I hear what you're saying but the problem is that, when retelling the history of a large battle, no foot soldier plays a large enough part to give the reader a

I hear what you're saying but the problem is that, when retelling the history of a large battle, no foot soldier plays a large enough part to give the reader a good sense of the overall event. An author can try to incorporate the grunts but they run the risk of overwhelming the reader with names that need to be kept track of. The stories of the foot soldier can be told but they are usually closer to a biography rather than over-arching history. Author Stephen Ambrose was one of the best at it. His books "Citizen Soldier" and "Band of Brothers" (among others) are excellent.