Sketch Of The Battle of Waterloo

General Freiherr (Baron) Friedrich Karl Ferdinand von Müffling, Anon

• Publisher: Wagram Press
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781908692863
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Baron von Müffling was a prominent figure during the campaign of 1815, as a former Quarter-Master General of the Prussian army of Silesia in 1813-1814, he was appointed to be the Prussian Liaison officer with the Anglo-Dutch army under the Duke of Wellington. Privy to all the details current at the allied headquarters, and present on the field of battle Müffling was well placed to write an account of the campaign which was originally in his native German, although short is of enduring interest.
It is set with vivid details and unlike staff-officers of later years his place on the battlefield at the Duke's side was one of grave danger as the Anglo-Dutch army struggled to hold on to the ridge at Waterloo. His own action at the battle was indeed decisive, in two incidents, the first in directing the Prussian reinforcements to the right of the hard-pressed allied line, and secondly in bringing up two British cavalry brigades to take part in the final assault on the French lines. He was appointed the Governor of Paris, a particularly tricky job given the recent struggles and the large numbers of armed men roaming the city, which he dispatched with aplomb. Müffling would go on to many important postings in the Prussian army, and even as an international mediator.
Author – General Baron Friedrich Karl Ferdinand von Müffling - (1775-1851)

A SKETCH

OF THE

BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

TO WHICH ARE ADDED

OFFICIAL DESPATCHES

OF FIELD-MARSHAL THE

DUKE OF WELLINGTON;

FIELD-MARSHAL

PRINCE BLUCHER;

AND REFLEXIONS ON THE

BATTLES OF LIGNY AND WATERLOO,

BY GENERAL MUFFLING.

This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING

Text originally published in 1850 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2011, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

INTRODUCTION.

THE following Compilation comprises:

FIRST—A Sketch of the Battle of Waterloo, being a simple, but interesting narrative, interspersed with well-authenticated anecdotes of that memorable engagement;

SECOND—The Duke of Wellington's Official Despatch to Earl Bathurst, dated June 19th, 1813;

THIRD—Field-Marshal Prince Blucher's Official Report of the Operations of the Prussian Army of the Lower Rhine, describing the Battle of Ligny, on the 46th of June, and that of Waterloo on the 18th;

FOURTH—Reflections on the Battles of Ligny and Quatre-Bras; on the Battle of Waterloo, or La Belle Alliance, and on the Action at Wavre; with their consequences; by General Muffling.

The above selection from numerous papers relative to the battle of Waterloo, has been made with a view of connecting an interesting detail of facts, with official reports, and the remarks of a veteran commander. It is hoped that a perusal of the annexed pages will thus prove equally gratifying to the citizen and the soldier.

A SKETCH

OF THE

BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

AT five o'clock in the morning of the 18th of June, 1815, the English army arrived at its destined position, at the end of the forest of Soigne. It occupied a rising ground, having in its front a gentle declivity. The extremity of the right wing was stationed at Merbe Braine. The enclosed country and deep ravines round the village protected the right flank, and rendered it impossible for the enemy to turn it. In the centre of the right was a country-house called Hougoumont, or Goumont (le château de Goumont). The house was loop-holed and strongly occupied; the garden and orchard were lined with light troops, and the wood before the house NI as maintained by some companies of the guards. The front of the right was thrown back to avoid a ravine which would have exposed it, and was nearly at right angles with the centre. It consisted of the second and fourth English divisions, the third and sixth Hanoverians, and the first of the Netherlands, and was commanded by lord Hill. The centre was composed of the corps of the prince of Orange, supported by the Brunswick arid Nassau regiments, with the guards under general Cooke on the right, and the division of general Alten on the left. In front was the farm of La Haie Sainte, which was occupied in great force. The road from Genappe to Brussels ran through the middle of the centre. The left wing, consisting of the divisions of generals Picton, Lambert, and Kempt, extended to the left of La Haie, which it occupied, and the defiles of which protected the extremity of the left, and prevented it from being turned. The cavalry was principally posted in the rear of the left of the centre.

Separated by a valley varying from half to three fourths of a mile in breadth, were other heights following the bending of those on which the British army was posted. The advanced guard of the French reached these heights in the evening of the 17th, and some skirmishes took place between the outposts.

The night was dreadful. An incessant rain fell in torrents. The soldiers were up to their knees in mud, and many of them, particularly of the officers, who had not yet been able to change their ball dresses on leaving Brussels, laid themselves down on this comfortless bed, to rise no more. In the morning their limbs were stiffened by cold and wet, and they were unable to move. Few places could be found sufficiently free from mud to light a fire, and when the fire was lighted, the storm, which continued to pour pitilessly down, immediately extinguished it. Both armies equally suffered; but the day soon broke, and the soldiers sprung on their feet eager for the combat.

If the night was terrible to the soldiers, who were inured to the inclemency of the weather, it was far more dreadful to the wretched inhabitants of the villages in the rear of the French army. It had always been the policy of Napoleon at those critical times, when so much depended on the heroism of his troops, to relax the severity of his discipline, and to permit them to indulge in the most shameful excesses. They now abandoned themselves to more than usual atrocities. Every house was pillaged. The property which could not be carried away was wantonly destroyed, and the inhabitants fled in despair to the woods.

Notwithstanding the torrents of rain and the depth of the roads, Napoleon succeeded in bringing up his whole army, in the course of the night, and his numerous artillery, consisting of more than three hundred pieces. He had feared that the British would retire in the night, and when he saw them at the dawn of day occupying the position of the preceding evening, he could not contain his joy. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "I have them then, these English!"

