ADVENTURES OF SERJEANT BENJAMIN MILLER, whilst serving in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Artillery 1796 to 1815

The author of these memoirs was born on 2nd April 1776, and enlisted in the Royal Artillery on 9th December 1795 for ‘unlimited service’. He was promoted Bombardier in Oct 1804, Corporal in February 1809 and Serjeant in October 1911. He was discharged on 1st April 1815 with a pension of 1s 61/2d a day. He died at Melbury Osmund in 1865 in his 88th year. His service took him first to Gibraltar in April 1796, and two years later he was in the expedition to take Minorca and subsequently returned to Gibraltar. His next spell of active service was in Egypt, where he arrived in 1801. He was soon in action against the French, and describes the fighting vividly. He was wounded in a French cavalry charge on the guns, and sustained sword wounds in both legs. A counter-attack by the Black Watch killed every Frenchman who had got into the battery. This is a remarkable story of service in the army during the Napoleonic Wars both in and out of battle. Miller served in the Peninsula War too, and took part in the retreat to Corunna, an appalling experience. This is an exciting piece of military history, as seen by an ordinary British soldier.