A final swing of the lamp!

Capt. Kincaid of the 95th was eventually sent home with his regiment after the defeat of Napoleon.  He was lucky/unlucky (you choose) not to be sent to America where those pesky Yankees were cutting up rough - again.  Instead, at the beginning of 1815 he and his comrades were sent into Belgium because Napoleon had escaped and was back in Paris and intending even more trouble than those ex-colonials 'over there'!

For those unfamiliar with the field at Waterloo it consisted of a shallow valley, approximately a 1,000 yards across, running east-west.  More or less through the centre of the battlefield was a north-south road.  The British and their allies were on, or to be exact, just behind, the northern ridgeline.  A sunken road ran east-west along this ridge forming a cross-roads with the north-south road at the centre of the main Allied defence line.  Kincaid and the 95th were stationed just to the east of this cross-roads and they occupied a small knoll and sand pit forward of the main line with the main north-south road to their immediate right.

Something that few people realise about battles in the age of the musket is that within minutes of opening fire the troops would be enveloped in thick smoke from the mass detonation of their cartridges.  Kincaid reminds us of this in his description of the final acts of this most brutal of victories:

June 18th, 1815:  For the two or three succeeding hours [towards the end of the battle] there was no variety with us, but one continued blaze of musketry.  The smoke hung so thick about, that, although not more than eighty yards assunder, we could only distinguish each other by the flashes of our pieces.

A good many of our guns had been disabled, and a great many more rendered unserviceable in consequence of the unprecedented close fighting; for, in several places, where they had been posted but a very few yards in front of the line, it was impossible to work them.

I shall never forget the scene which the field of battle presented at about seven in the evening.  I felt weary and worn out, less from fatigue than from anxiety.  Our division, which had stood upwards of 5,000 men at the commencement of the battle, had gradually dwindled down into a solitary line of skirmishers.  The 27th regiment were literally dead, in square, a few yards behind us.  My horse had received another shot through the leg, and one through the flap of the saddle, which lodged in his body, sending him a step beyond the pension-list.  The smoke still hung so thick about us that we could see nothing.  I walked a little way to each flank, to endeavour to get a glimpse of what was going on; but nothing met my eye except the mangled remains of men and horses, and I was obliged to return to my post as wise as I went.

I had never heard of a battle in which everyone was killed; but this seemed likely to be an exception, as all were going by turns.  We got excessively impatient under the tame similitude of the latter part of the process, and burned with a desire to have a last thrust at our respective 'vis-a-vis'; for, however desperate our affairs were, we had still the satisfaction of seeing that theirs were worse.  Sir John Lambert continued to stand as our support, at the head of three good regiments, one dead (the 27th) and two living ones; and we took the liberty of soliciting him to aid our views; but the Duke's [Wellington] orders on that head were so very particular that the gallant general had no choice.

Presently a cheer, which we knew to be British, commenced far to the right, and made everyone prick up his ears; - it was Lord Wellington's long-wished-for orders to advance [following the stunning defeat of the French Imperial Guard thrown at Wellington's right flank as a last desperate effort by Napoleon who was being crushed on his right by the advancing Prussiams]; [the cheer] gradually approached, growing louder as it grew near; - we took it up by instinct, charged through the hedge down upon the old knoll, sending our adversaries flying at the point of the bayonet.  Lord Wellington galloped up to us at the instant, and our men began to cheer him; but he called out 'No cheering, my lads, but forward,and complete your victory!'

This movement had carried us clear of the smoke; and, to people who had been for 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 see to the right, while the plain to the left was filled with Prussians.  The enemy made one last attempt at a stand on the rising ground to our right of La Belle Alliance [Bonaparte's HQ]; but a charge from General Adams's brigade again threw them into a state of confusion, which was now inextricable, and their ruin was complete.

Again, for the benefit of those not familiar with the British army of those times, the 95th Rifles were considered to be a crack regiment, somewhat similar in repute to today's Paras and Commandos.  They were armed with the new Baker rifle which allowed far greater accuracy than a smooth-bore musket, of which, it has been said, you would have considerable difficulty hitting a barn even if you were inside it!  The Ridlemen could fight in formation like their musket-carrying comrades but they could also act as skirmisher/snipers capable of hunting ahead of their formations in small detachments, sometimes just two men teams.  This meant that the men were trained and trusted to use their native cunning and wit on the battlefield and to operate without orders if necessary.

http://duffandnonsense.typepad.com/duff_nonsense/2011/08/swinging-the-lamp-again.html#tp

http://duffandnonsense.typepad.com/duff_nonsense/2011/08/swing-the-lamp.html#tp

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Rifle-Brigade-Adventures-Rifleman/dp/184415288X

 

Comments

[Andra]

That's amazing.
Taa!

[David Duff]

All thanks are due to Capt. Kincaid.