author
Edward Cotton
1792–1849
A veteran of Waterloo who later became one of the battlefield’s earliest guides, this former sergeant-major wrote from lived experience rather than legend. His best-known book offers a grounded, eyewitness-flavored account of one of Europe’s most famous battles.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born on the Isle of Wight around 1792, Edward Cotton served in the British Army and fought at the Battle of Waterloo as a sergeant-major in the 7th Hussars. Accounts of his life note that his horse was killed under him during the battle, a detail that helps explain the hard-earned perspective behind his writing.
After leaving the army, he settled near the Waterloo battlefield at Mont-Saint-Jean. By the 1830s he was working as an early guide to the site and is also credited with founding a Waterloo museum, turning memory and relics of the campaign into something visitors could explore firsthand.
Cotton is best remembered for A Voice from Waterloo, a history of the battle published in the 1840s and later reissued. The book stands out because it combines the viewpoint of a participant with documentary material such as dispatches and orders, making it useful both as a personal account and as a historical source. He died in June 1849.