Jean-Baptiste Decoster (guide)

Decoster was an unwilling guide, but his recollections form an important primary source for the locations where Napoleon resided during the battle.

[4][5] Decoster's house stood on the eastern side of the Waterloo–Genappe main road south of the junction with the minor road to Plancenoit (south of La Belle Alliance and north of the farm of Rossomme).

He then moved forward with his staff officers and the unwilling Decoster, to a location in the valley to the north of La Belle Alliance (and thus closer to the front line), and remained there during the attack by the French Imperial Guard.

Then, according to Decoster, he accompanied Napoleon as far as Genappe during his flight after the retreat of the Guard and the general rout that ensued.

[6] He continued guiding for twelve years, which was quite lucrative; in 1826 or 1827 his heirs purportedly inherited 300,000 francs.