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UNIVERSITY OF
CALtFORNIA
LETTEES FROM THE CEIMEA.
Loin)OH:
rRWTKD BY K0B80N, LBVST, AHD FRAHKLTN,
Great New Street and Fetter Lane.
LETTEES
FROM
THE ARMY IN THE CRIMEA,
WRITTEN
DURING THE YEARS 1854, 1855, & 1856,
BY
A STAFF-OFFICER WHO WAS THERE.
/or fx'mit Circulation onlii.
lOAN STACK
S7^
CORRIGENDA.
PAGE
viii line 18 from top, for "185-4 " read " 1855"
Add to foot-note as follows : —
xvii / "Lord Rokeby was appointed to Command) , „ * , q^.^
I 1st Division ; ^'^ ^"S- ^^^^•
Colonel Ridley (a Guardsman) to 2nd Bri-> .., . -q.>
gade, 1st Division, (Line Brigade) | ^^ ^^^' ^**^^'
Colonel Drummond (a Guardsman) to Bri-) , , . „^ .^-^
gade of Guards _ f *^ ^"°' ^^^^•
The latter was superseded in this Command) oo n f ^al^K "
by General Craufurd, also a Guardsman.]" '^'' ^^^' ^^^^^
In the note /or " Crawford" read " Craufurd"
4 line 10 from top, for " waning Crescent " read " pale waning"
15 line 4 from top, for " baggage, animals " read " baggage-ani-
mals"
36 line 23 from top, for " known " read " know**
81 line 14 from top, for " faits " o-ead " fait"
143 after "fired a shot" the words ''Fourth Division" should
be introduced, as on the next page.
1 74 line 19 from top, for " Cossack " read " body" In the following
line, /or " latter gentry " read " Cossacks"
401 in the note, /or '• Crawford " read " Craufurd" and add to note
" see note at page xvii of Preface."
201
PREFACE,
While in Turkey and in the Crimea my time
was too much occupied to permit my attempt-
ing to keep a regular register of events ; these
Letters were generally written in the night, at
hours stolen from sleep. There has been so much
spoken and written, there have been so many
" Inquiries," that the subject of the Crimean War
may be considered to be rather threadbare. How-
ever, the nation has been so excited on this subject,
and has, after all, had so little satisfaction to its
curiosity, that I decided, when I had looked over
what Letters it was possible to recover, that I would
put them together, and present to my friends a
picture of what was passing in the mind of a work-
ing Officer of that Crimean Army, the subject of so
much praise and blame, for which so many tears
have been shed, and on which so much national
sympathy has been expended.
It will appear, on perusing this work, that oc-
casionally personal remarks have been made, which
VI PREFACE.
in truth I have endeavoured as much as possible,
consistently with the matter in hand, to modify ;
and where I thought the original phrases were
tinged with any thing of an unjust asperity, I
have expunged them. Still I am sensible that
many persons will be annoyed by my remarks ; for
which I am sincerely sorry. There is, how.ever,
nothing set down here which I do not consider to
be perfectly true ; and if the people of England
wish to have that truth, — a wish which has been
continually expressed by them, — here it is, in a
form of minute detail not hitherto attempted, and
touching on parts of our military system which
have escaped the ken of Commissioners.
There are two subjects to which it appears to
me that the national attention should be directed
in case of another war being undertaken.
One of these is the manner in which our Press
affects our military affairs ; and the other, the
manner in which the system prevailing in the
regiments of Guards has acted upon, and will act
upon, the interests and efficiency of the rest of the
British Army. As to the Press, in these Letters
1 found many angry passages (which have been
excised), evidently brought forth by the constant
stream of attacks and sarcasms directed against us,
day after day, in the columns of the newspapers.
PREFACE. VI 1
which reached the camp twice a week with very
great regularity.
The newspaper press of England was required
by the nation to supply perpetual information about
military movements, and perpetual gossip about
the routine in the camp. The gentlemen sent for
that purpose did supply all this, to the best of their
ability ; but unfortunately the British people could
not receive this information and this gossip without
providing it also for the use of the enemy and for
the amusement and astonishment of our continental
neighbours. The English, as a nation, are peculi-
arly insensible to ridicule ; and not being naturally
a military people, they appear not to have compre-
hended the feeling of many officers, whose profes-
sional pride was hurt by a public exposd of all our
blunders and sufferings, which was no doubt trans-
lated into Russian for the benefit of the Russian
Army ; these statements of course encouraged the
enemy. It never seemed to strike the public as
rather monstrous, that a gentleman should be per-
mitted to reside in camp, and to draw rations,
while his pen was employed in attacking Lord
Raglan's military conduct, and in laying open
the whole Army to the ridicule of the universe.
As a friend of mine remarked : "If the British
nation chooses to have its Army governed by
Vlll PREFACE.
the newspapers, the result must be, that by de-
grees all the officers who reflect will, as it becomes
possible, get out of the service. No army can
succeed with such spies in its camp. No ge-
neral can command when his character and con-
duct are canvassed openly by editors, and while
their remarks upon both are sown broadcast
among the soldiers. I do not believe that the
outcry in the papers did any good. There is no
doubt in my mind that the evils complained of
would have been remedied as soon as possible,
whether the newspapers had taken up the question
or not If the correspondents had been really
competent judges, they, who were with the Army,
and who had nothing else to do, ought to have
discovered the defects and published their opinions
long before the mischief which occurred in January
jy 185^ had risen to such a pitch as to excite all Eng-
' land, and to fill the swelling heart of the people
with pity and indignation."
It is to be considered now what has been
the result of such an outcry. Names were
brought forward; but as far as I can see there
has been no conviction arrived at, except that
our military system was a bad one ; while it re-
mains doubtful whether the fatal blots have been
hit, or even noticed. It is known, however, that
PREFACE. IX
GortschakofF had an officer employed in doing
nothing else than collating the English newspapers,
and that he considered the Times equal to half a
dozen good spies. Still the editors congratulate
themselves on the good they have done, and honour-
able gentlemen admit the same. Folly on every
side. As my friend says : '^ It is really provoking
that the practical English nation should be so stupid
as to insist on giving the best information to their
deadly enemy.''
With respect to the accuracy of the mtelli-
gence so supplied, we know from the character
of the gentlemen employed that it was as accu-
rate as they could make it, considering that they
had small access to officers of rank, and that the
position of such officers as were well-informed
was one which rendered it impossible, or at least
exceedingly improper, for them to give informa-
tion. What I mean to maintain is, that although
usually the facts published in the papers were cor-
rect, yet still there was a considerable exaggeration
on many occasions, and also a misrepresentation,
no doubt unintended, of the general tone of feeling
in the Army. The most remarkable blunder made
by the Government at home was in not appointing
Sir Colin Campbell to command when Lord Raglan
died. Long after that event the newspapers con-
X PREFACE.
tinued to attack and to sap Sir Colin's military
reputation, assisted by letters from officers circu-
lated in the London fashionable coteries. If the
correspondents had been competent judges of mili-
tary merit, they would have joined in turning
public attention to the great qualities of this officer,
and in pointing him out to the nation as the man
whom they should look to. Even now it probably
is not miderstood that the insult offered to the
most distinguished soldier and to the most skilful
general now serving in the Queen's Army, by
placing over his head to command him a junior
officer, who had no claims and no experience, is a
])art of our military system. In fact, that the latest
improvement in that system, — viz. the warrant
which established promotion by selection for merit,
— vias the very measure which made it possible to
accomplish such an act of ingratitude and of folly.
It may be granted that the editors acted as well as
they could, and that they believed conscientiously
that they were performing a public duty by their
writings. Military officers usually do not think it
becoming to write to the newspapers accounts of
the war they are engaged in. I myself was applied
to by one of the most respectable of the magazines
to write for it before I joined the Army ; but I
declined, purely on this ground. Tliat I had the
PREFACE. XI
power both of writing and of observing will be
seen in this collection of Letters.
With respect to the regiments of her Majesty's
Guards, when employed with an army in the field,
it is difficult to say all that might and that ought
to be said. Li the first place, it may be objected
that any reflection on the existing system of that
corps is improper, as touching the Queen's Majesty.
In reply, I can say that any thing I have written
or may Avrite on this subject is not intended to
suggest any infringement of her Majesty's preroga-
tive, or any diminishment of the splendour of her
throne.
The officers of the Guards will naturally be
very much displeased with a person who brings
forward this question ; but I mean nothing per-
sonal to those, gentlemen : as a body they are the
finest possible assembly of young gallant English-
men, — the very pick and flower of the nation.
But I am nevertheless bound to state my grave
and deliberate opinion that their privileges are not
just, and that it is unwise that they should continue
to exist on their present footing. I consider that
the presence of a brigade of Guards with an army
in the field is a serious inconvenience, and that,
from the nature of their system, and the method
by which they carry on dutj, their presence with
XU PREFACE.
the Army tends to diminish its efficiency. If I can
show this to be the case, it will then be time for
the Queen and the British people to consider whe-
tlicr it might not be advisable to modify the system
on which the Guards are formed. The difficulty
of showing this to a mihtary reader would be small ;
but for the information of civilians there is rather
a longer explanation to be gone into.
If the Guards were always to remain in London
or at Windsor, performing merely home duties, so
far as the Army is immediately concerned it might
appear that their existence and their privileges are
equally matters of indiffi)rence. But they do not
always remain in London ; on the contrary, when
war breaks out any where, except in the Colonies
or in India, the Guards are always sent ; and it is
one of their just subjects for boasting, that wherever
there are battles, there will the Guards be present.
The system laid down for the government of the
Army requires that the most minute details of the
interior economy in a company shall be personally
done by the captain and his subalterns. In the
Guards all the captains are substantive Heutenant-
colonels : they do no company duty, except stand-
ing at the heads of their companies at the field-
days in Hyde Park. They often live away in the
country, and come up on drill-days. They are on
PREFACE. Xlll
leave about eight months in the year. All the
company duty done by officers of the Guards is
done by the subalterns ; and the discipline of each
regiment of Guards is maintained by the com-
manding officer, his adjutant, and the sergeants.
From this statement it is evident that the military
education of an officer of the Guards does not put
him in contact with his men, and that he has not
the opportmiity of acquiring a knowledge of the
interior economy, which the regulations require
that all captains of the Line shall have, and which
they are compelled to have by a strict command-
ing officer, and by the general officers who inspect
them. If a lieutenant-colonel of the Line were to
exchange with a captain and lieutenant-colonel of
the Guards, as sometimes happens, he would be
surprised to find, that though nominally command-
ing a company, he woirid be allowed to have little
or nothing to do with its management.
The public may from this explanation perceive
that from youth upwards the habits of officers of the
Guards must lead them to suppose that the officers
should be spared as much as possible. I therefore
consider that any officer who has spent the first
fourteen or fifteen years of his life in the Guards is
likely to have imbibed a fixed idea that the officers
should be spared; and as he has seen the com-
XIV PREFACE.
panics of the Guards managed without the assist-
ance of the captain, so he will naturally feel that it
is a hardship to call on any captains to meddle
with such work. Early custom will prevent him
from seeing the propriety of what is an established
maxim in the opinion of the best practical soldiers,
viz. that the sergeants should be made responsible
for nothing, and that the whole onus should be
thrown on the officers, who should never leave
their men, whether on fatigue or under arms ; and
that every captain should have all the particulars
concerning each soldier in his company at bis
fingers' ends.
Where a brigade of Guards takes the field, it
forms part of a division ; this division is provided
with an assistant -adjutant general; and each of
the two brigades composing it has a brigade-major.
• In the Crimea I was brigade-major to the brigade
which was in the same division with the Guards,
and I was afterwards assistant-adjutant-general to
the division of which the Guards formed one bri-
gade. I mention this to show that I had an oppor-
tunity of seeing something of the working of such
a division.
When an army advances to battle, in the bri-
gade of Guards, as in all other brigades, each
captain, although a lieutenant -colonel, marches
PREFACE. XV
at the head of his company ; but in the trenches,
in our army, it was not so. In the Line, when a
captain is a brevet-major, or a brevet-lieutenant-
colonel, he receives 2s. a day extra pay. He does
all his company work, and besides that is liable
to do duty as a field-officer. It is not so in the
Guards. All the captains are lieutenant-colonels,
and they are put on the roster of field-officers. No
captain of the Guards took trench duty at the head
of his company — he went in as a field-officer ; in-
stead of being in the trenches every third day, he
only went in about once a fortnight, and then as
a field-officer.
The result of this was, that the lieutenants and
ensigns of the Guards, who had rank respectively
of captains and lieutenants, had to do all the duty
done in regiments of the Line by the whole of the
captains, lieutenants, and ensigns of each regi-
ment; so that these officers were overworked. Tlie
duty of the trenches was taken by detachments ;
a certain number of men, in proportion to the
strength of the division, was sent into the trenches
with officers, that is, captains and subalterns, in
the proportion of two officers to every hundred
men. When the companies were weak, if all the
officers had gone with their companies, the pro-
portion would probably have been two officers to
XVI PREFACE.
thirty or forty men; which it would have been
impossible for the Guards to furnish, as none of
their captains were really captains ; they were all
lieutenant-colonels. This I imagine to have been
the cause of so anomalous and objectionable a
manner of taking trench duty. When Sir Colin
Campbell was sent up to the siege with his divi-
sion, — in the middle of June 1855, — he found this
system existing, and of course he had no power
to alter it ; but he did make a demonstration, for
at the same period the division of the French
Army commanded by General Canrobert came to
the siege, and took the trenches immediately on
the right of our attack. In the French Army the
trench duty was taken by divisions ; and General
Canrobert, who had been Commander-in-Chief,
took himself his turn of the trenches every third
day. One of his two brigades took the advanced
trench, and the other was in reserve — alternately.
This was the division which afterwards stormed
the MalakofF. When Sir Colin Campbell found
this, he also took his turn in the trenches, instead
of detailing a brigadier. He did so three times ;
but the example was deemed contagious, and an
order came out directing the generals of division
to remain in their camps in reserve, with the
cooks. I do not know the precise date of this
PREFACE. XVll
order ; for the printed general orders which I had
were all destroyed when my hut was burned down.
But I perceive that in one of my Letters it is men-
tioned that, in August, there were then in the
Army a commander-in-chief, a chief of the Staff,
three generals of division, and three generals of
brigade, all Guardsmen,* — total eight ; and only
twelve of the Line.
Now I think it surprising that some of these
gentlemen, who had all been brought up together
in the same corps, did not suggest to the Com-
mander-in-Chief the propriety of imitating the
French, who sent into the trenches a division
complete, with its general, its brigadiers, and every
staff- officer, as well as the lieutenant -colonels,
majors, captains, and subalterns of each regiment.
The importance of having a large number of
officers present with the men in the trenches was
immense ; for the soldiers were almost all young,
some of them not three months from their homes ;
and the example of officers was very necessary for
them.
When in a division one of the brigades is a
brigade of Guards, detachment duty is only taken
Simpson.
Barnard.
Bentinck.
Cra^f^rd.
Kokeby.
Ridley.
Codrington.
Windham.
XVlll PREFACE.
by the other brigade. This was unfolded to us in
Bulgaria, where the Highland Brigade furnished
a detachment of two companies to head quarters ;
and when Sir Colin Campbell applied to have it
relieved, he heard the remarkable fact, that the
Guards did not take that sort of duty.
Having explained, as well as I can, how the
example of the Guards is likely to act upon and
to spread through the Army to the detriment of
discipline, I will just touch upon the point of the
tremendous privilege, that every ensign in the
Guards is a lieutenant, ipso facto, in the Army,
every lieutenant a captain, and every captain a
lieutenant-colonel.
I will here introduce a Letter on this subject,
which my friend A. wrote to Lord from
the Crimea, and which enters very fully into the
question.
** Camp before Sebastopol,
8th April, 1856.
" A printed memorandum, signed by Colonel
James Lindsay, of the Grenadier Guards, has been
circulating here among the commanding officers
of regiments of the Line ; it is a sort of commen-
tary on the Memorial lately presented by the officers
of the Guards on the subject of their promotion.
Colonel Lindsay does not advert to the fact, that
PREFACE. XIX
petitioning at all is a breach of military discipline.
Had the officers of the Line petitioned, — as they
might well have done, — with a view to their being
put on a footing of equality with the Guards, they
would have been immediately called mutinous, and
would have been punished for such a combination.
The prayer of the Guards Memorial having been
refused. Colonel Lindsay, by this memorandum
upon it, is doing worse than petitioning ; for he is
agitating after a refusal, which is a most unmili-
tary proceeding. Colonel Lindsay begins by ad-
mitting that the former arrangement was unjust,
and that the new one had for its object to repair
this injustice. He only complains that it does this
too effectually ; he thinks that all the captains and
lieutenant-colonels of the Guards, who had served
three years in that rank at the period fixed by
authority for the introduction of the new system,
should have been made full colonels, as were those
officers of the Line who had commanded regiments
for that length of time — taking no account of the
different degrees of military knowledge possessed
by men who had commanded battalions of the
Line, compared with that of those who had only
commanded companies of the Guards.
He talks of the higher price of commissions
in the Guards; but he does not mention what
XX PREFACE.
the difference of the price is ; ihatj in the rank
of lieutenant -colonel, I beg to record; it is just
260Z., — no such mighty matter, considering that
their pay is much larger than that of lieutenant-
colonels commanding battalions of the Line, and
that the officers of the Guards, on an average,
which I once struck, attain that position in about
fourteen years ; while the average in the Line was
twenty-five years. I have no books or documents
here; but the averages I quote I remember were
struck from a Blue-book which contained the aver-
age length of service completed by officers of the
Guards and of the Line before they got command
of battalions ; the average length of time before
the Guards officers became captains and lieuten-
ant - colonels was omitted ; but I thought it of
consequence, and found it to be about fourteen
years.
The average, if taken now, after this active
war, will, I suppose, be lower in both services;
some young officers of the Guards have lately be-
come captains in their regiments, and lieutenant-
colonels in the Army, in seven or eight years'
service.
Colonel Lindsay does not take any account of
the bad climate, and the banishment to the Colo-
nies, which is the lot of the Line ; in fact, he calls
PREFACE. XXI
out that the Guards have a right to a vested in-
justice. I, who have served in the Crimea and in
the trenches with the Guards, have seen the con-
sequences of this rank of Heutenant-colonel being
held by the captains of the Guards. These
officers, instead of doing captains' duty, were put
on the roster of field-officers : they were senior in
rank to all majors of the Line ; and I have seen
a youth of eight years' service detailed to com-
mand 2000 men in the trenches for twenty-four
hours, and before such an enemy as the Russians.
This practice became so notoriously improper,
that the commanding officer of the brigade of
Guards was obliged to break the roster, and put
older officers on duty out of their turn ; which is
quite contrary to the custom of the service. The
real remedy is to take away fi'om the Guards the
absurd and monstrous privilege of holding the
rank of lieutenant-colonel while they are in reality
only captains, and captains of companies for the
discipline of which they are not responsible.
Colonel Lindsay says nothing about this rank
qualifying the captains in the Guards to hold
certain staff-appointments, which lead, in three
years, to the rank of full colonel ; while lieute-
nant-colonels commanding battalions of the Line
cannot hold them without going on half-pay ; and
b
XXll PREFACE,
he overlooked the condition of this Army,* in
which there are at present three battalions of the
Guards, and about fifty battalions of the Line,
out of which the Guards furnish the Commander-
in-Chief, the Cliief of the Staff, the general offi-
cers commanding two divisions and two brigades ;
totalj six general officers, besides numerous other
staff-appointments. They also furnished the pre-
vious Commander - in - Chief. There are seven
battalions of the Guards altogether, and they
have about 80 officers of or above the rank of
lieutenant - colonel ; while the whole 112 batta-
lions of the Line have not, at the outside, more
than about 190. A common rule-of-three sum
will show that the proper proportion which seven
battalions of the Guards ought to have would
be only twelve officers of this rank. These 80
field-officers compete with the 190 of the Line for
all staff-appointments, and with the greater suc-
cess, because so many officers of the Guards are
highly connected, and are known to the authorities
from their being always in London ; besides which
the Guards form a clique, — they are banded to-
gether by the strongest ties of self-interest and
personal friendship; and, from their wide-spread
* viz. the Army in the Crimea.
PREFACE. XXlll
relations with the all-powerful British aristocracy
and plutocracy, they compose a very formidable
political body, combining as one man in defence
of their privileges, and blinded by habit to the
injustice of their possessing any such advantages.
As to Colonel Lindsay's second point, viz.
that, from the average he goes upon, the future
lieutenant - colonels of the Guards will have to
serv^e ten years at least as captains and lieutenant-
colonels before they become fiill colonels, I am
contented to hear that is the case. They will
become captains and lieutenant-colonels in about
fourteen years ; ten more will make them full
colonels : total, twenty - four years' service ; —
whereas the lieutenant-colonels of the Line will,
on an average, only obtain the rank of lieutenant-
colonel after twenty -five years' service, after
which they must serve three years to become full
colonels: total, twenty -eight years' service, all
over the world; while the officers of the Guards
will have spent their time, when not on leave, or
on active service before the enemy, in parading at
St. James's or Windsor.
If I could hope to bring the case fiilly and
clearly, and in a popular form, before the nation,
I should consider that I had laid the axe to the
root of this enormity. It will not bear looking
XXIV PREFACE.
into. The Guards have committed an act of
folly in preferring their petition. The difficulty is
the want of a soldier in the House who knows the
details and the working of the system ; one who at
the same time has the ear of the House, and who
does not care for court favour. An attack on the
Guards will be construed, however unjustly, into
an attack on the Queen, as it certainly is one on
the aristocracy."
The sufferings of the Army were at one time
very great, and it is now decided to lay them on
the system ; and that, I think, is the most gener-
ous and most manly view to take of the case.
Let us try to do better next time. But, in order
to show that sufferings are not unusual in war, I
will here print some extracts from an interesting
old letter in my possession, dated New York, 20th
November 1780, written by Lieutenant Colin
Campbell, of the 74th Highlanders, who was after-
wards killed by the Red Indians. He had been
engaged to my grandmother ; and his Letter has
thus been preserved.
"New York, 20th November 1780.
* * * a J embarked about the beginning of
June last at Charlestown for this place with his
Excellency General Clinton, the British Light
PREFACE. XXV
Infantrjj the Hessian Yaggers, the British and
Hessian Grenadiers, the 42d Regimentj Queen's
Rangers, &c., amounting to 5000 men, In trans-
ports convoyed by Admiral Arbuthnot. We had
fine weather and an agreeable passage. Wlienever
we landed here, I was obliged (on the 21st of
June) to get a billet and retire to sick quarters in
this town, where I have remained ever since. I
informed Kitty in my letter above mentioned that
I had a violent attack of the fever and ague about
the conclusion of the siege of Charlestown. I was
twice cured of it in South Carolina, once In the
passage from thence hither; and I have had so
many relapses since, that I have been cured no
less than nine times in all of the same disorder In
the course of this season ; tln'ee times of a flux,
two of them bloody ; and, to conclude the catalogue
of my calamities, I am now lately recovered of a
smart high fever, which lasted only ten or twelve
days. I was so harassed with the continual re-
turns of these different ailments, that you can
easily believe I had been at one particular time
extremely reduced ; but neither my doctor, myself,
or my friends ever despaired of my recovery ; and
since the cold weather has set in, I have recruited
so fast that I might already join the battalion and
do duty with them, which at present Is very easy,
XXVI . PREFACE.
as they have gone into winter quarters at Bedford,
in Long Island, about a mile and a half from the
village of Brooklyn, immediately opposite to this
town, which gives its name to the ferry from tlience
to Long Island. I remain here only a few days
longer, till my health and strength are perfectly
established, which I may say is already the case.
I would not consent tliat any of my friends who
wrote to Isla should mention my being sick till I
had it in my power to inform you of my perfect
recovery : it could answer no purpose but to make
you imeasy. I flatter myself that my friends still
entertain so much regard for me that the know-
ledge of such an event would give them a little
concern. I did not wish to put any of them to
the trial ; it would be an ungenerous experiment.
Though I had the misfortune of being very much
indisposed both last year and this for a long series
of time, I cannot help congratulating myself on
the uncommon good luck of its happening at times
when the Light Infantry, and consequently the
whole Army here, were quite unemployed and dis-
engaged from field service. The campaign (1779)
was short, and ended early in August. It was
not till our Army was ordered within our lines at
King's Bridge that I was taken iU (as I formerly
wrote home). The embarkation for South Caro-
PKEFACE. XXVll
lina occasioned the first movement of our troops.
I got well in time enough to accompany them, and
not much sooner. I never was better than during
that very fatiguing expedition, and till about the
end of the siege of Charlestown ; but in traversing
the woods of that country for six or eight weeks,
without bed, tent, or any other cover than a great-
coat against the cold dew and sometimes frosts of
the nights, or against the excessive rains or scorch-
ing heat of the days in that climate ; and for near
six weeks more at the siege lying in the open air,
except the last fortnight only, at which time we
got tents, and then, as well as before, twenty-four
hours on duty in the trenches for every forty-eight
hours we were off duty, whether cold, hot, wet, or
dry, all of which we frequently experienced in the
extreme before we were relieved, — this was too
much for most constitutions to bear unhurt ; mine,
I confess, was not proof against it, as I have al-
ready informed you. I may also declare that for
ten weeks after landing in South Carolina the lltli
February last, I had neither my clothes or side-
arms off, except while shifting, or never lay down
to sleep without my fuzee stretched alongside of
me, or within my arms, ready to start up with it
to the first sound of the bugle horn, which the
Light Infantry use instead of a, drum. It re-
XXVIU PREFACE.
sembles a huntsman's horn, and by different notes,
easily distinguished, loudly expresses the different
words of command, to be heard at two miles
distance ; twelve or fifteen of them together make
the most lofty warlike music in the world. With
these I have known the whole Light Infantry
roused at one o'clock in the morning on a sudden
alarm, formed, and ready for action within the
short space of three minutes from the time of
their being in a profound sleep aft^r a fatiguing
march; and tx) the honour of these brave fellows
be it told, not one man of a company in the whole
battalion missing. The pleasure, the happmess of
being on actual service with such delightful fel-
lows is inexpressible. Toil and hardsliips alongst
with them lose those names, and are soft^ened into
agreeable amusements. A man's constitution may
not always be equal to support a variety of such
diversions oft;en repeated ; but his inclination can
never fail him. Some time after our arrival from
the southward in this province, it was known that
a small squadron of French ships of the line, with
4000 or 5000 men, had taken possession of Rhode
Island. It seemed to be the resolution both of
Admiral Arbuthnot and of General Clinton, with
the fleet here, and with a considerable part of the
army, to make a vigorous attack upon them and
PREFACE. XXIX
their rebel allies in that post. Our fleet sailed
directly, and are still stationed in view of that
place. The troops designed for this service also
embarked; the Light Infantry were a part of
them ; but I was so ill of the fever and ague I
could not attempt to leave my sick quarters, and
for the first time had the mortification to be left
behind when the battalions of Light Infantry were
going upon any expedition. But kind Providence
favoured me beyond my expectations. I heard in
a few days that the expedition was countermanded,
and that the troops had disembarked. I supposed
it was for the good of the service, or it would not
have happened so ; and I could not help being
extremely well pleased. Now, God be praised ! I
am able to accompany them wherever they go, if
their first movement should take place to-morrow ;
and I have had such a thorough seasoning last
year and this one, both to the northward and
southward of this extensive continent, that I have
reason to hope that the severest service or the
most intemperate climate cannot hurt me during
the continuance of this war." * * *
At this period (1780), there were not, I sup-
pose, means of communicating so easily home as
we have now, and the Press had not such a cir-
XXX PREFACE.
s
dilation as to spread alarm and despair over the
whole country. We have now arrived at a new
order of things, which we cannot alter ; and I have
said so much about the Press, in the hope that in
future wars the correspondents will be considerate
of the consequences of their communications, -and
that during the military operations they will re-
frain, and endeavour to restrain the curiosity of
their readers, from insisting on so much publicity
to our disasters, if we should unfortunately have
any ; and, above all, that they will look to the danger
of attacking the conduct of a general while at the
head of his army, and conducting operations in the
field. I have said enough to show that I myself
am a military reformer. There is now a new plan,
I am told, nearly ready, whereby it will be secured
that all the officers of the Army shall be educated
for their profession. Tliis is a step in the right
direction. Many years ago — more than twenty
years ago — I had occasion to wait upon Lord Fitz-
roy Somerset, afterwards Lord Raglan : he was
then Military Secretary. Lord Fitzroy was a very
clever man, and one of the most poHte and urbane
gentlemen in Europe. In the course of conversa-
tion, I took the opportunity of stating to his Lord-
ship that the officers of the English Army required
to be educated. He differed with me altogether
PREFACE. XXXI
on this point, and said they were sufficiently ex-
amined before they got their commissions. As I
knew more than one who could not write a decent
letter, I stuck to my opinion, and Lord Fitzroy
got rather angry and dismissed me. Who can say
how much might have been accomplished during
these twenty years if I had then been listened to ?
I have lived to see an order that all officers shall
be examined for their commissions and for their
promotions ; it has indeed been hitherto very im-
perfectly carried out. I believe that his Eoyal
Highness the Duke of Cambridge, the present
Commander-in-Chief, is impressed with the neces-
sity of educating the officers, and of forwarding
many army reforms; but he will require to be
backed by public opinion.
Routine must ever rule in offices and among
heads of departments, who cannot help feeling a
disinclination to change. Besides which, there are
questions wliich do not precisely come under the
head of education, nor strictly under that of reform.
The very existing regulations require to be more
faithfully attended to. The officers, besides being
instructed, must be forced to work ; and the whole
tone of the Army must undergo a complete change
before this ugly dull word, "work," will bo looked
upon as the mainstay of the profession. It is not
XXXU PREFACE.
flaunting about in a red coat which makes the
officer ; it is an earnest attention to very minute
and tiresome details connected with the soldier's
welfare. Truly there is a mighty field for reform,
on which many a contest will take place before the
reform itself will be attained.
On a careful examination of our regiments,
there will be found generally a specious outward
show, but which, when thoroughly looked into,
will prove to be only a mask for constant and pro-
voking idleness, and disregard of the most essential
portions of interior economy. Many of the officers
know nothing, or next to nothing, of their profes-
sion, or even of the first rudiments of drill. The
provisions of the Circular Memorandum of the 4th
July 1851 have been a dead letter, even as to mili-
tary instruction; and no machinery has existed,
till this year, for carrying out the educational parts
of that memorandum.
In order to induce the younger officers to pay
attention to this instruction, it will be advisable
that the examination previous to promotion should
be made a honafide test of the officer's knowledge,
which it certainly has not been hitherto, at least
in all cases ; as I lately met a lieutenant who did
not know the length of a pace, or the number of
paces taken per minute in quick time ; who, in
PREFACE. XXXlll
short, knew nothing at all. Of course his exami-
nation for promotion to captain, which he had
passed, must have been a mere pretence; such
officers should be kept at drill and instruction till
they are able to pass a strict examination; and
should they, after a fixed period, fail to make them-
selves competent, it is to be considered that the
matters upon which they are required to be thor-
oughly informed are of such a nature, that they
may be comprehended by any one who can com-
prehend any thing ; and that being the case, a per-
severing disregard of mstruction may justly, in the
end, entail on the officer guilty of it the penalty of
losing the commission, which he did not think it
worth while to qualify himself for holding.
The fact is, that her Majesty's regulations are
as nearly perfect as any code we can hope to see ;
the real difficulty is, to have them strictly and faith-
fully attended to.
For the most part our young officers do not
obey the regulations with real zeal, as if they took
an interest in the performance of the duty; their
main endeavour seems to be to avoid trouble ; they
do just enough to save their consciences, and to be
able to say that they performed their task, caring
not how badly, or with how little benefit to the
service. These officers require to be taught that
XXXIV PREFACE.
they hold their commissions for the good of the
service ; that they are placed in the Army to be
made a convenience of, and to instruct themselves
with a view to their becoming fit to be worked
for the advantage of their men.
Those who read these pages, if they judge
aright, will perceive that the writer was writing
the truth ; that his object has been to give honest
information, and to assist so far as he could the
amelioration of our Army, by explaining in sim-
ple language many matters which must otherwise
remain dark to unmilitary persons. For this ob-
ject ho has ventured to make statements which may
expose him to the animosity of the most powerful
people in the country. His only aim has been the
hope of doing some good, and of improving the
profession to which he belongs, and which he loves.
The people who sent so many Commissioners to
the Crimea, where they were of no use whatever,
should be thankful for the endeavour.
With respect to the commissariat, which has
been sufficiently abused, I have to say, that when-
ever and wherever a really good commissariat
officer was met with, he was always treated with
respect, — and there were many such sent into the
Ai'my; but there were others as bad as the first
were good. The gentlemen who held the superior
PREFACE. XXXV
situations, such as Mr. Drake, Mr. Carpenter,
and Mr. Young, were, I am certain, both hked
and respected by every one who knew them, or
who had to transact business with them. As a
friend of mine remarks with great truth :
" The commissariat is the stomach of the
Army. Without it, or with an inefficient one, the
Line and the Artillery (the limbs) are worthless.
Therefore it ought to be the aim of every sensible
officer to support the commissary, to claim for
him aid and respect, instead of running him doAvn.
With the commissariat there should be included
all the non-combatant branches of the service. At
present it is the fashion for fighting men to sneer
at these, as if they were troublesome servants, un-
endowed with the pluck on which they, the fight-
ing men, build up their claims to honour and
reward. Now there is no reason why a commis-
sary should not have as much pluck as a lieuten-
ant of the Line ; and there is very good reason
why he should be better educated. In fact he
ought, for the efficiency of the public service, to
be the best animal of the two."
So says my friend, and so say I. But it is
to be remarked, that if there were sundry unprofit-
able lieutenants, so there were also unprofitable
commissaries ; and there did not exist equal means
XXXVl PREFACE.
of keeping them in order. Why, I have known
a commissary accuse a regiment of being trouble-
some because they objected to his unsound wares ;
and I have known a commissary threaten a quar-
termaster who refused his meat, that he would not
show him any favour again. Favour from a com-
missary ! The very idea is disgraceful. To favour
one, he must rob another. What we wanted with
our Army was not merely accomplished account-
ants, but also a number of young, active, skilful
underlings, provided with butchers and drovers not
picked out of the regiments, but belonging to the
commissariat corps. The commissaries invariably
complained that they could procure no men of
this sort on whom they could rely, except from the
Army. Now our Army is not numerous enough
to furnish all these civilians. It is only a question
of giving pay enough : the precious estimates would
appear to run up ; but the commissary never cal-
culated what the soldier whom he took out of the
ranks had cost, and was costing the country.
In addition to this very brief introduction, I
have thought that the following Letters would in
some places be elucidated by a few explanatory
remarks, which I have made as short and simple
as I possibly could.
LondoHj October 1857.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
General statement of Author's antecedents, with some
remarks as to the arrangements for his going to the
Army in Turkey 1
Letter I. 29th April, 1854, Scutari. Account of the voy-
age, and condition of things •. . . 4
Some remarks previous to Letters 11. and m. 8
„ II. 4th May, Ibid. Highland Brigade instituted . 10
„ III. 10th May, Ibid. Arrival of regiments. Ball at
Pera 14
A few remarks previous to Letter IV. . . 15
„ IV. 15th May, Ibid. Baggage animals and servants.
Life in camp 15
„ V. 20th May, Ibid. Sweet Waters. Prospects of
the war 17
„ VL 28th May, Ibid. To Varna. Staff-officers. A job 20
„ VII. 4th June, Ibid. In tents. Mini6 rifles ; no
more stocks. Privileges . . . .24
„ VIII. 10th June, Ibid. Composition of Staff . . 28
Some remarks previous to Letter IX. . . 29
„ IX. 16th June, Vai-na. Account of landing in Bul-
garia, and position of camp at Varna . 31
„ X. 21st June, Ibid. Troops in camp. No trans-
port. Light Division. English Officers . 33
Remarks previous to Letter XI. Ovid's exile.
St. Arnaud 34
„ XI. 25th June, Ibid. Russians leave Silistria. A
Parson's woes. Arabs . . . .37
C
XXXVUl CONTENTS.
PAOl
Letter XIT. 4th July, 1854, Aladeen. A storm. Omar
Pasha. Talk of an armistice. Outlying
picket 45
„ Xm. 9th July, Ibid. No fighting. A tent-life . 46
„ XIV. 16th July, Ibid. Patrol to Danube. Where
shall we go? Siege-train at Varna. Com-
missaries. "Weather and sickness. Sebas-
topol 48
„ XV. 23d July, Ibid. Last from Aladeen ; march
to-morrow 54
„ XVI. 28th July, Gevrekler. New camp. Beards.
A Brigade order. Rains into tent . . 55
„ XVn. 4th August, Ibid, Motionless. Disease . 57
„ XVm. 8th August, Ibid. Sickness. Gabions. Cap-
tain Butler 59
„ XIX. ^5th August, Ibid. We are going some-
where. Colonel Elliot. A Sonnet. Not •
to carry packs. Rights of women . . 61
„ XX. 18th August, Ibid. Back to Varna. A
gentleman 66
„ XXI. 24th August, Camp, Galata Bomu. Begin
to embark. Climate. Guards sickly.
Right in front 69
„ XXn. 28th August, Ibid. A bird of prey. Prac-
tical jokes 72
Some remarks previous to Letters XXIII.
and XXIV. A Proclamation . . 74
„ XXIII. 2d September, Steamer Emeu. Orders.
Historical fact. Going to take the
plunge 75
„ XXTV. 8th to 13th September, at Sea. Fleet at
sea. Where shall we land ? Brigadiers.
Prepare to land 77
„ XXV. 18th September, Camp near Lake Touzla,
Crimea. Landed. A water-barrel . 81
„ *XXV. 21st September. Sir C. Campbell's despatch
ofAhna 82
Some remarks previous to Letter XXVl. . 86
CONTENTS. XXXIX
PAGE
Lettek XXYI. 21st September, 1854, Field of Battle of
the Alma. The Battle ... 87
Remarks previous to Letter XXVII., and
about flank-march . . . .91
„ XXVII. 28th September, Bivouac, Balaklava. Ka-
dikoi gutted. About the Battle of the
Alma 92
„ XXVin. 3d October, Bivouac before Sebastopol.
Tents. General statement of condition
of affairs. No excuse . . . .95
XXIX. 4th October, Ibid. Losses. A difficulty.
No vegetables. War's romance. A skir-
mish. Send more men. Hemmed in 97
„ XXX. 12th October, Camp before Sebastopol.
Working parties. A crocus. Bank and
file 104
Kemarks previous to Letter XXXI. Sir
C. Campbell sent to Balaklava . .107
„ XXXI. 17th October, Camp in front of Balaklava.
Among the Turks. State of things in
front of Balaklava: men; food; powder 108
„ XXXII. 22d October, Ibid. Threatened. The re-
doubts questionable. Correspondents.
Lancaster shells Ill
Remarks previous to Letter XXXIII. about
action of Balaklava . . . .114
„ XXXIII. 27th October, Ibid. Battle of Balaklava.
" 93d, you must die there." The un-
lucky charge 117
„ XXXrV. 27th October, Camp, Battery No. 4, Bala-
klava. Sir Colin Campbell's despatch
about the action of Balaklava . .121
„ XXXV. 2d November, Ibid. Mail-bags. LordEag-
lan to Sir Colin Campbell: 93d; and
generally about the battle . . . 123
Remarks about Captain Anitschkoff's book,
and about the position of the allied
troops and the Battle of lukermaun . 127
Xl CONTEin'S.
PAOB
Strength of English engaged . . . 143
Letter XXXVI. 7th November, 1854, Camp, Battery No. 4,
in front of Balaklava. Battle of In-
kermann. On the watch . . . 145
References to Plans .... 148
„ XXXVII. 12th November, Ibid. Lines of Balaklava.
Siege arrested. Dirt .... 149
„ XXXVni. 17th November, Ibid. The hurricane.
Damages. Want men. Comparison 151
„ XXXIX. 22d November, Ibid, inwards. Military
surgeons 155
„ XL. 27th November, Ibid. We will not fail.
Nightingale. " Gang through" . J58
„ XLI. 2d December, Ibid. In bed. Officers
getting leave. New clothes. Flags
of truce 161
„ XLU. 7th December, Ibid. Russians retire
over Chemaya. Send carts . .165
„ XLin. 11th December, Ibid. Military establish-
ments. Mistaken appointments. No
transport. Misconception of orders . 167
„ XLTV. 17th December, Ibid. Stable falls down.
Wood scarce 172
„ XLV. 2l8t December, Ibid. Sebastopol will be
a long job. Cossack vidette. Peace
Society 174
XLVI. 22d to 27th December, Ibid. Rain. X.
and Y. not well received in London.
C. gets a regiment. Peto*8 men come
* to make railway. Guns going up to
siege. Shakespeare . . . .177
„ XLVn. 31st December, Ibid. Author's watch.
Snow. Nicholas will not give in,
except upon compulsion . . 180
„ XLVin. 4th to 5th January, 1855, Ibid. Freez-
ing. Want of transport. Wooden
houses. Cavalry horses dying. Hard-
ships. No starvation. Omar Pasha 182
CONTENTS. xli
TAGB
Letter XLIX. 7th January, 1855, Camp, Battery No. 4,
Balaklava. Freezing. Biscuit and rum.
Cutting at White's . . . .186
„ L. 10th to 11th and 12 th January, Ibid. Suf-
ferings at siege ; men crying. Telling
the truth. French carry up our shells.
Decrease of numbers .... 188
„ LI. 15th January, Ibid. Times attacks head-
quarter people. Snow two feet deep.
Fuel. Turks dying, and even deserting,
C. not responsible for the state of Balar
klava. Age of generals . . . 194
„ LII. 18th January, Ibid. A watch-case. Eupa-
toria 199
„ LIII. 22d January, Ibid. Papers attack Lord
Raglan. A War-minister . . . 200
„ LIV. 23d, 25th, and 26th January, Ibid. An
Anglo -Parisian. Siege of Antwerp.
Staff questions. A wagon-train. Star-
vation or stealing. French take our
right attack. Cromwell. Chollet's
vegetables. The four points. . . 202
„ LV. 29th January, Ibid. Concerning railway.
Crimean Fund 210
„ LVI. 1st February, Ibid. Preserve Letters. Kep-
pel. Mines. Admiral Boxer. Parcels.
The main fault 213
„ LVII. 8th February, Ibid. Watch arrives. Push-
ing on. Attacks on Lord Raglan. For-
mer poverty of Author's family. Eau
de rose 218
„ LVIII. 12th February, Ibid. Ruskin and the
White Cottage. Dukes. Railway versus
road 222
„ LIX. 14th February, Ibid. Lord Lucan recalled.
Niel looks grave. Number of men taken
as nurses by Miss Nightingale. Spec-
tacles 225
xlii CONTENTS.
PASB
Lettee LX. 19th February, 1855, Camp, Battery No. 4,
Balaklava. Attack on Eupatoria. Rail-
way progresses. Presents for the men.
Healthiness of climate . . . . 231
„ LXI. 21st February, Ibid. A recounoissance, and
a bad night. The first snow-drop . 234
„ LXn. 25th February, Ibid. French repulse. Bri-
gade of Guards come to Balaklava. A
navvy flogged 239
„ LXIII. Ist March, Ibid. Highlanders carry shot.
Relative number of lieutenant-colonels in
Guards and Line. Burying the Zouaves 241
„ LXIV. 5th March, Ibid. Russian defences im-
proved. Author gets a hut . . . 245
„ LXV. 8th March, Ibid. Death of the Czar. Offi-
cering the army. C. placed in com-
mand of Balaklava 246
„ LXVI. 9th March, Ibid. Peelites out. Indian
troops. Reports in Balaklava . 250
„ LXVII. 12th March, Ibid. Russians making ad-
vanced works. Canrobert. The devil.
General Simpson. Plans for putting
Balaklava to rights ,253
„ LXVin. 15th March, Ibid. Lord Raglan deserted.
Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch.
A " reverse." Cutting gabions. French
and English trenches joined . . 256
„ LXIX. 17th March, Ibid. Investigation. Ante-
dating rank. LordLucan, Miss Night-
ingale. Purchase 260
„ LXX. 19th March, Ibid. Visit to Bosquet. Chiefs
nervous. Bright and Cobden. Miss
Nightingale 265
„ LXXI. 23d March, Ibid. Rifle-pits. Investigation :
Lord Lucan and Lord Raglan. M. Pas-
cal Poupon. Miss Nightingale . . 270
„ LXXn. 25th March, Ibid. Sortie. Mamelon. Rocky
ground. Balaklava .... 274
CONTENTS.
xliii
Lettek LXXIII. 26th March, 1855, Camp, Battery No. 4,
Balaklava. Kamschatka redoubt.
Treachery, Health of Guards and
Highlanders. Arresting a commis-
sary. Porter 278
„ LXXIV. 2d April, Ibid. In French trenches. Com-
missioners. A photographer puzzled 282
LXXV. 4th April, Ibid. Two old ladies; their
last spoon . . . ... . 284
„ LXXVI. 9th April, Ibid. Battering. Cubitt and
Peto. Just what was lacking . . 286
„ LXXVn. 13th April, Ibid. A Court of Inquiry.
Indian officers sent out. Purchase . 289
„ LXXVIII. 15th April, Ibid. Hard work and suffer-
ing in war. Local rank . . 292
„ LXXIX. 20th April, Ibid. Woolwich and Chat-
ham. Omar Pasha makes a recon-
noissance 295
„ LXXX. 23d April, Ibid. More Kussians. Koe-
buck's Commission . . . .299
„ LXXXI. 26th April, Ibid. Colonel Egerton. Rus-
sia one conscript. Thor's hammer.
Judicial blindness. Miss Nightingale.
Geographical meeting . . .301
„ LXXXII. 29th April, Ibid. Positions of the Russian
army ; their numbers. Numbers of the
Allies 306
„ LXXXIII. 4th May, Ibid. Expedition to Kertsch.
Vexation of C. Quakers' non-resist-
ance. Cossack or Republican . . 308
„ LXXXIV. 7th May, Ibid. Expedition to Kertsch
Stopped. C. applies to be relieved
from the charge of Balaklava . . 312
„ LXXXV. 11th May, Ibid. Piedmontese arrive;
also Miss Nightingale. Sick order-
lies 313
„ LXXXVI. 14th May, Ibid. Promotions by brevet.
Duke of Newcastle coming .317
xliv CONTENTS.
PAOB
Lettek LXXXVII. 16th May, 1855, Camp, Battery No. 4,
Balaklava, Roebuck's Commit-
tee. Layard, Lord Burghersh, and
Arthur Hardinge. Relative pay of
Guards and Line. Advantages of
their rank. Colonels Cameron and
Sterling. Indian officers . .319
„ LXXXVm. 21st May, Ibid. Canrobert displaced.
The good things in India must now
be opened to Line officers. Expedi-
tion to Kertsch embarks again . 325
„ LXXXIX. 24th May, Ibid. Advance of Omar
Pasha and General Delia Marmora 329
„ XC. 28th May, Ibid. News of the fall of
Kertsch 331
„ XCI. 30th May, Ibid. Overthrow of the
Board of Ordnance. More troops
sent to Kerfcsch .... 334
„ XCU. 5th June, Ibid. More captures in the
Sea of Azov 339
„ XCm. 8th June, Ibid. Quarries taken ; also
the Mamelon 340
„ XCrV. 12 th June, Ibid. Anapa abandoned by
the Russians. French loss. Ful-
minating tubes .... 342
„ XCV. 15th June, Ibid. Highland Brigade
ordered up to the siege. The
Times, C, and the Commandant.
Some remarks on this Letter . 346
„ XCVI. 19th June, Camp before Sebastopol.
The failure of both attacks ; losses.
The chaplains .... 350
„ XCVn. 22d June, Ibid. The story of the fail-
ure. General Eyre. Water. Cod-
rington 352
XCVIU. 26th June, Ibid. Cholera. Times and
Colonel Gordon. Captain Lyons
dead 357
CONTENTS. xlv
PAGE
Lettee XCIX, 29th June, 1855, Camp before Sebastopol.
Death of Lord Kaglau. Speculations as
to the new Commander-in-chief . . 360
„ C. 3d July, Ibid. Selection system . . 364
„ CI. 6th July, Ibid. The senior Officer is made
Commander-in-chief. Eeflections on the
Promotion List. Sapping towards the
Malakoff*. " Take care of my nephew" 366
„ CII. 12th July, Ibid. A night in the trenches.
Diff'erent arrangements in the French
and English armies .... 370
„ cm. 17th July, Ibid. The new Adjutant-General 374
„ CIV. 20th July, Ibid. General Simpson, Bar-
nard, &c 377
„ CV. 27th July, Ibid. Made a C.B. Our four Sen-
iors. Koebuck and my father. The pains 379
„ CVI. 3d August, Ibid. Intrigues. Remonstrance.
Trench duty ..:... 384
„ CVII. 10th August, Ibid. A Conference. Cholera.
Captain Osborne 390
„ CVIII. 14th August, Ibid. 40,000 Grenadiers.
Major Hugh Drummond. Hauling down
First Division Flag .... 393
„ CIX. 17th August, Ibid. Battle of the Cheraaya.
The field of battle. Daily losses . . 396
„ ex. 20th August, Ibid. St. Andrew's Cross.
Proportion of Divisions and Brigades
held by Guards and Line. Army chap-
lains plundering 400
„ CXI. 27th August, Camp, Kamara. Moved down
to Kamara. Position of troops. Homer
or Punch 403
„ CXII. 31st August, Ibid. Tracts. Sidney Smith.
Simpson and Barnard ..... 406
„ CXIII. 6th September, Ibid. My final protest.
Ordered up the next day for the assault.
Major Rankin ; and general remarks on
the assault 408
Xlvi CONTENTS.
PAOB
Letter CXIV. 10th September, 1855, Camp, Kamara. The
assault 419
„ CXV. 14th September, Ibid. Various after the
assault. C. oflFered Malta. General
Vinoy 423
„ CXVI. 18th September, Ibid. W. Mansfield. The
assault. Rumley and Cameron . .427
„ CXVII. 21st September, Ibid. Reembarking siege-
guns. A prediction .... 430
„ CXVni. 24th September, Ibid. Baidar. Young
generals over old ones . . . 432
„ CXIX. 29th September, Ibid. Russians hutting.
Who is to be the new Commander-in-
chief? C. will go to Loudon . . 435
„ CXX. 2d October, Ibid. Enemy firing across the
harbour 438
„ CXXI. 6th October, Ibid. General Yorke's answer
to my Letter. Expedition to Kinbourn.
M. Paul Ranguis 440
„ CXXII. 8th October, Jbid. Highland Division pre-
paring to hut 444
„ CXXIII. 12th October, Ibid. Catching Tartars, and
bringing up the huts. The chapter of
accidents 445
„ CXXIV. 15th October, Ibid. On the arrangements
for the assault. Colonel Wetherall . 448
„ CXXV. 19th October, Ibid. Colonel, Sterling to
Editor of Times 450
„ CXXVI. 22d October, Ibid. General Windham. A
traverse. A book-maker . . . 456
„ CXXVn. 27th October, Ibid. Urgent private af-
fairs 458
„ CXXVm. 30th October, Ibid. Into a new camp . 459
„ CXXIX. 2d November, Ibid. Leave of absence. C.
goes away. Classe dangerense . . 460
„ CXXX. 5th November, Ibid. Selling oflf . . 462
„ CXXXI. 20th November, 1855, Malta. Times on
C. Molesworth 463
CONTENTS. xlvii
PAGE
Letter CXXXII. 29th November, 1855, Malta. Compli-
mented on my Letter, C, Lords
Panmure and Hardinge. Queen per-
suades C. to return . . . . 464
EXTRACTS FEOM LETTERS AFTER RETURN TO CRIMEA;
Commencing 17th February, ending Sth May, 1856.
C. was promised the command of a Corps-d'Arm§e . . 467
C.'s Letter to Editor of Morning Chronicle .... 473
Breakfast with Marshal Pelissier 475
My hut burned down 480
Anecdote about Alexander the Great 484
Ride to Bakchi-Serai 487
Verses on the Peace ........ 489
Williams of Kars 491
C.'s intended oration to OTd Highland Brigade . . 493
Emigration of Tartars 496
Embarkation of myself 496
LIST OF PLANS.
Varna
Camp at Aladeen ....
Chart of the Black Sea . . .
Plan of the Battle of the Alma
„ „ Ground around Balaklava
„ „ Battle of Balaklava .
„ „ Battle of Inkermann
„ „ Ground around Kadikoi .
Landscape Outline of the Lines of Balaklava
Plan of Ground round Balaklata, Kamara, &c.
Plan, with Malakofif, Mamelon, and Redan ;
progress of Trenches
„ New Works of French, English, and|
Russians ...... j
„ Progress of Trenches
„ Reconnoissance of Omar Pasha
„ MalakoflF, Redan ; progress of Trenches
„ Advance of the Allied Armies, 25th'j
May, 1855 j
„ Progress of the Trenches .
„ General View of the Operations
an;i
to face page 31
. » 41
between 80-81
86-87
„ 108-109
„ 116-117
„ 144-145
„ 148-149
„ 148-149
„ 212-213
„ 270-271
to face page 278
. . „ 282
between 296-297
. „ 302-303
330-331
354-355
396-397
LETTEES FEOM THE CEIMEA.
It is to be borne in mind tbat the author of the
following Letters had virtually retired from military
service on the 28th November ] 843, when he resigned
his staiF-appointment of Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-
General in Dublin. He came to London, having pur-
chased from his brother John the lease of a house in
South Place, Knightsbridge. This house he expended
cash upon for various improvements ; and in the garden
thereof j&nally, in 1851, he built the White Cottage,
which became a reception-room for hebdomadal meet-
ings of his literary friends. He was thus unemployed
in the military way for about ten years, viz. from
1844 to 1854, or from his thirty-ninth to his forty-
ninth year. In the spring of 1 853, his relation Sir
Colin Campbell, the " C." of the Letters, came back
from India with a high military character ; and in
February 1854 this officer, still only a colonel, with
forty-five years of active service, was offered the rank
of Brigadier-General, and a command in the expedi-
B
2 EXPLANATORY REMARKS.
tion then planning for a war in the Levant. C. and
S. had become intimate by this time ; and it was pro-
posed by C, and accepted by S., that, if the military
authorities agreed to it, S. should go out as Aide-de-
Camp or Brigade-Major. After due negotiations at
the Horse Guards, it was finally settled that Captain
Sterling should be Brigade-Major to Brigadier-General
Sir C. Campbell. From memoranda extant in certain
pocket-books, it appears that Sir C. Campbell and
his staff, viz. his brigade-major and his aide-de-camp
— Captain Shadwell, son of Sir Lancelot — went to
Woolwich on the 3d April 1854, and embarked with
their servants and horses on board the Tonning, a
steamer with Morgan's feathering paddles ; the said
vessel had been plying from Hull to Tonning for the
conveyance of cattle ; and the cabins, which had been
constructed for the cattle-dealers, were now used for
general officers and their subordinates. Sir Colin and
his Brigade-Major shared a very small one between
them. Brigade-Generals Eyre and Pennefather had
their passage in the same vessel, which started from
Woolwich at 2 a.m. on the 5th of April (Wednesday).
The Morgan's paddles came to grief, and the larboard
one struck work altogether, on Easter Sunday, 16th
April, two days before the Tonning entered Malta har-
bour. It is only fair to the said Morgan that it should
be remembered that his principle was good ; the failure
was in the details : the points or ends of the rods
EXPLANATORY REMARKS. 6
belonging to the eccentric or feathering apparatus
(technically, bearings) were at first made too short.
In the recently -constructed paddles these bearings
have been lengthened, and such accidents as occurred
to the Tonning are now, it is understood, not to be
apprehended.
This Letter I. notices one from Malta, which it
seems was lost in the post-office. It probably gave an
account of the voyage with and without paddles, and
distances run, as well as the touch at Gibraltar and
delay there of twenty-four hours.
At Gallipoli, on the European side of the Darda-
nelles, the engineers were contriving a safe retreat, in
case of the Russians advancing by Adrianople on Con-
stantinople, and driving back the Allies, by making a
line of fortification from the Gulf of Saros (ancient
Melas) to the Dardanelles. This idea was apparently
soon abandoned. The immense barrack spoken of
was afterwards turned into an hospital ; and it is
probable that Miss Nightingale occupied the very
turret in which Sir C. Campbell and his stafi* were
lodged during their sojourn at Scutari. The barrack
was calculated to hold comfortably 5000 men, but
would have given cover, if necessary, to double the
number.
CYCLADES Am) TROAD.
LETTER I.
Barracks, Scutari, Saturday, 29th April 1854.
I WROTE to you, I think from Malta, a hurried note.
We were only there for a few hours, and were towed
out of the harbour by the Trent at 8 o'clock p.m., out
paddles being quite hors de combat.
On Friday we reached Cape Matapan, and came
among the Cyclades, and poor Haidee was mourned
over by the poetical part of the company. The weather
was perfect. At 3 a.m. on Sunday morning (23d), I
found myself near Tenedos ; a waning ^ loooonfr moon,
the poor remnant of the moon we left England with,
hung over the Trojan shore.
At daylight we were quite close to Tenedos, and
Ovid's contest between Ajax and Ulysses for the arms
of Achilles rose again in memory : " Est in conspectu
Tenedosy'' &c. We then saw the tumuli of Homer's
heroes, and Sigseum, all dear to classical scholars.
Entering the Dardanelles very striking. The cas-
tles of Europe and Asia, Abydos, &c., all these lying
before us.
Gallipoli ! Most picturesque ; Avretched houses and
miserable streets, with a motley population of Turks,
French, and English. Here we received our orders to
drop Brigadier Eyre and his staff, and proceed, as soon
as we could get out their horses, on to Stamboul.
ENTRENCHING THE OHEKSONESUS. 5
It appears that the French are to make a tre-
mendous fortification, I believe to be revetted with
brick, across the Chersonesus, about three miles long,
situated one mile west of Boulahar, from the Gulf of
Saros to the Dardanelles. This will make for the
allies an impregnable fortress, as we shall have the sea
on both sides entirely in our possession ; and in case of
retreat, it will do for the Russians what the lines of
Torres Vedras did for the French. We were much
amused by the commanding officer here, who is a
great disciplinarian, writing to C. and mentioning that
he observed that some of the staff-officers were nour-
ishing mustachios, which he wished should be done
away with. The only two guilty were officers of cavalry,
who had a right to wear them ; one was a nice lad
named : and C, who enjoys a joke, after laugh-
ing heartily at the order, pretended he was going to
shave the youth, who was desperately frightened, till
he found it was only in fun.
The English are to keep 5000 men for the present
on the lines which are in process of construction at
Gallipoli ; and the remainder of the army, it is be-
lieved, will be employed in digging trenches about
fifteen miles from Constantinople.
We departed from Gallipoli at 10 A.M. on Mon-
day (24th), and entered the Sea of Marmora ; on
Tuesday morning, at daylight, we found ourselves
Hearing the Bosphorus. The surpassing beauty of the
b A TROUBLESOME " OULD OFFICER.
approach to Stamboul I need not enlarge upon ; it is
the proper situation for the capital of the world.
Old C. found me very attentive to him on the voy-
age, and the soldiers who were employed as a guard
with us to keep order found Major S. very trouble-
some. C. heard one of them saying to the other, " He
is a wonderful ould man ; he only sleeps two hours,
and smokes the other twenty- two." It was necessary
to be vigilant with a vessel full of hay. We lost three
horses on the passage ; all the rest are pretty welL
On Wednesday morning we landed the horses and
ourselves, and came into barracks, where I had scarcely
arrived when I found our brigade — viz. the 1st Brigade,
consisting for the present, that is, till Lord Raglan
arrives, of the 7th and 23d Fusileers, and the 33d
regiment — was in orders for all the duties of the camp
and garrison ; and instead of being able to get my
matters in any way arranged, I was forced to sit on a
stone to write orders, and by night was fagged to death.
Fancy being here within a mile (of water) from Stam-
boul, and not having yet been able to go to see its
wonders 1 The day after our horses landed, instead
of allowing the poor things to rest and recover from
their three weeks' standing, a field-day was ordered
for the Seraskier, and we had to gallop about and
leap over ditches.
The army gets drunk, I am sorry to say, and has
committed a few robberies. The food is good, that is
PROVISIONS. 7
to say, lib. of tough beef and l^lb. of brown acid
bread ; that is the diet of men and officers, with the
exception of our lot ; for that provident " ould'' officer
Major S. brought with him a quantity of preserved
provisions from his yacht, the Viking, and has thus
enabled his chief to distinguish himself by feeding the
hungry. Strange to say, none of us have received our
private letters or our newspapers, and we know of
nothing about those who are so dear to us in our dis-
tant home.
The Terrible came in here yesterday from Odessa
with the news of the bombarding there. I should
much wish to have gone aboard, but had no time ; a
ship just after an action coming to repair damages
must be a curious sight. My hfe is very odd ; I am
tired every day with walking and standing, so that
my feet are quite sore. I am never, or scarcely ever,
alone, and never safe from a demand for an order for
some duty to be performed by the 1st Brigade ; day
and night all come to me, so that I may be called the
providence of 2500 men.
In a few days it is very probable we may be moved
into tents. Very soon we must know our fate, as I
have just heard of Lord Raglan's arrival here.
Nothing can be more picturesque than the situa-
tion of our camp. An immense and beautiful bar-
rack (square 230 yards to the side) crowns a hill close
to the sea ; from this hill a sloping, undulated, grassy
O BEAUTIES OF CAMP.
descent leads down to a brook, which enters the Sea
of Marmora about half a mile down the coast ; on the
other side of the stream the ground again rises, and
the view is closed by a green elevation, on which the
Brigade of Guards is encamped, and behind their tents
far off snowy Olympus of Asia Minor makes a silvery
distance. On the right hand is the sea, with an island
or two, and Stamboul, variegated and brilliant as the
Arabian Nights. On the left, a long Turkish cemetery
in a cypress grove, with its white Moslem tombstones
upright, and mixed among the russet stems of the
trees. The encampment stretches along the side of
this space next to the sea, and all sorts of Oriental
creatures go wandering and wondering at the Ferin-
ghis. If perpetual worry and bodily fatigue be good
for the soul, which may be doubtful, mine ought to be
in prime condition ; but I do not enjoy it, and long
to lie down and be at peace — a hopeless hope, alas I
Bujuc Checmajee is a village at the entrance of
a small bay on the south coast of Thrace, 18 miles
west of Stamboul. Unkiar Skelessi is a village in
Asia Minor, about half a mile north of Beicos Bay in
the Bosphorus. At Unkiar Skelessi, in the spring
of 1833, 16,000 Russian troops, under command of
General Mouravieff, were encamped, to defend the
EXPLANATORY REMARKS. y
Porte from Ibrahim Pasha's attack. In May of that
year Egypt was given up by the Sultan ; and on
the 8th July 1833, the defensive alliance Treaty of
Unkiar Skelessi was concluded between the Russians
and Turks, which was considered to be a great blow
to the English and French diplomatists ; for one con-
dition of the treaty was, to bind the Turks to shut
up the Dardanelles, in case of Russia being attacked
by any European power. At the period when the 2d
Letter was written every one supposed the Russians
would try to advance in overwhelming numbers by
Silistria, Schumla, and Adrianople, on Constantinople
itself It will be observed that the author repeatedly
refers to the impossibility of the army advancing for
a long time. This was from want of transport mainly,
which difficulty and the remedy had been very early
pointed out to the Government by Mr. Layard, who
had recommended purchasing animals in Asia Minor.
Before the army embarked from Varna there had
been collected a very fair proportion of animals,
which were in charge of the brigades to which they
belonged, but most of which remained in Bulgaria.
The reference at the end of the letter to the French
army having come provided with transport, and having
baked bread within twenty-four hours after landing,
is very significant.
Letter III. is very short, and mentions the arrival
of the 93d Highlanders, and that fifteen ofiicers were
10 THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE.
sleeping in Sir C. Campbell's quarters, — it may be
supposed only till they could get their tents pitched.
LETTER II.
Scutari, 4th May 1854.
