"The nearest run thing". Waterloo, June 1815
"....I should not do justice to my own feelings, or to Marshal Blucher and the Prussian Army, if I did not attribute the successful result of this arduous day to the cordial and timely assistance I received from them...." (from Wellington's campaign dispatch).
"....You'll see the account of our desperate battle and victory over Boney!! It was the most desperate business I was ever in; I never took so much trouble over any battle; and never was so near being beat. Our loss is immense, particularly in that best of all instruments, British Infantry. I never saw the infantry behave so well. I am going immediately. Can we be reinforced in Cavalry or Infantry or both? We must have Lord Combermere as Lord Uxbridge has lost his leg...." (from Wellington's letter to his elder brother and father-in-law to his military secretary)
and then in 1824, Parliament passed The Vagrancy Act, making begging
and the `exposing of wounds to gather alms or pity` a criminal offence,
due to the huge numbers of maimed veterans from the conclusion of the
Napoleonic Wars.
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3 comments:
An epic contest!
Something I read about Waterloo just a few days ago that detailed the cost - there were giant pits dug and the bodies of 1000s of men and horses were pushed in
It was one of those pivotal battles that changed the future of Europe
William, yes indeed. My great grandmother's brother Thomas was killed by Zulus at Isandlwana, over 50 years later in the biggest massacre of British infantry of modern times by a native force. Him and his dead comrades remained on the field for 3 months so there was little left to bury.
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