剑桥大学历史学家埃蒙·奥基夫通过重新发现沙德拉克·拜菲尔德1851年的遗忘自传，揭示了这位1812年战争老兵远比传统历史记载更为复杂的人生故事1。拜菲尔德在1814年尼亚加拉河战役中前臂被火枪球击中而截肢1，手术在无麻醉的情况下进行，之后他自己埋葬了截下的手臂1。随后，他请当地铁匠根据梦中所想制作了一个功能性假肢，使其能够继续从事织布工作1。
拜菲尔德的战后生活充满了为争取正当权益而进行的长期抗争1。1815年他获得皇家陆军医院切尔西的评估后，每天仅获得9便士的养老金，对此"非常不满"1；直到1836年，他在退役陆军军官威廉·纳皮尔爵士的协助下才成功增加了养老金1。拜菲尔德于1840年出版了第一部自传《一名轻装步兵的服役记述》，1851年又出版了第二部自传《一名英国士兵的历史与改悔》1。值得注意的是，1851年的自传中他承认了在1840年版本中隐瞒的事实，包括违规离营和参与掠夺1。
拜菲尔德晚年生活亦不平顺。1853年6月，他在格洛斯特郡霍克斯伯里厄普顿的浸礼会教堂发生骚乱，被指控用假肢上的铁钩割伤对手1，因此失去了纪念滑铁卢战役将军爱德华·萨默塞特的100英尺纪念碑管理员职位1。拜菲尔德于1874年1月去世，享年84岁1。研究还推翻了关于他"文盲"的常见描述——历史学家发现其1840年自传手稿是他本人亲笔所写1。
Cambridge University historian Eamon O'Keeffe has uncovered a forgotten 1851 autobiography by Shadrach Bayfield, a War of 1812 veteran, revealing a far more complex life than historical records had suggested.1 Rather than embodying the stoic wounded soldier narrative, Bayfield emerges as a determined figure who fought for decades to secure adequate pension support and independence while battling chronic pain and poverty.1
Bayfield's left forearm was shattered by a musket ball during the Battle of Niagara in 1814, necessitating amputation performed without anesthesia.1 He subsequently buried the severed limb himself and later enlisted a local blacksmith to craft a functional prosthetic based on a design from his dreams, which allowed him to resume work as a weaver.1 Following his assessment at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in 1815, Bayfield received a daily pension of just nine pence, a sum with which he was reportedly "very much dissatisfied."1 Not until 1836, with assistance from retired military officer Sir William Napier, did his pension increase.1
Bayfield published his first memoir, A Narrative of the Life and Services of a Light Infantryman, in 1840, followed by a second autobiography in 1851 titled The History and Penitence of an English Soldier.1 The later account contained admissions of unauthorized absences and looting that he had omitted from the earlier version.1 In June 1853, a disturbance erupted in a Baptist chapel in Hawkesbury Upton, Gloucestershire, during which Bayfield was accused of wounding an opponent with the iron hook on his prosthetic limb.1 The incident cost him his position as caretaker of a 100-foot monument commemorating General Edward Somerset, who fought at Waterloo.1 O'Keeffe's research also revealed that Bayfield's 1840 manuscript was written in his own hand, contradicting the common historical characterization of him as illiterate.1 Bayfield died in January 1874 at age eighty-four.1
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