,,>,!tfir^^^-:'iir}f^^-' r'' C7^ J WITH NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO / NAPOLEON From the marble medallion in the possession of the Editor Frontispiece WITH NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO AiND OTHER UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS OF THE; WATERLOO AND PENINSULAR CAMPAIGNS ALSO PAPERS ON WATERLOO BY THE LATE EDWARD BRUCE LOW M.A. EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MAC KENZIE MAC BRIDE WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON FRANCIS GRIFFITHS H MAIDEN LANE, STRAND, W.C. 1911 s iri / have to acknowledge my indebtedness for kind help to Mrs Ryde-Jones Alexander, Miss Fleming, Mr Robert T. Rose of Edinburgh, Mr Samuel Hales of Newmans Row, Lincoln Inn Fields, andtoM.^ George Preece the courteous chief Librarian of the Borough of Stoke Newing- ton. I believe the late Mr Bruce Low was indebted to Colonel Greenhill-Gardyne of Glenforsa for the loan of the diary of Sergt. Robertson.—Ed. 253027 — 1 CONTENTS PAGE Introduction . I With Abercrombie and Moore in Egypt. From THE Unpublished Diary of Sergeant Daniel NiCOL ..... 9 I. CAPTAIN LIVINGSTONE . II II. WHY THE BRITISH DID NOT TAKE CADIZ . 1 III. A TURKISH GOVERNOR . 20 IV. A HARD FOUGHT LANDING 25 V. THE GALLANT STAND OF THE 9OTH AT MANDORAH 29 VI. THE NIGHT ATTACK AT ALEXANDRIA 35 VII. A HOT MARCH . 4^ VIII. THE ENEMY RETIRE 47 IX. IN THE DESERT 52 X. ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE 57 XI. THE SIEGE OF ALEXANDRIA 63 CoRUNNA The Story of a Terrible Retreat From the Forgotten Journal of Sergeant D. Robertson I. THE MARCH TO BURGOS 71 II. HOW THEY CAPTURED A FRENCH PICQUET 76 III. THE TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMY 78 IV. THE BATTLE OF CORUNNA ix X CONTENTS PAGE The Gordon Highlanders in Spain, A For- gotten Page in their History ; from the unpublished Diary of Sergeant Nicol detachment 86 I. the invalid ... douro II. the passage of the ... 92 III. the great fight at talavera . 99 IV. the fruits of victory . 104 How the British Stormed Aray del Molinos. From the Journal of Sergeant D. Robert- • son . .115 Waterloo Papers. By the late E. Bruce Low THE guards AT WATERLOO HOUGOUMONT . I 23 The Greys at Waterloo. Reminiscences of the Last Survivor of the famous Charge . 137 What the Gordons did at Waterloo. From the Journal of Sergeant Robertson . 115 Life-Guardsman Shaw—A Hero of Waterloo. By the late E. Bruce Low . 169 With Napoleon at Waterloo diary of napoleon's equerry from a MS. formerly in the collection of sir THOMAS phillips . .181 Last Moments at Waterloo. Journal of Napoleon's Aide-de-Camp the advance of the old guard . 1 89 The New Legend of Waterloo. By the late Edward Bruce Low . .195 CONTENTS XI A British Prisoner in France, his Sufferings AND his Adventures. From the Diary of Sergeant Nicol I. on the sierras 205 II. LE amor DE DIEU 21 I III. the road to briancon 214 IV. THE TERRIBLE CONDITION OF MANY PRISONERS 219 V. THE STRANGE HEADQUARTERS OF THE 92ND 222 VI. THE JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE 227 VII. THE RASCALLY GOVERNOR OF MAUBEUGE . 231 VIII. THROUGH NORMANDY . IX. THE WHITE COCKADE WELLINGTON AND BLUCHER Facing page xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PORTRAITS Napoleon From a Medallion in the Editor s Collection. Frontispiece Wellington and Blucher By {ind permission of Mr George Preece^ Librarian of Sto^e Nencington. Facing page xii Sir Ralph Abercrombie I From an Engraving in the Editor''s Collection The Marquis of Huntly . i6 General Sir C. W. Doyle » » 21 Marshal Beresford 28 Maj. Gen. Sir Arthur Wellesley » 33 Lord Hill 48 of Duke Wellington 53 Sir James Macdonell 60 General Sir de Lacy Evans 65 Sir Thomas Picton 80 Lord Uxbridge 85 Marshal Ney 92 The Lion at Home 97 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PICTURES OF WATERLOO From the Dra'wings made by Capt. Jones, R.A., immediately after the battle was oyer. By kind per?nission of Mr George Preece, Librarian of Stoke Nemngton The 7 1 ST Highlanders at Quatre Bras . 112 Death of Col. Macara 117 Sir Thomas Picton giving the Order to Charge 124 Gallant Stand of the 28th 129 Shaw the Lifeguardsman at Waterloo . 144 Charge of the Union Brigade 149 Charge of Union Brigade at 2 p.m. 156 Grays and Gordons in the ' Scotland for Ever ' Charge 161 Death of Sir Wm. Ponsonby 176 Lord Hill and the i 3TH Regt. 181 The Defence of Hougoumont 188 Gallantry of the Brunswickers . Wellington ordering the Guards to Charge 208 Wellington leads on the 5 2nd and 90TH Regts. 213 French Cuirassiers ride up to the Guns . 