In the meantime Napoleon Bonaparte, with that perfidy which had ever marked his conduct, had quitted the island of Elba, and, attended by 600 men, made his appearance on the shores of France. The French troops joined the standard of the invader, the royal family fled, and Bonaparte reascended the throne with a rapidity which exceeded the wildest flights of poetry or romance. The peace of Europe was thus broken. The allied sovereigns resolved to wage war against the usurper; and in April, 1815, the 3rd battalion of the Royal Scots was suddenly ordered from its quarters at Fermoy to the Cove of Cork, to embark for the Netherlands, where a British force was assembling to engage in the approaching contest, under Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington—a leader under whose eye this portion of the Royal Regiment had already acquired numerous laurels in the Peninsular War.
The battalion landed at Ostend in the early part of May, and proceeded to Ghent, and from thence to Brussels, where it was stationed several weeks. It formed part of the 9th brigade, commanded by Major-General Sir Denis Pack, and was placed in the 5th division, under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Picton.
During the night between the 15th and 16th of June, while the Royal Scots were reposing in comfortable quarters at Brussels, the men were suddenly aroused by the bugles sounding and drums beating to arms. Instantly quitting their beds, the soldiers prepared for action, and, seizing their muskets, issued in bands from every part of the city; and in a few hours the British regiments were passing through the dark forest of Soignes in the direction of Charleroi, a sharp conflict having already commenced between the corps in advance and the enemy. After a march of about twenty-two miles, the 5th division arrived at the scene of conflict soon after mid-day on the 16th of June, and, diverging from the high road, confronted the enemy on the undulating grounds near the farm-house of Quatre Bras.
The Royal Scots, advancing from their post in the centre of the 5th division, by a movement to their left through a field of corn which reached to the shoulders of the tallest men, encountered a column of French infantry, and by a determined charge drove it from its ground. The enemy's musketeers rallied under the protection of their formidable cavalry, and opened a galling fire, which was returned by the Royal Scots with steadiness and precision. The enemy, having the advantage of a rising ground, poured down volley after volley of grape and musketry with dreadful execution. The Royal Scots stood their ground with unflinching firmness; and, after fighting for some time in line, the battalion formed square, to resist the French cavalry, which was advancing in great force. The valour and intrinsic merit of the corps were now tested; but in vain the foaming squadrons of cuirassiers came rushing forward—in vain the daring swordsmen sought to penetrate the square; neither the superiority of their numbers, nor the fury of their charge, availed against the Royal Scots; the battalion stood firm, and resisted every attack of the enemy with an unshaken fortitude, which reflected honour on the corps.[125] After repulsing the formidable onsets of the enemy's steel-clad horsemen, the battalion deployed; again the French cuirassiers and lancers advanced, and the battalion once more formed square. The daring squadrons rushed forward in full career; the battalion sent forward a shower of balls, which emptied a hundred saddles, and the remaining horsemen wheeled round, and galloped away.[126] Thus the Royal Scots were triumphant, and they were soon afterwards moved to sustain the 28th regiment, which had suffered severely: another furious onset was made by the French cavalry, when the two corps formed one square, and repulsed their assailants with firmness. The French, dismayed by the sanguinary resistance of their adversaries, and being attacked in turn, were already giving way. Sir Thomas Picton placed himself at the head of the Royal Scots and 28th regiment, and leading them to the charge, the enemy was driven from his position with loss.
The battalion passed the following night on the field. The Prussians had been attacked on the 16th of June at Ligny, and forced to retreat to Wavre; a corresponding movement was made by the Duke of Wellington, to keep up the communication with the Prussians, and the Royal Scots, retreated on the 17th of June, with the remainder of the army, to the elevated grounds in front of the village of Waterloo, where the troops passed a stormy night in the open fields, drenched with rain.
On the memorable 18th of June the battalion formed part of the reserve under the gallant Sir Thomas Picton. At the commencement of the battle, when the enemy sent forward a cloud of skirmishers, and developed his massy columns of attack, the Royal Scots, commanded by Major Colin Campbell, were instantly engaged with the legions of Napoleon. "I have great pleasure," observes an officer, who was an eye-witness, "in detailing the conduct of the gallant 3rd battalion of the Royal Scots, and though I have been present with the battalion at the battles of Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, both stormings of St. Sebastian, the passage of the Bidassoa, &c., &c., in all which they bore a most conspicuous part, and suffered severely, I can assure you they never evinced more steadiness, or more determined bravery, than at the late battle.
"About nine o'clock on the morning of the 18th June, the battalion was attacked by the enemy, and, with very little interruption, the entire day it formed a line of skirmishers in front of the brigade.
"I have often seen the battalion engaged, but, I must confess, on this trying day, it far excelled anything I had ever witnessed; and indeed, so pleased was the late General Picton with its gallantry and good conduct, that he several times expressed it himself to the battalion in the most flattering terms."
Thus, while the thunder of 400 cannon, the roll of musketry, the occasional explosion of caissons, the hissing of balls and grape-shot, the clashing of arms, and the impetuous shouts of the combatants, produced an awful scene of carnage and confusion, the Royal Scots were seen amidst the storm of battle, boldly confronting the torrent of superior numbers, and fighting with a constancy and valour which the enemy could not overcome. Corps after corps advanced; but amidst the dense smoke which often prevented the combatants from distinguishing each other, the British colours waved triumphant, and the shout of victory rose above the din of combat. Paralyzed by the astonishing resistance of the British arms, the attacks of the enemy relaxed; the Prussians arrived on the left, to co-operate, the Anglo-Belgian army formed line, and with one impetuous charge overthrew the French host, and drove it in wild confusion from the field of battle, with the loss of its cannon and equipages. Those warlike and numerous legions, which a few hours before meditated only rapine and conquest, were mingled in utter confusion along the road, and over the fields, while the allied squadrons poured on their shattered flanks and rear, and sabred the panic-struck fugitives without mercy or intermission. Thus ended a battle, the greatest of past or present times, the importance and character of which are above the reach of sophistry or mis-statement; a battle, which may in itself be considered an era, and the story of it, serving as a monument to commemorate the national glory, will survive when the brightest historical epochs on record shall be lost amid the obscurity and confusion of ages. In the important conflicts on the 16th and 18th of June, the Royal Scots had Captain Buckley, Lieutenants Armstrong, O'Niel, and Young, Ensigns Kennedy, Robertson, and Anderson, 1 serjeant-major, 4 serjeants, and 29 rank and file, killed; Major Campbell; Brevet-Majors Arguimbeau, M'Donald, Massey, and Dudgeon; Lieutenants Rea, Ingram, Simms, Clark, Mann, G. Stewart, Alstone, Dobbs, Morrison, Miller, Lane, Black, Scott, and Adjutant Cameron; Ensigns Cooper, Stephens, and M'Kay; Quarter-Master Griffith; Volunteer Blacklin; 20 serjeants, and 275 rank and file, wounded.
The battalion advanced with the main army into France, and encamped on the 6th of July at Clichy, on the banks of the Seine, two miles from Paris, where it remained nearly four months.