I now return to the narrative of services of the 1st Battalion, who
had marched to Dover on their return from the Peninsula in 1814.
Napoleon having landed from Elba, on the resumption of hostilities
against him, six companies of this Battalion, under the command of
Sir Andrew Barnard, embarked at Dover on the 25th April 1815 on board
the ‘Wensleydale’ transport and landed at Ostend on the 27th.
The officers present with these six companies were:
Colonel SIR ANDREW BARNARD.
Major and Brevet Lieut.-Col. CAMERON.
Captain LEACH, _Brevet Major_.
” CHAS. BECKWITH, _Brevet Major_.
” GLASSE.
” LEE.
” SMYTH.
” CHAWNER.
Lieutenant LAYTON.
” MOLLOY.
” ARCHIBALD STEWART.
” FREER.
” GARDINER.
” LISTER.
” GEORGE SIMMONS.
” STILWELL.
” HAGGUP.
” FITZMAURICE.
” E. D. JOHNSTON.
” ORLANDO FELIX.
2nd Lieutenant CHURCH.
” ALLEN STEWART.
” WRIGHT.
Volunteer CHARLES SMITH.
Lieutenant and Adjutant KINCAID.
Paymaster MCKENZIE.
Quartermaster BAGSHAWE.
Surgeon BURKE.
Assistant-Surgeon ROBSON.
” ” HETT.[152]
As soon as the companies were all landed at Ostend they embarked in
large boats on the canal, and arrived at Bruges about dark. The next
morning at four o’clock they proceeded (towed by horses) to Ghent,
where they arrived at three o’clock. Here they disembarked and were
billeted until the 10th May; on which day they marched to Alost, and
thence on to Wella, where they halted during the 11th. And on the
12th marched to Brussels, where they arrived about eleven o’clock,
and went into billets.
Either at this time or soon afterwards they were placed (with the
28th, 32nd and 79th) in Sir James Kempt’s brigade of General Picton’s
division. Sir James Kempt having commanded one of the brigades of
the Light Division during the latter part of the Peninsular war,
the Riflemen of the 1st Battalion felt themselves at home under his
orders.
Leaving the 1st Battalion at Brussels I proceed to note that five
companies of the 2nd Battalion, consisting of 2 Field Officers, 5
captains, 14 subalterns, 4 staff, 50 sergeants, 16 buglers, and 480
rank and file, under the command of Colonel Wade, marched from Dover
Castle at five o’clock P.M. on March 25; and embarking at eleven
P.M. on board packets, reached Ostend on the next day, disembarked
at two P.M. and marched immediately, three companies to Saas and two
to Sluys. On the 28th the whole marched to Bruges; on the 29th three
companies marched to Piethem and two to Eeghem. The next day the five
companies marched to Courtrai, and on the 31st to Tournay. The 1st
April they marched to Leuze. Here they remained, with detachments at
Villers St. Amand, Villers Notre Dame, Ligne, Moulbaix and Grammont,
till June 12.
Meanwhile, on April 18 the company (1 captain, 5 subalterns and 100
men) which had been with Sir Thomas Graham in Holland joined, making
the strength of the Regiment in Belgium six companies; and on April
20 they were inspected by the Duke of Wellington.
On April 29 Colonel Wade left the Battalion to take command of the
consolidated depôts; and on May 2 Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
Norcott took command of the Battalion.
On June 12 the Battalion marched to Tourpe, Ellegnies and Auberhies.
On the 16th it marched to Nivelles, and on the 17th marched to
Waterloo and bivouacked there.
About the same time that these Battalions embarked, Major and Brevet
Lieutenant-Colonel Ross proceeded to Belgium to take command of the
two companies of the 3rd Battalion, which had been in Holland, the
Head-quarters being still in America, or on their way back. These
as well as the 2nd Battalion were placed in Sir Frederick Adam’s
brigade of Sir Henry Clinton’s division, with their old companions in
arms the 52nd and with the 71st Light Infantry.
The 1st Battalion being, as I said, at Brussels and in billets, were
startled from their sleep on the evening of June 15, by their bugles
sounding the ‘assembly.’ The companies immediately assembled on
their alarm posts. Here two days’ rations of biscuit and meat were
served out to the men; and they marched to near the Park, where the
Battalion was formed in quarter-distance column. This was effected,
though the men were billeted all over the town, by eleven o’clock;
whereas the other regiments of the division were not formed up till
two o’clock in the morning. The Battalion being thus assembled, piled
arms; the men took off their packs, and using them as pillows, were
soon fast asleep, The officers following their example and reposing
on a doorstep, or wherever else they could, were frequently disturbed
by the ladies and others returning from the Duchess of Richmond’s
ball, which, it is well known, took place on that night. However,
the other regiments of the division having assembled, about dawn
they left Brussels by the Porte-de-Namur, and marched to Waterloo.
Here they halted among some trees on the left side of the road. The
men cooked, and after a rest resumed their march by the Charleroi
road towards Quatre Bras. The heat was intense; and one man, struck
by a coup-de-soleil, went raving mad, struck the man next him with
his rifle, and fell down dead. After passing Genappe the companies
extended as they came up, passing through fields of high standing
corn. A few round-shot now greeted them, but they proceeded till
brought up by a thick quickset hedge. The enemy fired at this,
and wounded one man. The Riflemen poked their rifles through, but
hesitated to force themselves through it on account of the sharpness
of the thorns. So strange it is that these men, who feared no fire of
the enemy, hesitated before a prickly hedge. Then it was that George
Simmons, seeing the check, went back a few paces, and rushing at
Sergeant Underwood, hit him on the knapsack and butted him through.
