THE ‘THIN RED LINE’ AT BALACLAVA
(_October 25, 1854_)
Gae bring my guid auld harp ance mair, gae bring it free and fast,
For I maun sing anither sang, ere a’ my glee be past.
And trow ye, as I sing, my lads, the burden o’t shall be,
Auld Scotland’s howes, and Scotland’s knowes, and Scotland’s hills
for me;
I’ll drink a cup to Scotland yet, wi’ a’ the honours three.
_Scotland Yet._
In the Crimean campaign the regiments in the Highland Brigade chiefly
concerned were the Black Watch, the Camerons, and the Sutherland
Highlanders. At the battle of the Alma we have seen how the glory of the
first advance rested with the 42nd, and the brunt of the flanking
movements upon the Sutherlands and Camerons. In the siege of Sevastopol
the 42nd and 79th were engaged in fatigue duty and in the trenches, the
93rd lying before Balaclava with Sir Colin Campbell. It was their good
fortune to meet the Russians once again in the open. It was an amazing
achievement that two ranks of Highlanders could attack and defeat twelve
battalions of Russian infantry. An even greater achievement was it when
the 93rd resisted successfully without supports the furious onslaught of
the Russian cavalry.
The battle of the Alma was thus the first and last engagement in which
the Highland Brigade fought together during the Crimean War. For two
miserable winters they, with the other regiments of the British and
French forces, were to endure privation and hardship such as had
probably never before been experienced in a British campaign. The bitter
cold, the lack of food, the absence of all hospital arrangements made
the siege of Sevastopol one of the most ghastly tragedies in English
history. Cholera, dysentery, with every other form of illness consequent
on exposure and lack of sanitation, proved a more deadly antagonist than
the Russian guns. Whatever the sufferings our soldiers had to endure in
the trenches during the winter campaign of 1914-15, they were provided
with good food, expert medical attendance, and, so far as was possible,
with the relief and exchange of fatigue duty. In the Crimea no army was
ever in a worse plight for the merest necessaries of life, and until
Florence Nightingale was inspired to leave England for the hospital
field there was very little hope of recovery from sickness. But then as
now the various British regiments took their part in the trench work
without complaint and in good heart—and when possible with the greatest
distinction.
The 93rd Sutherland Highlanders were raised in 1799, and sailed for the
Cape of Good Hope in 1806. After that they saw little active service of
any distinction until the Crimea, though their sister regiment the
Argyllshire Highlanders, raised in 1794, took part in the Peninsular
War, but not in Waterloo. The two regiments became the 91st and 93rd
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1881.
The Sutherland Highlanders took up their position before Balaclava with
the knowledge that it was of first-rate importance to the safety of the
whole army. The outer line of defences was held by some 5000 Turks;
between the outer line and the inner line were 1500 cavalry, while the
93rd lay in front of the village of Kadikoi. The importance of Balaclava
lay in its position. Lying upon the sea coast, it was not merely in
communication with the outer world, but the only channel by which the
Allies could receive their ammunition and stores. Were the Russians to
take possession of Balaclava they would cut the British lines of
communication at one swoop. It was therefore practically certain that
sooner or later an attack would be made, and on the night of the 24th
Sir Colin was informed by the Turks that the Russian advance was
imminent. It came with the breaking of dawn, when the grey hordes of the
enemy were seen flocking like ghosts down the hill-side, moving forward
toward the Turkish redoubts. Compared with the little force defending
Balaclava, the number of the enemy was infinitely superior, comprising
25 battalions of infantry, 34 squadrons of cavalry, and 78 guns.
Presently their artillery found the range of the troops in the first
redoubt, and in a very short time the Turks were in flight. Once this
line of fortifications was taken it was hopeless to hold the
corresponding flanks. The whole first line was beaten within a few
minutes. The Sutherlands, drawn up under Sir Colin Campbell, stood at
attention watching the fleeing columns of the Turks heading directly
towards them. Perceiving that the Highlanders were perfectly at their
ease, the Turks made a feeble rally and formed on either flank. The
Russian advance was continued without halt, and their guns soon opened
on the 93rd. To prevent unnecessary loss, Sir Colin drew back the
regiment behind the slope of the hill, and from there awaited the next
move. Presently the enemy’s cavalry, leaving the main body, galloped
straight for his position. The moment of trial had come. Instantly he
drew up the Highlanders in a line only two deep, shouting to them, “Now,
men, remember there is no retreat from here. You must die where you
stand!” at which there was a low murmur, “Ay, ay, Sir Colin; an need be,
we’ll do that!” The whole line was advanced to the top of the hill, a
movement that so excited the men that they nearly charged the Russians.
But that was not Sir Colin’s intention, and halting them he calmly
awaited the onslaught of the Russian cavalry, merely giving the order
for the Sutherlands to stand in line. The noise of the thundering hoofs
grew ever louder. It echoed in the ears of the Turks, and as dense
masses of horses bounded in all their picturesque strength towards them,
they broke on the instant and ran in a frenzy of terror to the rear,
extending their hands to the vessels riding at anchor, and shouting in
their panic, “Ship! ship!” To the Eastern mind it seemed the merest
folly to await such a crash of cavalry.
But not a man of the 93rd moved. Just as the French Cuirassiers at
Quatre Bras had come flaunting their swords and breastplates in the
sunlight, so the Russian cavalry, on that winter’s morn, came rushing in
their hundreds upon the ‘thin red line.’ Lord Wolseley has written that
the pace of their advance must have been three hundred and fifty yards a
minute, while behind them squadron upon squadron—like the successive
waves of a sea—raced their supports. “In other parts of the field,” an
eye-witness has recorded, “with breathless suspense every one waited the
bursting of the wave upon the line of Gaelic rock.” Suddenly, when it
was feared the Highlanders in their forlorn bravery were already
overwhelmed, the splutter of fire passed down the line. It was done
without flurry or haste, but the effect was incalculable. The whole
front rank of the cavalry stumbled and recoiled; horses and men fell,
the second rank was baffled and helpless, the speed was in an instant
checked, and the Sutherlands, calmly reloading, discharged a second
volley into the enemy. But the Russians were not beaten so easily.
Breaking away, a detachment of cavalry cantered off to attack the 93rd
on the flank. Quite calmly Sir Colin wheeled a company of his men to
face them. This was done without any confusion, and another volley
decided the action. It was stated afterwards that although few of the
Russians were killed, nearly every man and horse was wounded. It had
been a desperate moment, for, as Kinglake remarks, “the advance of the
Russian squadrons marked what might well seem at the moment to be an
ugly if not desperate crisis in the defence of the English seaport. Few
or none at the time could have had safe grounds for believing that,
before the arrival of succours, Liprandi (the Russian Commander) would
be at all once stayed in his career of victory, and in the judgment of
those, if any there were, who suffered themselves to grow thoughtful,
the whole power of our people in the plain and in the port of Balaclava
must have seemed to be in jeopardy; for not only had the enemy
overmastered the outer line of defence and triumphantly broken in
through it, but also, having a weight of numbers, which for the moment
stood as that of an army to a regiment, he already had made bold to be
driving his cavalry at the very heart of the English resources. If, in
such a condition of things, some few hundreds of infantrymen stood
shoulder to shoulder in line confronting the victor upon open ground,
and maintaining from first to last their composure, their cheerfulness,
nay, even their soldierly mirth, they proved themselves brave men by a
test that was other than that of sharp combat, but hardly less trying.”
After Balaclava the Highland Brigade were employed in besieging
Sevastopol, and on September 8, 1855, a scheme was nearly carried into
effect that might have resulted in the fall of the Russian position by
assault. Sir Colin Campbell drew out a plan in which the Black Watch
were to advance to the attack, while the remainder of the division
supported them. About midnight on the 8th, therefore, when the fire of
the Russian troops had become almost silent, a little party went forward
to the Redan to reconnoitre. To their astonishment there was no one to
be seen, save the wounded and the dying. In the silence of the night the
Russian forces had evacuated, leaving Sevastopol to fall into the hands
of the Allies.
There is little more to tell of the part that the Highland Brigade took
in the Crimean campaign. After the fall of Sevastopol the Black Watch
was stationed at Kamara until peace was declared, and in due course
arrived in England, accompanied by the Camerons and the Sutherlands.
They little knew what trials lay before them. Already in the far-distant
land of India the clouds were beginning to gather upon the horizon.
Already in many a silent street the whisper was passing from lip to lip
that was destined, within a few short months, to reverberate down the
passages of Time.