| Captain Sandham’s Brigade, R.A. | Attached to the 1st Division. |
| Major Kuhlmann’s Troop, K. G. L. | |
| Major Lloyd’s Brigade, R.A. | Attached to the 3rd Division. |
| Capt. Cleeve’s Brigade, K. G. L. | |
| Major Roger’s Brigade, R.A. | Attached to the 5th Division. |
Major Heise, with Captain Rettberg’s brigade of Hanoverian Artillery, was also engaged.
The Horse Artillery and British Cavalry did not come up until after the battle; and the want of the latter was severely felt during the day, the French being very strong in that arm.
Sir A. Frazer’s Letters, p. 541.
Major Lloyd’s and Major Rogers’ batteries were warmly engaged at Quatre Bras. Two guns belonging to the former were lost, but were afterwards recovered. The troop of Ibid. p. 540. German Horse Artillery was of great service, sustaining the reputation which that corps had earned in the Peninsula. But the losses among the Artillerymen were small in proportion to those among the regiments of Infantry. Of 3750 British killed and wounded at Quatre Bras, only 28 belonged to the Royal Artillery. The losses were, however, very severe among the horses, and crippled the batteries very much. In Sir George Wood’s despatch announcing the To D.-A.-G. 24 June, 1815. battle, he wrote: “I beg you will be pleased to mention to his Lordship, the Master-General, the good conduct of that part of the Artillery which was engaged on the 16th. They were warmly engaged, being several times charged by the French Cavalry,—and tended much to the success of the day.” The merits of Quatre Bras, as a scene on which English courage and endurance were nobly displayed, are too often forgotten in the recollections of the greater battle, by which it was so speedily followed.
In consequence of the Prussians moving on Wavre, it became necessary for the Duke of Wellington to fall back also; and orders were given on the 17th for the army to retire to Mont St. Jean, not far from the village of Waterloo. This position had been carefully selected and examined by the Duke, with a view to the event which was now at hand. The retreat through Genappe was effected with the greatest order, and was covered by the Horse Artillery and Cavalry. Mercer’s Diary, vol. i. p. 270. Captain Mercer’s and Captain Whinyates’s troops were the last to retire, the former officer having been detailed for that duty—the latter having exceeded his orders, and remained behind, hoping to come in for some fighting. For the Horse Artillery and Cavalry, the retreat was no bed of roses. The heavy rains had made the roads and fields almost impassable. Genappe is in a hollow; and as the Horse Artillery mounted the slopes towards La Belle Alliance, pursued by the French Cavalry, they had to move at a gallop through fields, which would have tried them even at a walk. Sir Robert Gardiner’s troop was especially taxed in this way; and he used frequently to say that it was fortunate that his 6-pounder armament had not been exchanged for the heavier nature; for his guns would certainly have been captured had this been done. The nature of the ground which was traversed may be gathered from the fact that not a horse in Sir Robert’s troop reached Mont St. Jean without losing at least Communicated by Colonel L. Gardiner, R.-H.-A. one shoe. The whole night of the 17th was spent in shoeing the horses, and getting the troop ready for the work of the following day.
On the morning of the 18th June, the French army was drawn up on the south side, and the Allies on the Brussels side, of a long hollow, which common parlance has inaccurately named the “field of Waterloo.” The strength of the French army, according to the industrious Siborne—checked by later writers—was, in round numbers, 72,000; that of the Allies, about 68,000. The French had, in addition, Marshal Grouchy’s force of 33,000 men, fourteen miles away, on a blind chase after the Prussians, who were already six miles nearer Waterloo than their pursuers; and Wellington had a division of 18,000 men on detachment to his right, towards Hal, at a distance of ten miles. This extra precaution—this strange nervousness about his right—has been much and justly condemned by critics. When one reflects of what value that force would have been at different times during the 18th, one cannot but feel that if the Allied information to the right had been as carefully procured, as it had been to the left of the army, the whole of these 18,000 men might have been drawn in to the main body. However, even admitting this to be a blunder, the French were nevertheless utterly outmanœuvred. Napoleon’s remissness on the night of the 16th, and his idleness on the morning of the 17th, were now to receive the punishment which such qualities in the face of an enemy always deserve, and generally get.
Sir George Wood to D.-A.-G. 24 June, 1815.
The Artillery engaged on the side of the Allies was as follows:—
| Lieut.-Colonel | Sir A. Frazer, commanding R. H. A. |
| ” | S. G. Adye, commanding Artillery of 1st Division. |
| ” | Gold, commanding Artillery of 2nd Division. |
| ” | Williamson, commanding Artillery of 3rd Division. |
| ” | Sir J. Hartmann, commanding King’s German Artillery. |
| ” | A. Macdonald, commanding Six troops of H. A. attached to Cavalry. |
| Major Drummond, commanding Reserve Artillery. | |
| Lieut.-Colonel Sir A. Dickson. | |