been held in reserve. At this stage the advance of Prussian horse on the
allied left forced back General Durutte's troops, and the Old Guard
formed in squares to cover this retreat. Ney's division surrounded, made
a gallant struggle--their brave leader still unwounded, though five
horses had been shot under him, heading them on foot, sword in hand--but
were forced to give way. The Old Guard held their ground against
overwhelming numbers. Finally, when five squares were broken, the
Emperor gave the order to "fall back." The cry "The Guard is repulsed"
spread consternation through the French army and threatened to turn
retreat into precipitate flight. Napoleon, seeing this, reformed the
Guard in order to give a rallying point for the fugitives. Failing in
this, he declared that he would die within the square, but Marshal Soult
hurried him away. The heroic band, surrounded, was bidden to surrender.
"The Old Guard dies, but never surrenders" is the reply popularly
attributed to General Cambronne, and with the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!"
the remnant of the Guard made a last charge upon the enemy and perished
almost to a man. The forces of Blucher being now upon the field, the
rout of the French was complete, and the Prussians pursued the fleeing
troops, capturing guns and men. There is no doubt that the failure of
Grouchy to come upon the field caused Napoleon to lose his last great
battle. It was subsequently asserted that this marshal was bribed, but
there seems to be no real foundation for so base a charge. The trouble
was that he had been ordered by Napoleon to follow the Prussians toward
Wavre and thought it necessary to follow the strict letter of his
instructions. Before he reached the village the main body of the
Prussian force was on its way to Waterloo, but one division had been
left there to occupy his attention. Engaged in skirmishing with this, he
paid no attention to the advice of his subordinate generals who, hearing
the terrible cannonading at Waterloo, besought him to go to the aid of
the army there. Napoleon believing that he was either holding back