Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Elba and the Hundred Days, 1814-1815; Waterloo, Battle of, Waterloo, Belgium, 1815
The 5th Battalion of Dutch Militia, which arrived at Quatre Bras about
seven o'clock, was ordered, some time afterwards, to occupy the Farm of
Gemioncourt. The other Battalions of BYLANDT's Brigade, as they arrived
in succession, formed a Reserve, extending itself from the point of
intersection of the two high roads along the Nivelles road, and in rear
of the Wood of Bossu. About nine o'clock, Captain STIEVENAAR's Foot
Battery attached to BYLANDT's Brigade also arrived at Quatre Bras.
Aided by these reinforcements, the Prince of ORANGE made his
dispositions for impeding as much as possible the expected French
attack, and maintaining his ground in front of Quatre Bras until the
arrival of the Allied troops, which he knew were rapidly approaching
from Brussels and Nivelles. The arrival of the First Brigade induced
him to make a further advance, and extension to the right, of the
Second Brigade; retaining a firm hold of the Wood of Bossu.
He disposed of his Artillery in the following manner: upon the high
road, in advance of his Centre and in front of Frasne, he placed two
guns of PERPONCHER's Divisional Horse Artillery; three guns a little in
left rear of these, and three guns towards the left, so as to keep the
road to Namur in view. He also placed six guns of the Divisional Foot
Artillery a little to the right of, and in line with, the advanced guns
of the Horse Battery, and the remaining two guns on the Right Wing of
his First Line.
His Royal Highness had unfortunately no Cavalry in the Field; yet such
was the firm countenance which he displayed in the arrangement of
his nine Battalions and sixteen guns that the Enemy, unaware of this
circumstance, and probably misled by the appearance, at an early hour,
of the chain of Vedettes formed by the Prussian Detachment of Hussars,
to which allusion has previously been made, and also conceiving that
a considerable force had already assembled at Quatre Bras, made no
vigorous attempt, until the afternoon, to dislodge him from his
position.
Between ten and eleven o'clock, the Duke of WELLINGTON arrived in
person at Quatre Bras, where he joined the Prince of ORANGE, of whose
dispositions he fully approved. He reconnoitred the ground; observed
only a few of the Enemy in front, who occasionally fired a shot; saw
that there was a little popping musketry, but that nothing more serious
was at that time threatened in this quarter.
Conceiving that the Enemy was not in any great force at Frasne, while
at the same time, accounts reached him that Prince BLÜCHER, in his
position at Ligny, was menaced by the advance of considerable masses;
the Duke, accompanied by his Staff and a small escort of Cavalry,
shortly afterwards rode off to hold a conference with the Prussian
Commander, whom he found at the Windmill of Bussy, between Ligny and
Bry; whence he had an opportunity of observing the French preparatory
dispositions for attack.
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