MILITARY - WATERLOO Series of eleven letters from Lt. Col. Charles Wood, 10th Hussars, to his brother Col. Tom Wood, beginning just prior to embarkation, passing on rumours '...that Nap has shipped out his valuables at Brest with a determination to bolt to America in case things go wrong - that he is raising all sort of troops... the Prussians... vowing to burn everything that comes in their way - The Saxons... refused to take the oath to the King of Prussia...', much on his horses ('...in capital order... I reckon we will have about eight thousand British horses in the field...'), horse racing ('...The Hussars carry everything before them...'), entertainments and cavalry reviews ('...Old Blucher upon passing me recognised me immediately & came & gave me his hand, as did the Duke of Wellington... five thousand six hundred swords besides the horse artillery...'), horses bolting after a carriage broke ('...two Life Guard officers... one of which brought up in a hedge with the loss of his wig hat & horse the young ones pocketed the wig immediately and wished him goodnight...'), a short note written the day after Waterloo ('...The 52nd, 71 and 95 saved the day just after I was wounded. They threw forward the might of the Brigade & charged headed by the Duke of Wellington a [...] column of Ten Thousand Imperial Guard & drove them to eternity... this is capital...'), on being wounded ('...I got hit just as the Duke moved to attack them & bled like a pig took up the stirrups into the hunting seat and made the best of my way back to Waterloo where I got hold of a regiment Doctor who desired me to poultice it... with the assistance of a dragoon got to Brussels & turned into bed at this lodging... Most of the army lost their baggage on the 18th... I never got such a wetting we had a shower which came down like a wave our horses could not face it & all went about... We got into a small cottage close to our bivouac about a mile in rear of the position where we passed the night most of us start naked & getting our things dry at the fire - I managed to get Paddy a shop for the night which was the wettest ever known. - Old Quinton burnt his boots that he could not get them on, I wanted him to turn out in a pair of wooden shoes with the spurs fixed on... the old hens for supper & the young chickens for breakfast...'), writing from Brussels ('...The second attack of the Royal 10th Hussars upon a square alone shows what Discipline can do under all circumstances...'), news of fellow soldiers ('...Arnold will come home with me, they tell him he must not eat meat for a month... Bob Manners being stuck in the shoulder by a lance & not finding it out till next day... when he pulled off his jacket...'), that the English papers '...have the impertinence to say the Light Dragoons could make no impression upon the French cuirassiers... give me the boys that will go at a swinging gallop for the last seventy yards...', on peace negotiations ('...I would not promise anything till my troops had marched triumphant into Paris nothing frightens a [...] Frenchman so much as silence... if Nap has left Paris not a man will fight if he is there...'), news of Blucher in Versailles ('...he has lost... 10,000 horses... but is reported to have stolen as many... I should have liked to have been with him...'), hearing of the entry into Paris ('...we entered on the 7th and found nothing but tricoloured flags waving in every direction...'), his wound ('...I have found the ball that went through my thigh in the pad of my saddle...'), arrangements for coming home and for his horse Paddy, and much else, some 33 pages, dust-staining and marks, edges frayed, some tears and seal tears with loss, some with portions excised, folio and smaller, Canterbury, Gravesend, Brussels, and elsewhere, 12 May to 10 July 1815 where dated; all annotated with the year '1815' in another hand; one letter from his father and two newspaper cuttings from The Morning Post, one containing Wellington's despatch, 22 and 23 June 1815 (collection) Footnotes: 'I GOT HIT JUST AS THE DUKE MOVED TO ATTACK THEM & BLED LIKE A PIG': EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN FROM AN OFFICER OF THE 10TH HUSSARS. A series of lively letters from Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Wood (1790-1877) of the 10th Hussars to his brother, describing the months before and after the battle of Waterloo, where he was wounded, and the victorious entry into Paris in 1814. Wood had been expelled from school (accounts differ as to whether it was Harrow or Charterhouse) for starting a riot, which may explain his scrawling, sometimes indecipherable, handwriting and unconventional use of punctuation (when he uses it). That notwithstanding, his confident, some would say arrogant, character shines through this hastily written, rambling and full correspondence. Wood, nephew of the Marquis of Londonderry and brother of Colonel Thomas Wood, MP, of Littleton, Middlesex, to whom these letters are addressed, had been gazetted to the 52nd Light Infantry in 1809. He served throughout the Peninsular Wars and was at the battles of Busaco (where he was wounded whilst carrying the King's Colours of the Regiment), Fuentes d'Onore, the capture of Badajos, the battle of Salamanca and the siege of Burgos. In 1811 he was ADC to General Robert Crawfurd and was with him at his death at Cuidad Rodrigo. In 1812 he accompanied Lord Stewart to Germany as ADC: '...Tedious days of negotiation were interspersed with periods of relaxation at the Headquarters of the Allied Sovereigns, where there was a constant round of reviews, dinners and enjoyable diversions...' (John Mollo, 'Two Hussars: Charles Wood, Germany, 1813', article). He mentions in his letters that he was well-known to both Wellington and Blucher, having served on Wellington's staff after Crawfurd's death and with the Russian Cossacks and the Prussian army during the battles of 1813-1814. He was amongst the handful of British soldiers at Leipzig, for which he was awarded the Prussian Order of Merit, one of only four British officers ever to achieve that honour. For Wood's letters written from the Peninsular Campaign see lot 21. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing