Fix Bayonets!: A Royal Welch Fusilier at War, 1796–1815

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Donald Graves is one of the world’s leading authorities on the War of
1812. Most of the 16 military history books he has written or edited
present an overview of huge events spanning whole continents and
involving tens of thousands of human lives. In this latest book, he
gives the reader an entirely different perspective. Graves explores the
Napoleonic Wars and its American sideshow, the War of 1812, through the
career of a single person, Thomas Pearson. Pearson was a parson’s son
who joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers as a teenager in 1796. Not wealthy
enough to purchase a senior commission, Pearson earned his advancement
through the ranks through personal bravery and competence. Pearson
served on three continents, married a Canadian sweetheart, fought 12
major battles, was wounded five times, and ended his career as a
lieutenant-general with a knighthood. Yet, like hundreds of thousands of
other brave soldiers of those wars, after death Pearson faded into
obscurity. His only memorial was a brass plaque on a church wall until
this fascinating book was written.

One of the challenges for Graves to revive Pearson was the fact that
his subject never left behind a personal memoir or even a body of
letters to review. This forced the author to work from secondary
sources, which included mentions of Pearson in official military
records, comments from other officers who did write letters and memoirs,
and contemporary records of general military life in the British Army.
The result is hundreds of historic threads woven into a single rich
tapestry that combines hard facts with juicy details and often humour
(e.g., the senior officer’s nickname for their commander, the Duke of
Kent, was “Coconut Head”). As always, Graves does an exceptional job
of documenting his sources with endnotes, appendixes, and an index.
Dozens of black-and-white portraits, maps, cartoons, and pages from
official British army manuals support the text. This book is a must-read
for any history buff interested in military, Napoleonic, or early
Canadian history.