Chapter 1

Produced by Steven Gibbs, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[Transcriber's Note: A table of contents has been added for the reader's convenience. Minor, obvious printer errors have been corrected without note. Numbers in brackets are footnotes, which are set forth below the paragraphs in which they appear. Numbers in parentheses appearing in the narrative are endnotes, which can be found in the Notes to Lady De Lancey's Narrative.]

A WEEK AT WATERLOO IN 1815

LADY DE LANCEY'S NARRATIVE

BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HOW SHE NURSED HER HUSBAND, COLONEL SIR WILLIAM HOWE DE LANCEY, QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL OF THE ARMY, MORTALLY WOUNDED IN THE GREAT BATTLE

EDITED BY MAJOR B.R. WARD ROYAL ENGINEERS

LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1906

"Dim is the rumour of a common fight, When host meets host, and many names are sunk; But of a single combat Fame speaks clear."

--_Sohrab and Rustum._

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS INTRODUCTION A WEEK AT WATERLOO IN 1815 NOTES TO LADY DE LANCEY'S NARRATIVE APPENDIX A--Letters to Captain Basil Hall, R.N., from Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens APPENDIX B--Bibliography of Lady De Lancey's Narrative INDEX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

MAJOR WILLIAM HOWE DE LANCEY, 45th Regt. of Foot, c. 1800. _From a miniature in the possession of Wm. Heathcote De Lancey of New York_ _Frontispiece_

THE GOLD CROSS OF SIR WM. DE LANCEY, received after serving in the Peninsular War, with clasps for Talavera, Nive, Salamanca, San Sebastian, and Vittoria. _In the possession of Major J.A. Hay_ _Face p._ 10

LADY DE LANCEY. _From a miniature after J.D. Engleheart_ " 24

PART OF AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF SIR WALTER SCOTT " 34

PART OF AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF CHARLES DICKENS " 36

COLONEL SIR WILLIAM HOWE DE LANCEY, _c._ 1813 " 38

MAP OF PART OF THE BATTLEFIELD OF WATERLOO " 110

THE VILLAGE OF MONT ST JEAN, 1815 " 113

THE WATERLOO MEMORIAL IN EVERE CEMETERY " 118

A WEEK AT WATERLOO IN 1815

INTRODUCTION

The following narrative, written over eighty years ago, and now at last given to the world in 1906, is remarkable in many respects.

It is remarkable for its subject, for its style, and for its literary history.

The subject--a deathbed scene--might seem at first sight to be a trite and common one. The _mise-en-scène_--the Field of Waterloo--alone however redeems it from such a charge; and the principal actors play their part in no common-place or unrelieved tragedy. "Certainly," as Bacon says, "Vertue is like pretious Odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed: For _Prosperity_ doth best discover Vice; But _Adversity_ doth best discover Vertue."

As to the style, it will be sufficient to quote the authority of Dickens for the statement that no one but Defoe could have told the story in fiction.

Its literary history is even more remarkable than either its style or its subject.

It is no exaggeration to say of the narrative--as Bacon said of the Latin volume of his Essays--that it "may last as long as Bookes last." And yet it has remained in manuscript for more than eighty years. This is probably unique in the history of literature since the Invention of Printing.

As regards the hero of the narrative, the Duke of Wellington once said that he "was an excellent officer, and would have risen to great distinction had he lived."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington_, by Earl Stanhope, p. 183.]

Captain Arthur Gore, who afterwards became Lieutenant-General Gore, alludes to him in the following terms: "This incomparable officer was deservedly esteemed by the Duke of Wellington, who honoured him with his particular confidence and regard."[2]

[Footnote 2: _Explanatory Notes on the Battle of Waterloo_, by Captain Arthur Gore, 1817, p. 83.]

His ancestors, for several generations, had been men of great distinction, and he undoubtedly inherited their great qualities in a very high degree.

