Chapter 11 Summary and Analysis

Graves had selected the Royal Welch Fusiliers regiment, the twenty-third regiment, quite by accident of geography, but he came to hold the regiment in particular regard and was glad that he was part of it. The Royal Welch Fusiliers had an impressive twenty-nine battle-honors and was composed of two pre-1888 regiments that were now organized as the 1st and 2nd battalions. The regiment was notorious for having participated in the four hardest-fought victories of the British army and once charged a body of cavalry many time their own strength, driving it from the field. The regiment had surrendered at Yorktown but it was not accounted a disgrace as it had been abandoned by the Navy. The regiment also fought at Lexington, Guildford Court House, and made a suicidal advance up Bunker Hill. The regiment thus had a proud heritage that Graves...