Both rolled on the ground on the other side, which was much lower;
but they soon sprang to their feet, and, the gap once made, the men
poured through.
It was now about two o’clock when FitzMaurice, who was in Leach’s
absence at Brussels commanding the leading company, and who was
posted on some high ground, observed a horseman, apparently in deep
thought, coming up the road. As he drew near he recognised the Duke
of Wellington, who raising his eyes, and seeing the 95th uniform,
called out quickly, ‘Where is Barnard?’ The word was passed for him;
and when the Colonel galloped up, the Duke said, ‘Barnard, these
fellows are coming on; you must stop them by throwing yourself into
that wood.’ Barnard immediately ordered FitzMaurice to take the
company into the wood, and ‘amuse’ them, until he brought up the rest
of the Battalion. As FitzMaurice was moving off, the Duke called to
him to go round a knoll which would shelter him from the enemy’s
fire.[153]
General Bachelu had occupied the wood of Piermont, and was pushing
forward to obtain possession of another small wood which would
have interrupted the communication between Quatre Bras and Ligny.
But the Riflemen anticipated them. ‘Here, for the first time in
this campaign, the troops of the two nations became engaged. The
skirmishers who successfully checked the further advance of the
French, and secured the wood, were the 1st Battalion of the British
95th Rifles,[154] whom the old campaigners of the French army, at
least those who had served in the Peninsula, had so frequently
found the foremost in the fight, and of whose peculiarly effective
discipline and admirable training they had had ample experience.’[155]
Besides the occupation of this wood the Battalion kept possession of
the Namur road, which they lined.[156] Charles Beckwith’s company,
commanded by Lieutenant Layton, lined an embankment with a ditch in
front of it, and kept up a smart fire on the enemy, which was as
smartly returned. Layton himself was hit in the wrist and side. Yet
the enemy forcing the Riflemen, by increased numbers, out of the
wood, made furious endeavours to turn the left flank of the English
line, on which the Battalion was posted. They had already gained the
road, when the Riflemen at last received the glad summons to advance,
and leaping over the bank and ditch, dashed in among them, and drove
them from the road and from some houses on it which they had occupied.
Marshal Ney was now checked at every point; the wood of Piermont on
his right, that of Bossu on his left, and the plain in the centre,
were all occupied by the Allies or cleared of the French.
The losses of the Battalion at Quatre Bras were Lieutenant
Lister,[157] 2 sergeants and 6 rank and file killed; Captain
Smyth[158]; Lieutenants Layton, wounded in the wrist; Gardiner,
severely wounded in the leg; FitzMaurice,[159] wounded in the leg; 3
sergeants and 48 rank and file wounded.
At nightfall the ground won by the Riflemen was given over to Sir
Charles Alten’s division, and the Battalion retired to the rear
of the farm of Gemioncourt; where, having formed open column of
companies and piled arms, the men lay down in their ranks, the
officers on the inner flanks of their companies; ready, all of them,
to take their arms and assume order of battle on any alarm.
Before the Battalion left the ground on which it had fought, Sir
Andrew Barnard called attention to a Rifleman lying in their front,
with both his legs shattered, adding, ‘Gentlemen, if one of you
would remain here with two or three men, and bring that poor fellow
off, it would be a glorious act indeed.’ George Simmons at once
volunteered. After the Battalion had moved off, he set up two sticks
in the direction of the wounded man and laid another at top. When
it was getting dark he sent a man forward in this alignment, and
marching upon him, and past him, soon reached the wounded man. He
told him not to make a sound, hoisted him on the back of one of the
men who remained with him, and, the poor fellow suppressing a groan
or a sound, he took him away. Luckily while he was thus engaged the
sentries of the French picquet were being visited, so that their
attention was occupied. On nearing our lines he and his suffering
burthen were challenged by the Germans of Alten’s division, and it
was not till an officer and twenty men had advanced and examined him,
that he was suffered to pass, and to deposit the wounded man in a
house at Quatre Bras. After which he rejoined his Battalion.
Before daylight a sharp fire took place between the picquets, owing
to a patrol of cavalry having by some mistake got between the
advanced sentries. At dawn on the 17th a company of the Battalion
was sent forward to occupy the farm-yard of Gemioncourt at Quatre
Bras, and they detached a picquet of two officers and twenty men
to the front. These were placed, some in a ditch and some behind a
wall, with orders not to fire; and the French, finding their fire not
returned, by degrees ceased firing. The men now cooked; those in rear
cooking for those in front.
The retreat of the Prussians having rendered a similar movement on
our part necessary, the troops at Quatre Bras began a retrograde
movement on the morning of the 17th. The 1st Battalion received
orders to cover the retreat, and was the last infantry that fell
back. Before the picquet retreated Sergeant Fairfoot, a brave
Peninsular man, who had been wounded in the breach at Badajos, was
struck by a musket ball, which fractured his right fore-arm. Yet with
amazing bravery, before going to the rear, he took a shot with his
rifle (rested on the shoulder of the officer of the picquet), at the
French, firing from his left shoulder and with his left arm.
