The historically important Guelphic Medal group of three to Private Frederick Lindau, 2nd Light Battalion, King’s German Legion, hero of La Haye Sainte and the only soldier to be mentioned by Major Baring in his report on the defence of the farm

Guelphic Medal for Bravery 1815 (Schu....dr. Lindau. V.Vorm. 2t. Leich....Deutsch. L.); Waterloo 1815 (Frederick Lindau, 2nd Light Batt. K.G.L.) fitted with original steel clip and later ring suspension; Hannoverian Medal for Volunteers of the K.G.L. 1814, contact wear and edge bruising with some loss to naming on first, otherwise good fine or better and an historic Waterloo hero (3) £10000-15000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Important Collection of Medals to The King's German Legion, the Property of a Gentleman.

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Collection

See Colour Plate II.

Frederick Lindau was awarded the Guelphic Medal in the 1818 List:

‘He defended the open barn doorway with his trusty rifle, although bleeding from two head wounds. Major Baring called to him to go back, since the cloth bound round his head was not sufficient to stop the flow of blood. However, Lindau replied “Only a scoundrel would desert you now, so long as his head was on his shoulders.” His bravery was already known throughout the Battalion by many examples, for instance he was a volunteer at the storming of St Sebastian.’ (Ref Von Wissel p132, Beamish Vol II p364, and Schwertfeger Vol II p323)

Frederick Lindau was one of the heroes of the Defence of La Haye Sainte and the only soldier to be named by Major Baring in his report on the defence: ‘It would be injustice to a skirmisher named Frederick Lindau, if I did not mention him: bleeding from two wounds in the head and carrying in his pocket a considerable bag of gold which he had taken from an enemy’s officer, he stood at the small back barn door, and from thence defended the main entrance in his front. I told him to go back, as the cloth about his head was not sufficient to stop the strong flow of blood; he, however, as regardless of his wounds as of his gold, answered: “It would be a scoundrel that deserted you, so long as his head is on his shoulders.” This brave fellow was afterwards taken, and lost his treasure.’

Lindau was discharged on 24 October 1815. He was still alive for the Jubilee of 1865 and was also entitled to the Military General Service Medal with 6 clasps for Albuhera, Salamanca, Vittoria, St Sebastian, Nivelle, Nive. His reminiscences of his life in the Legion were faithfully recorded by his good friend Rektor Hansen under the title “Erinnerungen eines Soldaten aus der Feldzugen der Koniglich Deutschen Legion”, published in Hannover in 1846, and reprinted in 1910. The following précis of Lindau’s life and army career has been translated and condensed from the original German text of his memoirs, a full copy of which accompanies the medals:

Frederick (Friedrich) Lindau was born on 19 January 1787, in the town on Hameln, on the Weser, where his father was a weaver. After his confirmation he was apprenticed to a shoemaker. When the French occupied Hameln in 1806, the ill treatment of the town’s citizens did not sit well with young Frederick who, after several confrontations with French soldiers, sought refuge in some of the neighbouring towns and villages. Eventually returning home, he met a young man who had served in the King’s German Legion. Stories of his adventures caused Lindau to decide that he must get to England and join the Legion. When he told his father of his intentions he received a beating which only strengthened his resolve. He left his home town with his meagre belongings - just the shirt on his back, a loaf of bread, and a half gulden. On reaching Hannover he met up with three other apprentices with the same objective. From Bremen they boarded a vessel which took them to England where they made their way to the Depot at Harwich. Here Lindau was enlisted into the King’s German Legion. On being asked his preference of branch, Lindau fancied the green jacket of his recruiting sergeant, who was a member of the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, and therefore chose that corps, his friends choosing the cavalry.

After recruit training, Lindau was ordered to become an officer’s servant but did not find those duties to his liking as he had enlisted to carry a musket, not to perform menial tasks. His fellow soldiers kidded him unmercifully which only firmed his desire to be relieved of this onerous duty. However, after drinking his officer’s beer, breaking his dinner plates, and finally, while carrying the Lieutenant’s lady-friend through a muddy walk, dropping her unceremoniously, Lindau was unsurprisingly returned to battalion duty.

In the spring of 1811, the battalion was embarked for Portugal and after a short period moved towards Badajoz, where they remained in support. On 16 May 1811, Lindau took part in the battle of Albuhera, during which he received a ball through his coat-tails and one through his hat, but was otherwise unscathed. It seems that he spent a goodly amount of his time foraging for food and loot. One time he found a young donkey which he and his colleagues butchered and feasted upon. During the latter half of 1811, Lindau was involved in many small unit adventures and he became expert in appropriating food for himself and his comrades. One day he and a friend had just stolen some potatoes when they were apprehended by Colonel Halkett. At the first opportunity Lindau and his friends headed for the woods. In an effort to bring them to justice, Halkett paraded the battalion but Lindau escaped detection by painting a moustache on his face.

