Waterloo Uncovered Reading to Remember 2017 Text kindly provided by Gareth Glover.

Transcription

1 No. 15 Journal by Sergeant Archibald 1 Johnston, of 2nd (or R.N.B.) Regiment of Dragoons By kind permission of The National Museum of Scotland: Reference: M This journal is a very rare and very complete record of the movements and actions of the Scots Greys throughout their whole time in France and Belgium, including copies of orders, memorandum and even the full transcript of a court martial, an invaluable reference source for historians. Before the sun has sipped the dew The marching columns glanced in view And o er the plains of Waterloo The thou t was death or victory The bugle swilled its war note high The cannons thunder rends the sky Then onward to the charge they fly And rank to rank clos d rapidly In dread array the warriors meet And high men s breast to glory beat The gladdened soil beneath their feet Was marked with battles gone A few less heard the evening s horn Who heard its note at dawn of morn And many a widow long shall mourn The soldiers destiny The stranger oft will anxious tread And stand where the horn blew And o er the British soldiers bed Bethought his deeds of glory The cause was won the warfare over And bleeding Europe bows no more Beneath oppressions galling power Britannia ne er can defeat Private Thomas Hasker 2 1st King s Dragoon Guards No. 9 From Hasker s pen, in October 1843, entitled, Waterloo; Reflections of a Dragoon on the Eve of battle Not many days before the battle, Lieutenant General the Earl of Uxbridge, having the command of the cavalry, caused an order to be read at the head of every regiment, and ours among the rest. In this order I noticed the following words His lordship expects everything from discipline, bravery, and a high sense of honour. I was struck with the words, and began immediately to analyse them. Discipline, 1 Incorrectly shown as Richard Johnston in the Waterloo Medal Roll 2 Believed to be in No 3 troop 1

2 thought I, what does that mean? That must be the art of killing as many of my fellow creatures as scientifically and as expeditiously as possible. Bravery, what is that? I confess I could not define the word in suitable terms, but I thought it was something like the reckless rushing of the tiger on its hapless prey; and then, a high sense of honour, I could make nothing of that, but that I, as an Englishman, was a person of some consequence, and that I, or my country, had been injured or insulted in some way or other, which injury or insult we were to resent. Now, personally, they could have done me no wrong, as I never has any transactions with a Frenchman in my life; and as to the country s quarrels, I knew little or nothing about them, yet as I had foolishly enlisted for a soldier, I concluded I ought to do my duty as a soldier, and there I left the matter. It is now nearly thirty years since, and my views on his lordship s order remain the same. 3rd Brigade of Major General Frederick Adam 1st Battalion 71st Foot No. 40 Lieutenant George Horton By kind permission of Somerset Archives: Reference DD/HY 15/6/23 To The Lady Mary Horton Howroyde Halifax Yorkshire Le Cateau 23 June 1815 My dear mother, I am afraid you will have been in a great alarm not having heard from me since the bloody affairs that have lately taken place. We have been in full pursuit ever since & I have had no time to write, as we are always in bivouac. Suffice it to say I was so fortunate as to escape once more, but I never saw such a scene; & our regiment as you will see (if justice is done) distinguished itself above all. The Duke of W[ellington] at least came & told us so on the field. We took an immensity of cannon, particularly the Light Brigade; in all (226). It was the most beautiful sight I ever saw; we advanced in square of regiments; the French cavalry charged us, & we drove them back with immense loss. We then charged them, & in fact we had every description of fighting, but their guns did great havoc with shells & grape, & we lost just half our corps, and I am sorry to say the wounded are nearly all bad. It was a glorious day, but we have to regret a number of distinguished officers among them poor Gordon3. I have seen the Woodford s4; they are both well. We have not seen the French since, though we are in hot pursuit; but I believe they are completely thrashed & have lost all their guns. We hope to be in Paris in a week or ten days, as we are only distant 40 leagues. I must now tell you my grievances; I have lost the whole of my baggage, taken by the enemy; I have now only one shirt, now worn eight days, & other things which I happened to have on. I am quite at a loss to know what to do, & I am in a most miserable state, obliged to let the clothes dry on my back, & lying out in the rain, as we have very wet weather almost every night. We never had such long marches, ten & twelve leagues without halting & I am obliged to walk the way. Do not 334 Lieutenant Colonel the Honourable Sir Alexander Gordon, 3rd Foot Guards, ADC to Wellington was killed. 4 Colonel Alexander Woodford Coldstream Guards and Lieutenant Colonel John George Woodford 1st Foot Guards Extra ADC to Wellington. 2

3 think from all this that I want to get money from you, as I know it is out of the question, but if I thought it would answer I would write to Uncle George, as I have not a rag to my back. Give my love to all, & when I have time I will write a more particular account, but in the meantime you need be under no alarm. I have not heard from home for so long that I have almost given up all idea of it; in fact I have written twice since I heard. I have not seen Dawson5 lately, but I believe he is well; his regiment has suffered much. When is Polly to be married? Give my best love to her & all, & in great haste, believe me your affectionate son G W Horton Colonel G[ordon] is much regretted by the Duke; I believe his leg was cut off first & he died after; the Earl of Uxbridge is dead6, & I am afraid two or three of our wounded will die. Every regiment has suffered to a great degree, but we more so rapidly. I have not had time to enquire after friends. We expect to have very little more fighting & in great haste I must leave off, adieu. No. 2 Colonel Felton Hervey 14th Light Dragoons Assistant Quartermaster General Permission kindly granted by Lord Gage and Northamptonshire Archives Reference: K2287 (Knightley of Fawsley collection) Headquarters 20 June 1815 I have but ten minutes to spare to inform you that we are in a slaughter house. Never in all my life, or in the life of man, was such scenes seen, we have been fighting successively four days, think then what must be the slaughter. Bonaparte is wounded in the arm, and had two horses killed under him; Jerome his brother is killed, Vandamme also. Thanks to our stars, his lordship is unhurt; we have three of our first generals killed, and numbers wounded. The Prince of Orange had his skull dreadfully mangled by a grape shot 7, the Duke of Brunswick is killed. The French army is in full retreat, with old Blucher after their heels, and all the British cavalry. The town of Charleroi was taken and retaken four times yesterday; it is level with the ground. We have 19,000 wounded from the field and the Belgians and the Prussian troops treble the number. 15,000 French troops are on their way to Antwerp. We have sent you the eagles of the 45th and the 105th French infantry; the prettiest part of the battle was the fight that ensued after the eagles and colours; one of them was taken by a private of the 42nd 8 ; that regiment, as well as the 44th and 79th are mowed to atoms. The Russian and Austrian troops are, I suppose, battling in the Rhine, for the devil of one have I seen yet. The French fought like madmen and the English like devils. The French lancers drove the 42nd into the river and the battle lasted between them, breast high in the water two hours, the English pulling the lancers off their horses into the water, and drowning them 9. 5 Probably Major the Honourable George Lionel Dawson 1st Dragoon Guards Assistant Quartermaster General. His letter to Siborne is published as Letter No. 11 in the editor s Letters from Waterloo. 6 He was mistaken, Uxbridge lost a leg but survived. 7 The prince was actually shot in the chest. 8 This is clearly incorrect, the cavalry capturing the eagles. 9 This paragraph appears to be an interesting version of the Battle of Quatre Bras! 3

4 The cannon shot flew so thick I could not get a distinct view of Napoleon with my glass. We fired yesterday and the day before 17,000 rounds of cannon shot. We cannot exactly state as to the loss of the French, it must have been immense. The Scotch Greys covered themselves with glory, no other dragoon regiment could stand the charge of the Polish lancers. I rode over the field of battle at 4 o clock this morning, with my horse s fetlocks in blood. [Unsigned] 10 Camp near Waterloo 19 June 16th Light Dragoons Copy kindly supplied by Alan Lagden of Essex. No. 17 Lieutenant John Luard 11 My dear father, Every reason have we to be thankful to God for George s 12 & my preservation during a battle of the most sanguinary description, he has just left me to ride on the ground we yesterday charged over, I acting as adjutant could not attend him. I have not now time to describe the battle, I can only say that it has been the bloodiest ever fought & the British as the Gazette will show sustained the brunt. The French commanded by Bonaparte fought in the most furious style making repeated attacks with their best troops well filled with liquor upon our position which if he had ultimately carried, would have opened the road to Brussels. The enemy carried our position several times & which was as often retaken from them & the French repulsed with dreadful carnage on both sides. Our brigade indeed and most of the British cavalry were on the left in the morning, General Ponsonby s Brigade consisting of the 1st, 2nd or Scotch and 6th Inniskillings, charged their cavalry which were attacking our principle height. We then charged successfully; Colonel Hay of our regiment was wounded, he is not dead yet but as the ball passed through his body, death is hourly expected. At the close of the day the enemy made a last furious attack upon our right wing & carried it but were again repulsed. We came into play & with the hussars charged every thing, infantry, cavalry & artillery, [we] took about 30 pieces of cannon and about 3,000 prisoners, in short the day finished in the entire rout & defeat of Bonaparte s army & the loss of about 150 guns & 50,000 men. The Household Brigade & Ponsonby s (which includes the Scotch Greys) are completely annihilated as a brigade, Fenton 13 is safe & well poor Gunning 14 is killed, Cartwright 15 is safe but Bouverie 16 wounded. I had my horse shot but it is not yet dead. The greatest confusion prevailed in the rear amongst the baggage by a report of our being defeated in consequence of which my baggage was stolen as well as my horse & I have therefore nothing but what I stand in, but am in hopes of recovering some of it again by & bye. I am in good health & capital spirits, our loss is horrid to think of, for we 10 Probably written by Colonel Felton Hervey 14th Light Dragoons AQMG to Sir Charles Knightley 2nd Bart of Fawsley and his wife Selina Mary, who was Hervey s sister. He became an ADC to Wellington after Waterloo. 11 Lieutenant John Luard, his letter to Siborne was published as Letter No. 61 in Waterloo Letters. He is the subject of a biography written by James Lunt in 1964 entitled Scarlet Lancer. 12 Captain George Luard 18th Hussars 13 Captain Thomas Charles Fenton, Scots Greys 14 This would appear to refer to Lieutenant George Gunning, 1st Dragoons, who was actually wounded but survived. 15 Lieutenant William Cartwright, 10th Hussars 16 Lieutenant Everard William Bouverie, Horse Guards. 4

5 have lost the greatest part of the British army, but however it is the forerunner of Bonaparte s downfall & quiet of Europe. The Prussians are still fresh & the Russians to come up. We are to march immediately to the frontiers. God bless you & all the dear family, ever your affectionate son, John Luard 5