The true 'Boy's Own' adventure of the British volunteers who survived shipwreck, duels, mutinies, wild animals and malaria to fight with Simon Bolivar, 1815-21.In the aftermath of Waterloo, over 6,000 British volunteers sailed across the Atlantic to aid Simon Bolivar in his liberation of Gran Columbia from her oppressors in Madrid. The expeditions were plagued with disaster from the start, one ship sank shortly after leaving Portsmouth with the loss of almost 200 lives. Those who reached the New World faced disease, wild animals, mutiny and desertion.Conditions on campaign were appalling, massacres were commonplace, rations crude, pay infrequent and supplies insufficient. Nevertheless, those who endured made key contributions to Bolivar's success.

Maps and BattleplansDramatis PersonaePrefaceProloguePart One: RAMBLING BROTHERS O' THE BLADE 1815-1818Chapter 1 'Flags, Banners, Glory and Riches!'Chapter 2 'Proceed to Sea, be the Wind and Weather as they Might'Chapter 3 'A Few Bands of Itinerant Freebooters'Part Two: INTO THE HEART OF DARKNESS 1818-1819Chapter 4 'The Vast Howling Wilderness'Chapter 5 'Captain Grant's Prize Clarionet'Chapter 6 A Nameless GraveChapter 7 'A Lock of ... Auburn Hair'Chapter 8 'General Wilson for Ever!'Chapter 9 Mr Dewey's Fatal PremonitionChapter 10 The Second WaveChapter 11 'Prisoner to a Horde of Barbarians'Chapter 12 The Black Rifles' Baptism of FireChapter 13 Fiasco at PortobeloPart Three: THE TIPPING POINT 1819-1820Chapter 14 The Paramo of PisbaChapter 15 The Return of General EnglishChapter 16 The Battle of VargasChapter 17 'A Place Called Boyacá'Chapter 18 The Siege of Agua SantaChapter 19 Santafé de BogotáChapter 20 The Third WaveChapter 21 Disaster at Rio de la HachaChapter 22 'I am Going the Way of all Flesh, Sir!'Chapter 23 'A Dreadful Service' - The British Legion in MaturínChapter 24 The Black Rifles Move NorthChapter 25 The Albion March SouthChapter 26 A 'Series of Surreptitious Assaults'Chapter 27 Mutiny!Chapter 28 The Eve of Saint SimónChapter 29 The Fall of Santa MartaPart Four: VICTORY!Chapter 30 The Armistice of Santa Ana and the Battle of GenoyChapter 31 Captive!Chapter 32 The Battle of CaraboboEpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex