2020

Finding the Past and Present at Waterloo

Ellen Hampton History Net, July 2019 Waterloo, Belgium – Oliver Horncastle couldn’t believe his luck. He dusted off a round metal piece from the spoils heap of archaeological excavation at Hougoumont Farm in early July, and there it was: the 8-pointed star and the cross of England. It was a regimental button of Britain’s Coldstream Guards, lost in the ground during the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. It would be a nice find for anyone, but for Horncastle, an active Guardsman, it was magic. “It doesn’t really get any better than that, for a Coldstream Guard to find a Coldstream Guard button at Hougoumont Farm, next to the gate. It’s kind of a culmination of all the good things that could happen to a Guardsman on a dig like this,” he said. Horncastle, 22, was taking part in the Waterloo Uncovered veterans’ excavation project, a charity organized to bring serving members and veterans together to ease adjustment to post-combat life. Waterloo Uncovered was founded in 2015 by two Coldstream veterans, Mark Evans and Charlie Foinette, after Evans’ service in Afghanistan left him devastated by PTSD. Foinette, a major in the Guards, has continued in active service. The charity’s first year saw about 20 British veterans and volunteers come together for two weeks in summer to dig on the Waterloo battlefield, under the direction of university archaeologists. The project has grown to more than 100 participants this year and includes veterans and volunteers from Belgium, The Netherlands, France—and even one American veteran. Justin Li (left), a U.S. Army cavalry scout in Iraq in 2010-2011, said he was fascinated after reading a ...

Ellen Hampton History Net, July 2019 Waterloo, Belgium – Oliver Horncastle couldn’t believe his luck. He dusted off a round metal piece from the spoils heap of archaeological excavation at Hougoumont Farm in early July, and there it was: the 8-pointed star and the cross of England. It was a regimental button of Britain’s Coldstream Guards, lost in the ground during the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. It would be a nice find for anyone, but for Horncastle, an active Guardsman, it was magic. “It doesn’t really get any better than that, for a Coldstream Guard to find a Coldstream Guard button at Hougoumont Farm, next to the gate. It’s kind of a culmination of all the good things that could happen to a Guardsman on a dig like this,” he said. Horncastle, 22, was taking part in the Waterloo Uncovered veterans’ excavation project, a charity organized to bring serving members and veterans together to ease adjustment to post-combat life. Waterloo Uncovered was founded in 2015 by two Coldstream veterans, Mark Evans and Charlie Foinette, after Evans’ service in Afghanistan left him devastated by PTSD. Foinette, a major in the Guards, has continued in active service. The charity’s first year saw about 20 British veterans and volunteers come together for two weeks in summer to dig on the Waterloo battlefield, under the direction of university archaeologists. The project has grown to more than 100 participants this year and includes veterans and volunteers from Belgium, The Netherlands, France—and even one American veteran. Justin Li (left), a U.S. Army cavalry scout in Iraq in 2010-2011, said he was fascinated after reading a biography of Napoléon, and when he learned of Waterloo Uncovered’s program, he applied. He said the connection between past and present soldiering put some of the difficulties of his own service in perspective. “These men did that and more. To reconnect with the spirit of being a warrior, especially on this great field, is something that’s very special to me,” Li said. Remarkably, the battlefield at Waterloo had not been excavated by archaeologists in its 200-year history. It was famously looted after the battle, and the lack of human remains found there has led archaeologists to believe the bones in mass graves were dug up and ground for fertilizer in the 19th century. An estimated 20,000 men died in the one-day battle, ranking it the third-bloodiest of Napoléon’s campaigns. But it was his last, and name of Waterloo has gone into history as a nickname for debacle. The teams were working on three sites this year—Mont St. Jean, where the English troops’ field hospital was set up, Hougoumont Farm and Frichemont Farm. They have found hundreds of musket balls, the French distinguished from the English by their smaller size and weight, and various fragments of metal, some of which may be from the battle. Finds were labeled with the GPS coordinates of their location and set aside for careful examination. Participants noted that the teamwork was a joy for all of them, and particularly helpful to veterans with severe battle injuries. Horncastle, recovering from surgery to his ankles, said he has appreciated being able to work with combat veterans. He will be joining his unit in Iraq next year. “Some people have had horrific accidents and horrific things happen to them. This project is doing them a huge amount of good, you can see it day on day, week on week. Some of these guys are coming out of their shells in ways they probably haven’t done in a great many years.” And Hougoumont Farm was an iconic battle for the Coldstream Guards. There were about 3,000 English troops inside the farm under attack by more than 10,000 French, and at one point a squadron of French forced their way in via the north gate. A few Guardsmen managed to close the gate and block any further encroachment, an act that became the legendary turning of the course of battle. “We started the project because, as Coldstreamers, this is hallowed ground,” said founder Charlie Foinette, who studied archaeology at university with co-founder Mark Evans. “We know that archaeology can be of great benefit to the people who take part in it, people who have perhaps not had the opportunity to engage with their history and landscape in the same way, but also to cure people who are sick, wounded, injured—it’s healing. It’s all about the progress of their recovery, and challenging people to do new things in a safe environment with people who understand them. That’s the essence of what we’re about.” Foinette noted that the Coldstream Guards had not won all their battles—they had to surrender at Yorktown, 1783—but had captured New York three times in their history. “So far,” he added with a grin. Article originally published on HistoryNet here.

Waterloo Hospital Site to be Dug up by Team Including UK Veterans

Daniel Boffey The Guardian, June 2019 A group of 25 British and Dutch military veterans are to join the first excavation of the main field hospital established by the Duke of Wellington during the Battle of Waterloo. The former soldiers, sailors and RAF personnel will work with archaeologists, led by Prof Tony Pollard of Glasgow University, to explore the farm buildings of Mont-St-Jean, where thousands of wounded soldiers received primitive first aid as shot and shell rained down on them. The dig has been organised by Waterloo Uncovered, a charity founded by two Coldstream Guards officers, Charles Foinette and Mark Evans, who suffered from PTSD after a tour in Afghanistan. The project seeks to combine world-class archeology with support for veterans. In 2015, the charity’s excavation of the battle site at Château d’Hougoumont, the farmhouse defended by the Coldstream Guards, discovered musket balls from some of the first shots exchanged between the French and allied troops and evidence of the close-quarters fighting. Napoleon had instructed the French army in June 1815 to seize Wellington’s position on the Mont-St-Jean Ridge, a few miles from Brussels. “Once the cannons opened fire, the farm buildings rapidly overflowed with the wounded,” Pollard said. “Mont-St-Jean became a place of suffering and endurance. It’s possible that as many as 6,000 casualties passed through the place. Many men died there. The site has never been excavated before. As an archaeologist this is a unique opportunity to look for evidence of the battle to save lives.” It is hoped the site around the field hospital, where medics operated without anaesthetic, amputating shattered limbs and suturing wounds, will reveal ...

Daniel Boffey The Guardian, June 2019 A group of 25 British and Dutch military veterans are to join the first excavation of the main field hospital established by the Duke of Wellington during the Battle of Waterloo. The former soldiers, sailors and RAF personnel will work with archaeologists, led by Prof Tony Pollard of Glasgow University, to explore the farm buildings of Mont-St-Jean, where thousands of wounded soldiers received primitive first aid as shot and shell rained down on them. The dig has been organised by Waterloo Uncovered, a charity founded by two Coldstream Guards officers, Charles Foinette and Mark Evans, who suffered from PTSD after a tour in Afghanistan. The project seeks to combine world-class archeology with support for veterans. In 2015, the charity’s excavation of the battle site at Château d’Hougoumont, the farmhouse defended by the Coldstream Guards, discovered musket balls from some of the first shots exchanged between the French and allied troops and evidence of the close-quarters fighting. Napoleon had instructed the French army in June 1815 to seize Wellington’s position on the Mont-St-Jean Ridge, a few miles from Brussels. “Once the cannons opened fire, the farm buildings rapidly overflowed with the wounded,” Pollard said. “Mont-St-Jean became a place of suffering and endurance. It’s possible that as many as 6,000 casualties passed through the place. Many men died there. The site has never been excavated before. As an archaeologist this is a unique opportunity to look for evidence of the battle to save lives.” It is hoped the site around the field hospital, where medics operated without anaesthetic, amputating shattered limbs and suturing wounds, will reveal secrets of the effort to save lives during and after the fighting. The Waterloo battle site does not have a cemetery but is marked by a museum and monument. The dead, apart from a few officers, were either burned or buried in unmarked graves, with the bones taken as souvenirs or used by local farmers for fertiliser. Evans said: “It will be thought-provoking and moving to be excavating on the site of the field hospital. Some of our team have themselves experienced battlefield first aid. The men of 1815 would have hoped for very little. Many of those who survived returned to an uncertain future because of their injuries. The care and recovery process has changed so much today.” Among the group working on the site from July will be military personnel who have been wounded, or suffer from post-traumatic stress after action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their ages range from 19 – a soldier serving in the Coldstream Guards who is recuperating from training injuries – to mid-70s. The field hospital at Mont-St-Jean was 600 metres north of the frontline. A plaque marks the work of the surgeons of the Royal Army Medical Corps, whose patients included the Prince of Orange and Wellington’s military secretary, Lt-Col Lord FitzRoy Somerset, who had his arm amputated. Describing the scenes, William Gibney, the assistant surgeon of the 15th Hussars, recalled: “Nothing could exceed the misery exhibited on this road … Here a man with an arm suspended only by a single muscle, another with his head horribly mangled by a sabre cut, or one with half his face shot away.” The inclusion of eight Dutch military veterans was welcomed by Col Ludy de Vos of the Dutch Veterans’ Institute, who spoke of his country’s pride in its place in the battle of Waterloo. De Vos said: “We’re delighted for Dutch military personnel to be standing alongside British and international colleagues at a site so important to European history.” Article originally published online by The Guardian here.

Battle of the Buttons

2019 Excavation In the summer of 2019 we excavated at several sites from the Battle of Waterloo including Mont-Saint-Jean, Frischermont and Hougoumont with a group of archaeologists, veterans and serving military personnel. In the latest in our series of short films, Professor Tony Pollard gives us a run down of last summer’s activities, including searching for the lost remains of Frischermont Chateau and discovering a plethora of buttons at Hougoumont.

Dig Diary Day 1: Waterloo Uncovered Rides Again

Battlefield Beginnings On Sunday 7th of July, the Waterloo Uncovered team gathered at the main museum on the Waterloo battlefield, Memorial 1815, to officially kick off the fifth season of the project. As always, an international team of veterans, serving military personnel, archaeologists and students from a variety of backgrounds have joined us in Belgium. A series of briefings and talks on Sunday gave the whole team the opportunity to meet each other, and to get a better understanding of the day to day practicalities of the dig to come. After lunch, Professor Tony Pollard took the group on a short walking tour from the base of the Lion’s Mound to Hougoumont Farm, where Phil Harding summarised the results of our previous four seasons of excavation. Members of the team who were visiting the Waterloo area for the first time had the chance to see the iconic gates that slammed shut on attacking French forces, which Wellington said turned the tide of the battle, and the famous sunken lane described by Victor Hugo in Les Miserables which was used to transport ammunition to the defending troops holed up inside the farm. Professor Tony Pollard takes the team on a walking tour in front of the Lion's Mound. Photo by Chris van Houts. Mont-Saint-Jean Farm For the past four years, Waterloo Uncovered has focused its work on one of the most famous sites of the Battle of Waterloo: Hougoumont farm, where Allied forces held out against repeated French attacks on the 18th of June 1815. This year, the team will begin exploring the site of Mont-Saint-Jean for the first time. Northeast ...

Battlefield Beginnings On Sunday 7th of July, the Waterloo Uncovered team gathered at the main museum on the Waterloo battlefield, Memorial 1815, to officially kick off the fifth season of the project. As always, an international team of veterans, serving military personnel, archaeologists and students from a variety of backgrounds have joined us in Belgium. A series of briefings and talks on Sunday gave the whole team the opportunity to meet each other, and to get a better understanding of the day to day practicalities of the dig to come. After lunch, Professor Tony Pollard took the group on a short walking tour from the base of the Lion’s Mound to Hougoumont Farm, where Phil Harding summarised the results of our previous four seasons of excavation. Members of the team who were visiting the Waterloo area for the first time had the chance to see the iconic gates that slammed shut on attacking French forces, which Wellington said turned the tide of the battle, and the famous sunken lane described by Victor Hugo in Les Miserables which was used to transport ammunition to the defending troops holed up inside the farm. Professor Tony Pollard takes the team on a walking tour in front of the Lion's Mound. Photo by Chris van Houts. Mont-Saint-Jean Farm For the past four years, Waterloo Uncovered has focused its work on one of the most famous sites of the Battle of Waterloo: Hougoumont farm, where Allied forces held out against repeated French attacks on the 18th of June 1815. This year, the team will begin exploring the site of Mont-Saint-Jean for the first time. Northeast of Hougoumont and lying near the Lion's Mound, Mont-Saint-Jean farm was used by Wellington as a strategically positioned field hospital during the Battle of Waterloo. At least 6000 wounded soldiers were treated at the hospital during the fighting on 18th of June 1815 and in the immediate aftermath of the battle, including the Prince of Orange, who would later become King William II of the Netherlands. Though not as widely known as our previous site of Hougoumont, Mont-Saint-Jean is no less important – in fact, the French initially called the Battle of Waterloo ‘the Battle of Mont-Saint-Jean’. The site now houses a museum dedicated to the history of the farm and field hospital, as well as a microbrewery. An aerial view of Mont-Saint-Jean farm today. Photo courtesy of Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean. Archaeology for Beginners: 'Round Robins' Our first morning at the new site of Mont-Saint-Jean was spent getting to grips with a range of archaeological techniques. The six professional archaeologists acting as team supervisors set up six stations throughout the orchard, where veterans and students could learn the fundamental skills they will be relying on for the next two weeks. Sam Wilson explained the life cycle of a trench, from how to choose an appropriate dig site to why we backfill trenches when a season of excavation ends, and Emily Glass taught those new to archaeology the basics of levelling. Camille Machiels gave her group a crash course in site photography, while Phil Harding gave his group an explanation of archaeological contexts, stratigraphy, and how to recognise it while digging. Emily Glass explains levelling to her team. Photo by Chris van Houts. Alistair Douglas gave a presentation on the conventions of archaeological drawing and site planning, while Hilde van der Heul explained how to create a perfect square with tape measures for use in surveying – much more difficult than it sounds! Alistair Douglas teaches his team about archaeological drawing and site planning. Photo by Chris van Houts. Nearby, other members of the team began the first round of geophysical surveys on the Mont-Saint-Jean site with a ground penetrating radar survey, which uses electromagnetic radar pulses to detect structures and anomalies up to 15m below the surface. Breaking New Ground Just after lunch, the team began excavating their first trench beside the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean. We're incredibly excited to start digging on such an important site - especially since it has never been excavated before! Breaking ground at our brand new site of Mont-Saint-Jean farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. Soon afterwards, serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle had the honour of discovering the first find of the 2019 season: a British musket ball! The musket ball wasn’t found in the newly dug trench, however; Oliver found the musket ball while searching the orchard with his metal detector. He described himself as "incredibly proud" to have found the first artefact of the year, and said he was "grinning from ear to ear" when he found the musket ball in the very first hole he dug. The Waterloo Uncovered team includes a number of specialist metal detectorists working alongside archaeologists, whose finds are carefully catalogued and stored by our finds team. Oliver is a keen detectorist - while he enjoys metal detecting in his spare time and even brought his own metal detector with him to Belgium, Waterloo Uncovered is his first experience of archaeology, and he's looking forward to giving digging a go. Oliver and his musket ball. Photo by Alexandra Cauvi. Fingers crossed for plenty more finds (and sunny days) to come as the 2019 season begins to take shape!

Dig Diary Day 2: Musket Balls at Mont-Saint-Jean

Evidence of Evacuation? In our freshly dug trenches along the east edge of the Mont-Saint-Jean orchard, an exciting discovery is in progress. The farm of Mont-Saint-Jean, which served as a field hospital during the fighting, is widely considered to have been several hundred yards behind the front lines of fighting, safely out of harms way. But recent discoveries by our veterans and students could completely change our understanding of Mont-Saint-Jean's role in the Battle of Waterloo... On our second day of digging, the team have unearthed several musket balls of both British and French origin, indicating that Mont-Saint-Jean farm was not, as previously thought, a safe retreat for wounded troops behind Allied lines. In fact, it may have been the site of a previously unknown confrontation between French and Allied troops - or even the victim of a French cavalry attack which forced the staff and patients of the hospital to evacuate. The team were not expecting to find evidence of a French attack so close to the farm itself - there is, after all, no record of French infantry approaching Mont-Saint-Jean farm, let alone mounting an attack. But the attackers may not have been infantry - Professor Tony Pollard suggests that some of the ammunition found may be carbine shot, which would indicate a cavalry attack. The ammunition discovered so far may constitute evidence of the attack on the Mont-Saint-Jean field hospital described by Major George Simmons, in which French cannonballs "riddled the walls" of the farmhouse and the walking wounded were forced to evacuate or risk becoming French prisoners. While Major Simmons' account of his time in Mont-Saint-Jean ...

Evidence of Evacuation? In our freshly dug trenches along the east edge of the Mont-Saint-Jean orchard, an exciting discovery is in progress. The farm of Mont-Saint-Jean, which served as a field hospital during the fighting, is widely considered to have been several hundred yards behind the front lines of fighting, safely out of harms way. But recent discoveries by our veterans and students could completely change our understanding of Mont-Saint-Jean's role in the Battle of Waterloo... On our second day of digging, the team have unearthed several musket balls of both British and French origin, indicating that Mont-Saint-Jean farm was not, as previously thought, a safe retreat for wounded troops behind Allied lines. In fact, it may have been the site of a previously unknown confrontation between French and Allied troops - or even the victim of a French cavalry attack which forced the staff and patients of the hospital to evacuate. The team were not expecting to find evidence of a French attack so close to the farm itself - there is, after all, no record of French infantry approaching Mont-Saint-Jean farm, let alone mounting an attack. But the attackers may not have been infantry - Professor Tony Pollard suggests that some of the ammunition found may be carbine shot, which would indicate a cavalry attack. The ammunition discovered so far may constitute evidence of the attack on the Mont-Saint-Jean field hospital described by Major George Simmons, in which French cannonballs "riddled the walls" of the farmhouse and the walking wounded were forced to evacuate or risk becoming French prisoners. While Major Simmons' account of his time in Mont-Saint-Jean hospital is evocative, his description of the French attack which led to him being placed, severely injured, onto a horse to ride towards Brussels is the solitary account of this incident yet identified. The work of our veterans, archaeologists and students this year could be vital in reinforcing this account with physical evidence. A battle fought on the edge of Mont-Saint-Jean farm would also corroborate the scene depicted by William Mudford in his 1817 illustrated book 'An Historical Account of the Campaign in the Netherlands', in which bodies of French and Allied soldiers lay scattered around the farmhouse. Plate H from 'An Historical Account of the Campaign in the Netherlands' by William Mudford, 1817, showing Mont-Saint-Jean farm. Over the next week, our veterans and students will be collaborating with specialist metal detectorists to conduct surveys of the east edge of the orchard, which will shed further light on the nature of the fighting in the vicinity of the farm. Alongside evidence of a French attack, supervisor Sam Wilson explains that the team are aiming to recover the metal objects left behind by wounded soldiers that were carried into the hospital, such as personal effects, elements of uniform such as buttons and buckles, and ammunition. The orchard has not been ploughed in recent years, so artefacts from the early 19th century may have sunken further into the soil than can be discovered by our metal detectorists. To combat this, the team will deepen the trench one layer at a time, and re-detect the area to pick up on any missed objects once they are in range of the detectors. This technique was used to great effect in previous seasons of Waterloo Uncovered in the so called 'Killing Zone' at Hougoumont farm, and we hope to replicate our prior success at Mont-Saint-Jean. Grace with one of several musket balls recovered today. Photo by Chris van Houts. The Fate of the Dead at Waterloo Elsewhere, veterans and students working with Alistair Douglas are focusing their efforts on a small grass area in the courtyard of Mont-Saint-Jean. The circular area in the heart of the former field hospital was previously a cesspit, but was backfilled and turned into a small garden in the last century, when the farm fell out of use. Alistair and his team have so far dug a small test pit which has turned up modern farming equipment such as nails, and evidence of rats - including a mostly complete rat skull. They aim to excavate down until they find the base of the cesspit - and hope to find evidence that this area was used as a disposal area for medical waste during the Battle of Waterloo. We may even find evidence of the many limbs amputated at Mont-Saint-Jean, which were said to have 'piled up in the corners of the courtyard'. Around 65% of all injuries during the battle were to limbs, and roughly 2000 limbs were amputated between the 15th and 18th of June 1815. Many of these amputations would have taken place at Mont-Saint-Jean, including the amputation of the arm of Wellington's military secretary, Fitzroy Somerset. The team in the cess pit in the farm's courtyard. Photo by Chris van Houts. The field hospital was established by Wellington, who slept at Mont-Saint-Jean farm for several hours on the night of the 17th of June in preparation for the battle to come, and placed the hospital under the command of Dr John Gunning. An estimated wounded 6000 soldiers passed through the doors of Mont-Saint-Jean, although it is not known how many the field surgeons and nurses were able to save - there was, after all, no understanding of bacterial infection, and wounds caused by musket balls, cannon-shots, sabres and lances often quickly became infected. Strangely, of the estimated 25000 French, 15000 Allied and 7000 Prussian casualties of the Battle of Waterloo, only one complete skeleton has ever been discovered in the area: a German soldier found under the car park of the Lion's Mound in 2012. The objective of the Waterloo Uncovered project is not to find human remains, but rather to discover, through archaeological evidence, the truth of what became of the many casualties of the battle - were they buried, incinerated on mass funeral pyres, or perhaps even scavenged? The disappearance of the dead has been largely attributed to the popularity of bone meal as an agricultural fertiliser in the 19th century - the bones of the dead are believed to have been dug up and shipped to the port of Hull in the UK, where they were ground down for use on British farms. The teeth of dead soldiers were also scavenged, and were used to make dentures known as 'Waterloo teeth'. It is possible that Mont-Saint-Jean farm, being removed from the main battlefields of Waterloo, may have avoided the scavenging for body parts that has plagued the rest of the Waterloo landscape. Return to Hougoumont While the majority of the team will be based at Mont-Saint-Jean farm this year, we haven't abandoned our previous site of Hougoumont farm. A small team of veterans and students have accompanied Phil Harding back to Hougoumont, to reopen last year's trench. They have spent day 2 of the dig removing the backfill from the trench, which has exposed a large amount of mortar and brickwork which formed part of the original Hougoumont farmhouse. Phil and the team must now decide whether to dismantle the brickwork in the hopes that some bricks may have been graffitied by Allied troops stationed at Hougoumont, or whether it is preferable to leave the wall fragment complete and in situ. Phil Harding leading the re-opening of the trench at Hougoumont. Photo by Chris van Houts.

