He is best known as the author of a memoir of his wartime experiences, A Narrative of a Light Company Soldier's Service, published in his hometown of Bradford on Avon in England in 1840.

Byfield narrowly escaped capture after British defeat at the Battle of the Thames and later rejoined elements of his regiment in the Niagara Peninsula.

[1] Shadrack Byfield's Narrative provides a rare common soldier's perspective of the War of 1812, and as such his account, considered to be a critical source for studying the conflict,[3] has frequently been republished or anthologised.

John Gellner, who edited Byfield's memoirs in 1963, asserted that his story "could have been told by any one of those humble, patient, iron-hard British regulars who more than made up in discipline, training and bravery for their lack of numbers."

[6] Byfield is also the protagonist in a 1985 children's novel, Redcoat, by Canadian author Gregory Sass, which presents a heavily fictionalised account of his military experiences.