72nd, 75th. 1846-7: 6th, 27th, 45th, 73rd, 90th, 91st; Rifle Brigade
and 7th Dragoon Guards. 1850-3: 2nd, 6th, 12th, 43rd; 2nd Batt. 60th;
73rd, 74th, 91st; 1st Batt. Rifle Brigade; Royal Marines; a Naval
Brigade and Cape Mounted Rifles.
[Illustration: VICTORIA CROSS.]
[Illustration: INDIAN ORDER OF MERIT.]
[Illustration: MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL.]
SECOND BURMESE WAR
As a result of the violation of the treaty of Yandaboo, which was
really never kept, and the refusal of the King of Ava to redress the
grievances of the Europeans in Rangoon, who had been compelled to seek
safety on board the "Proserpine," a force of 5,767 men, composed of
the 18th Royal Irish, 51st and 80th, together with Artillery, Sappers
and Miners, Gun Lascars, and three Infantry Regiments of the H.E.I.
Co., under the command of General Godwin, occupied, after very little
resistance, Martaban and Rangoon. In the reduction of the latter place
the naval contingent and the ships of the fleet participated. The
key to the position, the Golden Pagoda, Shwe Dagon, was carried by
the Royal Irish and the 80th after a very trying time caused by the
excessive heat, five of the senior officers being struck down by solar
apoplexy--Major Oakes, who commanded the artillery, and another officer
fatally. In the capture of Rangoon 2 officers were killed, and 14
wounded; 15 non-commissioned officers and men killed, and 114 wounded,
of whom one-third belonged to the Royal Irish, which lost its adjutant
at the foot of the Shwe Dagon.
=Pegu.=--Expeditions were sent out to the north and west, Bassein
being captured by one force and Pegu taken on November 21st, 1852,
by the other. The province of Pegu was then annexed; but the Burmese
continued to harass the garrison which held the city, and it was not
until after the arrival of reinforcements from Rangoon that steps could
be taken to successfully deal with the enemy. The war was concluded in
June 1853, but not before the army had been considerably reduced by
disease, cholera claiming a large number of victims, and 22 men had
been killed, and 14 officers and 94 men wounded in the taking of the
village of Donobyu, held by Myat Toon, a robber chief who had about
8,000 guerillas at his call. It was in the attack on this village that
Viscount, then Ensign, Wolseley of the 80th, in leading a small body
of men from the 18th, 51st, and 80th, was struck down at the moment of
victory. On June 30th, 1853, the war was declared at an end without any
formal treaty, and a few months later the troops left a country which
had claimed a terrible toll of brave men's lives in the swamps and
jungles, the 18th Royal Irish having alone lost 365 officers and men
mostly by disease.
=First India General Service Medal.=--On January 23rd, 1854, Queen
Victoria sanctioned the issue of a silver medal with bar for PEGU to
those who had taken part in the Burmese War of 1852-3. This, later
called the India General Service Medal, 1854, has been given for all
the various campaigns up to the fighting in the Kachin Hills in 1892-3.
Twenty-three bars were given, representing the different "little wars"
in which the recipients were engaged during forty-one years. This
medal, illustrated facing page 120, has the same kind of suspender and
bars as the Punjab medal, likewise the same head of Victoria, but on
the reverse a figure of Victory crowning with laurel a seated warrior
in classic pose, holding in his right hand a Roman sword, and in his
left a sheath. In the exergue is a lotus flower and leaves, and L. C.
WYON beneath it. The medals, 1⅖ in. in diameter, have the rank, name,
and the regiment or ship, impressed in Roman capitals for Pegu, Persia,
North-West Frontier, Umbeyla, Bhootan, but for Perak and the rest of
the series, except Jowaki, the lightly engraved running hand or Roman
capitals were used for naming. The ribbon, 1¾ in. wide, is dark crimson
with two dark-blue stripes.
The regiments entitled to the medal with bar for Pegu were the 18th,
51st, and 80th; Artillery; Sappers and Miners; 1st Bengal Fusiliers;
1st Madras Fusiliers; 5th Madras Native Infantry; and the Naval Brigade
from thirteen of Her Majesty's ships.
=The V.C. and Distinguished Conduct Medal.=--These were comparatively
small but significant campaigns, although the period between Waterloo
and the breaking out of the Crimean War has been termed the long peace.
The war in the Crimea was of a very different kind. Once again it was
the meeting of Europeans face to face, and a long struggle resulted. An
important outcome of the war from one point of view was the institution
on January 29th, 1856, of that coveted decoration, the Victoria Cross,
preceded by the institution of the Distinguished Conduct Medal on
December 4th, 1854, and the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for naval men
on August 13th, 1855. The ribbon for the V.C. is dark red--dark blue
for the Navy--that for the Distinguished Conduct Medal (illustrated
facing page 140) dark blue with broad, red stripe down the centre, and
the ribbon blue with a white stripe down the centre for the Conspicuous
Gallantry medal. In the first issues the names were impressed on the
edge, but in the later issues they are engraved, and the date of the
action is also included. It is particularly noteworthy that the first
medals of this class issued were struck from the Meritorious Service
Medal, the two words being erased and Conspicuous Gallantry engraved in
place thereof (see facing page 140).
THE CRIMEAN WAR
In October 1853 the Czar of Russia declared war against the Sultan of
Turkey, and to defend "the sick man" Great Britain and France landed
troops at Varna, a Bulgarian port in the Black Sea. At the end of
February 1854 Queen Victoria bade farewell to the Guards at Buckingham
Palace, and these with other regiments sailed for the East to take
part in a war which, declared on March 28th, 1854, was to cost us the
lives of thousands of brave men: 21,815 were killed, or died of wounds
or disease, and 11,876 were wounded--a total of 32,691 officers and
men. Disease accounted for the deaths of 16,041, battle only 4,774!
The old soldiers, as Sir Evelyn Wood states, died without a murmur,
and it "is impossible to overpraise the disciplined silence of men
under privations which in a few weeks reduced one battalion from nearly
1,000 effectives to a strength of 30 rank and file." At the end of
February 1855, although the strength of the British army was on paper
44,000, only 18,000 were "present and fit for duty"; and yet the medals
of the brave and patient survivors of this war are selling at a few
shillings apiece unless they happen to have the bar for Balaklava or
Inkermann--Sebastopol, that long-drawn agony, counts for nothing!
On September 7th, 1854, the Anglo-French army put to sea, its objective
being the great naval station of Sebastopol in the Crimea. There
were, in addition to the crews of the warships, about 27,000 British,
including the Light Brigade of 1,000, with 60 guns, under Lord Raglan,
who had served on Wellington's staff in the Peninsular; 28,000
French under Marshal St. Arnaud, and 7,000 Turks under Omar Pasha.
The Sardinian contingent under General La Marmora did not reach the
Crimea until May 1855. The troops were landed, between September 14th
and 18th, on the beach at Kalamita Bay, about twenty-five miles from
Sebastopol, and two days after the disembarkation had been effected
they had to force the Alma, when they defeated the Russians under
Prince Mentschikoff so effectively that the allies were allowed to
march southwards unmolested, and to form bases within a few miles of
Sebastopol. The British established themselves at the little port of
Balaklava, eight miles to the south of Sebastopol, and the French at
Kamiesch Bay, six miles north of the place.
[Illustration: (Reverse.) DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL.]
[Illustration: (First Type.) CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY MEDAL.]
[Illustration: (Obverse.) DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL.]
=The Alma.=--The Russians had taken up a position commanding the road
to Sebastopol, with a front of two miles, mainly on the range of hills
varying in height from 120 ft. to 200 ft. on the left bank of the
River Alma, and on the morning of September 20th the allies prepared
to attack them. The French and Turks began the battle, Marshal St.
Arnaud attacking the left of the Russian position, and the centre with
the aid of one British division, and Lord Raglan the right. The French
General Bosquet made a brilliant advance, and drove the enemy from
some high ground, but the French centre did not support him, and he
was isolated; Raglan therefore decided to order the second and light
divisions to advance, and this they did under a murderous cannonade.
"Opposed to the English were at least two-thirds of the Russians,"
but the young and untried soldiers of Britain once again demonstrated
the splendid fighting material of which they were made. Through the
entangling vineyards and into the rapid waters of the Alma they
steadily marched; emerging, they were ordered "to fix bayonets, get up
the bank, and advance to the attack." They quickly climbed the steep
and rugged hill-sides, but received a check, and then some one calling
"Cease fire and retire," they became somewhat confused; they soon
rallied, and the light division stormed into the great redoubt with
its 14 guns of heavy calibre, carried the Kourgane hill, defended by
17,000 men with two redoubts and 14 guns, and then, with their depleted
and broken ranks swelled by the Guards and the Highlanders, the Black
Watch to the fore, who had pressed into the fight and up the Kourgane
hill, charged the heights and at the point of the bayonet drove the
Russians off in confusion. Thus the battle of the Alma was won, not by
the brilliant tactics of the officers, but by the courage and tenacity
of the men, and so by 6 o'clock in the evening Marshal St. Arnaud's
tent was pitched on the spot where Mentschikoff had his headquarters in
the morning. After the battle, a staff officer relates, Lord Raglan's
eyes filled with tears when he shook hands with Sir Colin Campbell, and
"he could not speak when the brave old veteran said to him, pointing
to the dead Highlanders, 'Sir, it was they who did it,' and then the
cheer went up when he asked to wear a bonnet! With its horrors, war has
its romance." The same officer, writing a little later, said, "Glory
when looked at close, and while it is being earned, is rather an ugly
thing." The heroes of the Crimea certainly learned that.
The late Major-General (then Colour-Sergeant) Luke O'Connor, gained
his Victoria Cross in this battle. Ensign Anstruther of the Royal
Welsh had with boyish impetuosity gallantly rushed forward and,
outpacing all, proudly planted the Queen's colour on the parapet of the
Redoubt; riddled with Russian bullets he fell, but O'Connor, taking
the colour from his dying grasp again planted them on the Redoubt,
and, although wounded in the breast, carried them through the rest of
the fight. Captain (afterwards Major-General) Bell, C.B., also won
his V.C. at the heights of Alma for his daring conduct on that day,
when, all the senior officers of the regiment being placed _hors de
combat_, he found himself in command, and successfully brought the
23rd out of action. The gallant Welsh Fusiliers, who were the first
to land in the Crimea, lost their colonel and 8 officers, and the
Light Division, of which they formed part, lost 47 officers and 850
men. The Division was composed of the 7th, 19th, 23rd, 33rd, 77th, and
88th. The total British losses were 2,000, and those of the French 3
officers, including Generals Canrobert and Thomas wounded and 560 men.
The Russians had 5,000 placed _hors de combat_, including 45 officers,
among whom were Generals Karganoff and Shokanoff.
The regiments present at the Alma were the Grenadier, Coldstream, and
Scots Guards; 1st, 4th, 7th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, 28th, 30th, 33rd,
38th, 41st, 42nd, 44th; two companies of the 46th; 47th, 49th, 50th,
55th, 63rd, 68th, 77th, 79th, 88th, 93rd, 95th Foot; 4th and 13th Light
Dragoons; 8th and 11th Hussars and 17th Lancers. The cavalry were never
called into action. Lord Raglan had said he preferred to keep his
"cavalry in a band-box."
=Siege of Sebastopol.=--On September 23rd, 1854, the army began its
slow and "most remarkable flank march in military history." Balaklava
was ultimately reached, "the result of blind accident rather than
knowledge of how war should be conducted," and the armies of Britain
and France settled down on the Chersonese upland, and the siege of
Sebastopol commenced. From September 28th, 1854, it ran its long course
until September 11th, 1855, when the Russians, who had fought so well
under Todleben, retired and the allies entered it unopposed. This
long and complex siege cannot here be dealt with in detail. How the
unfortunate troops fared in the trenches has passed into the history
of this country as a blot upon the administration which allowed brave
men to die like flies; "between November 1854 and February 1855 there
were 9,000 deaths in hospital, and by the end of February there were
no less than 13,600 officers and men in hospital," and no wonder when
men, emaciated by disease and tried by the severe weather, "carrying
great-coat and blanket, marched through a sea of mud to the trenches,"
where they remained in a cramped position all night until day broke,
and, after a few hours' rest, "often in a puddle, which chilled their
bones under a worn-out tent through which the rain beat"; they who had
the heart of a lion were compelled to do asses' work. The hospitals
were frequently merely bell tents, and "the men lay, often in mud, on
the ground, and in many cases their diet was only meat and biscuit.
They were, moreover, so crowded together that the doctors could
scarcely pass between the patients." The heroic Florence Nightingale,
as every one knows, with her band of nurses helped to lighten the
burden of pain and suffering which the men endured, but the lasting
disgrace which attaches to the callous administrators of the period is
only accentuated when we consider the dire necessity for her action.
