Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy
Emmanuel de Grouchy commanded the detachment that did not arrive at Waterloo, and spent the rest of his life arguing about it. Born in 1766 into an old aristocratic family, he was a nobleman who kept his commission through the Revolution — which cost him it twice, and he was imprisoned. He fought in the Vendée, in Italy, at Hohenlinden, at Eylau and Friedland, and led the cavalry in Russia in 1812, where he commanded the Sacred Squadron of officers escorting Napoleon out. He was made a Marshal of France in April 1815, the last man Napoleon promoted, and the promotion was three months old at Waterloo. After beating the Prussians at Ligny on 16 June, Napoleon detached him with about 33,000 men — a third of the army — to pursue them and prevent them joining Wellington. He lost contact with them. Blücher had withdrawn north towards Wavre rather than east towards his supply lines, which was the decision of the campaign, and Grouchy followed the wrong road. On the morning of 18 June, at breakfast at Walhain, he heard the guns from the west. General Gérard urged him to march to the sound of them. Grouchy refused, on the ground that his written orders were to follow the Prussians and that Napoleon had not recalled him. He fought a Prussian rearguard at Wavre while the battle was lost eleven miles away, and conducted an orderly retreat afterwards. He was exiled to America, returned in 1821, and died in 1847. Whether marching to the guns would have changed the day is the oldest argument in Napoleonic history, and it is not settled.
- Lived: 1766 CE – 1847 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: field_marshal, cavalry_commander
