[In a letter to the London Times Mr. W. H. Russell, the war
correspondent, described the charge of the Light Brigade at
Balaklava, one of the most notable incidents of the Crimean War.]
Supposing the spectator, then, to take his stand on one of the
heights forming the rear of our camp before Sebastopol, he would
have seen the town of Balaklava, with its scanty shipping, its
narrow strip of water, and its old forts, on his right hand;
immediately below he would have beheld the valley and plain of
coarse meadowland, occupied by our cavalry tents, and stretching
from the base of the ridge on which he stood to the foot of the
formidable heights at the other side; he would have seen the
French trenches lined with zouaves a few feet beneath, and
distant from him, on the slope of the hill; a Turkish redoubt
lower down, then another in the valley, then, in a line with it,
some angular earthworks; then, in succession, the other two
redoubts up to Canrobert's Hill.
At the distance of two and a half miles across the valley is an
abrupt rocky mountain range of most irregular and picturesque
formation, covered with scanty brushwood here and there, or
rising into barren pinnacles and plateaux of rock. In outline and
appearance this portion of the landscape was wonderfully like the
Trosachs. A patch of blue sea was caught in between the
overhanging cliffs of Balaklava as they closed in the entrance to
the harbor on the right. The camp of the marines, pitched on the
hillsides more than ten hundred feet above the level of the sea,
was opposite to the spectator as his back was turned to
Sebastopol and his right side towards Balaklava.....
Soon after occurred the glorious catastrophe which filled us all
with sorrow. It appeared that the Quartermaster-General,
Brigadier Airey, thinking that the light cavalry had not gone far
enough in front when the enemy's horse had fled, gave an order in
writing to Captain Nolan, Fifteenth Hussars, to take to Lord
Lucan, directing his lordship "to advance" his cavalry nearer to
the enemy. A braver soldier than Captain Nolan the army did not
possess.....I had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and I know he
entertained the most exalted opinions respecting the capabilities
of the English horse soldier. Properly led, the British hussar
and dragoon could, in his mind, break square, take batteries,
ride over columns of infantry, and pierce any other cavalry in
the world as if they were made of straw. He thought they had not
had the opportunity of doing all that was in their power, and
that they missed even such chances as had been offered to them--
that, in fact, they were in some measure disgraced. A matchless
horseman and a first-rate swordsman, he held in contempt, I am
afraid, even grape and canister. He rode off with his orders to
Lord Lucan.
.... When Lord Lucan received the order from Captain Nolan, and
had read it, he asked, we are told, "Where are we to advance to?"
Captain Nolan pointed with his finger to the line of the
Russians, and said, "There are the enemy, and there are the
guns," or words to that effect, according to the statements made
after his death.
It must be premised that Lord Raglan had in the morning only
ordered Lord Lucan to move from the position he had taken near
the center redoubt to "the left of the second line of redoubts
occupied by the Turks." Seeing that the ninety-third and invalids
were cut off from the aid of the cavalry, Lord Raglan sent
another order to Lord Lucan to send his heavy horse towards
Balaklava, and that officer was executing it just as the Russian
horse came over the bridge. The heavy cavalry charge took place,
and afterwards the men dismounted on the scene of it. After an
interval of half an hour, Lord Raglan again sent an order to Lord
Lucan: "Cavalry to advance and take advantage of any opportunity
to recover the heights. They will be supported by infantry, which
has been ordered to advance upon two fronts." Lord Raglan's
reading of this order is, that the infantry had been ordered to
advance on two fronts; but no such interpretation is borne out by
the wording of the order. It does not appear either that the
infantry had received orders to advance, for the Duke of
Cambridge and Sir G. Cathcart state that they were not in receipt
of such instruction. Lord Lucan advanced his cavalry to the
ridge, close to No. 5 redoubt, and while there received from
Captain Nolan an order which is, verbatim, as follows: "Lord
Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow
the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns;
troops of horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on
your left. Immediate."
Lord Lucan with reluctance--gave the order to Lord Cardigan to
advance upon the guns, conceiving that his orders compelled him
to do so.....It is a maxim of war that "cavalry never act without
a support," that "infantry should be close at hand when cavalry
carry guns, as the effect is only instantaneous," and that it is
necessary to have on the flank of a line of cavalry some
squadrons in column, the attack on the flank being most
dangerous. The only support our light cavalry had was the reserve
of heavy cavalry at a great distance behind them, the infantry
and guns being far in the rear. There were no squadrons in column
at all, and there was a plain to charge over, before the enemy's
guns could be reached, of a mile and a half in length.
At ten minutes past eleven our light cavalry brigade advanced.
The whole brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, according
to the numbers of continental armies; and yet it was more than we
could spare. As they rushed towards the front, the Russians
opened on them from the guns in the redoubt on the right, with
volleys of musketry and rifles. They swept proudly past,
glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendor of
war. We could scarcely believe our senses! Surely that handful of
men were not going to charge an army in position? .... They
advanced in two lines, quickening their pace as they closed
towards the enemy. A more fearful spectacle was never witnessed
by those who, without power to aid, beheld their heroic
countrymen rushing to the arms of death. At the distance of
twelve hundred yards, the whole line of the enemy belched forth,
from thirty iron mouths, a flood of smoke and flame, through
which hissed the deadly balls. Their flight was marked by instant
gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying
wounded or riderless across the plain. The first line was broken-
-it was joined by the second, they never halted or checked their
speed an instant. With diminished ranks, thinned by those thirty
guns, which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy,
with a halo of flashing steel above their heads, and with a cheer
which was many a noble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the
smoke of the batteries; but ere they were lost to view, the plain
was strewed with their bodies and with the carcasses of horses.
They were exposed to an oblique fire from the batteries on the
hills on both sides, as well as to the direct fire of musketry.
Through the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing as
they rode up to the guns and dashed between them, cutting down
the gunners as they stood. We saw them riding through the guns,
as I have said; to our delight we saw them returning, after
breaking through a column of Russian infantry, and scattering
them like chaff, when the flank fire of the battery on the hill
swept them down. Wounded men and dismounted troopers flying
towards us told the sad tale--demi-gods could not have done what
they had failed to do. At the very moment when they were about to
retreat a regiment of lancers was hurled upon their flank.
Colonel Shewell, of the Eighth Hussars, whose attention was drawn
to them by Lieutenant Phillips, saw the danger, and rode his few
men straight at them, cutting his way through with fearful
loss..... It was as much as our heavy cavalry brigade could do to
cover the retreat of the miserable remnants of that band of
heroes as they returned to the place they had so lately quitted
in all the pride of life. At thirty-five minutes past eleven not
a British soldier, except the dead and dying, was left in front
of these bloody Muscovite guns.