Download or read book A Cavalry Officer In The Corunna Campaign 1808 1809 written by Captain Alexander Gordon and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2011-08-22 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captain Gordon led a troop of the 15th Hussars during the first of the British army’s campaigns into Spain, commanded by Sir John Moore. Unearthed and published many years after it was written by the esteemed Regimental historian Colonel Wylly, his diary bears testimony to the events of the retreat to Corunna. Gordon writes of his adventures with verve, wit and in some places a little venom when talking of his erstwhile commander Moore; he is fulsome in his description of the Portuguese and Spanish people to whom the British had come to aid. For example when relating the qualities of a local wine he could “only compare the taste of it to a mixture of vinegar and ink” On military matters he is no great respecter of rank, and distributes blame and praise where he believes they should be rightly apportioned. He gives a great first-hand account of the famed skirmish of Sahagun, to which he believes started a moral ascendancy of the British cavalry over their French counterparts. Despite some defective equipment and, as Gordon attributes it, dilatory conduct by the commander, he reaches Corunna unlike a number of his comrades and fellow country-men. A fine read, which despite its format as a journal retains some pace, it gives a great view of the retreat from an expert military eye. Author – Captain Alexander Gordon (1781-1872) Editor – Colonel Harold Carmichael Wylly (1858-1932)

Download or read book A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign 1808 1809the Journal of Captain Gordon of the 15th Hussars written by Colonel H. C. Wylly C. B. and published by . This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like the Dunkirk campaign in 1940, General Sir John Moore's advance and retreat from and to Corunna in the early stages of the Peninsular War, was a defeat that has acquired in hindsight all the glorious aura of a famous victory. This was largely due to Moore's own heroic death at the climax of the campaign; but as Churchill remarked after Dunkirk, 'Wars are not won by evacuations' and any reader of these revealing diaries will be left in no doubt that Corunna was a calamitous defeat for Britain at the hands of a confident, competent French force. The author of these journals - first published in 1913 - was Captain Alexander Gordon, a Scottish aristocrat - (he was the son of the Earl of Aberdeen) - who wrote them up from notes he made at the conclusion of the campaign when the events he describes so vividly were still fresh in his mind. Although a Hussar, the conditions during the retreat on Corunna were so chaotic that Gordon, as he puts it "Enjoyed opportunities of becoming acquainted with the situation and general movements of the [whole] army." His journals cover the complete campaign - from Moore's unwise advance into Spain's interior in an effort to link up with Spanish armies; his encounter with the French under Napoleon himself; and his fighting retreat on the port of Corunna where the Royal Navy was waiting to rescue them. The climax was the pitched battle of Corunna itself, during which Moore was killed by a cannon ball in his chest. The British army of 16,000 succeeded in holding the numerically equivalent French at bay until they had embarked, inflicting 2,000 deaths for their own losses of 900 men. But - as at Dunkirk - they had to abandon much of their equipment o the enemy, including 20,000 muskets. In retrospect it is probably fortunate that by the time of the battle, Napoleon had left Spain to meet an Austrian threat, leaving the battle to the cautious Marshal Soult. This is a valuable eye-witness account of an often overlooked campaign by a perceptive and informed professional observer. IIlustrated with maps and a portrait of the author.

Download or read book Sir John Moore s Peninsular Campaign 1808 1809 written by D.W. Davies and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an attempt to present the chief events in the last campaign of Sir John Moore. Enough of Sir John Moore's life, and of life in England, France, and Spain to explain those events has been included. In several instances, perhaps important instances, accounts of events as given here differ from what may be found elsewhere. In such cases the documents upon which the present narrative is based have been indicated. The list of those to whom I am indebted is a long one. The staff of the Public Record Office have been unfailingly helpful, pleasant, and ef ficient on the many occasions when I have used the Record Office. The Librarian and staff of the National Library of Scotland were most help ful when the writer consulted the papers of Sir George Murray and the manuscripts of Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, in that Library. An especially enjoyable occasion was the time spent in the Scottish United Services Museum working with the Sir David Baird papers. I am much indebted to The Honourable the Marquess of Anglesey for permission to consult the Paget papers in the Library at Plas-Newydd. The Libra rian and the Keeper of Manuscripts of the John Rylands Library have been most kind and generous in making available the papers of Sir Henry Clinton. As always, Mr.

Download or read book A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign 1808 1809 written by Alexander Gordon and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book From Corunna to Waterloo With the Hussars 1808 to 1815 written by John Mollo and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-11-14 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Basing his story on contemporary letters, diaries and reports and a comprehensive bibliography, John Mollo takes the reader into the heart of the Hussar Brigade in peace and war, depicting its many colourful characters with a sure hand and describing every facet of day-to-day life, in barracks and on the battlefield. This is a story based on the harsh realities of war in the early years of the nineteenth century. Written with great elegance, the touch of a natural story teller and the imprint of a true lover and student of military history, this is a book to treasure.

Download or read book Bibliography of the Gordons written by John Malcolm Bulloch and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign 1808 1809 written by Alexander Gordon (of Ellow, Captain.) and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Reference Catalogue of Current Literature written by and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 2078 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Duke of Wellington and the Command of the Spanish Army 1812 14 written by Charles J Esdaile and published by Springer. This book was released on 1990-05-22 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Sketch written by and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 812 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Dead Men Telling Tales written by Matilda Greig and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dead Men Telling Tales is an original account of the lasting cultural impact made by the autobiographies of Napoleonic soldiers over the course of the nineteenth century. Focusing on the nearly three hundred military memoirs published by British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese veterans of the Peninsular War (1808-1814), Matilda Greig charts the histories of these books over the course of a hundred years, around Europe and the Atlantic, and from writing to publication to afterlife. Drawing on extensive archival research in multiple languages, she challenges assumptions made by historians about the reliability of these soldiers' direct eyewitness accounts, revealing the personal and political motives of the authors and uncovering the large cast of characters, from family members to publishers, editors, and translators, involved in production behind the scenes. By including literature from Spain and Portugal, Greig also provides a missing link in current studies of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, showing how the genre of military memoirs developed differently in south-western Europe and led to starkly opposing national narratives of the same war. Her findings tell the history of a publishing phenomenon which gripped readers of all ages across the world in the nineteenth century, made significant profits for those involved, and was fundamental in defining the modern 'soldier's tale'.

Download or read book Bulletin of the Public Library of the City of Boston written by Boston Public Library and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 874 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Auguste de Colbert written by Jeanne A. Ojala and published by Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press. This book was released on 1979 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sickness Suffering and the Sword written by Andrew Bamford and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although an army’s success is often measured in battle outcomes, its victories depend on strengths that may be less obvious on the field. In Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword, military historian Andrew Bamford assesses the effectiveness of the British Army in sustained campaigning during the Napoleonic Wars. In the process, he offers a fresh and controversial look at Britain’s military system, showing that success or failure on campaign rested on the day-to-day experiences of regimental units rather than the army as a whole. Bamford draws his title from the words of Captain Moyle Sherer, who during the winter of 1816–1817 wrote an account of his service during the Peninsular War: “My regiment has never been very roughly handled in the field. . . But, alas! What between sickness, suffering, and the sword, few, very few of those men are now in existence.” Bamford argues that those daily scourges of such often-ignored factors as noncombat deaths and equine strength and losses determined outcomes on the battlefield. In the nineteenth century, the British Army was a collection of regiments rather than a single unified body, and the regimental system bore the responsibility of supplying manpower on that field. Between 1808 and 1815, when Britain was fighting a global conflict far greater than its military capabilities, the system nearly collapsed. Only a few advantages narrowly outweighed the army’s increasing inability to meet manpower requirements. This book examines those critical dynamics in Britain’s major early-nineteenth-century campaigns: the Peninsular War (1808–1814), the Walcheren Expedition (1809), the American War (1812–1815), and the growing commitments in northern Europe from 1813 on. Drawn from primary documents, Bamford’s statistical analysis compares the vast disparities between regiments and different theatres of war and complements recent studies of health and sickness in the British Army.

Download or read book Charging Against Napoleon written by Eric Hunt and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2001-03-15 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By means of the personal diaries and letters of three officers in the 18th Hussars, the reader traces the progress of this famous cavalry Regiment through the gruelling years of campaigning in Portugal, Spain and South West France. The scene then shifts to Northern France and Belgium culminating in the decisive victory at Waterloo. The ferocity of the campaigning in the Peninsula is vividly described by these diarists. Their escapades between and during campaigning make fascinating reading and throw interesting light on military and social conditions at the time.

Download or read book R U S I Journal written by Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 928 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Library Bulletin written by University of Aberdeen and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 918 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: