CHAPTER XII.

THE BATTLE OF QUATRE BRAS.

Marshal Ney, as we have seen, took no steps what ever, on his return to Gosselies from his midnight interview with the Emperor, to get his command in readiness for the work of the coming day. Frasnes, in any event, he must have known, would have to be occupied in force, whether an advance from that place to Quatre Bras should be decided on or not.[396] Yet, instead of getting the divisions of Foy and Jerome up to Frasnes at once, where Bachelu and Piré already were, and supplying their place at Gosselies by the divisions of the 1st Corps, one of which, we know (Durutte’s), had bivouacked between Jumet and Gosselies, he suffered them to remain at Gosselies; and, so far as appears, sent officers to hurry up d’Erlon only after he had ordered him to Frasnes (_ante_, p. 119), that is, after 11 A.M. Then there was a delay of an hour and three-quarters, for which Ney was not directly responsible, which was caused by Reille,[397] who, instead of obeying Ney’s order to march promptly from Gosselies to the front on receipt of any orders of movement from the headquarters of the army, delayed doing so until he had informed Ney, who was at Frasnes, that he had heard from Girard that the Prussians were concentrating near St. Amand, and had thereupon received fresh orders. But this delay could never have occurred had Reille been at Frasnes himself, to which place he ought to have been ordered by Ney hours before.

It is, therefore, perfectly correct to say, that if Reille’s two divisions at Gosselies had been, early in the morning, ordered to Frasnes, where Bachelu and Piré had been since the previous evening, Marshal Ney could have commenced the battle of Quatre Bras with all the 2d Corps, except Girard’s division, which was with the main army, at eleven o’clock, the hour when he received his orders from Soult and his letter from the Emperor. Or, if he had thought best to defer the attack until he should have communicated to the Emperor the information as to the concentration of the Prussian army near St. Amand conveyed by Girard,[398] he would have been able to obey his orders, whatever they were, the moment his messenger returned. There was also no reason why d’Erlon should not have been likewise ordered up from Gosselies to Frasnes to support Reille, certainly with Durutte’s division, leaving the other divisions to come along as fast as they could. And it is not going too far to say that the measures above suggested were simply those which common sense would dictate, to an officer in Ney’s position.[399]

However, as a matter of fact, Ney did not take these measures, nor did he, even on the receipt of his orders, which, as we have seen, peremptorily directed him to assemble the 1st and 2d Corps and Kellermann’s two divisions of cavalry, and with this force to carry Quatre Bras, proceed to comply with them. He ordered d’Erlon to halt at Frasnes; he ordered Kellermann[400] to station one division at Frasnes and one at Liberchies; and he assailed the enemy’s position at Quatre Bras about 2 P.M. with the infantry divisions of Bachelu and Foy, and the cavalry division of Piré. It was not until nearly 3 o’clock[401] that the division of Jerome[402] arrived, and took its place in the line of battle. With the 2d Corps alone, then, did Marshal Ney attempt the task which he had been directed to undertake with all the troops which had been assigned to him. The 1st Corps and the cavalry he ordered to stay behind to protect his flanks and line of retreat.

When such are the preparations, nothing but extraordinary luck can give success in battle; and at first it seemed as if this luck was in store for Marshal Ney. When he began the action, Perponcher’s Dutch-Belgian division constituted the sole force of the enemy at Quatre Bras; and Wellington not having yet returned from Brye, where he had been to see Blücher, the Prince of Orange, a gallant young officer, but possessing no remarkable abilities, was in command. Ney’s two divisions gave him a slight superiority in infantry, which was augmented by the arrival of the third, and his soldiers were much the better fighters. He easily gained ground, and success seemed assured.

The Duke of Wellington reached the field about half-past two; and of course assumed control. He now had occasion to see how far the statements of the “Disposition” were from the actual facts; he found himself obliged to sustain a vigorous and well-conducted attack by superior forces, as best he might. Fortunately, about 3.30 P.M.,[403] Picton’s British division arrived, followed immediately by the Duke of Brunswick’s Corps, and Ney found himself slightly outnumbered.[404] Nevertheless, the quality of his troops, both officers and men, was so good, and his superiority to his antagonists in cavalry and artillery was so great, that he continued the fight with the expectation of success and with the chances in his favor.[405] But no efforts of his could overcome the steadiness and courage of the British infantry. The Dutch-Belgians retired after a couple of hours’ fighting; the Brunswickers were broken, and the Duke of Brunswick was killed; but the British and Hanoverian troops, though outmatched at this stage of the action, stubbornly maintained the fight.

