42nd Highland Regiment at Quatre Bras, 16 June

WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 1815

42ND HIGHLAND REGIMENT *

at Quatre Bras, 16th June

composed by Geert van Uythoven

“The 42d regiment was ordered to advance along with a Belgian corps, to support the Prussians, who were under fire. In the march, owing either to their own superior quickness, or to the want of ardor in the Belgians, the latter were left behind; and in a field of high standing corn, a column of French Lancers advanced upon them. Col. Macara ordered the regiment to form a square, in doing which two companies were left out, or were rather in the act of falling in, when they were pierced by the Lancers, and in one moment overwhelmed, and literally annihilated. The lancers then attacked the square, and repeated the charge several times. One half of them were also mowed down, together with the brave Colonel ; upon which Lieut.-Col. Dick took the command, though wounded by a musket-ball ; he succeeded in rallying and forming them into a diminished square, and thus presented an undaunted resistance to the Enemy. The Lieutenant-Colonel was at length, from the loss of blood, carried from the field ; when he was succeeded by Captain Davidson, who had been previously twice wounded, but remained in the field till nearly the close of the 16th, when he received his death-wound ; but the gallant remnant of the men succeeded in putting the lancers to flight. On the 16th, this regiment had killed and wounded 284, on the 18th, 49.”

*Extract of a Letter from a Private in the 42d Regiment to his Father.

General Hospital, Antwerp, June 24, 1815.

“On the 15th, about twelve o'clock at night, we turned out, and at two in the morning marched from the city of Brussels, to meet the Enemy, who were advancing in great force on that city. About three o'clock in the afternoon of the 16th, we came up with them. Our whole force did not exceed 12,000 men, who were fatigued with a long march of upwards of twenty miles, encumbered with knapsacks and other luggage. The day was uncommonly warm and no water to be had on the road ; however, we were brought up in order of battle. The French being strongly posted in a thick wood, to the number of 40,000 men, including cavalry and lancers, gave us very little time to look round us ere the fight commenced on both sides, in an awful and destructive manner, they having every advantage of us, both as to position and numbers, particularly in cavalry, and the British dragoons had not yet come up. The French cavalry charged the British line of infantry three different times, and did much execution, until we were obliged to form squares of battalions in order to turn them, which was executed in a most gallant manner, and many hundreds of them never returned. Still they sent up fresh forces, and as often we beat them back. The battle lasted until it was quite dark, when the Enemy began to give way ; our poor fellows who were left alive following them of long as they could see, when night put an end to the fatigues of a well fought day. Thousands on both sides lay killed and wounded on the field of battle; and, as the greater part of the action lay in corn fields along a vast tract of country, many hundred must have died for want of assistance through the night, who were not able of themselves to crawl away. I was wounded by a musket-ball, which passed through my right arm and breast, and lodged in my back, from whence it was extracted by a surgeon in the hospital of this place. Captain M. is most severely wounded, having several shots through his body, and the regiments, in general, are mostly cut off. We have heard, since we came here, that our fine brigade, which entered the field on that eventful day, consisting of the 3rd battalion Royal Scots, 42d, 44th, and 92d regiments, are now formed into one battalion, not exceeding in the whole 400 men. Lord Wellington retired in the night to wait for reinforcements, and next day our cavalry and the rest of the army arrived. Thus I have given you as full an account of affairs, principally what I witnessed on the 16th. Nothing can exceed the kindness and attention of the inhabitants of this city to our wounded men ; the hospital is constantly filled with ladies and gentlemen, who, although speaking a different language, personally administer to our wants with the kindest attention, distributing clean shirts, bread, wine, coffee, tea, milk, and fruit of all sorts, with every requisite for our comfort and accommodation.”

Source: Booth’s “The Battle of Waterloo, also of Ligny, and Quatre-Bras, containing the series of Accounts Published by Authority, British and Foreign, with circumstantial details relative to the battles, from a variety of original and authentic sources, with connected official and private documents, forming an historical record by those who had the honour to share in the operations of the Campaign of the Netherlands 1815. To which are added the names, aphabetically registered and by regiments, of the officers employed, and of the killed and wounded, from 15th to 26th June, 1815, and the total strength and loss of each regiment, illustrated by an extended view of the field of battle, and plans of the positions at Waterloo, Ligny, and Quatre Bras, at different periods of the action, with a general plan of the campaign. By a near observer” tenth edition, enlarged and corrected, Volume 1 (London 1817) pp. 74-76.