Dig Diary Day 3: Of Reading, Remembering and Ridges

Reading to Remember 2019 When Private John Peter Leonhard first laid eyes on Hougoumont farm, he recounted the utter hopelessness the sight instilled in him; “The doors were open, one could see the freshly broken loopholes in the wall. Ha, I thought to myself, here you’ll settle in but leave nevermore. Good night world.”Private John Peter Leonhard Private Leonhard’s evocative account is one of many moving descriptions of the events of June 1815, which would change, and take, tens of thousands of lives and shape the 19th century as we know it. 204 years later, the Waterloo Uncovered team sat down in the same farm that Private Leonhard described so vividly to remember the victims and victors of the Battle of Waterloo, in their own words. The team begin their marathon Reading to Remember event in the chapel of Hougoumont farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. During the Reading to Remember event, members of our team including veterans, students, archaeologists and staff sat down in the chapel of Hougoumont farm where wounded soldiers took refuge on the 18th of June 1815, to read personal accounts of the horrors and triumphs of the Battle of Waterloo. Taken from a variety of Allied, Prussian and French memoirs and letters, participants have been reading contemporary accounts of gruelling marches, homesickness, heroic acts and devastating injuries; of loss, suffering, friendship and hope. As always, we have brought a diverse team to Belgium, and we were lucky enough to have native speakers of a variety of languages, meaning participants could read accounts in their original Dutch, French and English. The team have been reading continuously for ...

Reading to Remember 2019 When Private John Peter Leonhard first laid eyes on Hougoumont farm, he recounted the utter hopelessness the sight instilled in him; “The doors were open, one could see the freshly broken loopholes in the wall. Ha, I thought to myself, here you’ll settle in but leave nevermore. Good night world.”Private John Peter Leonhard Private Leonhard’s evocative account is one of many moving descriptions of the events of June 1815, which would change, and take, tens of thousands of lives and shape the 19th century as we know it. 204 years later, the Waterloo Uncovered team sat down in the same farm that Private Leonhard described so vividly to remember the victims and victors of the Battle of Waterloo, in their own words. The team begin their marathon Reading to Remember event in the chapel of Hougoumont farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. During the Reading to Remember event, members of our team including veterans, students, archaeologists and staff sat down in the chapel of Hougoumont farm where wounded soldiers took refuge on the 18th of June 1815, to read personal accounts of the horrors and triumphs of the Battle of Waterloo. Taken from a variety of Allied, Prussian and French memoirs and letters, participants have been reading contemporary accounts of gruelling marches, homesickness, heroic acts and devastating injuries; of loss, suffering, friendship and hope. As always, we have brought a diverse team to Belgium, and we were lucky enough to have native speakers of a variety of languages, meaning participants could read accounts in their original Dutch, French and English. The team have been reading continuously for the full length of the Battle of Waterloo; where fighting continued for around 11 hours on the 18th of June 1815. During our 11 hour long event, each participant had the chance to reflect on the personal cost of one of the most famous battles in history. Our marathon reading session acted as a fundraiser for the important work of Waterloo Uncovered. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated and contribute to allowing veterans and serving military personnel to join us in Belgium, where our programme of archaeological education and practice aims to support their recovery, welfare, and transition into civilian life. If you would like to support Waterloo Uncovered, check out the different ways you can donate here: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/donate/ A redcoat once more holds the line beside one of Hougoumont's famous chestnut trees as Trevor dons his Chelsea Pensioner's uniform. Photo by Chris van Houts. Reading in Red This year, Sergeant Trevor Rafferty honoured the soldiers of Waterloo during Reading to Remember by donning the iconic uniform of the Chelsea Pensioners, a residential community of 300 veterans based in the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London, founded by King Charles II in 1682. Chelsea Pensioner Trevor described himself as “honoured to be able to read about the Battle of Waterloo”, and shared why he feels remembering the soldiers of Waterloo is so important, even 205 years on: “As an ex-British soldier, we are very proud of our heritage. The danger is that as we progress through the 21st century, our heritage gets lost, especially military aspects.” He also explained what Waterloo Uncovered means to the former and current military personnel who have joined us in Belgium: “I’ve spoken to a few veterans who have suffered PTSD, and they’ve said to me without coming here they wouldn’t have been able to open up and face their demons.” Trevor reads from a soldier's personal account of the battle in his iconic scarlet uniform. Photo by Chris van Houts. Trevor, 72, tells us that the camaraderie of the dig has also helped our veteran participants – he feels that soldiers are able to talk openly with other soldiers as they share key experiences, even when they have seen vastly different conflicts. Trevor enjoys the diversity of the group of veterans and civilians that make up this year’s team, and appreciates that people of different ages, nationalities and backgrounds have come together to discover and celebrate our joint heritage – but he feels the students of the team definitely “need to work a bit harder digging the trenches!” Royal Chelsea Hospital was also home to some of the last surviving veterans of the Battle of Waterloo. Read more about these extraordinary men on the Chelsea Pensioners website here! To watch Trevor take part in Reading to Remember, and to hear more of his thoughts on the project, check out the video at the link below: https://twitter.com/DigWaterloo/status/1149046982771654661 A Coldstream Guards Discovery Early on in our third day of digging, serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle made an exciting discovery at Hougoumont farm – a Coldstream Guard button. The battle to hold the farm of Hougoumont in the face of repeated French attacks was one of the most epic exploits of the Coldstream Guards regiment, fighting alongside German light infantry and British troops from other regiments like the Scots Guards. The battle for the farm reached a crisis point when French troops burst through the north gate. British soldiers were able to fight their way to the gates and slam them closed behind the French. The destruction of the French troops who had broken in, and the sustained defence of Hougoumont, is seen by many one of the major turning points of the battle. The Coldstream Guards button was found by Oliver amid the ruins of buildings destroyed by French bombardments, barely 10 yards from the north gate. The Coldstream Guards button discovered by Oliver at Hougoumont. Photo by Chris van Houts. You may remember Oliver as the man who unearthed the first find of the 2019 season – and it seems his luck has continued! Oliver is a serving Coldstream Guardsman who was injured last year, and joined the Waterloo Uncovered team this summer as a way to aid in his rehabilitation and return active service. Oliver has been enjoying Waterloo Uncovered and his first experience with archaeology, but he’s been especially enjoying the social aspects of the dig, describing the team as “like a big family”: “We’ve only been here for 3 days, and everyone’s really gelled – I’m sure there will be friends for life made here.” Serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle and the Coldstream Guards button. Photo by Chris van Houts. As a Coldstream Guardsman himself, Oliver was happy to find a button belonging to his regiment – but he is looking forward to finding objects which will tell the stories of soldiers beyond the Coldstream Guards: “One Coldstream Guards button is excellent, but there was so much more at play here – so many people made so many sacrifices here, and there are other people to represent.” A Cannonball in the Orchard One of today’s most exciting finds has been a solid shot iron cannonball found in the Mont-Saint-Jean orchard. The 6-pound French cannonball would have had a maximum range of 1350 metres, but would have been at its most deadly within 750 metres. Wellington’s troops stationed on the reverse slope, just beyond the ridge overlooking the farmhouse and field hospital, were ordered to lie down in order to protect themselves from French fire - but although Wellington's reverse slope defence was ultimately successful, it was not without casualties. The French fired blindly over the reverse slope, and blocked by the crest of the ridge, a large proportion of the cannonballs would have missed the hidden Allied soldiers – but those that hit had the capacity to cut a soldier in two. While cannonballs such as these do not explode on impact, a direct hit from above would have killed any unlucky soldiers in the line of fire instantly. The hidden troops had no choice but to maintain their position regardless of the threat - Wellington's forces would have had to sit quietly as the cannonballs rained down upon their ranks, hoping they would not be the next unfortunate soul in the firing line. Historian Gareth Glover describes the profound psychological impact this experience would have had on the Allied soldiers beyond the ridge: “Calmly sitting or lying down waiting patiently for death to call sorely tested the nerves of novice and veteran alike. Such sights sapped morale as the men felt impotent in the face of it.” Gareth Glover, Waterloo: Myth and Reality, page 124. The 6 pound French cannonball found in the Mont-Saint-Jean orchard. © 2019 Paula Cagli. Late in the battle, the French made a breakthough; they were able to capture the farm of La Haye Sainte, 600 metres south of Mont-Saint-Jean farm. This may be the point at which the battle was most nearly lost by the Allied forces. In the early evening, 2 batteries of 6-pounder guns had been positioned at La Haye Sainte by the horse artillery of the Imperial Guard, who proceeded to engage the Allied line with cannister shot and cannonballs, causing severe damage, as described by French officer Lieutenant Pontécoulant: "Each of our shots struck home, and we were so close to the enemy, that we could distinctly hear the cries of the English officers, closing up the thinning ranks of their weakened battalions with strong curses and the flats of their swords, to fill the gaps that we were making." Lieutenant Pontécoulant It is possible that this cannonball was fired from the batteries at La Haye Sainte, and shows just how close the French came to breaking through Allied lines - as well as how heavily involved the farm of Mont-Saint-Jean was in these scenes of brutal fighting. The cannonball was detected by Waterloo Uncovered team metal detectorist and Dutch army engineer Moos Raaijmakers, and was excavated by former British army engineer officer Piers Sanders (pictured) at Mont-Saint-Jean this morning. To hear Professor Tony Pollard's analysis of the cannonball, check out this short interview at the link below: https://twitter.com/DigWaterloo/status/1149241536418373637 The discoveries have been coming thick and fast so far this season - it's hard to believe that it is only day 3! Stay tuned for updates as we continue our work at Mont-Saint-Jean and Hougoumont farm over the next two weeks.

Dig Diary Day 4: Behind the Scenes

As the first fantastic week of Waterloo Uncovered 2019 nears its end, we're taking you behind the scenes of the dig and shining a light on two often overlooked parts of the team: the specialists who help us discover our finds, and the photographers who record them. Meet the Metal Detectorists Dutch army engineer Moos Raaijmakers gives British veteran Shaun Stocker a crash course in metal detecting. Photo by Chris van Houts. The Waterloo Uncovered team contains a number of specialist metal detectorists who work closely with our archaeologists to aid in the discovery of metal objects on site. Today, our metal detectorists have taken a number of veterans under their wing to teach them some core skills in a crash course on metal detecting. Alastair Eager is a former Royal Marine, who served for 15 years before returning to civilian life around 2 and a half years ago. He has always had an interest in history and archaeology and was 'eager' to get involved in the Waterloo Uncovered project: "It seemed like the perfect fit, as a former serviceman, and it's been great meeting like-minded people and learning new skills." Former Royal Marine Alastair Eager, who tried his hand at metal detecting today. Photo by Chris van Houts. In particular, Alastair has always had an interest in metal detecting, but has never had an opportunity to give it a try before. This morning, Alastair managed to get his hands on a metal detector for the first time. After a few disappointing finds that turned out to be bottle caps, Alastair was lucky enough to find two musket balls. Handling the metal detector has taken a bit of getting used to, but Alastair has made great progress today learning the difference between 'sweet sounds', which indicate something promising is beneath the surface, and 'dead tones', which signal less exciting finds. Alastair enjoys the mixture of civilians, veterans and serving personnel on site, and tells us why he thinks the team work so well together: "It's a very good fit, because we all have that like-minded interest in the history and archaeology, but bring different aspects of our own different backgrounds to the dig." Once this year's dig concludes, Alastair would like to return to education and pursue a degree in history or archaeology - he hopes to decide whether he is more interested in the academic or practical side of archaeology during his time with Waterloo Uncovered. On Monday, our team metal detectorists will move into the cornfield just south of Mont-Saint-Jean farm. Here, they hope to discover further evidence of conflict, including evidence relating to Wellington's 'reverse slope' defence. Wellington positioned his men behind the ridge our metal detectorists will soon be examining, known as the 'reverse slope', and ordered them to lie down in an effort to avoid French fire. While the manoeuvre was ultimately successful, there were still casualties when French troops stationed at La Haye Sainte fired 6-pounder guns blindly over the ridge. Check out yesterday's dig diary to find out more about the cannonball we believe came from the attack on the reverse slope: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-3-of-reading-remembering-and-ridges/ Finding a Passion for Finds Photography What happens to an object once it has been detected and excavated? All finds are bought to our dedicated finds team based at Mont-Saint-Jean farm. Each find is identified, then carefully cleaned, catalogued and stored in our archive of artefacts. Finds are then handed over to be photographed by our archaeologists, veterans and students. The finds team prepare to photograph an iron nail. Photo by Chris van Houts. Veteran Alex 'Mitch' Mitchell, formerly of the Fourth Royal Tank Regiment, has been working with the finds photography team since 2017. Mitch originally trained as a gunner but later became a member of his regiment's clerical staff, developing skills in military law. He first joined the dig in the midst of an oppressive heatwave during our 2017 season, and after a sweaty first day of digging, was offered a reprieve: "In his morning briefing, Mark [Evans, co-founder of WU] asked for a couple of volunteers to help with finds photography. Well me being an idiot, bear in mind the temperature was 34 degrees already, I thought: Cameras. Photography. Air-con!" But Mitch had miscalculated. In 2017, the finds photography was carried out in the stifling attic of the Hougoumont farmhouse. "It was like sitting in an oven. Over one afternoon, I think I drank 15 bottles of water." Fourth Royal Tank Regiment veteran and finds photographer Alex Mitchell. Photo by Chris van Houts. But despite the heat, Mitch enjoyed the experience of photographing finds and feels he "found his niche" in the field. Mitch joined us once again in 2018 to continue developing his finds photography skills, and has been helping out once more this year, in addition to driving team members between Hougoumont and Mont-Saint-Jean. Mitch feels that the best part of finds photography is that those who handle the finds have the opportunity to see everything, rather than only seeing objects dug up in the trench you are working in when digging. In his time he has had the chance to see, handle and photograph, musketballs, grapeshots, cannonballs and a wide variety of coins. He's eager to come back next year, and "might even bring the wife!" When asked what he enjoys most about being part of the Waterloo Uncovered team, Mitch had this to say: "My regiment didn't fight at Waterloo because we only formed in 1915, but when you see the history and watch the television programmes, you can say: I've been there." Hard Work with Harding at Hougoumont Over at Hougoumont farm, Phil Harding and his team of veterans and students have continued their hard work dealing with the mass of bricks in their most recently dug trench. Slowly but surely, they are removing the bricks, many of which are still connected by mortar, to discover what lies beneath them. The bricks comprise a small wall fragment that would have been part of the barn that once stood inside the walls of Hougoumont, beside the famous north gate that Allied troops slammed shut on the French soldiers that burst through after repeated attacks on the 18th of June, 1815. The barn was entirely destroyed by French bombardment during the fighting. The wall fragment that remains will be carefully dismantled, and each brick will be examined for graffiti that may have been left behind by the Allied soldiers that gallantly defended Hougoumont during the battle. By expending the trench in the direction of the wall fragment, the team hope to accurately map the footprint of the original Hougoumont farm barn. Phil and the team review the wall fragment found near the north gate at Hougoumont farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. In addition to the wall fragment and the Coldstream Guards button discovered yesterday, Phil's team have found evidence of the original slate tiles of the farmhouse roof. The farmhouse was decimated by fire during the battle, when French shells crashed through the barn and chateau, setting them ablaze. ‘The heat and smoke of the conflagration were very difficult to bear. Several men were burnt, as neither Colonel Macdonell nor myself could penetrate to the stables where the wounded had been carried.’ Colonel Woodford on the fire at Hougoumont farm The buildings of Hougoumont ablaze, depicted by Robert Alexander Hillingford. Postcard from the Leonard A. Lauder Postcard Archive. Stay tuned for more updates and exciting behind the scenes news as we finish our first week of digging!

Dig Diary Day 5: Bringing History to Life

Redcoats Return As the first week of Waterloo Uncovered 2019 draws to a close, the sites of Hougoumont and Mont-Saint-Jean have once more been been overrun by British redcoats. Two members of Coldstream Guards 1815 in Hougoumont farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. Today's visitors are members of the Coldstream Guards 1815 group, a military and living history society dedicated to the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards. The Coldstream Guards are the oldest infantry regiment in continuous service in the British Army and are fiercely proud of their role at the Battle of Waterloo. Coldstream Guards 1815 aim for complete historical accuracy in their reenactment, and intend to create an exciting and realistic experience for members of the group and those who come to watch the demonstrations. The group endeavour to recreate all aspects of military life, including the living conditions of the soldiers - they camp outside during their events and cook their meals over an open fire, and no electronic devices are allowed during reenactments. Coldstream Guards 1815 are an inclusive group and have roles for men, women and children - they recognise that people of all ages and genders would have been present around the battlefields of the era, with women and children following the regiments on campaigns, and often looking after the wounded after a battle; their lives and vital work should not be forgotten just because they weren't soldiers. Clive Jones is held up by a member of the Waterloo Uncovered team. Photo by Chris van Houts. Clive Jones, who runs Coldstream Guards 1815, always had a passion for history but decided to become a ...

Redcoats Return As the first week of Waterloo Uncovered 2019 draws to a close, the sites of Hougoumont and Mont-Saint-Jean have once more been been overrun by British redcoats. Two members of Coldstream Guards 1815 in Hougoumont farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. Today's visitors are members of the Coldstream Guards 1815 group, a military and living history society dedicated to the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards. The Coldstream Guards are the oldest infantry regiment in continuous service in the British Army and are fiercely proud of their role at the Battle of Waterloo. Coldstream Guards 1815 aim for complete historical accuracy in their reenactment, and intend to create an exciting and realistic experience for members of the group and those who come to watch the demonstrations. The group endeavour to recreate all aspects of military life, including the living conditions of the soldiers - they camp outside during their events and cook their meals over an open fire, and no electronic devices are allowed during reenactments. Coldstream Guards 1815 are an inclusive group and have roles for men, women and children - they recognise that people of all ages and genders would have been present around the battlefields of the era, with women and children following the regiments on campaigns, and often looking after the wounded after a battle; their lives and vital work should not be forgotten just because they weren't soldiers. Clive Jones is held up by a member of the Waterloo Uncovered team. Photo by Chris van Houts. Clive Jones, who runs Coldstream Guards 1815, always had a passion for history but decided to become a soldier himself, spending 14 years as a Welsh Guard. The Welsh Guards had not been established at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, so when he decided to get involved in reenactment, Clive joined a Coldstream Guards group instead. But he is not the only veteran in the living history society group: "We have a whole selection of ex-servicemen within the group. We're lucky with that, because those ex-soldiers bring an 'air' of soldiers to the camp, so then the civilians who have no military experience can learn from the soldiers." Clive was aware of Waterloo Uncovered through his group's links to the real Coldstream Guards regiment. Coldstream Guards 1815 were involved in the first ever Waterloo Uncovered season in 2015, where they gave demonstrations of weapons of the period, including the British Brown Bess musket, to the participating veterans, who in return showed the reenactment group their most exciting finds. Sergeant Trevor Rafferty speaks to two Coldstream Guards 1815 reenactors. Photo by Chris van Houts. Clive next encountered the Waterloo Uncovered project at Chalke Valley History Festival in Wiltshire, England three years ago. Competing with living history displays, firing demonstrations and tanks, Clive felt that Waterloo Uncovered's display was not getting the attention it deserved: "People were walking past, and I thought: this isn't right! This is really good stuff. So we went round there and showed up in uniform, with the guns, to add a bit of colour to it. All of a sudden, people started coming in." Coldstream Guards 1815 have attended Chalke Valley History Festival to help out Waterloo Uncovered every year since. Their help in raising awareness of our project has been invaluable, and Clive feels, in return, our archaeologists have helped increase the historical accuracy of the reenactments at Hougoumont, saying we have "completely rewritten a lot of what we know about what happened at Hougoumont." As a former serviceman, Clive also understands how valuable the work of Waterloo Uncovered is in supporting its veteran participants. "The help they're giving to the veterans is spectacular. I'm a veteran myself so I know where they're coming from. Where people have got PTSD, once depression gets you it's a downward spiral and trying to stop that spiral and get back up again...sometimes it feels like its's impossible. Being involved in Waterloo Uncovered, sitting down in a trench with a trowel and a brush and just scraping away - it grounds people, and they're able to put the world to one side, box it off, calm down and move on." Clive shares his hopes for the future of Waterloo Uncovered: "It would be great if they could do more of it, if they had the funding and the backing behind them. I really hope the charity grows and expands in the years to come. Anything we can do to help them, we will gladly do." The Coldstream Guards regiment's motto is 'Nulli Secundus', meaning 'Second to None'. They are perhaps most famous for their role in the defence of Hougoumont farm on the 18th of June 1815, alongside members of the 2nd Nassau Regiment, 3rd Scots Guards and 1st Hanoverian Brigade. Closing the Gates at Hougoumont, by Robert Gibb, 1903. © National Museums Scotland. One moment, above all, captures the drama and violence of the fight for Hougoumont. Nicknamed 'L'Enfonceur' or 'The Smasher' for his daring attack, Sous-Lieutenant Legros broke through the north gate wielding an axe, allowing 30 French soldiers to storm into the courtyard of the farm of Hougoumont. A small band of Allied soldiers led by Guardsmen Corporal James Graham and Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell were left with little choice but to fight their way through the French in a desperate hand to hand battle. In a miraculous turn of events, the Allies were able to slam the gates shut and reinforce them with piles of timber in order to keep the French at bay. Left trapped and vulnerable, the French soldiers who had managed to break through were swiftly killed - though a young, unarmed French drummer boy was spared and hidden in a stable by Scots Guardsman Matthew Clay. "The success of the battle turned upon closing the gates at Hougoumont" Lord Wellington The reenactment group's uniforms and equipment are handmade and are highly accurate, based on written accounts and paintings of the period, as well as archaeological evidence such as unearthed coat buttons. Earlier this week, serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle was lucky enough to find a Coldstream Guards button while digging at Hougoumont. Check out the fantastic moment Oliver shows archaeologist Phil Harding his find and explains what the discovery means to him: https://www.facebook.com/waterloouncovered/videos/781933872200806/ Sergeant Trevor Rafferty poses with the Coldstream Guards 1815. Photo by Chris van Houts. Wearing their painstakingly recreated redcoats, the reenactors were joined by Sergeant Trevor Rafferty in his own red coat: the iconic scarlet uniform of the Chelsea Pensioners, which he wore to honour the fallen of Waterloo during our Reading to Remember event earlier this week: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-3-of-reading-remembering-and-ridges/ If you would like to find out more about the Coldstream Guards 1815 group, check out their website here:https://www.coldstreamguards1815.org.uk/home London Calling: Black Cab Visitors Today, a very British sight could be seen in south Belgium: a convoy of black cabs! 6 taxis full of veterans and Officer Cadets drove all the way from London yesterday afternoon, in order to join us on site today. The visiting veterans were taken on a tour of the main museum on the Waterloo battlefield, Memorial 1815, which sits at the base of the Lion's Mound. They then visited us at the farms of Mont-Saint-Jean and Hougoumont, where they were updated on our most exciting finds from the week and were even able to try their hand at digging! The convoy of black cabs arrives at Hougoumont farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. The black cabs and their occupants were able to join us through the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, a charity which supports veterans by organising trips to concerts, museums, fundraising events and military reunions. Taxi Charity also organise international trips to Belgium, France and the Netherlands to visit various battlefields and military sites. These trips are made possible through donations, and through the kindness of the licensed London taxi drivers who volunteer their vehicles and time for free. To find out more about the work of Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, please visit their website: https://www.taxicharity.org/ The black cab veterans and cadets are given a tour of Hougoumont farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. The team, including our new visitors, soldiered on through the rain and thunderstorms that hit Mont-Saint-Jean this afternoon. Stay tuned for more updates as we begin our second week of digging - and watch out for a recap of tomorrow's #WaterlooWeekend open day, held at Hougoumont farm!

