THE PENINSULAR WAR JOURNAL OF SERGEANT SAMUEL HARRISON OF THE 43RD (MONMOUTHSHIRE) REGIMENT OF FOOT, 1796-1812

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Harrison joined the 43rd Foot as a Sergeant. We know that he proceeded with the regiment to the Peninsula and that he fought at the battles of Vimiero, Corunna, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Pyrenees, and San Sebastian. He eventually received a General Service Medal in 1848.

Only the first volume of his original journal, giving his service to 1812, has so far been discovered. This was written by another hand who combines his memoir with a general history of the war based on Napier. Harrison's many years in the Militia, the retreat to Corunna, his time at Walcheren, and his part in the storming of a redoubt at Ciudad Rodrigo are all clearly his own (unvarnished) words. But he also clearly had no recourse to any form of notes and therefore his memory fails him sometimes as to particular persons or dates of occurrences. But for all that, there are glimpses of a soldier who fought for many years in the wars against Napoleon and they still deserve to be preserved.