Waterloo

by Tim Clayton

  8 Mercer, Journal, 161.

  9 Ross in Siborne, Letters, no.91; the third was probably Beane’s, which Frazer says was placed close to Ross’s. Gunner John Edwards, Glover, Waterloo Archive, I, 102.

  10 Muir, Tactics, 34.

  11 Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 39; Brandis in Glover, V, 56; Playford, Lifeguardsman, 48–9.

  12 Rettberg in Glover, Letters, 156. Noguès, Mémoires, 274; Müffling, History, 21; Ingilby, ‘Waterloo Diary’, 55.

  13 The order in which the divisions advanced has been interpreted very differently by different historians, owing to the lack of evidence. Batty said that Donzelot attacked La Haye Sainte, Quiot and Marcognet attacked Picton with the half of Durutte’s division that was not at Papelotte. Shaw Kennedy has Quiot attack La Haye Sainte, while Donzelot, Marcognet and Durutte attack Picton. Siborne, Waterloo Campaign 247–8, Roberts and Barbero follow Batty. Charras, Houssaye, James, Weller, Chandler and Hamilton-Williams follow Shaw Kennedy. Mauduit, Derniers jours, II, 293–7 gives the version I follow. Janin, 53, says little, but has three attacking columns rather than four.

  14 Canler, Mémoires, 19.

  15 Siborne, Letters, no. 157.

  16 Chapuis, ‘Notice sur le 85e de ligne’, 45.

  17 Canler, Mémoires, 20; Noguès, Mémoires, 274; Martin, ‘Lettre d’un officier Genèvois du 45e’, 502; Schmitz in Brouwet, ‘Quatre documents’, 363; Rullière in Largeaud, Napoléon et Waterloo, 375–6.

  18 Mauduit, Derniers jours, II, 291.

  50 D’Erlon’s Assault

  1 Field, French Perspective, 70: a report to Soult on the advantages of rifles.

  2 Büsgen in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 157; Jolyet in Souvenirs et correspondance, 77.

  3 Mackinnon, Coldstream Guards, 217–8; Hepburn in Siborne, Letters, no. 117.

  4 Clay, ‘Adventures at Hougoumont’, 222.

  5 Hornn, Narrative, 59.

  6 Lindau, Waterloo Hero, 167–8 and 187.

  7 Canler, Mémoires, 19–20; Duthilt in Field, French Perspective, 99; Martin, Souvenirs, 287.

  8 D’Huvelé in 1815 Limited On-line Archive; Rettberg in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 48; expenditure of ammunition in BL Add Mss 19,590. It is not clear, however, whether the expenditure includes ammunition lost when caissons exploded.

  9 Martin, ‘Lettre’, 503; Koopman in Franklin, Netherlands Correspondence, 109; von Bronkhorst in 1815 Limited On-line Archive; Nyevelt in Franklin, Netherlands Correspondence, 55.

  10 Kincaid, Adventures, 343–4; Canler, Mémoires, 21; Rogers and Maule in Siborne, Letters, nos. 102–3.

  51 Crabbé’s Charge

  1 Brigade report in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 95; Jacobi in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 135; Bäring in Lindau, Waterloo Hero, 187–8; Biedermann in Glover, Waterloo Archive, V, 42.

  2 Levavasseur, Souvenirs Militaires, 298. He may not have taken a squadron from every regiment (see Field, French Perspective, 85–6), but there seem to have been lancers operating in this area of the field. Lot, Ordener, 91. Macready, ‘Journals’, 523. Müffling, History, 22, confirms that a cavalry attack in the centre preceded d’Erlon’s assault: ‘No sooner had the artillery opened upon this fresh corps [d’Erlon’s], than a body of cavalry advanced to the right and left of the high road.’

  3 Charras, Campagne de 1815, 275; Lot, Ordener, p. 91; Houssaye, 1815: Waterloo, 383; Field, French Perspective, 94; Barbero, The Battle, 160, who says it was recovered after the battle. The Hanoverian sources are silent.