Waterloo Weekend Diary: Weapons, Women and Wet Weather

#WaterlooWeekend Open Day The working week may be over, but a group of veterans, archaeologists and students donned their hi-vis jackets regardless yesterday morning. Their destination was Hougoumont farm, and not even a brief spell of torrential rain could stop them! On Saturday we held our annual #WaterlooWeekend open day event, where we opened up the gates of Hougoumont – slightly less dramatically than the French did in 1815 – to interested members of the public. Visitors were greeted by Waterloo Uncovered co-founder Major Charlie Foinette, who explained to all those unfamiliar with the project the value of Waterloo Uncovered in expanding our archaeological knowledge of the battle, as well as in supporting our hard-working veteran participants. A reenactor in the uniform of a Dutch/Belgian cavalryman and the British Ambassador to Belgium Martin Shearman listen to Phil Harding's explanation of this year's findings at Hougoumont. Photo by Emma de Graaf. In what was once the formal garden of Hougoumont farm, an exciting range of activities had been put on for visitors, set up by a team of volunteers who gave up their weekend to help out, and organised by UCL students Danae Divaris, Natalie De La Torre Salas and Kate Scott. Visitors were particularly excited by the dynamic pop-up museum, which displayed some of our most exciting finds from our 5 seasons of excavation, including the 6-pound cannonball found earlier this week. The pop-up museum also held a display of heart-breaking letters sent from Waterloo soldiers to their families and sweethearts back home. Artist Teresa Beth Hough displayed a variety of beautiful paintings she had completed while observing Waterloo Uncovered in 2018. which ...

#WaterlooWeekend Open Day The working week may be over, but a group of veterans, archaeologists and students donned their hi-vis jackets regardless yesterday morning. Their destination was Hougoumont farm, and not even a brief spell of torrential rain could stop them! On Saturday we held our annual #WaterlooWeekend open day event, where we opened up the gates of Hougoumont – slightly less dramatically than the French did in 1815 – to interested members of the public. Visitors were greeted by Waterloo Uncovered co-founder Major Charlie Foinette, who explained to all those unfamiliar with the project the value of Waterloo Uncovered in expanding our archaeological knowledge of the battle, as well as in supporting our hard-working veteran participants. A reenactor in the uniform of a Dutch/Belgian cavalryman and the British Ambassador to Belgium Martin Shearman listen to Phil Harding's explanation of this year's findings at Hougoumont. Photo by Emma de Graaf. In what was once the formal garden of Hougoumont farm, an exciting range of activities had been put on for visitors, set up by a team of volunteers who gave up their weekend to help out, and organised by UCL students Danae Divaris, Natalie De La Torre Salas and Kate Scott. Visitors were particularly excited by the dynamic pop-up museum, which displayed some of our most exciting finds from our 5 seasons of excavation, including the 6-pound cannonball found earlier this week. The pop-up museum also held a display of heart-breaking letters sent from Waterloo soldiers to their families and sweethearts back home. Artist Teresa Beth Hough displayed a variety of beautiful paintings she had completed while observing Waterloo Uncovered in 2018. which perfectly captured the hard work of dig participants as well as the beauty of the Waterloo battlefield. As part of the museum, visitors of all ages enjoyed a card game designed by UCL student Natalie, in which the player assumed the role of a surgeon at Waterloo, and had to choose which historical treatment would be best to keep their wounded soldiers alive. In the midst of battle and overwhelmed by the sheer number and brutality of the injuries arriving at your hospital, what treatment would you chose for a musket ball wound, or a broken leg? Bleeding, trepanning (drilling into the skull) – or amputation, without anaesthetic? Professor Tony Pollard addresses visitors at the open day. Photo by Emma de Graaf. We were joined once more on Saturday by the fantastic Coldstream Guards 1815 reenactment group - you may remember them from Day 5’s dig diary: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-5-bringing-history-to-life/ The presence of the Coldstream Guards 1815 let visitors contextualise some of our finds and added some colour to the day – essentially bringing the archaeology to life in front of them. Visitors were able to see an accurately recreated British camp, complete with an open fire one of the reenactors cooked over. The Coldstream Guards 1815 gave a fantastic period weaponry demonstration, showing how soldiers would have cleaned, prepared and fired their muskets. Attendees also had the opportunity to fire a Brown Bess musket themselves! Clive Jones oversees the firing of Brown Bess muskets by members of the Coldstream Guards 1815 reenactment group. Photo by Alex Cauvi. Elsewhere in the formal garden, a team of archaeologists and veterans were braving the rain to dig a small trench near the so-called ‘Killing Zone’ at Hougoumont. This allowed visitors who were new to archaeology to see what the process entailed, and even to try their hand at digging, no matter their level of experience. Looking over the group of volunteers, archaeologists, veterans and reenactors who put on the open day, Danae told us how proud she was of all the effort put in to making it a success: “I’m really amazed at how well the team works together. Everyone is ready to do everything - it’s not as if people stick only to the task they’re given. It really demonstrates the team spirit.” Our visitors included archaeologists, holidaymakers and local families, as well as one rather special guest: Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Belgium, Martin Shearman. With the other visitors, he was given a tour of Hougoumont farm and its history by Professor Tony Pollard, and was invited to examine the trench by the north gate that archaeologist Phil Harding was still diligently working in – even on a Saturday! Impressed by the open day, HMA Shearman told us: “I have read some books on the battle before coming here, but actually hearing about it in this way has truly brought it alive for me.” Major Charles Foinette (far-left), Coldstream Guards 1815 leader Clive Jones (left), British Ambassador to Belgium Martin Shearman (middle), a Coldstream Guards 1815 reenactor (right) and Professor Tony Pollard (far-right). Photo by Emma de Graaf. HMA Shearman has only been the Ambassador to Belgium for less than two weeks, and visiting the Waterloo Weekend was “actually one of the first things I have done as an ambassador to Belgium.” We hope our open day was a nice way to start his new position! Women of Waterloo: The Board Game Elsewhere at Hougoumont, an exciting meeting was taking place between historical novelist Katy Moran, archaeologist Stuart Eve, game designer Juan Hiriart and artist Beth Collar. The team plan to develop an innovative board game to tell the stories of a forgotten group: the women of Waterloo. While a plethora of historical and archaeological research has been carried out on the Peninsular War and the subsequent Battle of Waterloo, our knowledge of the role women played in the period is sparse, at best. Only 6 wives, drawn by lot, were allowed to accompany each band of 100 British soldiers - although many more women may have unofficially followed the march across the Iberian Peninsula. While there are records of the lives of officer's and aristocrat's wives, including several personal accounts from the women themselves, lower class women are almost invisible in the history of the Peninsular war. The wives of low-ranking soldiers would have almost all been illiterate, and so poor that they would not have had the resources to record their stories even if they could write. The vast majority of women go unremarked upon in contemporary accounts, with the exception of women who were killed, injured or widowed in unusual circumstances. One such case is that of Elizabeth McMullen, whose leg was shattered by a musket ball while carrying a wounded soldier off the battlefield. Despite being heavily pregnant and severely injured, she returned to the battlefield to carry off her husband, who had been shot three times and had to have both of his arms amputated. Both survived, and when Elizabeth gave birth to a baby girl mere days later, she was christened Frederica McMullen of Waterloo with the Duke of York as her godfather. A life-size model of Elizabeth McMullen and her husband Private Peter McMullen at Enniskillen Castle. Photo by Ross Fernie via BBC News NI. The women who accompanied their husbands on campaign were known as 'camp followers', and were vital to the war effort. The women took on a variety of roles including maintaining the camps, cooking, washing and repairing uniforms, caring for the wounded and raising children. Some women even disguised themselves as soldiers and took to the battlefield, while others were engaged in prostitution, looting and trade. Camp followers dragged themselves, along with their children and worldly possessions on gruelling marches toward situations that posed enormous personal risks. But the contributions and complex lives of these women - their suffering, happiness, hardships and heroism - have been all but forgotten in the annals of history. British soldiers, women and children marching during the Peninsular War. 'Soldiers on a March', 1811 by George Moutard Woodward, held by the National Army Museum. Based on extensive research into the lives of women between 1807 and 1815, the project will shine a light on the invisible women of Waterloo through fun and engaging gameplay. The team aim to create a narrative throughout the game which gives a realistic view of the lives of women during the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign which does not shy away from accurately depicting the horrific conditions and hardships they would have faced. The player will be able to engage with these untold stories in an empathetic way, by playing as the wife of a soldier who must make her way through the Peninsular War and onto Waterloo in a fight for safety and survival. "History is no longer just a chronicle of kings and statesmen, of people who wielded power, but of ordinary women and men engaged in manifold tasks. Women's history is an assertion that women have a history." Toshiko Kishida The project is still in its early stages, but stay tuned for more updates as the game takes shape in the coming months... Writing for Recovery On Friday afternoon, Dutch volunteer Amee Zoutberg organised a creative writing workshop for our Dutch veterans and students. Writing down thoughts and feelings can be an excellent therapeutic tool, particularly for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which some of our veterans suffer from. The Dutch team took part in a freewriting exercise where they wrote down anything that came into their heads, transferring their trains of thought directly onto paper. The aim was to encourage the team to get into writing without worrying too much about the content or structure of their piece – all they had to do was write whatever came to them. Dutch students and veterans take part in a creative writing workshop. Photo by Chris van Houts. The participants produced short ‘diary entry’ style pieces that discussed their feelings about Waterloo Uncovered, archaeology and their own recovery – stay tuned to read some of those accounts in the coming days! We hope the participants enjoyed their foray into writing, and that the lines written in the workshop form the beginnings of a new chapter - and maybe even a successful writing career - for those who took part. We hope everyone who came out to the open day had a great time - if you couldn't make it, we hope to see you next year instead. Stay tuned as we start our second week of excavation - we're expecting it to be even more exciting than our first!

Dig Diary Day 6: Mass Musket Balls and Scots Guard Buttons

It's the first day of our second week here at Waterloo Uncovered! After a weekend of recovering from their exhausting hard week last week, the team are back and ready to do it all over again. Waterloo Uncovered: Live! You might have seen Waterloo Uncovered live this morning on BBC Breakfast, where Professor Tony Pollard and Waterloo Uncovered co-founder Mark Evans were interviewed by Europe reporter Gavin Lee, alongside several of our veteran participants. BBC Breakfast ran three fantastic pieces throughout the morning, in which veterans digging with Waterloo Uncovered gave their insight into the struggles of coming home from war, transitioning into civilian life, and recovering from injury and PTSD. They discussed how archaeology, and Waterloo Uncovered in particular, can aid in physical and mental recovery, as well as working as a method of discovering new interests, building new skills, and pursuing new educational or vocational paths. If you missed it, you can check out the BBC's video on Waterloo Uncovered below. It was the second most watched video on the BBC's website this afternoon - even above the Cricket World Cup final! A Cornucopia of Cornfield Finds In a cornfield in the vicinity of Mont-Saint-Jean, our team of archaeologists, veterans, students and metal detectorists have begun a large-scale metal detecting survey. The cornfield sits along the reverse slope where Wellington commanded British soldiers to lie down to protect themselves from incoming French fire. Later in the battle it was the scene of intense fighting between infantry and cavalry as the French sought desperately to break through the British and Allied line. The survey of this area has only just started, but Professor Tony Pollard already thinks it could be one of the most abundant areas of battlefield archaeology finds we have ever dealt with. The cornfields were covered in yellow flags, each of which signalled a find our archaeologists excavated today! Photo by Chris van Houts. So far, the results have been astounding. In only half a day, our team have discovered 58 (yes, 58!) musket balls of both French and British origin and even pieces of artillery shells! In fact, our team discovered so many finds this morning that they had to briefly pause the metal detecting so our surveyors could locate and plot the material. There are areas of the Waterloo battlefield which have unfortunately been affected by illegal metal detecting and looting, but the cornfield does not appear to be one of them – this means our archaeologists can properly excavate objects while recording their context, and catalogue and store them appropriately, preserving the knowledge that each find reveals to us. While some of the French musket balls are likely to have been fired by carbines used by French cavalry, some may also be from the earlier infantry assault by the I Corps of the Armée du Nord led by D'Erlon in the afternoon of the battle, which targeted the left flank of the Allied line. This threatened, at one point, to push back the Allied line, but was thrown back and crushed by a charge of British cavalry, including the Scots Greys of the Union Brigade. Metal detectorist and Dutch army engineer Moos Raaijmakers digs up a find in the corn fields. Photo by Chris van Houts. Professor Tony Pollard summarised the finds of the day and explained how they demonstrate the value of archaeology in filling in the gaps in historical documentation with hard evidence: "All in all it looks like we've got a very important part of the battlefield for which information is a little vague - there aren't a huge number of accounts related to it, so we're hoping archaeology will be able to provide a fresh perspective on that area of the battlefield." The Life Cycle of a Find Glasgow University PhD student Euan Loarridge, whose research interests lie in battlefield archaeology and conflict history, is one the finds team again this year, and is responsible for what happens to finds from the cornfield after they are excavated. Euan Loarridge, Glasgow PhD student. Photo by Chris van Houts. Euan first volunteered with Waterloo Uncovered in 2016. His PhD supervisor is Professor Tony Pollard, the archaeological director of Waterloo Uncovered, who requested Euan's help with cataloguing the project's finds. Although Euan's PhD is on the First World War rather than the Napoleonic Wars, he has always had an interest in the Battle of Waterloo - he was raised on stories of his ancestor, a member of the Inniskilling Dragoons, who fought at Waterloo, also in the Union Brigade of cavalry. After a successful first year, Euan has returned again and again: "I've loved every minute of being on the project and being out here at Waterloo, and being with the veterans as well - that has just made it amazing." Euan was able to identify several of the finds from the cornfield - including a French coin. The coin is most likely a two sous piece from 1792. Though Louis the 16th was King of France at the time, the French Assembly had already taken power; as a result, the coin is covered with French monarchical and French revolutionary symbols. The coin would still have been in circulation at the Battle of Waterloo, so may have fallen from the pocket of a French soldier during the battle. The French coin featuring monarchical and revolutionary imagery. Photo by Chris van Houts. Euan notes that coins are particularly easy to identify in the process of authentication through their iconography: "The whole point of a coin is that it's representative of something - it has to tell you how much it was worth and when was it made so you can tell if you can use it or not." Reenactors make 'reenactment coins', which could feasibly have found their way into the cornfields around the Battle of Waterloo where reenactment displays take place. But Euan says they tend to be of different quality and are made of different materials, so are easy to exclude: "What we do now is coat an iron disk in copper because its cheaper to make. In those days, they just made them straight out of copper or straight out of silver. To a certain extent the value of the coin is not the face value but the value of the metal in which they are made." But what exactly happens to our finds after they are discovered by our metal detectorists? Following detection, finds are dug up by our veterans, then located using GPS equipment by the survey team, who give each find a unique identifiable number. They are then passed to the finds team, including Euan. Here, finds are laid out to dry when they are wet from the moisture in the soil they were removed from. The following morning, finds are 'dry cleaned', meaning they are scraped with a small toothbrush or lightly wiped to remove the worst of the soil from them, without water. Objects which are 'wet cleaned' can take a very long time to dry, so wet cleaning is often only carried out in post-excavation due to our limited time on site. Following cleaning, finds are taken to be photographed, and then are returned to Euan who uploads the photographs to our archive of finds, along with the location, period and context of the find. A Double Scots Guards Button Surprise At Hougoumont, there was an equally exciting discovery throwing new light on a well-known episode in the battle-the moment that the North gates were closed behind a party of French soldiers who had forced their way in. This episode has long been celebrated in the regimental history of the Coldstream Guards, but there were other regiments involved too -and now we have the evidence to prove it. This afternoon, in Phil Harding's trench close to the north gate, two Scots Guards buttons were discovered, one on top of the other! The Scots Guards buttons in situ. Photo by Emily Glass. The Scots Guards were formed in 1642, but did not officially become a part of the British Army until 1686. At the time of the Battle of Waterloo, the Scots Guards would have been known as the Third Regiment of Foot Guards. The regiment was involved in the defence of Hougoumont from repeated French attacks alongside the Coldstream Guards, 2nd Nassau Regiment, and 1st Hanoverian Brigade. The closing of the gates at Hougoumont rightly remains something the Coldstream Guards are incredibly proud of, as seen when serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle found a button belonging to his regiment last week (you can read more about that discovery in our dig diary: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-3-of-reading-remembering-and-ridges). However, it's now time to set the record straight and acknowledge the part played by soldiers from other regiments, as shown by the evidence revealed by Waterloo Uncovered's dig. Archaeologist Phil Harding, serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle and student Taylor Lee discussing how best to excavate the buttons. Photo by Emily Glass. There is a historic rivalry between the Scots Guards and Coldstream Guards that continues to this day, largely ignited by the fame the Coldstream Guards achieved at Hougoumont - and still perpetuated on site by Professor Tony Pollard and former Coldstream Guardsman Mark Evans! We hope that the discovery of the Scots Guards button, in the same trench where we found a Coldstream Guards button just last week, will go some way toward reminding the public of the contribution of Allied regiments to the defence of Hougoumont, alongside the Coldstream Guards. Wellington once said that “the success of the battle turned upon the closing of the gates at Hougoumont” - and we believe that all those who contributed and lost their lives at Hougoumont should be remembered. It's only day one of the second week and we're already inundated with finds! Stay tuned for more updates as the week progresses, the cornfields are further explored and the huge amounts of finds discovered today continue being identified.

Dig Diary Day 7: Military Medicine and Well Diving

Military Medicine at Mont-Saint-Jean This morning, retired consultant, curator of the Royal College of Surgeons and curator of the Military Surgical Museum at Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean Dr Mick Crumplin kindly gave our veterans, archaeologists and students a tour of the Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean museum, which houses his personal collection of medical artefacts relating to the era of the Battle of Waterloo. In Mick’s collection are several sets of surgical instruments that he is particularly fascinated by. One such set from 1830 is made of shear steel, and includes an amputating saw with an ebony handle that would not have been sterilized between patients, forceps for removing bullets and gouging out bone, scalpels and amputating knives, a trephine for trepanning (drilling holes in the skull to relieve the pressure of compound fractures), and a urethral syringe for treating venereal diseases. “When you look at instruments like this you realise that surgery may have been crude without any anaesthesia or pain relief, without any idea of sepsis, but they are so well-made there must have been something to surgery more than just crude butchery.”Dr Mick Crumplin One of Mick's collections of surgical tools in the Military Surgical Museum at Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. Another of Mick’s most interesting objects is a vertebra set in silver which had been damaged by a piece of shrapnel. The vertebra belonged to Captain Holmes of the 27th Inniskillings; when he was killed at Waterloo, his wife had his body boiled and removed the damaged bone as well as the missile in his chest that had killed him. She kept it by her ...

Military Medicine at Mont-Saint-Jean This morning, retired consultant, curator of the Royal College of Surgeons and curator of the Military Surgical Museum at Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean Dr Mick Crumplin kindly gave our veterans, archaeologists and students a tour of the Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean museum, which houses his personal collection of medical artefacts relating to the era of the Battle of Waterloo. In Mick’s collection are several sets of surgical instruments that he is particularly fascinated by. One such set from 1830 is made of shear steel, and includes an amputating saw with an ebony handle that would not have been sterilized between patients, forceps for removing bullets and gouging out bone, scalpels and amputating knives, a trephine for trepanning (drilling holes in the skull to relieve the pressure of compound fractures), and a urethral syringe for treating venereal diseases. “When you look at instruments like this you realise that surgery may have been crude without any anaesthesia or pain relief, without any idea of sepsis, but they are so well-made there must have been something to surgery more than just crude butchery.”Dr Mick Crumplin One of Mick's collections of surgical tools in the Military Surgical Museum at Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. Another of Mick’s most interesting objects is a vertebra set in silver which had been damaged by a piece of shrapnel. The vertebra belonged to Captain Holmes of the 27th Inniskillings; when he was killed at Waterloo, his wife had his body boiled and removed the damaged bone as well as the missile in his chest that had killed him. She kept it by her bed as a reminder of her late husband for many years, and when Mick acquired it, it was covered in drops of wax from her bedside candles. The farm of Mont-Saint-Jean was occupied by the British and designated as a field hospital by Lord Wellington, who slept for several hours in the farmhouse on the evening of the 17th of June, 1815. The large barn at Mont-Saint-Jean, which this week is housing the Waterloo Uncovered communications and administration teams, once served as the main operating theatre at Mont-Saint-Jean during the fighting, and would have witnessed unimaginable scenes of suffering. The hospital was under the command of Dr John Gunning, a surgeon at St. George’s Hospital of London. He was one of very few surgeons at the Battle of Waterloo who had practical experience working with the wounded. Most surgeons studied for around five years, conducting dissections and attending anatomy lectures, before being launched into the thick of battle with little to no hands-on experience. “They would come and learn the hard way - they would be apprentices on the battlefield.”Dr Mick Crumplin A drawing of a soldier missing an arm after the Battle of Waterloo. By surgeon Charles Bell, held by the Wellcome Collection. In addition, field hospitals such as Mont-Saint-Jean would have been severely understaffed – while there was officially one surgeon and two assistants assigned to each regiment, there would often be even less. But the Allied surgeons were often aided by local people, as described by hospital assistant Isaac James in a personal letter from Brussels in 1815; “I have been extremely fatigued having so many wounded to attend. We have had lots of legs and arms to lop off. The inhabitants [of Brussels] have been particularly kind to the wounded; their attention to them is unremitting.” Surgeons did not only treat their countrymen – they were also responsible for wounded prisoners: “I have 37 French prisoners as well as my own officers and men to look after, mostly sword cuts. One, a Marquis de Touraine, who all the time I was extracting a bullet and splinters of bone from his shoulder blade, kept apologising for the great trouble he was giving me. As hardly any of my officers and none of the men can speak a word of French, you may guess I am kept pretty busy translating. They are not half bad fellows and are far more grateful for anything done for them than our chaps are.” Surgeon David Slow, Royal Horse Guards in a private letter to his sisters Field hospitals like Mont-Saint-Jean would have been a horrific sight; overcrowded and filled with dead and dying men who could not always fit in the building, according to Mick: “This whole courtyard would have been full of men lying around bleeding, in pain, groaning. I don’t think we can imagine what a horrible sight it must have been.” Surgeon David Slow of the Royal Horse Guards expressed a similar sentiment after surviving a French attack: “By the great mercy of God I am spared to write to you once again, although around me lie the unburied bodies of thousands of dead and still more of the wounded, many in such pain that they only wish they were dead.” Drawings of soldiers with eye and face wounds sustained during the Battle of Waterloo. By surgeon Charles Bell, held by the Wellcome Collection. But Mick tells us that in the early 19th century, soldiers would have been slightly more prepared for extreme injury and death, due to the mortality rates of the period: “They were accustomed to loss of family, loss of children, loss of wives in childbirth […] they are used to death and suffering, and they didn’t expect survival.” Mick estimates that at least 10% of the wounded men who entered the farm would have died here – around 6000 wounded men were treated at Mont-Saint-Jean over the four days of the battle. Their wounds would have come from a variety of weaponry: “Of the total loss, one in 7 or 8 may be killed, the rest are wounded. A great number of the wounds are from cannon balls. Officers have compared the discharge from the cannon to discharges of musketry. Most wounds of the limbs are in the lower extremities. There are perhaps 15 or 16 legs taken off for one arm, there are not many bayonet wounds. There are sabre and lance wounds, the French cavalry have lances, we have none.”Assistant Surgeon Donald Finlayson, 33rd Regiment of Foot Some soldiers miraculously managed to survive catastrophic injuries, such as those suffered by Lieutenant Henry Duperier, who was not English by birth, of the 18th Regiment of Light Dragoons, who wrote the following to his Major: “I am in great pain, caused by a ball which is received in my head, charging a French battalion, with about 40 of our men. It would have killed an Englishman, having passed through my skull head, opened the skull and out the other side. When I say it would have killed an Englishman it is because he has brains, but you know that I have none.” Around 65% of wounds received in the Battle of Waterloo would have been to limbs. Mick explains that the position of an injury on a limb changes how likely it is that the wounded soldier will die: “The mortality is less as you go down the limb, but joint injuries were severe.” Often, the only chance of survival from a limb injury was to amputate, as explained by the Earl of Uxbridge in a personal letter to his wife, shortly after his leg was amputated: “Dearest Charlotte, Be bold, prepare for misfortune, I have lost my right leg. A miracle might have saved it, but for the sake of you and my dear children, I have taken the better chance of preserving my life.” But even after a successful amputation, there were still dangers for the wounded, as explained by Assistant Surgeon Donald Finlayson in a letter from June 1815: “What misery war causes! Part of it we have seen, the rest we may dread. Many may die hereafter, some necessarily from their wounds, others from want of attendance. Hospital gangrene may be expected, famine may be dreaded.” Not every injured soldier experienced the horrors of field hospitals, however. Some officers with less severe wounds were tended to by the families they were billeted with. And some lucky officers even found convalescence after injury to be an enjoyable experience… “I am quite at home in the family, and have three young ladies who make a point of applying the poultices to my leg themselves. So who would not be wounded?”Captain Alexander Kennedy Clark, 1st Royal Dragoons, letter from Brussels, 26 June 1815 Let’s Get Geophysical Jim Glenister, a former civil servant, retired 9 years ago, and decided to fill the new time on his hands with a lifelong interest - archaeology. Jim begun volunteering on archaeological digs to gain experience, and soon became interested in geophysical survey. Now affiliated with Liverpool John Moores University, Jim and PhD student Megan Quick arrived in Belgium with two pieces of equipment: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). Jim Glenister setting up a geophysical survey at Frischermont. Photo by Chris van Houts. GPR is a non-invasive technique that allows us to detect subsurface structures without needing to open a trench – this is particularly useful in protected or restricted areas that cannot be dug. A GPR unit is pushed along the area of ground that will be examined, where it emits high frequency radio waves, which bounce off buried objects. When the waves are transmitted back to the GPR unit, the display will show how deep a potential structure is (and therefore how old it is) on the vertical axis and where the structure is in space on the horizontal axis. It is a common misconception that GPR can see through the ground like an X-Ray – we wish this was the case! In an ERT survey, metal stakes are planted in the ground, and an electric current is passed through them into the subsurface below. From here, variations in conductivity are measured by a pair of electrodes, which can be used to map the stratigraphy of a site, meaning the different layers of archaeological remains. By examining the stratigraphy of an area, we can see the different periods of occupation it has gone through, and identify where different structures and features may have once stood on the site. A team of volunteers, students and veterans help Jim (foreground, left) and Megan (background, with computer) set up a geophysical survey. Photo by Chris van Houts. Jim and Megan were asked to bring their equipment to Waterloo Uncovered in order to detect possible burial pits, subsurface structures and anomalies. They first examined the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean, and were disappointed not to find any buried structures. But they were more successful when they moved on to Hougoumont farm. In the courtyard of Hougoumont farm, they believe they have found the potential remains of structures in the courtyard which are not visible from the surface, and have not been dug before. "We're currently processing the data and recording it, and trying to plan it. But we think we have potential structures and the remains of structures which are not visible from the surface, and haven't been dug before." Jim and Megan then moved onto the site of Frischermont. During the Battle of Waterloo, Frischermont was garrisoned by Dutch soldiers from the 28th Orange-Nassau regiment. Once the site of a chateaux, there are almost no known architectural remains on the surface at Frischermont. But Jim and Megan believe they have found the edge of a barn that once stood at the site. Unfortunately, the site of Frischermont is vastly overgrown, and needs to be cleared in order for the team to continue their work or begin digging to uncover these possible structures. Regardless, Jim is happy with what the team have found, and would like to return to Waterloo Uncovered next year to continue their work, particularly at Frischermont: "Frischermont is quite exciting because it's the unknown. Generally, we try to work from the known to the unknown, but here we're just stabbing in the dark." Plumbing the Depths Elsewhere at Mont-Saint-Jean, the deep stone well in the courtyard was being explored by specialist Olivier, while archaeologists Stuart Eve and Véronique Moulaert monitored his progress from the surface. Olivier discovered that the well was 32 metres deep, with 4 metres of water in the bottom that Véronique described as “swampy”- but there was little else to be seen there. Olivier climbing down the well at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. However, there are more wells to explore at our other sites of Hougoumont farm and Frischermont. There are two known wells at Hougoumont, one of which was excavated in 1985 by Derick Saunders. The aim of this examination was to prove, or disprove, a claim made by Victor Hugo in his 1862 novel Les Miserables. Hugo wrote of the well at Hougoumont; "On emerging from the chapel, a well is visible on the left. There are two in this courtyard. One inquires, Why is there no bucket and pulley to this? It is because water is no longer drawn there. Why is water not drawn there? Because it is full of skeletons.” Hugo claimed that the well had been used as a depository for human remains after the Battle of Waterloo – and some of the men may not even have been dead when they were thrown in: “After the engagement, they were in haste to bury the dead bodies. Death has a fashion of harassing victory, and she causes the pest to follow glory. The typhus is a concomitant of triumph. This well was deep, and it was turned into a sepulchre. Three hundred dead bodies were cast into it. With too much haste perhaps. Were they all dead? Legend says they were not. It seems that on the night succeeding the interment, feeble voices were heard calling from the well.” A postcard of Hougoumont farm by an unknown photographer, showing the well referenced by Hugo. From gtrooprha.co.uk. Though this passage is widely believed, Saunders’ excavation did not discover any bodies, or any evidence that they had been there. During the restoration of the buildings at Hougoumont farm for the 2015 bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, another well was discovered. This well had been bricked up in a wall of the courtyard, and as far as we know, has never been examined – but our archaeologists hope to explore it before the end of the week. At the nearby site of Frischermont, the only remains of the building that are still standing are a small wall and the well – though the current well head is a modern reconstruction, the well itself is most likely untouched, and will also be explored this week. Fingers crossed the finds will keep on coming as our team further explores our sites of Mont-Saint-Jean, Hougoumont and Frischermont. Watch this space for an extremely exciting announcement coming tomorrow afternoon...

Dig Diary Day 8: Poignant Proof of the Human Cost of Battle

A Possible Amputation Pit? In the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean, Waterloo Uncovered’s metal detectorists picked up a signal that indicated the presence of a large metal object, which was promptly excavated by a team of archaeologists, students and veterans. Although it is too degraded to identify at this time, it may be the remains of an ammunition box, or simply a collection of metal scraps. While excavating around the metal pieces, our archaeologists made an amazing discovery - a human leg bone. Waterloo Uncovered liaised with the local authorities here in Belgium, as well as with forensic anthropologists, to determine that the remains were not related to a modern burial, and work was able to continue swiftly. One of the human leg bones being excavated at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. As the trench was expanded, another leg bone was uncovered, and several days later yet another was found. This morning, a fourth leg bone was discovered: we now have at least four lower leg bones concentrated in a small area of the orchard. The location they were found in appears to be an area where amputated limbs would have been thrown, associated with the field hospital. One limb shows possible evidence of trauma caused by a catastrophic wound, while the most recently discovered limb appears to bear the marks of a surgeon’s amputation saw above the knee. This is the first time the Waterloo Uncovered project has encountered human remains, which are an exciting and relatively unusual find on the battlefields of Waterloo. While there were an estimated 7000 Prussian, 15,000 Allied and 25,000 French casualties at the Battle ...

A Possible Amputation Pit? In the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean, Waterloo Uncovered’s metal detectorists picked up a signal that indicated the presence of a large metal object, which was promptly excavated by a team of archaeologists, students and veterans. Although it is too degraded to identify at this time, it may be the remains of an ammunition box, or simply a collection of metal scraps. While excavating around the metal pieces, our archaeologists made an amazing discovery - a human leg bone. Waterloo Uncovered liaised with the local authorities here in Belgium, as well as with forensic anthropologists, to determine that the remains were not related to a modern burial, and work was able to continue swiftly. One of the human leg bones being excavated at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. As the trench was expanded, another leg bone was uncovered, and several days later yet another was found. This morning, a fourth leg bone was discovered: we now have at least four lower leg bones concentrated in a small area of the orchard. The location they were found in appears to be an area where amputated limbs would have been thrown, associated with the field hospital. One limb shows possible evidence of trauma caused by a catastrophic wound, while the most recently discovered limb appears to bear the marks of a surgeon’s amputation saw above the knee. This is the first time the Waterloo Uncovered project has encountered human remains, which are an exciting and relatively unusual find on the battlefields of Waterloo. While there were an estimated 7000 Prussian, 15,000 Allied and 25,000 French casualties at the Battle of Waterloo, only one complete skeleton has ever been discovered in modern times in the area. A German soldier, believed to be Private Friedrich Brandt from Hanover due to the monogrammed wooden box found buried with him, was discovered under a car park during construction of a new museum near the Lion’s Mound in 2012. There have been several other discoveries of bones around the battlefield, but they have rarely been found in the context of an archaeological dig. The around 20,000 bodies that littered the battlefield at the end of the Battle of Waterloo were dealt with in a variety of ways. Many were buried in mass graves dug by Belgian peasants for minimum pay, while others, such as Friedrich Brandt, may have been buried where they fell in rare individual graves. Those who could not be buried were piled onto mass funeral pyres and incinerated. Of those who were buried, some were turned up by farmers during ploughing, then interred elsewhere. Rarer still were bodies that were moved to cemeteries in the Waterloo area or Brussels when their bones were discovered, and bodies that were repatriated to their home countries and families – these would have only been the bodies of high ranking officers. Horses, and some soldiers, were simply left out in the open to decompose. At Mont-Saint-Jean, the incontrovertible evidence of the suffering experienced by these men and the uphill struggle surgeons faced to save their lives created an arresting sight that caused many of our team members to reflect. Archaeologist Eva Collignon excavating the human bones at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. The disappearance of the vast majority of dead bodies has been attributed to the effectiveness of bone meal as an agricultural fertiliser: “The reason that human bones are in such demand seems to be that they are richer in mineral constituents than the ordinary ones of commerce. If this is not consoling to us poor mortals, it ought to be.” Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 1896 The bones of the dead are believed to have been collected by English fertiliser companies throughout the mid to late 19th century and shipped to Hull in the UK. From there, the bones were ground down and spread across British fields. The teeth of the soldiers of Waterloo were also scavenged, and were made into extremely popular “Waterloo dentures” - false teeth - as the teeth of healthy young men were preferable to those pillaged from the bodies of people who died of old age or disease. Local peasants collecting and burying the bodies littering the fields of Waterloo. The Morning After the Battle of Waterloo, John Heaviside Clarke, 1816. Our Mont-Saint-Jean site served as an Allied field hospital during the Battle of Waterloo – to read more about military medicine and the kind of wounds that would have been treated at Mont-Saint-Jean, check out yesterday’s dig diary: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-7-military-medicine-and-well-diving. Around 65% of injuries sustained in the Battle of Waterloo were to limbs, and wounds would have been delivered by cannonballs, musket balls, sabres and lances. While many soldiers were taken to interim hospitals in Brussels, around 6000 of the Allied soldiers (along with some of their French prisoners) wounded during the battle would have been treated at Mont-Saint Jean. The Mont-Saint-Jean field hospital saw an estimated 500 limb amputations, including the amputation of the arm of Wellington’s military secretary, Fitzroy Somerset. The third leg discovered at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. One leg amputated during the Battle of Waterloo (though not at Mont-Saint-Jean) became particularly famous, even having a small shrine form around it. Henry Paget, known as the Earl of Uxbridge at the time of the battle, led a heavy cavalry attack of the Household and Union Brigades to counter D’Erlon’s I Corps, which were advancing on British and Dutch troops. One of the last cannon shots of the battle struck his right leg at the knee as he led light cavalry formations. Legend has it that upon being struck in the leg by a volley of grapeshot, the Earl of Uxbridge turned to the Duke of Wellington and cried “By god, sir! I’ve lost my leg!” The Duke of Wellington allegedly responded “By god, sir! So you have!” Supposedly, he did not make a sound during the amputation of his leg other than to comment on the dullness of the amputating knife. Uxbridge and Wellington after Waterloo, by Constantinius Fidelio Coene, showing Uxbridge recovering after the amputation of his leg. In possession of the Plas Newydd National Trust Property, Angelsey. The leg of Uxbridge, who was created Marquess of Angelsey several weeks after the battle, was buried in the garden of the house it was removed in in the village of Waterloo, and a plaque was placed above the burial site. Uxbridge’s lost leg became something of a tourist attraction in the years following the Battle of Waterloo, and was visited by tourists including the Prince of Orange and the King of Prussia, until it was exhumed and incinerated in 1934. As is the case today, the loss of a limb does not equal the end of a life, and Uxbridge went on to have a career even more illustrious than before; serving as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and became a Field Marshal and Knight of the Garter. Amputations would have occurred without anaesthetic, and the patient often would have fainted from the pain and the sight of their own limb being removed. But for the majority of soldiers, amputation was their preferred method of treatment – infections were rife on the battlefield, and if a wound became infected, gangrene would lead to a slow and painful death. “[The surgeon] told me that it was as bad a wound as he ever saw in a limb and that the first two days he had little hope of saving his arm. I think he owed the preservation of it as much to his own constitution, patience and fortitude as to their skill. He never uttered a groan or a complaint, his only regret was that he could not join his regiment, he said when told that amputation might be necessary he would prefer dying to the loss of his arm, but if it was necessary to the preservation of his life he would submit to it, because he knew his father and mother wished him to live.” Captain George Evelyn, Scots Guards, writes of the amputation undergone by a member of his regiment While the French had ‘flying ambulances’ invented by Baron Larrey (horse drawn wagons which carried the wounded from the battlefields to nearby interim hospitals), the British had no equivalent. Officially, soldiers were not permitted to leave their position and carry their wounded comrades to a field hospital or regimental surgeon – in practice, thousands of men could be missing from the battlefield at any given time, carrying injured soldiers to the rear. If you were not lucky enough to find someone willing to break the rules and carry you back, you would have to stagger to the nearest doctor yourself, despite your injuries. A depiction of Larrey’s ‘Flying Ambulance’, held by the National Library of Medicine. "Finding human remains immediately changes the atmosphere on a dig. Suddenly there is a very poignant connection with the people who suffered here in 1815, a connection that has not been lost on the Waterloo Uncovered team of veterans and serving personnel."Professor Tony Pollard, Waterloo Uncovered Archaeological Director The bones discovered will be further examined by forensic anthropologists, and the archaeological trench in which they were found will be expanded outwards to determine whether there are any more limbs to be found. The decision of what will happen to the bones from there lies with the local Belgian authorities, not Waterloo Uncovered, but they will be treated with the utmost respect at all stages of the excavation process. The Great Belgian Bake Off The famous quote “An army marches on its stomach” is often attributed to Napoleon, but the sentiment couldn't be more true for our team! For the last two weeks, Mike Mortimore, Gwyn Evans, and several volunteers from the local church have painstakingly prepared lunch for the whole team every single day. Today, they went above and beyond when volunteer and veteran Mike baked a wonderful pair of birthday cakes for the whole team (over 100 of us!) to enjoy, to celebrate the birthdays of several team members: “Normally we have 1 or 2 birthdays but apparently we have 6 birthdays this week. I suggested that I’m happy to make a birthday cake, and someone said it was a good idea, so away I went!” Mike Mortimore Volunteer Mike Mortimore. Photo by Chris van Houts. Mike first worked with Waterloo Uncovered in 2017 as a veteran, digging with our archaeologists. He enjoyed the experience enough to come back the following year as a minibus driver, when he was asked to held Gwyn prepare lunches for the team. Since then, he’s expanded his cooking and baking skills, and was asked to come back for a third year to help feed us. But Mike goes further than just making us lunch; he supplies us with his selection of delicious baked goods every day, fuelling the work of our veterans, archaeologists and students! One of the cakes supplied by Mike for the team. Photo by Chris van Houts. With only 2 days left, stay tuned for further updates on our archaeological discoveries, including further finds from Hougoumont farm and an earth-shaking find from a field near Mont-Saint-Jean...

Dig Diary Day 9: Bombs and Buttons

An Explosive Discovery In a field in the vicinity of Mont-Saint-Jean farm, an earth-shaking find was discovered yesterday afternoon. Serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle, whom you may remember as the lucky man who discovered both the first find of the 2019 season and a Coldstream Guards button at Hougoumont, picked up a large signal while metal detecting in a cornfield on the reverse slope where Allied troops were stationed during the Battle of Waterloo. As our team of archaeologists and veterans dug down, they discovered an enormous metal ball deep in the earth. Initially, the find was thought to be a 12-pound cannonball, twice the weight of the cannonball discovered at Mont-Saint-Jean last week – you can read more about that in our dig diary: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-3-of-reading-remembering-and-ridges/ The 'cannonball' in situ at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. But when the ball was excavated, it appeared to be far larger than first thought, leading our archaeologists to consider the possibility that this was a 24-pound cannonball. But a French 24-pound cannonball has no place on the battlefields of Waterloo, as there is no record of the French using a 24-pound cannon in this period. Professor Tony Pollard, Waterloo Uncovered Archaeological Director, decided to examine the ball further due to this discrepancy. He made a startling discovery: as he turned the ball over, he saw the hole where a fuse would once have been. Our cannonball was actually a bomb! “To say that the battle raged most furiously the ground was actually covered with the dead and dying […] and that the terrors of the scene were heightened by the constant bursting ...

