PERHAPS THE MOST unusual weapon used at Waterloo was the Congreve rocket, fired either lying down on the ground at approaching troops, or with a high trajectory from a large tripod or bombarding frame.
The British experienced the use of rockets for the first time during their wars with the various Indian armies they encountered as they took control of that country. It was reported that at the siege of Seringapatam the British army had suffered more from the rockets than from the shells or any other weapon used by the enemy. This led the Royal Arsenal to begin its own set of trials in 1801. The development work was chiefly done by William Congreve who set up a research and development programme at the arsenal’s laboratory. He was the son of Lieutenant General Sir William Congreve, the comptroller of the Royal Laboratories at the Royal Arsenal.
The rocket was made up of an iron case containing black powder for propulsion and a conical warhead. The rockets were attached to wooden guide poles and were launched from half-troughs on simple metal A-frames. They could be fired up to two miles, the range being set by the degree of elevation of the launching frame, although at any range they were fairly inaccurate and had a tendency for premature explosion. They were as much a psychological weapon as a physical one, and they were rarely or never used except alongside other types of artillery. Congreve designed several different warhead sizes, from 3 to 24lb (1.4 to 10.9kg). The 24lb type with a 15ft (4.6m) guide pole was the most widely used variant. Different warheads were used, including explosive, shrapnel (designed to explode at head height) and incendiary. The rockets were launched using a flintlock mechanism, triggered by pulling a long cord. They were manufactured at a special facility near the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills beside the river Lea in Essex.
Date of manufacture:
c. 1814
Location:
Private collection
The Royal Navy used rockets quite enthusiastically as part of the huge payload crammed into fire ships, designed to cause consternation and panic in enemy shipping. The flammability of rockets meant they were deemed impractical and downright dangerous for any other use on the wooden warships until late in the wars.
In 1807 during the bombardment of Copenhagen about 300 Congreve rockets were fired and in 1813 Danzig was similarly attacked, setting the city’s food stores on fire and resulting in its surrender. The British army converted two troops of Royal Horse Artillery to carry rockets. The only British unit at the ‘Battle of the Nations’ at Leipzig in October 1813 was a detachment of Royal Horse Artillery armed with Congreve rockets.
Rockets seem to have been used more frequently during the war with the United States over Canada, generally known as the War of 1812. It was the use of ship-launched Congreve rockets by the British in the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the US in 1814 that inspired the fifth line of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’: ‘And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air’.
At Waterloo one troop of Royal Horse Artillery, commanded by Captain Edward Whinyates, carried rockets, but was also ordered to man a full complement of six cannon as the Duke of Wellington had little confidence in the rockets. Although there are a few examples of a rocket causing massive devastation, there are hundreds more that describe wayward rockets which hissed across the countryside in all directions, with a few even turning on their launchers.
The rockets were, however, used effectually on the retreat to Waterloo, reportedly scoring a direct hit on a French battery it opposed. It is also known that when d’Erlon’s corps was defeated at Waterloo by the British heavy cavalry, a squad of rocketeers proceeded into the valley and fired a large number of rockets along the ground after the fleeing French. There are few reports of specific losses, but many of the French cavalry describe the confusion such a screeching, flaming weapon caused, snaking towards the massed cavalry ranks.
Although a civilian, Congreve was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Hanoverian army’s artillery in 1811 and is often referred to as ‘Colonel Congreve’. Later he was made major general in the same army. He was awarded the Order of St George of Russia following the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and in 1816 he was made Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order of Hanover. In 1821 he was awarded the Order of the Sword by the King of Sweden.
After a major fraud case began against him in 1826 he fled to France, where he was taken seriously ill. He was prosecuted in his absence, with the Lord Chancellor ultimately ruling, just before Congreve’s death, that the transaction was ‘clearly fraudulent’ and designed to profit Congreve and others.
He died in Toulouse, France in May 1828, aged 55.