Of recent years we have had many books
on military history, most of them chiefly devoted
to the wars which have marked the extension of the
British Empire.
In Sergeant-Major Rundle’s narrative
we have the interesting story of how an honest English
boy became attracted to the colors; how the British
army lives, moves and has its being in the British
Isles and in the Dominions beyond the seas; how that
boy rose by honest effort to the highest non-commissioned
position in that army; and most interesting of all,
his experience on foreign service when his regiment
took part in the Trent affair and Fenian raids,
following the close of the American civil war.
Later, Sergeant Rundle became instructor
at the Toronto Military School, where he trained some
men now very prominent in Canadian affairs. He
also was a member of the Red River expedition, which
helped very much to open up and develop that western
empire whose golden tide of grain is now flowing into
the wheat bins of the British Empire.
Scattered through the story are many
interesting reminiscences and incidents. The
actors in these dramas of a young nation’s birth
are falling by the wayside, and few have left a record
of their adventures. It is from such that history
is written.
In revising the manuscript, “by
order” of my truest of Klondike friends, Colonel
S. B. Steele, C.B., M.V.O. (the lion of the Yukon),
I have endeavored to interfere as little as possible
with Sergeant Rundle’s pleasant and simple style
of narrative, and it has been a pleasure to assist
one whose record and character are without stain,
and whose loyalty to sovereign and country is without
blemish.
Henry J. Woodside.
Ottawa, Ont., August 9, 1909.