Published by The Windrush Press (1996), price £9.99
ISBN 0-900075-64-3
126 pages, no illustrations.

This is one of those classic works that has now been made available to the general reader. It is the story of Benjamin Harris and his life in the 95th Rifles. However, he did not write the book himself, but told his story to Henry Curling, an officer in the Oxfordshire Light Infantry who seems to have come across Harris long after the war was over, after Harris had been discharged in 1814 through ill-health on a pension of 6d per day, and was working as a cobbler in Soho. Curling set down the story as it was told to him, which makes for a very disjointed narrative in places, and a very short work, but these factors do not detract from what is a very vivid impression of life as a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars.

Harris learnt his trade as a cobbler and then enlisted into the 66th Foot. While in Ireland he was so captivated by the 'smart, dashing and devil-may-care appearance' of a detachment of the 95th Rifles he saw in Dublin, that he immediately volunteered to join this unit. He learnt the Rifleman's doctrine of thinking and acting for himself and making use of ground in combining fire and movement. He was made to understand the need for the drills and exercises, not merely to perform them.

He first saw action with the regiment in Denmark in 1806, and has very little to say about that short campaign, apart from a brief description of the Congreve rockets used to bombard Copenhagen. Most of his Recollections are of the war in the Peninsula after he arrived in Portugal in August 1808. He still plied his old trade of cobbler, mending the boots and shoes of his officers and comrades. Indeed, there are a number of complaints in his narratiive about the weight of the equipment he had to carry, including his shoe-mending tools and materials.

Harris comments on the things he saw, the situations he found himself in, and the people he met. His is a warts and all story, describing his officers and colleagues, both good and bad. We hear of his search for plunder after the Battle of Vimeiro; his relationship with a Portuguese girl; and his rather gory tale of a Rifleman who attempted to remove an expensive ring from the body of a dead Rifles officer, could not, therefore cut the finger off. This soldier was discovered and sentenced to 500 lashes.

Harris was not a hero, but then he did not regard himself as such. Rather he was a simple soldier who obviously enjoyed his time in the 95th and was happy to reminisce to a brother soldier later in his life. His tale makes for an enjoyable read, and paints a very vivid and interesting picture of life on campaign in the Peninsula.

Other Book Reviews:

Imperial Bayonets
Wellington's Peninsula Victories
British Forces in the West Indies
Nelson's Battles
Origins of the French Revolutionary Wars
Anatomy of Glory

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