How stands the glass around?
For shame! ye take no care, my boys;
How stands the glass around?
Let the mirth and wine abound.
The trumpets sound,
The colours flying are, my boys,
To fight, kill, or wound;
May we still be found
Content with our hard fare, my boys,
On the cold ground.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We were now fairly on the enemy's ground, had bearded him in his den,
and though our men had been subjected to a long period of suffering,
consequent on the cholera ravaging our ranks at Varna and Devna (the one
idea prevalent in every man's breast being that he himself might be the
next victim), we were still a very imposing force. When our videttes
brought in the news that they had been menaced and yelled at in
unmistakable sneers by the Cossacks, who were plainly seen in almost
every direction galloping their shaggy little horses, and waving their
long lances for us to come on and meet them, we were anxious to be among
them. Like our own advanced posts, however, their field columns were
plainly within a short distance, and any demonstration on the part of
our pickets would only have sent them back direct to their lines, while
our skirmishers, with their limited knowledge of the ground, might have
been surrounded, and either cut down to a man, or taken prisoners. At
this time we were said to be within twenty miles of Sebastopol, and the
number of effective Englishmen, besides French and Turkish infantry, was
about 27,000, who, I may truly say, were most eager to meet the enemy in
battle; and no order during the whole campaign was more cheerfully
obeyed than that issued by Lord Raglan on the night of the 18th of
September, to "strike tents and march at break of the following day."
That march will long be remembered by all who were engaged in it. Every
brigade, every division, every regiment, troop, battery, company, and
every man with his arms and other accoutrements, was examined by
colonels, adjutants, and their deputies, with a minuteness that told us
plainly it would not be long before our services were called into active
requisition. It was not until eight o'clock that the trumpeters of our
brigade sounded the advance, and when our horses capered away from the
camping-ground, to the merry strains of the various bands, no hearts
were lighter than the five hundred cavaliers who formed the advanced
guard of the army which has ever gone forth from British shores "to
conquer or to die." It was a lovely day, and the heat of the sun was
tempered by the gentle sea-breeze, as we marched with our right flank
resting on the beach under cover of the fleet.
I was one of the advanced guard formed of men selected from the 8th
Hussars, 4th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, 13th Light Dragoons, and 11th
Hussars, and we were, of course, the first to come within sight of the
enemy, who, in place of advancing to meet us, set fire to houses,
corn-stacks, and every vestige of harvest produce on the land for miles
around. We could see numerous Cossacks driving away the stunted cattle
and sheep to their lines, ostensibly to prevent them falling into our
hands, but in reality to rob the farmers of their property, which would
have been unmolested by us, though, probably, the French would have
appropriated it. After marching about two hours we drew nearer to the
outlying pickets of the Russian army, who had fallen back upon each
other, and so near to their reserves, that the latter could be plainly
seen, as stated by Lord Cardigan, who, with a field-glass, rode at the
head of our column, and ordered out a skirmishing party. These
skirmishers spreading out on each flank of the advancing army like a
fan, rode forth to meet the Cossacks, who capered and wheeled about,
flourished their lances, and performed many grotesque movements quite
new to us. But they finally settled down, and forming up in a very
business-like manner, advanced as if determined to meet our skirmishers.
Ere we had gone far, however, the "halt" was sounded, it was said by
order of the Earl of Lucan, who with several more staff officers had
ridden to the front. Emboldened by our halt, the Cossacks commenced to
yell, flourish their lances, and some few shots were tired at us, which,
however, fell out of range, and it was with a feeling of disappointment
that we were forced to obey the trumpeter's call of "skirmishers in,"
retiring upon the main body which had been pushed forward in
anticipation of a general action. During these few minutes, the enemy
had brought up a few field-guns, and our men were exasperated beyond
measure at the apathy of Lord Lucan, for allowing us to be fired into
with artillery, and followed by a horde of yelling Cossacks into the
shelter of our lines, like a pack of whipped hounds to their kennels.
