"During August 22 and 23 the advance squadrons did some excellent work, some of them penetrating as far as Soignies (a town of Belgium ten miles northeast of Mons) and several encounters took place in which our troops showed to great advantage.

The weather was propitious, but the poet's spirits seemed depressed, and we passed through the gloomy forest of Soignies without much conversation.

On the first day we had so little idea of the vicinity of the engagement, that I drove out with a Belgian family in an open carriage towards the Bois de Soignies.