Book Description

Born into a well-known and respected family in Dublin, William Grattan has left no sketch of himself or his reasons for joining the 88th Regiment of Foot, the most Irish of all the Irish regiments according to Oman, as a subaltern in 1809. It is conceivable that he thirsted for adventure, and advancement, however little did he know that he would be joining as hard fighting, drinking and pilfering regiment that ever fought in the Peninsular under Wellington. Christened “The Devil’s Own” by their divisional commander Picton, the Connaught Rangers as they were also known are detailed in all their varied adventures by Grattan. The “Adventures” are particularly well written by an author who had two sterling attributes as a writer above and beyond his contemporaries, the first an un-erring ability to describe the actions, skirmishes and battles that he was involved in despite smoke, carnage and confusion around him at the time. The second is an ability to provide a plethora of details and anecdotes that breathe life into normal day-to-day events in the army and more specifically his famous regiment. Wellington was to famously to congratulate them along with four companies of the 45th Regiment of their charge at Busaco; “Upon my honour, I never witnessed a more gallant charge than that just now made by your regiment.” Grattan would eventually leave the service in 1817, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, but his association with the regiment that he dearly loved would continue on his continued writings in defence of Sir Thomas Picton, his divisional chief and his regiment in the pages of the United Service Magazine and monographs of his own. Warmly recommended. This is the first volume of the original two volume account left by Lieutenant-Colonel Grattan, rather than the heavily edited version commonly found.