Hello John,

As you probably know there is precious little information to be an expert on. We know from Picton's court martial that, during the night of the 14th, Abercromby ordered Perryn to take the 12th to St Michelsgestel on the 15th where he arrived at 7am and they were certainly not in reserve when attacked by the French cavalry. They would have left the camp at Berlicum between 3 and 5 am to cover the 4 mile march. Similarly the Coldstream Guards were at Erp. The other thing we know is that Abercromby specifically thanked the battalion guns of the 42nd for covering the retirement across the river on the return march from Schyndel. So we could interpret this as the 42nd being left behind to guard the crossing with the heavy howitzers that Morris tells us were also left behind, alhough his thanks were specific to the guns. We know that the Duke of York sent the army's Reserve Corps which comprised both the Guard brigade and the 3rd Brigade plus the cavalry to retake Boxtel. When I read Carter my assumption was that he meant that the 42nd and 12th were in reserve, which Perryn of the 12th wouldn't agree with, while the 33rd and 44th went on with the Guards. The Duke's staff knew that the French were 55,000 strong, so I find it very unlikely that Abercromby advanced beyond Schyndel with the Guards brigade alone and my recreations of the battle always have the 33rd, 44th and also the 42nd in and around Schyndel, but we will probably never know for sure.

All the best

Garry