by George Bell (Author)
ENSIGN BELL IN THE PENINSULAR WAR - THE EXPERIENCES OF A YOUNG BRITISH SOLDIER WITH THE 34TH REGIMENT 'THE CUMBERLAND GENTLEMEN' IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS. This book is one of the least known accounts of life on the battlefield and on campaign during the Peninsular War. If its obscurity was in some way a reflection of its quality this might be understandable, but George Bell's account is so well written it surely deserves to be among the best known and most highly regarded Napoleonic period memoirs. Written with youthful enthusiasm and humour, Bell takes us to war against the French in the company of his irrepressible Irish soldiers, Biddy Skiddy the camp follower and the wildly eccentric Maurice Quill, the surgeon. Packed full of dialogue and incident this is a highly entertaining narrative and invaluable Napoleonic memoir.