Introduction
1. Napoleon, Napoleon’s Memoirs, edited by Somerset de Chair (London: Soho Books, 1986), pp. 544–5.
2. Ropes, The Campaign of Waterloo, A Military History (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1892), p. 352.
Chapter 1
1. Gourgaud, The Campaign of 1815; or a Narrative of the Military operations which took place in France and Belgium during the Hundred Days (London: James Ridgeway, 1818), pp. 43–4.
2. Clausewitz, translation in On Waterloo, Clausewitz, Wellington and the Campaign of 1815, Christopher Bassford, Daniel Moran and Gregory W. Pedlow (USA: Clausewitz.com, 2010), pp. 69–70.
3. Jomini, The Campaign of Waterloo 1815; A Political and Military History (Reprinted, by Leonaur, 2010), p. 79.
4. Houssaye, 1815 Waterloo, translated from the 31st Edition (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1900), p. 59.
5. Chevalier, Lieutenant Chevalier, Souvenirs des guerres napoléoniennes (Paris: Hachette, 1970), p. 313.
6. Combe, Mémoires du Colonel Combe sur les campagnes de Russie 1812, de Saxe 1813, de France 1814 et 1815 (Paris: Plon, 1896), p. 295.
7. Nöel, Souvenirs Militaires d’un Officier du Premier Empire, reprinted by A la Librairie des Deux Empires, Paris, 1999, p. 182.
8. Chapuis, Notice sur le 85e de ligne pendant la champagne de 1815 (Annonay, Ranchon, 1863), p. 25.
9. Fantin des Odoards, Journal du Général Fantin des Odoards, Etapes d’un officier de la Grande Armée 1800–1830 (Paris: Plon, 1895), p. 427.
10. Girod de l’Ain, Vie Militaire du Général Foy (Paris: Plon, 1900), pp. 269–70.
11. Lemonnier-Delafosse, Souvenirs militaries du Capitaine Jean-Baptiste Lemonnier-Delafosse, reprint presented by Christophe Bourachot (Saint-Amand-Montrond: Le Livre Chez Vous, 2002), p. 201.
12. Anon, Rectification de quelques faits relatives à la champagne de 1815, par un officier general ayant combattu à Waterloo, in Souvenirs et correspondence sur la bataille de Waterloo, p. 93.
13. De Brack, Letter published in Carnet de la Sabretache, reproduced in Waterloo, Récits de Combatants (Paris: Librairie Historique F. Teissèdre, 1999), p. 93.
14. Lemonnier-Delafosse, op. cit., p. 201.
15. Mauduit, Histoire des derniers jours de la Grande Armée, Volume 2 (Paris: Dion-Lambert, 1854), p. 191.
16. Ibid, pp. 200–1.
17. Colonel Gordon, COS to Gen Durutte, 4th Division, I Corps, having deserted on 16 June, in a letter dated 20 June. Mauduit, op. cit., pp. 183–84.
18. Martin, Souvenirs d’un ex-officier, 1812–1815 (Paris & Geneva: J. Cherbuliez, 1867), p. 273.
19. Houssaye, op. cit., p. 48.
Chapter 2
1. Margerit, Waterloo, l’Europe contre la France (Éditions Gallimard, 1964), p. 169.
2. Heymès, Relation de la campagne de 1815, dite Waterloo, pour server a l’histoire du maréchal Ney (Paris: Gautier-Laguionie, 1829), pp. 5–6.
3. Lecestre, Lettres inédits de Napoleon 1er, Vol. I (Paris: 1897), p. 424.
4. Napoleon, op. cit., p. 527.
5. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (London: Weidenfeld, 1993), p. 1022.