At five or soon after, two brigades of Alten’s 3d British division arrived, and gave Wellington an equality, perhaps even a slight superiority in force. Ney, on the other hand, had not been reinforced either by d’Erlon or by Kellermann’s two divisions of cavalry, all which troops had been placed at his disposal by the Emperor, and all which he had been, by the last order which he had received from Marshal Soult, expressly directed to employ in the movement upon Quatre Bras. That is to say, as late as five o’clock, when the battle had been in progress for three hours, Ney had not got his command together, had not, in fact, assembled one-half of it on the field. Where were these missing troops? (See Map 7.)

Take, first, the case of the 1st Corps. We have seen that the division of the 2d Corps, which was the last to arrive, arrived on the field of battle at or shortly before 3 P.M. Quatre Bras is distant from Frasnes about two miles and a half, and the field of battle, therefore, was about two miles beyond Frasnes. Since Jerome arrived on the field at 3 o’clock, he must have left Frasnes about or soon after 2 o’clock. If Durutte, who commanded the leading division of the 1st Corps, had followed Jerome promptly from Jumet, which is not over a mile and a half to the south of Gosselies, he would have reached Frasnes before 3 o’clock. The other two divisions, which were ordered to Frasnes, should have arrived certainly in the course of the next hour and a half; so that by 4 or 4.30 P.M. Ney should have had the three divisions of the 1st Corps which he had ordered to Frasnes, ready for use there.

What actually happened was this. Durutte, who commanded the leading division of the 1st Corps, when in march from Jumet for Frasnes,[406] received orders from Ney to continue his march to Quatre Bras. But, as he was reaching Frasnes,[407] he was ordered by one of the Emperor’s aides, on his own responsibility,[408] to direct his march towards Brye. This order Durutte obeyed, and, on arriving at Frasnes, turned the head of the column to the right. D’Erlon, who, had he been present, might have stopped this unauthorized proceeding, had unfortunately ridden in advance of his corps. The aide, who, according to d’Erlon’s statement, was carrying a pencil note to Marshal Ney, came up with d’Erlon just beyond Frasnes, and told him what he had done. D’Erlon then rode back to join his command, sending his chief-of-staff to Marshal Ney to inform him what had happened. The 1st Corps then proceeded by way of Villers-Peruin towards St. Amand for possibly a couple of miles,[409] when it was seen by Vandamme, who between 5.30 and 6 o’clock reported to the Emperor the appearance of this unexpected body of troops.[410] The corps must have been seen, therefore, shortly after 5 o’clock. It must, therefore, have left the Charleroi road at Frasnes somewhere about 4.30 P.M. That is, the head of d’Erlon’s column did not reach Frasnes till two hours and a half after the rear of the 2d Corps had left it. For, as we have seen, the last division of the 2d Corps, Jerome’s, had passed through Frasnes by 2 o’clock.

This fact, that there was a march of two hours and a half between the two corps which constituted the principal part of Marshal Ney’s command, has not received due attention.[411] It is impossible to account for it without laying a grave responsibility on the shoulders of both Marshal Ney and the Comte d’Erlon. There is no need of dwelling on the importance of the matter. That there was no sufficient effort to obey the orders of the Emperor,—vigorously and energetically to carry out the duty assigned to this wing of the army,—is too plain for argument. It needs hardly to be remarked, that if Durutte had followed closely on the traces of Jerome,—even if he had started from Jumet at the moment when Jerome started from Gosselies, and had not (as would have been natural and proper) moved up nearer to Gosselies before the order to march to Quatre Bras arrived,—he could not have been turned off the main road by the Emperor’s staff-officer, for, long before half-past four o’clock, which was the hour when the staff-officer reached Frasnes, Durutte would have been fighting the English at Quatre Bras. One cannot avoid the conclusion that Marshal Ney’s measures for getting his command together on the field of battle this day were singularly ineffective.