The De Lancey family is one of Huguenot origin, the founder of the family,[3] Etienne De Lancey, having fled from France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

[Footnote 3: In French annals the family can be traced back to the time of the Hundred Years' War. The first of the name, of whom there is any authentic record, was Guy de Lancy, Vicomte de Laval et de Nouvion, who in 1432 held of the Prince Bishop of Laon and Nouvion, villages and territories a few miles south of that city. See _History of New York during the Revolutionary War_, by Thomas Jones, edited by Edward Floyd De Lancey, vol i., p. 651, and _Dictionnaire de la Noblesse de France_, vol. viii., title "Lancy."]

The following extracts treating of the family history are taken from Appleton's _Cyclopædia of American Biography_.

The author of the articles, Edward Floyd De Lancey,[4] was born in 1821, and died at Ossining, N.Y., on the 7th April 1905. At one time he held the position of President of the New York Genealogical Society, and has done a great deal of work in the field of historical research.

[Footnote 4: For biographical sketch, _see_ Appleton's _Cyclopædia_, vol. ii., p. 130.]

"Etienne De Lancey (great-grandfather of Sir William De Lancey), was born in Caen, France, 24th October 1663; and died in the city of New York, 18th November 1741. Having been compelled, as a Protestant, to leave France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (18th October 1685), he escaped into Holland. Deciding to become a British subject and to emigrate to America, he crossed to England and took the oath of allegiance to James II. He landed in New York, 7th June 1686. His mother had given him, on his departure from Caen, a portion of the family jewels. He sold them for £300, became a merchant, and amassed a fortune of £100,000. He married Anne, second daughter of Stephanus van Cortlandt, 23rd January 1700. He took a prominent part in public affairs, representing the fourth ward of New York as alderman in 1691-93, and was a member of Assembly for twenty-four years. While sitting in the latter body he gave his salary, during one session, to purchase the first town-clock erected in New York; and with the aid of his partner imported and presented to the city the first fire-engine that had been brought into the province. The De Lancey house, built by Etienne in 1700 upon a piece of land given to him by his father-in-law, is now the oldest building in the city of New York."[5] Mr De Lancey was buried in the family vault in Trinity Church, New York.

[Footnote 5: Appleton's _Cyclopædia_, vol. ii., p. 129.]

Three of his sons, James, Peter, and Oliver, left descendants. Descendants of the eldest son, James, amongst whom were included Edward Floyd De Lancey, the historian of the family, are resident in the city of New York, and also at Ossining, N.Y. Descendants of the second son, Peter, are now living in the county of Annapolis, Nova Scotia.[6]

[Footnote 6: For further details of this branch of the family, _see_ the _History of the County of Annapolis_, by Calnek and Savary, pp. 339-344 and 499.]

The third son, Oliver, grandfather of the hero of the present narrative, went to England after the Revolutionary War. No direct descendants of his in the male line would appear to be now living.

The following is the account of his life as given in Appleton's _Cyclopædia_:--

"Oliver, the youngest son of Etienne, was born in New York City, 16th September 1708; and died in Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 27th November 1785. He was originally a merchant, being a member of the firm founded by his father. He early took an active part in public affairs, and was noted for his decision of character and personal popularity. He represented the city of New York in the Assembly in 1756-60, and served as alderman of the out-ward from 1754 till 1757. He was active in military affairs during the entire French War, and, in 1755, obtained leave from Connecticut to raise men there for service in New York, for which he received the thanks of the Assembly of his own province. In March 1758 he was appointed to the command of the forces then being collected for the expedition against Crown Point, and succeeded in raising the entire New York City regiment within ten days. He was placed at the head of the New York contingent, under General Abercrombie (about 5000 strong), as Colonel-in-Chief. In the attack on Fort Ticonderoga, 8th July 1758, he supported Lord Howe, and was near that officer when he fell mortally wounded. In November of the same year the Assembly of New York again voted him its thanks 'for his great service, and singular care of the troops of the colony while under his command.' In 1760 he was appointed a member of the Provincial Council, retaining his seat until 1776. In 1763 he was made Receiver-General, and in 1773 Colonel-in-Chief of the Southern military district of the province. 'In June 1776,' says the historian Jones, 'he joined General Howe on Staten Island; and, had that officer profited by his honest advice, the American War, I will be bold to say, would have ended in a very different manner to what it did.' In September of that year he raised three regiments of Loyalists, largely at his own expense, of 500 men each, known as 'De Lancey's battalions.' Of these regiments a brigade was formed, and Colonel De Lancey was commissioned Brigadier-General in the Loyalist service. He was assigned to the command of Long Island, where he remained during the war. One of his battalions served in the South with great credit, under his son-in-law, Colonel John Harris Cruger, doing effective service in the defence of Fort Ninety-six against General Greene. In November 1777, his country-seat at Bloomingdale, on the Hudson, was robbed and burned at night by a party of Americans from the water-guard at Tarrytown, his wife and daughters being driven from the house in their night-dresses and compelled to spend the night in the fields, now the Central Park. Having been attainted, and his immense estates in New York and New Jersey confiscated, General De Lancey retired to England, where he resided in Beverley until his death. Of his four daughters, Susanna married Sir William Draper, while Charlotte became the wife of Sir David Dundas, K.C.B., who succeeded the Duke of York as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army."[7]