In July and August 1812 the battalion was involved in the battle of Salamanca and in the subsequent march to Madrid. Lindau found himself on the left flank of his battalion where they were heavily engaged. He saw his sergeant killed as well as the man to his right and the one directly behind him. He speaks of a fierce battle with great casualties but he, however, survived without injury. After leaving Madrid the battalion moved northwards, following the retreating French, and September and October of 1812 found the battalion before Burgos. Lindau and his company followed the cavalry into the town, and, after a short engagement, thought they had put the French into retreat. Finding a barrel of rum, Lindau and his friends began to enjoy themselves and toast their success. However, after a sudden counter-attack by some French dragoons, an engagement followed which grew to regimental size, but the French were eventually put to flight by these somewhat intoxicated Hannoverians.

The battalion was soon ordered to retreat into winter quarters and Lindau speaks of light duty and a general recovery from the discomforts of the long campaign. It is clear that he spent a good deal of his time dealing in bread, meat, and chickens which he liberated from nearby farms. With his brother, who was now also serving with the Legion, he bought pigs from the local farmers which they butchered to make sausages which they then sold at a profit to their fellow soldiers. He states that he was never short of money for food during his time in winter quarters.

In June 1813 the battalion was positioned near Vittoria, and, on the 21st June, Lindau tells of Lord Wellington galloping up to the K.G.L. staff and ordering each battalion to send four companies to storm the bridge. Lindau and his company moved forward and faced an enemy cavalry charge. Lindau suffered a sabre cut to the knuckle of his index finger but was able to kill a French grenadier, only to be disappointed that he was only able to reclaim a few copper coins from his body. He relates, however, that after the battle he was able to shoot a pig and six geese which he and his company enjoyed.

In August 1813 Lindau and his company found themselves before the fortress of San Sebastian. After being there for 14 days, a request came down from headquarters for two volunteers from each company for a storming party, or ‘Forlorn Hope’. As Lindau was scheduled for picket duty, which was not to his liking, he convinced one of his friends to join him in volunteering. He at first refused but Lindau convinced him that it would be a good opportunity for booty. The storming party moved forward at midnight and was positioned in an old church. As first light came they were given a ration of rum and told to remain steady. At around 11.00, after several assaults by English troops, the storming party were moved forward, making their way through the dead and the rubble. They were soon engaged by cannon fire and musket balls but managed to get over the wall. Here Lindau positioned himself behind several barrels and was able to shoot a number of French and also killed two with his bayonet.

As the English troops secured the fortress, Lindau and his friends took the opportunity to see what they could find. He soon found an open cellar and immediately drank out of the first barrel available but, unfortunately, what he thought to be wine turned out to be vinegar. However, after forcing his way into several houses he was pleased to find silver coins and a huge stock of silk and fabric in different colours. Later he protected a young girl who was wounded and was rewarded by her well-to-do parents with a number of gold coins. He then confronted a priest and asked him for money but the priest explained that the English had already taken everything as they wrecked his apartment. The priest complained bitterly but Lindau threatened him with his bayonet, whereupon the priest revealed a small chest which yielded a hoard of Spanish dubloons. Loaded with loot, Lindau and his friend extracted food and wine from local farmers and began to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Unfortunately Lindau was soon victimised by some of his comrades who enticed him to join them in a card game and, after drinking considerable quantities of wine, he soon found himself much shorter on funds.

Much of the autumn and winter of 1813-14 was spent patrolling in the area of the Spanish-French border. Lindau relates that for much of this period he was engaged on picket duty and foraging for food. His brother was quartered nearby and the two of them spent much of their time threatening farmers for food and stealing anything else they could get their hands on. He complains that when Colonel Halkett or the adjutant, Reifkugel, were in the vicinity they could only threaten the local populace and not actually beat them. In one engagement with a French rearguard, Lindau shot a grenadier but was disgusted to find only dirty clothes when he searched his pack. On another adventure he managed to liberate a donkey and two horses. He and his friends soon ate the donkey but, after trying to ride the horses, he gladly sold them to an officer, he and his friends wasting no time in drinking the proceeds of that transaction.

