The 12th Light Dragoons served throughout Wellington's campaigns in the Peninsula, most notably at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812, and later at Waterloo where they suffered heavy casualties supporting the Union Brigade's famous charge. The principal source for this book are the papers of Sir James Steaurt _ Colonel of the regiment for almost all of the period in question _ supplemented by other regimental records, Horse Guards paperwork, and letters and memoirs, allowing both an official understanding of events, and several threads of human interest which develop through the narrative.??The book is divided into two halves, first providing an overview of the regiment and the role of Steuart as Colonel, before moving onto an account of the regiment on home service during the early years of the Napoleonic Wars and then on active service in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. This concludes with a discussion of the lessons learnt during the war, as particularly exemplified by the 12th being one of the regiments selected for conversion to lancers in the aftermath of Waterloo.

Reminiscences by alumni of the college.

This book is acknowledged as the only work dealing exclusively with the identification and description of international gallantry awards, past and present. The multitude of illustrations allows the reader to readily identify those awards most likely to be encountered. The work embraces forty-three countries and describes 270 decorations together with their various classes. A ten page ribbon chart shows 216 different world gallantry ribbons all in full colour.

“Presents Custer’s Civil War accomplishments in clear and engaging prose, while its ample images and battle maps place unfamiliar readers in the action.” —The Civil War Monitor Through the passage of time, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s last fight, the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, has come to overshadow the rest of his military career, which had its brilliant beginning in the American Civil War. Plucked from obscurity by Maj. Gen. George McClellan, Custer served as a staff officer through the early stages of the war. His star began to rise in late June, 1863, when he catapulted several grades to brigadier general and was given brigade command. Shortly thereafter, at Gettysburg and Buckland Mills, he led his men—the Wolverines—in some of the heaviest cavalry fighting of the Eastern Theater. At Yellow Tavern, Custer’s assault broke the enemy line, and one of his troopers mortally wounded the legendary Confederate cavalryman, J.E.B. Stuart. At Trevilian Station, his brigade was nearly destroyed. At Third Winchester, he participated in an epic cavalry charge. Elevated to lead the Third Cavalry Division, Custer played a major role at Tom’s Brook and, later, at Appomattox, which ultimately led to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Historian Daniel T. Davis, a long-time student of George Custer, has spent countless hours walking and studying the battlefields where Custer fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. In The Most Desperate Acts of Gallantry, he chronicles the Civil War experiences of one of the most recognized individuals to emerge from that tragic chapter in American history. “A fast-paced study, engaging study.” —Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era

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Major James Lide Coker of Hartsville, South Carolina was a gutsy man of God and an entrepreneurial genius who founded 20 successful businesses. He grew up in the Old South, but became one of the most forward-thinking leaders of the New South. His business odyssey alone makes a fascinating story, but his expansive heart and keen intellect reached well beyond commerce. He was a passionate leader of the Christian faith, a pace-setter in women’s education, and a progressive in race relations. Ahead of his times in every way, he concluded his own book on the Civil War with these words: “There is one great result of the war between the States for which we are truly thankful: slavery is abolished.” Though high-born, he and his family were brought low. In the Civil War, he bravely defended his homeland, fighting with Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in Virginia, where his brother was killed. In Tennessee, James’s left thigh was shattered at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, and he became a prisoner of war. Delirious with pain, he had several harrowing escapes from death before finally returning home to Sherman-devastated South Carolina. He had lost almost everything, including the use of a leg. But with extraordinary valor, he rose up with a crutch and a hoe to re-establish his farm, and went on to lead the economic, educational, and spiritual rebound of his region in a time of crisis and carpetbaggers. James became the wealthiest man in South Carolina, yet remained humble and down to earth. His war agonies and innate sensitivity to human need enabled him to identify with the harshest realities of the human condition and with the plight of the disenfranchised. When his ingenious and diligent post-war initiatives brought him rivers of prosperity, he let them flow through him to bless countless others in his rural state. A deeply spiritual man, Major Coker also faithfully taught the boys’ Sunday School for thirty-eight years. Today, we have too few leaders of genuine integrity. We need more like the Major – rock solid, gallant, far-sighted, and good to the core! For the benefit of present and future generations, his inspiring story, with fresh perspectives and previously unpublished material, is retold in Dr. Joslin’s unique style, blending biography, daring adventure, courageous faith, and the drama of American history.

This book examines the relationship between concepts of heroic "gallantry," as projected by the British honours system, and the sociocultural, political, military and international transitions of the supposed Sixties "cultural revolution." In so doing, it considers how a conservative, hierarchical and state-orientated concept both evolved and endured during a period of immense change in which traditional assumptions of deference to elites were increasingly challenged. Covering the period often defined as "The Long Sixties," from 1955–79, this study concentrates on four distinct transitions undergone by both state and non-state gallantry awards, including developments within the welfare state, class and gender discrimination, counterinsurgency and decolonisation. It ultimately sheds fresh light upon the importance of postwar decades to the continued evolution of concepts of gallantry and heroism in British culture using a range of underexplored government and media archives. It will be of interest to scholars, students and general researchers of heroism in modern Britain, the Sixties revolution, postwar military history and both the social and political evolution of British honours, decorations and medals.