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2000 “Hours no time to stop no time to rest no time to do anything but march or fall in line. The Sergent would come by and ask for volunteers to form a skirmish company when they had fifty men they would march to the front and never to be seen again. This was total war not like when I first hear the stories of the columns and long lines and men marching in formation . I was a volunteer in 14 and saw very little action before the surrender. But this is altogether different, now the Prussians keep on coming. I thought after we ran the east Indians and them colored solders west Indians and them Dutch off the battle would be over but little did I know that the Prussian where now on the field and without Cavalry and artillery it was a killing field all we were trying to do was retreat in good order and hold them back soldier of the 92e line . The three battle of this hour we look at Nivelles. The Prussian under Bülow IV Prussian Korps at the top of the hour was holding on to the town of Nivelles, pushing the French
Imperial Guard back to the outskirts of this town. To the south of Nivelles, the Imperial Guard were in
Skirmish formation spread over 22 hex trying to hold back the Prussian flood. To the west General de Div the famous hero of Jena and Auerstadt’s General Morand. Were trying to hold back the many Prussian Battalions that were pressing their way forward. General Major Losthin was in command of the Right flank of the Prussian Armee, with 4000 men he was determine to brake General Morand’s Chasseur’s Vieille garde. Also helping to hold the French line was the 55th e ligne 1er and 2e Bataillons, 55e Régiment de Ligne Colonel Jean-Pierre Monneret 1,148Of the I Corps French Armee. Also there was the 4th Moyenne garde under General de Brig Henrion, and General de Brig Plet-Clozeau. At this time the 79th Cameron Highlanders were firing on 2/54th e French ligne. The regiment was raised as the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameronian Volunteers) on August 17, 1793 at Fort William from among the members of the Clan Cameron by Sir Allan Cameron of Erracht. Originally on the Irish establishment, it became part of the British Army in 1804, and in 1806 it was renamed as the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders).
On raising, it was decided that the red-based Cameron tartan would not be used, and instead a new design was devised. The Cameron of Erracht tartan was based on the Macdonald sett with the addition of a yellow line from the Cameron tartan, and the omission of three red lines found in that of Macdonald.
To the east of the town of Nivelles was General Graf Bulow commander of the IV Prussian Korps with 6000 Prussian Infantry and 100 horses and no artillery. He was attacking the French right flank where there was 40 cannons set against his advance. To the North and on the Prussian Lift wing was Oberst Graf Schwerin of the 1st Kavallerie Brig with 200 horses and 4000 Infantry with 56 cannons attacking the French right. Pierre François Joseph Durutte Pierre François Joseph Durutte (13 July 1767 – 18 April 1827) joined the French army at the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars. Rapidly promoted for feats of bravery under fire at Jemappes in 1792 and Hondschoote in 1793, he found himself appointed to serve as a staff officer. He distinguished himself during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in 1799 and received promotion to general officer. During the successful 1800 campaign he fought in Jean Victor Marie Moreau's army. Promoted again in 1803, his career then stalled because of his association with the banished Moreau and his unwillingness to see Napoleon Bonaparte as emperor.
After several years of garrison duty, Durutte was sent to a combat command in Italy in 1809. During the War of the Fifth Coalition he led his division in action at the Piave, Tarvis, Sankt Michael, Raab, and Wagram. He led a division in Russia in 1812 and managed to bring the unit back to western Germany intact. He fought in the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1813, defended Metz in 1814, and led a division at Waterloo in 1815. Durutte is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomph
ean-Baptiste Drouet, comte d'Erlon (July 29, 1765 – January 25, 1844) was a marshal of France and a soldier in Napoleon's Army. D'Erlon notably commanded the I Corps of the Armée du Nord at the battle of Waterloo.
D'Erlon was born in Reims, and in 1792 served as a corporal in the pre-revolutionary army, being elected to captain the following year. In 1794 he returned to Reims to marry Marie-Anne Rousseau the daughter of Nicolas Rousseau a banker, who he has got to know through Marie-Jeanne (Rousseau) the wife of his brother Jean-François Drouet. while in Reims on the morning of his wedding, he was informed of his appointment as aide-de-camp to General Francois Lefebvre. On Christmas Day 1794, his first child, a son who was christened Nicolas Adolphe was born. In 1796 his wife had their second child, a daughter: Marie-Anne Louise.
In 1799 he was promoted to brigadier general, and fought under André Masséna in Switzerland. The same year he distinguished himself at the Second Battle of Zurich. In 1800 he moved his family to Paris where his third child Aimé Napoleon François was born. He continued his service in many battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including Hohenlinden in 1800 (in which he was wounded), the Hanover region (earning him promotion to Major General in 1803), Austerlitz in 1805 (his first battle as Division commander) and one in which his division played a pivotal role, and Jena in 1806.
In 1807, as chief of staff for Lefebvre at the siege of the Polish city of Danzig (Gdańsk), he negotiated the terms of surrender. The same year he was wounded in the foot at Friedland.
