JOURNAL
OF THE
WATERLOO CAMPAIGN
KEPT THROUGHOUT THE CAMPAIGN OF 1815
BY THE LATE
GENERAL CAVALI MERCER
COMMANDING THE 9TH BRIGADE ROYAL ARTILLERY
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING
Text originally published in 1870 under the same title.
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Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
PREFACE
THIS workthe Journal of the Campaign of 1815was written by my father in its pre sent form about forty years ago, from rough notes jotted down every evening after the scenes and events of the day were over. It has no pre tension to be an account of the military opera tions of the war, but merely a diary of the writer's own impressionswhat he saw and felt while with the army, from the first landing in Belgium to the final embarkation for England. Of the great battle, no other description than that of the part taken in it by his own troop of Horse Artillery, or those corps in his imme diate vicinity, is given: but from its very nature as a diary, the tedium of out-quarters, the fatigues of the march, and the hardships of the bivouac, are made present, as it were, to the reader. My father having been a very good amateur artist, was much struck, of course, by new and picturesque scenes, consequently has described them con amore, and in considerable detail. The author himself belonged to a mili tary race; all his family were either in the army or navy. He was the second son of General Mercer of the Royal Engineers, who, after serving on Sir H. Clinton's staff during the American War of Independence, was more than twenty years commanding engineer in the West of Eng land, where his honourable character procured him many friends. My father (also a general officer at the time of his death) was born in 1783, and passing as usual through the Military Academy at Woolwich, obtained a commission in the Royal Artillery at sixteen, and was sent to Ireland at the time of the Rebellion. In 1808 he went to the river Plate to join Whitelock's unfortunate expedition, and covered the retreat from Buenos Ayres. This proved a most un happy affair for him; for having been in South America, he was prevented from partaking in the glorious campaigns of the Peninsula, and only saw foreign service again in the campaign of Waterloo; After the peace, he was placed upon half-pay. In 1824 he was ordered to Canada, having the brevet rank of major (I should have noticed that at Waterloo he only held the rank of second captain, although commanding a troop Sir Alex. Dickson, whose troop it was, being otherwise employed). In 1837, being then a lieutenant-colonel, he was again sent to North America, and commanded the artillery in Nova Scotia at the time when the Maine boundary- line threatened to terminate in a war between this country and the United States. He subse quently commanded the garrison at Dover, after which he retired from active service, although, being colonel-commandant of the 9th Brigade of Royal Artillery, he was never placed on the retired list. From that time to the period of his death, at the advanced age of eighty-five, he con tinued to reside at Cowley Cottage, near Exeter.
Another addition to the numerous books which have been published about Waterloo will hardly seem out of place at a time when the subject has been revived both here and in France. It would seem that men's interest in this great "World Battle" is as strong now as fifty years ago: and although this little contribution will not eluci date any of the questions that are agitated, still (as far as memory serves) it is the first account of the campaign given to the world by an artillery officer, and may add another stone to the cairn raised to the glory of the British army and its immortal chief. At any rate, the surviving veterans of this stirring epoch will rejoice to go again over the scenes of their younger days: while the lovers of peace will congratulate them selves on the cessation of such strife between two noble nations, whose last (and may it continue to be the last) hostile rencontre took place upon the plain of Waterloo.
CAVALI A. MERCER
TRIPOLI, SYRIA.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I.
Preparations for DepartureReports of FugitivesEmbarkation and DepartureThe VoyageOff the CoastFirst View of OstendAspect of the CoastOstend HarbourIts Dangers Unceremonious Landing of Dragoon Horses
THE return of Napoleon from Elba, though a sur prise to many, was far from being so to those who, well aware of his restless disposition, his insatiable ambition, and the enthusiastic attach ment of the French soldiery to his person and fortunes,, had scarcely expected that he would have remained so long as he actually did with out some new attempt at disturbing the general peace.
The steps taken on this occasion by the different European Powerstheir preparations for a renewal of the bloody scenes so lately endedare out of my province. They belong to the historian, and not to the simple journalist, whose affair it is to confine himself strictly to those transactions in which he was himself a participator: or at most to glance at those more general subjects, merely to give connection to his narrative and make it better understood.
At the time the news of this extraordinary event arrived, the troop of horse-artillery which I commanded was stationed at Colchester: and the reductions necessary to put us on a peace-establishment had already commenced, when the order arrived for our being immediately equipped again for foreign service. To do this effectually, another troop, then in the same barracks, was broken up, and we got the picked horses of both, thus making it the finest troop in the service: and such diligence was used, that although our equipment fell little short of a complete reorganisation, Major Sir A. Fraser, commanding the horse-artillery in Colchester, was enabled to report on the third day that the troop was ready to march at a moment's warning.
Meantime the town of Colchester (situated as it is on the great road from Harwich to London) presented a scene of bustle and anxiety seldom equalledcouriers passing to and fro incessantly, and numerous travellers, foreign and English, arriving day and night from the Continent, many travelling in breathless haste, as if fearful, even here, of Napoleon's emissaries.
The reports spread by these fugitives were various and contradictory, as might be expected.
According to some, Louis XVIII. had been arrested in Paris: according to others, he had sought refuge in the Pays Bas: and again, it was asserted that his Majesty was at Ostend, awaiting permission to pass the sea and return to his old and secure quarters in England.
In the midst of all this, on the 8th April, the post brought our order to march forthwith to Harwich, there to embark for Ostendan order received with unfeigned joy by officers and men, all eager to plunge into danger and bloodshed, all hoping to obtain glory and distinction.