=Capture of the Mamelon.=--Sebastopol was bombarded, with the
co-operation of the fleet, on October 17th, and the Russians made
their first sortie on the 26th; in March 1855 they made another, and
on April 9th the place was ineffectively bombarded; but on June 6th
a bombardment was followed by an assault, and the Mamelon, an outwork
of the Malakoff, was taken. Then the allies essayed the capture of the
Malakoff and the Redan, the French to take the former and the British
the latter; but despite the strenuous efforts of the men, the forts
remained in the possession of the enemy. In these abortive attempts on
June 17th and 18th the French lost 3,500 men, and the British 1,500;
and of the six British and French Generals and Commanders who led the
attacks on the 18th, 4 were killed and 1 wounded. The Royal Irish lost
259 officers and men by death and wounds in the attack on the Redan,
and Captain Thomas Esmond of that regiment gained the V.C. and Sergeant
John Grant the Meritorious Service medal. The Russians lost 4,500
officers and men killed and wounded. The siege was, following these
repulses, resumed in the ordinary way, and the stubborn Russians, who
were losing 250 men each day, began to realise that their magnificent
courage could not stand much longer against the determination of the
allies; and at the end of August, when the brave garrison was being
depleted by the loss of over 900 each day, they determined upon the
evacuation of the fortress they had held so well. So they built a
bridge across the outer harbour, and made preparations to cover their
retreat.
=Capture of the Malakoff.=--Then the allies again determined to reduce
the fortress, and bombarded it for practically three days and nights,
at the end of which, on September 8th, the French again assailed the
Malakoff, and carried and held it against the enemy, but the British
failed to capture the Redan. The British losses were 2,271 officers
and men placed _hors de combat_, including three generals wounded,
and the French 7,567, including 5 generals killed and 4 wounded. The
Russian losses were 12,915, including 9 generals. During the night the
Russians exploded their mines, and Prince Gortschakoff successfully
took his garrison, with most of the wounded, across the bridge, which
they destroyed, and took up a position on the heights to the north
of Sebastopol, from whence they cannonaded the fortress which the
allies had occupied. The war was thus virtually at an end, although
hostilities continued until February 1856, and the treaty of peace was
not signed in Paris until March 29th.
[Illustration: (Obverse.) MEDAL FOR INDIAN MUTINY, 1857-8.]
[Illustration: (Reverse.) MEDAL FOR NEW ZEALAND WARS, 1861-6.]
[Illustration: (Reverse.) MEDAL FOR INDIAN MUTINY, 1857-8.]
Meanwhile the battles of Balaklava and Inkermann had been fought, both
brought about by the efforts of the Russians to raise the siege, and
both battles remarkable for the courage and fearlessness of the British
troops, and alas! for the lack of simple military genius on the part
of many of the officers. As a military authority has stated, "The army
ought to have been beaten according to all the canons of war, but it
wasn't!" Tommy Atkins saved the face of his superiors.
=Balaklava.=--The charge of the Light Brigade in this battle was an
example of what appears to have been either muddle-headedness or
overweening belief in the importance of our cavalry, but it gave to
the Light Cavalry of the British Army undying fame. Their "death-ride"
gave them eternal life! The battle of Balaklava was fought on October
25th, 1854, the anniversary of Agincourt. The Russian relieving force,
numbering 22,000 infantry and 3,400 cavalry, with 78 guns, advanced
from the Tchernaya by Kamara across the Woronzoff Road to attack the
front of the position at Balaklava, and to meet them Lord Raglan
took down the first and fourth divisions to the plain, which General
Canrobert--St. Arnaud had died--reinforced with the first division of
French Infantry and the Chasseurs d'Afrique.
="The Thin Red Line."=--The Russians obtained possession of three
forts, and managed to retain two of them with 7 guns; then "their
artillery advanced with a large mass of cavalry, and their guns
ranged to the 93rd Highlanders, which, with 100 invalids, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Daveney, in support, occupied very insufficiently,
from the smallness of their numbers, the slightly rising ground in
front of No. 4 Battery." Then a body of the enemy's cavalry, "amounting
to about 400, turned to their left, separating themselves from those
who attacked Lord Lucan's Division, and charged the 93rd Highlanders,
who immediately advanced to the crest of the hill, on which they stood
and opened their fire, which forced the Russian cavalry to give way
and turn to their left; after which they made an attempt to turn the
flank of the 93rd ... upon which the Grenadiers of the 93rd under
Captain Ross were wheeled up to their right and fired on the enemy,
which manœuvre completely discomforted them." Thus the gallant Sir
Colin Campbell officially described the deed of the "thin red line"
at Balaklava; that line of imperturbable Highlanders armed only with
muzzle loaders, that, despite the rounds of shot and shell which
harried them, dared to accept the charge of cavalry and drove them off.
