Chapter 1 Summary

Richard Sharpe is assigned to the Real Compañía Irlandesa of His Most Catholic Majesty's household guard allegedly to train them to be better soldiers. His real purpose is to make life so miserable for them that they desert and return to the king of Spain. He is assigned to a crumbling, barely usable fortress, San Isidro. Though a number of men desert the first two nights, the situation which is hoped for by Wellington and Hogan, Sharpe's natural stubbornness kicks in and he decides he will turn the for show troops into true fighting soldiers. At the start of the book, Sharpe enrages a French general and that begins a feud between the two which threatens Sharpe's career and reputation.

Richard Sharpe is lost and crumbles the map given him by Major Hogan into a small ball. Sergeant Harper, his good friend...