by Griff Hosker
Captain Robbie (Macgregor) Matthews-illegitimate son of the Count of Breteuil
Colonel James Selkirk- War department
Colpack-fur hat worn by the guards and elite companies
Crack- from the Irish ‘craich’, good fun, enjoyable
Horse Guards- the British War Department in Whitehall
Joe Seymour- Corporal and then Sergeant 11th Light Dragoons
Joseph Fouché- Napoleon’s Chief of Police and Spy catcher
Lieutenant Jonathan Teer- Commander of the Black Prince
musketoon- Cavalry musket
parky- slang for cold
pichet- a small jug for wine in France
Pierre Boucher-Trooper/Brigadier 17th Chasseurs
Pompey- naval slang for Portsmouth
Paget Carbine- Light Cavalry weapon
Rooking- cheating a customer
Slop chest- the chest kept aboard ship with spare clothes[1]
Snotty- naval slang for a raw lieutenant
Tarleton Helmet- Headgear worn by Light cavalry until 1812
Windage- the gap between the ball and the wall of the cannon which means the ball does not fire true.
Maps
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
Battle of Campo Tenese (10 March 1806). The present day town and terrain. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
Historical note
The 11th Light Dragoons were a real regiment. However I have used them in a fictitious manner. They act and fight as real Light Dragoons. The battles in which they fight were real battles with real Light Dragoons present- just not the 11th.
The books I used for reference were:
Napoleon’s Line Chasseurs- Bukhari/Macbride
The Napoleonic Source Book- Philip Haythornthwaite,
The History of the Napoleonic Wars-Richard Holmes,
The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data book- Digby Smith,
The Napoleonic Wars Vol 1 & 2- Liliane and Fred Funcken
The Napoleonic Wars- Michael Glover
Wellington’s Regiments- Ian Fletcher.
Wellington’s Light Cavalry- Bryan Fosten
Wellington’s Heavy Cavalry- Bryan Fosten
Wellington’s Guns-Nick Lipscombe
Wellington’s Army- Colonel Rogers
The buying and selling of commissions was, unless there was a war, the only way to gain promotion. It explains the quotation that ‘the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton’. The officers all came from a moneyed background. The expression cashiered meant that an officer had had to sell his commission. The promoted sergeants were rare and had to have to done something which in modern times would have resulted in a Victoria Cross or a grave!
The character of Colonel Selkirk is based upon a number of characters who existed in World War 1 and 2. I have no reason to believe that such characters did not exist a century or more earlier. Subterfuge and duplicity are two weapons which can be used by the military when needed. The colonel symbolises such cunning.
The Naples invasion was written largely as described. The King and Queen of Naples reneged on a treaty with Napoleon who ordered Masséna to invade Italy. The King left Naples on the 23rd of January 1896 but the Queen waited until the 11th of February to leave; 2 days after the French crossed the border. She eventually arrived in Sicily. I have made up her rescue by the 11th although it is similar to the rescue of Queen Cartimandua by Roman cavalry in 69 A.D.[2]
Roger de Damas was a young émigré who was given command of one wing of the Neapolitan Army. However I have made up his characteristics. It struck me that anyone who had fought on the émigré side, bearing in mind they lost to half trained revolutionary armies, would not be good enough to face the well trained French Army of 1806. The fact is he should have been able to hold the French at the site he chose. His flanks were secured by high ground and he had the height advantage over the French. However he omitted to leave men on the mountain side and French Light Infantry climbed the mountains and descended on their flanks and rear. His men were bottled up in the valley and, out of the two armies of almost 17000 men, only 3000-4000 escaped back to Sicily.
Roger de Damas
The French did behave badly in Calabria. Following the battle they rampaged through the farms and villages taking food and women as they saw fit. The French observer Paul Louis Courier reported that they robbed, raped and murdered. There appeared to be no order. The result was that the Neapolitans reacted in kind and it was a precursor to the guerrilla war waged in Spain a few years later.
Wellington, as Arthur Wellesley, did serve in Copenhagen. I have tried to portray him as the real man and not the larger than life general who helped to defeat Napoleon. He was a snob in every sense of the word and a true elitist. From contemporary accounts he was not a very pleasant man and could be quite vindictive. His attitude towards ordinary soldiers can best be described as feudal and yet the soldiers who served him would follow him anywhere.
Most ships both merchant and Royal Navy, used a rope suspended above the mess table to use as a kind of napkin. It would be an old piece of rope and would be unravelled to help it function as a napkin. If the ship ran out of food or became becalmed then the rope could be cooked to make a gruel which would have bits of grease and food to give sustenance.
The Battles of Maida and Køge happened largely as described however there were no British cavalry at Maida and the KGL did not have to be ordered back. That was just an homage to Captain Nolan at Balaclava. The dates for the battle are accurate and I have not changed them.
Captain Matthews will continue to fight Napoleon and to serve Colonel Selkirk. The Napoleonic Wars have barely begun and will only end on a ridge in Belgium in 1815. Robbie will be back to the same place he fought his first battles as a young trooper.
Griff Hosker June 2014
Other books by
Griff Hosker
If you enjoyed reading this book then why not read another one by the author?
The Sword of Cartimandua Series (Germania and Britannia 50A.D. – 128 A.D.)
Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior
Book 1 The Sword of Cartimandua
Book 2 The Horse Warriors
Book 3 Invasion Caledonia
Book 4 Roman Retreat
Book 5 Revolt of the Red Witch
Book 6 Druid’s Gold
Book 7 Trajan’s Hunters
Book 8 The Last Frontier
Book 9 Hero of Rome
Book 10 Roman Hawk
Book 11Roman Treachery
They are all available in the Kindle format.
The Aelfraed Series (Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D.- 1085 A.D.
Book 1 Housecarl
Book 2 Outlaw
Book 3 Varangian
These are available in the Kindle format.
The Wolf Warrior series (Britain in the late 6th Century)
Book 1 Saxon Dawn
Book 2 Saxon Revenge
Book 3 Saxon England
Book 4 Saxon Blood
Book 5 Saxon Slayer
Book 6 Saxon Slaughter
These are available in all electronic formats.
The Lucky Jack American Civil War series
Rebel Raiders
Confederate Rangers
The Road To Gettysburg
The Napoleonic Horseman Series
Book 1 Chasseur a Cheval
Book 2 Napoleon’s Guard
Book 3 British Light Dragoon
Viking Warrior Series
Viking Slave
Viking Warrior
Viking Jarl
This is available in all electronic formats.
British Ace Series
1914
Also available in paperback and Kindle is the book aimed at 12-15 years olds, Great Granny�
�s Ghost
Carnage at Cannes[3] is a modern thriller and is available in the Kindle format.
Travel
Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul
For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at http://www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him.
* * *
[1] Normally from dead men
[2] Sword of Cartimandua- by Griff Hosker
[3] Formerly published as The Carrier and The Dove