The Battalion had now fallen back, and, the French advancing, this
picquet retreated also; and came up with the Battalion at Genappe,
where it was halted in column at the entrance to the town. The Duke
and his Staff were on the rising ground near; the Duke watching
intently through his telescope the advance of the enemy. At this
moment rain began to fall heavily, and the men were ordered to
shelter themselves in the houses on each side of the village street;
but they had not been long in them when some shots which were heard
between the enemy’s advancing and our retreating cavalry, soon
produced the order to ‘fall in;’ and passing with the cavalry through
Genappe, they reformed column on some high ground at the end of
that village. While they were so posted they had the satisfaction
of witnessing that charge of the Life Guards down from that height,
which rolled up the French Lancers, and jammed them up with the
cuirassiers in the narrow street of Genappe. The retreat continued,
through incessant torrents of rain, which made the ground and the
trampled corn so difficult to move over, that the Riflemen did not
reach the position of Waterloo till a couple of hours before dark.
There they bivouacked, with the right wing of the Battalion resting
on the Charleroi road, behind La Haye Sainte, and near a small
cottage where Sir Andrew Barnard had established his quarters, and
where he dispensed the provisions he had received from Brussels to
many of his officers.
The enemy coming up on the opposite heights opened a cannonade, but
without effect, at least on the Battalion; and at nightfall they
discontinued it.
While the Battalion lay by their arms, the rain still fell in
torrents; there was a thunderstorm in the evening; and through the
night it rained heavily; but towards morning dwindled to a thin small
rain, and finally ceased before daybreak.
The morning of the 18th dawned heavily; the heavy moisture of the
night rose from the heated ground in mist and haze; which, as the sun
gained power, ascended and left the ground and prospect clear, yet
kept the day cloudy.
At daylight the men sprang to their feet, and took their arms;
cleaning them and their accoutrements, moistened and rusted by so
many hours of wet.
This done, the Battalion took up its position.
The road from Brussels, passing through the forest of Soignies and
the village of Waterloo, reaches the hamlet of Mont St. Jean, where
it bifurcates: the one to the right leading to Nivelles, while that
which goes straight on leads through Genappe to Charleroi. Nearly
three-quarters of a mile from this fork the Charleroi road is crossed
at right angles by a cross-country road, leading on the left to
Wavre, on the right to Braine-la-Leud. About a quarter of a mile from
this cross, and on the right-hand side of the road to Charleroi, is
the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, with a garden or orchard running
along the road. On the opposite side of the road was a knoll with
a sandpit at its base, and behind this sandpit was a strong hedge
running parallel to the Wavre road for about 140 yards. In the
sandpit were placed two companies of the 1st Battalion under Brevet
Major Leach; another company, William Johnston’s, lined the hedge;
and the remaining three companies lined the Wavre road from its
junction with that leading to Charleroi.
As the Battalion formed column to move up to this position, a shot
from one of the enemy’s guns struck a rear-rank man of the rear
company. He was the first man of the Battalion who fell at Waterloo.
A party of men under George Simmons were sent to cut wood to form an
_abattis_, which the Riflemen constructed on the Charleroi road, at
the point where the hedge abutted on it.
[Illustration:
_Pl. I._
WATERLOO
18^{TH} JUNE 1815
From 4.30 to 6.30 o’clock, p.m.
_E. Weller, lith., London._
_London: Chatto & Windus._
]
The battle began, as is well known, with an attack on Hougoumont.
But about two o’clock D’Erlon’s corps moved upon La Haye Sainte.
They advanced in four columns. The left central column moved in a
direction parallel to the Charleroi road; as they approached the
sandpit, which was hidden from them, both by its depression below the
level of the surrounding plain, and by the height of the standing
corn, they became exposed to the fire of the Riflemen stationed in
it. This obliged them to incline to their right; but they then became
exposed to the fire of Johnston’s company lining the hedge, which not
only threw them farther to their right, but checked them. So that not
only was the interval between their columns diminished by the fire of
the Riflemen driving them to the right, but the distance between that
column and that which succeeded it was also diminished by the fire
of Johnston’s company checking their advance. Donzelot’s brigade,
however, continued to press forward, and out-flanking the advanced
companies of the Riflemen, obliged them to run in on the other three
companies of the Battalion. Still the French pressed on; for a
Belgian brigade on the left of Picton’s division had fled, leaving
a gap in our line. But Picton brought up his infantry; and pouring
in a terrific volley while the French were attempting to deploy,
led his division to the charge (in doing which he himself fell),
and completely routed them. At this moment, as they were going down
the slope, a body of cuirassiers crossed from their right, pursued
by the 2nd Life Guards. The French infantry flung themselves on the
ground, while pursued and pursuers passed over them, and Leach’s
two companies and Johnston’s company running out to and beyond their
former positions in the sandpit and at the hedge, slew many men, and
made many prisoners. But the Duke’s orders were peremptory that the
troops were not to quit their positions, and the Riflemen, having
disposed of their prisoners, returned to theirs.
For some hours after this first attack the 1st Battalion was left
comparatively quiet. A constant and fierce cannonade was indeed kept
up, from which they suffered; but no direct attack was made upon
them till about six o’clock, when the French again advanced against
La Haye Sainte. As the ammunition of the Hanoverians who occupied it
was exhausted, they succeeded in obtaining possession of it. Having
established this post, close to the companies in the sandpit and
lining the hedge, they kept up an incessant fire from loop-holes and
from the windows of the farmhouse on these companies; who being thus
raked by a fire on their right flank, and being also pressed hard in
front by the advancing columns, were obliged to fall back and join
the remaining companies of the Battalion, who were lining the Wavre
road. Thus the enemy were able to establish on the knoll and along
the crest a line of infantry; who kneeling or lying down, showed only
their heads, but delivered a most murderous fire against the Riflemen
and the other regiments of Kempt’s division. Frequent endeavours
were made by the French officers to induce their men to leave this
shelter, and to charge the English line; and now and then a few
gallant spirits seemed inclined to try it. But as often as they did
so, the rifles of the 1st Battalion swept them off. The enemy also
brought up two guns by the garden hedge of La Haye Sainte to the back
of the Charleroi road, and opened fire along it at those lining the
Wavre road, but the Riflemen taking deliberate aim slew the gunners
before they could fire a second round.
