In November 1864, Abraham Lincoln penned what is known as the "Bixby Letter" offering his condolences to the mother of five soldiers who had fallen in the service of their country. A shocking sacrifice for the cause for any one family to make, although it transpired not all of the sons were in fact dead. Some years earlier the last surviving member of his generation of the Fernyhough family, from Staffordshire in England, wrote the stories of his brothers and himself. Robert Fernyhough's brothers, John and Henry in the Royal Marines and Thomas in the infantry, had fallen in the service of their country during the Napoleonic Wars. Robert himself saw much action as a Royal Marine before eventually fighting in the 95th Rifles in the Peninsular under Wellington, including heavy engagement at the battle of Busaco. The fighting record of the Fernyhough family that is recorded in this work is truly astonishing; Expeditions to Walcheren, Buenos Ayres, Walcheren, the coast of Spain, Savoy, Toulon, Malta, Gibraltar not to mention hard soldiering in the Peninsular make for an excellent Read. Author – Robert Fernyhough (1785-1866)