Mail after mail comes in, and no letters, nor even
newspapers, which seems even more surprising than
the fact of my being here. Since I wrote to you, the
army has been definitively organised by Lord Raglan,
who arrived on the 2d with his staff. Among other
changes from Sir G. Brown's temporary arrangements,
C. and Major S., his Brigade -Major, have been ap-
pointed to the Highland Brigade, which is considered
compUmentary to C, but is really a great disadvan-
tage, as he will only be third in rank in the division,
whereas in any other division he would have been
second. The Highland Brigade is composed of the
42d, 79th, and 93d, the latter of which is at Gal-
lipoh ; the other two not arrived from England, but
expected daily. They will be the 2d Brigade of the
1st Division ; the Guards forming the 1st Brigade of
the same under Prince George, — the Duke of Cam-
bridge, I mean, — who no doubt will find C, from his
great experience in the field, a most useful subaltern.
As our brigade is not here, we shall have a day or
tw^o to make our arrangements in Constantinople with
regard to tents, &c. Prince Jerome is here, but no
BUJUC CHECMAJEE. ] 1
French soldiers as yet. Lord Raglan has a hoUse in
a small village close to the camp ; and I suppose will
shortly give him a field-day. The engineer officers
are hard at work surveying the ground at Bujuc
Checmajee, where the lines are to be formed, about
18 miles west of Constantinople, to extend from the
Sea of Marmora to the Black Sea ; the idea is, that
the army, as soon as it is ready to move, will march
to Unkiar Skelessi and camp there, sending a portion
over into Europe by divisions, to camp on the lines
and dig the entrenchments ; and I have reason to
think that the Guards and Highlanders will go first.
Meantime we have no news at all, except what comes
round by Paris md Marseilles. We hear that Austria
is about to occupy Servia ; if so, that will add much
to Nicholas's difficulties, for it will disengage the Ka-
lafat* troops. In fact, I do not see how it is possible,
with an Austrian army on his right flank, and our
fleet on his left, with an allied French and English
army in his front, he can advance at all, whatever be
his numbers. He will therefore have to keep on the
defensive, and let us do our worst. "We cannot ad-
vance for a long time yet. It is understood that a
portion of the French army will move up to Constan-
tinople, on the European side of the Bosphorus.
• Kalafat, a fortified Turkish camp on the left bank of the
Danube, opposite Widdin.
12 LETTER-BAGS A LA TURQUE.
5th May, early in the morning.
Last night I got a letter, the first I have received
from England. While lying awake I observed a tre-
mendous fire in Stamboul, which illuminated the
whole sky. To-day we shall probably hear what
mischief was done, but too late for the post, which
goes off at 11.
I heard yesterday the probable reason why my
papers do not come ; it is that the mail-bags are all
opened at the Custom-house, and the poor letters
maltreated in the most Turkish manner, previously
to sending them to the post-office. This will be
remedied in the Turkish manner by a firman giving
power to an agent appointed by us to seize the bags
before they go to the Custom-house, and bring them
away at once to the army. We sat about for a con-
siderable time yesterday at Stamboul in the bazaar;
the place where we were was dedicated to saddlery,
leather bags, &c. What struck me most was the
cheerful contented look of the people who were in
the shops, and the total absence of beggars or of
any appearance of misery. I also underwent the
Turkish bath, and, on the whole, consider it the
sight of Stamboul. The building being constructed
for the purpose, I mean that in which I was, had in
addition to its conveniences, a great deal of archi-
tectural beauty ; it was more like a handsome church
BATHS. FRENCH BAKING. 18
with chapels off it, than what we should call baths ;
and the gentleness and graceful manners of the at-
tendants made the hour pass away in a very pleasing
sort of dream. Strictly speaking, at a Turkish bath
there is no bath ; but warm water is splashed over
you out of a saucer in a very hot room : I imagine
it is a legacy left them by the luxurious Romans.
The people in England are, I dare say, disappointed
at the army for not having already taken Nicholas, or
at least for not having hit him a hard blow some-
where. From what I can see, I do not think it pos-
sible we can take the field for these two months ;
during which interval he may advance, if he dare.
The further he moves from his supports the weaker
he will be ; but I do not delude myself with the idea
that the contest, should it really begin, will be a
short one.
The artillery horses are just beginning to arrive ;
they seem to lose about four or five per cent ; there
are 250 landed, and gone into barracks about three
miles up the Bosphorus. The cavalry seem to be
very slow in cqming forward ; there is a want of de-
cision somewhere, and negligence too ; in truth, our
army has never been kept on a proper establishment.
The French Algerine army landed here with tents and
transport and corn-mills, and baked bread for them-
selves within twenty-four hours. We have nothing
to complain of in the conduct of our men while they
14 FRENCH BALL.
are sober ; when drunk they knock the Turks about ;
so we flogged a man the other day to make an ex-
ample.
LETTER III.
Scutari Barracks, 10th May 1854.
Still here, as you will perceive from the date.
The troops are gradually dropping in ; some horse
artillery having arrived, also one of our Highland
regiments (the 93d*), and the Rifles. We have had
two days' rain ; and the kilted men and Rifles are all
lying about the passages, and our quarters filled by
fifteen officers sleeping on the floors. We were all
asked to a grand ball at Pera at the French am-
bassador's last night. I could not go, having too
much to do ; but C. went, and has not yet returned.
The strange part of this business to me is, that I am
never alone, and never have time to do any thing I
want ; the wants of my army being constant day and
night. We know nothing here whatever ; our papers
from London give us the only authentic news, and
they have all gone astray for some reasons unknown.
Our military prospects remain blank ; but I cannot
help hoping still that something decisive will take
place before the summer is over. The army, how-
The 93d landed on the 9th of May.
ARMY UNFIT TO MOVE. 15
ever, is quite unfit to move at present ; and if the
newspapers are attacking Lord Raglan for inactivity,
they are doing him injustice. He cannot move with-
out baggagei' animals, and artillery and cavalry, none (y ^
of which to any amount has he got as yet. The Turks
are very civil, but we cannot say much to them. Per-
haps that may account for it.
The author dilates in this letter, and also in a
later one, on the expense of servants. Of course those
who were poor could not hire such an extravagant
'caletaille ; therefore he exaggerates when he states
that it was impossible to get on without a dragoman
at 95. per diem. This dragoman, in fact, was borrowed
by other people very often, who were themselves either
too poor or too economical to hire a man of their own.
Eventually there were interpreters attached to every
regiment and brigade ; one of these was very amusing,
for he could not speak Turkish, and he used to jabber
gibberish with plenty of action, and then explain to
us what it was about.
LETTER IV.
Scutari, 15th May 1854.
I HAD hoped ere this to have received a letter from
you, as I am left in the dark about every thing in
16 BAGGAGE-ANIMALS AND SERVANTS.
England ; either my letters are lost, or you did not
write. If you did not, it*s a great shame. Our army
is very anxious to advance ; but I do not find that
the Commissariat is procuring baggage-animals very
rapidly ; and without means of conveying ammunition
and sick, a move inland is impossible. The officers
are mostly provided with animals, which they pur-
chase, and receive forage for; the price of these ponies
has risen enormously, also the pay of dragomans or
interpreters. I have one who acts as my valet, and
receives sixty piastres a day, or about nine shillings.
Euinous ; yet to get on without him is impossible in
a place where I have to send hither and thither to
procure requisites for marching, and where I am tied
to the barrack by the duty I have undertaken. In
fact, the whole of my military pay will just about pay
my different servants' wages. If I had time to go
about, this neighbourhood would be well worth ex-
ploring ; the short distances I have gone as yet have
shown me the most lovely views imaginable. If the
interior of Asia Minor be like its coast, Eden ought
to have been there. The climate, however, is very
variable, and the spring very late. We had a storm of
wind and rain yesterday, and the nights are still cool
— in fact, in tents cold would be the word. I am
still in the barrack ; only one regiment of our brigade
ha\dng arrived. It is not probable that the Highland
Brigade will be complete till the 10th of June. The
LIFE IN CAMP. 17
English soldiers are behaving very well, and the camp
is full of natives offering change for a sovereign ; they
are quite unmolested. The life in a camp is most
monotonous, especially here, where there are few re-
sources by way of amusement ; walking about in Con-
stantinople is miserable, from the steepness of the as-
cents and the badness of the pavements. The young
regimental officers, who have little to do, ride about
on their ponies, and see a good deal of the country,
having the advantage moreover of youth on their side.
Fancy my having an opportunity of being present at
the Sultan's visit to the Duke of Cambridge, and not
going ; but in truth I take no interest in any thing
going on here, and perform my dull duties with atten-
tion, merely out of a remnant of military pride.
We are all pretty well in health, this not being
the season for sickness ; no doubt when that begins
we shall have a fearful list.
LETTER V.
Scutari, 20th May 1854.
After my letter of the loth went off, I received
one from you. Since then, as you may guess, there
has not much occurred to break the monotony of this
existence. The wonderful beauty of the place re-
mains as great a wonder as ever ; but of the people one
18 SWEET WATERS.
knows nothing. I went yesterday, which was Friday,
to the Valley of Sweet Waters ; the Golden Horn
stretches up some four miles, and at last becomes a
river, running through a narrow valley, closed in on
both sides by two bare hills. Here the whole popu-
lation, or §Lt least many thousands of Turks, Turk-
esses, Greeks, Armenians, and strangers of all nations
congregate ; they go some in carriages from Stam-
boul, but most in caiques by water. The scene is
very curious : the women have their heads wrapped
in fine thin muslin, leaving only the eyes uncovered ;
but their outer cloaks are of the gayest colours. No
one speaks to them, so far as I could observe. They
sit by the water- side in groups, with their children ;
and the ladies of rank go in carriages, very much after
Rotten-Row plan ; there was a sultana, too, with a
number of carriages full of young girls, who, some of
them, seemed very pretty. The river has two tum-
bling-bays* across it, made with white marble, in
broad steps, scalloped out into fanciful patterns,
with the Sweet Waters running over them in a shal-
* This word has given rise to many queries. A bay in one
sense is a dam ; and a tumbling-bay is a phrase which I have
heard applied in my youth to a dam over which the water
tumbles. It may be a Hertfordshire provincialism. It is used
in a parliamentary report upon the Serpentine; applied also to
the rush of water in the weirs on the Thames. There are two
at least near Eton.
PROSPECTS OF THE WAR. 19
low stream. There were, I should guess, seven or
eight hundred carriages, and two miles of crowd ; no
drinking except coffee and lemonade, and scarcely any
eating except ices. A quieter and apparently a more
happy and contented set I never saw, although they
were not Christians, and the women had no souls.
With regard to public matters, I believe there is
no doubt the army will go to Varna as soon as it is
ready to move. Lord Raglan went there the night
before last : St. Arnaud went with him, and the Ad-
miral ; and they are to meet Omar Pasha, and hold
council as to ulterior measures. The Russians are
l3dng quiet ; but they are only five hours from Silis-
tria, and their next move will be the investment of
that fortress, which, if they attempt it, will cause our
advance, with the French and Turks, to relieve it.
The English army continues healthy ; the artillery is
arriving ; I believe there are as many as twenty-four
guns complete. The head -quarters of the 17th Lan-
cers has come ; but our 2000 dragoons will have a
poor chance against 27,000, which, it is asserted, the
Russians have in the Dobrudscha. The lines in front
of Stamboul are not spoken of any longer. Perhaps
the intention of making them is given up. As to my
own position — my dragoman receives sixty piastres a
day (about 9^., which is the amount of my staif-pay) ;
my English groom has 51. a month, his food and
clothes ; I have besides one soldier and one native
I
20 EXPENSES OF SERVANTS.
muleteer ; so that it is an expensive job. I have five
horses and two mules, and the forage allowance for
them nearly feeds them. I live with C. After all re-
quisites for marching are completed, my only expenses
will be washing and servants' wages, which is not a
small item : dragoman 170/. ; groom 60/. ; soldier
6/.; and muleteer 36/. =272/. My staff-pay and
field-allowance is 135. per diem, or about 230/. a
year ; half-pay about 120/. : total 350/. My outfit
for this expedition has cost about 900/. You see
officers are cheap articles when they serve as I do
with no pay. How poor men manage I cannot say.
My newspapers do not come, so that we know little
of home. Yesterday a young officer of the 93d was
drowned in the small watercourse just beyond the
barracks. A sudden storm made a torrent of what
was usually dry, and he was swept down into the sea.
LETTER VI.
Scutari, 28th May 1854.
RuMOUBS of all sorts presage a start. The Light
Division, consisting of seven regiments, was ordered
to embark, and their horses and baggage-animals are
now on board ; but a stop took place, for reasons
which are not known; either a difficulty about the
commissariat, or that the merchant -steamers would
TO VAKNA. 21
not go without a convoy. Varna is the point, as I
believe, and this division is to move about 20 miles
west, to Devna, stretching a hand towards Schumla.
Silistria is invested, but not closely. There I expect
we shall meet the Russians, so soon as the French are
up, and drive them into or over the Danube. One of
our Highland regiments, the 79th, arrived yesterday.
Lord Raglan has been to Schumla, and has seen Omar
Pasha. The Turks are very anxious to see us in front ;
but it is useless moving till our arrangements for feed-
ing the troops are complete. We, belonging to bri-
gades, have little means of knowing what is going on
in the way of preparation. Our business is to obey
orders and keep our powder dry. We are changing
our firelocks for Minie rifles, which is an untried arm
for large bodies of men. The prudence of the change
at this moment may be doubted ; our advantage has
been, and always will be, in closing rapidly with the
enemy : when you are near enough, the old gun is as
good as the new one. We knew yesterday, what you
must have heard long ago, that the Greeks have killed
8000 Egyptian troops somewhere in Thessaly. I sup-
pose Otho will be dethroned ; meantime his man-
oeuvres have withdrawn a certain number of French
troops from the field to occupy Athens.* Our army
* Eventually there was an English regiment stationed at
Athens.
22 STAFr-oincERS.
is quite healthy, and in high spirits, longing to be at
them. The principal weak point is a want of experi-
ence on the part of the staff-officers of the Quarter-
master General's department. I never heard of Lord
De Ros having served any where except as Brigade
Major to the cavalry in England. He is Quarter-
master General; but I do not know who is respon-
sible for his being selected to hold his present most
important situation. They have appointed a number
of young men, who learned a dose of mathematics and
how to sketch ground at Sandhurst. Now that is
mere cram ; a good clear understanding and metho-
dical habits will do without them. The sketching is
indeed useful, but it is very soon acquired, and in
fact all officers ought to know how to make a rapid
rough sketch of country.
I am in good health, although my spirits remain
as much depressed as ever ; the mainspring, youth, is
gone out ; the old wheels still go round with the xis
inertiw,— come here, go thither, order that. Weary
life ! Faults and blunders are daily committed, which
I see, but cannot prevent, on account of the routine of
military matters. We, I mean C. and staff, intend to
move out under canvas to-morrow or the next day.
At present we live among fleas in large barrack- rooms,
and our servants buy our food at Pera. We have not
yet begun a regular camp life. We shall have a large
marquee for the General, two Turkish tents for the
A JOB. 23
Aide-de-camp and Brigade Major, and two bell-tents
for the servants ; all this we have to carry on our
animals on the march, besides beds and books and
clothes. My horses cost 300/., my two mules 72/. :
see what an expense officers are put to ! Letters come
few and far between. My time is so broken up by
duties that I never can call an hour my own, nor at-
tempt to write any thing such as we talked of. When
we meet the enemy, I augur nothing but success; such
a body of men, led on by the chivalry of England,
must succeed. It is impossible to fancy any thing
more creditable to our country than the conduct of
every one. The natives roam about the camp offering
change for a sovereign more safely than they could in
Hyde Park. The Turks appear to have the most per-
fect reliance on our honesty. When we get into Bul-
garia, I hope the Greek population may not be roused
against us by Russian intrigue ; that is our only risk.
With a friendly population, if the commissariat do
their duty, our supplies are certain, as the country
teems with grain. I will tell you a story of a job.
The Rev. Heliogabalus Balm of Gilead is a poor curate,
and is related to General Geoghegan Gilhooly, who at
the beginning of the job is on the staff at home. The
Rev. Virtuosus Speciosissimus, when he goes his round
of inspection, puts up with General Gilhooly for bed and
board. Gilhooly asks him to appoint Balm of Gilead
a chaplain to the forces in Turkey, which is managed.
24 A JOB. TENTS.
After which Speciosissimus asks Gilhooly to appoint
youngDiabolus Speciosissimus to a situation on the staflf
at home. " But,' says Gilhooly, " I am oif the staff; I
am going to Turkey." " Then,"' says Speciosissimus,
" you will appoint Diabolus as your Aide-de-camp or
Brigade Major." " No, I cannot," says t'other ; " I
have given away the appointments to two of my bro-
ther officers." Whereupon Speciosissimus flares up ;
" I only appointed your relation chaplain because I
expected you would pay me back with an appointment
for Diabolus." There's a man of God !
LETTER VII.
Camp, Scutari, Highland-Brigade Office,
4th June 1854.
We are now in camp under canvas, so that I have
not so far to go to see my soldiers, and I much prefer
it to the fleas in the barracks, the number and vora-
city of which is inconceivable. My tents are two, viz.
a round Turkish tent, red inside and green out, about
twelve feet diameter, and a small tent which I brought
from England, on which I have painted in large letters
" Highland-Brigade Office." To-day the thermometer
in the officers' bell-tents stood at 96*^, in mine at 80° ;
just after ascertaining which the servant knocked down
MINIE RIFLES. 25
the thermometer and broke it. We are momentarily
expecting to be ordered on to Varna, nine miles west
of which town Sir G. Brown is encamped with seven
regiments behind the Devna Lake. I have no doubt
that the moment the commissariat say they are ready
with transport for ammunition, &c., we shall advance
in company with the French, join the Turks, and drive
the Russians over the Danube. It is not likely that
they will retire without an action ; if I survive, I will
write you an account of it. My health, in spite of
the constant work and exposure to the sun, is very
good, and I have recovered my old power of walking
and enduring fatigue ; but I suppose I am much
thinner. Our time is now principally spent in try-
ing to get our servants to practise packing our bag-
gage on the animals, and to see after their health.
The English grooms cannot at present conceive that
a fine mule, which perhaps cost 40/., is worth looking
after ; while, in fact, very often the efiiciency of the
ofiicer depends on this beast bringing up his baggage.
The utter thoughtlessness and selfishness of the civil
servants is beyond belief. They never look out for
any thing, and talking to them is about as effective
as whistling jigs to a milestone.
All our division has been provided with Minie
rifles. I hope it will turn out to be a wise measure.
My horses, after whose health inquires, are all
right, in spite of chopped straw and barley. I never
26 NO MORE STOCKS.
go away from the lines of the camp, and am in fact
on duty always. Our 4 2d regiment not come yet. I
shall leave Constantinople without having seen one
sight. I have never been in a mosque, or seen the
Seraglio, or Therapia, or any one single thing in
Stamboul ; and I do not care to see them. Here I
am called off to write a letter complaining of the con-
tract-bread supplied to the men, which is the same
that I eat myself ; it is mixed rye and wheat, with
a good deal of sand, and very wholesome I dare say.
That is done, and the orderly despatched with it.
The men of our division have been allowed to go
without their stiff leather stocks to-day, and at
church parade this morning many of them had
coloured handkerchiefs on, which hurts the military
eye. Poor soldiers ! they have many masters. To-
morrow we are all, I mean our division under the
Duke of Cambridge, ordered out at 5 A.M., to march
on routes to be pointed out by some staff- officer.
God knows how long we may be out. The Light
Companies of the three battalions of Guards and
those of the two Highland regiments are ordered to
cover the battery of artillery under the command of
the senior captain, that is to say, of the five captains
of these companies. But three of the captains are
Guardsmen, consequently lieutenant -colonels in the
army, so that this command will not fall to the
senior captain in the service, but to a young gentle-
PRIVILEGES. 27
man probably years his junior in age and experience,
but who is only nominally a captain, being in fact
a lieutenant-colonel. If this order is given before
the enemy, the commanding-officer of these Light
Companies will have a fair claim to promotion.
Here come the privileges of the Guards into direct
collision with the rights of the Line officers. I do
not know if you will understand this ; but it is a
great shame.
The matter is simply this, that a regiment of
the Line would have the same privilege as the
Guards if all the ten captains were suddenly made
lieutenant-colonels, and told they had no longer
any charge of their companies except appearing
with them on parade. It is incomprehensible how
such an arrangement can stand in these reform-
ing days. Here it seems that some officers must
have excited the ire of the author, those whom he
thinks are not "very wise." He scrupulously re-
frains from mentioning names where it is possible to
avoid doing so. His remarks on the composition of
the staff are worthy of consideration. This was the
moment to consider, for the army had not yet begun
the campaign. The next Letter (the 9th) takes the
1st Division to Varna, not more than a week's march
from the Danube and from the Russians, and at this
28 WISE OFFICERS.
time (16th June) nothing was ready for moving or
taking the field in earnest. Now would have been
the time for the newspapers to cry out for transport,
and to turn the attention of the nation to our mani-
fold deficiencies.
LETTER VIII.
Camp, Scutari, 10th June 1854.
The post goes out to-day, and although I have
nothing new to tell you, I cannot refrain from sending
a line. We have had very strong reports of the in-
tention of sending the Guards and Highlanders to
Varna directly. The latter brigade is now complete ;
but I imagine that the French who are marching by
land are so much behind, that it is considered useless
to move any more of our troops up to Varna than
the seven regiments already there. When the French
get up, we can be very rapidly got into line by
steamers. It would never do for Lord Raglan to be
with all, or nearly all, his men at Varna, and yet
find himself too weak to move on and relieve Silistria.
Some of our officers are not very wise ; themselves
totally without experience, they yet imagine they can
instruct old war-worn officers in their business. I
am quite worried with perpetual returns, notes, &c.
every half-hour all day. I generally rise at three, and
go to bed at ten. My health is good. I never go out
of camp, now that I am under canvas, unless ordered
COMPOSITION OF STAFF. 29
out to a field-day. When I consider the composi-
tion of our staff, the prospect looks dubious. In the
Quarter- master General's department there is only
one officer who ever served in that department be-
fore ; he is a young man who was Deputy-assistant
Quarter -master General at the Cape. How they are
all to become in a moment expert at their work is
a mystery. I am not in that branch now, although
I served in it in Canada, under a Colonel Mackenzie
Fraser, who is dead, but who gave me an idea of
what a quarter-master general ought to be, certainly
very unlike any I see here. The Adjutant-General is
a very amiable man, a perfect gentleman and a good
Christian, but as innocent of the meaning of disci-
pline as a sucking -baby. Some one must be re-
sponsible for the selection of the staff ; the ultimate
responsibility of course must fall on the Commander-
in-chief, who, however capable, as I believe him to be,
cannot do every one's work and his own too.
This picture of landing a party of staff-officers at
Varna, with all their horses and baggage, on a lonely
beach at nightfall, miles away from their troops, and
with no assistance from any one, is very pregnant.
Where was the hurry ? Six hours longer on board
the steamer would have made all the difference. It
was said the steamer was going for Lord Raglan ; but
30 NEW CAMP.
his Lordship did not arrive for several days after-
wards. One Navy-Captain said the party was not to
land till the next morning ; then came some other
authority, which ordered it ashore instanter. But
two hours of daylight were lost by this misunder-
standing. The place where the troops were encamped
was proverbially unhealthy, with a swamp and lake
close by. The village of Aladeen, where the Light
Division was at this time encamped, lies at the head
of the lower Devna Lake, on its northern shore ; so
that there was water -communication to and from
Varna, which probably was partly the reason for
taking up that ground ; but the vicinity of a lake in
the heat of summer is a questionable good.
LETTER IX.
Camp, near Varaa, Friday, 16th June 1854.
After expecting the order to move for so long a
time that we almost thought we should not move at
all, it came suddenly ; and last Monday our horses
were embarked on board a steamer in the Bosphorus,
and ourselves on Tuesday loth, that is to say, the
division of the army under the Duke of Cambridge,
General Bentinck, and C. The two Brigadiers who
command the Guards and Highlanders, with their
staff-officers, servants, &c. were put on board the City
of London, which vessel conveyed us to the Bay of
JiedMeil^%m^(x^WarniBv/hx-Skddi.
SOO 1OO0
TJ^elhercbfyin: T;2fiUSlreSC,umJ!aiZSi.
^ ^^iceJSt^^ 37.
B0SPH0RU8. 31
Varna in about 24 hours, towing two transports at
the same time. The passage of the Bosphorus is
very pleasing ; the Turkish houses and forts on either
hand being so picturesque. At the extremity of the
strait or entrance to the Black Sea we saw the blue
Symplegades or Cyanean Rocks, which are enshrined
in classic memory. I am sorry to say they are not
blue, but black and yellow. On reaching our anchor-
age, we heard that the Russians were retiring from
Silistria, which I do not believe. However, our ship
was to sail again in three hours, to bring up Lord
Raglan ; so we. Brigadiers and tail, were all shot
ashore, just at dark, on the beach, about four miles
from the town of Varna, horses, bag, and baggage.
Our soldiers six miles off, and no one to help us but
our servants. These were about ten in number. To
add to the scene, it began to rain ; we had eighteen
horses and mules to picket and feed, and Bentinck's
lot as many. The confusion was wonderful, for they
were landing out of the ship at the same time com-
missariat stores, tents, &c., all of which had to go to
a different side of the bay from our landing-place.
The result was the loss of our two Brigadiers' tents,
two most essential spa-des belonging to Major S., and
a very superb large mallet for driving tent-pegs, which
we had procured at Scutari. At last we got all the
horses secured, one tent up, and our Brigadier's bed
in it ; the rest of the baggage lay scattered over the
32 A PLEASANT DISEMBARKATION.
beach in most admired disorder under a pouring rain.
I was wet through, and dog-tired, so I threw myself
down on the ground under the tent, and slept for
three hours. As soon as daylight came, we proceeded
to gather up our dispersed properties, and count up
our losses ; we then loaded the animals and carts.
Our road lay along a deep sandy shore round the
Bay of Varna. Behind that town, on the slopes of
a country something like the Brighton Downs, we
found our three Highland regiments, as well as the
Guards. The soil here is light and sandy ; grass and
small shrubs spread over it furnish a sufficient land-
scape. The Devna Lake is in our rear ; a brigade of
French about two miles in our front ; and the Light
Division (English) at Aladeen, about eight miles to the
left. We have some cavalry and artillery up, and
fully expect to advance very shortly. Yesterday af-
ternoon rain set in, and my bed got wet, as the tent
is not perfectly watertight in all parts ; so that during
the last two days some of the hardships of war have
come to my lot. It is now 5 A.M., and the ground is
steaming ; a thick fog scarcely allows the sun to be
seen ; and considerable discomfort prevails in my
family, small as it is, viz. one ! The material sun
will, however, prevail, and take away the fog and dry
up the ground, and nature will look triumphant.
can't get on. 33
LETTER X.
Camp, Varna, 21st June 1854.
You will be surprised at finding us still lingering
here ; but in truth the commissariat arrangements
are so incomplete that we may still be detained some
days. We have now one division (the Light one)
encamped nine miles off, west of Varna, at the head
of the Lake, and the first and second divisions en-
camped here. Two regiments of Dragoons, the 5th
and 13th, are gone on about fifteen miles to Devna.
We understand that there will be forty-five miles to
get over without water, which we shall find to be a
great obstacle ; and yet to save Silistria we must do it.
Lord Raglan is expected here with the head-quarters
this morning ; every thing about us shows a tendency
to advance, — the inclination without the power. No-
thing so helpless as an army without transport ; and
our Government has either been grossly deceived, or
has been very neglectful of this important matter.
The French have a division encamped about three
miles off, and I saw Canrobert reviewing them, — very
fine troops indeed. I have also ridden to see the
camp of the Light Division, which is very prettily
situated, with a view of the lake, in a country more
wooded than this is. We are told that the trees dis-
appear a little further on ; so, with no shade and no
D
34 CHARACTER OF OFFICERS.
water, our advance to give battle will be any thing but
a luxury. We staff-officers know nothing of the plan
of campaign ; Lord Raglan, very wisely thinking that
it should be a secret, does" not tell it to any one, ex-
cept perhaps to St. Arnaud. The Turks are making
a brilliant defence of Silistria, which is partly, and
perhaps unjustly, ascribed to the presence of some
English officers who have entered their service.
I observe that you quote a book called ,
which, as I understand you, libels the character of the
English officers. Among them, no doubt, as in other
professions, there may exist some " unmitigated black-
guards,'' as you say ; but believe me, they rarely hold
their ground. The officers as a body are rather com-
monplace, and many of them not a little idle ; but
a body of men who are ready at any moment to
lead their soldiers into fire, and die in performance
of extremely irksome duties, is not to be written down
by a novelist.
The retreat of the Russians fix)m Silistria, and
their gaining the left bank of the Danube, settled at
once the question of the Allies moving up to the banks
of that river, which on the 25th June must have been
frightfully unhealthy, as was too soon discovered when
the French went to the Dobrudscha. The author takes
OVID. 35
for granted that Lord Eaglan could not help the in-
activity of his army, because it had no transport. It
seems probable that at this period the power of the
Commander-in-chief as to controlling the Commissary
was but ill defined. The chaplains were sent to the
army with good pay ; but they were not entitled, like
military officers, to have a soldier as a servant, and
they had great difficulty in procuring any decent man
to attend upon them. With respect to the name
" Tomi," Bayle calls it " Tomes.'' On the maps of
the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge it
is called Tomi, and is placed at the eastern or Black-
Sea end of the Roman wall, close to Kostenjee, an-
cient Constantiana. Ovid was banished thither in the
year of Rome 761, and died there in 771, at about
sixty years of age ; one of his verses begins, " Cur
aliquid vidi ?"
It has been suggested that Ovid detected Augus-
tus in the commission of incest ; but it seems un-
likely, if that was the case, that he would have referred
to it in his verses, which he sent to Rome with pite-
ous prayers for pardon. There is a similar story told
of an Italian painter in the times of the Medici, who
was on a scaffold painting a ceiling : he, however,
prudently feigned sleep ; the prince tried him with a
candle, and a dagger in his hand, but was deceived
by the painter's nerve.
Marshal St. Arnaud, whom the author only saw
y
36 ST. ARNAUD.
on this occasion, and then on horseback, was a short-
ish and rather stout person, with a light complexion.
He seemed immensely pleased with the applause he
received. This approbation would probably have been
very much modified if the soldiers had known any of
his antecedents. St. Arnaud, among other ways, not
so respectable, of gaining his livelihood, came to Lon-
don to teach fencing ; and when he found that the
English did not want to learn fencing, he became a
dancing-master, and it is said a marker at a billiard-
table. He was a most unscrupulous person, and this
quality raised him to the top of his profession ; for
when Napoleon was meditating his coup-d'etat, he
looked out for a proper instrument to command the
army, and he speedily heard of St. Arnaud, — a dash-
ing soldier, of buccaneering nature, crihle de detteSy
who would be willing to risk his head for a million of
francs. At this moment he was in Algiers ; and the
first step taken was to send him on an expedition
against the Kabyles, from which he came back suc-
cessful ; and with this feather in his cap he was
brought to Paris, and there transacted his master's
business, with the fortune we know|i of. Marshal St.
Arnaud was born in 1 798. There has been published
a collection of his letters, beginning in 1831 . In the
year 1815 he became a garde du corps in the com-
pany commanded by the Duke de Grammont ; and
the best thing known about him, as a man, besides
IL AVAIT FAIT DES FARCES. 37
his affection for his family, is a letter which he wrote
to the Duchesse de Grammont, when he got the com-
mand of the Eastern army, in which he said, that al-
though // avaitfait des farces^ yet that he could not
forget the kindness he had received from herself and
from her husband, his old commanding-officer, and
he hoped she would allow her son to become his aide-
de-camp. None are all evil, and this touch of kind-
liness ought to be taken into the account which pos-
terity will hold of the dead St. Amaud.
LETTER XI.
Camp, Varna, 25th June 1854.
This morning we heard of the Russians' retreat
from Silistria, which is very fortunate for Lord
Raglan, as we are not yet ready to advance, and
now perhaps we shall not do so at all.
The climate of the valley of the Danube is so
very bad that I cannot help thinking that so soon
as there is no longer any risk of a direct attack by
the Russians on the line of the Balkan, we shall turn
our attention towards Sebastopol. They say the Rus-
sians suffered much loss in recrossing the Danube. If
they are wise, they will evacuate the Principalities,
which would relieve Austria from the necessity of
acting. Our plain here where we are encamped is
getting quite filled up with troops ; French and Eng-
38 SILISTRIA.
lish arriving every day. At this moment about 5000
Turks are firing 2i.feu dejoie half a mile from my tent ;
no doubt in honour of the success obtained against
the Russians. I know Lord Raglan expected Silistria
would fall every day, and he would have been much
blamed for a loss which he could not help. I suppose
the Russians suffered terribly from disease, and were
also perpetually fearing our advance. Had we got
them on this side of the Danube, they would have
lost a great many prisoners, who could not have
crossed the bridge under our fire. Thank for
his letter. I read Kossuth's speech with admiration
at its eloquence. I do not feel so furiously as some
people about these foreigners, but I always abominated
the partition of Poland. The poor Turks I think I
like better than any of them, perhaps because I know
less about them. I believe they are improving, but
they have a fine long march to make in that direction
before they can be said to be perfect. The most ri-
diculous part of our position here is the way we are
treated by the native servants, Armenians, Greeks,
&c. They get mftney to buy clothes, and then run
away. We caught one of them afterwards, tied him
neck and heels, and sent him to the Pasha, who, by
way of punishment, ordered him back to Constanti-
nople. My English groom is in hospital with fever,
and my five horses and two mules are looked after by
one soldier and two savages. The Presbyterian minis-
WOES OF A PARSON. 39
ter has just been relating his woes. He is paid 16s.
a day and his rations, but is not entitled to a soldier-
servant, and talked of being left behind, and that his
position required certain appearances, &c. &c. ! I re-
marked that the Apostles got on remarkably well with-
out servants, so far as I knew ; and that if all my own
horses died, and servants too, I should go on upon
foot. In the middle of my writing, I am forced to
get up to settle my tent-pegs ; a squall of wind and
rain having set in, threatening the overturn and
swamping of my whole establishment. There is a
brevet coming out, I understand, which will make me
a lieutenant-colonel from length of service.
27th June.
The post goes, we hear, to-morrow. We now be-
lieve the Russians have entirely abandoned this side
of the Danube, and are retreating towards the Pruth.
This Varna is, I believe, the ancient Tomi to which
Ovid was banished, for seeing something wrong done
by Augustus ; he alludes to it in his Tristia, which
were written here, and are filled with rather unmanly
lamentations over his hard fate. Yesterday Marshal
St. Arnaud rode through the camp escorted by twenty
wild Arabs of the Desert, all decorated with the Legion
of Honour. The English troops turned out and treated
him to a loud and hearty cheer. He passed through
again this morning, and I had a good look at the
40 OUR GAME IS SEBASTOPOL.
Arabs, who are dressed in their own country dress,
viz. a red cloak, and a white cloth over their heads,
tied round with a coloured shawl. At a little distance
they look like women ; they carried their swords under
their thighs, to prevent the jingling which our cavalry
make from the scabbard hitting against the spur
and stirrup. In spite of my opinion to the contrary,
people say we are going to advance so soon as the
commissariat report themselves able to feed us. I
do not believe we shall advance much into the in-
terior, if at all, unless they propose to let the army
winter at Bukarest. The report may be spread to
mislead the Russians, as our game is evidently Sebas-
topol. I see Kossuth does not relish the Austrians
joining us ; it upsets all his schemes, but gives far
the best chance of peace. Some of the cavalry under
Cardigan are gone scouring after the retreating enemy,
so that we shall soon get certain intelligence of their
whereabouts.
LETTER XII.
Camp, Aladeen, 4th July 1854.
Since I wrote to you last our division has marched
from Varna here, about ten miles west. Our camp is
on the spur of a hill just over the narrow river which
joins the two Bevna lakes : said river flows through
J'lJi'dAa'S^.lSi^i^.T^liSSiifel-, OrtHaO^,^
fi? ^c^Jicoe *'
TENT IN A MESS. 41
a swampy bottom, which as to its salubrity is doubt-
ful. The Duke of Cambridge has gone to Constanti-
nople, and left us to our own devices. We have no
forage for our horses except barley — no straw or hay.
I have to send our servants and mules all round the
country to cut grass. The preparation for marching,
viz. packing baggage on mules, striking tents, &c.,
is very hard work, especially with our indigenous
hired servants, to whom we cannot speak. My Eng-
lish groom is gone home sick with fever, and the
unbreeclied gentry who form our brigade have no
skill in horse -management; so that I am in a mess,
as you would say, if you could see. It is now half-
past three in the morning. There was a tremendous
storm of hail and rain yesterday, which continued
partially all day and this night, and is now going on
with a truly admirable perseverance. I was absent
when it began. My tent is pitched in a fine garden
loam ; the floor is in consequence at this present
speaking a swamp. Moreover the rain was so fierce
that it came through the roof and wet all my things.
I am now sitting up to my ancles in mud with a pair
of sea-boots on, not having of course taken my clothes
off at all, nor having any prospect of being able to
take up new ground till the rain stops and the sun
has shone for several hours. In these circumstances,
as the post goes at half-past seven, I thought 1 would
solace myself by telling you about Omar Pasha. Yes-
42 DEVNA.
terday, not being on duty, I rode forward a march
to Devna, where the Light Division is encamped. I
took the most northern road, which runs over a
sandy soil, with chalk rocks in many places, and some
singular granite pins, which look like gigantic ruins,
and seem to me to be like Stonehenge, only not in
a plain. There is a very beautiful river at Devna,
with many mills on it, and a good stone bridge, close
to which there stands a wretched khan. General
Airey commands the division in the absence of Sir
G. Brown. I rode up to his tent to call on him, and
found him in a flannel jacket and ditto trousers, only
the latter were red ; a most curious-looking general
indeed. He was waiting the arrival of a cavass to
announce the approach of Omar Pasha, who was ^7»
route to visit Lord Raglan at Varna. After smoking,
drinking coffee, and feeding my horse, the cavass
arrived, and was followed by the body doctor, to say
the great man was near. We all mounted straight-
way and galloped towards the bridge, which we
reached at the same time with the Turk. He was
travelling in a German calash with four horses, the
postillions being dragoons, and a guard of dragoons ;
his wife following in another carriage. Omar Pasha
seems to be about fifty-five years old, with gray
mustaches and beard. A little red fez on his head,
a plain blue frock-coat and gray trousers, was his
garb, without decoration or ornament of any sort.
OMAR PASHA. 43
His face indicates great good sense, and he has a
very pleasing smile ; but although his figure is good,
I suppose he would hardly be called handsome. He
had with him a French Colonel Dieu, and an Eng-
lish engineer officer, Simmons. By their statements
it would appear that the Russians are retiring by
divisions towards Brailow, which is their nearest
point for reaching their own Bessarabia. Before
moving from Silistria, Paskewitsch issued an order of
the day to his army, informing them that in conse-
quence of a movement on the part of Austria he was
compelled to alter the position of his army. The
Russians lost, by Omar Pasha^s calculation, 10,000
killed and 6000 wounded ; and the outwork they
failed to take was of the most contemptible kind, the
ditch only twelve feet wide, so that a good horse
would have jumped it. Their conduct was most
barbarous : the whole garrison except two battalions
was in this outwork ; the inhabitants of Silistria only
numbered 11,000, so that they had no chance of
overpowering the garrison ; yet the Russians shelled
the town cruelly, killing numbers of poor women and
children. Perhaps they injured thus their chance of
taking the place, as the fire spent so brutally might,
if turned on the outwork, have forced the garrison out
of it. Omar Pasha was very unhappy for some days
before they retired, and was of course proportionately
happy when he found the attack finally abandoned.
44 TALK OF AN ARMISTICE.
The chief Russian engineer, General Schilders, lost
his leg, and they had three or four generals killed,
which shows that the officers must have exposed
themselves very much in driving the men to attack.
A treaty was signed at Constantinople on the 12th
ult. between Austria and Turkey, by which the
former is bound, in case Russia should not retire on
the Austrians entreating them to do so, to join the
Allies. I do not believe the Austrian troops have
as yet moved forward; but their intention to do so
is best proved by the retreat of the Russians, whose
army would have been cut off and lost had they per-
severed in besieging Silistria. Except from the chance
of some most unfortunate disagreement among the
Allies, this Austrian advance ought to finish the war.
If our Government can now make a treaty with
Russia of a proper kind, they will deserve much
credit ; meantime it is for us soldiers to be regretted
that we have had no opportunity to give Nicholas a
touch of our quality. Yesterday we received a re-
port from Varna of an armistice. I do not think
that can be granted until the Russians shall have
crossed the Pruth. There will be much time con-
sumed in the arrangements, and an army of occupa-
tion will doubtless be left. After some talk between
our generals and Omar Pasha, the troops, seven
battalions, were ordered out to show him the army :
in twenty minutes they were all under arms, and we
OUTLYING PICKET. 45
had a short review ; the cavalry then came up and
marched about and charged. Omar Pasha asked to
be allowed to head the charge by himself, in order
that he might judge of our pace, with which he was
well pleased. We then rode back to Aladeen, and,
strange to say, had no rain till we got there, when we
found the devastation of our camp ; officers and men
running about naked, having left their clothes under
the doubtful shelter of the tents while they were
making trenches round them to let off the water. I
have just been inspecting the picket, the men com-
posing which are going to march off all wet through
to a spot in the bush about a mile and a half distant,
where they will spend twenty- four hours without
tents ; this is called being on outlying picket, with
the duty of watching our left flank from any pos-
sible advance of the retreating Russians ! Any thing
more thoroughly miserable than the appearance of the
camp at dawn it would be hard to conceive ; and
there are some wretched women with us, poor soldiers'
wives, who have to suffer all this. The hardships
that seamen bear are a joke in comparison, for they
are dry under hatches. A fine sunshiny day would
be of monstrous consequence, but the sky looks for
rain. Now I must call up the servants and send
them off for water and forage and wood, and all the
numerous things which you good people find at your
doors.
46 NO FIGHTING.
LETTER XIII.
Camp, Aladeen, 9th July 1854.
I WROTE to you the other day when we heard of
the retreat of the Russians, since which the English
papers show me that you knew of their discomfiture
before we did ; rumour flies slow in this Bulgaria.
You observe that I anticipated on the 4th* a collision,
while Lord Raglan wrote on the same date that there
would be no fighting. The event shows he was right :
but I could only judge from what I could see ; he had
other sources. It is very unfortunate for the army
that we could not give Nicholas one good kick. The
report here is growing that he has abdicated ; which
step will, I conclude, enable the diplomatists to begin
their ridiculous manoeuvres again. Our division seems
rooted here ; it is not a very good place : the water
is about two miles off ; we send mules with leather
bottles for it, and the men have to walk with their
little canteens and cooking-pots. Yesterday a snake
walked, or rather glided, into my tent, and we had to
bring all my boxes, &c. out to get at him. The nuis-
ance of a tent-life consists principally in the neces-
sity of keeping all one's clothes, books, &c. shut up in
the boxes they travel in ; to get out a pocket-hand-
* Letter of 4th June (No. 7), from Scutari. It is strange to
see how convinced Lord Raglan was that we should have no
fighting.
BREVET. 47
kerchief, a whole portmanteau must be unpacked and
repacked : barring that, the life in a tent during fine
weather is more endurable than life elsewhere. It is
something like being in a ship, except that when you
go overboard you are not obliged to swim. Your
horses are all picketted round you, and yoii see at
one glance your whole possessions. Per contra^ the
servants are very tiresome, as usual : the natives,
whom we hire at exorbitant rates, are continually
running away, and the soldiers getting drunk ; all
which is very confusing, especially if there is any
thing in the way of business to be done. The brevet
promotion which reached here by this mail has pro-
duced a great fuss. Some men go home who want to
stay, and others stay who would gladly have got back
to England. I am to be called Lieutenant - Colonel
for the future. I do not intend to return home, how-
ever ; my face is not set to that airt of the compass.
The diplomatists cannot work without having an
army here at present. Where shall we pass the
winter ? Schumla ? Bukarest ? Scutari ? or shall we,
after all, go to Crim-Tartary ? There's wale of places
besides Circassia, and our own will has nothing to do
in it. Three or four penmen will arrange it all. One
thing is certain ;* we shall not live in tents in the
* Not quite certain, as it turned out. Our friend is reckoning
without somebody whom the Commissioners have discovered
and exposed.
48 NOT IN TENTS IN THE WINTER.
winter, but either in houses or in mud-huts which we
shall construct for ourselves. The next two months
must settle that ; for the weather sets in bad very
early in autumn, and the roads become impassable.
The post will still go, however, and affectionate
thoughts will find their way. Even if the letters are
lost, they will still be believed in.
LETTER XIV.
Camp, Aladeen, Sunday, 16th July 1854.
I RODE over on Thursday to Devna, to inquire
after , and found him in his tent. He had re-
turned two days before from an extensive, patrol on
the banks of the Danube. He saw Cossacks across
the river at Rassova, and a large force of Russians
opposite Silistria. He described his excursion as very
interesting, though he had to sleep on the ground
without a tent all the time. They had a great many
sore backs.* As- to our campaign, we have reason to
think from conversations with navy officers that there
is a probability we may again be embarked. There
are three places possible, viz. Kostengi, — which is
only thirty miles from the Danube, at the east end
of Trajan's wall, — Anapa, or Sebastopol. We have
• This was the cavalry-patrol under Lord Cardigan.
WHERE SHALL WE GO ? 49
no means of knowing what force the Russians have
in the Crimea; hut Lord Eaglan has probably some
information. Without a large force, — that is, all
the Frenchmen as well as the English, — we dare not
venture there.^ The risk of a catastrophe to Eng-
land's only army would be too great. At the same
time, it is the only way to bring Russia effectually to
reason ; and if the English Minister is in earnest, he
must do it sooner or later. My own idea is, that
the Government are afraid of the enterprise, and still
hope to negotiate. With that belief, I guess we shall
be landed at Kostengi, threatening Brailow, and win-
tering at the mouth of the Danube ; which river, if
we could clear it of Russian gunboats, and deepen the
entrance, would be of wondrous use to us in conveying
supplies.-|- The siege-train is arrived at Varna. We
in camp here lead the most monotonous life imagin-
able, varied sometimes by scenes with the commissary.
You, I suppose, know that the commissary makes
contracts with natives, bakers and butchers, for the
supply of the troops : these commissaries often labour
under the suspicion of being too friendly with the
* It turned out that we had not enough in mere numbers.
The common rule is three times the enemy's force for a siege:
three times 40,000 = 120,000, — that is the number we ought to
have taken.
t This was of course with the idea of remaining in Bul-
garia.
E
50 BREA.D ! A BOARD !
contractor ; sometimes they are suspected of being
bribed to pass indifferent provisions — sometimes do-
ing so out of laziness. A commissary here has been
taking hberties lately. I will tell you the story. The
bread is inspected by a regimental Quartermaster before
it is issued ; and if he should object to the quality,
the regulation is that the commissary should apply for
a board of officers to decide. On a late occasion, the
bread being objected to, this commissary, instead of
calling for a board, posted off with a loaP in his
hand, and got the General to taste, and declare the
bread capital, and the complaint unfounded. (N.B.
the soldier pays for it ; and the duty of all officers is
to protect the soldiers' interest.) Shortly after, the
bread was again objected to ; and a staff-officer as-
sembled a board, armed with the proceedings of which
he attacked the commissary, and forced him to make
a new issue. The commissary, being ryled at this,
went off to the General, and got a new board to sit
and condemn the proceedings of the first one, so as to
compel the troops to take the bad bread. One of our
brigade-majors heard of the new board, and sKpped
down accidentally to the commissary's tent, and
dropped into his august presence while he was enter-
taining the board and getting their palates into order.
* We afterwards discovered that there were two sorts of
bread, made by different bakers ! Probably it was the good
bread which the General tasted.
WEATHER AND SICKNESS. 51
previous to the inspection, by exhibiting cheese and
brandy. The field-officer who was president of the
board will not soon hear the end of his taste for
brandy and cheese.
Since writing the above, I have had some reason
to think that we shall attempt Anapa, — an enter-
prise for which I believe the English themselves are
strong enough. Fairly landed in Circassia, Schamyl
will, I suppose, join us. I see the Government at
home is very shaky, and most likely by this time is
out. I hope the war will be prosecuted vigorously,
let who will be the Minister. This is England's
opportunity ; we shall not easily get another army
to Turkey. Being here, however, this one may be
strengthened ; and indeed we expect immediately
an addition of 600 men to this division. There
is as yet but small sickness in the army ; the bad
season has scarcely begun, and we have not moved
near enough to the Danube to feel the full force
of the malaria. The heat has not been very in-
tense except on a few occasions, and the nights are
always cool. It is now 11 o'clock a.m., and the
thermometer is 77° in my tent ; but, per contra, two
of my servants are ill of fever. One of C.'s mules
drowned himself two or three days ago ; I believe from
ennui. The newspapers come rather irregularly, but
the letters seem now safe. We have two London
post-office clerks, — one at Stamboul, the other at
52 BEARDS.
Varna, — and they have already organised what was
very disorganised. If we go east, you will get earlier
news by letters than " our own correspondents*' can
send, for I do not believe they will be allowed to
embark ; at least they should not do so if I had
power to stop them. From the Danube you will
hear every tiling almost as soon as ourselves, and
probably with greater accuracy. Some of the French
who marched by Adrianople to this neighbourhood
describe the country as most beautiful ; they say that
they marched for days under the shade of large trees.
Here there are scarcely any; only dwarf acacia-bushes,
which I think must make the ground damp and un-
healthy. If we can only bring our men sound into
line opposite the Russians, I have no doubt of the
result, although who may live to tell the tale is very
questionable. The beard-movement is making pro-
gress in this army. Lord Raglan has made up his
mind to take no notice of hair, and so I have put by
my razors for the present. There does not seem any
chance of the militia being called on to volunteer ; to
the regret, I dare say, of the young officers, who, having
tasted the idleness and excitement of soldiering, would
like to try the real article. The striking character of
our proceedings hitherto has been dulness ; we have
not even had any marching ; only ten miles have we
marched as yet ; and the Highlanders did that much
better than the Guards, that is to say, fewer men
SEBASTOPOL AGAIN. 53
fell out ; only eighteen or twenty out of 2500 did not
come in together ; of the Guards, 180 dropped to the
rear. The poor women are most to be pitied ; they
have no carriage allotted to them ; and if they get
on a baggage-wagon, it is only on sufferance and by
winking ; miserable wretches, and a most depraved
set too. The soldiers are behaving very well, except
in the article of drink, which they cannot resist, and
I must say they do not carry their liquor like gentle-
men. Drink is the only Christian vice we have much
chance of indulging in here ; gluttony is out of the
question ; and there is not a woman visible, I suppose,
nearer than at Bucharest. If we should winter in
Circassia, there will, however, most likely be some
transactions of which I shall keep you informed.
17th July.
Papers of the 3d are in camp. Lord Aberdeen
seems to have put himself right, and more army is
coming ; so I suppose we shall certainly try to do some-
thing. I believe that all the fleet and all the trans-
ports now in the Bosphorus are to rendezvous here on
the 28th, to carry us somewhere. When I took leave
of Lord Hardinge, I told him that I hoped he would
let us have a try at Sebastopol. If we can but hit a
blow before the winter sets in, our dear Bull will be
pleased. The animal has no notion of waiting till we
are ready.
54 MAKING FASCINES.
This is the last letter from Aladeen. The march
really took place on the 27th and 28th ; the Guards
on the first day. There had been some cases of cho-
lera ; the swamp between the lakes began to tell, and
the surgeons wished to have a change for their men.
Gevrekler was the name of the new camp ; and the
situation was much more healthy than Aladeen, but
the seeds of disease were laid there, which broke out
at the new camp. Devna also had proved very un-
healthy.
LETTER XV.
Camp Aladeen, 2Sd July 1854.
A VERY few words, for my time is much taken up.
We march to-morrow ; apparently a move towards the
Danube. But it is only a blind ; I think you may
depend upon it that we are to embark very shortly,
and to be landed somewhere close to Odessa. They
have been making fascines at Varna, and preparations
for entrenching. You know that in landing we shall
have to do so in the face of an enemy ; and as we can-
not all land at first, there will be some sharp fighting
till we can get ourselves entrenched. This operation
will efiectually compel the Russians to clear out of the
Principalities and come down on us, and we shall
have a great battle, that will be told of in history.
It is now, I believe, certain that the news of our
NEW CAMP. 55
arrival at Varna was the cause of the raising of the
siege of Silistria.
LETTER XVI.
Gevrekler, Bulgaria, 28th July 1854.
The place I date from is only five miles from Ala-
deen, from whence we marched this morning ; some
cases of cholera in the camp, as well as feverish attacks,
led the doctors to wish for a move. It is a flat place
on the top of a hill, with nothing remarkable about it
except the absence of inhabitants, and want of cultiva-
tion. A camp is a camp, place it where you will. No
events have occurred to speak of; the badness, or
" badderness," of our dinner seems generally what is
of most consequence. If we can judge by signs, our
leaders are planning some enterprise ; if we believe
what we hear, nothing whatever will be done this
autumn, and we shall have to look out immediately
for winter quarters. I am inclined to think they will
try something ; but that is a mere opinion. It requires
first that St. Arnaud should agree on a plan with Lord
Raglan ; and it is quite likely the Frenchman is in no
hurry, as his pay and allowances are large, and he
would be a loser by concluding the war too soon, or in-
deed at all ; doubtless he wishes it to last for the term
of his natural life, I see some Evening Mails occa-
sionally, and the Leader. We are all growing beards,
5() A BRIGADE ORDER.
and looking very wild and ragged ; tattered and torn
with riding through the bushes ; but the army cannot
be called unhealthy as yet, though we have several
deaths daily in our division — out of 7000 men, that is
to say. The worst season is, however, now approaching,
and we have no right to expect we shall escape what
has been every one's lot hitherto who has campaigned
in these parts. I send you my last composition.
"BRIGADE ORDERS.
Highland Brigade Office, Camp Ge?rgkler, 28th July.
No. 1. — No wood is to be cut near any of the
springs, as the want of shade will dry them up. This
order is to be read to the men at the two next pa-
rades. No persons are to wash themselves or their
clothes in the springs to the rear of the camp ; neither
are horses to be watered there. There is water suit-
able for this latter purpose in front, near some large
trees. Commanding-Officers are requested to take
steps to cause these orders to be strictly attended to.
The 79 th and 93d Highlanders will furnish a bayonet
sentry each during daylight over the two springs in
the rear to prevent washing or watering horses there.
A bower* will be made for these two sentries by the
* These bowers were made by cutting down bushes and
green boughs, which were stuck in the ground: the sun was thus
kept off, while the breeze came through, and made a much cooler
place than a tent
STILL MOTIONLESS. 57
above-mentioned regiments, one near each spring ; and
a fatigue-party from the 4 2d Highlanders will clear
the troughs early to-morrow morning. This duty
will be performed daily by the regiments in rotation.
Commanding-Officers will order a bower over each of
the regimental cooking-places, as well as one near each
of their hospital- tents, &c. &c."
Such is soldiering ; striving to keep the mere re-
quisites for living in a decent condition. The men
have to cut their own firewood for themselves with
blunt bill - hooks, besides pitching tents, making
ditches round them, cooking, washing their clothes,
turning out clean for parade, and doing fatigue-duties
continually for commissaries, engineers, staff-officers,
&c. Here comes a storm of thunder and rain ! Quick !
drive in more tent-pegs, and shut up the tent ; see all
the tackle in good order for a blow ; put water-decks
on the horses, and do not let the rain put out the
kitchen-fire. It is dripping in on my pillow ; so I will
put a water-deck over that.
LETTER XVn.
Camp, Gevrekler, 4th August 1854.
Still motionless. It is very like a calm at sea ;
sweeping up the decks, and keeping the ship clean,
58 SICKNESS.
and the men in health. I am sorry to say we have
already begun to have disease, — cholera, fever, and
dysentery ; not as yet very fierce, but of the cholera-
cases few recover. The preparations for an embarka-
tion still go on ; and my belief is still that we shall
go to Odessa, or that neighbourhood : an army landed
there would compel the Russians to retire from the
Principalities, for it would be on their rear. There
has been a fight between Bashi-Bazooks and Cossacks
in the Dobrudscha, in which the latter were victorious,
and a French colonel has been killed. The mail came
in last night, bringing English papers of l7th July.
We expect to have to sell or shoot our baggage-ani-
mals, and burn most of our baggage, when we embark.
Perhaps the commissariat may offer 10^. a piece for
mules* which I paid near 40/. each for. You see we
go to war at our own charges, contrary to the ortho-
dox maxims. I have been unwell ; a devil of a walk
on duty, which I had in the wet one night lately, set
my bile all wrong ; but it is past away, and I hope
that sickness will spare me to strike a blow for old
England before I quit the scene. Here there is no-
thing and none to interest me. It is more- solitary
than being alone. None of my quondam acquaint-
ances in England ever write to me ; but I see the
papers, and occasionally read of your doings, — the
* The author's two mules were afterwards sold to the Rus-
sians in the Crimea for 4/. each.
PREPARATION. 59
ministerial ones, I mean, — said ministry very shaky.
They are waiting for my note ; so I close. We shall
not embark for some days ; and if I hear any thing,
or indeed if I hear nothing, I shall probably write a
line to show I am still on this side of the cholera.
LETTER XVIII.
Camp, Gevrekler, 8th August 1854.
We have had a good deal of sickness in camp ;
so much that our strength in this division would be
diminished for battle by 800 men, which is not far
from a sixth — a serious consideration. The diseases
are cholera, fever, diarrhoea, and dysentery. The
days are not so very hot, but the nights are cold out
of proportion ; and I imagine the sudden changes of
the temperature must be the proximate cause of dis-
ease ; then we must remember that the men lie on
the ground ; and of course the recoveries are retarded
by want of comfort. The note of preparation sounds
all round us. I hear the gabions we are making, at
the rate of 3000 a day, are sent to Varna, and em-
barked, which looks like a siege. We all wait in an
apathetic manner for orders to move, which will come
no doubt the moment the necessary preparations can
be made. A number of the Edinburgh liemew has
wandered out here, containing a masterly account of
60 ATTACKS ON OFFICERS.
the diplomatic part of the war. This is the first book
I have read since I left England ; my only other one
is Shakespeare, which comes to hand at all odd mo-
ments. I see some severe attacks on officers in the
papers, which give me pain. Those in question seem
to have been behaving like schoolboys, and I suppose
are very young. We have just received an order to
take mustaches into wear, with particular explana-
tions how the beard is to be shaved, — a regular topi-
ary work ; with a special proviso that we in this army
are to do as we like ; that is, not shave at all. It is
very probable we may be embarked before I can write
again. I hope we may do something for the honour
of old England and the detriment of old Nick. I will
not give up the cooperation of Austria as hopeless ;
on the contrary, I believe she will advance as soon
as we do. There is an article in the Times about
Captain Butler, who died of his wounds, rather mak-
iug out that he, who was on half- pay by his own wish
and in search of adventures, deserves more credit than
we who stick to the dull prosy work of looking after
our men's health and comfort in a tiresome camp. If
leave could have been had, there would have been
dozens of officers at Silistria ; but they were wanted
at their posts, where some of them have already died
by disease, — who will get no paragraph of praise,
although cool waiting for an attack of cholera shows
much more true courage than behaving well before the
WHO SAVED SILISTRIA ? 61
enemy. No one says a word about the Turkish go-
vernor who was killed, or his successor, the responsible
person, who really saved the place, or poor Omar
Pasha, who had nerve enough not to advance, and
risk his army in a battle with the Russians. I be-
lieve that is all I have to say, unless I were to enter
into an account of our domestic fights with the com-
missary, when he tries any thing we do not approve
of on our men. These scenes are often ludicrous
enough, although sand in the bread and the sugar is
any thing but a subject for laughter. I have invari-
ably found the commissary disposed to defend his
contractor.
LETTER XIX.
Camp, Gevrekler, 15th August 1854.
You say we are to take Sebastopol.* It may
be so ; but I do not yet feel sure that will be our
point of attack. Unless our leaders are performing
a gigantic sham, we certainly are going somewhere,
but not instantly, because people get leave now for
ten days ahead. We know that the Turks are in
Bucharest ; ergo the Russians have continued their
retreat ; ergo the Austrians mean to advance ; if so,
* The decision of the Government to attack Sebastopol
seems from this to have been known in England at least on
the 1st August.
62 DOBRUDSCHA.
the Anglo-French at Odessa would be in a more
attacking position than at Sebastopol. The French
have made a most disastrous advance into the Do-
brudscha, and have returned witlk. a loss by disease
of 7000 men.* General was obliged to have
a guard with fixed bayonets to save him from his
own men, and it is said he "has attempted suicide.
Varna has been half burned, and many stores de-
stroyed ; 300,000 lbs. of barley and 168,000 rations
of biscuit gone. Our sick increases gradually as the
season goes on, and we lose men daily by cholera and
fever ; we have also lost officers, the two seniors of
the 79th Highlanders. Elliot I was rather intimate
with ; he was only married a short time before he
embarked, and his poor wife, now twenty-two years
old, will be confined in December. All his money
lost with his commission, and the most she can hope
for is a pension of 80/. a year. We buried him on
the 13th on a woody hill looking over the lake and
the Black Sea ; and I sat on a stone and made
A Sonnet.
On far Bulgarian hills I hear the solemn strain :
From the sad Highland pipes to eastern skies
* The accounts of this movement were most deplorable.
The very men who were digging graves for their comrades often
fell dead in the midst of the work — in fact, dug their own graves,
like monks of La Trappe, although not from the same motive.
COLONEL ELLIOT. 63
His native dirges mournfully arise,
Lending an echo to the distant main,
Beyond whose bounds the young bride looks in vain,
And longs and hopes, with watching tearful eyes,
Till hope be drowned in unavailing sighs,
For many a weary day of widowed pain.
Dig deep his grave in this wild woody bank.
And gather flowers to make a fragrant bed ;
Stoop, kilted warriors, in a sorrowing rank
The while we scatter ashes on his head,
Bidding farewell. Comrades, his task is o'er ;
While we must work till fate shall say, " No more."
I was quite touched when I looked into the grave,
and saw that the poor soldiers had of their own
tenderness filled it with wild flowers. We are ffoino;
away from here in two or three days ; the Guards
march to-morrow, and we are to camp after three
days' march on the south side of Varna Bay. I be-
lieve it is merely a move to divert the men's minds.
Lord Westmoreland writes that Count Buol had
given up hopes of peace, and declared that the
soldiers must settle it ; which fiat, however, docs not
necessarily involve any very vigorous action this
autumn. The French are much dilapidated, and I
can quite imagine it possible that nothing may be
done till spring. The commissariat is very bad. To
carry on this affair you must discard economy,
especially when transport or food for the troops is in
question. At this moment I see lying before me a
64 NOT TO CARRY PACKS.
complaint that the commissary has no straw for the
sick. There are too many forms, too much time lost
in obtaining any object, however important. The
Guards are very much more unhealthy than we are,
and do not march as well. When we marched from
Varna to Aladeen, only twenty of the Highlanders
who started with the column did not march in with
it ; of the Guards one hundred and fifty at least were
behind. Now I hear on this new march the Guards
are to have their packs carried for them, — a most
fatal blunder, and the beginning of blunders. We
shall refuse for our men, as they are perfectly fit to
carry their packs, and do not wish to be separated
from their property. I am afraid we shall have to
leave some sick behind in this camp — only seven or
eight. The French pillaged cruelly during the fire
at Varna, as did some English who were drunk, but
others behaved very well, and stuck to the powder-
magazine and saved it.* So many officers, staff and
others, are going home sick, that it is not unlikely I
may be ofiered some other situation ; but I cannot
leave C. It is very strange how the English public
* Mr. M'Bean, now Adjutant of the 93d, behaved so well,
and saved so much Turkish property from plunder, that the
Turkish Government sent him the order of the Medjidie, which
he was not allowed to accept, as it was not gained before the
enem}% that being the condition upon which British officers are
allowed to wear foreign orders.
