Marching with Sharpe: What it was like to fight in Wellington’s Army 0004145364, 9780004145365

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Created from first-hand written accounts and contemporary military manuals of the time, this remarkable text presents a fascinating insight into the nitty-gritty of everyday life for the British soldier during the peninsular war and leading up to the Battle of Waterloo. With photographs of original items of equipment and of modern day re-enactment groups, Marching with Sharpe reveals what ‘it was really like for ordinary soldiers and their camp followers. Find out how the rifle developed from the musket; what kit the soldiers carried; how they kept dry in the mountains of Spain; what they ate; how the infantry faced charging cavalry; what the battlefield was like after ‘victory’. Read it as the veterans themselves wrote about it. Bernard Cornwell wrote about this hook: ‘This book tells you what their lives were really like and my only regret is that B.J. Bluth did not write it twenty-two years ago.’

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MARCHING WITH SHARPE

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MARCHING WITH SHARPE B. T. Bluth PhD

To those who served, v^ho suffered, who fought, who died NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE ^ ^ to vanquish the Corsican usurper CITY LIBRARIES Napoleon Bonaparte and

C2 811356 00 OF

ernard Cornwell

Askews

Oct

telling their story,

£19.9^rings tl em so much to mind.

^AC> Zl-

ITED

Notes on the text This book is based on direct quotations,'first-hand

historical errors are thus preserved in the hope that,joined

accounts, from the

with the photographs and drawings, their spirit and style

diaries, journals, letters

and

commentaries of the veterans of England’s war with France,

between

1808

and

1815,

and

will rise above the print and years, aHve and provoking.

their

To preserve the progression of ideas being conveyed

contemporaries. This technique is called ‘stitching

using the stitching passages technique, footnotes have

passages’, where the words are compiled and arranged,

been omitted as there would be so many they would

combining the ideas of a number of people into a flowing

constantly interrupt the smooth flow of the text.

coherent whole — the words, however being mostly

All of the sources used in writing this book can be

original. Where there are no quotations, the words have

found at the end of each chapter, and in the

been mostly paraphrased but are still authentic. The

Bibliography. A list of easily obtained books are included

spelling, grammar, syntax, wording and technical and

in ‘Recommendations for Further Reading.’

First published in Great Britain in 2001

Acknowledgements

by HarperCollinsPubUshers London

The author is deeply grateful to aU the many persons who have helped with this hook, inspiring its growth and evolution,

© HuTpcrCoUinsPublishers 135798642

generously supplying hard to find information, and who read the manuscript at various stages making sound suggestions and observations. Special gratitude goes to Ian Drury, who made

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

it happen, and to Maureen and Irene Shettle, Maureen and

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any

Terry Howe, Sherry R. McNeal, Roh and Rich Bluth, and to

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying

the staff of the National Army Museum in London, all helping

or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the

in great and small ways.

publishers The publishers also wish to extend their thanks to the The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the

following people and organisations;

author of this work.

The Curator, Major Ken Grey, and his staff of the Royal Green

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the

Jackets Museum in Winchester.

British Library

Martin Monks and all the members of the Napoleonic Association - particularly the men of the 95th Rifles & the

The HarperCoUins website address is; www.fireandwater.com

Highlanders for their patience and kind assistance. Ron Roberts of the 7th Hussars (in North America).

ISBN 0-00-414536-4

Allan Rooney of Midas Tours for his spectacular views of the peninsular battlefields.

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Richard Palmer for his excellent photographic services.

CONTENTS Foreword by Bernard Cornwell

7

Preface

9

Preparing for War

15

On Foreign Strands

53

On the March

88

The Storm of War

109

B efore the Walls

144

The Battle Gained

169

Campaign Maps

181

Appendices Chronology

185

Selected items of expenditure from Dickson!s Petty Cash Book, 1809-11

187

Bibliography

195

Recommended Reading

199

Sources

200

Index

207

raS [)

WH

j^9

Wm^yi

FOREWORD BY Bernard Cornwell

I

t was in 1979 that I began to write the adventures of

What did the soldiers eat and how did they cook it?

Richard Sharpe. They sprang from the naval

How did they amuse themselves? How did they mend

adventures of Horatio Hornblower which I had read

boots or uniforms? I still remember the joy of

avidly as a teenager and, when C.S. Forester ended that

discovering one day that the only cloth available in

series, I wanted more and so I began to read the non¬

Portugal was brown, and in consequence the army was

fiction histories and discovered that, rich as Britain’s

not really one of redcoats and greenjackets at all, but

naval achievements were in the long wars against

browncoats. Films often make British armies look

Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, the army also

resplendent in red coats, but that must have been very

had some extraordinary tales to teU. So began a lifelong

unusual because after a few days of marching and

fascination with Wellington’s army. I devoured books

sleeping rough they looked more like a horde of tramps.

about the PeninsulaiWar and Waterloo, but I was a great

‘I don’t know what they do to the enemy,’ the Duke of

fan of historical fiction and, for some strange reason,

Wellington once remarked about one of his regiments,

there were very few novels about the soldiers who

‘but they frighten me.’

fought against Napoleon.There were plenty of fictional

So piece by piece, diary by diary, I assembled a

sailors following in Hornblower’s wake, but no soldiers

working knowledge of how Wellington’s men lived. I

and, after haunting the bookshops for years, I decided 1

started this process long before I began writing Sharpe,

might try and write the books myself. There are now

back when I was working in television, and I collected

eighteen Sharpe novels and I suspect there will be more.

the material in a large red BBC notebook that is still my

Most of Sharpe’s adventures take place against ‘real’

primary source for Sharpe’s background. The book is

backgrounds, from the capture ofSeringapatam in 1799

held together with sticky tape and staples, and is totally

to the horrors ofWaterloo sixteen years later.Those real

inadequate because I have never taken the time to

backgrounds are easy to research because there are

organise its material. I did try once. I numbered its 279

scores of books that tell us what happened and why it

pages and started an index, but never finished it, and so

happened, but right from the beginning of Sharpe’s

the notebook remains a disorganised mess. A page

career I discovered very few sources that told me what it

opened at random tells me that a battalion once sailed

was really like to be in Portugal or Spain or India during

from the southern coast of England to Lisbon in a mere

the long wars.There were a few published diaries and

seven days while another unit, without fair winds, took

volumes of letters and those offered some marvellous

forty nine days.The same page tells me about‘the pains’,

clues,but there were still a host ofunanswered questions.

the soldier’s nickname for the discomfort caused by the

7

MARCHING standard issue army knapsack that was ill-designed by a

WITH

SHARPE

know that some crucial fact is hidden in the mess and

Mister Trotter. The next page informs me that a troop

cannot be rediscovered. I havejust finished Sharpe’s Prey

of Horse Artillery had 243 men and 206 horses and

and spent hours searching for the results of tests done on

needed 71 mules to carry bread, 24 for rum, 12 for rice

heated shot.You could heat a cannon ball to red heat in

and 69 for forage, spare horse shoes and nails, and those

a furnace, then let it cool for a long time and douse it in

176 mules needed another 29 to carry their own forage,

water and it would still retain enough heat to ignite

but I never noted down where I found those figures. I

wood, and somewhere in the notebook is the

am hopelessly disorganised. Two pages later the book

description of that experiment which I remember as

records the common belief that French musket balls

astonishing, because a twenty-four pound round shot

were poisoned (they were not), and notes the advice

(or was it an eighteen pound ball?) could be cooled for

given to British soldiers by their Portuguese allies that

hours (I think) and repeatedly doused in water and it

they should only drink white wine ‘because we know

would still set a battleship ahght,but I could not find the

how the red is made’. But how?The very next line tells

details, and still cannot. I did find the results of a Prussian

me that seventeen men from the 71st were all killed by

experiment in musketry. They made a target 100 feet

a single French round shot, while in the margin, hastily

long and 6 feet high, which is broadly the size of a

scrawled in pencil, is an excerpt from a soldier’s letter

battalion in line, and had a regiment fire volleys at the

home; Lisbon, he wrote, ‘is a dungheap from end to

target which is the equivalent of, say, ten barn doors, and

end’.

at 75 yards (which is 68 and a half metres for those who

The notebook is also full of anecdotes. How a British

insist on using French measurements) only 60% of the

officer stopped a French pursuit by placing barrels of

musket balls hit. At 150 yards (137 metres) it was down

wine on the road and the enemy, sure enough, preferred

to 40% and even that flatters the musketeers because the

to stop and get drunk. In the Pyrenees some French

target was a solid sheet, whereas a battalion has gaps

troops were about to slaughter a bullock for food when

between the men. It is aU useful stuff, but so hopelessly

the beast managed to escape. It crossed to the British

arranged.What I have really needed all these years is this

lines where it was captured and killed by the redcoats

book by B.J. Bluth.

whereupon the hungry French soldiers sent some

For this book, better than any other 1 have seen, tells

emissaries under a flag of truce to beg for half of the

you how Wellington’s army lived and fought. It was a

carcass, which was given to them. One of the nastiest

magnificent army, and it is brought to life in these pages

tales is how some Riflemen sliced the buttocks from a

and by the photographs of modern day re-enactors. Life

dead Frenchman and sold them as ‘ham’ to a Portuguese

was not easy for Wellington’s men, but they helped rid

battalion (the Portuguese had killed the Riflemens’ pet

Europe of a tyrant and they did it with forbearance, good

dog).The BBC notebook is crammed with such stuff,

humour and a frightening ferocity. This book teUs you

and I suppose I have used most of it over the years, but I

what their lives were really like and my only regret is that

constantly find forgotten things in its pages or, worse.

B.J. Bluth did not write it twenty-two years ago.

8

ri

PREFACE A Little History

held the power ofmobile money and expanding capital, financing the government loans. It was also the middle

In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy crossed the

classes, together with the peasantry, whose taxes paid for

Channel from France to claim his throne, defeating

the adventures of the King and the lifestyle and

Harold,last king of the Old English at Hastings,and thus

privileges of his court, his nobility and the princes of the

becoming the King of England. From then on, the

Church.They paid five times more in land taxes than the

English nation became enmeshed in tensions and

aristocratic and clerical Estates: they paid tithes to the

bloody conflicts with France, as Normandy was only 20

Church and feudal dues to the lord of the manor; head

miles from Paris and the French King. After a few

taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, salt taxes and tolls for the

generations, the King of England, still the Duke of

use of the roads.

Normandy, came

more than half of the feudal

The middle classes believed that their energy and

territories of France. War upon war followed, with the

ingenuity was responsible for France’s growing wealth,

Enghsh defeating the French, the French defeating the

and consequently, were convinced that they had rightful

English, in what seemed a never ending cycle ofvictory,

access to the favours and appointments ofthe state, equal

elation, rage and defeat — living out a veritable ‘Devil’s

status before the law and at the royal courts, access to all

code of honour’’, as the Kings of England and France

of the privileges and graces of French society, and an

fought over their boundaries, their prerogatives and

equitable proportion ofthe burdens of taxation.

their crown.

The truth was that by 1789, the state was mired in ‘an

In 1760, George III assumed the throne of England,

incorrigible system of faulty finance’, stemming from

and in 1774, Louis XVI became King of France. George

the reign of Louis XIV. Its credit was exhausted, with a

III lost his English Colonies in America after a revolt

debt 16 times greater than its total revenue — it was on

which was aided and abetted by Louis XVI. The latter

the edge of complete bankruptcy. The funds spent by

had sent men, weapons and enormous treasure to ensure

Louis XVI to support the American Revolutionaries

victory and to achieve his true goal - striking a

had been secured by enormous loans, doubling the

devastating blow to English power and commerce.

national debt. In 1789, half of the crown’s income was

However, Louis XVTs actions only aggravated rising

consumed in servicing its debt.

tensions in a seemingly prosperous France, resulting in 1789, in the French Revolution. The affluent and growing middle classes of France

If the King had used a firm hand, reform might have been possible. However, that was not to be. Marie Antoinette sketched her husband:

9

MARCHING

WITH

SHARPE

December 15th 1792, the Edict of Fraternity was The King is not a coward; he possesses an

proclaimed, offering ‘fraternity and assistance to all

abundance of passive courage, but he is

peoples who seek to recover their liberty,’* thus actively

overwhelmed by an awkward shyness and

exporting the revolution and breaking with established

mistrust

international order. While radicals and revolutionaries

of himself...He

is

afraid

to

command.2

applauded, the kings and cabinets of Europe‘found their minds wonderfuhy concentrated.’'^

Every possible reform which might have solved the

One by one, countries broke their diplomatic

severe fiscal problems of the crown and the social and

relations with France. In France, a rebel group marched

financial inequities prevailing throughout the society,

from MarseiUes to depose the King singing the newly

interfered with the powerful vested interests of either

composed song, ‘The War Song of the Army of the

the Crown, the nobility, the clergy or the various

Rhone’ or‘The Marseillaise’.

members of the middle class. However, the nobility and

Though the King and most of the royal family had

clergy were uncompromising, insisting on keeping all of

been held in genteel imprisonment for three months,

their entitlements, income, exemptions and ancient

documents were found in November which implicated

favours. The middle classes were impatient to expunge

the King in treason. His trial opened December 11th

the ancient codes. The King was at an impasse and

1792. He was convicted by a vote of 683 to 66; the vote

avoided making harsh decisions. France had become an

for death was 361 to 334. On January 21st 1793, the

irrational and unworkable system and‘an explosion was

‘Republique de France’ executed King Louis XVI by

inevitable and had long been expected by all inquiring

guillotine.

minds.’3 Time passed and France became engulfed in crises;

They had committed regicide and they broadcast their chaUenge throughout Europe:

bad weather, bad harvests, famine,bread riots, tax revolts, demands from the nobility, the growing deficit, and plots

Allied kings threaten us, and we hurl at

against the throne. The King responded by freeing his

their feet as a gage of battle the head of a

own serfs, providing loans for the poor, forbidding the

king.8

use of torture on witnesses or criminals, reforming the prisons, allowing for considerable religious liberty and

We must establish the despotism of Hberty

refusing to let the government spy on the private

to crush the despotism of kings.’

correspondence of citizens. It was not enough. On July 14th 1789, the Bastille fell to a Parisian mob,

France declared war on Holland and Great Britain on

blood flowed in the streets and heads were raised on

February 1st 1793. News of mass murders of the

pikes.‘In the name of reason irrational forces had been

aristocracy came across the Channel, and what had, at

let loose.’Over 200, 000 nobles requested passports to

first, been seen as a welcome constitutional reform had

leave the country.

turned

into

a bloody

dictatorship.

France

was

By this time, England had already come through the

threatening the world, and as Prime Minister William

long process of instituting a constitutional monarchy,

Pitt put it:‘We are at war with those who would destroy

and many actually welcomed the rebellion, assuming

the whole fabric of our Constitution.’lo

that the outcome would be a France with diminished

Control of the Continent ebbed and flowed over the

military threat and based on many of the same principles

following years, as the nations, striving to subdue the

as the English Government. Edmund Burke, however,

rebellious French were repelled, intimidated or

saw the Revolution as a prelude to something more

overcome in battle, only to rise up again, continuing the

frightening — a creeping threat to the institutions of

bloody cycle of victory and defeat.

Christian Europe. He counselled preparation for war.s

The Republique continued in discord and conflict, but

The massacres began in September 1792 and by the

eventually by 1795, managed to create another

end of that month the first French Republic was

constitution. It was preparing to inaugurate its new

declared. Emboldened by victories on the battlefield, on

government, when, on October 4th and 5th, a group of

1 0

P RE FACE plutocrats and royalists assembling a force of25,000 men

state of our navy, it seems impossible to

rose in revolt, threatening the deputies. Remembered

obtain the promptness of execution which

for the clever tactics he used to ridToulon of the English

is essential, we can only abandon the

fleet in 1793, Brigadier-General Bonaparte, who was

expedition, while maintaining a pretence

serving as Director of Military Plans in Paris at the time,

of it, and concentrate our attention and

was asked to intervene. He promptly sent for Captain

resource on the Rhine... or undertake an

Joachim Murat to bring some guns with which to

eastern expedition to threaten England’s

administer a ‘whiff of grape-shot’”. Napoleon ordered

trade with the Indies.”

the crowd to disperse and when they refused, he commanded the artillery to fire, killing between 200 to

In April 1798, Napoleon was given command of the

300 of the insurgents.The rest fled.This action resulted

Armee de I’Orient and departed for Egypt, where, despite

in his promotion to the rank of General de Division with

his land victories, his navy was destroyed by Admiral

command of the Armee de I’Interieur. By March 1796

Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. This left

General Bonaparte was the Commander-in-Chief of

Napoleon and his army stranded and fostering another

the Armee de I’ltalie, where he soon won spectacular

European coalition which attacked France, reclaiming

victories and glory by defeating the Austrians. He had

many of Napoleon’s gains. In August, Napoleon and

risen from obscurity to fame, his portrait fiUing the Paris

most of his principal staff officers slipped out of Egypt,

shops, showing a haggard young general with classic

reaching the shores of France on October 9th. Another

features, gesticulating to his admiring soldiers against a

coup d’etat was imminent in Paris and by November 9th,

backdrop of the snowy Alps.

the streets of the city were filled with troops

The Italian campaign successfully completed, on

commanded

by

Napoleon’s

officers:

Napoleon

October 27th 1797, General Bonaparte was appointed

Bonaparte was nominated First Consul in the new

to command the Armee de I’Angleterre, assembling in the

government, first among three. He had been given the

Channel ports to invade England. He said that:

power of a king, though without the sceptre. After years ofwar,lawlessness, tyranny, executions and

The English are courageous, meddling and

massacres, most in France were sick of the Revolution.

energetic. We must pull down the English

They wanted peace and stability, and the majority

monarchy... Let us concentrate our efforts

assumed that the chaos of the past could only be brought

on building ufK)ur fleet and on destroying

under control by the hand of a single, powerful leader.

England. Once that is done Europe is at

General Napoleon Bonaparte, hero of France, seemed

our feet.'3

to have all the qualities needed to heal the land while standing proud.

The alarm had passed throughout England and by 1798,

One of his first acts as First Consul was to put aside his

engravings of the French invasion ‘machines’ were on

uniform and adopt modest civilian dress, giving himself

view m Fleet Street and St. James Street. Semaphores

to the administration and reordering of the nation. By

were erected, serious plans for the defence of the coast,

May, however, he was back in uniform, attempting to

started in 1796, were again updated and empowered m

reassert the power of France over a hostile Europe, and

the Defence Act of 1798. Mobilization proceeded. In

by 1801 was again planning an invasion of England.

April of 1798, however, Napoleon decided that a

England reacted by putting Admiral Horatio Nelson in

successful invasion was not possible;

command of the naval defense of theThames in July and expanding on land defense work.

Whatever efforts we make, we cannot gain

The war took its toll, and faced with stalemate,

naval supremacy for some years to come.

England and France signed a treaty of peace at Amiens

To

on March 25th 1802. In August, Napoleon was made

invade

England

without

such

supremacy would be to embark on the

Consul for life with the right to select his successor.

ever

For Bonaparte, peace was the continuation of war by

undertaken... If, in view of the present

other means. English forbearance lasted until May 1803,

most

daring

and

difficult

task

11

MARCHING

WJTH

SHARPE

when England declared war on France once again.

one of England’s allies, proved to be a gap of momentous

Napoleon believed that the only way to defeat the

proportions as its sea ports allowed English commerce

English was to invade, and a month after war had been

and information to flow through with relative ease.

declared, he ordered the Grande Armee to the Channel

Threatened by an invasion of French armies, the

ports to begin training for a seaborne invasion. This

Portuguese royal party, the Government and the nobles

time, he intended to provide a worthy fleet and ordered

of Portuguese society fled Lisbon to the safety of their

2,000 small craft to be escorted by his ships, carrying

colonies in South America. A few days later, Napoleon’s

167,590 men and 9,149 horses in one crossing to the

troops occupied Lisbon. England expanded her

shores ofEngland.

blockade to all French and French-allied ports.

French preparations to invade England continued.

Spain rebelled in a fury of spontaneous insurrection

On May 3rd 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul,

at the duplicity and egregious deceit Napoleon had used

was proclaimed Emperor of the French.

to depose and replace the Spanish Bourbon monarchy,

In

1804,

England

once

again,

stood

alone,

placing his brother,Joseph, on the throne. A riot ensued

‘unreconciled, unconquered, implacable — sullen fierce

as the remaining Spanish princes and princesses, the

and almost unperturbed,’’^ against the threat of French

King’s brother, younger son and daughter, were being

mastery and empire. English ships, her walls of wood,

taken from Madrid to Bayonne to join the royal party in

blockaded the French inside the Continental coasts, but

detention.The angry crowd stoned the French soldiers

the Government believed that the French had to be

escorting the royal coach, tearing some to pieces. The

defeated on land — something they could not

French fired upon the mob until they fled, but the

accomplish alone. The English Government, once

insurrection which had begun in Madrid spread

more, began to build a third coalition of allies, united to

throughout Spain.

defeat France.

Peasant bands armed themselves with whatever

Devising complex manoeuvres to deceive the

weapons they could find and killed any French soldier

English Admirals, Napoleon continued with his plan to

unwise enough to be alone or in a small group. At the

cross the Channel under the protection of ajoint French

time, the Spanish people were governed by local and

and Spanish fleet. FFowever, on news of the strength of

provincial committees, the Juntas — a covey of

the gathering coalition forces, on August 26th, he

alternative, parallel and changing authorities, liberally

ordered the Grande Armee to leave the Channel ports and

filled with clergy. Between May 24th and 30th, the

march into Germany. On October 21st 1805, Admiral

committees began to converge at their local centres.

Nelson found and defeated his navy at Trafalgar, ending

They refused to obey any order coming from a branch

his naval adventures. Nelson gave his life in this victory.

of the government working with the French. The tiny

Napoleon, once again, made his way across Europe,

province of Asturias, acting on its own, drove out the

systematically defeating the allies. Unable to attack the

French governor, seized the arsenal, constituted itself an

English directly, he attacked them by issuing the Berlin

independent government, declared war upon Napoleon

Decrees which were intended to strangle their trade and

and sent their envoys to England to appeal for alliance

commerce by creating an iron ring of customs guards and

and aid. On June 6th 1807, they arrived in London,

decrees stretching from the borders of Russia around the

whereupon the English agreed to their request. At that

coasts of Northern Europe and Western France, sealing

moment the Peninsular War began.

off the whole Mediterranean coastline as far as the

The Spanish armies reformed and defeated some

Dardanelles. It was a land blockade of English sea power,

French divisions; on July 18th, in particular, they

keeping English goods from entering Europe, and

inflicted upon the French a humihating defeat at Bailen

forbidding products and raw materials from getting out.

by taking 22,800 surrendering soldiers prisoner.

The aim was to stifle the English life blood of trade and

Andalusia and Galicia also declared war on France.

commerce.The Continental battles continued, aided and

When Joseph arrived in Spain he quickly saw that the

abetted by considerable English treasure.

situation was extremely dangerous. Fie told his brother:

There

the

‘No one has told your majesty the truth.The fact is that

Continental iron rings. Portugal, which had long been

there is not a single Spaniard who is for me except the

12

were,

however, serious

cracks

in

PREFACE few who came here with me. All are terrorised by the

ramparts of Lisbon... It is the special

unanimous feelings of their compatriots,’ and asked for

blessing that Providence, which has always

‘plenty of troops and money.’Napoleon, however,

watched over our armies, should have so

would not hear of it, and he replied: ‘Keep fit! Have

blinded the Enghsh that they have left the

courage and gaiety and never doubt that we will be

protection of the sea and, at last, exposed

completely successful.’^®

their troops to the continent.20

The

Spanish

invitation

gave

the

English

an

opportunity to bring their armies into the land war on

There were 314,612 French soldiers on the roles in

the Continent. The English could be supplied by sea.

Spain, 152,000 of which were under Napoleon’s direct

French communication lines back across the mountains

command. He reached Madrid by the

would be tenuous with the Spanish peasantry in revolt,

November.

and Napoleon would have to expend precious men and resources to fight the Allied army and to conquer and

end of

His next goal was to regain control ofPortugal and he was planning to move towards Lisbon.

contain the rampaging guerillas living in their difficult terrain.Aside from the military opportunity, the alliance

I

with Portugal and Spain would give the British access to

Peninsula. Nothing can for long withstand

Continental sea ports and a new source of gold and

the fulfillment of my wishes.21

shall

hunt

the

English

out

of the

silver, especially from Spanish America.This not only helped finance the war in the Peninsula, but also

Spain, which had earlier rejected England’s help, asked

increased funds to support the coalition.

Sir John Moore to protect Madrid, unfortunately, it fell

The English Government sent an army led by Sir

the day after the request arrived. Moore decided on a

Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke ofWellington) to

gamble to overwhelm an isolated French force in the

offer support to the Spanish insurgents. However, since

north, an action which would also cut the French

the Spanish Juntas of Galicia and Andalusia were not yet

communication lines back to France. He soon learned,

willing to accept foreign troops, and believing that the

however, that Napoleon knew where he was and was

French in Portugal could not be reinforced through

quickly converging with a superior force to destroy

Spain, the expedition was sent to Portugal, landing

him. Rather than be caught between two French

August 1 St 1808 .Wellesley first dealt a severe blow to the

armies, Moore elected to retreat over 250 miles of

French at Roliga, drfeating an army of around 16,622

rugged snow-covered mountains, beginning his

men with a combined Anglo-Portuguese force of

famous retreat to Coruna. In January 1809, Napoleon

18,669 atVimeiro onAugust 21st.The French evacuated

was indeed close. However, he was forced to leave

Portugal.The alliance with Portugal now re-established,

immediately when news reached him that serious

peace was made with the local Spanish representatives,

problems in Austria and Paris were leading to a plot to

and the English army was increased to some 40,000 with

replace him. He delegated command of his army but

Sir John Moore in command.

the British escaped, although Sir John Moore died in

News of the defeats of the French in the Peninsula spread throughout Europe, suggesting that the French

battle as the English troops prepared to embark to their ships.

were not invincible. Napoleon decided to remedy to

Once at home, Napoleon declared: ‘the Spanish

this idea by imposing a few crushing defeats of himself:

business is fmished,’22 and turned over the war in the Peninsula to his brother and some of his best generals.

I will conduct this war of peasants '^fid

He never returned. Napoleon belittled the Duke of

monks myself, and I hope to thrash the

Wellington as ‘Sepoy General’, who, having risen in

English soundly..

rank in the easy fields of India, would be easy prey.

I leave in a few days to put myself at the

Napoleon sent his veterans to the mountains of the

head of my army and, with the help of

Peninsula, apparently unconcerned for the small allied

God, I will crown the King of Spain in

army, its general and the fierce and angry peasants of

Madrid

Portugal and Spain who hated his soldiers.

and plant my

eagles

on

the

13

MARCHING Wellington, although numerically outnumbered,

WJTH

SHARPE

suffer in those chmes and to fight in those battles.

proved an artful opponent. He devised tactics which set

The book is intended as a compliment to the

the battles on his own terms and enabled him to hide

fictionalised account that Bernard Cornwell has created

and protect his troops well. He had an eye for selecting

of Richard Sharpe, a Rifleman of the 95th Division, the

ground that would give him the advantage and he

famous, Rifle

mastered the logistics of supplying his army with food

extraordinary detail the visceral, human and existential

and weapons in an inhospitable land. He did not expend

dimensions of England’s war with France, battle by

his men uselessly, and for this, they respecting him and

battle. By providing these authentic reflections of the

fought valiantly for him. Napoleon referred to the

participants, it is hoped that the supplement will honour

Peninsular War as his‘Spanish ulcer’. He had not heeded

the men and bring to those attracted to this human

Brigade, which

brings

home

in

the admonishment of Henry IV that‘Spain is a country

endeavour some further insight into the conditions and

where small armies are beaten and large ones starve.’^^

the driving motivations which brought these men to

With bloody and brutal fighting, the allied armies, under the Duke ofWellington, gradually pushed the

action, ready to pay the price required for victory, the men who were — Marching with Sharpe.

French out of the Peninsula, pursuing them over the mountains into France in 1814. Napoleon’s fortunes were sinking: his army of a half a million men had been

'

destroyed in Russia in the disastrous retreat from

2 Durant. The Age of Napoleon. P. 9.

Moscow in 1812, the remaining routed at Leipzig in

3 Churchill. The Age of Revolution. P. 268.

1813.The Allies, knowing him to be hundreds of miles away, seized Paris on March 30th 1814; the Allied Peninsular Army, under the Duke ofWellington was on

Thackeray. Vanity Fair

ChurchiU. The Age of Revolution. P. 278. 5 Lee, Christopher. This Sceptred Isle. P. 461. ^ Dunnt.The Age of Napoleon.P.50. ’ Best, Geoffrey. War and Society in Revolutionary Europe 1770

French soil. Convinced by his marshals that all was lost, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, abdicated on April 6th and was exiled to Elba.

- 1870.Pp. 82-83. ® Churchill. The Age of Revolution.P.285. ^ Churchill. The Age of Revolution.P.285.

The story ends with Napoleon’s escape from Elba, his

Lee. This Sceptred Isle. P. 462.

resumption of the crown, and finally, his total defeat at

Glover, Michael. The Napoleonic Wars: an illustrated history

the battle ofWaterloo on June 18th 1815. Alone of the

I792-1815.P.39-40.

European

powers, England

had ‘withstood

the

12 Oman, Carola. Britain Against Napoleon. P. 43.

whirlwind unleashed by the French Revolution

'3 Glover, Michael. The Napoleonic Wars. P. 50.

unscathed’^'' and had repelled the grasp of the French

i'* Glover, Michael. The Napoleonic Wars. P. 53

crown for its island nation once again — apparently for

'5 Churchill. The Age of Revolution.P.314.

the last time.

Churchill. The Age of Revolution. P. 317. Churchill. The Age of Revolution.P. 318. Glover. The Napoleonic Wars. P. 131.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Britt, Albert Sidney, III. The West Point Military History Series. The Wars of Napoleon. P. 88. 20 Glover. The Napoleonic Wars. P. 132.

This book is focused on the campaign fought under the

21 Glover. The Napoleonic Wars. P. 134.

command of the Duke ofWeUington against the French

22 Glover. The Napoleonic Wars. P. 135.

and is neither a history nor an analysis of that war.

23 Britt. The Wars of Napoleon. P. 101.

Using first-hand accounts of the men - and their contemporaries - who fought in the Peninsula and France, illustrated with drawings and photographs, most of which are depictions by re-enactors,this book attempts to convey what the soldiers thought, experienced, and saw — what it was like to march in those fields, to climb across those mountains, to experience new cultures, to

1 4

2^1 Muir, Rory. Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon. 1807-1815. Pp. 374-375.

V,

PREPARING FORWAR decided it imperative that military action be taken to

All you who are kicking your heels

enable Portugal and Spain to throw off this French yoke

Behind a soHtary desk with too Httle wages

— to disburse Napoleon’s ‘hovering eagles’ casting their

and a pinch-gut Master

‘gloomy shadow over Spain.’ Napoleon immediately

- all you with too much wife,

rose to the challenge, addressing his troops:

or are perplexed with obstinate and unfeehng parents... Join the 14th Light Dragoons

A

s the 1800s progressed, the English Army was in dire need of recruits. France and England,

(^/l€ Aicie-au/S

tAe

oo'nAa/m.l'yuUei

^'nd,n&uA-a c-^

an d

tn.

Are^'i^ yo'a.

Aeanf-

Aie mdciA a R]P1£ .SERJEANTS arc to b« ftyanS any 'w^)eTe, and have orders to Trtat tJicfr Fri«7l3j grila^^^y every where. 7f yea Wst, and afterwards \vls?» yetthad loctn a. RIFLEMAN, dc not sa,' voil VCT6 not askeAi for,ycwc can BLAME NOBODY BUT YCURSELr

Two pounds were given as part of the bounty, which was only eleven guineas instead of sixteen, having been sworn in for seven years and six months.

GOD Save the KIKG! and his Rifle EUcimint! I was now fairly well off, and with my rCtBcRT PE

rows where they had stood, the British infantry reeled and staggered and the French columns were poised to roll up the entire line — there being no reserve.The line was formed with the men approaching at quick step

As we moved down in column, shot and

under a storm of shot, shell 'and grape, which came

shell flew over and through in quick

crashing through the ranks. Under the tremendous fire

succession. But we passed by a Captain

of the enemy:

who had been dreadfully lacerated by a ball, and lay directly in our path.We passed

our thin line staggers, men are knocked

close to him, and he knew us all; and the

about like skittles; but not a step backward

heart-rending tone in which he called to

is taken. Here our Colonel and all the

us for water, or to kill him, could not be

field-officers of the brigade fell killed or

forgotten. All was hurry and struggle;

wounded, but no confusion ensued.‘Close

every arm was wanted in the field. The

up;’‘Close in;’‘fire away;’‘forward.’This is

slaughter was now, for a few minutes,

done. We

dreadful; every shot told, they would make

columns.

are

close

to

the

enemy’s

no effort. A constant feehng to the centre of the hne, and the gradual diminution of

In vain did the hardiest French veterans break from the

our front, more truly bespoke the havock

crowded columns and sacrifice their lives to gain time

of death. We trod among the dead and

for the mass to open out on such a fair field; in vain did

dying, all reckless of them.

the mass itself bear up. Nothing could stop that astonishing red coated infantry. Their measured tread

Standing in a blinding shower of ram and hail, gloom

shook the ground, their dreadful volleys swept away the

and blood and powder smoke — which rolled along the

head of every formation, and their deafening shouts

field and clothed the scene in partial darkness, the battle

overpowered the dissonant cries that broke from all parts

leaving an awful carnage on both sides.The dead lay in

of the tumultuous crowd. Slowly and with a horrid

131

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

carnage the blue whole was pushed by the incessant

I turned their right flank, penetrated their

vigour of the attack to the farthest edge of the hill and

centre;

the mighty mass, breaking off like a loosened cliff, went

they were completely beat and the day

headlong down the steep. They soon broke and rushed

mine,

down the other side of the hill in the greatest mob-like

but yet they would not run.

confusion. Eighteen hundred unwounded men, the remnant of six thousand British soldiers, stood

After the battle, we encamped on that part of the field

triumphant on the fatal hiUIThe dead were in heaps, one

where the carnage had been the most dreadful, and

nearly three feet high, in several places whole sub¬

actually piled our arms amongst the dead and dying, and

divisions or sections appeared to have been prostrated by

collected what dead bodies were near. A kind ofwaU was

one tremendous charge or volley. The waters of the

made with them to break the wind that was very cutting,

stream so deeply tinged that it seemed actually to run

as we were very damp with sweat. The hillsides were

blood. 1,800 of the 6,000 were still standing. The

perforated with cannon-shot, some places hke a rabbit-

vanquished French General observed later that:

warren, and dyed with blood.The colonel had his epaulet spoiled with a shot, and a ventilator made in his shako. The ground withersoever we went, was literaUy strewed with the wreck of the mighty battle. Arms of every kind, cuirasses, muskets, cannon, tumbrils, and drums, which seemed innumerable, cumbered the very face of the earth. Intermingled with these were the carcases of the slain, not lying about in groups offouror six, but wedged together, that we found it, in many instances, impossible to avoid trampling them where they lay.Those who lost accoutrements went among the dead to select such as was wanted — a belt, a bayonet, a much prized French knapsack, or a good English kit from a dead ‘Johnny Newcome,’ for‘Exchange is no robbery.’The wounded that could not walk were carried in blankets to the bottom of the bloody hill and laid among the wet grass, their cries and shrieks would have been dreadful

132

THE

STORM OF WAR

if we could have heard them, hut the continued discharges of the artillery, during the battle, had so affected the drums of the ears, that we could scarcely hear anything for two or three days afterwards, hut the roaring of the cannon.

A Major’s horse had been shot from under him and some men belonging to the Chasseurs Britannique skinned the horse, and sold the flesh at four pence halfpenny per lb. Night closed upon the saturated field of blood before we had time to light our fires and cook the wretched ration dinner. But still, with our half-giU of rum, it was an acceptable banquet. We lay down among the mire and dead men. Once 1 looked up out of my wet blanket, and saw a poor wounded man stark naked, crawling about 1 suppose for shelter. Going on

devouring the slain, and here I beheld a

rounds, 1 was continually stumbling over old comrades,

sight even more horrible - the peasantry

and would then roll my head up in my cloak, and lie

prowling about, more ferocious than the

down amongst them for a half an hour or so, jump up

beast and birds of prey, finishing the work

and tumble over another ghost!

of death, and carrying away whatever they thought worthy of their grasp. When light

The day’s service had been very severe, but

failed them, they kindled a great fire and

now I took it with the coolest indifference.

remained about it all night, shouting Hke as

I felt no alarm; it was all of course. I began

many savages. ‘My sickened fancy felt the

to think my body charmed. My mind had

same as if it were witnessing a feast of

come to that pass; I took everything as it

cannibals.

came without a thought. If I was at ease, with plenty, Lwas happy; if in the midst of

In the morning firing recommenced, and often

the

continued until someone sent a flag of truce for leave to

enemy’s

fire, or of the

greatest

privations, I was not concerned. I had been

carry off the wounded.

in so many changes of plenty and want, ease and danger, they had ceased to he

In the ravine there was a small stream, at

anticipated either with joy or fear.

which, with the most profound harmony, and as if nothing had happened, both

It was distressing to hear the cries and moans of the

French and English soldiers fetched water,

wounded and dying.

and, as a sign of very special mutual esteem, exchanged their forage caps.

