Recollections Of The Peninsula

Captain Sherer’s record of service in the Peninsular War is second to none. A hard campaigner, he served with the 34th Foot at Busaco, Badajoz, Albuera, Arroyo Molinos, Vittoria and the Pyrenees, during which he was taken prisoner by the advancing French. In this, his service was no different to huge numbers of officers, a good number of whom left their memoirs to posterity. What marks out Sherer and his recollections is their quality. His descriptions of himself, his men and, above all, the actions that he took part in are of the first order, quoted with great frequency by historians - an example of which is below (from his description of the hard fighting at Albuera): 'The French grenadier caps, their arms, and the whole aspect of their frowning masses. It was a momentary, but grand sight: a heavy atmosphere of smoke again enveloped us, and few objects could be discerned at all, none distinctly... This murderous contest of musketry lasted long. We were the whole time progressively advancing and shaking the enemy. 'At a distance of about twenty yards from them we received orders to charge; we had ceased firing, cheered, and had our bayonets in the charging position, when a body of the enemy’s horse was discovered under the rising ground, ready to take advantage of our impetuosity. Already, however, the French infantry, alarmed by our preparatory cheers, which always indicate the charge, had broke and fled.' A fantastic memoir that deserves reading and re-reading. Author — Captain Joseph Moyle Sherer (1789-1869)

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Excerpt from Recollections of the Peninsula The following pages have occupied and amused the leisure of my winter evenings, in a dull uninteresting garrison on home service. I relate what I saw, thought, and felt, as a man, a traveller, and a soldier, during five interesting years. The style of a soldier can need no apology; it is beneath the notice of a scholar and the critic. We pass our lives in conversing with mankind; they in conversing with books. We only observe and draw hasty conclusions; they observe, compare, and study. Ours is a life of action; theirs of repose. We write to amuse; they to instruct. 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.