[Footnote 7: Appleton's _Cyclopædia_, vol. ii., p. 132.]

In the Life of Van Schaak, his decease is mentioned thus by a fellow-Loyalist: "Our old friend has at last taken his departure from Beverley, which he said should hold his bones; he went off without pain or struggle, his body wasted to a skeleton, his mind the same. The family, most of them, collected in town (London). There will scarcely be a village in England without some American dust in it, I believe, by the time we are all at rest."[8]

[Footnote 8: _Loyalists of the American Revolution_ (Sabine), vol. i., 365.]

Stephen, the eldest son of Brigadier-General Oliver De Lancey, and father of Sir William De Lancey, was born in New York City about 1740; and died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 1798. He was educated in England, and practised law in New York before the Revolutionary War, during which he served as Lieutenant-Colonel of the "De Lancey's" second battalion. After the war he was appointed Chief Justice of the Bahama Islands, and subsequently was made Governor of Tobago and its dependencies. His health becoming impaired while he held the latter office, he sailed for England to rejoin his family. But he grew rapidly worse on the voyage, and, at his own request, was transferred to an American vessel bound for Portsmouth, N.H., where he died, and was buried a few days after his arrival.[9]

[Footnote 9: The following is an extract from the Parish Register of St John's Church, Portsmouth, N.H.

"1798. | RECORD OF DEATHS. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Decbr. 6th | His Excellency, _Stephen De Lancy_, Governour of | Tobago, who died, the night after his arrival | in the harbour of this town, of a decline which | had been upon him for six months, aged 50 | years." ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr De Lancey was buried in the Wentworth tomb, in St John's Churchyard, where many of the Wentworth Governors of New Hampshire and their families are buried.--ED.]

Sir William De Lancey, soldier, only son of the preceding, was born in New York about 1781,[10] and died in June 1815, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Waterloo. He was educated in England, and early entered the British army. He served with great distinction under Wellington in Spain, and was several times honourably mentioned in his despatches.[11]

[Footnote 10: This date agrees with the tradition handed down in the family with Lady De Lancey's narrative, to the effect that he was only thirty-four at the time of his death at Waterloo.--ED.]

[Footnote 11: _Vide_ Gurwood's _Despatches of the Duke of Wellington_, 2nd edition, vol. iii., pp. 227 and 229; vol. v., p. 476; vol. vi., p. 542. Sir Harry Smith, a soldier of soldiers--"inter milites miles"--speaks of him in his Autobiography as "that gallant fellow De Lancey." (_Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith_, vol. i., p. 266.)]

At the close of the war he was made a Knight of the Bath. When Napoleon landed from Elba, Wellington, in forming his staff, insisted on having De Lancey appointed as his Quartermaster-General. The officer really entitled to the promotion was Sir William's brother-in-law, Sir Hudson Lowe;[12] but as Wellington had conceived a dislike for him, he refused to accept that officer in that capacity. The military authorities, however, insisted on his appointment, and it was only when Wellington made the promotion of De Lancey a _sine quâ non_ of his acceptance of the supreme command that the former yielded.[13] Six weeks before the battle of Waterloo, Sir William married the daughter of Sir James Hall[14] of Dunglass, the Scottish scientist. His bride accompanied him on the Continent. On the second day of the battle[15] Sir William was knocked from his horse by a spent cannon-ball, and it was at first supposed that he had been instantly killed. Thirty-six hours afterwards he was discovered, still alive and in his senses, but incapable of motion, although without any visible wound. Notwithstanding the skill of the surgeons, and the tender care of his wife, he succumbed to his injuries nine days after the battle.[16]

