E. Weller, lith., London.
London: Chatto & Windus.
WATERLOO
18TH JUNE 1815
8.30 to 9 p.m.
As the column of the Guard came forward, Sir John Colborne, in command of the 52nd, at once wheeled up its right shoulder, so as to throw it on the flank of the column. The Duke, who was present, approving of this movement, immediately ordered up the 2nd Battalion on its left; the 71st moved up to its right, and the two companies of the 3rd Battalion formed the extreme right of the line. These owing to the rapidity of the movement were not quite in line, but a little retired from the alignment of the 52nd. The attacking column of the Imperial Guard, having Maitland’s brigade of Guards in its front, was evidently staggered by finding Adam’s brigade on its flank. It halted, and wheeling up its left sections, began to fire. Colborne also halted the 52nd and fired into the column, and the 2nd Battalion coming up at that instant on the left, poured a deadly fire into the Guard. Then Colborne checked the fire, and calling out ‘Charge! Charge!’ led his men against the column. The 2nd Battalion joined vigorously in this charge; which, as Siborne observes, ‘was remarkable for the order, the steadiness, the resoluteness, and the daring by which it was characterised.’ The Imperial Guard wavered, reeled, and then breaking up, fled in inextricable confusion, in spite of attempts made by its officers and some brave men in its ranks to stem its flight. But they were swept away in the torrent of fugitives; and the brigade continuing its triumphant march across the field, and bringing its left shoulder, the 2nd Battalion, rather forward, halted near the Charleroi road, with the left of the 2nd Battalion close to the orchard of La Haye Sainte. The Duke, who came up that moment, suggested to Adam to attack some squares of the Guard, which appeared disposed to make a stand; but Adam observed that his men had marched far, over heavy ground encumbered with dead and wounded, and required a short halt. To this the Duke assented; but in a few moments—knowing by old Peninsular experience that the French once routed never rally—he called out, ‘Better attack them; they won’t stand.’ Nor did they. For although they opened fire when Adam’s brigade approached them, the moment these appeared in earnest and determined to charge, they faced about and retired by word of command. The Duke was with the brigade as they ascended the hill to the French position; and having seen the only standing squares of the Guard thus disposed of, or, as he said himself, having seen ‘those fellows off,’ he rode away. Then Adam crossed the Charleroi road, and bringing up the 2nd Battalion, his left, he proceeded, skirting it, to drive the enemy before him.
While the 2nd Battalion and the two companies of the 3rd are thus employed, let us return to the 1st Battalion, which we left on the Wavre road, exposed to and thinned by the musketry fire from the heights near La Haye Sainte. When the Duke saw the decisive movement of Adam’s brigade and the failure of the last attack of his enemy, he ordered a general advance. The first intimation the 1st Battalion had of it was a pealing cheer, beginning on the right and rolling along from brigade to brigade, from battalion to battalion. As the Riflemen were taking it up, the Duke rode up behind them; the cheers were redoubled at his appearance, but he said: ‘No cheering, my lads; but go on and complete your victory.’
‘This movement,’ says a Rifleman who was with them, ‘had carried us clear of the smoke; and to people who had been so many hours enveloped in darkness, in the midst of destruction, and naturally anxious about the result of the day, the scene which now met the eye conveyed a feeling of more exquisite gratification than can be conceived. It was a fine summer’s evening, just before sunset. The French were flying in one confused mass. British lines were seen in close pursuit, and in admirable order, as far as the eye could reach to the right, while the plain on the left was filled with Prussians.’[161]
The 1st Battalion, after marching across the field of battle, halted about half a mile in front of it, and bivouacked there. The 2nd Battalion and the two companies of the 3rd bivouacked near La Belle Alliance.
The losses of the Regiment at Waterloo were:
Of the 1st Battalion.
Killed.