With the Guns in the Peninsula: The Peninsular War Journal of Captain William Webber, Royal Artillery

by William Lloyd Webber, Richard Henry Wollocombe (Editor)

Second Captain Webber of the Royal Artillery joined Captain Maxwells 9-pounder Brigade at Zafra in August 1812. His journal covers the period up to 16 June 1813, just before the Battle of Vitoria. In his journal Captain Webber records the events as they unfold on the actual day they happened, without being colored by hindsight. He also records his impressions of the countryside and its people and customs.His journal describes his personal experiences during the advance up to and along the Tagus to Aranjuez, the reversal of fortunes during the autumn of 1812, the difficult retreat into winter quarters in Portugal and finally his brigades part in the brilliant campaign of 1813 which saw the French pushed back across the Ebro. Webber gives vivid accounts of engagements with the enemy along the way; notably around Alba de Tormes during the retreat, and on the heights outside Burgos before the crossing of the Ebro. The late Lieutenant Colonel Laws has set the journal within the context of the Peninsular War, and outlined Webbers military career, which culminated at Waterloo where he was wounded.

192 pages, ebook

Published January 31, 2017

Reviews

[Monty Milne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain Webber was an artillery officer in Wellington’s army in Spain and these memoirs cover about a year from the autumn of 1812. I found them very interesting although there are some regrettable gaps. Webber of course was a product of his time and his upbringing and some of his absurd prejudices made me hover between amusement and annoyance. He is quite convinced of the superiority of the British army over the French, Spanish and Portuguese. And he has a Protestant horror of Catholicism, especially its tendency to immure young and beautiful women inside convent walls: he assumes they are all there against their wills, and is always longing to get a glimpse of pretty nuns. A strange mixture of prurience and prejudice. In fact he is very fond of all the ladies (though always an officer and a gentleman) – I was surprised to find that he never married.

Because he is so prejudiced against Johnny Foreigner it is particularly refreshing when he records something positive, such as when he writes of the generosity and friendliness of the Spanish peasantry, even when they are in desperate poverty and the British are retreating and leaving them to the French. It is also a pleasant surprise to discover that despite his Protestant prejudices he has a genuine love of architecture and is always keen to seek out interesting ecclesiastical buildings.

Memoirs such as these give a very valuable insight into what day to day campaigning was like. It was, of course, frequently boring, disagreeable and uncomfortable. But as an admittedly biased and partial record of the times, this is nevertheless a useful addition to the library of anyone interested in Napoleonic warfare.