[Footnote 12: It was not till the 16th December 1815--six months after Waterloo--that Sir Hudson Lowe married Mrs Susan Johnson, sister of Sir William De Lancey. (_Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xxxiv., p. 191.) See also _The Creevey Papers_, Third Edition (1905), p. 247.]

[Footnote 13: "Wellington assumed command in the Netherlands early in April 1815, and Lowe, who had been acting as Quartermaster-General in the Low Countries under the command of the Prince of Orange, remained for a few weeks under him as his Quartermaster-General; but having been nominated to command the troops in Genoa designed to co-operate with the Austro-Sardinian armies, he was replaced in May by Sir William Howe De Lancey." (_Dictionary of National Biography_, art. "Lowe, Sir Hudson," vol. xxxiv., p. 191.) See also _The Creevey Papers_, Third Edition (1905), p. 247.

The following extract of a letter from Major-General Sir H. Torrens to Earl Bathurst, Secretary for War, dated Ghent, 8th April 1815, alludes to the hitch about Sir Hudson Lowe: "I shall communicate fully with the Commander-in-Chief upon the Duke of Wellington's wishes respecting his Staff.... As you were somewhat anxious about Sir Hudson Lowe, I must apprise you that he will not do for the Duke." (_Supplementary Despatches of the Duke of Wellington_, vol. x., pp. 42 and 43.) (_Cf._ _The Creevey Papers_, Third Edition (1905), p. 289.)

Evidently Sir Hudson Lowe was no more of a _persona grata_ to Wellington than he afterwards became to Napoleon!

A letter from Major-General Sir H. Torrens, who appears to have been acting at the time as Military Secretary to the Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief at the Horse Guards, written to the Duke of Wellington from London on the 16th April 1815, shows the high estimation in which the Duke held De Lancey's services:--

"De Lancey is in town on his way to go out.... I told him the very handsome and complimentary manner in which you asked for his services, and assured him that nothing could be so gratifying, in my view of the case, to his military and professional feelings as the desire you expressed to me of having him again with you." (_Supplementary Despatches of the Duke of Wellington_, vol. x., p. 130.)

That the Duke felt deeply the interference of Headquarters with his selection of Staff Officers is clearly shown by the following letter, written by him to Earl Bathurst, Secretary for War, dated Bruxelles, 4th May 1815:--

"To tell you the truth, I am not very well pleased with the manner in which the Horse Guards have conducted themselves towards me. It will be admitted that the army is not a very good one, and, being composed as it is, I might have expected that the Generals and Staff formed by me in the last war would have been allowed to come to me again; but instead of that, I am overloaded with people I have never seen before; and it appears to be purposely intended to keep those out of my way whom I wished to have. However I'll do the best I can with the instruments which have been sent to assist me." (_Supplementary Despatches of the Duke of Wellington_, vol. x., p. 219.)]

[Footnote 14: See _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xxiv., p. 68.]

[Footnote 15: On the 18th June, at Waterloo; the battle of Quatre Bras having been fought on the 16th.--ED.]

[Footnote 16: Appleton's _Cyclopædia_, vol. ii., pp. 132, 133.]

There are several references to De Lancey's death in the "_Letters of Colonel Sir Augustus S. Frazer, K.C.B._, commanding the R.H.A. in the army under the Duke of Wellington, written during the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns," edited by Major-General Sir Edward Sabine, R.A. On the 29th June Sir Augustus writes to Lady Frazer from Mons: "I regret to state that poor De Lancey is dead; so Hume, the Duke's surgeon, told me. He had opened the body; eight ribs were forced from the spine, one totally broke to pieces, and part of it in the lungs. Poor De Lancey! He is our greatest loss; a noble fellow and an admirable officer," p. 582.

In connection with the foregoing, it will be interesting to compare the account of De Lancey's wound given in the _Dictionary of National Biography_:--

"The Duke of Wellington gave the following version of the occurrence to Samuel Rogers: 'De Lancey was with me, and speaking to me when he was struck. We were on a point of land that overlooked the plain. I had just been warned off by some soldiers (but as I saw well from it, and two divisions were engaging below, I said "Never mind"), when a ball came bounding along _en ricochet_, as it is called, and, striking him on the back, sent him many yards over the head of his horse. He fell on his face, and bounded upwards and fell again. All the staff dismounted and ran to him, and when I came up he said, 'Pray tell them to leave me and let me die in peace.' I had him conveyed to the rear, and two days after, on my return from Brussels, I saw him in a barn, and he spoke with such strength that I said (for I had reported him killed), 'Why! De Lancey, you will have the advantage of Sir Condy in "Castle Rackrent"--you will know what your friends said of you after you were dead.' 'I hope I shall,' he replied. Poor fellow! We knew each other ever since we were boys. But I had no time to be sorry. I went on with the army, and never saw him again."[17]

[Footnote 17: "Recollections of Samuel Rogers," under "Waterloo." From the article on "Sir William De Lancey," by H. Manners Chichester, in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xiv., pp. 304, 305.]

The following is the extract from Wellington's official despatch of the 19th June, referring to De Lancey:--

"I had every reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the Adjutant-General, Major-General Barnes, who was wounded, and of the Quartermaster-General, Colonel De Lancey, who was killed by a cannon-shot in the middle of the action. This officer is a serious loss to His Majesty's service, and to me at this moment."[18]

[Footnote 18: Gurwood, vol. viii., p. 150. _Cf._ _Letters of Colonel Sir Augustus S. Frazer, K.C.B._, dated Nivelles, June 20: "De Lancey is said to be dead: this is our greatest loss, none can be greater, public or private," p. 550.]

At the end of the despatch there is a _P.S._ announcing the death of Major-General Sir William Ponsonby, followed by a second _P.S._ couched in the following terms: "I have not yet got the returns of killed and wounded, but I enclose a list of officers killed and wounded on the two days, as far as the same can be made out without the returns; and I am very happy to add that Colonel De Lancey is not dead, and that strong hopes of his recovery are entertained."

That the Duke felt keenly his severe losses in killed and wounded, especially amongst the members of his Staff, is shown by the following reminiscence of General Alava,[19] as told by him, two years after the battle, to Sir Harry Smith and his wife--the lady now immortalised by the name Ladysmith, emblazoned on the colours or accoutrements of thirty-five British regiments.

[Footnote 19: A Spanish naval officer who served on the Staff of the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Alava enjoyed the unique distinction of having been present both at Trafalgar and Waterloo. At the former battle he commanded a Spanish line-of-battle ship.--ED.]

On the evening of the battle, "the Duke got back to his quarters at Waterloo about nine or ten at night. The table was laid for the usual number, while none appeared of the many of his Staff but Alava and Fremantle. The Duke said very little, ate hastily and heartily, but every time the door opened he gave a searching look, evidently in the hope of some of his valuable Staff approaching. When he had finished eating, he held up both hands in an imploring attitude and said, 'The hand of Almighty God has been upon me this day,' jumped up, went to his couch, and was asleep in a moment."[20]

[Footnote 20: _Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith_, vol. i., p. 291.]

The following is from General Alava's official report of the action: "Of those who were by the side of the Duke of Wellington, only he and myself remained untouched in our persons and horses. The rest were all either killed, wounded, or lost one or more horses. The Duke was unable to refrain from tears on witnessing the death of so many brave and honourable men, and the loss of so many friends and faithful companions."[21]

[Footnote 21: From the _Supplement to the Madrid Gazette_ of the 13th July 1815, quoted in the London _Evening Mail_ of August 2 to August 4, 1815.]

The next morning, the Duke wrote the following note to Lady Frances W. Webster, dated

"BRUXELLES, 19_th_ _June_ 1815.

"Half-past 8 in the morning.