirassiers, being inconvenienced by
the enemy's grapeshots, advanced with
bayonets fixed to sweep off its batteries.
"The day closed in; a charge cn their,
flank by several English cquoIro-s
broke theirranks; the fugitives rcpassed
the ravine; the neighboring regiments,
who saw some troops belonging to ths