As
soon as these were collected the whole of the wounded were placed in
ambulance wagons and country carts, and despatched to Brussels.
Presently a general movement of the great baggage trains was observed
by the troops to be taking place, and the long column moved along the
road to the north. The duke had sent off a staff-officer at daybreak
to ascertain the state of things at Ligny; he returned with the report
that the Prussians had left the field. He then sent out a small party
of cavalry under Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon. This officer
pushed forward until he encountered General Zieten, who was still at
Sombreuf, but a mile distant from the battlefield. The general
informed him of the whole events of the preceding day, and gave him
the important intelligence that Blucher had retreated to Wavre, and
would join hands with Wellington at Mount St. Jean, which the English
general had previously fixed upon as the scene of the battle for the
defense of Brussels.
The news relieved Wellington of all anxiety. It had been before
arranged that Blucher if defeated, should if possible fall back to
Wavre; but it was by no means certain that he would be able to do
this, and had he been compelled by the events of the conflict to
retire upon his base at Namur he would have been unable to effect a
junction for some days with Wellington, and the latter would have been
obliged single-handed to bear the whole brunt of Napoleon's attack.
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