Waterloo skeleton finally identified?
The skeleton was unearthed in June 2012 near the present Waterloo monument. The discovery excited archaeologists as skeletons from the Battle of Waterloo are very rare, and this one was almost complete (see below). The victim had died during the battle of Waterloo in 2015. His body was found only 400 yards from the line of battle, and he could have been carried to a final resting place by a comrade.
The cause of death was obvious, as the bullet could still be seen between his ribs. Revealing his identity was more difficult as there was nothing left of his uniform, although a piece of wood was found near his remains bearing the initials C.B.
Victim was fighting under George III
Glover claims the man should be identified as Friedrich Brandt, who was a 23-year-old fighting in the King's German Legion for the British king George III. He was fighting alongside the British troops in the battle against Napoleon of France.
This was because Hannover had chosen to join the British side after being overrun by Napoleon's troops. They hoped to get rid of the French by joining the British. It allowed George III to create a German Legion.
From 3 to 2 to just 1
Glover explains that the piece of wood shows traces of an "F" before C.B. These 3 initials combined showed 3 matches with German soldiers from that time. He found out that one soldier was fighting at a different place, and that another one claimed his pay one month after the battle of Waterloo, before dying of his battle wounds in Brussels.
This left him with just Friedrich Brandt. "We will never be 100 per cent sure whether it was this man though", admits Glover.
Why are skeletons from the Battle of Waterloo so rare?
Only very seldom do archaeologists discover a skeleton from the time of the Battle of Waterloo, let alone a complete skeleton. This is due to a habit that was widespread in the 1830s and 1840s.
Human bones were considered as a perfect fertilizer for the soil to grow crops. The area around Waterloo was intensively searched for skeletons of soldiers that had perished some decades ago. Their bones were ground and the powder was sold to local farmers.
Only rich people received a proper grave at that time. Others ended up in a mass grave. This is why grinding the bones of the deceased and using them as fertilizer was not considered as something shocking.
