urus and
Charleroi.

The same day the army of Marshal Blucher, ninety thousand strong,
collected together with great skill, was posted on the heights of Bry
and Sombref, and occupied the villages of Ligny and St. Amand, which
protected his front. His cavalry extended far in advance on the road
to Namur[45].

[Footnote 45: General Blucher had not had time to
collect the whole of his forces.]

The army of the Duke of Wellington, which this general had not yet had
time to collect, was composed of about a hundred thousand men
scattered between Ath, Nivelle, Genappe, and Brussels.

The Emperor went in person, to reconnoitre Blucher's position; and
penetrating his intentions, resolved to give him battle, before his
reserves, and the English army, for which he was endeavouring to wait,
should have time to unite, and come and join him.

He immediately sent orders to Marshal Ney, whom he supposed to have
been on the march for Quatre Bras, _where he would have found very
few forces_, to drive the English briskly before him, and then fall
with his main force on the rear of the Prussian army.

At the same time he made a change in the front of the imperial army:
General Grouchy advanced toward Sombref, General Gerard toward Ligny,
and General Vandamme toward St. Amand.

General Gerard, with his division, five thousand strong, was detached
from the 2d corps, and placed in the rear of General Vandamme's left,
so as to support him, and at the same time form a communication
between Marshal Ney's army and that of Napoleon.

The guard, and Milhaud's cuirassiers, were disposed as a reserve in
advance of Fleurus.

At three o'clock the 3d corps reached St. Amand, and carried it. The
Prussians, rallied by Blucher, retook the village. The French,
entrenched in the churchyard, defended themselves there with
obstinacy; but, overpowered by numbers, they were about to give way,
when General Drouot, who has more than once decided the fate of a
battle, galloped up with four batteries of the guard, took the enemy
in the rear, and stopped his career.

At the same moment Marshal Grouchy was fighting successfully at
Sombref, and General Gerard made an impetuous attack on the village
of Ligny. Its embattled walls, and a long ravine, rendered the
approaches to it not less difficult than dangerous: but these
obstacles did not intimidate General Lefol, or the brave fellows under
his command; they advanced with the b