NOTES TO CHAPTER VII.
1. It may be worth while to state, as nearly as we can, the actual positions at 7 A.M. of the 16th of the various bodies of troops mentioned in the “Disposition.” (See Map 5.)
The 1st division was not at 7 A.M. at Braine-le-Comte. It did not reach that place from Enghien until 9 A.M.[237] Its commander, General Cooke, having received no further orders, halted the division till noon, when he took upon himself the responsibility of continuing the march to Nivelles, where he arrived at 3 P.M. Here he received orders to proceed at once to Quatre Bras.
The 2d division, Clinton’s, which was also stated in the “Disposition” to have been at 7 A.M. at Braine-le-Comte, and to be marching on Nivelles, did not, in fact,[238] receive the order to march from the neighborhood of Ath, where it was stationed, to Enghien till twelve hours after it was dated,—i.e., not until 10 A.M. of the 16th! The troops did not reach Enghien till 2 P.M., and missing, apparently, the direct road, did not arrive at Braine-le-Comte till midnight.
The 3d division, Alten’s, is said in the “Disposition” to have been at Nivelles at 7 A.M., and marching to Quatre Bras. It did not arrive at Nivelles till noon.[239]
The 4th division, Colville’s, was no doubt correctly stated in the “Disposition” to have been at Audenarde at 7 A.M. The 10 P.M. orders of the 15th of June directed it on Enghien; and we must presume, for the reasons given above, that further orders to march on Braine-le-Comte had been issued.
The 5th division, Picton’s, was not “beyond Waterloo” at 7 A.M., as stated in the “Disposition.” In point of fact, it must have been some six miles on the Brussels side of Waterloo at that hour.[240] Included in this division was the 4th Hanoverian brigade,[241] and the Duke of Brunswick’s Corps.
The 6th division, Cole’s, is no doubt correctly stated in the “Disposition” to have been at 7 A.M. at Assche; but whether orders for it to march to Genappe and Quatre Bras had arrived at so early an hour, may be doubted.
Similar observations apply to the 5th Hanoverian brigade, stated in the “Disposition” to have been at 7 A.M. at Hal, and marching to Genappe and Quatre Bras, and to the 1st Dutch-Belgian Division and Anthing’s Indian brigade, stated to be at Sotteghem, and marching to Enghien.
The “Disposition” states that the 2d and 3d divisions of the Army of the Low Countries were at Nivelles and Quatre Bras at 7 A.M. This was not true of the 3d division, Chassé’s, which did not assemble at Nivelles till near noon.[242] The 2d division, Perponcher’s, as we have seen, was at Quatre Bras at 7 A.M.