In the early hours of the 16th of June 1815 men of the 95th Rifles assembled in the Central Park Of Brussels along with the rest of the Reserve Division.

June 17, 2023

During the course of the afternoon and evening of the 15th, Wellington became aware of the French push across the border.

The Reserve Division marched out of Brussels around 0300 on the morning of the 16th. They had reached the area of Mont-St-Jean, which would become famous two days later, by 1100. Here Wellington passed them on his way to the crossroads at Quatre Bras. The 95th pushed on and reached the battlefield around 1500.

They were deployed immediately onto the allied left to halt the French advance.

Here they suffered their first casualty of the Waterloo campaign, not from enemy action, but from heat exhaustion which give us an idea of the forced marched they had endured.

Principally engaged around the hamlet of Thyle the Riflemen held their own, fighting off numerous French attacks. As more and more allied troops reached the crossroads the 95th eventually pushed forward, along with most of the allied forces, taking the fight to the French before darkness called a halt to the fighting.

The 95th spent the night camped around the farmhouse of Gemincourt. They had spent the last 26 hours constantly either on the march or engaged with the French.

During the battle of Quatre Bras the 95th suffered 67 casualties, around 10% of their strength.