"We were quartered in small villages between Brussels and Ghent, and chiefly in farm houses.
"I went to bed in my farm house about twelve o'clock on the night of the 15th of June 1815, and was scarcely asleep when the trumpets sounded the turn out: in an instant we were out of bed, the clothes out of the washtub, and in a short time we were ready to march: long indeed before orders came to tell us to what point our march was to be directed. At length an order came which directed us to proceed to Ninove, where we should receive further orders. We were soon there: but the day was gone, and it was dark, and the firing had entirely ceased before we reached the army, having been repeatedly halted on the road during the day, from an apparent want of knowing where to go, and at a time too when the French Cavalry were charging our Infantry with considerable and unusual success.
"We encamped in a clover field for the night. A few of us went to a village not far off, which had been completely plundered: we there met with some soldiers of the Highland Brigade, who gave us a most dismal account of the manner in which the French Cavalry had attacked them on the previous day. Never having before seen our army other than victorious, we felt rather dispirited at these accounts, and had not Buonaparte, with his characteristic selfishness, sent for the division which ought to have supported Ney, and which division never fired a shot during the day, there can be little doubt that the battle, instead of being a drawn one, must have turned out positive, and with the aid of his cavalry, of which we had none, Napoleon would have completely defeated the allied troops.
"On this day Buonaparte kept his own opposed to our army, notwithstanding he neutralized one of his whole divisions, and he totally defeated the Russian army with a loss, according to their own accounts, of twenty-five thousand men, as their total loss as returned by themselves was upwards of thirty-three thousand: and they could not at Wavre and Waterloo have lost five thousand men.
"The next morning we received orders to retire, and to cover the retreat of the army into the lines at Mont St. Jean. The infantry retired by the high road: the cavalry were formed in line: and the different brigades fronted alternately to prevent the advance of the enemy's cavalry and cannon.
"Notwithstanding the torrents of rain which fell, the French continued to press us closely: their light cavalry charged ours on the road and drove them back: when Lord Uxbridge, seeing them do so, charged at the head of a regiment of the Life Guards and completely upset them, they being unable to stand against the superior weight of the men and horse of the household troops. At this moment it rained in such a way as I never saw either before or since: it rained as if the water were tumbled out of tubs: there was also a good deal of thunder with it. Some of the hussars that were driven in upon us were so covered with mud that it was impossible to distinguish their features. The ground was so soft that at every step our horses sank half way to the knees: and in several places, in our passing over fallow land, it had the appearance of a lake, the rain falling upon it faster than it could either be absorbed or run off. It continued to rain and we to retire till we halted for the night in the position of Mont St. Jean: we were placed in bivouac at the distance of three hundred yards from the front of a farm house which lay between us and the village of Waterloo. The firing of cannon continued till it was dark: but as it was on the other side of the hill we saw nothing of what passed, hearing merely the cannonade. It continued to rain and thunder during the whole of the night: being hungry and cold, and wet through to the skin, we passed a most wretched night: the ground upon which we lay was a fallow upon which it was impossible to lie: we therefore obtained some straw at the farm house: we found there also some wood with which we made a fire, although from the rain it was difficult to keep it burning....
"In spite of the rain we slept pretty soundly, lying at our horses' heads, they being formed in line, and linked together, but we were repeatedly awoke during the night, by their taking fright at the lightning and thunder, at the same time advancing over us! but no one was hurt! and as the nights in the middle of summer are short, we arose with the day break: a miserable looking set of creatures we all were—covered with mud from head to foot—our white belts dyed with the red from our jackets, as if we had already completed the sanguinary work, which we were soon about to begin.
"(Sir W. Ponsonby) the General who commanded the brigade, had also commanded our brigade in the Peninsula, and as I was the only subaltern in it whom he knew, he asked me to be with him on the 17th and on this day also. This was just what I wished, for a man sees more, and suffers less in action when on the Staff, than with a regiment, being obliged in the latter case to stand still and be shot at, while in the former he is constantly on the alert carrying orders, and seeing and hearing everything that is going on.
"When the General appeared on the ground I joined him, his Aide-de-Camp being at Brussels, whither the General had sent him, not expecting the action to begin so early if at all that day: his major of brigade and an officer who acted as extra Aide-de-Camp, were however with him.
"We proceeded, after we had looked at the brigade, to the top of the hill, leaving the brigade drawn up close at the bottom of it. When we reached the summit we found the Duke of Richmond and one of his sons, as amateurs in plain clothes, with a number of officers, having their glasses on the look out for the Prussians: but we could see nothing of them, although we were on the extreme left of our army. Someone thought he saw a Prussian picquet at the foot of some trees near a wood, and for a time we were all of the same opinion—so fondly do people's hopes make things appear in the desired light: but there was no Prussian picquet, and the whole party seemed much dispirited. At this moment occurred a circumstance not mentioned by any writer whose account of the battle of Waterloo I have read: Buonaparte appeared in the front of his troops, and the loudest cheering began on the left of the French, and ran along their whole line. I confess that I never before felt so disheartened: it had evidently a powerful effect upon all present, but not one of our party said a word about it: nor was any attempt at a reply to it made on our side, by the troops near us: they were however chiefly Belgians, with the Highland Brigade, and some of the other regiments, which had suffered severely on the 16th.