For d’Erlon’s marching off towards St. Amand, Ney, of course, was in no wise responsible. When he heard of it, he sent him a peremptory order to return at once. For this he has been severely, and, in our opinion, unjustly blamed by many critics who have approached the question in the belief that d’Erlon was ordered to leave Ney’s immediate command by the Emperor himself. But this was not so. Napoleon addressed no order to d’Erlon. The only orders which the Emperor sent on this afternoon of the 16th of June of which we have any knowledge were sent to Marshal Ney. Napoleon cannot be imagined to have sent a direct order to one of Ney’s corps-commanders, for they, the Emperor must have supposed, were acting under the Marshal’s immediate supervision. Napoleon himself always denied having sent any order to d’Erlon, and even Charras believes him to be correct in this statement. We shall recur to this subject later; suffice it to say here that we are inclined to think that it was the 2 P.M. order that was shown, or, of which more likely, the supposed purport or intent was stated, to Durutte.[412] The time at which Durutte’s column was perceived heading for St. Amand indicates approximately when he must have left the turnpike at Frasnes; and this, as we shall hereafter see, was about the hour when the officer who carried the 2 P.M. order must have reached Frasnes.

D’Erlon, on receiving Ney’s order to return, retraced his steps, leaving Durutte’s division on his right in the neighborhood of Marbais, but he did not reach Frasnes till after 9 P.M. Thus the 1st Corps was of no use either to Ney or Napoleon that afternoon.

Take next the case of Kellermann’s cavalry. The last order which Ney received was, as we have seen, perfectly explicit in terms.[413] It directed him to “unite the corps of Counts Reille and d’Erlon, and that of the Count of Valmy [Kellermann],” and stated that “with these forces he ought to be able to beat and destroy any force of the enemy which might present itself.” Yet Ney ordered one of Kellermann’s divisions to halt at Frasnes and the other at Liberchies,—two miles, and two miles and a half, respectively, from the field of battle. It is not going too far to say that there is no excuse for such flat disobedience of orders. Cavalry, as respects the use to which they were put in those days, must be on the spot, ready to take advantage in an instant of a weak place in the enemy’s line of battle. No one knew this better than Marshal Ney. The disposition he made of his cavalry was deliberately made, from the same reason which induced him to order the 1st Corps to take up position at Frasnes,—probably because he deemed it unwise and even dangerous that the left wing should be advanced so far in front of the main army; and he did not send for Kellermann till six o’clock, and then he only employed one brigade.[414]

To return now to the battle. The arrival of Alten’s division gave Wellington the advantage, certainly in point of numerical force; still, the three infantry-divisions of the 2d Corps were superior in numbers to the two divisions of Picton and Alten; and the Dutch-Belgian and Brunswick troops had suffered so much that there was very little fight left in them. The cavalry of Piré was easily superior to that of the Brunswickers and Dutch-Belgians; none of the English cavalry had arrived; and the French were decidedly superior in artillery.

About 5 P.M.[415] the 2 o’clock order from Napoleon was received, but it was impossible for Ney, situated as he was, to execute it. At 6 P.M.[416] the 3.15 P.M. order arrived. Then, according to Charras,[417] Ney for the first time sent to Kellermann to bring up L’Heritier’s division. The veteran of Marengo made a gallant and at first a successful charge[418] at the head of the cuirassier brigade of this division, but, finally, the galling fire from the British in the farm-enclosures near the intersection of the roads, received when the horses were blown and the impetus of the charge was exhausted, brought about a panic, and the troops retired in great disorder. Soon after this, which was the last offensive move made by the French, Cooke’s division of the English Guards came up from Nivelles, and the French were forced to retire to Frasnes, which they did in good order.

At the close of the action, the Duke of Wellington had employed his 1st, 3d and 5th British divisions, the 2d Dutch-Belgian division, and the Brunswick contingent, numbering in all over 31,000[419] men; Marshal Ney, of the 43,000 men which had been entrusted to him and with which he was to “beat and destroy any enemy’s force” in his front, had brought to the encounter less than 22,000 men. The casualties of the Anglo-Dutch army were nearly or quite 4,500,—those of the French over 4,000.

