The Waterloo Roll Call: With Biographical Notes and AnecdotesDalton, Charles
History
The Waterloo Roll Call: With Biographical Notes and Anecdotes
Dalton, Charles
Great Britain. Army -- Registers; Waterloo, Battle of, Waterloo, Belgium, 1815
Afterwards Capt. J. Payne, late quartermaster of the Grenadier Guards.
Served in Sicily in 1806–7 and in Spain in 1808–9, and was present in
several actions, including Corunna. He was also at Walcheren. He served
in the campaigns of 1812 to 1815, and was present at the actions in the
Pyrenees, capture of San Sebastian, passage of the Bidassoa, Nive,
Nivelle, investment of Bayonne, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo. He was
commissioned as a quartermaster the 31st Aug., 1815, and retd. with the
rank of capt. in Dec., 1855. Living 1876. The following description of
the square of the Grenadier Guards during the afternoon of Waterloo day
is by Capt. Gronow of that regt., and is certainly worthy of
remembrance, exhibiting as it does the desperate heroism of the British
resistance:—
“During the battle our squares presented a shocking sight. Inside we
were nearly suffocated by the smoke and smell from burnt cartridges. It
was impossible to move a yard without treading upon a wounded comrade,
or upon the bodies of the dead; and the loud groans of the wounded and
dying were most appalling.
“At four o’clock our square was a perfect hospital being full of dead,
dying, and mutilated soldiers. The charges of cavalry were in appearance
very formidable, but in reality a great relief, as the artillery could
no longer fire on us; the very earth shook under the enormous mass of
men and horses. I shall never forget the strange noise our bullets made
against the breast-plates of Kellerman’s and Millhaud’s cuirassiers, six
or seven thousand in number, who attacked us with great fury. I can only
compare it, with a somewhat homely simile, to the noise of a violent
hailstorm beating against panes of glass.
“The artillery did great execution; but our musketry did not at first
seem to kill many men, though it brought down a large number of horses,
and created indescribable confusion. The horses of the first rank of
cuirassiers, in spite of all the efforts of their riders, came to a
standstill, shaking and covered with foam, at about twenty yards’
distance from our squares, and generally resisted all attempts to force
them to charge the line of serried steel. On one occasion two gallant
French officers forced their way into a gap momentarily created by the
discharge of artillery; one was killed by Stables, the other by Adair.
Nothing could be more gallant than the behaviour of those veterans, many
of whom had distinguished themselves on half the battle-fields of
Europe.
“In the midst of our terrible fire, their officers were seen as if on
parade, keeping order in their ranks, and encouraging them. Unable to
renew the charge, but unwilling to retreat, they brandished their swords
with loud cries of ‘Vive l’Empereur!’ and allowed themselves to be mowed
down by hundreds rather than yield. Our men, who shot them down, could
not help admiring the gallant bearing and heroic resignation of their
enemies.”
Sergt. Robt. Steele.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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