Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting
Every wise man's son doth know.
Twelfth Night, II, iii, 24–26
THIS, THE FIRST THING MOST READERS READ AND THE LAST MOST authors draft, is always a pleasure to write, not just because it marks my journey's end, but because it is an opportunity to thank all those who have made my adventure so enjoyable. It is the friendship and kindness of people, some strangers, others lifelong comrades, that make writing books both possible and pleasant.
My journey began in Australia where a visiting fellowship at the Australian Defence Force Academy enabled me to start the basic research. John Reeve was the perfect host, while Peter Dennis, John Coates, Robin Prior and Jeff Grey were especially generous with their time and insights. Early in this project I was able to develop ideas at seminars at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Flinders University, the University of South Australia, Newcastle University, Monash University, the University of Tasmania and the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies. Closer to home I have been able to run ideas past members of the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, particularly Dick Kohn, Alex Roland, Caroline Pumphrey, Joe Caddell and Joe Hobbs. At North Carolina State University and Duke University my students let me test ideas on them in lectures. The staffs of the Cambridge University Library and North Carolina State University Library were unfailing in their outstanding help. For over a quarter of a century, Wolfson College, Cambridge, has provided a fertile and congenial base for summers’ research in England, a debt that I have tried to recognize in the dedication.
I am grateful to David Trim for reading Chapter 4, saving me from grievous errors and greatly improving my arguments. Joe Slavin did the same for the first four chapters, Ian Gentles read Chapters 7 and 8, Bill Speck Chapters 10 and 12, and John Reeve Chapter 11. Thanks to John Wall and Robert Bearman I was able to discover that the Bard had not served in the militia. Simon Harris, historian and anaesthetist, answered questions about Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and the effects of wounds. Peter Paret and N. A. M. Rodger responded warmly to emails from a complete stranger with the generosity that is the hallmark of the true scholar. Padraig Lenihan provided useful figures on Irish casualties. Tom Hester furnished valuable insights into John Donne. Over the decades I have benefited immeasurably from the friendship and wisdom of Wallace MacCaffrey, the sage of Cambridge University Library's tea room. As always John Morrill was a source of information, strength and encouragement. With him, and Mark Kishlansky and Jonathan Scott, I have enjoyed stimulating discussions about Charles I. With his incomparable knowledge of the British Army, Tony Clayton saved me from many errors. Paul Seaver, Thomas Cogswell, Edith Sylla, John Riddle and Gene Rasor kindly answered email queries. Sarah Hartnell read a final draft. I am grateful to Joanna Bourke for sharing the ordeal of 9/11 with me and my wife. It was a time that reminded us that the evils about which historians write can be all too real. I am grateful to my friend and physician Douglas Hammer both for his care and for many stimulating discussions about writing history. Since retiring in 2006, I have served as a volunteer guide at Fort Macon, North Carolina, where I have enjoyed many enlightening conversations, particularly with Paul Branch and John Rhodes, about the American Civil War, which have illuminated my understanding of the British Civil Wars. Heather McCallum of Yale University Press in London has been both a dear friend and valued editor, who has done much to quell an author's insecurity, while helping me produce (I believe) a far better book. While being finely tooth combed is not the most pleasant of experiences, I am most grateful to Rachael Lonsdale, Tami Halliday and Richard Mason of Yale University Press, and to the outside readers, Peter Gaunt, Mark Stoyle and Mark Fissel, all distinguished historians, for going through drafts of the manuscript so thoroughly. My thanks to Richard Slatta for helping sort out word processing problems. Last—and far from least—my greatest debt is due to my wife Caroline, who has cheerfully read my drafts, accompanied me across many a rainy battlefield, and generally put up with me.
The year starts on 1 January, with the date usually eleven days behind that on the continent. I try to give an individual's rank at the time he is mentioned. Similarly, where possible I have provided mid-twentieth-century regimental names, and not the current ones that are the product of so many—far too many—amalgamations. I have tended to combine reference notes when it is possible to see from the context to what they refer. There is no accepted nomenclature for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Some have suggested the ‘Atlantic Archipelago’, which has the virtue of including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, but is awkward. Others talk of ‘The Three Kingdoms’, which excludes Wales and thus offends my Cymmrodorion heritage. To constantly add ‘and Ireland’ to Britain gets a little tedious. To make things even more confusing, when does Britain include Scotland? Before James VI and I's accession in 1603? Before the 1707 Act of Union? What about Henry V's army at Agincourt? Was it an English, an Anglo-Welsh, a British, or even a British and Irish army? Fortunately, Captains Fluellen, MacMorris and Jamy had better things to argue about. Thus I have decided to use ‘Britain’ and ‘British’ to include all three kingdoms and Wales. The New Oxford English Dictionary defines the ‘British Isles’ as including ‘Great Britain and Ireland with all their offshore islands’. For much of the previous three, even four, centuries people happily talked about the British Army and Navy, the British Constitution and the British Empire. Even today Scots, Welsh and Irish scholars read papers at the North American Conference of British Studies and make splendid contributions to H-Albion.
Beaufort, North Carolina;
St David's Day, 2010.