PREFACE
I hope that some readers may possibly be interested in
these little tales of the Napoleonic soldiers to the extent of
following them up to the springs from which they flow.
The age was rich in military material, some of it the most
human and the most picturesque that I have ever read.
Setting aside historical works or the biographies of the
leaders there is a mass of evidence written by the actual
fighting men themselves, which describes their feelings and
their experiences, stated always from the point of view of
the particular branch of the service to which they belonged.
The Cavalry were particularly happy in their writers of
memoirs. Thus De Rocca in his
Mémoires sur la
guerre des Français en Espagne
has given the
narrative of a Hussar, while De Naylies in his
Mémoires sur la guerre
d'Espagne
gives the same campaigns from the
point of view of the Dragoon. Then we have the Souvenirs
Militaires du Colonel de Gonneville,
which treats a
series of
wars, including that of Spain, as seen from under the steel-brimmed hair-crested helmet of a Cuirassier. Pre-eminent
among all these works, and among all military memoirs, are
the famous reminiscences of Marbot, which can be obtained
in an English form. Marbot was a Chasseur, so again we
obtain the Cavalry point of view. Among other books
which help one to an understanding of the Napoleonic
soldier I would specially recommend Les Cahiers du
Capitaine Coignet,
which treat the wars from the
point of view
of the private of the Guards, and Les Mémoires
du Sergeant Bourgoyne,
who was a non-commissioned
officer in
the same corps. The Journal of Sergeant Fricasse and the
Recollections of de Fézenac and of de Ségur
complete the materials from which I have worked in my endeavour
to give a true historical and military atmosphere to an imaginary
figure.
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
March, 1903.