Private Wheeler

The voice of an ordinary English infantryman during the Napoleonic Wars
Young William Wheeler's first experience of military life was within the ranks of the Surrey Militia, but he found peace time soldiering too tame and transferred to the 51st-a 'light bobs' regiment from the West Riding of Yorkshire. This famous account of the British Army at war against Napoleon's French forces has been made possible by the survival Wheeler's letters directly telling of his experiences on campaign and on the battlefield-written throughout his military career which included the hard campaigns in Spain and the bloody field of Waterloo in 1815. Wheeler's letters continue after peace has been declared and the reader is able to understand the nature of the British Army as it policed the empire's Mediterranean possessions. Available in soft cover and-for the first time in several years-in hard cover for collectors.