It cannot be seriously questioned that the result of the action would have been a victory for the French if the 1st Corps, d’Erlon’s, had not been diverted from the turnpike.[420] The head of his column reached Frasnes, as we have seen, about half-past four o’clock, and the leading division could have been put in line before half-past five, that is, shortly after the arrival of Alten’s division. Wellington at this moment was deeply involved in the battle. He was expecting reinforcements hourly. He probably would not have thought of retiring. In fact his deficiency in cavalry and artillery would have made it a difficult matter to bring off his command in good order, and it is not likely that any of his troops save his (so called) British divisions could have sustained with firmness the strain of a retreat before an enemy fired with the success of the first battle of the campaign. The chances are that if d’Erlon’s Corps had marched straight on to Quatre Bras, the result would have been a severe defeat for the Duke of Wellington. Distrust and even demoralization would almost certainly have appeared in most of his foreign contingents; and with only his English regiments and those of the King’s German Legion he could not have mustered a sufficient force to justify him in accepting battle at Waterloo, even if he had been otherwise disposed to do so. In fact, one may safely conclude, that the battle of Waterloo would not have been fought had not d’Erlon’s Corps been turned aside by the unauthorized act of the staff-officer. We may, and in fact we must, even go further. It is altogether improbable that if Blücher had found that Wellington was in no condition to receive battle on the 18th, he would have deviated from his natural course of action after losing the battle of Ligny; he would without doubt, in such case, have retired on either Liége or Namur. These consequences are assuredly not too remote. The immediate and palpable results of an action, or of a failure to act, are within the legitimate field of inquiry; in fact, unless this be permitted, history can yield no lessons at all; it is only when we carry our speculation into the region of remote results, or vary too much from the conditions which actually existed, that we are going beyond the line of legitimate inference and useful deduction. It may be added that it is, and in the nature of things must be, for each person to draw the line in each case.

If, now, we ask what would probably have happened if Ney had collected his troops at Frasnes during the forenoon, in order that he might be able promptly to obey his orders as soon as they should be received, as we have above maintained he ought to have done, we are inclined to think that the simultaneous movement upon Quatre Bras between twelve and two o’clock of 40,000 men would have brought about the prompt retirement by the Prince of Orange[421] of Perponcher’s division. It would probably have fallen back on Nivelles, where Chassé was assembling the other Dutch-Belgian division. Whether the Duke on his return from Brye could have effected a concerted attack on the French by combining a movement on the Brussels road by Picton and the Brunswickers with one on the Nivelles road by Perponcher and Alten, it is not easy to say. The advantage of position would have clearly been with the French, and in fact they would have been considerably superior in numbers. There would certainly have existed no reason why in this case Ney could not have sent 10,000 or even 20,000 men down the Namur road in compliance with the orders of 2 and 3.15 P.M.[422]

Neither of the above-described advantages was gained by Marshal Ney. By leaving the divisions of Jerome and Foy at Gosselies instead of bringing them up to Frasnes early in the morning,—by leaving that of Durutte at Jumet, and the other three of d’Erlon’s divisions still further in rear until long after the last regiments of the 2d Corps had left Gosselies,—he rendered a prompt and bloodless occupation of Quatre Bras almost impossible. Exactly how far he was responsible for the gap between his two corps, we do not know. But we can certainly say that a diligent and experienced officer in Ney’s place would have known to a half an hour just how long after the arrival of the last division of the 2d Corps, the van of the 1st Corps might be expected. The whole management of Marshal Ney on this day shows distrust of the Emperor’s judgment, unwillingness to take the most obvious steps, finally, disobedience of orders. As the natural consequence of his wilfulness and perverseness he failed to reap the enormous successes which the Emperor’s sagacity had placed within his power. All he did was to prevent Wellington from giving any aid to Blücher. This he certainly accomplished; and an important service it was. He also showed himself as he always did, a brave, resolute, capable officer on the field of battle. Probably he did as much as any one could have done with the force actually under his hand. But had he taken the necessary steps to get the large and powerful body of troops which Napoleon had entrusted to his care well in hand in due season, he could not have failed, so far as we can see, to achieve a striking success, which might very possibly have had a decisive effect on the fortunes of the war. If each of the two allied generals had been defeated at the outset of the campaign, the chances of Napoleon for final victory would have been greatly in his favor.

