MILITARY - WATERLOO Autograph account sent from Henry Wayland Powell, Captain & Lieutenant First Regiment Foot Guards signed ('H.W. Powell'), to Sir Henry Martin, Bt. [according to address panel], writing '...after the battle of Mont St. Jean, or as it will probably be call'd, Waterleud...', beginning by reporting the events leading up to the battle from 15 June including action in a wood near Nivelle ('...Gen Maitland galloped up and ordered Simpson with our Grenadiers (my company) to drive the French out of a wood... when we opend at the end of the wood they threw in a most tremendous fire... we got out of the wood in another part... Our loss however very severe...'), and the battle of Quatre Bras ('...their skirmishers were appearing when we dash'd in, and cut them up properly, our loss at this time was very severe, out of 84, I had only 43 left in my compy. At night the remains of the battalion bivouacked at the head of the road, during which a large force arrived to our assistance, they call this the action of Quatre Bras...'), taking up positions in '...part of a village called Waterloo at a point where the chaussee or high road to Brussels crosses that from Nivelle to Namur...', describing poor weather ('...quite wet thro and literally up to the ankles in mud...'), and the battle itself ('...on the morn of the 18th we were all in expectation of something being done...'), firstly describing their position ('...a farm & orchard, call Mont St Jean...'), then the action ('...the infantry were drawn up in columns, under the ridge of the position. We were at the turn (or nuckle)... the Coldstream at the farm house, the light infantry... to defend the orchard, and small wood... the 3rd Division on the left of our square were also in squares... during the cannonade, the shot & shells which went over the artillery, fell into our squares... I never was in a more awful situation... Col Cooke... was struck with grapeshot, as he sat on the ground next to me...'), cutting down the French cavalry attempting to charge the guns and the main struggle at the farmhouse ('...At this period Coldstream entered the house, which the enemy set fire to, by shells, but did not entirely consume it... foiled in two successive attempts...'), the French beaten by the squares who '...sent them to the right about, three times, in great stile, I never saw anything so fine... he brought up his Garde Imperiale, quite opposite our brigade... they coverd their advance with a most terrible fire of grape and musketry. Buonaparte led them himself to the rise of the hill, and told them 'that was the way to Brussels'... We allowed them to come within about a hundred yards, when we opend so destructive a fire... three hundred of them on the ground and they began to waver, we immediately charged, but they ran as fast as possible... the Duke of Wellington observing this crisis, brought up the 95th and 42nd, taking the enemy in flank and leading them himself, quite close upon, and the column immediately dispersed...', the aftermath ('...we ran on as fast as we could... we got about two miles that evening, taking ourselves 30 pieces of cannon, nothing could be more complete, or decisive... our loss has been about 20,000 killed and wounded. The French... 57,000 killed & wounded, and 13,000 prisoners... Fortunately the Prussians arrived fresh on the field at the moment the enemy fled, so that they continued the pursuit...'), ending with a detailed sketch map of their position including the farm, orchard and the French position on the heights, drawn '...to amuse Sir Henry... You will see that my account relates principally to the part taken by the Guards; as of course my observation was chiefly confined to where I was myself situated...', integral address panel labelled 'Extract/ For Sir Henry Martin Bart.' of Upper Harley Street, 12 pages, dust-staining and marks, worn, creased at folds, some tears and losses at folds, particularly to outer last bifolia, old tape repair, 4to (228 x 184mm.), 'Wauder/ or Vauder/ close to Binch', 20 June 1815 Footnotes: 'BUONAPARTE LED THEM HIMSELF TO THE RISE OF THE HILL AND TOLD THEM 'THAT WAS THE WAY TO BRUSSELS'': A SIGNIFICANT EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT OF WATERLOO, WRITTEN TWO DAYS AFTER THE BATTLE. The author of our report, Henry Wayland Powell, served with the 1st (later Grenadier) Guards who, along with the 52nd Light Infantry, played a decisive role by repelling the attack of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, the Duke of Wellington famously sending them into battle with the lines 'Now Maitland, now's your time'. He records details still fresh in his mind of the various skirmishes and troop movements on both sides, and the confused melee of battle particularly around the farmhouse and orchard of Hougoumont, and ends with the arrival of the Prussians ('...fresh on the field at the moment the enemy fled...'), all illustrated with a detailed sketch map. Henry Wayland Powell (d.1840) of Lyndhurst, Hampshire, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and enlisted as Ensign in 1808. He served at Walcheren and in the Peninsula Wars 1811-1813 (he mentions here that it rained '...more furiously than I ever experienced in Spain...'), and was commissioned into the 1st Regiment Foot Guards in January 1813 under Lieutenant Colonel Cooke. He married Eliza Buckworth in 1816, left the service in 1821 and purchased the Foxlease estate in Lyndhurst in 1828. Our letter and accompanying map are published in Gareth Glover (Ed.), The Waterloo Archive, Vol. 9, 2020, and in Colin Jones's online article, Letters from a Waterloo Veteran: Lieutenant and Captain Henry Wayland Powell, who also publishes two later letters of reminiscences by Powell taken from his journal. Provenance: Lyon & Turnbull, 'The Waterloo Bicentenary Sale', 24 June 2015, lot 649; private UK collection. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing