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Auction: 21003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 11

Waterloo 1815 (Samuel Miller, 1st Batt. 95th Reg. Foot.), original suspension replaced with neat silver pinned loop and ring suspension, edge bruising, overall wear, nearly very fine

Samuel Miller served with Captain Edward Chawner's Company in the 1st Battalion, 95th Rifles at the Battle of Waterloo. Whilst all three battalions of the 95th served during the Waterloo Campaign, only the 1/95th was engaged at Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815. Forming part of Kempt's Brigade, Chawner's Company positioned itself just to the north of the Namur road. They were then repositioned by Wellington personally, who shifted them across the field to the hamlet of Thyle. Chawner's men were garrisoning Thyle itself but were pushed out by French artillery, soon followed up by an attack from a force of Voltigeurs. Now in position across the Namur road the engagement continued with the support of two Hanoverian Light Battalions. They received the order to advance eagerly and pushed their opponents back to Piraumont Wood. After a day of heavy fighting the Battalion had lost 67 men, a number it could hardly afford: when battle dawned at Waterloo on 18 June they could muster only 418 men. Nevertheless they were positioned in the centre of the Allied line just behind the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte; Colonel Barnard held three companies in reserve behind the ridge of Ohain. The other three forward companies were positioned behind and to the east of the farmhouse with Johnston's on a knoll parallel to the Ohain road. Leach and Chawner's companies were in a sandpit which had been excavated between La Haye Sainte and the knoll.

The first attack by General Quiot's column outflanked the riflemen and forced them back to the ridgeline - however a stern defence of the ridge slowed them, and when Kempt's Brigade was thrown forward the attack was broken. Chawner's company reoccupied the sandpits along with the other skirmishing companies and prepared for the next assault. This they did and it was during one of the assaults on this position that Marshal Ney made his famous miscalculation, assuming that the British wounded and ammunition carts returning to the rear where signs of a general withdrawal. Whilst he threw the massed ranks of French cavalry against the Allied centre the Rifles were holding off repeated infantry assaults on the farmhouse, supporting the German garrison from their position and creating a deadly crossfire. This lasted until the garrison of the farmhouse ran out of ammunition; in spite of a valiant hand-to-hand defence with sword-bayonets and rifle butts they were forced out. The loss of this strategic location turned the pressure of the overwhelming French attack on the now exposed riflemen, they were swiftly driven from their positions and back to the ridgeline. At this time Chawner himself was also wounded and his company came under the command of Lieutenant Stewart. A French attempt to drive them away with cannon failed as the riflemen, being within range, soon shot down the gunners. They supported attempts to retake the farmhouse and used their strong position behind a hedge on the ridgeline to punish a regiment of Cuirassiers which had mauled an Allied counter-attack on the farmhouse. It was at this time that Lieutenant Stewart fought a mounted French officer in hand-to-hand combat between the lines. It was a tense clash but the rifleman was victorious: having his sword broken he used his greater height to pull the Frenchman to the ground and stab him with what remained of the blade. The 1st Battalion remained on the ridge until the order for a general advance was given, when Wellington galloped past them they set up a great cheer to which the General replied:

'No cheering, my lads, but forward and complete your victory!'

The 1st Battalion entered Paris on 19 December 1815 and remained part of the 'Army of Occupation' until 1 November 1818.

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Sold for
£2,300

Starting price
£800