An Explosive Discovery In a field in the vicinity of Mont-Saint-Jean farm, an earth-shaking find was discovered yesterday afternoon. Serving Coldstream Guardsman Oliver Horncastle, whom you may remember as the lucky man who discovered both the first find of the 2019 season and a Coldstream Guards button at Hougoumont, picked up a large signal while metal detecting in a cornfield on the reverse slope where Allied troops were stationed during the Battle of Waterloo. As our team of archaeologists and veterans dug down, they discovered an enormous metal ball deep in the earth. Initially, the find was thought to be a 12-pound cannonball, twice the weight of the cannonball discovered at Mont-Saint-Jean last week – you can read more about that in our dig diary: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-3-of-reading-remembering-and-ridges/ The 'cannonball' in situ at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. But when the ball was excavated, it appeared to be far larger than first thought, leading our archaeologists to consider the possibility that this was a 24-pound cannonball. But a French 24-pound cannonball has no place on the battlefields of Waterloo, as there is no record of the French using a 24-pound cannon in this period. Professor Tony Pollard, Waterloo Uncovered Archaeological Director, decided to examine the ball further due to this discrepancy. He made a startling discovery: as he turned the ball over, he saw the hole where a fuse would once have been. Our cannonball was actually a bomb! “To say that the battle raged most furiously the ground was actually covered with the dead and dying […] and that the terrors of the scene were heightened by the constant bursting of shells, and, at times, even by the explosion of a tumbril or an ammunition-waggon [sic], is but to give you a faint idea of what actually took place during those tremendous hours of destruction and death.”James Ridgway, An Account of the Battle of Waterloo, 1815 The fuse hole in the howitzer shell. Photo by Chris van Houts. The object has now been identified as a French 6-inch explosive howitzer shell. A cannonball is a solid ball of metal which could smash through the ranks of soldiers, causing massive devastation. In contrast, a howitzer shell is a hollow iron sphere filled with gunpowder, with a slow burning fuse fitted to the case. Once lit, it was intended to explode above the heads or at the feet of the Allied soldiers, causing enormous amounts of damage to their formations. A howitzer throws it shells high into the air with a sharp trajectory, and is designed to bring 'indirect fire' down on enemy formations either in buildings as at Hougoumont, or, as here, behind a ridge and out of direct sight. While the shell discovered is known as a 6-inch howitzer shell, an Old French inch is actually equivalent to 1.066 modern inches, so our shell is in fact 6.4 inches in diameter – and was found significantly deep in the earth: “[Cannonballs] obviously would have been fired nearby so it’s not a surprise that it’s here [near Mont-Saint-Jean], but it was a metre down – it’s a surprise that we managed to reach that depth.” Professor Tony Pollard Upon exploding, the outer iron shell would shatter and the fragments would fly outwards. In 2015, the team discovered fragments of howitzer shell at Hougoumont farm, but this is the first time a full, unexploded shell has been found by the Waterloo Uncovered team. The shell pieces were discovered in the sunken lane by which ammunition was transported to the Allied troops defending Hougoumont farm, and the prominent theory amongst the team at the time of discovery was that the fragments could have belonged to the howitzer shell that burned down the chateaux at Hougoumont. However, other experts claim that howitzer shells were not effective at setting fires, so it is unlikely that this shell was responsible for the razing of the chateaux. Oliver Horncastle and Alastair Eager removing the howitzer shell. Photo by Chris van Houts. The artillery of the French army was almost completely redesigned by Jean Baptiste Grimbeauval from 1765 onwards, standardising gun calibres and making gun carriages lighter and easier to transport, allowing for more flexible and efficient manoeuvring. A typical French artillery battery during the Napoleonic Wars was made up of four to six cannons with the support of two 6-inch howitzers. The shell we discovered would have had a maximum range of around 1100m and would have been most deadly at a range of 640m. Our shell would have been shot from a 6-inch (or 24-pound) howitzer, the largest of the 3 sizes of howitzer used by the French during the battle of Waterloo, which would have required 4 horses to draw it and 13 crewmen to fire it - an efficient team would have been able to fire one round ever minute. Close range targets would be shot at with canister shot, while exploding shells would be used when firing at long-range targets – it is possible that the explosive shell found near Mont-Saint-Jean was shot from a distance, possibly from the French battery at La Haye Sainte, at Wellington’s men positioned on the reverse slope. Wellington ordered his troops on the reverse slope to lie down, in order to protect themselves from French fire, which was ultimately successful: “Terrific was the noise, awful from time to time the effect of exploding shells and round-shot telling; but the slaughter in the French ranks was double that to which the Anglo-Belgians were exposed; for not a soldier, either of infantry or of cavalry, yet showed himself unnecessarily beyond the crest of the English position.” George Robert Gleig, Story of the Battle of Waterloo, 1848. French Artillerist by Keith Rocco. Upon realising what the metal object actually was, Professor Pollard put into effect protocols that he learnt while digging on First World War battlefield sites; the Belgian authorities were contacted, and police officers arrived at Mont-Saint-Jean, accompanied by Army Bomb Disposal personnel. The Bomb Disposal squad determined that the shell was not an immediate threat as the gunpowder within is most likely inert, but as there is a possibility that it could still be live, it was removed into the care of the authorities. The authorities hope that they will be able to empty out the gun powder with minimum damage to the shell, and then return the shell to Waterloo Uncovered to catalogue along with the rest of our finds – but it is too early to tell whether this will be possible. The Battle of the Buttons Historian Martin Mittelacher writes: "Descriptions of the Battle of Waterloo are in some places quite contradictory, particularly with respect to time and troops involved, and no less so in regard to the action around Hougoumont, that strong-point in front of the right of the allied line." Reports of which regiments were involved in the defence of Hougoumont, and their contributions to the closing of the gates, have been particularly vague. The action at Hougoumont is most famously associated with the Coldstream Guards, though the 3rd Guards, now known as the Scots Guards, would also have been present alongside the 2nd Nassau Regiment and 1st Hanoverian Brigade. Mittelacher goes on to comment on the unwillingness of British accounts to acknowledge the Dutch or German regiments; "Their contribution to its defence has been treated with silence in most English-language accounts, primarily, it seems, so as not to detract from the heroism of the British Foot Guards in this battle within the battle." Closing the Gates at Hougoumont, Robert Gibb, 1903, held by the National War Museum - depicting exclusively British soldiers fighting against the French assailants at Hougoumont. While we have not yet identified any buttons belonging to French or Dutch soldiers, last year we found one most likely belonging to a German Light Infantry regiment outside the walls. This year, we have been able to find hard evidence of the Scots Guards' heroic contributions. At the site of Hougoumont farm, at least 17 buttons have been found in the last two weeks, including five found today. The soldiers of each regiment wore specific buttons decorated with the insignia of their regiment - while we have not yet been able to identify some of the buttons, many have been attributed to the Scots Guards. We first discussed these findings in a previous dig diary, which you can read at the link below, but have discovered around a dozen more buttons since then: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-6-mass-musket-balls-and-scots-guard-buttons/ Two of the Scots Guards buttons in situ at Hougoumont. Photo by Emily Glass. The buttons were unearthed in a trench near the famous north gate of Hougoumont farm, where Allied soldiers including members of the Scots Guards fought off repeated French attacks to defend the farm, including an attack which broke through the north gate. Two of the most famous men in the battle for Hougoumont belonged to the Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards regiments respectively. John Macdonell, though Scottish by birth, was a Colonel in the Coldstream Guards, described by Wellington as "the bravest man at Waterloo." He is known for leading the charge to close the north gate, trapping the French assailants inside and allowing the Allies to hold Hougoumont. Matthew Clay of the 3rd Guards (now the Scots Guards) is known for saving the life of a young, unarmed French drummer boy, who had followed the French attackers inside and became trapped when the gates were slammed shut behind him. Private Clay hid the boy in the stables – though those same stables later burned down, and it is not known what became of the boy. Several of the buttons where they were found at Hougoumont. Photo by Chris van Houts. Despite the existence of first hand accounts and documentation which speaks to the contributions and brave sacrifices of regiments other than the Coldstream Guards, they are still popularly remembered as the victors of Hougoumont. We hope that our discovery of a large amount of Scots Guards buttons will go some way towards remedying this, and setting the record straight on the participation of other regiments alongside the gallant Coldstream Guards. Stay tuned for updates on our final day of digging as the 2019 season comes to an end and a recap of what we have discovery in this fantastic two weeks!

Dig Diary Day 10: 2019 Recap

A Cornucopia of Cornfield Finds Where have we been? A large cornfield near Mont-Saint-Jean farm. What did we find? A large amount of musket balls, a 6-inch unexploded howitzer shell and coins and buttons likely dropped by soldiers on the reverse slope of the battlefield. Many of the musket balls discovered in the cornfield being catalogued by the finds team. Photo by Chris van Houts. We were lucky enough to visit Waterloo when the crops in the nearby cornfield had been recently harvested, allowing our metal detectors and surveyors to examine what lies beneath. Our team have found a large amount of musket balls in the cornfield – 58 in the first half a day of surveying, and dozens more since. In amongst the musket balls, our metal detectorists discovered several small objects which may have been dropped by soldiers during the fighting including a French revolutionary period coin which would have still been in circulation, and several buttons from soldier’s uniforms. Towards the end of the second week, we discovered a large metal ball around a metre below the ground in the cornfield. Initially thought to be a 12-pound cannonball, it became clear that the object was far too heavy and was most likely a 24-pound cannonball. But as Professor Tony Pollard examined the ‘cannonball’ further, he found a fuse hole, indicating that our ‘cannonball’ was in fact an explosive 6-inch howitzer shell! The howitzer shell in situ. Photo by Chris van Houts. What does it tell us? The musket balls and howitzer shell are most likely related to Wellington’s ‘reverse slope defence’. The cornfield in which they were discovered sits along the ...

A Cornucopia of Cornfield Finds Where have we been? A large cornfield near Mont-Saint-Jean farm. What did we find? A large amount of musket balls, a 6-inch unexploded howitzer shell and coins and buttons likely dropped by soldiers on the reverse slope of the battlefield. Many of the musket balls discovered in the cornfield being catalogued by the finds team. Photo by Chris van Houts. We were lucky enough to visit Waterloo when the crops in the nearby cornfield had been recently harvested, allowing our metal detectors and surveyors to examine what lies beneath. Our team have found a large amount of musket balls in the cornfield – 58 in the first half a day of surveying, and dozens more since. In amongst the musket balls, our metal detectorists discovered several small objects which may have been dropped by soldiers during the fighting including a French revolutionary period coin which would have still been in circulation, and several buttons from soldier’s uniforms. Towards the end of the second week, we discovered a large metal ball around a metre below the ground in the cornfield. Initially thought to be a 12-pound cannonball, it became clear that the object was far too heavy and was most likely a 24-pound cannonball. But as Professor Tony Pollard examined the ‘cannonball’ further, he found a fuse hole, indicating that our ‘cannonball’ was in fact an explosive 6-inch howitzer shell! The howitzer shell in situ. Photo by Chris van Houts. What does it tell us? The musket balls and howitzer shell are most likely related to Wellington’s ‘reverse slope defence’. The cornfield in which they were discovered sits along the reverse slope where Wellington commanded British soldiers to lie down to protect themselves from incoming French fire. Some of the musket balls are likely to have been fired by carbines used by French cavalry, but many could instead be from the I Corps infantry assault on the left flank of the Allied line, led by French marshal D’Erlon in the afternoon of the battle. This infantry assault, preceded by a swarm of French Light Infantry skirmishers, was starting to push back some Allied battalions on the ridge. Suddenly, British cavalry swept over the top of the ridge and crashed into the French columns. The Union Brigade (comprising regiments of Heavy Cavalry from England, Ireland and Scotland) and including the famous but doomed Scots Greys, destroyed the French Infantry formations and sent them fleeing back down the hill. The mixture of British and French musket balls discovered around the reverse slope provides hard evidence of this fighting. Fired up by their success, the British cavalry careered across the valley, going for the French cannon. They were cut off by regiments of French cavalry, including the deadly Lancers, and payed the price for their reckless bravery. But that's another story... In contrast to the close-range fighting of the cavalry and infantry charges, explosive howitzer shells are used when firing at long-range targets. The discovery of the shell near the reverse slope tells us that a French battery, consisting of four cannons and two howitzers, was stationed within 1100 metres – the maximum range of a 6–inch howitzer. The shell would most likely have been fired from La Haye Sainte, just over 600m away, after it was captured by the French at around 6pm on the 18th of June 1815. Horse Artillery batteries of the Imperial Guard were brought to La Haye Sainte, to allow for the bombardment of the Allied lines, causing massive devastation. At one point, the bombardment threatened to break Allied lines, but was prevented from doing so by the arrival of the Prussians on the left flank, which helped tip the balance in the favour of the Allies. The musket balls and howitzer shell found in the cornfield constitute evidence of the point at which the Battle of Waterloo, which Wellington described as “the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life”, came closest to being lost by the Allies. The French revolutionary period coin found in the cornfield. Photo by Chris van Houts. The coins and buttons found in the cornfield can give information about the nationality and regimental affiliation of those present on the reverse slope, as well as what they would carry with them onto the battlefield. Though many are too degraded to see any identifiable iconography, we hope that after cleaning and thorough analysis by experts, we will be able to assign several of the buttons to specific regiments to determine precisely who was involved in fighting on the reverse slope. Where can I find out more? These discoveries were discussed in more detail in Dig Diary Day 6 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-6-mass-musket-balls-and-scots-guard-buttons/) and Dig Diary Day 9 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-9-bombs-and-buttons/) The Coldstream Guards 1815 reenactment group at our open day. Photo by Alex Cauvi. What else have we been up to? We have been on a guided tour with Professor Tony Pollard, from the Memorial 1815 museum, past the Lion’s Mound, and towards Hougoumont farm. We also held a highly successful #WaterlooWeekend open day with help from the Coldstream Guards 1815 reenactment group and with a visit by the British Ambassador to Belgium Martin Shearman. We then went on a tour of the Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean museum with Dr Mick Crumplin, who told us all about his collection of historical military medical instruments, and celebrated not one, not two, but six birthdays with a fantastic pair of cakes baked by Mike Mortimore! Professor Tony Pollard takes the team on a tour from Memorial 1815 to Hougoumont. Photo by Chris van Houts. Musketballs at Mont-Saint-Jean Where have we been? The east side of the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean farm. What did we find? British and French musket balls, and a 6-pound cannon ball. Our team have discovered several Allied Brown Bess infantry musket balls and smaller calibre French musket balls in the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean. Amongst the musket balls was another remnant of the French army’s weaponry: a 6-pound cannonball, which would have had a maximum range of around 1350m, and could travel straight through five or six men in formation, killing or severely maiming them. Team member Grace holds one of several musket balls found at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. What does it tell us? The former field hospital of Mont-Saint-Jean lies 600m behind Allied lines, and therefore was thought to have largely avoided French attack – in theory, we should not have found so many musket balls here, as the immediate area did not see major fighting, according to almost all accounts of the battle. But the discovery of several fired musket balls, both British and French, as well as a large cannonball, contradicts what we expected to find. Our discoveries provide direct evidence for a little known account of an attack on Mont-Saint-Jean hospital, recorded by Major George Simmons in his memoirs ‘A British Rifleman’, in which French cannonballs “riddled the walls” of the farmhouse and the walking wounded were forced to evacuate or risk becoming French prisoners. This is the only known account of an attack on the field hospital, or of the subsequent evacuation of the patients – but it is now substantiated by our discoveries, changing the known history of the Mont-Saint-Jean field hospital. The 6-pound French cannonball. Photo by Paula Cagli. The 6-pound cannonball was likely fired at the troops stationed on the reverse slope, but overshot to land in the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean rather than the cornfield where the howitzer shell was discovered. This suggests it was most likely fired from La Haye Sainte, like our howitzer shell. Furthermore, the French musket balls discovered are most likely carbine shot, indicating the presence of cavalry carrying short barrelled muskets in the vicinity of the field hospital. All this shows that Mont-Saint-Jean was far more involved in the fighting than we thought, and possibly subjected to a previously unknown cavalry charge. Where can I find out more? The discovery of musket balls in the orchard is discussed further in Dig Diary Day 2 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-2-musket-balls-at-mont-saint-jean/), while the discovery of the cannonball is discussed further in Dig Diary Day 3 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-3-of-reading-remembering-and-ridges/). A convoy of black cabs arriving at Hougoumont. Photo by Chris van Houts. What else have we been up to? We were visited by a group of veterans and OTC cadets in 6 iconic London black cabs through the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, and many of us relaxed by painting miniature model soldiers kindly donated by Perry Miniatures, Warlord Games, Bicorne Miniatures and Army Painter. We also collaborated to create a stunning clay model reconstruction of our Frischermont site with artist Beth Collar, went for a group meal, and enjoyed a beer courtesy of Ferme de Mont-Saint-Jean brewery, who have been graciously hosting us for the length of our dig! The team paint miniature model soldiers. Photo by Chris van Houts. An Amputation Pit at Mont-Saint-Jean? Where have we been? The west side of the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean farm. What did we find? Human bone – at least three lower leg bones, a possible foot and and now an arm, discovered under unidentified scraps of metal by our metal detectorists. The leg of one of our archaeologists next to one of the leg bones discovered at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. What does it tell us? Four leg bones in such close concentration means we have likely discovered a section of the orchard where limbs amputated in the field hospital would have been thrown during and after the Battle of Waterloo. One of the leg bones even appears to bear the marks of a surgeon’s amputation saw just above the knee, while another shows possible evidence of trauma caused by a catastrophic wound. It has been estimated that 6000 wounded men passed through the doors of Mont-Saint-Jean hospital during the fighting, and that around 500 limbs would have been amputated here. Now, we have conclusive evidence of amputations taking place in the field hospital. The soldiers treated here would have suffered immensely – and if we are correct about the attack on the field hospital and subsequent evacuation of Mont-Saint-Jean, they did not even have a safe place to recover away from enemy fire. Many may have been forced onto horses even when they were in no condition to ride, in an attempt to escape death or becoming a French prisoner, as Major George Simmons writes: “[Sergeant Fairfoot] got me a horse. They tried to lift me upon it, but I fainted; some other officer took it. In consequence of a movement the French made with all their forces, our people were obliged to retire. If I stayed I must be a prisoner, and being a prisoner was the same as being lost. Poor Fairfoot was in great agitation. He came with another horse. I remember some Life Guardsmen helped me on. Oh what I suffered! I had to ride twelve miles.” Major George Simmons on the evacuation of Mont-Saint-Jean in A British Rifleman One of the leg bones discovered at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. The discovery of human remains on the battlefields of Waterloo is also important as it is a relatively unusual find, particularly in an archaeological context – the majority of the estimated 20,000 killed in the fighting were either incinerated on mass funeral pyres or buried in mass graves. But these mass graves were largely raided by fertiliser companies in the mid to late 19th century, due to the popularity of bone meal as an agricultural fertiliser, and the desire for the teeth of young, healthy men for use in dentures. Where can I find out more? The discovery of human bone is covered in more detail in Dig Diary Day 8 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-8-poignant-proof-of-the-human-cost-of-battle/) What else have we been up to? We listened to fantastic ghost stories organised by Ben Mead, held a creative writing workshop for our Dutch veterans organised by Amee Zoutberg, and listened to a talk on the Peninsular War by Libby Dineley using personal accounts of the fighting, and even sent a specialist down the well at Mont-Saint-Jean – though we unfortunately didn’t find anything. We also held our annual Reading to Remember event, where members of the team read personal accounts of the Battle of Waterloo for the full length of the battle, 11 hours, to raise money for Waterloo Uncovered. The Reading to Remember event in progress. Photo by Chris van Houts. Battle of the Buttons at Hougoumont Where have we been? By the north gate at Hougoumont farm. What did we find? Around 17 buttons (yes, 17!), several of which are identifiable as Scots Guards or Coldstream Guards buttons by their unique regimental insignia, and more evidence of the brick and stone buildings by the north gate that were destroyed in the battle. The first Coldstream Guards button discovered in our 2019 season. Photo by Chris van Houts. What does it tell us? Wellington said after the Battle of Waterloo that "the success of the battle turned upon the closing of the gates at Hougoumont" – an act which has largely been attributed to the Coldstream Guards. The Coldstream Guards button was discovered by the famous north gate that was slammed shut on a group of French assailants, thus securing the farm and securing an important Allied position. Finding a Coldstream Guardsman's button would appear to support this account. However, the Coldstream Guards were not the only regiment involved in the defence of Hougoumont and the closing of its gates – they fought alongside the 2nd Nassau Regiment, the 1st Hanoverian Brigade and the 3rd Guards, now known as the Scots Guards. Though the presence of these other regiments at Hougoumont is relatively well documented, their role in the farm’s defence is often overshadowed by the exploits of the Coldstream Guards. Now, through the Scots Guards buttons discovered by the north gate, we have hard evidence of the brave sacrifices made by the Scots Guards and their contribution to holding Hougoumont in the face of repeated French attacks. Emily Glass showing visitors, veterans and Coldstream Guards 1815 reenactors one of the Hougoumont trenches. Photo by Chris van Houts. The fragment of brick wall discovered at Hougoumont would likely have formed part of the barn. Combined with edges of the barn discovered during previous years of Waterloo Uncovered, we now have a relatively accurate footprint of where the original barn of Hougoumont farm would have stood. In the same trench that has revealed the bricks of the wall, some of which are still joined by mortar, our team have also discovered burnt slate pieces – hard evidence of destruction of the roof of the chateaux and its buildings, said to have been set ablaze by French bombardment during the battle. Where can I find out more? You can find more information about the first Coldstream Guards button discovered in Dig Diary Day 3 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-3-of-reading-remembering-and-ridges/). You can read about the discovery of the first two Scots Guards buttons in Dig Diary Day 6 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-6-mass-musket-balls-and-scots-guard-buttons/) and the discovery of even more buttons in Dig Diary Day 9 (https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-9-bombs-and-buttons/). Waterloo Uncovered co-founder and Professor Tony Pollard talking to Gavin Lee live on BBC Breakfast. Photo by Chris van Houts. What else have we been up to? We held a Press Day where members of the media were invited to come and learn more about the work of Waterloo Uncovered, which led to coverage of the charity on the BBC, Sky TV, The Daily Express, the Daily Mail, The Guardian and the Telegraph in Britain alone, as well as truly global coverage from Japan to Hungary. One Trustee of Waterloo Uncovered was surprised and delighted to find coverage of our dig in remotest Abkhazia, where he happened to be. CNN and Fox News also pitched in with coverage, amongst many others! We also relaxed by the pool, and held a quiz night, model sculpting workshops, life drawing classes, and a salsa dancing and karaoke night! Members of the team relaxing by the pool. Photo by Chris van Houts. Members of our team, particularly our geophysical surveyors and metal detectorists, have also been hard at work at Frischermont. The site of a ruined Chateau, Frischermont was garrisoned during the battle by Dutch soldiers from the 28th Orange?Nassau regiment. Now, there are few architectural remains present and the site is vastly overgrown. Through geophysical survey, we believe we have found the edge of the barn which once stood on the site, and through excavation have found evidence of a lavatory. Already we've found spent musket balls in the woods from the fighting. But the site must be cleared of the overgrowth and weeds to continue digging - we hope to return to Frischermont next year to carry on exploring the archaeology of the site. The overgrown and wooded site of Frischermont. Photo by Chris van Houts. That's a Wrap! Our 2019 season is officially over! Tomorrow morning, our team will leave Belgium and return home. It's been an exhausting two weeks, but also an incredibly rewarding experience. We believe this has been once of the best seasons of excavation for Waterloo Uncovered so far - and not just because of the amazing archaeological discoveries we've made. Our team this year have been incredibly hard working, have gotten along like a house on fire, and have had an enormous amount of fun. We hope everyone has had an amazing time, and our participants have learnt new skills and discovered a new passion for archaeology. In particular, we hope our veterans have found the experience rewarding, therapeutic and beneficial. We expect to see some of our team return next year for what is sure to be an even bigger and better Waterloo Uncovered excavation season, along with a new batch of volunteers, students, veterans and archaeologists! If you would like to get involved in Waterloo Uncovered, as an archaeologist, student or veteran, details will be available about the 2020 from mid January on our apply page:https://www.waterloouncovered.com/about/apply/ If you have enjoyed following our progress and feel our work in supporting veterans is valuable, please consider donating to make sure we can continue the Waterloo Uncovered project next year: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/donate/ We would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make Waterloo Uncovered happen this year, and everyone who has taken part, as well as everyone who has been reading, sharing and enjoying our online content. We'll see you again next year! The full 2019 Waterloo Uncovered team. Photo by Matt Weston.