It was marvellous how quickly the dead,

There was not the least animosity between

and often the wounded, were stripped on

us. One night before they attacked us, I had

the battlefield by the camp-followers of

a long conversation with a French officer,

the two great armies — an unhallowed

a little brook only divided us. Both parties

trade, and there was no stopping it. I

made a point of never firing on single

remember nearly stumbling over the

officers in this way without calhng to them

bleeding body of a young French officer

first. The French even brought down a

rolling in the dust, speechless in agony, and

number of bands of music to a level piece

stark naked! The birds of prey were

of ground where they continued to play

1 3 3

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

As we advanced, driving then! before us, a French officer, a pretty fellow, was pricking and forcing his men to stand.They heeded him not; he was very harsh.‘Down with himl’ cried one near me, and down he fell, pierced by more than one ball. Our brigade-major’s horse had both his fore-legs shot from under him: the poor creature began to eat grass, as if nothing was the matter with him. The Light Division came up, breaking their ranks tojoin us.We then mingled our shots together,and dashed forward against the foe. It was grand to see the divisions striving to out-do each other in gaUantry.The enemy could not withstand the shock, but were panicstricken, and fled in confusion: we followed them, shouting and huzzar-ing, and gave them no time to form, but drove them before us like cattle to destruction. Nothing could exceed the joy we felt, to see the enemy flying before us in dismay and confusion. It was perfectly dark before the action finished, but, on going to take advantage of the fires which the enemy had evacuated, their soup-kettles were found in full operation, and every man’s mess of biscuit lying beside them in stockings, as was the French mode of carrying until sunset whilst the men were dancing

them; needless to say how unceremoniously the men

and diverting themselves at football.

proceeded to do the honours of the feast.

There is never any personal animosity between soldiers opposed to each other in

The

war. I should hate to fight out of personal

presented a frightful scene of carnage. It

mahce or revenge, but have no objection

seemed as if the world had tumbled to

to fight for ‘fun and glory’

pieces, and three-fourths of everything

field

of battle,

next

morning,

destroyed in the wreck. The ground The truce ended, sentries withdrawn, and ‘and we gave

running parallel to the front where we had

our friends warning to be on their guard, and it was not

stood was so thickly strewed with fallen

long before we met again in mortal combat.’

men and horses, that it was difficult to step

We continued to advance, receiving a galling fire from

clear of their bodies, many of the former

the enemy. One of our company received a severe

still alive, and imploring assistance, which

wound and several others fell dead at our feet. The fire

it was not in our power to bestow.

coming from the enemy became dreadful, and our men fell in every direction. I really thought that, if it lasted

The first work to be done, was to remove thousands of

much longer, there would not have been a man left to

English and French wounded, and to bury the dead.

relate the circumstance.

‘Twas impossible! We had but few tools, and the ground was hard and rocky, therefore the dead were either

I had never yet heard of a battle in which

thrown into the dry beds of winter torrents, &c., and

everybody was killed, but this seemed

scantily covered with earth; or, together with dead

likely to be an exception, as all were going

horses, gathered into heaps and burned. The smell was

by turns. However desperate our affairs

intolerable. As for the wounded, they perished in great

were, we had still the satisfaction of seeing

numbers while lying in want of water, dressing and

that theirs were worse.

shelter.

134

THE

STORM OF WAR

’War is a sad blunter of the feelings of men.’ From a deficiency of transport, wounded soldiers were often

marched in proximity, the French like locusts, eating up aU before them.

abandoned on the field.As for the dead, there was no real grief for any one beyond a week or two - all a shadow

They paid for nothing, and it was always an

that passed away.Their effects were sold by auction. We

unlucky time for us when we got in their

bought their clothes and wore them, and they were sold

wake, for they cleared out the whole

again perhaps in a month, being once more part of the

country as they,went along, for what he

kit of deceased officers killed in action. It was not the

can’t use he will destroy from pure

fashion in those days to regard the death of a poor

mischief. We followed up our friends as

Subaltern more than that of a cavalry charger. As to

close as we could, sticking to them like a

private soldiers, thousands upon thousands that joined

burr to a sheep’s tail.

the army from England were never heard of by their

Their retreat resembled more that of

kindred or friends, dead or alive.They fought and they

famished wolves than men. Murder and

fell and were forgotten!

devastation marked their way; every house was a sepulchre, a cabin of horrors! Our

When the prison of the soul was broken

soldiers

up, the poor shattered shell lay there

Frenchmen were not swept by heaven

without burial, with no kindred friend to

from the earth, when they witnessed their

close the late brilliant eye, or say the last

cruelties. Every house contained traces of

leave-taking words - Requiescat in pace.

their

used

wanton

to

wonder

why

barbarity. They

the

would

regularly burn to the ground every place A soldier thinks of nothing that has passed by; it is only

they pass through. In following them we

the present time that concerns him; he is a careless and

find each town & village a heap of

thoughtless being.

smoking ruins.

Before and after a battle the two armies often

1 3 5

MARCHING WITH The wretched inhabitants are returning to

their

destroyed

as if to preserve the bodies in terrorem.

The

Leaving a town, the French sometimes left their own

enormities committed on the property

dead displayed with a grotesque humour. Sometimes

and persons of these poor people by the

enclosed in large chests, placed upright in full uniform

enemy can scarcely be recited with the

in the recesses of houses and convents, tied on the top of

expectation of gaining belief. The entire

windmills with their arms in their hands — pointed as if

destruction of the different towns and

levelled at those who advance, and worst of all, thrown

villages they have lately passed through

down wells. One body, with its shako on, was found

renders it probable that they have no

seated in the pulpit of a roofless chapel, with its musket

intention of ever again invading the

in the position of presenting arms. Hidden away, as if a

country, but the ruin and devastation they

prize for the poor horses and mules, would be sacks of

have

entirely

Indian corn filled with industriously broken glass mixed

effaced in a less period than half a century.

throughout - enough to have killed an ostrich.‘If the

occasioned

dwellings.

SHARPE

cannot

be

enemy could not exist in the country, they had The peasant, cleric and noble were all alike consumed

determined that nothing should be left for others.’

and the acts committed by the French in Spain were so

Wellington himself could but comment:

revolting to human nature that they could hardly be committed to paper. Their steps were traced by the


he soldiers to climb.Thus fighting their way into the fortress of the enemy by assault so

BatteringTrain in March, 1812

conquering and destroying the garrison snug inside. But, before a single shovel was ever plunged into the

16 24-Pounders

soil a mountain of demanding logistical work had to be

20 18-Pounders (Russian)

accomplished to simply get the battering tram into

16 5V2 or 24-pound Howitzers

place, as ships were the ‘grand magazine’ - situated far

10 18-Pounders in Reserve

from the castle.The Duke ofWellington worked out that it should take about 62 days to move the stores, 52 siege,

One common buUock cart could carry :

and 40 artillery guns, powder, shells, tools, and the supporting equipment of the ‘battering train.’ Only

40 shot for a 24 Pdr/or

once all of these necessaries and the means of their

20 8 inch shells/or

transport had been identified, examined, repaired or

2112 10 inch do./or

renovated where needed, packed, marked, recorded, and

10 barrels of powder/or

assembled. At the start of the war, coats of arms and cyphers on

60 16 Pdr shot/or 1 24 Pdr Carriage/w trucks

the available guns in the Peninsula gave some away as being near 200 years old, and others of the more

The French left spiked and stuffed guns in their wake. So

serviceable type were obsolete eighteenth century

significant effort was expended unspiking this ordnance

145

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

to make it fit for service, and transport it to the front.

musket-shot, and amused themselves in

Hundreds of soldiers gathered all the spent shot they

saluting and bowing to us in ridicule; but,

could find in ditches and around old fortifications.

ere the day was done, some of them had

During one siege, the following supplies were consumed:

occasion to wear the laugh on the opposite side of the countenance.

2,523 90 lb barrels of powder

Patrick’s day came round as usual, and on that fighting

31,861 round shots

festival-morning the band and drums enlivened all

1,826 common and spherical 5 inch shells

Patlanders with the national tune. The parade was

1,659 rounds of grape and case shot

magnificent and imposing. The colours of each

70,000 sand-bags

regiment proudly, though scantily, floated in the breeze;

1,200gabions

they displayed but very little embroidery. Scarcely

700fascines

could the well-earned badges of the regiments be

1,570 entrenching tools

discerned yet their lacerated condition, caused by the numberless wounds that they received in battle, gave

The great battering train was moved up - a laborious,

martial dignity to their appearance and animated every

slow-coach affair, the great guns moving slowly along,

British breast with national pride. All the bands by one

with only a cavalcade of bullocks and hundreds of the

accord played the same tune, which was cheered with

Spanish peasantry carrying the shot and shell. Groups of

shouts that bore ominous.The music played was the

officers with unusual solemnity talked of the coming

animating national Irish air, St. Patrick’s Day.The same

storm, when ground would be broken, who were to lead

night 1,800 men broke ground 160 yards from the

the way, what divisions to be chosen, and who would

outer fort, protected by a guard of 2,000. The grand

describe the fall to friends at home. No one doubted the

battery was called to open fire on the fortress as the

success of the enterprise, but no one ventured to say that

massy picks struck the earth, and a terrific noise

his life was his own after the first gun was fired.There was

followed the breaking of that ground, so that some of

a terrible day approaching, but nobody was afraid, and

the Irish soldiers v/ere not altogether disappointed in

even bets were being frequently made on the day and

having a bit of a shindy. The trench work was as

hour of the opening ball.

dangerous as it was arduous, and now the work of death began in reality.

‘Give me ten guineas and I will give you a guinea a day until the town falls,’ or as the

One day’s trench-work is as like another as

case might be five, six, or seven guineas.

the days them-selves, and like nothing better than serving an apprenticeship to

It had been a bit more than five months from the Duke’s

the double calling of grave-digger and

first directive to begin work on the battering train to

game-keeper,

the first shot fired, and he was pretty close on the time

employment both for the spade and the

it actually took to move the whole mass from sea to

rifle.

for

we

found

ample

walls. It was no joke travelling by daylight up to within a

Trench Work

stone’s throw of a wall, on which there is a parcel of fellows who have no other amusement but to fire at everybody they see. The Beaux fired a shell or bomb

At the onset of siege operations, the French garrison did

about every two minutes. The size of some of the guns

not appear to think the red coats were in earnest;

and mortars used in the fortress were wide enough to admit a man’s head and shoulders, so when the shot and

a number of their officers came out under

shell fell and ex-ploded, they left holes wide enough to

the shelter of a stone wall, within a half

bury a horse.

146

BEFORE THE WALLS

While relieving pickets in the trenches

view, affording a momentary respite from the dread of

many of our men, instead of going quietly

their effects. It was possible to trace the flight ofthe shells

through the trenches, or parallels, in front

through the darkness by their portentous trains, and see

of the walls of the town, used to show their

them bursting in the air, and shedding their‘fire-shower

contempt o|^^anger by jumping out of

of ruin.’

them and running across in the face of the

In the meantime,gabions, (round wicker baskets filled

was

with dirt and piled up to provide protection) continued

executing this feat with some others, when

to be brought up from the rear, and placed close to each

a cannon-shot fired by the French, struck

other, six deep. Their carriage was truly a perilous

the ground and hit him on the back. He

service; the men were without shelter of any kind, and

fell. We thought he had been killed, but to

as they advanced with their unwieldy burthens, many

our surprise, a moment later he jumped up

were killed or wounded under the eyes of their

unhurt. The ball had glanced off his

comrades.Every minute we heard from the works going

knapsack. In commemoration of this

forward the cries oPl’rn wounded!’ whilst the men who

enemy’s

fire.

One

day.

Palmer

event, he became known as the ‘bomb¬

stiU remained un-hurt, toiled on with a furious assiduity,

proof man.’

in order to get under cover.

Ears and senses were astounded by the conflicting peals

Siege Tools

of the artillery and musketry, which, bursting at once on the stillness of the night, gave an appalling shock. Occasionally, the atmosphere was partially illuminated by the comet-like fusees of the bomb in their passage towards us; in a few instances they burst in the air within

Spunges Ladles Kegs of Grease Painted Covers

147

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

Spare axle-trees

They must be an unmusical pair of ears

Water Buckets

that cannot inform the wearer whither a

Gun locks

cannon or a musket played last, but the

Spare yarn and ratline

various

Streak nails

notes

respec-tive

emanating

mouths

from

admit

of

their nice

Spades

distinctions. The quantity of grape and

Felling axes

musketry aimed at our particular heads

Pick axes

made a good concert of first and second

Bills

whistles, while the more sonorous voice of

Sand bags

the round shot, traveUing to our friends on

Rope

the left, acted as a thorough bass.

Twine for choking cartridges Wad Hooks

The elements often adopted the cause of the besieged;

Hand Spikes

for scarcely had the ground been taken up when a heavy

Large and Small Tarpaulings

rain commenced and continued, almost without

Forge Carts compleat

intermission, for a fortnight; in consequence thereof the

Spare linch pins and washers

pontoon-bridge connecting us with our supplies was

Laboratory tents

carried away by the rapid increase of the river.

Tool Chests Lanthorns

The men marched to the trenches through

Coals

mud; and they worked nearly midleg deep

Shovels

in mud; and to make all more miserable,

Broad axes

they had to sleep in a muddy camp.

Hand hatchets Hoops for powder barrels

At times, the scale of operations required every man to

Carpenters tools

be actually in the trenches six hours every day, and the

Mallets

same length of time every night. This, with the time

‘Immediately a shell fell, every man

five miles away, through fields more than ankle deep in a

threw himself flat upon the ground until

stiff mud, left us never more than eight hours out of the

it had burst.’‘Here’s another brute! Look

twenty-four in camp, and we never were dry the whole

out!’ Under fire from the enemy, and in

time.

required to march to and from them, perhaps as much as

the very jaws of death, many of the

Under cover of darkness, work parties cast up

soldiers amused themselves by singing all

intrenchments, rose batteries, carried gabions,/flsa>ie5

manner of obscene songs; and when one

(bundles of long sticks tightly tied up together), and dug

of them, who was struck by a ball, and fell

with picks, spades and shovels. The enemy’s light-balls

dead at my feet, his comrade, who was

were constant, aiding the musketeers planted to gall the

standing at his other side, looking at me,

men in the trenches, and their round shot and heavy

said,‘Never mind. Sir, a miss is as good as

thirteen-inch shells followed in abundance.

a mile.’ One day a large shell dropped into the The shot continued to fly over with a fearful noise; and

trenches, near a Serjeant, who, to evade its

owing either to the distance they had come, different

effects, caught it up Hke a large putting-

degrees of velocity, or causes unknown, they seemed to

stone, and, to the terror and astonishment

emit a variety of sounds. The soldier’s music and the

of many, threw it over the bastion, where it

cannon, booming forth through the calm frosty air of

exploded without doing the smallest

the night its sonorous eloquence.

mischief.

148

BEFORE THE WALLS

A smartish frost or some snow on the ground, rendered

On the noise of this explosion I started up,

the duties of the trenches extremely harassing.When the

and the first object that met my half-

rain was unceasing, water accumulated in the trenches,

opened eyes was a German soldier, whose

the men being ankle-deep up to two feet ofwater so that

knapsack was on fire, shouting lustily to get it off his back. It appeared that the

the work ofThe spade was almost useless,

fusee of the shell having caught his cart¬

since the liquid mud that was shovelled up

ridge box, it blew up, setting his knapsack

ran away in streams out of the gabions into

in a blaze, and in his terror and confusion

which it was cast, and refused to pile up

he was unable of himself to get rid of his

into parapets for the trenches, spreading

fiery burden.

out instead into mere broad accumulations of slime, which gave no cover, and had no

At daybreak a large shell alighted on the brow of the

resisting power against the round shot of

hillock, and giving a few rapid rolls, burst between the

the garrison.The earth thus saturated with

legs of a sergeant, tearing off his thigh, and killing or

water, fell away, the works everywhere

wounding seventeen others.

crumbled.

Throwing up new works,

In a state of awful inactivity the covering patrol lay

a round

shot passed pretty near my

listening till near daylight; and though the firing of the

cranium, I thought I was wounded, my

artillery of the garrison continued without inter¬

head ached violently. I felt the pain a long

mission, yet some dropped into a kind of sleep, from

time and it was with difficulty I could

which many were destined never to awaken in this

perform my duty. Had I been working in a

world.

place

where

there

was

no

danger

I

149

MARCHING WITH

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certainly should have given up, hut here I

posted to watch them, to give notice of what was

was ashamed to complain, lest any of my

coming. Whether a shot ora shell, who, accordingly, kept

comrades laugh at me.

caUing out,‘bomba, balla, balla, bomba,’ and they ducked their heads until the missile past; but sometimes he

The enemy soon discovered the time fixed for reliefs,

would see a general discharge from all arms, when he

and on entering the trenches, they gave us a welcome

threw himself down, screaming out ‘Jesus, todos, todosF

with a pretty brisk cannonade and a fire of shells.

meaning‘everything.’ In several instances the shells, after

Though we came into the trenches at double-quick,

their fall, rolled about, sometimes like enormous

several were killed and wounded. When the shower of

footballs, and passing over the bodies of several who had

missiles

fallen flat, exploded without doing the least injury.

was

over,

the

men

again

emerged,

recommencing like moles, to bury ourselves into the earth, - a curious expedient to avoid that ceremony at

An officer of ours one morning before

the hands of others.

daylight was sent opposite to one of the

During the day the enemy slackened their fire and as

enemy’s guns which had been doing a

the workers were by this time nearly shel-tered, little loss

great deal of mischief the day before, with

was for a time sustained. The chief annoyance was their

about thirty riflemen along with shovels to

shells; wherever a group sought shelter, shells were

dig holes about 150 yards from the

almost certain of faUing immediately after; and although

enemy’s embrasures - looking Hke so many

their near approach was announced by the smoke of

little graves - as near as possible to the

their fusee, and a kind of whistling noise, men were in a

walls, for the delectable amusement of

state of perpetual agitation to elude them.

firing at the embrasures for the remainder of the night. The enemy threw frequent

A shell is coming here, sir. 1 looked up, and

fire balls among us to see where we were;

heheld it approaching me like a cricket

but as we always lay snug until their blaze

ball to be caught; it travelled so rapidly that

was extinguished, they were not much the

we had only time to run a few paces, and

wiser, except by finding, from has^g some

crouch, when it entered the spot on which

one popt off from their guns every instant,

1

that they had some neighbours whom they

had

been

sitting,

and

exploding,

destroyed all our night’s work.

would have been glad to get rid of.

The Portuguese knew the position of all the enemy’s

This officer soon had the satisfaction of knowing the

guns which could bear upon them, and had one man

effect of this practice by seeing the ‘Mounseers’ stopping up the embrasure with sandbags.After waiting a little he saw them beginning to remove the bags, when he made his men open upon it again, and they were instantly replaced without the guns being fired. Presently he saw the huge cocked hat of a French officer make its appearance on the rampart, near to the embrasure. Although knowing, by experience, that the head was somewhere in the neighbourhood, he watched until the flash of a musket, through the long grass, showed the position of the owner.Then calling one of his best shots, he desired him to take deliberate aim at the spot and lent his shoulder as a rest, to give it more elevation. Bang went the shot, and it was the finishing flash for the Frenchman, for they saw no more of him, although his cocked hat maintained its post until dark.

