The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-12
FOUGHT AT WATERLOO
Man LIVING IN MASSACHUSETTS WHO
WAS UNDER WELLINGTON.
Was I'm the Regiment That whipped
the Old Guard, and Saw Napoleon
After He Had Surrendered.
Boston Globe.

after the battle. Very few men can saw
that of themselves but it is the boast of
John Henry Beard. who for sixty-five years
lived at Richmond, Me. and for the last
year and a half has been a resident of
Lynn. He will be the special guest of the
Englishmen of Boston at their celebration,
June p, of the Queens diamond jubilee. OF
course his nearly ninety-seven years-tor he
is two months elder than the century-haye
left their marks upon him. But talk to him
of Wellington and Napoleon. and he is
again one of the thin red line that eighty
two years ago Napoleons Old Guards last
desperate charge could not break.
But did / ever see Napoleon? Yes. he
stood just this way"
And John Beard rose from his seat.
throwing back the shoulders rounded and
bent by the weight of ninety-seven years,
and placing one hand in the breast of his
coat, with the other hanging at his side.
Mr.. Beard was born Nov. s. 1900. in Lon-
don barracks. not far from London bridge.
His father was a colonel in the English
army, and his earliest recollections are of
playing with the soldiers in the barracks.
He was born and bred soldier, and, as he
himself expresses it, stepped from the
cradle to the ranks" He delights in talking
about the Waterloo campaign, and relating
his experiences in the English army. When
ne talked with a Globe correspondent he
was sitting in the little grocery store near
his home, where he can almost always be
found, and where he daily tights his bat
ties Ger again and chats with any one who
cares to listen
Il was only fourteen" he began in an
sWer to a question abo his army life.
when L enlisted. 1t was in my father 3
regiment, the irst Royal Regiment OF his
Malestys service, and better lot OF SOL
dierS never wore the British uniform.
had to take my share of the roughness, for
my father being colonel didn't nelp a
bit. 1t was in the winter that / enlisted,
and until the next spring we were en-
pioyed in home service in england. 1t was
III May that we were transferred to the
continent to take part under Wellington
IF l forgot anything else in the world be-
side continued the ola man, warming 10
his talk, Il will remember the days from
June 10 to - 1915. For four days before
the battle OF Waterloo we were advancing
and rtatng, and weren't out OF hearing
distance of the French cannon that were
firing somewhere ali the time.
After Napoleon had whipped the Prus-
slams at Ligny and Quatre Dras, two days
before the great battle, we began our
march for waterloo. The rain fairly
poured off and on, for forty-eight hours,
and when we get to our position, just be-
fore the night of June II, | remember the
mud came To my shoetops in the road and
my clothes were soaked. That was an aw-
full night for US l had nothing TO eat put
a few crusts OF bread. no fire 10 warm by,
and had to sleep with my arms on the
drenched ground.
FRIGHTENED AT WATERLOO.
But there wasn't much sleep. Every lit
tie while there would be an alarm that the
French had come up, the drums would beat
and we would rush into ranks. That was
a long, long night, l tell you. but just be-
fore the sun rose the clouds broke and you
never prettier morning IN all Maine.
Then, for the first time, we could see where
the French We're With just Dit 81 break
fast we formed for battle. Myfregiment
was on the extreme left wing iii Pcton's
brigade We were drawn up IN hollow
square, and just as this had UeeH done the
ranks opened and Wellington walked to the
center Of the square.
L can see him yet said Mr.. Beard
Here the old veterans voice failed him,
tears ran down his cheeks 1t was some
time before he could continue. Rising
from the chair and removing his hat ne
just as he prayed there IN that hollow
square. He STOOD with his hat Off, mis-
hands clasped in front of him, and his kind,
good, soldier face bent little forward L
never saw man pray as he did. Not
man of the thousands around him moved a
muscle during the three or four minutes
he stood pra ying. When he stopped we
pretty near all had tears in our eyes. He
seemed almost a father to US:
In speaking of the battle Mr.. Beard said:
The French began heavy cannonade
against the center and left at about IL
fairly into it till along about O'Clock in
the afternoon. Then the French came at
us hammer and tongs Picton's brigade
was partly Belgians. We were on top of
HILL and when the French under Ney
struck us the Belgians ran.
Then for an hour there was an awful
fight. The middle of our square was piled
three deep with the dead in places. blood
was in pools and the smoke SO thick that
half dozen times l had to lie with face to
the ground or choke to death. Finally the
French gave way lighting every inch, and
we didn't have any more hard work on the
left till night, when we were called on to
meet the charge of the old guard and sup
port the English center"
When asked if he recollected seeing any
of the great generals during the battle, Mr..
Beard said: Il saw Ney twice. Once was
in the charge against our left in the after
noon He was standing bolt upright in his
stirrups, and shouting commands, pointing
with his sword; though not more than one
hundred yards from a battery, which was
killing scores all around him, he was as
cool as though he were in church. Then
saw him again, heading the final charge Of
the Old Guard, just at night. He was a
whrlwind, and seemed large as a giant.
His horse white with foam, and he
dashed everywhere, waving his sword over
his head continually. / don't see why he
wasn't killed. That man wasn't afraid OF
anything, and was always in the thickest
of it.
Il saw the French general, Carbonne,
who was in the last company of the Old
Guard that died lighting. only remember
his being pointed out in the thick OF the
looked like Dutchman, and that is about
all l can say of him. He was talk
ing with a group of officers the next
morning after the battle when 1 saw him.
HOW NAPOLEON LOOKED.
1.-THE time 1 saw Napoleon was after he
had surrendered himself and was in charge
of the officers of the ship Bellerophon. We
were on parade. He watched us as we
passed He didn't move a muscle while l
saw him, but his face was one you don't
forget He was short, rather thick-set, a
big head, square-shouldered, and had
dark eye that seemed to take in every
thing. He looked like the pictures you see
him. but / II never forget just how he stood
there in his uniform, watching US pass.
In speaking of Waterloo and the night
following he said that he had no clear idea
of any part of what was going on.
mo" he said. our regiment was every
where. We were here and there The smoke
was so thick that it concealed everything
at a distance. After the French were routed
and in full retreat the last thing l remem-
Der was lying down from sheer hunger and
fatigue and falling asleep in the midst or
the dead and wounded on the battlefield
After Napoleon had been sent to St.
Helena Mr. Boards regiment in serV-
ice in England for six years. IT was then
transferred to Quebec. Here he became ac-
duained with the Yankee captain of a gang
OF lumbermen, who induced him TO leave
the English army and make his home in
the United States. In the summer of 1923
he and two other companions of his regi-
ment got past the guard one night crossed
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