MEMOIRS OF THE LATE MAJOR-GENERAL LE MARCHANT

This book is an extreme rarity, since only 90 copies were originally made and circulated among the author’s friends and family. John Le Marchant was an officer – ironically, from a family of French descent – who had a ringside seat at the Napoleonic Wars, originally as a British liasion officer with Britain’s German and Austrian allies, and subsequently in the Peninsula War in which he commanded the Heavy Brigade of cavalry, and in which he lost his life at the age of 47 leading a furious charge at the height of Wellington’s decisive victory over Marshal Soult at the battle of Salamanca in 1812. The great military historian Charles Oman said of Le Marchant’s role in his book ‘Wellington’s Army’ : ‘The Charge of Le Marchant’s Heavy Brigade at Salamanca is about the only instance that can be cited of a really decisive action of cavalry in any of the Duke’s battles’. In addition to his military prowess, General Le Marchant was a talented water-colourist and this book of his memoirs, edited by his son Denis, is profusely illustrated by his own depictions of his career. A rare chance for all students of Napoleonic warfare to acquire a volume they are unlikely to have come across before, written by a soldier who was always in the forefront of the action.