“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.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

By Brendan Farrell 

FOR ALMOST a millennium, the Irish have provided men and military expertise to the English and British crowns. From the hobelar light cavalry in the 13^th century to the First World War and beyond, soldiers from Ireland have made outsized contributions.

The Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, stands as a shining example of Ireland’s place in Britain’s military history.

Taking the King’s Shilling

The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, which had raged continuously from 1781 to 1815, would have a profound influence on the course of Irish history, fomenting bitter divisions engendering the opposing ideologies of Republicanism and Unionism.

The economic booms and busts produced by the decades-long war with France left Ireland’s economy in a perilous state. That coupled with the aftermath of the disastrous 1798 rebellion left many families destitute. For some, the only realistic option for survival lay in the enlistment of a son or a father (or both) into the British army.

Captured rebels were left with even starker choices: the hangman’s noose, transportation or conscription into the King’s forces. Consequently, by the late 18^th century one third of the British army consisted of Irish-born soldiers.

Of course, not all sons of Ireland fought for the British. The French and even German states fielded their own share of first- and second-generation Irish regiments, although as many as 40 per cent of these foreign fighters ended up in red coats.

Unlike Britain, which was undergoing an industrial revolution at the turn of the 19^th century, Ireland was suffering from massive unemployment. The destitute were disproportionately from the Catholic majority — victims of discrimination legalized by the harsh anti-papist penal laws.

Despite this, the British army at Waterloo fielded three predominantly Irish, Gaelic-speaking and predominantly Catholic regiments: The 27^th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot, the 6^th Inniskilling Dragoons and the 18^th Kings Irish Hussars.

Following his escape from Elba and his hundred-day return to power in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte had massed an army of 73,000 battle-hardened troops. Facing him was an Anglo-allied army of 68,000 led by the Irish-born aristocrat, Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington. A Prussian army of 50,000 led by the old war horse Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher would eventually join the battle at Waterloo and decisively turn the tide for Wellington.

Napoleons’ troops were largely experienced veterans who were fiercely loyal to their emperor; Wellington led an assembly of troops from Dutch and German states along with 25,000 British regulars.

Despite Wellington famously declaring that his redcoats were the scum of the earth, he would graciously concede in 1829, when the Catholic Emancipation Bill was put before the House of Lords, that “It was mainly due to the Irish Catholic that we (the British) owe our pre-eminence in our military career.”

Wellington’s support for Catholic emancipation would even lead to his participation in an 1829 duel with the rabidly anti-Catholic Earl of Winchelsea.

Of the 25,000 British troops at Waterloo, only 7,000 had any real battle experience, most of those were infantry, the majority being Irish.

“The Bravest man at Waterloo.”

The Battle began just after 11 a.m. with the French attacking Wellington’s right flank at Hougoumont farm. Capturing this strategic, high-walled compound would enable Napoleon to out manoeuvre Wellington. Recognizing its importance, the British commander reinforced the position with troops from the Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards. Their heroic defence of the impromptu citadel was dramatically depicted on canvas in Robert Gibb’s painting Closing the Gates at Hougoumont. The picture captures the crucial moment when opportunistic French soldiers force open the gates of the compound but are savagely repulsed by British soldiers. And not surprisingly, an Irish soldier played a key role in the storied moment.

Corporal James Graham of County Monaghan was most instrumental in this action, having slid the cross beam into place securing the gate once it was pushed shut. Some years later Graham received a substantial reward for his contribution: nomination for being the “the Bravest man at Waterloo” by Wellington in recognition of his courage and for saving the life of the Garrison Commander Lieutenant-Colonel James MacDonnell of Glengarry.

“The success of the battle turned upon the closing of the gates at Hougoumont,” Wellington would write.

“The regiment that saved the centre.”

The 27^th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot had occupied a key strategic position on the forward slope of a ridge in the centre of Wellington’s line.

For two, seemingly eternal hours, the 27^th, consisting of 747 infantrymen, endured continual sniping from French sharpshooters and pounding from enemy artillery. Despite this, the line still held.

As the battle progressed squares were formed to repulse the onslaught of the French cavalry. Comrades, brothers, cousins fell. But with extraordinary courage and amazing resolve, the 27^th still held.

By this most remarkable display of self-sacrifice the 27^th had given Wellington a most precious gift: time. Without it, the Anglo-allied line might have collapsed before the decisive arrival of Blücher’s Prussians.

“They don’t know when they are beaten.”

The 27^th held out, blocking the road to Brussels and a likely French victory.

The Inniskillings had suffered more than 50 per cent casualties. Only two other regiments that day would take such appalling casualties, both of those were Scottish.

“That regiment with the castles on their caps is composed of the most obstinate mules I ever saw,” Napoleon famously remarked about the Inniskillings. “They don’t know when they are beaten.”

But of course, help for the 27^th, and the entire Anglo-allied army at Waterloo was on the way.

Following the Prussian defeat at Ligny two days earlier, Blücher’s seasoned Prussian army led a 33,000-man column detached from Napoleon’s main army away from but parallel to Wellington. Led by Marshal Grouchy, these troops would be sorely missed at Waterloo.

On the afternoon of the June 18, Blücher, with Grouchy’s army trailing far behind, was marching towards the fighting at Waterloo seeking bloody revenge. Their arrival would tip the balance.

Having spotted the Prussian army approaching from the East, Wellington, who up to that point was convinced he was losing the engagement, suddenly felt reassured; with overwhelming numerical superiority over the French, victory for the Anglo-allied army was certain. The rest, as they say, is history.

POSTSCRIPT                                                        

On the Nov. 23, 1918, Irish soldiers would again take to the field at Waterloo yet again.

After more than four years of unimaginable horror in the trenches of the Western front. The 2^nd Leinsters would be the first British army regiment to march across the battlefield of Waterloo since 1815.

Leading the outfit were the pipers. My grandfather of Newstone Drumconrath, County Meath, Peter Farrell, was, I’m proud to say, one of them.

Brendan Farrell is a writer based in County Wicklow, Ireland. When not writing about history, he owns and operates Turin Castle in County Mayo. You can follow him on Instagram @brendanjosephfarrell and on twitter @brendanjfarrell.