Wellington's Rifles

The British Light Infantry and Rifle Regiments, 1758?1815

Ray Cusick

• Publisher: Carrel Books
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781631440212
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Napoleonic Wars
• Index: History

Until now there has not been a serious study of the rifle-armed regiments of the British Army that earned such renown in the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns. Compiled by a former rifleman, Ray Cusick, who has written extensively on the subject, Wellington's Rifles examines the new rifle regiments, how they came about, their development, and their actions.The author also investigates the introduction of rifled muskets into the British Army in the French and Indian wars of the eighteenth century, where they were shunned by the military establishment, to their transition into a key element in Wellington's extraordinarily successful Peninsular army.The training and tactics of the riflemen are explained and each significant engagement in which they were involved is explored in thrilling detail. It was the riflemen of the 95th Regiment who inspired Bernard Cornewell's famous series of Richard Sharpe books. That was the fiction—here is the reality. Featuring a foreword by renowned Napoleonic historian Ian Fletcher, Wellington's Rifles is an authoritative account of the early history of rifle regiments in the British Army.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: Firepower: Fire and Shock – Linear Warfare in Europe in the Eighteenth Century
• Chapter 2: The French and Indian War: Fire and Move
• Chapter 3: The Introduction of Light Infantry
• Chapter 4: American Revolution 1776–83: Rebels, Tories, Loyalists and Bloodybacks
• Chapter 5: The French Revolution 1793
• Chapter 6: The Duke of York
• Chapter 7: Aimed Fire: The Experimental Corps of Riflemen
• Chapter 8: The 95th Rifles and the Baker Rifle
• Chapter 9: Sir John Moore, the Father of Light Infantry
• Chapter 10: The Peninsular War 1808–12: The Light Division in Action on the Côa, July 1810
• Chapter 11: The Peninsular War, 1808–12: The Light Division in Two Actions during 1811
• Chapter 12: Wellington’s Light Infantry and Rifles at Waterloo
• Appendix 1: The Manoeuvres of General Howe as practised in 1774 at his light infantry camp at Salisbury
• Appendix 2: Extracts From Regulations for the Exercise of Riflemen and Light Infantry and Instructions for Their Conduct in the Field
• Appendix 3: Titles of the Regiment
• Bibliography
• Index