H T Siborne

The Waterloo Letters: Accounts of the battle by British Officers for its Foremost Historian H T Siborne

Waterloo as seen by those who fought

The story of Siborne and his famous diorama of the battle of Waterloo is well known to all those who are interested in the campaign of 1815. It is also well known that to ensure that he had every aspect of his work as accurate as it could be Siborne wrote to as many officers of the British Army as he could, to confirm or refute the given wisdom of events, and to give them the opportunity to relate their own experiences during that momentous day of conflict. Although the replies he received from many willing contributors, from virtually every branch of the service, were elicited for the specific purpose of the creation of the model-published together they have provided posterity with a unique and invaluable archive of information and perspectives on one action. This is possibly the most famous battle the world has known-from the perspectives of many people all of whom viewed momentous events from within close proximity to each other. Here are the voices of Waterloo who would have remained silent but for Siborne's appeal. An absolutely riveting book and an essential source work of the Napoleonic Wars.