RIGHTS OF WOMEN. 65
persuaded themselves we were on the Danube ; I
never thought we should go there from the moment
the Russians abandoned this bank, which I believe
they did from the dread of fighting us with the river
behind them ; they would have all been taken prisoners
had we won the day. Strategically speaking, the cap-
ture of Sebastopol would not affect the campaign ;
the troops in the Crimea cannot go any where by sea,
nor march by land, to assist the rest of the Russian
army. If the Austrians attack in front, and we roll
up their left wing, we should do them much more
mischief; and Sebastopol can always be taken when
the time can be spared for the operation. No doubt
it would affront the Czar and give us a good port ; but
I shall not believe we are to try it this autumn till I
find myself landed there. It looks more as if we were
waiting here till the Austrians have advanced so far
that the two attacks shall be simultaneous. If they
are so, the movement will be irresistible, and we shall
winter in Odessa, with the Russians behind the Pruth,
and the Austrians in Moldavia. You seem occupied
by Mrs. and the rights of women. I do not
think those rights practically so little respected as
she maintains. It is true that drunken brutes beat
their wives, and sometimes sober scoundrels use them
ill ; but they are drunk, and are scoundrels, and are
acknowledged to be so. The young men had not
much to do who drew me ; they will be diverted now
66 TO VARNA AGAIN.
by a new uniform, which, I hear, has been contrived
for them. Poor boys, they have not much amuse-
ment here, and are really very well-behaved.
August 16th.
I do begin to think that, after all, we shall go
to Sebastopol. The French losses are exaggerated,
1700 dead and 3000 in hospital. The expedition to
embark, as I hear, will be 45,000 French and 25,000
English. The first batch that lands any where will
have a tight battle to hold their ground ; but if we
get 20,000 Englishmen ashore, they will not be
easily chawed up. Part of our division marched this
morning towards Varna.
LETTER XX.
Camp, GevrCkler, 18th August 1854.
Part of our division marched yesterday, and with
it one of our regiments which ought not to have gone,
as Lord Raglan said when he heard of it. There has
been a great difficulty about transport, and now more
so, as the officers commanding the Guards persuaded
Lord Raglan to let them have their packs carried ; and
Lord Raglan, having agreed to that, was compelled to
order all the others to have theirs carried likewise.
Our Highlanders (42d), particularly indignant, ap-
PACKS OFF. 67
peared on parade with their packs on their shoulders.
This dreadful fact was immediately reported to the
Assistant- Adjutant -General, Colonel Gordon, who
galloped up to the 4 2d, and ordered the foaming
Cameron to take off his men's packs.* The regiment
was delayed two hours in the sun, while stowing the
packs on mules and ponies. I often think of the se-
cret confided to me by an old brother officer of mine,
Johnny Marsh, who had served in the Peninsula, and
whose experience was given to me in the concrete :
" Never, if you can help it, be brigaded with the
Guards/' The cholera has been very bad in the fleet,
especially in the French one. Admiral Bruat's ship
lost 153 men in sixty hours. Lord Raglan keeps his
* Colonel Cameron received the order to be on the appointed
ground at a certain hour, and also to have the men's knapsacks
packed upon mules ; but he found that if he attempted to com-
ply with the latter order, he would be too late for the time at
which he was ordered to be on the ground from whence the
column was to march. He therefore decided on letting the
soldiers carry their packs, not being aware of the importance
attached to this scheme of employing mules. After the three
battalions of Guards and the 42d marched, taking all the trans-
port with them, which was on the 16th, Sir Colin Campbell was
obliged, by his own activity and that of his interpreter, to collect
native arabas, which could not be got in sufficient numbers till
the 21st. Not a single cart was sent to us from "Varna. Each
mule could only carry six packs, or about 100 mules for a bat-
talion of additional transport, or carts in proportion, to execute
this unsoldierlike plan.
68 A GEITTLEMAN.
secret well, I am happy to say ; somewhere we are
surely going as soon as every thing is ready. The
idea is, that the Russians are 60,000 strong in the
Crimea. If we go there with 70,000, the operation
is pretty serious ; for the Russians will be strongly
entrenched, and the storming their works will be
murderous, but certain to succeed with such soldiers
as we have here. We have now 300 sick in our bri-
gade, but we have only lost thirty-five men dead since
we came to Turkey, without counting the officers. I
see there is an amusing article in the Times, laughing
at our Adjutant-General's order about dress, white
collars, &c. ; he does not write well, it must be con-
fessed. The fact is, that almost every one wears a
flannel shirt, red, blue, or gray, and those who dislike
shaving, do not shave at all. General Bentinck of the
Guards, who shaves, professes that he does it to look
like a gentleman. I suggested that Philip Sidney
and Raleigh, Shakespeare and Co. were very pretty
gentlemen, and yet wagged their beards. I suppose,
however, he would not call Shakespeare a gentleman,
even if shaved. The business is horrible, and, I
believe, in the worst intention that could be imputed.
Some fifty years ago, among the farming people of
Ireland, abduction was thought rather a joke ; I sup-
pose the poor women were used to it. I am going to
ride into Varna, where I have not been for a month,
just to look at the fire, or rather at its effects. If
BEGIN TO EMBARK. 69
this war continues, as seems likely, I shall very pos-
sibly receive a higher appointment, when all the men
of interest are provided for. The only difficulty is se-
parating from C, unless he gets promoted also, which
may occur.
LETTER XXL
Camp, Galata, on the south side of Varna Bay,
24th August 1854.
We have been marching for three days, arid are
now camped in a very beautiful spot close to the sea,
but very high, with many trees. It is near, and a
little to the south of, the place where we were landed
on the 14th (same as described in Letter IX.). Wal-
nuts, wild pears, and cherry-trees. There are so many
troops camped about us, and so many horses, that
water is hard to come by, and there is literally no-
thing to be bought ; my breakfast is dry ration -bread
made of rye and sand, with tea, but no milk. They
have begun embarking the artillery guns ; the men
and horses bring them to the wharf, and go back to
their camp, where they can get water. We cannot
find out when the infantry is to embark ; but that we
are to embark and go somewhere is certain. It is as-
serted that the Russians have not more than 50,000
men in the Crimea ; so that with our 60 or 70,000
French and English, and some thousand Turks, we
70 CLIMATE.
ought to lick them handsomely, if they give battle ;
but should they retire behind their entrenchments,
there will be some sharp fighting. The common idea
is, that we shall land on the north side of Sebastopol,
and get possession of a fort which is situated there,
from whence we should be able to bombard the fleet
and town. If we succeed in destroying the ships, even
should we fail in taking the town, we should effect a
good deal for Turkey ; but the thing will not be com-
plete unless we take the town, and winter there. I
cannot myself feel sure that we are going to Sebas-
topol at all ; a short time must decide it. There is a
strong north wind blowing at present, which would
hinder a disembarkation on the west side of the
Crimea. We have had a good many deaths among
the officers, and many have gone home sick ; all are
tired of this inactivity. The weather has become
cooler, and they say the sickly season is nearly over ;
but I see the men pulling the wild pears and cherries
all round them, which will certainly make some of
them sick, and that will be laid to the climate. Pro-
perly speaking, I do not believe there is any thing
the matter with the climate ; if we all lived in houses,
and had good food, I will be bound to say there would
not be more sick than in England. Meantime the
regiment has been quite disorganised by the
death and sickness of officers ; there is not one re-
maining with the regiment who has been more than
RIGHT IN FRONT. 7l
six years in the service ; a tenth of the men dead,
and the rest got so frightened, that they gave up
cleaning their horses. The Highland Brigade is con-
sidered healthy in the army ; but the Guards are
sickly and dispirited, and accordingly have lost three
times as many as we have, and very likely will go on
losing in that proportion, should the sickness con-
tinue. I think I told you about their marching with-
out packs, and the Commander-in-Chief forcing us to
do the same, to the disgust of men and officers. It
is a bad speculation to be in the same division with
the Guards ; they are always on the right by virtue
of their seniority ; they do not take detachment-duty,
which falls on the left brigade. Then the march is
usually right in front. On the march, those who
come last have to sweep up baggage and sick and
ammunition, and have a good deal of dirty work to
do ; so that, in fairness, the brigades should be or-
dered to march day about, left and right in front.
We have the resource, the native Englishman's privi-
lege, of grumbling. If there is another post before we
go, I shall write ; after that event, we shall be landed
in forty- eight hours, and who can tell what our lot
may be ? Victorious as an army,, I feel convinced ; but
who will be able to write, is another matter, on which
it is bootless to speculate.
72 A BIRD OF PREY.
LETTER XXII.
Camp, Galata Burnu, 28th August 1854.
I GIVE now the proper name; which is indeed
that of the cape which makes the south corner
of Varna Bay. Preparation goes on fast and furi-
ous ; embarking artillery, gabions, fascines, horses.
Those who are only waiting to embark have not
much to amuse them, except reading the papers.
Sometimes in the same paper we find we are in the
Crimea and on the Danube. Lord Raglan says
nothing, and I do not believe it is absolutely fixed
where we are to land ; we shall sweep along the
Russian coast like a mighty bird of prey, and swoop
where we find a quiet place for landing. Once landed,
and the French and English in line, I have no doubt ;
but I consider we are going to begin a winter cam-
paign, including the siege, and that, even if victorious
in a short time and more easily than now seems
likely, we shall winter there. Possibly I may write
once more from on board ship, as I suppose there will
be a floating post-office. After landing I can think
that it will not be easy to write or send letters. All
the cavalry is to go, I now hear ; so I hope will
have the opportunity of seeing some service and of
distinguishing himself; and that all the army may,
by its carriage, wipe out the memory of the disgraces
come to light in their barrack-life. Practical jokes I
PRACTICAL JOKES. 73
have myself always objected to. When I was young
I was in a regiment where some such absurdities as
we hear of took place, and I announced my intention
of stopping it on the first opportunity ; this soon
occurred from an officer in joke pulling off my spec-
tacles. I immediately called him out ; and he was
obliged to apologise before the whole mess ; which
transaction cured the disease completely. The peace-
people have made some absurd rule, interdicting this
rough practical method, and I trace to that order
much of the irregularity now occurring. However, the
order would come to nothing if such indignities were
attempted on the right man ; for he would call his in-
sulter out, and take the chance of what might be done
to him afterwards ; moreover, all the sensible people
in the regiment would back him. The young officers
are like schoolboys, and I do not much care about
their freaks ; the ugly part of the matter is, that the
older officers do not give straightforward evidence.
Mr. — , I have no doubt, was a person whom they all
wished to get rid of ; he was at any rate a goose ; for
if he chose to take refuge in a complaint to his com-
manding-officer, he should have done so officially ;
then the colonel must have attended to him, or have
left him the option of sending his complaint direct to
the general officer commanding the district. The
regiment ought to be broken up, and new officers ap-
pointed to it. I never had a quarrel in my life ; and
74 A PROCLAMATION.
in the affair I alluded to was not in the least angry :
the man meant nothing ; I acted on principle. The
poor fellow was killed at Chillianwallah, at the head
of the regiment.
The 23d and 24th Letters were written on board
the Emeu steam -transport, commanded by Captain
Small, a most intelligent and agreeable gentleman.
The space of time embraced is from the evening of
the 29th, when the 1st Division was embarked, till
the 13th September, on which day the orders to dis-
embark in the Crimea were issued. Before leaving
Varna, there appeared a sort of proclamation or gene-
ral order, stating that it was decided to invade the
Crimea ; a most unnecessary publication, which in all
probability was despatched forthwith by boat to Odessa
and to Sebastopol by Russian spies. The author was
summoned at 9 p.m., on Thursday the 28th August,
to take orders for embarking his brigade the following
morning. It would have been just as easy to give two
days' notice. The place where the orders were taken
was at General Bentinck's tent, about a mile and
a half from that of Sir Colin Campbell. General
Bentinck was the senior, and the Duke was on board ;
so there was a mile and a half to ride, a very long
and minute order to be taken down ; then a mile and
ORDERS. 75
a half back, after which the order had to be read to
Sir Colin, and the adjutants to be summoned, who
had then to copy the orders, to communicate them to
the commanding-officers of their respective battalions,
occupying them half the night, for no assignable
reason. Nothing could surpass the kindness and
activity of the navy officers whose duty it was to
embark the troops. The author, in Letter XXIIL,
supposes that the troops would be disembarked and
entrenched, and that the transports would immedi-
ately return for all the animals left behind. Why
this was not done, has never been explained in a
satisfactory manner. In the 24th Letter, the author
makes his first remark upon the number of brigadiers
found by the Guards, which evil was afterwards in-
creased ; a matter very fully entered into in this work.
It is so difficult to explain this question to civilians,
that the repetition must be pardoned, supposing the
complaint to be well founded.
LETTER XXIIL
Steam-transport Emeu, Varna Bay,
2d September 1854.
In my last I told you we were very near our time
for embarking. The order came very suddenly, in the
middle of the night, and a precious job they made of
76 HISTORICAL FACT.
it. However, the whole army may be said to be on
board, with the exception of some thousand horses
and mules, which are left on the hill-side to take
their chance, and that but a poor one. I have left, of
my own property, horses and mules to the value of
235^. The order to the army to invade the Ciimea
is out, and is now an historical fact. The fleet and
transports rendezvous at Balchick Bay, some fifteen
miles north of Varna, from whence 900 sail of ships,
great and small, will start in a body for an unknown
point of disembarkation. Among these there will
be more than 100 large English steamers. The in-
fantry will land by divisions ; first the Light Division,
and then the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th. I make out
24,000 rank and file, besides sergeants, bands, offi-
cers, &c., and sixty guns, with five regiments of
Light Cavalry. It is evident from the orders given
that our leaders expect to land without any opposi-
tion. We are to carry nothing on shore with us ex-
cept ammunition and three days' provisions ; and I
suppose it is intended to throw up entrenchments
until the ships can return and bring the remainder of
the baggage, horses, mules, &c. The French army
in Turkey, nominally 80,000 strong, is sadly reduced.
Canrobert's division of Zouaves and Chasseurs de Vin-
cennes amounted to 13,000 men ; it is doubted whe-
ther he can bring 4000 men into the field. The dif-
ference in the health of the two armies is very credit-
AT SEA. 77
able to the English officers, and shows that they have
attended with much care and judgment to the com-
fort and discipline of their men.
We are now on the crest of the wave, just going
to take the plunge ; there has not been sent such an
expedition from England since that unfortunate one
under Lord Chatham. Considering the distance from
home, it is very well done, and the troops are full of
heart. Prosit ! I do not think writing will be pos-
sible ; if we fight, it will be all in the papers. The
story of England's prowess will make a page in his-
tory, which tells all but the important part, viz. the
millions of thoughts, hopes, desires, and despairs, liv-
ing till the last moment in the human units making
up an army. In the cold bivouac, or when the bul-
lets are whistling round me, I shall have my share of
these.
LETTER XXIV.
Emeu steam-transport at sea, ninety miles
west of Cape Tarkan, in the Crimea,
8th September 1854.
We are now very near our landing-place, they say;
but, indeed, no one knows. We set out from Balchick
Bay yesterday, and made a very imposing spectacle.
So many ships, perhaps, never sailed together in one
organised body before. Last night there was a bright
78 WHERE SHALL WE LAND ?
full moon, and we saw the ships almost as plain as
by day. The look-out man on Cape Chersonese will
lift up his hands with astonishment when he sees us.
Sunday, 10th September.
At anchor about sixty miles west of Cape Tarkan,
and 110 from Cape Chersonese, that is, Sebastopol.
The whole fleet, French and English, anchored
last night, of course out of sight of land, but nearer
Odessa than any other place. The report is, that we
sail again this afternoon, and make land somewhere
to-morrow morning ; who knows in what part of Rus-
sia ? Cholera is on board ; we have lost six men by
it since we embarked, and one fell overboard in his
sleep. No one seems to be much alarmed. We are
to land without tents ; in fact, men and officers with
no more than each can carry ; sleep on the ground al
fresco. It sounds uncomfortable, especially if we are
under fire all the time, as is likely ; for I cannot be-
lieve that the Russians will not make a vigorous de-
fence. However, I do not wish to be any where else
than where I am. With regard to the regi-
ment, about which you write, I can assure you that
the whole military society with which I am acquainted
condemns the habits prevailing in that ill-regulated
corps as much as you could do. The cowardly pre-
varication of the officers when examined is the real
blot ; all the rest is a trifle, I think. Mr. , I dare
BRIGADIERS. 79
say, was a muff of a disagreeable sort, who fell among
a vulgar set of people, who took vulgar means to rid
themselves of him. The result must be, that those of
the officers who have committed themselves will have
to retire, or stand a court-martial ; and probably most
of the officers will be moved into other corps, and the
whole clique will be broken up. We are now going
on serious business, where such fooleries would not be
thought of ; but no such scenes can ever occur with-
out detection and prevention in any good regiment,
like this 4 2d now in the Emeu with us. I am not
going to proceed on the hopeless task of persuading
you that all is sound in the army. Jobs of all sorts
are perpetrated perpetually. There are ten brigades,
three of them commanded by Guardsmen, — that is,
seven battalions of Guards supply three brigadiers,
and ninety-nine battalions of the Line only supply
seven. That speaks volumes ; and these men got
their rank while walking about St. James's Street.
They command companies for the discipline of which
they are not responsible ; and they remain posted over
us, a standing provocation. Very likely, when once
on shore, I shall not be able to write to you. We are
to carry three days' cooked provisions with us — that
is, cold pork and biscuit, and a canteen of water ; and
make good our ground against all comers. It is a
remarkable expedition, and will have many historians
to record our exploits, and recount our success or our
80 EUPATORIA.
failure. The latter I think scarcely possible ; but
there is always a chance of it ; and if that chance
should turn against us, the memory of the defeat will
be stamped in such characters of blood as will put
half England in mourning. My share will be no
ignoble one. My place is at the head of the column,
and the front of the line ; where danger is rifest,
there must the brigade-major be. The Highlanders'
plumes will wave round my path ; their wild shouts
and wilder pipes will sound my triumph or my coro-
nach ; and the glittering bayonets will flash terror
and defiance wherever I go.
Monday, 11th September.
Just getting under way. We do not yet know in
what direction we are to steer ; but it must be de-
cided soon, as the whole fleet is getting ready. We
waited yesterday for the French sailing-liners, which
were all behind. Many dead of cholera in various
transports.
Emeu, 13th September.
We have been anchoring and keeping the fleet
together until now. This morning we started down
the coast from near Eupatoria, and are aiming for
a point very near Sebastopol ; the signal is flying,
" Make every preparation for landing the troops."
I do not, however, think this can be accomplished
until to-morrow.
OASSY
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ASHORE ! 81
It is to be remarked, that, although most minute
and precise instructions had been issued, and even
a plan drawn for this disembarkation, yet the pre-
viously arranged plan was not adhered to. Probably
finding no enemy was the reason ; the only thing
insisted on was the abandonment of the knapsacks.
Such a thing was never heard of, unless for the mo-
ment of an assault. Canrobert's Zouaves threw down
their packs (sacs ct terre) before storming the heights
of Alma ; but a company was left to guard them, and
they were recovered immediately after the action was
over. St. Arnaud says significantly in his letters,
speaking of the English, " J'ai le flair militaire ; les
Anglais n'ont pas faitfc la guerre depuis 1815 " as ^
much as to say, they do not know their business.
LETTER XXV.
Camp, near Lake Touzla,
18th September 1854.
Landed on 14th; heavy rain all that night. Our
horses were to have been landed for us, but they were
not sent ashore till dark. I carried on my shoulders
and about me a great deal that ought to have been
on my horse ; stood weighted all day ; and at last had
to march five miles in that state, which quite knocked
me up. I had a small tent which I bought in Lon-
G
82 A WATER-BARREL.
don, and which was landed and left on the beach ;
however, some of the servants were good-natured
enough to bring it along ; so that our party were, I
imagine, the only people who had a tent the first
night. We are only twenty-five miles from Sebasto-
pol, and shall move on to the attack the moment the
artillery and reserve ammunition is up. Colonel S. and
the Aide-de-camp went very early in the morning of
the 1 5th to a village near at hand, and bought a pony,
and hired two boys, with their oxen, and a barrel on
wheels for water, which is likely to be of vast service
to us.
We have seen no enemy as yet, but have had a
false alarm at night ; I suppose not unusual with
troops that have no experience in the field.
LETTER *XXV.
Sir Colin Campbell's Despatch after the Battle
OF THE Alma.
To Colonel the Honourable A. Gordon, Assistant Adjutant-
General 1st Division.
2l8t September 1854.
Sir, — I have the honour to state for the informa-
tion of H.RH. the Duke of Cambridge, commanding
the division, that the division being deployed into
line in rear of the Light Division, H.R.H. directed it
C/S DESPATCH. 83
to move forward in support of that division when it
commenced its passage of the Alma. In marching
across the descent, some few men of the 42d were
struck down by cannon-shot. On entering the low
ground, through which the stream flowed, the advance
became exceedingly difficult, gardens and vineyard-
enclosures breaking the order of formation most com-
pletely. The 42d and Coldstream Guards having
found fewer obstacles than the regiments on the left,
reached the left bank first, hastily ascended the bank
and began to form on its summit ; the 98d and 79th
did the same as soon as they could get through. The
42d and the brigade of Guards being formed on the
bank, and the 93d and 79th rapidly establishing
themselves in the same position, while the attack of
the troops of the Light Division on the central re-
doubt had failed, and the enemy had marched out in
pursuit, H.R.H. determined upon an immediate at-
tack. The 4<2d, somewhat in advance, was ordered
to ascend the heights in front, the immediate object
being to turn the redoubt while the attack in front
was made by the Guards. This flank-movement was
completely successful, the 42d continuing its advance
with the 93d and 79th in direct echelon on its left.
While the troops in this formation were moving in
advance, they were exposed to the fire of five guns
posted in a battery on the heights on our left front,
which also contained riflemen. These g-uns were
84 C/S DESPATCH.
withdrawn on the near approach of the Highlanders.
The 42d, being the leading regiment, gained the
heights first, and found a large body of Russian
troops, which had just quitted the central redoubt,
endeavouring to form to its front with another large
body already posted there. The 42d continued to
advance, firing in line, drove these troops before them
in confusion, and caused them great loss. On reach-
ing the crest of the hill on the enemy's side, another
mass was met, endeavouring to support the retiring
enemy. As these troops were coming on, the 93d
arrived most opportunely, and defeated them. While
the 93d were still engaged, another body of Russians
from their extreme right moved down direct on the
flank of the 93d ; but at this moment the 79th had
reached the ground, and opened fire upon them, caus-
ing them to retreat in great confusion.
Thus the three regiments of the Highland Brigade
were formed in line on the inner crest of the enemy's
position, having driven all the large bodies of troops
which were posted there down into the valley, upon a
mass of troops which were placed in reserve on the
heights in their rear. An attempt was made by this
reserve to move in advance, forcing forward the retir-
ing troops ; but fire being again opened, this reserve
returned to its position, evidently with a view to cover
the troops which had been driven by the three High-
land regiments. At this time three guns of the Horse
C/S DESPATCH. 85
Artillery, under Captain Maude, arrived on the left
flank of the 79th, and three of Captain Brandling's
troop formed on the right of the 42d. The fire of
these guns was very effective upon the enemy in their
retreat.
I have thought it right to enter into these details,
in order that justice may he done to these young sol-
diers, who moved up to the attack under fire, led by
their respective commanding ofiicers, — Colonel Came-
ron 42d, Lieutenant-Colonel Ainslie 93d, and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Douglas 79th, — in the same order and
with as much precision as if they had been on an ordi-
nary parade. I never saw officers and men, one and
all, exhibit greater steadiness and gallantry, giving
evidence of the high state of their instruction and
discipline, and of the noble spirit with which they
are animated ; and I am happy to say that from
the rapidity of their movements their loss was very
small.
I beg H.R.H. to do me the favour of recommend-
ing these officers and troops to the favourable notice
of the Commander-in-chief I have also to request
he will do the same for the officers of my staff — Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Sterling, Brigade-Major, and Captain
Shadwell, A.D.C., to whom I am under the greatest
obligations for the services they rendered me on this
and on every other occasion. Lieutenant Mansfield,
extra A.D.C., who had lately joined my staff, made
86 REMARKS ON LETTER XXVI.
himself extremely useful, and exhibited all the best
qualities of an officer.
I have, &c
(Signed) C. Campbell.
The Duke of Wellington said the history of a
battle was like the history of a ball. In Marshal
St. Arnaud's letters the English are scarcely men-
tioned, and one would conclude, from what he says,
that they took scarcely any part. The present author
states what he saw, with the addition of a few sent-
ences here and there, corrected by the recollections of
Lieut.-Col. Shadwell, aide-de-camp to Sir Colin Camp-
bell at the passage of the Alma. The author says
that some of our troops were not well handled. The
leading troops were kept too long under cannon-fire
without advancing ; the officers commanding batta-
lions were not allowed to form after they got their
men through the river ; consequently the rush against
the Russian centre battery was made in confusion,
and was unsuccessful.
In the annexed Plan the path of Sir Colin Camp-
bell and the 42d is marked, and the 42d were where
they are shown on this Plan when the Guards got
possession of the centre battery, or breastwork, from
i>^wee>iJiures ^San^i^.
T.ir&ier(^leA:2^MdlSirea-' um^&ai^.
ALMA ! 87
which the Light Division had been repulsed. The
Russians are placed where they were on the Russian
plan, but the Grand-Duke Michael's troops were not
where they are shown when the 42d crossed the river ;
those whom the Highlanders encountered were further
from the river. BuUer's brigade came up behind the
Highlanders, and formed in their rear. The ground
on the right bank of the Alma was flatter than it is
shown in the Plan, and decidedly lower than the Rus-
sian position. The left bank, where the 42d forded
the river, appears correct, and the regiment formed
under the bank before advancing.
LETTER XXVL
Field of battle, 21st September 1854.
Yesterday we fought the battle which will be
called the Passage of the Alma. We advanced for
some hours across a beautiful grassy plain, in great
columns flanked by skirmishers, mth the cavalry and
guns in the centre. About noon we got sight of the
Russian army, in position on the heights above the
Alma, with entrenched batteries and every prepara-
tion. Our united numbers were, including English,
French, and Turks, about 50,000 infantry; and we
estimated the enemy's force opposite to us at 40,000
of the same arm ; but they had heavy guns in position,
88 42d, advance I
and were very strongly posted. The French began by
attacking the left of the Russians, near the sea, and
our army attacked in front. Some of our troops were
by no means well handled, and, after taking the centre
battery, were driven back. We, who were following
them, soon got to the river, after struggling through
some vineyards. When C. got into the bed of the
river, and could see along the left bank, he perceived
that the Light Division was in a mess. " By God !"
said he, " those regiments are not moving like English
soldiers.'' He immediately ordered the 42d to form
as rapidly as possible on the south, or enemy's bank,
and sent orders to the 93d and 79th to do the same
as soon as they could. The Duke at this time came
up to him, and C. energetically recommended an im-
mediate advance, saying, that "he foresaw a disaster
unless we did so." The 4 2d were pushed on at once
by him, marching over the 77th regiment, which was
lying down. The soldiers of this regiment called out
to us, " You are madmen, and will be all killed !'' The
42d by this advance necessarily turned the Russians
out of the centre battery, and enabled the Guards, in
their second attempt, to get into it without any re-
sistance.
The effect of his manoeuvre was foretold by C.
before the 42d moved, showing the advantage of a
general with a true tactical eye. We made a deli-
berate parade-movement of regiments in echelon, right
A DECISIVE MANCEUVRE. 89
in front, up tlie highest hill. I was sent to the left
to form the 79th in column, to be safe from the Rus-
sian cavalry. The 79th afterwards deployed. The
42d was the right regiment, and was the first formed.
I got back from the left in time to go up the hill with
it. The men never looked back, and took no notice
of the wounded. They ascended in perfect silence,
and without firing a shot. On crowning the hill, we
found a large body of Russians, who vainly tried to
stand before us. Our manoeuvre was perfectly deci-
sive, as we got on the flank of the Russians in the
centre battery, into which we looked from the top of
the hill, and I saw the Guards rush in as the Russians
abandoned it. The Guards were not moved on quite
so soon as our brigade, and sufi'ered far more, poor
fellows. The end was, killing and wounding a many
innocent Russians and a many innocent English, and
making the Russians leave that ; but it was very
glorious ; and we have to do the same thing on new
ground to-morrow, and perhaps once more before we
reach the port of Sebastopol. The feeling of a battle
is not very exciting to me, and the sight afterwards
is very horrid. I hope we shall soon be able to take
the place, and finish for the autumn ; for no change
of clothes, and sleeping on the ground, is very dis-
agreeable. C. had his horse shot under him, and we
all had plenty of bullets flying about us. I saw a
Russian skirmisher, a great big fellow, come within
90 THE butcher's BILL.
forty yards, and take a deliberate shot at Colonel S.
He made two or three men on the right of the 4<2d
turn to their right and fire at him; but the fellows
missed him. Our brigade lost one officer, and about
one hundred men, which was very fortunate, as some
regiments lost as many as ten officers. Our getting
off so easily was mainly owing to the admirable lead-
ing of C, and the pace we went, which got us to
the top of the hill before the Russians. The dead
Russians were well fed and clothed, with very clean
linen and capital kits. Meantime they are burning
the villages, and all the horrors of war go on. J. B.
has now got the beginning of his butcher's bill ; be-
fore we take Sebastopol it will make a pretty amount.
I do not know when there will be an opportunity for
sending letters, so I shall keep this one ready in my
pocket. If it does not go to day, there will be another
battle to-morrow, and perhaps it will not go at all. I
shall keep it open.
2l8t, in the evening.
The Fleet reports that the beaten Russians have
gone right into Sebastopol, so we shall advance to the
siege without further impediment. Our army has lost
about 2000 in killed and wounded, and we are busy
in burying the dead. I have nothing to add, except
that the Russians thought we should be three weeks
in forcing this position, and we did it in less than
three hours ! Effectual people are the English.
FLANK MARCH. 91
The last letter ends on the evening of the 21st
(Thursday). On Saturday the army marched to the
Katscha River, and passed it without any opposition.
On Sunday the 24th they crossed the Belbek, and
camped there ; and on Monday struck off by compass,
through the wild brushwood, direct for Mackenzie's
Farm, steering a course about south-east. They de-
scended by the Mackenzie-Farm road, crossed the
Chemaya at Traktir, and very late in the night, after
a long march, finally encamped on the Feduchine
heights. During this march, it is probable that many
men were lost in the coppices, having knocked up.
These men were probably afterwards picked up by the
Cossacks. At Mackenzie's Farm the advanced troops
fell in with the baggage of a Russian column, which
had marched the same morning out of Sebastopol,
going to Bakchi Serai. If the British army had moved
off two hours sooner, there would have been another
engagement. The policy of this flank-march to gain
a new base will always remain a subject for debate.
The original plan had been, there is no doubt, to
make a coup-de-main against Sebastopol; and it may
be surmised that if St. Arnaud had not been dying,
this would have been attempted. The only thing
really to impede its success would have been the fire
from the Russian fleet in the harbour. Fort Sever-
naya was a poor work, very much dilapidated. The
92 BALAKLAVA.
attack upon it would have fallen to the French ; the
English army would have swept round the head of
the harhour, bringing up its left shoulder, and would
have attacked the Malakoff, at that time a simple
round tower, with two guns on the top and casemates.
As they had with them no battering guns, their only
plan would have been to get so close that the Russian
gunners would have been unable to depress their guns
so as to reach the beleaguring foe ; and a miner would
have been attached to the wall on the first night.
There is every probability that this rush would have
succeeded ; and whatever the loss might have been,
it would have been infinitely less than what was in-
curred by the plan adopted. No instructed military
mind can approve of an attempt to besiege without
investing. At the same time it seems extremely likely
that the long siege was the proximate cause of peace,
as without it Russia would not have been so much
exhausted. However, on Tuesday morning, the 26th,
the army moved on, and got possession of Balaklava
without difficulty.
LETTER XXVII.
Bivouack, Balaklava, 28th September 1854.
I WROTE you a hurried note after the battle of the
Alma, which I could not even look over. We have
KADIKOI GUTTED. 93
since seen nothing of the Russians, except the tail
of a column which marched out of Balaklava to
meet their reinforcements from Anapa. We have
now marched completely round Sebastopol, and have
gained possession of the harbour of Balaklava, where
the Agamemnon is now moored. This becomes our
new base. They are landing the siege-train ; and we
shall no doubt advance immediately to break ground
and begin. It is probable they will make an obsti-
nate resistance ; but all sieges come to an end in a
time which can be calculated. War is a horrid thing ;
not merely the field of battle itself is hideous, but the
ruin of the poor helpless inhabitants. We came down
here unexpectedly ; the men were not drunk, and
were quite obedient to their officers. The orders were
distinct as to not injuring property ; yet the village
(Kadikoi) close to the camp of this division, where
the Duke has his quarters, was completely gutted in
half an hour. The inhabitants had run away. The
men seemed to do it out of fun ; they broke boxes
and drawers that were open, and threw the fragments
into the street. The battle of the Alma must, during
its progress, have been a grand sight to spectators
who had time to admire. The cool advance of the
English under fire surprised our French allies. It is
acknowledged by them that we had much the worst
part of the position to take. Our brigade was very
lucky in not losing many officers or men. Some
94 PRETTY CRITICAL.
other regiments suffered frightfully. The 2Sd lost
thirteen officers, of whom nine were killed. This
regiment, and the 19th and 33d, bore the brunt of
the enemy's first fire from the centre battery. After
passing the river, they were not allowed to form, but
attacked in confusion, and were driven back ; then our
division, which was behind them, after some hesita-
tion, was advanced. I believe C.'s advice, and his
war-experience, were found very useful. In the Bri-
gade of Guards, the Fusilier regiment, which was the
centre one, was broken, and driven back with great
loss. They got mixed with the beaten regiments of the
Light Division, which retreated through them, and
put them into confusion. The moment our bonnets
topped the hill, on the left of the Guards, the Rus-
sians gave way. But it was pretty critical : if we had
waited ten minutes, or even five minutes more, the
Russians would have been on the crest of the hill
first, and God knows what would have been the loss
of the Highland Brigade, even if we had succeeded in
pushing them back. When we got half way up the
hill, I saw it was all right. We killed an awful lot of
Russians ; the whole ground in our front, for hun-
dreds of yards, was strewed with dead and wounded.
TENTS. 95
LETTER XXVIII *
Bivouack, before Sebastopol, 3d October 1854.
I HAVE at last got a substitute for a table, and
can by means of that luxury write a little more at
ease. They say that a mail will go out to-day ; so I
must try and tell you something about us. We live
a very strange life, never taking our clothes off; that
is, since the 14th September, when we landed. Yes-
terday the ofl&cers were provided with tents ; but the
men still lie down on the ground without cover, but
couched in such appliances of hay and straw as they
can pick up. I have had a small tent all the time>
except one or two nights. The difficulty about tents
is the want of means to carry them ; but now that we
are fairly set down for a siege, I hope the soldiers will
get this comfort sent up from Balaklava. I have had
a good look from the heights into Sebastopol. The
town is not very large, but the defences look stiff, and
are increasing. We may easily be kept here some
weeks. The heavy battering-guns must be all landed,
and brought seven or eight miles, and batteries must
be made to hold them. The ground is very unfavour-
able for digging ; so much so, that I apprehend we shall
* The 1st Division, consisting of the Guards and High-
landers, with the exception of the 93d, which was left behind at
Kadikoi, moved up to their camp before Sebastopol on Monday
the 3d October, the day on which this letter was written.
96 PROSPECTS.
have to use sandbags. It is said Menschikoff means
to try and relieve the place, which he ought to at-
tempt; but he will scarcely get a sufficient force up in
time. We are now, you understand, on the south side
of Sebastopol harbour, where the town is ; but the
Russians have got free ingress and egress north and
east, as our army is not large enough to surround the
whole place. We are just out of shot. The Russian
batteries very often fire both round shot and shells
at the out-picquets ; doing no harm, however. Cho-
lera continues carrying off officers and men ; but our
party continues healthy. The Turkish part of the
population here will join us, and bring in supplies, as
soon as we take Sebastopol ; but they are afraid of
committing themselves at present, as the Cossacks
are continually roaming about, and our cavalry are
not very clever at outpost duty. I am writing in the
open air at half-past o a.m. ; there has been a heavy
dew in the night, and it is very sharp for the fingers ;
but the sun soon gets power, and then it is, if any
thing, too hot. Certainly the climate is charming,
that is to say, for those who dwell in houses. As to
us, the common decencies, not to say comforts, of life
are denied, and many of the officers grumble openly.
They have no transport, and have to march loaded
with heavy cloaks, besides provisions, and till yester-
day had no tents. Now an officer's duty begins when
the march is over ; for he has then to look after his
NO EXCUSE. 97
men, and he cannot do it efficiently if he is fagged.
However, the excuse is the impossibility of finding
transport, or food for the animals if we had them. I
do not admit the excuse on the part of the commis-
sary, for there must be lots of empty ships to send
for mules and forage. We wait anxiously to hear
what you think of our victory in England, and whether
we had enough killed and wounded to please you.
You will have another butcher's bill at the storm-
ing of the works ; and perhaps a general action when
Lliders and Liprandi come up, which will make the
autumn newspapers very cheerful for those who have
friends out here. The sun is just rising, and shooting
straight into my eyes, not a cloud any where. Peace
profound ! Yet advance a mile, and you will cer-
tainly be fired at.
LETTER XXIX.
V
Bivouack, before Sebastopol,
4th October 1854.
I WROTE to you by yesterday's post, and just after-
wards I heard of ~ , who was quite well, and took
an acquaintance of mine round his troop to show the
miserable state of the horses, which are worn down
with fatigue and want of food. We hope daily for
the arrival of the French Dragoons, who will lighten
H
98
LOSSES.
the work of the outposts. They are getting up siege-
artillery and ship-guns as fast as they can ; we hourly
expect orders to begin making trenches and batteries.
Meantime the only thing warlike around us is an
occasional shell thrown at the infantry outlying
picquets. But cholera, I am sorry to say, is in-
creasing among officers and men. Hitherto we have
not been able to get up tents for our poor fellows,
who lie on the bare ground with their greatcoats and
blankets ; but some few tents have been distributed
to-day, and I hope for more. I understand we shall
have 199 heavy guns in position to batter the de-
fences ; and most likely, when once we open, the affair
will soon be over. What our course will be after-
wards must depend upon orders from home. I see
the Times is inclined to make us destroy every thing,
and go away. That is not my policy. I would send
more troops, and keep Crim Tartary as a material
guarantee and a stepping-stone next year to Georgia.
Nick will not give in till he is more beaten. Our
force is diminishing daily by disease, and we lost 2000
at the Alma. The Russians, it is supposed, lost from
6000 to 8000. They have an army now hanging on
our flank, and talk of 40,000 more coming ; so that
another general action is quite likely to finish this
campaign ; but when they have not a strong position
fortified mth heavy guns, I believe we could beat
double our numbers. At the Alma, so far as I could
A DIFFICULTY. 99
see,* our artillery did no good at all in the way oif
beating the enemy ; they only pounded them a little
when they were retreating. It was the British In-
fantry, the invincibles, who won the battle. I have
had a great deal of trouble with the Guards ; they
do not relieve our sentries in time. I spoke to their
Brigade-Major, and General heard me. I
pointed out to the Brigade-Major one of our sentries
close by who ought to have been relieved. General
felt the reproach was just, got into a rage,
and turned upon me in the most insolent manner.
When I went back to our camp, I asked C. to pro-
tect me. He called on General , who would
say nothing in the way of apology — "he would be
damned if he would \' so I have only to cut him. It
is very provoking; for, away from duty, I like these
Guardsmen very much ; but our division marriage is,
like some other marriages, an unhappy one. My
Highland bonnet is ready, and I shall wear it the
first time we go into fire. It will make us a very
distinguished staff, as all the others wear cocked-hats.
The existence just now is miserable ; with my habits,
not to have a book at all, and to have a young fellow,
quite a stranger, living in the same tent with me.
* Lord Raglan brought up some guns on the British right,
which took the Russians in reverse; but this could not be seen
from the ground where the Highlanders stood.
100 NO VEGETABLES.
We get little to eat here but salt pork and biscuit, —
no vegetables, — and spirits and water, tea without
milk ; our baggage on board ship ; most of our horses
and animals left behind, and probably lost to us for
ever. However, it is part of the war, and without
these sacrifices I suppose we could not have made this
invasion, which is a blow that will disconcert Nicho-
las wonderfully, especially if we succeed in beating his
army in the field once more. One beating may be
explained away, but a second will satisfy him that we
are too much for him and his vaunted army. The
place where we are bivouacked is bare and desolate.
By riding a little forward, we can see into the town,
and watch the Russian soldiers strengthening their
works and preparing the batteries. It is supposed we
shall not fire a gun till the whole 199 are ready to
open with a grand crash, smashing ships, and works,
and town, into one everlasting ruin. The inhabitants
of Sebastopol, if the Russian generals permit it, have
free egress to the north. Now I hope the poor women
and children will be spared the horrible scene ; the
men, I suppose, they will keep to work and fight for
their town. At the Alma I rode my chestnut horse,
and he behaved wonderfully, taking no sort of notice
of shot, shell, nor musketry ; neither did he shy at
the dead bodies with which the ground was covered ;
for though we lost few men (100), yet we killed a
tremendous number : the hill opposite, over which
war's romance. 101
the Eussians fled, was quite thickly strewed with
dead and wounded, abandoned packs, and broken
arms, the work of the Highland Brigade : their
Minie's seem to shoot very strong. Lord Raglan's
eyes filled with tears when he shook hands with G. ;
and he could not speak when the brave old veteran
said to him, pointing to the killed, " Sir, it was they
who did it." And then the cheer when he asked to
wear a bonnet ! With its horrors, war has its ro-
mance.
6th October.
We are always under arms, and ready to move an
hour before daylight. This morning there was a lively
skirmish with a patrol of Cossacks just in front of us ;
the bullets came whizzing past us, and the line of
flashes from the muskets in the pale light of the
morning moon was very picturesque. We may ex-
pect something of this sort every morning till our
batteries are ready, when the attacks will be more
serious. I have now reason to believe that it is the
intention to abandon this place, and embark the army,
after destroying Sebastopol. The army has dwindled
down sadly from wounds and disease. Without large
reinforcements, I think we could not keep the field
against the enemy, who probably has much exagger-
ated our numbers. We have just got tents to cover
our men, so that I hope the cholera may be arrested.
What is our course to be if we go into winter-quar-
102 SEND MORE MEN.
ters, having done nothing except taking Sebastopol ?
Nicholas will not make peace, I feel convinced ; and
where can we pinch him again ? To make this army-
fit to take the field next spring with success, we must
have our regiments completed, and an addition to the
force of 15,000 or 20,000 men. Will England, or
can England, do that ? The expense will be the least
part. This morning mourning has been diffused
through thousands of families ; for on this morning,
by my calculation, the Times must have published
the despatches with all the names of killed and
wounded. An appeal must be made to the Militia.
Boys will not do, they cannot stand the fatigue ; bone
and sinew must come, men of twenty-four or twenty-
five years old ; and one campaign will age many of
them by a dozen years. That is war, horrible war.
The fighting is nothing to the wear and tear of spirits
and mind and body. In this country our soldiers
can get notliing to drink, and they behave admirably.
In winter-quarters they will make up for this, and we
shall have to punish these splendid fellows who have
this main vice. Meantime, speed engineers, get up
the heavy guns. The Russian troops are no doubt
streaming down from the Danube, where the Austrians
have set them free ; and it is on the cards that our
prey may still be rescued from us. Liiders has come
with a considerable force, and I daily expect to find
our communications with Balaklava threatened ; ano-
HEMMED IN. A SKIRMISH. ] 03
ther action and another list of deaths is impending.
Should we. however, take the place and then embark,
I imagine they will not molest us, having had a lesson
how we fight. If I was England, I would send out
another 50,000 men, conquer the Crimea, and go to
Georgia, smiting hip and thigh. But they will not
do it ; half measures and hopes of peace will undo us.
Layard is here, also Kinglake, who was in the battle,
and Cayley. The Retribution has just returned from
the Isthmus of Perekop, and reports very large bodies
of Russian troops on their march here. Rumour
makes them 80,000 or 90,000 ; we know of 80,000
having left Odessa. Our little army is already hemmed
round, and we just keep our communications open
with Balaklava. This morning, at daybreak, I went
to post the outlying picquets on our right flank, with
Cameron and Shadwell. We found the officer in com-
mand in bed in a tent fast asleep. Conceive, on out-
lying picquet ! While there I saw a considerable
body of Russian cavalry in the valley below. They
advanced, with their skirmishers in front, to within
two miles of Balaklava. There they drove in a small
picquet of our Dragoons ; after which three regiments
of British cavalry showed themselves, which checked
the enemy, and they were finally forced to retire by
some guns which were brought up escorted by the
I7th Lancers. All this went on like a scene in a
play, just under my nose. We must be quick in our
1 04 A NERVOUS MOMENT.
attack on Sebastopol, or we may be forced to embark,
the thing undone, which would be very sad. The
works of the place are armed with a very formidable
artillery, and they have the seamen for gunners.
Unless we can silence this artillery, we dare not
storm ; the loss would be too frightful, besides the
risk, in case of failure, of not being able to make good
our retreat to the ships. It is a nervous moment for
the French and English generals, and more of a toss-
up than I like for the sake of my country. Large as
our force was, it was not large enough. We want an
army here to take the place, and another larger to
beat the enemy again in the field. The post goes
to-morrow, and I must keep my letter ready ; any
moment may bring us into action.
LETTER XXX.
Camp, before Sebastopol,
12th October 1854.
Our preparations still go on, but we have not yet
replied by a single shot or shell to many hundreds
which the Russians have favoured us with. It is in-
tended that we shall wait till all the batteries are
armed. We have great working parties every night,
digging approaches and making batteries ; and al-
though the fire on the parties has been very heavy,
A CROCUS. 105
we have been so fortunate as to escape with very few
casualties, as they call dead and wounded men.
Whether the name softens the thing, I leave you to
judge. We are all on the alert day and night. Be-
sides being under arms always an hour before daylight,
we are constantly turned out by alarms, real or false.
I send you a crocus which I have just gathered in the
middle of all this turmoil, mocking with its peaceful
beauty the stern and bloody aspect of war. The roar
of cannon is now unceasing, and we get but little
sleep. We are, however, all well; and the weakly
soldiers being now weeded out by disease and over-
fatigue, our men are pretty healthy. I cannot make
up my mind on the question as to our abiding here
for the winter. The baggage of some of the regiments
is come, which looks like staying ; but, on the other
hand, if it did not come, or if it went elsewhere, that
would announce our intended departure after destroy-
ing Sebastopol, which it would not be wise to confide
to the enemy. The position the allied armies now oc-
cupy is immensely strong, and reinforcements, French
and Turkish, are coming, besides our own sick, as
they recover, who are sent from Scutari or Varna. I
believe the united force is nigh 80,000 men, who in
this position, Sebastopol being taken, might bid de-
fiance to double their number, supposing them supplied
with clothing, food, and gunpowder. We are all in
rags — you never saw such figures ; but the arms are
106 RANK AND FILE WONDERFUL.
bright and the courage high. We are now told that
our guns will open in two days ; but I do not think
that certain : there are so many details which must
be attended to and verified before we can be sure that
every thing is ready. This delay saves life ; for what
the guns do not perform for us, must eventually be
brought about by storming with our glorious infantry,
at a frightful loss, which will read very well in the
Gazette no doubt, but will to the well-informed be an
index of the incapacity of our Engineers and Artillery,
and their subordinate departments. When the Duke
of Wellington in Spain made his sieges, he was not
provided with such siege-trains as we have, and he
was threatened by a French relieving army, under
French Marshals, who could not be waited for nor
trifled with. For such an attack the Russians are
very inferior stuff to the French. is, I believe,
near Balaklava ; but I can never get away, my time
being entirely taken up with issuing orders and seeing
to their execution. I feel little excitement with all
that is going on round me, but do my duty like a horse
in a mill. The poor rank and file are wonderful :
with nothing to gain and all to lose, they submit to
the hardest manual labour, and confront the highest
perils, without a murmur, and even cheerfully; and
as they cannot get drink beyond the daily gill of
rum, there is no crime. I am called away on duty.
GOES DOWN TO BALAKLAVA. 107
Here comes a change of scene. The cavalry skir-
mish mentioned in Letter XXIX. as having taken
place on the 4th October, during the relief of the
outlying picquets, was only the forerunner of the. ap-
proach of Liprandi with his corps towards Balaklava.
On the 14th October, Col. Steele, the military secre-
tary, rode up to Sir Colin Campbeirs tent about eight
o'clock in the morning, while he was at breakfast, and
told him Lord Raglan wished him to go and take
command of the troops at Balaklava, consisting at
that time of the 93d Highlanders at Kadikoi, a weak
battalion of invalids, picked from all the army, sta-
tioned in Balaklava, two battalions of Marines, some
Marine Artillery, and several thousand Turks. When
Sir Colin got down to Kadikoi, he found the redoubts
on the hills along the Woronzow Road already begun,
and also Battery No. 4, in rear of the 93d, already
existing. He pushed on the works with all possible
vigour. The author went down to join his chief on
the ] 6th October ; and here they both remained until
the 18th June 1855, just eight months. The an-
nexed Plan gives a view of the position ; the same
Plan will be introduced with the additional defences
as they are added, and will also show the part of the
hills opposite Kadikoi, and the lines of Balaklava,
which were held by the Russians for several weeks
after the battle of Balaklava.
108
AMONG THE TURKS.
LETTER XXXI.
Camp, in front of Balaklava,
17th Octtiber 1854.
You will be amused at the turn of events. Here
I am among the Turks. You know I was very busy-
carrying on the siege of Sebastopol. On the 14th
they became alarmed about a force said to be coming
along the south coast of the Crimea to attack our rear,
and drive us from Balaklava harbour ; upon which C.
was suddenly ordered down here, six miles to the rear,
to take charge of the defences of this place. One of
our regiments (the 93d) had been left here. C, and
his Aide-de-camp Shadwell, went off immediately, and
left me with the 42d and 79th, under command of the
senior officer (Cameron), I belonging to the Brigade.
Lord E,o.glan afterwards wrote to C, saying that if he
wished, I might join him. C. left it to me, and I de-
cided that I could not be wrong in following such a
famous soldier as C, besides loving him so much as
I do. So here I am ad interim Assistant Adjutant-
General to an Anglo-Turkish division, the Turks under
command of Rustem Pasha, who speaks German, which
is very convenient for me. We have two battalions
of Marines, the 9od Highlanders, and eight battalions
of Turkish infantry, with some artillery Turks, whom
we have provided with guns to put in the redoubts
which we have been ordered to make for them. We
TJ'Jdherdi^, ui^J-^rMziSiztOy. Omduii: St.
STATE OF THINGS IN FRONT OF BALAKLAVA. 109
have also a battery of English artillery, and a troop
of horse artillery. There are here, moreover, two
brigades of English cavalry under Lord Lucan. The
enemy, our own particular enemy, is on the right,
about 23,000 Russians, against whom we have be-
tween 5000 and 6000. I hope we shall not be long
before we shall return to our kilted. Meantime the
English batteries opened this morning, and are pound-
ing away hammer and tongs. So, after all the worry
of trench-making and battery-making, I shall not
perhaps have the honour of entering the place at the
head of the Highlanders. However, we may have a
battle of our own. I can well feel for the suspense
you must be in about . I fear this letter will go
before I can know any positive results as to the effects
of our fire on Sebastopol. Time is most important to
us, as we have Russians coming from Odessa, besides
those threatening us in the rear; and we ought if
possible to beat them in detail. At the present mo-
ment we are all standing by our arms, with the
artillery horses harnessed ; the men lie down with
their belts on at night, ready to start up and fight at
any moment. You probably saw in the papers that a
young man named Nasmyth, of the Indian army, hap-
pened to be present at the siege of Silistria. Well,
this accident has been a motive sufficiently powerful
to induce the English government to transfer him as
Captain into our army, and then to make him a
110 MEN. FOOD. POWDER.
Brevet- Major, and he is now ad interim Assistant
Quartermaster-General to this Anglo-Turkish division.
There is also a German engineer. These fellows take
away the hard-earned rewards of our own officers, who
are tied to their regiments, and worked day and night.
Captain Shadwell, C.'s Aide-de-camp, was with him in
three general actions in India, one of them the dread-
ful Chillianwallah, where C. turned the battle ; and he
has been since at the Alma, where C. again turned
the battle ; yet his Aide-de-camp has not been made
a Major or an Assistant Quartermaster-General. I
have just heard that Fort Pauloffsky, opposite the
English right, is nearly demolished, and that four bat-
talions of French have got behind a slight elevation,
only 300 yards from Fort Nicholas, which is on the
Russian right. 1 think it is very possible they may
make a rush and get in before night. Our infantry
hitherto has not moved. Depend upon it, there will
be a sad account of loss both of English and French.
It is now noon, and my informant himself saw eleven
wounded French officers. We hear nothing of our
own enemy down here. I shall not close this letter,
as I shall have something more to say. The opinion
is growing, that we are to stay here and keep the
Crimea, which is the true policy, if we can do it.
Send us more men and plenty of supplies, especially
potatoes, as we eat so much salt meat. With men,
food, and powder, we can do any thing.
HEAD-QUARTERS IN HIGH SPIRITS. 1 1 1
4 P.M.
I hear the Russian fire is slackened, and Captain
Peel, of the Navy, wounded. I must close. You will
have a somewhat later account by the papers ; but
the Correspondents have time and ways to get things
off till the last moment, which are not open to me.
I am tied by the leg, and dare not move away from
this camp for fear of the enemy coming ; however,
such is my duty.
LETTER XXXII.
Camp, in front of Balaklava,
22d October 1854.
The battering against Sebastopol still continues
without intermission, and I do not think the British
Artillery have effected quite so much as they hoped
for. Sebastopol is a great arsenal, filled with guns
and stores ; no sooner is a gun dismounted than they
bring up another. However, I hear that Lord Raglan
and his entourage are in high spirits about the pro-
gress, and he knows more than I do. When the
ammunition brought for the siege comes near an end,
they will perforce have to launch the infantry against
the place and storm it, which will probably cause a
great loss of life ; take it we must. Meanwhile, we
of the Balaklava party are threatened continually
with an attack from a very large force. It is of vital
112 THE REDOUBTS QUESTIONABLE.
consequence to the army that we should maintain
ourselves here. In about three days we expect 3000
more Turks, which will give us perhaps 6500 fighting
men, — Turks, I mean, altogether, — and about 2000
British infantry, besides a battery of artillery and a
troop of horse artillery. We have made lots of re-
doubts, but C. does not like them ; and we are making
batteries of position, and improving our defences daily.
I feel satisfied that if we take Sebastopol, we shall
remain here for the winter, with the allied armies in
an immense intrenched camp. This will be a great
disappointment to many of the officers who have fami-
lies, and to others who only look to their own comfort,
without considering their duty to England. Patriotism
with the masses is but a word. When called upon to
suffer fatigue and hunger, dirt and ennui, the brilliant
phrase becomes dulled of its lustre, and the flesh-pots
of Egypt are thought of with a sigh. The orders of
Government are incomprehensible : every correspondent
of a newspaper is allowed rations, without which no
one can live here ; and thus, by its own arrangement,
every particular of numbers of men, guns, material,
ships' stores, &c. is conveyed to Nicholas in the most
concise and exact manner. It is madness. The foolish
officers would still do mischief enough. I have been
busied making a plan of this position with our defences,
and can quite imagine that if it got into the corres-
pondents' hands, it would go straight to the Illustrated
CORRESPONDENTS . 113
London News ; from thence, by Russian agents in
London, back direct to our enemy, who is watching
every opportunity to force the position and burn our
ships and stores in the harbour of Balaklava. So
much for our condition. About the 10th of November
last year the winter set in with a cold north-east wind.
We cannot inhabit tents, and shall have to construct
huts, for which purpose timber must be sent over from
Varna in immense quantities, and stoves and coals.
Money, money ! Profusion is now economy. We
must also have troops. Next spring, Nicholas, if not
attacked by Austria, will send every man he has to
try and drive us into the sea. His numbers will only
be limited by his means of feeding his men ; all must
be carried with them, and this is our advantage, as
our ships will convey all stores to us without any dif-
ficulty. The Turkish soldiers are capital fellows, and
dig better even than our own men ; but we cannot
speak to them further than ''Buono Johnny'' and
" Buono Ingles." You will have racehorses called
" Buono Johnny.''
23d.
Some Russian officers have deserted. We hear
from them that KornilofF, the governor, was killed
the second day of the bombardment, and that the
hero of Sinope now commands ; that the inhabitants
are suffering, and complaining that we burned their
hospital, and have set the town on fire often, and that
I
114 LANCASTER SHELLS.
the Lancaster shells have produced enormous damage
wherever they have fallen. Our artillery officers had
also discovered the merits of the Lancaster shells yes-
terday ; they did not understand them at first, and
had their prejudices. The approaches are getting
nearer, and there is every prospect of an early pos-
session. If we are so fortunate, I hope you will hear
that the army has turned on the Russian forces out-
side, who are now tormenting the Balaklava troops,
and given them a good thrashing ; nothing but mak-
ing Nicholas eat plenty of stick will bring him to rea-
son. Menschikoff, the origo mali, is now commanding
the army opposite to us ; and if he knows his business,
and dares enough, he will certainly attack us to try
and save the place. But I trust we shall beat him
back by the defences we have constructed here, where
we are in a manner besieged. In the end of this
letter I see that I give a better account of our pro-
gress than in the beginning, that is because I have
had twenty-four hours' later news. They are obliged
to make the galley-slaves work at the guns, and the
women carry earth.
The battle of Balaklava would be called by the
Germans a " Treffen,'' or meeting. The Plan shows
the position of the redoubts. The garrison of only one
EEMARKS ON THE ACTION OE BALAKLAVA. 115
of them, viz. that on Caiirobert's Hill at No. 1, made
any resistance at all. As long as it was prudent to
do so, Lord Lucan made a show of supporting them
with his cavalry, but of course was obliged to with-
draw his men as soon as they became exposed to
cannon-fire. In fact, the distance of this redoubt
from any real support rendered a lengthened defence
very problematical ; the ditch and parapet, although
as deep and thick as time allowed them to be made,
were very poor defences ; the Cossacks rode over both.
The impossibility of holding these works, which it is
probable was the reason for not trying to retake them,
ought to have been a good reason for not attempting
to fortify them. A strong picquet posted behind
Canrobert's Hill, with some cavalry videttes, would
have answered every purpose, and no guns would
have been taken ; while the Turks would have been
available to man the strong position to the east of
Balaklava, by which the Russians were eflfectually
stopped while flushed with their partial success.*
Captain AnitschkofF, of the Eussian staff, has written
an account of the campaign in the Crimea, in which
he completely omits the mention of General Scarlett's
• Der Feldzug in der Krim hearheitet von Anitschkoff, Haupt-
mann im Kaiserlich Russischen General Stahe, aus dem Russischen
iibersetzt von G. Baumgarten, Oherlieutenant der Konigl. Sachs.
Infanterie; Berlin, 1857, Mittler und Sohn.
116 93d HIGHLANDERS.
charge with the heavy cavalry. He pretends that
the Russian cavalry was withdrawn, and retired in
good order. As the author saw this charge, he begs
to set the Russian officer right. The red cavalry
dashed into the middle of a far superior number of
Russians, and completely broke them ; and the enemy
galloped back to the heights from whence they came,
during which flight several of our shells fell among
them. The light-cavalry charge took place on the
north side of the redoubts, betwixt them and the
Feduchine heights, and consequently the author could
not see that sad affair. To the good conduct of the
93d Highlanders, under the immediate command of
Sir Colin Campbell, the safety of Balaklava is owing.
Had the 93d been broken, there was literally nothing
to hinder the cavalry which came down on the 93d
from galloping through the flying Turks, and destroy-
ing all the stores in Balaklava. There was, indeed,
a frigate in the harbour ; but the cavalry would have
swept past her in a moment, and, once in the village,
the frigate must have fired through our own shipping,
if she could have got a spring on her cable in time to
fire at all.'
Captain Anitschkoff also speaks of a "Wagen-
burg," which he has placed in his plan on the left of
the 93d. " Wagenburg" is a German word meaning
a fortification, or bulwark, formed by the wagons and
carriages of an army. It must be recorded that there
I'.JJ^hjerclzf^, Zat^JTldillSizrA, Conduat St.
hA^ieruIaxr^^
BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA. 117
was nothing of the kind ; the only bulwark was com-
posed of the stout hearts of 400 Highland soldiers
and their indomitable leader. This imaginary wagon
fortification is a salve for the Russian cavalry, but it
is a pure invention. At the close of the day the 42d
and 79th were added to Sir C. Campbell's force ; and
a brigade of the French, under General Vinoy, were
placed, as shown in the Plan, behind Battery No. 5.
LETTER XXXIII.
Camp, in front of Balaklava,
27th October 1854.
In case no one else should write, I do so to say
— is safe, and not hurt in the action of the 25th.
I have not been able to go to see him, but I have
seen those who have done so. We are beleaguered
here by the force which was expected from Anapa.
We are in a predicament, our English force to hold
this place being very small, and the courage of the
Turks being mild. The defence of Silistria becomes
to me more and more a mystery. On Wednesday the
25th, the Russians attacked the redoubts which we
had been ordered to construct along our front, and
which were armed with two guns each, and filled with
Turks. C. never liked these redoubts. The Turkish
gentlemen were beaten out as soon as the enemy's
118 THE UNLUCKY CHARGE.
skirmishers came at the works, in which we under-
stood they would fight till they all perished ; in run-
ning away they lost a good many men from the ene-
my's guns, which played upon them across the valley.
As soon as the redoubts were taken, a large body of
cavalry (40Q0 or 5000 strong) came on, some of them
facing towards our cavalry, and some against our
small body of infantry — six companies of the 93d,
and Turks in line with them. Two boys of the Guards,
Hamilton and Verschoyle by name, who were quar-
tered in Balaklava with thirty or forty of their men,
came of their own accord, without any order, and formed
up with the 93d, showing themselves thorough-bred,
and the right men in the right place. The English
heavy brigade charged their opponents, five times
their number, and beat them in splendid style. The
lot advancing against us was also driven back by our
fire ; but the Turks in line with us ran away. A good
deal of cannonading was going on the while ; but some
regiments from the plateau opposite Sebastopol came
down, and showed sufficient front to deter the Russian
infantry from coming on. The British cavalry, having
been successful, should have been let alone ; but some
unlucky man had the unlucky idea of making the
light-cavalry brigade charge a battery of eight guns
which was firing at them. Lord Lucan, who com-
mands the cavalry, objected ; Lord Cardigan, who
commands the Light Brigade, objected : but the staff-
93d, you must die there ! 119
officer who brought the order, which I hear was a
written one, was positive, and, they say, insolent.
Lord Lucan, instead of putting him in arrest, sent on
the poor Lights. They galloped right into the bat-
tery, and killed the gunners, but they could not take
the guns away ; and they found themselves under a
cross fire of artillery, and surrounded by a very supe-
rior number of cavalry, through which they had to
cut their way back. Their loss was frightful, I know
not what, probably half their number. Here the affair
ceased for the day. We are now left to keep this
position with Turks who are worse than useless, 1200
Marines, the three Highland regiments, and the assist-
ance on our left of a body of French, about 4000. C.
and his staff remain in the centre battery. No. 4, with
the 93d ; and if it be decided to maintain Balaklava,
here we shall stand and die. We have put the Turks
in the rear, feeling sure that if we did not so place
them, their natural modesty would soon take them
there. The abandonment of Balaklava is mooted.
Against the force of Russians now before us, who have
possession of the redoubts where the Turks were, and
who number at least 20,000 infantry, with more very
likely coming up, I doubt the possibihty (always sup-
posing said Russians attack with vigour) of our hold-
ing on. If they force our centre, we shall kill many
of them, and we shall be all killed on the spot where
we stand. C. told the 93d they must die there ; and
120 POUR ET CONTRE.
he looked as if he meant it. Should that happen, the
Marines, 42d, and 79th, would be cut off, they being
on our right, with Balaklava harbour behind them.