  4 Jacobi in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 135–6.

  5 Brigade report in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 95–6. Ordener (Lot, Ordener, 91) spoke of twenty-four guns, which would match the combined total of Ross, Beane, Kühlmann and Lloyd.

  6 Beamish, King’s German Legion, 355–6; Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 91.

  7 Wheatley, Diary, 64.

  8 Edwards in Glover, Waterloo Archive, I, 102–3.

  9 See, for instance, von Dreves in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 68.

  10 D.D. Vigors, ‘Voices from the Napoleonic Wars’, Journal of the Royal Artillery, CXI (September 1984), 138–9.

  11 Dessales in Souvenirs et correspondance, 53–4. Simmons, British Rifle Man, 365, wrote that the guns moved forward before d’Erlon’s attack went in.

  52 The Charge of the Household Brigade

  1 Playford in Glover, Waterloo Archive, IV, 38.

  2 Uxbridge in Siborne, Letters, no. 5.

  3 Somerset in Siborne, Letters, no. 18.

  4 Elton in Glover, Waterloo Archive, IV, 49–50.

  5 Gore, Historical Account, 89. Gore made the precipice forty feet but he was prone to exaggeration. The incident was a celebrated feature of Victor Hugo’s account of Waterloo.

  6 Levavasseur, Souvenirs, 294.

  7 See Dörnberg in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 30.

  8 Hasker in Glover, Waterloo Archive, I, 20; Page in Glover, Waterloo Archive, III, 23.

  9 Playford, in Glover, Waterloo Archive, IV, 40; Lord in Glover, Waterloo Archive, I, 14; Houssaye, 1815: Waterloo, 354.

  10 Cathcart in Siborne, Letters, no. 15.

  11 All of the four men who rode to Playford’s immediate left were killed. Published tales of Shaw begin modestly with Kelly, Waterloo, 94, and less modestly with Waldie, Near Observer (1817 edition), 30, where he died fighting six Imperial Guardsmen, of whom he killed four, after earlier cutting a cuirassier’s head in two. They culminate in W. Knollys, Shaw the Lifeguardsman (London, 1885), 62–3.

  12 Marten in Siborne, Letters, nos 26–7; Waymouth in Siborne, Letters, no. 20.

  13 Uxbridge in Siborne, Letters, no. 5.

  53 The Charge of the Union Brigade

  1 Seymour in Siborne, Letters, nos 9–10; Tomkinson, Diary, 302.

  2 Two versions of this in Swiney, Historical Records, 121 and Belcher in Siborne, Letters, no. 154, who says he had taken the colours from the wounded ensign when a French officer seized them.

  3 Batty, Campaign of 1815, 94–5; Müffling, Memoirs, 244, wrote, ‘I arrived on the left wing at the same moment that General Picton (who fell on this occasion) was repulsed in his attack on the enemy’s 1st corps.’ Kempt’s report (WSD, X, 535) admitted that the French reached the crest of the position, but claimed that the infantry defeated the French before cavalry arrived on the scene. It is possible that this was true of Bourgeois’ brigade, which may have crumbled from the rear as the Household Brigade arrived behind its flank. Captain Cadell of the 28th (Glover, Letters, 268) spoke plausibly of ‘checking with the bayonet and musketry, a heavy French column that was charged shortly after by the heavy cavalry’. Ingilby (Siborne, Letters, no. 82), recalled that ‘our troops recoiled and some Highlanders were in confusion’.

  4 Martin, ‘Lettre d’un officier Genevois’, 503, written 1 August 1815. His later account is entirely different. In this, the French are surprised at close range with shots from the hollow road. Having dislodged this (presumably Dutch) infantry at bayonet point, they are themselves charged by new (Scottish) adversaries after they cross the hedge and in the middle of a mêlée he is reorganising the ranks when the cavalry charge. My view is that the earlier letter is more likely to be accurate.