6. Lerreguy de Civrieux, Souvenirs d’un cadet (1812–1823) (Paris: Hachette, 1912), p. 151.
7. Crabbé, Jean-Louis de Crabbé, Colonel d’Empire (Nantes: ‘Editions du Canonnier, 2006), p. 276.
8. Petiet, Mémoires du general Auguste Petiet, hussar de l’Empire (Paris: Éditions S.P.M, 1996), p. 434.
9. Thiers, Waterloo (Paris: Plon, 1892), pp. 30–31.
10. Guyot, général Comte Guyot, Carnets de campagnes (1792–1815) (Paris: Teissèdre, 1999), p. 290.
11. Crabbé, op. cit., pp. 275–76.
Chapter 3
1. Gerbet, Souvenirs d’un officier sur la campagne de Belgique en 1815 (Arbois: Javel, 1867) p. 6.
2. Grouchy, Mémoires du Maréchal de Grouchy, Vol. 4 (Paris: Dentu, 1874), p. 440.
3. Correspondance de Napoléon 1er, publié par ordre de l’Empereur Napoléon III, Vol. 28, p. 325.
4. Houssaye, op. cit., p. 61.
5. Martin, op. cit., p. 274.
6. Gerbet, op. cit., p. 8.
7. Duthilt, Mémoires du Capitaine Duthilt (Lille: J. Tallandier, 1909), pp. 297–8.
Chapter 4
1. Gerbet, op. cit., p. 6.
2. Ibid, p. 8.
3. Correspodance de Napoleon, op. cit., p. 324.
4. Bro, Mémoires du Général Bro (1796–1844) (Paris: Plon, 1914), pp. 146–47.
5. Canler, Mémoires de Canler, ancient chef du service de sureté (Paris, Mercure de France, 1968), pp. 23–4.
6. I cannot find this wood on any contemporary maps.
7. Lemonnier-Delafosse, op. cit., p. 204.
8. Documents inedits sur la campagne de 1815, publiés par le Duc d’Elchingen (Paris: 1840), p. 54.
9. This town is named Jamignon, Jamignou or Jamioulx on different contemporary maps.
10. Ibid, pp. 22–23.
11. Martin, op. cit., p. 274.
12. Duthilt, op. cit., p. 298.
13. Martin, op. cit., pp. 274–5.
14. Documents inédits, op. cit., p. 24.
15. Lemonnier-Delafosse, op. cit., p. 204.
16. Gerbet, op. cit., p. 5.
17. Biot, Souvenirs Anecdotiques et Militaires du Colonel Biot (Paris: Henri Vivien, 1901), p. 234.
18. Ibid, p. 235.
19. Gerbet, op. cit., p. 5.
20. Gourgaud, Bataille de Waterloo, Relation d’un Officier Général Francais, printed in Nouvelle Revue Rétrospective, Vol. 4 (Paris: 1896), p. 362.
21. Petiet, op. cit., footnote to p. 430.
22. Rumigny, Souvenirs du Général Comte de Rumigny 1789–1860 (Paris: Émile-Paul Frères, 1921), p. 94.
Chapter 5
1. Gourgaud in Nouvelle Review Rétrospective, op. cit., pp. 362–3.
2. Correspondance, op. cit., p. 25.
3. Gerbet, op. cit., pp. 8–9.
4. Rumigny, op. cit., p. 95.
5. Hemyès, op. cit., p. 6.
6. Napoleon, op. cit., p. 505.
7. Puvis, extract from his Souvenirs du chef de bataillon Théobald Puvis, du 93ème de ligne (1813– 1815), reproduced in Journal de route d’un garde d’honneur (1813–1814) (Paris: Demi-Solde, 2007) p. 80–1.
8. Heymès, op. cit., pp. 7–8.
9. Given in Arcq, Les Quatre-Bras 16 Juin 1815 (Fontaine-l’Évêque: Historic’One Éditions, 2012) p. 28.
10. Documents inédits, op. cit., p. 25.
11. Martin, op. cit., p. 276.
12. Correspondance de Napoleon, op. cit., p. 331.
13. Also known as Jumignon and shown as this on the map.
14. Gourgaud, The Campaign of 1815, op. cit., pp. 51–2.
15. Heymès, op. cit., pp. 7–9.
16. Charras, Histoire de la Campagne de 1815, Waterloo, Vol. 1 (Brussels: Meline, Cans et Compagnie, 1858), p. 100.
17. Grouchy, Memoirs, op. cit., Vol III, p. 466.
18. Chesney, Waterloo Lectures, Fourth Edition (London: Greenhill, 1997), p. 82.
19. Archives de Vincennes, Armée du Terre, Carton C15 de 20 à 33 Armée du Nord.
20. Given in Ropes, op. cit., pp. 57–8.
21. Napoleon, op. cit., p. 507.
Chapter 6
1. Pontécoulant, op. cit., p. 144.
2. Duthilt, op. cit., p. 298.
3. Canler, op. cit., pp. 24–5.
4. Hemyès, op. cit., p. 11.
5. Documents Inédits sur la campagne de 1815 (Paris: 1840), p. 57.
6. Hemyès, op. cit., p. 10.
7. Documents inédits, op. cit., p. 26.
8. Ibid, p. 11.
9. De Bas and T’Serclaes, La Campagne de 1815 aux Pays Bas, d’après les rapports officials Néerlandais, Vol. 1, pp. 460–1.
10. Flahault, The First Napoleon, some unpublished documents from the Bowood papers (London: Constable, 1925), p. 116.
11. Correspondance, op. cit., p. 334.
12. Documents Inédits, op. cit., p. 57.
13. Ibid, p. 27.
14. Ibid, p. 38.
15. Heymès, op. cit., p. 12.
16. Documents inédits, op. cit., pp. 37–8.
17. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., p. 269.
18. Puvis, op. cit., p. 80.
19. Trefcon, Carnet de champagne du colonel Trefcon, 1793–1815 (Paris: Edmond Dubois, 1914), pp. 157–58.
20. Documents inédits, op. cit., p. 31.
21. Letter from d’Erlon to Ney’s son, dated 9 February 1829, reproduced in Documents Inédits, op. cit., p. 64.
Chapter 7
1. Müffling, The Memoirs of Baron Von Müffling, a Prussian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars (Reprinted by Greenhill Books, London, 1997), pp. 230–1.
2. General Sir Evelyn Wood, Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign (Reprinted by Worley Publications, Felling, 1998), p. 68.
3. The Recollections of Sergeant Morris, edited by John Selby, The Windrush Press, 1967, p. 68.
4. Ibid, p. 69.
5. Documents Inédits, op. cit., pp. 57–9.
6. Several authorities have these two brigades interchanged, but the balance of evidence supports what I have represented here.
7. A handwritten note from Napoleon dated ‘One hour after midday’, the original copy was authenticated by Baron Gourgaud, one of Napoleon’s ADCs. The note is reproduced in Chandler; Waterloo, The Hundred Days (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1980), pp. 88–9.
8. Henckens, Memoires se rapportant a son service miltaires au 6e regt de chasseurs a cheval francais de 1803 a 1816 (La Haye: Martinus Nijhoff, 1910), p. 237.
9. Quoted in Houssaye, op. cit., p. 110.
10. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., pp. 270–2.
11. Quoted in Hofschröer, 1815, The German Victory, Wellington, his German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras (London: Greenhill, 1998), p. 237. In this book, Hofschröer examines the various accounts of what help Wellington promised Blücher in some detail.
Chapter 8
1. Documents Inédits, op. cit., pp. 57–9.
2. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., p. 270.
3. Trefcon, op. cit., pp. 158–9.
Chapter 9
1. The Conversations of the First Duke of Wellington with George William Chad, edited by the 7th Duke of Wellington (Cambridge: The Saint Nicholas Press, 1956), p. 7.
2. Puvis, op. cit., p. 81.
3. Henckens, op. cit., pp. 238–9.
4. From Dellevoet, The Dutch-Belgian Cavalry at Waterloo, A Military History (The Hague: privately published by the author, 2008), p. 113.
5. Dictionnaire des Braves de Napoléon, Vol. I, under the direction of Colonel Molières and de Pleineville (Paris: Le Livre Chez Vous, 2004), p. 177.
6. In Henckens, op. cit., p. 241, he goes on, ‘As for the encounter between the Netherlands hussars and dragoons and Piré’s chasseurs and lancers, one has very often been involved in bloody combats between former comrades who had served together in France. [After the war . . .] I was, on one of the first days after my arrival, stopped by an officer who had a scar on his face, and he alleged that it was me that had administered the blow; although I made the observation to him that I did not pay attention to those with whom I exchanged blows in a combat, he maintained his story and invited me the same day to dine with the officers where all their feats of arms, and ours, were recalled.’
7. Quoted in Arcq, op. cit., p. 64.
8. Lord Fitzroy Somerset’s account in Dellevoet, The Dutch-Belgian Cavalry at Waterloo, A Military History (The Hague: privately published by the author, 2008), p. 114.
Chapter 11
1. Documents inédits, op. cit., p. 40.
2. Maxwell, The Life of Wellington, Vol. II (London: Sampson, Low Marston and Company, 1900), pp. 20–1.
3. Mauduit, op. cit., footnote to pp. 148–50. Mauduit was a sergeant in the prestigious 1st regiment of Foot Grenadiers of the Old Guard during this campaign. Although he was not present at Quatre Bras, he was later commissioned and became the editor of La Sentinelle de l’armée and as such he communicated with a wide range of participants in the battle; basing his own account of the campaign on the correspondence in the same way that Siborne did from the British side.
4. Trefcon, op. cit., pp. 158–9.
5. Private Vallence, quoted in Robinson, The Battle of Quatre Bras 1815 (Stroud: The History Press, 2009), p. 245.
6. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., pp. 270–2.