You may believe this is an anxious moment for all of
us who care for the credit of England. We may, in-
deed, abandon the harbour, and occupy the heights
on its west side, nearer the besieging armies, but that
would be a great triumph to Russia ; or we may leave
a few men to guard the trenches before Sebastopol,
and turn upon the enemy and beat him, which we
should certainly do. Once Sebastopol taken, our
difficulties would be over, for our whole army would
be free ; but the siege is drawing out, the defence is
obstinate, and nobody knows how soon we may be
able to storm. Meanwhile the Odessa force is coming.
Our numbers are too small for the enterprise ; there
are no more expected at present, 1 believe. I post
this letter now because I know not if it will be possi-
ble to write up to the moment of post, as we may be
attacked in an hour for what I know.
DESPATCH OF BALAKLAVA. 121
LETTER XXXIV.
Sir Colin Campbell's Despatch of the Battle of
Balaklava.
To Major-General Estcourt, Adjutant- General
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
27tli October 1854.
Sir, — I have the honour to inform you that in
the morning of the 25th inst., about seven o'clock,
the Russian force, which has been, as I already re-
ported, for some time among the hills on our right
front, debouched into the open ground in front of the
redoubts, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, which were occupied by
Turkish infantry and artillery, and armed with some
twelve-pounders (iron). The enemy's force consisted
of eighteen or nineteen battalions of infantry, from
thirty to forty guns, and a large body of cavalry.
The attack was made' against No. 1 redoubt by a cloud
of skirmishers, supported by eight battalions of in-
fantry and sixteen guns. The Turkish troops in No. 1
resisted as long as they could, and then retired ; and
they suffered considerable loss in their retreat. This
attack was followed by the successive abandonment of
Nos. 2, 3, and 4 redoubts by the Turks, as well as of
the other posts held by them in our front. The guns,
however, in Nos. 2, 3, and 4 were spiked. The garri-
son of these redoubts retired, and some of them formed
122 DESPATCH OF BALAKLAVA.
on the right and some on the left flank of the 93d
Highlanders, which was posted in front of No. 4 bat-
tery, in the village of Kadikoi. When the enemy had
taken possession of these redoubts, their artillery
advanced with a large mass of cavalry, and their guns
ranged to the 93d Highlanders, which, with 100 in-
vaUds, under Lieutenant-Colonel Daveney, in sup-
port, occupied very insufficiently, from the smallness
of their numbers, the slightly rising ground in front
of No. 4 battery. As I found that round shot and
shell began to cause some casualties"'^ among the 93d
Highlanders and the Turkish battalions, in their right
and left flank, I made them retire a few paces behind
the crest of the hilL During this period our batteries
on the heights, manned by the Royal Marine Artil-
lery and the Royal Marines, made excellent practice
on the enemy's cavalry, which came over the hill in
our front. One body of them, amounting to about
400, turned to their left, separating themselves from
those who attacked Lord Lucan's division, and charged
the 93d 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
* The author has heard this doubted, because there were no
casualties retunied; but he saw the men himself struck down by
cannon-shot, both Turks and Highlanders, about a quarter of
an hour before the cavalry charge.
MAIL-BAGS. 123
way, and turn to their left ; after which they made
an attempt to turn the right flank of the 93d, having
observed the flight of the Turks, who were placed
there. Upon which the Grenadiers of the 93d, under
Captain Koss, were wheeled up to their right, and
fired on the enemy, which manoeuvre completely dis-
comfited them.
(Signed) C. Campbell,
Major- General.
LETTER XXXV.
Camp, Battery No. 4,* in front of Balaklava,
2d November 1 854.
I FIND you often get two of my letters together. It
seems that Lord Raglan keeps the mail-boat to the last
minute, so that sometimes there is only time to put
his own bag on board the steamer for Constantinople ;
and the common people's letters are left for the next
occasion, which is a great shame. I enclose the Orders
on the action of the 25th, from which you see our
Highlanders got some credit.
• The 93d remained in the position they held until dark on
the 25th October, and then retired into Battery No. 4, just five
hundred yards in their rear. The 42d and 79th were posted on
the heights, to the right of the 93d.
I 24 LORD RAGLAN TO C.
" Head-Quarters, before Sebastopol,
28th October 1854.
No. 1 . The Commander of the Forces feels deeply
indebted to Major-General Sir Colin Campbell for his
able and persevering exertions in the action in front
of Balaklava on the 25th inst. ; and he has great plea-
sure in publishing to the army the brilliant manner
in which the 93d Highlanders, under his able direc-
tions, repulsed the enemy's cavalry. The Major-
General had such confidence in this distinguished regi-
ment that he was satisfied that it should receive the
charge in line, and the result proved that his confi-
dence was not misplaced."
After the redoubts in front were taken from the
Turks, who ran away across the plain, the Russians
pushed on their cavalry and guns, hoping to cut them
up. One portion of the cavalry left the main body,
and charged us, i.e. the 93d Highlanders, a weak bat-
talion, which was formed in line, with a Turkish bat-
talion on each flank. We had previously lost^ a few
men by round shot, and the line had been moved back
a few paces to get shelter under the crest of the slight
* This has been disputed, because, from some mistake, there
was no return made of casualties. Private Charles M'Kay
lost his leg by a round shot ; private Kenneth Mackenzie was
wounded above the knee by a splinter of a shell. Test. Dr.
Monro, surgeon of the regiment, whose letter I have.
THE 93d STOOD FAST. 125
hill. As soon as the cavalry began to charge, C. ad-
vanced his men to the crest again, and opened fire.
The Turks ran away to the rear, into the village of
Balaklava, crying, " Ship, ship !" However, the com-
mandant, an old officer of the Koyals (Lieutenant-
Colonel Daveney), put a sentry to stop the vagabonds-
One of my native servants (all trembling) went off
with two of my horses, and was not found for hours
afterwards.
The little 93d stood fast, and fired away. The
cavalry could not bear the fire, and swept off to their
left, trying to get round our right flank, and cut in
on the Turks. But C. wheeled up the Grenadier com-
pany to its right, and peppered them again, and sent
them back with a flea in their ears. You see what
Lord Raglan says. After this the main body of Rus-
sian cavalry advanced against ours, and was com-
pletely routed by the Heavy Brigade. The poor
Light Brigade made their charge afterwards on the
other side of the redoubts, so I could not see them ;
but they suffered dreadfully : must have
had a wonderful escape. I have not seen him, -as
I cannot stir from here. We are making trenches,
forts, and batteries all round us, to try and render the
position secure against a large Russian force which is
camped about two miles from us.
The defence of the lines of Balaklava bids fair to
form a large feature in the history of the siege.
126 BEGINS TO FREEZE.
The French have got very near the wall on the
Russian right of the town, and intend, as we hear,
to assault to-night. That attempt, however, is put
off. We expect, whenever they do so, to be ourselves
attacked here, and we are continually under arms
and looking out, — a perpetual picquet ; very wearing ;
and now it freezes at night, which makes the tent
pretty cooL I continue in good health. If we take
the place, I opine we shall immediately turn on our
friends in front and drub them, which will give me
much satisfaction, as they are always tormenting, espe-
cially at night, and should be made to know that their
place is as far as they can get from the Highland Bri-
gade. All this war-stuff is very sad, and you must
make the best of it. The Ufe is hard for the poor men,
who have perhaps not the same feeling that I have
about the necessity, for the sake of our country, of
beating these Tartars into reason. I must now stop,
for I hear a shot.
The author has seen no English account of the
battle of Inkermann wldch gives a clear description
of the state of affairs before and during that battle.
He has therefore thought it might not be unaccept-
able to introduce here the plan taken, but corrected,
from Captain Anitschkoff's work, and a compilation,
with some corrections added, from that and some
other sources. Captain Anitschkoff seems generally to
LORD RAGLAN's FALSEHOOD. 1 27
be pretty accurate, with the exception that he charges
Lord Eaglan with falsehood as to the numbers of his
men who were engaged, and with a misstatement as
to the number of Russians killed. When an officer
brings such charges, he should not be surprised at
being suspected of understating his own numbers.
As it is to us quite certain that Lord Raglan was
incapable of setting his name to a falsehood, it may-
be taken for granted that his Lordship's statement of
the numbers engaged was perfectly accurate. This
he puts at 8000 English and 6000 French. It may
be well here to mention how the allied troops were
posted. And to begin from the left : from Cape
Chersonesus, the ground to the most western or left-
hand ravine, leading down to the harbour, was occu-
pied by the French. This ravine was called by the
Russians Sardanakina ground. This post near the
walls of Sebastopol was held by two French divisions,
viz. the 3d, under Prince Napoleon, and the 4th, or
Forey's, both under command of General Forey. On
their right was the camp of the English divisions :
the 3d, England's ; the 4th, Cathcart's ; the Light
Division, Brown ; the 1st Brigade (Guards) of the 1st
Division, under the Duke of Cambridge ; and on the
right of the whole the 2d Division, under De Lacy
Evans, or rather of General Pennefather, as General
Evans was sick on board ship. The 1st and 2d
French Divisions, under Bosquet, composed a corps
128 GENERAL POSITION AND NUMBERS.
of observation, and were posted on the edge of the
plateau, called by the Russians Mount Sapoune, look-
ing towards Chorguna. The Turks and the 2d Brigade
of the 1st Division (Highlanders), under command of
Colin Campbell, as well as all the English cavalry,
under Lord Lucan, were in position in front of Bala-
klava, and on their extreme right two battalions of
Marines held the heights to the east of Balaklava har-
bour. D'AUonville's cavalry was in reserve behind the
besieging army. Bosquet had covered his front with
intrenchments ; but the English, who held the north-
east corner of the plateau of Mount Sapoune, looking
towards the ruins of Inkermann, had not found time
to spare from the labours of the siege to make any
sufficient defences. They had, in fact, much fewer men
than the French, as the latter had received a rein-
forcement of about 10,000 men on the 30th of Octo-
ber. The Russians had also received very large rein-
forcements in the beginning of November. In fact, by
the Russian accounts, the allied army at the period of
the battle of Inkermann consisted of 35,000 French,
23,000 English, and 12,000 Turks— total, 69,000
to 70,000 ; while the Russians acknowledge to 82,000
men, and they had the advantage of being all of one
nation and under one general-in-chief. Prince Men-
schikoff lost no time in making an offensive move-
ment, although the allies were in possession of all the
heights. Properly speaking, the allied position was
ATTACK AT INKERMANN. 129
impregnable. The position towards the town of Se-
bastopol was defended by numerous batteries, armed
with ship and siege guns. That part of Mount Sa-
poune held by Bosquet was scarcely attackable, on
account of the French works thrown up there ; and
since the combat of Balaklava extensive lines had
been thrown up, which were defended by strong de-
tachments ; so that an attack there was likely to be
attended with great risk of failure, and could only
succeed by making enormous sacrifices of life. Thus
there only remained one point that was really practi-
cable, namely, the narrow defile from the Inkermann
bridge, where the old post-road climbed the heights,
and which the English had protected by a few slight
field-works. A success on this English right wing
would have given the Russians an immense advan-
tage. If they could occupy the heights on both sides
of the Kilen ground, or ravine of the careening creek,
they would have brought their ofiensive army into
immediate contact with the garrison of Sebastopol.
They could, if once fairly established there, have em-
ployed their cavalry against the allies, in which arm
the Russians were far superior; and the allies would
have been forced to abandon the siege of the eastern
part of the town, that is, of the Malakofi" and Redan,
the docks, and the Karabelnaya suburb. Prince Men-
schikoff, seeing all this, determined to make the attack
with two columns, one to issue from bastion No. 2, or
130 LEFT BANK OF THE KILEN GROUND.
the Little Redan, and the other to cross the Cheraaya
by the Inkermann bridge. In order to divert the
attention of the allies, Prince Gortschakoff was ordered
to advance at the same time against Bosquet ; and a
sortie of the garrison was ordered from bastion No. 6,
or the Quarantine Bastion, against the French left.
With these views, the right column, which was to
issue from the Little Redan, was placed under com-
mand of General Soimonoff, and was composed of 29
battalions and 38 guns; total, 17,500 men. The
left column, under command of Lieutenant-General
Pawloff, was to attack over the Inkermann bridge,
and amounted to 20 J battalions and 96 guns ; total,
13,500 men. These two columns, therefore, accord-
ing to the Russian statements, amounted to 31,000
men and 134 guns. The troops from Chorguna, under
General Prince Gortschakoff, numbered 30 J battalions
and 16 guns ; total, 20,000 men. At Mackenzie's
Farm 6 more battalions and 36 guns were posted.
The columns under Soimonoflf received orders to take
up the ground on the left bank of the ravine of the .
careening creek {ravin du carenage), for the purpose
of attacking the centre and left wing of the English.
Instead of doing which, this column advanced along
the right bank of the ravine, and attacked the English
right, for which purpose Pawloff's column had been
destined. It is hard to explain how such a mistake
was made : it may be said, that the order of march
soimonoff's mistake. 131
was not clearly explained ; yet a ravine is usually treated
like a river. At any rate, if General SoimonofF had
a doubtj he ought to have asked for explanation on
the evening before the attack. The direction of Soi-
monoff's column was distinctly shown in an instruction
(No. 1521) which General Dannenberg sent to Soi-
monoff on the evening of the 4th November. This
instruction stated, " I desire that your main reserve
should march behind your right wing, as your left is
perfectly secured by the ravine of the Kilen ground."
Whereas General Soimonoff brought his right wing
to rest on this ravine. General Schabokritski com-
manded the reserve in question. It was a most for-
tunate mistake for the Enghsh, as the Guards would
have been attacked in their own front by Soimonoff,
and could not have gone off to the right to assist
the 2d Division ; besides which, the troops of the two
columns, commanded respectively by Soimonoff and
Pawloff, came into action behind one another ; and the
ground was so narrow that they could make no use of
their superior numbers, as they could not deploy, but
were forced to attack in columns of companies, which
the English Minie balls penetrated from front to rear.
The English battalions, formed in line two deep, had
thus, with inferior numbers, the superiority of fire.
The morning broke with rain and fOg; and the gray
coats of the Russians enabled them to come very near
before they were seen. The English at first thought
132 RUSSIAN ADVANCE.
it was only a strong sortie ; but hearing cannon and
musketry on every side, knew not which way to turn :
on their left the town-batteries thundered, and were
assisted by Soimonoff's artillery ; from Inkermann,
the regiments of Borodino and Tarutin, of Pawloff's
column, were ascending the heights, and Gortschakoff
was threatening the rear of the position ; while the
lines of Balaklava had a large force opposite to them.
Nothing could be done but to resist to the uttermost
wherever they were attacked. Soimonoff's column, at
5 A.M., was formed outside the Little Redan, or bastion
No. 2. It marched at six. Major -General Wilboa,
with four battalions of the Koliwanski Regiment, and
four battalions of the Tomski Regiment, and two field-
batteries, was in advance, with the Uglitz, Butirsk,
Susdal, and Wladimir Regiments on his right. These
troops formed on their own left of the Careening-Creek
Ravine, with two light batteries in reserve. They
made the first attack, and Pawlofi'^s column did not
reach the scene till they had been forced to retreat.
The left column, under Pawloff, began their movement
from the Inkermann bridge at 5 A.M. ; but the bridge
had been partially destroyed by the English, and had
to be repaired. First came the regiment of Ochotz,
then the Borodino and Tarutin Regiments, with a
light battery ; then the regiment of Jakutzsch, a field-
battery, the regiment of Selensk, and the artillery
reserve- After crossing the Chernaya, the regiment
FIRST SHOTS. 1 33
of Ochotz turned to the right, and moved along the
Sappers' Road ; the Borodino Regiment, with two
companies of riflemen in front, ascended the heights
through the ravines opposite to the bridge, and the
Tarutin Regiment marched to their left along the old
post-road. When the two columns, Soimonoff and
Pawloff, had ascended the heights, they both fell
under command of General Dannenberg, and acted
according to circumstances. General Timofjef com-
manded the regiments of Minsk and Tobolsk, which
were to make the attack on the French trenches from
the Quarantine Bastion. The corps from Chorguna
was to move at 6 a.m. along the Woronzow Road, to
occupy Bosquet's troops. Brigadier-General Codring-
ton visited his outposts at 5 a.m. As he was return-
ing, some shots were suddenly fired at the left of the
outposts of the Light Division, and immediately after-
wards a heavy fire was heard towards Inkermann.
On the one side the heads of Soimonofi^s column were
approaching, on the other Pawloff's skirmishers began
to open on the English. General Pennefather, who
had command of the 2d Division, in consequence of
the sickness of Sir De Lacy Evans, placed Adams's
Brigade, consisting of the 41st, 47th, and 49th Regi-
ments, near the unfinished redoubt No. 1, which is
situated just where the old post-road arrives on the
top of the plateau. In its rear, but in front of the
camp of the 2d Division, there was the insignificant
] 34 POSTING OF BRITISH.
redoubt No. 2, not armed with any guns, although
Captain Anitschkoff says there were two Lancasters
there ; and on its right, or east of it, redoubt No. 3 ;
which three redoubts were intended to protect the
right of the English position, against which the main
attack was directed. On the left of Adams, Penne-
father placed his 2d Brigade, composed of the 30th,
55th, and 95th, on the ground along which SoimonofiTs
troops were advancing. Behind these two brigades,
which received the first onset of the Russians, the
rest of the English army took up in all haste the fol-
lowing position : Cathcart's 1 st Brigade, under Goldie,
between Pennefather and Buller ; his 2d Brigade, under
Torrens, in rear of his 1st Brigade ; the Brigade of
Guards, under the Duke of Cambridge and Bentinck,
behind Adams's right wing ; the other Brigade of the
1st Division (Highlanders) was with Colin Campbell
at Balaklava ; the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, under
John Campbell, in reserve behind Brown's Light Divi-
sion ; the 2d Brigade, 3d Division, was in the trenches.
In this manner, all the British army, except the Bri-
gades of Colin Campbell 'and Eyre, were very shortly on
the battle-ground ; and leaving out these two brigades,
the remainder, according to English statements, only
amounted to 13,000 men; — so says Captain Anitsch-
koff, with a remark that their numbers far exceeded
that amount. The English camp was at the head of
the Kilen ground, or ravine of the careening creek.
REDOUBT NO. II. 135
on both sides of which they could manceuvre ; while
the Russians were confined to the ground east of that
ravine. The first attack of the Russians was very
successful ; not so much on account of their superior
numbers, which, in that confined space, could not be
made use of, but from the surprise and the violence
of their attack. In this first fight only three regi-
ments of Soimonoff's, viz. the Tomsk, the Kolivansk,
and the Katharinenburg, and two regiments of Paw-
loff's, viz. the Borodino and Tarutin, took part. These,
according to Captain Anitschkofi", made twenty bat-
talions, or 13,000 men ; and he pretends that the
whole 13,000 English were engaged with them, which,
if true, would be curious, considering the surprise.
The Borodino and Tarutin Regiments drove in the
English outposts, and ascended the heights with great
rapidity; the first by the hollow way, the second by
the old post-road. The brigades of Adams and Penne-
father were forced back, and the Russians passed the
redoubt No. 1 . At the same time the regiments Tomsk
and Kolivansk, supported by the Katharinenburg, de-
spite the withering fire from Codrington, BuUer, and
Goldie, attacked Adams and Pennefather with the bay-
onet, and a bloody hand-to-hand encounter ensued.
The 2d battalion Tomsk, and 1st and 2d battalions
Kolivansk, succeeded in storming No. 2 redoubt, and
spiked, it is asserted, two Lancaster guns, and they
even got so far as the camp of the 2d Division. As to
136 SOIMONOFF KILLED.
the spiking of two Lancaster guns, Captain Anitsch-
koff is mistaken : there were no guns in position on
the Inkermann heights. The five-gun battery, in
front of what became the Victoria Redoubt, had one
Lancaster gun and four others ; but they were never
spiked, though the Russians at one time came very
near this battery, and by going along the ravine had
got actually into its rear ; but there were no guns in
No. 2 redoubt. The 2d and 4th battaUons Katharin-
enburg went round the upper end of the Kilen ground,
got on its left bank, and spiked four field-guns in the
English camp. Not being supported, they could not
hold their ground, and were driven back. The Eng-
lish right, however, were gradually obliged to give
way ; but they defended themselves step by step with
the greatest obstinacy, and their Minies told with
fearful effect. The Russian officers, the gunners, and
the draft-horses, served as targets. In a short time
there were either killed or wounded Soimonoff, Wilboa,
the commanding officer of the artillery of the right
column. Colonel Saghos, and nearly all the officers
of the three foremost regiments. Having lost their
valiant leaders, and having suffered most fearfully
from the English fire, the Russians were at last forced
to retire into the hollow way, where the stone-quarries
exist, as shown in the Plan ; and here they formed
again, under the protection of their batteries, which
had been posted in a judicious manner by General
END OF ACT I. 187
Schabokritski. Immediately behind the batteries the
Uglitz and Butirsk Regiments were drawn up, with
the Susdal and Wladimir Regiments in reserve. Thus
at ten o'clock the battle seemed to have turned into
a cannonade. At the same time, the Borodino and
Tarutin Regiments, which had thrown themselves on
the 2d Division, were driven back by the sudden ap-
pearance of the English Guards, and two and a half
battalions of French, sent by Bosquet to support the
hard-pressed 2d Division. Their attack had, how-
ever, materially assisted Soimonoff.
So ended the first act of this bloody contest, which
a second one soon followed of a far more desperate na-
ture. At seven o'clock Lord Raglan and his staff had
appeared on the field. In order the better to observe
the course of the action, he rode into the front line,
where General Strangways, the commanding officer
of Artillery, was killed at his side. General Dannen-
berg, who commanded the Russian troops engaged,
stood on the height behind the batteries of his first
line, and directed the march of his columns. Death
reaped a rich harvest around him ; staff-officers, aides-
de-camp, and orderlies, fell close to him, and he had
two horses shot under him. At the beginning of the
fight. General Bosquet came into the English camp
with four companies of rifles, two battalions of the
line, and two batteries of horse artillery, and offered
assistance to Cathcart and Brown; but the proud
138 CANROBERT.
Englishmen declined his aid, saying they had still
troops in reserve, and would only ask for it in case
that the redoubt No. 1 should be taken by the enemy.
Without further parley, Bosquet sent off his men in
this direction ; and the assistance they gave to Penne-
father and Adams has been mentioned. Bosquet him-
self returned to his camp, to see \vith his own eyes
the nature of the attack which was threatening him
from Chorguna. He soon satisfied himself that it was
only a feint ; in consequence of which he immediately
made every preparation to have the greatest part of
his force ready for the first request for support, know-
ing that a strong reserve would very probably decide
the battle. He soon received from English officers the
information that their right was sore pressed. The
Brigades Bourbaki and d'Autemarre of the 2d Divi-
sion were quickly despatched to the threatened point ;
only one brigade remained on that part of Mount
Sapoune to oppose Grortschakoff. The French Com-
mander-in-Chief, Canrobert, had also betaken himself
to the English camp ; and he remained close to Lord
Raglan during the whole battle, although wounded in
the hand. By this time the bloody struggle on the
Inkermann heights had recommenced. The three rear
regiments of Pawloff's column, which had marched
along the Sappers' Road, arrived at eight o'clock on the
battle-field, just as the foremost of Soimonoff's troops
had retired into the stone-quarries. First came the
ACT 11. 139
Ochotzk Regiment, and after it those of Jakutsk and
Selensk. General Dannenberg immediately pushed
on these gallant troops against the English. The
regiment of Ochotzk threw itself on the flank of re-
doubt No. 1, which was defended by the Coldstream
Guards. Surrounded by the enemy, these valiant
Englishmen fought with the greatest gallantry, paying
no attention to the shots which the Russian batteries
beyond the hollow way were showering into the re-
doubt, causing infinite loss. Several times the Rus-
sians got into the embrasures ; but their efforts to
enter the redoubt itself were in vain. At last, after
the Guards had lost 200 men, they gave up hope of
being able to hold the redoubt, and, with a frightful
loss, they cut their way through the surrounding Rus-
sians. But the Ochotzk Regiment bought their suc-
cess very dearly ; their commandant, Bibikoff, fell
mortally wounded, and nearly all the staff and supe-
rior officers lay. on the field of battle. The regiments
Jakutsk and Selensk, under General Octerlone, now
crossed the hollow way, through which the post-road
rises to the heights, and attacked with fresh strength ;
while the English had been reinforced by Cathcart's
division. The Coldstream Guards, with the two other
battalions of the Guards, advanced again, and drove
the Ochotzk Regiment out of the redoubt ; but only
for a time, for the Jakutsk Regiment retook it. Ben-
tinck was wounded, and twelve other officers of the
140 CATHCA.RT.
Guards were killed. The 4th Division suffered no
less, being attacked in flank by the Selensk Regiment.
Here Cathcart fell dead in his vain attempt to cut off
the retreat of the Selensk and Jakutsk Redments ;
for while retiring before the Selensk Regiment, that
of Jakutsk poured in a hail of bullets, killing Cathcart,
and wounding Goldie and Torrens, his two Brigadiers.
The thick smoke of the musketry concealed the ground.
The Guards, the 2d Division, the 4th Division, and
the French battalions which had first arrived, began
to give way before Pawloff's troops. After an obstin-
ate defence, redoubt No. 2 was taken by the Russians,
who for the second time got into Pennefather's camp,
in the front of which there had been placed an Eng-
lish battery of six guns. The Russian riflemen con-
cealed in the copses killed nearly all the gunners and
horses, and took two of the guns.
Upon both sides, up to this moment, the fight
had been continued with the extremest fury. The
scale was now beginning to turn in favour of the Rus-
sians, who had still four regiments which had not
been engaged, while nearly all the English reserves
had been brought up : there were still three battalions
behind the slight rising ground on which the Victoria
Redoubt was afterwards constructed. In every battle
there is always a moment when the physical force of
the contending troops is materially reduced by their
prolonged and extreme efforts; while the moral force
ACT III. 14)1
has reached its minimum from the continual strain on
the nerves ; at such a moment the arrival of a fresh re-
serve often turns the fate of the day. It was now 11
o'clock A.M. The third and last act of this murderous
conflict approaches. Bosquet arrives ; amidst the roar
of the guns, the trumpets of the Zouaves are heard,
with the Chasseurs de Vincennes and the Indigenes
advancing at a run. The English shouted for joy ;
inevitable necessity had compelled them to ask for
assistance. Close behind their skirmishers came all
three French brigades, and, passing to the right of the
English, attacked the Russian left, who had now to
fight for their artillery ; and Pawloff's three regiments
did this with surpassing bravery, and with perfect
success. The retreat of the Russians was covered by
the regiments Susdal and Wladimir, which regiments
defended themselves against the French with the
greatest obstinacy. When the artillery had gained
the Inkermann bridge, the Russian infantry made
their retreat, pursued by the allies, till the latter got
under the fire of the steamers Wladimir and Cher-
sonesus. The loss of the English was 2622 men ;
that of the French 1726, in which it is probable there
was included the loss incurred by Timofjef s sortie on
the left. Captain Anitschkoff" makes that of the Rus-
sians 8769 ; but it is known that the English buried
5000 Russians, and it is probable their loss may be
reckoned at full 12,000 men. The remarks of this
Russian staff-officer about Lord Raglan's returns and
142 OFFENSIVE REMARKS.
statements are very offensive. It is evident that
Captain Anitschkoff has no knowledge of English
gentlemen's habits, nor of the way in which the re-
turns of the British army are made out.
Although all the officers of our army are perfectly
aware that these returns were sent correct to the Ad-
jutant-General of the army, countersigned by Lord
Raglan, and that no person belonging to the English
army would believe for one moment that his Lordship
would put his name to a falsehood, still, as foreigners
have made such a statement, — for I remember hearing
the same thing confidently asserted at Berlin, — I have
thought it well to consult with some of the Brigade-
Majors ; and I now present our estimate of the forces
actually engaged, and the numbers which we believe
to have been killed, wounded, and missing, in each
regiment ; from which it appears that, according to
the estimate of three intelligent Brigade- Majors who
were engaged, the actual number of English infantry
under fire was 7938, and the killed, wounded, and
missing, 2443 ; the additional number to make up
the 2622, given by Lord Raglan, were artillerymen
and a few cavalry.
Divisions and Brigades engaged at Inkermann, 5ih Nov. 1854.
First Division.
3d Batt. Gren. Gds."j Strength.
1st Batt. Coldstr. V 1st Brig 1300
1st Batt. S. F. Gds. J
Highland or 2d Brigade absent
at Balaklava.
Carry forward 1300
THREE BRIGADE-MAJORS.
143
Divisions and Brigades engaged at Inkermann, 5th JSov. 1854
(continued).
Strength.
Brought forward . , 1300
Second Division.
1st Brigade. All these
,30th, 41st, 47th
49th, 55th, 95th, 2d Brigade.
regiments \
were under 500, and
the 95th very weak, r2500
probably 300, say j
total
Third Division.
Only one wing of the 50th was"
engaged. The 1st and 38th
liegiments were behind the
rising ground on which the j say
Victoria Redoubt was after-
wards constructed, and never
fired a shot. <"
ifter-
never
250
-L>
/y/U^/^^^ 'tf^S/^
20th, 21st, 57th, 1st Brigade.
63d. 68th, 1st Battalion Rifles,
2d Brigade.
Two companies 46th Regiment.
Two companies 68th "^
Regiment were at
head- quarters. All
the regiments were I nr^r^n.
under 500, and there ' "^"^
were of this division
about 900 men in the
trenches.
Light Division.
7th, 23d, 33d, 2d Batt. Rifles,
1st Brigade.
19 th, 77 th, 88th, 2d Brigade.
The 1st Brigade had in
the battle .
The 2d Brigade ditto
Deduct 19th Reg.
iin 1
. . 1219 \
. III9J
2338
450
1888
It is to be remembered that our
regiments mean only one bat-
talion ; from each of these a
certain number of men were
taken away to form the pro-
visional battalion at Bala-
klava. The Russian regi-
ments had four battalions.
1888
Four companies of the
Rifles were detached
at Balaklava. The
19th Regiment was
in reserve behind the
rising ground on '
which the Victoria
Redoubt was after-
wards constructed.
This regiment never
fired a shot.
The division gave 900
men to the trenches.
Total strength engaged 7938
144
KILLED AND WOUNDED.
Returns of Killed and Wounded at Inkermann.
5
«)
T3
J
i
1
3
c4
go;
ll
Total.
First Division.
3d Batt. Gren. Gds.
o
^
£
K«
5
^§
3
4
T
71
K
79
1 232
6
6
1
140
W
153
Ist Batt Coldstr. .
8
3
59
K
70
I 191
5
6
2
108
W
121
l8t Batt. S.F. Gds..
1
2
..
47
K
50
,,
1 173
8
8
2
105
W
••
123
Second Division.
30th,
2
25
K
27
}-
5
5
1
89
W
,,
100
4l8t,
Ist Brigade.
5
6
2
4
2
32
86
K
W
39
98
I 137
47th, 1
2
3
••
20
45
K
W
20
50
} ™
49th, ]
2
3
1
37
K
43
I 150
8
1
98
W
107
^^'^' Ud Brigade.
5
5
••
14
67
K
W
14
7*7
I 91
95th,
2
..
25
K
27
1 142
4
2
••
109
W
••
1*1*5
Third Division.
One wing of the 50th
1
, ,
,.
12
K
13
• 31
only engaged.
1
••
1
16
W
18
Fourth Division.
20th,
1
2
1
27
K
31
1 174
8
9
1
125
W
. ,
143
21st,
1
14
K
15
1 118
J
IstBri-
' gade.
6
12
85
W
103
57th,
1
3
1
12
K
17
. .
I -
3
6
1
64
W
74
2 companies
..
..
..
11
K
11
I 40
46th, J
29
W
29
63d,
3
..
13
K
16
. ,
1 112
7
9
2
78
W
,,
96
68th,
2dBri
2
11
K
13
1 56
gade.
2
3
1
37
\f
43
IstBattalion
1
6
16
K
23
. 112
Rifles,
3
6
1
79
W
89
Carry
forwa
rd . .
••
••
••
••
2047
T.Jiahtr^IaK:r/mi^ea,, Cmc^tai>Sl.
'befweenSti^lj^^. &M»<.
KILLED AND WOUNDED.
145
Returns of Killed and Wounded at Inkermann (continued).
bo
«
^
-a
i
S
OJ
-d
II
Total.
Brought forward
o
CO
3
—
5
11
.-
..
..
••
..
..
2047
Light Division.
7th,
5
2
1
8
52
K
W
8
60
I 68
23d,
IstBri-
2
3
7
31
K
W
7
36
• 43
33d,
/ gade.
1
2
1
2
••
9
52
K
W
11
56
1 "
2d Battalion
1
8
K
9
1 as
Rifles,
1
26
W
27
19th, ]
In reserve
77th,
1
2
18
K
21
I "
> 2d Brigade.
2
1
37
W
40
88th,
3
4
9
1
34
70
K
W
38
83
1 121
Total
••
••
••
••
••
2443
Besides tlie Artillery loss, Lord Raglan
says his loss was .... 2622
Deduct 2443
179
LETTER XXXVI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
7th November 1854.
Another terrible battle on the 5th. Our Bala-
klava party were not in it. They say that the two
Grand-Dukes have arrived with large reinforcements ;
at any rate, on the morning of the 5th they came on,
L
146 DUEL A MORT.
some 40,000* Russians, against Sir De Lacy Evans's
Division, with seventy gnns. Although our numbers
were very small, they never gained much ground, and
were finally beaten back into Sebastopol, after many
hours of fighting. Their loss has been tremendous as
well as ours ; and we cannot afford it. Our Govern-
ment must send us some men, and they must do it
without stint. It is even now a question in my mind
whether we can hold our own here till succour arrives.
We are besieging an enemy equal to our own in num-
bers, with another superior one outside and threaten-
ing us continually. They will have to offer a large
bounty to the militia, and give us 20,000 or 30,000
men, besides lots of French. Nicholas will bring every
soldier he has to drive us into the sea. In every
battle we shall lose a large number of men, without
taking into account disease, which still continues to
thin us. The matter looks graver every day : a duel
d> mort with despotism requires numbers as well as
bravery, for which quality the French give us most
flattering certificates. In Canrobert's Order yester-
day he speaks of our inehranlahle solidite. The Cold-
stream Guards buried nine officers yesterday. All
the Guards behaved magnificently. But they were
not brought up in order ; they rushed to the fire in
companies, urged on by the natural valour of officers
* By the Russian account 34,000 and 134 guns.
ON THE WATCH. 147
and men. My friend Bentinck has got a shot in the
arm ; Sir G. Cathcart, Goldie, Torrens, Strangways,
killed, — Torrens not dead yet, but shot through the
lungs ; Brown wounded, and a host of others whose
names I have not got yet ; Lord St. Germans' son is
one. Our loss altogether, 1 700 wounded, 444 killed ;
38 officers killed, more than 90 wounded. How many
such battles can we fight ? Ah me, I am very tired ;
we are on the watch constantly night and day. Half
of the men constantly behind the parapets, all sleep-
ing with loaded muskets under their blankets, to be
ready in a moment. The strain is tremendous — not
on the men (for they do not think), but on the offi-
cers, who are responsible. Before next spring there
will be an army (French and English) in the Crimea
of 200,000 men ; they cannot do it properly with
less. Let us only hope we shall be able to hold on
here till they come. I have little more to say. My
health is good, and I feel equal to any exertion. You
may expect to hear any day that Balaklava has been
attacked. We have fortified it as much as we can.
I will give you a characteristic trait of the 42d and
79th Highlanders. They are posted on some hills a
mile to our right, and were ordered to dig breast-
works in their front, to cover the men from the
enemy's fire, so as to fight with the advantage of
showing less of their persons. On being reproached
with not making the ditch deep enough, nor the para-
148 REFERENCES TO PLANS.
pet high enough, the excuse was, " If we made it so,
we could not get over it to attack the Russians \"
The Plan annexed to Letter XXX., showing the
attack on the lines of Balaklava, is here repeated, mu-
tatis mutandis, together with a sketch to show the
position held by the allied forces in the lines of
Balaklava, and also that held by the Russians in
and behind the Turkish redoubts, and at Kamara,
from the 26th October till the 6th December ; when
Liprandi s troops retired over the Chernaya, keeping
their outposts at Chorguna and Karlovka. During
the six weeks of very bad weather, the troops under
Sir Colin Campbell were in continual expectation
of being attacked, and had as hard trench-duty
to perform as any others in the army. Half of
the men spent every night in the trenches, and the
rest lay in their tents fully accoutred, with their
loaded muskets by their sides. A continual watch
was kept with good spy-glasses from battery No. 4,
from the camp of the 4 2d, and from the Marine
heights, which latter position afforded a better view
from its height. Every movement of the enemy was
observed and noted down, and a daily report sent up
to head-quarters. After the 6th Dec. 1854 nothing
remained of the Russians on the left bank of the
^ ^
I.JkBi^^,l»^iaiStnit.Cmub^^
hliMefM-A^ iJiftmndZUS.
a
^^Iarvi6 Seuj^itif
1)1)-
b ZaiesofJBcJakloMx/
c
:Baiie7y J\r?3.
a.
Loophaled ?iouse uv Outn^^St.EHas
e
JBaS^ry JV'' ^.
£
^haSis
g
Cenoese Tower
i.
^BaZaMava^jBardava-
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ieAve^ri^JiiujesJ^ecjyi^.
LINES OF BALAKLAVA. 149
Chernaya except a few Cossacks in Kamara, which
furnished videttes on the redoubts along the Woron-
zow Road. This state of things continued till the
25th May 1855, when the French and Sardinians
were moved out, as described in Letter XC, and re-
lieved the Highlanders from outpost duty. Sir Colin's
troops, however, were not moved up to the siege till
the 18th June, from which period tliey assisted in the
trench-work till the 18th August, when they were
sent to Kamara to support the Piedmontese, and only
returned to the siege for the assault on the 8th Sep-
tember.
LETTER XXXVII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
12th November 1854.
My last word was, " I hear a shot ;''* we are
always hearing something which makes us get under
arms, and prepare for an attack upon us. It has not
been made ; perhaps they are waiting for reinforce-
ments, perhaps they do not like the look of us. We
are promised more soldiers to defend our position, the
importance of which is acknowledged by all. The
war has now come to a state out of which I cannot
* This was in Letter XXXV. ; the Author has skii^ped a
Letter.
150 SIEGE ARRESTED.
see my way. The weather will soon be so bad that
active operations must be impracticable. During the
whole winter, unless Austria should move, Nicholas
will be pouring down his troops from the north and
east. He will have collected an immense army ; and
as the Russians are very good soldiers, they cannot be
beaten without having something like their own num-
bers to meet them. Will England and France send
200,000 men to take Sebastopol? I know that the
decision come to by the allied generals was, that the
siege must stop in its present state until we shall have
men enough thoroughly to invest both sides of the
harbour, and to beat the enemy in the field. We
could, I dare say, do that now by raising the siege ;
but what is to become of us afterwards ? Meantime
the officers are all tired of it ; many want to sell out,
losing ever so much on their commissions ; and these
men are the more to be pitied, because, after they have
acknowledged their want of endurance, of patriotism,
&c., they cannot go. The soldiers must have officers,
and the officers must just stay and do their duty, eating
their leek. By all accounts the Russians have suffered
most awfully on the 5th ; and they will suffer still
more in health from the bad weather which has now
set in. The roads will break up, and their supplies
will be impeded in moving, while ours will come by
sea. So long as we can hold Balaklava, all is well :
only I do not know what transport the commissary
THE HUREICANE. 151
has to carry things up to the camp before Sebastopol.
The roughest, rudest side of war is now presented to
us ; all pretensions to finery, or even decency, are gone.
We eat dirt, sleep in dirt, and live dirty ; but our
hearts are high, and it will take a deal of Ruskis to
chaw us up. Nevertheless, send us 30,000 English-
men; for if the enemy were of my mind, we should be
hard enough pressed now, and we may be so any day.
LETTER XXXVIIL
Camp, Battery No. 4, in front of Balaklava,
17 th November 1854.
Here we are in winter, and I still in a tent. There
has been a frightful hurricane on the 14th. The wea-
ther had been rainy and windy for two or three days
previously, so that the ground where we encamped
was quite a swamp, i. e. deep mud. We had just got
our morning dose of cocoa, and the soldiers their rum,
when, about seven o'clock, the squall came down on us.
I was dressed in waterproof clothes and a sou'-wester,
and was standing outside ; most of the others were
in the tents. All the tents fell in about three
minutes ; in some the poles broke, in others the pegs
drew. As to mine, the wind rushed in at the door,
and split it right up ; so my servant and I spent an
hour lying on the wet canvas, to keep it compactly
152 DAMAGES.
down, and prevent the household goods from being
blown away. Just at the first destruction of the
tents, the air was loaded with all sorts of articles —
Highland bonnets, shoes, chairs, bits of wood, and all
the papers, news or official, in the camp. My box or
trunk, which I pillaged, or rather bought from a pil-
lager, to hold my documents, was blown open for a
moment, and the wind had just time enough to whip
off one document, and pour in a shower of water.
The paper was found afterwards, some 300 yards off,
in a vineyard. The army before Sebastopol, I hear,
suffered more than we did, because it is colder up
there ; they have also less wood, and the rocky ground
objects to holding tent-pegs. While this wind was
pulling us to pieces, the poor shipping outside the
harbour was undergoing a harder fate. They had
not been able to get into harbour for some days, on
account of the wind that blew right in, and they were
anchored in deep water, with terrible cliffs close to
them. Many are lost, and they say 400 seamen,
besides stores to an immense amount. It is to be
hoped that such storms are not common here. I ob-
serve that the houses are all roofed with loose tiles,
and that no precautions seem to have been taken to
load the roofs to keep the tiles on, which makes me
hope that the Crimea is not generally very windy.
It is wonderful how the men bear it ; and there are
not a great many sick. We are still digging our de-
WANT MEN. 153
fences, and we are now going to begin building huts ;
looking out anxiously at the same time towards the
enemy's position on the one hand, and on the other
towards England and France, wishing for men and war-
like appliances. You have thought fit to invade Russia,
and must send armies of Russian dimensions to cope
with the Czar's troops. These Ruskis are capital
soldiers as to knowledge of war as a profession ; but,
in the longrun, they will not stand before Enghsh and
French. Our national misfortune is, the want of
an army of reserve. Supposing the men obtained,
how can we train them in time ? Had the Govern-
ment been alive to the difficulty of their undertaking,
they would, so soon as they decided on war, have
called out every militiaman in England, which should
have been done last April. These men would all now
be trained soldiers ; and a handsome bounty of 10/.
or 20/. a man would have given us as many as we
could wish for. The same principle applies to the
artillery, in which force the Russians are very strong,
and first-rate as to quality. Infantry, — I mean Eng-
lish infantry, — can take guns, and guns cannot take
infantry ; but the loss they inflict is very great. The
French have plenty of trained soldiers ; but even the
trained soldier is not complete till he has had the
fire-baptism. We do not much expect the Russians
to attack us again till their next reinforcements come
up. The troops who were beaten on the 5th at the
1 54 COMPARISON.
battle of Inkermann suifered so much that their
morale must have been shaken. The calculation is
^ 5,000 killed and wounded. This loss was inflicted
on them by less than half the number of English and
French, that is, 14,000 beat off 40,000, and killed
and wounded 15,000 of them. On this occasion we
were in position, and the Russians made the attack
with the advantage of a surprise. At the Alma the
Russians were in position, and prepared. From that
you may judge the difference between the two nations.
We now hear that 8000 English and 20,000 French
are actually on their way. When they arrive, if the
weather be tolerable, I judge we shall attack the
enemy, and driVe them further off, which will relieve
such of us as survive from this perpetual picquet
duty. At any moment the Russians might come
down on the Balaklava position in half an hour from
our first perceiving their movement, and they might
before daylight come so near without being noticed
that our musketry would reach them. Our principal
want now is firewood ; for the present we have
enough, but very soon it will be consumed ; and un-
less the Government has already taken active steps,
our situation will be deplorable. With fire and food,
I think our men will keep up well enough. All this
may interest some of your friends, if not yourself. I
never go 100 yards away from my tent, unless I am
sent on duty to some other part of the line ; so that
GLORY. ]55
I know nothing of what goes on elsewhere. I am
sorry to say a great many of the officers are quite
disgusted with the hardships we suffer, and want
to go, selling their commissions for the regulation ;
but they cannot be spared. I wonder they are not
ashamed. I would not be any where but here, where
I hope I am of some use. To glory and all that stuff
I am rather indifferent : glory, when looked at close,
and while it is being earned, is rather an ugly thing.
No military glory can be acquired without causing
the misery, mind and body, of thousands. However,
my head works unceasingly to drive this machine, and
keep it ready for action.
LETTER XXXIX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
2 2d November 1854.
We have papers to the 3d. No change here ;
cold, and wet, and discomfort reign over us and
around us. Sickness among the men from exposure is
increasing ; but some more troops have arrived, which
will give us near 19,000 infantry. We are promised
a good many French. The siege does not progress.
The Russians watch us, but seem afraid to attack ;
and we cannot do so either, for want of men. No
doubt, as soon as they arrive in sufficient numbers, we
156 REWARDS.
shall have another battle, and then the siege again ;
a pleasant prospect for the winter. The papers talk
of a winter campaign preparing between Austria
and Russia. In these gloomy dark nights, up to our
ankles in mud, we rise and go round the sentries, for
fear of a surprise, and watch the enemy's fires. It
is really a very hard hfe, yet I never was in better
health. We eat enormously of coarse food, having the
worst cook in the world — a very dirty Glasgow sol-
dier. The Turks are a despair ; they are very lazy,
too, at their work, unless the Pasha stands over them.
Our Highlanders, under direction of the engineer-
officer, or rather of a sapper, are digging a deep exca-
vation, over which they mean to put a roof to cover
themselves, if possible, before the snow comes. I shall
probably weather it out in a tent. As soon as the
defences of this place are completed and tolerably
secure, I hope C. and the Highlanders may get clear
of the Turks. They ought to make him a Lieutenant-
General, considering his great services, which would
double his pay ; but he has no interest. The French
rewards to officers and men for the battle of the Alma
have arrived, and have been distributed. None of us
have got any thing as yet, which I think a mistake ;
nothing acts on the young and ambitious so well as
prompt recognition. To get, after all, what? Per-
haps a step in rank, or the right to receive letters with
" C.B." after one's name. Probably the rewards will
MILITARY SURGEONS. 157
cost the country 5000Z. ; possibly they will wait till
the campaign is over, so that some more may be
killed without receiving the rewards, such as they are.
The ladies seem to be upon a new scheme, bless their
hearts ! I do not wish to see, nor do I approve of,
ladies doing the drudgery of nursing. Perhaps they
may be of some use to keep the poor soldiers' wives
and the nurses in order. I hear that already the hos-
pital at Scutari is much improved. All we want is,
to give the military surgeons leave to spend money,
without the risk of being blamed for it afterwards.
A more devoted set of men than the regimental sur-
geons I never saw ; but they have been brought up
all their lives under the tyranny of the Inspector-
General, whose object it is to please the Government
by keeping down the estimates.
I have written a very stupid letter ; but my fingers
are cold, and my heart is sad. Stupid as it is, I will
add, that when a soldier goes into hospital, the Go-
vernment stops lOd. a day out of his pay, to pay
for his physic and food ; the diiference between that
expense and lOd. goes to the Government. So that
the doctors are encouraged to keep the men on a low
diet, in order to gain credit for economy, i. e. expend-
ing men instead of pennies.
158 WE WILL NOT FAIL.
LETTER XL.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
27th November 1854.
Yours of the 8th came to me two days ago. A
very short time after it was written, you must, by the
papers, have received full particulars of our battle of
Balaklava; and now, at this time of writing, you must
have heard the accounts of the battle of Inkermann,
when so many Russians were killed and wounded. I
suppose they are waiting for reinforcements like our-
selves, for they seem quite quiet. 's regiment
is quartered miles away from me ; and, as I am tied
here, I can give you no account of him. Our cavalry
is now quite inside the fortified lines, and in perfect
safety; and no doubt the officers take off their clothes
at night, and are pretty comfortable, which is a great
element towards being in health. It is doubtless very
sad to have one's friends in peril; but remember,
that we are now fighting for our country, to which we
all owe a life. Should we fail in this contest with
Russia, the power of England will be broken ; and
freedom will receive a blow from which it may not
recover for centuries. But we will not fail ; with our
good swords in our hands, and our women in our
hearts, we are not to be conquered. Send us men
and munitions ; we are longing to attack the enemy,
whose outposts are before us. Meanwhile the works
NIGHTINGALE. 159
are progressing, and gradually surrounding more and
more of Sebastopol. But the roads are so bad, and
our arrangements of transport so behindhand, that
we cannot get the guns up to the new batteries,
which are intended to clear the Inkermann valley. I
hope you have a plan of the place, which is more
than I have. I made a small map of this position ;
but I have never had time to copy it, or, indeed, a
place to do it in. Soon I expect to be in a house
close to this ; and as our defences are improved, I
shall also have a little more time and rest. We hear
of the arrival yesterday of fourteen large mortars, with
which, when we can get them up to the front, we
may perhaps destroy the Russian line-of-battle ships
in the harbour, whose guns have been a great annoy-
ance. For some days past there has been incessant
rain and storms of wind. The soil we are on is mud
and marl, and we are all muddied over, and most
wonderful figures ; but the men are cheerful, and our
Highlanders tolerably healthy. They are very thought-
less. We are driving them to complete their huts,
which will be quite necessary to enable them to bear
the winter. You have made no reflection on the
Nightingale movement, which to me is a very amus-
ing experiment. It is useless to exhort you good peo-
ple not to be in a fright about all of us here,, nor to
be troubled about our death, if death is to be our lot.
At least we hope to give you the consolation that we
160 " GANG THROUGH."
shall not die in vain. " Gang through" is my motto ;
let us not look to the right hand nor to the left, but
straight on to our great object. The survivors who
return to their country will be hailed with national
acclamation, and those who perish will have their
tear and silent memory where their living affection
was placed. We have a new Pasha just landed,
Osman Pasha ; he is of higher rank than Rust^m
Pasha; but I have not yet seen him. He has brought
1400 more Turks with him. I hope they will not
run away like the others ; it is a miserable thing to
see a rabble of men with arms in their hands runn-
ing away from an enemy, who is pounding them with
round shot and shells : they say it is for want of dis-
cipline. I know not ; but think our men would fight
any how ; and the Russians must think so, for we at
Balaklava are at bay ; yet they do not venture on us.
One more great battle won will perhaps enable us to
invest Sebastopol on both sides, and then the place
must fall. The war may last many a day afterwards.
I look forward to nothing "else. The Russians are
obstinate soldiers, and are defending their own soil.
Ignorance and bravery make them formidable foes.
IN BED. 161
LETTER XLL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
2d December 1854.
There is a rumour that from some blunder of the
postmaster all the army letters which should have
gone by the last post were left behind ; that was a
fast mail, this a slow one ; Lord Raglan's bag went
all right. You will perhaps find in this accident
some dark design on the part of Government. I shall
reserve my judgment, professing at the same time
more faith in blunder than in any thing else. All
life is a blunder, as we may see and feel. All mat-
ters, weather included, look sad and murky. French
and English reinforcements are come in. The change
in my lot has been that yesterday we took possession
of a house with a large figure 8 on it, — a mere hovel,
which has hitherto been the 4 2d hospital. By way
of a joke, I undressed and went to bed with sheets,
&c., and found it very uncomfortable. I cannot do
so regularly ; but I risked it ; I mean the chance of
not being on my horse within five minutes, as soon as
needful, in case of an attack. I shall sleep as usual
to-night, and am inclined to think that bed is a fool-
ish invention. Asiatics never do go to bed in our
sense ; they loosen their strings, which is not neces-
sary, as I can testify. has applied for a medi-
cal board ; in other words, he is going home. The
M
162 OFFICERS GETTING LEAVE.
discomfort is what the comfortable fellows cannot
stand. We who do stand it will get no credit ; not
that I want any ; but you see the privates cannot go
home, so why should the officers? To be sure, the
privates neter do go home except when really sick,
or when their regiment goes, while officers who choose
to pay their' passage do usually get leave ; still it
seems to me that on this peculiar occasion the officers
should stick in the mud and weather it out with
their men, as they would physical danger, which may
also be nearer than people suppose. Our cavalry
disaster was all a mistake — temper, impertinence,
want of judgment, and want of a proper disregard for
the opinion of an imprudent stafiF-officer, who was
killed, led our Light Dragoons into the sad catastro-
phe. We are all making huts for ourselves, or for
our horses, which animals will be wanting by and by,
and must be looked to. The four horses I brought
from England are all well, and stand the work like
their master. Our occupation — I mean stafif-officers —
is looking out for the enemy, thinking of eating and
drinking and sleep, — tame cats, with a touch of the
wolf and other savage creatures. Writing official let-
ters, by the way, is that an occupation ? I have just
written eight, more or less important, which will be
sent off at daylight. Sometimes a humaner moment
arrives, and we write to our friends, and become men
again. I have looked in a looking-glass to-day for
NEW CLOTHES. 163
the first time since landing in the Crimea ; my beard
is getting long and grizzled, my face brown and
healthy, my body thin, and my expression reckless
and cynical. That is only a mask : it is always off
in these Letters, and the poor devil is seen as he is.
So far as I can learn, the French and English are
going to begin the siege again ; they are getting up
more guns, and, I suppose, will take the place when-
ever they choose to slip the invincibles at it. But
the invincibles are not immortal, and cost a good deal
of money — not, however, beyond their worth. If ever
men did a fair turn of work, these soldiers have done
one. The real wonder is, that any of them are alive.
The Government at home are giving them a new suit
of clothing and many extras gratis. This is wise ; a
small unexpected gratification acts powerfully on these
poor fellows. We hear the French soldiers are begin-
ning to murmur at the length of inaction under which
they suffer. Canrobert shoots out an order every
now and then to console them.
By the by, talking of orders, I did not expect that
our despatch of the battle of Balaklava would be pub-
lished. I suppose Lord Raglan found he must pub-
lish Lord Lucan's, and so put C.'s in with it. When
I was writing it, C. said, you had better say some-
thing about the staff; but I suggested that we were
sure of plenty of fighting, and should have a better
opportunity. In Lord Raglan's own despatch he says
164 A FLAG OF TRUCE.
very little about C. The truth is, that by his judi-
cious management of the 93(1 he saved the whole
batch of Turks from being cut to pieces. I am his
Adjutant-General ; and if I only had a bit of interest,
or was Lord Tom Trumpeter, the opportunity would
have been seized to promote such a promising and
gallant young fellow. The next news we expect will
be the despatch of the battle of Inkermann, and the
consequent arrangements for reinforcing this army.
Occasionally I have to go out from the redoubt to
receive flags of truce. It is a very odd sort of feel-
ing. You see three or four horsemen about a mile
ofif ; one carrying a lance with a white flag, and ano-
ther trumpeting. You mount and ride out to meet
them, and find a gentleman-like young officer, speak-
ing good French or English ; a few words of extreme
politeness pass, and each party returns to his own
place. The last time they gave me a purse with fifty
gold pieces, a bundle of clothes, and letters, for pri-
soners of war whom we have got at Scutari.
I am afraid you will find this a dull letter ; but
I am dullness personified ; a leaden mantle hangs
over us all at present ; besides which I think I am
getting up a cold, brought on probably by too much
comfort, or perhaps by the hole in the wall just by
my head.
RUSSIANS RETIRE. 165
LETTER XLIL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
7th December 1854.
We now hear that our letters for the last three
or four posts have been late from some stupidity of
arrangement on the part of the directing powers.
The brigade of Light Cavalry has been removed
down from Sebastopol to our neighbourhood. We
have been going on strengthening our position ; but
yesterday were surprised to find that during the pre-
vious night the Russians in our front had decamped
with all their guns, infantry, &c., leaving only a few
Cossack picquets to burn their huts. What the next
scheme may be, who can tell ? It seems likely that
they found our position too strong and too well de-
fended to be attacked ; perhaps they may be concen-
trating their force for a general attack on the front;
perhaps preparing to resist a new French army,
which some people think will be landed on the north
side of Sebastopol. We shall for a while not be so
much on the stretch here ; the weather has also
cleared, and to-day is as fine a sunshiny day as one
could wish to see. I am busy making stables for
our horses and mules, and preparing to be snug for
the winter. Now that the Russians have retired,
I should not be surprised if C. were to be moved
off to some division near Sebastopol; and all our
166 SEND CARTS.
labours in the defences and in making huts and
stables will have been for other people's use. It will
be a great change, after having got into a house, to
be called upon to turn out in the dead of the winter
and go to the front ; but I expect it. I think they
will hardly try the assault without C, who has more
experience in his little finger than the whole set up
there. But there is all the artillery to get up first,
and then to batter. The first siege-guns are quite
worn out with firing ; and, in fact, the second siege
is about to commence, as soon as we are ready. I
sec by the tone of the English papers that they have
taken the alarm at home, and that we shall have all
the available soldiers and plenty of French. If we
could have some of the departments a little better
organised, the affairs of this army would soon come
to rights. An army of this size in India would have
with it 30,000 camels for transport ; I believe we
have here in this place about 150 mules. The con-
sequence is, that there is the most shameful difficulty
in giving the soldiers their rations. We shall not be
able to take the field till we are provided with this
transport ; and we might have had it long before this,
if the Grovemment, or some one whose duty it is, had
chosen to spend money in Turkey in the purchase of
horses. The easiest way now would be to send carts
and horses, with their forage, out from England. In
France the transport for the army is an organised
MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS. 167
permanent body ; but Parliament never would allow
this expense during peace, and we now suffer for
their parsimony. The French have a regular baking
establishment, and eat bread almost always ; we never.
They have fresh meat much oftener than ourselves ;
and their situation in every respect has been improv-
ing, while we have retrograded.
LETTER XLIIL
Camp, Battery No, 4, Balaklava,
11th December 18.54.
I DO not want to make any particular secret of
my opinions, although any man who dares to think,
and still more to speak, risks injuring his prospects.
Even if he cannot be punished directly, there is a
mark set against him. My view of the state of mat-
ters here is open to any one. The mistake that has
been made has been a very common one in our
country, viz. not keeping up certain military estab-
lishments in peace, because people took it into their
heads that war could never come. In France there
is a permanent wagon-train always organised, a per-
manent commissariat, and also a permanent ambul-
ance ; these three departments hang very much upon
one another, and the defects of one cause a mischie-
vous drain upon the others. For instance, the few
1 68 MISTAKES.
mules our commissariat possess to carry provisions
for the troops eight miles off on the Plateau will be
borrowed to assist in forwarding ammunition ; the
regimental hat horses are taken from the regiments
to assist the c-ommissariat ; and so it goes on in a
vicious circle. The English people having destroyed
these above-named departments, which existed dur-
ing the Spanish war, or which rather were then
formed, its Government, on deciding upon war, should
have instantly begim to organise them again. This
is a matter of time as well as money ; there has
now been time enough allowed to slip away ; but
nothing is feally organised yet. The few mules still
alive are without shoes, which ought to have been
brought by the commissariat. A ship sent by the
authorities here to Constantinople for mules is put
into dock there for some trifling defect ; the want of
the mules prevents the troops sometimes from gett-
ing the whole of their rations up, although the stores
here are abundant.
Who appointed the Quartermaster-General, — a
man in feeble health and totally without experience?
He fell sick and went home, and just when we were
going to embark. Airey is appointed in his place.
Airey is a clever man ; but if they had appointed
Sir George Murray, Wellington's quartermaster-
general, he could not have rectified in a month the
mistakes and omissions of the whole previous eight
NO TRANSPORT. 1 69
months. Airey, when I knew him, commanded the
34th Regiment, which was in very good order ; and
he had served as military secretary to Lord Aylmer
in Canada, and in one or two departments afterwards
at the Horse Guards ; but he had no experience in
the field. If he had been made Quartermaster-Gene-
ral last February, he would have learned much, and
matters, I have no doubt, would now have been bet-
ter. Our army was shot on shore in tlie Crimea
without baggage or transport. This might have been
tolerated if our sojourn here was intended to be for
a week ; but as soon as it was palpable the affair
would be a long one, the first necessity to be pro-
vided for ought to have been transport. Lord Raglan
should have forced the commissary to have it ready.
Thousands of public and private animals were left
behind at Varna, many of them to die from neglect.
This was under the pretence of conveying more sol-
diers ; but soldiers unprovided with the requisites to
keep them efiicient are sacrificed in a very foolish,
not to say reckless, manner. The French,* with very
inferior shipping to ours, came, as I believe, all com-
plete. They have been daily improving their organi-
* The French used their men-of-war for transports; ours
were kept in fighting condition to be ready to meet the Rus-
sians had they offered battle. When the Russians sunk their
ships, the English men of- war might have carried any thing
which was wanted.
1 70 APPOINTMENTS.
sation ever since ; and, in fact, the French soldier has
never been so well off as at this moment here in the
Crimea, where we are suffering so much. We have
now before Sebastopol 3,300 sick, who will have to
be brought down to Balaklava to embark on French
ambulance mules ! And this when our army belongs
not only to the richest country in the world, but to
the country richest in horses and ships. Many of the
staff and general officers were appointed from inter-
est. It seemed either that Lord Raglan did not ex-
pect war, and so gave places to any one who had
influence, or, if he did expect war, he intended to do
all the work himself. Tlie Adjutant-General served
in the 43d ; I doubt if he ever commanded it ; he
was appointed Judge- Advocate. And when the Go-
vernment decided on that office being held by a civi-
lian, Estcourt was pitch -forked into the important
office of Adjutant-General, with high pay and powers ;
but his business is discipline, which he endeavours to
combine with amiability ; a most charming man in
private life, but quite out of his place here. I know
not who was the planner of the Turkish redoubts,
standing on ground which we never ought to have
occupied at all, because we were too far from it to
support the troops placed there. As soon as I came
down, while working at these redoubts, C. told me
he did not like them. Some one from head-quarters
insisted on guns being put there : these the Turks
MISCONCEPTION OF ORDERS. 171
abandoned to the Russians. Had the 400 High-
landers been Turks, or even had they not been com-
manded by such an officer as C, Balaklava would
have been entered by the Russian cavalry ; and the
success of their attack would have given the infantry
columns (30,000 men, remember) so much confidence,
that no one can say what the result might have been.
Reinforcements of troops are comparatively useless
unless they reform and reorganise the departments
I have spoken of ; that is my last word, " Radical
Reform/'
12th December 1854.
Yours of the 23d has just reached me. What
you say about Lord Hardinge having stopped the re-
inforcements is very possible ; he nearly lost British
India by stopping the troops who were moving up
before the battle of Feroseshah. There is a grand
row getting up between Lords Raglan and Lucan.
The words "misconception of orders'' have roused
Lord Lucan's ire. Long before the catastrophe, C.
foretold that the cavalry would have disaster from
the way he heard them taunted by young gentlemen
who were called staff-officers.
We hear of plenty of troops coming for the French ;
and I suppose an assault will be tried as soon as the
guns have battered a bit. Murderous it will be, and
frightful to think of. They say that when troops
storm, they become like demons, and kill their officers
1 72 STABLE FALLS DOWN.
if they tiy to stop their barbarity. It is very likely,
I may say certain, that C. will get a division ; but
unless he is promoted to Lieutenant-General, the pay
is not increased. What will become of me I cannot
guess. If I am not killed, I suppose I shall be em-
ployed somehow ; there will be so few who have stuck
to it all through.
LETTER XLIV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
17th December 1854.
We have nothing new here for you. They continue
getting the great guns up slowly towards the front to
begin the second siege ; and we have a strong rumour
that Austria has at last been forced to move and
attack the Pruth, which, if true, will prevent Russia
from sending any more troops here. We have just
been building up a stable for our poor horses and
mules ; but last night we had an alarm, and found
the wall had given way ; it was only of loose stones,
and the roof had fallen in. However, neither man,
horse, nor mule was hurt. The French soldiers are
becoming very impatient. The other day, as Canro-
bert was going along the trenches, he was followed
by cries, "L*assaut !" Our poor men are more com-
posed, and remain very quiet ; but they will assault
quite as vigorously as the French. The French su-
WOOD SCARCE. 173
perior officers appear to think it necessary to let their
men hear a great deal more of their plans than is the
custom with us ; and I have little doubt that every
French soldier has been discussing the report of the
Austrian alliance, with a full understanding of its
importance. Our men never hear of such things in
orders, which probably in this case the French will.
Christmas is near, and no frost yet ; a little snow
and sleet yesterday, but no cold to speak of, although
one would find a fire agreeable. We cannot afford
wood for that, as we have had to collect this material
comfort with much labour and time, and we reserve it
for cooking. Now we are in hopes that there will be
rations of coal given to us. Every thing is said to be
coming except peace, of which I hear no rumour, and
shall be sorry to hear of one, if it is to be a peace
dictated by Austria as the price of her assistance.
Nothing will satisfy me except the complete humi-
liation of Russia ; and I would rather march to Mos-
cow than not succeed in bringing down Nick's high
stomach. What is to be made of his discomfiture at
Silistria ? That is a puzzle. Our interpreter, a Polish
gentleman and a very sensible man, who was with the
Turkish army on the Danube, gives two reasons for
the place not having been taken : one was, because
the garrison could not run away ; the other, that the
Russians were not in earnest in wishing to take it.
Sure I am that the Turks here have not the smallest
174 THE SHORTEST DAY.
chance, if left to themselves, against the Russians.
We cannot trust the Turkish officers with the work-
ing-pay for their fatigue -men ; so I have a mighty
bag of shillings, and pay them myself when they re-
turn from work, — 1^. among four Turks.* They all
drink rum when they can get it ; but although the
doctors wish they should receive it as a ration, their
Government is afraid of shocking public opinion by
ordering it.
LETTER XLV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
2 Ist December 1854.
The shortest day ! A balmy feeling, warm east-
erly breeze, dry ground, and bright sunshine. Such is
this climate— even more variable than our own! Yes-
terday was equally fine ; and we took the occasion to
make a little promenade militaire ; the French ca-
valry along the plain, and the 42d, a wing of the
Rifles, and the Zouaves along the mountains on our
^.^^Jy// right. We saw no soul or 4 ' i ocaok \ but came to the
^^^J^/»'l^^deserted picquet-house of the laUor gontfy^ w here we
captured two cooking-pots and a lance. The cavalry
in the plain had a slight skirmish with the Russians ;
and this over, we all retired within our entrenchments.
* When the Turkish officers reported this, the Pasha forbid
his soldiers having any working-pay at all.
WATCH BROKEN. 175
We hear that Austria has positively made a triple
alliance, offensive and defensive, with France and
England, which will more equalise the forces. The
arrangements in the army will, I dare say, soon be
made. ' Arrangement' is a delicate word. The Duke
does not return. Major-General Bentinck, command-
ing the brigade of Guards, got a wound in his arm ; —
he is rewarded with the command at Portsmouth !*
C. will have the 1st Division ; and I suppose it will
happen somehow or other that 1 shall go with him.
The weather has become so much finer that our men s
health is improved ; and gradually they will receive
additional comforts and treats and fuel. But Sebas-
topol will be a long job, depend upon it. Certain,
however, as the greatness and power of England is the
ultimate fall of the place, and the complete humilia-
tion of Nicholas. We have just got papers to the 1st,
which is not so late as we expected to receive them.
Kossuth's long speech is great bosh ; I dare say very
eloquent, especially where he informs the nation that
we shall be beaten. In reply, I say, he lies in his
throat ; we shall not be beaten. You saw in the
beginning of this Letter the account of the lovely
weather. It is now some unknown hour in the night
of the 21st or morning of the 22d, and rain has been
coming down at a great rate. My watch is broken,
and gone to Constantinople ; while another one is
* lie did not, however, hold it for some reason, but returned
to the army.
176 what's o'clock ?
supposed to be on its way from England by post ;
meantime I, who am the most punctual man in the
world, never know what o'clock it is. Our Admiral
is gone ; which seems to please the sailors very
much ; they think Lyons is likely to do better with-
out him. It is at least certain that
did not approve of this expedition ; and experience
has shown that he was right, — that we were not
prepared nor organised for such an undertaking.
However, he will not get much credit for his clair-
voyance. I think I wrote to you before we left Varna
to send us 30,000 more men. Of course I had not
the means of knowing how very deficient we were
in organisation. A small bit of the great machine, I
revolve on my own pivot, and cannot see very far
from it. The people about head-quarters alone have
unlimited powers of inspecting. I cannot go to see
what is doing in the front, nor where the French are ;
all is hearsay. The guns, however, go on booming
occasionally, telling me that the roar will begin again
some day. Our life is one of perfect peace. The
lonely Cossack vidette looks like a bird ; and we cannot
see the llussians, who are casting up entrenchments*
in our front, without a glass ; with that aid, they are
* These entrenchments were very extensive. Opposite the
Tractir Bridge, that is, on the right bank of the river, about
three-quarters of a mile from the bridge, they made a redoubt
and zig-zags and lines, which were all taken by the French on
the 25th of May 1855, with scarcely any resistance.
SECOND BATTALIONS. 177
plainly visible, working like bees to hem iis in. A
detachment of 200 Turks has been ordered from here
to make stables for the cavalry ; so it is evident that
arm is going to be kept quiet. There is great talk
here of raising second battalions to the regiments.
This would promote many officers. We are now
laying up a stock for debating. War will come to
an end. The Peace Society will urge that an army
should not be kept up where there is no appearance
of its being wanted. The half-pay list will be loaded ;
the dead-weight grumbled at ; and we shall begin the
next war as bravely and as badly prepared as when
we beofan this one.
LETTER XLVL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
2 2d December 18.54.
Now that my letter is gone, and that I have got
off a load of official business, it seems as if I had a
thousand things to say. Here is rain ; rain coming
down without mercy ! Oh, dear, the poor men !
How wretched those before Sebastopol ! a portion of
them remain in their turn day and night in the
trenches, where they cannot move ; for if they show
themselves, the enemy fire on them immediately.
Here our people have rather a better time ; we are
N
178 C. GETS A REGIMENT.
out of shot, and we do not keep so many in the
trenches. And then their life is very monotonous ;
there is nothing to amuse them. Poor fellows, they
behave themselves wonderfully. As for me, I some-
times repine ; at my age, and with my small rank,
doing the duty which is fit for a man of thirty.
27th December.
I am edified at your rescinding your fixed idea
about us officers, always excepting Captain . I
really do not see why he is not to run off with women,
provided they like him well enough to go ; but it
seems strange they should choose such a compagnon
d£ voyage. We hear that X. and Y., two unknown
quantities, were so ill received, that they will have to
return to the army here. ITiey are both men of
interest ; but it is very wrong to screen them, and
very hopeless, moreover.
C. has got a regiment, which means more pay.
He cannot have too much for his merit : there is no
one here who can hold a candle to him. I am made
a substantive Major, which gives me 25. a day more
half-pay. I do not see why I should not have been
promoted in rank like other people. We also hear of
the Crimean medal for men and officers, with clasps
for the battles. The list of promotions I have not
yet seen. Here, opposite our lines, the Russian force
has diminished. From our highest point of view we
GUNS GOING UP. 179
can see very few men, but immense works, which they
may occupy at any moment. Possibly the Turks at
Eupatoria may be drawing them away. If we find
they are really gone, we shall most likely be sent up
to the siege. The French have got their guns and
ammunition into the batteries before Sebastopol, and
they are now assisting in getting up ours ; so that
very soon fire will be again opened. This time, I be-
lieve, we shall assault, and, I suppose, get in, paying
dearly for the entry. I know that Gladstone does not
build much on the Austrian alliance. The people
about Lord Raglan have strange rumours of peace,
which I cannot believe. " Can the Ethiop change his
skin, or the leopard his spots ?" Nicholas cannot make
peace on any terms France and England would agree
to ; and so our poor Government will be compelled to
threaten Austria with revolution unless she fights, and
fights in earnest. We hear of huts, flannels, navvies,
and potted meats, in yachts, all coming. But Christ-
mas is come and gone, and our men are nearly all
without cover, except the tents. Our artillery horses
are dying of cold and hunger. We have had two
sharp frosts, with fine sunshiny days. In fact, the
climate would not be bad if we all lived in houses
and slept in our beds a-night. Mr. Peto's man is
come to make a railway. I wish Mr. Peto would
contract to do the siege, and send away all the people
whom he did not think worth preserving ; I mean
1 80 A WAGON-TRAIN.
not worth their salt. The fighting men would be de-
lighted, and would know who should bear the blame
of deficiencies. Our Commissary-General was a com-
missary in the Peninsular War, and refers every thing
to that period. The principal want of our army is a
regularly -organised wagon -train, which would have
enabled Mr. Somebody to convey forage and food to
every part of our army in any weather. Our little
infantry is full of courage and cheerfulness, and you
may be proud of speaking their tongue. The archers
of England are like their sires 500 years back ; and
in my perambulation among them I am constantly
reminded of private Williams and Fluellen, Harry the
king, &c. ; all which is so true to the life, that it
makes one wonder more and more at the universal
knowledge of Shakespeare.
LETTER XLVII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
Slat December 1854.
Here is the end of the year. On the 2d January
I shall be fifty, and still a boy in some things. The
papers have not yet reached me, so that I do not
know what Ministers are doing. They will be pushed,
doubtless, to do all they can by public opinion. Yes-
terday we went out with the French to make a re-
A WATCH. 181
connaissance towards Baidar. The French exchanged
a few cannon-shot and took a few Cossacks, besides
burning the barracks and the forage of some Russian
Hussars at a village called Varnutka. The enemy in
our front is in small numbers ; our real enemy is the
want of transport to carry up houses and food to the
front, that is, to the soldiers before Sebastopol. It
is no use sending soldiers till we have the means
of protecting them from the weather; they will die
faster than 30U can send them. Snow is over all
now, — not very deep ; but the sky looks as if more
were coming : a sad prospect for our poor men still in
tents. I am expecting a watch, which will not come.
I hope it will go. Perhaps it has been addressed
" Constantinople." Nothing with that address which
is worth having ever reaches the army. Without a
watch, the dreary night seems drearier and longer
than ever. I go out and ask the sentry, who is often
an hour or more wrong. C. is to have the 1st Di-
vision, unless the Duke returns. What I shall do
is unknown. My holding the situation of Assistant
Adjutant-General ought to give me my promotion ;
but I have no interest. Peace may be made. The
war, however, is still very unfinished, and a peace now
would be fatal for our country. Nicholas never will
give up Sebastopol except upon compulsion ; and we
shall not, in my opinion, be able to take it without
an assault, unless by a long operation of sapping and
182 A DEPOT.
starving them out, for which a large army, well found,
will be requisite.
New-year's morning.
The snow is gone again, and the papers are
lost ; so I shall not see the debate.
LETTER XLVIIL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
4th January 1855.
Thermometer at freezing-point; snow eighteen
inches deep ; no wooden houses, and great difficulty
in getting up provisions to the troops before Sebas-
topol. The men of our command are to carry bags of
biscuits, weighing 112 lbs., on sticks between two, with
a relief of two more men, for a distance of four miles,
in snow and mud. This is for the purpose of form-
ing, if possible, a depot of fourteen days' food for the
troops in front, lest the snow should entirely stop the
communication, and expose our poor men to starva-
tion. This measure ought to have been adopted
much sooner. Now the weather is so bad that we
cannot send the biscuit, because it gets wet and
spoiled. All arises from want of transport, on which
subject I have written at large to . Our own
men are still most of them in tents ; they began
SALT MEAT. 183
making huts, and are still striving to continue that
work. Why the wooden houses, which have arrived,
are not at once distributed, I cannot tell. It is very
hard to be part of a machine, to see it working ill,
and not to be able to move a hand to set it right.
Inexorable officialities forbid. When the people in
England find that their efforts and expenditure have
been in vain, and that the men are not in wooden
houses, but in tents at this time, there will be a
storm of indignation. Sidney Herbert is told this
and that and the other, and asserts it in the House.
It is not true that the men have fresh meat regularly.
Here I know that our men have salt meat, and scarcely
ever any vegetables. He states that the regiments
which have come out lately are armed with Minie
rifles.* That is not the fact. If the departments
had been up to their work, we should by this time
have been provided with transport, and a proper train
of men to work it, instead of miserable Bulgarians and
Maltese. We are in the thick of the winter. If it
should freeze hard after this snow, as it very likely
may, the carts and horses we have will not be able to
go without being roughed, which it will take a con-
siderable time to effect. I believe we shall not have
a cavalry-horse alive in a month. Meantime we hear
• The rifles were distributed to them after arrival at Bala-
klava.
184* HARDSHIPS.
from deserters that the Russians are becoming short
of ammunition, and that water is scarce with them.
They have been digging fresh wells, in which the
water turned out to be salt. So the siege is telling
on them. The guns are fought by Finland seamen,
who at first were numerous enough to afford a relief
Now they only stand to their guns by day, and retire
to rest at night, which amounts to half the Russian
gunners hors de combat. We shall take the place, I
have no doubt, unless all our men are destroyed by
the severity of the winter before we have our batteries
armed and ready to open. The number of sick from
the Guards in the trenches is very great ; the men
never have dry feet ; the tents are become very thin,
and let the rain drip through them ; and our prospects
in this respect are terrible. But the men are heroes,
and the survivors cannot be too highly rewarded.
The families of those who sink should be all pensioned
by the nation ; those who go through should be
formed into a Legion of Immortals. One who has
not seen this place cannot conceive the sufferings of
men and officers ; and they are so cheerful under it
all, poor fellows ! These ought to be the Queen's
Guards. There are officers in the regiments of Guards
here, who, in consequence of the war, and the privi-
leges of their corps, are obtaining their promotion to
the rank of lieutenant-colonel in about six years' ser-
vice. It is no answer to say they are brave. All the
NO STARVATION. 185
army is brave. The Government is promoting sergeants
in their own corps, — those of the Guards into the
Line ; their own regiment is too good for them. This
is not very flattering to the Line. The wooden houses
weigh two and a half tons ; how shall we move them ?
5th January.
There is such confusion at Balaklava that no one
ever reckons on getting any thing that is his. I am
quite in distress for a watch, and calculated on having
it per post, instead of which it is to come by long sea
in a parcel. Telle est la me ! You ask about star-
vation. There has not been that ; but some of the
divisions have been occasionally on quarter -rations
for want of transport to take it up to them. We
individually are so near the ships that we can carry
it up on our backs. As to Austria, I only speak
in a military point of view. If she advances on the
Russian armies, they must lose the Crimea, and very
likely would have to make peace. If you could see
war, you would enter into the views of the Peace So-
ciety ; the sufferings are so terrible, even of the poor
horses. Omar Pasha arrived at Balaklava last night ;
he is come to arrange about the feeding his army,
which is on its way to Eupatoria ; where, I suppose, he
will form a strong entrenched camp, and where any
number of French and English soldiers may be landed
afterwards to take the north side of Sebastopol.
186 BISCUIT AND RUM.
LETTER XLIX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
7th January 1855.
Freezing hard for the last three days, with a
good deal of snow on the ground. The poor men !
Ours are comparatively well off ; for, being near Bala-
klava, they can get fuel ; but in front ! there is no
carrying charcoal in any quantity there ; the brush-
wood is all exhausted ; and I fear they seldom get a
warm meal. Biscuit and rum, that they do get. A
private soldier of the Light Division, to whom I spoke
yesterday in Balaklava, told me very quietly that on
the previous night (thermometer 20°) he had been
twelve hours in the trenches. He started for Bala-
klava at daylight without breakfast — a good seven
miles — leading horses to load with rations for his com-
pany, and had to return with them, and would reach
his company about dark, to go into a cold tent, and
a turn in the trenches in the morning. The man did
not look ill ; in fact, none but people of the hardiest
constitution can stand it ; all the others are dead
or dying. There have been accidents, too, with the
charcoal — suffocation. This is terrible work; and
the winter may, and sometimes does, last till May.
Thirteen Turks frozen to death in the trenches here
three nights ago. We (our lot I mean) are waiting
for the result of the Duke's medical board ; if he is
CUTTING. 1 87
put into orders to go home sick, C. will be appointed
to command the 1st Division ; if there is no vacancy
of either Assistant Adjutant or Quartermaster-General
in that Division, I shall resign my staff appointment,
which would place me in the 4th Division, and be-
come Aide-de-camp to C. This will be a great descent
in the scale of staff-officers. We shall have a beau-
tiful division ; and the Highlanders are very strong,
about eighteen hundred bayonets. They will, of course,
bring us up for the assault ; and if we carry the
place, we shall have plenty of laurels or tears ; both,
I dare say. It must be taken ; and I hear that our
women are showing their minds very plainly on the
point of gentlemen going home who are not sick.
The people at White's cut ; and found
also he could not stand it. They are coming out ;
but they are both damaged. You know we all ex-
pected the Russians would come on again, as we could
not tell at first how hard we had hit them.
I have been writing answers since four o'clock
this morning to letters of people of all ranks, who
have sent presents for the men of warm clothing.
C. has been promised three fur coats already; they
are not here, however. Some of the letters are very
good, and most of them national. I am sure we
shall get plenty of English recruits, far better than
a Foreign Legion.
188 WANT OF FUEL.
LETTER L.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
10th January 1855.
I AM too sure that my poor watch has gone the
way the thousands of parcels which are despatched
from England have the habit of going, viz. the wrong
way. I have sent a friend of mine another cheque,
and begged him to send me out a watch by post.
Should the first one make its appearance by mis-
take, I shall easily sell it. You cannot imagine the
inconvenience it is to me to be without a watch. I
have to regulate every one else's time about duties ;
and it is pitiful to see me hunting about for some
one whose watch is still going, to find out an approxi-
mation to the time. Yesterday I was obliged to go on
duty to the Light Division, which is before Sebastopol.
The ground was covered with melting snow, regular
slush, with hard frozen ground underneath ; so that
riding was a ticklish matter. I found sad misery
among the men ; they have next to no fuel, almost
all the roots even of the brushwood being exhausted.
They are entitled to rations of charcoal ; but they
have no means of drawing it, and their numbers are
so reduced, that they cannot spare men enough to
bring it six or seven miles from Balaklava. The con-
sequence is, they cannot dry their stockings or shoes ;
they come in from the trenches with frost-bitten toes,
MEN CRYING. 189
swelled feet, chilblains, &c. ; their shoes freeze, and
they cannot put them on. Those who still, in spite
of this misery, continue to do their duty, often go into
the trenches without shoes by preference, or they cut
away the heels to get them on. None of the fine warm
clothes have reached them yet. I heard of one com-
pany going into the trenches fourteen men strong ;
all the rest dead, sick, broken. One night lately
forty-five men went into the trenches, of whom nine-
teen were sent out during the night ; nine died. If
this goes on, the trenches must be abandoned, or oc-
cupied by the French, lest we should be annihilated.
I heard of men on their knees crying with pain. Of
course there are men, and plenty of them, who will
never give in, but rather die on the spot for England
and duty ; but these cases of weakness are evil, and
contagious symptoms of the morale being shaken.
Transport ! wila tout. Every thing should be carried
to the men's tents for them ; but I see no signs yet of
an organisation of transport. There is a rumour of
some such attempt in England. I expect every day
that, from sheer want of numbers, we shall have to
take our Highlanders to the siege, and try if that
splendid brigade is made of tougher materials. But
then how is Balaklava to be guarded ? The officers,
of course, are not suffering actually quite so much as
the men, though quite as much in proportion to their
previous habits. They manage to get larger boots,
190 TELLING THE TRUTH.
and their feet usually are smaller. The ammunition-
boots sent from England are capital, but too small ;
the largest size sent ought to have been the small-
est. It is now quite mild, every thing thawing, and
threatening rain. I do not know which weather is
worst for the poor fellows ; and I can do nothing to
help. Alas ! it makes me very sad to see such men
lost in such a way. Our numbers for duty at this
moment are just about what they were before the
reinforcements came. I have heard of a whole regi-
ment not being able to turn out seven men for duty.
Many of the frost-bitten men will lose their fe^ ;
many will recover ; but the army, meantime, is
cruelly weakened. The French suffer little of all
this ; for they have plenty of organised transport.
There is some one wanting to lick matters into
shape at Balaklava. They have sent down Major
Mackenzie and Captain Ross, both excellent officers,
recently appointed to the Quartermaster General's
department ; but they are under the Commandant,
who is their senior officer. Lord Raglan rode into
the village yesterday to investigate into the state
of affairs, and the admire<l disorder which rules. Ma-
jor Mackenzie told his Lordship every thing he saw
wrong, without the slightest disguise. was
present. When Lord Raglan was gone, he said to
Mackenzie, " Why, you told him the truth." " Just
what the man wants to hear," was Mackenzie's reply.
THE DRAGON. 191
This is quite Indian ; this was the dragon which
Sir Charles Napier grappled with, and the contest
cost him his place and his life. India is a rotten
job from bottom to top. The boasted Sepoy army
are known, to all who have seen them tried, to be
very timid ; yet they are praised by Lord Hardinge,
Lord Gough, and Lord Ellenborough, which is incom-
prehensible to me, as they ought to know better ;
while the Company and its officers are afraid of their
army.
nth January.
It rained gently all day yesterday, but the tem-
perature was mild. The French are carrying up
shells for our use, and I cannot but think that the
fresh bombardment must take place soon. It will
continue for several days, and then the assault, which
the soldier longs for, in the hope of getting rid of the
terrible trench-duty. It is now — I have just looked
out — freezing slightly. I cannot tell whether it be
two, four, or five o'clock in the morning. The sentry
says it's half-past one; and the cocks are crowing,
who, I should think, ought to know best, — and no
rational cock would crow at one in the morning in
January. At any rate, time and the hour will bring
our morning misery. By the last mail all our papers
miscarried ; but accident brought me one with the
debate on the vote of thanks. I am inclined to think,
that one reason which might be fairly adduced on
192 DECREASE OF NUMBERS.
the Foreign Enlistment Bill for adopting it, is, the
probability of our obtaining trained soldiers in this
way more quickly than by training Englishmen ; but
I dare say the patronage is also taken into account.
We must have soldiers ; there are here now of the
infantry, rank and file, not more than 16,000. De-
duct 350 a week hors de combat by sickness ; 5000
killed and wounded in the assault ; where is the
army, after that, in the spring to drive the Russians
out of the Crimea ? They are losing forty a day at
the hospital at Scutari ; many who do not die will
never be fit to join again ; and of those who do re-
join, many relapse as soon as the causes which made
them sick begin to act again.
12th January.
Very early in the morning. A hard frost, and
snow just opening on us, with strong north wind.
Last night I heard, on pretty good authority, that
Canrobert wants to open fire within ten days ; that
Lord Raglan wishes first to get up fifty more guns ;
that there has been a discussion on the subject, and
a compromise has been arranged ; that there is to be
a feint of making this attack of fifty guns on our
right ; from which I deduce we shall bombard and
assault the place before the end of the month. The
French are very impatient at the delay, and Canrobert
wants to be a Marechal de France. Meantime Lord
Stratford tells all the people at Constantinople that
LORD ELLENBOROUGH. 193
peace will be made, which I do not believe. That
has been the cry of the Ministry all along, and has
prevented them from being ready for war. I really
believe that some of them thought the sending 3000
Guards to Malta would be considered a formidable
move by Nicholas. I got my papers last night, which
ought to have reached me many days back ; they come
up to the 22d, but most of their news has transpired
orally. Lord EUenborough looks more cut out for a
War-Minister than any one else, and a great War-
Minister we must have if this war is to go on, or at
least to go on successfully.
445 A.M. I have just found out the hour. A
corporal of marines has come from the heights with
two French prisoners whom he captured outside the
lines ; they had made a fire, which had alarmed all
the picquets. They spoke an Itahan patois ; and
had sbaglioed the strada to cut boschi, and so were
making themselves comfortable for the night. This
kind of rovers are always suspected of meaning to
desert. I see Layard is in an ugly scrape. Perhaps
Sir E. Lyons may not find himself able to do much
more than Dundas.
194 • CHRISTMAS.
LETTER LI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, BalaUlava,
15th January 1855.
You talk of Christmas Day being so merry to
some people. I never can remember any merriment
in it ; for I had not a happy childhood, although I
had the best of mothers. Now, every day passes to me
like the last, Sunday and Monday, Christmas alike,
without joy ; yet I make a grim jest occasionally, and
perhaps pass for a facetious fellow enough. We got
the Times of last Christmas, which is any thing but
a jest to the head-quarter people. Whether it be the
forerunner of some change, I cannot augur. I have
heard a rumour from England that C. is to be ap-
pointed second in command ; raised over the heads
of all the well-protected men, to be next to Lord
Raglan. I believe it would be a very wise step, so
far as it would go ; but it would give him no power of
displacing ineffective staff-officers. We still have no
apparent attempt at organising transport. The mail
of the 29th has come, but our papers and letters are
not delivered. The snow has fallen fast and furious
for the last two days, and is two feet deep. Yester-
day, for the first time, there appeared a general order
to the commissary to carry fuel to the soldiers in the
front. It remains to be seen whether he has the
means of doing so. Fancy all these men without
FUEL. 195
fuel ! How can they grub for roots of trees under
the snow ? Sure I am that in this deep snow and
hard frost, without fuel, many must perish ; and that
this morning, when daylight comes, thousands of them
will have nothing to cook with. Raw meat, biscuit,
and rum is all they can get. Why was not this order
given a month ago ? Why ? Because there was still a
little brushwood to be obtained by hard work on the
part of the men, already overtaxed by their labour in
the trenches. Exquisite reason! The Turks are dy-
ing frightfully ; and they are even deserting — a thing
usually unknown among them. We are going to
begin a battery, as I told you, on the right. I hope
you have a plan. In this weather work is impossible.
Canrobert, who, while not responsible, was always the
first and most dashing of soldiers, is now obliged to
reflect and go slow, which his men cannot understand.
We may have a month or six weeks of this weather.
How many will survive it ? The mass of the Russian
army is in the rear, where they doubtless most of
them are housed in villages. I confess I do not see
my way through it. The climate cannot be con-
trolled. The wooden houses should have been here
six weeks ago. I have seen one up, with a stove in
it ; it will be very comfortable. Before winter is
over, most of these houses will be up, I dare say ; but
it will be too late. Yesterday the 18th regiment,
which has been at Balaklava for some time, was sent
196 C. NOT RESPONSIBLE.
to exchange places with the 63d regiment, the latter
having only 50 men left. By the by, remember that
C. is not responsible for the state of Balaklava ; he
does not command there. He thought he did, and
began knocking the staff-officers about, and the new
commandant, for various misdeeds, when an order
came out to place the troops under command of the
commandant. Private interest with some one. Should
the rumour I have alluded to prove true, there will
be a rare commotion, as C. will stand no nonsense
when he has the power to stop it. We are here in
comparative comfort, as this hovel has a Russian
stove, and being near Balaklava, we can procure
charcoal ; so that we do not suffer from cold ; but
we may be moved at any moment to the front, to
pitch our tents in the snow, and bear what the others
are bearing. Luckily we have got all our horses and
mules in good health ; and if we are moved, we shall
by these means continue to obtain our supplies, by
sending six miles ; but it will be hard work for the
servants and orderlies, who, however, will get their
own at the same time. We shall have to use all our
own animals and the other officers' horses to get up
things for our men ; for we shall put small faith in
commissaries. " Who would be fed, themselves must
find the mules/' My unhappy watch 1 I am not
even told what ship it is to come by, which would
give me a chance. I calculated on receiving it on
BALAKLAVA. 197
Christmas Day or thereabouts. The post goes by
Marseilles, and the parcels by long sea. There is
no person at Balaklava to take charge, no consignee ;
and packages are pillaged in the most shameless man-
ner. One came yesterday to Shadwell, containing
furs ; it was brought in the " Alma" by an officer of
the Guards ; they actually pillaged that, while in his
charge, and stole two fur caps and sundry other
articles. Hayter and Howell ought to have a corres-
pondent and a warehouse here ; and they will, I sup-
pose, have both, when the outcry becomes loud enough.
You ask, in a jeering manner, how I digest
getting into the House. It is part of our constitution,
that people of the lower classes should be able to rise
to any position in the country ; and I admire the con-
stitution, and wish to stick by it. He is, I suspect,
however, a great quack, and much overrated. The
democrats have more reason to boast of De Lacy
Evans, for he is a right good soldier. Peace continues
to be talked about. Without peace, we, here in the
Crimea, have no option but to conquer or perish. We
cannot embark while the Russian army is within a
hundred miles of us. I mean it is absolutely impos-
sible, even if we abandon guns and stores and every
thing ; and that the people of England ought to know.
Nothing will do, except an army of French and Eng-
lish strong enough, after we get into Sebastopol, to
march out and drive the Russians out of the Crimea ;
1 98 FOREIGN ENLISTMENT.
and to do that, will require a movable army of
150,000 men. This absolute necessity for men ex-
plains in a great degree the foreign enlistment bill.
Of course we can stay where we are and defy Russia ;
but England cannot mean that her whole army
should be shut up in this corner for an indefinite
period. They must, in case of continuing the war,
gird up their loins and find a new Minister awake
to the grandeur of the crisis. You want in England
an army of reserve of 100,000 men, complete in artil-
lery and complete in transport, and you want 50,000
men here equally complete; with them, and 100,000
French, I believe we can do any thing in the Crimea.
But we dare not go into the heart of Russia. The
mightiest genius that has appeared for ages, and the
greatest of all generals, tried that and failed. Our
General Raglan is 67, Brown is older, C. is 62, but
he is an exception to all rules, for he is as active as a
boy, and, I think, will, sometime or other, unless he
is killed, command this army. As to the cavalry, it
is gone ; I do not believe there will be a horse left
by spring. The troopers themselves are not suffering
from sickness ; they have no trench- or night-duty,
and being near Balaklava, they can, if they know how,
make themselves pretty comfortable.
A WATCH CASE. 199
LETTER LII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
18th January 1855.
Newspapers to the 1st. I see in one of them a
bit of 's letter. Lord Eaglan is beginning to
move about and show himself It does seem rather
hard for bim to be attacked without the power of de-
fence. Look to my case ; my watch case. I required
a watch for my duty. I sent the disabled one by the
master of a man-of-war to Constantinople for repair,
and to be returned to me. It has never come back.
At the same time I sent the money for a new one to
a friend of mine in London, who had served in navy
and army, had knocked about in the Colonies, and was
in business in London. I described the watch I wanted,
I told where it was to be procured, and how sent to
me, viz. in Lord Raglan's bag. I felt quite sure of
receiving it by return of post. Not at all I My
friend thought fit to send it by long sea. The news-
papers may say it was want of organisation, or not
going about, or some obtuseness of mine which pre-
vented my having a watch. I cannot see that I ne-
glected any precaution ; and yet my want of this very
watch might make my column late for the attack. A
thaw has come on to-day. I have just heard from
General Vinoy that he saw yesterday a Turkish officer
who spoke French, and who had just returned from
200 ATTACKS ON LORD RAGLAN.
Eupatoria. There are 33,000 Turkish and Egyptian
troops there, and Omar Pasha is coming with the rest
of his army, and cavalry and artillery. If two French
divisions of 8000 men each join him, they will make
a fine diversion for us. They talk, however, of the
French landing at Kaifa to cut off the Russian retreat
to Kertsch. If they are blocked that way, and the
road to Perekop threatened by Omar Pasha, while
the main French and English army attack them on
the other side of Sebastopol, they will be taken to a
man. From signs I see, I really do believe that we
shall soon open fire.
LETTER LIII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
22d January 1855.
The papers are making fearful attacks on Lord
Raglan, which I am very sorry for. We cannot really
know if the attacks be just ; ^nd we are sure that now
is not the moment to publish them, when probably
most of the mistakes are in process of being mended.
How can an army go on with every soldier reading such
assaults against its general ? The French army would
mutiny in a similar position ; but Napoleon is too
wise to allow such things to be published. Will it ever
be clearly shown who was to blame ? The Duke of
I^ewcastle will evidently go first. Your best man to
WAR-MINISTEK. 201
fill his place is Lord Ellenborough beyond all doubt,
and he is a Conservative. The next best man I could
name is Dalhousie ; and I do not know what to say-
about Lord Grey. I hope they will leave Lord Kaglan
where he is. I do not see any one able to take his
place ; not exactly for military skill, but as a grand
seigneur, and an admirable diplomatist. The art of
commanding an army is not like reading and writing —
it does not come by nature. Practice is every thing.
Lord Raglaa has now had some of that. De Lacy
Evans has fallen into bad health, or he might have
done. Whoever gets it, if they do recall Lord Rag-
lan, will have to mend the broken threads which his
Lordship has doubtless been spinning with a view
to make his army efficient, and there will be a loss
of most valuable time. The new right battery, of
twenty-two guns, is to be made. From my own notion
of our siege, I am not for hurrying ; I would make
every disposition of guns possible before beginning.
We must make the assault as little murderous as we
can, for we want our men to fight in the field after-
wards. I believe even Canrobert has come round to
agree that it is better to make our works as perfect
as may be before beginning. But the soldiery, who
suffer, poor fellows ! are impatient. The weather has
now become fine, and the snow and frost are gone.
202 STAFF.
LETTER LIV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
23d January 1855.
I SENT you a very short letter by the last post, for
I was hurried by business and had no time. We con-
tinue in these parts to be a good deal put out by the
attacks made on our Chief in the papers. I see also
a letter from an Anglo-Parisian, making an assertion
about the staff, which is not true, at least in my case,
for I did get a first-class certificate at Sandhurst in
the year 1832. Now let me tell you what that is.
The course of examination in my day was common
mathematics, algebra, trigonometry, map-making, and
fortification. Those who went any deeper into ma-
thematics, and chose to stand an examination in the
higher branches, such as the differential calculus, got
this extra certificate, or at least do get it now ; for it
is so long ago that I forget whether there was a do-
cument added to the certificate ; but I remember that
I did pass in such things. Now, a man may know
all these lessons, and yet be a very bad staff-officer.
They are useful, no doubt, but they cannot supply
what nothing but experience will give. Will the dif-
ferential calculus help a man to organise a transport
train ? The knowledge I acquired at Sandhurst did,
however, cause me to be promoted (by purchase) to be
SIEGE OF ANTWERP. 203
a captain. For wlien I went to the siege of Antwerp,
my letters were always conveyed to the Duke of
Wellington, and they turned out to be by far the best
information he got on the subject of that siege ; and
he consequently desired the folks at the Horse Guards
to promote me, and employ me on the staff. I was
then a lieutenant of Heavy Dragoons ; but I was
never off the staff afterwards, until I retired as a
captain of my own accord, finding I could not get
any promotion either regimentally or unattached, after
eighteen years' service. I held appointments both in
Quartermaster-Generals' and Adjutant-Generals' de-
partments ; and once, for three months, I did the
duty of Adjutant-General to the army in Ireland, so
much to old Blakeney's satisfaction, that he applied
to the Horse Guards to have me promoted to Major
(by purchase) ; which, if I had been a Lord, would, I
dare say, have been done. I therefore maintain that
I had very considerable experience in the duties of a
staff-officer ; and I may say, without any risk of its
being contradicted, that there was not any one of them
who had been so long employed on the staff as my-
self. I do not count aides-de-camp. I was made
Brigade-Major, not by the Horse Guards, but by C. ;
those who had interest were made assistant- adjutant,
or assistant quartermaster-generals ; the brigade-major
is only a large adjutant, over the three regimental
adjutants ; the assistant adjutant-general is over
204} WAGON-TRAIN ?
the two brigade-majors, to issue orders from the
general of the division. C. and I have both had
much experience ; but his has been always in war,
and mine, till now, never. We, however, possess no
power to remedy any radical error existing in the two
departments, viz. those of the Adjutant-General and
Quartermaster-General at head-quarters. We can
only represent and lament. The Quartermaster-
General of this army, when the expedition to the
Crimea was planned, might have objected to start
unless transport was provided ; and if he agreed to
go without it, he might at least have insisted on its
following immediately ; and he, for his own sake,
should have put his opinions on record. Perhaps he
has done so. The Commissary-General should have
been put under the screw, and Lord Eaglan, urged by
his Quartermaster-General, should have been made
to demand from Government a regular wagon -train,
which they would not have dared to refuse him. He
ought to have had it in Bulgaria. I am told that
they are preparing one in England now. Meantime
we have rumours of peace here ; a fatal step for Eng-
land, and for Europe, if it be true. I have just read
this over ; it has been lying by for a day or two ; it
is very full of Fs. They are sending out such a quan-
tity of things for the men, that I beheve many will be
thrown away ; they cannot be carried. The furs will
become matted with mud and filled with vermin, and
STARVATION OR STEALING. 205
a perfect nuisance. From England there should be
sent a hundred furriers to clean and store them up
for next year ; for after March these furs will be quite
useless to any one who has to move about. The shop-
keepers in Balaklava have received orders to move
out of the village, and to erect huts for themselves
near Kadikoi. This will clear the streets in Balaklava.
No one will go there any longer to drink, and the
houses given up by the shopkeepers will become avail-
able for stores or for hospitals : the folly was ever
letting any shopkeeper in. War cannot be made upon
amiable principles ; it is a stern reality. I believe
they thought that all the inhabitants were to remain
peaceably in their houses, that no grapes were to be
pulled, no fowls seized ; in fact, placing 50,000 men
between starvation and stealing, and fondly imagining
they would prefer the first. Now the valley is entirely
stripped ; there is not a tree, nor a bush, nor an inha-
bitant remaining. Almost all the cottages are down,
which looked so white and smiling among the vine-
yards ; even the vine-roots are many of them extracted,
it having been discovered that they make excellent
firewood — des souches superbes, as the French say.
In the spring, the mass of dead horses and men, and
all the various debris, will make this place very un-
healthy, I should fear. We have buried 2300 Turks
already. I do not know how many English, but too
many. They are constantly sending both English
206 FRENCH TAKE OUR RIGHT ATTA.CK.
and French sick away. Our army is dwindling down
to a mere handful. When it is too late, Lord Raglan
has been obliged to say to Canrobert, that he cannot
hold his trenches for want of men.* He should have
said so two months ago ; not having done so, he went
on working his men to death, with barely one night
out of the trenches, while the French had always two
nights or three, for what I can tell. The consequence
was, they had plenty of men t-o spare for their own
comforts, besides being provided with transport. Now
the French army has sent a force to the right attack,
which has taken a portion of the trenches off our
hands, and thus relieved our poor soldiers materially.
But I am afraid the seeds of disease must have been
planted in many of them who still keep up. I find
that many of our own 93d, close by, who have been
suffering from fever, are going to die, and, on exami-
nation, ulceration of the intestines has been discovered.
The men here get scarcely any thing but salt meat,
and they do not eat it now. The French have always
had fresh meat for the officers, and every other day
for the soldiers. I do not approve of the distinction ;
but that is the fashion of their army. Why or how
they have had fresh meat every other day, and fresh
bread baked every other day, for their whole army.
• It is stated that his Lordship did apply for this relief, but
that the French put it oiF from day to day.
CROMWELL ! 207
which is probably four times as numerous as ours,
while we have been left on salt meat and biscuit, is a
question that forms a part of the great investigation
and retribution that I hope will fall sooner or later on
the guilty person, whoever he may be. England will
cry for her men. Fame will point out their graves in
the bleak T^ris. Let us hope that a noble revenge
will be taken, by pardoning, where possible, the faults
which are not to be attributed so much to the indi-
viduals, as to a system which we must abandon, or
we perish as a military nation. 1 saw yesterday 200
sick carried on board on French mules ; I saw the
gaunt faces ; not one ever likely to do a day's duty
again. It is useless making a victim of the Duke of
Newcastle, or of Lord Raglan. The worst defects
will be remedied now, whoever is put to manage.
They are hard at it now in the House. That House 1
Give me Cromwell to do this job. One and indivisi-
ble must be the power to act really with vigour. The
weather has become very agreeable. Sharpish frosts
at night, and beautiful sunshiny days, so that our
poor fellows will be able to dry their socks and boots.
But the mud is unutterable. In the morning it is
hard on top, and a good stamp lets you through into
slush ; by 10 o'clock it is melted, and wading lasts
all day. Stilts have not yet been adopted. If I
was only young, I think I should appear very shortly
flamingo fashion. Railway not begun. Crimean-
208 chollet's vegetables.
fund people not come ; that is to say, two gents are
come, I believe ; but no goods yet manifest. The best
good thing that could be sent for the soldiers would
be tablets of the French dried preserved vegetables.
Even that is now supplied to the French troops. You
might, out of curiosity, buy one and cook it yourself.
It is in hard small cakes. Soak it in warm water,
and the leaves imbibe the liquid at all their pores,
and swell, and become themselves again, and are
afterwards cooked like any other vegetables. It may
be called a perfect invention. I believe the original
inventor was Masson or Chollet ; but the Germans
are imitating. They are made of all sorts ; and some
of the coarser kinds, ticketed provisionnement d' equi-
page — I suppose intended for ships' crews — would be
of the greatest benefit. You could not find out they
were not fresh vegetables. A surgeon, a friend of
mine here, tells me he would not wish to give our
men, who appear still healthy, meat every day. He
would prefer only to do so every other day, and to
give them vegetable diet on the blank days ; for he
says their stomachs would not stand their usual feed-
ing ; and that if they got into garrison at Malta with-
out this precaution, they would all be ill.
25th January.
The astounding intelligence reached camp last
night, by the Tinnes of the 8th, that the four points
THE FOUR POINTS. 209
are accepted without reserve. My papers have missed
this time ; but I see they will patch up a peace, with-
out half punishing Russia ; and now our army, which
a year or two of war would have placed upon a proper
footing, will go back to its old condition of a number
of regiments, and no army at all. It is a sad mis-
fortune that we did not take Sebastopol, because I
think the terms we should in that case have been
forced to demand would have been much harder.
Fighting any more now would be brutal, for there is
no argument of war ; the enemy having accepted our
terms without reserve. I therefore expect very shortly
to hear of an armistice. It will be many months be-
fore we can get all our material away from this coun-
try ; and I conclude it will be probable that a joint
force of French and English will remain in Turkey, to
put, if possible, that country into some sort of order.
C. will, perhaps, be left hi command of the English
part ; so that I may see a good deal of Turkey yet,
before my thread is cut. The moment peace is made,
there will be a terrible lot of men fall sick, who are
only kept going now by the spirit that is in them.
26th January.
We hear, by letter from Vienna, dated 14th, that
peace is still far off. Nicholas only trying to gain
time. The rogue !
210 RAILWAY MANCEUVRES.
LETTER LV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
29th January 1855.
This day, twenty-nine years ago, I got my first
commission. I have been one of a board to receive
the statements of the head railway man about a pro-
posed Balaklava railway. The first thing he said
was, that he should want labour and horses — 500 men,
and I know not how many horses ! Really, now, is it
not provoking ? If we had had labour, we could have
made a good road without him ; and if we had horses,
we could even now send up our stores without a rail-
way. They do not bring any locomotives with them ;
only wagons, — weight, one and a half tons, — to be
drawn along a tram-road by our miserable ponies.
The navvies not come. If they had sent the latter
with spades and sledge-hammers, to make a good mac-
adamised road, that would have been far more sensible,
in my opinion. The labour and expense of making a
railway would have made a grand road indeed, upon
which every sort of cart, pony-chaise, or truck, could
have been drawn. However, we are in the hands of
the Philistines. I saw another French general (May-
ran), besides our friend and neighbour Vinoy. They
all screamed at the idea of going away without taking
the place. It is, I beheve, quite decided to attack
PROBABLE LOSS. 21 1
the Round Tower,* by the new French battery on the
extreme right, as well as by our own batteries opposite
to it, so as to bring a cross-fire in some degree. They
propose firing night and day, to prevent the Russians
repairing their works, and then to launch the infantry,
who, after all, must pay. Nothing but infantry can
get in ; when the assault there succeeds, I suppose a
lodgment will be made in the White Tower, or rather
in its ruins, wherein to place new batteries. Our loss,
if the Russians make a respectable resistance, which
I have no doubt of, cannot be calculated at less than
5000 men, killed and wounded. Should our assault
fail, which is possible,' from the obstacles being greater
than we can now discover, the loss will be still more ;
and remember, in these attacks, it is the best and
most dauntless soldiers in both armies who fall, for
they will be the foremost. In the field of battle,
drawn up in line, the chance is equal ; but when the
storm begins, the bravest rush first, and have often
made a bridge of their bodies for the succeeding co-
lumns. Possibly we may be kept here to protect
Balaklava ; but what I think most likely is, that a
detachment from the Highlanders will be ordered,
not to deprive them of the honour of being present.
All these arrangements are in petto of Milordo Rag-
lan. I see by the last Army-List, that our Bala-
The MalakofiF.
212 CRIMEAN FUND.
klava division is put down as a separate command ;
however, in the town we do not command, and are not
responsible. The newspapers have got the account
of my Cossack lance. I have sent it in the " Sans-
pareil" to to stick up in his halls. We have
some sort of an idea that there will be formed a Hifjh-
land division for C. The 71 st is here, and the 72d
and 92d are coming. That would clear us from the
Guards, with whom we wish to have nothing to do :
their privileges and pretensions are very inconvenient.
At present, our men are occupied putting up the
wooden huts. As soon as they are housed, we shall
have to proceed to repair our f6rtifications, which are
a little damaged by the frost. For if we are to re-
main here, no doubt, as soon as the valley of the
Chernaya is dry again, and the ground hard, we shall
have a large force of Russians hemming us in, and
hanging over us like a thunder-cloud, and we shall be
again constantly on the qui the, not taking off our
clothes ; all the work of the beginning of winter over
again. You will, if I live, have a continued history
of war's alarms, from a very poor Froissart. The Cri-
mean fund, whatever that is, has arrived yesterday in
the " Fairy'' yacht. I came on her quite by surprise,
looking so nice and clean and Cowish, with the white
ensign and burgee displayed. All this is very kind ;
but great stuff. If they would only send plenty of
horses and carts, and fat beeves for the soldiers' din-
JTJS^elTieTC^ Zah^:J/J^iiZlSbt^, ChndaO^S^
Tiedoufii
KAMARA
PlCdra^lIfoase.
bftrfeeTvJi^ej RlBSfZyS
PRESERVE THE LETTERS. 213
ners, it would be more use than a forest of hashed
venison. I hope, before I write again, to send you
a tracing of our position here on a good large scale,
as I have got a drawing-board made by the Sappers.
Take care who sees it, and do not let it be copied.
LETTER LVL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
1st February 1855.
I NOW send you a sketch, which will give you a
good idea of our position. Do not let it be copied, or
it will get into the Illustrated London News. You
had better preserve the letters I write to you. I
have no journal or record of any sort, except copies of
some official letters, during all these months left be-
hind ; but my letters to my various friends must make
a rather voluminous collection. Keppel has come in
the "St. Jean d'Acre." When he got to our camp, he
seemed much surprised that we did not look miserable
or desponding. The heroes who went home must
have told wonderful tales, to account for their pre-
sence in England. You speak of De Lacy Evans's let-
ter, throwing blame upon Lord Raglan. Of course it
does ; but Lord Raglan could not make the required
fortifications without men, and all his men were
214 INDISCRETION.
guarding and making trenches before Sebastopol and
in front of Balaklava. When your army is too small
for your enterprise, what is to be done ? Yet soldiers
must be enterprising. Lord Raglan's fault has been
the not refusing to act at all till his army was fit to
move, and complete in every respect. You talk of
Napier's indiscretion, letting destructive cats out of
the bag. Surely we have destruction enough going
on around us, without longing to indulge a taste
for destroying the constitution of the country. With
respect to the sketch of position I send, the Russian
cavalry came over the hills where the green troops are
painted, and the charge against them by our heavy
cavalry was made about where an X is drawn, near
a vineyard. The Russian cavalry ran away over the
hills again ; the charge of the Light Cavalry took
place behind those hills, and out of our sight. The
Turks in redoubts Nos. 1, 2, and 3, as well as in two
others, which are not laid down on the Plan, but
which were occupied by Turks, along the Woronzow
Road, ran away, mostly towards the 93d ; the said
93d remained on the little eminence till dark on the
25th October, and then quietly moved into the bat-
tery No. 4, where six companies have remained ever
since ; and we spent our time in watching continually,
for weeks, the Russian guns and infantry in the re-
doubts, and between them. Their force was about
20,000 infantry, which were encamped in the re-
MINES. 215
doubts, and further back. The Chernaya, or Black
River, is about a mile from No. 3 redoubt. We hear
that the two Grand -Dukes are returned to Sebastopol,
and we, therefore, have every reason to expect an
attack. "We are arming our batteries. The French
have driven mines right under the Russian works on
our left. The mines ought to be a profound secret ;
but I hear they are mentioned in the English papers !
If the Russians know where the mines are, they will
make a counter-mine, and spoil them. freedom
of the press, what an implement of war art thou !
Meantime I hear from the commissary that they are
getting a few animals, and that they are doing better
with their transport. They have ordered Admiral
Boxer here ; it is said he is very rude. I hope he will
not be so to the merchant-captains, who have now
been for some time accustomed to the gentle and sen-
sible Captain Heath, of the " Sanspareil.'' Violence
and bad language is not the way to make people work
willingly ; and our merchant-captains of these great
steamers must not be so treated. They have one
and all of them been most obliging and even kind in
their behaviour to men and officers ; and we shall be
shocked if they are insulted. Some navvies are come,
and the foundation for the railway is begun ; but it
will be a long job, I fear. In the mean time we have
had ten days of beautiful weather. Many of our
Highland huts are up. The days are becoming longer;
216 A POOR CONCLUSION.
and I hope some recovered sick will return. The
state of the English army is 14,000 duty-men, 10,000
sick absent, 5000 sick present, and, in fact, there are
only 11,000 men (English) besieging Sebastopol !
The Russians, of course, have also suffered from sick-
ness in a degree which we cannot estimate. Perhaps
the diplomatists by this time have come to an armis-
tice ; who knows 1 That would be a poor conclusion ;
but Russia may be more pressed than we know of.
My sphere of activity here is very circumscribed. I
have neither rank nor power ; but I do my best, with
a despairing heart, to make things go right. No
watch come yet ; it is a terrible want. I hear, how-
ever, of parcels addressed to me in " Foyle," " Clyde,"
and " East Anglian," none of which ships are come yet.
Possibly I may rescue some of these parcels from the
chaos of Balaklava, perhaps even the watch itself ;
but I depend more on the second one by Lord Raglan's
bag. The other letters and papers are sorted at Con-
stantinople. The post-office people in London sup-
posed they would find sorters there to be hired, which
turned out to be a mistake ; but I understand they
have sent home for a number of practised English
sorters : meanwhile our papers are continually going
wrong. Now I must turn away to do some letters
on military business, for the day is breaking, and my
duty begins. I must frame an order about the sol-
diers' wellbeing ; driving the lazy, and poking up the
THE MAIN FAULT. 217
indiflferent, to attend to vegetables, and rum, and lime-
juice, and many an etcetera, which may conduce to
keep our remaining men in health for the coming
struggle. A parcel has come for me. A present from
, with food, and a plaid, and books. How good-
natured ! I thought at first it was the watch. Frost
has set in again, nearly as cold as before ; but not
much snow. So long as it is dry, our men, having
warm clothing, will not suffer. The Russians near us
are not moving, although for prudence' sake we are
all on the qui mve, as at first. I believe that Lord
Eaglan has had a letter from the Duke of Newcastle,
laying all the blame of every thing upon him ; he has
been much affected by it, and that in so composed a
person is very remarkable — I mean his showing it.
It is not quite right, for they ordered him to come to
the Crimea. I hope he can prove that he represented
that his army was not properly provided with trans-
port. That is the main fault ; and if he was ordered
to come without that necessary provision, he is no
longer the culprit. But I should not be surprised if
he were to resign, which I shall regret, for I know no
one so fit for this command. We hear that the 10th
Hussars, with 700 horses, are near. I do not ima-
gine that they will come beyond Scutari at present.
Two new generals are come. One went up to join
his brigade, but he found the ground damp where his
tent was pitched, and so returned immediately to Bala-
218 THE WATCH COME.
klava, until the commissariat could carry up a house
for him ; the first duty of a general being to make
himself comfortable. The other has been lamenting,
and even crying, at the state of affairs. What does
any one come here for except to die, when it becomes
a man to die? These sort of generals are enough to
cow any men except ours. They ought to be sent
straight back to England, ticketed, " With care, and
to be kept dry."
LETTER LVII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
8th February 1855.
The watch has come ! The second one, now on
its way by post, will readily find a purchaser. We
are all on the look-out now, having had a report last
night of 35,000 Ruskis coming to attack us by the
old Baidar road. Now that you have a plan, you will
see how they may be expected to arrive from the small
Cossack picquet-house. If they could force through
by the Cut Road, which you will find laid down, they
would stream right into Balaklava ; and though they
would probably be all cut off by Greneral Vinoy's
Frenchmen, they would be able to do us an infinity
of mischief by destroying stores. But I think that
we are too well posted, and that they will be beaten
PUSHING ON. 219
back with ignominy. As they find our preparations
for bombarding every day getting nearer completion,
the probabiHty of their attacking increases. The at-
tack at Inkermann stopped the siege, and they may
hope for a similar result by another onslaught ; but
the French are now very numerous here — they say,
80,000 men — and if attacked in front, would give a
good account of their enemy. We and the French
are both pushing on our trenches and batteries. A
division of French has moved to our right, before
Sebastopol, and thus reheved some of our men from
the trench-duty, which was wearing them down. The
French are very impatient for the assault, and talk of
making it in spite of their general. The Guards are
ordered away from the siege to Balaklava to recover
themselves. They are not coming to our lines, but
to the village in our rear, and they will have to take
all the fatigue-duties on the wharfs. We have good
reason to think C. will be made a Lieutenant-general,
which will materially increase his pay, besides ena-
bhng him to hold a higher command. I am told there
is another tremendous article against poor Lord Rag-
lan, and that the of&cers of the Guards are sending
letters abusing him, which are handed about among
their female connections at Court and elsewhere. In
fact, this is very unkind of them, for the Guards have
always been favoured so far as possible consistently
with their pretensions of taking all duties that other
220 A WORKING MAN.
soldiers perform. They broke down in Bulgaria long
before any of the others, and are not a sort of troops
adapted for foreign service. I have been up all night
expecting this attack, and it amuses me to write.
This letter will not go till to-morrow, so I may have
some event to put in, though I do not think so few
hours can make much difference. My last papers
were only to the 1 9th instant ; some have come to
the 22d, and we may soon hear what the Ministry
will do. I hope they will not be so base as to make
peace.
In the middle of the night.
A tremendous firing going on at Sebastopol. A
sortie, I suppose. I have been reading the beginning
of the Autobiography of a Working Man, which has
touched me extremely ; the poor man's utter poverty
is hard to conceive by those who have never felt it
His love for his mother, too, comes home to every
manly heart. When I was a little child, I can re-
member the poverty of our household, and my darling
mother slaving herself for her little ones, looking with
dismay at the diminishing loaf, and thinking of its
high price. There had been some lawsuit which tied
up my father's small property, and money was scarce.
She was not at all clever ; only good, better, and
best to me. While I am writing, the cannons are
roaring, and here I feel the tremor of the explo-
sions ; but it is so constant a noise that, unless in
EAU DE ROSE. 221
the night, when all else is quiet, small notice is taken.
This evening I heard a telegraphic message had ar-
rived with the news of a vote of want of confidence
in our Ministry. We shall not know, of course, for
a long time what will turn up, or whether we shall
mend our condition. We have every reason to believe
that a large force of Russians is collecting against our
Balaklava position. They are publishing too much
in the papers. The officers' friends are much to
blame ; it discourages our men, and makes the enemy
think we are worse off than the truth will warrant.
In war there must be suffering. Eau de rose has no
place in that stern scene. A little more suffering
perhaps than might have been necessary — inexpe-
rience — and now they change the government to give
a new set of mistakes. Happily for us soldiers we
have a plain line of duty — to endure and persevere ;
there must be no retreating. I consider it would be
better that we should all perish to a man, than that
the country should give in for us, and make a shame-
ful and useless peace ; the same battle to be fought
over again by another generation. I am now going
to lie down. I was up all last night, and must be on
horseback before daylight ; so a nap in my clothes
will be prudent.
222 BUSKIN.
LETTER LVIII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
12th February 1855.
I HAVE been reading some of Ruskin's book.
His admiration of Gothic architecture I can appre-
ciate. It has always been my favourite style; yet
you see when I built the White Cottage I did not
adopt it. How can I excuse myself in the eyes of
Ruskin ? Not that I want to excuse any thing. I
was bound to build something which should not be a
landlord's fixture, and my material was therefore ne-
cessarily iron. The only fault I acknowledge is in the
pitch of the roof, which is quite wrong ; the flat curve
was, however, drawn by an architect. It is now within
a few days of a year since my departure from England.
I did not come here entirely on the patriotic principle,
partly for friendship. When I was young, I might have
done so ; but I did not know till I tried that I should
still find myself so strong and hardy as it has been
proved I am, nor so fit for war. We have now, I trust,
passed over the worst of the winter ; but there is still
occasional snow, varied by rain. The army before
Sebastopol has but few huts up yet ; so that it is to be
dreaded that our sick-list will not diminish for some
time to come. I have private reasons for thinking it
likely there \n\\ be a Highland division made up for C.
The Highland Brigade has answered so well that I
DUKES. 223
think the step will be a wise one. I could have wished
to see the Ministry of War given over to Lord Ellen-
borough ; he knows more about the organisation of
an army than any other public man in England. Roe-
buck was suspected of trying to make a cross by his
motion. I am glad to see he has turned out honest.
Of all those going out, I only regret Molesworth and
Gladstone. There has not often been a greater oppor-
tunity lost than this one by the Duke of Newcastle.
He had absolute power, as I believe, and boundless
wealth to work with ; yet made a total mess. What
a chance it is for an Englishman to be born a duke,
and what dukes some would have made ; only the
education would have been so different ! In a day or
two I will send you a sketch I have got of our posi-
tion. It will illustrate the plan I have already sent
you ; together, they will give you a capital idea of our
position ; the first being the ground -plan, and the
other the elevation, looking at us from the enemy's
side. Do you take any interest in it ? Perhaps I
am sending things you care not for; yet it is my
time I am giving, hardly won, from the midst of in-
terruption by the calls of duty which continually
press upon me. When I succeed in getting my letter
written, for the moment I feel satisfied ; but when I
look it over, it seems so meagre compared with what
it ought to be, that I am often inclined to throw
it away. I don't, though ; for I hope there is still
224 RAILWAY VERSUS ROAD.
some basis of truth, and some faithful record of fact,
which may be not entirely worthless. I am now going
to Balaklava to sit on a Court of Inquiry as to the
way in which a wounded man was carried on board
ship. I was one of the court which sat to examine
into the state of affairs on board the "Avon," and our
report gave the doctors such a dressing that they now
tremble at the idea of a Court of Inquiry. I am fre-
quently employed in this way. I was one of a board
to receive the statements of the railway people ; and I
made a protest alone against employing the labour in
this way, because the making a railway entailed the
necessity of also making a macadamised road between
the rails, which, when made, would only be available
for the railway wagons and horses, whereas a good or-
dinary macadamised road would have been available
for all sorts of carts, mides, &c. ; and such a road must
be made in addition to the railway road,* requiring
immense extra labour. I do not think the railway
wiU be ready for months ; long before which I trust the
allied armies will be in Sebastopol, and their navies
in its port. I am sure we must open fire very soon,
for most of our batteries are armed, after which it
is usual to begin firing as soon as possible, for fear
of the enemy getting into the batteries and spiking
the guns. When you hear of the fire opening, pre-
• Such a road was made afterwards.
WATCH COME ! 225
pare yourself by the next mail to hear of the assault,
when the highest hearts of both armies will throw
themselves into the Russian works with a full deter-
mination of staying there alive or dead. Shall we
ever have a Homer to tell of this siege ? I have seen
nothing in verse at all worthy, except a scrap about
the cavalry charge. Yet, when England can produce
such soldiers, she must surely have some Homer to
record their deeds. I am afraid this letter is very
badly written ; but I am writing against time, and
penmanship as well as grammar must suffer. You
will supply the defects of the latter, if you can get
over the former difficulty ; at any rate, you will ex-
cuse.
LETTER LIX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
14th February 1855.
My watch came by post yesterday, just a week
after I received the other by long sea. Shadwell was
delighted to buy it. I wound it up, set it, and gave
it over to him ; and in the afternoon he wound it up
again, and broke the mainspring ! so it will go back
by post to his brother for repair ; and when he recovers
it again, it will be a travelled watch. I send the trac-
ing I promised.* The Battery No. 4 is that behind
* This sketch is introduced at Letter XXXVII., p. 148.
226 A POINT OF DISCIPLINE.
which we live. The tents are not so numerous as they
appeared on the heights when the sketch was taken,
as our men are now all hutted. Last night we were
startled by the entry into our mansion of Lord Lucan,
in a flurry, just recalled home on account of his row
with Lord Raglan about the famous cavalry charge.
It has become a point of discipline, and the junior
goes to the wall ; but on this occasion the junior has
got a seat in the House of Lords. It is a terrible
blow to him ; but it shows that the Government that
was intends to defend Lord Raglan. My papers, as
it too often happens on interesting occasions, have
missed. Had they come, I surmise they could not
have told us who is to be the Prime Minister and who
the Secretary of War. Palmerston and Grey, I hope,
as Lord Ellenborough cannot come in with Whigs.
We know from close observation that Ruski has made
the defences of Sebastopol wonderfully strong, and I
think the engineers do not much like the job before
them. We have strange reports about the possibility
of C. being made commander-in-chief. I hope not ;
I think Lord Raglan very competent ; and it would
please C. much better to command a Highland divi-
sion under him. In that situation he would be per-
fectly comfortable, and would manage his division as
easily as one regiment. That some very great change
will be made in the constitution of the army, I have
no doubt. I hope they will copy the French organisa-
NIEL LOOKS GRAVE. 227
tion exactly ; it was invented by the genius of the
great Napoleon. , who is coming out at the
head of the Army Transport, is a man, as I hear, full
of zeal and energy, and very brave, not with any par-
ticular talents. All signs portend a great war before
us, which is a great evil, but inevitable. Nicholas
cannot give in, and at present he need not, for his
Sebastopol is still his, and of course he jflatters him-
self that he may keep us out for an indefinite period.
However, I think we shall close up round it and in-
vest it, and stop the supplies, if we do not attack it
by force. Colonel Niel, the French engineer sent here
by the Emperor to report, I believe looks grave. We
are going to make an attempt upon Miss Nightin-
gale. She keeps all our men when they are discharged
from hospital, and makes nurses of them, not consi-
dering that the other men are doing their duty in the
trenches. I believe she has about 300 men of the
Highland Brigade thus employed. There ought to be
men enlisted as nurses, and the soldiers should be
left to fight. The chief medical officer out here ought
to have been intrusted with Nightingale powers. De-
pend upon it that it is the interest and the glory of
a medical officer to take care of his sick ; nothing
but want of power has been the cause of deficiencies.
Every department has a pluck at us : clerks, orderhes,
officers' servants, all prime soldiers. The Commissary
of the Highland Brigade alone has seven ; all the
228 MAKING SOLDIERS INTO NURSES.
ofl&cers one each, the mounted officers and the staff
two. I think between these servants, and regimental
hospital orderlies, and various others employed by the
quartermasters, that the absentees may be reckoned
at least at sixty per battalion, besides Miss Nightin-
gale's 300, in fact, nearly one battalion out of three.
There is, besides, the band and pioneers non-combat-
ants — some thirty more. The nominal strength is
over 800, and it is doing well in these times to bring
500 into the field.
15th February.
We finished yesterday a Court of Inquiry which
sat to investigate a report made by a staff-officer that
a wounded man, who had been sent down from Sebas-
topol on a French mule, was not provided with the
necessary conveniences for being transported from the
mule to the boat. We found, however, on examina-
tion, that a surgeon and four men were employed in
carrying this one man, and, in fact, that the arrange-
ments were very complete. I have read the first night's
debate. Lord John comes out of it very badly, for,
on his own showing, he ought to have retired a long
time ago. If he had done so, our reformation would
have begun much sooner. I object to the phrases
he uses about the army, " heart-rending," &c. The
army, with all this persuasion, will think itself worse
off than it is. You, who have had a constant stream
of information from one present, have also read the
THE GRAND-DUKE. 229
papers. Now I feel convinced that although my facts
may have corresponded with some recorded by them,
still the tone has been very different. As a general
fact, I maintain that there has been no whimpering
among us ; a few exceptions do not alter this truth ;
the soldiers have been wonderfully cheery all along,
and I think our misfortunes have brought out into
strong light the heroical part of the English charac-
ter. Probably the worst of the bad weather is now
over. If we can recover our convalescents out of
the Nightingale's claws, with transport under
well arranged, our increased numbers, added to the
Sardinian contingent, will enable us to sally forth and
drive away Ruski, so as to surround the place and make
its capture sure. We were able yesterday to recognise
one of the young Grand-Dukes on No. 8 Redoubt,
observing our position. He was known to Leicester
Curzon, who had travelled with him. We described
him to Curzon as an excessively tall thin young man,
to whom great respect was paid, and who was play-
ing in a kittenish manner with the staff around him.
