[WATERLOO BATTLE OF]: [HALKETT HUGH]: (1783-1863) ´ well done, Colonel Halkett, by God this is splendid´

[WATERLOO BATTLE OF]: [HALKETT HUGH]: (1783-1863) ´ well done, Colonel Halkett, by God this is splendid´

[WATERLOO BATTLE OF]: [HALKETT HUGH]: (1783-1863) British General who served in the Napoleonic Wars and fought at the Battle of Waterloo, commanding four battalions of Hanoverian militia. Halkett is remembered for having captured General Cambronne at Waterloo. An excellent, lengthy A.L.S., J Halkett, by Colonel James Halkett, son of Hugh Halkett, twenty-eight pages (comprising seven bifolia), 8vo, Farrance´s Hotel, near Eaton Square (London), 29th October 1862, to William Maynard Gomm (´My dear Sir William´). James Halkett states that his father is no longer able to read or write and that he is therefore replying on his behalf ´as I got him to tell me the story of his life the winter I spent in Hanover, & I then wrote down what he told me & can therefore repeat the story you ask about almost word for word as he gave it to me´, continuing to provide Gomm with ´a short sketch of my father´s proceedings & share in the glorious 18th June´ (the Battle of Waterloo), writing, in part, ´His brigade, composed of Hanoverian Landwehr, all untried troops, but partly officered & non-commissioned officered by the old King´s German Legion, formed part of General Clinton´s Division. After marching all night the bivouacked on the field of Waterloo. The Division.....was soon brought into the alignment with its right resting on Hougoumont. Whilst effecting this change the French cavalry attacked my father´s Brigade but they drew off on his forming en masse. At the time his first horse was killed, having both his hind legs shot away, the ball afterwards mowing down 8 men. His A.D.C. immediately dismounted & was shifting my father´s saddle on his horse when a shell fell near, wounded the man holding the horse & the horse scampered away. Colonel Dickson.....then caught a splendid English horse with new equipment & brought it to my father. At between 3 & 4 o/c in the afternoon General Clinton sent for my father & gave him the Duke´s orders to take whatever troops he liked & defend the garden & enclosures of Hougoumont......He immediately ordered the Salzgitter Battalion to attack the French who were in the wood, the Battalion did so, behaved very well, drove them out, & at the same time the skirmishers of the Brigade, who were excellent marksmen, formed together &.......drove back, with much spirit, the French skirmishers from the different enclosures, & my father then reported the place as secured. When, after 6 o´clock, the Duke gave orders for a general move in advance, my father placed himself at the head of the Osnabruck Battalion........He sent his Brigade Major to bring up the Battalion.....but the order was never received for Capt. Saffe was killed whilst carrying the order......Soon after the advance he fell in with old Garde Imperiale &......after driving them back he discovered the enemy´s artillery coming up out of a hollow way on his left, he ordered the skirmishers, supported by a company, to attack them.......About this time General Chasse (who afterwards defended Antwerp) galloped up to the front to see how matters were going on, & was full of admiration at the conduct of the troops.......Shortly after this an officer of the Duke´s staff galloped up & called out: "well done, Colonel Halkett, by God this is splendid". After a short pause he again advanced & under the heavy fire of the enemy´s artillery which had driven up on the left of the Imperial Guard, he attacked & took the guns.......Whilst following the French guards he saw their General, accompanied by two officers, come to the front to try & bring them to a stand. My father immediately threw forward his skirmishers & dashing full gallop at the General threatened to cut him down. He surrendered & declared himself to be General Cambronne......On leading his prisoner back, his horse, already wounded, received another shot & fell. With much difficulty he succeeded in getting him on his legs again when he discovered General Cambronne running back to the French Guards, he followed & caught him again, & seizing him by the aiguilette brought him back a prisoner & gave him over to a Sergeant......with orders to conduit him to the Duke of Wellington......Shortly after he had taken General Cambronne his horse was again hit & had his fore legs shot off.......He was soon remounted on a French Artillery horse which his men caught, but shortly after this third horse was shot under him. His men then shot a Frenchman who was mounted on a fine English, grey, Hussar horse, & brought him to my father who got a wet seat in the sheep´s skin which was satturated (sic) with the poor Frenchman´s blood.......After the French Guard had gone back, an officer belonging to them & who had been taken Prisoner, informed my father that Napoleon was amongst a large group of French officers & some French Cavalry who were hovering about his Brigade. He advanced his sharpshooters & these throwing some shot amongst them made them retire a short distance......My father then advanced on to the high road to Genappe & there fell in with the advanced Corps of the Prussians & shook hands with General Muffling. Not seeing any red coats near him, he halted & remained for the night in some straggling houses.....When returning next morning to re-join his Division he passed the guns which had been thrown into confusion......The Brigade when marching to Nivelle that morning was met by Lord Hill who highly complimented my father on its behaviour & marched at its head......When my father mentioned the gallant behaviour of the Brigade to Sir Henry Clinton, the General asked why this had not been mentioned the night before in order that he might have reported it to the Duke.....With regard to Cambronne´s "mot sublime" the only one my father heard was the one giving my father to understand that he surrendered, & it was pronounced in very good French! If anything ever was said about the Guard dieing etc., it certainly was at a later hour when Cambronne was safely lodged in our lines. My father was thrown together with the Comte d´Artois in Heligoland & when in Paris went to call on him. The future Charles X....did not think his countrymen fought well at Waterloo´. Halkett concludes his letter by writing of more social matters, but also makes a reference to the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Venta del Pozo which had been fought on 23rd October 1812 during the Peninsular War. A letter of wonderful content for its account of General Halkett´s involvement in the Battle of Waterloo, and not least in connection with the often disputed circumstances of the surrender of Cambronne to the British. Together with a slim oblong 12mo envelope wrapper annotated to the front panel in the hand of one of William Maynard Gomm´s relatives, ´Grass taken from the field of Waterloo, when I went over it with Uncle Gomm, Aunt Har[riet] & Miss Howard Vyse, July 23rd 1868´. With three small black seals to the verso, two of which remain intact. The contents of the envelope have not been examined, although dried grass can be seen through an opening at one end where the third seal is broken. Also including two other miscellaneous manuscript documents, one being a Report upon the proposed Sale of Land by Sir William Gomm to the Parish of Rotherhithe (1850) and the other an extracted copy of the last Will and Testament of Major General William Henry Cornwall (1799-1855) of Cadogan Place, Chelsea. Some light age wear and minor creasing, and Halkett´s letter with small spindle holes to the upper left corner of each page. G to generally VG, 4

