1815 Lego Battle of Waterloo at Hougoumont

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• published: 20 Oct 2014
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“Battle commences at Hougoumont: Jerome’s columns put in motion, drew the fire of our battery upon them, to which theirs replied. Close fighting at Hougoumont … The enemy press on and approach the masked wall, from whence the crashing fusillade astounds them…” Edward Cotton, an English soldier who survived the defense of Hougoumont, published his account in 1849 in “A Voice from Waterloo.” It is viewable on Google Books here: http://books.google.com/books?id=e08EAAAAQAAJ&pg;=PR14&dq;=hougoumont&hl;=en&sa;=X&ei;=EM5GVJioEdeiyASZjIHACA&ved;=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q;=hougoumont&f;=false Our video is based loosely on Cotton's account, summarized at page XIV of his table of contents, and quoted above. Cotton remained at the property as a guide to visitors in the decades after the battle. At the back of his book are engravings and also a collection of other soldiers' personal accounts of Waterloo. A video by Peter Snow that shows this place in real life and explains its significance - and asks for donations to preserve Hougoumont - is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3az-cDJ31w . This battle was the conclusion of the War of the Seventh Coalition. Château d'Hougoumont is a stone farmhouse with barns and a demolished manor house and chapel surrounded by formal gardens, stone walls, and a woods and gardens on its south and west. It still stands, near Waterloo, in Belgium. At the battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, this property was occupied by the English Coldstream guards, Scots, and also various Dutch and German states infantry who took positions in the woods. The legions of Napoléon Bonaparte awaited in their lines to the south behind a ridge. As part of the opening act of this battle, French mortars began to bombard Hougomont. Then, around 11:30 in the morning, the first wave of French infantry poured north over the ridge and down across a plain towards the woods led by Maréchal de Camp Bauduin and his First Brigade of the Sixth Division. Before his brigade reached the woods, however, they were peppered with round shot from English batteries that unmasked themselves upon a ridge. Only counter fire by French batteries relieved the advancing French from the cannon fire. Bauduin was shot off his horse by a Hanoverian rifleman or Nassau skirmisher in the woods. More assaults on the farmhouse, including one from the opposite side on the north, were all ultimately repelled but at heavy cost, and with one brief break-in accomplished through the northern gate by a Frenchman named Legros. Almost Legos. A brief account of this part of the battle can be found at http://battlefield-tour.com/waterlooweb/waterloo3.htm An effort is being made in honor of the 200-year anniversary of the defense at Hougoumont to preserve the crumbling estate. http://www.projecthougoumont.com/ Thanks to Gaudriole Production https://www.youtube.com/user/GaudrioleProduction1 for providing his French voice for the artillery officers’ discussion Thanks to Woody64 http://www.shapeways.com/shops/MinifigCustomsIn3d?s=36§ion;=Packs#more-products for making all these custom hats and also some of the torso decals Music is “Call for Heroes” by Pierre Langer, mass-market royalty-free license purchased from Shockwave-sound.com Muskets by brickforge.com (English) and brickarms.com (French)