Crafty Wee Bony

DESCRIPTION: Bony escapes, Louis flees Paris and Sandy and Donald lead highlanders and Scots Greys to meet Bony at Waterloo. "A favourite eagle was ta'en by a Grey." The French run. Bonaparte is sent to St Helena. "We'll chant ower this story to auld Scotia's glory"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1817 (T Johnston chapbook, according to Greig/Duncan1)
KEYWORDS: battle France humorous Napoleon exile
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #94, p. 2, "Sandy and Donald" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 151, Greig/Duncan8 Addenda, "Crafty Wee Bony" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2642
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.14(33), "Adventures of Sandy and Donald On the Plains of Waterloo" ("When crafty wee Buona' broke out of his prison"), The Poet's box (Glasgow), 1870
Murray, Mu23-y1:063, "The Adventures Of Sandy And Donald On The Plains Of Waterloo," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lass o' Glenshee" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Waterloo
NOTES [163 words]: In the aftermath of Napoleon's first abdication in 1814, Louis XVIII (1755-1824) hurried to France to claim the throne of his elder brother Louis XVI. (What happened to Louis XVII? He was the son of Louis XVI, and spent his entire reign in exile, dying while still a boy in 1795.) Hence the reference to Louis fleeing (though not very fast, since he was immensely fat and needed a cane to walk due to gout).
The reference to the Highlanders and Scots Greys at Waterloo is accurate; David Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon, (Macmillan, 1966), notes that the Scots Greys and 92nd Highlanders were in Wellington's army. They were among the forces who opposed the first French attack, launched by d'Erlon's corps. (The 92nd Highlanders, if I understand Chandler right, were in the front line; the Scots Greys came to reinforce them when the front line wavered.)
According to Chandler, Sergeant Charles Ewart of the Scots Greys captured the eagle of the French 45th Regiment. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1151

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