The captured eagles of Waterloo.
Last week I was lucky enough to be able to view both the French eagles captured at Waterloo.
There is no Napoleonic symbol more famous than that of the Imperial Eagles carried into battle by the French Army. Symbols of their Emperor’s grandeur, they were at the heart of each French regiment’s pride. During the six years of conflict in the Iberian peninsula, the British Army only succeeded in taking three eagles in battle.
At Waterloo they took two in five minutes.
Napoleon’s first serious attack on the Allied positions on the day of the battle was repulsed by the charge of the British heavy cavalry, the Union Brigade. The brigade’s Scottish regiment, the Scots Greys, smashed into the French 45th Regiment of the Line. Ensign Ewart, one of the Greys officers, told how “One [Frenchman] made a thrust at my groin, I parried him off and cut him down through the head. A lancer came at me - I threw the lance off by my right side and cut him through the chin and upwards through the teeth. Next, a foot soldier fired at me and then charged me with his bayonet, which I also had the good luck to parry, and then I cut him down through the head.’
One of the brigade’s English regiments, the Royal Dragoons, were meanwhile carving into the French 105th Regiment. Exactly who captured their eagle was disputed, but it was carried, like that of the 45th, back to London in triumph. It remains there in the Tower, while that of the 45th resides in Edinburgh Castle. Both are currently on display in Edinburgh as part of the 200th anniversary commemorations.
