TWELFTH Light Dragoons were employed in covering the siege of that
important fortress. Towards the end of July, when Marshal Soult
advanced with a powerful army to drive the allies from the Pyrenees
and relieve the invested fortresses, the siege of St. Sebastian
was turned into a blockade, and Major-General Anson's brigade of
cavalry was employed in keeping up the communication through the
mountains, between the left and centre of the allied army. The
communication was interrupted on the 27th and 28th of July; but was
renewed on the 29th, and after much hard fighting in the mountains,
the French were driven back with loss. The siege of St. Sebastian
was then renewed, and the TWELFTH Light Dragoons took post at
Usurbil, from whence a squadron was subsequently detached to
Renterio to furnish the out-posts in that direction. St. Sebastian
was taken by storm on the 31st of August, and on the 9th of
September the citadel surrendered. About this period Major-General
Vandeleur was appointed to the command of the brigade of which the
TWELFTH Light Dragoons formed part.
After the fall of St. Sebastian, the troops which had been employed
in the siege advanced to the frontiers, and on the 7th of October
the passage of the _Bidassoa_ was forced, and the army entered
France. Unprincipled aggression was thus overtaken by retributive
justice, and the kingdom which had sent its legions to other
countries to ravage and devastate, became the theatre of war. After
the passage of the river, the TWELFTH Light Dragoons bivouacked on
the great road, with posts at Urogne.
Pampeluna having surrendered, a forward movement was made on the
10th of November, when the enemy's works on the river _Nivelle_
were attacked and forced. The TWELFTH supported the infantry, and
lost several men and horses from a cannonade to which they were
exposed. The river Nive was passed in the early part of December;
but the weather became so severe as to confine the troops to their
quarters, and the TWELFTH Light Dragoons returned to Urogne, and
took the out-post duty in front of St. Jean-de-Luz. The French
army occupied a strong camp at Bayonne.
[Sidenote: 1814]
When the severity of the weather abated, the army was again put
in motion; and in the second week of February, 1814, the British
commander advanced against the enemy's left to draw Marshal Soult's
attention to that quarter, while the passage of the _Adour_ was
effected, by the division under Lieut.-General Sir John Hope, below
Bayonne. By a difficult night-march a body of troops approached the
river on the morning of the 23rd of February; the artillery forced
the French flotilla to retire, and sixty men of the foot-guards
were rowed across in a pontoon; a raft was formed, a hawser was
stretched across, and six hundred of the foot-guards, the fifth
battalion of the sixtieth regiment, and part of the rocket-battery
crossed, and repulsed the attack of a French column from Bayonne.
On the 24th a squadron of the TWELFTH Light Dragoons crossed the
Adour, the men in boats, and the horses swam across the river. A
British flotilla afterwards arrived, a bridge of boats was thrown
across, and Bayonne was blockaded.
In the mean time important events had transpired in various parts
of Europe, and the gigantic power of Bonaparte was reduced. A
party favorable to the Bourbon dynasty was known to exist at
_Bordeaux_, towards which city a body of troops was detached under
Sir William, now Lord, Beresford. The TWELFTH Light Dragoons moved
by the old road across the Landes towards Bordeaux, where they
arrived on the 12th of March, and the magistrates and city-guards
displayed the white cockade. The regiment was left at Bordeaux
under Lieut.-General the Earl of Dalhousie; it furnished posts
and patroles between the Garonne and Dordogne. Two squadrons
were subsequently attached to part of the seventh division which
occupied La Réolles; and on the 7th of April, a squadron commanded
by Major Bridger, crossed the Dordogne, with Lord Dalhousie,
and made a successful charge upon a body of French infantry at
_Etoliers_.
Hostilities were soon afterwards terminated by the restoration
of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne of France. After reposing a
short time in quarters, the regiment commenced its march through
France to Calais, which was performed in a month, and in the second
week of July it embarked for Dover, from whence it proceeded to
Hounslow, where it was reviewed by His Royal Highness the Duke of
York; it was afterwards removed to Dorchester.
In closing the account of the services of the TWELFTH Light
Dragoons in the Peninsula, it is worthy of being recorded, that the
regiment never had a piquet surprised, nor a patrole taken; neither
did any instance of desertion occur.
[Sidenote: 1815]
In February, 1815, the regiment marched to Reading, in consequence
of some disturbances in Berkshire.
After commanding the regiment for twenty-three years, General Sir
James Steuart Denham, Baronet, was removed to the Scots Greys, and
was succeeded by Lieut.-General Sir William Payne, Baronet, from
the Nineteenth Light Dragoons, by commission dated the 12th of
January, 1815.
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, appreciating the important
services rendered by the army during the war, conferred rewards
for gallant conduct on officers and corps; and the TWELFTH Light
Dragoons were authorized to bear on their guidons and appointments
the word "PENINSULA," to commemorate their services in Portugal,
Spain, and the south of France, under Field-Marshal His Grace
the Duke of Wellington. Their commanding officer, Colonel the
Honorable F. C. Ponsonby, was rewarded with a medal and two clasps
for the battles of Barrosa, Salamanca, and Vittoria. Before these
distinctions were all conferred, the reappearance of Bonaparte in
France,--his re-assumption of the imperial dignity,--and the flight
of Louis XVIII. from Paris to the Netherlands, occasioned a British
army once more to take the field against the legions of the usurper.
Six troops of the TWELFTH Light Dragoons, commanded by Colonel the
Honorable F. C. Ponsonby, embarked at Ramsgate, in the beginning of
April, 1815, leaving a depôt of two troops in England, (which was
subsequently augmented to four,) and landing at Ostend, on the 3rd
of that month, advanced up the country; they were formed in brigade
with the Eleventh and Sixteenth Light Dragoons, under Major-General
Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur. Soon after their arrival in Flanders,
they were reviewed by the Duke of Wellington, who was pleased to
express his "approbation of their appearance; that he was happy
at having again under his orders, a corps which had always been
distinguished for its gallantry and discipline, and he did not
doubt, should occasion offer, but it would continue to deserve
his good opinion; and he hoped every man would feel a pride in
endeavouring to maintain the reputation of the regiment."
When Bonaparte endeavoured, by a sudden advance of his numerous
legions, to interpose between the British and Prussian armies,
and beat them in detail, the TWELFTH Light Dragoons were suddenly
ordered to march, on the morning of the 16th of June, to Enghien,
from whence they continued their route, a great part of the way
at a trot, to _Quatre Bras_, where they arrived at sunset, at the
moment when the French troops, under Marshal Ney, were withdrawing
from the contest. The regiment bivouacked on the ground behind
the field of battle, and furnished small piquets along the front,
in communication with the infantry. On the following day, when
the army made a retrograde movement, to keep up the communication
with the Prussians, the TWELFTH Light Dragoons withdrew by the
lower road, through the woods and open grounds, passed the river
Dyle, at a deep ford, below Genappe, and took post on the left of
the position, in front of the village of _Waterloo_, where they
bivouacked in the open fields, and were exposed to a heavy rain
during the night.
On the following morning (18th June) two powerful armies
confronted each other; each occupied a range of heights of easy
access, and a narrow valley was between them. Both armies were
confident in their leader, and, as daylight appeared, they prepared
to engage in deadly conflict.
The TWELFTH Light Dragoons were formed in column of squadrons,
and posted in a pea-field, above Papilot, a short distance
from the left of the fifth division, which formed the left of
the British infantry. Soon after mid-day Count D'Erlon's corps
attacked the British left, but was repulsed, on which occasion a
brilliant charge was made by the Royals, Greys, and Inniskilling
Dragoons. One column of the enemy, on the extreme right of the
attacking force, had not been engaged, and it continued to advance.
Major-General Vandeleur had proceeded, with part of his brigade,
to support the Royals, Greys, and Inniskilling Dragoons, whilst
re-forming after their charge; but the TWELFTH remained on the
left, and Colonel Ponsonby, having authority to act discretionally,
resolved, notwithstanding the inferiority of his numbers, to attack
the French column with the regiment. He formed the TWELFTH in open
column, cautioned the men "to be steady, and do their duty," and
led them forward over ploughed ground, saturated with rain, to
attack this formidable column of infantry, which was supported on
the flank by lancers, and covered by the fire of artillery from a
rising ground in its rear. As the French column crossed the valley
between the two armies, the TWELFTH passed the hedge-row occupied
by the Highlanders, and descended the rising ground on which
the British line was formed, exposed to the fire of the enemy's
artillery, and receiving a volley from the column of infantry,
to which the slope, the regiment was descending, rendered it a
conspicuous mark. As the regiment moved forward, it gradually
increased its pace; the men were anxious to charge; but Colonel
Ponsonby, whose courage they admired, and in whose talents they
placed unlimited confidence, restrained their ardour, that he might
maintain their compact formation, and reserve the power of the
horses for the critical moment. When that moment arrived, he gave
the word "Charge." The French, dismayed by the heroic bearing of
the regiment, gave way, and the TWELFTH plunged at speed into the
column, broke its formation, and cut down the French soldiers with
a terrible carnage. The moment the regiment had cut through the
infantry, it was stopped by the columns of reserve, and charged by
the lancers. Having succeeded in the object of the charge, Colonel
Ponsonby was anxious to withdraw the regiment, and spare his men,
who were fighting against fearful odds; but friends and foes were
mixed in a confused mêlée; the colonel fell, dangerously wounded,
and the regiment withdrew from the unequal contest.
After returning from the charge, the regiment was re-formed under
Captain (now Colonel) Stawell; its loss had been severe; of the
three squadrons, which ten minutes before had gone into action,
one-third had fallen; it was found necessary to tell off the
regiment into two squadrons, and the grief of the soldiers was
great at the absence of their colonel, of whose fate they were
ignorant[5]. Major James Paul Bridger, whose charger was killed in
the attack, procured another horse, and assumed the command of the
regiment.
The following account of the charge of the TWELFTH, and of his own
sufferings, was afterwards written by Colonel Ponsonby to satisfy
the inquiries of numerous friends:--
"I was stationed with my regiment (about 300 strong) at the extreme
of the left wing, and directed to act discretionally:--each of the
armies was drawn up on a gentle declivity, a small valley lying
between them.
"At one o'clock, observing, as I thought, unsteadiness in a column
of French infantry, which was advancing _with an irregular fire_,
I resolved to charge them. As we were descending in a gallop,
we received from our own troops on the right, a fire much more
destructive than theirs, they having begun long before it could
take effect, and slackening as we drew nearer; when we were within
fifty paces of them, they turned, and much execution was done among
them, as we were followed by some Belgians, who had remarked our
success. But we had no sooner passed through them, than we were
attacked in our turn, before we could form, by about 300 Polish
lancers, who had come down to their relief. The French artillery
pouring in among us a heavy fire of grape-shot, which, however,
killed three of their own for one of our men: in the mêlée, I was
disabled almost instantly in both of my arms, and followed by a few
of my men, who were presently cut down (no quarter being asked or
given), I was carried on by my horse, till receiving a blow on my
head from a sabre, I was thrown senseless on my face to the ground.
Recovering, I raised myself a little to look round, when a lancer,
passing by, exclaimed '_Tu n'es pas mort, coquin_,' and struck his
lance through my back; my head dropped, the blood gushed into my
mouth, a difficulty of breathing came on, and I thought all was
over.
"Not long afterwards a tirailleur came up to plunder me,
threatening to take my life. I told him that he might search me,
directing him to a small side-pocket, in which he found three
dollars, being all I had; he unloosed my stock and tore open my
waistcoat, then leaving me in a very uneasy posture; and was
no sooner gone, than another came up for the same purpose; but
assuring him I had been plundered already, he left me; when
an officer, bringing on some troops, (to which probably the
tirailleurs belonged,) and halting where I lay, stooped down and
addressed me saying, he feared I was badly wounded: I replied that
I was, and expressed a wish to be removed into the rear: he said
it was against the order to remove even their own men, but that if
they gained the day, as they probably would, (for he understood
the Duke of Wellington was killed, and that six of our battalions
had surrendered,) every attention in his power should be shown me.
I complained of thirst, and he held his brandy-bottle to my lips,
directing one of his men to lay me straight on my side, and place a
knapsack under my head: he then passed on into the action,--and I
shall never know to whose generosity I was indebted, as I conceive,
for my life,--of what rank he was I cannot say; he wore a blue
greatcoat. By and by another tirailleur came and knelt and fired
over me, loading and firing many times, and conversing with great
gaiety all the while; at last he ran off, saying, '_Vous serez bien
aise d'entendre que nous allons nous retirer; bon jour, mon ami._'
"While the battle continued in that part, several of the wounded
men and dead bodies near me, were hit with the balls, which came
very thick in that place. Towards evening, when the Prussians came,
the continued roar of the cannon along theirs and the British line,
growing louder and louder as they drew near, was the finest thing
I ever heard. It was dusk when two squadrons of Prussian cavalry,
both of them two deep, passed over me in full trot, lifting me
from the ground, and tumbling me about cruelly; the clatter of
their approach, and the apprehensions it excited, maybe easily
conceived; had a gun come that way, it would have done for me. The
battle was then nearly over, or removed to a distance--the cries
and groans of the wounded all around me, became every instant more
and more audible, succeeding to the shouts, imprecations, outcries
of '_Vive l'Empereur!_' the discharges of musquetry and cannon;
now and then intervals of perfect silence, which were worse than
the noise;--I thought the night would never end. Much about this
time, I found a soldier of the Royals lying across my legs, who
had probably crawled thither in his agony; his weight, convulsive
motions, his noises, and the air issuing through a wound in his
side, distressed me greatly; the latter circumstance most of all,
as the case was my own. It was not a dark night, and the Prussians
were wandering about to plunder; (and the scene in Ferdinand, Count
Fathom, came into my mind, though no women, I believe, were there,)
several of them came and looked at me, and passed on: at length,
one stopped to examine me. I told him, as well as I could (for
I could say but little in German), that I was a British officer,
and had been plundered already; he did not desist, however, and
pulled me about roughly, before he left me. About an hour before
midnight, I saw a soldier in an English uniform coming towards me;
he was, I suspect, on the same errand. He came and looked in my
face; I spoke instantly, telling him who I was, and assuring him
of a reward, if he would remain by me. He said that he belonged
to the 40th regiment, but had missed it. He released me from the
dying man; being unarmed, he took up a sword from the ground, and
stood over me, pacing backwards and forwards.--At eight o'clock
in the morning, some English were seen at a distance; he ran to
them, and a messenger was sent off to Hervey. A cart came for me.
I was placed in it, and carried to a farm-house, about a mile and
a half distant, and laid in the bed from which poor Gordon, (as I
understood afterwards,) had been just carried out; the jolting of
the cart, and the difficulty of breathing, were very painful. I had
received seven wounds; a surgeon slept in my room, and I was saved
by continual bleeding, 120 ounces in two days, besides the great
loss of blood on the field[6]."
The regiment remained at its post on the left until towards the
close of the action, when the head of a Prussian column had arrived
at the field of battle, the TWELFTH Light Dragoons were then
removed from the left to the right of the allied army; and, in the
general charge, made in the evening of this memorable day, they
had the honor of being one of the corps which led the attack of
the right wing; they passed over the ground on which the struggle
had taken place between the French and English foot-guards, which
was covered with killed and wounded; rushed upon the flanks of the
enemy's broken columns with distinguished gallantry, and completed
their rout and discomfiture. When the French army was overthrown
and driven from the field, the regiment halted for the night.
Its loss was Captain Sandys, Lieutenant Bertie, Cornet Lockhart,
six serjeants, and thirty-seven rank and file, killed; Colonel
Ponsonby, Lieutenant Dowbiggen, three serjeants, and fifty-five
rank and file, wounded.
The honor of bearing the word "WATERLOO" on their guidons and
appointments was afterwards conferred on the TWELFTH Light
Dragoons by royal authority. Colonel the Honorable F. C. Ponsonby
and Major James Paul Bridger were constituted companions of the
Bath; Major Bridger was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel,
and Captain Sampson Stawell to that of major; and Serjeant-Major
Carruthers was appointed to a cornetcy. The following officers
received silver medals:--
Col. Hon. F. C. Ponsonby
Major J. P. Bridger
Capt. Sampson Stawell
" G. F. Erskine
" H. Wallace
" Alexander Barton
" Henry Andrews
Lieut. William Heydon
" James Chatterton
" John Vandeleur
" William Hay
" W. H. Dowbiggin
" Albert Goldsmith
" Abraham Lane
" J. H. Slade
" Thomas Reed
Paymaster W. L. Otway
Adjutant John Griffith
Surgeon B. Robinson
Assist.-Surg. J. G. Smith
Vet.-Surg. James Castley
Every non-commissioned officer and soldier also received a silver
medal, with the privilege of reckoning two years' service for
having been present at this battle,--the greatest of past or
present times, and one which has increased the reputation of the
British arms.