From February to April 1814 the battalion was engaged in the taking of Bayonne, which proved to be no easy task. The fighting was often hand-to-hand, house to house, and through the streets of the city. Casualties were heavy and Lindau speaks of losing friends to the right, to the left, to the front and to the rear of him. During one fight when he and his squad were using the wall of a synagogue for cover, Lindau bayoneted a French officer and relieved him of his gold epaulettes and the gold scabbard he was wearing. When Lindau’s corporal fell dead beside him he took the squad’s payroll money, which had just been issued, and hid it in his bread bag. The fighting continued unabated and in the evening the company settled down for the night in a churchyard. They were unable to make a fire and had to subsist on a small piece of bread, with the screams of wounded men all around them. Lindau took stock of his own condition and found that three balls had penetrated his cartridge case, two shots had gone through his head gear and grazed him lightly, several balls had gone through his coat-tails, and others had severed his bread bag along with the payroll money.

Lindau was saddened at the loss of several of his closest comrades and speaks of the inability to bury their dead for fear of being shot by French snipers. During a temporary cease-fire, when the battalion was ordered not to return fire, a French officer continued to occasionally shoot at the K.G.L. troops from a window. Acting strictly against orders, Lindau crept quietly forward to a suitable position, and, after several hours waiting, managed to shoot the officer as he sat down to dinner. Lindau quickly resumed his original position and when the brigade major and adjutant came to investigate, he denied everything. It soon became, however, common knowledge that it was he who had fired the shot, but no further action was taken.

There was another hard battle before Bayonne was surrendered but, with rumours of the end of the war in circulation, duties became lighter for the battalion. The troops were forbidden to enter the city as many fights broke out with the local French citizens. Lindau, predictably, decided that he wanted to visit the city and go to the theatre. He borrowed some civilian clothes, strapped his bayonet under his coat, and met the wife of a non-commissioned officer in the theatre. As he was returning afterwards, he was confronted by three Portuguese and a fight ensued during which Lindau managed to carve them up with his bayonet. Once again, Lindau denied everything and escaped punishment.

From Bayonne the battalion marched to Bordeaux to await transport back to England. Here they received all their back pay and drank much wine. In the summer of 1814 the battalion boarded ship for England, from where they were transferred to Holland and sent on leave. Having turned in all their weapons except their bayonets, Lindau and his corporal set off for their homeland. After a visit to a tavern in Germany, Lindau got into a fight with some intoxicated fellows, one of whom he stabbed. Being quickly arrested by the local adjutant, Lindau was brought to Hameln where he was told that he would be tried for murder. However, it was finally decided that he should be returned to his battalion for punishment which was presently at Antwerp. On arrival there the adjutant told him that tomorrow he would be dangling from a rope, to which Lindau replied, ‘the rope that will hang me has not yet been made.’ Reifkugel then laughed and walked away, and next day Lindau was brought to Colonel Halkett’s office. He was asked to relate his adventures while on leave in Germany, for which he would receive a Taler. After telling his tale, the Colonel said to him, ‘Don’t ever let that happen again, I know you. Here is your Taler, do not leave your quarters.’ Lindau was received with great joy by his friends and immediately spent his money so that wine could be brought to the quarters. Thus ended Lindau’s participation in the Peninsula campaigns, but more was to come.

Waterloo and La Haye Sainte

The following condensed translation of Lindau’s own recollections of his participation in the battle provides probably the most graphic eye-witness account from a soldier at Lay Haye Sainte:

In the winter of 1814 and in the spring of 1815, the battalion was stationed in several Belgian towns. Life was good and duty was light. However, on the 16th June this all began to change. We received an order to be ready to march and on the following day we marched off in driving rain and thunder. We marched to the sound of cannon fire and soon found ourselves crossing a battlefield full of dead Frenchmen and Brunswickers, the blood and rainwater ran up to our knees. We soon reached the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte where two companies, including myself, were sent to take up a position in the orchard. Since I could find no dry place to stay, I went to look for straw. I found my brother in the barn, but no straw. At that time Major Baring saw me and ordered me and others to butcher the animals in the stable. I also found a sack of peas and took them and a large joint of meat back to the orchard to share with my friends. It was still raining heavily and I returned to the barn, finding a half barrel of wine in the cellar. I filled my canteen and went to look for my younger brother who was serving in an artillery battery nearby. As I reached the farm gate I was intercepted by a patrol who accompanied me back to the cellar where we finished the rest of the wine. I was able to return to my friends in the orchard and brought them several canteens of what was left. I then sat on my pack and went to sleep.

In the morning we fortified our position as best we could with wagons and farm equipment. Around midday a large concentration of Frenchmen appeared at the hedge and began to fire on us and it wasn’t long before the ground was covered with dead and wounded. I lost friends to the right and left of me, and Captain Shaumann was killed instantly and carried back to the farm by my brother.