Following the conclusion of the 1809 Danubian campaign, D'Erlon was sent as Chief of Staff to Marshal Lefebvre. Lefebvre was in command of the VII (Bavarian) Corps in action in the Tyrol against the pro-Austrian insurgency led by the innkeeper Andreas Hofer. After the failure of the allied second offensive to retake the Tyrol, Lefebvre was relieved of his command by Napoleon because of his poor performance and terrible relationship with the Bavarians. D'Erlon was given command, and in by the end of November he had pacified the region, and in the process formed a strong bond with his Bavarian subordinates.
Later in the year he was given the command of the IX Corps of Spain, after which he defeated the British General Hill at the Battle of Extremadura. The following years brought him successes in Portugal, and in the Peninsular War.
After Napoleon abdicated in 1814 d'Erlon transferred his alligence to the House of Bourbon along with the rest of the army. The next year he accepted the command of the 16th Military Division under Napoleon from Marshal Davout.
During the Waterloo Campaign d'Erlon commanded the French I Corps. On June 16, 1815, due to conflicting orders his Corps spent the day on the Nivelles-Namur road marching and counter marching between the battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny without engaging in either battle. If the I Corps had engaged in either battle the outcome of the campaign might have been different. Two days later at the Battle of Waterloo it was his Corps in Column formation which attacked the Allied centre near La Haye Sainte at 13:30 and was stopped by Picton's Peninsular War veterans, and then attacked in the flanks by the British heavy cavalry. After the surrender of Napoleon, d'Erlon entered exile in Munich.
The French right at the battle of Nivelles had about 800 Horses of the French Imperial Garde, 900 Infantry under General de Brig Brue and 8foot and 12 horse guns to defend that flank.
And the Allied Army consisted of the remnants of the 4th Hanoverians and 100 of the 1/27th Inniskillings The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot was an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1689 and amalgamated with the 108th (Madras Infantry) Regiment of Foot into the 27th Regiment served throughout the Napoleonic wars including Egypt where it formed part of Sir Ralph Abercromby's force that fought the Battle of Alexandria against the French in 1801, the 2nd Battalion formed part of the garrison of that city after its capture. The 1st Battalion served in the Calabrian campaign and fought at Battle of Maida on 4 July 1806. In this engagement the light company fought in James Kempt's brigade while the one grenadier and eight line companies belonged to Lowry Cole's brigade.[1]The 1st Battalion entered the Peninsular War in November 1812[2] and participated in the Battle of Castalla[3] and the Siege of Tarragona, both in 1813.[4] The 2nd Battalion landed in Spain in December 1812[2] and fought brilliantly at Castalla on 13 April 1813. While formed in a two-deep line, the unit inflicted 369 killed and wounded on the French 121st Line Infantry Regiment in a few minutes. In the same action the entire brigade only lost 70 casualties.[3] On 13 September 1813, the French surprised and cut the 2nd Battalion to pieces at the Battle of Ordal. In this action, the 2nd/27th lost over 360 men killed, wounded, and captured.[5]
The 3rd Battalion disembarked in Lisbon in November 1808. It became part of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington's army and fought at many of the key battles including Badajoz, Salamanca, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthez, and Toulouse.[2] The 3rd Battalion belonged to Cole's 4th Division throughout the war.[6] At the Battle of Sorauren (Pyrenees), the 3rd/27th lost two officers and 41 men killed, nine officers and 195 men wounded, and seven men taken prisoner.[7] At Toulouse, the unit lost two officers and 23 men killed, and five officers and 76 men wounded.[8]
The 1st Battalion went on to fight at the Battle of Waterloo as part of John Lambert's 10th Brigade in the 6th Division. At about 6:30 PM, the French captured the key strongpoint of La Haye Sainte farm. After this success, they brought up several cannon and took the Anglo-Allied lines under fire at extremely close range. At this period, the 698-strong battalion was deployed in square at the point where the Ohain road crossed the Charleroi to Brussels highway. At a range of 300 yards, the French artillery caused the unit enormous casualties within a short time.[9] At day's end, the 3rd Battalion had lost 105 killed and 373 wounded, a total of 478 casualties.[10] The unit was described as "lying dead in a square". At the time of Waterloo, the soldiers of the 27th were dressed in red, short-tailed jackets, overall trousers, and a high-fronted shako. The facing color was buff and it was displayed on the collar, cuffs, and shoulder-straps. The lace on the cuffs and jackets had square-ended loops. Meanwhile to the south of the battle for the town of Nivelles on the Nivelles-Namur road the Prussian III Korps and the I Korps where pushing back the French the 1-93 e ,the 2/92e,1/69e these units were still fighting but being push to their limit. The 1/3e, 2/44e, 20e Dragons Sq, 12e dragons Sq, 2/37e ligne
1er, 2e and 3e Bataillons, 37e Régiment de Ligne Colonel Ferjeux Fortier 1,142
III French Corps, 2/34e ligne, 1/64 and the 3/6Legere along with the 2/11e Legere also the 1/11e where all over ran. The battle for Soignée at the top of the hour was in Limbo.
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