Waterloo
When Napoleon escaped from exile on the island of Elba, he quickly reformed his army for a campaign that menaced the peace of Europe. This campaign was brought to an end on Sunday 18 June 1815 at Waterloo by an Allied army of 191,300 soldiers under the Duke of Wellington. The battle between Napoleon's forces and Wellington's Allied Army was to end twenty-three years of recurrent warfare.
After a long, hard, wet march the Inniskillings arrived on the battlefield to be given a crucial position. They endured bombardment by Napoleon's artillery and saw off several cavalry charges but suffered heavy casualties, including all but one of the officers so that Companies were commanded by sergeants. But their gallantry saved the centre of the Allied line and prevented the French punching through to Brussels.
Although many of Wellington's British troops were Irish, the 1st Battalion, The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot, the oldest antecedent Regiment of today's Royal Irish Regiment, was amongst those who fought with great distinction at Waterloo, and the Regiment's losses were amongst the heaviest in the Allied force. By the end of the day, of the 15 officers present, 14 had become casualties and no less than 478 men out of a strength of 698, had been killed or wounded. But the 1st/27th yielded not an inch.
Because of the courage of its officers and men, the Inniskillings earned the praise of the Iron Duke,
"They saved the centre of my line,"
Proclaimed Wellington.
A French general later commented that he had,
"Never seen bravery to equal the stubborn bravery of the Regiment with castles"
The Iniskillings cap badge was a castle
The tradition of the Battalions of the Regiment being commanded on Waterloo Day by the SNCO's continues to this day.