Perhaps they were planning some way of attacking us ;
but I think not, the ground is too soft for them to get
their guns away, after we have beaten them back. C.
is made a Lieutenant-general. That gives him an in-
crease of pay, and is a compliment. Sir G. Brown is
returned ; he is a fine old fellow, but he is excessively
short-sighted, and I never saw him with spectacles.
230 SHORT SIGHT.
It seems to require nerve to wear them ; for I can
imagine nothing but vanity to prevent blind people
from using such means for seeing. Codrington also is
short-sighted, but I believe he does wear spectacles on
important occasions. Eyre wears them always. It is
a terrible defect for a soldier not to have a long sight.
I am amused at your account of 's anxiety to
come out here. What on earth would he do ? become
a franc-tireur in a hole in the ground close to the Rus-
sian batteries ? I understand we shall soon have some
better arrangements, thanks to Mackenzie and Ross,
about the reception of parcels, and that they will come
as safely, though not so quickly, as letters by the post.
We shall never, I think, be very far from the sea : our
line, when we advance, will be towards Bakchi-serai,
with perhaps part of our army watching the road to
Kertsch along the south side where Theodosia or Kaffa
is situated. There is no marching across the steppes in
summer for want of water, or in winter for the mud ;
so that a transport-train will have a fair chance, as it
will never have any long journeys to perform. The
railway will doubtless be pushed forward as we ad-
vance, and very likely will branch out at right angles
along the whole rear of the allied armies. When our
numbers get up again, we shall be able to afford the
navvies assistance. Once Sebastopol taken, the fatigues
of the trenches will be forgotten, and the soldiers will
only look forward with pleasure to meeting the Rus-
ATTACK ON THE TURKS. 231
sians in the field, where we all feel confident of beat-
ing them easily. I am afraid this is a dull letter ;
but what can you expect from hence, where monotony
reigns ?
LETTER LX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
19th February 1855.
The mail, with letters up to the 2d instant, came
in the day before yesterday, which were very inter-
esting to us ; and I am glad to see that the Duke of
N., who has been an unfortunate man, really comes
out very well in his defence against his late colleague.
Lord John. The papers could not tell us who was to
be every thing in all the offices ; but we hear by tele-
graph, Pam premier, and Lord Panmure war — warm-
ing-pan for Lord Dalhousie.* I believe the latter is
a good appointment ; but he had better come soon.
We have news of our own, too; no less than 40,000
Russians, with sixty guns, having attacked the Turks
at Eupatoria, and of their having been beaten back,
leaving 150 dead. Their artillery totally destroyed
one Turkish field battery, killing the horses, and dis-
mounting the guns. They attacked a part of the
works which was not quite finished. The allied com-
manders have received telegraphic advice that we are
This seems to have been an incorrect report.
232 RAILWAY PROGRESSES.
to be attacked along our whole line, which is indeed
very likely, as Nicholas must be much affronted at
our planting ourselves so coolly on his soil. His mili-
tary chiefs must try to dispose of us ; and as there has
now been a good long spell of beautiful dry weather,
it is hkely they are preparing, although I scarcely
think they can have men enough to attack the Turks
at Eupatoria at the same time as Balaklava. Our
railway is making progress, and by tomorrow night
will have reached Kadikoi. We are making an inun-
dation in front of our fortifications here, in the flat
part of the right of No. 4 Battery, where a brook runs
through the parapet. It will be very shallow, but
will conceal ditches ; a formidable obstacle is an un-
der-water ditch, into which you suddenly flop, when
you think you are only wetting your feet. The object
of such obstacles, as well as of trotia de loup and
abattis, is not so much to make the ground impass-
able, as to break the order of formation of an ad-
vancing column ; order once broken, the attack is
almost sure to fail. Quantities of boxes, full of cloth-
ing and all sorts of odds and ends, have come to us
for ourselves and for the Highland Brigade ; and such
capitally made things as the men have never been
used to. They send oat-cakes and currant-buns, and
bottles of whisky. I have no means of knowing if
the different county regiments of England receive
things in the same proportion ; but I do know that
BURYING DEAD HORSES. 233
between private gifts and those of the Government our
men are over^loaded with warm articles, and our
main difficulty will be what to do with them when we
move, for to carry them is out of the question. I
have warned the Quartermaster-GeneraFs people that
they should build a large store, and send to Constan-
tinople for a hundred furriers, to clean and put by
the things against next winter, which I think we
shall spend in Sebastopol, Bakchi-serai, and Sim-
pheropol. I believe this climate to be remarkably
healthy, with the exception of some particular locali-
ties. Balaklava itself is probably very unhealthy ;
and now, from the quantity of dead bodies buried
near it, and the abominations thrown into its tideless
port, I am prepared to expect pestilence there and in
all this valley, as soon as the sun becomes hot. We
have been burying dead horses round us for the last
few days to a large amount ; poor animals which
perished in trying to get up to the camp before Se-
bastopol. I was walking among the vineyards in
front of our defences yesterday, and I saw that the
vines were beginning to move. We have protected
them, as they make a very good defence. In this
country they scoop out a hole round each vine, which
makes a sort of trou de hup, and the long branches
hanging about in the summer will make a thicket ;
in rear of the works, they have been extracted root
and branch for fuel. I suppose very soon we shall
234 A RECONNOISSANCE.
have crocuses and snowdrops, and the war and the
flowers will awaken together.
LETTER LXL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
2l8t February 1855.
It was decided on the 18th that a considerable
French force, say 18,000 men, and our few, perhaps
1800, should issue forth from our lines, and make
a reconnoissance, with the hope of surprising the
Russian troops at Chorguna, a small village, towards
which we had made frequent advances. It is on a
line with our battery No. 4, and Canrobert's Hill (the
old redoubt No. 1), only three miles further off. How-
ever, on the night of the 18th, this intention was
modified to the amount of putting it off till the next
day. On the 19th Lord Raglan, and plenty of staff-
officers, French and English, came to our quarter —
I mean to that of C. — and it was decided on going
out that night. The hour first proposed was one
o'clock in the morning, which was changed to half-
past two. We made all our arrangements during the
evening. There is no moon now. At eleven it began
to rain ; at midnight the wind changed to the north,
and it blew hard, with a drifting snow. It was im-
WEATHER BAD. 235
possible to see ten yards ; in this weather, which
lasted all the rest of the night, and until the middle
of the day of the 20th, we had to make our way, so
as to he in position above Chorguna at half-past five
in the morning. The 42d, 71 st, 79th, and 9.3d, with
twelve guns, and about 300 cavalry, composed our
force. The three first-named regiments were to march,
so as to join the 93d, the guns, and the cavalry, under
Canrobert's Hill ; and then all to pass on, leaving that
hill on our left. C, Shadwell, and I, being nearest
the 93d, started with them. No sooner did I get
outside the work, through a small sally-port next to
our old house, which forms part of the battery No. 4,
than I found that I was totally blind ; for besides
the night being pitch dark, the snow drifted on my
spectacles. Well, the 93d came out and started. I
was desired to go and look for the artillery, and tell
it to move on. I thought I knew where it was, and
tried to go there ; but soon found I had lost my way,
and was reduced to the condition of a blind man.
I wandered about with my horse through vineyards
and ditches, and could make nothing of it. At last
I came to a broken cart, and a small heap of stones,
and concluded to stand there till daylight, as I knew
not where I was going. The snow fell all the time.
My horse shivered under me with cold. At last
I dismounted, and jumped about to avoid sleeping,
which would have finished my campaign in a very in-
236 VINOY GOES OUT.
glorious manner. When day began to dawn, 1 found
that I was not far from the fort, having wandered
about in a circle. I could see nothing of our troops,
and their track was obliterated by the snow; while
going towards Kamara, I saw a man at a distance,
who looked like a Cossack, but who turned out after-
wards to be a staff-officer ; so I went back into the
battery to make our Dragoon orderlies come along
with me. While they were getting ready, an Aide-
de-camp of Lord Eaglan's reached our quarter, having
wandered about all night with an order for us not to
go out, as the weather was so bad that General Bos-
quet would not start with his French force. Here
was a pretty job ; our small force out alone, and sup-
posing they were supported by 18,000 French. I
thought it best to go immediately to General Vinoy,
who commands a French brigade on the heights to the
left of our position, and above battery No. 5, just be-
yond Kadikoi. He is placed there to give us support
in case of an attack, and was to have joined General
Bosquet on this occasion. He received the counter-
order, and of course did not go out ; but from the top
of his hill, when light came, being provided with a
good glass by us, he had been able to perceive a move-
ment of troops on the top of the hills beyond Canro-
bert's Hill, and he immediately concluded that C. had
not received the counter-order. Vinoy at once got
his men out, and was just going to mount when I
RUSSIANS SURPRISED. 237
arrived. The danger was, that the Russian force should
be larger than we expected, and able to overpower our
people ; in which case Vinoy would have arrived very
opportunely. However, when we reached the ground,
we got sight of a very few Russians, and nothing was
done. Every one was very cold, and very glad to get
back ; with the satisfaction at the same time of having
obeyed orders, and made a very severe and difficult
march in such weather, without any casualties. I took
a good sleep in the afternoon, and after dinner took a
very long one indeed for me, for I was dead tired.
I know nothing worse than finding yourself lost in the
snow, and being reduced to standing still till daylight,
like a ship lying to. I heard from those who got off
with the party, and reached the ground at the time
proposed, that the Russians were quite taken by sur-
prise. When it was over, every one was pleased with
this little variety. To-day has been fine, and a good
deal of the snow has melted, but it promises. to freeze
hard at night. I fully expect we shall, when we get
another spell of dry weather, make an onslaught on
these people : far we cannot go, for we have no trans-
port ; but we might go out for two or three days, as
the men could carry so much provisions. We have
no news of how the siege is getting along, but the
railway has reached Kadikoi, and I dare say will soon
begin to be useful. We are all anxiety to get positive
news about the Ministry, and the probable changes
238 FIRST SNOWDROP.
in the army. Poor Lord Aberdeen must be rather
unhappy at such universal desertion. How far better
it would have been for him to have resigned, when
he found war was to be. Now he is turned out finally
and for ever ; which shelving is, I suppose, a dreadful
thing to a public man like him. Yesterday, I saw
the first snowdrop, — graceful foreboder of spring and
the horrors of war. It seems likely that there will
be a large force sent to Eupatoria, sufficient not only
to hold the place, but to advance towards Bakchi-Serai.
Then we shall see if we have, among French or Eng-
lish, got a real General, one who can handle 1 00,000
men ; quite a different and a much more uncommon
faculty than that of manoeuvring 20,000. Now I
have an idea that Lord Ellenborough has this power
of being a general on a great scale, and that is one
reason why I should like to see him War Minister.
Lord Dalhousie I shall be sorry to see in that office,
not because I do not believe him to be a very capable
man, but because I know he did not behave well to
C. in India, and very likely bears him a grudge for
resisting him and for resigning his command. My
chief is au mieux with Lord Raglan. It is very plea-
sant for him, for he can get small matters done by a
direct application without minding the staff-officers
about the P.M., which saves time and helps the service.
We have had so many things sent out now, besides
our original baggage, that I am looking forward to a
FRENCH REPULSE. 289
horrible packing up and sending into store of all that
cannot be carried.
LEaTER LXIL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
25th February 1855.
On the night of the 23d the French made an at-
tack on a Russian advanced work near the Tower of
Malakoff, or the White Tower, as we called it at first.
The plan was apparently known to the Russians, from
some person's indiscretion, for they were ready prepared.
The Zouaves, under Colonel Cler, advanced silently to
the work ; when they came within fifty yards, the Rus-
sians began firing ; the Zouaves ran on without firing
a shot, and got possession of the work, bayonetting
a good many. But the Russian fire of musketry and
cannon was too much for them. Their support of the
Infanterie de la Marine gave way, and the Zouaves
were driven back, losing 17 officers, killed and wounded,
8 and 9 respectively, and 500 or 600 men ; a disas-
trous affair, and the first military — that is, fighting
— check the Allies have received. The success of an
attack by the very best troops even on inferior ones
posted behind trenches is always problematical. Our
neighbour and friend Vinoy, who long commanded the
Zouaves, is very much dfstressed at the killing and
240 TWO INCHES AND A PENNY.
wounding so many of his brother officers, besides his
own nephew, who is wounded in two places. I do not
know now whether in the plan I sent you battery
No. 5 is introduced, or the hill behind it, on which
Vinoy's brigade is posted for our assistance. We are
very intimate with General Vinoy, and like him much.
I am constantly called upon to write him notes in
C.'s name, which I dare say amuse him, as probably
the French is a little peculiar. The Guards have
come down here, and are camped in our rear, where
they will have nothing to do. Their coming here
places them under C, as they form part of the 1st
Division ; so that if he permanently commands that
division, I shall drop into being Assistant Adjutant-
General to the 1st Division, as I suppose they will
hardly separate us now. But we are in great hopes
of having a Highland Division. Between the Guards
and the Line there is a difference of just two inches
and a penny, besides the privileges of the officers. I
send you a Crimean snowdrop. Do you remember
the autumnal crocus, gathered when the Russian shot
was falling ? that grew on a bare desolate spot enough,
but these wild flowers of our Kadikoi are springing
where nothing but themselves remain to put us in
mind of the blooming valley which we entered last
September. Such a desolation is hard to conceive.
The only plant here besides a lonely snowdrop is the
railway plant and the soldier and his sword. You
FLOGGING A NAVVY. 241
have heard, I dare say, of the Provost-Marshal. He
is the policeman of the rear of a camp, and has the
power of flogging troublesome people without judge
or jury. One of the navvies has passed through his
hands, and the rest of that fraternity appear to be
much amused at it. He roared like a bull ; and I
hear afterwards had the philosophy to remark, that
he had been flogged for the honour of his country.
They grumble considerably at salt provisions, so dif-
ferent from the beefsteaks and porter they were used
to at home.
LETTER LXHI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
1st March 1855.
We cannot expect much news from England till
Parliament meets. I see in your letter you had a
great opinion of . We, who thought he was
appointed, debated the question of his merits, and
we were inclined to think the goodness of the se-
lection was doubtful. He always spoke so acrimoni-
ously of every one, and might perhaps be called an
impracticable man. is truly a small one, but
he may have wit enough to close with the offer of
feeding the soldiers by contract. It is done so now
virtually, for the Commissary contracts with all sorts
of people, and pretends to be very economical in his
R
242 HIGHLANDERS CARRY SHOT.
money bargains. I was informed yesterday that great
efforts are to be made to open fire in ten days. As
it was the officer commanding the siege-train ar-
tillery who said so, and as it was spoken openly, I
conclude that Lord Raglan has ordered it ; but I can-
not think it wise to let it be known in Balaklava for
the use of the Russians ; they hear every thing by
their spies, and probably much that is not true, for
that village is the fertile mother of lies. I never go
there without hearing of some wonderful battery, or
movement of troops, under our very noses, and where
we are continually watching, and generally at present
seeing no alteration. Our Highlanders are ordered
to carry up shot to the siege ; but I am glad to say
the railroad will help them a little, that is, as far as
Kadikoi. The line runs right into the Ordnance
Wharf at Balaklava, and the thirty-two pound shot
will be placed in empty sandbags, and then in a
wagon, and drawn by the railway horses to Kadikoi ;
where the men will parade, and shoulder their load
of cold iron. We did hope that this shot-carrying
was over. It is . the proper business of the artillery,
and is imposed upon the infantry in consequence of
the non-competence of the artillery to do their own
work. They take the labour of the infantry in the
most thankless manner. These corps d'elite will be
much improved by a thorough reform ; all the good
things at Woolwich are monopolised by a family
LIEUTENANT-COLONELS. 243
clique, who look upon the establishments there as
belonging to their sons and nephews, so that it seems
almost more provoking than the Guards' arrange-
ments, whereby the aristocracy have such a pull over
the rest of the nation. That is a part of the con-
stitution. In the army here there are thirty-nine
battalions, each commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel.
There are here likewise three battalions of Guards,
all the captains of which are Lieutenant-Colonels, and
which battalions, including their Commanding-Officers
and Majors, produce about thirty-three Lieutenant-
Colonels, all of whom have a right to compete, and
do compete successfully, with the thirty-nine Line men
for employments in the highest staff situations. As
the Guards gain by their privileges a more rapid pro-
motion to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel than usually
falls to the lot of us poor working-soldiers, the in-
equality is the more felt. I hope you understand
it, and are prepared with me to grumble. But no-
thing will be done. It requires to be a military man
to comprehend the nature and the reasonableness of
our complaints. No one of that profession, that I
have yet seen in the House of Commons, appears to
be able to grapple with the question. F. D., a most
good-natured Irishman, tried to bring forward some-
thing in the House ; but his motion was lost, and the
Guardsmen and the Navy combined together to black-
ball him for the Senior Club. There was not an of-
244 BURYING THE ZOUAVES.
ficer of the Guards at the ballot. Bernal Osborne,
one of the Ministry, said the system was rotten. Why
does he not do something ? The Duke of Wellington
protected the Guards. If there is to be a privileged
corps, it should be composed of officers and men
picked out ; the first, not for being of good families,
but for distinguished service, and the latter not merely
for being six feet high. There was a remark made
somewhere about Lieutenant Lord Cecil being
promoted to be Lieutenant and Captain in the Guards.
That promotion ought to have gone to some Lieu-
tenant out here, who had been taking his turn in the
trenches for the last five months. We hear of Gene-
ral Simpson coming out. They say he is a most gen-
tlemanly person ; but I do not think that he has
much war-experience. Lord John's journey to Vienna
is a pregnant circumstance, but he will make nothing
of it till we have completely beaten the Russians in
the field, and out of Sebastopol, which fortress they
are daily making stronger and stronger. Osten Sacken
wrote a very handsome letter to Canrobert, on the
conduct of the Zouaves the other day, and had their
bodies buried with military honours, the ceremony
superintended by their Adjutant -Major, the only
officer left alive in the hands of the Russians.
DEFENCES STRONG. 245
LETTER LXIV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
5lh March 1855.
I MUST fob you off with a very short letter, for I
am very busy. The whole of the troops in Balaklava,
and the brigade of Guards, are placed under the com-
mand of C, which at first will give me considerable
work. I hear of more batteries being begun, which
only puts off the longer the time for opening fire. I
believe Lord Eaglan is very anxious to begin. From
something which dropped from a French General, I
think the French are no longer so confident as they
were in the success of an assault. They say, " We
will try ; if we fail, we must mask the place, and at-
tack the enemy in the field.*' Every one who has the
opportunity of seeing the improvements of the Russian
defences seems to agree that they have made them-
selves wonderfully strong. We here (Balaklava) mean-
time are doing the same thing, and with this increased
force we shall doubtless keep them out. The railway
is beginning to be very useful as far as Kadikoi. It
saves the fatigue-men a good deal of time as well as
labour. But the men at the siege are worked very
hard. Every other night in the trenches. Luckily
the weather has become fine, and no rain or extreme
cold. I have put up a hut, a wooden one from Eng-
land, and have got room to walk about in it, though
246 DEATH OF THE CZAR.
it is but a poor White Cottage.* I must finish, for
I am obliged to mount my horse. I have been up
since half-past three, and was on the heights soon
after four. Bright moonlight and a brilliant sunrise.
LETTER LXV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
8th March 1855.
On the evening of the 6th, a despatch reached C.
from Lord Raglan. The original just come from Bu-
karest signed by Colquhoun, the Consul-General, an-
nouncing the death of the Czar on the 2d ; merely a
telegraphic message, with directions to send it by
special steamer from Varna. We went ofi" immediately
to give our news to Vinoy, by which he was much
surprised. His Aide-de-camp, Abbatucci, exclaimed,
" Ah, ils nous ont tu^ notre Nicholas." To the allies
his death is a certain gain, as it is impossible to be-
lieve that his son will have his. abilities or, at least,
his experience. Meanwhile I do not expect immedi-
ate peace, as some of the people around me do, nor do
I wish for it. Our army, they pretend, is on the point
of being remodeled, to which plan peace will be fatal.
* This White Cottage is a large room built in the author's
garden, where his literary friends met once a week.
CLIP Russia's wings. 247
With peace, the army drops into its ancient misman-
agement. That, indeed, would be no reason for not
making peace, although it would be itself regrettable.
The objection to peace is the difficulty of getting any
security that Russia's wings are clipped. I see no
signs of that being the case. The 20,000 Turks to
be raised by the English will be a very different kind
of troops from any now possessed by the Turkish Go-
vernment. They ought to be backed by a large army
and an alHed contingent, and hold the Crimea for the
Porte. That is the only solution I see which will
guarantee us a return for our expenditure of men and
treasure. You mention as a dying woman, j
was once slightly acquainted with her ; she seemed
not to be a woman at all, and only a poor sort of
man. However, she is clever, and writes amusing
books, though I never read any of them except .
Her confession of faith is only vanity. How does she
know any thing about it ? and it is curious that she
was credulous to a high degree in other matters, and
her credulity was sometimes so great, that I know of
her inventing things which she asserted to be facts.
Lord 's disgrace puts me in mind of some French
doings before the Revolution. Praslin ? but he always
was a black sheep ; a sharp fellow too in general. This
time he has sold his reputation with the British public
for 20,000/. — a losing bargain ; but he went for the
whole estate. Why does Lord R. praise ? because
248 A HARD FATE.
it is the custom to praise men of rank. Being praised
and being praiseworthy do not always go together.
I am sorry to see the papers continue to abuse Lord
Raglan, and you put in a bit. You quote a sentence
of mine, " Lord K's fault was not refusing to act at
all before his army was complete." Fault is a con-
ventional word. I suppose he told the Government
all his deficiencies, and still they ordered him to go ;
he could not very well refuse, being a soldier. I be-
lieve he did all he possibly could do in way of remon-
strance, and was overruled. His has been a very hard
fate, not to have been killed at the Alma. The new
Bill for enlisting older men for a short time is an old
Bill which was resorted to during the Peninsular War.
I wish you would get me into the War Minister's con-
fidence. They are not doing any good yet with the
army, and nobody seems to look the question fairly in
the face.
The question is, do you choose to have your army
ofiicered as at present by the aristocracy, and the men
enlisted as volunteers ? If you do, the making ser-
geants into ofl&cers is a mere absurdity, and a base
submission to the press. If the present plan is bad,
do not make it worse by patching. Destroy it alto-
gether ; and let us force all Englishmen to serve, as
the French do, in the ranks. You then have a fair
sample of the nation to make officers out of I can
tell you a curious fact about the French system. Their
SERGEANTS MADE OFFICERS. 249
officers will not submit to receive among them as an
officer any one who has entered the army as a rem-
placant (viz. for money) ; in which, with their system,
I think them quite right. There have been a great
many sergeants made officers lately in our army —
men of thirty or forty, junior ensigns. In the French
army there are many deserving soldiers, who have no
chance of ever rising to be officers, because they have
not the education required. They get "la croix,''
and a pension, and perhaps a place. I do not pretend
to say which plan is the best, ours or the French, in
theory ; but the French army, in practice, is better
than ours. Not the men ; our men are the best, the
most willing, the most enduring in the world. We
want officers who shall be officers as well as gentle-
men ; and if this war goes on, we shall make them.
If peace comes now, adieu to hope. Every thing will
be starved back to the lowest point, and we shall
have nothing left to us but a heavy half-pay list, and
the memory of the Crimean War. Since the arrival
of the Guards here, C. has been placed in command
of all the troops in and around Balaklava, except the
cavalry, which I am sorry for, as he will come in for
some of the abuse about Balaklava, unless he can put
it to rights in a week, which is no easy job. We are
walking rapidly into spring, and we shall have a new
set of diseases. This valley, I apprehend, will be very
unhealthy, as will be likewise the Valley of the Cher-
250 PEELITES GO OUT.
naya. The mass of dead bodies of men and horses,
not very deeply buried, must give out pestilential va-
pours as soon as the sun becomes powerful, which it
probably will next month. There was an idea of
employing quick-lime in the Turkish graves; but
that would, they said, shock their prejudices, and so it
was abandoned. Just at the head of the harbour
there are 2300 Turks buried.
LETTER LXVI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
9th March 1855.
The papers are come with news of the Peelites
going out. I cannot agree with you about an inves-
tigation just now. Our business is to push the war ;
every publicity concerning the army does nothing but
pure mischief, so far as success against the enemy is
concerned. I will tell you how they manage in India.
One white Queen's regiment is brigaded with two
black ones ; when the line advances against the
enemy, the white regiment keeps its pace and goes
into fire as Englishmen always do ; the black regi-
ments on the flank hang back, and wait the result.
As soon as they see that the English have broken
the enemy, the Sepoys advance, and get all the
credit ; the custom of the Government in India for
THE SEPOY ARMY. 251
patronage purposes being to puff the Sepoy army.
If, however, the enemy should be too strong, and
their fire should overpower the white troops, and
compel them to retire, the blacks all run away, and
throw the whole blame on the British soldiers, with-
out whose countenance they would not have advanced
one step. The Indian ofiicers engross all the loaves
and fishes ; and it is said they are now coming here
to take possession of places which our officers, who
have weathered out such a campaign, ought to have
in fee simple. Sic vos non tohis. As to the assault,
do you fondly believe that the French will attempt
that without us ? Depend upon it, there are no men
so impressed with the surpassing valour of English-
men as these very French, and they will make no
assault without us. I am quite opposed to these
commissioners they talk of sending out. No good
will come of it. All we want is transport and food.
It really seems as if you, who have had more regular
and accurate information than any one in England,
are much more inclined to believe the camp gossip
collected by the papers than my statements. I see
a long story about a threatened attack on Balaklava.
The facts were these : at the period spoken of, spies
came in from Baidar, and some officer who could talk
a few words of Turkish, got out of them that there
were 35,000 Russians in the valley of Baidar coming
to attack us. C. never heard of it, while it was all
252 A FALSE ALARM.
over Balaklava. I was quite surprised on going there
during the day to have all sorts of questions asked.
Meantime the spies went to headquarters ; and at 10
o'clock at night we received official information of
the probability of an attack upon our right up on
the hills. We had our own reasons for doubting ;
but of course gave notice to our troops to be on the
alert, and also directed the commandant to send up
two battalions in support, one on the right of No. 3
battery, the other in rear of the 42d Highlanders,
before daylight, particularly desiring that he would
not make a row, but send them up in silence. In-
stead of doing that, at one in the morning he woke
Admiral Boxer, who immediately began to land sea-
men, and alarmed all the merchant-ships, whose sea-
men commenced loading pistols, and doing all sorts
of absurdities. There was no enemy there. But
nothing will persuade the commissaries and parsons
who stick about Balaklava that something dreadful
is not impending ; likewise they have an idea that
the Russians have been making batteries and bring-
ing guns to Caurobert's Hill : this story has been
current for weeks. Nothing can be more absurd.
We spend our lives in watching the Russians. They
cannot move without our seeing them from the heights,
where the Marines are. Nevertheless there it stands
in the Times.
RUSSIANS PUSHING ON. 253
LETTER LXVIL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
12th March 1855.
I AM sorry that I cannot send you a good plan of
the lines before Sebastopol. As I never can go there
myself, I am obliged to be contented with patching
up what I can from hearsay. Yesterday I went with
C. as far as Lord Raglan's, and there I found they
were rather in a bustle — the Russians having pushed
on their outwarks in such a manner from the Tower
of Malakoff as would force us to open fire. It seems,
however, that the French batteries on the right of us
are not ready, and I doubt if we have ammunition
enough up. The Russians, having done every thing
they could to complete the defences of the place, are
now makins^ outworks, the takino- of which will neces-
sarily increase the duration of the siege, the loss of
life, and the consumption of ammunition. I under-
stood that our batteries were ordered to open last
night, that isj^ yesterday afternoon. They have not
done so ; it is now half-past two in the morning, and
at daylight I expect to hear a roar of guns. We
must drive the enemy from this new work, because it
is much nearer to us than any of their other works ;
and if they can hold it, they will put mortars there
and shell our camps. In fact, they are besieging us ;
and I should not be at all surprised if we were to
254 CANROBERT.
take the field, to enable us to invest the place, and
stop the supplies entering it, of which we hear that
enormous convoys have lately been introduced. I
thought Lord Raglan was looking worried and old,
which is not surprising, considering the badgering he
has undergone. I hear whisperings against Canro-
bert from the French. He has been pushed on to
the supreme command with great rapidity, and has
officers under him who are his seniors, and distin-
guished men too ; Pelissier for instance.
The notion is that he is too amiable to treat
these men as he would others with whom he had not
been associated as their junior in Algeria. Altoge-
ther I am afraid we want a great general, and these
commissioners will, I suppose, come and displace one
after another till they find the man. You remember
how the French commissioners used to torment their
generals in the first revolution. But they not only
displaced the unsuccessful general, they also displaced
his head ; a degree of vigour not to be expected in
these milk-and-water times. We shall soon have
been a year out ; some of our troops reached Scutari
this month in last year, and we have made no im-
pression upon Russia yet. John Bull, who has been
amusing himself all the winter with sympathies and
warm clothing, having naturally a practical turn, will
begin soon, I opine, to get angry, get his tail up, and
shutting his eyes, he will pitch into somebody. It
THE DEVIL. 255
certainly would be a curious thing if the second, or
as he calls himself the third, Napoleon were to crown
all his doings by becoming a great conqueror. I
think it very likely he may be the best general among
us. He has energy and obstinacy and courage, a
toute outrance.
There is no calamity of a national kind we can
suffer so great as a disgraceful peace. It would be
better to have a ten years' siege. The weather con-
tinues fine ; and I mean very shortly to pack up a
lot of winter things which have accumulated, and
which cannot be carried. I shall then be ready for
the campaign. Something must be done ; that is
clear, and it is not a new chief of the staff that will
do much good. Simpson has no war-experience at
all. He commanded a brigade in India, which was
never engaged. They say, however, he is very ami-
able, as if that was any use for this job. So is Lord
Raglan, so is Estcourt. The disciplinarian of the
army's distinguishing quality — very amiable ! He
ought to be the Devil, as they called old Cameron of
the 9th in the Peninsular War.
The new command, or rather additional number
of troops, besides Balaklava, placed under our orders,
gives a good deal of extra trouble. The powers here
are trembling at the impending investigation. They
ingeniously, as they thought, contrived that C. should
have none of the responsibility of Balaklava. When
256 BALAKLAVA.
we first arrived here, he set upon some innocent staff-
officers stationed in that village ; they complained, I
conclude, that C. had knocked their hats over their
eyes, and so out came an order that he was to have
nothing to do with Balaklava. Nobody in their
senses would have wished to rule in such a place.
It is, however, improving. I had to report upon it
yesterday, and have proposed terrible things, such as
turning all the commissaries and their hangers-on
out of it, and making it into stores and offices, with
no nightly occupants except a guard. I doubt the
chief having nerve to take the thing by the throat
in this manner ; but C. is now on velvet, having offi-
cially stated whart should be done. It would have
been done long ago, had he been allowed any power.
I find on measuring, that it would be possible for the
enemy to drop shells into the harbour from guns
placed on the old Baidar Road, opposite our extreme
right. Nobody knows it ; but one shell would pro-
duce a wonderful result among the people squatted
in Balaklava.
LETTER LXVIII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
15th March 1855.
We hear that Lord Raglan's bag is come, and
that we have some alterations in the army. General
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 257
Simpson, Chief of the Staff, is here, and we find he is
made a Lieutenant-General, and antedated to August
last, so as to make him senior to Sir R England, —
Dick Britain, as they call him, — and of course to C.
Sir G. Brown is appointed second in command,*
which takes him away from his division, and gives
him power to interfere any where in the army. This
looks like Lord Raglan staying, which I am glad of.
How that man has been deserted and run down by
the aristocracy he belongs to, and whom he has
favoured all his life ! Sir John M'Neill and Colonel
TuUoch, who are to overhaul the commissary, are
also here ; so every one is preparing to receive con-
dign punishment, as if we were all arrived in the
kingdom of heaven. It will be many a year before
the facts, I mean all the facts, about this joint siege
by the French and English will become known.
Meantime the Russians are pushing on their out-
works, and we apparently cannot stop them. We
now hear that Liprandi, who is said to be one of the
best of the Russian generals, wanted the Inkermann
attack to have been made upon Balaklava instead of
at Inkermann.' But Menchikoff would not agree ;
the latter is gone away, and Osten Sacken com-
mands, which I think accounts for an increased
* It is questionable whether this appointment ever took
place.
S
258 MAMELON VERT.
vigour and audacity in the enemy's measures. I
heard General Rose, who is British Commissioner at
the French head-quarters, call the occupation by the
Russians of a certain hillock,* which we had pro-
posed to take, a " reverse." Doubtless he had heard
it so called by the French engineers. The weather
is now most agreeable ; but unfortunately the warmth
and dryness of the season is at least as favourable for
the Russians as for us. Our letters and papers by
this mail have not yet been delivered ; but we know
that papers to the 22d have arrived, and that the
Whig Government is established. They are treat-
ing us very cruelly ; most of the appointments in the
new transport train have been given to officers of the
Company's service. These, I think, had been fairly
earned by the subalterns of the regiments here, who
have gone through this horrible winter work. In India,
the Queen's officers stationed there never get a share
in any thing except the hard fighting. Of that they
get the whole. But the Company gives a good pen-
sion to retired Grovernor-Generals. I have just heard
why we have not got our letters : Lord Raglan's bag
from the Foreign Office is the only one arrived. There
was just time to put it on board the "Telegraph"
steamer at Constantinople before she started. I sup-
* On this hillock the Russians constructed the Kamsehatka
Lunette; we called it the Mamelon vert.
QUE VOULEZ-VOUS ? 259
pose we shall have ours to-day. It is impossible to
exaggerate the improvement which the fine weather,
and the transport of their rations by the commis-
sariat, has made in our men's appearance. Yester-
day Colnaghi's limner was here ; he is to publish a
print of the position of the Highland Brigade, with
portraits of C. and staff, — such figures as he will
make us ! I hope soon to send you a plan of some
of the lines before Sebastopol ; you will then under-
stand the accounts you read in the papers of attacks
on different batteries. From my constant occupation
here, I can never get up there to see what they are
doing ; and there is no one whose duty it is to report
to me, although we have an electric telegraph from
Lord Raglan's to here. We have a rumour that the
new Emperor has proposed an armistice. I do not
think it would do us much harm, if we are allowed,
during its continuance, to go on completing the rail-
way and drilling our men ; but peace would be fatal.
The army would sink back into its old condition, and
the hope of improvement would be dished.
We are employed now daily, in company with the
French, in cutting coppice-wood to make gabions out-
side our lines, with a French covering party. Yes-
terday General Vinoy had occasion to find fault with
two of his men, who had not cut their fagots so
soon as the rest. " Mon General y que voulez-vous ?
I am a watchmaker, and my comrade a jeweller."
260 FINE WEATHER.
16th March.
No mail yet. It appears that we have succeeded
in joining the French and English trenches before
Sebastopol ; so that the Russians will be prevented
coming beyond our trenches. The two parties are
now so near that there must be a collision, I should
think, immediately. The weather continues quite
beautiful ; and the commissioners must be aston-
ished at the roseate hue thrown over every thing,
and I dare say ask themselves what they were sent here
for. They have taken up their quarters in a steamer
which, as I am told, costs Government 2500/. per
month : a pretty expensive palace. We are now — I
mean C. — trying to clear the Augean Balaklava by
sending as many people as possible into tents out-
side, and endeavouring as far as he can to leave
nothing there but stores and offices.
LETTER LXIX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
17th March 1855.
I HAVE no faith in Palmerston's Government. I
believe we must have a new set altogether, if we are
to do any good. The Peel people had no right to
take office after the House had decided on the in-
ANTEDATING RANK. 261
vestigation, unless they intended to hold office while
the investigation was going on. I think I foretold
to you months ago that an investigation would take
place. As it is to be secret, I do not think it will do
any harm. Being a most ardent hater of shams, I
hope sincerely that the exploration may be complete.
Meantime we have our commissioners here.
Sir J. M'Neill is to overhaul the commissariat.
He seems to be provided with powers to do any thing
he likes, and is now about to institute bakeries. That
might have been done before ; but how could we
have carried the bread to the front when we had so
much difficulty in getting biscuit there? The new
chief of the staff, Lieutenant -General Simpson, is
come with his rank antedated, making him senior to
Sir R. England and to C. Now I think this is very
unjust. These officers have gone through all this
terrible campaign ; and I have heard no complaints
against the first, and high praise of the second.
Simpson would have been quite as effectual a chief
of the staff, had he come as a Major- General. He
served one year as an Ensign in the Peninsular War,
and as a Lieutenant in the Guards at Waterloo. A
perfect man of the world, I should say. Probably
Thackeray did not consider the proposition of the
London News very long. Albert Smith would have
made much business out of Sebastopol.
You say you preserve my letters, and speak of
262 LORD LUCAN.
them as literary productions. If any man writes at
all, he must write his best when he writes nothing
but truth, or what he thinks to be truth. The charm
can only lie in that, which is perhaps a rare literary
merit. The full true tone strikes its respondent chord
in every heart.
Lord Lucan on reaching England went straight to
the Horse Guards, as I hear, and demanded a court-
martial. He will make no explanation in the House
of Lords till that is granted ; but it may be refused.
I read his letter ; it is clever ; but a man in his posi-
tion had no need to take into account the impertinence
of an aide-de-camp. An officer who had had more
practice in war would have put him under arrest, and
would have refused to charge without a second order.
At least I think so. I am glad you have received
the sketch of our heights, which I doubt not makes
the ground-plan much more understandable. In the
latter you may introduce the 71 st Highlanders camped
on the ground between the Battery No. 3 and the
head of Balaklava Harbour, on a sort of spur which
runs out in that direction from the Battery Hill. The
Brigade of Guards is camped on the left of the har-
bour, on the hills between the harbour and the cavalry
camp ; a line from the latter to the bridge where the
rivulet runs into the harbour would pass through
them ; they are very weak. With respect to the
lady nurses, I have been inquiring. I find Miss
NURSES. 263
Nightingale queens it with absolute power ; all the
authorities being afraid of the newspapers. I asked,
" Are these ladies any use V Answer : " As nurses,
no ; but very useful." " How ?" " When I want any
thing which the Purveyor dares not give me on my
requisition, I go to the lady nurse, and obtain at
once what I want/' You see the ladies would appeal
to public opinion, which would back them, right or
wrong.
It is only a question of expense. The Medical
Departmental chiefs used to favour the surgeons who
expended the least in physic and food, and the doc-
tors cannot shake off this idea— keeping down the
estimates at the expense of the soldier. Physic, they
tell me, is quite useless now ; lemonade and milk is
the best diet.
As to the army-promotion business, Ldo not see
what purchase has to do with it. Suppose a great
cargo of sovereigns were sent here, and that every
officer received in hand the regulation-price of his
commission, with the information that he might do
what he liked with it, and that purchase was done
away with, we should then be in the same state in
which the Artillery and Marines have always been ;
and I never heard that their promotion was more
rapid than that of the Line, neither are they poorer or
richer, so far as I know. I am quite ready to take
my money back, and see no objection if J. B. chooses
264 PURCHASE.
to make me a cadeau. But sergeants of Artillery and
Marines are never promoted in their corps, and very
rarely any where else. When purchase is abolished,
I do not see that we gain by that abolition any better
chance of fairness in promotion. The privileges and
extra rank of the Guards will remain untouched ; and
the man who has votes in Parliament will still go to
the Horse Guards and have his son promoted or
placed upon the staff as heretofore, only without
purchase. The effect of the system of purchase seems
to have escaped observation. It is supposed to in-
crease the rapidity of promotion ; if so, the man who
cannot purchase will rise to the head of his rank
sooner than where there is no purchase, and conse-
quently will have all the chances of death vacancies,
which always go by seniority, unless the senior officer
is very young indeed. The only thing I do object to
is taking officers out of the ranks, so long as the
ranks are filled, as at present, by the scourings of the
worst parts of London, Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, &c.
Give us the conscription, and I shall be quite satisfied ;
then gentlemen will enter as privates, whether they
like it or not, and will inevitably be made officers. I
have, however, to add, what will, I hope, comfort you
a little, that in my opinion the mass of our officers
are very incompetent from the want of having received
proper military instruction after joining. I think them
extremely negligent in the manner of performing their
SOCRATES. 265
duty ; and when they are compelled, as they oc-
casionally are, by a commanding-officer, to perform
their duty strictly, they think him a beast, and call
him so too ; but they have to work all the same. Do
you know whether Socrates was only a full private, or
an officer ; and if the latter, was it by purchase ?
LETTER LXX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
19th March 18.55.
On Saturday night (17th) a terrible fusilade took
place between the French and the Russians. It lasted
for two hours, and we listened to it with painful
anxiety, but had no means of knowing what was
taking place. Yesterday (Sunday) C. determined to
give our men a day's rest, the first since we have been
here (five months) ; and as that left all our men
within the lines, instead of outside cutting wood for
gabions, we decided to pay a formal visit to General
Bosquet, who had sent us a large canister of snuff
from Algiers. Bosquet commands the troops on the
Inkermann side of the attack, on the right of the
British force before Sebastopol. He looks about forty-
five. Began in the Artillery ; left the Polytechnic
School No. 1 of his year. Head like Napoleon's, and
is evidently a man of very great ability, and totally
266 BOSQUET.
without fanfaronnade. He spoke a good deal about
the situation of affairs. " This is not a siege/' he
said, " neither is Sebastopol a fortress ; the enemy's
position from their right at the mouth of Sebastopol
Harbour, to their left stretching away towards Bala-
klava, is one entrenched camp. Behind them is a
large, powerful military nation, with all its supplies,
which they can pour into Sebastopol at pleasure.
With our engineers' plans, I do not see how we are
to succeed. I command thirty-four battalions ; of
these, sixteen are in the trenches every night. A fort-
night more of this work will give me a terrible sick-
list. The remainder of my thirty-four battalions are
under arms continually. We sleep neither by night
nor by day. Last night we had a lieutenant-colo-
nel killed, eight officers wounded, and a hundred men
hors de combat This will go on constantly, and
is a serious drain. La partie est hien dure." This
is about what he said, and a good deal for a French-
man. The Russians have riflemen in pits, who keep
up such a fire, that advancing with our works is
stopped, — I mean both English and French; and
until we can drive these riflemen away, and hold the
ground on which they are, we cannot get on. The
French troops ought to do this, but I suspect they are
becoming discouraged ; they find themselves as much
besieged as besieging. When the situation is fully
understood by the Emperor Napoleon, I anticipate
CHIEFS NERVOUS. 267
that he will employ all the ships, French and English,
which it is possible to obtain, and land 50,000 or
60,000 men at Eupatoria, to attack the reverse of the
Russian position. The Russian engineers have earned
great honour by their defence, and the soldiers are
evidently not the least afraid of the French. Mean-
time the enemy may suddenly throw 100,000 men on
Eupatoria while held only by Turks, and take the
place, which would prevent us from landing there ;
and depend upon it, without that pied d terre we
never shall make a descent again in the Crimea with-
out being vigorously opposed. As we left Bosquet's
tent, Canrobert arrived, and he expressed his anxiety
about the Balaklava end of the line, hoping C. kept
a sharp look out on his right. It is evident that the
chiefs are nervous, and probably have information of
some massing of Russian troops against us. At pre-
sent we can see nothing suspicious ourselves, and I
for my own part am more inclined to think they will
try Eupatoria. I shall make an attempt before next
week to send a plan of the attack towards Inkermann,
where all this nightly fighting goes on ; provided with
that, you will understand all this better. The majority
of people here think that peace is likely, and that we
shall not wind up with a great battle. The feeble
sort of Ministry we have at home makes this possible,
but I think not probable ; and in my opinion it would
be very unfortunate should this peace be made before
268 BRIGHT AND COBDEN.
we have given the Russians another grand overthrow.
I predict a Derby Ministry before a Radical one.
When it becomes apparent, as it seems to me probable,
that the Palmerston Whig combination cannot stand,
all the aristocratic soul of England will shake with
terror at the notion of Bright and Cobden ; and the
great rogues of both parties, and of all parties who
have any connection with the Lord knows who, will
support Lord Derby. During these ministerial shuffl-
ings what a vexed man must be ! Not able
to meddle, and deprived, I should suppose, of his
usual pretty pickings of patronage. When the Bright
and Cobden people do come in, 1 expect to be amused
at the usual action of office on them ; my theory
being, that office makes rogues of those who were in-
different honest before. If it does not make them
rogues, it makes them act like rogues ; for they hold
on, yet find they cannot do any one of all the
things which they have spent years in declaiming
about. You have your Daffy's elixir of universal
suffrage ; if it lands us in a democratic despotism,
aft^r a good deal of fighting and misery, I shall think
the survivors fortunate. I can tell you a story which
is curious if true.
Lately at Constantinople it was decided that
some building should be purchased and fitted for
another hospital. When the plan was all arranged,
the engineers applied to Lord Stratford for the money.
AN ANECDOTE. 269
His Lordship found the amount so considerable that
he paused, and said to the officer, "You can go on
preparing your timber and getting all ready, so that
no time will be lost, and I will immediately write
home for an authority, which I have no doubt will be
granted/' Miss Nightingale, not informed of this
conversation, and seeing no work going on, sends for
the engineer, and asks why and wherefore ; when she
is informed, she inquires, " What is the sum ?" and
coolly draws a cheque for it upon . Is this
the way to manage the finances of a great nation ?
Vox populi? A divine afflatus. Priestess, Miss N.
Muffetetic impetus drawing cash out of my pocket !
However, is gone ; and I hope there is not
to be found another Minister who will allow these
absurdities.
It is now three o'clock in the morning. All night
the people in the bazaar go on knocking up sheds.
They are coining money. Here, where there are no
messes, I find the ofiicers live as dearly as in England,
unless they are satisfied to live on salt pork and
biscuit, at the risk of their health ; for they do not
get the fresh meat and vegetables now supplied by
Government to the men. Our party never have any
of it, at least, and we have had no cook till within the
last two days ; but now General Vinoy has sent us a
French soldier who cooks very well, and who no doubt
will keep down the extravagance of the establishment,
270 BAD COOKING.
which has been as remarkable as the badness of our
dinners. We have, however, all of us been well ; and
if bad cooking could kill, we should have been dead
men. I can assure you that I am now so accustomed
to sleeping in my clothes, that I imagine I shall find
it difficult to go back to the ordinary habits of Eng-
lishmen. It is so very convenient to be able to jump
up at any moment and shake oneself; a dog's life
it may be called. So I am going to lie down for
a couple of hours, then a cup of coffee, and resume
the business of my office, which is pretty considerable.
1 have now a pile of documents to be worked upon
lying beside me six inches high, which will all be
disposed of before nine o'clock to make way for their
successors.
LETTER LXXI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
23d March 1855.
I HAVE the pleasure of sending you a sketch of
some of the trenches before Sebastopol, which you
may depend upon as correct. Take care who sees
it. Originally the English held all the ground on
which those trenches, both blue and red, are placed ;
but that amount of trench has been created since
the French took the right. We English are now
in the centre between two French armies. The
.?v<!!<fc*./T&i4«T^, Z^:iyy\£aSb-eA,OmJ,a2^.
JBa>veen<St<r^Zyc?a7id[Zy/.
RIFLE-PITS. 271
French left attack is not represented in the present
sketch ; and as it will not be the serious attack, the
omission is of less moment. At this time of writing,
the French are driving a sap from their part of the
second parallel towards the Mamelon, in front of
which are the Russian rifle-pits. When this sap is
sufficiently advanced, these riflemen must retire, and
then the sap will reach the redoubt on the Mamelon,
which must be stormed ; it is the outwork to the
Malakoff Tower. Our railway is advancing rapidly,
and will become a formidable attacking weapon by
carrying guns and ammunition. Meantime the
French have made small assaults on the rifle-pits,
from which in the dark they have usually driven
the Russian soldiers, who returned at daylight. The
provoking young English officers make their remarks
on the French not holding the ground, — a ground
which is untenable ; and I am sorry to say I have
heard of English soldiers passing French ones and
saying, " No bono Frances.'' A bad feeling of this
kind springing up would be most lamentable ; for
the French are excessively sensitive. They have seen
English soldiers fight, and the sight of that ma-
jesty has revealed many things to them. But our
men are not what they were. Depend upon it the
French would value our appreciation of their bravery
more than any thing we could do for them ; and we
risk off'ending them by allowing the gabble of the
272 WAR.
young officers, who know nothing of war. War !
those who have seen most of war know how to make
the most allowances. You speak of the investigation
in the House, and ask what awkwardness might come
out of it. Suppose it comes out that 60,000 French-
men have died out here. Do you think the French
Emperor will see much sense in publishing that dis-
covery ? He has had the power, and his officers the
good sense, to stifle their complaints ; but I assure
you they have suffered severely during the winter.
Poor Lord Lucan ! poor Lord Raglan ! Which is
the poorest ? It is clear which has the best of the
argument ; and you naturally take part with the
weaker. I have been long a soldier, and I never
knew a case of a man defying his commanding-officer
who did not come off second best. In this case,
before I saw the letter of Lord Eaglan, I did not
consider Lord Lucan's a clear case. Quite the con-
trary ; and now he has no case at all.
All the people sent out to work the Commissary
and the Staff are hard at it ; but the weather is
better. The weak are dead ; and the strong who
live ridicule these people who come with power which
no one had before, and ask for men, exactly what
we could not give.
With regard to the plan, you will see a windmill
put down. We Highlanders were originally camped
a little to the left of it, — that is, it was on our right
M. PASCAL POUPON. 273
hand as we looked towards the enemy. The shells
then sometimes came among us : now our advanced
works divert the fire, and the place is quiet enough.
I never have time to go up there ; but I dare say in
the end I shall be able to send you plans of the
whole position back to Balaklava. I have been very
hard-worked in the letter-writing line lately. Yes-
terday I wrote twenty-seven, some rather long. From
a perusal of some of them you would learn more of
war than many officers know. Our important family
news is our French cook : M. Pascal Poupon, a sol-
dier of the 20™® de ligne, cuisinier de profession, lent
to us by General Vinoy. Before his advent, our din-
ner was always a piece of mutton, when we could get
it, stewed with French vegetable tablets. Now we have
six dishes at least instead of this one, which after a
year began to be a little fade. The Emperor Napoleon
is confidently expected here. I dare say he will turn
out to be a capital soldier — will have plenty of power,
and no fear of an investigation. But he cannot make
the place surrender ; and I believe every day adds to
its strength. There is, however, an end to all things.
Our means of bringing up ammunition from England,
and by rail up here, will shortly be easier and quicker
than those of the Russians. We shall gradually ac-
quire a superiority of fire, and our sap will advance.
Only keep up the supply of cash, we are sure to suc-
ceed at last J but do not go about to say the soldiers
T
274 WAR WITHOUT WOUNDS.
were tired. Depend upon it, the tax-payers will be
tired first. I am amused at the evidence given before
that absurd Committee. Evans surmises that people
expected to make war without wounds. I have heard
that Miss Nightingale has shaved her head to keep
out vermin. I wish she would let our orderlies alone.
There are twenty-four ordered this morning to go on
board ship, and half will catch the hospital fever ;
it is really provoking. However, there is rebellion
among some of the nurses. Miss has added
herself to the hospital of the 42d ; and will not
acknowledge the voice of the Nightingale, who has
written an official letter to Lord Raglan on the sub-
ject. I suppose he will order a court-martial com-
posed of nurses, who will administer queer justice.
LETTER LXXIL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklara,
25th March 1855.
I AM particularly glad that you have the Plan,
because with its assistance you will understand what
is going on. When I sent my last letter of the 23d
to post, I did not know what had occurred in the
night of the 22d. The Russians made a strong
sortie, which I dare say has been mentioned in the
papers. Yesterday I had occasion to go to the front,
SORTIE. - 275
and I went into the advanced trench on French-
man's Hill, which is also sometimes called Gordon's
Battery or Attack, from the name of the Engineer
officer. I went down the right-hand zigzag, and
into the new mortar battery, and along the English
trench to where it joins the French lines in the ra-
vine. The attack on the night of the 22d was made
by the Russians, who advanced against the English
front on Frenchman's Hill, and also as^ainst the
French lines and the right of the English. The
English trenches were very imperfectly lined with sol-
diers, and the enemy got through them ; and there-
fore of necessity got into the rear as well as on the
left flank of the French, who had to change front
to meet them and drive them back, in doing which
the French lost about 300 men. They are naturally
rather sore at the English for not manning their lines
better. The worst part of it is, that the young Eng-
lish officers, who knew nothing about it, talk with
a chuckle of " the French beinsj licked last nidit."
While I was in the trenches yesterday, a flag of truce
was hoisted by both parties for the purpose of carry-
ing away the dead bodies, which lay pretty thick in
front of the French lines and around the Russian
rifle-pits, which are short trenches with parapets,
from whence they annoy the allies considerably.
The Mamelon is a much more considerable emi-
nence than I was aware of, and has a strong for-
276
MAMELON VERT.
midable redoubt upon it. There is nothing to be
done by us except to sap beyond the rifle-pits on
each side of them if possible, and turn a regular
trench along the line where they are. We shall
have then to continue sapping till we reach the
ditch of the work on the Mamelon, which we shall
have to fill with fascines, or bags of hay, in order
to cross it and storm the work. After which we
shall have to make a lodgment there, and sap again
up to the ditch of a much more formidable earth-
work, which has been thrown up round the remains
of the Malakoff Tower, all the while exposed to a
heavy fire and losing men every night. The ground
we shall have to sap in is all rocky and very unfa-
vourable. From these facts you will perceive that
we liave a long job before us, and that we shall
require much patience and endurance. When the
flag of truce was hoisted, about 700 or 800 Rus-
sians came out of the work on the Mamelon with
stretchers to receive their dead, which our men and
the French collected and carried to them. I was
among the Russian soldiers, who were all mixed up
with ours. Among the dead there were two bodies
of Albanians, with white linen petticoats, called in
Italian " fustanelle." I believe the Russians have
a Greco-Slave legion. The hostile soldiers were per-
fectly civil to one another, and were all unarmed.
Two hours afterwards they were firing at each other.
BALAKLAVA. 277
Such is war. Whenever I get any further informa-
tion, I will send a small tracing, which you can copy
on your plan, to keep yourself au courant ; but I
fear the additional trenches will be made very slowly.
There is no objection to your showing the Plan ; but
it must not be copied, or it would be in the newspa-
pers directly. In fact, I would rather newspaper people
should not see it. Private gentlemen not in that line
will do no harm. I have read the account in the
Times of our attempted reconnoissance on that frosty
snowy night. Since a short time (3d inst.), C. has
been put in command of Balaklava, and we have had a
great deal of extra work. His plan has been adopted,
viz. to get all the people out of that village, and to
leave nothing there but stores and offices. Of course
driving people out is no easy job — in the face of
Lord Raglan's good-nature and the intrigues of the
sufferers. The Commandant obliges folks with lodg-
ings for themselves, their horses and servants, leaving
the unfortunate soldiers to clear up their dirt. It
has required quite a literary campaign to defeat him
and them, and to put the powers at head-quarters
in such a logical position that nothing remained for
them but to give plenary powers to C. This amounts
to a death-blow to all the skulkers and humbugs
who hang about Balaklava. I hope you understand
these plans ; the more people live in Balaklava, the
more does dirt accumulate, which it falls to the sol-
278 COMMANDANT.
diers to clear away. The Commandant has been
showing with pride how much Balaklava is improved,
and points it out to the commissioners. A sharp
fellow Sir John, and knows mankind, or he would
not have risen from being an Assistant-Surgeon in
the Company's service to the post of Ambassador to
the court of Persia. His brother Sir Duncan has also
risen to the highest dignity of the law in Scotland.
The quantity of letters I have to compose is very
considerable indeed. Luckily for me, I have had
pretty good practice, having been so much employed
on the staff in my younger days. The weather con-
tinues generally quite charming ; very warm at mid-
day. When windy, the dust is unpleasant, that is
the only drawback. The insects have not yet come
out of their winter-quarters; long may they stay
there ! although they do not bite me. I seem to defy
every thing that hurts other people.
LETTER LXXin.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
26th March 1855.
I BELIEVE the French intended sapping into the
rifle-pits and making an advanced trench there, in-
stead of which the Russians have done so. In fact
they are besieging us. Their next step, in all proba-
TREACHERY. 279
bility, will be to work back to the MalakofF Tower,
making the redoubt on the Mamelon into a regular
outwork of the place, compelling us to storm it before
we can go on. The English advanced trench cannot,
I fear, be pushed on, as it will be exposed to the fire
of the Redan.
We are in a fix ; and how the engineers will un-
fix us remains to be seen. We hear from spies, that
last Friday week (this is Monday) the Russian troops
at Bakchi-serai were assembled, and a proclamation
read to them to the effect that a general attack was
to be made on all our lines, both ot attack and de-
fence. I think it very likely, as they must know we
are going to be reinforced. I do not believe there is
any danger of their getting through us, but we shall
lose men, which we cannot afibrd ; and I dare say the
Russians will think themselves gainers if they can
compound by losing three for one.
30th March 1855.
I am amused at the story you poor people in
England have swallowed about 's treachery. I
saw him three days ago riding at the head of his
staff. No news that I can see or hear of. I cannot
say that I think this war is now about to terminate
in a peace. If it does, so much the worse for Eng-
land and for the world. These investigations are not
at all interesting to me. They can tell me nothing
280 HEALTH.
which I do not know, and probably will tell many
things which should not be publicly known at all.
, I perceive, ascribes the fact of the health of the
Highland Brigade being superior to that of the Guards
to the Guards having been overworked in the trenches,
while the Highland Brigade was doing nothing at Ba-
laklava. The Guards, in the first place, completely
broke down in Bulgaria, so much so that they could
not carry their packs, and we were also not allowed
to carry ours. To this piece of folly I ascribe much
of the inconvenience suffered afterwards in the Crimea.
It is probable that, if the question of allowing the men
to go without packs on their march to Varna had
never been raised, no one would have thought of land-
ing them in the Crimea packless. With regard to work
here, the Highlanders as a body had quite as hard
work as any of the men at the siege, during the worst
part of the bad weather. They had to dig three and
a half miles of trenches, to sleep all of them on their
arms, and half of them in the trenches every night,
during frightful weather, besides carrying shot, shell,
bread, charcoal, &c. to the depot at Lord Raglan's
head-quarters, for the rest of the army, and their
own rations for themselves.
Lord Lucan, as you remark, had better have held
his tongue. I think it very likely that when Lord
Raglan is put into a corner by other people besides
Lord Lucan, he will defend himself quite as trium-
COMMISSARY. 281
phantly. Moreover I do not see that it follows as a
necessary consequence that any officer making a mis-
take such as Lord Lucan's shall therefore be dismissed
from his command. You probably know the maxim,
that he who has made few mistakes in war has not
made much war. I am now on the point of going to
put a Commissary under arrest. The Sanitary Com-
missioners are poking about. The burden of their
song is : Give us some men, and we will do such and
such things. Now if we had been able to afford the
men, we could, if we thought them wise things, have
done them ourselves. It was just men that we wanted
and do want. They ask for servants and huts and
fatigue-parties to put them up, and swagger about with
great impertinence. They put me in mind of the old
times with the French armies in the Revolution. They
have not, however, the power of getting our heads cut
off. I have not obtained any further information as
to the progress of the opposing saps — the battle of
spades and pickaxes. The real thing to admire is the
patience of the soldiers, watching the slow, slow ad-
vance, and going day after day and night after night
to protect the trenches ; while none of them seem for
a moment to doubt our ultimate success, or would
dream of giving it up. Some officers, perhaps, who
find the life irksome, long for peace, and possibly on
almost any terms. This, however, is by no means
general. I hope I have settled the Commissary with-
282 PORTER.
out putting him under arrest ; no small piece of di-
plomacy. They say some one attributes the breaking
down of the Guards to the want of porter, limiting
the bounds of their sphere of action to ten miles
from Barclay and Perkins*. While the newspapers
were abusing Lord Raglan for not riding about the
Camp, I understand the poor man was suffering from
the stump of his arm. How he must be tormented
by all these civilians sent out to investigate, and who
do not all of them do their spiriting gently ! I be-
lieve some of them were excessively rude to him, who
is the mildest and blandest of men in his manners.
LETTER LXXIV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
2d April 1855.
To-day I went to the trenches with General Vinoy,
who is sent from Kadikoi to take his turn there. I
had a good look, and send you a trace ; but they have
done so little that it is scarce worth while. Every one
speaks now very positively of our opening fire in a day
or two. It has been asserted so often that I do not
know what to say. I think the engineers are very
sombre about it, but they must do something. We
are plagued with these Commissioners, who are inclined
to be very impertinent. How J. B. can expect Lord
\ f^%,,
PHOTOGRAPHER. 283
Raglaa to carry on this war, and at the same time
attend to all the absurdities of those people, is beyond
me. They say they have unlimited powers as to
money, and all ask for soldiers, to clean here and
build there. If I was Lord Raglan, I should embark
them, and sail them back again, and ask for their
powers to be used by any of the officers here. What
good is likely to come from the inquiry in the House
I do not see. All the real witnesses are here ; I mean
all those who would be disposed to do common justice
to Lord Raglan. There has been a photographer too,
who took a few camp-views and suddenly went off. I
scarcely know how to explain his difficulty. Too much
truth. What is called decency, and the natural wants
of the animal man, exist here in an antagonistic posi-
tion, and all his pictures presented such peculiar and
unusual details, that he concluded to abandon the
enterprise of communicating the naked truth to the
British public. When I was in the trenches, they
were stopped at X X by the round shot from the
Mamelon, but I suppose will push on at night.
284} TWO OLD LADIES.
LETTER LXXV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
4th April 1855.
I HAVE heard, and I believe, that the affair will
begin on the 8th ; by which time the Piedmontese
will probably have arrived, and they are so strong
at Eupatoria that 10,000 Turks are expected from
thence, which looks like, relieving us and sending us
up to the assault. Having gone through all the rest,
it would be hard on the Highland Brigade to be out
of that ; moreover, they are about the best troops,
that is, the most confident in their leader. I under-
stand the sliips will hover about at the mouth of the
harbour as if they meant to go in, which will have
the effect of keeping 3000 or 4000 artillerymen on
the northern side. Our newspapers do not look very
peaceful, and I have no faith in peace till somebody
is considerably reduced in strength. Meantime I
have no doubt our own poor are beginning to suffer,
as the prices of the necessaries of life must have risen,
and the private charities must be cut down to a cer-
tain extent by the expansion of flannel and plum-
pudding towards the Crimea. I have just had an
interview with two old ladies who were before this
war the happy possessors of three houses in Kadikoi.
When we arrived, they ran away, and two of the
houses are down, the other dismantled and inhabited
THE LAST SPOON. 285
by some -military creature. Poor things ! they showed
their last spoon, which they were going to sell for
food ; they had a young child with them, whom I fed
with sweetmeats and cakes. Horrible w^ar ! How-
ever, if these unfortunates had stayed quietly in their
houses, they would not have been molested. Drink,
or a storm, are the only things which would tempt our
men to injure women, and they would not have been
all drunk at once. This storm, if we get in, will be a sad
business. I only hope the Russians will have human-
ity enough to send away all the women. The soldiers
will be driven into the sea or bayoneted, every man.
Our officers will not be able to save them. The Rus-
sians will fight valiantly for their fatherland and for
their conquests ; nothing but utter exhaustion will
bring peace, unless our Ministry consents to a dis-
graceful one. Peace made, there comes our domestic
storm. The miserable way in which the aristocracy
have managed matters shows that they have no parti-
cular right to govern ; but they will fight for it never-
theless.
5th April.
This day twelvemonth I sailed from Woolwich.
I see so much folly around me that I forget my own
folly, which is the greatest of all. All remains as I
have said, and I believe it will come off. I am very
busy packing up a quantity of things to put into
store, in case of a sudden move, which I anticipate.
286 BATTEKING.
LETTER LXXVI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
9th April 1855.
I TOLD you I thought fire would open this morning ;
and now I hear them pounding away. Since the 20th
February we have had the most charming weather
imaginable ; but, alas, yesterday it turned to rain, and
blew and rained hard all night, and continues doing
so now. This is much against us, as it will make the
ground so slippery when we try the assault, which
must come very soon. As long as it is possible to
get the artillery to continue firing, we shall always be
doing good and making the storm easier ; the artil-
lery will lire what they think reasonable, and then
propose to let the poor little infimtry loose. The
gunners are divided into three reliefs ; and a conti-
nual fire is very fatiguing work, besides the casualties.
Their only real excuse for not battering much more
than is usual will be the want of gunners ; for by aid
of the railway we can get up as much ammunition as
we choose. I hear no rumours as to who will be se-
lected for leading the assaulting columns. I scarcely
think it will be us, as there are many people who be-
lieve we are sure to be attacked here. If the Sar-
dinians arrive in time, I should then calculate on our
going to the siege. What are you going to do with
the army when it is sufficiently condemned by the
CUBITT OR PETO. 287
inquiry ? If we are all killed here, I should advise
having no army at all. In place of it, make contracts
with Cubitt or Peto or some other great undertakers
to fight our national battles. But if we survive, we
shall be very troublesome ; for some of us are disposed
to think that as a body we have deserved better of
our country than to be hung up for the ridicule of
Europe ; and we shall defend ourselves. The firing
is going on fast and furious in the middle of the tem-
pest. We dare not move from here to find out what is
doing, but I suppose you will find it all in the papers.
My notion is, that, when the fire is pretty well si-
lenced, the two Russian batteries {outrages hlancs)
on their left of the Malakoff, beyond the Careening
Creek, will be attacked, as well as the redoubt on the
Mamelon, continuing at the same time our fire on the
rest of the place. We shall make lodgments therein
and batteries, and go on thence by sap to the crest of
the glacis of the Malakoff, the ditch of which is twelve
feet deep, very broad, and both scarp and counter-
scarp revetted and perpendicular, or very nearly so.
The passage is made either by sapping to the said
crest, blowing in the counter-scarp with a mine, and
sapping across the bottom of the ditch, or by rushing
suddenly up with a quantity of fagots, which are thrown
into the ditch to fill it up, and make thus a causeway
across. The soldiers then dash on, and scramble up
the exterior slope of the parapet, and jump in among
288 BKRGEN-OP-ZOOM.
the enemy. If the latter give way, they are all
bayoneted ; — no mercy. If they stand fast, there is
a desperate combat with bayonets and the butts of
the muskets, frightful to think of; yet without it
we cannot take Sebastopol. When Bergen-op-Zoom
was stormed, it was by surprise. The English, under
Lord Lynedock, got in, and got entire possession of
the fortifications ; but when daylight came, the gar-
rison, superior in numbers to the stormers, formed in
the streets, being of course well acquainted with the
town, while the English did not know where to go ;
and at last they had to agree to march out again.
It was a daring and desperate deed as ever was per-
formed. In this business there will be no lack of
valour on any side.* If nothing prevents the assault,
successful or not, it will be the military feat of our
new half-century, and will be a sort of Waterloo ;
French and English emulating with one another, and
the gallant Russians, fighting also for their country,
will not be behind in the giant struggle. They are
such capital soldiers, all of the three, that it is quite
a pity to kill such men ; and yet I see nothing else
before us. The three armies, in case of our success,
will lose 20,000 men, killed and wounded ; and I sit
coolly writing to you within three days of such a pro-
bability.
* An unlucky prophecy. Just that was lacking.
COURT OP INQUIRY. 289
LETTER LXXVII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
13th April 1855.
The firing still goes on, and, 1 am told, with small
results. If they do not make a hole somewhere, the
infantry will have a job to get in ; and, as the firing
cannot last for ever, the moment must be close at
hand when we shall storm or not storm. If it is
thought impossible to do the first, our siege cannot
go on. We must take the field, and invest the
place ; for which object, be so kind, asses of Eng-
land, to send us men, and not scavengers — commis-
sioners, I mean. Omar Pasha has been here. He
ate bread and cheese and drank sherry, talking bad
French all the time. He has brought 25,000 Turks
with him ; and we get four battalions for our position.
I think I told you I was one of the members of the
Court of Inquiry which condemned Dr. . The
proceedings of that Court must have gone to England.
Well, they found there some capable men — Cameron
and Romaine. Why did not they give them an order
to put things to rights ? They would have been very
good scavengers — commissioners, I mean. All I should
have asked would have been power. Neither Cameron
nor I would have gone to Scutari, because we should
not choose to leave the field with the enemy there.
In Balaklava they have made an Aide-de-Camp Com-
290 DRAGONS A MANY !
mandant, and he is supported by Estcourt against C.
Dragons a many have we encountered. The Sanitary
Commissioners, it now turns out, have no powers.
Their orders are to point out to us what is required,
and to ask Lord Raglan to do it ; as if we did not
know perfectly well what is required without these
creatures. It is truly worthy of England to send a
doctor from London, with a tail, to teaoh C, who has
lived about forty years in a camp, how to keep it
clean and his men in health. They only produce
confusion, and take up Lord Raglan's time. If I
were he, I should put the whole brotherhood on board
ship, and send them back ; and if the Government
thought fit to recall me, let them. No man has a
fair chance of governing an army with these inquisitors
over him. I live in the hope of seeing Louis Napo-
leon take the supreme command of the allied armies.
He is a man with a will. The admirable donkeys in
England, who are now occupied in holding up the best
and bravest soldiers in the world to ridicule, have sent
out a pack of young Indian officers, with local rank,
putting them over the heads of the captains and
subalterns of this army, who have spent six months,
without a murmur, in the trenches. It is enough
to cause and to justify, if any thing can do so, a
mutiny. Take care I Lieutenant- Colonel M'Murdo,
who is not an India Company's officer, served a cam-
paign or two in India with Sir Charles Napier. He
INDIAN OFFICERS. 291
got from being a Captain to the rank of Lieutenant-
Colonel, and a good staff- appointment in Ireland.
They form a Land-Transport Train, and out he comes
with the rank of full Colonel, before he has done
any thing. Why did not they wait till he had done
his work ? I believe him to be a good and zealous
officer ; but there are plenty just as good, who have
gone through all this winter campaign and got no-
thing. The case is still harder when an East India
Lieutenant gets rank as a Captain here, because a
Lieutenant cannot have brevet rank, and a local Cap-
tain can. So these Indian Lieutenants not only get
the rank of Captain to begin with, but they will also
be made brevet-majors when any fight takes place.
Meantime there is a scream about purchase, as if
purchase had any thing to do with it. I am sick of
your cries and sympathies. I would ask for some
small instalment of common sense and justice. Abo-
lish purchase to-morrow, still the richer officers will
bribe their superiors to retire. They do it in the
Artillery ; they do it in the India Company's army.
You must change human nature. Perhaps a Com-
missioner can do that. I do believe there is more
foolish babble at this moment going on under all
your noses, and buzzing into and out of your ears,
than would stock the universal menagerie of fools for
a century. I have not yet read Drummond's speech
against ; but I fell upon the article of the Times
292 MUFFETEES.
ridiculing Drummond. is not to blame ; it is
the people, whose diseased appetites call for his wares.
He necessarily must think their taste excellent, admire
their appetites, and minister to them. But he sees, I
suppose, their long ears.
LETTER LXXVIII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
15th April 1855.
We hear that the French have ammunition for
ten days, and that our people have been ordered to
stretch out theirs. The effect is not much, and I am
almost tempted to fancy that the fire is kept up to
help the negotiations. There has been a great deal
of very foolish talk going on in all the newspapers
about this war. A wondrous condolence, a flood of
sympathy, and muffetees for the sufferings of men
and officers. Hard work and suffering is only ano-
ther name for war ; and a siege carried on in winter
inevitably brings with it as a concomitant an unusual
share of exposure and sickness : enough and to spare
has been said about it. The various inquisitions now
at work will table all that is tabular, and preserve a
memorandum of misery which will soon be forgotten
by the masses. But who alludes to the glaring injus-
tice which Government is now inflicting on the officers
LOCAL RANK. 293
of this Crimean army ; men who have remained here
with their soldiers all through the winter, night after
night, in mud and snow, under fire, in the trenches ?
It was sufficiently galling to have the Guards, with
all their juvenile captains holding the rank of lieu-
tenant-colonels ; that old sore which will never be
healed. But now the Government have sent a bevy
of officers from the East India Company's service,
dropped down from the clouds. One lieutenant-
colonel to have the rank of colonel in Turkey ; nine
majors to have the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; seven-
teen captains to have the rank of major ; thirty-seven
lieutenants to have the rank of captain ; four second
lieutenants and one ensign to have the rank of lieu-
tenant. These men receive all the time the pay of
the regiments they belong to in India, so that, strictly
speaking, the places they hold in the Turkish con-
tingent are staff-appointments. What has this lieu-
tenant-colonel done that he is to command all the lieu-
tenant-colonels out here ; or the nine majors, to pass
over the heads of the majors now in the trenches ?
Why are seventeen captains, not in our service, to take
rank over our own regimental captains ; and why are
thirty-seven lieutenants to have higher rank than the
subalterns of the Line ? The officers who have lasted
out through this winter have a right to these appoint-
ments and promotions. If it suited the Government
to oblige the India Company by making a job for
294 SAP ADVANCES.
their officers, why not pay in money, instead of giving
them rank ? If the cruelty of this scheme was un-
derstood by poor gaping J. B., it could never have
been perpetrated. In case of the Turkish contingent
and any of the British forces being employed together
against the enemy, and that the Indian lieutenants,
with the local rank of captain, distinguish themselves,
they will be made brevet-majors ; while the Queen's
lieutenants, doing equally well, cannot have brevet
rank, not even that of captain. It is a rank job ; and
none of you seem to complain.
16th.
Last night the fire was very heavy on both sides.
The French succeeded in advancing their sap in their
left attack, towards what they call the Bastion du Mat,
part of the Russian works near the head of the inner
harbour. They exploded a mine which had been
made in the direction of the proposed sap, which
loosened all the earth ; and they ran down with ga-
bions and completed a lodgment within sixty metres
from the wall of the said bastion, where they are now
making a battery. They lost about 100 men. It
remains to be seen whether they will do more good
with their guns at this short range. I believe they
have a mine with 50,000 lbs. of gunpowder under
the Bastion du Mat. If the Russians have not found
it out and cut the saucisson, or even taken possession
WOOLWICH AND CHATHAM. 295
of the mine, it will explode, and open a way into the
town. The Russian reinforcements are coming up by
driblets ; but we hear of three divisions being on their
way, which will not be much under 40,000 men. All
the troops from Bessarabia have cleared out, and are
arriving, except the garrisons left in Ismail and Reni ;
so the sooner you send more men, the better. It is
tedious work, this new method of taking places, or
rather, this old method of taking new places.
LETTER LXXIX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
20th April 1855.
The mail of the 2d came yesterday, with no
letters for me ; so I judge you have been working
pretty hard at your book. Our siege is given up
apparently for the time ; at least the fire slackened,
and no assault. I believe they found that the third
cannonade had not produced any result sufficient to
justify an assault ; and, as I make out, they are going
to work nearer and nearer with their batteries, hoping
to succeed at last in that way. Woolwich and Chat-
ham Schools, if they only knew it, have eaten much
dirt on the occasion. At least we bystanders, who
have always heard them praising themselves, are of
296 A IIECX)NNAISSANCE.
that opinion. At midnight, C. received a note from
Vinoy, forwarding the news from Bosquet that the
sound of wheels had been heard coming from Inker-
mann towards our position, as well as hurrahing ; —
so it behoved us to be up all night, and look out for
an attack. Accordingly we scurried about to get all
the troops ready ; but when we looked out for them
at daylight — no enemy ! Yesterday, Omar Pasha
made a reconnaissance with fourteen Turkish batta-
lions, and some mountain-guns carried on mules. He
went out by the extreme right at daylight, and by
the cut road. I went with him. We placed two
battalions and a half in position, to defend the pass
from Baidar, just where the Cossack picquet-house is.
The other eleven battalions came slowly winding out
through the palisades, and formed in columns on the
east slope of the range of heights which run down to
Kamara. After they had assembled there, we pushed
on along the tops of the hills and down the valley,
still bringing up our right shoulders, till we reached
to the northern extremity of the same range, and
could look down on Kamara ; then down went two
battalions, and occupied the church and churchyard
of that village. The rest halted, while Omar and Co.
took some luncheon. From our position we could
see right down the Valley of the Chemaya, and that
there was a good deal of water and marshy ground
there still. We also looked directly towards the bare
TJ^offierS^^. 7M.27.7d3lSb-e^, Can^zaZ^^.
ieiwee/iy^h^es ZdScmcl. 2d^.
A RECONNAISSANCE. 297
brown hill which the Highlanders occupied on the
20th February — the snowy morning of which I have
spoken. It was covered with Cossacks admiring us.
This hill lies about a mile to the north-east of Can-
robert's Hill, and its eastern extremity hangs over the
village of Chorguna, while the Chernaya winds under
it in graceful bendings. At the same time some
French, English, and Turkish cavalry, with guns, had
made a combined movement with us through the
plain in front of the lines of Balaklava, and were
drawn up with their skirmishers in front, facing to-
wards the east, their right being in Kamara. We
saw that the Russians in Chorguna, and behind their
intrenchments on the right bank of the Chernaya,
were in small numbers, with only four guns in posi-
tion, and plenty of impediments in all the gorges
between them and the river. After resting the in-
fantry for an hour in the position I have described,
we all descended into the valley, and pushed on a
couple of battalions in skirmishing order, while some
rockets were fired by the Turks who were with the
cavalry on the plain, which drove the Cossacks off
the bare hill already spoken of. We then made an
advance, and occupied the said hill, and could look
very closely into Chorguna and another small village
called Karlovka, about a quarter of a mile south of
Chorguna, on a bend of the Chernaya. Very pretty
villages, not much dilapidated, with poplar-trees grow-
298 PLUNGERS.
ing about, and the Russian troops on the hills above,
scarcely out of cannon-shot. Here was the extreme
point of our reconnaissance. Down below us there
were huts, which had been made by the enemy when
they were in force here in the autumn ; these huts
were planted pretty thickly even on the left bank of
the river. Our skirmishers spread themselves a little
down the hill, and the two opposing forces stood at
gaze. Meantime some green and inquiring young
plungers (vernacularly, heavy dragoons), and some
other officers, thought it clever to ride in front of the
skirmishers and try for spoils in the Russian huts.
They found, I believe, some lances, a water-jug, and
some very dirty combs and brushes ; in appropriating
which they no doubt exercised the rights of war, but
they forgot that the Russians were very near them,
and might think it a liberty. In fact, a few gray-
coated men crept quietly down among the poplars,
and opened fire upon them ; the result of which was,
one of them tumbled off" his horse, and all the others
galloped back as fast as they could, with their tails
between their legs. The dismounted man on foot
brought up the rear, but with his back to the enemy.
The plungers, having thus shown their ignorance of
war 'and their prudence under fire, came back to us
amid considerable jeering ; for, as was remarked to
one of them, the first time he was under fire, he ran
away. Now you have the facts of this reconnaissance.
MORE RUSSIANS ! 299
The Turks will be pleased with the promenade. The
new troops looked very well, and were manoeuvred
respectably. I am sorry to say fevers are now very
prevalent among our people.
LETTER LXXX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
23d April 1855.
We know that two more Russian divisions have
come up, making probably 30,000 men, and, I suppose,
they are preparing another attack on the Turks at
Eupatoria. Our bombardment is over ; we are push-
ing on the sap on the left of our attack in front of
the Redan. Poor Colonel Egerton of the 77th paid
with his life for the possession of some rifle-pits
there, which have been added to our trenches, and
we have pushed on the sap into the Woronzow road,
making an advanced parallel. There is a quarry
which has to be stormed, and then, I suppose, they
will get up a new battery within 400 yards of the
Redan. The French are also getting on with the sap
on the right of their left attack, near the Bastion du
Mat, which is at the head of the inner harbour. It
seems likely the Allies will get possession of some of
the works there by dint of sapping. The bombard-
ment, I fear, has been nearly useless ; still every one is
300 roebuck's commission.
confident of getting in, whenever it is thought proper
to try. The place nevertheless, in my opinion, will
not fall till we can send out a force from Eupatoria
of 70,000 or 80,000 men, to attack the Russians and
drive them away towards Bakchi-serai and Simpher-
opol. I confess I shall be very sorry if the negoti-
ators make peace till we do this, for the sake of
England. Meantime Roebuck's Commission is doing
its revolutionary work as fast as you could wish, and
helping to destroy the reputation of representative
governments; going as straight as an arrow to des-
potism : such is my view. One of your inquisitors
here. Dr. Gavin, has been killed by his brother, who
accidentally let off his pistol. What on earth had he
to do with a pistol ? I see the Times is now going
to torment Lord Raglan about taking the field ; but I
should hope his Lordship has had enough of his first
campaign, and that he will not budge an inch till he
has every thing complete in the way of transport, pro-
visions, &c. The baggage-animals will have to carry,
besides ammunition, rum and biscuit; sufficient forage
for themselves and for the cavalry, for at least a fort-
night's consumption. I suppose in that time the army
from Eupatoria, and from hence, would have time to
beat the Russians and to make their junction complete
at Inkermann ; after which the fall of the place will
be secured. But I see nothing before us, except the en-
tire capture of the Crimea, likely to produce any good
COLONEL EGERTON. 301
effect in the negotiations. Let Austria advance, and
I think we shall be able to expel the whole Russian
army ; we feel perfectly confident of beating them
in the field, and that feeling alone is worth many
battalions.
LETTER LXXXL
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
26th April 1855.
You will, no doubt, have in the papers an account
of Colonel Egerton's death. During the last two days
there have been two councils of war, and we think
that they will get more batteries made, and nearer
the enemy. The quarries in front of the spot where
Egerton was killed are still occupied by the Russians ;
the English soldiers are anxious to take them, but Lord
Raglan forbids, as there will be such a tremendous
fire on them if they try to hold on there. The feel-
ing among the English that the French are not up to
the assault is, I am sorry to say, prevalent. I under-
stand that Lord Raglan believed there were more
English guns in position when fire was opened than
he found to be the case. I consider that the last
ten days' battering has been nearly useless. Your
militia is all to pieces ; and where is the bold Govern-
ment to propose the ballot to the bold John Bull, who
302 LORD ELLENBOROUGH.
would go to war, and finds he has to pay both in purse
and person? We (army) are now placed in such a
position in the Crimea, that we cannot move out with-
out a great loss of men ; and where are they to come
from ? Depend upon it, volunteers are not enough ;
we have got the whole power of Russia moving upon
us. The whole nation one conscript, driven on by
religion and the necessity of clearing their territory
of strangers. Our wretched Government is useless ;
they are not up to the emergency. I believe they
feel it to be so. There has been a longer and more
decided step towards revolution made in England
during the last year than in all my time. Why all
the lords in the creation are to govern, when they do
it so badly, is the question. We have telegraphic
news from Vienna in eight hours. It can be done
in five, but occasionally the Austrian Government is
using the wires. We heard that Lady had been
meddling in the negotiations, and was inclined towards
Russian friendships. It is whispered that Drouyn de
Lhuys was gone to counteract her doings, and to
keep up the negotiators to sufficiently stringent terms
against Russia. There will be, I suppose, a change of
government in England ; whether they will try the
Tories before the Radicals come in, is to be seen.
Lord Ellenborough is the best, and, indeed, the only
man I know of really quite fit to be War- Minister.
Should he come in, there will be a great change in
Sred^J^^h^c^M^-apiiZlSire^^^mdna^.
r vm
^eEtve-fyt-Jh^' 3cZccn£^3
OFFICIAL LETTERS. SOS
the army here ; I would not even answer for his not
displacing Lord Raglan himself. If I had to settle
the army, I should make C. chief of the staff. He
would soon make the staff- officers look up. The
man they have sent is a very amiable person, quite a
man of the world and of the laissez-faire sort. War
and amiability are incompatible. You must come
down like Thor's hammer on carelessness, or idleness,
or incapacity. It is very provoking to see how things
go ; the official letters, which much of my time is
spent in writing, many left unnoticed, and all watered
down till there is no brandy left in the mixture : very
little water was put in originally, you may suppose.
Our letter-book, if ever it is seen, will show up plenty
of people. Want of power, when one feels able to
wield it, is a very sad want indeed. What can be
more ridiculous or sadder than the appointment of
to teach our soldiers war? There is not a com-
manding-officer of a regiment or a general of brigade
out here who, having gone through the winter, would
not be fitter for the command. Judicial blindness
has smitten the ruling classes in my country. -We
know who are the two who settle our military appoint-
ments : a hopeless combination ; while the expense of
the whole affair is something appalling. All our poor
soldiers out here are, however, in the highest spirits,
and ready to knock their heads against any wall be-
hind which they can find Russians. They are the
304 " WOULD IT WERE DONE !"
true England ; stars whose brilliance will be historical
when aristocratical names are forgotten or covered with
immortal shame. I believe they would fight and die
to the last man in this wild Tauris, rather than give
in or give up. Beaten they can never be. Remember
they are not chosen ; a great majority entered from
poverty or misconduct. What an army would the
conscription give us I I beg your pardon for laughing
at the Nightingale and other birds of her feather. I
believe that she has been of use. When will she go
home ? As Christophero Sly says, " Would it were
done !" They expect her here, and also Lord Strat-
ford. Will she wear a wig or a helmet ? You see I
cannot help laughing at her, as I have a keeu sense
of the ridiculous.
27th April.
Lord Stratford came yesterday with his wife and
two daughters. They landed, and rode up to our camp,
at which funzione C. and S. were present. The ladies
flew at the hospitals as if they were professionals. It
really seems a morbid taste for horrors which has been
gotten up among them. They talked with consider-
able appearance of wisdom to a Miss , whose pecu-
liar amusement in her livelier hours is scrubbing floors.
But we have also here in another hospital a certain
Miss , who has rebelled on geographical principles.
She avers that she signed articles to obey the Night-
ingale as her lieutenant in Turkey in Asia, but not in
A GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFICULTY ! 805
Eussia in Europe ; there, she says, lies the error i' the
bill. She drinks her bottle of claret, and has her
own private reasons, besides her benevolence-bump,
for coming here ; but her geography seems to be
out in this matter, — her object being to strew flowers
on the grave of an officer who died in Bulgaria.
" With the slight difference of the Euxine Sea,
Crim or Bulgaria are the same to she."
Byron.
These women carry on a quick and hien nourri fire
of notes, fending and proving and tormenting general
officers, including Lord Raglan. The great ladies
live on board ship. Lord Stratford goes to head-
quarters. Lady has also arrived, and I sup-
pose will incontinently take command of her brigade.
Miss Nightingale is daily expected ; I do not
know whether she has present a sufficient number
of nurses to try the geographical question before a
court-martial. I suppose I shall keep the roster, and
make them pay toll for an overslaugh. Amid this
grim war female tracasseries are quite out of place ;
but most people have agreed not to be provoked, and
only to laugh at them.
To tell me that the service of the hospitals could
not be as well or better performed by women who
have been brought up to labour, is merely ridiculous.
But it is the fashion; and they have powers quite
X
306 LOUIS NAPOLEON.
fabulous given to them. I wish I had a little
trusted to me.
LETTER LXXXII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
29th April 1855.
Since writing last, we know by telegraph that the
Conference is broken up. We hear that the points
were all agreed to ; but that Russia insisted on hav-
ing an island in the Greek Archipelago. We are
getting more batteries up nearer to the enemy, and
with heavier guns ; but since the two signal failures
of the Artillery I am not sanguine. We must take
the field to do any good. The line which Austria
will adopt has not been alluded to. The article from
the Monitetir, published in the TinieSy is very inter-
esting. If Louis Napoleon is not killed in England,
I expect to see him out here commanding the whole.
He is brave and clever, and is more likely to be a
good general than any one I can hear of. We have
no outlet from hence, except into the valley of Baidar,
which is not strongly fortified against us. Chorguna
and Karlovka are only outposts of the Russian army ;
the main body stretches from behind Sebastopol, by
Inkermann, Cherkes Kerman, and Khorales, to the
mountains, which make the north side of the valley
of Baidar, up which mountains there are only goat-
COURT INFLUENCE. 30?
paths. The Belbek is strongly fortified; so is the
Alma. Wherever we attack, we shall have trenches
to storm ; but it must be done. The most likely
plan would be to land at the Katcha, and mount up
that stream till we should threaten Bakchi-serai, where
the Russian depots are ; that would force them to fight
on more equal ground : but the allied force should
not be less than 70,000 men, and we must hold this
position in the mean while, and indeed till our victo-
rious army shall appear above the Inkermann heights ;
say 45,000 French, 15,000 Sardinians, and 20,000
Turks, with all the English field-batteries and ca-
valry. I think that might do ; but I doubt the
French liking to fight without some English infantry ;
and I do not know where they are to come from,
unless we could trust Balaklava to Turks. I hear
they have gazetted Bentinck a Lieutenant-General in
Turkey, antedated one day senior to C. It is really
too bad. Court influence : " Quern Deus vult perdere,
prius dementat." We have had some cases of cholera
already ; no doubt the summer will have its victims
as well as the winter. War is a great consumer of
man ; we all know that, and yet we wonder and
scream. Fevers, too, are prevalent, and the heats
are not yet begun. Certainly it was not without
reason that I translated that appendix to Moltke,
just before I left England ; but they would not be
warned. The wise borrow, the fools purchase, their
308 TO KERTSCH.
experience. In either way it is a very sad possession,
like the most of our memories. To-morrow, they say,
another mail is due, with, I suppose. Napoleon's recep-
tion ; the next ought to bring the overtures of the
government. Poor England, purse-proud and boast-
ful, how low art thou fallen !
LETTER LXXXIII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
4th May 1855.
Yesterday we shipped ofif the 42d, 7 1st, 93d, and
a wing of the Rifles, for the expedition to Kertsch.
Fancy our indignation ; they have taken our beauti-
ful troops, and lent them to Brown, leaving C. and
Colonel S. behind. I never saw C. so much vexed.
There is no general here who has been truer to Lord
Raglan than C. He has uniformly defended him,
not only because he thought him usually in the right,
but also from a feeling that the proper soldier has of
defending his general ; and this is the way he treats
him. C. asked to go and serve under Brown, who is
his senior officer ; but Lord Raglan made an excuse
about this position, which he would not risk in charge
of an inexperienced officer.
We are very low about it. The plan is to land
at Kamish, nine or ten miles south of Kertsch, to
BROWN. 309
take all their batteries in reverse, and push on to
Yenikale ; the fleet trying to take some war-steam-
ers at the same time ; these, however, will, I fear,
escape into the Sea of Azov. There are 3000 Bri-
tish troops and 7000 French, with some artillery and
cavalry. Brown commands the whole, and is a very
fortunate fellow to have such a chance. Papers to
the 20th have come. I see the reception of Louis
Napoleon has gone on a ravir. I hope soon to see
him here, and a good army in the field. We must
now capture the Crimea, which has always been my
plan ; but we must have a really large army, 200,000
men will do. Our small expedition just gone is ex-
pected back in a fortnight. The French have made
another successful advance towards the Bastion du
Mat. I believe they are only thirty metres from
the wall ; and the English praise their behaviour on
this occasion. Pelissier is there. Vinoy said to me,
" Sll n'entre pas, personne n'entrera.'" The Legion
Etrangere lost more than twenty officers. We also
cannot get on without losing men and officers too. I
fancy Omar Pasha came here to relieve us, i. e. the
Highlanders, and to let us go to the assault. But
when that was deferred, he went away again. We
continue getting up more guns, and placing our bat-
teries nearer. Poor is dead ; his warring done,
his arms folded. People of my temperament, who
may chance to be Quakers, must have a hard struggle
310 QUAKERS AND SOLDIERS.
to keep so. It seems impossible fdr me to look at
things from their point of view, — non-resistance, and
all that sort of stuff, — while they are resisting in
their own way as obstinately as any existing bipeds.
However, I must snatch a little time and write to his
sister. I can safely tell her that war is a very ugly
thing, with very little lace and feather belonging to
it. What we have a right to admire in war is the
display of very admirable qualities called out by it in
poor uneducated brave men, who have nothing to
gain except perhaps the approbation of the company
they belong to, and of their own conviction or con-
science, or that thing we cannot shake off, which is so
variable in its quality that the same might belong
to an angel or a demon at different moments. You
know how I have praised these poor peasants all
along ; yet they have wonderful vices — drunken-
ness, lying, thieving. Still there they are — human-
ity; enduring and daring all things for a principle,
many of them I verily do believe. Rest is for ever
denied to me ; — and how I long for it ! I cannot
be sure of five minutes. The wants of some thou-
sands to be ministered to by my pen and personal
activity. If I was one of four, viz. either the French
or English admiral, or the French or English general,
I could send you these letters in sixteen hours and a
half. Such was the pace of our last message from
England, and such the slowest rate at which news
COSSACK OR REPUBLICAN. 31 1
from hence will reach the government. Any good
news you will therefore have before my letter starts
from the Crimea : any bad news it is left to me to
communicate ; for that they will keep quiet till the
mail arrives. We shall have a change of ministry, I
think. If you cannot find a man, give us a woman,
who is a woman, and not a donothing. I think we
should at least fight under a woman, like our German
ancestors of old. I am ready to fight under Louis
Napoleon. He is a clever fellow, and I wish him
better luck than befell his uncle the prophet. Are
we not fighting under his Shibboleth now ? Cossack
or Eepublican ! The Cossacks are before me ; I see
them every day. Are the Republicans here? the
French? myself? No, truly; I hate a Republic:
yet cannot feel contented under the rule of foolish
lords. The devil is unloosed. We must fight for
the name of England ; for auld lang syne ; for the
love of our women, who should not have the shame
of submitting themselves to any but brave and true
men. This is rather an incoherent letter ; but I have
been interrupted fifty times.
312 EXPEDITION STOPPED !
LETTER LXXXIV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
7th May 1855.
In my last I mentioned our shipping-off our regi-
ments for an expedition to Kertsch. Well, to our
astonishment, yesterday, back the whole concern
came, recalled by telegraphic message from Paris
and London. They were just preparing to land.
My reading of it is, that the Emperor of the French
is coming here to command the whole, and that he
will not let the army be frittered away in petty enter-
prises. I had as great an objection as you have to
Louis Napoleon ; but I think that, since his coup
d'etat^ we have reason to think there were attenu-
ating circumstances, as it appears certain that the
generals whom he put in prison would have put him
there if he had not taken the initiative. It cer-
tainly would have been more manlike to go there,
if the French people chose to allow of it. I suppose
he thought, like Cromwell, that he would govern so
well that the people would forget his treachery to
them. What are our own people doing ? Are there
any more rational plans in progress for carrying on
the war ? Are any of the army-appointments which
turned out bad ones cancelled ? Not one ; confusion
over all. We are in a mess; and I see no attempt
at getting out of it. I am thoroughly disgusted
INCAPABLES. 313
with the state of things, and as radical as you are,
which is a strong phrase ; but I see my country in
danger of being sacrificed by incapables, and I have
no power to do any thing.
C. has applied to be relieved from the charge
of Balaklava, in consequence of the support given
against him to the Commandant by Estcourt and
by the Chief of the Staff, to whom he was Aide-de-
camp in India. Is it any wonder that this army is
going to the devil ?
LETTER LXXXV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
nth May 1855.
Since the return of our expedition to Kertsch,
nothing has been heard save lamentations, and very
strong language against Canrobert for recalling it.
It is said that Napoleon could not have known the
expedition was already gone when he sent his orders
to keep the army together. We know that the Rus-
sians have received very large reinforcements, and
that last week they had 42,000 men in Sebastopol
itself. The first body of the Piedmontese is arrived,
5000 strong, with General Delia Marmora. They
have not yet landed, on account of the weather.
314 HOSPITAL-ATTENDANTS.
which has suddenly changed to rain, heavy and con-
tinuous, rendering the ground one mud.
Miss Nightingale is here ; but she has not yet
paid me a visit. One result of her arrival I perceive,
however, very plainly, in the increased number of
orderlies they are taking out of the ranks, to employ
them in the hospitals. It is really too bad. Why
do they not form a corps expressly for this duty?
We are now obliged to take our finest men, just as if
they were going on guard, and we are forbidden to
relieve them. The same men are compelled to re-
main until they become sick ; then we are ordered to
send others to replace the men so expended. The
result of this arrangement is, that the duty of the
soldiers not employed in hospitals remaining the
same, an additional share of night-duties falls on those
who stay with their colours. But our chiefs are so
pusillanimous that they submit, for fear of being at-
tacked in the papers. If I had been required to
make a plan for supplying hospital-attendants, I
should have proposed to select a certain number of
medical officers, and some military officers who were
not in very strong health, and I would then have
surveyed the army, to find out the men in every
regiment who would be least able to bear the fatigue
of marching and carrying weight, or the exposure to
cold and wet ; these men, to the number required by
estimate of the doctors, should have been incorpo-
SICK-OKDERLIES. 3 1 5
rated into a regiment of nurses under the above-
mentioned officers, whose sole duty it would be to
attend to their discipline and conduct. I think the
formation of such a corps* would not have materially
weakened the fighting army, and that the men would
have soon become very efficient for their own special
duties. Out of every baich of recruits I should have
continued to pick the most weakly, so as to keep up
the numbers of the nurse-corps. This body would,
with a little instruction, have produced cooks and
every sort of skilled labour requisite for the comfort
of the sick ; and Miss Nightingale might have had
her wicked will of them without the interference of
any officers, except those belonging to the sick depart-
ment. I would give them promotion from the ranks,
so that any one who showed particular dispositions
for this sort of work might rise to a situation which
would enable him to carry out his views. I see no
reason why there should not be a corps of women at-
tached to them, to perform women's work ; I mean,
women from the working-classes, to wash and sew,
and a regular depot in England, and a complete
military organisation. The way we are acting now is
absurd, and makes me sick. But I have no power ;
I can only groan. In the last twenty-four hours I
have sent nine fresh orderlies from the Brigade of
* Some such a corps has been formed.
31 G LADIES.
Guards, to be permanent nurses — great big grena-
diers ! There are six steamers always going between
this place and Scutari, with soldier-nurses on board
permanently. Of these, there are always some who
catch the fever ; and, on the ship's return, they have
to be replaced. This is besides the soldiers employed
in the hospitals at Balaklava, Scutari, Abydos,
Smyrna, and the attendants on the regimental hos-
pitals. No wonder our nominal army is small in
effective strength. Conceive a party of 100 reapers
used on this principle. How many would remain,
after six weeks' work, in a feverish neighbourhood ?
Philanthropy is a plaything to these ladies, and they
make ducks-and-drakes of our splendid soldiers. By
their assistance, the doctors have completely swamped
the military officers. However, at the rate we are
now furnishing men, the matter seems to me to have
become so serious that it will cure itself. As a mere
money calculation, it is a fearful waste, considering
what each soldier costs, and that all his military
training does not, in the smallest degree, render him
fitter for nurse-tending. The ludicrous part of it is,
that this duty should, by accident, have fallen on the
Guards, — the biggest men in the army, — from the
chance of their being stationed here, and not in our
front line. The most serious matter has its ridicu-
lous : " du sublime au ridicule" &c. The siege is
not advancing. General Pelissier says he is kept
PELISSIER. 317
back ! He is the man who smoked the Kabyles ;
which, I believe, was thought cruel at the time. War
has little to recommend it, even to me, who am not
a philanthropist.
LETTER LXXXVI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
14th May 1855.
We have had three days' heavy rain ; and now
the summer has befijun again hotter than ever. The
Piedmontese are landing Bersaglieri, as they call
them (hersaglio is a target, I think, in Italian ; cible
in French). They have long green cocks' feathers in
their hats. The idea is, that they will occupy the
old redoubts which the Turks were driven out of
last autumn on the day of Balaklava. News we
have none. The Gazette has reached us, with some
recent promotions, of which the Guards have got a
very large proportion ; I think ten brevet majorities
out of thirty-three. There are only three battalions
of Guards here. By all accounts I can collect, we
are making ready for another bombardment and for
Louis Napoleon. The officers have been ordered to
provide themselves with baggage-animals, which looks
like taking the field. Something must be done.
318 YACHTS COME.
There are yachts dropping in : " Stella" came yes-
terday, with Frankland on board ; and the " lone"
to-day, with Sir Henry Oglander. As I could do
nothing else for them, I sent them some horses, to
ride about and see the humours of our great spectacle.
The life here must be intolerably monotonous to the
officers. Books ver}' few ; I have just got hold of
two numbers of the Westminster, — old ones ; which
is quite a catch. Suddenly, however, we shall be
ordered to move and to fight ; and a grand battle it
will be, you may depend upon it. The numbers will,
I suppose, be swelled up to the dimensions of the
great battles at the beginning of the century, and
Alma will be forgotten. I never expect to see again
so beautiful a sight as that attack at the Alma. The
English moved as if they had been at a field-day.
I do not think I said much about that battle in the
picturesque point of view. All the horrors of the
dead, dying, and wounded put it out of my head at
the time.
The Times is beginning to call for the electric
telegraph. If they give up that engine for gossip, it
would have been better, as far as any military ad-
vantage we may expect from it, that it should not
have been laid down, as all news by it which is pub-
lished in England wiU be sent to St. Petersburg
instanter. You are mad ! We expect the Duke of
Newcastle here directly. His evidence seemed very
roebuck's committee. 31 9
honest. But in England they have not more nerve
than here, when it comes to displacing people.
LETTER LXXXVII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
16th May 1855.
The post comes to me, an immense sack of letters
and papers, which I and my clerk sort and distribute.
You ask why I dislike Roebuck's Committee ? It is
not because I wish any one spared, but our army is
held up in such a ridiculous light to the world. If it
is to be granted that abuses will be cured by the pub-
licity, and that they can only be cured in tbat way,
then I should approve ; but I doubt both statements.
What fun it would be if they were to call for all let-
ters from C. and Colonel S. to the Chief of the Staff,
to the Adjutant-General, and to the Commandant,
which relate to the state of affairs at Balaklava ! What
a haul they would have ! C. has got rid of Balaklava
at last, to his and my great joy. The place will be
put to rights, and the embarkations and disembarka-
tions, and every thing else there that requires brains
to be used, will be managed by Mackenzie and Ross,
who are two capital fellows. Layard has made a great
mess. He pitched upon Lord Burghersh and Arthur
Hardinge, without being aware that both of them had
320 LAYARD.
been in India. Young Hardinge entered the army in
1844, and was Aide-de-caipp to his father in the great
battles in India. Had he been a Captain at that time,
he would have got a Brevet Majority for the first
action, and a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy for the se-
cond. But he was then a subaltern. As it is, he
has become a substantive Lieutenant-Colonel and Cap-
tain in the Guards in eleven years. Wilson had no-
thing to complain of. He would have had his pro-
motion without purchase if he had withdrawn his name
for purchase, and allowed Hardinge to purchase over
his head. Layard has done us a great deal of mischief
from not being up in his facts ; and mischief to him-
self by his obstinacy, when he was clearly in the
wrong. There is such a splendid case against the
extra rank which the Guard officers enjoy, that it is
quite provoking to see it spoiled. Recently there
has been a slight alteration made, and from its opera-
tion people hope that the captains and lieutenant-
colonels in the Guards will not become full colonels so
soon as hitherto ; but there is one thing quite clear,
viz. that they will become lieutenant-colonels much
sooner than the Line ; and as to stafi'-appointments,
all the best of them must be held by field-ofiicers.
Regimental field-officers of the Line cannot be put on
the Staff without going on half-pay, while the captains
of the Guards can go on in their own regiment while
so employed ; consequently the Guards have a sort of
guards' question. 321
monopoly of staff situations. I dare say you do not
understand a word of all this. No civilian can make
it out, with all the law possible in his head. I have
never been able to get at the pay of a captain and
lieutenant-colonel in the Guards. The regulation-price
of the commission is about 260^. more than that of a
lieutenant-colonel of the Line ; but I believe their pay
is made up to near 500/. a year ; whereas the lieute-
nant-colonel of the Line only receives a guinea a day,
and not even that when he is on leave. What I
understand is, that the difference between the hospital
stoppages from sick soldiers and the actual expenses
incurred for them goes into a stock purse, and is di-
vided amongst the captains and lieutenant-colonels of
the Guards ; whereas the surplus, if there is any, in
the Line goes to Government. This surplus thus
going to Government was formerly at the bottom of
much that was condemnable in our hospitals ; for it
was the interest of each regimental or other medical
officer to feed the patients badly, and to economise
physic, as the inspector-general was thus enabled to
keep down his estimates, and oblige the War-Office.
Wheels within wheels. I see Colonel Cameron and
myself have been named as officers on the staff who
had received first-class certificates at Sandhurst ; we
passed on the same day. Cameron never was on the
staff at all till quite lately ; but he was fortunate in
rising up in the 42d, of which he got the command
Y
322 FIRST-CLASS CERTIFICATES.
by purchase in seventeen years, which made him full
colonel by the brevet of last year. He would have
been a first-rate Quartermaster-general to this army.
There is no better regimental officer, and he is besides
very highly instructed in every way. His father was
Colonel of the famous old 9th Regiment, in which C.
saw his early service. Cameron was the senior officer
of the three commanding-officers of the Highland
Brigade ; and C. represented his qualifications to
Lord Raglan, and got him named to succeed himself
in command of it. So much for his being selected on
account of his first-class certificate ! I resigned my
stafi" appointment, and went on half-pay in December
1843, I think, as a captain, after serving eighteen
years, and trying in vain to purchase an unattached
majority. They pretended there was no half-pay
major to sell. In May 1 844, Captain Blucher Wood,
Lord Hardinge's nephew, being a captain of 1841,
got an unattached majority as soon as he found
he was going out to India, on Lord Hardinge's
staff". He was then put into a regiment out there
as a major, and in the same year, 1844, he became
a lieutenant-colonel, and of course a full colonel by
the last brevet. I was a captain about eight years
before him, and had served on the staff" in the Medi-
terranean and in Canada. So much for want of in-
terest. I was not selected for the staff" here on account
of my first-class certificate, or on account of my
VARIOUS WAYS OF PROMOTING. 323
known capacity as a staff-officer, but from my being
a friend of C/s, who asked for me. Neither was I
appointed to the branch which requires mapping, and
such knowledge as is acquired at Sandhurst. After
our campaign here, when the cocked-hat promotion
came out, I was not promoted ; my rank was already
that of lieutenant-colonel, so they made me a substan-
tive major, raising my half-pay from 85. per diem to
9^. 6d, Major Pakenham was made on the same oc-
casion at once a substantive lieutenant-coloneL So I
remain in this position, that if there is more fighting,
and my name is mentioned, I shall be made a sub-
stantive lieutenant-colonel at 11 5. per diem, but no
promotion. Whereas Pakenham, having now jumped
at once from major to substantive lieutenant-colonel,
will be made in the brevet a full colonel clean over
my head. It's a do ; but I have no interest, and fare
accordingly. Of course, with all this present in my
mind, and at my age, I have not any ambitious pro-
spects ; but one does not like to be put upon. I send
you all these details, because I feel inclined to write
a few facts to-day. The dates I got out of Hart's
Army-List, which is generally pretty correct. The
Nightingale is on board ship in Balaklava harbour ;
and C. has been to visit her. I shan't go ; I object to
the whole concern, and will not help in the foolery.
We are all very sorry to find Louis Napoleon is not
coming. I believe they are planning now how to go
824 ATTACKS ON STAFF-OFFICERS.
out and fight the Russians, so as to invest the place ;
but I fear our numbers are too small to do much
good. Pray turn out the Government, and put Lord
Ellenborough in. He is the only man who has a no-
tion of what we want.
18th.
I see the newspapers are very unfavourable, or
rather very damaging, to our staff-officers here ; and
I suppose there will be a great change, — I hope it
may be for the better. The cry for Indian officers is
cruelly unjust to our regimental officers, who beyond
all question know much more of their business than
the Indians. In fact, the Indian officers command
native troops, who are managed by the native officers ;
and those Englishmen who are not able to get upon
the staff do next to nothing ; besides which, any one
who shows talent is certain of being employed some-
how away from his regiment. C. and S. gave an
entertainment yesterday to General Delia Marmora
and his staff, which went off very well. The Sar-
dinian General looks under forty. He was an ar-
tillery-officer, and seems very intelligent He speaks
English tolerably, and French very well. They all
seem very much inclined to fraternise with the Eng-
lish ; and no doubt if we fight and win a battle
together, that disposition will be increased. I un-
derstand that as soon as the whole Sarde force is
collected, we shall move out towards Kamara, and
CANROBERT DISMISSED. 325
occupy in force the position which the poor Turks
were driven out of. Our friend little Eustem Pasha
is gone away. He was a civilised amiable little man,
and showed himself to be a brave one on the 25th
October 1854, as we had the satisfaction of telling
some of the Indian officers employed in the Turkish
army, who wanted to run him down.
LETTER LXXXVIII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
2l8t May 1855.
At last we have an event, viz. the dismissal of
General Canrobert, and the appointment of General
Pelissier in his place. Will that be ominous of an
English dismissal? General Pelissier has been till
now in charge of the siege, but always complained
that he was kept back. We shall now see when he
is head if he can go any faster. It is my impression
that, in spite of the arrival of a great many more
French troops and of the Piedmontese, we shall not
push on our right wing till some sort of lodgment is
made in Sebastopol. We made a promenade yester-
day morning from our heights with a battalion of
Turkish riflemen, three companies of marines, and
the 4 2d. We only found a few Greek troops and
some Cossacks ; but the excursion was an amusement
826 INDIAN OFFICERS
for the men. The country looked beautiful. The
question of Indian officers, I see, continues its march.
They are now to take rank with us out of India.
This being decided, and so many of them stuck in
here, the next step will be to open the good things in
India to the Queen's officers. I tliink Lord Ellen-
borough's scheme is, to take all the patronage of the
Indian army out of the hands of the Board of Direc-
tors, and all that of the Queen s army from the
Horse Guards, and give the whole to the War-Minis-
ter. The officers will be allowed to exchange freely
from one service to the other ; and the aristocracy
will get hold of the loaves and fishes there, as they
do at home. This will be a death-blow to the
Leadenhall-Street potentates, and a fine contre-coup
to their dismissal of Lord Ellenborough. The papers
speak of the presence in London of the officer who
collected the troops for the great battles of Lord
Gough. If those who write about it know the facts,
they insinuate a monstrous misrepresentation ; and if
they do not know the facts, they are very ignorant.
In India all the transport of an army is managed by
the civil employes. The military staff-officer merely
writes, " I am coming f and he finds the whole re-
sources of the country assembled for the convenience
of his troops. The Government sweeps up all in the
most reckless manner, just as in Russia; and the
military officer gets the credit for a great deal of
AND BRITISH TROOPS. 327
arrangement. However, we shall have these gentle-
men sent out here to rule over us ; taking away our
earnings, and teaching us how to fight. God help
them ! their only knowledge of fighting is seeing a
few Queen's regiments turning the fate of battles lost
by the hopeless timidity of the black troops. Always,
as I am told by an eye-witness, when an advance is
made against the enemy, the Sepoys hang back till
the British have succeeded ; they then rush up, and
say, " How well we have done \" But if, on the con-
trary, the British fail, the military quality of the
natives is shown by the wonderfully active manner in
which they run away, and the unanimous accusation
that it was the fault of the whites. The honours of
the Indian ofiicers are won by the valour and conduct
of the Queen's troops and the Company's artillery ;
now the newspapers by their cry are going to bring
these Indian officers to show us how to fight ! The
Indian officers will find the Russians a very difibrent
foe from the Asiatics they have been accustomed to
skirmish against. Their irregular horse will do but
little against the Cossacks, who are of the same de-
scription of troops, but who are highly national. No
Cossack ever deserts or is surprised ; their vigilance
is quite wonderful ; but they do not fight — that is not
their business. We hear that our new batteries are
nearly armed ; so you may expect daily a report of
the third bombardment ; after which, let us hope, we
328 DOCTORS AND LADIES.
shall get hold of some part of the body of the place.
To-day the English mail is due. Will it bring us
any news ? None good, I fear. The governing clique
will hang together, and shuffle the few cards they
have. Cholera is here ; very shortly we shall have
the papers full of it, at the risk of a panic. Fevers
also are prevalent ; and we are under the full do-
minion of the doctors and the ladies, none of whom,
by the by, do I ever see. I know of their 'presence
by their works — absorbing soldiers in the most reck-
less style, and no doubt telling their own tale at
home. The inquisitors now present cause a most
amusing uneasiness. You see we are by no means
thankful to the people who send us such ambassa-
dors. Their blue-books will be large and heavy. I
suppose they will be all going back very soon, with
wonderful stories. They will have nothing to say
against the British infantry, ofl&cers or men, — that
is a comfort. Long ago I remember trying to excuse
the follies of young officers, when you covered them
with sarcasms. Your mind must be rather changed
with regard to them, I hope. Much of the good
conduct of the men has been due to the support and
encouragement given to them by their officers ; offi-
cers who will never be heard of out of their own regi-
ments, but who have deserved well of their country.
P.S. The old Kertsch expedition embarks again
to-morrow.
TAKING NEW GROUND. 329
LETTER LXXXIX.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
24th May 1855.
The new French General is pushing on, I believe.
After a bloody combat, on the night before last, he got
possession of the cemetery,* which has advanced him
very materially ; meantime two or three divisions of
the French army, Omar Pasha with 25,000 men,
Gen. Delia Marmora with what Sardinians are landed,
move out to-morrow morning. The French right
will rest on the bridge over the Chemaya (Traktir),
opposite to which there is a Russian redoubt. The
Turks will come next to them ; Delia Marmora at
Kamara ; and we, I believe, with a small force are to
go out and defend the turn of the road towards the
Baidar Valley, feeling at the same time towards La
Marmora. I am, as you may suppose, terribly busy ;
have, however, found time to make a sketch of the
country into which we are going. We shall, I sup-
pose, be said to be holding the line of the Chernaya,
with a hope of drawing off some of the garrison after
us out of Sebastopol. We are sadly put out at the
Highland Brigade being lent to Brown for the Kertsch
expedition. C. said to him quietly, " I am giving you
good troops.'' " I would as soon have my own,'' was
This is quite on the French left, away towards the Qua-
rantine.
830 ALLIES CROSS CHERNAYA.
the answer ; the rude soldier not entering into the
feelings of C. at parting with men whom he had
trained for a twelvemonth, thus to make the reputa-
tion of any one who had the good fortune to com-
mand them. However, we must make the best of it.
The Russians are intrenched all along their position.
LETTER XC.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
28th May 1855.
You will get a pinch of our news so regularly
now by telegraph when the news is good, that, strictly
speaking, one ought not to write at all about the
events here. However, I intend to continue doing so
for a while longer, till I see how it works. I sent a
little croquis of the country, telling you also that the
French were going out, or rather the allied armies.
It was on the 25th this took place. I, who had no-
thing to do with it, mounted our heights to Battery
No. 1, and I saw the French advance ; they crossed
the Chernaya by the bridge, attacked and took the
redoubt on the opposite side with little opposition,
and spread themselves away to Chorguna and Kar-
lovka. The Russians were quite surprised, and made
a rapid retreat ; an officer was shot in his shirt. In
the huts at the redoubt and at Chorguna they found
FALL OF KERTSCH. 331
books, letters, and articles from the Times, besides
money. The enemy retired towards Sulu. The
French destroyed the redoubts, and then returned
and took up the position I indicated in the sketch ;
the Turks rather behind them on their right : the
Piedmontese at Kamara and a few English covered
their right towards Baidar, or rather towards Mis-
komia. Yesterday morning I went with Gen. Delia
Marmora along the old Baidar road. We had our
troops outside in position. I could go much further
than I ever went before, and we got so far as to look
down over Varnutka, a village deserted and partially
destroyed, situated in a small plain, the whole of
which is meadow-land ; a very sweet-looking spot,
but there was not a soul to be seen, not even a Cos-
sack. We then went, accompanied by a few soldiers,
to our left, so as to look down on Karlovka. The
country is all deserted. I then returned to my hut
here, and C. went off to breakfast with Gen. Vinoy,
who is encamped just opposite the bridge (Traktir)
over the Chernaya. When I got home, I found the
news of the fall of Kertsch, without any loss to us,
and immediately galloped off with it to Gen. Vinoy 's
camp, and being there, rode down to the bridge, be-
yond which the French are now constructing a bridge-
head. This is the bridge over which we marched on
the 24th September last. Our bivouack on that
night was very near General Vinoy 's present camp.
332 A HIGHLAND DIVISION ?
It was dark when I was there before. I remember
riding my horse under the bridge to make him drink.
The river is quite shallow, a nice rippling rapid trout-
stream. Just eight months ago I was there before,
with many a fine fellow now under the sod, or inva-
lided for life. This Kertsch business may be of im-
mense importance, giving us the Sea of Azov. The
men-of-war steamers, I understand, went straight for
Taganrog, at the mouth of the Don, and we are send-
ing twenty heavy guns to place in battery at Yenikale,
so as to keep the Straits of Kertsch open. I suppose
very soon we shall get up on the plateau to our right
of Inkermann, and attack the Russian army there.
Meantime Pelissier will press the siege. We are
still in some doubt as to whether C. will have the
permanent command of the 1st Division, or whether
there will be a Highland division formed for him.
General Bentinck is expected every day ; and he will,
I dare say, make pretensions to the division in which
the Guards are. He has the Court interest, and un-
derstands how to manage. The two last mails have
gone astray. I believe my letters have followed the
Highlanders to Kertsch. The Russians, I now feel
inclined to think, will bum every thing, and retire be-
fore us, without ofiering a very vigorous defence in
the field. They burned every thing at Kertsch, I am
told. If this be their plan, we shall probably, before
the summer is over, have possession of the Crimea,
FLOWERY LAND. 333
except the steppes, which I should suppose must be
untenable by any army, for want of water. Our
point is Bakchi-serai and Simpheropol ; once there,
with Eupatoria on the left, and Kertsch on the right,
the enemy must go off to Perekop. Our present ad-
vance and success will encourage the Austrians. If
they move in earnest, our task ought to be easy
enough, and we shall have the towns of the Crimea
to winter our troops in. I never saw any thing more
beautiful than the country here ; the whole plain is a
mass of flowers — campanulas, larkspurs, and a many
that I do not know. I came to one place that was
all roses, the low dog-rose, which I never saw before :
they are generally long-legged, sprawling bushes ;
but these were tidy compact little fellows, which
looked as if they were just turned out of a flower-
pot. The India Company, I perceive, will not have
any thing to do with the amalgamation of the two
armies. In that case they should not come here and
take our earnings. Reciprocity all a one side ! Miss
Nightingale still here — sick, they say. Your inquisi-
tion, or committee, seems never ending, and you have
not caught any body yet. The only one killed is
poor Captain Christie, who died before his trial, at
which he was sure of acquittal. The Times' Corre-
spondent has an article in one of the last copies stat-
ing that the position carried so easily the other day
was impregnable. I confess we are all rather scan-
334i RHINE BETTER.
dalised at the weakness of the defence. As the Rus-
sians retire, they will become stronger ; as we advance,
we shall become weaker, for we shall have to establish
posts on our lines of communication. I suppose the
French will continue sending troops ; but I do not see
how, in this country, we shall be able to make the
natives feed the army, as was the custom in their
German wars. Perhaps, before peace is made, we
shall find ourselves on the Rhine : that would be a
better investment for the French than Crimean ac-
quisitions ; and I should much prefer campaigning in
a country where I could speak the language.
LETTER XCI.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
30th May 1855.
The position occupied by the allied armies in front
of the lines of Balaklava is very nearly that indicated
in the little tracing I sent. We expect every day
to open fire again, and attack and make a lodgment
somewhere in the place. From letters found at
Kertsch, we hear that during the winter the Rus-
sians buried 50,000 men out of 80,000 ; but they
were not such fools as to put it in the papers. Our
troops are now gone from Kertsch to try and take
Anapa and Soujouk Kaleh ; so we may be some time
BOARD OF ORDNANCE. 835
without the Highland Brigade. I think it is a mis-
take to scatter the army so much. It is stated that
the enemy has brought twenty battahons to reinforce
the troops at Mackenzie's Farm ; I conclude they
think we shall try to get up there. Pas si bete. It
is also stated that the French and Turks plundered
frightfully, and that they have had a fight, and fired
on one another. All these are mere reports ; we
have no details. Where there is no resistance, it is
quite contrary to the custom of war that any plun-
dering shall be allowed ; and I hope the English have
not been guilty of it, nor of ill-using the women, which
is one of the blackest chapters of war : it is bad
enough without that horror. We hear that Lord
Ellenborough has been beaten by a large majority ;
which I am sorry for. He is the man who ought
to be War-Minister. Meantime there has been a
mighty job swept away by the overthrow of the
Board of Ordnance. You predict a very radical
overturn of every thing, but not yet. I confess I
want to see a good deal of alteration ; the miserable
working of our Government when matters are so
critical has much disgusted me; and there must be
many others who feel the same, but do not see
exactly how to mend the ship. Since the allied
force has taken up a position on the Chernaya, I
go to bed regularly ; but I had got so used to sleep
in my clothes, that I scarcely appreciate the change.
336 FRENCH BATTERIES.
Yesterday I took a ride to the siege, and had a
good look at the French left, or rather the right of
the French left (the Bastion du Mat). They have
got their works quite close to the Russian bastion,
— about thirty yards off, I should say, — and all our
advanced batteries look fearfully near ; they will of
course open very soon, and I suspect a simultaneous
attack will be made on the whole line, including the
Batteries Blanches on Mount Sapoune,* as well as on
the Mamelon. The soldiers are in such spirits that
I cannot doubt our getting in somewhere ; after that
there will be numerous internal defences to take, the
Malakoff frowning at the French, and the Redan
looking any thing but pleasant. We shall have to
advance pas d, pas. But I have no doubt at all of
ultimate success, and never had. Give us time, and
make the newspapers hold their tongues. I am not
much alarmed at your revolutionary schemes, which,
if they were to succeed, would perfectly dismay you.
The overturn of such an oligarchy as ours, even if its
destruction were a pure good, can only be brought to
pass through infinite suffering, from which the Lord
defend us ! This is the 31st May, the summer is quite
established, and a most agreeable climate it is. All
* The Kussians appear to have called the whole plateau from
opposite Inkermann to the Col de Balaklaya by the name of
Mount Sapoune.
ITALY. 337
that is necessary is a tolerably good house. The heat
is much exaggerated, — in fact, it is Italy without the
malaria and the charming amiable people, whom it is
impossible not to like, despite their faults — for some
of them, perhaps. I believe it is your hatred of aris-
tocracy which makes you hate poor . Be not
deceived ! He is a most innocent and plebeian red
tapist.
1st June 1855.
Newspapers came to the 1 8th. I am afraid the
Government is going to live. We hear of our gun-
boats ravaging about in the Sea of Azov, taking flour-
ships, and doing various damage to the enemy.
Yesterday 3000 more troops were embarked frpm
hence to join the Kertsch expedition, whereof 1000
English. Anapa, I conclude. All which doings will
have a lively effect on the British public, and perhaps
make them like war. We have still to mount the
plateau, and fight the main army of Russians at
Mackenzie's Farm or elsewhere ; but I want the noble
J. B. to understand, that when his valorous troops, by
the assistance of the Indian ofiicers, shall have taken
the Crimea, the talked-of peace is not by any means so
necessarily at hand. We shall have to keep an army
here, and fleets all about the coasts, and taxes, and
every thing comfortable, — I mean likely to bring about
your blessed revolution. Russia will win in the long-
run, I think,
z
338 RUSSIA.
Patience in tax-paying cannot endure for ever :
you will all be tired of the war ; Russia will quietly
slip back to Sebastopol, build new ships, scheme new
schemes, and some fine morning, when we are all re-
publicans, a sudden pounce will place her at Stamboul.
I cannot believe that any amount of calamity will
break up Russia. It is a great nationality — not to
your taste no doubt, but such is the fact. No enemy
will dare to invade her territory beyond such small
nibbles as we are now making. I was talking to Lord
Aberdeen's son yesterday ; he is a staff-officer here: he
seemed quite satisfied that if Austria moved at all, it
would be to assist Russia. Poor Austria is in a cleft
stick. Nuts to your vagabonds. I hope in my letter
on the India Company officers I have made you un-
derstand my views on the matter. You have given
no opinion ; yet it is a subject on which opinions
must be formed, not indeed absolutely by you, but
by England. You are complaining of your weather,
that truly British subject ; but, with a good house
and fires, what is weather ? Here there are no such
complaints ; nothing can be finer. To balance which,
we have the cholera slowly increasing, and picking up
its victims here and there. At present there is no
panic, but the newspapers will soon make that. Has
the Times received a stab by the new regulations ? *
I think it is a monster not easily quelled.
* The alteration of the stamps.
MORE FISH. 889
LETTER XCII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
5th June 1855.
I CONCLUDE the telegraph brings you a bit of news
daily. More fish caught in the Sea of Azov. We, I
mean C. and I, are disgusted at being kept here doing
nothing ; all our troops gone except the Guards, and
a large force of the allies covering our front. C. has
asked for leave to go and stay a while at the camp
before Sebastopol, which request will, I suppose, be
granted.
I must remain here to carry on detail duties.
Every moment we expect to hear of the fresh opening
of fire, and a new assault consequent upon it. Russia
must be very much mortified at our success on her
coasts, but the crowning slap will be her compelled
retreat from Sebastopol, which I hope is nearer than
any one could have anticipated. We hear that Rus-
sell, of the Times, got himself smuggled on board one
of the ships of the Kertsch expedition, and that Sir
G. Brown refused to let him land. The non-resist-
ance of the Russians is supposed to arise from their
not expecting that we could spare any troops from
the siege for such an enterprise. I think it the more
probable, because they could themselves spare none.
340 QUABRIES TAKEN.
LETTER XCIII.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
8th June 1855.
The telegraph will have brought you tidings of
our war. You have a plan of the trenches. I stood
on the hill a little to the south and east of the three-
gun battery, looking from thence right into the
trenches in front of the Redan, where Colonel Egerton
was killed. All our batteries fired fast and furious,
when at 6 p.m. yesterday I saw the red soldiers filing
into the trenches. As soon as these were all full, the
men jumped over their own parapets, ran up to the
Quarries, which lay between them and the Redan, and
which the Russians had made into a work. They
climbed the steep earth parapet, and vaulted over
among the Russians, driving them away. Here they
should have stopped and begun fortifying themselves ;
instead of which, many of the men rushed on to the
Redan, and some entered it ; but there had been no
intention of taking the Redan on this occasion ; there
were no supports ready ; and they were driven back to
the Quarry, where they stayed, and still remain, and
it is now joined to our trenches. The loss during
last night has been considerable, as the Russians at-
tacked them five times, but were always driven back.
The French took the two batteries on Mount Sapoune
commonly called " les Batteries Blanches,'' after some
BATTERIES BLANCHES. 341
hard fighting, as these were closed works ; and, I be-
lieve, all the Russians inside were killed. A third
Batterie Blanche still existed close to the sea, which
the French carried, but could not hold, as the men-of-
war in the harbour fired grape into them. The French
took the work in the Mamelon at once, with scarcely
any loss ; but, contrary to their orders, they rushed on
against the Malakoff. Some of them got in and spiked
a gun, but they were driven back for want of support,
and were even driven out of the Mamelon, losing many
men ; but they attacked it again, and carried it, and
kept, and keep it. They say nearly 2000 men are
hors de combat. I suppose we shall very shortly
assault the whole place and carry it, killing all the
garrison. We shall then proceed to fight a great
battle, which gained will give us the Crimea. Of peace
I see no sign. I do not wish for it, although I hate
war, as every good soldier and humane person must.
The fine part of war is the British private : those who
have gone through this business should have ample
provision for life at the national cost, — a quart of
turtle and a bottle of champagne per man, with full
license to beget sons like themselves, legitimate or
otherwise. It will be a clear gain for the country.
