John Codman Ropes - The Battle of Waterloo

Assuming now the authenticity of this memorandum, we wish to point out that its statements necessarily imply that orders had been issued to the army other than those of which we have copies,—that is, other than those of which we have given abstracts above. Thus, all we have hitherto been able to ascertain in regard to the orders to Cooke’s division is, that it was by the 10 P.M. order of June 15, directed to march from Enghien on Braine-le-Comte. It would appear from the De Lancey Memorandum that it had been subsequently ordered to Nivelles and Quatre Bras. And the Duke does not hesitate to tell Marshal Blücher—on the strength of De Lancey’s statement, that, at 7 A.M., Cooke was at Braine-le-Comte,—that Cooke must have arrived at Nivelles by half-past ten,—he being, according to De Lancey’s memorandum, under orders to proceed there.

So with the cavalry. We have seen above that in an early morning order of the 16th, it is said that the cavalry had been directed on Braine-le-Comte. Yet there must have been some subsequently issued order to Lord Uxbridge, for we find the “Disposition” stating that the cavalry is, at 7 A.M., at Braine-le-Comte, and is marching to Nivelles and Quatre Bras; and Wellington, relying on this statement of his chief-of-staff, that a subsequent order had been sent out ordering the cavalry to continue their march to Nivelles, does not hesitate to tell Marshal Blücher, that his cavalry will be at Nivelles at noon.

We shall have occasion hereafter to examine both papers in detail; but what we have just pointed out will suffice for the purpose now in hand.

That is to say, the “Disposition” prepared for the Duke’s information by Colonel De Lancey, and the letter of the Duke to Marshal Blücher are pieces of strictly contemporaneous evidence; and show beyond a doubt that further orders, issued subsequently to those of which we know the tenor, and directing the army on Quatre Bras, were really given in the morning of the 16th, as Wellington, in his Report of the battle, explicitly states was the case.

Thus,—to recur for a moment to the orders dated on the 16th, and to the inferences drawn from them,—although at the time when the despatch dated the 16th to Lord Hill, to move the second division on Braine-le-Comte, in which it was stated that the Duke was going to Waterloo, was issued, the Duke assuredly had not made up his mind to concentrate his army at Quatre Bras, nevertheless, he did subsequently, and probably not long afterwards, make up his mind so to do, and thereupon he issued an order for that division to march to Nivelles, as the “Disposition” states. As for Stedmann’s division and Anthing’s brigade, which were the subjects of the other order written on the 16th, the “Disposition” simply embodies the purport of this order. And as for the halt of Picton’s division at Waterloo, to which we have called attention above, if we suppose that, before he left Brussels for Quatre Bras, the Duke had issued orders for the concentration of the whole army, or, at any rate, of the bulk of the army, at Quatre Bras, he may well have passed Picton’s division on its march to Waterloo, assured that, after a brief rest at that place, which would do the men no harm, an order would arrive from Brussels, where very possibly the staff189 were writing out the orders to the army, for Picton to continue his march to Quatre Bras.

Wellington’s decision to concentrate at Quatre Bras the whole army,—or the bulk of the army,—for it does not appear even from the De Lancey Memorandum that he ever expected the far distant divisions of Colville and Stedmann to arrive in season,—was reached, in all probability, while he was at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball. He went to the ball at or soon after 10 P.M., and he stayed there until after 2 A.M.190 He told the Duke of Richmond, just before he left the house, that he had “ordered the army to concentrate at Quatre Bras.”191 At some time, therefore, after the issuing of the orders to Lord Hill, which are dated the 16th,192 and before 2 or 2.30 A.M., the Duke decided to concentrate the army at Quatre Bras.

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