Even a cursory examination of French eyewitness accounts of the Napoleonic era and the writings of subsequent historians leads to the suspicion that British and American military writers have been rehashing the same Englishlanguage sources over and over again for the past century. They do not appear to have made great use of the numerous French personal narratives, or kept abreast of what French historians have been writing on the period. A case in point is the alternate version of the death of the Duke of Brunswick at Quatre Bras, which differs markedly from English accounts. This incident has been mentioned by several French historians, and would come to the attention of any scholar doing even a modest amount of French-language research. The primary source is the Memoires e Correspondance de Roi Jerome et de la Rein Catherine, vol. 7, edited by "E. Dentu" (believed to be the pseudonym of a Bonapartist aristocrat). These "memoires" are Jft6me's and Catherine's actual letters and statements and those of their associates, interspersed with Bonapartist diatribes and apologetics drawn by the editor from sources of varying reliability. Denni's account is not of absolute dependability, but it does represent the observations of some of J&6me's officers, and at least deserves a mention. "The Brunswick infantry, shaken in its turn, retired in disorder, partly in the Bossu Wood, partly beyond the Nivelles Road. Our lancers and chasseurs, getting caught up in the pursuit, became engaged with the right of Picton's line, and also with the Quatre Bras reserves. Wellington was in brief danger of being captured. Several English and Dutch [hollandais] squares were broken, while others resisted. "Here took place an incident of both historic and romantic interest; we are talking about the death of the Duke of Brunswick. This prince, dispossessed of his estates to the benefit of the crown of Westphalia, had never ceased for ten years to fill the streams of Europe with his hatred of the French and to seek them out on all the fields of battle. Under the title of Duc d'Oels, we have seen, in 1809, that from a point in the north of Germany he attempted to penetrate into Brunswick, fought with the Westphalian troops, then sought refuge with the English fleet after one of the most audacious enterprises in the history of partisan warfare. By a most bizarre coincidence, Fortune again placed him, on June 16, 1815, face to face with the prince on whose head he had concentrated all his national and personal hatred. This last encounter was to prove fatal. It is well known that this descendant of a courageous race found his death on the battlefield of Quatre Bras, just as his father had found his nine years before on the battlefield of Jena. Only, history has inaccurately recorded the circumstances of his death. History has represented the Duke of Brunswick as being struck by a bullet, supposedly at the moment when he was leading the charge of his uhlans against our infantry, supposedly in the melee which followed this thwarted attempt, in the midst of his desperate attempt to rally his retreating men. An oral tradition preserved among a great number of the officers in Jerome's division, in his entourage, and even handed down by himself, as attached to one of the most curious anecdotes of his life, is contrary to this narrative. "According to this tradition, the Duke Of Brunswick advanced alone up to the French lines, at what moment of the combat we do not know precisely, but apparently during one of those instants of respite or cease-fire in one part or another of even the fiercest battle. The suspicion of treason existed throughout, it irritated the soldiers of the French army, and served to singularly embolden the chiefs of the Coalition. [Louis XVIII's] Court at Ghent held the idea that the French, beguiled for the moment by the Emperor, would not demand to march under the banner of their legitimate king. Bourmont and those who had deserted with him, having not been able naturally to justify their desertion, told a different story. The Duke of Brunswick believed that he was able, in presenting himself before the French soldiers, in the name of the Bourbons, to bring about their defection. His confidence cost him his life. Scarcely had he pronounced some words before the 1st Regiment of Light Infantry, commanded by Colonel Cubieres, than he fell pierced by bullets. His pistols were carried to Prince Jerome and are today in the possession of his son the Prince Napoleon. "We find the facts also recounted in this manner in the notes of M. de Vatry, ordinance officer of Prince Jerome, who still confirms it to this day. We have transcribed this passage, because this simple narrative of an eyewitness enables us by its nature to lift any form of doubt about these details ignored until the present by the historians: "June 16th had been the scene of combat by bayonet, the first that I had seen. But, having come there, during a respite owing to the halt of the troops, at the edge of the forest, to the right of the entrance to the village of Quatre Bras, when we were being peppered by fire from their muskets, an enemy general advanced upon us. We believed for an instant that it was Monsieur le Duc de Berry, but we were corrected when he raised his hat to speak to us. I understood to come out of his mouth these words: 'Frenchmen, listen to me!' the captain of the carabinier company which formed the head of our division (it is said that he was named Brea), gave the command, 'Fire!' and the unfortunate orator fell pierced by bullets. We had known that this was the Duke of Brunswick- Oels. This death hastened the retrograde movement of our adversaries, that we had struck in the woods and who had resisted us bravely, aided by the very solid Scots, when a bullet lodged in the sword pommel of our commander [Jerome]. Becoming very rigid, he turned pale, which made us believe that he was mortally wounded. His cool demeanor reassured us, and he recovered enough to not wish to dismount from his horse, which he had under control. He did not pay any attention to his wound until his chief of staff spoke to him, after Kellermann's cavalry charge. Only then, also, did we converse among ourselves about the ancient personal enemy of the prince, who came precisely to be killed by the soldiers of his division..." Back to Art of War Issue #20 Table of Contents Back to Art of War List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Clash of Arms Games. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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