"Waterloo - Samuel Green" Topic

I though that some of the members might be interested in another letter from Waterloo, this time from Private Samuel Green, 3rd Battalion, 1st Foot Guards, dated 'At camp by Paris 12th July 1815', to his brother in Dore, near Dronfield, Derbyshire:

I duly received your kind letter of the 13th of June and it is with pleasure I observed you was all in good health, my time did not allow me to write to you from Enghien as we marched on the 16th and were engaged the same evening about 6 o'clock after marching 30 miles. Although our numbers of British were very small in comparison to the French, yet we drove them out of the Wood and got the field after having lost a number of Officers and Men. (The name of this place was Quarter Brass [sic]. On the 17th our Brigade of Guards was not engaged but on the 18th the General arrangements took place when both the Enemy and our forces commenced firing. This was about 10 minutes before 12 o'clock and a very close and constant firing continued until the evening, and about 8 o'clock we gave them a Charge of the Bayonet and they retreated in all quarters, we took 150 pieces of cannon besides ammunition, 2 Eagles &c. This Battle was strongly contested for nigh 6 hours and it was very difficult to judge which would have the field. This Battle may be called the most Glorious and Complicated victory ever obtained over our enemies, the name of the place is Waterloo. The loss on both sides was very great, we lost 850 officers and about 15,000 Rank & File killed and wounded. I have great reason to thank God that I am alive & come out of this field without any material injury, although two musket balls gave me the smallest wounds, but I am now recovered from them, the one on my right arm and the other on my right hand, but I am now doing my duty with my company. We was constantly on the march from the 15th till the 26th when we stormed a small town called Peron [sic] which we did by force and with very little Loss indeed, and the next morning we continued our March on after the Enemy and down into Paris on the 5th instant, where the army having arrived of, they surrender and a general [illegible] being agreed upon was glorious, and our task is almost finished and we hope there will be no more fighting at the present. I am also hoping this will find you and all friends enjoying good health and you will write me by the return of post. I am dear Brother, Yours S. Green.

1815.ltd.uk

Thanks John! It was a good read.

Maxshadow,

It's my pleasure. If you search under my name you'll see that I've posted a number of letters and accounts from various officers and men on Waterloo, covering most of the contingents (armies). John

Cool

That is a fascinating letter; I wonder if he just was not a man of many words or if that was really all he perceived of the battle.

He was a private soldier, and therefore this was all he experienced or had explained to him by his comrades. The field of vision for the rank and file was extremely limited and the points he reported would reflect this.

"Glorious and Complicated" tells me he saw and experienced quite a bit more than he wrote about.

Thanks, for posting it.

Very cool. Those Lads must have been in terrific shape logging all that kit about for such long trecks every day!

John,

While I agree that his field of vision would have been limited, I am not sure that it is safe to assume that "this was all he experienced or had explained to him by his comrades". Many other letter writers of similar rank or situation on the field seem to have given much more detailed descriptions.

For example, he does not even mention the French cavalry attacks, which seem to have been quite memorable for all those who experienced them, which a soldier of the 3/1st Guards should have done.

It is such a pity that some eyewitnesses did not consider the needs of later historians and include greater detail when writing their letters or memoirs:).

Colin,

Forgetting my need as a historian, I posted the letter on TMP – like so many others – because I thought the members might enjoy it, and benefit from reading genuine content about a battle. I hope this was the case.

Perhaps he simply considered that this was all the information his brother needed to be told/would be interested in?

The fact he quotes times is interesting, as he would not – I presume – have had a watch. Since the letter was written nearly a month after the battle, one cannot but imagine that he has obtained such details from his officers or from general talk amongst his comrades. Not, therefore, quite as personal an impression as a letter written immediately afterwards, but interesting nonetheless,

Thank you, John.

This Battle was strongly contested for nigh 6 hours and it was very difficult to judge which would have the field

I found it very interesting. I get so used to thinking of Waterloo as being a forgone conclusion, and here was a participant reminding us from his perspective it could have gone either way.

" yet we drove them out of the Wood and got the field after having lost a number of Officers and Men. (The name of this place was Quarter Brass [sic]. "

Interesting statement, in that those 'number of Officers and men' amounted to some 250 casualties – about 25% of the Bn. strength at Quatre Bras !

I agree Cliff. Indeed, the considetable loss has led to my spending a great deal of time investigating thid subject. A recent excavation near the site at Quatre Bras unearth a large number of buttons and such like from the 1st Foot Guards.

Colin and John
The limited historical info is one of the major reasons that the U.S. Armu has about 20 Military History Detachments. Their job is to gather documents, artifacts, photos and interviews.

I presently "command" one such det.

Dear Col Scott0again,

I have amassed hundreds of accounts during my study of Waterloo, and if I can be of assistance by making these available to you, please let me know.

John Franklin

It is indeed an interesting and fascinating letter, as are the others that you have posted. My point was that such letters are often more interesting for what they do not say than for what they do say. This can tell us much about what the writers considered commonplace or just not worthy of mention.

Colin,

I accept what you say, of course. On another thread within this website I was criticised by another member for not mentioning the charge of the British heavy cavalry in a letter I posted. The person clearly missed the point, as I did not write the letter, merely made it available. Here, I would state that Samuel Green's account is flawed, like all of our understanding of the campaign is flawed, as he did not have a perfect view. This is why I have attempted to amass as much material as possible to cross reference when looking at the possible scenarios. I should add that I often refer to military models, such as the one I have of Hougoumont and the surrounding area, to check the points the combattants make in their letters. As a platform for wargamers, the key thing – in my opinion – is to consider the scenarios which arise from the letters, and to find ways of employing them with the framework of the wargame.

John, many thanks for posting this (and others).

Siborne's "Waterloo Letters" were mostly written by officers to a fellow professional and contain many tactical snippets. As I recall some of your other files go into what I would call "professional" detail.

Where someone from the ranks is writing to a family member it is more likely to be general and more of an impression of events which is what I think we have here.