It will ever redound to the credit of Lord Cardigan, that in this, his
first meeting of the enemy in force, he was most anxious to lead the
Light Cavalry to battle, even before our reserves had come in sight; but
Lord Lucan, by a rapid communication with Lord Raglan, decided that, not
knowing the strength or position of the enemy, it was better to wait
until the main body came up, and bivouacked, ere we made an attack.
Several of our men were badly wounded, and five or six horses were
killed by the Russian gunners, who had got our range and made beautiful
practice. At last, however, a battery of six and nine-pounders came up
at a gallop, and instantly opened fire. "Whiz," "ugh," "rippety tip,"
went the balls, some ricocheting and sending up clouds of dust as they
danced over the intervening space. The Cossacks ceased yelling when
many of them were knocked over, horses and all, like nine-pins, and the
remainder scampered off to their lines like frightened sheep. Meanwhile
the main body of our army were fast coming up, and forming in order of
battle to repel a general attack, should one be made. A shell, however,
which was so directed as to burst in the centre of an advanced column of
the enemy's infantry, settled their business, for limbering up their
guns in great haste they quickly retired, and one of our sergeants
(O'Brien Kennedy, a Tipperary man) remarked, that although they appeared
to "care but little for cannon-balls, they did not relish bullocks'
hearts stuffed with thunder and lightning."
Only one feeling pervaded our brigade that night, which was regret at
not being allowed to meet the Russian cavalry hand to hand, and stirrup
to stirrup. This little skirmish was always designated amongst us as
"that affair of the Bouljanak;" but as we dismounted and patted our
horses' necks, we rejoiced that we were fairly up with the enemy.
Without laying ourselves open to the charge of vain boasting, there was
not a man of us who collected round our bivouac fires that night, who
did not resolve that those "yelling Cossacks" should be "skivered" when
we were permitted to meet them sword to sword and man to man. It
afterwards transpired, from the statements of prisoners and spies, that
no less than five regiments of cavalry were in reserve behind the
"yelling Cossacks;" therefore it was, perhaps, as well that the recall
was sounded, or the story of the "Young Dragoon" might not have been
written.
Soundly our grand army slept that night on the cold ground, and
thousands awakened only to march forth to certain death up the heights
of the Alma. Passing over the events that occurred on the morning of
the day on which the battle of Alma was fought, which was spent by our
generals in arranging the army in the order of battle to meet the enemy,
and beard him in his own earthworks, I now bring my readers to the banks
of the river Alma, called a river, but in reality only a brook, which
most of our horses could have cleared at a jump, even in its widest
part. Our brigade was held in reserve, as, if the infantry should
suffer a reverse and be obliged to retire from the hill over the brook
on to the plain, we were ready to play our part on that ground. Onwards
the army advanced in a vast extended line, so as to prevent the enemy
from descending the heights in front and outflanking us. The French
were disposed so as to march on our extreme right, in order to attack
the enemy's left, who occupied a position which, from its steepness, was
difficult to approach; but to our army was assigned the hardest
fighting--namely, the forcing of the enemy's centre and right. The
whole face of the hill as far as the eye could reach was swarming with
squares of infantry intermixed with earthworks thrown up on the slopes,
over which peeped the muzzles of muskets ready to deal death and
destruction to our dauntless infantry.
As we neared the banks of the stream, towards the right of the Russian
position, we noticed myriads of Cossacks, supported by a large force of
dragoons wearing helmets, who, when they observed us, descended the
hills and boldly crossed the stream. This time we quite expected to
meet them, but we were again disappointed, as a battery of our artillery
was at once pushed forward and placed between us and glory.
A clump of houses and haystacks had been set on fire some distance to
our left, the smoke of which was intended to hide the enemy's cavalry
from the view of our generals, and so enable them to charge upon the
left flank and rear of our infantry, just at the moment the latter
forded the river. But the artillery, before mentioned, with our brigade
ready to dash among them, effectually kept them at bay. During this
time the enemy had opened fire on our right, and very soon it extended
over the whole length of our line. The infantry were ordered to lie
down, and while our artillery replied well to the enemy's fire, we sat
on our horses passive observers of all that occurred. An occasional
shot dropped in the midst of us, and many rolled harmlessly among our
horses' legs. Not a hundred yards from where we formed up was Lord
Raglan and staff: the commander-in-chief was evidently getting very
anxious, as he continually interrogated an aide-de-camp as to something
that was passing on the extreme left of the enemy's position.
At length Captain Nolan came up at a tearing gallop. "They are over, my
Lord!" said he: then followed a hurried, conversation among the staff,
and after a short interval the welcome order was given to the infantry
to rise and advance.
By this time it was ascertained that not only were the French over the
river, as Captain Nolan had stated, but they were hard at it, climbing
the heights and engaged hand to hand with the enemy. Not a moment was
to be lost; a splash, a scramble along the whole line, and in a few
brief moments British bayonets were introduced to the ribs of Russian
soldiers. The Highland brigade being nearest to us, we were enabled to
watch their every movement, as well as the excitement consequent upon
our position would allow, for we were constantly threatened by the
demonstrations of the cavalry on our left. We saw the kilted heroes
march at quick time up that deadly incline as steadily as if on parade,
and the infantry on their right (as far as we could see for the smoke)
followed their example. It appears, however, from the reports of those
actually engaged, that the Light Division, being too impetuous, got into
some disorder, owing to their being in advance of the main body, and
they consequently suffered heavily.
Sir George Brown, who commanded this division, rode in the front of them
on a grey horse, and led them on at too fast a pace, for which he nearly
paid the penalty with his life, for his horse was shot under him, and a
terrible fire being concentrated upon this part of our line, the gallant
Light Division was awfully cut up. Onward, however, swept the main bulk
of that army, the majority of whom were composed of men who had never
been in action before. We could distinctly see at intervals, through
the dense columns of smoke, as the fire gradually receded from the base
up the slopes and finally died out at the crest of the hill, the
belching forth of the musketry from the earthworks as our men neared one
ridge after the other. A puff of smoke, a long stream of fire, and down
came our men in heaps, but plenty remained to avenge their death. A
wild "hurrah," and over the crest of the earthworks they leaped with
their bayonets at the charge, followed by a deadly hand-to-hand struggle
within the earthworks.
This order of advance, and successive storming of what may almost be
termed batteries in position, was unparalleled in the history of war,
but it was successful in every instance; for the enemy were either
driven from every earthwork, or bayoneted on the spot: yard by yard,
inch by inch, they retired up the hill, and were finally driven beyond
their last rallying point, a confused, defeated, and humiliated army,
flying with their chief, Prince Menschikoff, in the direction of their
stronghold, Sebastopol.
In this action the enemy left all their cannon, and upwards of 6000 men
dead, wounded, and prisoners, in our hands. Our loss in killed and
wounded was estimated at little less than 4000 men. Our own dead, as
also the Russians, were buried, and all our wounded were sent on board
the fleet, but hundreds of wounded Russians were left in the places
where they lay.
Much has been written as to the policy pursued by Lord Raglan, of not
following up the retreating enemy and completing their destruction ere
they reached Sebastopol. With this I have nothing to do, but I may
remark that it would have been worse policy to have left our dead on the
field to fester in the burning sun, and so spread disease and death,
more terrible than dying in action, throughout the whole army. The
wounded would also have been left without succour, for it must be
remembered that no assistance was sent from the fleet: the survivors had
to bury their dead comrades, and carry the wounded to the ships. A
weary, harassing night was that after the battle, in which I had myself
happily to take no part, being engaged on picket duty; but I could
plainly hear the shrieks and groans of the wounded as the surgeons
amputated the poor fellows' legs or arms, and dressed the less serious
wounds.
The action was fought on the 21st September, but not until the morning
of the 23rd did we leave the vicinity of the battle-field. The fleet
had orders to sail about the same time in the direction of Balaclava.
