The Military Adventures of Charles O’Neil;

Who Was A Soldier In The Army of Lord Wellington During the Memorable Peninsular War And the Continental Campaigns from 1811 to 1815.

Numerous Irishmen joined the British army during the Napoleonic Wars, a great number distinguishing themselves in the heat of combat; a further few wrote memoirs or recollections such as the rogueish Mr O’Neil of Dundalk. He enlisted at the early age of seventeen and, not satisfied with his regiment, he decamped and joined the 28th regiment of Foot, known in the army as “The Slashers”.
He begins his work with a short summary of the war before he embarked on his adventures; he had clearly read a number of the histories that had been written and quotes the work of Napier, but certain of the stories and anecdotes appear to be those that he picked up from participants in the Peninsula. His real trials begin as he enters into the fray during the siege of Cadiz and participates in the glorious battle of Barossa under General Graham. After Wellington’s movements to the north force the French to relinquish their grip on Cadiz, O’Neil moves onward to much less glorious territory: the siege and capture of Badajoz. After such hard fighting and numerous casualties, the siege becomes a drunken sack of the city.
He finds his way to Brussels after a number of further adventures and anecdotes, and becomes caught up in the era-defining battle of Waterloo. He is wounded by a musket shot to the arm, with hands burnt black and blistered from firing his musket, and is left for dead on the field. Succour from a camp follower allows him to reach aid and thence to England, following which - determined to find a new life away from the bloody fields of battle - he emigrated to America.
Illustrations – 6 all included