Harris was a was born in Dorset, and was drafted into the army at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Almost certainly illiterate, he told his story to an officer in the Light Infantry, who came across Harris long after the war was over, when Harris, discharged through ill health, was working as a cobbler in Soho.

Christopher Hibbert, who edited and introduces the book, served as an officer during the war and was awarded the MC. He is the author of several acclaimed books of military history and won the Heinemann Award for Literature.