Alexander Sheridan Books

Unfairly forced out of the army for insubordination, Alexander Sheridan leaves Britain and his former life behind to command a unit of the East India Company. Despised by the aristocratic generals of the regular army, in the heat of the deadly battles of the Crimean War Sheridan and his corps of volunteers must face both the rigors of combat and the treachery of men who should be allies.

1857, Cawnpore: With savage mutineers laying relentless siege to its very gates, the British garrison at Cawnpore, in the north of pre-partitioned India, holds on with little more than will. A ragged band of exhausted soldiers defending some 400 frightened women and hungry children in a crumbling outpost, they wait behind frail mud walls, under a scorching sun, for the uncertain arrival of relief troops. Meticulously researched and historically accurate, Stuart’s tragic story from the Indian Mutiny resonates in the struggles against religious fanaticism of our own time. Intense and inspiring, it describes the heroism of a handful of British soldiers and civilians who confronted swarms of vengeful sepoys and all but hopeless odds, as seen through the eyes of Stuart’s characters, Sheridan and his wife Emmy.

General Havelock's Moveable Column - a force of barely a thousand men--has fought its way through to the heroic garrison defending the Residency in Lucknow. They must hold firm until the relieving force reaches them. Colonel Alex sheridan volunteers for a dangerous mission, but is captured. He is soon called upon to fight a much more personal war - assassination of the very man who ordered the deaths of his wife and child!

1857, India: The sepoys, native soldiers serving in the British Army, are massing in response to a prophecy predicting the end of the reign of the British East India Company. Alexander Sheridan—in command of a scratch cavalry force of civilian volunteers, unemployed officers, and loyal Indian soldiers—stands against atrocities on both sides of the conflict, judging all by their merit rather than by the color of their skin or the details of their religion.

Cawnpore is retaken, but they have come too late to stop the slaughter—the relieving British soldiers can only stare at the ill-sited, poorly-defended entrenchment and shake their heads, wondering why. One of only two survivors, Colonel Alex Sheridan is numb. His wife and newborn son lie dead. But now he must join General Havelock's force of barely a thousand men as they fight their way through to the besieged garrison at Lucknow.

vg 1st Tandem 1975 paperback book In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Part four of a five-part series. General Havelock's Relief Column has retaken Cawnpore, to find appalling evidence of the Nana Sahib's betrayal of the garrison. Beside the River Ganges lie the bones of British soldiers, and proof is uncovered that the women and children have also been mercilessly slaughtered. Serving with the twenty-strong Volunteer Cavalry is Alexander Sheridan, whose wife and son were among the victims. He is willing to make any sacrifice in order to bring relief to Lucknow - also under siege by mutineers - and to spare its garrison the same fate.