On our line of march we found that our old foes, the Cossacks, had
ruthlessly plundered several houses that had evidently been inhabited by
well-to-do natives, and we found numerous smaller houses along the banks
of the Katcha river, from which the inhabitants had fled, leaving them
to be plundered by the bloodthirsty ruffians. Here and there, however,
we met with a Tartar farmer, who, more bold than the rest, came forth
from their hiding-places to stare at us from motives of sheer curiosity.
On arriving at a village called Eskel, we were allowed to dismount, and
here we found plenty of newly-gathered corn for our horses, who much
enjoyed eating it from the straw, and we equally enjoyed the rich
clusters of grapes, which hung invitingly from the vines which
surrounded nearly every dwelling. We learned from the few natives who
were visible, that the defeated army had reached the village on the
evening of the battle in a sadly deteriorated condition, and after only
an hour's rest an alarm was spread that our army was pursuing them, and
they continued their retreat in great disorder.
Pursuing our march through a thickly-wooded country, we could distinctly
see the forts of Sebastopol but we kept well away from the range of
their guns, and made all haste, by a flank movement, not the least
expected by the enemy, to reach Balaclava, in order to form a base of
operations and establish a communication with the fleet. During this
march, parties of our corps and the 11th Hussars formed the advance
guard, keeping in sight of Lord Raglan and his staff, and we suddenly
came upon the enemy's baggage guard, which we quickly dispersed, and an
enormous quantity of baggage, principally clothing, was instantly
surrounded. The carriage of Prince Menschikoff also fell into our
hands, but I did not see it, being otherwise engaged: my share of the
plunder was a capital cloak of fine blue cloth, lined throughout with
fur, which I took from a box, the lid of which had been smashed open by
a private of the 88th regiment, with a blow from the butt end of his
rifle. I also managed to secure a couple of flannel shirts, but having
pursued the enemy two or three miles on the road, we returned too late
to share in the most valuable spoil that fell into the hands of our
comrades.
Halting next at the village of Tractir, or Traktir, near which is a
place called Mackenzie's farm, which only consists of plantations of
fir, and stores of wood grown for the use of the enemy's navy. This the
French set fire to, and we left it blazing merrily, to resume our march
on Balaclava, where a portion of the fleet arrived before us, and the
guns of the _Agamemnon_, commanded by Sir E. Lyons, were at once called
into requisition (in conjunction with our infantry), to reduce a fort
from whence several rounds of shot were fired on our approach, but the
commandant of the place soon surrendered, and we entered the town, or
rather village, without further opposition. Having taken prisoner an
Englishman named Upton, a relative of the engineer whom the enemy had
employed during the erection of the forts at Sebastopol, we found the
object of his capture was to obtain information from him as to the
strength of the army, the forts, and the positions of the field columns;
but he refused to give any information, and, I believe, was set at
liberty. From this time the infantry, artillery, sappers, and
commissariat were as busy as bees, preparing to invest Sebastopol,
landing siege-trains, stores, etc, and the enemy continually kept up a
dropping fire upon everything that came within range of their forts.
The cavalry from this to the battle of Balaclava was principally
employed on picket duty, reconnoitring and foraging, with an occasional
skirmish with the Cossacks; but the infantry had a hard time of it in
the trenches, and, what was worse than all, the cholera was still busy
in our midst; indeed, up to this time we had lost more men by disease
than in battle. Worked as hard as labourers on a railway, under fire
all the time, fed on scanty and inferior rations, with little or no fuel
with which to cook them, any infantry except the British would have
revolted _en masse_, and left their rulers to fight their own battles.
We had, before our arrival at Balaclava, been reinforced by the Scots
Greys, who had been landed from the _Himalaya_ at the Katcha river, and
here also the French were joined by large reinforcements, said to be
upwards of ten thousand men. In coming from Varna to Balaclava, the 1st
Royal Dragoons and the Enniskillen Dragoons had upwards of 200 horses
washed overboard in a heavy gale of wind, and the men were landed in a
very disheartened state. There is nothing so miserable for a trooper on
a campaign as to be without his horse: it is part and parcel of himself,
as, besides furnishing him with an easy means of transport from place to
place, it is essential to his personal safety.