But from this disagreeable situation we endeavoured to extricate ourselves in the following manner. The only obstacle between us and the enemy being the garden, it was proposed to move a portion of the battalion round and between it and the wood of Bossu, another division round the left, or lower side of the garden, and a third to open a passage for itself through the garden, by entering at the front gate. Being of this party, we accomplished our task of forcing the gates with some little difficulty, for the fire of the enemy was truly dreadful; and we could not take any steps to render it less effective, till the whole battalion could be brought to bear upon the enemy. At length, however, all the three columns arrived at their appointed stations. Seeing our friends on the right and left ready, we moved out at the rear gate, and quickly formed in front of the hedge. On this formation being accomplished, the signal of readiness was given, when the whole joined in three hearty cheers, and then, with the irresistible bayonet in their hands, advanced to the work of death.
Who is able to describe the feelings of the combatants at this momentous crisis? Who can paint the inward workings of every mind, when the Highlanders advanced, either to drive the enemy from the field, or leave their mangled bodies on the plains of Quatre-Bras?—language is inadequate to do it. Suffice it, therefore, to say, that for a few seconds the French appeared quite resolved to await our assault; but on perceiving that we really intended to close with them, they wheeled to the right-about, and attempted to escape by a hollow in front of the wood, along which their left column had previously advanced. As soon as they turned their backs, we poured in upon them a volley of musketry, which did great execution; and thereafter, each man did every thing in his power to prevent them effecting their escape, and so well did our lads do their duty, that at every step we found a dead or a wounded Frenchman. Many of the latter affected to treat the whole business very lightly; whilst others, even in the very agonies of death, ceased not to echo the cry of their more fortunate brethren, of Vive l'Empereur. Never was the fire of a body of men given with finer effect than that of the 92d, during the pursuit of the enemy, which continued for fully half a mile, and until the advance of a corps of French cavalry rendered it prudent to retire into the wood of Bossu. In fact, before we parted, their column, at first so formidable in numbers, was reduced to a skeleton.
This was the last serious attempt made by Ney to obtain possession of Quatre-Bras, but he continued to dispute the wood, and various portions of the ground on the left, till after nine o'clock, when every prospect of victory having vanished, he withdrew his troops, and left us in possession of the ground which they occupied at the commencement of the engagement.
About ten o'clock, the piper of the 92d took post at the garden in front of the village, where, after tuning his chanter, and setting his drone in order, he attempted to collect the scattered members of his regiment. Long and loud blew Cameron; but although the hills and the valleys echoed the hoarse murmurs of his favourite instrument, his ultimate efforts could not produce above a half of those whom his music had cheered on their march to the field of battle. Alas! many of them had taken leave of this bustling world. Many of them were then lying weltering in their blood in the fields or in the woods, and not a few of them in the farm-yard of Quatre-Bras. Of thirty-six officers who went into action, eleven only escaped unhurt, six being killed or mortally wounded, two slightly wounded, and seventeen severely. Soon after this, the 92d regiment retired behind the houses of Quatre-Bras to take a little repose after the fatigues of this memorable day. The other corps remained all night nearly on the same ground they held at the close of the conflict. The Field Marshal retired to Genappe.
Immediately after the close of the battle, our light cavalry began to arrive in the vicinity of Quatre-Bras; and at an early hour next morning, the whole of the army had arrived at points whence they could be readily moved to wherever their services might be required.
About three o'clock in the afternoon of the 16th, Napoleon attacked the Prussian army in its position at Ligny, with the right wing and centre of his army, together with all his Imperial Guards; and after a desperate engagement of six hours, in which neither party asked or gave quarter, Bonaparte, by one of those tremendous charges of his cavalry, which on so many former occasions had commanded success, again secured the victory. The loss of each army was tremendous. But severe as the loss of the Prussian army was at Ligny, how much more would that loss have been increased, had not Divine Providence miraculously delivered their great Leader from the hands of his enemies? On returning from an unsuccessful charge of the Prussian cavalry, the horse on which Blucher was mounted was wounded by a musket ball. Instead, however, of arresting the speed of the animal, the wound rather increased it, till it dropped down dead. Stunned with the fall, the veteran General could not remove himself from under the horse. With the animal above him, and only one Prussian officer near to render him assistance, Prince Blucher saw the enemy approach, and even pass him. It would be worth a kingdom to know what passed in the breast of the illustrious hero on this trying occasion. The brave Prussian army defeated and annihilated—France again sole arbitress of the Continent—and himself exhibited to the gaze of a Parisian populace, as the prisoner of that individual, who, above all men on earth, he most detested, must have passed before his eyes, as some of the consequences likely to follow in the train of his misfortunes. Fortunately, however, for himself—for his country—and for Europe—the Prince was soon relieved from this distressing, and to him, humiliating situation. For, on missing their leader, the Prussian cavalry instantly turned round, and like a torrent, rushed down upon their pursuers with such fury, that a few minutes served, not only to drive back the enemy upon their infantry, but to rescue the venerable warrior, and place him once more at the head of his valiant followers.
CHAPTER XXX.
On the morning of the 17th, the interior of the farm-yard of Quatre-Bras presented to the eye a scene of unparalleled horror. The whole of the ground within was literally dyed with blood, and the inside of the walls was also very much stained with it. Some idea may be formed of its appearance, when I state on the authority of a surgeon who dressed a great many of the wounded, that at one period of the battle, there were nearly a thousand wounded soldiers belonging to the 3d and 5th divisions in that narrow space. The cries of the poor fellows were most heart-rending, and the appearance of the mangled and mutilated corpses which strewed the square in every direction, was so ghastly and appaling, that he must have possessed a heart of adamant, who could have entered that place of death and lamentation, without being sensibly affected. While I live, I shall ever retain a vivid recollection of the farm-yard of Quatre-Bras, on the evening of the 16th, and morning of the 17th of June 1815.
It is quite wonderful how very close a cannon-ball or a shell will sometimes pass the head of a person, without doing them any permanent injury. In the action of the 16th, at Quatre-Bras, a man named Milne, standing close to me, had his bonnet knocked off his head by a cannon shot, and carried several yards across the road. On the collision between the ball and the bonnet taking place, Milne turned quickly round to me, and with a wildness in his countenance, said, "Do you see that, Sir?" During the remainder of that day, and the two following, he exhibited a weakness of intellect, not peculiar to him, but with that exception, he sustained no other injury.
On the left side of the road leading from Quatre-Bras to Ligny, a bank rose eight or ten feet above the crown of the highway, which trifling circumstance was occasionally the means of placing a few of our men in no little jeopardy. For on hitting the bank, the shells frequently came dancing across the road to their own music, till they arrived in the ditch among the Highlanders. One of those dangerous characters having rather impudently intruded himself into our society, a few paces from where I was standing, some of my neighbours attempted to fly, but as the greater proportion preferred an extended position in the ditch, a most ludicrous scramble took place, for the honour of being undermost. In a few seconds, however, the shell exploded, without doing us any more mischief, than wounding slightly two of our men.