A British Rifle Man - The Journals and Correspondence of Major George Simmons, Rifle Brigade, During the Peninsular War and the Campaign of Waterloo #229494

It will be seen that one of his chief reasons for quitting the Militia and joining the Army was the interests of his family, to whom he hoped to be Of use he Wished to assist the boys to go to school. There is something very touching, albeit at the same time painfully incongruous, in worthy George Simmons's unceasing efl'orts thus to assist his family with small remittances from his hardly-won pay as a subaltern. To us soldiers of the end of the century the idea of a young man seeking a commission with a View to supporting his parents and assisting in the education of his brothers and Sisters is so supremely absurd that at first one is inclined to look upon George as a well-meaning visionary. Facts, however, disprove the suspicion. Readers Of these letters will learn how throughout the six campaigns in the Penin sula between 1809 and 1814, and also during and after the Waterloo campaign, Lieutenant Simmons, although thrice very severely wounded and put to much expense, managed constantly to remit a portion of his pay, and no inconsiderable portion of good advice as well, to his parents, who were sadly in need of both.