At this time the Hanoverian regiment, commanded by Colonel Von
Ompteda, while attempting to deploy (in obedience to the Prince of
Orange’s injudicious orders), was attacked by a body of cuirassiers,
rolled up, and cut to pieces. Though this took place in front of
the ground occupied by the Riflemen, and within range, they could
not fire, through fear of shooting the unfortunate Hanoverians as
well as the slaughtering cuirassiers. But just as these last were
being charged by an English regiment of cavalry (the 23rd Light
Dragoons), they opened upon them a well-directed fire which sent both
parties flying; and the ground so lately crowded with combatants
was entirely cleared, except of the dead and wounded Hanoverians,
and the many cuirassiers brought down by the rifles of the 95th.
Sir Andrew Barnard was wounded early in the day. The command of the
1st Battalion then devolved on Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
Cameron; and on his being also wounded later in the day, Captain and
Brevet Major Leach commanded it.
Leaving the 1st Battalion, for a time lining the hedge of the
Wavre cross road, and exchanging fire with the French in La Haye
Sainte, and the adjacent ridge, let us trace the actions of the 2nd
Battalion, and of the two companies of the 3rd Battalion during
the day. They were, I have already noted (with the 52nd and 71st),
in Sir Frederick Adam’s brigade. Their station at the commencement
of the action was between the village of Merbe-Braine and the road
to Nivelles, near where that road is intersected by one leading to
Braine-la-Leud. But as soon as the battle began, by the first attack
on Hougoumont, they advanced across this last road, and stood in
column of companies at quarter-distance on the plateau overlooking
the Nivelles road. Subsequently they moved more forward still, and
from the plateau drew up close to the road to Nivelles.
About four o’clock, when an attack was made on Hougoumont, a crowd
of French skirmishers pressed up the hill in their front. The Duke
of Wellington, who was close to the brigade, ordered it to form line
four deep. This they did at once, the 2nd Battalion on the left, the
71st in the centre, and the two 3rd Battalion companies on the right.
For the 52nd in this formation into line were pushed out for want of
room, and formed in rear as a reserve. Then the Duke, pointing to
the French skirmishers, bade them ‘Drive those fellows away.’ This
they did speedily. For springing up the slope with a cheer, they
drove the French before them over the crest, and down the slope on
the other side; bringing up their right shoulders, and halting in
a hollow which extends from the ridge towards the south-east of
Hougoumont. Here they were threatened with an attack of cavalry, and
at once formed square. They were soon charged by _carabiniers_ and
_grenadiers-à-cheval_ of the Guard. In one of these Captain William
Eeles formed his company of the 3rd Battalion in line with the rear
face of the square of the 71st, and ordered his men not to fire till
he gave the word. Then allowing the _carabiniers_ to approach within
thirty or forty yards of the angle of the front on which they were
charging, he gave them such a volley as, combined with the fire of
the square, brought half of them to the ground; some dead, some
wounded; and many entangled among the dead or dying horses.
During the intervals between these charges the 2nd Battalion suffered
much from a furious cannonade kept up on them.
About this time Colonel Norcott, commanding the 2nd Battalion, was
wounded, and Major Miller succeeded to the command; and on his being
wounded soon afterwards, the command of the Battalion devolved on
Captain Logan. At the same time that Colonel Norcott was disabled,
Colonel Ross, commanding the companies of the 3rd Battalion, was
wounded; Major Fullerton succeeded to the command; and on his being
wounded about an hour afterwards the command of these companies
devolved on Captain Eeles.[160]
Thus each Battalion of the Regiment had, on this day, its two senior
officers disabled by wounds.
When the last attack was made upon Hougoumont, Adam’s brigade, with
the 2nd Battalion and the two companies of the 3rd, was withdrawn,
first to the crest, and subsequently to the reverse slope, so as to
be in some measure protected from the cannonade directed against it.
At seven o’clock a column of the Imperial Guard advanced against this
part of the position. It was covered by a cloud of skirmishers; and
in order to check them, a company of each of the regiments of Adam’s
brigade was thrown out in skirmishing order. The enemy’s advancing
column suffered so severely from the English guns, that a body of
cuirassiers were sent forward to endeavour to silence these guns. The
gunners ran in in rear of the infantry, and the cuirassiers not only
drove in the skirmishers of the 2nd Battalion, but came upon Adam’s
brigade, then in line. The Duke was then with them, and the 52nd, the
regiment most threatened, came to the ‘Prepare to receive cavalry.’
But the cuirassiers did not face them, and their further attempts
were checked by some English cavalry sent against them. The Riflemen
were then on the road leading along the crest of the ridge.
[Illustration:
_Pl. II._
WATERLOO
18^{TH} JUNE 1815
8.30 to 9 p.m.
_E. Weller, lith., London._
_London: Chatto & Windus._
]
As the column of the Guard came forward, Sir John Colborne, in
command of the 52nd, at once wheeled up its right shoulder, so as
to throw it on the flank of the column. The Duke, who was present,
approving of this movement, immediately ordered up the 2nd Battalion
on its left; the 71st moved up to its right, and the two companies
of the 3rd Battalion formed the extreme right of the line. These
owing to the rapidity of the movement were not quite in line, but a
little retired from the alignment of the 52nd. The attacking column
of the Imperial Guard, having Maitland’s brigade of Guards in its
front, was evidently staggered by finding Adam’s brigade on its
flank. It halted, and wheeling up its left sections, began to fire.
