Wellington's Gunner in the Peninsula - Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Dickson

Author:

Colonel Nick Lipscombe

Report:

48

Page:

71

Year:

2021

Subject Matter:

Peninsular War

Excerpt:

The Duke of Wellington was, without doubt, a brilliant field commander, but his leadership style was abrupt and occasionally uncompromising. He despised gratuitous advice and selected his close personal staff accordingly. He trained his infantry generals as divisional commanders but not as army commanders. For his cavalry commanders he had little time, often pouring scorn on their inability to control their units and formations in battle, but it was his artillery commanders that he kept at arm’s length, suspicious of their different chain of higher command and, in consequence, their motives. One gunner officer was to break through this barrier of distrust; he was a mere captain but by the end of the war he was to become the commander of all the Allied artillery, succeeding to what was properly a major general’s command. 

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