Letters from the Battle of Waterloo: the Unpublished Correspondence by Allied Officers from the Silborn Papers

by Gareth Glover (Editor)

Waterloo is probably the most famous battle in military history. Thousands of books have been written on the subject and yet so many mysteries remain, so much controversy abounds. Letters from the Battle of Waterloo, by presenting more than 200 previously unpublished accounts by Allied officers who fought at the battle, goes right back to primary source material. In the letters the Allied officers recount where they were and what they saw. Gareth Glover has provided background historical information but lets the officers speak for themselves as they reveal exactly what happened on the 16, 17 and 18 June 1815. Originally sent to, and at the request of, Captain W. Siborne, then in the process of building his famous model of the battle, these letters have remained unread in the Siborne papers in the British Library. A selection of material was published in Waterloo Letters in 1891 but much of vast historical significance did not see the light then and has remained inaccessible until now.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published February 19, 2004

Reviews

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

I picked this up because I thought it might be an interesting diversion while I wait for the library to make Naomi Novik's latest available to me. However, this turns out not to be a general collection, but rather one attempting to address the question of whether Siborne's model of the Battle of Waterloo was falsified to please certain of his creditors. It seems to lack the "flavor" that I was hoping to see, so I decided to throw it back, as it were.