Colborne also halted the 52nd and fired into the column, and the 2nd
Battalion coming up at that instant on the left, poured a deadly
fire into the Guard. Then Colborne checked the fire, and calling out
‘Charge! Charge!’ led his men against the column. The 2nd Battalion
joined vigorously in this charge; which, as Siborne observes, ‘was
remarkable for the order, the steadiness, the resoluteness, and the
daring by which it was characterised.’ The Imperial Guard wavered,
reeled, and then breaking up, fled in inextricable confusion, in
spite of attempts made by its officers and some brave men in its
ranks to stem its flight. But they were swept away in the torrent of
fugitives; and the brigade continuing its triumphant march across
the field, and bringing its left shoulder, the 2nd Battalion, rather
forward, halted near the Charleroi road, with the left of the 2nd
Battalion close to the orchard of La Haye Sainte. The Duke, who came
up that moment, suggested to Adam to attack some squares of the
Guard, which appeared disposed to make a stand; but Adam observed
that his men had marched far, over heavy ground encumbered with dead
and wounded, and required a short halt. To this the Duke assented;
but in a few moments--knowing by old Peninsular experience that the
French once routed never rally--he called out, ‘Better attack them;
they won’t stand.’ Nor did they. For although they opened fire when
Adam’s brigade approached them, the moment these appeared in earnest
and determined to charge, they faced about and retired by word of
command. The Duke was with the brigade as they ascended the hill to
the French position; and having seen the only standing squares of the
Guard thus disposed of, or, as he said himself, having seen ‘those
fellows off,’ he rode away. Then Adam crossed the Charleroi road, and
bringing up the 2nd Battalion, his left, he proceeded, skirting it,
to drive the enemy before him.
While the 2nd Battalion and the two companies of the 3rd are thus
employed, let us return to the 1st Battalion, which we left on the
Wavre road, exposed to and thinned by the musketry fire from the
heights near La Haye Sainte. When the Duke saw the decisive movement
of Adam’s brigade and the failure of the last attack of his enemy,
he ordered a general advance. The first intimation the 1st Battalion
had of it was a pealing cheer, beginning on the right and rolling
along from brigade to brigade, from battalion to battalion. As the
Riflemen were taking it up, the Duke rode up behind them; the cheers
were redoubled at his appearance, but he said: ‘No cheering, my lads;
but go on and complete your victory.’
‘This movement,’ says a Rifleman who was with them, ‘had carried
us clear of the smoke; and to people who had been so many hours
enveloped in darkness, in the midst of destruction, and naturally
anxious about the result of the day, the scene which now met the
eye conveyed a feeling of more exquisite gratification than can be
conceived. It was a fine summer’s evening, just before sunset. The
French were flying in one confused mass. British lines were seen
in close pursuit, and in admirable order, as far as the eye could
reach to the right, while the plain on the left was filled with
Prussians.’[161]
The 1st Battalion, after marching across the field of battle, halted
about half a mile in front of it, and bivouacked there. The 2nd
Battalion and the two companies of the 3rd bivouacked near La Belle
Alliance.
The losses of the Regiment at Waterloo were:
OF THE 1ST BATTALION.
_Killed._
Lieutenant Stilwell, 4 sergeants, and 16 rank and file.
_Wounded._
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Barnard.
Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron, severely.
Captain and Brevet Major Charles Beckwith (Staff), severely, leg
amputated.
Captain Chawner, severely in the leg.
” W. Johnston, severely.
Lieutenant Molloy, severely.
” George Simmons, shot through the liver and two ribs broken.
” Gairdner, severely.
” E. D. Johnston, severely.
” Felix.
” Allen Stewart, stabbed through the arm and wounded in the
shoulder.
” Wright, severely.
” Church, severely.
” William Shenley, severely.
7 Sergeants, 1 bugler, and 116 rank and file.
OF THE 2ND BATTALION.
_Killed._
2 Sergeants, 1 bugler, and 31 rank and file.
_Wounded._
Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Norcott, severely.
” ” Wilkins, severely.
Captain and Brevet Major Miller, severely.
” M’Cullock, severely.
Lieutenant Humbley, severely.
” Coxen, severely.
” D. Cameron.
” R. Cochrane.
” Ridgeway, severely.
” Fry.
” Webb.
” Lynam, severely.
” Eyre, severely.
” Walsh, severely.
6 Sergeants, 2 buglers, and 171 rank and file. And 20 rank and file,
_missing_.
OF THE 3RD BATTALION.
_Killed._
Captain Charles Eeles, 3 rank and file.
_Wounded._
Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Ross, severely.
Captain and Brevet Major Fullerton, severely.
Lieutenant Worsley, severely.
” G. H. Shenley, severely.
1 Sergeant, 1 bugler, and 34 rank and file. And 7 rank and file,
_missing_.
The strength of these Battalions on the morning of June 18 was as
follows:[162]
Offc. = Officers Pres. = Present Abs. = Absent
+--------------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----------------------------+
| | | | | | Sergeants |
| | | | | +-----+-----------+-----+-----+
| |Field|Capt-| Sub- |Staff| | Sick | | |
| |Offc.|ains |alterns| |Pres.+-----+-----+Woun-|Total|
| | | | | | |Pres.| Abs.| ded | |
+--------------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|1st Battalion | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 companies | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 27 | | 11 | | 38 |
|2nd Battalion | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 companies | 2 | 6 | 20 | 6 | 37 | 1 | | 3 | 41 |
|3rd Battalion | | | | | | | | | |
| 2 companies | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 11 | | | 1 | 12 |
+--------------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| Total of | | | | | | | | | |
| the regiment | 4 | 11 | 32 | 14 | 75 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 91 |
+--------------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
+--------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------+
| | Buglers | Rank and file |
| +------+---------+------+------+-----------+-----+------+
| | | | | | Sick | | |
| | Pres.|Sick abs.|Total |Pres. |-----+-----+Woun-|Total |
| | | | | |Pres.|Abs. | ded | |
+--------------+------+---------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+
|1st Battalion | | | | | | | | |
| 6 companies | 10 | 2 | 12 | 364 | | 185 | | 549 |
|2nd Battalion | | | | | | | | |
| 6 companies | 17 | | 17 | 567 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 585 |
|3rd Battalion | | | | | | | | |
| 2 companies | 6 | | 6 | 176 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 188 |
+--------------+------+---------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+
| Total of | | | | | | | | |
| the regiment | 33 | 2 | 35 | 1107 | 12 | 190 | 13 | 1322 |
+--------------+------+---------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+------+
Of the wounded Lieutenant Johnston had been brought with Simmons to
the farmhouse of Mont St. Jean, a little in rear of the position of
the Battalion. Some Riflemen procured two horses, which had belonged
to French cavalry soldiers, on which they set these officers to take
them to Brussels; and as they were turning out of the gate a cannon
shot, many of which were bounding along the road, struck Johnston and
killed him on the spot.
Of Worsley, Kincaid relates that he had at Badajos received a shot
in his ear, which came out at the back of the neck, which on his
recovery had the effect of turning his head to the right; and that
now he received exactly a similar wound in the left ear, the ball
coming out near the exit of the former, which restored his head to
its original position.[163]
M’Cullock had been wounded in the shoulder on Massena’s retreat from
Portugal in March 1811, and this wound deprived him of the use of the
arm. At Waterloo, by a shot fired very late in the day, he lost the
other arm. He was promoted, ‘having no longer an arm to wield for his
country,’ as he told the Duke of Wellington, ‘but being anxious to
serve it,’ to a majority in the 2nd Garrison Battalion in Dec. 1815,
and died in London in 1818.
Charles Beckwith had his left leg shattered by grape-shot shortly
before the end of the battle. It was amputated a few days afterwards.
He exchanged to half-pay in 1820; and some years subsequently, having
had his attention directed to the Waldenses, he, after frequent
visits to the Pignerolo valleys, eventually settled in that country.
Here his career was one of great usefulness. He found the people
in a state of great depression, poverty and ignorance; and by
untiring devotion to their interests, temporal as well as spiritual,
conferred on them inestimable benefits. He established schools for
primary education, and seminaries for more advanced instruction.
And he taught the people self-reliance, and led them to join in and
contribute to the good works he originated for them. After a career
of great usefulness he died (having then the rank of Major-General)
at Torre, on the 19th July, 1862, attended to the grave by the love
and lamentations of the people for whom he had done so much.[164]
Lieutenant Allen Stewart was stabbed through the left arm by a French
officer ‘whom he finished in an instant;’[165] he was subsequently
wounded by a musket-ball which lodged in the shoulder. After long
suffering at Brussels, where he experienced, as did many other
Riflemen, very great attention and kindness from the inhabitants on
whom they were billeted, he returned to England[166] with George
Simmons, who had also long been detained at Brussels by his dangerous
wounds.[167]
Sir James Kempt, who succeeded to the command of the 5th Division on
Picton’s death, says in his report to the Duke of Wellington: ‘I lost
in my brigade major, who was killed, Captain [Charles] Eeles, 95th, a
most valuable officer.... I shall take the liberty of bringing under
your Grace’s notice the particular claims and merits of the officers
commanding regiments, in a separate report; but I cannot close this
one without mentioning that Colonel Sir A. Barnard and the next in
command, Colonel Cameron of the 95th, were both wounded.’[168]
And Sir Henry Clinton, in his report to Lord Hill, says: ‘The manner
in which the several regiments ... the 2nd and 3rd Battalions 95th,
under Lieutenant-Colonels Norcott and Ross, discharged their duty,
was witnessed and admired by the whole army.’[169]
And on the 26th June he writes thus to Lord Hill: ‘I beg leave to
add the names of officers, which from the favourable reports made of
them by the officers commanding brigades, it is my duty to request
you will lay before the commander of the forces, in the hope that his
Grace will recommend them for promotion. The names of these officers
are: ...
‘Captain Logan, Lieutenant Humbley,[170] and Lieutenant and Adjutant
Smith, 2nd Battalion, 95th Regiment.