We held our position, but as we were threatened to be cut off by an enemy assault we slowly retreated to the barn where there was heavy hand to hand fighting. We fought, therefore, at least half an hour in front of the closed gates. The Frenchmen were so thick that often one bullet killed two or three of them. We finally chased the enemy back over the hedge and were assisted by a detachment of English Hussars. We took up our position again but within half an hour the French regiments came again. They attacked and we again beat them back. I shot over 100 bullets this time. I saw a mounted French officer in the field who seemed to direct the attacking columns. I took aim and was able to shoot him. Later we were able to move outside the gate and I noted that I was not far from the officer I had shot. I ran to him to take his gold watch and chain but apparently I had not killed him, as he sat upright. I hit him with the butt of my musket and managed to relieve him of his gold ring. I also noted a small sack of gold coins in his saddle bag. Suddenly my comrades were yelling “come back, the cavalry is coming.”

I managed to return to my position and was then engaged by the farm wall. Again it was hand to hand fighting. I captured a wounded horse and took it to Major Baring who ordered me to chase it out of the farm. I then showed him my bag of gold pieces and asked him to secure it for me. He told me that no one knew what would happen that day and that I would be best served taking care of the money myself.

Soon we were attacked again and my Captain ordered me to remain at the entrance of the gate. This was a long engagement and it seemed as though one new column would follow the next. We were soon low on ammunition and had to search the pockets of the dead. Major Baring told us that new ammunition would soon be available. At that point I was shot in the back of my head. My Captain ordered me to go to the rear but I replied “As long as I can stand I will remain at my post.” I soaked my handkerchief in rum and wrapped it around my head. I soon heard the cry that the enemy was trying to break through at the barn door and I immediately ran to that position. We fired our muskets as fast as we could load, and as I was loading a Frenchman grabbed my musket. The soldier to the left of me shot him dead. Another Frenchman tried to grab my weapon and a comrade to the right of me stabbed him in the face. As I retreated to reload, bullets buzzed about my ears. One bullet ripped the padding from my shoulder and another demolished my musket. I took the musket from a dying sergeant and began to search the pockets of the dead for ammunition. At that point Major Baring rode up. He looked at my head and ordered me to the rear. I told him “Not as long as my head sits on my shoulders.”

I then returned to the barn. The order was “defend yourselves.” A Frenchman charged at me, I drove my bayonet into his chest and unfortunately it bent and was no longer usable. I was then ordered back to the gate where the fighting was hand to hand, and I was soon surrounded and captured. They ripped the pack from my shoulders, stole one gold and two silver watches, and took my bread bag which was filled with gold pieces. My captors began to struggle over the money and I punched one of them in the face. However, I and several of my companions were marched away with other prisoners. We spent the night in a stable, were given no food, and were very thirsty.

It was foggy the next morning and my corporal and I went looking for water when we encountered a French grenadier. I grabbed him by the throat, drew his bayonet and dispatched him with two thrusts to the chest. My corporal took his gun. We became lost in the fog and finally spent the night in a chicken coop. In the morning as the farmer came to find his eggs, we convinced him to guide us back to our lines. We found two Prussian Uhlanen who brought us to a neighbouring village where the Prussians showed us Napoleon’s carriage which they had just plundered. We were then taken into a house, given bread and meat and shown to a cellar where we could get wine. Finally we could rest and a surgeon was called to attend to my wounds. I was washed and bandaged. We were then taken to a neighbouring tavern and told that the remnants of our battalion would be passing there. Soon Major Baring appeared and asked what had happened and how many of my comrades had escaped.

I marched with the battalion for half an hour when the adjutant, Riefkugel, brought me orders to return to Brussels. Three times I told the Major that nothing was wrong with me and I did not want to go to hospital, but to no avail. I was told to obey and that I could return once I was healed. In Brussels I was quartered in a merchant’s house, since the hospital was full, and shared quarters with my wounded Captain. After four weeks I was given my doctor’s permission to return to my battalion and marched with a detachment of 300 men to Paris. There I met my brother who greeted me, saying, Friedrich I thought you were dead. I looked for you on the battlefield and buried you. I told him, God knows who you buried. A few days later I met my youngest brother who also thought that I was dead.

Because of my wounds I was excused from duty. I was detailed to forage for bread, corn, wood, and straw, and I therefore had a good life. However, my head wound began to give me vision problems and because of this I requested my discharge. Major Baring said this would not be to my advantage but I was hard-headed and did not listen to his good advice. Eventually my discharge was granted and I marched home with the battery of my youngest brother.