enlarge/ Map of the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, showing major movements and attacks. Napoleon’s units are blue, Wellington’s units are red, and Blücher’s units is gray.
Historians are still debating the exact time of the battle, but the Wellington Telegram It is shown that Napoleon “began to violently attack our post at Hugomonte” around 10 a.m. on June 18. A large country house shaded by trees, it was one of several key locations on the Waterloo battlefield. The fighting lasted eight hours in multiple locations.
Ultimately, Wellington’s casualties reached about 15,000, while Blucher’s forces suffered 7,000 casualties. death or injury. Napoleon’s army was even worse: 24,000 to 26,000 were killed or wounded, including thousands captured. Over the next few days, another 15,000 French soldiers deserted.
This completes a tough cleanup. A contemporary report by Major WE Frye described the June 22 battlefield as “a sight too terrifying to see”. Frye recounts “a mass of corpses, piles of wounded, mutilated, immobile, dying from undressed wounds or from starvation.”
enlarge/ James Rouse’s work depicts the burial of the dead at Chateau Hougoumont after Waterloo.