Was Napoleon Near Victory at Waterloo?

DM Chan Asia Times, July 2019 Archeologists conducting the first excavations into the allied field hospital from the Battle of Waterloo have announced new finds that shed some light on the final face-off of the Napoleonic Wars, the Smithsonian reported. Daniel Boffey at The Guardian reported that on Monday alone, the team recovered 58 musket balls. Four leg bones have also been recovered from the site, including one from above the knee that bears the marks of a surgeon’s saw and one that appears to have suffered a catastrophic wound. It’s believed that during the battle, which took place on June 18, 1815, some 6,000 wounded soldiers passed through the temporary hospital, where legs and other limbs were amputated without anesthetic. According to Waterloo Uncovered’s Dig Diary, archeologists didn’t expect to find human remains in their excavations. But after metal detectorists picked up a strong signal while examining a nearby orchard, researchers excavated the site. There they found the first leg bone among the metal fragments. When they determined that the remains were not more modern, they continued trenching in the area, locating three more limbs. It’s estimated 7,000 Prussian troops, 15,000 Allied soldiers and 25,000 French soldiers were casualties of the bloody battle. By its end, some 20,000 corpses littered the field. Some bodies were either buried or repatriated, but many remains were disposed of in mass graves and large funeral pyres. It’s believed in the decades that followed the bones were scavenged by English fertilizer companies that turned them into bone meal; soldiers’ teeth, meanwhile, were used for dentures. That’s one reason that just one complete set of remains ...

DM Chan Asia Times, July 2019 Archeologists conducting the first excavations into the allied field hospital from the Battle of Waterloo have announced new finds that shed some light on the final face-off of the Napoleonic Wars, the Smithsonian reported. Daniel Boffey at The Guardian reported that on Monday alone, the team recovered 58 musket balls. Four leg bones have also been recovered from the site, including one from above the knee that bears the marks of a surgeon’s saw and one that appears to have suffered a catastrophic wound. It’s believed that during the battle, which took place on June 18, 1815, some 6,000 wounded soldiers passed through the temporary hospital, where legs and other limbs were amputated without anesthetic. According to Waterloo Uncovered’s Dig Diary, archeologists didn’t expect to find human remains in their excavations. But after metal detectorists picked up a strong signal while examining a nearby orchard, researchers excavated the site. There they found the first leg bone among the metal fragments. When they determined that the remains were not more modern, they continued trenching in the area, locating three more limbs. It’s estimated 7,000 Prussian troops, 15,000 Allied soldiers and 25,000 French soldiers were casualties of the bloody battle. By its end, some 20,000 corpses littered the field. Some bodies were either buried or repatriated, but many remains were disposed of in mass graves and large funeral pyres. It’s believed in the decades that followed the bones were scavenged by English fertilizer companies that turned them into bone meal; soldiers’ teeth, meanwhile, were used for dentures. That’s one reason that just one complete set of remains has been recovered from the battlefield by archeologists. “Finding human remains immediately changes the atmosphere on a dig. Suddenly there is a very poignant connection with the people who suffered here in 1815, a connection that has not been lost on the Waterloo Uncovered team of veterans and serving personnel,” says Tony Pollard, lead archeologist of Waterloo Uncovered and director of the Centre for Battlefield Archeology at the University of Glasgow. The team plans to continue its search for more bones or indications that the area may have been an amputation pit, the Smithsonian report said. Earlier this week, the team also recovered a rusting, six-pound cannonball near the field hospital believed to have come from French artillery. The hospital was a third of a mile from the front lines of the battle, reports Reuters, so the cannonball suggests just how close Napoleon came to victory. “It represents the point at which Napoleon came closest to winning the battle of Waterloo,” says Pollard, who calls the artifact an “amazing discovery.” The findings are especially meaningful for many of the excavators; there are 25 British and Dutch military veterans and active service members participating in the dig as part of Waterloo Uncovered. The charity, founded by Mark Evans and Charlie Foinette who studied archaeology together at University College London before joining the military, uses archaeology to help veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan recover from PTSD. After Evans returned home from Afghanistan in 2010, he himself was suffering from major PTSD and looked to therapy, including archeology, to help in his recovery. Later, the two friends decided to start their archeological organization focused on Waterloo. Both Evans and Foinette had served in the Coldstream Guards, a storied regiment that once played a critical part in the Battle of Waterloo. Despite its fame, the two found that very little archeology had taken place on the battlefield. In the past two centuries, the land was farmed and scavenged by souvenir seekers and metal detectorists. So they enlisted corporate sponsors and archeologists to join their project to excavate the battlefield before it was too late. “[It was] like knowing where Pompeii was buried, but never lifting a trowel to excavate it,” Foinette says. Since the project began in 2015, the team has unearthed 2,200 artifacts. Digging into the field hospital, however, has proven particularly special for the group, the Smithsonian report said. “It will be thought-provoking and moving to be excavating on the site of the field hospital. Some of our team have themselves experienced battlefield first aid,” Evans told Daniel Boffey at The Guardian before this year’s dig began. “The men of 1815 would have hoped for very little. Many of those who survived returned to an uncertain future because of their injuries. The care and recovery process has changed so much today.” In “The Waterloo They Remembered,” Bernard Cornwell wrote, in the New York Times: John Lewis, a British rifleman, was standing next to a man who was struck by a French musket ball: “He just said, ‘Lewis, I’m done!’ and died.” A half mile away, a French cavalryman, seeing a prostrate British officer stir, exclaimed in surprise, “Tu n’est pas mort, coquin!” and stabbed him with a lance. Edward Macready, a 17-year-old British officer, was clutched by a friend who had just been wounded. “Is it deep, Mac?” he screamed, “Is it deep?” A Prussian conscript, not much older than Macready, wrote to his parents after the battle, “Tell my sister I didn’t soil my pants!” A French officer had his nose severed by a sword cut and cried out pathetically, “Look what they do to us!” These are voices from a battle long ago and they bring life to callous casualty figures. Those figures were horrific. Johnny Kincaid, a British rifle officer, said that he had “never heard of a battle in which everybody was killed, but this seemed likely to be an exception.” And it was not only men who died. After the battle, a British officer, Lt. Charles Smith, had the grim task of retrieving his unit’s dead, and while disentangling a heap of corpses found a French officer “of a delicate mould and appearance.” It was a young woman. We will never know who she was, only that Lieutenant Smith thought her beautiful. I surmise she could not bear to be parted from her lover and charged with him to her death. Franz Lieber, a young volunteer in the Prussian Army who would go on to teach in South Carolina and at Columbia, was astonished to discover that his sergeant major was a woman. She survived Waterloo and was awarded medals for bravery. Wellington set the tone for commemorations when he wrote to a friend a month after the battle, saying, “It is quite impossible to think of glory. Both mind and feelings are exhausted. I am wretched even at the moment of victory, and I always say that next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained. I am now just beginning to retain my natural spirits, but I never wish for any more fighting.” This article was originally published online by Asia Times here.

We can’t save our past comrades, but we can help their veteran descendants

Andrew Webster Sky News, July 2019 Andrew Webster, retired captain of The Green Howards, is among veterans uncovering key sites from the Battle of Waterloo. The archaeological dig is helping him and others back to health. Here, he tells how the comradeship has given him hope for the future... I served with The Green Howards (now The Yorkshire Regiment) in the 1980s and 1990s, undertaking numerous tours of Northern Ireland, including a three-year tour of Londonderry/Derry at a time of intense IRA activity in the city. I was also an instructor at the Northern Ireland Training establishment in Germany, again spending much time in the province. During my service I was badly injured in rioting in the city and this, along with other trauma events before - during and after my time in the army - led to a severe long-term mental health condition and a diagnosis of complex PTSD. When a person experiences 20 years of worsening mental health, ultimately leading to an inability to function, deep depression and chronic anxiety, it is hard to imagine the task that lies ahead in order to rebuild what becomes a completely devastated life. To that end I have chosen archaeology as my vehicle to move forwards. Andrew Webster on site in 2019. Until 20 years ago I had a passion for history and archaeology. Sadly, it was lost to my condition. But after intensive therapy at a facility in Surrey in 2018 (no words can adequately express my gratitude to the organisers Combat Stress), my life was transformed and I once again I had the possibility of a bright future. I rediscovered ...

Andrew Webster Sky News, July 2019 Andrew Webster, retired captain of The Green Howards, is among veterans uncovering key sites from the Battle of Waterloo. The archaeological dig is helping him and others back to health. Here, he tells how the comradeship has given him hope for the future... I served with The Green Howards (now The Yorkshire Regiment) in the 1980s and 1990s, undertaking numerous tours of Northern Ireland, including a three-year tour of Londonderry/Derry at a time of intense IRA activity in the city. I was also an instructor at the Northern Ireland Training establishment in Germany, again spending much time in the province. During my service I was badly injured in rioting in the city and this, along with other trauma events before - during and after my time in the army - led to a severe long-term mental health condition and a diagnosis of complex PTSD. When a person experiences 20 years of worsening mental health, ultimately leading to an inability to function, deep depression and chronic anxiety, it is hard to imagine the task that lies ahead in order to rebuild what becomes a completely devastated life. To that end I have chosen archaeology as my vehicle to move forwards. Andrew Webster on site in 2019. Until 20 years ago I had a passion for history and archaeology. Sadly, it was lost to my condition. But after intensive therapy at a facility in Surrey in 2018 (no words can adequately express my gratitude to the organisers Combat Stress), my life was transformed and I once again I had the possibility of a bright future. I rediscovered my passion and with it, a sense of direction and purpose that is slowly impacting on all the failed areas of my life. For my first active foray I approached Waterloo Uncovered and they accepted me on to their 2019 excavation of the battlefield as a member of their veteran support programme - I now have a second charity to whom I am truly indebted. I am currently working in a team excavating the disused cesspit in the courtyard of the Mont Saint Jean farmhouse. The farmhouse was the field hospital at the rear of the Allied position. It is a sobering thought to envisage the horror and suffering that was witnessed there on 18 June 1815. As amputation was the primary medical action in dealing with cannon and musket injuries, it is thought that evidence of that dark day may have been disposed of in the cesspit. Only time will tell. Veterans, archaeologists and students digging at Mont-Saint-Jean. What we now know from evidence found on the dig so far this week, is that instead of being a refuge from the fighting for desperately wounded men, the farmhouse at one stage of the battle was in the thick of the fighting, with shot and shell flying around it, and French cavalry threatening to overrun it. We can't reach out into the past and save our historic comrades, but it seems to me that through this remarkable project they can help save their veteran descendants. The structure, discipline and comradeship that the project offers is a great setting from which to advance. I will begin formal education in archaeology at Oxford University's department of continuing education in October, and hopefully my battle will then also be confined to the past. This article was originally published via Sky News in July 2019. Read it online here.

Battle of Waterloo: Excavation Unearths Amputated Limbs

BBC News, July 2019 Human leg bones have been unearthed in the first excavation of the main allied field hospital used in the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. Experts believe they are the remains of limbs amputated by medics at the former Mont-St-Jean field hospital in Belgium. Archaeologists and veterans also found musket balls and a cannon ball, which shed new light on the famous battle. Tens of thousands died in the battle, which saw the French army defeated by the allied British and Prussian troops. Waterloo Uncovered - the charity organising the dig - said the discovery of at least four leg bones had changed the atmosphere of the excavation. "Suddenly there is a very poignant connection with the people who suffered here in 1815," it said in a statement. One of the limbs had suffered from a "catastrophic wound", while another bore the mark of a surgeon's saw. The bones are now set to undergo further examination. "We'd like to think the men survived, but we don't know," team member Mike Greenwood told the BBC, adding that the bones provided direct evidence of the work surgeons were doing to save lives during the battle. Archaeologists said musket balls they discovered from both sides at the site indicated that there had been a previously unrecorded fight at the doors of the field hospital. The discovery of a six-pound (2.7kg) French cannon ball at the site also provided further indication of how close Napoleon Bonaparte came to winning the battle, they said. Military veterans have joined archaeologists on the dig, which aims to further understanding of what happened during the battle ...

Soldier archaeologists unearth musket balls and amputated leg bones at Battle of Waterloo field hospital site

James Crisp The Telegraph, July 2019 Three amputated legs and evidence of a previously unknown firefight between French cavalry and the troops led by the Duke of Wellington have been found at the site of the Battle of Waterloo by British veterans. Finding human remains at the battlefield is extremely rare as many of the mass graves were plundered and bones ground to be used as fertiliser in the years after the 1815 battle in Belgium. 25 veterans and serving soldiers, some of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, were taking part in the first dig at the Mont St-Jean farm buildings with British and Dutch archeologists. Mont St-Jean served as the Duke of Wellington’s field hospital and was about 0.3 miles behind the Allied front line facing Napoleon’s French army. The dig found 58 French and English musket balls on Monday in a concentrated area, which suggested French cavalry had swept into the grounds of Mont St Jean before a shootout with allied defenders. The dig was expanded after the surprise find. The veterans' dig revealed previously undiscovered action at the site. “The French musket balls were probably fired by carbines - short-barrelled muskets carried by mounted troops. So we’re finding evidence of a previously unknown action at the very doors of the Mont St Jean Field Hospital,” said Professor Tony Pollard, the lead academic on the dig. As many as 6,000 casualties, including French soldiers, are thought to have been treated at the field hospital, which came under fire during the battle. Hundreds of amputations took place, which was the only treatment for smashed limbs. This farmhouse south of Brussels ...

James Crisp The Telegraph, July 2019 Three amputated legs and evidence of a previously unknown firefight between French cavalry and the troops led by the Duke of Wellington have been found at the site of the Battle of Waterloo by British veterans. Finding human remains at the battlefield is extremely rare as many of the mass graves were plundered and bones ground to be used as fertiliser in the years after the 1815 battle in Belgium. 25 veterans and serving soldiers, some of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, were taking part in the first dig at the Mont St-Jean farm buildings with British and Dutch archeologists. Mont St-Jean served as the Duke of Wellington’s field hospital and was about 0.3 miles behind the Allied front line facing Napoleon’s French army. The dig found 58 French and English musket balls on Monday in a concentrated area, which suggested French cavalry had swept into the grounds of Mont St Jean before a shootout with allied defenders. The dig was expanded after the surprise find. The veterans' dig revealed previously undiscovered action at the site. “The French musket balls were probably fired by carbines - short-barrelled muskets carried by mounted troops. So we’re finding evidence of a previously unknown action at the very doors of the Mont St Jean Field Hospital,” said Professor Tony Pollard, the lead academic on the dig. As many as 6,000 casualties, including French soldiers, are thought to have been treated at the field hospital, which came under fire during the battle. Hundreds of amputations took place, which was the only treatment for smashed limbs. This farmhouse south of Brussels has yielded some important historical discoveries. Surgeons would use bone saws to amputate limbs without anaesthetic after cutting flaps of skin away from the wound. They would sew the skin flaps over the wound to create a stump and hope their patients did not die of their injuries or shock. The leg bones, two right legs and one left, were unearthed after a metal detector had shown a large metal object in one ot the trenches. One showed catastrophic damage and the other marks from a surgeon’s saw. The archaeological dig at the Battle of Waterloo site has unearthed amputated limbs. “These appear to be the remains of amputated limbs from some of the operations carried out by surgeons,” said Professor Pollard. “Finding human remains immediately changes the atmosphere on a dig. Suddenly there is a very poignant connection with the people who suffered here in 1815, a connection that has not been lost on the Waterloo Uncovered team of veterans and serving personnel,” he said. The French cannonball fired at a crucial point when Napoleon could have snatched victory. The team also found a six-pound cast iron French cannonball, which experts link to a crucial point in the battle with the allied Dutch, Prussian and British troops when Napoleon nearly secured a victory that would have changed European history. French soldiers captured the farm of La Haye Sainte after its Prussian defenders ran out of ammunition at about 6pm. They brought up horse artillery batteries and bombarded the Allied line with round shot and cannister from close range, inflicting huge casualties and threatening to break the line. One of the Waterloo Uncovered team with a musket ball. With the battle hanging in the balance, the arrival of the Prussian army led by Field Marshall Blücher on the extreme left of Wellington’s army helped tip the balance in the Iron Duke’s favour. Waterloo, which Wellington described as the "nearest run thing you saw in your life", marked the end of the Napoleonic wars. Wellington offered Napoleon battle close to Brussels, in the knowledge that Prussian reinforcements would eventually turn the tide of conflict. Cataloguing musket balls is all part of the fun. The dig was organised by Waterloo Uncovered, a charity founded by Major Charles Foinette and Captain Mark Evans, who are both officers in the Coldstream Guards. Capt Evans suffered from PTSD after serving in Afghanistan. Capt Evans said that the Waterloo Uncovered project offered a nine month programme of support to the veterans, who include a 19-year-old, a Coldstream Guards soldier recuperating from training injuries, to a man in his mid-70s. Organisers said that soldiers’ experience gave them an excellent feel for the ground of a battlefield, making it easier to interpret where an attack may have begun or ended. The veterans and serving personnel played a full part in the dig, including the uncovering of the three limb bones. Mike Greenwood, part of the Waterloo Uncovered team, said, "Archaeology, among a group of fellow servicemen and women, can be beneficial to veterans for a number of reasons. It provides a supportive environment of like minded people, especially when dealing in military history, and it allows them to see a broader context to their own service. “There is also something about the practical process of archaeology which is meditative, even therapeutic."Mike Greenwood, Director of Public Engagement This article was originally published via The Telegraph in July 2019. Read it online here.

War veterans finding peace on the battlefield at Waterloo: Heroes of Afghanistan and Iraq unearth cannonballs on ‘therapeutic’ dig

David Wilkes The Daily Mail, July 2019 Cannonball and musket shots among finds at the Mont St Jean site, in BelgiumDiscoveries of more personal nature proving remarkable for scarred heroesShaun Stocker, 28, lost both legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in AfghanistanAnd Iraq veteran Ben Mead, 39, was in helicopter shot down in Afghanistan With their shovels and metal detectors they have been helping unearth major new discoveries about the Battle of Waterloo. A cannonball and musket shots are among the finds made at an archaeological dig at the site of the 1815 conflict which involves veterans of far more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A cannonball discovered at Mont-Saint-Jean. The relics paint a clearer picture of French emperor Napoleon's last stand as he was surrounded by the allied forces of Britain, the Netherlands and Prussia. But it is discoveries of a more personal nature that are proving even more remarkable for these battle-scarred heroes. For by taking part in the dig, the veterans are finding peace in themselves again. Many have spent years struggling to cope with their traumatic experiences or overcoming terrible physical injuries. Joining the project in Belgium, which is run by the charity Waterloo Uncovered, has been transformative say the veterans – boosting their confidence, giving them focus and helping them learn new skills. When the Mail visited the site of the dig at an allied field hospital used in the battle, double amputee Shaun Stocker, 28, was busy with his metal detector in a field of recently-harvested corn, wearing what he calls his 'stubby legs' instead of his usual prosthetics because they are easier ...

David Wilkes The Daily Mail, July 2019 Cannonball and musket shots among finds at the Mont St Jean site, in BelgiumDiscoveries of more personal nature proving remarkable for scarred heroesShaun Stocker, 28, lost both legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in AfghanistanAnd Iraq veteran Ben Mead, 39, was in helicopter shot down in Afghanistan With their shovels and metal detectors they have been helping unearth major new discoveries about the Battle of Waterloo. A cannonball and musket shots are among the finds made at an archaeological dig at the site of the 1815 conflict which involves veterans of far more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A cannonball discovered at Mont-Saint-Jean. The relics paint a clearer picture of French emperor Napoleon's last stand as he was surrounded by the allied forces of Britain, the Netherlands and Prussia. But it is discoveries of a more personal nature that are proving even more remarkable for these battle-scarred heroes. For by taking part in the dig, the veterans are finding peace in themselves again. Many have spent years struggling to cope with their traumatic experiences or overcoming terrible physical injuries. Joining the project in Belgium, which is run by the charity Waterloo Uncovered, has been transformative say the veterans – boosting their confidence, giving them focus and helping them learn new skills. When the Mail visited the site of the dig at an allied field hospital used in the battle, double amputee Shaun Stocker, 28, was busy with his metal detector in a field of recently-harvested corn, wearing what he calls his 'stubby legs' instead of his usual prosthetics because they are easier to walk on in such terrain. Veterans Moos Raaijmakers and Shaun Stocker metal detecting at Mont-Saint-Jean. At the age of 19, and only six days before his tour of Afghanistan with the Royal Welsh ended, he stepped on an improvised explosive device while out with a metal detector searching for mines. As well as both his legs, he lost his left eye and most of the vision in his right. "This is the environment I love to be in," said Mr Stocker, who had around 40 operations on his injuries. "What we're doing here with the detector is pretty much what I was doing there – except there I was looking for IEDs." Referring to the bleeps made by the metal detector, he added: "I use my hearing a lot more than my eyesight, and I want to give as much as I can to the team." Another enthusiastic participant on the two-week dig is Ben Mead, 39. An Iraq veteran, he was in a helicopter shot down in Afghanistan in 2012 while serving with the Royal Signals. He said post-traumatic stress disorder left him feeling angry and like 'another person'. "Being here smooths you out,' he said. 'There is something really magical about it all." Veteran Ben Mead. Waterloo Uncovered began in 2015 and has invited veterans and serving forces personnel on annual digs ever since. Co-founder Mark Evans, a former captain in the Coldstream Guards, suffered from PTSD himself after a tour of Afghanistan. One of the most exciting discoveries of the dig was made by Oliver Horncastle, 22, injured during training with the Coldstream Guards, and ex-Royal Marine Alastair Eager – a 12lb cannonball found with a metal detector. Mr Eager has been so inspired he now plans to do a degree in archaeology. Jim Howdle, who served 22 years in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, summed up the appeal of the project: "It's such a great environment to find some breathing space and to evaluate," he said. This article was originally published via the Daily Mail in July 2019. Read it online here.