‘Captain [William] Eeles and Lieutenant Hope, 3rd Battalion, 95th
Regiment.’[171]
It appears also, by a letter from Sir Henry Torrens to the Duke of
Wellington, February 29, 1816, that the Duke had on the 12th strongly
recommended Lieutenant-Colonel Norcott, on account of his conduct
at Waterloo. For after stating that his obtaining the honour of
Commander of the Bath, in his then rank, was contrary to regulation,
he goes on to add: ‘You may be assured that I shall pay every
attention in my power to the high opinion you have expressed of him,
and to your desire that his claim should be attended to.’[172]
On June 19, 1815, the Regiment began its march to Paris. On the 24th
the 1st Battalion moved from Bavay to Engle-fontaine, and encamped
or was cantoned in that neighbourhood, and on the 25th at Maretz. On
the 26th the 2nd Battalion moved from Nauroy and Magny, and encamped
near Beauvoir and Lanchy; and the 1st Battalion halted at Nauroy,
Magny, and Bellenglise. On the next day the 2nd Battalion crossed
the Somme at Villecourt and moved by Nesle to Roye, and the 1st
Battalion advanced, and encamped between Douilly and Villers. On the
28th the 2nd Battalion marched by Montdidier to Petit Crèvecœur: on
the next day from that place to Clermont; and the 1st Battalion from
Roye, where it had halted on the 28th, to Gournay on the road to
Pont St. Maxence. On the 30th this Battalion crossed the Oise at Pont
St. Maxence, and was pushed on as far as Fleurines on the road to
Senlis; while the 2nd Battalion and companies of the 3rd moved from
Petit Crèvecœur to Chantilly. On July 1 this Battalion relieved the
Prussians near Aubervilliers; and the 1st Battalion moved by Senlis
and Louvres, and encamped between Louvres and Vauderlan. On the
6th both Battalions were encamped near Neuilly. On July 7 the army
marched into Paris, and the 2nd Battalion had the honour of being
the first corps which entered; Lieutenant and Adjutant Thomas Smith,
riding in front of the Battalion, being the first British officer who
entered Paris on that famous day.
The 1st Battalion was encamped at the village of Clichy until October
30, when it was cantoned in and near the village of Vaux. On December
19 it was moved into the city of Paris, and occupied barracks in the
Rue de Clichy. On the entry into Paris the 2nd Battalion was encamped
in the Champs Elysées, where it remained till October 29, when it
went into quarters at Versailles; and on December 8 marched to St.
Leu Tavernay and St. Prix and Moullinor.
On July 10 the Head-quarters of the 3rd Battalion (five companies,
300 men) embarked at Dover, and landing on the 13th at Ostend,
moved through Bruges, Ghent, Oudenarde, Mons, Bavay, Le Catelet
and Peronne; and thence by the route before traversed by the other
Battalions through Roye, Pont St. Maxence and Louvres to Paris. On
arrival they were placed, with the 2nd Battalion, in Sir Frederick
Adam’s brigade, to which their two detached companies were already
attached, and were encamped with them in the Champs Elysées. It was
subsequently removed to another brigade and cantoned at Montmartre.
The three Battalions being thus re-united in the neighbourhood of
Paris, the officers observed the anniversary of the formation of the
Regiment by a ‘Regimental Dinner’ at St. Germain-en-Laye, on August
25. This seems to have been the second ‘Regimental Dinner.’
At the end of November, a new arrangement of brigades was made, under
which the 1st Battalion, then consisting of six companies and 577
men, was placed in Sir John Lambert’s brigade of Sir Lowry Cole’s
division. The 2nd Battalion, then consisting of 534 men, was placed
in Sir Manley Power’s brigade of Sir Charles Colville’s division.
And the 3rd Battalion (480 men) was ordered to return to England. It
quitted Paris on December 3, and halted that night at St. Denis. From
thence passing through Beaumont, Noailles and Beauvais, it arrived
at Abbeville on the 11th. It reached Montreuil-sur-Mer on the 14th,
and embarked at Calais on the 20th, landed at Dover on the 22nd, and
marched on the next day to Shorncliffe.
On January 16, 1816, the 1st Battalion marched from Paris, and
having halted some days at Louvres, proceeded to the neighbourhood
of Cambrai, having its Head-quarters at Bourlon, with detachments
at Inchy-en-Artois, Proville, Baralle, Buissy Baralle, and
Sains-lez-Marquion. Its strength was 30 officers and 503 men of all
ranks.[173]
On December 26, 1815 the 2nd Battalion marched from St. Leu to
Gonesse, the next day to Claye, and the day following to Crecy,
where they remained until January 23, on which day they marched
by Compiègne, Noyon, Ham, St. Quentin, Le Catelet and Cambrai, to
villages near Valenciennes, in which they were billeted on January
31, and on February 1 moved into cantonments, with Head-quarters at
Lecelle, and detachments at Rumegies and Rosult. Its strength was 29
officers and 553 men.[174]
By an order dated Horse Guards February 16, 1816, the 95th was
removed from the regiments of the line, and styled THE RIFLE BRIGADE.
On July 15 the 1st Battalion was at Bapaume,[175] but soon marched
and encamped on a common at Bourlon; and on the 24th the 2nd
Battalion marched to and encamped on a common near St. Amand.
On October 24 the 2nd Battalion marched from camp and resumed its
cantonments at Lecelle, Sameon, Rumegies, and Rosult.
Early in 1817 this Battalion was removed from Sir Manley Power’s to
the 3rd Brigade under the command of Sir Thomas Brisbane; and marched
to join that brigade through Auberchicourt, Gavrelle, Aubigny to St.
Pol; where it was cantoned with detachments in fourteen surrounding
villages.
On July 4 it marched from these cantonments, and encamped at Helfaut
near St. Omer, where it remained till August 31, when it marched
to Valenciennes, and encamped on the glacis of that place; but
on October 4 went into barracks at Valenciennes for half-yearly
inspection. On the 8th it moved to camp at Denain, which however
broke up on the 16th when the Battalion marched to St. Pol, where
it arrived on the 20th and resumed its quarters there and in the
neighbourhood.
On May 31, 1818, the Battalion was again encamped at Helfaut till
August 15, when it marched to and encamped near Valenciennes. On
October 17 it marched to Neuville near Bouchain, preparatory to a
grand review by the Duke of Wellington in the presence of the Emperor
of Russia, the King of Prussia and other Sovereigns and Princes;
which took place on the 23rd.
