The Waterloo Campaign 1815
Titles in the Gareth Glover Collection that deal with the Waterloo Campaign
The Great Waterloo Controversy. The 52nd Foot in the Waterloo Campaign
52nd Foot Eyewitness Accounts of the Battle and Army of Occupation 1815-18
Lieutenant George Barlow 52nd & 69th Foot
Sergeant David Robertson 92nd Foot
Captain John Oldfield’s Letters
Letters of Reverend Samuel Briscall
An American Sharpe, the Journals and Letters of Lieutenant James Penman Gairdner 1st Battalion 95th Rifles
Fighting Napoleon, The Journal of Lieutenant John Hildebrand 35th Foot 1809-17
A Scots Grey at Waterloo – The Incredible Story of Troop Sergeant William Clarke
The Journals of Lieutenant George Woodberry 18th Hussars
Waterloo the defeat of Napoleons Imperial Guard
Henry Clinton’s Correspondence
Volume 1 August 1814-April 1815
Walcheren, Spain, America & Waterloo, memoir of Captain Peter Bowlby 4th Foot 1791-1877
The Peninsular and Waterloo Journals of Lieutenant William Bates Ingilby Royal artillery 1810-15
Waterloo Myth & Reality A Revised History of the Waterloo Campaign
The Diary of Ensign William Gavin 71st Foot 1806-15
Memoir of the Waterloo Campaign, 1815, by Lieutenant Colonel William Fielding, Coldstream Guards
Wellingtons Voice, The candid letters of Lieutenant Colonel John Fremantle, Coldstream Guards 1808-1821.
Letters from an Officer of the Corps of Engineers, from the British Army in Holland, Belgium & France to his Father, from the latter end of 1813 to 1816 .
Adventurous pursuits of a Peninsular War Veteran. The Peninsular and Waterloo memoirs of Private James Smithies 1st (Royal) Dragoons 1809-15.
Eyewitness to the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo The Letters and Journals of Lt Colonel James Hamilton Stanhope 1st Foot Guards 1803-25
-British Sources
-British Sources
-British Sources
-British Sources
-Dutch & German Sources
-British Sources
– British Sources
– German Sources
– British Sources
– British Sources
– German Sources
– The British Sources
Waterloo Campaign Letters, Written by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander, Lord Saltoun, 1st Foot Guards 1815
Recollections of the scenes of which I was a witness in the Low Countries & France in the campaigns of 1814 and 1815 and the subsequent occupation of French Flanders The journal and letters of the Reverend George Griffin Stonestreet
Campaigning in Spain and Belgium The Letters of Captain Thomas Charles Fenton, 4th Dragoons & the Scots Greys 1809-15
Voices of Thunder, A Novel.
Letters from the Battle of Waterloo. Unpublished Correspondence by Allied Officers from the Siborne Papers.
From Corunna to Waterloo. The letters and Journals of Two Napoleonic Hussars 1801-16.
Recollections of My Life including Service at Waterloo. Colonel George Blathwayt 23rd Light Dragoons.
A Narrative of the Battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo; With the Defence of Hougoumont by Matthew Clay .
A Life Guardsman in Spain, France and at Waterloo, the memoirs of Sergeant Major Thomas Playford, 2nd Life Guards 1810-30.
Waterloo Letters . The 1815 Letters of Lieutenant John Hibbert 1st King’s Dragoon Guards.
A Staff Officer in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. The Letters of the Honourable Lieutenant Colonel James H Stanhope, 1st Foot Guards 1809-15.
A Young Gentleman at War, the Letters of Captain the Honourable Orlando Bridgeman 1st Foot Guards, in the Peninsula and at Waterloo 1812-15.
Reminiscences of Waterloo. The Correspondence between Henry Leathes and Alexander Mercer of G Troop RHA.
A Short Account of the Life and Adventures of Private Thomas Jeremiah , 23rd or Welch Fusiliers 1812-37.
The Waterloo Diary of Captain James Naylor, 1st King’s Dragoon Guards.
The Diary of a Veteran . The Diary of Sergeant Peter Facey, 28th (North Gloucester) Regiment of Foot 1803-19.
The Peninsular & Waterloo Letters of Captain George Bowles of the Coldstream Guards 1809-15.
It all culminated at Hougoumont The letters of Captain John Lucie Blackman 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, 1812-15
This whirlwind campaign, which began with the escape from the island of Elba by Napoleon Bonaparte on 26 February 1815 and his almost bloodless coup to reclaim the crown of France ended dramatically with the total destruction of his army on the bloody fields of Waterloo (or Belle Alliance) on 18th June 1815
It is not intended to provide here a detailed history of the campaign, as there are very many general histories
both in print and on the web (see useful sites )
However, a great number of the texts I have published to date deal with this campaign in detail and raise a number of questions over the ‘accepted’ version of the Waterloo campaign.
The major areas of discussion are listed below.
15-17th June
- The timing of the message sent by the Prussian General Ziethen to the Duke of Wellington on 15 June apprising him
of the French invasion of Belgium early that morning. - The timings of orders to the various British and Allied units to march to Quatre Bras.
- The force ordered by the Duke of Wellington to halt south of Nivelles to watch this road for French flanking movements, despite his desperation for troops at Quatre Bras.
- The reasons for the delays in units arriving at the Battle of Quatre Bras.
- The actions of German units at the Battle of Quatre Bras.
- Details regarding the retreat to Waterloo.
- Looting by British troops. Yes it happened!
Burying the dead at Chateau Hougoumont
18th June
- The myth that Bijlandt’s Brigade was left on the forward slope to be slaughtered.
- The claim that there was no infantry reserve on the left of Wellington’s army.
- Mistakes in plans showing the original positions of troops at the Battle of Waterloo.
- The myth that Hougoumont was only defended by British Guards.
- Proof that German troops aided in the repulse of Derlons attack.
- The Nassau troops were not forced from Papelotte/La Haye
- The myth that only 42 men survived the defence of La Haye Sainte farm.
Mont St Jean farm, which served as a field hospital
- The true account of German & Nassau troops in the battle. See the attached article by Martin Mittelacher
- The Second (Yes Second!) break in by French troops at Hougoumont.
- The myth that the French did not use artillery against Hougoumont.
- The mistaken retreat of Kielmansegge’s Brigade and subsequent arrest of their commander by Wellington!
- Evidence that the British right had made some preparations for a retreat.
- Captain Alexander Mercer’s exaggerations in his journal.
- Mercers battery was not under fire by Prussian guns.
- Evidence that the French murdered their prisoners before beginning their retreat.
- The unstinting care of the wounded by the Belgian population.
- Medical evidence regarding the wounded and their treatment.