220 The General Advance 225 Plan of the Battle of Waterloo at 12 and 3 p.m. and AT THE end of THE ACTION 240 WITH NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO LIEUTENANT GENERAL SIR RALPH ARERCROMRIE Facing page i INTRODUCTION The manuscripts which make up the present volume are of unique interest and importance. The Journal of Jardin Aine, Napoleon's Equerry at Waterloo, here trans- lated and published for the first time, was in the library of the late Sir Thomas Phillips, the great collector of manuscripts. On the sale of the library at his death it passed into private hands, and so has escaped notice up to the present. It, and the account of another Waterloo eye-witness which follows, make an interesting chapter in the history of the great battle which altered the fate of the world more than any struggle of modern times has done, indeed, perhaps more than has been done by any battle since the world began. Next in importance are the extracts from the journal of Daniel Nicol, a soldier of the Gordon Highlanders, who gives an account of the doings of a company of his regiment which was left behind in Spain and served under Wellesley at the Passage of the Douro and at the battle of Talavera. In addition to the fact of it being a singularly vivid human document, the diary adds much to our knowledge ot several important events. On this point Colonel Greenhill-Gardyne, the historian of the Gordon Highlanders writes, ' I only wish I had had it (The Diary) before I published The Life of a Regiment^ although it supports all the information I had it would have added some details of the actions oi Egmont op Zee and Alexandria, and particularly the account of the 92nd company at the Passage of the Douro and Talavera, of which there is no other account extant that I know of.' Sergeant D. Robertson's diary has been long overlooked and forgotten ; from it are taken the account of the Gordon Highlanders in the Retreat to Corunna, at the storming of — 2 INTRODUCTION Ai'av del Molinos and at Waterloo. Robertson, a Perthshire man, joined a volunteer company in 1797 but, desiring a more active life, enlisted later in the Caithness Highlanders (Fencibles) commanded by Sir John Sinclair, and was sent with the regiment to Ireland in 1798. An invitation was sent to the Fencible regiments then in Ireland to join the Egyptian expedition under Sir Ralph Abercrombie and Robertson joined the 92nd Highlanders. In addition to the Waterloo campaign described in the following pages he served in Egypt, Walcheren, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, and Spain, leaving the army in 18 18. Besides their historical value these diaries throw an interesting light on the character and education of the men who then formed the Highland regiments ; for example, the following incident, related by Nicol when in Portugal * About this time I was on picquet duty and was planted sentinel on a bridge over a river that runs in the valley, at daybreak I commenced to read a book, Butler's Hudibras^ when in a moment a lusty friar made his appearance at the end of the bridge. This rather startled me, he saluted me, and was very friendly, looking at the frontispiece of my book, " he exclaimed Oh Hudibras ! you are a bon Christian," and, pointing upwards and clapping me heartily on the shoulders, told me I was sure to go to Heaven. He gave me five reas, a copper coin of less value than a halfpenny, which I put in my pocket and carried for many a day as I did not wish to offend one who had so high an opinion of my being a Christian. But I had doubts of him, for a few minutes after, I saw him taking particular observation of a newly made battery on the road leading up to the heights.' Nicol, in fact, always seems to have had a book about him, though to-day it would astonish us to find a private soldier reading a book like Hudibras, but in those days education in Scotland was a solid thing. Further proof of this is afforded later where he tells how in the cathedral of Alcobace, the priests * who offered great civility to our troops,' showed them two brass chains hanging from the roof from which they said two gold chandeliers had been carried away by the French. The parish schoolmaster had done his duty so well by Nicol that he was able to tell the priest * in the best Latin he could muster,' which was so good that the Padre ' readily understood,' that he did not think the priests such fools as to allow gold or silver INTRODUCTION 3 utensils to remain in their churches after they knew an enemy to be in their country. At Coimbra the men visited the Royal Library in which the interpreter told them were books in every language in the universe. On this Sergeant MacBean, a sturdy old High- lander of the Gordons, began to speak in Gaelic to the professor and students who formed a ring round them.