Recollections of Rifleman Harris

Benjamin Randell Harris (1781-1858) was an enlisted soldier in the 95th Regiment of Foot in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. After joining the regiment in 1803, he served as a private and fought in many of the early campaigns in the Peninsular War. In the mid-1830s, Harris was working as a cobbler in London when he met an acquaintance, Captain Henry Curling, who asked him to dictate an account of his experiences of army life. This account was then held by Curling until 1848, when the manuscript was originally published. This memoir is one of the few surviving accounts of military service in this era from a private soldier.