Waterloo Archive

The British archives of the Napoleonic wars are unique, they are brimming with personal letters to family and friends or journals that record their innermost thoughts. The human aspect of war comes to the fore, the humour and exhilaration; the fears and miseries; the starvation and exhaustion; the horror and the joy. It is usually accepted that very few common soldiers of this period could read or write and that the few letters and journals that do exist emenate from more senior officers, who were required to be able to write to perform their duties. Volume I proved this to be a fallacy, and this volume continues with a further three accounts, and show how the ordinary soldier saw things, giving a different aspect to our studies. Also included: + The poignant final letters of older family men such as Major Arthur Heyland jar noticeably with the bawdy and carefree scribbles of youth by such as Ensign Kinchant (including describing his visits to bordellos) who also lost his life that day. + A long serious of letters by Lieutenant Frederick Johnston of the 6th Inniskillings and of Lieutenant George Blathwayt of the 23rd Light dragoons sheds important light on cavalry regiments who have few previously published memoirs. + A very interesting letter by Second Lieutenant Richard Cocks Eyre of the 2nd Battalion 95th Rifles makes a mockery of the myth that British troops did not openly plunder the local farmhouses before the battle for food and fuel to burn. + A civilian visitor to the area six weeks after the battle ends this volume, which will engage and fascinate the reader. SELLING POINTS: Contains the fascinating series of letters by Lord Uxbridge and his family - describing his part in the battle and the loss of his leg, detailing the agonies of the operation and slow recuperation - which were not available to Lord Anglesey when writing his famous work on his ancestor. Includes letters of great interest by Lt Col Sir George Scovell, which throws much-needed light on the incident involving units of Kielmansegge's Brigade marching off the battlefield and the subsequent arrest of their commander. AUTHOR: Gareth Glover is a historian specialising in the Waterloo campaign and the Peninsular War. He left school at eighteen to join the Royal Navy as a Seaman Officer and completed his extensive training course at Dartmouth College. He has published articles in The Waterloo Journal and the Journal of the Royal Artillery, and a novel about Waterloo, Voices of Thunder. ILLUSTRATIONS: 8 page colour plates