  5 Clark in Siborne, Letters, nos 35 and 38 got the impression that the French to his left had reached the crest of the ridge and that Kempt’s British infantry in front of him had crossed the hedges in confusion, moving towards him. He allowed that they might be doing so in reforming after a successful charge. De Lacy Evans, Siborne, Letters, no. 32 said that ‘As to Colonel Gurwood’s account of 1,123 sabres, I dare say it is all very right as a return, but the 1,123 sabres were not on the field according to my humble recollection and belief.’ Clark (Siborne, Letters, no. 39) reckoned their strength at 950–1000 at the highest.

  6 Clark in Siborne, Letters, no. 37; Styles in Summerville, Who was Who, 77 and 368–70.

  7 Dessales in Souvenirs et correspondence, 53–4.

  8 Martin, ‘Lettre’, 504.

  9 Schmitz
in Brouwet, ‘Quatre Documents’, 363; Shelton, in Siborne, Letters, no. 150, stated that some Royal Dragoons went round the left of the 28th Foot and and ‘passed on to engage a large reserve column which was coming on’ still lower down the hill. Ensign Mountsteven in Siborne, Letters, no. 151, recalled ‘the intense anxiety we felt when we saw some of the gallant, but over-rash fellows, without stopping to form again, ride on headlong at what appeared to me an immensely strong corps of support in perfect order, but which I do not see marked down on the plan. On this column they, of course, made no impression, but suffered some loss, although as far as I could see, a fire was opened upon them by only a small portion of it’; de Lacy Evans in Siborne, Letters, nos. 31–3.

  10 Wyndham in Siborne, Letters, no. 41; Crawford in Glover, Letters, 60.

  11 Ewart in Glover, Waterloo Archive, III, 32–4.

  12 There were probably fewer prisoners than the 2000 or more that have been claimed. Vivian spoke to Wellington around 4 a.m. on 19 June, at which point the Duke was under the impression that 1200 Frenchmen had been taken to the rear (Siborne, Letters, no. 71).

  13 Clark in Siborne, Letters, no. 36.

  54 The French Counter-attack

  1 Elton in Glover, Waterloo Archive, IV, 50–1; Hibbert in www.qdg.org.uk/diaries, CARDG: 1985.1199. According to Waymouth, Fuller was killed ‘down the slope of our position to the right of La Haye Sainte’ (Siborne, Letters, no. 21). The presence of lancers in the centre is explained if Ney really had created a central strike force under his own command. Levavasseur thought that they were commanded by General Colbert, of whom there were two, so they may have belonged to the Guard or to Subervie’s division.

  2 Hasker in Glover, Waterloo Archive, I, 20–1.

  3 Martin, ‘Lettre’, 504–5.

  4 Canler, Mémoires, 21–2. Surprisingly, a sous-lieutenant of the 55th named Labigne really was a victim of Waterloo and Martinien, 246, records him as ‘disparu’. This suggests that Labigne met his end skirmishing in the tall crops, or at the hands of the dragoons, and that Canler kept his bag.

  5 Waldie, Near Observer, Second edition 1815, xxvi. This sets Ponsonby’s death at Hougoumont in the course of a charge against Polish lancers, but the core of the story may still be true; the account by Sergeant Dickson of the Greys, who claimed to have experienced every picturesque incident in the charge, is untrustworthy. Urban in Mauduit, Derniers jours, II, 300–1, though Urban’s claims look as ambitious as Dickson’s.

  6 Tomkinson, Diary, 136n; Muir, Tactics, 117–18.

  7 Tomkinson, Diary, 301 and 304.

  55 The Charge of Sir John Vandeleur’s Brigade

  1 Berckefeldt in Glover, Waterloo Archive, V, 88.

  2 Ponsonby account of 10 August 1815 in BL Add Mss 19,590; Bessborough, Lady Bessborough, 242.

  3 Hay, Reminiscences, 184.

  4 Mauduit, Derniers Jours, II, 307–9.

  5 Bessborough, Lady Bessborough, 242–3.

  6 Frazer, Letters, 560.

  7 Hope, Military Memoirs, 431–2 recalled the rocketeers spending half an hour trying unsuccessfully to break d’Erlon’s solid column of support. Schmitz recalled more than 200 rockets being fired at their division, Brouwet, (‘Quatre Documents’, 363), Heymès (Elchingen, Documents inédits, 15, Waterloo: Récits, 50) and Mauduit (Derniers Jours, II, 299) 300, but the account of expenditure of ammunition recorded fifty-two (BL Add Mss 19,590); Couvreur, ‘Des Belges à Waterloo’, 26. Ravard in Calvet, Destins de braves, 37.

