Sharpe's Skirmish

"Sharpe's Skirmish" is a historical short story by Bernard Cornwell in the Richard Sharpe series.

Sharpe's Skirmish
Original 1999 edition
AuthorBernard Cornwell
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesRichard Sharpe stories
GenreHistorical short story
PublisherHarperCollins
Publication date
1999 (Original Limited Edition Paperback)
2002 (Revised Extended Paperback edition)
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages63 pp (Revised Extended Paperback edition)
ISBN978-0-9722220-0-6 (Revised Extended Paperback edition)
OCLC51160220
Preceded bySharpe's Sword 
Followed bySharpe's Enemy 

"Sharpe's Skirmish" was first written in 1998. British bookseller W. H. Smith[1] devised the idea of giving away a Sharpe short story with every copy of Sharpe's Fortress, possibly why "Sharpe’s Skirmish" often refers to events that happened in the latter book. Only a few thousand copies were originally published, however an edition has been republished by the Sharpe Appreciation Society.

Plot

This short story occurs after Sharpe's Sword and before Sharpe’s Enemy in the summer of 1812 and Sharpe must guard a commissary officer posted to an obscure Spanish fort where there are some captured French muskets. Unbeknownst to the British, the French are planning a lightning raid on the fort across the river Tormes, and they reckon the Spanish fort which guards an ancient bridge across the river will be lightly guarded.

Characters in "Sharpe's Skirmish"
  • Captain Richard Sharpe – rifle captain in the British army, commanding the Light Company of the South Essex Regiment
  • Teresa Moreno – Sharpe's wife, a Spanish partisan
  • Sergeant Patrick Harper – one of Sharpe's men
  • Major Michael Hogan – an engineer and Well's head of intelligence
  • Lieutenant-General Wellesley – commander of the British army in Spain

Allusions to actual history, geography and current science

References are made to incidents during the Peninsular War and the Siege of Gawilghur. Lieutenant General Wellington was based on the real historical figure of the same name with limited dramatic licence taken.

Publication history
  • 1999, UK, Harper Collins Pub date 1 March 1999, Limited Edition Paperback
  • 2002, UK, Sharpe Appreciation Society ISBN 978-0-9722220-0-6, Pub date 2 September 2002, Revised Extended Paperback Edition

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-12-06. Retrieved 2011-05-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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