7. Documents Inédits, op. cit., pp. 57–9.
8. Mauduit, op. cit., footnote to p. 150.
9. Private Vallence quoted in Robinson, op. cit., p. 246.
10. Lemonnier-Delafosse, op. cit., p. 206.
11. Bourdon de Vatry, quoted in Brett-James, Waterloo Raconté par les Combattants (La Palatine, 1969), pp. 34–5.
12. Wood, op. cit., p. 82.
13. Henckens, op. cit., pp. 241–2.
14. Jolyet, given in Souvenirs et Correspondance sur la Bataille de Waterloo (Paris: Editions Historiques Teissedre, 2000), pp. 75–6.
Chapter 12
1. The Waterloo Letters, edited by H.T. Siborne, reprinted by Arms and Armour Press, London, 1983, Letter 138, p. 326.
2. Documents inédits, op. cit., p. 42.
3. Houssaye, op. cit., p. 119.
4. Kellerman’s account of Waterloo, reproduced in Souvenirs Napoleonien No. 438, p. 26–7.
5. Ibid, pp. 26–7.
6. Houssaye, op. cit., p. 120.
7. Wheatley, The Wheatley Diary, edited by Hibbert (Gloucestershire: The Windrush Press, 1967), p. 77.
8. Kellerman, op. cit., pp. 26–7.
9. Hope-Pattison, Personal Recollections of the Waterloo Campaign, Edited and Reprinted by Bob Elmer (Glasgow: Blackie and Co., 1997), p. 7.
10. Private Hemingway quoted in Robinson, op. cit., p. 330.
11. Morris, The Recollections of Sergeant Morris, edited by John Selby (Moreton-in-Marsh: Longmans, 1967), p. 68.
12. Kellerman, op. cit., pp. 26–7.
13. Report of Colonel Van Zuylen van Nyevelt, COS of the 2nd Netherlands Division, given in Waterloo – Récits de Comabattants (Paris: Teissedre, 1999), p. 74.
14. Kellerman, op. cit., pp. 26–7.
15. Report from Kellerman, addressed to Ney, dated ‘close to Frasnes, 16 June, 10pm’. Given in Pontécoulant, Napoléonà Waterloo 1815 (Paris: la Librairie des Deux Empires, 2004), pp. 379–80.
16. Henckens, op. cit., p. 242.
17. Heymès, op. cit., p. 13.
18. Berton, Précis Historique, Militaire et Critique des Batailles de Fleurus et de Waterloo, dans la Campagne de Flandres, en Juin 1815 (Reprinted by LACF Editions, 2009), p. 31.
19. Duthilt; op. cit., pp. 299–300.
20. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., p. 272.
21. Levavasseur, Souvenirs Militaires d’Octave Levavasseur, officier d’artillerie aide de camp du maréchal Ney (1802–1815) (Paris: Plon, 1914), p. 290.
22. Gourgaud, Campaign of 1815, op. cit.
23. Berton, op. cit., p. 31.
24. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., p. 272.
Chapter 13
1. Myddleton, quoted in Robinson, op. cit., p. 322.
2. Letter 108, from Captain H.W. Powell in The Waterloo Letters, edited by Siborne (Reprinted by Arms and Armour Press, Lodon, 1983), p. 251.
3. Lemonnier-Delafosse, op. cit., p. 207.
4. Jolyet, in Souvenirs et Correspondance, op. cit., pp. 75–6.
5. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., pp. 270–2.
6. Trefcon, op. cit., pp. 158–89.
7. Captain H.W. Powell in The Waterloo Letters, op. cit., pp. 251–2.
8. Jolyet, in Souvenirs et Correspondance, op. cit., p. 76.
Chapter 14
1. Heymès, op. cit., p. 14.
2. Documents inédits, op. cit., pp. 64–5.
3. Deselles in Souvenirs et Correspondance, op. cit., pp. 50–1.
4. Crabbé, op. cit., p. 277.
5. Baudus in Waterloo Recontée par les combattants, op. cit., p. 120.
6. Ibid, pp. 120–22.
7. Durutte, extract from La Sentinelle de l’Armée, 8 March 1838, in Documents Inédits, op. cit., pp. 71–2.
8. Ibid, pp. 72–3.
9. Charras, Histoire de la Campagne de 1815, Waterloo (Brussels: Meline, Cans et Compagnie, 1858), tells us that Gordon and Gaugler only deserted as they approached the Ligny battlefield, and not on the morning of the 16th as Chapuis claims.