  56 Where are the Prussians?

  1 ‘Campaign of Waterloo’, 467.

  2 Shaw Kennedy, Notes, 133. By the same token Shaw found it incredible that Grouchy might have achieved the twenty-mile march from Gembloux to Mont Saint Jean on 18 June.

  3 Cotton, Voice From Waterloo, 85.

  4 Henckel, Erinnerungen, 642 (Diary of 19th Regiment). He had at least one squadron of 6th Uhlans under Count Leutrum.

  5 Salisch, Geschichte, 203.

  6 Reiche, as translated in Brett-James, Hundred Days, 148.

  7 Lieber, Letters, 107–8.

  8 Ollech, Feldzuges von 1815, 207–8.

  9 Batty, Campaign of 1815, 105, based on information given him by Staveley himself, as Batty says in Glover, Letters, 165–6.

  57 The Grand Battery Rebuilt

  1 Shaw Kennedy, Notes, 114.

  2 Mudie, ‘Operations of the Fifth’, 180 and 183; Robertson, Journal, 155.

  3 O’Neil, Military Adventures, 246–51.

  4 Kelly, NAM 2002-01-254.

  5 Bourdon de Vatry in Grouchy, Mémoires, 106.

  6 Muir, Tactics, 203–4. Tomkinson, Diary, 289; Mercer, Journal, 138; Wyndham in Siborne, Letters, no. 40.

  7 See Dessales in Souvenirs et Correspondence, 55: ‘I had not moved from the forward position in which I received that charge.’

  8 Pétiet, Souvenirs Militaires, 218; Mauduit, Derniers Jours, II, 326; Houssaye, 1815: Waterloo, 364–5.

  9 Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 71.

  10 Shaw Kennedy, Notes, 113; Alten letter of 20 June cited by Houssaye, 1815: Waterloo, 364.

  11 Lawrence, Autobiography, 206–7.

  12 Muir, Tactics, 201–2; Morris, Memoir, 105.

  13 Dalton, Roll Call, 94; the Lüneberg battalion journal recorded on 16 June that ‘Lieutenant Duwe, who became ill during the march, could not take part in the encounter’ and on 17 June that ‘Lieutenant Stegmann, who felt unwell, went to the hospital in Antwerp’ (1815 Limited On-line Archive). Best in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 120–11, reported that Captains Siegner and Ostvald of the Verden battalion, Lieutenant Kuhlmann of the Munden battalion, Captains Jormin and Schneider of the Lüneberg battalion and Captain von Rauschenplatt of the Osterode battalion, went sick on or after 16 June and retired to Antwerp.

  14 Woodberry, Journal, 317.

  15 WO 71/242 161 and 164. Charles Hames found less support than Henry Ross-Lewin.

  16 Reports of Hanoverian army and Bremen battalion in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 17 and 105.

  17 Weiz in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 184. This was probably Sinclair’s battery.

  18 Wheatley Diary, 65.

  19 Macready, ‘Journals’, 524; Wheatley, Diary, 65.

  20 They may have fled earlier; see Meier in Glover, Waterloo Archive, V, 15–16; Seymour in Siborne, Letters, no. 9. Colonel von Hake faced a court martial in Hanover in 1816 and was cashiered, his second-in-command severely reprimanded.

  21 Wellington to Samuel Rogers in Delancey, Week at Waterloo, 14 and note on p. 109.

  58 Sauve Qui Peut!

  1 Carey, ‘Commissariat officer’, 730–1.

  2 Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 120–1; the evacuation of Mont Saint-Jean farm by the British is vividly described in Simmons, British Rifle Man, 367 and 375.

