BATTLEFIELD

The Battle of Greenloo

Instantaneously, the two football fields were greedily inhabited by two immense armies composing of thousands of Napoleonic Age foot soldiers in tight boxlike formations with artillery batteries (cannons) and cavalry units (horsemen) in support. Each army had marching bands and brilliant banners, which made the experience more exhilarating for the ear and eye. Each side was full of color, the army next to the school was mostly blue colored and the army closer the baseball diamonds was mostly red colored. These two armies were the French and the British.

Off to the side and at the rear of each army was a collection of finely dressed men on horseback, who were wearing overly dressed uniforms and appeared obviously removed from the common foot soldiers and cavalry units manning the field. These lone packs of men were the generals and commanding officers of each army directing thousands of troops into battle. On the red colored British side were several elegant looking commanders, officers and gentlemen all. However, in front and center of these twenty odd horse bound battle commanders, was the ultimate British battle commander, Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, a veteran of sixty battles in the Netherlands, India, Denmark, Portugal, and Spain. The other commanders huddled around him as if he was a football quarterback and they waited in impatient anticipation for the next plan of action from Wellington's playbook.

Wellington was certainly a giant of military heroes, but he was not a giant of a man. He was around five foot eight inches tall with a slight build and was considered a serious-calm mannered man, who did not like to show anger or raise his voice if he could help it, but when he lost his temper, watch out. He did not care for overly arrogant or stuck up officers of the British upper classes, whom he called Gallant Officers. He was known for being well dressed, but wore dark colored clothes on the battlefield, not wearing the traditional British red uniform. He was making sure he would not stand out as a target, which gave him the ability of somewhat safely traveling among the ranks during decisive moments.

Wellington wore custom made made black leather boots, which were more durable and comfortable. He wore white breeches(Trousers), which looked tan colored and a wide red sash around his waist. Above the waist, Wellington wore a white shirt that had a high collar up to the top of his neck and around his chest he wore a light grey vest. Over his shirt and vest, Wellington wore a medium blue uniform and on the left breast of his uniform he wore a silver colored eight pointed star like badge with a red cross in the middle, called the Garter Star, symbolizing that Wellington was a Knight of the Order of the Garter. Then he wore a great dark blue cloak over his uniform and over his short haired head Wellington wore a black vertical bicorne hat with no feathered decor, just some some mild gold braiding on the front and rear tips of the hat. Finally, on the left side of the hat was a larger gold braided strap connected to a multicolored red-blue-black-orange round shaped cockade.

On his charger (horse), Copenhagen, a dark chestnut colored seven year-old stallion, Wellington surveyed the french formations with his ever present brass telescope clutched in his white gloved right hand. On his horse, Wellington sat in a black saddle with two black and gold front pouches. He did not cary any firearms, though strapped to the left side of his waist he carried a saber with a highly decorated gold and white hilt. A horse, a telescope, and a sword, these were the only tools needed for a master of adaptive defensive warfare, meaning flexibility and ability to change with an ever changing environment. The reason Wellington was able to defeat French generals in Portugal and Spain were his battle plans. Many a French general's battle plans were made like metal, tough and hard, but when broken almost impossible to fix and stalled motionless. Wellington's battle plans were made like rope, weaker and looser than metal, but when broken, easily tied back together and able to be on the move again.

On the other side of the battlefield was the blue colored French Grand Army and its assembly of battlefield commanders with their master of offensive warfare, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of France. He was five foot-seven inches in height, contrary to myth as being short, so he was only one inch shorter than Wellington. However, Napoleon did not have a slight build as Wellington did, for Napoleon had a pot belly and pasty face with thinning black hair on his head.