150

BEFORE THE WA E Our batteries were supplied with ammunition from the artillery park by the Portuguese militia, a string of whom used to arrive every day, reaching nearly from the one place to the other (twelve miles),each man carrying a twenty-four pound shot and cursing all the way and back again. At times there was such a shortage of ammunition that a reward was offered for every shot brought to the depot, and from this precarious source a considerable supply was obtained.The Engineers give a shilling a piece for all the large French shot that are brought and sixpence for the smaller.The men go out to

of their guns. In order to reconnoitre the trenches, officers had to creep

on all fours to avoid the

sharpshooters who were on the lookout and fired, often with great accuracy, at every head they saw. An officer of the engineers getting on the bastion to view the enemy’s fortifications, to which the guns were about to be opposed, remained standing with a spy-glass for about ten minutes.Turning round, he stooped a little, ready to jump down, when a cannon-shot carried away his head, his glass dropping from his hand as his body fell into the trenches.

look for them and stand watching the places where they hit, running the chance of being hit for the chance of getting a shilling or two. The grand battery for the siege guns was yet uncompleted, and without cannon; the great ramparts of earth cast up preventing much injury, either by round or grape shot.Yet the situation was even more perilous

We had a hard struggle for his instrument while the shot were flying over our heads: so callous had we become by custom to every sense of danger, that death had lost the greater part of his grim and grisly terrors.

and irksome than an any former occasion. By this time the besieged had arrived at such fatal precision, as to the due distance of throwing their shells, which mostly either fell on the gabions, or dropped into the trenches, rendering this place as unsafe as any other within range

The garrison fire was retaliated briskly, throwing redhot shot against the fort - the process being very simple. An ordinary bellows will heat the furnace, from the furnace they are carried in iron crab claws and some

'

..

yT'.

151

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

good wads of turn are placed between them and the

burning ashes, and ignited without his

powder, in less than an hour causing the buildings to be

observing it. Just as he had got it between

partially on fire. By taking aim at those exposed ‘when

his legs, and was in the act of discharging

loading their cannon at the embrasures this deliberate

it a second time, it exploded, and nearly

work of death was pretty successful, as was evident from

hlew him to pieces.

the irregular discharge from those parts ex-posed to the effects of the British unceasing shot - ‘our iron-tongued

Though some few of us, in the course of each night, by

oratory’ the most convincing.

chance-shots, got transferred from natural to eternal

To pass the dreary hours in the trenches, some men

sleep, after a French hit. Men were sent out to pick up

found amusement by putting their caps on the muzzle

dismembered limbs which had been scattered about by

of their firelocks and just shewing them over the

the shells, so as to prevent the effect it might have on the

breastwork. But, sport was turned to advantage —

courage of the Portuguese.

stationing some good shots under cover, a few caps are shewn for a decoy, and some of the enemy eager to make the red coats pay for peeping would expose themselves.

Sorties

However, amusement could be carried too far: A man working in the trenches suddenly shouted with

One of our men had the misfortune to

an oath that the French were coming on, and instantly

carry his death in his hands, under the

sprang out of the trench like a tiger, following his

mistaken shape of amusement. He thought

comrade, just such another fine fellgw.Two or three

that it was a cannon-ball, and took it for

French dragoons at that instant fired their pistols into the

the purpose of playing at the game of nine-

trenches, having approached within a few yards without

holes, but it happened to be a live shell. In

being perceived. We had just entered the mouth of the

rolling it along, it went over a bed of

parallel, and all joined in a simultaneous attack on the

% tr

152

BEFORE THE WALES enemy’s infantry, without regard to trenches or anything

down and stupified. For some time he was

else.The French being beaten out of the advanced lines,

unconscious of his situation, and at length

retired and formed line under the castle.They gained the

complained greatly of his head, which we

works before our men could seize their arms. The

bound up, and he remained lying in the

confusion was great at the first onset.Those on guard and

trenches till our relief arrived. FFe did not

the working men were driven out of the trenches, and

recover the effect of this shock for several

the cavalry sabred many in the depots at the rear. The

days, though as brave a man as any in the

Guards immediately rallied and drove the enemy out of

regi-ment. On counting our files, it was

the works at the point of the bayonet, when many lives

found that of the eighty men who set

were lost. A part of the embankment was thrown into

forward to oppose the sortie made by the

the trenches, and the enemy carried away almost all the

enemy, exactly forty were en-abled to

entrenching tools, carrying off several shovels, etc.,

resume their stand in the ranks.

without asking leave.We lost one hundred and fifty men in killed and wounded during the attack. The enemy repulsed, were next assailed in their turn.

THE STORM

The red coats were ordered to advance, and they sprang over the ram-part with alacrity. The French had by this time got under cover of their guns, which now com¬ menced a most destructive fire; the red coats suffered severely, the grape-shot literally pouring upon them, retiring into the trenches, half-filled with the dying and the dead. Those of the French smelled strongly of brandy, of which they were reported to have had a

We go out to look at the breach as you did the comet.

The effect of our 24-pound shot upon the wall gave notice that the breaches would soon be practicable, and, a storming party was selected for the assault on the following night.

double allowance that morning. Before the firing had entirely ceased, the light companies from the camp

The Forlorn Hope

appeared on the road; and at the same time their commander was observed to fall from his horse, being

On the eve of the storming of a fortress, when the

struck on the thigh by a grape-shot.

breaches were ready, captains of companies, on private parade, would inform the men that the place was to be

On returning to our former station, we

taken. Those men volunteering to head the stormers

had to cross the road near the bridge,

would step forward to the front and have their names

where so many had fallen on our advance,

taken down by the officer, and many of our men came

on which the fort again opened its guns,

forward with alacrity for this deadly service. If none

but not with such destructive effect as

offered themselves, the first men for duty were selected.

before. Amongst the dead was recognised

The forlorn hope, designated by the French in the

our fugleman, with his head and shoulder

equally appropriate term les enjants perdus, or ‘lost

besmeared with blood and brains; and

children,’ always leads in the first attack. An Irishman

some observing that he was alive, gave him

whose only fortune was his sword volunteered to lead

a push with their feet, on which he moved

the forlorn hope.

his eyes, and we hurried him into the

An order arrived for 100 men, 2 Captains, 4

trenches. It was soon discovered that he

subalterns from the Division for the storming party.

was not even wounded, and that the blood

This is one of the highest honours the division could

and brains must have been those of the

have received.The senior officer of each rank always has

person who covered him in the ranks, and

the choice. Our officers were called together & the

whose head had been struck off by a

colonel told us the business.The senior captain was not

cannon-shot, and dashed against his with a

present but came up during the time of the conference.

force by which he had been knocked

The Colonel said.

153

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

‘Captain, we are to give the storming party

forlorn hope were distinguished with a badge of laurel

tonight. Several captains wish to go. Will

on the right arm, with the lettersVS for‘valiant stormer’

you allow it, being senior?’

placed

He said, ‘No, sir, I will go myself'

beneath

the

wreath

—

given

by

their

commanding officer as a testimonial of their gallant conduct. Some received the sum of six dollars. Others

Two subalterns present declined.This is not esteemed a

received nothing.

shadow of a disgrace.When an officer offers on a service

The selection of the candidates for this service

of this kind it is done without any bombast; they look

created amongst the rejected great jealousy and

serious and pale. The act tells this is not from fear. The

discontent.An offer off,20 was made and refused for an

sergeants have been nearly quarrelling, saying, T have

exchange, showing the value attached to this service.

been on 1 & 2 (some of them 3), why may 1 not go on

One bugle-major cast lots to determine who would go

this?’

on this momentous errand. One ofthe buglers, who had

It was the rule in the services that those, both officers

been on a forlorn hope, offered the bugle-major two

and men, who form the forlorn hope and the storming

dollars to let him go instead. The bugle-major was

party, are volunteers - these being services of extreme

reported to the adjutant for taking bribes, and he was

danger - and which generally procure for the officers

removed from the forlorn hppe.

who survive a step of promotion. For commissions from merit in the field were like angel’s visits - few and far

Those who composed this forlorn hope

between! Although a subaltern who led a ‘forlorn hope’

were free from duty that day, so I went to

might reckon on death or a Company, or a Field Officer,

the river and had a good bathe. I thought I

if he survived, could reckon on a brevet-step. For all

would have a clean skin whether killed or

other ranks, officers, non-commissioned officers and

wounded, for all who go on this errand

men alike there was no prospect of advancement, for in

expect one or the other. At 9 o’clock at

most instances, no reward was ever given. None the less

night, we were paraded - it was then dark

there were as many applicants for a place in the ranks of

- and half a pound of bread and a gill of

the ‘forlorn hope’ as if it led to the highest honours and

rum were served out to each man on

rewards. Some of those fortunate to have survived the

parade.

154

BEFORE THE WALLS ‘Tut, tut, man! I have the same sort of feehng, but I keep it down with a drop of this,’ and he handed his calabash to the Major.

‘A Lieutenant-Colonel or cold meat in a few hours.’

In the trenches in front of the city, from whence came a very smart fire of shot and shell, giving us an idea of the warm reception to be expected on our visit that night, the entire company gathered round the little party of stormers, each pressing to have a sup from his canteen. They shook hands with friendly sincerity, and speculated on who would outlive the assault. Darkness closed over the city, and our imaginations became awake to the horrors of the coming scene. The stormers were ordered to ‘fall in’ and ‘form,’ and we moved near the walls which protected us from the enemy’s shot. ‘The spirit of the soldiers rose to a frightful height there was a certain some-thing in their bearing which told plainly that they had suffered fatigues of which they had not complained, and seen their comrades and officers slain around them without repining, but that they had smarted under the one and felt acutely for the other.They smothered both, so long as body and mind were employed, but now, before the storm, they had a momentary licence to think, and every fine feeling vanished—plunder and revenge took their place. A quiet but desperate calm replaced their usual buoyant spirits, and nothing was observable in their manner but a tiger-like expression of anxiety to seize upon their prey.’ A number of non-commissioned officers of the brigade

Each arranged himself for the combat in such manner

met at sunset under some apple trees, for the purpose of

as his fancy would admit of some by lowering their

bidding goodbye. The liquor went round in full

cartridge-boxes, others by turning them to the front for

bumpers, to the health of distant friends. With a few

more convenient use; others unclasped their stocks or

good songs and jokes, we parted, with hearty wishes for

opened their shirt collars; others oiled their bayonets.

each other’s safety.

Those who had them took leave of their wives and children — an affecting sight, but not so much so as

There never was a pair of ugher men, but

might have been expected, because the women, from

a brace of better soldiers never stood

long habit, were accustomed to such scenes of danger.

before the muzzle of a Frenchman’s gun. ‘Well,’ said the Captain, ‘what do you think of tonight’s work?’

We felt a dead weight hanging on our minds; had we been brought hurriedly

The Major seemed in rather low spirits.

into action, it would have been quite

‘7 don’t know. Tonight, I think, will be my last.’

different, but it is inconsistent with the

155

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

nature of man not to feel as I have

Pile knapsacks by companies.

described.The long warning, the dark and

Fall in and move off silently.

silent night, the known strength of the fortress, the imminent danger of the attack, all

conspired

to produce

this

The Order of Attack:

feeling. It was not the result of want of courage, as

was

shown

by the

calm

intrepidity of the advance when we came in range of the French cannon.

Each Division left 1,000 men as a Reserve. The two Brigades of the Light Division were formed in ‘close column of companies,’ left in front.The covering-party (‘firing-party’) formed up in front of the Brigade. Next,

In proportion as the grand crisis approached, the anxiety of the soldiers increased not on account of any doubt or dread as to the result, but for fear that the place should be surren-dered without standing an assault. For singular as it may appear - although there was a certainty of about one man out of every three being knocked down - there were, perhaps, not three men in the three divisions who would not rather have braved all the chances than receive it tamely from the hands of the enemy. So great was the rage for passports into eternity in our battalion on that occasion that even the officers’ servants insisted on taking their places in the ranks. Our troops were formed without knapsacks.The

four volunteers carrying ropes which they hoped to be able to pull aside the chevaux-de-frize of sword-blades. Then followed the ‘forlorn hope.’The ‘storming party’ consisted of 100 men from each Regiment of the Light Division. Following close on the storming party were the rest of the Division. AH was now in readiness for the signal to attack. All ‘in silent muster and with noiseless march’ the soldiers moved simultaneously to the posts allotted them. Hay-bags, hatchets, and scaling-ladders were provided and distributed to each advance party according to the requirements of their respective services.

order of dress was trousers rolled up to the knee without socks or packs.

Attack Soldiers! the eyes of your country are upon you. Be steady, be cool, be firm in the assault.The town must be yours this night. Once masters of the wall, let your first duty be to clear the ramparts, and in doing this keep together.

We were on the brink of being dashed into eternity, and among the men there was a solemnity and silence deeper than I ever witnessed before. British cannon opened most musically upon the town. Johnny has hitherto had it all his own way in administering to the comfort of many, and most suddenly and unexpectedly sent them, I trust, to another and better world. For on this little spot all the fiercer passions of the human heart are busy in the breasts of each individual of both parties, investing and invested. Moralising will not do now; death or glory, a golden chain or a wooden leg,‘England expects every man will do his duty.’These are the only feelings that can make the

156

BEFORE THE WALES

scene of death and destruction palatable to a Christian:

The dreadful strife now commenced. The thundering

King, Church, and Country to fight for. Every man

cheer of the British soldiers as they rushed forward

carried his life in his hands; hope lived in the hearts of all.

through the outer ditch, together with the appalling roar

Many were our difficulties, and there was no suspension

of all arms sent forth in defiance from within, was

of the firey trial.

tremendous.

The night was dry and cloudy, the trenches and

With all its defects, a night attack has the advantage of

ramparts unusually still—lights were seen to flit here and

concealing from the view much of danger and of

there—while

sentinels

difficulty that if seen might shake the nerves. But there

proclaimed, Sentinelles! Qarde-a-vous! - ‘All’s well.’The

was no time then for hesitation, no choice for the timid;

British, standing in deep columns, as eager to meet that

the front ranks were forced onwards by the pressure

fiery destruction as the French were to pour it down,

from the rear, and as men fell wounded on the breach,

were both alike, gigantic now in terrible strength and

there they found their (living) grave, being trodden into

discipline, resolute, and determined to win or die.

and covered by the shifting rubbish displaced by the feet

th^ deep

voice

of the

of their comrades. Some few, more lucky, when wounded, rolled down the slope into the ditch, where

Advance

they called m vain for that assistance which could not then be afforded them, and they added by their outcries

The expected signal, a rocket, went up from one of our batteries.The Major gave a prompt order.

to the wildness of the scene. Our bugles were continually sounding the advance. The cry of‘Bravo! Bravo!’ resounded through the

It was no sooner said than done, and I and

ditches and along the foot of the breaches.The scene that

my front-rank men were immediately

ensued furnished as respectable a representation of hell

tapped on the shoulder for the ladder

itself as fire and sword and human sacrifices could make

party, and I gave up all hope of ever

it; for in one instant every engine of destruction was m

returning.

full operation.

157

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

There the balls came, as nearly as I can

men with hatchets to cut down any obstacle, such as

guess, about 20 in a minute within a yard

chevaux-de-frize, that might oppose us.

of my head. As we were running one or

Being apprized of our intentions, the enemy threw

two dropped on the grass every minute &

out fireballs in every direction, and from total darkness

were left.They now fell very fast.

they changed the approaches into a state light as day. By this means they were enabled to see the direction of our

Men leaped into the ditch, of whom 500 volunteers,

columns, and they opened a fire of round and grape shot

being foremost, were dashed to pieces with shot, shell,

which raked through them killing and wounding

and powder barrels. The Light Division stood for a

whole sections. We still advanced, silent as before, save

moment in horror at the terrific sight; then, with a wild

for the groaning of our wounded comrades, until we

shout dashed with one accord into the fiery gulf, and,

reached a sort of moat about fifty feet wide formed by

with the light of a blaze of fire-arms from above. One

the inundation of the river; here we had to pass rank

hundred men were drowned in the inundation (for at

entire, the passage only being capable of admitting one

this time the sluices were opened, and the water let into

at a time. On this place the enemy had brought their

the ditch from the river), seeking for the main breach,

guns to bear, and they kept up such a fire of grape and

and got crowded and mixed together.The only light was

musketry on it that it was a miracle that any of us

that of the flashing guns,pouring death and destruc-tion

escaped.

among them. The confusion was great, but all cheered

The ladders were 24 feet long. They were the

like thunder; the French cheers also were loud and

common sort of ladder, such as are used by builders; and

terrible. The burst-ing of grenades, sheUs, and powder-

are made ofcastano (chestnut) trees in the woods nearby

barrels, the whizzing flight of blazing splinters ofbarrels,

by the men of the Staff Corps. The whole face of the

the loud voices of the officers, and the heavy groans of

wall, being opposed by the guns of the citadel, was so

the dying, were sufficient to create a terror in¬

swept by their discharges of round-shot, broken shells,

describable.

bundles of cartridges and other missiles, and also from the top of the wall, ignited shells, &c., that it was almost

We had about a mile to go to the place of

impossible to twinkle an eye on any man before he was

attack, so off we went with palpitating

knocked down.

hearts. I never feared nor saw danger till

Just as 1 passed the palisade ditch there came a shot

this night. As I walked at the head of the

from a 24 pounder directly above this flat place and

column, the thought struck me forcibly -

twelve men sank together with a groan that would have

you win be in heU before dayhght! Such a

shook to the soul the nerves of the oldest soldier that

feeling of horror I never experienced

ever carried a musket. I believe ten of them never rose

before. On our way to the wide ditch that

again, the nearest was within a foot of me, the farthest

surrounded the wall of the town were laid

not four yards off It swept like a besom all within its

small bags, filled with grass, for each man

range.The next four steps 1 took were over this heap.

to take up as he passed along, to throw into the ditch to jump on, that we might not

When I got over the hill thrown up with

hurt or break our legs, as the ditch was

the ditch under the wall the dead and

eight or nine feet deep. A party were in the

wounded lay so thick we were continually

rear with short ladders to be put into the

treading upon them (I must teU the facts).

ditch, and to be carried across for the men

The men were not so eager to go up the

to ascend to the surface near the wall.

ladders as I expected they would be.They were as thick as possible in the ditch and,

The word was now given to the ladder party to move

the officers desiring them to go up, I

forward. There were six of us supporting the ladder

stopped about two minutes likewise. I

allotted to me, and 1 contrived to carry my grass-bag

perceived they were looking for their

before me. We were accompanied at each side by two

regiments rather than the ladders.

15 8

BEFORE THE WALES The storming party was soon hotly engaged. Columns

musketry and grape, gaining the ascent; the foremost

moved on under a most dreadful fire of grape that

were blown to shatters, their bodies and brains plashing

mowed down our men like grass. The havoc now

amongst their daring comrades behind, which only

became more dreadful. Eight or ten officers, and men

stimulated their determined exertions and doubled

innumerable, feU to rise no more. Ladders were resting

their strength.

against the counterscarp from within the ditch.As fast as the men got down they rushed forward to the breaches, where a most frightful scene of carnage was going on. Fifty times they were stormed, and as often without effect, the French cannon sweeping the ditches with a most destructive fire. Lights were thrown down from the town that burnt most brilliantly, and made it easier to be shot at.This remained for a considerable time.The ditch now, to near the top of the breaches, was covered with dead and dying soldiers. If a man fell wounded, ten to one that he ever rose again, for the volleys of musketry and grape shot that were incessantly poured down made the situation too horrid for description.

