The curtain rises upon the eventful year 1815—the year in which Napoleon's ambitious career was to be at once and for ever checked by the Iron Duke on the field of WATERLOO.
Vivian, now a Knight Commander of the Bath, was the first major-general sent in command of a brigade of cavalry to join the army assembling at Brussels; and did 'yeoman's service' during the few days which preceded the great battle, notably covering the retreat (as at Corunna) of the army whilst falling back from Quatre Bras on Waterloo.
It would of course be out of place here (even if the familiar histories of the great battle, given by Siborne, Alison, and Hooper, had not also made it unnecessary) to attempt any description of that world-renowned fight. But Vivian's share in it demands more than a passing notice; and this I have drawn up from the authorities whom I have mentioned, as well as after having made a visit to the field of battle; and from other sources.
It may be premised that, at Waterloo, Vivian commanded the 6th Brigade of Cavalry of the British and King's German Legion. It was composed of the 1st, 10th, and 18th Hussars, numbering, according to Siborne, 1,279 sabres. They were at first stationed on the extreme left of the first or main portion of the British line. The 10th and 18th regiments were in line in rear of the road to Wavre, and withdrawn a little from the crest of the ridge, the right of the 10th resting upon a lane. The 1st Hussars were also in line, and formed the reserve. The extreme left of this brigade was completely en l'air (i.e., unsupported), upon high, open, and flat ground. A piquet, consisting of a squadron of the 10th, occupied the village of Smohain, and their vedettes were within half-carbine-shot of some of the French cavalry. Vandeleur's brigade of light horse was on Vivian's right.
But the frequent and furious charges of the enemy made it necessary, as the anxious, bloody day wore on, to strengthen the Duke's left centre; and accordingly in the sheet of Siborne's Atlas representing the field at a quarter before eight p.m., when the Prussians had begun to arrive, Vivian's cavalry appear as then occupying the middle of the much-weakened British force, close at the rear of the Brunswickers and Nassauers. This change of position was effected on Vivian's own responsibility, and to the great satisfaction of the Duke; for when these fresh troops took up their position, the British cavalry had been reduced to mere skeletons of regiments. It is not difficult to fancy how long the day must have seemed to the fiery Hussars, who had not yet struck one blow, and who were anxiously longing for the opportunity of displaying their own valour, and of avenging the deaths of their slain comrades.
They were not to wait much longer, as we shall presently see; for, twenty minutes later, Vivian, instead of being at the rear of the British army, was at its head, sabring the Imperial Guard:—'Oh the wild charge they made!' It must be borne in mind that the crisis of the battle had arrived; and Napoleon, like a desperate gambler, had risked his all by sending his masses of reserves against the attenuated British regiments, with instructions, at all hazards, to force the centre, in the rear of which Vivian had placed himself, in a most trying position for cavalry, exposed as they were to the fire of the French tirailleurs. His first impression, on contemplating the destruction which he saw around him, was that he had come, once more, to cover a retreat of the Anglo-allied army: and, indeed, but for the exertions of himself and others—actually using the flats of their sabres—the contemptible Dutch-Belgian troops, who formed Wellington's second line, would have probably fled from the field, and have left a hideous and fatal gap in the British line.
But Adams's infantry brigade had swept, like a triumphant wave, the front of the Allied line, and the moment had arrived when a daring charge by fresh cavalry against the shattered Imperial Guard and the French cavalry reserves round La Belle Alliance, was all that was wanting to secure the impending victory. Vivian was the happy man upon whom this glorious task devolved. He moved out to the rear of Alten's division, and thus clearing himself from the British infantry, advanced directly to the front by the right of Maitland's brigade of Guards. His orders from the Duke were not to attack till the infantry came up to his support, unless he was 'confident of success.'
At this juncture, Sir Hussey Vivian—encouraged by the cheers of his comrades, heard above the fierce trumpet-blasts, by the ringing of scabbards as the swords leaped forth, and by the victorious omen bestowed by a crimson gleam of the rapidly setting sun, which now pierced and incarnadined the smoke and clouds—charged in echelons of regiments; the 10th, headed by himself, leading: and with that regiment he dispersed and drove in the cavalry posted in the front and on the left of the squares of the Old Guard. No sooner was this done, than, galloping to his left, he led on the 18th, also in person, against the Cuirassiers of De Lorte, who were on the right of that veteran body; the 1st Hussars of the German Legion following. In a few minutes the dazzling helmets of the French Cuirassiers and the spears of their Lancers were seen scattered in every direction! At the same time the 2nd King's German Legion, which Wellington had moved up to support Vivian, successfully charged a body of Cuirassiers on the right of the 10th; and although this corps was in its turn assailed by fresh Cuirassiers, and thrown into disorder, it quickly rallied, and soon drove the French off that part of the field. The squares of the Guard were thus laid bare, and the artillery in the intervals opened a heavy fire on the British horse; but Vivian, dashing on, captured the guns, twenty-four in number, before any foot-soldier on his left arrived. Then, seeing the Osnaburgh red-coats coming up to his support, he ventured to attack the squares themselves. Such was the ardour of the men, that a squadron of the 10th, having re-formed after taking the artillery, and Vivian himself leading them, charged one of the squares with unparalleled vehemence. That attack was, after a short struggle, at first repulsed by the steady fire of the veteran French grenadiers. The French square, nevertheless, fell back after the shock, still keeping up a rolling fire on its opponents, who never ceased to cut at them till they too were lost in the crowd of fugitives. About this time Vandeleur's brigade came up. It charged upon Vivian's right, defeating a body of French infantry, who were formed in square, and who were endeavouring to restore the battle in that quarter; but the rout was now complete.
Wellington, encouraged by the rapid and beautiful style in which Vivian's brigade advanced, and by the brilliant success of the attack, now ordered, amid the enthusiastic cheering of the troops, the long-looked-for general advance of the whole line. That this was, as Siborne well describes it, 'a march of triumph rather than of attack,' is matter of history. The battle of Waterloo was won; and the British General's prediction was verified, in the words of Scott, that 'England should tell the fight.'