CAVALRY
IN THE
WATERLOO CAMPAIGN
BY
GENERAL SIR EVELYN WOOD, V.C.
& C , & C .
WITH PLANS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
SECOND EDITION
This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING
Text originally published in 1895 under the same title.
Pickle Partners Publishing 2011, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publishers Note
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.
Contents
Observations
INTRODUCTION.
WHEN the proposal for a series of republications in book form of some of the more important articles and short stories appearing in the pages of the Pall Mall Magazine was first made to us by Mr. R. B. Marston, we accepted it without hesitation, perceiving at once that an admirable medium would thus be provided by which much valuable literary matter might be made known to an even wider circle of the public than the readers of the periodical of which we have the conduct. Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley's graphic and analytical papers on the Decline and Fall of Napoleon which constitute this, the first volume of the Pall Mall Magazine Library, achieved, as we are able to say from personal knowledge, a very remarkable success not only in England and America, but on the Continent; especially in Paris, where they were translated and published in book form. Much the same may be said with regard to General Lord Roberts' valuable and instructive articles on the Rise of Wellington, which found especial favour with military readers in all branches of the Service, and we have reason to think that the collection of these into a single and handy volume will meet with the general approval of military men, and might form a valuable text-book for military students. The articles commenced by Viscount Wolseley and continued by Lord Roberts are now being followed in the pages of the Pall Mall Magazine by Lieut.-General Sir Evelyn Wood's papers on Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign," and we hope from time to time to be able to secure other able military writers as contributors to deal with subjects having an equal historical interest. We conclude by saying that the Publishers have our hearty sympathy and will have our lively co-operation in the publication of the Pall Mall Magazine Library, and so far as lies in our power we shall endeavour to assist them in making each successive volume such as to entitle it to a foremost place in the literature of the day.
FREDERIC HAMILTON.
DOUGLAS STRAIGHT.
Editors Pall Mall Magazine.
18, Charing Cross Road.
March, 1895.
PREFACE.
THE publication in the Pall Mall Magazine of some papers on the use of Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign has induced several gentlemen, mostly civilians, to write to me on various points, and from their correspondence it seems that many of my readers who have never served in the Army take deep interest in questions which I had previously thought would only be likely to attract the attention of professional soldiers. It is remarkable that of a party of four with which I revisited Waterloo last year there were two soldiers, one lawyer, and one physician, the two latter being men of admitted reputation in their professions. The knowledge these gentlemen possessed of the campaign was great, and from what I learnt from them and my numerous correspondents I have been induced to enlarge the Pall Mall Magazine articles to a greater length than was permissible in the pages of a monthly magazine.
While confining my narrative generally to the operations of the Cavalry, and to the work of the Staff of the Army, so far as it affected the Mounted branches, I have endeavoured, by a study of English, French, and German works, to place before my readers a faithful description of cavalry achievements in the shortest but most decisive campaign of this century.
EVELYN WOOD,
General.
September 30th 1895.
LIST OF SOME OF THE BOOKS USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS NARRATIVE.
WATERLOO. BY ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN.
CAMPAGNE DE 1815. PAR GENERAL GOURGAUD.
OBSERVATIONS SUR LA "RELATION DE LA CAMPAGNE DE 1815." PAR LE GENERAL GROUCHY.
ATLAS DES PLUS MMORABLES BATAILLES, COMBATS, ET SIEGES . PAR F. VON KAUSLER.
HISTORY OF THE KING'S GERMAN LEGION. BY BEAMISH.
FIELD SERVICES OF CAVALRY. BY BEAMISH.
TACTICS OF CAVALRY. BY BEAMISH.
THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN (ARBER'S). BY W. SIBORNE.
WATERLOO LETTERS. BY H. T. SIBORNE.
FIFTEEN DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE WORLD. BY E. S. CREASY.
HISTOIRE DE LA CAMPAGNE DE 1815. PAR LIEUT.-COLONEL CHARRAS.
PRCIS POLITIQUE ET MILITAIRE DE LA CAMPAGNE DE 1815. PAR GENERAL BARON DE JOMINI.
A VOICE FROM WATERLOO. BY E. COTTON.
WATERLOO : THE DOWNFALL OF THE FIRST NAPOLEON. BY GEORGE HOOPER.
NOTES ON THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. BY SIR J. S. KENNEDY.
WATERLOO LECTURES. BY LIEUT.-COLONEL C. C. CHESNEY.
FIFTY YEARS OF MY LIFE. BY GEORGE THOMAS ALBEMARLE.
GESCHICHTE DES FELDZUGES VON 1815. VON GENERAL VON OLLECH.
THE WAR IN THE PENINSULA, AND WELLINGTON'S CAMPAIGNS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM. BY H. R. CLINTON.
QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. BY DORSEY GARDNER.
HISTOIRE DE LA CAMPAGNE DE 1815. PAR EDGAR QUINET.
WORDS ON WELLINGTON. SIR WILLIAM FRASER.
A SKETCH OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. BY BARON VON MFFLING.
MMOIRES (1799-1854). PAR MARBOT.
THE CAMPAIGN OF WATERLOO. BY J. C. ROPES.
RELATION DE LA BATAILLE DE MONT ST. JEAN. PAR UN TEMOIN OCULAIRE.
HOME'S PRCIS OF MODERN TACTICS.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. BY SIR HERBERT TAYLOR.
LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF SIR W. M. GOMM.
HISTOIRE DE LA GUERRE DE LA PENINSULE SOUS NAPOLON. PAR FOY.
LES GRANDS CAVALIERS DU PREMIER EMPIRE. PAR THOUMAS.
DE 1'ESPRIT DES INSTITUTIONS DE MILITAIRES. PAR MARMONT.
SOUVENIRS DE DELAFOSSE.
"1815." PAR HENRY HOUSSAYE.
THE LIFE OF LORD HILL.
REVUE DES DEUX MONDES, DECEMBRE 1894.
HISTOIRE DES DEUX RESTAURATIONS. PAR VAULABELLE.
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF WATERLOO. BY LIEUTENANT F. H. PATTISON, 33RD REGT.
REVUE DE CAVALERIE.
ALL THE REGIMENTAL HISTORIES, CAVALRY AND INFANTRY, BEARING ON THE SUBJECT.