We

remained

passively

here

to

be

slaughtered, as we could do the besieged little injury from the ditch.

The fireballs thrown into the ditches showed the advancing columns so clearly to the latent enemy that death or mortal wounds succeeded every round.

Two bullets taken from the body of Private Costello, on display at the Royal Green Jackets’ Museum, Hampshire.

I was in a sort of frenzy stamping one of

Without a pause we dashed onwards, and precipitated

these Ughts out when an officer laid hold

ourselves into the ditch before the walls.We did not wait

of me, sayingfXeave it, or when the light

for the ladders for they were carried by the Portuguese,

goes out your feet will be blown to pieces,

who ran away. The ladders did not make an appearance

as there is a live shell connected with it.’

until their use had been superseded by a series ofjumps made by our men into a trench 16 feet deep. When one

The storming-parties - volunteers and forlorn-hope -

or two ladders were procured, they were instantly placed

foremost; as they advanced they were ravaged with a

against the scarp of the trench, and up we mounted to

tempest of grape from the ramparts, which staggered

attack the breach.The very rungs (or steps of the ladders)

them. However, none would go back, although none

were literally shot to atoms with musket balls, while

could get forward, for men and officers falling fast from

underneath the dead and dying lay in heaps; some

the withering and destructive fire choked up the

calling for a drink for God’s sake. There the fire was

passage, which every minute was raked with grape-shot,

constant and most deadly, and for some minutes, small

and the whizzing flight of the blazing splinters. Thus

bodies of men were swept away as they appeared.Those

striving, and trampling alike upon the dead and

not knocked down were driven back by this hail of

wounded, these brave fellows maintained the combat.

mortality to the ladders.Then ever and anon would fall

The stormers of another division, who had 300 yards of

upon us the body of some brave Frenchman whose zeal

ground to clear, with extraordinary swiftness dashed

had led him to the edge of the wall in its defence, and had

along to the glacis, jumped into the ditch, eleven feet

been killed by their own missiles or by the fire of our

deep, and rushed on under a smashing discharge of

covering party.

159

MARCHING WITH ‘Let us throw down the ladders; the fellows shan’t go out.’ Some soldiers behind said,‘D_your eyes, if you do we will bayonet you!’

SHARPE

At The Breach In the awful charnel pit we were then traversing to reach the foot of the breach. It was work of no small labour to have achieved the ascent under any circumstances,

Now the deafening shouts, crashing ofbroken ladders,

consisting as it did of a nearly perpendicular mass of

and the shrieking of the crushed and wounded men,

loose rubbish, in which it was extremely difficult to

became loud amongst the din of war. Excited to

obtain a footing.

madness, the comrades of the undaunted brave below,

The ramparts crowded with dark figures and

who swarmed again round the ladders, swiftly ran up,

glittering arms were on one side, on the other the red

and were tossed over from the enemy above, who

columns of the British, deep and broad, were coming on

cried,‘Victory!’and‘Why don’t you come in?’

like streams of burning lava. It was the touch of the

So many soldiers followed on the same ladder, that it

magician’s wand, for a crash of thunder followed and

broke in two, and they aU fell, many being hurt by the

with incredible violence the storming parties were

bayonets of their comrades round the foot of the

dashed to pieces by the explosion of hundreds of shells

ladder. A man’s ankle was sprained, but it did not

and powder-barrels. Over and over, men who struggled

prevent his pursuing his career that night.The ladders

up the steep rubble slope were met, in addition to the

were warm and slippery with blood and brains of

blast of frontal and flanking fire, by bursting shells and

soldiers dashed down from their top and lying broken

grenades hurled down on them besides barrels of

in death at their foot.

powder and cartwheels which came bounding down among them overturning and maiming many. They

The ladder I mounted, hke many others,

tossed

was unfortunately too short, and I found

innumerable, which spun about fizzing and hissing

that no exertion I could make would

amongst our feet. Some smashed men’s heads in their

enable me to gain the embrasure or to

descent, whilst others, exploding on the ground, tossed

descend. In this un-happy state, expecting

unlucky wretches in the air, tearing them asunder.

down

lighted

shells, and

hand-grenades

immediate death from the hands of the ferocious-looking

Frenchmen in

the

embrasure, I heard a voice above call out,

The whole surface seemed to be vomiting fire

and

produced

‘Sir, is that you?’

alternating

I answered ‘Yes.’ And the same voice

darkness.

with

flashes

of light

momentary

utter

cried out, ‘Oh, murther ! murther! what will we

We stood alone at the base of the breach, exposed to a

do to get you up at all, at all, with that

tremendous fire of grape and musketry from its

scrawdeen of a ladtherr? But here goes!

defences. For a minute we seemed destined to be

hould my leg. Bill;’ and throwing himself

sacrificed to some mistake as to the hour ofattack- and

flat on his face in the embrasure, he

after a moments consultation between the seniors, it was

extended his brawny arm down the wall,

decided that it was better to die like men on the breach,

and seizing me by the collar, with Fler-

than like dogs in the ditch; and instantly, with a wild

culean force, landed me, as he said

hurra, all sprung upwards, absolutely eating fire.

himself,

‘clever

and

clane,’

on

the

ramparts. In the same manner five more

Major, it is as weU to die in the breach as in

were landed; and thus did this chivalrous

the ditch, for here we cannot live.

soldier, with noble generosity, pre-fer saving the fives of six of his comrades at

The breaches, though large, were also very steep, and

the risk of his own, one of the ‘ragged

destroyed all who advanced. Thousands of live shells,

rascals.’

hand-grenades, fireballs and every species of destructive

160

BEFORE THE WALLS

combustible were thrown down the breaches and over

combined in the general havoc, and heaven, earth and

the walls into the ditches, which, lighting and exploding

hell had united for the destruction alike of the town and

at the same instant, rivalled the lightning and thunder of

its furious assailants.

heaven. This at intervals was succeeded by an

Now a multitude bounded up the great breach as if

impenetrable darkness as of the infernal regions. Gallant

driven by a whirlwind, but across the top glittered a

foes laughing at death met, fought, bled and rolled upon

range of sword-blades, sharp-pointed, keen-edged on

earth; and from the very earth destruction burst, for the

both sides, and firmly fixed in ponderous beams chained

exploding mines cast up friends and foes together, who

together and set deep in the ruins. For ten feet in front

m burning torture clashed and shrieked m the air. Partly

the ascent was covered with loose planks studded with

burned they fell back into the inundating water,

sharp iron points, on which feet being set the planks

continually lighted by the incessant bursting of shells.

moved and the unhappy soldiers falling forward on the

Thus assailed by opposing elements, they made the

spikes rolled down upon the ranks behind.The chevaux-

horrid scene yet more horrid by shrieks uttered in wild

de-frize extended the whole width of the breach, and was

despair, vainly struggling against a watery grave with

composed of a strong beam of wood, with sharp-

limbs convulsed and quivering from the consuming fire.

pointed sword-blades fixed m every direction, they

The roaring of cannon, the bursting of shells, the rattle

being generally about three quarters of a yard long.

of musketry, the awful explosion of mines and the flaring

These were so closely set together, that it was impossible

sickly blaze of fireballs seemed not of human invention,

either to leap over them or penetrate between them, and

but rather as if all the elements of nature had greedily

the whole was so firmly fixed to the works at the top, that

161

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

it could not be moved. In addition, they had fitted a

top of the ramparts the enemy had a considerable

number of long and thick planks, with spikes about an

number of shells of the largest size, ready filled and fused.

inch or more in length, and laid them all down the

When our people had filled the ditch below, these were

breach, but fixed at the top, so that it was impossible for

hghted, and thrown over on their heads, each shell being

any one to get up without falling on these. Every

capable of destroying from twelve to twenty men or

Frenchman-had three or four loaded muskets at his feet,

more.They had beams of wood also laid on the ramparts,

with leaden slugs over the usual bullet. Hundreds of our

with old carriage-wheels, and every sort of missile

men had fallen, dropping at every discharge, which only

imaginable, which were poured upon the unfortunate

maddened the living.The cheer was forever on, on, with

people below.

screams of vengeance and a fury determined to win the town. The rear pushed the foremost into the sword-

The moon rose, which cast a gloomy light

blades to make a bridge of their bodies rather than be

round the place. Situated as I was this

frustrated in their success. Slaughter, tumult, and

added fresh horrors to my view, the place

disorder continued. No command could be heard just

was covered with dead and dying, the old

the wounded struggling to free themselves from under

black walls and breach looked terrible and

the bleeding bodies of their dead comrades.The enemy’s

seemed like an evil spirit frowning on the

guns within a few yards, at every fire opening a bloody

unfor-tunate victims that lay prostrate at

lane amongst our people, who closed up, and, with

its feet.

shouts of terror as the lava burned them up, pressed on to destruction. Officers, starting forward with a heroic

Around eleven o’clock, a host of Spaniards, thousands of

impulse, carried on their men to the yawning breach and

whom, of all ages and sexes, had been collecting for some

glittering steel, which still continued to belch out flames

time from the neighbouring towns and villages to

ofscorch-ing death.

witness the storming and enjoy the brilliant spectacle;

The fire continued in one horrible and incessant peal,

wherein thousands of men, women and children

as if the mouth of the infernal regions had opened to

(including those of their own country), were to be shot,

vomit forth destruction upon aU around us. Even more

bayoneted or blown to atoms were informed the fortress

appalling were the fearful shouts of the combatants, and

had been taken.

cries of the wounded that mingled in the uproar.

On our right, we heard a loud cheering. This had a magical effect: regardless of the enemy’s fire, and every

Strange to say, I now began to feel my arms

other impediment, the men dashed in over the breach,

and legs were entire. At such moments, a

carrying everything before them.

man is not always aware of his wounds. It was a scene sufficient to blanch the hair There was great confusion and terrible carnage under

and to wither the heart.

the continual fire of the French - who fought like demons. A death struggle of fiery antagonists took place

At this period, also, the uproar exceeded all descrip-tion;

at every corner, while our men most thoroughly

great guns roaring; musketry blazing; men shrieking

maddened with rage and excitement, dashed at the

rrom the agony of their wounds; bells ringing; and dogs

breach with wild resolution. Here now was a crushing

barking, in such numbers, and with such fury, that it

and most desperate struggle for the prize; the bright

would seem that aU the canine species of Estramadura

beams of the moon were obscured with powder-smoke.

were imprisoned in the fortress. Add to this, the

The springing of mines, powder-barrels, flashing of

sounding of our bugles in all directions, and the French

guns and small arms, rendered our men marks for destruction. Small mines had been constructed all along in the ditch, which were exploded when it was filled with people, and which produced infinite mischief On the

162

drums beating with hurried and redoubled violence the pas de charge, whilst a murderous fire of shot, shell, and musketry poured on. Supports

came

forward,

all

the

officers

simultaneously sprang to the front, when the Herculean

BEFORE THE WALES

effort was renewed with a thrilling cheer, and the

breach was isolated: the boards they left behind in their

entrance was gained. The fighting was continued with

panic.

fury in the streets, until the French were all killed,

When the first fire ball was thrown it was about half

wounded, or prisoners; the town was fired in many

past 9 o’clock, a quarter to 10 when we got over the

places; many were killed in the market-place.

bridge, quarter past 10 when the grape shot came, half

An Irish volunteer uttered an exclamation of surprise at the facility with which he could deprive a human

past 10 when we got into the citadel, and near 12 before all was silent.

being of life - his bayonet through the heart and the yeU with which he gave up the ghost so terrified him that he

We have indeed done the Beaux.

started back, the implement of death in his hands, and apostrophising it, was heard to say; ‘Idoly Moses! How easy you went into him!’As the first taste of blood rouses

In The Citadel

the latent fierceness of the tiger’s whelp, so this event seemed to have altered his nature.

I found myself standing amongst several French soldiers,

The town was virtually ours. A voice was heard to

who crowded round the gun in the embrasure. One of

shout above the uproar,‘They run, they run!’The

them still held the match lighted in his hand, the blue

enemy’s resistance slackened, and they suddenly fled

flame

from before us, escaping right and left by boards laid

countenances of these warriors an expression not easily

across cuts, through the terre-pleine, by which the

forgotten. A grenadier leaned on the gun, and bled

of which

gave

the

bronzed

and

sullen

163

MARCHING WITH

SHARPE

profusely from the head; another, who had fallen on his

each green leaf and blade in diamond drops reflected the

knees when wounded, remained fixed in astonishment

verdant hue of the foliage upon which it hung till

and terror. Others, whose muskets lay scattered on the

diamonds seemed emeralds. A thousand nameless

ground, folded their arms in deep despair; and the

flowers, displaying as many lovely colours, were on all

appearance of the whole group, with their huge bushy

the earth.

moustaches, and mouths blackened with biting the

The great breach was fairly stained with gore, which

cartridges, presented to the eye ofa young soldier at least

through the vivid reflection of the brilliant sun, whose

an appearance sufficiently formidable.

glowing heat already drew the watery vapours from its surface, gave it the appearance of a fiery lake of smoking

Don’t mind them fellows. Sir, they were all

blood.‘There lay a frightful heap of fourteen or 1,500

settled jist afore you came up; and, by my

British soldiers, many dead but stfll warm, mixed with

soul, good boys they war for a start, and

the desperately wounded, to whom no assistance could

fought Hke raal divUs, so they did, tiU Mr.

he given.There lay the burned and blackened corpses of

S. and the grena-diers came powdering

those that had perished by the explosions, mixed with

down on them with the war-whoop. Och,

those that were torn to pieces by round shot or grape,

my darhnt, they were made smiddreens of

and killed by musketry. Stiffening in their gore, body

in a crack, barring that great big feUow you

piled upon body, they involved and intermixed into one

see there, with the great black whiskers,

hideous and enormous mass of carnage; whilst the

bleeding in the side, and resting his head

morning sunbeams, falling on this awful pile, seemed to

on the gun-carriage. He was the bouldest

my imagination pale and lugubrious as during an

of’ them all, and made bloody battle; but

eclipse.There stood stiU the terrific beam across the top,

‘tis short he stud afore Jim. He gave him a

armed with its sharp and bristling sword blades, which

raal Waterford pucks that tumbled him

no human dexterity or strength could pass without

hke a nine-pin in a minute; and, by my own

impalement. The smell of burned flesh was yet

sow!, a puck of the butt-end of Jim’s piece

shockingly strong and disgusting.

is no joke, I tell you, for he tried it on more heads nor one.

Elsewhere, the dead lay in heaps, numbers of them stripped, with every variety of expression in their countenance, from calm placidity to the greatest agony.

The Lieutenant was without a cap, his sword scabbard

They displayed the most ghastly wounds. Here and

was gone, and the laps of his frock coat were perforated

there, half-buried under the blackened fragments of the

with balls. Indeed everyone who returned bore evident

wall, or reeking on the surface of the run, lay those who

marks where they had been.Their caps, belts, firelocks,

had been blown up in the explosions, their remains

etc., were more or less damaged. I had three shots pass

dreadfully mangled and discoloured. Strewed about

through my cap, one of which carried away the rosehead

were dissevered arms and legs. In one spot lay nine

and tuft, my firelock was damaged near the lock, and a

officers. A colonel came and he looked very dull.‘Do

ball had passed through the but. I had been some seconds

you not know that my brother was killed last night?’ In

at the revetement (wall) of the bastion near the breach, and

a flood of tears he pointed to a body.‘There he lies.’ He

my red-coat pockets were literally filled with chips of

had a pair of scissors with him.‘Go and cut offa lock of

stones splintered by musket-baUs.

hrs hair for my mother. I came for the purpose, but I am not equal to doing it.’ I retraced my steps of the night before. I passed many

The Butcher’s Bill

wounded, indeed there were some in every place. I saw 8 or 10 shot through the face, their heads one mass of

The sun rose m majesty and splendour, as usual in the

clotted blood, many with limbs shattered, some shot in

blooming month of April, which in that chmate is as our

the body & groaning most piteously and, oh shame to

May. The country around was clothed in luxuriant

the British soldiers, the fatigued officers could not get

verdure, refreshed by recent dew, which still clinging to

the men moved all day from their plunder &

164

BEFORE THE WALLS

intoxication! I went two or three times to the town, the last time the smell was horrible.You were continually

In one siege and storm he had lost over 4,000 killed and wounded out of some 17,100 men — about 24%.

treading upon feet or heads.

Let any man picture to himself this

The Sack

frightful scene of carnage taking place in a space of less than a hundred square yards. Let him corfSider that the slain died not all suddenly, nor by one manner of death; that

to

to ieum^en.

‘3!o7^'^^yron

some perished by steel, some by shot, some by water, that some were crushed and mangled by heavy weights, some trampled

Soon after dayhght, the bugle sounded for two hours plunder.

upon, some dashed to atoms by the fiery explosions; that for hours this destruction was endured without shrinking, and that

By the laws of war we are allowed to kill all found in a town that stands a storm.

the town was won at last. itloem u/>tf/et^itoo 0 ts 03 < CD

E

c 0

E

c '0 C O O

SHARPE

Bordeaux

MARCHING WITH

183

MARCHING WITH

184

SHARPE

APPENDICES CHRONOLOGY 1775

American Revolution

Convention of Cintra

1783

Great Britain Recognizes Independence of the

Revolt in Spain

United States

Napoleon enters Madrid 1809

Battle of Corunna; British troops evacuate

1789

French Revolution

1793

France declares war on England

Sir John Moore killed

1795

Napoleon appointed Commander in Chief,

ArthurWellesley in command of British troops

Italy

Battle of Oporto

1797

Napoleorvddrected to invade England

Battle ofTalavera

1798

Nelson defeats the French fleet inAboukir Bay

Napoleon divorces Josephine

1800

Formation of the Experimental Rifle Corps

Construction of the Lines ofTorresVedres

Napoleon declares himself First Consul

1810

Battle of Busaco French held by Lines ofTorresVedres

1801

Act of Union between Britain and Ireland

1802

Peace of Amiens between England and France

1803

England declares war on France

Erench leave Portugal

1804

Napoleon proclaimed Emperor of the French

Battle of Fuentes de Onoro

Spain declares war on England

Battle ofAlbuera

1805

1806

1807

1808

Nelson defeats the French/Spanish fleet at

1811

1812

Battle ofBarrosa

Storm of Ciudad Rodrigo

Trafalgar; Nelson killed.

Storm ofBadajoz

Napoleon declares blockade of Britain in

War of 1812 with America

Berlin Decrees

Battle of Salamanca

England blockades French ports

British enter Madrid

France invades Portugal; English remove royal

Siege of Burgos

family to Brazil

Napoleon defeated in Russia

British arrive in Portugal

1813

Battle ofVittoria

Battle of Rolica

Battle of the Pyrenees

Battle ofVimeiro

Storm of San Sebastian

MARCHING WITH Battle ofBidassoa Wellington enters France

1814

End of war between Britain and America 1815

Napoleon returns to France

Battle of Nivelle

Battle of Quatre Bras

Battle of Nive

Battle ofWaterloo

Battle of Orthez

Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to St. Helena

Wellington enters Bordeaux

Allied forces enter Paris

Battle ofToulouse Napoleon abdicates and is sent to Elba

186

SHARPE

1818

Allied forces leave France

APPENDICES

SELECTED ITEMS OF EXPENDITURE FROM DICKSON’S PETTY CASH BOOK, 1809-11 June,

1809

June 13

Tea, sugar, and butter

Dollars

Vintems

1

35

3 knives and forks

36

3 table an^p tea spoons

20

cups and saucers, plates and a mug

29

3 tumblers

10

Portuguese cockade 15

24

Cheese and bread for march Sausages, &c

2

16

Cherries at St Domingos

3

19

Calico for shirts

20

PaidTaylor for repairing my coat

5

9 25

Washing

9

23

A Boliero [driver] going to examine road toVilla de Rey

8

24

A Portuguese Artilleryman going to Abrantes

26

with a letter from me to May

24

Gave two English soldiers in distress at Villa deRey

24

Fowls, &c

1

A pair of gloves

1

29

Lost at cards Captain Mor’s atThomar

30

Red cloth for cuffs and collar of coat

32

2

187

MARCHING WITH

1809.

July July 5

SHARPE

Dollars Cloth and leather for a pair of overhauls

8

Cutting hair 8 9

24

Fish hooks, &c

5

Share of expense with Arentschild of party we gave to family of Custodio Jacomo in garden...

11

Vintems

6

Amount ofjoseph’s [Joseph was Dickson’s servant. Ed.] expenditure for house account rom 27 June to this date per memorandum

12

22

Gave Driver Dickenson left in hospital at Thomar

5

Justina [Dickson’s land-lady. Ed.] at Cacharias

1

21

14

Poor man at Memoria

3

20

Breakfast at Ponte de Murcella

19

Old man at Galizes

5

21

Guides going from Pinhancos to Mangoalde...

August,

24

1809.

August

Dollars

Vintems

1

10 dozen anchovies

2

6

Gave a French prisoner

1

14

Fishing in Ocreza

1

16

Breakfast atVillaVelha

30

17

Man that found my spur

24

A pen knife and pocket clasp ditto 25

1

Fishing in Ocreza

20 24

2 clasp knives

1

29

3 bottles Gin

3

24

31

Lost cards

1

15

Dollars

Vintems

September,

1809

September 2

Housemaid at Billet Gastello Brando

8

Bought at Sobreira Formosa fair 11% Covadas

1

of brown suragoca at 32 vintems per cova

9

16

12

Supper at Certaa two fowls

1

29

14

Paid Mr. Rozierres for two lbs. tea purchased 4

0

50

0

at Thomar 17

Settled Joseph’s account from 20 July to this date

28

Guide to Figueiro dosVinhos

2

Ferry man at Barca de Boncar

5

1 8 8

APPENDICES

October

1809.

October

Dollars

Ventims

1

27M

2

A ham

4

% hundred quills

20

6

A Bottle ink

26

8

Old woman

6

1

A large ham 171b at 9 vintems

3

Gave a poor soldier of Lusitanian Legion

34 24

14

Making my Portuguese uniform

13

Gave man at Pereira for explaining country

12

Two turkeys

12

15. 16

Bought fish caught in river

31

Gave house-keeper of my biUet at Certaa

3

6 4

Servant girl do. (ditto)

November

30

0 8

1809. Dollars

November

Vintems

5

Lost cards

24

7

Hair cutting

12

10

6 covas of linen for shirts

5

0

13

Medicine

1

34

14

A silver purse bought at fair

4

20

15

Making two shirts

1

8

Cambric for frills for 6 shirts

1

20 11

Ribbon for a cockade Two pair^concave spectacles

1

0

A compass with dial

1

30

A pair Gallowses [braces.]

1

20

8 dozen small round buttons

2

21

Cocked hat

13

An Epaulette

12

December

16

1809. Dollars

Vintems

Certaa

2

16

Four fowls

2

17

Paid taylor for making jacket

2

18

Paid Captain Kelly for ham bought at Abrantes,

December 10

Gave man that remained to take charge of sick at

deducting his share of Mess 23

Wine

2

16

16 24

189

MARCHING WITH

January

SHARPE

1809.

January

Dollars

Vintems

1

33M

1

To Joseph and the Drummers on Christmas Day

2

Soap and combs

15

4

Boatman crossing to Chamusca

10

15

A sash purchased for me by Arentschild

9

A pair of grey pantaloons

2

23

A Waiter at Santarem

24

Putting shoe on mule at Castanheira

28

Opera at San Carlos

30

Paid Taylor for new great coat

20 23 3

1

20

17

3

Dollars

Vintems

February 1810. February 1

Hair cutting

12

Paid for a lb. of tea purchased atThomar

3

9

Taylor for making pantaloons

2

12

Gave sick woman in hospital

13

Toys for Rozierres children

24

Old coin at Meidobriga

4 12

1 6

March 1810. March 1

Dollars Pastry, day German Artillery dined with me,

Vintems

1

12

Oranges, etc

15

Guide going to Valencia de Alcantara

20

Two bottles rum

1

22

Present of rum for Mr Arriaga

8

5

24

Joseph either willfully or by neglect has omitted entering in his accounts money received from me

April

6

Dollars

Vintems

1810.

April 1

3

Gave painter that gave information about painting knapsacks

2

14

190

12

6 bottles gin

7

4

Two tongues

2

16

A salmon

1

Oldman

2

APPENDICES 16

Bought a knife

18

Child at Herdade de Mosqueiros

23

Taylor on account of making new coat and put ting new lining to old one

25

24 2

3

Two coins at Meidobriga, one of Constantine, the other of Maximian

12

May 1810 Dollars

May 2

Fowl

7

Paid Rettberg for a quarter veal

8

Little girl

12

24 1 5

Share of expences on trip to Alburqucrque and Campo Major with Hartmann

3

17

Servant at billet at Elvas

1

18

Dinner atVillaVi90za

1

19

Breakfast at do

1

22

Manoel at Sou.zel

1

25

Paid Major Hartmann for 16 bottles of brandy

30

12

Brown brought me from Lisbon

6

Paid Costa for tea-pot, coffee-pot, arid 6 cups

2

13

Dollars

Vintems

June,

1810

June 12

Vintems

Paid Mr Manoel Souza for a pair of epaulettes he brought'me from Lisbon

15

21

Two pound tea

4

30

23

Joseph has expended on house account since 139

11

33

27

the 18 December 1809 Paid wages on discharging him, from 16 March 1809, to 16 June 1810, at 10 shillings per month per account 27

Cutting hair, etc

28

Stuff for a pair of pantaloons sent me from

15

Lisbon by Jose Pedro

8

A pair of boots do

7

8 bottles Hollands sent by Cunha which Jose

9

Pedro paid for

8

Taylor for making pantaloons

2

191

MARCHING WITH

July,

SHARPE

1810

July

Dollars

9

12 coloured crayon pencils

11

A riding whip

17

Vintems

2 '

2

A cag of brandy

8

A ring as present to Donna Maria at my billet at Portalegre

5

Gave old arrieiro (Port. Muleteer) who had been wounded

1

Wine at Alpalhao

8

Receipts 3

22

The boots I received from Lisbon not fitting Captain Rozierres took them

7

Gratification for April (gratuity)

4

20

Received to purchase an additional horse, by Virtue of an order from the Regency

August

50

1810

August

Dollars

1

10 dozen anchovies purchased atTinalhas

2

Vintems

6

Gave a French prisoner

1

14

Millar fishing in Ocreza

1

17

Man that found my spur

20

Three bottles of gin

3

31

Bread,butter, etc., bought at Sobreira

2

Lost at cards

1

15

Dollars

Vintems

September

Paid for guides when I went toViUaVeiha Two pound best tea for Squire

18

25

.

1

24

2

An almude [Portuguese wine measure.] of wine Senhor Liogo brought me from Coimbra

6

Bullock driver that dislocated his arm

2

October

1810.

October 10

24

1810

September 1

24

Dollars Stuff for a pair of pantaloons blue net

Vintems

8

Gave Manoel Henriques for executing my commissions 11

192

at Lisbon

5

Three ducks

1

5

APPENDICES 20

Gave Gunner who had his arm cut

26

My subscription for the ransom of captives at Algiers

25

29

A pair boots

10

November,

1810

November 12

4 bottles gin

Dollars

Vintems

3

10

Two lb. refined salt

15

Hlh. pepper

10

Purchased by Lieut.Theodoro in Lisbon. A cheese

4

A large bass basket

3

A fine table cloth

3

8 canadas (Portuguese wine measure. Ed.) brandy

8

A hat cover

1

13

5 35

Two cockades Blue cloth to make saddle cloth

6

35

A pair silver spurs

6

35

dozen knives and forks

1

32

Butter, sugar, potatoes, &c

3

A ham

2

32

Wax candles

1

12

Gave dragoon atVallada for finding my horse

1

Purchased at Lisbon by Antonio Henriques.

A tureen

20

February,

1811 Dollars

Vintems

Hat ornaments

2

20

Lace for do

1

25

February 6

22

Ribbon for cockades Opera with Fisher

2

12

A pair of boots

6

15

Gunner who brushed my clothes for 2 days

1

8

Poor woman 23

2 lb. raisins ; 1 lb. figs; 1 lb. almonds

March,

1

21

Dollars

Vintems

1811

March 6

2 bottles brandy; 2 do. gin

4

8

Small barrel biscuit

1

20

14

Oranges

10

20

Cakes at the nunnery

15

193

July, 1811. 4 12

Vintems

Dollars

July Bought a grey horse

72

Two turkeys

3

20

Four chickens

1

8

3 dozen eggs

1

5

23

Bread and milk atVillaVeiha

6

24

Fowl at Lardosa

1

30

Dinner atTrancoso

2

31

Dinner at Moimenta

1

20

Dollars

Vintems

2

0

47

0

Horse medicine

2

0

12

Pair gloves

12

20

18

Pair trousers

28

Expenses during my illness that I have no account of

40

30

29

Paid Dr Ogilvie the physician who attended me

50

0

30

Paid nurse for 15 days

15

0

20

August, 1811. August 3 10

Gave boatmen on reaching Oporto 6 shirts and two pair pantaloons

September,

1811

September 2

Dollars

Vintems

3 tongues

1

20

3 quire paper

2

20

Two sticks sealing wax 3

10

One dozen Porto [port wine.]

3

24

Paid Diogo for 3 dozen Porlo he procured me

12

5

4

Artillery driver who assisted in my stable

2

9

Gave boy that accompanied Mr Boyes s mules

1

18

Sowing silk

21

Paulo bought at Lamego

• 24 30

5 lb. marmalade

35

Pears and lemons

24

Ribbon 24

Mrs Holder for cooking dinner

27

Sent Mr Boyes price of litter that came from Larnego 3 days at 4000 per diem

1

26

0

APPENDICES

October

1811

October

Dollars

Vintems

1

Walnuts

3

A teakettle

6

Two ducks

1

20

5

A turkey and bringing from Penedono

2

24

13

Lost at cards

1

8

22

Poor family

2

24

Poor women

28

Bought Lindseys gun

10 1

27 26

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APPENDICES Warre. Secondly by his great-great nephew William

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RECOMMENDED READING In recent years, a number of publishers have

Farmer, George. The Light Dragoon. Edited by George C.

republished and/or printed facsimile editions of some

Gleig. 2Vols. Facsimile of 1844 edition published by Ken

of the diaries, journals, and letters of the men who fought Napoleon and his Grande Armee with

Trotman, Cambridge, 1999. Green,John. The Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life. Facsimile of 1827 edition published by Ken Trotman, Cambridge, 1996.

Wellington between 1808 to 1815.The following list represents some of those readily available through military booksellers, many on the Internet.

Hathaway, Eileen. CosteUo. The True Story of a Peninsular War Rifleman. Shinglepicker Publications. Swanage. 1997. HoweU, Thomas. A Soldier of the Seventy-first. The Journal of a Soldier in the Peninsular War. Edited by Christopher

Aitchison,John.Ensign in the PeninsularWar.The Letters of John Aitchison. Edited by W.F.K. Thompson. Michael Joseph Ltd. London. 1981. BeU, Major-General^r George. Soldier’s Glory being ‘Rough Notes of an Old Soldier.’ Edited and arranged by his kinsman, Brian Stuart. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. London. 1956. Blakeney,Robert. A Boy in the PeninsularWar.Edkedbyjulian Sturgis. Facsimile of the 1899 edition by Greenhill Books, Lionel Leventhal Limited, London. 1989. Boutflower, Charles. LiteJournal of an Army Surgeon DuringThe

Hibbert. Leo Cooper. 1975. Reprinted by The Windrush Press. Moreton-in-Marsh. 1997. Hennel, George. A Gentleman Volunteer. The Letters of George Hennell From the PeninsularWar 1812-1813. Edited by Michael Glover.William Heinemann Ltd. London. 1979. Keep,William Thornton. In the Service of the King. The Letters of William Thornton Keep, at Home, Walcheren, and in the Peninsula, 1808-1814. Edited by Ian Fletcher. Spellmount. Staplehurst. 1997. Kincaid, Captain J. Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands, from 1809 to 1815.

PeninsularWar. UK. 1912. Facsimile of the 1912 edition by

First Published in 1830. Republished by Leo Cooper,

SpeUniount Ltd. Staplehurst. 1997.

London.1997.

Cooper, John Spencer. Rough Notes of Seven Campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France and America During the Years 18091815. Facsimile of1869 edition published by Spellmount Ltd. Staplehurst. 1996. Curling,HenrY,Ed. Recollections of Rifleman Harris. Robert M. McBride & Co. New York. 1929. Douglas, John. Douglas’s Tale of the Peninsula and Waterloo,

Kincaid,J. Random Shots From a Rifleman. T. andW. Boone, 29, New Bond-Street. London. 1835 Mackinnon, late Major-Gen. Henry and John Malcolm, Two PeninsularWarJournals by KenTrotman, Cambridge, 1999. Mills,Jobn. For King and Country. The Letters and Diaries of John Mills, Coldstream Guards, 1811-1814. Edited by Ian Fletcher. Spellmount Ltd. Staplehurst. 1995.

former Sergeant, 1st Royal Scots). Edited by Stanley

Morris,Thomas. The Recollections of Sergeant Morris. Edited by

Monick. LEO COOPER. Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

John Selby. 1967. Reprinted by The Windrush Press.

Barnsley. 1997,

Moreton-in-Marsh. 1998.

199

MARCHING WITH Oman, Sir Charles. Wellington’s Army, 1809-i814. Facsimile of

SHARPE

Stepney,John Cowell. Leaves From the Diary of An Officer of the

the 1913 edition by Greenhill Books, Lionel Leventhal

Guards. Facsimile of 1854 edition published by Ken

Limited, London. 1986.

Trotman, Cambridge, 1994.

Page,JuliaV. Intelligence Officer In the Peninsula. Letters and Diaries

Surtees,William. Twenty-FiveYears in the Rifle Brigade. Facsimile

of Major the Hon Edward Charles Cocks. 1787-1812.

of the 1833 edition by Greenhill Books, Lionel Leventhal

Spelhnount Ltd.Turnbridge Wells. 1986.

Limited, London. 1996.

Rous,John./l Guards Officer in the Peninsula. The Peninsula War

Tomkinson, Lieut.-Col. The Diary of A Cavalry Officer in the

letters of John Rous, Coldstream Guards, 1812-1814. Edited by

Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign 1809-1815. Edited

Ian Fletcher. SpeUmount Ltd.Turnbridge Wells. 1992.

by his Son James Tomkinson. Frederick Muller Ltd.

Schaumann, August Ludolf Friedrich. On the Road With Wellington. The Diary of a War Commissary. Introduction by

London. 1894.2nd Edition, 1971. Wheatley, Edmund. The Wheatley Diary. A Journal and Sketch¬

Bernard Cornwell. Facsimile of the 1924 edition by

book kept during the PeninsularWar and theWaterloo Campaign.

Greenhill Books,Lionel Leventhal Limited,London. 1999.

Edited by Christopher Hibbert. Longmans, Green and

Sherer, Col. Joseph Moyle. Recollections of the Peninsula.

Co., Ltd., 1964. Reprinted by The Windrush Press.

Longman,Hurst,Rees, Orme,Brown,and Green.London. 2nd. Ed. 1824.

Moreton-in-Marsh. 1997. Warre, Lieut.-Gen Sir William. Letters From The Peninsula

Simmons, Major George. A British Rifle Man. Journals and

1808-1812. First edited by his nephew The Rev.Edmond

Correspondence during the PeninsularWarand the Campaign of

Warre. Secondly by his great-great nephew William

Wellington. Edited by Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner.

Acheson Warre. 1909. SpeUmount Limited. Staplehurst.

Facsimile of the 1899 edition by Greenhill Books, Lionel Leventhal Limited, London. 1986.

1999. Wheeler, William. The Letters of Private Wheeler. Edited by

Smith, Sir Harry. The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith 1787-

Captain B.H. LiddeU, Hart.The Windrush Press. 1951.

1819. Facsimile of the 1910 edition by Constable and Company Limited. London. 1999.

SOURCES See Bibliography for complete reference information.

1792-1815. New York Hippocrene Books 1978. Lee, Christopher. This Sceptred Isle. London. Penguin

PREFACE

Books/BBC Books 1997. Muir, Rory. Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon. 1807-1815. New Haven and London.Yale University Press 1996.

Best, Geoffrey. War and Society in Revolutionary Europe 1770 — 1870. Gloucestershire. Sutton Publishing Limited 1998. Britt, Albert Sidney. III. The West point Military History Series. The Wars of Napoleon.Wuyne, New Jersey Avery publishing

Oman, Carola. Britain Against Napoleon. London. Faber and Faber Limited. 1942. Parkinson,Roger. The PeninsularWar. London.The Book Club Associates 1973.

Group, Inc 1985. Chalfont, Lord. Ed. Waterloo. Battle of Three Armies. New York Alfred A. Knopf 1980.

PREPARING FOR WAR

ChurchilfWinston S.H History of the English-Speaking Peoples. The Age of Revolution. New York Dodd, Mead & Company 1957. Durant, Will and Ariel. The Age of Napoleon. A History of

Anonymous. Journal of a Regimental Officer during the Recent Campaign in Portugal and Spain under Lord Viscount Wellington, with a correct Plan of the Battle ofTalavera. 1810.

European Civilization from 1789 to 1 ^ ? 5. New York Simon

Memoirs of a Sergeant late in the Forty-Third light Infantry

& Schuster 1975.

Regiment... 1835.

Glover, Michael. The Napoleonic Wars: an illustrated history

200

Anton,James, Late Quartermaster-Sergeant, Forty-Second or

APPENDICES Royal Highlanders. Retrospect of A Military Life DuringThe Most Eventful Periods of the Last War. 1841.

Moore Smith, G.C. The Life of John Colborne, Field-Marshal Lord Seaton. 1903.

Bell, Major-General Sir George. Soldier’s Glory being ‘Rough Notes of an Old Soldier’ Edited and arranged by his kinsman, Brian Stuart. 1956.

Morris,Thomas. The Recollections of Sergeant Morris. Edited by John Selby. 1967. Napier, Major-General SirW.F.P. History of the War in the

Baker, Ezekiel. Remarks on Rifle Guns. 2nd 1804.

Peninsula and in the South of France from the year 1807 to the

Barber,

year 1814. 1828-1840.

Captain T.H.

, British Army.

Instructions for

Sharpshooters.

Oman, Carola. Britain Against Napoleon. 1942.

Blackmore, Howard. L. British Military Firearms. 1650-1850. 1961.

Oman, Sir Charles. A History of the Peninsular War. Vols. I- VII. Oxford. 1901-1930.

Bunbury, Lieut.-General Sir Henry, K.C.B. Narratives of Some Passages in the Great War with France from 1799-1810. 1927. Cooper, John Spencer. Rough Notes of Seven Campaigns in

Wellington’s Army, 1809-1814. 1913. Page,JuliaV. Intelligence Officer In the Peninsula. Letters and Diaries of Major the Hon Edward Charles Cocks. 1787-1812. 1986.

Portugal, Spain, France and America During the Years 1809-

Parkinson, Roger. The PeninsularWar. 1973.

1815. 1869.

Reynolds, Captain “The Fortification of England’s South

Cooper, Capt.T.H.,y4 Practical Guide forThe Light Infantry

Coast; The Martello Towers.” Public Record Office., WO/30/62

Officer. 1806. Cope, SirWiUiamH.,Bart. Late Lieutenant Rifle Brigade. The History of the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own)

Sherer, Col. Joseph Moyle. Recollections of the Peninsula. 1824. Simmons, Major George. A British Rifle Man. Journals and Correspondence during the PeninsularWar and the Campaign of

Formerly the 95th. 1877 Dundas, Col. David. Principles of Military Movements, Chiefly

Wellington. Edited by Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner. 1899.

Applied to Infantry. 1788. Farmer, George. The Light Dragoon. Edited by George C. Gleig. Henry Colburn, Publisher. London. 1844. Fuller, Colonel J. F. C. British Light Infantry in the Eighteenth Century (An Introduction to “Sir John Moore’s System of

Smirke, Robert. Review of a Battalion oj Infantry, Including the Eighteen Manoeuvres,... 1803. Stepney,John Cowell. Leaves From the Diary of An Officer of the Guards. 1854. Stewart,William. Outlines of a Plan for the General Reform of the

Training”). 1925. Glieg, G. R. The Subaltern. 1872.

British Land Forces. 1806.

Green, John. The Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life. 1827.

Surtees,WiUiam. Twenty-Five Years in the Rifle Brigade. 1833.

Hanger, Col. George. To All Sportsmen and Particularly to Farmers

Verner, Colonel Willougby. History & Campaigns of the Rifle

and Gamekeepers. London. Harris, Benjamin. RefoY/ertiom of Rifleman Harris. 1929. Hart, Liddell. The Ghost of Napoleon, n.d.

Brigade. 1919. Wheeler, William. The Letters of Private Wheeler. Edited by Captain B.H. Liddell, Hart. 1951.

Hay, Captain William, C.B. Reminiscences 1808-1815 Under Wellington. Edited by His Daughter, Mrs. S.C.I. Wood. 1901. Haythornthwaite, Philip J. The Armies qfWellington. 1996. Howell, Thomas. A Soldier of the Seventy-first. The Journal of a

ON FOREIGN STRANDS

Soldier in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Christopher Hibbert. Bell, Major-General Sir George. Soldier’s Glory being ‘Rough

1975. Jackson, Inspector-general Robert, British Army Hospitals. A Systematic View of the Formation, Discipline, and Economy of

Brian Stuart. 1956. Blakeney, Robert. A Boy in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Julian

Armies. 1804. Keep, William Thornton. In the Service of the King.The Letters of William Thornton Keep, at Home, Walcheren, and in the Peninsula, 1808-1814. Edited by Ian Fletcher. 1997. KincAd,]. Random Shots From a Rifleman. 1835 Longford, Elizabeth. Wellington :The Years of the Sword. 1969. Manningham, Colonel. RegulationsforThe Rifle Corps formed at Blatchington

Notes of an Old Soldier.’ Edited and arranged by his kinsman,

Barracks

under the command of Colonel

Manningham. August 25th, 1800. 1801.

Sturgis. 1899. Boutflower, Charles. The Journal of an Army Surgeon DuringThe PeninsularWar. 1912. Costello, Edward. The Adventures of a Soldier, or Memoirs of Edward Costello of the Rifle Brigade, comprising narratives of Wellington’s Campaigns in the Peninsula, etc. 1841 Douglas,John. Douglas’sTale of the Peninsula andWaterloo. former Sergeant, 1st Royal Scots). Edited by Stanley Monick. 1997.

201

MARCHING WITH Farmer, George. The Light Dragoon. Edited by George C. Gleig. 1844. Harris, Benjamin. Recollections of Rifleman Harris. Edited by Henry Curling. 1929.

SHARPE

book kept during the PeninsularWar-and the Waterloo Campaign. Edited by Christopher Hihbert. 1964. Wheeler, William. The Letters of Private Wheeler. Edited by Captain B.H.LiddeU, Hart. 1951.

Hathaway, Eileen. Costello. The True Story of a Peninsular War Rifleman. 1997. Haythornthwaite, Philip J. Weapons & Equipment of the

ON THE MARCH

NapoleonicWars. 1979. Howell, Thomas. A Soldier of the Seventy first. The fournal of a Soldier in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Christopher Hibbert. 1975. Keep,WilliamThornton. In the Service of the King. The Letters of William Thornton Keep, at Home, Walcheren, and in the Peninsula, 1808-1814. Edited by Ian Fletcher. 1997. Kincaid, Captain J. Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands, from 1809 to 1815. 1830. Kdncaid,}. Random Shots From a Rifleman. 1835 Leach, Captain Jonathan. Rough Sketches of the Life of an Old Soldier... 1831.

Aitchison, John. An Ensign in the PeninsularWar. The Letters of JohnAitchison. Edited by W.F.K.Thompson. 1981. BeU, Major-General Sir George. Soldier’s Glory being ‘Rough Notes of an Old Soldier.’ Edited and arranged by his kinsman, Brian Stuart. 1956. Barrett, C.R.B. History of the XIII Hussars. 1911. Blakiston, Major J. Twelve Years’ Military Adventure inThree quarters of the Globe... 2 Vols. 1829. Blakeney, Robert. H Boy in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Julian Sturgis. 1899. Boutflower, Charles. TheJournal of an Army Surgeon DuringThe PeninsularWar. UK. 1912.

Malcolm, John. Late of the 42nd. Regt. ‘Reminiscences of the

Brotherton, Gen. Sir Thomas. A Hawk at War. The Peninsular

Campaign in the Pyrenees and South of France, in 1814’’in

Reminiscences of General SirThomas Brotherton CB. Edited by

Memorials of the Late War. 1831. Maxwell, W.H. Esq. Ed. Peninsular Sketches; by Actors on the Scene. 1844. Napier, G.T. Passages in the Early Military Life of General Sir GeorgeT. Napier. Edited by W.C.E. Napier. 1884

Bryan Perrett. 1986. Bryant, Arthur. C.H. Jackets of Green: A Study of the History, Philosophy, and Character of the Rifle Brigade. 1972. Bunbury, Lieut.-General Sir Henry, K.C.B. Narratives of Some Passages in the Great War with France from 1799-1810. 1927.

Napier, Major-General Sir W.F.P. History of the War in the

Call, Captain George Issac. Diary of Captain George Issac Gall,

Peninsula and in the South of France from the year 1807 to the

27th (later 24th) Light Dragoons, from September 1811 to

year 1814. 1828-1840.

February 1812. National Army Museum 6807/150.

Oman, Sir Charles. Wellington’s Army, 1809-1814. 1913. Page,JuliaV. Intelligence Officer In the Peninsula. Letters and Diaries of Major the Hon Edward Charles Cocks. 1787-1812. 1986.

Campbell, Brevet-Major, 23rd Regiment, Late D.A.Q.M.G. to the Light Division, and Captain Shaw, 43rd Regiment, Late A-D-C. to General Crauford (sic),publishers. Standing

Schaumann, August Ludolf Friedrich. On the Road With

Orders as Given Out and Enforced by the late major-General

Wellington. The Diary of a War Commissary. Edited and

Robert Crauford, for the use of the Light Division, During the

translated from the German by Anthony M. Ludovici.

years 1809,1810, and 1811, then serving under his command in

1924.

the Army of the Duke ofWellington. 1831.

Sherer, Col. Joseph Moyle. Recollections of the Peninsula. 1824. Simmons, Major George. A British Rifle Man. Journals and Correspondence during the PeninsularWar and the Campaign of Wellington. Edited hy Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner. 1899. Smith, Sir Harry. The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith 17871819. Ed. G.C. Moore Smith. 1910. Stepney, John Cowell. Leaves From the Diary of An Officer of the Guards. 1854. Surtees,WiIham. Twenty-FiveYears in the Rifle Brigade. 1833 Tomkinson, Lieut.-Col. The Diary of A Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign 1809-1815. Edited by his Son James Tomkinson 1894. Wheatley, Edmund. The Wheatley Diary. A Journal and Sketch¬

202

Cooke, John. Memoirs of the Late War: Comprising the Personal Narrative of Captain Cooke of the 43rd Regiment of Light Infantry. 1831. Cooper, John Spencer. Rough Notes of Seven Campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France and America During the Years 18091815. 1869 Costello, Edward. The Adventures of a Soldier, or Memoirs of Edward Costello of the Rifle Brigade, comprising narratives of Wellington’s Campaigns in the Peninsula, etc. 1841 Daniel,J.Journal of An Officer in the Commissariat Department of the Army... 1820. Dawson, Lionel. “Hunting in the Peninsular.” The Age of Napoleon.Yol. 20. Pp. 34-37. n.d. Dickson, Major-General Sir Alexander. Royal Artillery. The

APPENDICES Dickson Manuscripts. Edited by Major John H. Leslie 1905. Douglas John. Douglas’s Tale of the Peninsula and Waterloo, former Sergeant, 1st Royal Scots). Edited by Stanley Monick. 1997. Farmer, George. The Light Dragoon. Edited by George C. Gleig.1844. Foy, General M. S. Histoire de la Guerre de la Peninsule sous Napoleon. 1827. Frazer, Augustus. Letters of Colonel Augustus Frazer, K.C.B.,

Larpent, F. Seymour. The Private Journal of F. Seymour Larpent, Judge-Advocate General, attached to the Head-Quarters of Lord Wellington during the Peninsular War, from 1812 to its close. Edited by Sir George Larpent. 1853. Leach, Captain Jonathan. Rough Sketches of the Life of an Old Soldier... 1831. Leetham, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur,‘Old Recruiting Posters’in JSAHR, I (1922) p. 120.

commanding the Royal Horse Artillery in the Army under the

Malcolm, John. Late of the 42nd. Regt. “Reminiscences of the

Duke ofWellington, written during the Peninsular and Waterloo

Campaign in the Pyrenees and South of France, in 1814” in

campaign. Edited by major-General Edward Sabine. 1859. Gardyne, Lieut.-Colonel C. Greenhill. The Life of a Regiment. The History of the Gordon Highlanders from its Formation in 1794 to 1816. 1901. Gordon. Alexander A. A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign 1808-09.The Journal of Captain Gordon of the 15 th Hussars. 1913. Graham of Fintry. Supplementary Report on the manuscripts of Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry. Edited by C.T. Atkinson. Flistorical Manuscripts Commission. Series 81.1940. Grattan,William. Adventures in the Connaught Rangers. Edited by Charles Oman. 1902. Gronow, Capt., The Reminiscences and Recollections of Captain Gronow. 1984. Green, John. The Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life... 1827 Gurwood, John. The General Orders of Field Marshall the Duke ofWellington in Portugal, Spain and France, from 1809 to 1814... 1837. Harris, Benjamin. Recollections of Rifleman Harris. Edited by Henry Curling. 1929. Hathaway, Eileen. Costello. The True Story of a Peninsular War Rifleman. 1997.

Memorials of the Late War. 1831. Maxwell, WH. Esq. Ed. Peninsular Sketches; by Actors on the Scene. 1844. Mills, John. For King and Country. The Letters and Diaries of John Mills, Coldstream Guards, 1811-1814. Edited by Ian Fletcher. 1995. Moore Smith, G.C. The Life of John Colborne, Field-Marshal Lord Seaton. 1903. Morris,Thomas. The Recollections of Sergeant Morris. Edited by John Selby. 1967. Myatt, Frederick. British Sieges of the PeninsularWar. 1987. Oman, Sir Charles. Wellington’s Army, 1809-1814. 1913. Page,JuliaV. Intelligence Officer In the Peninsula. Letters and Diaries of Major the Hon Edward Charles Cocks. 1787-1812. 1986. Rous,John.H Guards Officer in the Peninsula.The Peninsula War letters of John Rous, Coldstream Guards, 1812-1814. Edited hy Ian Fletcher. 1992. Schaumann, August Ludolf Friedrich. On the Road With Wellington. The Diary of a War Commissary. Edited and translated from the German by Anthony M. Ludovici. 1924. Sherer, Col. Joseph Moyle. Recollections of the Peninsula. 1824.

Hay, Captain William, C.B. ReminmeKres 1808-1815 Under

Simmons, Major George. A British Rifle Man. Journals and

Wellington. Edited by His Daughter, Mrs. S.C.l.Wood.

Correspondence during the PeninsularWar and the Campaign of

1901.

Wellington. Edited by Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner.

Haythornthwaite, Philip J. The Armies ofWellington. 1996. Henry, Walter. Surgeon Henry’s Trifles; Events of a Military Life. Edited hy Pat Hayward. 1843.

1899 Smith, Sir Harry. The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith 17871819. Ed. G. C. Moore Smith. 1910.

Howell, Thomas. A Soldier of the Seventy-first. The Journal of a

SmYth,Lieut.B. History of the 20th Regiment 1688-1888. 1889.

Soldier in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Christopher Hibbert.

Stepney, John Cowell. Leaves From the Diary of An Officer of the

1975. Hennel, George. A Gentleman Volunteer. The Letters of George Hennell From the PeninsularWar 1812-1813. Edited by Michael Glover. 1979. Keep,WiIliamThornton. In the Service of the King.The Letters of William Thornton Keep, at Home, Walcheren, and in the Peninsula, 1808-1814. Edited hy Ian Fletcher. 1997.

Guards. 1854. Surtees,William. Twenty-FiveYears in the Rifle Brigade. 1833. Tomkinson, Lieut.-Col. The Diary of A Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign 1809-1815. Edited by his Son James Tomkinson. 1894. Verner, Colonel Willougby. History & Campaigns of the Rifle Brigade. 1919

Kincaid, Captain J. Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the

Warre, Lieut.-Gen Sir William. Letters From The Peninsula

Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands, from 1809 to 1815.

1808-1812. First edited hy his nephew The Rev.Edmond

1830. Kincaid,J. Random Shots From a Rifleman. 1835

Warre. Secondly hy his great-great nephew William Acheson Warre. 1909.

203

MARCHING WITH Wheatley, Edmund. The Wheatley Diary. A Journal and Sketch¬ book kept during the Peninsular War and theWaterloo Campaign. Edited by Christopher Hibbert. 1964. Wheeler, William. The Letters of Private Wheeler. Edited by Captain B.El. Liddell, Hart. 1951.

SHARPE

Gurwood, John. The General Orders of Field Marshall the Duke ofWellington in Portugal, Spain and France... 1837. Hall, Basil. “When I Beheld These Men Spring from the Ground. 1809.” Dean King, with John B. Hattendorf, Editors. Every Man Will Do His Duty. An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson. 1997. (Pp. 234-

THE STORM OF WAR

254). Harris, Benjamin. Recollections of Rifleman Harris. Edited by Henry Curhng.. 1929.

Aitchison, John. An Ensign in the Peninsular War. The Letters of JohnAitchison. Edited by WEK.Thompson. 1981.

Hathaway, Eileen. Costello. The True Story of a Peninsular War Rifleman. 1997.

Bell, Major-General Sir George. Soldier’s Glory being 'Rough

Haythornthwaite,PhilipJ.“‘That Unlucky war’: Some aspects

Notes of an Old Soldier.’ Edited and arranged by his kinsman,

of the French experience in the Peninsula.” In Ian Fletcher,

Brian Stuart. 1956.

editor. The PeninsularWar. Aspects of the Struggle for the Iberian

Blakeney, Robert. A Boy in the Peninsular War. Edited by Julian Sturgis. 1899.

Peninsula. 1998. Weapons & Equipment of the Napoleonic Wars. 1979,1996.

Cooper, John Spencer. Rough Notes of Seven Campaigns in

Howell, Thomas. A Soldier of the Seventy-first. The Journal of a

Portugal, Spain, France and America During the Years 1809-

Soldier in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Christopher Hibbert.

1815. 1869.

1975.

Cooper, Leonard. The Age ofWellington. The Life and Times of the Duke of Wellington 1769-1852. 1963. Cope, Sir William H.,Bart. Late lieutenant Rifle Brigade. The History of the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own) Formerly the 95th. 1877

Hennel, George. A Gentleman Volunteer. The Letters of George Hennell From the Peninsular War 1812-1813. Edited by Michael Glover. 1979. Jones, Lt-Col. H. ‘Narrative of Seven Weeks’ Captivity in St. Sebastian’ in United Service Journal, 1841,1.

Costello, Edward. The Adventures of a Soldier, or Memoirs of

Kincaid, Captain J. Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the

Edward Costello of the Rifle Brigade, comprising narratives of

Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands, from 1809 to 1815.

Wellington’s Campaigns in the Peninsula, etc. 1841

1830.

Donaldson,Joseph. Recollections of the Eventful Life of a Soldier. (A Sergeant in the 94th Scots Brigade.) 1845. Doughs,,]ohn. Douglas’sTale of the Peninsula andWaterloo. former Sergeant, 1st Royal Scots). Edited by Stanley Monick. 1997. Farmer, George. The Light Dragoon. Edited by George C. Gleig.1844.

Kincaid,J. Random Shots From a Rifleman. 1835 Malcolm, John. Late of the 42nd. Regt. “Reminiscences of the Campaign in the Pyrenees and South of France, in 1814” in Memorials of the Late War. 1831. Maxwell, W.H. Esq. Ed. Peninsular Sketches; by Actors on the Scene. 1844.

Foy, General M. S. Histoire de la Guerre de la Peninsule sous Napoleon. 1827.

