Benjamin Harris (1) (1781–1858)

A remarkable memoir, recounted by an ordinary rifleman, about his service during the Peninsula war against Napoleon's armies. The description of close quarters fighting, sudden death and great suffering are extremely vivid. However, it is the description of the extreme conditions: weather, lack of supplies and constant movement with a heavy pack that are most impactful. It sounds awful, it was awful and Rifleman Harris was fortunate to survive; it was a close run thing' to coin the Iron Duke's phrase.… (more)

Just a quick note on this one, an edited and expanded version of reminiscences of a private in the 95th Rifles. As a whole, the book would probably be interesting to anybody fond of Richard Sharpe or the Napoleonic Wars in general. However, I had special interest in Rifleman Harris' experiences in the Walcheren Campaign, a little known footnote to the Napoleonic Wars. After Trafalgar, the French tried to build their navy again, and one of the places selected for this was the Scheldt estuary. Of course, this concerned British planners, and it was decided to seize Walcheren Island at the mouth of the estuary, which could then be fortified to block ships from going in or out. A battalion of the 95th Rifles was part of the expedition. We've heard the warnings that climate change will increase "tropical" diseases; however, it isn't noted that many of these diseases are "tropical" only because they've been eliminated from northern places. The Walcheren expedition, not exactly to a tropical climate, had to be abandoned because around 11000 troops became malaria casualties. Narrator Harris survived but had to be invalided out of the army because of recurring attacks of "ague", and he comments that he was still "misshapen" from an enlarged spleen in 1835.… (more)