‘A Night to Remember’

This year, our annual fundraiser event took place on 11th November at London's historic Middle Temple Hall. We wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended, it really was 'A Night to Remember'... We raised over £100,000!THAT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT YOUR AMAZING SUPPORT! In order for our work to continue, events such as ‘A Night to Remember’ are of paramount importance and act as one of Waterloo Uncovered’s major fundraising sources. With the money raised from our event, we can continue to support serving personnel and veterans, alongside the archaeology of the Waterloo Battlefield and preserving its finds in perpetuity. 2020 looks set to be a big year! Take a look at some of the photos from the evening in the gallery below:

Winter Dig Diary

Welcome to the latest edition of Waterloo Uncovered's Dig Diary. By Hattie Ford In this edition: Get all the details on our highly successful fundraiser;Our veterans collaborate with the British museum;Learn about life after the dig and how our participants are making a difference;A focus on finds and spreading the word about WU! In the months since our 2019 excavation at the battlefield of Waterloo ended, our veterans, serving personnel and archaeologists have been as busy as ever. In fact, so many interesting things have happened since the summer that we’ve decided to keep our Dig Diary going throughout the year. We’ll keep you updated with all the latest on our projects, events and finds, our archaeological programme for the coming years, our programme of welfare and support, and how we’re making an impact. So from now on, make sure you check our website or social media every couple of months to stay up-to-date with our work and with all the exciting things members of the Waterloo Uncovered team have been up to. We hope you enjoy! A Night to Remember in the historic Middle Temple Hall. Photo by Tucker Images. A Night to Remember On the 11th of November, Waterloo Uncovered hosted our annual fundraising event: ‘A Night to Remember’ – and it certainly was. Hosted by Gyles Brandreth, the fundraiser took place in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London and brought together veterans and serving personnel, archaeologists, members of the Waterloo Uncovered team and many of our biggest supporters. Guests were treated to a cocktail party, entertaining anecdotes from Gyles and a thrilling auction. This year, thanks ...

Welcome to the latest edition of Waterloo Uncovered's Dig Diary. By Hattie Ford In this edition: Get all the details on our highly successful fundraiser;Our veterans collaborate with the British museum;Learn about life after the dig and how our participants are making a difference;A focus on finds and spreading the word about WU! In the months since our 2019 excavation at the battlefield of Waterloo ended, our veterans, serving personnel and archaeologists have been as busy as ever. In fact, so many interesting things have happened since the summer that we’ve decided to keep our Dig Diary going throughout the year. We’ll keep you updated with all the latest on our projects, events and finds, our archaeological programme for the coming years, our programme of welfare and support, and how we’re making an impact. So from now on, make sure you check our website or social media every couple of months to stay up-to-date with our work and with all the exciting things members of the Waterloo Uncovered team have been up to. We hope you enjoy! A Night to Remember in the historic Middle Temple Hall. Photo by Tucker Images. A Night to Remember On the 11th of November, Waterloo Uncovered hosted our annual fundraising event: ‘A Night to Remember’ – and it certainly was. Hosted by Gyles Brandreth, the fundraiser took place in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London and brought together veterans and serving personnel, archaeologists, members of the Waterloo Uncovered team and many of our biggest supporters. Guests were treated to a cocktail party, entertaining anecdotes from Gyles and a thrilling auction. This year, thanks to the generosity of our guests, A Night to Remember has raised an incredible amount: over £100,000! Your generosity means we can continue our important work of supporting veterans and serving personnel, developing our archaeological programme to uncover the mysteries of the battlefield at Waterloo and making sure our finds are well understood and cared for. Without the continued support of those who follow our progress and donate to our cause, our work would not be possible. We want to thank everyone who attended, and hope to see everyone who couldn’t make it next year. Guests enjoying themselves at our annual fundraising event. Photo by Tucker Images. Veterans of the Wars: from Troy to Waterloo Homer’s epic tale of the siege and fall of Troy is one of the greatest stories about war and conflict ever told. Now the British Museum in London has created a block-buster exhibition exploring the myth and reality of the Trojan Wars –and members of the Waterloo Uncovered team of military veterans have been at the heart of the exhibition’s development. ‘Troy: Myth and Reality’ tells the tale of the Trojan War, and follows the powerful legacy of the myth through a diverse range of artworks and objects in the museum’s collection. The sensational exhibition is the museum’s first display on the legendary war since the discovery of the remains of the city of Troy nearly 150 years ago, and presents the archaeological evidence that this lost, mythical city may have really existed. Some of the sculptures on display in Troy: Myth and Reality. Photo from the Trustees of the British Museum. As part of the creation process, some of our serving personnel and veterans shared their unique perspective of the realities of war, providing quotes and audio recordings of their diverse experiences of conflict – and its aftermath. The participants were able to give valuable insights into many of the objects and artworks in the exhibition, describing how the characters in each piece would be feeling when faced with situations such as: grieving for a friend, leaving their families behind or returning home from war, from their own personal experiences. Our veterans’ valuable contributions have helped exhibition creators and museum visitors alike see the humanity within the dramatic and legendary tale of Troy, and have given important context to the objects and artworks on display. Troy: Myth and Reality is open daily until the 8th of March 2020 in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery of the British Museum. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, make a visit to the exhibition your New Year’s resolution! Life Beyond the Dig: Jim Howdle Jim Howdle at Hougoumont Farm, 2019. Every year, we take an ever-growing group of veterans and serving personnel to the site of the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium for a whirlwind fortnight of excavation. But Waterloo Uncovered doesn’t end when the digging stops. Each veteran and serving personnel member of the team embarks on a nine-month programme to develop new skills, and to challenge themselves to move forward with their lives. We aim to maintain a connection with the veterans who join us each year, to provide a lasting network of support, friendship and opportunities. Many of those who dig with us end up taking up new hobbies, looking into new career paths, returning to education or developing new passions inspired by their experience with Waterloo Uncovered. We caught up with one of this year’s veterans, former paratrooper Jim Howdle, who joined us on the dig in July, to chat about some of the exciting things he has been up to since then, and find out what life beyond the dig entails. Homelessness is a serious issue in the UK, and one that Jim has long been concerned about: according to the charity Shelter, there are at least 320,000 homeless people in the UK – and this may be a low estimate. This topic is one that is close to our hearts here at Waterloo Uncovered as, due to a lack of support for returning service personnel and difficulties adjusting to civilian life, an estimated 3,500 of those sleeping rough in the UK are veterans. In the freezing winter months, those who find themselves without anywhere else to go are at their most vulnerable and are reliant on charities and local shelters for support. Jim had previously considered volunteering at one of these shelters, but after a conversation on this year’s dig with a member of the Waterloo Uncovered Welfare Team, he realized he could directly make a difference and decided to act. Jim has just completed his first night shift at Snowflake Night Shelter, a temporary rolling night shelter in East Sussex for those who find themselves sleeping rough in the extreme winter months. They provide meals, hot drinks, warm beds, support and advice to those who would otherwise be sleeping on the streets in freezing temperatures. Snowflake Night Shelter’s important work is reliant on donations, and if you would like to donate or become a volunteer like Jim, please see their website at https://www.snowflake-nightshelter.org.uk/. This year, Jim also started an Environmental Studies degree course with the Open University. Jim had considered returning to education before, but was unsure of what funding and support would be available to a mature student. After conversations with other veterans at Waterloo this year who had gone through the process themselves and were thoroughly enjoying their time at university, he realised getting back into education was a real possibility and decided to give it a try. Jim’s choice of subject was motivated by his concern for the environment and a desire to learn the truth for himself in the face of often conflicting and confusing information in the media. Once he’s got to grips with the subject, he hopes to be able to educate his children on the topic too. For more information about the requirements of returning to education with an Open University course, see: http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/do-it Since the dig, Jim has developed a new passion for metal detecting, and has even bought his own metal detector. He was able to learn the basics of detecting in Belgium, and was one of the many veterans who were inspired by Waterloo Uncovered’s specialist archaeological metal detectorist, Gary Craig. Gary’s contagious enthusiasm and patient teaching have helped many participants understand the role of responsible metal detecting in an archaeological excavation. Jim explains that he feels very privileged to have been able to detect at the battlefield of Waterloo, and that it was like “starting at Premier League level”. He also has particularly fond memories of working with Phil Harding in the courtyard at Hougoumont farm. Over the course of the dig, he was lucky enough to find several Coldstream Guard and Scots Guard buttons, an experience he described as “like touching history”. You can read more about these finds here: https://www.waterloouncovered.com/dig-diary-day-6-mass-musket-balls-and-scots-guard-buttons/ Jim has been attending as many local metal detecting rallies as possible, and has so far found pre-decimal coinage and ammunition – but he’s still waiting to find a Saxon hoard. In the New Year, he hopes to meet up with several other WU Veterans who have been bitten by the metal detecting bug, and we wish them the best of luck in their hunt. Jim and metal detector specialist Gary Craig A Summary of the Summer: what we found on the battlefield Struggling to remember all the exciting finds and revelations from this year’s dig? Here’s a refresher on the most important discoveries from this summer’s excavations: This summer saw Waterloo Uncovered return to the famous site of Hougoumont farm with a group of new and returning veterans and serving personnel for the fifth consecutive year. The buildings of the north courtyard, which saw intense fighting between the French and Allied troops including the Coldstream Guards, were burnt down during the battle. Excavations by the WU team have revealed the original layout of these buildings, including the barn beside the famous Hougoumont north gate. The resulting floor plan shows that the barn was much wider than originally thought, and that there would have been very little space between the western barn wall and the north gate when it came under attack. When French troops broke through the north gate into the defended courtyard they would have found themselves in an exceptionally narrow bottleneck – this discovery paints a bloody picture of the resulting carnage as British guardsmen fought their way through the flood of bodies to close the gate and eliminate the invading enemy troops. Closing the Gates at Hougoumont, Robert Gibb, 1903, held by the National War Museum. The closing of the gate at Hougoumont is one of the most famous skirmishes of the Battle of Waterloo, described by Wellington as turning the tide of the battle against the French. This heroic act is typically attributed to the Coldstream Guards, and is something the unit is rightly proud of to this day. In previous years, Waterloo Uncovered discovered a Coldstream Guards button in the vicinity of the north gate that proved their vital role in defining the Hougoumont courtyard. But this year a team of veterans led by archaeologist Phil Harding turned up something particularly exciting that changed the narrative surrounding the closing of the gate: as well as finding more Coldstream Guards buttons, they found a number of Scots Guards buttons too. This discovery confirmed that the Coldstream Guards were not alone in fighting their way to the gate, and gives the brave Scots Guards who fought alongside them, the recognition they deserve. By the southern wall of the garden at Hougoumont, our metal detectorists have discovered a concentration of French musket balls that reveal the pattern of French attacks against the outer wall. Additional surveying of the area inside the garden has revealed that several French soldiers must have managed to scale the wall - we found the spent musket balls they fired - but they were likely killed before they could progress too far into the grounds. The attack on the southern wall is entirely unknown in British accounts of the fighting at Hougoumont, and only known from vague references in French accounts, so the light our excavations have shed on the incident is of particular importance. Team members in the orchard of our new site of Mont-Saint-Jean farm. Photo by Chris van Houts. One of the most exciting features of this summer’s dig was the opportunity to work on a whole new site on the battlefield –and one that had never been excavated before. Nowadays a brewery, the farm of Mont-Saint-Jean was used during the battle as the main Allied field hospital. Over 6000 injured soldiers received treatment within its walls. Much of our work focused on the orchard to the east of the farm buildings, and right from the start, we made some surprising finds. Long thought to be a safe place well behind the main battleground, the land outside the walls of Mont-Saint-Jean started to yield up a large number of French and Allied musket balls, suggesting that fighting raged much closer to the hospital than we had once thought. We also dug up a large unexploded howitzer shell, probably fired high into the air to land amongst the Allied troops sheltering behind the ridge on the “reverse slope”. Given the heavy rain that fell through the night before the battle, this shell buried itself deep in the soft mud of a ploughed field. Although for us it was a major archaeological find, as a piece of unexploded ordnance it was also a hazard that required a call to the Belgian bomb squad. More used to dealing with the lethal legacies of two World Wars, they were interested, if a bit bemused, by this piece of unfinished Napoleonic business; the offending howitzer shell was carefully taken away to be destroyed alongside the bombs and shells of the Western Front. The howitzer shell being removed from the ground. Photo by Chris van Houts. Then in the last week of the dig, came an even more exciting and somewhat poignant find. One of our metal detectorists noted a signal on the western side of the orchard. Excavation revealed a small piece of iron – but something much more interesting was hiding beneath it. Digging further, our team revealed a number of human bones, most likely from amputations in the field hospital, and subsequently thrown into a ditch outside. In the archaeological trench, we’ve so far discovered at least three amputated legs and an arm bone, some of which still bore the surgeon’s cut marks from the operations to remove them in an attempt to save the soldiers’ lives. Closer examination revealed evidence of the injuries that had caused them to be amputated including one shattered limb which still had the musket ball lodged inside the bone! A deposit of this nature is totally unique – we don’t know of any other collection of amputated limbs found in the context of a Napoleonic field hospital anywhere else. The bones are currently undergoing further analysis, and their future is not yet decided, although all human remains encountered by Waterloo Uncovered will be treated with the utmost respect at all times. One of several human limbs found in the Mont-Saint-Jean orchard. Photo by Chris van Houts. For more information on this summer’s most exciting archaeological discoveries, watch out for Professor Tony Pollard’s upcoming article entitled ‘Taking Lives and Saving Lives: Archaeologies of Combat and Combat Surgery on the Battlefield of Waterloo’ in an issue of Current World Archaeology sometime in the New Year –we’ll post further details on our website. Battlefields Uncovered Summer School 2020 In the summer of 2020, Waterloo Uncovered will team up with the University of Utrecht for the third year to deliver an exciting Summer School aimed at veterans, serving personnel and students. The 10-day Battlefields Uncovered Summer School will run from June 24th to July 2nd 2020 and will be held in the historic university town of Middelburg in the southern Netherlands. If you have always been interested in battlefield archaeology, this is a unique opportunity to get some hands-on experience and kick start your education and career prospects in the field. No formal education or training in conflict archaeology is necessary – only an interest in the subject, and a desire to learn more. Summer School participants on one of several outings. Chief Executive of Waterloo Uncovered Mark Evans knows just how important opportunities like the Battlefields Uncovered Summer School can be for those trying to move forward with their lives after military service: “The opportunities Waterloo Uncovered offers can be life-changing. Veterans can follow up their fascination with history to gain new skills and the confidence to go on to further study. Participants on the course and the dig can work to gain ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) Universal Learning credits that can count towards academic courses. For some people, that can open up a whole new direction to their lives”. If you’ve been following our work at Waterloo Uncovered with interest, this is your chance to get directly involved – next year’s Summer School students will be examining our most recent finds from Waterloo, and will visit the site of the battle, as well as several other Napoleonic battlefields in the area. For those looking for a broader understanding of military history and battlefield archaeology, this interdisciplinary course goes far beyond Waterloo, and will examine a diverse range of sites and historical periods from antiquity to the 20th century. The Summer School will cover a wide range of exciting archaeological techniques including geophysical survey, ballistic analysis, augmented reality and digital mapping alongside the more traditional techniques of excavation and finds analysis. To round off a fascinating programme of lectures, the course will touch on the interplay of conflict archaeology, identity, memory and the heritage industry. Summer School participants during a seminar. For our past participants, the Summer School has been hugely important for building confidence, developing skills and opening up new pathways for future work and study with the support of the Waterloo Uncovered team. One former student had this to say: “I believe that all participants, no matter their backgrounds, have really become one group. The atmosphere was great, and I think I made friends for a lifetime. The goodbyes on Saturday morning were a lot harder than I expected them to be”. To apply, or for more information, please visit https://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/courses/culture/battlefields-uncovered-introduction-to-archaeological-and-historical-investigations-of-conflict Or contact the team at: summerschools@waterloouncovered.com TAG Conference: Archaeology and Wellbeing Waterloo Uncovered's panel at TAG Waterloo Uncovered hosted a session at the 41st annual Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference (TAG ) at University College London in December. Titled “Archaeology and Wellbeing – digging into your mind body and soul and what it can mean for your project, class or business”, WU wanted to bring together a panel of experts who could shed light on what ‘wellbeing in archaeology’ actually looked like.Hosted by Tim Schadla-Hall, speakers included WU’s Mark Evans, Lisa Dunthorne (an Occupational Therapist previously DMRC Headley Court), Cornelius Barton (Partner and Commercial Archaeologist, L-P Archaeology), Cecily Cropper (Forensic Archaeologist, Alecto Forensics) and Dr Karina Croucher (Senior Lecturer, University of Bradford). Mark delivered a fascinating lecture on the pioneering wellbeing-focused design of the Waterloo Uncovered project, its many successes and benefits for those who have taken part, and the problems the project has overcome along the way. Following that, discussion ranged from how you can measure wellbeing, how engagement wit archaeology can enhance wellbeing, and, at the other end of the scale, the adverse impact that archaeology can have on mental health in some situations -thought-provokingly demonstrated by Cecily, who has previously worked for the UN carrying out forensic archaeology in extreme scenarios. The real theme of WU’s session, was that archaeology can and does impact on wellbeing. From day to day work, to complex themes about death, archaeology will always have a role to play in how we interpret and interact with the world around us. In this sense, archaeology can be used as a handrail to wellbeing, though whatever interpretation is deemed necessary. As Cecily Cropper put it: "Archaeology doesn’t stop – it’s not about the past, it’s about today. It’s the present as much as the past and it will be the future. " Waterloo Uncovered: Processing the Finds Finds specialist Hillery Harrison at work in the L-P Finds Lab Currently we have over 5000 artefacts in the Waterloo Uncovered archive, stored at L - P : Archaeology’s lab, while we study them and perform scientific analyses. Each artefact will be looked at by a specialist who will be able to identify details such as dating, use-wear, and other important typological details. Artefacts are often crucial to dating the archaeological structures and layers discovered on site. Forthcoming Dig Diaries will provide exciting updates from these specialist reports, as well as our other archival activities. A Coldstream Guardsman’s button found at Hougoumont One of our priorities coming back from the 2019 dig, is the X-Ray of iron finds and coins. Concretion and corrosion can fully obscure the detail and form of artefacts found on the battlefield; X-ray imaging is one way to reveal those details, which can’t be seen with the naked eye. A selection of buttons from our excavations awaiting analysis Stay tuned for X-Ray results soon! A badly-corroded copper coin: x-ray may provide new insights into details currently obscured

Change at Waterloo

Tim Tonkin with additional research by Alex Cauvi The Doctor, February 2020 Taking injured military veterans to excavate a historic battlefield which still yields body parts might not seem the most obvious therapy but the results have been impressive. Tim Tonkin meets volunteers, including the surgeon who is an expert in the ‘horrendous’ practices of old. "From [finding] this one musket ball, he was incredibly overcome with emotion and started thinking about things that he hadn’t really talked about for a very long time." Former Army captain Mark Evans recalls the experience of a fellow military veteran participating in Waterloo Uncovered, the charity which he co-founded after leaving the Army in 2010. The project is perhaps unique in that it seeks to help serving and ex-military service personnel, many of whom might be struggling with mental or physical health issues, by engaging them in archaeological work around the battlefield of one of Europe’s most iconic military encounters. Capt Evans, along with his friend and fellow Coldstream Guards officer Major Charlie Foinette, set up the project in 2015, the bicentenary year of the battle, and the size of its expeditions to the battlefield have continued to grow in size and scale. By bringing together current and former members of the military alongside archaeologists and health professionals, Capt Evans says the project provides a safe and structured environment in which those with shared experiences and challenges can hopefully begin to open up to one another. The experience of the veteran who discovered a British musket ball, potentially fired by a member of his own regiment some two centuries previously, represented a small discovery in archaeological terms ...

