Yesterday’s post was dedicated to 21st Century War Horses . Today I am going back to the 19th Century to take a look at Copenhagen, the horse of the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
Copenhagen foaled in 1808 and was of Thoroughbred and Arabian parentage. He was the Duke of Wellington’s favorite horse and was ridden in several battles but the most famous of them was the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Wellington was mounted on Copenhagen for some seventeen hours of the battle. When he dismounted he patted Copenhagen on the flank and the horse, quite probably exhausted and overwrought kicked out and narrowly missed Wellington’s head!
He lived to a good age and died in February 1836 aged 28 years. The story goes that he had overindulged in too many sugary treats: sponge cakes, bath buns and chocolate creams. He was buried with full military honors at the Duke of Wellington’s country residence. A few years after his death the Duke was asked, by the United Services Museum, to have Copenhagen disinterred so that his skeleton could be displayed alongside the skeleton of Napoleon’s horse Marengo. The Duke refused and rightly so!
After his father’s death the Duke’s son places a marble grave marker beside the tree that was planted over Copenhagen’s grave. The epitaph read.
“Here lies
COPENHAGEN,
the charger, ridden by
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
the entire day of the
BATTLE OF WATERLOO.
Born in 1808. died 1836. God’s humbler instrument though meaner clay
should share the glory of that glorious day.”
HorseAddict 
Reblogged this on HorseAddict and commented:
Today as part of my remembrance of the equine war heroes I am reblgging my post about Copenhagen. He was on the battlefield for 17 hours at the Battle of Waterloo. When Wellington dismounted he gave him a unexpected response!
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Reblogged this on History… Our Evolution.
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Thank you for the reblog!
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I love this! Horses have played such a permanent role in our world for so long. I love that they no longer have to see battle and we can spoil them with stables and rugs and take them on adventures in the pursuit of ribbons and goals in a 60×20!
They are such brace animals, so giving and kind
Mel x
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I agree!
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What a great horse. Look forward to your next post of the famous horse in the US.
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Thank you. She’s a favorite of mine!
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I am told that a horse or for that matter any animal does not have the capacity to digest cooked sweets without harming the system.
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I suspect you are right. It may not have been the best thing to feed him especially if they did it frequently. Horses can tolerate sugar cubes, in moderation, and treats with molasses and oats and bran but chocolate éclairs and such would be a no.
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Hoping the Korean post includes Sgt. Reckless 😊
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Absolutely! She is a favourite of mine.
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Thank you for your account of these notable horses. I hope that you will get on to the horses of WW1 too!
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Thank you and yes on Nov 11 I will be posting on WW1. Before that there will be the Battle of little Big Horn, Korean War and war in Afghanistan.
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Looking forward to them all!
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That is wonderful!! I would like to be known as God’s humbler instrument!
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Yes! Thank you for this comment it brings a wonderful perspective.
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Sponge cake ! Lovely 🙂
He made use of his Arabic heritage in those long battles. Impressive!
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Sponge cake has at least a couple of food groups and he would have needed energy for 17 hours on the battlefield! Thanks for this comment.
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