=Charge of the Heavy Brigade.=--Then the main body of the Russian
horsemen, about 3,000, advanced against the British Heavy Brigade,
900 sabres strong. The light-blue jackets, with embroidery of silver
lace, the grey coats of the Dragoons, and the glitter of the lances,
made a brave picture as the enemy's cavalry cantered toward their
objective. They "nearly halted. Their first line was at least double
the length of ours--it was three times as deep. Behind them was a
similar line, equally strong and compact. They evidently despised
their insignificant-looking enemy," but the trumpets rang out again
in the valley; then Brigadier-General Scarlett, with about 300 Scots
Greys and Enniskilleners, went right at the centre of the Russian
cavalry, and then, as W. H. Russell, the famous _Times_ correspondent,
graphically described, "as lightning flashes through a cloud the Greys
and Enniskilleners pierced through the dark masses of the Russians.
The shock was but of a moment. There was a clash of steel, and a light
play of sword blades in the air, and then the Greys and the redcoats
disappeared in the midst of the shaken and quivering columns. In
another moment we saw them emerging with diminished numbers, and in
broken order, charging against the second line. It was a terrible
moment.... With unbated fire the noble hearts dashed at the enemy.
It was a fight of heroes.... By sheer steel and sheer courage,
Enniskillener and Scot were winning their desperate way through the
enemy's squadrons, and already grey horses and red coats had appeared
right at the rear of the second mass, when, with visible force, like
one bolt from a bow, the 4th Dragoon Guards riding straight at the
right flank of the Russians, and the 5th Dragoon Guards, following
close after the Enniskilleners, rushed at the remnants of the
first line of the enemy, went through it as though it were made of
pasteboard, and put them to utter rout." Then followed that "superb
incident--at once a blunder and a miracle."
=Charge of the Light Brigade.=--Lord Raglan, being desirous that the
withdrawal of the Russians should be taken advantage of to regain the
heights, and fearing that the enemy might attempt to remove the guns
from the redoubts captured from the Turks, gave orders for the Light
Cavalry to be moved forward. Captain Nolan misconstrued the order, and
indicated to Lord Lucan that the heavy battery of guns a mile away,
supported by masses of cavalry and infantry, with other batteries on
either flank, was to be charged. Lucan hesitated to carry the mad
order into effect, but ultimately decided that it was his duty to do
so, and gave the order to the Earl of Cardigan to take the terrible
odds which he saw arrayed against him. Cardigan, like Scarlett, was
a brave and daring cavalry leader, and into the "valley of death" he
rode with his Light Brigade of 621 men. Encircled by fire they charged
down the valley, dashed through the guns, sabred the gunners where
they stood, cut their way through a brigade of Russian cavalry and a
company of infantry, turned about, what was left of them, when four
squadrons of Lancers were hurled at them, but they met the charge
gallantly, and then the Russian artillerymen, recovering from their
shock, but without regaining their senses, turned their guns upon the
daring British cavalry and their own men who were struggling with them!
The Greys and Enniskilleners, and the Chasseurs d'Afrique created a
diversion, otherwise it is doubtful whether a single man of that brave
little band, which rode so fearlessly and fought so uselessly, would
have survived to receive the plaudits of his countrymen, and--shame of
shames--as was the case with several of them, to end his days in the
workhouse or eke them out with the aid of charity. It were almost idle
for the poet to sing:
"Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!"
Four hundred and twenty-six of the brigade were placed _hors de
combat_, 13 officers and 162 men were killed or taken prisoners, the
former including Captain Nolan, who was struck early in the charge by a
piece of shell and killed; 27 officers and 224 men were wounded. There
struggled back to camp, in scattered groups, a remnant of 195 mounted
men. In this charge Quartermaster Charles Wooden, whose group of medals
forms the frontispiece to this volume, as Sergeant-Major in the 17th
Lancers, gained the Victoria Cross by assisting Surgeon Mouat in saving
the life of Lieutenant-Colonel Morris of his own regiment when lying
exposed to a heavy fire of shot and shell, and carrying him to a place
of safety. The Sergeant-Major had a horse shot under him.