Wellington's writing...

[Iain...]

Lol…, that’s amusing.  Yes, it was steep…, in as much as the Hougoumont farm that the Scots Guards was defending was downhill from the Mont-Saint-Jean ridge. 
However, despite being totally wrong about the haystack, (too far away) the low-level position had nothing to do with the fires.  Wellington was confused, as the fire he’s talking about was the great barn fire…, not the chateau.  The barn was an accident, giving the illusion that the adjacent chateau was on fire.  Proof being…, if the howitzer been active with its incendiary carcass, he would not have blamed the haystack.  Only later would the chateau and other buildings be targeted by the howitzer. 
I also think we should be excuse Wellington for his punctuation.  While writing, he was on horseback using a pencil on a sheet of goatskin, while Napoleons’ ‘daughters’ (his cannons) were firing large shot at the surrounding troops.  Lol…, not the best conditions for good grammar. 

Thank you everyone…