- George Francis Robert Henderson
Colonel George Francis Robert Henderson CB (1854-1903) was a British
soldier andmilitary author . He is most famous for his work regarding theAmerican Civil War andThomas J. Jackson , famously known as "Stonewall" and a Confederate general who fought in the war.Early life
Henderson was born in
Jersey in 1854. Educated atLeeds Grammar School , of which his father, afterwards Dean of Carlisle, was headmaster, he was early attracted to the study ofhistory , and obtained a scholarship atSt John's College, Oxford . But he soon left the University for Sandhurst, from where he was commissioned into the84th Foot in 1878.Military service
After a few months service in
India , he was promoted to the rank oflieutenant and returned to England, and in 1882 he went on active service toEgypt . During this time, he received numerous citations for bravery in combat, being promoted to captain in 1886. In 1885 he was seconded to theOrdnance Store Department . In 1889 appeared (anonymously) his first work, "The Campaign of Fredericksburg". In the same year he became Instructor in Tactics, Military Law and Administration at Sandhurst. From this post he proceeded as Professor of Military Art and History to the Staff College (1892-1899), and there exercised a profound influence on the younger generation of officers. His study onSpicheren had been begun some years before, and in 1898 appeared, as the result of eight years work, his masterpiece:Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War .Henderson, p. iv]Later life and death
In the
Second Boer War Lieutenant Colonel Henderson served with distinction on the staff of Lord Roberts as Director of Intelligence. But overwork andmalaria broke his health, and he had to return home, being eventually selected to write the official history of the war. Failing health obliged him to go to Egypt, where he died at Assuan onMarch 5 ,1903 . He had completed the portion of the history of the South African War dealing with the events up to the commencement of hostilities, amounting to about a volume, but the War Office decided to suppress this, and the work was restarted by Sir F. Maurice.Legacy
Various lectures and papers by Henderson were collected and published in 1905 by Captain Malcolm, D.S.O., under the title "The Science of War"; to this collection a memoir was contributed by Lord Roberts.
References
* [http://www.angloboerwar.com/awards/cb_recipients_D_K.htm Military profile]
* Henderson, G. F. R. , "Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War", Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2006,
ISBN 0-7607-7954-6.Notes
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