WATERLOO, Belgium - Captain Alexander Macnab of the 2nd Battalion, 30th Foot Guards was one of thousands of soldiers killed and unceremoniously buried on the famous battlefield near this small Belgian community.

Those few historians who have written about him agree that Macnab's military career was less than distinguished, especially in comparison with the many larger-than-life characters whose names to this day are associated with the Battle of Waterloo.

Yet despite a less-than-illustrious career and an obscure death, Captain Macnab has been accorded the rare tribute of having a marble tablet to his memory affixed to the walls of London's St. Paul's Cathedral. His one claim to fame seems to have been that, as far as can be determined, he was the only Canadian known to have participated in this epic battle that took place about 15 kilometres south of Brussels.

Apparently on the strength of this assertion, his Canadian descendants were successful in having a commemorative plaque placed in what is known as the "Canadian Corner" of the cathedral in 1876. Nearby is a bust of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Not far away is the crypt of the Duke of Wellington, the victor at Waterloo, as well as a monument to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton.

Captain Macnab was serving as an aide-de-camp to General Picton when both men were killed at Waterloo. The town of Picton, Ontario is named in the general's honour.

At the end of the day, the Duke of Wellington and the allied forces under his command had handed French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte his final defeat. Wellington's place in history was assured, and he later was elected prime minister of Great Britain. Many of the officers who served under him were eventually rewarded with prestigious posts in various parts of Britain's far-flung empire.

A spectacular re-enactment of the battle was staged on the same historic grounds Sunday, although the actual conflict took place on June 18, 1815, also a Sunday.

An estimated 50,000 people filled bleachers surrounding the battlefield or perched on a huge mound of earth on one side of the field. The hill is known as the Lion Monument due to a large statue of a male lion on the summit erected by the King of Holland to commemorate his son, the Prince of Orange, who was wounded in the battle.

About 3,000 re-enactors took part in the event, dressed in brightly coloured uniforms that the participants went to great pains to have resemble the original military dress of the period. While the original battle lasted for the better part of 10 hours, the re-enactment was compressed into two hours. The roar of constant cannon and rifle fire, numerous cavalry charges and hand-to-hand skirmishes added to the realism, giving the impression that the original battle was taking place all over again.

Even the weather lent authenticity to the event. Just like June 18, 1815, intermittent showers turned the battlefield into a quagmire, with observers constantly opening and closing umbrellas to take shelter from the downpour.

While history books refer to Captain Macnab as the only Canadian at Waterloo, the designation is a bit of a stretch. Schoolchildren looking forward to events celebrating the upcoming July 1 national holiday know that the Dominion of Canada was founded in 1867 -- more than 52 years after the battle that sent the defeated Bonaparte into permanent exile.

However, the British colony of Upper Canada, now part of Southern Ontario, had been created, along with its Quebec counterpart Lower Canada, by the Constitutional Act of 1791. At that point, Alexander Macnab was living in York (later Toronto) as the owner of a "considerable property" on Bay Street, according to real estate records of the time. Born in Virginia in 1768, he had fled north with his United Empire Loyalist parents during the American Revolution.

Macnab, who never married, joined the British Army in 1802 and served in Ireland, Portugal and Spain before being seconded to General Picton's personal staff.

As Macnab lay dying on the battlefield, he instructed his orderly to convey his watch, ring, sword, and regimental sash, along with some messages, to his family in Scotland and Canada.

Macnab was buried in an unmarked grave at the scene of the conflict. With close to 25,000 British, Belgian, Dutch and Prussian troops of the allied forces and almost double that number of French soldiers killed or wounded that day, little is known of the actual circumstances of Captain Macnab's death.

One of the few pieces of evidence that he was even there is the rectangular stone slab at St. Paul's by two of his nephews in September 1876. It reads: "Sacred to the memory of Captain Alexander Macnab 30th Reg aide-de-camp to Lieut General Sir Thomas Picton who was with him slain at Waterloo. His body lies on the field of battle in the hope of a blessed resurrection."