In regard to the conduct of this battle by the Duke of Wellington nothing new can be said. He has always received the credit which he certainly fully merited, of maintaining most skilfully and with great spirit and tenacity a fight in which he was outmatched until nearly the close of the day. He had been gravely misled by his chief-of-staff as to the situation of the various bodies which composed his army; and in fact it must be admitted that his own calculations were very far from being worthy of his reputation. Hence he ran the risk of encountering a largely superior force; and that he had actually to deal with only half of this force was due to no strategy of his. He found himself in a most perplexing and dangerous situation, in which he displayed undoubtedly great skill and courage, but for the successful result of the day he was largely indebted to the “fortune of war.”[423]

FOOTNOTES:

[396] _Cf._ Jomini, p. 221.

[397] Jomini, p. 226, defends Reille’s course. We shall discuss this question in the Notes to this chapter.

[398] _Cf._ Jomini, pp. 221, 226.

[399] La Tour d’Auvergne, pp. 91, 92, 145; Muquardt, pp. 145, 146, 149, n. Charras, though discussing Ney’s conduct at considerable length (vol. 2, pp. 236 _et seq._), does not touch upon this part of it.

[400] Kellermann, Charras says, vol. 1, p. 188, had at 10.30 A.M. passed Gosselies. His two divisions were, therefore, long before 2 P.M., at Frasnes, and Liberchies.

[401] “_Vers 3 heures._” Reille’s statement, Doc. Inéd, p. 59.

[402] Or that of Guilleminot, as Charras prefers to call it. Charras, vol. 1, pp. 195, 196, n.

[403] Gomm, p. 353; Waterloo Letters, p. 23.

[404] Siborne, vol. 1, p 108.

[405] We shall not attempt a tactical account of the battle. It is well described by Siborne and Charras, and there is much of value in other writers. But it is not worth while at this late day to go into detail.

[406] Doc. Inéd., p. 71, Durutte’s statement.

[407] Drouet, p. 95.

[408] Ib., p. 95; Doc. Inéd, p. 65; d’Erlon’s statement.

[409] As it would seem from the map. But the distance is a matter of conjecture only.

[410] Corresp., vol. 31, p. 207.

[411] But see “Napoléon à Waterloo,” pp. 132 _et seq._

[412] So, Hooper, pp. 136, 137.

[413] Doc. Inéd., IX, p. 31; App. C, xxii; _post_, p. 381.

[414] Charras, vol. 1, p. 206.

[415] Ib., p. 204, n.

[416] Ib., p. 206.

[417] Ib., p. 206. Charras says that Roussel’s division remained where it was. He is probably correct. But see Siborne, vol. 1, p. 136, and Hooper, p. 127.

[418] Siborne is in error in supposing that there were two charges. Only one brigade was put in, the cuirassiers, and this was towards the end of the action.

[419] Siborne, vol. 1, p. 153. Charras, vol. 1, p. 210, rates Wellington’s force as high as 37,000 men.

[420] Even Hooper admits (p. 137) that the “timely presence” of these troops would have “placed Wellington in an extremity of peril.” _Cf._ Siborne, vol. 1, pp. 162, 163.

[421] The Duke of Wellington did not get back from Brye, where he had gone to confer with Marshal Blücher, until half-past two o’clock.

[422] Jomini, however, says (p. 227) that all that could have been expected of Ney even in this case would have been to maintain his position. But he says this in a letter to Marshal Ney’s son, and his statement cannot be taken seriously. The events of the day demonstrated that one corps would have been amply sufficient to hold the place, had it been once occupied by the French.

[423] _Cf._ Chesney, p. 137.

_NOTES TO CHAPTER XII._

1. Charras’ references to the orders to Marshal Ney as respects Kellermann’s cavalry, are disingenuous and very misleading. They are evidently intended to throw the blame for the non-employment of this body of troops upon the shoulders of Napoleon.

It will be remembered that in his letter[424] to Ney, which the Emperor said might arrive a little before the formal order signed by Marshal Soult, the Emperor told Ney what his wishes were as to the disposition of his troops after he should have occupied Quatre Bras. One division was to be stationed two leagues in front of Quatre Bras,—six divisions around Quatre Bras,—and Kellermann’s cavalry at the intersection of the Roman road with the Charleroi turnpike, so that the Emperor might recall it, if he desired so to do. In the same letter he tells Ney to be careful of Lefebvre-Desnouettes’ division, which belonged to the Guard.

