On Waterloo's ensanguined plain
Lie tens of thousands of the slain,
But none, by sabre or by shot,
Fell half so flat as Walter Scott.

(from memory, so I might have it slightly wrong. I originally wanted to call my book on Tactics 'Sabre & Shot' but Yale thought better of it ... and it would have been a gift to a hostile reviewer!)

Paul's Letters to His Kinsfolk is still a useful (if secondary) source and well worth reading.