In 1816 the popular Dutch historian Scheltema was able to publish the first work on the campaign of 1815, as he was assisted by one of the Prince of Orange's aides-de-camp Major van Hoof. This resulted amongst other in contacts with various commanding battalion officers, such as with Lieutenant-Colonel Daniël Otto Bagelaar. He was in command of the 12th Line Battalion at Waterloo, serving in Chassé's division.
We would like to present his story to you here!
We present you the pages from Scheltema's 1816 history:
Read more ...Our drive and passion for the history on the Waterloo campaign resulted over the past decade of collecting material in the largest ever collection of new eye-witness accounts on behalf of the Netherlands field army, i.e. the Dutch-Belgians and their Nassau comrades.
Where everyone believed for almost 200 years there were no ego-documents left to us now by the Dutch-Belgians, we have proven this to be incorrect. And now our collection of books is able to draw from at least 200+ individual accounts, to enlighten, enrich and quote from, in order to present new and interesting histories. Moreover, we can enrich our histories through thousands of orders left behind to posterity in the numerous order books on army, divisional, brigade and even company level!
Concerning this company level we already used such an orderbook from the 6th (flanker) company of the 19th National Militia Battalion in our first volume "From mobilisation to war". The battalion was commanded in 1815 by Major Hendrik Boellaard. Currently this orderbook is on special display at the Nationaal Militair Museum in Soesterberg.
Sovereign House Books is proud to have presented such a wealth of new information on the 1815 campaign. Something that one simply can't ignore, when one is truly interested! So if you are a Waterloo adept or aficionado: purchase our publications!!!!
Pastel colour drawing of Hendrik Boellaard, dated 1817 (artist Cornelis van Cuyleburgh)
It is a pleasant surprise to see once more how other historians appreciate the publications of Sovereign House Books and its author Erwin Muilwijk, when it comes to the detailed information brought forward for the general public on the role and contribution of the Dutch-Belgians in the Waterloo campaign of 1815. In the last months two new books have been published, that frequently quote, comment or make use of the three volumes so far published in our series. Within just three years since 2012 Sovereign House Book's publications have made a great impact on the history of the campaign and battles of 1815.
An impact that is not ignored, but fully embraced!
The Dutch historian Kees Schulten, former director of the Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie (the Dutch army's historical staff section) published his "Waterloo 18 juni 1815: de val van de adelaar".
Likewise the British historian Rory Muir just recently published his second volume on the life of the Duke of Wellington, "Waterloo and the fortunes of peace, 1814 - 1852".
For the exact number of casulaties among the Netherlands forces at Waterloo one still needs to organise a more accurate investigation. However, snippets of information are already avaialable. Such as the losses for Colonel Detmers' brigade that took part in the final attack against Napoleon's forces in the late afternoon.
One of general Chassé's aides-de-camp, Captain Schäfer, later summed up a list from his private papers when he was called for this information in 1836 by the then chief of staff Colonel Nepveu. He produced the following list for the 1st Brigade:
Read more ...Many historians have written about the decision of the Duke of Wellington to maintain a force of over 17,000 men at the town of Halle whilst engaged in a bloody battle at Waterloo. Some historians say he should have directed these troops to support the struggle on this day of 18 June, but none clearly see how he had already received a promise from Blücher to add the similar amount of troops on the battlefield. In fact, the Prussians rushed over with another two additonal army corps to enage the French army and thus defeat Napoleon.
In our history "Standing firm at Waterloo" we do explain the reasons why this Allied force at Halle was necessary, including the various accounts from officers who were present here. In this news item we present a few things that are also available in our wonderful third volume, entitled Standing firm at Waterloo. Read on for further information and first hand accounts!
(The positions at Halle on 17 & 18 June; map presented in Volume Three)
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