Mills,John. For King and Country. The Letters and Diaries of John Mills, Coldstream Guards, 1811-1814. Edited by Ian

Fuller, Colonel J. F. C. British Light Infantry in the Eighteenth Century (An Introduction to “Sir John Moore’s System of Training”). 1925.

Fletcher. 1995. Morris,Thomas. The Recollections of Sergeant Morris. Edited by John Selby. 1967.

Glieg, G.R. The Subaltern. 1872.

Myatt, Frederick. British Sieges of the PeninsularWar. 1987.

Glover, Richard. Peninsular Preparation The Reform of the British

Napier, Major-General Sir W.F.P. History of the War in the

Army 1795-1809. 1970.

Peninsula and in the South of France from the year 1807 to the

Gordon. Alexander A. A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign 1808-09.The Journal of Captain Gordon of the 15 th Hussars. 1913. Grattan, WiUiam.

year 1814. 1828-1840. Oman, Sir Charles. A History of the PeninsularWar. Vols. I-VII. 1901-1930.

in the Connaught Rangers. Edited

by Charles Oman. 1902. Gronow, Capt., The Reminiscences and Recollections of Captain Gronow. 1984. United Service Journal. 1831. II. P 181 Green,John. The Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life. 1827

Wellington’s Army, 1809-1814. 1913. Page,JuliaV. Intelligence Officer In the Peninsula. Letters and Diaries of Major the Hon Edward Charles Cocks. 1787-1812. 1986. Schaumann, August Ludolf Friedrich. On the Road With Wellington. The Diary of a War Commissary. Edited and translated from the German by Anthony M. Ludovici. 1924.

204

APPENDICES Sherer, Col. Joseph Moyle. Recollections of the Peninsula. 1824. Simmons, Major George. A British Rifle Man. Journals and Correspondence during the PeninsularWar and the Campaign of

Kincaid, Captain J. Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands, from 1809 to 1815. 1830.

Wellington. Edited by Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner.

Kincaid,J. Random Shots From a Rifleman. 1835

1899.

Malcolm, John. Late of the 42nd. Regt. “Reminiscences of the

Smith, Sir Harry. The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith 17871819. Ed. G.C. Moore Snuth. 1910. Stepney,John Cowell. Leaves From the Diary of An Officer of the Guards. 1854.

Campaign in the Pyrenees and South of France, in 1814” in Memorials of the Late War. 2Vols. 1831. Maxwell, WH. Esq. Ed. Peninsular Sketches; by Actors on the Scene. 1844.

Tomkinson, Lieut.-Col. The Diary of A Cavalry Officer in the

Mills, John. For King and Country.The Letters and Diaries of John

Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign 1809-1815. Edited

Mills, Coldstream Guards, 1811-1814. Edited by Ian

by his Son James Tomkinson. 1894.

Fletcher. 1995.

Wheeler, William. The Letters of Private Wheeler. Edited by Captain B.H. Liddell, Hart. 1951. Winter, Frank H. The First GoldenAge of Rocketry. 1990.

Napier, Major-General Sir W.F.P. History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France from the year 1807 to the year 1814. 1828-1840. Oman, Sir Charles, Wellington’s Army, 1809-1814. 1913.

BEFORE THE WALLS

Pnge,]u\iaV. Intelligence Officer In the Peninsula. Letters and Diaries of Major the Hon Edward Charles Cocks. 1787-1812. 1986. Simmons, Major George. A British Rifle Man. Journals and

Aitchison, John. An Ensign in the Peninsular War. The Letters of JohnAitchison. Edited by W.EK.Thompson. 1981. BeU,Major-General Sir George. Soldiers Glory being ‘Rough Notes of an Old Soldier.’Edited and arranged by his kinsman, Brian Stuart. 1956. Blakeney, Robert. H Boy in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Julian Sturgis. 1899. Boutflower, Charles. TheJournal of an Army Surgeon DuringThe PeninsularWar. 1912. Cooper, John Spencer. Rough Notes of Seven Campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France and America During theYears 18091815. 1869.

Correspondence during the PeninsularWar and the Campaign of Wellington. Edited by Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner. 1899. Smith, Sir Harry. The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith 17871819. Ed.G.C.Moore Smith. 1910. Stepney, John Cowell. Leaves From the Diary of An Officer of the Guards. 1854 Surtees,WiIliam. Twenty-FiveYears in the Rifle Brigade. 1833. Verner, Colonel Willougby. History & Campaigns of the Rifle Brigade. 1919 Wheeler, William. The Letters of Private Wheeler. Edited by Captain B.H. Liddell, Hart. 1951.

Costello, Edward. Tke'Adventures of a Soldier, or Memoirs of Edward Costello of the Rifle Brigade, comprising narratives of Wellington’s Campaigns in the Peninsula, etc. 1841

THE BATTLE GAINED

Dickson, Major-General Sir Alexander. Royal Artillery. The Dickson Manuscripts. Edited by Major John H. Leslie. 1905. Donaldson, Joseph. Recollections of the Eventful Life of a Soldier. (A Sergeant in the 94th Scots Brigade.) 1845. Douglas,John. Douglas’sTale of the Peninsula and Waterloo, former Sergeant, 1st Royal Scots). Edited by Stanley Monick. 1997. Fletcher, Ian. In Hell Before Daylight. 1984 Grattan, William. Adventures in the Connaught Rangers. Edited by Charles Oman. 1902. Green,John. The Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life. 1827 Hathaway, Eileen. Costello. The True Story of a Peninsular War Rifleman. 1997. Henry, Walter. Surgeon Henry’s Trifles; Events of a Military Life. Edited by Pat Hayward. 1843. Hennel, George. A Gentleman Volunteer. The Letters of George

Aitchison, John. An Ensign in the Peninsular War. The Letters of JohnAitchison. Edited by W.EK.Thompson. 1981. Bell, Major-General Sir George. Soldier’s Glory being ‘Rough Notes of an Old Soldier.’ Edited and arranged by his kinsman, Brian Stuart. 1956. Blakeney, Robert. H Boy in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Julian Sturgis. 1899. Cooper, John Spencer. Rough Notes of Seven Campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France and America During theYears 18091815. 1869 Douglas,John. Douglas’s Tale of the Peninsula and Waterloo, former Sergeant, 1st Royal Scots). Edited by Stanley Monick. 1997. Farmer, George. The Light Dragoon. Edited by George C. Gleig. 1844.

Hennell From the PeninsularWar 1812-1813. Edited by

Green, John. The Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life. 1827

Michael Glover. 1979.

Harris, Benjamin. Recollections of Rifleman Harris. Edited by

205

MARCHING WITH Henry Curling. 1929. Hathaway, Eileen. Costello. The True Story of a Peninsular War Rifleman. 1997. Hay, Captain William, C.B. Remitthcewces 1808-1815 Under Wellington. Edited by His Daughter, Mrs. S.C.l.Wood. 1901. HoweU, Thomas. A Soldier of the Seventy-first. The fournal of a

SHARPE

Morris,Thomas. The Recollections of Sergeant Morris. Edited by John Selby. 1967. Napier, G.T. Passages in the Early Military Life of General Sir George T. Napier. Edited by W.C.E. Napier. John Murray. London.1884 Page,JithaV. Intelligence Officer In the Peninsula. Letters and Diaries of Major the Hon Edward Charles Cocks. 1787-1812. 1986.

Soldier in the PeninsularWar. Edited by Christopher Hibbert.

Sherer, Col. Joseph Moyle. Recollections of the Peninsula. 1824.

1975.

Simmons, Major George. A British Rifle Man. Journals and

Hennel, George. A Gentleman Volunteer. The Letters of George

Correspondence during the PeninsularWar and the Campaign of

Hennell From the PeninsularWar 1812-1813. Edited by

Wellington. Edited by Lieut.-Colonel Willoughby Verner.

Michael Glover. 1979.

1899.

Kincaid, Captain J. Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands, from 1809 to 1815. 1830. Kincaid,}. Random Shots From a Rifleman. 1835 Leach, Captain Jonathan. Rough Sketches of the Life of an Old Soldier... 1831.

Smith, Sir Harry. The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith 17871819. Ed. G. C. Moore Smith. 1910. Surtees,Wrlliam. Twenty-FiveYears in the Rifle Brigade. 1833 Tomkinson, Lieut.-Col. The Diary of A Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign 1809-1815. Edited by his Son James Tomkinson. 1894

Malcolm, John. Late of the 42nd. Regt. “Reminiscences of the

Warre, Lieut.-Gen Sir William. Letters From The Peninsula

Campaign in the Pyrenees and South of France, in 1814” in

1808-1812. First edited by his nephew The Rev. Edmond

Memorials of the Late War. 1831.

Warre. Secondly by his great-great nephew William

Maxwell, W.H. Esq. Ed. Peninsular Sketches; by Actors on the Scene. 1844. Mills, John. For King and Country. The Letters and Diaries of John Mills, Coldstream Guards, 1811-1814. Edited by Ian Fletcher. 1995.

206

Acheson Warre. 1909. Wheeler, William. The Letters of Private Wheeler. Edited by Captain B.H. Liddell, Hart. 1951.

INDEX page numbers in bold refer to illustrations

Aboukir Bay, Battle of 11

rations, quality 61-62

chronology 185-186

field exercises 40-41

ague 85-86

rations, standard 59

Clarke, LtW 28

field hospitals 172-175

alcohol 82-83

selecting location 56-57

cobbing 46

field sports 71-74

amateur dramatics 78-80

sentries 57

column of march 88-89

fireballs 159

Amiens, Treaty of 11

sounds 65

comet 101

firing discipline, light infantry

ammunition 139-141

taking possession 58

cormnand 46

amusements 71-75,95

vicissitudes 65-68

Congreve rockets 140-141

fishing 73

animosity, none against enemy

weather 66-68

Congreve, Sir WiUiam 140

flogging 23, 46, 82, 98, 104

wine 61

Connelly, Sgt Michael 174-175

food see rations

blanket tents 62-63

convents 75

forlorn hope, the 153-156

blankets 62

convoys 92-107

Forming a Square [excerpt

bludgeon work 124

cooking see rations

from “Sharpe’s Battle”]

Bailen, Battle of 12

Bonaparte, Joseph 12, 15

Cornwell, Bernard

Baker rifle 31, 34-39

Bonaparte, Napoleon

134 army organisation 43-44

baggage train 88, 90

31-32

excerpts 141-143

fortresses besieged 144

foreword 7-8

foxhounds, pack of 71-72

Baker, Ezekiel 34

abdication 177

battering train 145-146

belittles Wellington 13

Coruna, Battle of 13

battle described 109-143

Emperor 12

Costello, Private 159

battlefield 109-143

First Consul 11

coursing 71-72

aftermath 132-133

Portugal and Spain 12

Craufurd, General 97-98

camp-followers

suppresses revolt 11

133

house to house fighting

books

dancing 78

opening shots 109

bibliography 195-199

declarations of war

recommended reading

retreat difEculties 128 retreat of French

135-136

skirnushing 117-118 squares of infantry 127-128 superiority feehng y^-113 two forces running away from each other 126 will making 112

sources 200-206

French Armees 11 French Revolution 9-10

pas de charge 115

199-200

177-178

fugleman 26

death penalty 82-83

rallying squares 128

fraternisation with the enemy Freemasonry 80

as solace 81-82

129-131

England on France 1803

Fullerton, Lt Col James 41 gabions 147 games 74

12

France 1793

10

Gentlemen Volunteers 18

bounty 16, 17, 19

deserters 82-83

Gimmons, George 183

breach 160-163

Dickson, Major General Sir

goose, regimental 45

bridge in pass incident 137-

Alexander 181

grand balls 78

petty cash book 187-195

138 bringing a siege 145

dinner parties 76-77

British alliances

discipline 43-44, 46-47

Portugal and Spain 12, 13

142-

143

marching 95-98

grating 75 gravediggers 85 ‘Great Guns’ from ships 145 greatcoats 62 guerrilla bands 139

Brown Bess musket 21-23

diversions 71-75

bayonet, ease of use 163

bullfights 75

dress regulations 105

beach landing 55

bullock carts 90, 93, 173

drill 23-24

Hardy, Admiral Sir Thomas 145

bell tents 65

bullocks 145

drink 82-83

heavy marching kit 47-49

Berlin Decrees

Burke, Edmund 10

Dundas, Colonel Sir David

HenneU, George

wounded 132-135

12

betting 73 billets 68-70 biscuit 61 bivouac 56-68 building huts 58 cooking 59-62 erecting tents 58 fatigue parties 57 issuing rations 58 local foods 61, 68 manning 57 mules 65 piquets 57 preparing location 56-57 rations from rear 59-60

historical background 9-14

camp-followers 133 campaign medal. Peninsular War

54, 145, 154

182

Henry IV, King 14

23, 26 Eagle captured 141-142

horse racing 73-74

Edict of Fraternity 10

house to house fighting 129131

cantonments 70-71

education 41-43

Capturing an Eagle [excerpt

eighteen manoeuvres 23-26

Howell, Thomas

enfants perdue, les 153-156

Humbley, Lt Col William 34

evening activities 75-82

hunger 104-105

executions 82-83

hunt a Cafadore 95

field hospitals 172-175

farriers 107

idleness 83-84

siege 164-165

fascines

illness 84-87

wounded 169-170

fatigue parties 57

infantry 21-23

chestnut trees 63-65

Fatima [horse]

invasion of Britain 11, 19, 26

chemux-de-frize 161-162

feu de joie 26

from “Sharpe’s Eagle”] 141-142 casualties

184

avoided 170-172

148 106-107

207

MARCHING WITH Johnny Newcomes 55-56, 107-108

King’s hard bargains 19 kit heavy infantry 103 heavy marching 47-49 officers 49-51 knapsack 103 light infantry firing discipline 31-32 manoeuvres 30

reasons for seeking commission 18-19

scorched earth policy 135-136 semaphores 19 sentries 57

river crossing incident

Sharpe [excerpts]

97-98 training 26 training in light infantry 39-40 wives 92, 94-95

pas de charge 115 pay in arrears 93

uniform 29

Peninsular maps Sir Alexander 181

local food 61

HenneU, George 182

Louis XVI, King 9-10

Howell, Thomas 184 Peninsular War begins 12

Madrid 74,78

petty warfare 137

mail 80-81

physical exercise 41

Manningham, Colonel Coote 27, 43

pipes 62 piquets 57

marching 88-108

plunder and piUage 165-167

advance 157-160

Trafalgar, Battle of 12,145

attack 156-157

training

breach

160-163

15-52

punishment 46-47

column of march 88-89 discipline 95-98 rallying squares

women 91-92

rations

trenches 152-153

gabions 147

Trigger Clubs 72

in the citadel 163-164

turned coat 46

night attack advantages 157 order of attack 156

167-168

scaling ladders 156,158, 159-160 sorties 152-153 storming a breach 153-164 storming party preparations 153-156

quarters 70-71 128

biscuit 61

valiant stormers badge 154

cooking on bivouac 59-62

siege tools 147-148

mill incident 104

hunger 104-105

sightseeing 74-75

Moore, General Sir John 13,

local food 61, 68

mules 59-60, 65, 90, 101, 104, 107, 172-173 muleteers 60, 93, 106 musket 21-23, 34-39

Nelson, Admiral Lord Horatio 11, 12, 145 newspapers 80

quahty 61-62

slaughter bullocks 90, 93 sleeping 62-65

154-155

Waterloo, Battle of 179-180 weather 66-68, 100-102 Wellington, Duke of annoyance at battle army not equipped for sieges 165, 168 barbarous French 136

standard daily ration 59

beU tents 65

dress regulations

billets 68-70

‘greatest misery’ 169

recruiting 15, 16-18

blanket tents 62-63

lands in Portugal 13

regimental dinners 77

blankets 62

regimental mess 76

chestnut trees 63-65

operations curtailed by sickness 84

105

regimental nicknames 139

greatcoats 62

pack of hounds 71-72

remarriage 92

quarters 70-71

patron of the arts 79

‘under arms’ 65

reverse slopes tactic

retreat difficulties 128 reverse slopes tactic 118 riflemen

95th Rifles 77, 130

heavy marching kit 47-49 uniform 28-29 uniqueness 33 roads in Portugal 98-100

officers sacking a town 165-167

kit 49-51

sailing orders 51-52

newcomes 56

St Patrick’s Day 77, 146

118

Smith, Lt General Sir Harry 39*

‘scum of the earth’ 82

Spain, aphorism 14

security leaks 80 ‘Sepoy General’ 13

square infantry 127-128

Square, Forming a [excerpt]

153-163

storming party preparations 153-156

tactics 14 will making 112

142-143

storming a breach

success and tribute 175-176

manoeuvre 25

Stewart, General William 103

commission 18

208

volunteers for storming party

wine 61

daring 39

obedience 46

victory 177-180 Vimeiro, Battle of 13

confusion 126-127

skirmishing 27,117-118,137

slaughter bullocks 90, 93

night attack advantages 157

O’Hare, Major 108

valiant stormers badge 154

Walking Clubs 72

from rear 59-60

95-98

Rifle Corps 28-29

war overview 175-176

mihtary lectures 42

movements on the march

during campaign 105 hght infantry 29

trenches 152-153

militia 17

15, 16,26, 103

‘under arms’ 65 uniforms

trench work 146-152

volunteers for storming party 154-155

mortality from disease 84-87

39-40 recruits 20-21

forlorn hope, the 153-156

reflections

preparations for war

shoes off 105

fireballs 159

sacking 165-167

as an art 94

officers 26 officers in light infantry

trench work 146-152

ramparts 160

Portuguese armies 178

camp 44-45

soldiers 19-20

148

plunder 165-167

approaching battle 107-108

Martello Towers 19

tobacco 62

chevaux-de-frize 161-162

Gimmons, George 183

convoy 92-107

tertulia 76

siege 144-168

fascines

Dickson, Major General

Televera 64

sickness 84-87

casualties 164-165

lizards 64

baggage train 90

reverse slope 118 141-143

bringing a siege 145

officer training 39-40

tactics light infantry 29-33

battering train 145-146

Orders for Movement 56

.supplies 92-107

159-160

reflections on siege attack 168

tactics 29-33

Lisbon 53-55, 76

scaling ladders 156,158,

recruiting for rank 18

need for 26-27

fine of infantry 22-23

SHARPE

wine 61 wolf-hunts 72 women 91-92, 178-179 wounded

132-133, 164-165

BJ Bluth is a descendant of English Yeomen, soldiers, and lead miners from the Dales of Northumberland; Irish brick makers and architects from County Derry; and farmers and wire makers of Hanoverian Germany. The progeny of this line of immigrants was the first to graduate from college - Bucknell University, Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa; to be awarded a Master’s Degree - Fordham University, New York; and to be awarded a Doctorate - The University of California at Los Angeles. An offspring of these thrpe threads of Wellington’s Army, Dr. Bluth gives voice to the story told by their soldiers as they set about to vanquish their common enemy, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French. Dr. Bluth is currently Professor Emerims, California State University at Northridge.

ISBN 0 00 414536 4 From and back cover: Photography by Dave Hendley.

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