Harvesting Bones at Waterloo.

[Larry Davis]

The bones of Waterloo.

An interesting read, different times, different sentiments.

Sometimes you hear a story which seems so wild that it cannot possibly be true. Were the bones of dead British soldiers really dug up from the battlefields of Waterloo, crushed and used as fertiliser in Yorkshire? Did farmers really use the bones of their own compatriots to grow crops?

"The article also refers to “Waterloo teeth” (said to be pulled from the dead to use in dentures) and I soon found out that many museums in Europe have sets. Dental history books even point to catalogues from manufacturers of dentures which include human teeth."


https://medium.com/study-of-history/...4a3#.tobmat1wh


http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/201...-waterloo.html


http://www.historyextra.com/qa/soil-fertiliser

[Mike Davis]

Very interesting, thanks for posting

[PaulW]

Hi Larry, I have read accounts of teeth being pulled from corpses at Waterloo before (to be sold as early 'dentures'), but not the fertilizer angle. It was many years ago so I don't recall the exact sources, possibly a military museum in the UK. I think you're right, the dead (Western military anyway) receive more respect now than at many times in the past.

Regards, Paul

[compressore]

Reminds me of the fact that thousands of mummified cats were used as fertilizer in the UK.

[Jean-Loup]

I was detecting on a battlefield in southern France once and turned up a fragment of arm bone. I figured it may be a piece of a soldier's arm that had been blown off. Then I found several more pieces, as well as pieces of coffin, a ggrave marker and a religious medalion, and it was clear to me that all of this came from a cemetery.
When I reported my finds to the owner of the field, she confirmed that a bunch of dirt from the cemetery had been brough into their field to be used as fertiliser.

[james m]

Reminds me of the fact that thousands of mummified cats were used as fertilizer in the UK.

It is my understanding that not only cat mummies but human mummies were dug up and used for fertilizer in the 19th century. Mummifcation occurred naturally in the dry Egyptian climate so many thousands of largely intact mummified bodies were dug up and then ground up to be used as fertilizer.
Jim

[Larry Davis]

"human mummies were dug up and used for fertilizer in the 19th century."

They also burned the buggers as fuel in their locomotives as the mummies were wrapped in layers of dry linen, soaked in bitumen and stuffed with various flammable resins, and the bones were...well, bone dry. They burned extremely hot and were at the time cheaper than cord wood or coal. I believe that at least one of the Pharaohs and several members of their families made the trip to Cairo that way.

And as was mentioned in one of the web articles, the practice of extracting the teeth of the dead soldiers for dentures was also carried out on the battlefields of the American Civil war.

There is always someone looking to make money on the fallen soldier's of any country. No one race has the monopoly.

Opportunism... it's human nature.

[Jesse]

The officers at Waterloo mostly got taken back, especially senior ones. Rank and file of all sides were stripped by Belgian peasants who were then paid to bury them in mass graves.
One of the strange things about Waterloo is that no mass graves have been found, leading to the very likely theories about being used as Fertiliser. Teeth were certainly extracted for dentures.

A potential mass grave is being investigated in the area of the old Orchard at Hougemont, some info has by total chance very recently come to light about the location. Supposedly up to 7000 bodies, but those investigating think about half of that number.

[Larry Davis]

A few links to the potential mass grave in the old Orchard at Hougemont.


http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mass-grave-...rchard-1581962


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/or...dead-mvrcpd29f


http://www.waterloouncovered.com/a-f...at-hougoumont/

[Schütze Asch]

This was a usual practice.
P. e. where the bones of "Voelkerschlacht at Leipzig" also fertilized.

[o.r.k.]

I wonder from what the ordinary men then took their courage- often left behind on the battle field to die when injured in battle- harrassed by plunderers and those taken to the infirmary, rather a cow barn often had no medical attendance and died as well (many due to the dirt of the uniform that entered the wound), the corpses used as fertilizers- who would cry hooray and fight like hell with such a fate before the eyes. You really have to love king and country very much to shrug off all that....

[compressore]

free will...

I wonder from what the ordinary men then took their courage- often left behind on the battle field to die when injured in battle- harrassed by plunderers and those taken to the infirmary, rather a cow barn often had no medical attendance and died as well (many due to the dirt of the uniform that entered the wound), the corpses used as fertilizers- who would cry hooray and fight like hell with such a fate before the eyes. You really have to love king and country very much to shrug off all that....

This is the case talking about the wars against Napoleon.
The great reform of the Prussian army by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst turned the army completely from soldiers pressed into duties with cruel methods including regular beating into an army of "Disziplin und Gehorsam aus freier Einsicht" ...."discipline and obedience made by free will"

Without those reforms, they would never had the support from their soldiers

[Tim O'Keefe]

Ahhh Waterloo

I wonder from what the ordinary men then took their courage- often left behind on the battle field to die when injured in battle- harrassed by plunderers and those taken to the infirmary, rather a cow barn often had no medical attendance and died as well (many due to the dirt of the uniform that entered the wound), the corpses used as fertilizers- who would cry hooray and fight like hell with such a fate before the eyes. You really have to love king and country very much to shrug off all that....

One of the best posts i've ever read here. Its sadly true for all of the solders in history.
The solder's sigh as the mother's weep....

& this is a very interesting thread. Waterloo is one of my favorite subjects. thanks Larry

Most solders in the Allied army's of the Napoleonic Wars had their lot in life already cast at birth. Either a struggle to survive for most or to have wealth bestowed upon them from birth. You were born an officer or a private. Except in one army, La Grande Army, where any private with the will to achieve could become a Marshall of France....the barriers of the class system had been broken down by the Revolution.

By Waterloo lots of things had changed but the French solders were still motivated to fight for France and the future. & to some extent to die for Napoleon himself. Still considered a hero in France. The Allied solders on the otherhand were fighting to preserve the Kings and Queens of the past with the fear of the lash to motivate them.

The road to glory is lined in red....
Tim

[compressore]

Reform...

.... with the fear of the lash to motivate them.

Tim

At least not a valid point anymore in Prussia. Lashing of soldiers was abolished 1813.
Also officer career was opened to non-noble members, especially in the "Landwehr"

[Tim O'Keefe]

At least not a valid point anymore in Prussia. Lashing of soldiers was abolished 1813.
Also officer career was opened to non-noble members, especially in the "Landwehr"

Yes the Prussian army went through a massive reform. As did the other Allied Army's to some extent. They all had to after Austerlitz, Jena/Auerstadt, Friedland etc. Still in Prussia fear of discilpline was a powerful motivator for the solders right up and through WWII.

The 1815 Prussian Army still had a long way to go to catch up to La Grande Army as far as the cream rising to the top because of their ability not their name. The veteran 1815 French Army was more than a match for the conscript 1815 Prussian Army, at Charleroi, Ligny, & Wavre, Plancenoit etc.