'Describing narrow squeaks and terrible deprivations, Harris's unflowery account of fortitude and resilience in Spain still bristles with a freshness and an invigorating spikiness' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'A most vivid record of the war in Spain and Portugal against Napoleon' MAIL ON SUNDAY Benjamin Harris was a young shepherd from Dorset who joined the army in 1802 and later joined the dashing 95th Rifles. His battalion was ordered to Portugal, where he marched under the burning sun, weighed down by his kit and great-coat, plus all the tools and leather he had to carry as the battalion's cobbler - 'the lapstone I took the liberty of flinging to the Devil'. Rifleman Harris was a natural story-teller with a remarkable tale to unfold, and his Recollections have become one of the most popular military books of all time.

In an era devoid of modern communication methods, letters and diaries from the literate officer classes of the Napoleonic wars abound ,in all of the languages of the combatant nations. Much less often heard is the voice of the enlisted man, particularly in the British armed forces, an invaluable insight is provided by the recollections of Rifleman Harris late of the 95th Rifles. The often brutal realities of the era were collated by an officer whom he knew, Captain Curling, and published in 1848, and although not well known at the time has become one of the most famous recorded by any rank. One of Harris’ first memoires of his time in the army is the devastating spectacle of a firing squad for a court-martial of one of the rank and file and of the court-martial of the bungling General Whitelock whose mishandled expedition to Buenos Ayres. The man from the rank and file was shot, but General Whitelock was merely cashiered, a difference of class and the times unintentionally brought to light. Whitelock’s court-martial provides the first appearance of General (at the time Colonel) Craufurd, who went on the expedition with Whitelock and want to have his former commander shot for his ineptitude!, and under whom Harris would spend a great deal of his soldiering career. Harris takes a small part in another expedition to Denmark, but the only sort of action he is involved in is defending a Danish family from the depredations of fellow soldiers. It is however with his entrance into Portugal in 1808, that his adventures really begin to take shape; as his fellow soldiers fall around him at the battles of Roliça and Vimiero he describes the horrific injuries sustained, the plundering of the dead that took place (which he was not above joining in) and the task of the surgeons to try and stitch up the wounded. A large part of the narrative is taken by the retreat of Sir John Moore’s army to Coruña, and the Light Brigade’s to Vigo. His tales of the retreat are vividly described; from the capture of the French general Lefebvre-Desnouettes at Benavente, the privation, the wifes of the soldiers and their struggle to stay with the column, to the iron resolve of General Craufurd to keep going. Eventually and in a pitiable state Harris reaches Vigo and embarks for England. It was not enemy action that ended Harris’ career in the army but diseases contracted during the pestilent 1809 Walcheren campaign, the lingering sickness forced Harris to leave the army and take up trade as a cobbler. A valuable and excellent read.

The memoirs of a foot soldier during the Napoleonic Wars, originally published in 1848. The work charts Harris's years of active service from joining the 95th Rifles in 1803, to the Peninsular Wars of Northern Spain. Harris recollects the gripping campaign at Copenhagen, the engagement at the Battle of Rolica, the gruelling march to Salamanca and, finally, culminates with the Battle of Corunna.

Excerpt from Recollections of Rifleman Harris, (Old 95th) With Anecdotes of His Officers and His Comrads The following pages, describing the chee quered life of a private soldier, who served during the most glorious period of our military history, speak so plainly for them selves, as scarcely to need any introductory remarks from the editor, further than the assurance of his own sincere conviction of their truth. Such works as the narratives of Rifleman Harris, from the very nature of their details, afford occasionally more graphic sketches of the actual scenes of war, in its stern realities and concomitant circumstances, than the more stately and largely-grouped pictures of the Historian. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.