The Army of Occupation being now to leave France, the Battalion
marched on the 25th to Auberchicourt, and thence through Lens,
Lillers, Blendecques, Peuplingue, near Ardres, whence they marched at
two o’clock in the morning of the 30th to Calais, where they arrived
and embarked at ten o’clock, and sailing immediately arrived at Dover
in the night. On the 31st they disembarked and marched to Shorncliffe.
The 1st Battalion also moved into camp and changed its cantonments
during the time it formed part of the Army of Occupation; but I
am not able to give its movements with equal minuteness, as the
regimental Record for that period has not been kept with the same
accuracy as that of the 2nd Battalion. It was moved into the 7th
Brigade under the command of Major-General Sir W. O’Callaghan; and I
find that on September 27, 1818, it was encamped near Cambrai.[176]
It marched to Calais, where it embarked on October 31, and sailing
on the same day arrived at Dover and marched to Shorncliffe on
November 1.
I have now to trace the movements of the 3rd Battalion, which had
returned to Shorncliffe in December 1815. Soon afterwards it was
ordered to Dublin, where it was quartered for two years and three
months. Whilst the Battalion was in Dublin a melancholy event took
place, on August 16, 1817: the death of Lieutenant Amphlett from
hydrophobia, resulting from the bite of his dog. The details of
this sad case are very fully related by Dr. Ridgway, Surgeon of the
Battalion, in the _United Service Journal_, vol. i. part i. p. 577.
The Battalion afterwards proceeded to Birr; and at the end of 1818,
a diminution of the army having been resolved upon, this Battalion
was reduced. The junior officers of each rank, who thereby became
non-effective, were placed on half pay on December 25, 1818; but the
actual disbanding of the Battalion did not take place till towards
the end of January 1819; when some of the men were drafted into
the 1st and 2nd Battalions and the remainder were discharged. Its
strength when disbanded was 810 men.[177]
[Illustration:
Plate III
RIFLE BRIGADE, TO 1833]
FOOTNOTES:
[152] This list (copied from Simmons’ ‘Narrative’) is not perfect.
Captain William Johnston was at Waterloo. He was probably with the
detachment which had been in Holland, and which joined on the advance
from Ostend to Brussels. Captain Glasse, who was acting as Deputy
Judge Advocate, did not join till after the battle of Waterloo.
[153] General FitzMaurice’s letter to the ‘Times.’
[154] Leach’s company, under the command of FitzMaurice, who thus
‘opened the ball’ on that memorable day.
[155] Siborne, i. 106.
[156] Ibid. 109.
[157] He was shot through the abdomen, and died, in a house at Quatre
Bras, next morning.
[158] He died of his wounds.
[159] Major-General FitzMaurice, K. H., died December 24, 1865.
[160] ‘Supp. Desp.’ x. 751.
[161] Kincaid, ‘Adventures in the Rifle Brigade,’ p. 353.
[162] I have extracted the above return from the ‘Wellington
Despatches,’ xii. 487, and it is signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Waters,
Assistant Adjutant-General, but it is certainly incorrect as regards
the 1st Battalion. Two Field Officers were certainly present,
Barnard and Cameron: both were wounded, and are so returned (‘Army
List,’ August, 1815), nor is it easy to account for the number (185)
reported as ‘sick absent.’ A note to the original states that the
large number of ‘sick absent’ in this (and some other regiments)
is owing to their losses at Quatre Bras; yet the 1st Battalion had
only forty-eight men wounded there. It will be seen on comparing
this return with the lists of casualties that the 1st Battalion
lost of all ranks in killed and wounded more than three-eighths of
its numbers; the 2nd Battalion rather less than one-third; and the
3rd Battalion a little more than a fifth, and the whole Regiment
(fourteen companies) about a third.
[163] I presume as Kincaid calls Worsley, then residing on his
estate in Nottinghamshire, as a living witness to the truth of this
statement, it may here be recorded. It has been confirmed to me by
independent testimony.
[164] A memoir of General Beckwith has been published by M. Meille,
of which there is an English translation, London, 1873.
[165] Simmons’ MS. Narrative.
[166] He was placed on half-pay at the reduction of the 3rd
Battalion, and after serving in some other regiments, died in the
Norwich Military Lunatic Asylum, July 6, 1847.
[167] I cannot mention George Simmons’ name here for the last time
without recording how much I have been indebted to his Journal in the
Peninsula from 1809 to 1814, and to his Narrative of Quatre Bras and
Waterloo, in compiling this History. After a service of nearly thirty
years in the 1st Battalion he left it in 1838, on promotion to an
unattached majority, and died March 5, 1858.
[168] ‘Supplementary Despatches,’ x. 537.
[169] ‘Supplementary Despatches,’ x. 545.
[170] Colonel Logan, 63rd Regiment, died September 1, 1844.
Lieutenant-Colonel Humbley (retired) died 1857.
[171] ‘Supplementary Despatches,’ x. 624.
[172] Ibid. xi. 311.
[173] Return, April 10, 1816, ‘Supplementary Despatches,’ xi. 357.
[174] Ibid. xi. 360.
[175] I copy this from a French return in the ‘Wellington
Supplementary Despatches,’ xi. 412-3, where it is styled _Brigade de
Carabiniers, le 1 Bataillon_. _Le 2 Bataillon_ was still at Lecelle.
[176] ‘Supplementary Despatches,’ xii. 706.
[177] ‘Annual Register,’ lx. 168.