An original Peninsular War letter from Lieutenant John Stedman Christie, 79th Foot, ink, three sides on a single folded sheet of white paper, the remaining side folded for use as an envelope addressed to his sister Ann, ‘Mrs. Major Morehead’, [c/o] the 28th Militia, Glasgow, and bearing three postal stamp marks, dated at the ‘Advanced piquet, Isla de Leon, 2nd March 1810, Sunday’, in which he discusses, among other topics, the looming siege of Cadiz:

‘The French have three batteries but do not fire much yet, we hear they are bringing their heavy guns here from the interior and are determined to take Cadiz but we think they will be mistaken. I got five galloons famous gin for 5 dollars in Cadiz. The Junta took the duty off for me ... We get rations of wine, meat and bread, so you will see we cannot be more comfortable ... This is rather a noisy place. There are eight or ten Gun Boats and several batteries continually firing to prevent the French from making batteries against us. The town is without reach of shell and I hope we will not let them achieve it. I have no time to say more, a Sergeant is waiting to go to Cadiz ... ’

in generally good condition £150-200

John Stedman Christie was appointed a Lieutenant in the 79th Foot in April 1804 and advanced to Captain in May 1811. Having served in the Walcheren expedition, he saw three tours of duty in the Peninsula (August 1808-January 1809, January 1810-May 1812 and November 1813-April 1815) and, among other actions, was present at Corunna, Busaco, Fuentes D’Onor and Toulouse. Christie later transferred to the 42nd Foot and was placed on half-pay in 1815.