Episode 17: “The Recollections of Rifleman Harris” by Benjamin Harris

Hank and Bindu go further back in time then they have ever gone before, and discuss a lost classic of military history: the personal reflections of a Napoleonic era soldier. Benjamin Harris joined the British Army in 1803 and quickly joined the famed 95th Regiment of Foot. Harris served in the 95th at the Second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and then in Spain during the Peninsular War. He would serve through some of the fiercest fighting of the Spanish campaign and along the particularly hellish Retreat to Corunna. This is a long-forgotten memoir from a time where the common soldier’s perspective was often overlooked, and Hank and Bindu are proud to delve into the events of the book and explore the perspective Harris shares on the Napoleonic Wars.