With the Royal Engineers in the Low Countries: At Bergen-op-Zoom, Waterloo and the Advance on Paris, 1813-15

The engineers, sappers and miners during the closing battles of the Napoleonic Wars

The initial part of this book contains letters written to his father, by a British officer of the Royal Engineers serving in the army towards the end of the conflict with Napoleonic France. In fact, the first letter, written aboard his transport ship at anchor, bound for continental Europe is dated in December of 1813. The conclusion of that war was only three months into the future, but before the defeated emperor abdicated his throne more blood would be spilled by those who fought for both sides. Sperling was not bound for the southern campaign theatre, but to the Low Countries where Graham was tasked with subjugating Bergen-op-Zoom and Antwerp. The author's descriptions of this campaign from an engineer's perspective offer rewarding details, especially his descriptions of the various works he was commissioned to execute. By the opening months of 1815, Sperling was in Brussels and so already in theatre as hostilities broke out once again when Napoleon made his final desperate bid to regain power by absconding from his exile on the island of Elba. Naturally, Sperling's personal experiences and descriptions of his work around the field of battle at Waterloo and afterwards are essential. This valuable first-hand account is supported in this Leonaur edition by two excellent and detailed histories of the Royal Engineers and the Sappers and Miners by Porter and Connolly which specifically focus on the period of time covered by the Sperling letters. This edition is accompanied by maps and illustrations which were not included in any of the original editions of these works.