The Science of War; A Collection of Essays and Lectures, 1892-1903

xxxviii, 442,[2] pages. Frontis illustration. Footnotes. Complete with 4 fold-out maps. Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. Some fading of lettering on the spine. Some page foxing and soiling. Boards weak and have been restrengthened with glue. With a Memoir of the author by Field Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C. Colonel George Francis Robert Henderson, CB (2 June 1854 - 5 March 1903) was a British soldier and military author. He was commissioned into the 84th Foot in 1878. In 1882 he went on active service to Egypt, fighting in the battles of Kassassin and Tel el-Kebir. He received numerous citations for bravery in combat. In 1889 appeared (anonymously) his first work, The Campaign of Fredericksburg. In 1889 he became Instructor in Tactics, Military Law and Administration at Sandhurst. From this post he proceeded as Professor of Military Art and History to the Staff College (1892-1899). In 1898 appeared his masterpiece: Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War. In the Second Boer War, Henderson served with distinction on the staff of the Commander-in- Chief, Lord Roberts, as Director of Intelligence. In a dispatch dated 31 March 1900, Lord Roberts wrote that Henderson gave him "valuable and reliable information regarding the physical features of the country and the disposition of the enemy". But overwork and malaria broke his health, he died at Assuan on 5 March 1903. Various lectures and papers by Henderson were collected and published in 1905 by Captain Malcolm, D.S.O., under the title The Science of War; to this collection a memoir was contributed by Lord Roberts. Topics covered include war, strategy, the tactical employment of cavalry, tactics of the three arms combined, notes on Wellington, military criticism and modern tactics, lessons from the past for the present, battles and leaders of the Civil War, the American Civil War, the battle of Gettysburg, the Campaign in the Wilderness of Virginia (1864), the training of infantry for attack, foreign criticism, and the British Army. It is not exaggerating to say that Col. G. F. R. Henderson was the doyen of British military writers and theorists during the latter part of the 19th Century and the first years of the 20th. His work enjoyed both popularity and influence, and he directly contributed to the successful strategy employed by Lord Roberts during the latter phase of the Second Anglo-Boer War. His teaching influenced a whole generation of senior officers who saw service during the First World War through his work a professor at the British Staff College in Camberley. This collection of his essays displays all the style, lucidity and accessibility that make his writings as thought-provoking as they are readable. The subjects range from theoretical reflections ('War', 'Strategy', 'Tactics of the Three Arms Combined') to models of historical writing ('Notes on Wellington' and a significant amount of material devoted to the American Civil War, including Henderson's thoughts on the Battle of Gettysburg and the 1864 Wilderness Campaign). The work closes with a lengthy essay on the state of the British Army in 1899. The Science of War also includes an introductory Memoir of Henderson by Field Marshal Lord Roberts.…