Following the shattered remnant of the French army in its flight,
the regiment arrived in the vicinity of Paris, and the submission
of the capital was followed by the restoration of the Bourbon
dynasty to the throne of France. The TWELFTH Light Dragoons
bivouacked in the Champs Elysées, and, having been reviewed by
the Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, and other distinguished
personages, marched into cantonments in Normandy.
[Sidenote: 1816]
The regiment, having been selected to form part of the army of
occupation, was placed in brigade with the Eighteenth Hussars under
Major-General Sir Hussey Vivian, and while stationed at Fruges, it
assembled on the memorable field of Agincourt, where the Waterloo
medals were presented to the officers and soldiers. In May, 1816,
the regiment marched to Desvres, (Pas-de-Calais,) where the depôt
squadron joined from England, and information was received, that
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent had approved of the regiment
being armed and equipped as a corps of "LANCERS;" a detachment was,
consequently, sent to England to learn the use of the LANCE.
In October the regiment was reviewed, with the British, Saxon,
and Danish contingents of the army of occupation, by their Royal
Highnesses the Dukes of Kent and Cambridge.
[Sidenote: 1817]
As a further reward for its conduct on all occasions, the royal
authority was granted, in March, 1817, for the regiment being
styled the "TWELFTH, OR PRINCE OF WALES'S, ROYAL LANCERS." At the
same time the color of the facings was changed from yellow to
scarlet, and the lace from silver to gold.
[Sidenote: 1818]
In the autumn of this year the regiment was reviewed, with the
army of occupation, near Valenciennes, by the King of Prussia and
several princes and nobles; and in the autumn of 1818 the Russian,
British, Danish, Saxon, and Hanoverian contingents, were reviewed
by the Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, Prince of Orange, and
the Grand Dukes Constantine and Michael.
After this review, the army of occupation was withdrawn from
France; the TWELFTH Royal Lancers embarked at Calais on the 10th
of November, landed at Dover on the following day, and proceeded
from thence to Chichester and Arundel. At the end of November they
marched to Staines, and were on duty at the funeral of Her Majesty
Queen Charlotte. They subsequently proceeded to Canterbury, and
furnished detachments to Hythe and Deal.
[Sidenote: 1819]
On the 21st January, 1819, Captain Alexander Barton was promoted,
with other officers, to the rank of major in the army, for
distinguished conduct in the field, while on service in the
Peninsula, upon the recommendation of Field-Marshal the Duke of
Wellington.
[Sidenote: 1820]
In the summer of 1819, the regiment was removed to Hounslow and
Hampton-court, and was reviewed by His Royal Highness the Prince
Regent. In August, 1820, it embarked at Bristol for Ireland, and
after landing at Waterford, the head-quarters were stationed at
Cahir.
Colonel the Honorable F. C. Ponsonby exchanged to the half-pay, and
was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel T. W. Brotherton, who had served
with distinguished gallantry in the Fourteenth Light Dragoons
during the Peninsular war, and who assumed the command of the
regiment in October of this year.
[Sidenote: 1821]
From Cahir the regiment marched, in the spring of 1821, to Dublin,
where it was stationed when King George IV. visited Ireland, and
took part in the duties required on that occasion.
[Sidenote: 1822]
[Sidenote: 1823]
[Sidenote: 1824]
After remaining at Dublin a year, the TWELFTH Royal Lancers
marched into the Connaught district, with their head-quarters
at Ballinrobe, from whence they were removed, in May, 1823, to
Cork; and in July, 1824, the regiment embarked at Waterford for
England, landed at Bristol, and marched from thence to Brighton and
Chichester.
[Sidenote: 1825]
General Sir William Payne, Baronet, was removed to the Third
Dragoon Guards, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the TWELFTH
Royal Lancers by Major-General Sir Colquhoun Grant, K.C.B., K.C.H.,
by commission dated the 2nd of June, 1825.
In the summer of this year the regiment marched to the vicinity of
London, and was reviewed, with the Household Brigade, First and
Second Dragoon Guards, Scots Greys, Seventh Hussars, and a brigade
of artillery, on Hounslow-heath, on the 28th of June, by His Royal
Highness the Duke of York, who was accompanied by the Dukes of
Cambridge and Sussex.
[Sidenote: 1826]
From London the regiment marched to Coventry, Birmingham, and
Abergavenny; and in April, 1826, it was removed to Hounslow and
Hampton-court.