Second to none–the campaigns of the Coldstream Guards

Daniel Mackinnon, the author of this book, was an officer of the Coldstream Guards. In 1833 he published a history of his regiment from its creation and through the wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France. This Leonaur book, a stand-alone account derived from Mackinnon’s larger work focuses on his personal experiences. The regiment served in the disastrous campaign in the Low Countries under the Duke of York and saw hard fighting during the Peninsular War under Wellington. The author describes the regiment on campaign during the battles of Talavera, Busaco, Barrosa, Fuentes d'Honor, Albuera, Salamanca and Vittoria, as well as in the Pyrenees and South of France Campaign towards the close of the war. Mackinnon is perhaps best known as one of the heroic defenders of the chateau-farm of Hougoumont during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. His view of these events is very personal and occasionally at odds with other accounts, though perhaps more interesting because of that. The author’s text is accompanied here by the inclusion of maps and illustrations which were not present in the source book.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.