Oliver Otis Howard, Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, major general , United States army : volume 2

My son James W. Howard had been for some time a student attending lectures at the University of Gtattingen. He came to Antwerp and was on hand soon after I landed. Speaking French and German, he became my guide and interpreter. In Antwerp we saw the panorama of Waterloo and different works of art; and became acquainted with some ambitious young artists who were studying, sketching, and painting in the city. One of them I remember was very kind to us. He was of good talent and promise. He became offended at me, however, at last, because one day when I was with him I compared a beautiful chromo with an oil painting, saying that in my judgment the chromo was nicer than the painting. After that weak assertion of mine, the young man, enthusiastic and loyal to his art, would speak to me no more, and I could not blame him.

At Brussels we enjoyed the fine architectural buildings and such pictures of the old masters as everybody sees.

My son and I had a good visit to the battlefield of Waterloo. As soon as I came in sight of the British Monument, approaching it from the north, I could see the favorable military position which Wellington took into his view when he was preparing for battle. The grounds have been disturbed by landscape gradings, and yet there is the well-defined crest of a long ridge behind which the artillery and infantry of Wellington were formed for action. You can see where the sunken road once was, and easily how it broke up Napoleon's cavalry charge.

I was much interested in looking at the walled hamlet