A Week at Waterloo in 1815 Part 1

A Week at Waterloo in 1815.

by Magdalene De Lancey.

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-scene_--the Field of Waterloo--alone however redeems it from such a charge; and the princ.i.p.al 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 d.i.c.kens 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 ma.n.u.script 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 n.o.blesse de France_, vol. viii., t.i.tle "Lancy."]

The following extracts treating of the family history are taken from Appleton's _Cyclopaedia 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 _Cyclopaedia_, 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 ama.s.sed a fortune of 100,000. He married Anne, second daughter of Stepha.n.u.s 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 a.s.sembly 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 _Cyclopaedia_, 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 _Cyclopaedia_:--

"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 a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sembly 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 a.s.signed 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 _Cyclopaedia_, 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.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GOLD CROSS OF SIR WILLIAM DE LANCEY.

Received after serving in the Peninsular War.

_In the possession of Major J.A. Hay._]

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 ent.i.tled 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 qua 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 Dungla.s.s, 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 succ.u.mbed 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.

x.x.xiv., p. 191.) See also _The Creevey Papers_, Third Edition (1905), p. 247.]

[Footnote 13: "Wellington a.s.sumed 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. x.x.xiv., 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.)