Colonels Commanding Brigades
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 “Letter # 194, dated 27 February 1835” in Letters from the Battle of Waterloo: Unpublished Correspondence by Allied Officers from the Siborne Papers.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.
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.