10. Chapuis, op. cit., pp. 26–30, wrote his own account to challenge that of Durutte.
11. Brue, in a letter dated Toulose, 3 November 1837, published in Chapuis, op. cit. p. 52.
12. Crabbé, op. cit., p. 277.
13. Houssaye, op. cit., End Note 58, p. 366.
14. Flahaut, op. cit., p. 116.
15. Heymès, op. cit., p. 14.
16. D’Erlon, Le Maréchal Drouet, comte d’Erlon. Vie militaire écrit par lui-même et dédiéeà ses amis. (Paris: Gustarve Barba, 1844).
17. Carl Friccius, 3rd Westphalian Landwehr, quoted in Hofschröer, op. cit., pp. 323–4.
18. Hofschröer, op. cit., p. 324.
Chapter 15
1. Jolyet, Souvenirs et Correspondance, op. cit, p. 76.
2. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., p. 272.
3. Bourdon de Vatry, in Brett-James, op. cit., p. 35.
4. Canler, op. cit., pp. 24–5.
5. Duthilt, op. cit., p. 300.
6. Canler, op. cit., p. 25.
7. D’Erlon, Le Maréchal Drouet, Comte d’Erlon Vie militaire ecrit par lui-même.
8. Bourdon de Vatry, in Brett-James, op. cit., p. 35.
9. Ibid.
10. Répécaud, Napoléonà Ligny et le Maréchal Ney à Quatre Bras. Notice historique et critique, par le colonel du genie Répécaud (Arras: Mme Veuve Degeorge, 1849), p. 42.
11. Pollio, Waterloo (1815) (Paris: Charles-Lavauzelle, undated), pp. 247–8.
12. Given in Berton, op. cit., p. 32.
Chapter 16
1. Pollio, op. cit., pp. 254–5.
2. Report of Count Valmy to Marshal Ney, dated ‘close to Frasnes’, 10pm, 16 June 1815. Published in Pontécoulant, op. cit., pp. 379–80.
3. Wood, op. cit.
4. Thiers, op. cit., pp. 167–8.
5. Flahaut, op. cit., p. 116.
6. Soult’s letter to Ney, dated Fleurus, 17 June 1815. This document is actually misdated the 15th. Documents Inédits, op. cit., p. 45–6.
7. Napoleon, op. cit., p. 544.
8. Lemonnier-Delafosse, op. cit., pp. 205–8.
9. Puvis, op. cit., pp. 81–2.
10. Combes-Brassard, in Souvenirs et Correspondance, op. cit., p. 13.
11. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., pp. 273–4.
12. Chesney, Waterloo Lectures, Fourth Edition (London: Greenhill, 1997), p. 129.
Chapter 17
1. Pontecoulant, op. cit., p. 384.
2. Heymès, op. cit., p. 17.
3. Duthilt, op. cit., pp. 299–300.
4. Mercer, Journal of the Waterloo Campaign (Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood), p. 140–2.
5. Documents inédits, op. cit., p. 45.
6. Heymès, op. cit., p. 17.
7. Henckens, op. cit., p. 243.
8. Documents Inédits, op. cit., p. 44.
9. Gourgaud, Campaign of 1815, op. cit., pp. 80–1.
10. Pontécoulant, op. cit., p. 155.
11. D’Erlon, Le Maréchal Drouet, Comte d’Erlon Vie militaire écrit par luimême, op. cit.
12. Deselles, Souvenirs et Correspondance, op. cit., p. 51.
13. Heymès, op. cit., p. 17.
14. Duthilt, op. cit., p. 300.
15. Girod de l’Ain, op. cit., p. 275.
16. Jolyet, op. cit., p. 76.
17. Chapuis, op. cit., p. 44.
Chapter 18
1. In his classic study of war, Clausewitz describes ‘friction’ as those many things that could disrupt even the most carefully made plans of the commander without him being able to influence them. This may be an act of god such as the weather, an unpreventable accident or any number of other unforeseen incidents that could affect every level from an individual to a corps or even the army.
2. Gourgaud, Campaign of 1815, op. cit., p. 70.
3. Colonel Gordon, COS to Gen Durutte, 4th Division, I Corps, having deserted on 16 June, in a letter dated 20 June. Given in Mauduit, op. cit., p. 185.
4. Ropes, op. cit., p. 187.
5. Coombe-Brassard, op. cit., p. 13.
6. Gourgaud, Campaign of 1815, op. cit., p. 47.
7. Petre, Napoleon’s Conquest of Prussia – 1806 (London: The Bodley Head, 1907), p. 30.
8. Ante p. 169.
9. Ante p. 80.
10. Documents Inédits, op. cit., p. 27.