"Soldier's remains found on Waterloo battlefield" Topic

link

Thought this would be interesting.

TMP link

It was, the first time that it was posted; it was somewhat less interesting the second time and this time it is not that interesting at all:(.

D'oh! I did indeed miss that post! Sorry for the duplicate.

S'alright…..Peter Hofschroer already said he was really a Prussian and was the cause of the Prussian victory…..

It was the first time for me, thanks for the link – sad to think his short life ended there… R.I.P.

Warlord

Seems an awful lot of coins for a private soldier at the time. Perhaps an officer?

My thanks for the link. Regardless of times posted, it's easier to see something you enjoy hearing about and just ignore if its been posted other times. I'm glad to see it.

I should think the fact he has personalised equipment and has been buried alone should indicate him being an officer. Or at least a well regarded NCO. I can't imagine a private soldier getting buried alone.

Captain Charles Lewyn Barnard?

2nd North British Dragoons. Only British/ Hanovarian killed with a CB initials.

Edwulf,
If that's correct – that would be quite amazing, that this unknown soldier has a possible name – well done. The position would put him in approximately the right location for the Union Brigades deployment too.

What I found odd was the lack of both hands and a foot, with an apparent bullet to the chest. Odd collection of wounds.

If the loss of hands and foot were due to farming damage, then I would have thought it would have been less selective.

npm

Very hard to say… if they are sure it's British and he's not Dutch or Belgian.
And that's he's not a private or NCO.

Also found a KGL officer, captain CD Bobers.

Missing immediately after the battle, later returned as killed. He was a staff officer. Also written as Carl Von Bobers. He served in the Peninsula from the rank of cornet in the 1st KGL hussars. Brigade major at Waterloo to the 6th Cavalry brigade I assume.

Seems like these two men could be him. Both officers. Both CB. Both mounted so presumely capable of riding back some distance despite a chest wound.

Again, very interesting item!

Ah, but was he buried? The fact that there were coins in his pockets would seem to argue against that. Perhaps he dragged himself into some bushes, or fell into a ditch, and got overlooked by the burial details? Hands and foot missing also would be consistent with scavengers. Surprisingly there's no mention of buttons – unless some of the coins turn out to be that when cleaned up?

Scavenging animals makes a lot of gruesome sense.
With the money still on his person, it suggests that he was hidden in some fashion or other, so avoided looters and the burial parties.

npm

In a field filled with dead and dying I doubt EVERY corpse would be searched thoroughly. Some would slip under the radar.

This man, if he was an officer his men or brother officers may have seen to him before BEFORE the looters had time to find him.. The 1st KGL guy was quite an experienced soldier who'd fought through Spain since being a Cornet…. I imagine he was well respected and bonded with many in his unit. The Scots Grey captain was newly gazette but was also a troop leader easy to picture either one being popular enough do that friends or his men might try and see him looked after before he could be pillaged. I can't verify it but I think he was a veteran.

Captain Charles Lewyns BARNARD – Killed
2nd son of Henry Barnard, of Cave Castle, Co. York and Sarah Gee.
Mmeorial at Parish Church, South Cave, Humberside  – "Capt. Charles Lewyns Barnard, 2nd RNB Dragoons who died at Waterloo 18th June 1815 aged 25 years buried in the field of Battle. He served a campaign in Germany and nearly the whole of the Spanish War in which he was severely wounded. At the Battle of Waterloo he led into action the right squadron of his highly distinguished regiment and displayed before he fell talent and courage."

Also it seems to have been not unusual for officers at least to be buried where they fell. I see reference to a Capt of the Kings Dragoon Guards who is buried not far from the west enterance of La Haye Sainte. Having said that I've seen other references to ORs burying their friends separately in other wars and other Napoleonic campaigns so I imagine their Are few more fallen men down there.

He could have lost them in combat.. Especially if he was charging into close quarters.
I can see a looter cutting of a hand to get to some rings… But a foot? Why?
Animals, battle or farming … Make the most sense.

If buried by his own men where he fell – and I don't dispute the practice – that would explain the absence of uniform buttons. But wouldn't they have taken his purse as well to send to the family (or kept it for their trouble)? Burying people with their riches had gone out of fashion for about a thousand years…

On a different line, would an officer be carrying a spare flint? – Always assuming of course that the bones, coins, flint and other items found together in the ground actually did belong together in life.

Maybe he had a hidden pocket that went un-noticed. Perhaps they took the coins they recognized and left the few they thought useless, maybe they felt bad looting their own officer/friend.

Could the flint have been for a pistol…..?
I presume an officer of dragoons may have potentially carried one amongst his equipment.

npm

I forget the name of the program, but it was BBC I think "Digging up the Trenches" ? Basically WWI, a team of researchers, scholars, archealogists, scientists went and dup up a very short section of the Western Front in Belgium like 200 feet long and they uncovered the bodies of 3 French soldiers in that very short span. In short, I have little doubt that there are many or at least quite a few never recovered bodies buried at places like Waterloo… or Gettysburg.

He's unlikely to have a musket flint but a pistol one is likely. But then I'm sure there are flints scattered all over the field so it could have tumbled in with him.

Who knows… Still interesting to think about.

I'm wondering why they are sure he is British. How do they know he isn't German, Dutch or Belgian? Or even French?

If it is Captain Banard he had fought in Spain with the 38th foot so he was quite an experienced soldier.

So far, I understand the British hypothesis is purely based on location. If they have the skull, they ought to be able to sacrifice one tooth for an isotope analysis that would clarify where he grew up…

As to unrecovered bodies more generally, the difference between Waterloo and the Western Front lies in a hundred years of "progress" on artillery ammunition: 1815 didn't see high explosive shells, so the battlefield wasn't ploughed over and over. A very few bodies will doubtless have been overlooked by the burial parties, as well as the returning farmers, but they'd have to be lying in natural hollows, ditches etc.