Soldiering with the 'Division': Military Experiences of an Infantryman 43rd Regiment During Napoleonic Wars

Thomas Garrety was a young Irishman, homeless with his widowed mother and his siblings he came to the conclusion that the only future for him lay in enlisting in the British Army. At the age of just fourteen years old, he joined the 43rd Regiment of Foot-a light infantry regiment. Soon he was engaged in the campaign against the Danes at Copenhagen, though this was merely a prelude to years of hard campaigning ahead. Soon Garrety found himself embarked for war-torn Spain arriving in time to join in with the retreat to Corunna under Moore and in the naval evacuation that concluded it. After a brief respite he was posted back to the Peninsula-under the command of the Duke of Wellington-and there he took part in many of the most famous battles and assaults of the campaign against Napoleon's French-including the horror that was Badajoz. as part of the 'Division' as its justifiably proud members termed themselves. Although he later reformed-becoming a Colour Sergeant, Garrety was a hard fighting, hard drinking soldier and his recollections of close combat make compulsive reading. Garrety's narrative-originally published anonymously-has been substantially re-interpreted by the Leonaur editors presenting it in its most accessible form for the modern reader.