"Rouen 11th Sepr 1815."
"Muster Role of the Waterloo Men 2nd (or R.N.B.) Regiment of Dragoons."
"Rouen 11th Sepr 1815."
"Upon getting quite clear of the French, the first person I saw was Captain —— our General's extra aide-de-camp, who had lost sight of the General some minutes before I had, and a little way before us was Captain ---- of my regiment who had been with me in the —— Dragoons in Spain. He returned to his regiment to collect his troops: and the aide-de-camp and I sought for assistance with the view of recovering the General, and such other of our officers and men who were in the hands of the French. I went to Lord E. R. S. who commanded the Life Guard Brigade, and found him alone with the exception of Lieutenant M. and Colonel Harvey of the 14th.
"Lord E. R. S. said to me, 'You see Mr. —— I can do nothing for you.' Upon this I went to a regiment that afterward ran off the field altogether, and asked the Colonel in French, to advance, and that I would show him where our General was prisoner; but he declined moving, saying he had no orders; and he was right, as it would have been in vain to make the attempt.
"A little further to the left, I found Sir J. Vandeleur's brigade in column of divisions and an old brother officer of mine in the —— Dragoons, was riding in front of the General giving him advice. 'No orders' was again the reply to my request. I then joined my regiment.
"After being once more in the form of a regiment, we retired to a situation behind a wood where the enemy's shot and shells passed over us: here the regiment, about three hundred strong, was re-formed under the command of Colonel ——; we were then marched up to the slaughter afresh, and placed nearly in the centre of the enemy. On our right was the first brigade of cavalry, about the same in number as ourselves. On each side of us were some regiments of infantry formed in squares—some Hanoverian, some British.
"Repeatedly during the evening we retired, either by orders given, or voluntarily after the charges were made. But whenever we were out of the fire of the enemy we faced about and resumed our former position.
"The infantry squares did the same, but were also brought back to their positions; and I observed the officers in some of the Hanoverian regiments exerting themselves to the utmost to keep their men in order. We were twice led on by the Earl of Uxbridge, and charged the squares of the French infantry opposed to us, but were as often repulsed, losing about half our number every time.