It seems probable that the failure of the attack of the Guard upon Maitland’s brigade involved in confusion both the 3d and 4th regiments of grenadiers (Old Guard), the four (or, more probably, three) battalions of which were the leading battalions in the whole column. This, however, is by no means certain. All we know is, that those troops which were not swept off the field by the charge of Maitland’s guards, among which assuredly were the 3d and 4th regiments of chasseurs (Middle Guard), ignorant, probably, of the fate which had befallen their comrades, steadily pursued their way towards the right centre of the English position. As the eight (or, more probably, six) battalions of the original column were formed in _échelon_, the right in advance, it is plain that the march of the four (or, more probably, three) rear battalions would bring them on a part of the English line to the English right of the position of Maitland’s brigade,—in fact, “towards that part of” the English “position which had been vacated by the second brigade of Guards, when it moved to Hougomont.”[746] In this direction, then, these remaining battalions of the Imperial Guard advanced. To all intents and purposes they now constituted a second column. As a second column they must have appeared not only to the men of Maitland’s brigade, when their pursuit of the leading and defeated battalions brought them on a line with the left _échelons_ of the original formation, but also to the troops of the brigade of Sir Frederick Adam, who, having been lying behind a ridge, a little to the north of Hougomont, were now advanced, and found the French guard in full march for the summit of the acclivity. The initiative seems to have been assumed without a moment’s hesitation by Sir John Colborne, the lieutenant-colonel of the 52d regiment, who brought his command into line parallel to the flank of the Imperial Guard, and at once opened fire. This action was approved on the spot by General Adam, who ordered the other regiments of the brigade to support the 52d. The French column was obliged to halt, and to deploy to its left, in order to return the fire, and for a few minutes the action was very heavy on both sides.[747] But the other British regiments coming up, and the French, who were acting at a manifest disadvantage in being thus compelled to halt when half way up the slope, and resist an unexpected and resolute attack on their flank while they were exposed also to the fire from the enemy’s batteries in front, becoming evidently uneasy, Colborne ordered a charge, which broke the column up completely. He followed the disintegrated and demoralized battalions without an instant’s hesitation even across the Charleroi turnpike.