In his report, circa December 1824, Carl von Rettberg outlined the events at the start of the Waterloo campaign, and in particular on the morning of the 16th June 1815: ‘Such was the situation when during the night of the 15th to the 16th June the battery received the order to assemble from the Headquarters in Brussels. The following morning an additional arrived with instructions to depart, and towards 7 o’clock (as the 4th Division was so far back at Audenardo [sic]) I joined with the 5th Division which was also on the move, it being under the command of Major-General General Sir James Kempt (as Sir Thomas Picton had not arrived at that time). The order I received instructed me to follow the road to Charleroi via Waterloo and to report there. I reached the division on the other side of Waterloo where it had stopped, and I received permission from the General commanding the division to water the horses.’  The contents of this file form part of the on-line archive.

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