First time posting here. I love reading about history, especially military history. I am very interested in finding first hand accounts of the life of ordinary soldiers, both professional and conscripts during the early 1700s through the Napoleonic era. We have all seen movies of soldiers marching in close order formation. I would like to know what was going through their minds prior to, during, and after battles. Personally I cannot imagine marching towards enemy cannons, calvary and infantry. Can anyone shed light on this subject or recommend any books or articles?
Richard Holmes' "Redcoat" is an accessible but reliable book with plenty of good information on the lives of British soldiers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Far less academic and more anecdotal is Adrien Bourgogne's "Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne - Napoleon's Russian Campaign and the Retreat from Moscow 1812-1813." Lends a very different perspective than the stereotype of Napoleonic pitched battle.