Excerpt from The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 2, January 1-December 31, 1863

On conversing with Thomas Bradley Thornett:

Capt Thornett has spent an hour or so in my room, he has given me a little of his history. He is a man near forty and has been a long time in the British Army. Served in India and through the Crimean War. His Father was a Naval officer, his Mother is still living in “Kent,” spends half the year in France with a daughter. At the age of 16 she was in Brussels during the Battle of Waterloo and was at the Celebrated Ball described by Byron, “There was a sound of revelry at night."