It seems plain enough that this letter must be taken in connection with Soult’s definite order,[425] to which the letter refers, which ordered Ney to direct the 1st and 2d _corps d’armée_ and the 3d corps of cavalry,—Kellermann’s,—upon Quatre Bras, and there take up his position.

But the latest order[426] of Soult positively instructs Ney to unite the two corps of Counts Reille and d’Erlon and also that of the Count of Valmy, and says in so many words that with these forces he ought to be able “to beat and destroy” the enemy.

There is not either in the letter or in these orders a single word limiting the employment of Kellermann’s cavalry to “a case of necessity.” Yet this is what Charras states[427] was contained in Soult’s order. He even says that Ney did not dare[428] to employ but one out of the four brigades of which Kellermann’s Corps consisted,—meaning that he was so hampered by his orders.

Hooper[429] also says that Ney used Kellermann’s cavalry “sparingly, in obedience to the instructions of Napoleon.”

The orders speak for themselves. Ney was not only permitted to use Kellermann’s Corps, but was positively directed to do so. It was only in his use of the cavalry of the Guard—the division of Lefebvre-Desnouettes[430]—that he was restricted.

2. Napoleon in his account of the campaign labored under a mistake as to the time when he gave Ney his orders on the 16th. He says it was in the night. This involved him in another mistake, namely, that the orders directed Ney “to push on at daybreak beyond Quatre Bras.” It is true that he rendered it possible for the readers of his book to rectify these errors, for he says that Flahaut was the bearer of these orders, and he survived the campaign. Doubtless if the Emperor could have had access to him, these mistakes would have been rectified; as it is, they render much of what Napoleon says of no value. Then, Napoleon never learned the truth about the wanderings of d’Erlon’s Corps; and this of course, invalidates his criticisms as to that matter. But in regard to the main point made in this chapter, the Emperor’s opinion is given explicitly. He blames Ney[431] _for not having_ “executed his orders and _marched on Quatre Bras with his 43,000 men_.” That Ney should concentrate his entire command was in reality, the burden of his orders.

That this neglect to keep his command together was in Napoleon’s eyes Ney’s principal fault in his conduct on the 16th, appears unmistakably from the following passages in Soult’s despatch[432] to Ney of the next day:—

“The Emperor has seen with pain that you did not yesterday unite your divisions; they acted independently of each other; hence they experienced losses.

“If the corps of the Counts d’Erlon and Reille had been together, not an Englishman of the troops which attacked you would have escaped. If the Count d’Erlon had executed the movement upon St. Amand which the Emperor had ordered, the Prussian army would have been totally destroyed, and we should have taken perhaps 30,000 prisoners.

“The corps of Generals Gérard and Vandamme and the Imperial Guard have always been united: one exposes one’s self to reverses when detachments are put in peril.

“The Emperor hopes and desires that your seven divisions of infantry and your cavalry shall be well united and organized, and that together they shall not occupy more than one league of ground, so that you may have them under your hand and may be able to employ them at need.”

What Soult told Sir William Napier,[433] years afterwards, is without question the truth:—“Ney neglected his orders at Quatre Bras.”

3. It may be worth while to correct a curious error into which Siborne has fallen in his anxiety to show that Ney was not ordered to seize Quatre Bras early in the morning. He[434] calls attention to the fact that the 2 P.M. order to Ney was addressed on the back of the letter to the Marshal at Gosselies. “This circumstance,” he says, “proves that Napoleon was under the impression that Ney had not at that time (two o’clock) commenced his attack, but was still at Gosselies.” But this argument, if it is good for anything, shows that Napoleon supposed that Ney and, of course, the bulk of his command also, would be at Gosselies when the bearer of the letter arrived there, say at 3 o’clock, which is simply absurd. The fact is that, Ney having the previous night had his headquarters at Gosselies, all orders to him were naturally and properly sent there first.

4. Jomini,[435] in a letter to the Duke of Elchingen, suggests that Napoleon might well have left Reille’s corps and Lefebvre-Desnouettes’ cavalry at Frasnes to watch the enemy at Quatre Bras, and thrown d’Erlon’s Corps and Kellermann’s cavalry on the rear of the Prussians at Brye, a manœuvre which, he says, “could be executed from Frasnes as well as from Quatre Bras.” Into the merits of this suggestion we do not propose to enter; there is certainly much to recommend it. But in a postscript General Jomini takes special pains to express his opinion that General Reille is not “deserving of the least censure” for having deferred putting his corps in motion from Gosselies for Frasnes, on the morning of the 16th, until he had communicated Girard’s information to Marshal Ney.

