Letter from an Officer of the 18th Hussars on Waterloo

On the morning of the 18th, Major-General Vivian, who commanded the 6th cavalry brigade, composed of the 1st Hanoverian Hussars, the 10th Royal, and the 18th Hussars, made us take a few hours rest in a little copse on the borders of the forest of Soignies, and close to a village forming the left of the British line, and in correspondence with General Bulow. At four o'clock in the morning, a Prussian officer arrived, who informed Major-General Vivian that he left Ohain at 12 o'clock, and came with the utmost speed possible, with orders to inform the Duke of Wellington, that Marshal Blucher had commenced his march at 12, and that he hoped to be up by one P.M. (but the roads were so bad, that he did not open fire until four o'clock); and that General Bulow was marching from Ohain on our left, to operate agreeably to the promise made to Lord Wellington by Marshal Blucher: however, from the badness of the roads, he did not come up till 8 o'clock in the evening; but even at that late hour he was of the greatest use, as we were much harassed by the artillery and musketry of the French.

At three o'clock P.M. Major Percy was sent by the Duke of Wellington to General Bulow, to inquire how long it would be before he could come up: he returned in a short time, saying, that he would arrive in an hour; but, as I before observed, the roads prohibited the possibility of his doing so.

The Duke of Wellington dispatched Lieut.-Col. Stavely at a quarter before seven o'clock, to see if the Prussians were coming; they had made a halt to rest themselves near the field, before they came into action; very few of the officers, and none of the soldiers of the British army knew that the Prussians were expected.

The enemy pressed the centre of the British line so heavily, that we were obliged to leave the left, and form in line in the rear, and almost on the heels of the pressed infantry; and remained in that position for about a quarter of an hour, when the French gave way, and we charged, first the Cuirassiers, then the Lancers, and ultimately became so mixed with the enemy, that the confusion exceeded all description; but terminated in the entire defeat of the French.

I must name to you an individual occurrence which happened in our regiment. Serjeant Taylor, on coming up with the Cuirassiers, made a cut at the head of one of them, which had no other effect on the Frenchman, than to induce him to cry out in derision, "Ha! ha!" and to return a severe blow at the Serjeant, which was admirably parried, and Taylor then thrust his sabre into the mouth of the Cuirassier, who instantly fell, and the conqueror cried, "Ha! ha!" in his turn; which circumstance much increased the ardour of the other men.

John Booth. Additional Particulars to the Battle of Waterloo, Also of Ligny, and Quatre Bras, With Circumstantial Details by a Near Observer, Containing a Register of the Names of the Officers who Served in the Campaign of the Netherlands, 1815. (London: 1817), pp. 61-63.