| The battle began with an
assault on Hougoumont, from which Wellington had withdrawn the Dutch-Belgians
an hour before. "The mere name of Napoleon," he remarked, "had
beaten them before they fired a shot." To hold this position was of
supreme importance, for its occupation by the French would have laid open the
British right and have made the heights untenable. Column after column, led by
Prince Jerome in person, assailed the buildings, but Byngs brigade held fast
amid the fire and shell. While Hougoumont was being fiercely contested, the
French opened a heavy cannonade along the front an hurled against it heavy
masses of cavalry and columns of infantry in close formation. But the allies
stood firm, and horse and foot dashed in vain against the solid squares of
steel. Despairing of Hougoumont, Napoleon directed a vigorous attack on the
left, but was repulsed by the Highlanders who fought like Titans. One more
position was open to assault - the farm of La Haye Sainte, almost in the
centre of the allies' front. If the Emperor could seize this point he might
hope not only to cut off all means of escape but to prevent any junction with
the Prussians. To Marshal Ney was entrusted this perilous attempt. A division
of cavalry, under the celebrated Kellermann, poured through the gap between
Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte. Eighteen thousand footmen - the flower of the
French army - swept into the valley with Ney at their head. 74 guns bounded
forward to within 700 yards of the allied lines and the heights shook and
smoked and flamed under their deadly storm. The Belgians did not wait to
receive the attack, at the sight of this advancing avalanche they turned and
fled. But the gallant Picton was at hand with two British brigades - 3,000 men
all told. Drawn up in two deep lines they turned grimly on the foe. "A
volley, and charge!" were Picton's last words, and with a wild hurrah the
glittering line of steel pressed onward. Reeling under the shock the French
had no time to recover before the Union brigade of cavalry - the Royals, the
Scots Greys and the Inniskillins - were upon them like a whirlwind leaving
death and wounds in its wake. On they swept up to the cannon's mouth, sabring
the gunners and capturing the 74 field pieces with which Marshal Ney had
sought to cover his advance. But the pursuit was carried too far and a charge
of French lancers threatened to retrieve the disaster to their country's arms.
Then the Household Brigade threw themselves upon the steel clad lines and the
flower of French cavalry, shattered and broken, fell before the shock.
Text by William Maxwell 1902. |
