To create my character and story for them, I tried to find some recalls from people that were actually in the battle, here is one article that I found:
Private Matthew Clay was a 19-year-old, who joined the 3rd Foot Guards (Scots Fusiliers) two years earlier than the battle of waterloo. He wrote some memoirs 40 years after the battle, which were later recovered and made into a book.
Matthew wrote: “On my arriving at the pond, the light of day just enabled me to see that in and around lay the bodies of those who had fallen in combat on the evening previous, and the liquid we had partaken of was dyed with their blood.”
“We passed over numerous bodies of the slain,” he wrote. “I particularly noticed a young officer of the 33rd Regiment... his bright scarlet coat and silver lace attracted my attention when marching over his headless body.”
Each man was given a small piece of bread and an officer ordered one soldier to kill a pig. He was given a portion of head “in its rough state” which he tried to cook but found “too raw and unsavoury”.
As the French attacked on June 18, the day of Waterloo, the British took cover in a hedge to return fire, but they were so close “the spreading of their small shots rarely escaped contact with our knapsacks and accoutrements”.
At one point Matthew and another soldier, R Gann, got separated from the company and got back to the courtyard.
“I saw the doors or rather gates were riddled with shot-holes,” he wrote.
“It was also very wet and dirty; in its entrance lay many dead bodies of the enemy; one in particular I noticed which appeared to have been a French officer, but they were scarcely distinguishable, being to all appearance as though they had been very much trodden upon.”
He saw his commander Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell use a large piece of wood to secure the gates, a crucial move in the British victory.
All the French soldiers in the courtyard were killed in fierce fighting except one, a drummer boy aged about 13. According to his account, Matthew pushed him into a stable to save his life.
“He was fetching water for people making them comfy and he picked this drummer boy up and put him out of the way so he wouldn’t die.
"Matthew had younger brothers at home, probably the same age as that boy.”
After Waterloo, Matthew was promoted to corporal then the 1st Pay and Drill Sergeant of the Scots Fusilier Guards. In 1823, he married Joanna Cornish.
I also found another recall of the battle:
Captain J.H. Gronow joined the British Army in 1813 at age 19. He served under the Duke of Wellington in Spain and in Belgium. We join his story on the morning of the battle:
"On the morning of the 18th the sun shone most gloriously, and so clear was the atmosphere that we could see the long, imposing lines of the enemy most distinctly. Immediately in front of the division to which I belonged, and, I should imagine, about half a mile from us, were posted cavalry and artillery; and to the right and left the French had already engaged us, attacking Huguemont and La Haye Sainte. We heard incessantly the measured boom of artillery, accompanied by the incessant rattling echoes of musketry.
As well as a letter written by a soldier that was a part of the battle:
Battle of Waterloo
Letter from a private solider of the 42D regiment to his father in this city.
General Hospital, Antwerp, 24th June 1815. After a long silence, I embrace the opportunity of informing you respecting my present situation. On the 15th, about 12 o’clock at night, we turned out, and at two in the morning marched from the city of Brussels, to meet the enemy, who were advancing in great force on that city. About three o’clock in the afternoon of the 16th, we came up with them. Our whole force did not exceed 12,000 men, who were fatigued with a long march of upwards of 20 miles, encumbered with knapsacks and other language. The day was uncommonly warm, and no water to be had on the road; however, we were brought up, in order of battle The French being strongly posted in a thick wood, to the number of 40,000 men, including cavalry and lancers, gave us very little time to look round us ere the right commenced on both sides, in an awful and destructive manner, they having every advantage of us, both as to position and numbers, particularly in cavalry, as the British dragoons had not yet come up. The French cavalry charged the British line of infantry three different times, and did much execution, until we were obligated to form squares of battalions, in order to turn them, which was executed in a most gallant manner, and many hundreds of them never returned. Still they sent fresh forces, and as often we beat them back. The battle lasted until it was quite dark, when the enemy began to give way, our poor fellows who were left alive following them as long as they could see, when night put an end to the fatigues of a well fought day. Thousands on both sides lay killed and wounded on the field of battle; and as the greater part of the action lay in the corn fields along a vast track of country, many hundreds must have died for want of assistance through the night, who were not able of themselves to crawl away. I was wounded by a musquet ball, which passed through my right arm and breast, and lodged in my back from whence it was extracted by a surgeon in the hospital of this place. Captain M. is most severly wounded, having several shots through his body, and the regiment, in general are mostly cut off. We have heard, since we came here, that our fine brigade, which entered the field on that eventful day, consisting of the 3d batt. Royal Scots, 42d, 44th, and 92d regiments, are now formed into one battalion, not exceeding in whole 400 men. Lord Wellington retired in the night, to wait for reinforcements, and next day our cavalry and the rest of the army arrived. The Prussians came on the other side, and I am happy to understand the enemy ultimately got a most complete dubbing, losing cannon, baggage, and a great number of prisoners. They retreated towards Valenciennes, and other garrisons on their frontiers, the first allied troops pursuing them.
Thus, I have given you as an account of affairs, principally what I witnessed on the 16th, as I could; that relating to the 18th being from report. Nothing can exceed the kindness and attention of the inhabitants of this city to our wounded men: the hospital is constantly filled with ladies and gentlemen, who, although speaking a different language, personally administer to our wants, with the kindest attention, distributing clean shirts, bread, wine, coffee, tea, milk, and fruit of all sorts, with every requisite, for our comfort and accommodation.
