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. This irritated other publishers, and only a few thousand copies were printed. Much later, Cornwell revised the story, which was published by the Sharpe Appreciation Society.

Plot

This short story occurs after Sharpe's Sword in the summer of 1812. Sharpe and his men escort commissary Major Tubbs to an abandoned Spanish fort where a cache of thousands of muskets has been forgotten in the general French retreat in northern Spain. Unbeknownst to the British, French Major Ducos has authorised a surprise raid to threaten the Duke of Wellington's supply lines and hopefully delay the British pursuit long enough for the French to regroup. To accomplish this, the French first need to secure the fort, which guards a bridge across the Tormes River. However, Sharpe stands in the way, and for the first (but by no means last) time thwarts a scheme involving Ducos.

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

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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