Another company ordered to Waterloo on the 18th June, gained much praise for its firmness and regularity in pushing up to the field. This was the eighth company, second battalion, under Sub-Lieutenant Patrick Johnston. At 2 o’clock on the morning of the 18th it marched from Antwerp, and on arrival at Brussels Lieutenant Johnston, finding that the captain of the company as well as the commanding royal engineer and his staff were in the field, at once moved on for Waterloo. Crowds of wounded soldiers, anxious runaways, dismantled waggons and cannon, greatly impeded the march. From all he met he received the most discouraging advice, but amid the general panic and the numerous obstacles he had to contend with, he resolutely pursued his march and reached the village of Waterloo at 4 o’clock P.M., in a state that reflected great credit upon the discipline and perseverance of the company. Late in the evening, after firing had ceased, as there were many inducements to plundering and straggling, Lieutenant Johnston withdrew the company a short distance on the Brussels road, and placed it in an empty barn till next morning, when it commenced its march for Paris. In applauding the company for its steadiness and order under trying circumstances, Colonel C. Smyth alluded in a particular manner to the meritorious conduct of Lieutenant Johnston. Neither the officer nor his men were considered entitled to the Waterloo medal and extra service; and for several years afterwards many of the company claimed these advantages with unprecedented pertinacity, but without effect. “The experience of former defects in the Peninsula,” wrote Lieutenant-Colonel Pasley, “led to the more perfect organization of the field establishment of the royal engineer department.” On the 20th June orders to effect the arrangement were issued by Colonel C. Smyth. “ Every division of the army had one engineer’s brigade attached to it; each brigade consisting of a complete company of well-trained sappers and miners, with drivers, horses and waggons carrying entrenching tools sufficient to employ a working party of 500 men, besides a proportion of artificers' tools, and other engineer stores.”[227] The number of companies so distributed was six. “A captain and a certain number of subaltern officers were attached to each brigade, and were responsible for the discipline of the men and efficiency of the horses,” &c.[228] ----- Footnote 227: Pasley’s ‘Elementary Fortification,’ i., note F, p. xii. Footnote 228: Ibid. -----