THE WATERLOO ARCHIVE : Volume III The British Sources

This copy is in new, unmarked condition bound in black cloth covered boards with bright gilt titling to the spine. This copy is bright, tight, white and square. The unclipped dust wrapper is in as new condition. International postal rates are calculated on a book weighing 1 Kilo, in cases where the book weighs more than 1 Kilo increased postal rates will be quoted, where the book weighs less then postage will be reduced accordingly. 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 emanate 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 series 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 letter by a civilian visitor to the area six weeks after the battle ends this volume, which will engage and fascinate the reader. Ref ZZZ 4.…