By Robert Burnham & Gareth Glover

Brigade commanders were usually major generals, however it was not uncommon for colonels and lieutenant colonels to command a brigade.

Best, Charles. “Letter # 194, dated 27 February 1835” in Letters from the Battle of Waterloo: Unpublished Correspondence by Allied Officers from the Siborne Papers. Gareth Glover (ed.). London: Greenhill; 2004. Pages 294 – 298

Notes: was a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 8th King’s German Legion Line Battalion; commanded the 4th Hannoverian Brigade 6th Division at Waterloo.

Brodick Colonel John, letter during Corunna campaign. Edited by Gareth Glover, Napoleonic Archive 23, published September 2026

D’Urban, Benjamin. The Peninsular War Journal: 1808-1817 London: Greenhill Napoleonic Library; 1988. 385 pages. ISBN: 0-947898-87-5

Notes: Served as a staff officer to Robert Wilson; as Quarter Master General to Marshal Beresford; commanded brigade of Portuguese Cavalry (1st, 11th, and 12th Regiments) in 1812.

Mitchell, Hugh H. “Letter to His Wife, Harriet undated” in Gareth Glover (ed.). The Waterloo Archive Volume VI: British Sources. Barnsley: Frontline, 2014. Page 155

Notes: was a colonel and commanded the 4th British Brigade at Waterloo.

Ompteda, Christian von. In the King’s German Legion: Memoirs of Baron Ompteda, Colonel in the King’s German Legion during the Napoleonic Wars. Von Ompteda, Louis (ed.) Cambridge: Ken Trotman; 1987. 328 pages.

Notes: 1793 – 1815; commanded 1st Light Battalion in 1812; 5th Line Battalion in 1813; commanded 2nd King’s German Legion Brigade 3rd Division at Waterloo, where he was killed.