Editor's Note Wargamers have the luxury of directing their battles relatively free from distractions. But the pressure at the top could be quite as debilitating as the stresses created at the front. The following account of events at Ligny is by General Gourgard, extracted from his work, "The Campaign of 1815". This account was written at St. Helena and first published in London, 1818, and was copyrighted by Lionel Leventhal in 1982. "That there were scattered through the different regiments of the French army some officers and soldiers, who, took a pleasure in exaggerating the enemy's force, and reporting every moment that we were turned, & etc., cannot be doubted, It has already been mentioned, that, on the 14th, General Bourmont went over to the enemy with a colonel of engineers; and several officers deserted during the battle of the 16th. In the heat of the action Napoleon received five or six alarming reports. One was from a General, announcing, that Vandamme, and the whole of his staff, had joined the enemy; another stated that Marshal Soult was to be guarded against, for that he had given false orders for the movements. A quarter master of dragoons, with looks of complete despair, and, exclaiming that he wanted to speak to the Emperor, approached him and said, "Sire, I come to inform your Majesty, that General Henain is at this moment haranguing the officers of his division to induce them to desert to the enemy." "How do you know that?" said Napoleon. "Where is he? Did you hear him?" And he learned, that the quarter master had neither seen nor heard General Henain, but that an officer had told him to make this report. The whole of these stories were false. Vandamme might, perhaps, have acted with more vigor, but he was far from having any idea of treachery. Henain, at the moment he was thus accused, had his thigh carried away by a bullet." Back to Art of War Issue #31 Table of Contents Back to Art of War List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Clash of Arms Games. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com