William Maynard Gomm (1784-1875) British Field Marshal who served as one of the Duke of Wellington´s most trusted staff during the Peninsular War.

James Halkett (1822-1870) British Colonel with the Coldstream Guards who served in the Crimean War and was Aide-de-Camp to Sir William Maynard Gomm whien Governor of Mauritius 1842-47.

Henry Clinton (1771-1829) British Lieutenant General who served during the Napoleonic Wars. At the Battle of Waterloo Clinton led the 2nd Division which Wellington posted in reserve behind his right flank, and which included Halkett´s 3rd Hanoverian Brigade. The 2nd Division helped to defeat and pursue Napoleon´s Imperial Guard at the end of the battle.

Rowland Hill (1772-1842) 1st Viscount Hill. British General who served in the Napoleonic Wars as a Brigade, Division and Corps Commander. At the Battle of Waterloo Hill commanded the II Corps and led the charge of Sir Fredericl Adam´s brigade against the Imperial Guard towards the end of the battle.

David Hendrik Chasse (1765-1849) Dutch General who fought both for and against Napoleon, and who commanded the Third Netherlands Division that intervened at a crucial moment in the Battle of Waterloo. In 1830, during the Belgian Revolution, Chasse bombarded the city of Antwerp as commander of Antwerp Citadel.

Karl Freiherr von Muffling (1775-1851) Prussian Generalfeldmarschall and military theorist who served as Blucher´s liaison officer in Wellington´s headquarters during the Battle of Waterloo and was one of the organisers of the final victory over Napoleon.

Pierre Cambronne (1770-1842) 1st Viscount Cambronne. French General who was a main strategist of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Wounded at the Battle of Waterloo, the surrender of Cambronne to the British has often been disputed.

At the conclusion of the Battle of Waterloo, Cambronne was commanding the last of the Old Guard when, according to a journalist named Rougement, the General declared ´La garde meurt ne se rend pas!´ (Translation: ´The Guard dies but does not surrender´) as a response to General Colville´s call on him to surrender. Other sources reported that Cambronne issued a one-word reply, ´Merde!´, to Colville. The latter version of the reply became famous in its own right, becoming known as le mot de Cambronne, and repeated in Victor Hugo´s account of Waterloo in his novel Les Miserables. Cambronne himself always denied both Rougement´s account and the one-word response, arguing that he could not have said such a thing and remained alive. A series of letters to The Times claimed that Halkett captured Cambronne, as confirmed in the present letter.