As I develop my diorama of Mont St Jean I wanted to include a vignette showing the Duke of Cumberland's Hussars exiting the field. As the battle developed towards its crisis point and French cavalry repeatedly charged the Allied infantry squares on the ridge, there developed a seesaw of counter charges by an ever-diminishing number of British heavy cavalry. Perhaps eleven or twelve British cavalry counter-charges were made, but every time more horses and men were lost and their numbers grew smaller and smaller. Just after 5.00 p.m., the French managed to position a battery of guns forward of La Haye Sainte, which threatened the centre of the Allied position. The King's Dragoon Guards and the Blues were moved up and the Cumberland Hussars were ordered forward to join them. It has repeatedly been claimed that the CO of the Cumberlands, Colonel von Hacke actually had no intention of taking his men into battle, since when the request was made for him to support a cavalry charge, he delayed through unnecessary manoeuvring and eventually, when formally ordered by Wellington to move forward, decided that he and his men had had enough and the entire regiment began to move to the rear, away from the battle.
The British cavalry commander, Lord Uxbridge (later Marquess of Anglesey), was horrified at the sight and immediately sent his ADC, Capt Horace Seymour, to order them back, but the entire regiment left the field. Seymour later recorded:
"Lord Anglesey, seeing the regiment moving to the rear (about five o'clock), desired me immediately to halt it. On delivering the order to the Colonel, he told me that he had no confidence in his men, that they were volunteers and the horses their own property. All this time the Regiment continued moving to the rear, in spite of my repeating the order to halt, and asking the Second-in-Command [Major O. F. von Meltzing] to save the character of the regiment by taking command and fronting them. I was unsuccessful, and in the exigence of the moment I laid hold of the bridle of the Colonel's horse, and remarked what I thought of his conduct; but all to no purpose. [according to Dalton, Seymour used "a few words of plain Saxon".]
I then returned to Lord Anglesey, and reported what had passed. I was again ordered to deliver the message to the commanding officer of the regiment, that if they would not resume their position in the line, he was to form them across the high road out of fire. They did not even obey this order, but went, as was reported, altogether to the rear."
Shortly afterwards, Major Dawson – the Assistant Quartermaster General no less – on behalf of Wellington himself, personally urged von Hacke to take up a position behind the hamlet of Mont Saint Jean, out of danger, but even this request fell upon deaf ears and von Hacke led his men away, retreating towards the forest of Soignes. Some of his own officers, like Adjutant von Dachenhausen, Major von Meltzing and Captain von Landsberg all seem to have urged von Hacke to halt the regiment and return, but to no avail.
To continue the pressure on him to remain, Lt. Col. Sir Alexander Gordon, personal ADC to the Duke reminded von Hacke of his duty according to the formal regulations of warfare, while proposing that he could place his men in a safer place at the edge of the forest. Von Hacke refused even this and continued his retreat through the forest. It was here that an officer of the staff of the Prince of the Orange ordered von Hacke, in the name of the Prince, to return to the battlefield – again with no effect.
Finally, Major General von Kielmansegge sent his own orderly to find the Cumberland Hussars, but he failed to locate them until late that night, long after the battle had ended; this meeting like the others yielded no positive result. The main body of the Cumberland Hussars – apart from those who fled through Brussels spreading alarm – had finally taken up a position about eight miles from the battlefield, in front of the gates of the city. On the grounds that he was suffering from the effects of a contusion, von Hacke vacated the command and was succeeded by Major von Meltzing.
French prisoners:
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