WATERLOO - HOUGOMONT - PORTE DU NORD.

The Battle for the Chateau of Hougoumont was the opening scene of the Battle of Waterloo. The French attack on the fortified castle complex began on June 18, 1815 around 10 am. Wellington ordered his troops to stay within the building for as long as possible.

“When Henry Paget, Lord Uxbridge asked the Duke what was the key issue of the day, the Commander replied ‘Keep Hougoumont’. Wisely or unwisely, disregarding Soult’s suggestion of a flanking attack around Wellington’s right line, Bonaparte demurred and ordered Hougoumont to be taken, whatever the cost“
http://www.waterloo200.org/keep-hougoumont-at-what-price-by-mick-crumplin/

The postcard collected by the Millers in 1907 shows the remains of the area of this famous skirmish. It shows what remained of the North Gate, the scene of one of the better-known stories of heroism at the Battle of Waterloo. It concerns the tale of the 'bravest man in England' as he was known after these events: Corporal James Graham (1791–1845).

Graham was one of several soldiers who, under Lieutenanat Colonel Macdonell’s command barricaded the north gate of the chateau in time to thwart a determined French attack. It was James Graham who is known as the soldier who slotted the bar home after the North Gate was shut.

“Sous-Lieutenant Legros, wielding an axe, managed to break through the north gate. A desperate fight ensued between the invading French soldiers and the defending Guards. In a near-miraculous attack, Macdonell, a small party of officers and Corporal James Graham fought through the melee to shut the gate, trapping Legros and about 30 other soldiers of the 1st Legere inside. All of the French who entered, apart from a young drummer boy, were killed in a desperate hand-to-hand fight.” Wikipedia.

The Emperor Napoleon ordered a howitzer barrage of the buildings in the walled complex. The barn caught fire and it spread to the chateau, the stables and the other out-buildings. The English fought on inside the burning buildings. The screams of the trapped soldiers could be heard and the story goes that James Graham asked the permission of Lieutenanat Colonel Macdonell to fall out, to leave the North Gate to return to the castle to rescue his brother Joseph who was wounded and trapped inside.

“In the farm’s chapel, the site of a recently despicable theft of the wooden crucifix with burnt feet, it was said that several wounded soldiers were sitting propped up against the whitewashed walls of the small religious chamber. The flames licked around the crucifix through the doorway and then they receded, presumably as the fire abated somewhat. Such a thing was considered a miracle by some of the soldiers trapped there.”
http://www.waterloo200.org/keep-hougoumont-at-what-price-by-mick-crumplin/

Graham succeeded in snatching his brother from the terrible fate which menaced him, laid him in a ditch in the rear of the enclosure and true to his word returned to the North Gate to aid in its defence.