“We must not forget that General Reille had just sent—nine o’clock—positive information of the presence of the entire Prussian army towards Ligny: he must have concluded from this that the left would be called upon to take part in the attack of this army, and that it would be unfortunate if, after such information, he took the Genappe [Quatre Bras] route when it would be necessary to turn to the right towards Brye. This reasoning was more than logical, it was based on the laws of _la grande tactique_.”[436]

In this passage Jomini seems to overlook what he has just before said about Frasnes. Even if the left should be called upon to take part in the attack of the Prussians instead of being concentrated for the attack of Quatre Bras, it would still be necessary for a large force to establish itself at Frasnes, in order to observe the enemy at Quatre Bras; to proceed then to Frasnes, with the two divisions of Foy and Jerome, from Gosselies, where he was when the Emperor’s order reached him, was the right thing for Reille to do in any event. Jomini in fact suggests this very thing as in his judgment the correct course, viz.: to leave the 2d Corps at Frasnes and to throw the 1st Corps on Brye. This attempt, therefore, to justify Reille’s delay in marching to Frasnes, fails.

5. Other theories than the one we have adopted as to the cause of the wanderings of d’Erlon’s Corps have been broached. Thiers thinks that Napoleon sent d’Erlon a direct order; Charras[437] has combated this view in a careful examination of the evidence, and we agree with him. There is, however, considerable conflict of testimony. Lieutenant-Colonel de Baudus, who was on the staff of Marshal Soult in this campaign, in his “Études sur Napoléon,”[438] tells this story:—

“At the moment when the affair [the battle of Ligny] was at its height, Napoleon called me and said to me: ‘I have sent an order to the Comte d’Erlon to direct his whole corps in the rear of the right of the Prussian army; go and carry to Marshal Ney a duplicate of this order, which ought to be communicated to him. You will tell him that, whatever may be the situation in which he finds himself, it is absolutely necessary that this disposition should be executed; that I do not attach any great importance to what is passing to-day on his wing; that the important affair is here, where I am, because I want to finish with the Prussian army. As for him, he must, if he cannot do better, confine himself to keeping the English army in check.’[439] When the Emperor had finished giving me his instructions, the major-general [Soult] recommended me in the most energetic terms to insist most forcibly on the Duke of Elchingen that, on his part, nothing should hinder the execution of the movement prescribed to the Comte d’Erlon.”

Notwithstanding this circumstantial narrative, we do not believe that Napoleon sent d’Erlon a direct order. Napoleon had in all his communications with Ney placed d’Erlon under him; the letter written to Ney that morning by the Emperor said:—“The major-general has given the most precise instructions, so that there shall be no difficulty about obedience to your orders when you are detached from the main army; when I am present, the corps-commanders will take their orders from me.” Now Napoleon must have supposed that d’Erlon would be with Ney at 5 P.M.

Baudus’ book was published twenty-six years after the battle. His recollection of the fact that he was sent on such a mission was no doubt clear; very likely he remembered with approximate accuracy what Napoleon and Soult said to him; but he may easily have been mistaken as to the order itself. It would be very natural that an order to Ney directing him to send the 1st Corps to attack the Prussian right might be mistaken for an order to d’Erlon, who commanded the 1st Corps, to do this. And what to our mind settles the matter is, that if the order had really been one directed to d’Erlon, neither the Emperor nor Soult would have wasted their time in asking Baudus to ask Ney not to interfere with its execution. If, on the other hand, it was an order to Ney, urging on him to detach a part of his command to take the Prussians in rear, such remarks as Napoleon and Soult made to Baudus were directly apposite, and were made, no doubt, in order that they might be repeated to Ney, so that he might enter more fully into the Emperor’s view of the situation. Lastly, although no specific mention might be made in the written order of the troops which Ney was to detach, it is extremely probable that both Napoleon and Soult spoke of the 1st Corps in this connection, as it was of course known that d’Erlon was to come up in rear of Reille, who might very probably be actively engaged, and that d’Erlon’s Corps, therefore, would probably be sent, if any was sent.