A farmer{1} who lived near the house called La Belle Alliance, was seized by the French, and carried to Napoleon, who, mounting him on horseback, tying him to the saddle, and giving the bridle into the hands of a trooper, compelled him to act as guide. Before any of the French troops were placed in the positions which they were to occupy, Napoleon ascended a neighbouring eminence, and acquainted himself with every feature of the surrounding country. His inquisitiveness knew no bounds. Not an inequality of the ground, not a hedge escaped him. He was employed in this preparation during four or five hours, and every observation was carefully noted in a map, which he carried in his band.

The ground occupied by the two armies was the smallest in extent of front, compared with the numbers engaged, in the recollection of military men. The English line did not extend more than a mile and a half in length, and the French line about two miles. This will partly account for the unparalleled losses which each party sustained, and particularly for the destruction caused by the artillery.

About nine o'clock the rain began to abate, and at eleven the French were in full position, and ready to advance to the attack. The left wing was commanded by Jerome Bonaparte; the centre by generals Reille and D'Erlon, and the right by count Lobau. The imperial guard was in reserve. The French army consisted of eighty thousand men; the duke of Wellington had not more than sixty-five thousand. The French regiments were the very élite of the army; but this was the first campaign which many of Wellington's troops had seen.

The leaders were acknowledged to be the best generals of the age. Napoleon had often frankly confessed that the duke was the second general in the world, reserving, with his characteristic vanity, the first rank to himself. This acknowledgment was always followed by the lamentation that he had not yet had the good fortune to cross him. When he set out from Paris, to place himself at the head of his troops, almost his last words to some of his friends were, "that he was at last going to measure swords with this Wellington, of whom he had no doubt that he should give a good account."

The duke of Wellington had successively vanquished every marshal who had been opposed to him, and now, for the first time, found himself confronted with their master. Never, in the annals of modern warfare, had two generals of equal reputation met, or two whose system of tactics was so diametrically opposite.

The plan of Napoleon was simple. It resembled that which, adopted by our naval commanders, has raised the character of the British navy to the very pinnacle of glory. The whole weight of his army was directed on one point, either where his opponent appeared to be weakest, or where success must be followed not merely by the discomfiture, but the annihilation of the foe. Regiments, divisions, whole armies, were sacrificed without hesitation to accomplish his favourite object. When one body retired in confusion, another was immediately ordered to occupy its place. "Forward! forward!" was the only reply to every intelligence of repulse or reverse; and candour must acknowledge that his calculations were usually right, and his efforts crowned with unparalleled success.

The system of the duke of Wellington was the reverse. Never was any general so sparing of the blood of his soldiers. He usually awaited the attack of his opponent. No temporary or partial success could delude him to compromise the safety of his army: but his keen and eagle-eye detected the first error, or the first confusion or indecision of the enemy, and, with his characteristic promptitude, he availed himself of the critical moment, and the day was his own.

For the first time these renowned generals were opposed. The previous reputation which each had acquired, the kind of rivalry which existed between them, and the almost uniform success which had attended their different systems, would powerfully excite them to call into exercise all the resources of their genius. They likewise now fought not merely for glory. It was not one of those engagements that might be lost or won without much influence on the campaign. The fate of Europe depended on that day.

Bonaparte had rushed on with all his accumulated force. It was the last effort of despair. No new levies were at hand to repair his losses. Victory alone could procure him reinforcements; and if he was severely repulsed in this engagement he was undone for ever. On the other band, if success attended him, the enthusiasm of the French would again be roused; thousands and tens of thousands would probably flock to his standard; the country which he now invaded would be obliged to declare in his favour, and he would be enabled to protract the war until winter closed the campaign. The generals and their troops felt how much depended on the event of that day, and never was a battle more skilfully or bravely fought. As the troops of the respective armies advanced to their positions, Napoleon ascended an observatory a little in the rear, and on the highest ground in that part of the country beyond Hougoumont on the right. From this spot he commanded the whole of both lines. He was particularly struck with the fine appearance of some of the British troops. "How steadily," said he to his aides-de-camp, "these troops take their ground! How beautifully those cavalry form! Observe those grey horse (the Scotch Greys;) are they not noble troops? Yet in half an hour I shall cut them to pieces."

The duke of Wellington had despatched a courier on the preceding evening to prince Blucher, stating that he expected to be attacked, and requesting the co-operation of as many divisions as he could spare. The marshal promised to be with him in person; and proposed that, should the French army decline the combat, the combined English and Prussian troops should become the assailants.

When the formidable forces of the French were all drawn up on the opposite heights, one of the officers of the duke ventured to express some alarm; and wished that the Prussians were arrived. "The roads are heavy," replied his grace: "they cannot be here before two or three o'clock, and my brave fellows will keep double that force at bay until then."

About eleven o'clock the cannonade began, and soon became general through the whole of the line. At half-past eleven, the left wing of the French advanced against the château of Hougoumont. The battalions which occupied the wood j n front defended themselves with courage against the superior numbers that pressed upon them; but after many desperate attacks the French penetrated to the house. The English were now reinforced by the second brigade of guards, who, occupying the château, and lining the orchard and walls of the garden, resisted every effort of the enemy to dislodge them. The French forced their way to the very doors of the château, but were there received with so close and well-directed a fire, that they retired in confusion, or were charged with the bayonet and overthrown. Again they penetrated, and again were driven back. In less than half an hour fifteen hundred men per...

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