|
Books > Humanities > History > European history > 1750 to 1900
William Grattan was a young Irish Lieutenant who served in the
famous Connaught Rangers [the 88th regiment] in some of the hottest
engagements of the Peninsular War. Adventures with the Connaught
Rangers 18091814 is a memoir of his service with the 1st Battalion
of the 88th regiment. Vividly written and accompanied by maps, this
is one of the most famous fighting memoirs of the Peninsula War.
In July 1809, with the Dutch coast a pistol held at the head of
England, the largest British expeditionary force ever assembled,
over 40,000 men and around 600 ships, weighed anchor off the Kent
coast and sailed for the island of Walcheren in the Scheldt
estuary. After an initial success, the expedition stalled and as
the lethargic military commander, Lord Chatham, was at loggerheads
with the opinionated senior naval commander, Sir Richard Strachan,
troops were dying of a mysterious disease termed Walcheren fever .
Almost all the campaign s 4,000 dead were victims of disease. The
Scheldt was evacuated and the return home was followed by a
scandalous Parliamentary Inquiry. Walcheren fever cast an even
longer shadow. Six months later 11,000 men were still registered
sick. In 1812, Wellington complained that the constitution of his
troops was much shaken with Walcheren .REVIEWS For anyone with a
soldier or sailor at Walcheren this book tells the story well,
explaining with documentation how details may differ in other
histories (especially Fortesque's History of the British Army). For
researchers, the bibliography of official documents and
identification of numerous surviving memoirs is excellent."FGS
Forum"
|
|