Fusiliers: The Saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution

A unique perspective on the American Revolution, seen through the eyes of a redcoat regiment. From Lexington Green in 1775 to Yorktown in 1781, one British regiment marched thousands of miles and fought a dozen battles to uphold British rule in America: the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Their story, and that of all the soldiers England sent across the Atlantic, is one of the few untold sagas of the American Revolution, one that sheds light on the war itself and offers surprising, at times unsettling, insights into the way the conflict was conducted on both sides. Drawing on a wealth of previously unused primary accounts, Mark Urban describes how British troops adopted new tactics and promoted new leaders, showing how the foundations were laid for the redcoats subsequent heroic performance against Napoleon. But the letters from members of the 23rd and other archival accounts reveal much more than battle details. Living the revolution day-to-day, the Fusiliers witnessed acts of kindness and atrocity on both sides unrecorded in histories of the war. Their observations bring the conflict down to human scale and provide a unique insight into the inner life of the soldier in the late eighteenth century. From Lexington Green in 1775 to Yorktown in 1781, one regiment marched thousands of miles and fought a dozen battles to uphold British rule in America: the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Along the way, the Fusiliers adopted new tactics and promoted new leaders which together laid the foundations for the subsequent performance against Napoleon. Drawing on a wealth of new research, Mark Urban, author of the bestselling Rifles, reveals the inner life of the regiment - and, through it, of the British Army as a whole - as it lost the battle against the American revolutionaries, but simultaneously revolutionised the way Britain fought. From 1775 to 1781, the Royal Welch Fusiliers fought furiously to uphold British rule in America. With a wealth of previously unused primary accounts, Urban tells the gripping story of one of the most pivotal campaigns in history. The thrilling and untold story of one Redcoat regiment's epic battle against the Americans