  3 Creevey, Creevey Papers, I, 232.

  4 Waldie, Near Observer, 1815 edition, xiv.

  5 Elizabeth Ord in Glover, Waterloo Archive, I 228.

  6 Heeley, ‘Journal’, 114.

  7 Creevey, Creevey Papers, I, 233–4.

  59 Napoleon Prepares a Second Assault

  1 Bourdon de Vatry in Grouchy, Mémoires, 108: ‘Le comte de Lobau, commandant la droite à Waterloo, fit dire à l’Empéreur qu’il était attaqué par les Prussiens. Napoléon ne voulut pas admettre d’abord que la chose fût possible’; Combes-Brassard in Souvenirs et correspondance, 19–20: ‘Le 6e corps, formant la réserve … marcha pour soutenir l’attaque de la droite’; Janin, Campagne de Waterloo, 35; cp. Barbero, The Battle, 144–5.

  2 Best in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 120.

  3 Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 161, 167–8.

  4 Adkin, Waterloo Companion, 264.

  5 Clay, ‘Adventures at Hougoumont’, 222.

  6 Leonhard in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 159.

  7 Adair, ‘Coldstream Guards’, 30–1.

  8 Seymour in Siborne, Letters, no. 9.

  9 Gow, ‘3rd Guards’, 42. Miller, Ball, 42. A friend afterwards followed Forbes’s instruction to return
what was left of the miniature.

  10 Brouwet, ‘Quatre documens’, 363.

  11 Alten’s report, WSD, X, 534; Brinckmann in 1815 Limited On-line Archive.

  12 Lindau, Waterloo Hero, 189–90.

  13 Simon Bernard as reported by Prince Bernhard in Franklin, Netherlands Correspondance, 97–8; Ollech, Feldzug von 1815, 226.

  60 Milhaud’s Charge

  1 Bulletin de l’Armée printed in Moniteur 21 June 1815, reprinted in Morning Post, 27 June 1815, ‘Important French Papers’. See Houssaye, 1815: Waterloo, 366. Captain Fortuné de Brack of the Guard lancers claimed that it was his fault that the Guard charged after the cuirassiers (Waterloo: récits de combattants, 14-15), a story given by Mauduit (Derniers jours, II, 346-8) and repeated most recently by Andrew Roberts (Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Gamble, 76).

  2 Petty, First Napoleon, 126.

  3 Field, French Perspective, 138.

  4 Shaw Kennedy, Notes, 114–16; Gronow, Reminiscences, 129.

  5 Wheatley, Diary, 62–6; Linsingen in Glover, Letters, 254–5.

  6 Scriba in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 105–7.

  7 Lot, Ordener, 94. Arentschildt in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 39.

  8 Göben in Glover, Letters, 126, and 1815 Limited On-line Archive; reports Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 24 and 39. This may well be the episode described by Chevalier, Souvenirs, 323.

  9 Weiz in Glover, Waterloo Archive, II, 184–5; Morris, Memoir, 78; Crumplin, Guthrie’s War, 150.

  10 Dalton, Roll Call, 17–18; Somerset in Siborne, Letters, no. 18; Thornhill in Siborne, Letters, no. 8.

  11 Wheatley, Diary, 67; Beamish, King’s German Legion, 359. Rifleman John Milius was awarded the Guelphic Medal.

  12 Hamilton, NAM 2002-02-1352.

  13 Wellington to Mulgrave, 21 December 1815 in WSD, XIV, 618–20, cited Muir, Tactics, 44–5.

  14 Frazer, Letters, 558–9.

  15 Bull in Siborne, Letters, no. 78.

  16 Captain Thackwell in Siborne, Letters, no. 62; see also Wylly, Thackwell, 71.

  61 Lobau and the Prussians

  1 Janin, Campagne de Waterloo, 35.

  2 Dörk, 15tes Infanterie, 129, whose account conflicts with Houssaye’s assertion that the wood was clear of Frenchmen. It would appear that there were a few, right at the edge. Marbot claimed to have been told to place 200 infantry at the edge of the wood and the cavalry was probably his (Marbot, Mémoires, II, 405).