1815
The return of peace was followed by public rejoicings throughout the country; but scarcely had these subsided, when news arrived of the return of Bonaparte to France; of the flight of Louis XVIII. from the capital; and of the re-assumption of the imperial dignity by the usurper. Preparations for war immediately commenced; the establishment of the Inniskilling dragoons was augmented, and six troops, mustering four hundred and fifty officers and men, under the command of Colonel Joseph Muter, were selected to proceed on foreign service; the depôt troops commanded by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Ellice, were stationed at Ipswich.
Sixth (Inniskilling) Dragoons, 1815.
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The six troops destined for service abroad proceeded, in April, 1815, to Gravesend, where they embarked for Ostend; some delay was occasioned by contrary winds; but the whole reached Flanders in safety, and on the first of May they were in quarters beyond Bruges, from whence they removed a few stages further up the country. A British, Hanoverian, and Brunswick force was assembled in Belgium under Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, and the King of the Netherlands placed his troops under the orders of the British commander. The Sixth were formed in brigade with the royal dragoons and Scots greys, commanded by Major-General Sir William Ponsonby, K.C.B. They were reviewed by the Prince of Orange, and Lieutenant-General the Earl of Uxbridge, commanding the cavalry, on the 24th of May; and on the 29th of that month they were seen, together with the other cavalry corps and the royal horse artillery, by the Duke of Wellington, who was accompanied by Marshal Von Blucher, the commander of the Prussian army.
The Inniskilling dragoons reposed in cantonments among the Belgic peasantry about six weeks; being stimulated by the fame acquired by several corps in the Peninsular campaigns, from 1808 to 1814, they were eager for an opportunity to signalize their intrepidity and prowess against the enemies of their country, and this opportunity was soon afforded them. About four o'clock on the morning of the 16th of June, they were suddenly aroused by the notes of the bugle summoning them to assemble, mounted, at the alarm posts. Springing from their beds with alacrity, they were speedily equipped, and, as the Belgic husbandmen commenced their labours in the field, the Inniskilling dragoons were seen directing their march towards Quatre Bras, where the French divisions, under Marshal Ney, had suddenly attacked the advance-posts, while Bonaparte assailed the Prussians at Ligny with the main body of his army. Continuing its route by Enghien, Brain-le-Conte, and Nivelles, the regiment arrived at the scene of conflict a little before midnight; the hostile forces were reposing on their arms; and the Sixth bivouacked behind the position, in a corn-field on the left of the road from Charleroi to Brussels.
The Prussians having retreated, the Duke of Wellington made a corresponding movement, and the Inniskilling dragoons were employed in covering the retreat of the infantry and artillery to the position of Mont St. Jean, in front of the village of Waterloo. On passing through Genappe, a heavy thunder-storm deluged the country and put a stop to the firing; but as the atmosphere cleared, the scene became particularly interesting; the cavalry brigades were manœuvring in the face of the adverse army; the loud tones of the artillery, the fire of skirmishers in the fields, the seventh hussars and first life guards charging the French lancers in the streets, while Bonaparte urged forward his numerous squadrons, thinking to overwhelm the British horsemen, presented to the eye an animating and splendid spectacle. On arriving at the heights of Mont St. Jean, an opposition was presented to the French emperor, which he despaired to overcome that evening, and the hostile forces confronted each other during the night, the men and horses being exposed to a continual rain.
On the morning of the memorable 18th of June, the army appeared in order of battle. The Royals, Greys, and Inniskilling dragoons, were formed on the left of the road leading from Brussels to Charleroi, to support Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton's division of infantry, which crowned the heights in front of the brigade. At ten o'clock the French appeared on the opposite heights, from whence a cloud of skirmishers was sent forward; the artillery gradually opened its fire, and about noon the enemy's columns traversed the intervening space, and one of the most sanguinary, hard-contested, and important battles recorded in the annals of war commenced: a battle in which the fate of kingdoms, and the destiny of millions, was decided by British skill, and by British valour.