We have little doubt that Baudus carried the duplicate of the 3.15 P.M. order to Marshal Ney. Everything that he says about it points to this; the statement that the battle was at its height when the order was given to him would be true at a quarter-past three; the strong language of the Emperor and Soult as to the importance of persuading Ney to comply with their request has the same ring as the language of the order.[440] Baudus tells us that when he was nearing Quatre Bras he was nearly run down by Kellermann’s cuirassiers, who were, as we have seen,[441] routed between 6 and 7 P.M.[442] Charras says that the 3.15 P.M. order[443] arrived at 6 o’clock.[444] This duplicate of it, dated 3.30 P.M.[445] the transmission of which was delayed, as we have seen, by the verbal messages to Ney, may very possibly not have reached the Marshal till half-past six. Baudus found Ney in a state of great exasperation against the Emperor, who had, as he had been told, ordered the 1st Corps to march upon St. Amand without informing him of this change of plan. The fact that Baudus saw nothing of the 1st Corps on the road confirms our hypothesis that that corps had been turned off by the bearer of the 2 P.M. despatch.

In conclusion, we may say that the evidence as to this matter is not entirely satisfactory. D’Erlon says the order he saw was addressed to Marshal Ney. Reille says the same. D’Erlon says the order was brought by General Labedoyère; Heymès, by Colonel Laurent. Heymès says that Colonel Laurent, after turning the 1st Corps off the turnpike, informed Ney what he had done;[446] Baudus says that Ney told him[447] that he never received any advice of the sort at all, and that he only learned that the corps had gone off by sending to Frasnes for it, and there being no troops there. It is idle to seek to reconcile these minor contradictions. They are not important.

FOOTNOTES:

[424] Doc. Inéd., X, p. 32; App. C, xviii; _post_, pp. 377, 378.

[425] Ib., VIII, p. 27; App. C, xxi; _post_, pp. 380, 381.

[426] Ib., IX, p. 31; App. C, xxii; _post_, p. 381. This refers to the prior order in distinct terms.

[427] Charras, vol. 1, p. 205.

[428] Ib., p. 206.

[429] Hooper, p. 127.

[430] Even in regard to this division, Soult’s order plainly implies that Ney might make use of it. Doc. Inéd., VIII, p. 28; App. C, xxi.; _post_, pp. 380,381.

[431] Corresp., vol. 31, p. 209.

[432] Doc. Inéd., XVII, p. 46; App. C, xxvii; _post_, pp. 384, 385.

[433] Life of General Sir W. Napier, vol. 1, p. 505.

[434] Siborne, vol. 1, p. 146, n.

[435] Jomini, pp. 219, 221.

[436] Ib., p. 226.

[437] Charras, vol. 2, pp. 242 _et seq._

[438] Vol. 1, pp. 210 _et seq._ Paris: 1841.

[439] This is exactly what was enjoined on Ney by the 3.15 P.M. order. It is to be noted that, while the 2 P.M. order expressly directed Ney to attack the English, and only after having vigorously pushed them, to turn back and operate against the Prussians, the 3.15 P.M. order directed him to manœuvre _at once_,—that is, without waiting until he should have driven the English,—so as to surround the Prussian right wing. This is precisely what Baudus says the Emperor and Soult desired him so strongly to urge upon Marshal Ney.

[440] See note 16, on page 194.

[441] Charras, vol. 1, pp. 206-208.

[442] Heymès, Ney’s aide-de-camp, says (Doc. Inéd., pp. 9, 10) that it was just when Kellermann’s cuirassiers had been routed that Colonel Laurent arrived and told Marshal Ney that he had ordered d’Erlon to turn off the main road in the direction of St. Amand. Baudus came up a little later, evidently, as he met the cuirassiers some distance from the field of battle. But as Baudus saw nothing of the troops of the 1st Corps, we think Heymès must be mistaken, as to Laurent’s having just turned off the head of the column to the right. If so, Baudus must have passed at least half the corps on the road.

[443] According to Gourgaud, p. 57, Colonel Forbin-Janson carried this order.

[444] Charras, vol. 1, p. 206.

[445] Doc. Inéd., p. 42.

[446] Ib., pp. 9, 10.

[447] Baudus, vol. 1, p. 212.