ThedefenceofHougoumontbyaBritishbrigadeattheBattleofWaterloowitnessedmanycourageousacts.TheDukeofWellingtonwroteafterthebattle:"NotroopscouldhaveheldHougoumontbuttheBritish,andonlythebestofthem."Amongthose"bestsoldiers",SergeantJamesGrahamstoodoutasbeingexceptional.
Butinthethickofthefight,Grahamaskedpermissionofhiscommandingofficertoretireforamoment.Theofficerreplied,"Byallmeans,Graham;butIwonderyoushouldaskleavenow."Grahamanswered,"Iwouldnot,sir,onlymybrotheriswoundedandheisinthatbarnthere,whichhasjustcaughtfire."Herantotheblazingspot,lifteduphisbrother,andlaidhiminaditch.Thenhewasbackathispost,andwasplyinghismusketagainsttheFrenchagain.
滑鐵盧戰役之中，一旅英軍扼守霍高蒙特農莊，英勇非常。戰後，威靈頓公爵寫道：「除了英軍，沒有軍隊守得住霍高蒙特，而且還要最精銳的英軍。」「最精銳的英軍」之中，詹姆斯．格雷厄姆中士表現尤其出色。
但是，戰鬥最激烈的時候，格雷厄姆卻請求指揮官准許他暫時退下。指揮官說：「沒問題，格雷厄姆。我只是奇怪你怎麼這個時候要退下去。」格雷厄姆回答：「我不想這樣，但我弟弟受了傷，在那邊的穀倉裏，而穀倉剛剛着火。」他跑到火場，把弟弟抱起，放進壕溝裏，馬上返回岡位，拿起毛瑟槍，繼續向法軍開火。