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Frederick Ponsonby
Major General Hon. Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby GCMG KCB KCH (6 July 1783 – 11 January 1837) was an Anglo-Irish military officer. During the Waterloo Campaign, the 12th Light Dragoons were atta...view moreMajor General Hon. Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby GCMG KCB KCH (6 July 1783 – 11 January 1837) was an Anglo-Irish military officer. During the Waterloo Campaign, the 12th Light Dragoons were attached to Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur's light cavalry brigade. At the Battle of Waterloo, the 12th and 16th Light Dragoons were told to charge down the slope, but no further, to support the withdrawal of the Union Brigade of heavy cavalry. But, like the Union Brigade (led by his second cousin, William Ponsonby), the light horse charged (as he later admitted) too far. Ponsonby was wounded in both arms, and knocked off his horse by another sabre cut. A French lancer saw him move where he lay and stabbed him in the back with his lance, exclaiming "Tu n'es pas mort, coquin" (You're not dead, you rascal).[ A French skirmisher then robbed him but luckily for Ponsonby, a Major de Laussat of the French Imperial Guard Dragoons found him and treated him kindly, giving him some brandy and promising to send help should the French prove victorious. Later, another French skirmisher used Ponsonby as a shield as he talked with him and fired over his body. Toward the end of the battle, he was ridden over by Prussian cavalry. During the night after the battle, he was roughed up by a Prussian looking for plunder, and a mortally wounded soldier of the Royal Dragoons had crawled upon Ponsonby's legs and lay dying. At last, Ponsonby was discovered by a soldier of the 40th Foot, who stood guard over him during the night. The next morning he was carried away in a cart, to a surgeon who tended to his seven major wounds. Despite his wounds, he was bled of 120 imperial fluid ounces over two days but nevertheless survived. He convalesced under the supervision of his sister Lady Caroline Lamb who nursed him back to health.view less