Tim Tonkin with additional research by Alex Cauvi The Doctor, February 2020 Taking injured military veterans to excavate a historic battlefield which still yields body parts might not seem the most obvious therapy but the results have been impressive. Tim Tonkin meets volunteers, including the surgeon who is an expert in the ‘horrendous’ practices of old. "From [finding] this one musket ball, he was incredibly overcome with emotion and started thinking about things that he hadn’t really talked about for a very long time." Former Army captain Mark Evans recalls the experience of a fellow military veteran participating in Waterloo Uncovered, the charity which he co-founded after leaving the Army in 2010. The project is perhaps unique in that it seeks to help serving and ex-military service personnel, many of whom might be struggling with mental or physical health issues, by engaging them in archaeological work around the battlefield of one of Europe’s most iconic military encounters. Capt Evans, along with his friend and fellow Coldstream Guards officer Major Charlie Foinette, set up the project in 2015, the bicentenary year of the battle, and the size of its expeditions to the battlefield have continued to grow in size and scale. By bringing together current and former members of the military alongside archaeologists and health professionals, Capt Evans says the project provides a safe and structured environment in which those with shared experiences and challenges can hopefully begin to open up to one another. The experience of the veteran who discovered a British musket ball, potentially fired by a member of his own regiment some two centuries previously, represented a small discovery in archaeological terms but a hugely significant one personally. "He described it as being an incredibly powerful and emotional experience that helped him get through some stuff and brought some stuff to light that he hadn’t really thought about and had clearly been suppressing," says Capt Evans. "Veterans all too often suffer in silence because they don’t feel like they have permission to speak, don’t want to seem weak or to burden other people." History as therapy While not formal clinical treatment, Capt Evans says the project, which is also staffed by a variety of health professionals, has made a real difference to those who have taken part in it. Retired surgeon and military medical historian Mick Crumplin is one of those who has lent his support to the project. Indeed, his participation is perhaps the logical conclusion to a life-long passion for the Napoleonic era. "As a child I had always admired these ridiculous uniforms of the Napoleonic period," he says, "I’d always had an interest in military history and that spurred me to start studying the campaign of Waterloo." Mick Crumplin with a capital amputation set. Photo by Paul Cooper. Napoleonic surgery As a pupil at Wellington College, itself established in honour of the British field commander at Waterloo, he had opted to study medicine having been one of the few students in his year not to go into the Army. During his career he trained at Middlesex Hospital, and worked at others in the capital, Essex and Wiltshire, before completing his surgical training in Birmingham and practising in North Wales. His first medical history book Men of Steel focused on surgery in the Napoleonic wars. He has also researched the medical histories of a range of conflicts, from the battle of Agincourt to the war in Afghanistan. "The Napoleonic wars were not a massive breakthrough [for medicine]. But they had a lot of good surgeons evolving who understood the demands of the military. The wars give you the emergence of military surgery, how people were trained and an increasing respect for surgeons." He says surgeons were on a "rising curve" compared with physicians who were, for example, yet to have the benefit of antibiotics which were not developed until more than a century later. Having donated a number of his own artefacts to the Military Surgical Museum at Mont-Saint-Jean farm in Belgium – the site of an allied military field hospital during the battle – Mr Crumplin became involved more directly in the work with Waterloo Uncovered. With roughly 6,000 wounded soldiers treated at Mont-Saint-Jean in 1815, the location has seen a number of significant archaeological finds, including limbs amputated and discarded following surgery. One of the amputated limbs unearthed at Mont-Saint-Jean by Waterloo Uncovered in 2019. Photo by Chris van Houts. "That was a very important time for me because it joined up recent conflict sufferers with the history of the old," he says, "I took the veterans around the museum. I was a little bit hesitant to take amputees around and tell them about what happened [back then] because it was so horrendous in those days compared with these days. [However], it worked and I think they were very interested. What really appals me [about] the number of programmes and books – and there are thousands – on military history is how little medicine comes into the story. It’s a distasteful subject to many I think, it’s something they [historians] feel readers wouldn’t be interested in but I think that’s wrong. The history of medicine is a very popular item on the school curriculum, you can’t know enough about it, it’s a huge subject." Veteran support Waterloo Uncovered aims to support veterans across five areas – including physical and mental recovery and health and wellbeing along – with issues relating to employment, education and the transition to civilian life. Those participating in digs encompass a wide range of health needs, from those dealing with psychological trauma to amputees and those with mobility issues resulting from wounds or training injuries. "One thing we both knew from our own experiences is that injured soldiers have a tendency to deteriorate quickly in terms of their interest, enthusiasm and mental health," says Capt Evans. "It’s not unknown for soldiers with long-term injuries to fall by the wayside." Having served in Afghanistan in 2008, Capt Evans says that he himself battled with PTSD resulting from his experiences on the front line. After receiving treatment during and after leaving the Army he eventually turned to archaeology, a life-long passion, as something to focus his energies and attention on. These early forays eventually led to what would become Waterloo Uncovered, after Maj Foinette was asked by his commanding officer to stage a tour of the Waterloo battlefield for troops from his regiment. In April 2015 he and Maj Foinette, who are both archaeology graduates, took 20 people out to Waterloo, half of whom were injured, serving soldiers and the rest volunteer archaeologists. A follow-up expedition of twice the size as the original saw veterans joining serving soldiers – with last year’s dig seeing between 130 and 150 people involved. Capt Evans says the ease with which those who have been in the armed forces can open up and discuss their experiences with civilian health professionals is hugely varied. "For me there was a real breakthrough when I started talking to a woman who was non-military," he says. "That for me was the moment where I found I could open up, [however] for other people it will be exactly the opposite; that they found they could not talk to a civilian about what they’d been through and that they needed to talk to somebody that had been there [the military]." The 2019 team in the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. For those who fall into the latter category, Capt Evans says that bringing former soldiers together to uncover and examine remnants and artefacts from a 200-year-old battle enables people to reflect on their own experiences of war and the armed forces. "The fact that you are allowing people who have been in the military to talk about military things inevitably means they end up talking about their own experiences," he says. ‘The archaeological process is about finding the little bits that help you try and understand what may or may not have happened [in the past]. A lot of what PTSD is, is being caught up in a world where you struggle to make sense of your own past, and memories can change as you focus on different things – archaeology helps remind you that the past is confused and fragmented." Dig deep GP and BMA council member Clare Gerada saw the charity’s work first-hand after attending a dig last summer, and was impressed bythe holistic and inclusive approach it took to supporting those with mental health issues. "Waterloo Uncovered is a truly unique project in that it brings together people from different walks of life and with varying health needs and uses a shared interest and activity, in this case archaeology, to reach out and try to care for and empower those in need," she says. The mental health and personal and social challenges faced by those who have left the armed forces or who are seeking to transition to civilian life can be complex, and veterans can sometimes be hard to reach through conventional health services. "Waterloo Uncovered’s emphasis on inclusion and education, and what it seeks to do for those who have taken part, is an excellent example of the important role that socially prescribed and collaborative working can have in improving health." See an online version of this edition of The Doctor here. See a PDF Version of the article here:Download Additional research by Alex Cauvi.

Spring Dig Diary

Welcome to the latest edition of Waterloo Uncovered’s Dig Diary. By Hattie Ford In this edition: We’re honoured with an award from the Prime Minister;Archaeological finds give up their secrets (and be warned, some are quite grisly!);Meet some of the Waterloo Uncovered team of Veterans and Serving Personnel. Points of Light Award Waterloo Uncovered co-founders Captain Mark Evans and Major Charles Foinette have just been honoured with a Points of Light award by the Prime Minister, recognising their valuable work in veteran welfare and recovery. Points of Light awards are given to outstanding volunteers and initiatives that are making lasting and substantial changes in their communities. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Waterloo Uncovered as “a wonderful testament to our nation’s history” and praised Mark and Charlie for “helping those who have bravely served our country to find purpose and wellbeing through your incredible archaeological project, preserving our heritage while supporting our fine veterans” in personal letters to the charity’s two founders. In their acceptance statements, Mark and Charlie described themselves as “delighted” to receive the prestigious award, and paid homage to the role of our amazing team of archaeologists, veterans, staff and students in making Waterloo Uncovered the successful and valuable initiative it is today. To read more about WU’s Points of Light award, including Mark and Charlie’s statements, please see the Points of Light website. Captain Mark Evans and Major Charles Foinette, Waterloo Uncovered co-founders & Points of Light award recipients. But this may not be the only award bestowed upon Waterloo Uncovered’s team this year. Waterloo Replayed: The Great Game has been shortlisted for the University of Glasgow’s ...

Welcome to the latest edition of Waterloo Uncovered’s Dig Diary. By Hattie Ford In this edition: We’re honoured with an award from the Prime Minister;Archaeological finds give up their secrets (and be warned, some are quite grisly!);Meet some of the Waterloo Uncovered team of Veterans and Serving Personnel. Points of Light Award Waterloo Uncovered co-founders Captain Mark Evans and Major Charles Foinette have just been honoured with a Points of Light award by the Prime Minister, recognising their valuable work in veteran welfare and recovery. Points of Light awards are given to outstanding volunteers and initiatives that are making lasting and substantial changes in their communities. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Waterloo Uncovered as “a wonderful testament to our nation’s history” and praised Mark and Charlie for “helping those who have bravely served our country to find purpose and wellbeing through your incredible archaeological project, preserving our heritage while supporting our fine veterans” in personal letters to the charity’s two founders. In their acceptance statements, Mark and Charlie described themselves as “delighted” to receive the prestigious award, and paid homage to the role of our amazing team of archaeologists, veterans, staff and students in making Waterloo Uncovered the successful and valuable initiative it is today. To read more about WU’s Points of Light award, including Mark and Charlie’s statements, please see the Points of Light website. Captain Mark Evans and Major Charles Foinette, Waterloo Uncovered co-founders & Points of Light award recipients. But this may not be the only award bestowed upon Waterloo Uncovered’s team this year. Waterloo Replayed: The Great Game has been shortlisted for the University of Glasgow’s Knowledge Exchange and Public Engagement Award, in the category of Best Community or Public Engagement Initiative. Waterloo Replayed was a large-scale wargame event held in June 2019 at the University of Glasgow, organised by a team led by Professor Tony Pollard. Described as “an imaginative and ambitious exercise in knowledge exchange and public engagement,” Waterloo Replayed sought to break the record for the biggest 28mm table-top historical wargame ever played, with around 22,000 figurines in action and over 100 players refighting the Battle of Waterloo in miniature. The multi-day event bought together experienced wargame players and serving personnel and veterans for an exciting game watched by around 1000 spectators. In total, the project raised £20,000 to support Waterloo Uncovered’s work and to ensure it could continue into 2020 and beyond. We wish the Waterloo Replayed team the best of luck as the winner of this award is decided! Hot off the press: Waterloo Uncovered has just been awarded funding from the Veterans’ Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund under their Positive Pathways programme. This will enable us to: take some of our finds to show local veterans groups around the country; develop a creative arts-based course for a group of veterans visiting Waterloo. Keeping the past alive: Conserving and Cataloguing our Finds The work of the archaeologists doesn’t end when the trenches are back-filled. Over the last five years, Waterloo Uncovered’s team of archaeologists, students, veterans and serving personnel have excavated roughly 6000 objects from the sites of Hougoumont, Mont-Saint-Jean and Frichermont in Belgium. After the dig, all but the most specialised finds (see below: The bones of Mont-Saint-Jean) are identified, cleaned and photographed on-site by a dedicated team, and are then stored for transport back to L-P Archaeology’s lab in the UK. Each year, several veterans and students are recruited to help out with the finds during the dig and are taught skills including finds cleaning and identification. Back in the UK, Waterloo Uncovered’s Finds Officer Hillery Harrison works on cataloguing, repackaging and organising each of the finds in our archive, so they can be easily and efficiently accessed by researchers interested in our findings. Hillery is also “triaging” the finds into those that can go into storage, those that require urgent conservation, and those that may be suitable for display at public events such as the upcoming Chalke Valley History Festival. She’s also working to produce an accessible collection of high-resolution photographic images of key finds. There’s a plan to train a team of veterans in specialist finds photography techniques to support this role throughout the year. Veterans and volunteers sorting and identifying finds on site last year. Photo by Chris van Houts. One of the main priorities for conservation and treatment is the project’s substantial collection of coins. Coins can be incredibly delicate, and are highly susceptible to corrosion, which will eventually cause them to disintegrate if left untreated. Many iron objects also require urgent treatment from a specialist to stabilise them. Some pieces of iron found on-site may at first appear to be miscellaneous lumps of little interest - but upon being X-rayed, several of these iron pieces have revealed themselves to be heavily corroded buttons that have rusted to the point of being unrecognisable. An X-ray can reveal the button hidden within the rust, which would otherwise go unrecorded. Another priority for conservation is a delicate set of jewellery in our collection, including a Napoleon brooch; Waterloo Uncovered is currently in the process of researching this jewellery to make sure it is sent to an appropriate specialist. Over the coming weeks, Hillery will be working with some of the most interesting finds excavated last summer, including a plethora of buttons (both Coldstream and Scots Guard) found by the famous north gate of Hougoumont, and a 6-pound French cannonball. Scots Guards Buttons, uncovered at Hogoumont Farm, followed by 6lb Cannonball found at Mont Saint Jean. One of the most ‘explosive’ finds from last year was an enormous howitzer shell found in the last week of excavation, but due to the fact that it was still technically “live”, it was removed by the Belgian bomb squad, more used to dealing with the “iron harvest” of unexploded ordnance from the Two World Wars. Unfortunately it was not possible to render the shell safe and it has had to be destroyed. Lifting the howitzer shell. Photo by Chris van Houts. Although most of our finds are related to the Battle of Waterloo, finds from different periods also crop up and can help us understand the broader history of the sites we are digging on. One of the fascinating finds Hillery has identified in our archive is a Dorset button – a kind of craft-made yarn button characteristic of the 17th-19th centuries. However, this button was worn much more recently – it was actually from a female reenactor who visited Hougoumont for a re-enactment event in 2015. The reenactor who left this button visited the site around a month before Waterloo Uncovered arrived – and the only evidence we have found of her presence is one button. For Hillery, this makes it all the more impressive that we have found so much evidence from over 200 years ago. Another find that really made the team think was a small piece of embossed metal that looked just like a medieval coin; but was totally out of place where it was found. After a lot of confusion, the team realised that it was actually a commemorative medal from a medieval re-enactment event held at Mont-Saint-Jean, designed to look just like a coin! It’s a reminder that the history of the site didn’t end with the battle and evidence of the puzzles that our Finds team sometimes have to solve! The Bones of Mont-Saint-Jean Towards the end of our 2019 excavation, one of Waterloo Uncovered’s expert metal detectorists noticed a signal that indicated a large metal object buried in the west side of the orchard at Mont-Saint-Jean. Further excavation revealed the source of the signal: a degraded piece of iron plate that has yet to be conclusively identified but may have been part of an ammunition box or piece of medical equipment. When our team began carefully removing the piece of metal, they made an amazing discovery that served as a poignant reminder of the human cost of the Battle of Waterloo: a human leg bone. One of the human leg bones discovered in the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. An estimated 65% of the injuries sustained by soldiers in the Battle of Waterloo were to limbs, and at the Mont-Saint-Jean field hospital alone roughly 500 limb amputations were carried out. The most famous of the amputations that took place there was that of the arm of Wellington’s military secretary, Fitzroy Somerset. According to eye witness accounts of the battle, amputations were so numerous in the Mont-Saint-Jean field hospital that limbs “piled up in the four corners of the farm’s courtyard”, and it is likely that the human bones discovered in 2019 are from one such ‘pile’. Amputations in this period would have taken place without anaesthetic and carried great risk – but in many cases they were also life-saving, as if the limbs were not removed they would become infected, leading to a slower and more painful death. Over the course of several days of careful excavation, the team were able to uncover several additional limbs, bringing the total to three right legs, one left leg, and one right arm. One leg is still partially in the soil in the orchard of Mont-Saint-Jean as it proved too difficult to safely remove before the end of the excavation season, while the rest of the bones were taken to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels to be analysed by experts. The trench in which the bones were discovered was refilled at the end of the 2019 season to protect the remaining bones, and will be reopened this summer for further excavation. Our archaeologists are almost certain that when the trench is reopened, it will reveal several more limbs deeper in the soil. Archaeologist Caroline Laforest examining the bones at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. The bones that have been recovered were, unfortunately, quite poorly preserved due to the composition of the soil they were buried in. However, several interesting details could still be observed once the bones were fully excavated and had been cleaned and analysed by expert forensic anthropologists. For example, several of the bones were preserved well enough that marks from the surgeon’s saw used to amputate them could still be identified. The right arm showed evidence of a possible impaction of the elbow, and saw marks could be seen on the upper arm show where it would have been amputated. Of the legs, one of the right limbs was not preserved well enough to show the marks of amputation, but did exhibit clear tibia and fibula fractures that were the most likely cause of amputation. The left lower leg had a fractured femur, and showed evidence of an amputation just above the knee. Interestingly, a number of small iron nails were found just below the foot of this limb. This indicates that the soldier was still wearing a shoe when the limb was amputated, and that it was not removed before the leg was buried. The organic elements of the shoe, such as leather and cotton, would have deteriorated over time, leaving only the iron nails around the foot as evidence that the shoe was ever there. Another of the legs also showed evidence of an amputation above the knee, and the cause of the injury that made it necessary was clear: the limb had been struck by a musket ball, which was still embedded in the lower half of the thigh! Only half of the musket ball remained in the bone, while the other half has yet to be found. It is possible that it will be discovered later this summer when the trench containing the bones is reopened. Half of the musket ball that was embedded in a human leg bone. Spotlight on Veterans: Emma Wray-Smith For many of our serving personnel and veterans, Waterloo Uncovered is their first experience of working with heritage and archaeology. Many go on to develop a keen interest in history, which has a strong influence on the hobbies, career paths and educational choices they make upon returning home. But for some, their interest in history is a life-long one that predates Waterloo Uncovered, and even their military service. This is the case for former Women’s Royal Navy Service radio operator Emma Wray-Smith, who joined us on our 2019 summer excavation in Belgium. Emma Wray Smith in uniform while serving with the Royal Navy, followed by Emma wielding her broadsword... After extensive training, Emma first went to sea in 1991, where she was one of the first Wrens to serve on a ship with men, alongside around 30 other women. After a back injury on board caused her to reluctantly leave Navy life in 1995, Emma continued her military affiliation by becoming an MOD civil servant. She now works in Air Command for the RAF. Before she became a Wren, Emma met a group of historical re-enactors at a castle near her home. Fascinated by their performance, Emma decided to join them, and has been a medieval re-enactor for more than 20 years. Emma and her group have travelled around the world educating the public, in full period dress as part of performances that can last an entire day. Emma and the group demonstrate a range of historical skills including archery, dancing and cooking, although Emma says she leaves the cooking to those with more culinary skill! More recently, Emma has been involved in the ‘Living History’ side of re-enactment, in which audiences are allowed to get up close and personal with performers rather than being behind a barrier, for a more authentic experience. While many re-enactors utilise their own tailoring skills to create their elaborate and historically accurate costumes, there is also a thriving network of skilled artisans across the UK that can create amazing pieces such as Emma’s suit of armour (below) which was made for her by a friend and talented craftsperson. Emma’s main period of interest is the medieval era, but she was eager to learn, especially due to the own connection between the Navy, Lord Nelson, and the Napoleonic Wars. In Belgium, Emma helped drive one of the minibuses that allowed us to get around in Waterloo. But she also got stuck into the archaeology. Based at the former châteaux of Frichermont, Emma was one of the veterans involved in digging out the foundations of the now-destroyed buildings there. Unfortunately, the dig ended before they could reach the bottom of the cellar they were excavating, but she hopes to return next year to finish what she started. She would also like to try her hand at metal detecting with one of our experts - but her real interest lies in the finds. Emma on site at Mont Saint Jean, 2019. For Emma, Waterloo Uncovered was a “major bright moment in her year. The comradeship of the project was paramount for her, while being able to learn about the Battle of Waterloo at the site itself, and learning about archaeology from experts, was “the cherry on top”. Waterloo Uncovered aims to maintain an ongoing relationship will all the veterans who have previously dug with us, and Emma has enjoyed seeing what everyone else has been up to through our Facebook group, particularly those who have gotten involved in archaeology or metal detecting since the dig. She hopes to return to the project this summer, and would like to get involved with finds photography. We look forward to seeing her alongside other new and returning veterans in July! Spreading the Word about Waterloo Uncovered Waterloo Uncovered has recently been the subject of a brilliant article in the British Medical Association’s monthly magazine ‘The Doctor’, available to read online now. The article features an interview with Waterloo Uncovered co-founder Mark Evans, in which he discusses the many struggles that injured veterans face upon returning home from military service, and highlights the work that WU does to support veterans’ welfare and wellbeing through archaeology. In addition, former surgeon and medical historian Doctor Mick Crumplin speaks about the history of medicine at Mont-Saint-Jean, which served as the main British field hospital during the Battle of Waterloo. Mick is the curator of the Military Surgical Museum at Mont-Saint-Jean, which features a diverse and fascinating collection of medical artefacts and objects from the Battle of Waterloo. Last year, Mick treated the veterans digging at Mont-Saint-Jean to a personal tour of the museum and his collection. To read more about the museum and some of Mick’s most interesting artefacts, see the dig diary post here. 19th century surgical tools from Mick’s collection in the Military Surgical Museum at Mont-Saint-Jean. Photo by Chris van Houts. Waterloo Uncovered also had a presence at the recent Second Modern Conflict Symposium held at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, which covered a broad range of topics on conflicts from 1800 to present. Panels focussed on themes ranging from the connections between war and science, to new perspectives on counterinsurgency, to the remembrance and commemoration of various conflicts. Waterloo Uncovered affiliated archaeologist and Glasgow PhD student Euan Loarridge was one of the speakers, and delivered a paper exploring the identity of a Glasgow ‘pals’ battalion in the First World War: the 17th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry. His paper detailed how this battalion’s community and culture changed over time through such bloody battles as the Somme, as different groups clashed over its ownership until it was disbanded in 1918. CEO and WU co-founder Marks Evans and Wellbeing and Support Co-Ordinator David Ulke took the opportunity to promote our work at the conference via a poster and information stand entitled ‘Recovery into Discovery: Turning Conflict into Collaboration’. Their presentation not only summarised Waterloo Uncovered’s most interesting archaeological discoveries and finds so far, but also detailed the 12-month programme of wellbeing and recovery that each of WU’s participating will undergo. The team hope to continue spreading the word about Waterloo Uncovered’s plans and successes at conferences, events and in the media throughout the year. We’re passionate about our work and would love to tell you more about it. If you would like us to come and speak at your event, please contact us. In other news, veteran Ben Mead, who attended the summer 2019 excavation at Mont-Saint-Jean has recently published a book entitled ‘The Broken Soldiers: Suffering in Silence with Hidden Injury’. His book is a personal and powerful insight into the struggles many of those who serve are faced with when they return home from war – and the many ways in which they are left unsupported. The Broken Soldiers is now available in paperback and on Kindle on Amazon: http://www.shorturl.at/anwC6. Coming soon: Follow our collection of exciting short films revealing the secrets of the 2019 dig; Listen to our new series where leading historians offer original - and surprising perspectives on the battle.

Veterans’ Stories: Matt

[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text][cs_content][cs_element_section _id="1" ][cs_element_layout_row _id="2" ][cs_element_layout_column _id="3" ][cs_element_breadcrumbs _id="4" ][cs_element_gap _id="5" ][cs_element_headline _id="6" ][cs_content_seo]Veterans' Stories: Mattnn2018nn[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_line _id="7" ][cs_element_gap _id="8" ][cs_element_text _id="9" ][cs_content_seo]Waterloo Uncovered supports Veterans and Serving Personnel as they recover from the traumas of war and transition to civilian life, through a programme of archaeology, education and wellbeing support. Learn more about Matt, who participated in our 2018 and 2019 Excavation Programme, and his story.nn[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][cs_element_section _id="10" ][cs_element_layout_row _id="11" ][cs_element_layout_column _id="12" ][cs_element_video _id="13" ][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id="14" ][cs_element_layout_row_2 _id="15" ][cs_element_layout_column_2 _id="16" ][cs_element_layout_row_3 _id="17" ][cs_element_layout_column_3 _id="18" ][cs_element_layout_div _id="19" ][cs_element_image _id="20" ][/cs_element_layout_div][cs_element_layout_div _id="21" ][cs_element_headline _id="22" ][cs_content_seo]{{dc:post:title}}nn{{dc:post:publish_date format='M. d, Y'}}nn[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_div][/cs_element_layout_column_3][/cs_element_layout_row_3][cs_element_gap _id="23" ][/cs_element_layout_column_2][/cs_element_layout_row_2][cs_element_layout_row_2 _id="24" ][cs_element_layout_column_2 _id="25" ][cs_element_headline _id="26" ][cs_content_seo]View All Storiesnn[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_line _id="27" ][/cs_element_layout_column_2][/cs_element_layout_row_2][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][cs_element_section _id="28" ][cs_element_layout_row _id="29" ][cs_element_layout_column _id="30" ][cs_element_line _id="31" ][cs_element_gap _id="32" ][cs_element_text _id="33" ][cs_content_seo]Share This Postnn[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][cs_element_layout_row _id="34" ][cs_element_layout_column _id="35" ][cs_element_text _id="36" ][cs_content_seo]?nn[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id="37" ][cs_element_layout_div _id="38" ][cs_element_social _id="39" ][cs_element_social _id="40" ][cs_element_social _id="41" ][cs_element_social _id="42" ][cs_element_social _id="43" ][/cs_element_layout_div][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id="44" ][cs_element_text _id="45" ][cs_content_seo]?nn[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][cs_element_layout_row _id="46" ][cs_element_layout_column _id="47" ][cs_element_line _id="48" ][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content][/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

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