"Regimental Tradition tends to have only a passing relationship with anything even approaching the truth. Not that the courage of the 27th requires any embroidery."
A little harsh perhaps but basically, yes. A rich mix of truth and 'tradition, ' shall we say? - although this particular tale seems to have surfaced quite late, as have cherished tales and traditions in various other regiments. They tend to relate to genuinely meritorious conduct, however, but questioning the embroidery does not reflect on the circumstances from which it grew.
The casualty toll suffered by the Inniskillings at Mont St Jean has given rise to one fanciful myth, which their descendants, the Royal Irish, are clearly fond of since it featured in three places on their website.
The gist of the most commonly repeated version is that Napoleon was so impressed by the dogged stand of the Inniskillings that he observed
'That regiment with the castles on their caps is composed of the most obstinate mules I ever saw; they don’t know when they are beaten’.
Another version reads : I have seen Russian, Prussian and French bravery, but anything to equal the stubborn bravery of the regiment with castles in their caps I never before witnessed'.
https://www.royal-irish.com/events/battle-honour-waterloo
@john fortune Napoleon must have had a particularly cavernous mouth, when you consider how many words were put there by others!
And excellent eyesight too, as the castles in question were merely engraved on the standard Belgic Shako Plate below the GR. Perhaps he used that magic telescope that saw the Prussians coming.
Biases and agenda driven history excite comment from many here, but Regimental Tradition tends to have only a passing relationship with anything even approaching the truth. Not that the courage of the 27th requires any embroidery.
The lack of surviving testimony cannot merely though be put down to attrition. We know PTSD was not to be recognised for many years, but the trauma of that level of casualties was not to be seen for at least another century. The survivor guilt must have been massive, and it's no wonder that those few survivors appear not to have written about it.
Both the article and @Kevin F. Kiley 's reply has the same difficulty. Besides Lt Drewe's two brief letters in Siborne, there are no available accounts from within the battalion itself, only external observers such as Kincaid and Ross-Llewyn etc.
Despite 11 volumes of @Gareth Glover 's excellent Waterloo Archive and Dan Harvey's 'A Bloody Day, The Irish at Waterloo' (H Books Cork 2015) there are no more 27th sources to be found, hardly surprising though when you consider the 66% casualty rate. Officers, who provide the majority of exyewitness accounts particularly so, out of 19 by the end of the day 2 were dead and 14 wounded.
"I felt weary and worn out, less from fatigue than anxiety. Our division, which had stood upwards of 5,000 men at the commencement of the battle, had gradually dwindled down into a solitary line of skirmishers. The 27th Regiment were literally lying dead, in square, a few yards behind us. My horse had received another shot through the leg, and one through the flap of the saddle, which lodged in his body, sending him a step beyond the pension list. The smoke still hung so thick about us that we could see nothing. I walked a little way to each flank, to endeavor to get a glimpse of what was going on; but nothing met my eye, except the mangled remains of men and horses, and I was obliged to return to my post as wise as I went...I had never heard of a battle in which everybody was killed; but this seemed to be an exception, as all were going by turns."-Captain John Kincaid, 95th Rifles.
The reported casualties for the 1st Bn, 27th Foot, as listed in Scott Bowden's Armies at Waterloo, were:
"Regimental Tradition tends to have only a passing relationship with anything even approaching the truth. Not that the courage of the 27th requires any embroidery." A little harsh perhaps but basically, yes. A rich mix of truth and 'tradition, ' shall we say? - although this particular tale seems to have surfaced quite late, as have cherished tales and traditions in various other regiments. They tend to relate to genuinely meritorious conduct, however, but questioning the embroidery does not reflect on the circumstances from which it grew.
The casualty toll suffered by the Inniskillings at Mont St Jean has given rise to one fanciful myth, which their descendants, the Royal Irish, are clearly fond of since it featured in three places on their website. The gist of the most commonly repeated version is that Napoleon was so impressed by the dogged stand of the Inniskillings that he observed 'That regiment with the castles on their caps is composed of the most obstinate mules I ever saw; they don’t know when they are beaten’.
https://www.royal-irish.com/regiment https://www.royal-irish.com/events/the-27th-inniskilling-regiment-of-foot
Another version reads : I have seen Russian, Prussian and French bravery, but anything to equal the stubborn bravery of the regiment with castles in their caps I never before witnessed'. https://www.royal-irish.com/events/battle-honour-waterloo
Both the article and @Kevin F. Kiley 's reply has the same difficulty. Besides Lt Drewe's two brief letters in Siborne, there are no available accounts from within the battalion itself, only external observers such as Kincaid and Ross-Llewyn etc.
Despite 11 volumes of @Gareth Glover 's excellent Waterloo Archive and Dan Harvey's 'A Bloody Day, The Irish at Waterloo' (H Books Cork 2015) there are no more 27th sources to be found, hardly surprising though when you consider the 66% casualty rate. Officers, who provide the majority of exyewitness accounts particularly so, out of 19 by the end of the day 2 were dead and 14 wounded.
"I felt weary and worn out, less from fatigue than anxiety. Our division, which had stood upwards of 5,000 men at the commencement of the battle, had gradually dwindled down into a solitary line of skirmishers. The 27th Regiment were literally lying dead, in square, a few yards behind us. My horse had received another shot through the leg, and one through the flap of the saddle, which lodged in his body, sending him a step beyond the pension list. The smoke still hung so thick about us that we could see nothing. I walked a little way to each flank, to endeavor to get a glimpse of what was going on; but nothing met my eye, except the mangled remains of men and horses, and I was obliged to return to my post as wise as I went...I had never heard of a battle in which everybody was killed; but this seemed to be an exception, as all were going by turns."-Captain John Kincaid, 95th Rifles.
The reported casualties for the 1st Bn, 27th Foot, as listed in Scott Bowden's Armies at Waterloo, were:
Present for Duty:
Officers: 21.
Enlisted: 731.
Killed:
Officers: 2.
Enlisted: 103.
Wounded:
Officers: 14.
Enlisted: 360.
479 out of 752 present were killed or wounded.