From: niekd@cs.kun.nl (Niek van Diepen)
Subject: Re: Scots Greys at Waterloo
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1992 17:51:59 GMT


From niekd@cs.kun.nl (Niek van Diepen)

In <BsKCBF.DIs@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> M.J.Rooth@lut.ac.uk (Mike Rooth) writes:

I missed the original article, so apologies if some answers are repeated
here.

M.J.Rooth@lut.ac.uk (Mike Rooth) writes:

>I would like to take *friendly* issue with Mike Scmitt over
>his posting about the Scots Greys.In this,Mike,you say that
>this regiment was the Royal North British Dragoons.Have you
>a reference for this?I always understood that they were Scots
>(because Scottish)and Greys(because their horses were grey).
True. That is how nicknames are created. Their full name also
includes the serial number 2nd. I think in full it is "Royal North
British (2nd) Dragoons". References? I've seen it in the museum
in Edinburgh Castle. But any good book on Waterloo or British 
regiments should do the trick.
>Scots are NOT north british.
You are centuries late in complaining about it.

[discussion on the quality of mounts for British cavalry, and the
generals "leading" them, deleted]

>Now dismounting and spiking guns.I think you will find that no
>European cavalry dismounted and fought on foot.I have an idea this
>was an American invention,but no doubt I can be proven wrong:-)
You are. Dragoons were essentially mounted infantry when invented.
But they were surely not the first. King Harold's housecarls were
mounted for speedy transport, but not for fighting. This was rather
effective, as they proved when moving to Stamford Bridge and back
to London and Hastings in 1066. I'm sure earlier examples can be
found. However, around 1800 this special role of Dragoons fell into
disuse, light dragoons (like the Scots Greys) more acting like the
French Chasseurs a Cheval, and Heavy Dragoons more like the Cuiras-
siers.

>To spike a cannon you have to hammer a spike(or nail) into the
>touch hole,and then file it off flush with the barrel. If you dont
>file it off,the first farrier to come along can remove the spike.
It takes about 6 hours for an armourer to bore open a properly spiked
gun, but in the heat of battle a simple spike in the venthole *is* a
sufficient impediment. You need concentration and effort to pull it
out. The real reason is much closer to what you write below:
>I dont think that course of action was *really* available to a
>guy trying to hold a maddened warhorse in the other hand,surrounded
>by hostiles and not issued with the necessary tools:-)
Nobody to my knowledge ever trained cavalry in spiking guns, let alone
supplied them with hammer and nails.

>Please note this is NOT a flame,I am just pleasantly warm,But while
>I try to be realistic about my country's history,I dont like to see
>it sold short.Incidentally,if you havent alredy read them,I can
>recommend Bernard Cornwell's books in the "Sharpe" series,not only
>very well researched,but also very entertaining stories.
Hm. Surely Mr. Cornwell doesn't sell British history short in his books,
but just about everybody else gets a bashing. Realism up to the British
point, I'd say. But good fun!

While I am not trying to defend everything done and not done by the
young (23) Prince of Orange at the battles of Quatre-Bras and Waterloo,
the ludicrous picture scetched by Cornwell about him is too much. He
was trained in the same manner as any *British* cavalry officer, as ADC
to Wellington in the Peninsula, and he quite effectively inspired the
Dutch troops during the opening hours of Quatre-Bras (the 3 hours of 
fighting before Wellington arrives and hence often conveniently forgot-
ten in British books on the subject). Also his staff, especially Gen-
eral Constant Rebecque, originally a Swiss officer, was quite good. No
stand at Quatre-Bras, and hence no Waterloo without their initiative
on July 15th! [Sorry about the rambling, my pet peeve I guess.]

Niek van Diepen (yes, I'm Dutch)

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