They will really get 1&\, or thereabouts, per diem,
when incapacitated by age or wounds, and the Cri-
mean medal. I know of officers who got Brevet ma-
jority and clasps for Alma, Inkermann, and Bala-
342 A TEUCE.
klava, who were on the beach at Old Fort, landing
stores when Alma was fought, and sitting at a desk
in Balaklava when the two other actions were fought.
All who wear uniforms are not heroes, and many a
Crimean medal will hang on an unworthy breast. Let
us deserve, at any rate ; that we can do, independent
of Lords, jobbing, or interest.
LETTER XCIV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
12th June 185.5.
The post is just going ; all my news is forestalled
by the telegraph. The third bombardment is over,
and I conclude the engineers and artillerymen are
busied in moving the guns from their rear batteries to
their front ones. We got to-day the news that Anapa
had been abandoned by the Russians, and was in the
hands of the Circassians. On the 9th, I went to see
the trenches ; and while there, a truce was agreed
upon to bury the dead. I went into the Mamelon ;
many corpses lay there with the most frightful
wounds. Some bodies in which shells had burst had
lost all form of humanity. Arms and legs were lying
about. I saw one half-body ; the trunk had disap-
peared ; only the legs and buttocks remained. The
Russians whom we saw had a sad and sombre aspect.
LOSSES. 343
very dififerent from the air they wore on the last
similar occasion. The White Batteries on Mount
Sapoune were wonderfully strong, and the Zouaves
only got in from surprise : they found two planks left
across the ditch, over which they rushed. The sea-
men at their guns fought, and were all killed. The
infantry surrendered. Unluckily, the French ran on
to the Batterie Blanche nearest the sea, and were
there exposed to the fire from two troops of Horse
Artillery, and a cross-fire from the Inkermann bat-
teries, and lost fearfully. They went on contrary to
orders. This battery has since been abandoned by
the enemy. The French are now turning these bat-
teries the contrary way. They lost many men for
two or three days in the Mamelon, where they are
also making batteries. We lost scarcely any one in
taking the Quarries ; but the Russians during that
night made five desperate attempts, all of which were
beaten off. Our loss by nine o'clock the next morn-
ing was 650 men and officers killed and wounded, of
whom 50 were officers, 12 killed.
The French lost 2500, or thereabouts. Our troops
from Kertsch will all be back directly. Two regiments,
the 72d and 63d, are now off Balaklava. All our
various successes must have discouraged the enemy,
and I hope we shall soon have the south side of the
harbour. I think it probable, when the troops from
Kertsch land, that we shall be sent up to the siege.
344 SAPPING.
I can scarcely believe they will leave us here, where
there is no enemy. I have had a letter from a friend
of mine dated Yenikale. He seems to think that
with eyes, and a head, and a little dash, we should
have done a great deal more than we did there ; but
we have lost no one, only two Highlanders killed by
the accidental discharge of a French musket. I can-
not think many days will pass over before we shall
make some more important move. It is now under
debate whether we shall advance from here against
Mackenzie's Farm, or wait till we have the town. It
is almost a precipice up there, i.e. at Mackenzie's
Farm. The enemy must be quite bewildered at our
sudden activity. They were completely surprised on
the 7th, when we stormed their outworks. Beyond
the Quarries, we have already made an advanced
trench, and we are evidently sapping up towards the
angle of the Redan. It is only a question of days*
Their ships are well out in the roads, having warped
away from their various hiding-places in the creeks.
As soon as we can bring batteries to bear upon them,
I expect they will sink the ships. Our long labour
and endurance are likely to close soon, unless some
stupid peace is made ; and the grand Battle of Bakchi-
serai will give us the Crimea, after which our road is
clear to Teflis and Georgia. Having possession of the
Euxine, the Sea of Azov, and the northern slopes of
the Crimean mountains, no army of any amount can
FULMINATING. 345
march against us over the steppes, and we may hope
that the following summer's campaign will have for
the present effectually clipped the power of Russia.
For these successes in Circassia will be known all over
Asia, and will destroy the prestige of Russia. The
French and English are better friends than ever. The
great gallantry of the French in the last affair has
quite silenced those in our army who professed to
undervalue them ; and the English behaved as usual.
The difference in the Russian point of view of the
captures by the two armies is shown from their
having attacked the English five times during the
past night, and the French not at all ; but we are
there safe enough, and I can see my way into the
Redan with certainty : what internal defences they
have, remains for experiment. Between the Redan
and the Quarries they had many boxes of powder
with fulminating tubes to explode when trod upon.
During the truce, one of the Russian officers said
to Colonel Yea, "You had better stop your men
from running about here, for the fougasses will ex-
plode." They searched about, and found twenty. The
tubes contain glass tubes full of nitric acid. All this
is very sad for you, because we shall bring down the
pride of Russia without rousing the peoples to in-
surrection against Austria. I cannot help that. I
would rather that England and France in fair fight
should flutter these Cossacks. It will be a lesson for
346 GO TO THE SIEGE.
a century, before the expiration of which, the mil-
lennium may be introduced. Then, as now, the art of
war will be no more learned ; moreover, that study
will then be unnecessary.
LETTER XCV.
Camp, Battery No. 4, Balaklava,
15th June 1855.
I AM in the bustle of giving orders and packing
up. The division, including the Highland Brigade,
marches to-morrow for the siege ; so I have but little
time to write or say any thing. All our news reaches
you now so soon, that it is quite disheartening to
write at all about our doings here. I believe fire will
open again to-morrow, and doubtless very shortly
afterwards we shall storm, and, I think, most pro-
bably carry the south side of the town. Our division
will be in reserve, I conclude, and not employed, un-
less in case of a disaster.
I am surprised at your not having understood the
cause of the Kertsch recall. The French Emperor
recommended, as a general maxim, to Canrobert, not
to separate his forces. Canrobert thought that meant
to call back the expedition. As soon as his successor
was appointed, it started again, and had the success
you have seen. A letter was found on the table of
WHAT A SERVICE ! 347
the governor of Kertsch from the authorities of Sebas-
topol, stating, in answer to one of his asking for as-
sistance, that they could send none, as the Allied
Armies had crossed the Chernaya. We shall, no
doubt, if we take the place, advance immediately to
attack the Russian army in the field. It is estimated
they have 130,000 men, and 500 pieces of field-
artillery. I suppose, including all sorts, our army
may be 200,000, but less artillery than the enemy.
Yenikale has been fortified and garrisoned by Turks,
and some English and French, having besides steam-
boats to assist. I see that part of the correspondence
in the Times refers to C. and the Commandant, and
asserts that the authorities took part with the latter :
the fact being, that they were going to dismiss him,
till C. made their minds easy by saying that he did
not want to do him any harm, — he only wanted to
get rid of him from under his command ; whereupon
Balaklava was put under the Commandant indepen-
dent of C.'s interference, who would thus be no longer
responsible. What a service ! I can only surmise
that Lord Raglan did not choose to offend the Napier
interest ; having before his eyes the flashing pen and
brilliant periods of William Napier, who would pro-
bably not have known the facts. His Lordship would
not have minded if he could have thrown the onus of
a dismissal on C. Thus do things fall out. As it
has been mentioned in the Times, I am in hopes
348 LADIES.
people will think that paragraph a good cause for a
parliamentary interpellation. It is in the Times of the
31st May, and is by no means complimentary to C.
You are quite right in thinking this is no place for
ladies. Yet there are some here. Lady G. Paget ;
Mrs. Duberley, wife of a paymaster of Dragoons ; and
Mrs. Estcourt lately. These fair dames usually stop
on board ship in Balaklava or Kamish Harbour, and
seduce their husbands to run there after them, as
many a weary staff- officer has found to his sorrow.
Wilson's reason for leaving, I should think, was, that
he must have given unpardonable offence to the
Guards. In point of fact, I did not admire his be-
haviour ; he had really nothing to complain of ; and
when that was shown to him, he did not frankly ac-
knowledge himself to be in the wrong.
The paragraph concerning C. and the Command-
ant runs as follows : " Sir Colin Campbell, the General
commanding the troops in and around Balaklava, not
having very much to do, and being possessed of an
immense amount of animal energy, is obUged to find
vent for his excitement now and then in a little
official row with Colonel ; and one correspond-
ence at least has taken place between the belligerents
and head-quarters, which has not resulted disadvan-
tageously to the Commandant of the town. No
BELLIGERENTS. 349
doubt the gallant officer will soon find some more
active employment, and greater success, in the field ;
and an opportunity will be given to him and to the
Highland Brigade of renewing the laurels of the Alma/'
" Our Own Correspondent" only allows Sir Colin
animal, not even physical, energy ; as if he was dis-
coursing of a lively pig. This shows how little he
knew of the man he was running down. He also did
not know the truth of the story he relates. The
official documents are all lying before me now ; and
the case was so conclusively to the disadvantage of
the Commandant, that the Commander-in-Chief was
prepared to dismiss him, had not Sir Colin stated
that all he wanted was to have him removed from
under his command, or to be himself relieved from
any charge in Balaklava. The latter was the course
adopted. The Correspondent amusingly talks of the
two belligerents, as if there could be any such a thing
as belligerence between an old General Officer and a
young Lieutenant-Colonel who was under his command.
No, Mr. Correspondent ; there was no belligerence,
but a great display of exceeding good-nature and for-
bearance on the part of Sir Colin.
The next Letter, No. 96, is from before Sebastopol,
and Battery No. 4 is abandoned for ever. This Letter
was written on the day after the failure on the 18th
of June. The First Division was moved up to be in
reserve on the occasion, and then remained to assist
350 AT THE SIEGE.
in carrying on the siege. C. and his Highlanders were
not sent to Kamara to support the Piedmontese till
the 26th August.
LETTER XCVI.
Camp before Sebastopol,
19th June 18.55.
This morning's London papers will have given
you the sad intelligence of yesterday's losses. The
French failure involved our own. I suppose the
Engineers will now begin sapping to get nearer. Our
division was in reserve in rear of the 21 -gun battery
on Frenchman's Hill. We could see the French at-
tack on the Malakofif Tower, or rather one of them,
and the ground thickly sprinkled with corpses when
they retired. Our own loss has not been any thing
like that of the French, who count 6000 men and
two generals hors de combat ; but we have a great
proportion of the officers engaged either killed or
wounded, some of whom will be very much missed.
We shall know more of our loss from Lord Raglan's
letter in the paper when it returns. There will be
nothing published to the army. We, from our divi-
sion, gave 2000 men to the trenches last night, to be
there twenty-four hours : they were put in the Quarries.
This is a strange change from Balaklava, where lat-
terly we had nothing to do. I should imagine we
CHAPLAINS. 351
shall remain here now and see the siege out. The
telegraph is a great blessing in the respect that I
suppose the names of the killed will be given ; and
thus people will be put out of pain. I saw all the
chaplains out gazing. I believe these men would go
to see gladiators. Their unbridled curiosity takes
them away from their work, which should be in the
hospitals, and not looking on coolly at brave men
killing one another. I am sorry I cannot inform you
of the precise day on which we shall take Sebastopol ;
if it is to be taken by sapping, a good while off yet.
Whether Pelissier will try another storm, I cannot
guess. He changed the hour of the attack during the
night. It was to have been at six, and he attacked
at 3 A.M. Had he waited, we should have battered
and shelled the garrison for three hours, which might
have driven a good many of them away. It has fre-
quently happened that a first assault has failed and
later ones succeeded ; but in this particular case my
voice is for sapping, although my opinion wiU not be
asked. Some of the troops who attacked yesterday
got beyond the abattis on the glacis of the works
they assaulted. I know it is reported that two French
regiments got into the Malakoff ; but I do not believe
it. How could they cross the ditch under such a fire
of grape and musketry ? Such an attempt will only
succeed by accident. The White Batteries were just
as strong ; but fortune favoured the French then, and
352
BAKING.
failed them yesterday. I dare say we shall have a
truce to-day to bury our dead. Many officers' bodies
are lying on the glacis, and we should like to put
them decently under ground.
LETTER XCVII.
Camp before Sebastopol,
22d June 1855.
We are fixed here now, to take our part in the
siege, and our men are put in the trenches in and
about the Quarries. I went all over them yesterday,
and will send a small sketch. The position of our
trenches, being on the northern slope of a gentle de-
clivity, exposes them to the southern sun, — and fear-
fully hot they are.
a
You observe the sun shooting his rays into the
soldier's back. I hardly ever was more tired than
after my examination of the trenches yesterday. The
men who stay all day are regularly baked : they do
not move about ; and if they pop up their heads over
THE REPULSE. 353
the parapet to look at the Kussians, pfing ! — a rifle-
ball with its queer little note, melancholy but not
musical.
I hear the French are beginning a sap from the
Mamelon towards the MalakofF. We are strenorthen-
o
ing our defences in the Quarries. The history of our
unfortunate assault is, I believe, something like this.
Such works as we had to attack, when there is no
breach and the guns inside intact, are usually consi-
dered safe from any assault excepting surprise ; but the
French, who took the Batteries Blanches, which were
quite as strong as the place itself, were cockahoop.
It was generally understood that we should not be
able to hold the Redan, unless the MalakofF were
taken first. The French general (Mayran*) who com-
manded the storming party started twenty -five mi-
nutes too soon. He got two battalions inside, I am
told ; but his supports were not near enough to follow
immediately, and the battalions were cut to pieces,
and the remnant driven back. Meantime, the French
having got in, the English thought themselves bound
to attack ; but the Russian guns were ready for them,
loaded with grape, and not a man got farther than
the abattis. In the left attack, General Eyre got into
a cemetery, where he remained all day, under a tre-
mendous fire. I believe we have made a lodgment
He was killed.
A A
354 WATER.
there, which is all we have gained by the loss of 1500
men, among which 92 officers ; and 3500 French —
number of officers unknown to me, but three generals.
We lost Colonel Yea and Sir John Campbell, both
doing the duty of brigadier-generals.
23d.
I have managed to make the sketch, which is on
the same scale as the old one, but is very correct : you
must take care no one copies it. I am very sorry to
say that the Regiment, which was in support of
the Regiment in the assault, misbehaved : the
men would not go out of the trenches. com-
manded, and stood on the top of the parapet and
cheered them on ; not a man moved ! He beat them
with the flat of his sword. To be sure, there was a
terrible fire of grape, to which it was scarcely fair to
expose men. This regiment has always been in bad
order. The strange part of that assertion is, that all
regiments are composed of the same sort of men ; so
that only bad management can be the reason for some
being worse than others. You speak of water ; your
mentioning it led me to inquire : there have been very
great pains taken to secure every drop by making
many and large tanks. I know the Engineer officer
who has the charge of the water-works, and I saw him
yesterday. I am sorry to say that he does expect a
scarcity immediately unless we have rain. They have
even gone the length of filtering the water used for
'.&.J\/khara^,ldA/:
J-ieAvec7i tacrtv 3^^
PATIENCE. 355
washing, in order that the horses may drink it. Now
I expect every day that we shall have to send our
horses to drink in the Chernaya or at Balaklava. I
individually, who have plenty of horses and mules,
may make one or two of them bring water enough
for the rest and for myself ; but I should be greatly
alarmed should that become necessary, as the men
would be certain to suffer, and a want of water in the
trenches this hot weather would be really awful. With
respect to the progress of the siege, I believe the
French intend to make a large j)lace d'armes (i. e.
much trench) in front of the Mamelon or Kamp-
tchatka Lunette, cutting into the abattis, wherein to
collect their men for a new assault, so as to attack
more in a body and more by surprise than the last
time. We must just take patience, and proceed by
rule. What can it signify how long we are captur-
ing the Crimea ? Its capture will not bring peace on
the terms we ought to have ; except when utterly ex-
hausted, the Russians never will make peace. Are
you prepared to go on until then ? If so, you may
just as well be capturing this place in a gradual and
scientific manner as by making other inroads. The
real strain upon Russia is the expense and the stop-
page of her commerce. During the truce the other
day to bury the dead, I hear the Russian officers who
came out were immensely got up — batiste shirts, with
kid gloves, varnished boots, &c. They were very civil,
356 GENERALS SICK.
but disposed to chuckle at our repulse : rit Men qui
rit le dernier. I did not see them, as our division
was under arms. It is a horrid sight, this burying the
dead — such shocking wounds, and the corpses all pu-
trefied by the sun. The Russians carry our dead half-
way towards us, and we take them up and carry them
to where the graves are dug.
Several of our general officers are sick. , who
has an eye to the main chance, is off for good, and I
dare say by the time this letter reaches you will be so-
liciting the governorship of Malta or Gibraltar. Cod-
rington is gone on board ship. He will, however, come
back to his work, and, I think, will have the command
of the 2d Division, to the immense disgust of ,
who is senior to him, and only commands a brigade.
He came out in January, I think. Codrington has
shown himself to be a good officer, and has stuck to
his tackle all through the winter trench-work, and has
the best right ; and I think Lord Raglan will be quite
justified by impartial men like myself The principal
objection to either one or the other commanding Line
brigades or divisions is their education. They are dis-
posed from long habit to let the Line officers have as
easy a time of it as they have always seen allowed to
the Guards officers, not taking into the account the
admirable non-commissioned officers of the Guards.
It makes the General very popular with the officers ;
but is a great blunder notwithstanding.
MISMANAGEMENT. 3e57
LETTER XCVIII.
• Camp before Sebastopol,
26th June 1855.
I HAVE for the last few days, at my spare mo-
ments, been spelling over the speeches of our legis-
lators. I cannot make them out. Galimatias ! The
plain sense of J. B. says we have got into a row, and
we must fight it out. Splitting argumentative straws,
where the prestige of England is at stake, seems very
unworthy of the occasion. I should think your friend
Gladstone has ruined himself in public opinion. You
see cholera is doing its work. Pennefather gone, not
to return ; Codrington on board ship ; ditto Sir G.
Brown. Luckily it does not seem to prevail among
the men, only isolated cases ; but the season is hardly
come. Last year, in Bulgaria, it began on the 28d
of July. We are making a new battery in the right
attack, where our division takes duty. I suppose the
assault will soon be made again. The French lay the
blame on the mismanagement of the last assault, not
on the scheme. The men had been up for five nights
in the trenches ; they had had nothing to drink ex-
cept water before attacking ; the whole character of
the operation was feeble in consequence. The pro-
bability is, that the English and French will attack
the Malakofi" together, merely keeping down the Re-
358 RUSSELL.
dan* by fire of cannon. Nobody here doubts of suc-
cess ; but it will be a bloody business. I have been
appointed Assistant Adjutant-General to the 1st Divi-
sion, which I scarcely expected, as there are so many
men with influence : but I have been here the whole
time, and it would have been a strong measure to dis-
place me. After the fall of Sebastopol, they will per-
haps remodel the army, and form a Highland Divi-
sion. Who can tell ? there are so many chances and
changes. I shall be curious to see the report of Roe-
buck's Committee. A furious onslaught is made by the
Times on Colonel Gordon for his opposing the embark-
ation of Russell with the Kertsch expedition. He pro-
bably was only executing his orders. The people at
head-quarters have acted very foolishly, that is, weakly.
They should either have altogether forbidden Russell's
landing or remaining in the Crimea, which they could
have done, or they should have treated him frankly,
and made use of him. A very small dose of civility
from Lord Raglan would have tamed and made a
friend of him ; but they have, on the contrary, done
all they could to insult him, and yet have left him
here with full opportunity of punishing them. Of the
two lines they chose neither ; between two stools, they
* I have been assured that it was not intended to assault
the Redan at all ; and that was the reason why the English ap-
proaches from the Quarries were not at this time pushed on, as
the French did theirs from the Mamelon and the White Works.
GORDON. 359
have fallen to the ground. What does the public
know of Colonel Gordon, except that he has been
abused in the Times ? He is one of the fortunately
born, and has got on accordingly ; but he works like
a horse at his duties, which are by no means light.
He has been present the whole time, and in all the
engagements. His manners are unpopular, and he is
rather disliked in the army ; but he is a very honest
man, and will speak his mind to the highest here,
although bred about Court. He will rise in spite of
the Times; as, indeed, will all the men out here who
survive through the whole affair, and who have held
any prominent situation. Gordon is the second officer
of the Quartermaster -General's department, holding
the rank of Assistant Quartermaster-General at head-
quarters. We expect that, when we take the place,
there will be a distribution of honours and promotions
to all hands who still have their heads on their shoul-
ders ; but some of the best officers are getting killed
daily without any honours having been received by
them. I hope you will find much information in the
last plan I sent you : it is very accurate ; so take care
who sees it. When you read of the next assault, you
will have every part of the ground under your eye ;
and, although you are no soldier, you will certainly
make it out. The French are making zig-zags from
the White Batteries, and preparing a battery to play on
the shipping from the point of land to the east of the
360 RAGLAN DEAD.
Careening Creek, which it is to be hoped will destroy
the ships, whose fire is very galling, especially that of
some small steamers, which fired grape on the French
assaulting columns while they were retreating. Poor
Admiral Lyons is in sad grief : his son Jack of the
" Miranda" received a splinter of a chance shell from
the shore -batteries here the other night, which so
lacerated the calf of his leg, that he is not expected
to live.
LETTER XCIX.
Camp before Sebastopol,
29th June 1855.
You will have read in this morning's paper of the
death of Lord Raglan. The night before last we had
the notification, and rode over to see his body. Poor
old man, who has been so much abused, and who for
so many years has had so much power ! A thoroughly
amiable man, of the highest aristocratical tendencies.
I have no doubt that he beheved the world and its
loaves and fishes was all expressly contrived for the
scions of the Beaufort and other great houses. He
was very clever and brave, and deserved a happier
end. We are all naturally in great suspense, waiting
to hear who will take his place. The loss of our Com-
mander at this juncture is very embarrassing, as I
FOUR TO TWO. 361
doubt if he had any one in his complete confidence, •
and acquainted with all his plans, if he had any. The
Chief of the Staff is now senior officer ; a very gentle-
man-like person, with not much experience, and by
no means up to the crisis. He got his rank early by
being in the Guards. Just see how that system ope-
rates. We have five divisions, with a Chief of the
Staff : he is a Guardsman, and three out of the five
divisions are commanded by Guardsmen, — Beiitinck,
Barnard, and Codrington ; while Lord Rokeby is very
much discontented because he has not another divi-
sion. Mark, none of these men had any claims at all
till they came here, except the Chief of the Staff, who
did command a brigade in India, which was not en-
gaged. Is it any wonder we cry out ? They have all
risen to rank younger men than their neighbours, from
the advantage of beginning in the Guards. Codring-
ton has turned out to be a good hard-working officer.
He got his brigade in Bulgaria, as soon as he was
promoted out of the Guards by the brevet, and has
no experience whatever in the field. Our chief offi-
cers are going off rapidly. I went to Estcourt's sale
yesterday, and bought a pony. He will not be missed
except by his private friends, of whom so amiable a
man must have had many. Sir G. Brown is gone
away, very ill indeed. Some people hint at the possi-
bility of C. being appointed to command. I cannot
believe it ; the position is so high, and the aristo-
362 GOD HELP.
cracy so strong. He is the only man here competent.
Public opinion may have, by mistake, found this out,
and may compel his appointment. He would be
miserable, I think, but capable of the job, having been
always engaged in fighting, and latterly in India hav-
ing had the command of 50,000 or 60,000 men. His
contempt for jobbing and meanness and self-seeking
will make him a terrible reformer in those respects.
God help the Staff-officers who are not up to their
work, if he gets to the top ! All the officers who are
senior to him — and they are not many — would resign,
I imagine ; but speculation is vain. Probably twenty-
four hours more will bring us the information as to
Government's decision. The siege goes on just the
same. The French are making a strong battery at
the point of Mount Sapoune, on the east side of the
Careening Creek, down near the water. It is to be
made bomb-proof with materials taken out of the
Batteries Blanches in its rear, so as to protect the
gunners from the fierce fire which will be directed on
them when they open. The object is to destroy the
Russian men-of-war, whose guns materially interfere
with an attack on the Malakoff. We shall have a
battery to enfilade the Dockyard creek, or harbour,
and the French have another to do the same on the
left ; so that we hope the ships will be finally disposed
of. They have still seven or eight line-of-battle ships,
whereof two are three-deckers, and sundry small armed
THE MEDAL.
steamers. While these batteries are in progress, the
trenches between the Mamelon and the Malakoff are
growing daily, and those most advanced are within 150
metres of the ditch of Malakoff. In these trenches
they will be able to put 20,000 men for the assault.
We are hemming the enemy in, and obtaining a more
concentric fire ; and if we can succeed in sweeping the
harbour and taking Malakoff, the garrison must sur-
render. Those who survive will have laurels to the
extreme of J. B.'s powers, and centuries to come will
tell of the great siege. I conclude the Government is
only waiting for the termination to issue decorations
to the officers who have gone through so much. The
Crimean medal is not thought much of None have
come out here except those the Queen gave to some
few officers who have come back since. Half-a-crown
and a pennyworth of ugly ribbon from a grateful na-
tion ! They ought to extend the Bath, and assimilate
it to the Legion of Honour. Those decorations which
every one gets are of no value. The Waterloo medal
was a similar blunder. The best soldiers of England
who fought through the Peninsular War got nothing
for it till thirty years afterwards. Every one would
rather have the Legion of Honour than the Crimean
medal.
361 SELECTION A JOB.
LETTER C.
Camp before Sebastupul,
3d July 1855.
We are to convey Lord Raglan's body to the sea
at Kamish to-day, but we remain without a notifica-
tion of his successor. His death has happened during
a lull in the performance of this siege ; so that we
can, I suppose, wait a few days without inconvenience.
The French are sapping up from their trenches in
front of the Mamelon, towards the ditch of the Ma-
lakoff. The batteries to pound the shipping will not
be ready for a week, during which space of time it is
not probable that any thing decisive will occur here.
The appointment of the new Commander-in-chief is of
moment to us all individually, besides the influence it
may have on the fate of the war. He may be a friend
to some of us, he may be indifferent, or he may be an
enemy. Whichever of them he may be, in his hands
will lie much power of selecting, of promoting, of re-
warding, or of injuring all or any of us officers, more
especially now that selection for merit is the rule of
promotion. Never was there a greater fallacy than
that. Selection means a job. Let the new Com-
mander-in-chief be who he may, I feel convinced that
circumstances will compel him to take men for other
reasons than their merit. Personal staff", however, in
our service has always been considered a way of giving
THE STAFF. 365
the general a private friend about him. They gene-
rally take their sons or nephews, when they have any,
qualified or not. Officers of the Adjutant-GeneraFs
and Quartermaster- General's department are on the
General Staff of the army ; and those who appoint
them are responsible for their conduct, and that they
deserve the distinction. There seems to be a feeling
against the Staff, which is very unjust. They are
much harder worked than the rest of the army ; for,
except the Aides-de-camp, the others are always on
duty ; whereas the regimental officer, his turn of duty
past, is free to go where he pleases. To be sure, there
is additional pay for Staff-officers.
You speak of the heat here : we have had about
half a dozen hot days. It is now quite cool, and the
rain at this moment is falling in torrents. However,
some people feel heat much more than others.
They talk of C. being appointed to command this
army. I cannot believe it. I should be Military
Secretary, I suppose.
366 SENIOR OFFICER.
LETTER CI.
Camp before Sebastopol,
6th July 1855.
We have papers to the 28d. The Government
seems to have bottled up the bad news as long as they
dared. It must, I should think, have reached them
on the 19th; perhaps they were in hopes of another
immediate assault. Your letter finishes with what
you call a growl at the Parliament, and a picture of
the people standing by with folded hands. It also
begins with a growl at me. Why, I take you to be
simply the best-informed man in England as to what
is really doing here. Routine is the order of the day.
The command of the army has dropped into the hands
of the senior officer. One would think this would
have been a great and proper occasion to select a man
for some sort of merit, or at any rate for some ex-
perience in the command of an army. He has fits
of gout. While Chief of the Staff he never interfered
when he could help it, and I believe he would be
very glad not to have this charge laid upon him.
I think C. is dehghted that the lot has not fallen
upon him. We now understand that, as soon as the
regiments can be collected, a Highland Division will
be formed, which he will command. It is not done
for his sake, though, but to give a separate command
to Lord Rokeby. Already the command of the army,
FULL COLONELS. 367
and that of three divisions, is held by Guardsmen,
and I quite think it possible that they may mono -
polise every division. Their superior rank tells tre-
mendously, and we now see how it works. We have
had some promotion vouchsafed to the army. Two
Guardsmen made Aides-de-camp to the Queen, with
the rank of full Colonel. There are here three bat-
talions of Guards and forty-five battalions of the Line,
so that the rate ought to be thirty officers of the Line
made full Colonels. I think there were only two,
and one of them the Honourable Percy Herbert, M.P.,
who has already had wonderful promotion. Some
other officers have received what is called a reward
for distinguished service, that is, a pension of 100/. a
year : gets that ; I suppose to console him for
the reception he met with in England. I see another
disgrace fallen on British respectability — Strahan.
He was a neighbour of mine at Headley. He lived
in great style. His unfortunate wife is to be pitied,
fallen from her high estate. He will be transported,
I should suppose ; at least, he deserves it. I dare
say she has a settlement to keep her from starving.
Nothing can be more unjust than that the trader
should ruin hundreds of people, and then live on his
wife's jointure, as I have known to be done. Your
House of Commons seems determined to support the
Whigs, and nothing at all will come out of Roebuck's
Committee. Their not naming the culprits, makes
368 A FARCE.
the whole thing a farce, but not thereby the less con-
sonant with the views of the crew who govern. I do
believe, if I survive and come back after five or six
years, that I shall figure as a military reformer. No
one can calculate on surviving. "We have a desperate
struggle to go through, and life must be cast away
without scruple. The existence of England as a great
power depends on our success here, and I tremble
at the possibility of our Government making peace.
There is no doubt of the fact, that a boat, with a flag
of truce, carried back a carriage to Kertsch, and exa-
mined the locality under that pretence. I heard of
it here, and it was mentioned in the papers. You
may depend on its being true. I know those who
saw the Engineer's despatch acknowledging it ! The
new French battery to be made at the point of
Mount Sapoune to fire on the Russian ships will be
3000 yards from them ; so that I do not put much
faith in its effect. The French are sapping away
up towards Malakoff ; but that is a very slow opera-
tion. The ground is rocky towards the Malakofi".
They will zig-zag along the ravine, a long leg, as they
say in working to windward, in the soft ground, and
a short one in the rock. We also are trying to get
on from the Quarries. Liiders has joined the army
with two divisions, say 30,000 infantry, which will
probably about make up their losses. The French, I
know, have only 70,000 infantry left ; we have 18,000
TAKE CARE OF MY NEPHEW. 369
or 19,000; the Piedmontese, I suppose, 8000; total
under 100,000 certainly; the Turk unknown. We
want just exactly 100,000 more, to sally out into
the country ; but I see no prospect of this increase
within any reasonable time. The Austrians are di-
minishing their force ; so that the Russians may send
more men here, where their force will in fact only be
limited by their power of feeding them. Our position
is therefore very serious, and we sadly want a real
good General, who has been exercised in commanding
a large force ; I do not care if he be French or Eng-
lish, let him only be a good one. They say Lord
Panmure's telegraph to General Simpson was, " Your
appointment will be confirmed ; make my nephew
one of your aides-de-camp.'^ This time there will be
reciprocity on both sides. We have had some heavy
rain, but the weather is most agreeable. We want trees
to look at ; I do, I should say ; the whole plateau is
bare to a degree ; and books ; I have only Shakespeare,
which I read over and over again at any spare mo-
ments. . There is no time here for regular study, even
if the means were at hand. Some people are horrified
at the prospect of a second winter, for which prepara-
tions are already begun. They are up a tree, and it
makes me laugh. One of the Guards yesterday was
inquiring if I did not want to go home. I said, " My
profession is to be a soldier."" But said he, " I paid
10,000/." Poor devil, he has bought his gold too dear.
BB
370 A NIGHT IN THE TRENCHES.
LETTER GIL
Camp before Sebastopol, 1 2th July 1855.
Since I wrote last, I have done a night's duty in
the trenches, right attack, quarries, &c. C. decided
on going in himself as general of the trenches, which
duty is not usually done by the Generals of Division ;
and although, from the arrangements in this army, I
was not called upon to do so, I went also, out of com-
pliment to him. It is a curious place at night. I had
been in repeatedly for a few hours at a time, just to
walk about. The troops go down the middle ravine,
where the English join the French trenches (see Plan).
They are all told-off previously for their different posts
in the various boyaux-de-tranchee, advanced trench,
batteries, &c. They move along the trench which
leads from the ravine to the Twenty-one Gun or Gor-
don's Battery on Frenchman's Hill, and then perco-
late along the trenches and saps. The front line of
sentries is placed after dark outside the advanced
trench, lying flat on the ground. This is to prevent
a sortie. The enemy fire rifle-shots continually when-
ever they see a head. They also fire small mortars
called cohoms, which are pointed nearly perpendicu-
larly, and let their contents drop into those trenches
which are too near for any other sort of fire to reach
them : it is called, therefore, vertical fire. They also
fire grape in the same manner, which comes down in
TODLEBEN WOUNDED. 371
a shower of iron hail. Walking about in the trenches
is to me immensely fatiguing : the soil is now dry dust ;
the sun beats in without any shade to keep it off.
The night is pleasanter ; and it is very odd, lying down
in a corner, to gaze at the quiet bright stars, while all
sorts of discordant sounds are kept up with a ceaseless
assiduity. The whistling of shells, then the bursting of
them, followed by the whirring of the fragments, with
an uncertain notion of where they may alight. Ever
and anon a great mortar is discharged from one or
other of our batteries, which makes the ground shake.
Presently come wounded or dead men carried by their
comrades on stretchers to the rear. All this lasting
for months, with a prospect of its continuing for
months to come, makes me serious. Where are we to
get men ? There is a regular drain of dead and
wounded nightly. C, who has now a good opportu-
nity of judging, and who is a judge, said to me
quietly, that the more he saw of the place, the greater
did the difficulty of getting in appear to be. Yet it
must be done ; though how they can hope that the
unfortunate soldiers will be able to hold all this ex-
tent of trench during the winter, is a wonder to me.
We keep still the confident hope that we shall be able
to take the place before winter ; but we may fail.
Todleben, the Russian engineer, is wounded ; but he
has done his engineering so effectually, that his death
would scarcely now alter the character of the defence ;
372 A MAXIM.
and if he is only wounded, he has such a knowledge
of the ground, that he will be able to give his orders
effectually from his bed. Our head-quarters interpre-
ter is dead, and is a great loss. Colonel Vico, the
French Staff-officer attached to head-quarters, is also
dead — much regretted ; both fallen by cholera. The
army generally is very healthy, I am happy to say.
We have been much amused by Jacob Omnium's essay
on the Upper Ten Thousand ; it is too true, and I sup-
pose is thought to be a great hit. I wish he was doing
's work in Parhament. To-day we ought to re-
ceive the papers acknowledging the despatches about
the unfortunate assault on the 18th of June. Our
Division, I should think, will take part in the next
one ; for it is a maxim of war, that when troops have
been roughly handled, as the Light Division was at the
Alma, and ever since, besides failing in an assault,
they ought to be placed in reserve to recover them-
selves."'*" Let us hope we shall have better success.
We can see that the Russians are losing an immense
number of men ; their burial-ground is across the har-
bour, and is increasing daily very considerably. The
French have nearly completed their forts at Kamish,
built evidently with the intention of protecting an em-
barkation in the face of an enemy. That disgrace will,
I hope, not fall on us ; but it is well to be prepared.
* The non-observance of this rule was one main cause of the
British failure at the Redan on the 8th September.
NEW ADJUTANT-GENERAL. 373
13th July.
The mail of the 28th just in, without much news.
We hear that General Barnard, a Guardsman, now com-
manding a division out here, is appointed Chief of the
Staff; so the Guards have both Commander-in-Chief
and Chief of the Staff in their interest. Lieutenant-
Colonel Pakenham, who has been Assistant- Adjutant-
General under Estcourt, is to get, as we are told, his
situation of Adjutant-General, which is an immense
step for so junior an officer. He is of the late Duchess
of Wellington's Pakenhams, a brother of Lord Long-
ford, a good name both in army and navy, and he is a
very good office-man. The people of England know not
what they do. I have heard that people in power keep
writing to know why we do not attack the enemy at
Mackenzie's Farm, while our men have not quite two
nights out of the trenches. A turn of the trenches
means, being on parade at five o'clock this evening,
marching down and being posted in the trenches, giving
working-parties there under fire, continuing accoutred,
and exposed to the various missiles I have mentioned,
and not getting home to camp again until ten o'clock
to-morrow evening. This every third day, with a
prospect, as an easement, of being allowed to assault
the place. This duty falls only on the infantry. The
artillerymen have generally a far easier time of it in
the batteries, and get all the credit; but their guns
would be spiked in no time, if the infantry were not in
374 UNE CHAMBRE A DEUX LITS.
front of them to protect them from sorties. I hope
the powers in England are making preparations to
send out huts for all the soldiers before the winter sets
in. Last night I happened to be in Vinoy's camp ; he
is also come with his men to the siege. He has a
brigade in Canrobert's Division. PeHssier has sent
down the troops which failed in the assault, and
brought up these fresh ones. He knows war well,
and the effect of punishment on the morale of the
soldier. We went to see the 2d Zouaves play Une
Chawhre ct deux Lits, interspersed with the roar of
cannons.
LETTER CHL
Camp before Sebastopol,
17th July 1855.
The situation continues what it was ; the soldiers
going daily down to the trenches, working there, and
being shot at. On our side, viz. the Eight Attack, on
Frenchman's Hill, we are not advancing nearer to the
Redan, but we are completing our communications with
the French on our right, that is, in the Mamelon. I
was there yesterday for some time, looking about me.
The work performed both by the French and Russians
is enormous. The ground is very rocky and difficult to
excavate ; nevertheless, the French trenches extend
away to the Careening Creek, forming room for a very
A GABION. 375
large force. The battery, which they have made on the
point close to the water under Mount Sapoune, will be
ready, it is thought, in four days, and then we shall
know whether we can destroy the men-of-war or no.
Inside the Russian entrenchments, on the proper left
of the Malakoff work, and towards their own front of
the Careening Creek, there is a large sort of barracks,
which they are now surrounding with a very high and
strong gabionade, making in fact a formidable redoubt
inside their front line. A gabion is a hamper with no
bottom ; it is placed on the ground, and the earth be-
hind it is dug out and thrown into the gabion ; they
build them up in this manner, tier upon tier, with im-
mense labour, and the work is not finished till it is so
thick that a cannon-ball will not go through. At in-
tervals embrasures are made with sandbags built like
brickwork ; then steps are made inside, for riflemen to
climb up to the crest, on which
more sandbags are laid, thus, —
leaving a small interstice, through
which the rifle is projected. In
the Russian works they have pyramidical wooden boxes
made so that the hole shall be as small as possible ;
these boxes are built in with sandbags. Every one
showing his head above the parapet is immediately
saluted by a score of bullets. C, who is by no means
of a desponding nature, shakes his head, and hopes we
shall not have another 18th of June. He thinks we
376 FILDEE GOES.
ought to go on sapping till we get right into the ditch.
I doubt that being the plan intended, as it would
take so much time ; but it is the only sure way. By
the bye, touching the sounding at Kertsch from the
flag of truce, the fact is, they did not want to sound,
and they did not do so. The object was, to see behind
the batteries, in order to ascertain whether they were
closed at the rear ; and in that they succeeded. I
hear of several promotions ; and I suppose it will come
to my turn sooner or later. Lieutenant-Colonel the
Honourable W. Pakenham is positively to be made Ad-
jutant-General at head-quarters, which will raise his
pay, besides other advantages, from 14«. M. to 1/. 17s,
per diem. This Staff promotion is quite legitimate ;
but if he is made a full colonel, he will be put over
the heads of three assistant-adjutant-generals, all his
senior officers, of whom I am one ; and I think that is
not right, imless we are promoted at the same time.
We have all been working, according to our abilities,
in a similar position to his. One of them threatens
to resign ; and if we were at peace, he would be quite
justified. Filder is going away sick. Our divorce
from the Guards is projected, but not yet passed into
a law. I look on the appointment of as very
serious. The people in England do not apparently
comprehend the situation, and the necessity we have
for an active, energetic, and experienced commander.
WANT MEN. 377
LETTER CIV.
Camp before Sebastopol,
2.0th July 1855.
The papers are come, and contain Lord John's
confession, which ought to be followed by his execu-
tion. Rogues all. The nation is in a sad position.
We want a nominal army of 500,000 men to do what
we must do, if we are not to be stultified. The con-
scription is necessary ; if it cannot be carried, we
shall not get men enough. Our Division goes into the
trenches every third day, and loses there some twenty
men out of 2800, — say, forty per week, besides sick-
ness, which is a variable quantity. The French are
proceeding by sap, and they approach nearer and
nearer to the works of the enemy, from Malakoff to
the proper left of that fort down to the Careening
Creek (see the first Plan). They have the point of
land on the east side of the creek, and are half-way
down towards the sea on its west side. The Russian
fortifications run along the crest to the western point.
The sides of the hill containing the creek are exces-
sively rocky and steep. The French have a small
battery in the ravine looking right down the creek.
A trace of their trenches would be extremely interest-
ing ; but I cannot get it except by treachery, so I
must do without it. I think they will now try to
post themselves on this left or western point, and take
378 DIGGING.
the enemy in reverse. But while we are working, the
enemy works likewise, and makes internal defences.
I see a long perspective of digging still before us, and
even the horrid possibility of another winter of open
trenches. I do not believe General will come
here ; he is very comfortable at home with his family.
His claims are null.
We have now got General Simpson to command
in chief ; General Barnard, Chief of the Staff ; and
three Divisions commanded by Guardsmen, who have
only become eligible for these important commands
on account of the early promotion which the miracu-
lous privileges of the Guards have given them. Simp-
son is the only one of the five who has ever been
abroad, with the exception of Lord Rokeby, who as
an ensign made the Waterloo campaign. General
Simpson rose in the Guards in fourteen years to be a
captain and lieutenant-colonel, and then exchanged,
I believe, to command the 29th Regiment. General
Codrington, when he came from England to join this
army, was, as I think, only a captain of a company in
his own regiment, with the rank of full colonel. The
brevet made him a major-general in June 1854 ; and
you might say that he jumped from the inexperience
of a captain, whose whole service was performed in St.
James's Street, to the command of a division — that is,
he only commanded a brigade for a very short time.
He, however, has been a very attentive and painstak-
c. B. 879
ing officer, and is popular. But there are men here
who have commanded a battalion for years, in every
climate of the globe, some of whom are still com-
manding battalions, and some acting as brigadier-
generals. Pakenham will do very well as Adjutant-
General. It is a monstrous leap. His service here has
been sitting all day in an office, every night in bed. He
has been eighteen years in the army : just the length
of service I performed when I went on half- pay in
despair as a captain. My majority dates six years
before his. You, being a civilian, cannot conceive the
bitterness of men beiug walked clean over your head,
leaving you only the resource of retiring, of which in
war, with the enemy before him, a man of honour
cannot avail himself.
LETTER CV.
Camp before Sebastopol,
27th July 1855.
I HAVE just heard that I am made a Companion
of the Bath. Twenty years ago what pleasure it would
have given me ! The highest reward that we have
for military service, — what a pity they do not open it
to all ranks ! At present one must be a field-officer.
I would give it to the private soldier, if I could ; in-
stead of which, they talk of an Order of Merit. As
380 A GOOD MAN.
to , you call him a good man. What he is
good in, I know not ; but I call him bad, because he
upholds idle useless people, when their crimes are
exposed clearly before his eyes — perhaps out of good-
nature, perhaps out of laziness. He is the worst man
of business in the world, — keeping papers lying before
him for weeks, not answering letters which are diffi-
cult to answer, screening and burking questions which
should have been faced boldly. The last man in the
world to slay a dragon. When he dies, he will never-
theless be a vessel of grace, for aught I know, as he
certainly believes in the Trinity, and is perfectly or-
thodox. You are quite right in supposing that pri-
vate letters were very worrying to Lord Eaglan : they
used to be handed about I have even heard of their
coming to the Queen's self, through other ladies. I
always thought he would be a great loss, although I
could not guess who would succeed him. Our four
seniors now are. General Simpson, Sir Kichard Eng-
land, General Bentinck, and C., with General Barnard
as Chief of the Staff. Under these our siege goes on
as well as could be expected. When shall we make
the assault? Those who are so employed must go
with the determination not to come back, but to stay
in the place, dead or alive. The papers have brought
us Lord John's dismissal, or resignation. He is dis-
graced, but, I suppose, has a clientele which will hold
on to his skirts till the Enghsh people cut them off.
A DUEL. 381
The Duke of Newcastle is at Pera ; and we understand
Lord Stratford is coming here next week to bestow
the Crosses of the Bath, which will be a very tiresome
funcion, as they say in Spanish. You seem to think
I do not estimate Roebuck justly. Perhaps so ; but
I do estimate him very highly, for I believe him to be
a very honest man. He was once very nearly fight-
ing a duel with my father ; and it would have come
off, only that C. was my father's second, and convinced
Roebuck that he was labouring under a mistake.
C. admired his behaviour very much, and always
speaks very highly of him. These old stories are
very amusing, after so mauy years. I wonder if the
Administration reformers will do any good ? 's
reckless way of making accusations, and his general
looseness about his facts, make me doubt his turn-
ing out to be a great leader in such a job. Sup-
posing he carries his point and that of Higgins,
and transfers the distribution of the loaves and
fishes from the upper to the, or to a, lower ten
thousand, do you think they will not favour their
friends? Will they never push people into places
they are unfit for ? or will that simple transference of
power from one lot to another alter human nature,
and prevent its being influenced by the same sort of
springs ? I see no reason to think that if Captain
had been in Pakenham's place, he would not
have been promoted over my head by the Adminis-
382 BAD AND GOOD LUCK.
trative reformers, if power lay in their hands to do so.
The real injustice to officers which might be reme-
died, is the privilege of the Guards to have all their
captains lieutenant-colonels in the army. With the
nominal duty of captains, they have all the advan-
tages reserved for lieutenant -colon els. Sir Arthur
Torrens — present for one month with an army in the
field ! — never did man get rank so easily ; and now,
being wounded, he is selected for the pleasantest berth
in the whole army, at Paris, while others are fagging
away here. It is all in the day's work, however :
some one must do it ; some must be unlucky. The
next mail will bring us news of the Government,
and how Pam will manage. It matters little, for I
see no hope of a really good government ; only there
are degrees in shame and in vacillation. Your wild
Radicals seem to me quite as unfit as any one else.
I hear that Lord Panmure does not consult Lord Har-
dinge in his promotions. Formerly, in the good old
times, the head of the army at the Horse-Guards was
very jealous of being interfered with, and many regu-
lations existed to hedge him round, and to prevent
people from breaking down his fortress. If it is in-
tended to pick men out for advancement over the
heads of their seniors, it will give cause for much
complaint ; ay, it will be more unjust than any thing
that has yet existed in the army. The men of rank
and connection will turn out to be the engrossers of
THE PAINS. 383
all the merit, and of course of all the promotion. God
knows they had their share before, under the old sys-
tem. Pakenham, who is at this moment my junior,
and who is holding a similar Staff- appointment to
my own, by a wave of the pen becomes a full colonel,
and eligible at any moment to be selected as a major-
general. I shall send a letter of remonstrance, for
fear they should say I like to be passed over. I see
in Galignani that Bulwer has withdrawn his motion ;
so I suppose the Government is to go on. Quamdiu ?■
I have just heard that we are meditating to push our
sap nearer to the Eedan. The French are only thirty
yards from the ditch on the proper left of the Mala-
koff. The Russians are increasing daily their interior
defences. Sir R. England has just got his Grand
Cross of the Bath. He is going away. I wonder if he
has got the pains ? Properly speaking, a soldier has
no right to his discharge, even after twenty years' ser-
vice, if he be in good health. After that period, they
get the pains, and the surgeon gives a certificate to
that effect ; so they take their discharge with a pen-
sion. Bentinck's ilia are harder. Messorum ilia, as
he is a shaver. The Duke of Newcastle is here en-
camped, I have not seen him. He will gain more
knowledge of war in a week through his eyes than by
reading reams of despatches. There is a monotony
here which makes it very hard to concoct a really
good letter. I fear mine must be full of repetitions.
384 INTERIOR ECONOMY.
Have you got any inkling of the intention of Govern-
ment towards the French officers ? They ought to
distribute some Bath Crosses to them. The French
always wear their decorations ; we scarcely ever, as if
we were ashamed of them : the genius of the nation
forbids, unless when in uniform or going to Court.
LETTER CVI.
Camp before Sebastopol,
3d August 1855.
You tell me that the Militia regiments at Alder-
shott put the Guards out of countenance. When the
loss of non-commissioned officers becomes what it has
been here, that corps d'elite must go to pieces ; for
their non-commissioned officers, which are the best
in the world, discipline them. The officers are not
brought up to do the dirty company work, — the inte-
rior economy, as we call it, on which so much de-
pends ; but they come to the army when there is war,
and compete very successfully with the hard-worked
Line officers, without having undergone the years of
banishment, and the exposure to disease in every cli-
mate, which is the natural existence of our officers.
Sir Richard England is off; and now we shall see whe-
ther Eyre will get a division. The 3d Division, vacated
by Dick Britain, has been offered to Lord Rokeby. He
INTRIGUES. 385
has refused, as he does not wish to separate from his
Guards. We simple fellows are living in the midst
of intrigues, which we cannot easily fathom, and in
which we would certainly not meddle, if we could
track out the ingenious thread. The great object is
to make up a Division for Lord Rokeby ; and at head-
quarters they are as busy as bees, with the aid of the
telegraph to the Court, in attaining this object, which
amounts to leaving Eyre with only one brigade. Con-
ceive the breaking-up of the 1st and 3d Divisions to
please this nobleman, who simply wants to send C, with
only four battalions, away from this attack, to replace
in the left attack half of England's Division, then at-
taching Eyre's brigade to the Highlanders ; which, if
done, will have the effect of making C. the junior di-
vision general of the left attack, instead of being the
senior one in the right attack. I scarcely think they
will manage it, on account of technical difficulties of
detail. You are quite right in thinking C. does not
wish for the command of the army. But he is the only
person here fit for it ; and people seem to forget that
the honour and safety of the army require the best man
to command. C. and Eyre are the only generals here,
since Lord Raglan's death, for whom the French have
the slightest respect — I mean, of course, profession-
ally. If the arrangement I have been speaking of
should take place, it will give a third Division to a
Guardsman. Commander-in-Chief, Chief of the Staff,
CO
3S6 A HARDSHIP.
and three divisions in their hands, what chances have
common people? The Gazette of the 1 8th has brought
Pakenham out a Colonel, in addition to his appoint-
ment of Adjutant-General. Wilbraham has made a
remonstrance ; so have I ; and I dare say so has
Brownrigg. It is just possible we may carry our
point of being kept in our relative places. At any
rate, I cannot be said to have submitted willingly to
such an indignity. My letter will go home by this
post, for Lord Panmure to digest. When Bentinck
came out a second time, he was gazetted to be a
local lieutenant-general one day senior to C. When
Simpson came, he was made a local lieutenant-gene-
ral senior to Sir Richard England, so as to keep them
in their relative positions. Now I do not see why my
junior officer is to go over my head, especially as I
state my readiness to serve under him, quoad Adju-
tant-General. It is an act of great oppression, the
promotion not having been gained by any wonderful
deed of daring against the enemy. In fact, Paken-
ham has been so fortunate, partly from his connec-
tions, partly from the chance of his being in Estcourt's
office, which brought him in contact with Lord Raglan,
who hated new faces ; and also, I must add, because
he is quite competent. If the service requires him as
Adjutant-General, that is no reason for punishing us.
Justice requires that we should be made full colonels,
which costs the country no extra pay, and that we
A STEONG CASE. 387
should be given the option of an appointment else-
where, or of serving under a junior officer, which men
of spirit in the field will not object to. This is ex-
actly a parallel case to that of Blucher Wood, who,
being a junior colonel to Colonel Brough, is appointed
Deputy Adjutant-General in Ireland, while Colonel
Brough remains Assistant Adjutant- General in a
district. To do the injustice there which has been
done here, they should have made Colonel Wood a
major-general over the head of Colonel Brough. I
have written this in the hope of making you under-
stand the question, but I scarcely suppose I have done
so. Few people not brought up in the army can
make head or tail of such disquisitions. But, unless
seniority in rank is to be considered a disqualification,
our case is a strong one, as there is no pretence of
any glaring incompetence on our part, or of any won-
derful merits on his. Our duties have been precisely
similar, except that he was a subordinate in the head-
quarter office, while we were the heads of our divi-
sion office. We received the orders which he issued
in the name of the Commander-in-Chief, and distri-
buted them to our brigade-majors ; and the documents
which we had previously submitted to our Division
General were brought by us to the Adjutant-Generars
office, to be submitted by Estcourt or Pakenham to
Lord Raglan, and now to the Chief of the Staff. There
was an advantage, however, in being about head-quar-
388 CANROBERT RECALLED.
ters ; for there were houses and offices, with plenty of
good clerks, and also subordinate officers. Whether
England be in her decadence, I cannot tell : when
Rome was in that state, her armies still fought well;
the soldiers were the last to lose their hardihood. I
am sorry to see that the Government is patched up,
although I believe Molesworth's is a good appoint-
ment ; but he has still to show his administrative
faculty; that of pamphlet- writing has been sufficiently
proved. General Canrobert is recalled to Paris ; his
division found him in a false position. While he was
Commander-in-Chief he would not promote the officers
of his former Division, for fear of being accused of
favouritism ; and when he went back to it, he could
not, or would not, ask Pelissier to promote them, lest
he should reply, *' If these officers are so meritorious,
why did not you promote them when you had the
power in your own hands?"
Canrobert and his brigadiers and all the officers
of every regiment always went into the trenches with
their men, en bloque; we put two officers to one hun-
dred men, and name the general of the trenches by a
roster, or list; so that no regiment goes into the
trenches complete. This plan, I dare say, saves the
officers from some irench-duty ; but I think it quite
wrong ; the company and its officers should always go
together. But this plan would not suit the Guards, as
it would compel their captains to go with their com-
SIR JOE. 389
panics, instead of taking their turn as field-officers.
In fact, they would be de tranchee every third day,
instead of once a fortnight ; and now our Line lieu-
tenant-colonels, who are in the same roster, are be-
ginning to taste some of the sweets of the privileged
corps system. For, of course, where all the captains in
one brigade are lieutenant- colonels, it is rather a long
roster, so that the duty comes round seldomer. But
the proper military way of doing this trench-duty is,
to send in a whole brigade complete, just as it would
go to a field-day. But no ; duty will never be so
performed here, for the interest of the Guards is too
strong at head-quarters ; so two officers accompany
one hundred men into the trenches, where five officers
would be very useful. By the departure of Canrobert,
General Espinasse will get the Division, leaving our
friend Vinoy first for a Division, when one becomes
vacant. We hear they are going to give some Baths to
the French — an unprecedented honour. I hope Vinoy
will have K.C.B., as we promise ourselves the fun of
" Sir Joe"-ing him, and talking of " Miladi/' I shall
have to compose a French complimentary note on the
occasion. Probably they will repay us with the Legion
of Honour. How wise the French are about their de-
corations ! A private soldier can obtain La Croix'
d'Honneur. It is saluted by the sentries, whoever
wears it. While our Bath can only be held by a
field-officer ; and the aristocracy think the decoration
390 A CONFERENCE.
more important on account of this exclusiveness. I
can tell you no news of the siege, which progresses
slowly. I would fain hope Pelissier has some plan.
LETTER CVII.
Camp before Sebastopol,
10th August 1855.
The day before yesterday, there was a conference
of the Generals and Admirals, which, we hear, was a
final one ; that is, they decided on some course of
action. I am sure I hope they have a plan ; any
plan, even a bad one, is better than none. We are
losing our men daily in the trenches, and their lives
seem to go for nothing. We hear of more mortars,
and more shells, and more of every thing coming, but
not of a General. There has been great work here
about Lord Rokeby, who wants to have a Division ;
after much fighting and squabbling, I believe he will
have to wait, for there are not troops enough here to
make a Sixth Division. I wish I had the power of
getting on the Staff, where he would have
something to do. In the new regime of military
affairs, there is so much change and so much promo-
tion, that no one can foresee what may happen. I
may myself be one of the selected. At present, my
appeal for the rank of Colonel is pending ; after
NO SURPRISE. 391
reaching that rank, according to this warrant, all sorts
of positions are open. But I have no interest beyond
long and faithful service, — the universal and lightly-
estimated claim. Lately, I have fallen in with Con-
suelo, a book which I had not seen for years. Some-
times a magazine or a number of the Rescue des Deux
Mondes falls in my way. Last night I got hold of
Mrs. Inchbald's Simple Story. It is strange how
different these old-fashioned novels are from the
modern ones. Of literary pabulum we are sadly de-
ficient; and I think I must order out some books, as
soon as I find we are going into winter-quarters. We
are now pushing up so very close to the Russian
works, that nothing but a conviction on their part
that they are impregnable can justify them in a
military point of view in not attacking our position,
as they did at Inkermann last autumn. It is said
large bodies of their chosen troops are on the way
from Poland ; but I have no dread of the result. The
French have the outposts, and they will not be sur-
prised. By the way, I saw lately in one of the papers
an article, in which Balaklava was spoken of as a sur-
prise. Nothing can be more untrue. It may have sur-
prised the Quartermaster- General, for aught I know;
but the troops engaged were not surprised, and, in
fact, expected the attack the night before. I wonder
whether all those fellows who came down from the
front after the Russian attack ever can have the face
392 BOOTS FULL OF WATER.
to wear a clasp for Balaklava. We might just as well
wear one for Inkermann. There is a furious tirade
about a Mr. Stone who died, and, as the Times as-
serted, with circumstances of neglect and cruelty on
the part of the military doctors. The whole story is
a tissue of falsehood. We have continual cases of
cholera ; not very numerous, but enough to make us
uneasy. At this season last year in Bulgaria we suf-
fered much more. For myself, I am never ill. My
duties take me much seldomer to the trenches than
would be my lot were I a regimental officer. But
even among them the casualties from fire are rare.
We have had frequent storms lately ; thunder, light-
ning, and rain — heavy and penetrating ; it always
gets in at some comer of the tents. My boots this
morning had a pint of water in each of them. They
talk of more wooden huts coming out, but it must be
very late in the autumn before we have enough for
the whole army. In our Division the men are always
made comfortable before the officers. The papers of
the 24th have just come. I did not see the article
you speak of by , but I am ready to take your
word for its being well done. I am the only one of
the party who takes the TimeSy and I never can get
a quiet read of it. If it would not look ill-natured, I
should order a second copy. Now I cannot refer ; for
C. has carried off my last batch to the hospitals.
You think me very foolish to come out here to
RUSSIAN GRENADIERS. 393
be passed over by junior officers, and jumbled up
with the Guards, and endure the selection system.
It is very true. I tell you, to be without power, and
to see such a mess, is a sort of purgatory. Captain
Osborne, E.N., has reached in his boat to the Rus-
sian bridge over the Putrid Sea, and found no sol-
diers, only carts innumerable, and such a sand that
they could only get on at the rate of half a mile a
day. I hope it may be possible to blow up the bridge,
and so stop them altogether. I suppose we shall have
no more critical moments for the Administration
Bill till next session. How much may happen in
the interval ! how much room for vilifying the army,
and for dilating on the sufferings of the men ! — which
must of course check the enlistments.
LETTER CVIII.
Camp, before Sebastopol,
I4th August 1855.
We have, I am told, positive information of
40,000 fresh Russian Grenadiers, picked troops,
some of the Imperial Russian Guard. This sounds
like a large number ; but as the losses of the Rus-
sian army here must have been very great, probably
it will not run up the sum-total so much as people
think. However, the deserters asserted we were to
394 HUGH DRUMMOND.
be attacked on all points on the 12th, 13th, — the
Greek feast of Holy Waters ; so the whole of our
Division went down to the trenches on Sunday, Gene-
ral and Staff included, and spent the night there in
the dust, waiting for an attack which never took
place. Last night we were, of course, not in the
trenches, but ordered to be on the alert ; and I sup-
pose we shall continue to remain under this alarm
till we assault again. The French are so near the
ditch of the Malakoff, and its contiguous works to-
wards Careening Bay, that there is a moral certainty
of their getting in soon, — the only way to prevent
which, will be by a Russian attack on them, and us,
and every one. The enemy will hope that, as at
Inkermann, even though beaten back, they may make
such an impression as to stop the siege. We lost an
officer of the Guards yesterday morning, whom we
much regret, — Major Hugh Drummond, Adjutant of
the Fusileer Guards. He behaved very well indeed
at the Alma, when his regiment was broken and re-
pulsed, killing several Russians with his pistol. At
Inkermann he was shot through the shoulder, and
might have gone home ; instead of which, he stayed on
board the " Retribution" till his wound was well, and
then returned to his duty. He was very ill lately,
and might have been invalided ; but he would not
stir : he merely went on board ship for a short time ;
and had only returned two days ago to take his share
KILLED IN THE- TRENCHES. 395
in the siege, when this unlucky shell came to termi-
nate his short and brilliant career. Poor fellow ! I
was talking to him in the trenches a quarter of an
hour before he was killed. His burial is to-night.
These shells are thrown so as to burst over the
trenches ; no one can tell who will be hit. Some-
times they fall before they burst, quite close to people,
who yet escape unhurt. Grape is fired in the same
way, and falls " iron sleet in arrowy shower."' It is
very strange at night, with the peaceful stars looking
down, to see these earthly meteors scattering destruc-
tion, and to hear their horrid noises, when but for
them every thing would be so still and beautiful.
Sometimes our own shells burst as they issue from
the guns ; and then the pieces do much mischief, as
the men in the trenches are exposed towards the rear,
though covered towards the enemy. All these dan-
gers exist equally in a battle ; but there, the excite-
ment of advancing, and the confident feeling of over-
throwing the enemy, prevents one thinking of the
shot flying round. The passive and long-continued
endurance in a siege, and in such a siege, is very
trying. The new arrangement of the Division is, I
believe, made. We shall have the Highland Division,
and it will consist of, 1st brigade, 42d, 79th, 92d,
93d Kilts ; 2d brigade, 1st and 2d battalion Royals,
71 st and 72d Trews. The Eoyal is the 1st Eegiment,
or Royal Scotch ; but they are not Highland. The
396 ST. Andrew's cross.
71st is to be sent back from Kertsch, when replaced
by the 82d, hourly expected ; the 92d is not yet
arrived. I have not heard of the other Divisions yet,
nor who will have the luck of being with the Guards.
I have just hauled down the 1st Division flag, and
sent it to Lord Rokeby, who will now command the
1st Division. I shall be Assistant-Adjutant General
to the Highland Division ; and we shall, I suppose,
hoist St. Andrew's Cross.
LETTER CIX.
Camp before Sebastopol,
17th August 1855.
I HAVB been reading Mazzini's letter. It is clear
we should gain in the present war by revolutionising
Poland ; but not against the will of Napoleon, whose
interest it is to stop revolutions. The letter is very
clever, like all that Mazzini does ; but it must not be
forgotten that he is himself a party deeply interested.
On the night of the 15th we got news that the Rus-
sians were going to attack something somewhere 'at
Baidar, and on the Chemaya. So we dressed our-
selves, and got ready ; most of our men were in the
trenches. At daylight the enemy came on, in num-
ber 50,000. They descended from Mackenzie's
Farm, and some from Sulu, and they pushed on a
BATTLE OF THE CHERNAYA.
397
column of 7000 infantry, under cover of sixty guns,
against the French bridge-head, which protects the
bridge at Traktir. They drove in the French out-
posts, and advanced across the Chernaya bridge and
up the hillocks, on which were camped the two
French divisions, — Mayran's (killed 18th June) and
Brunet's, who failed at the assault on the 18th June.
The French waited for them. As a French officer
told me, the attack was made with much courage:
" ils sont arrives a la bayonette parfaitement."
However, the French poured in grape and mus-
ketry in volleys, and drove them down again and across
the river, vfith. a terrible loss ; prisoners included, they
calculate it at 4000. I feel sure I saw 2000 dead
Russians in the plain beyond the Chernaya. The
remainder of the Russian army formed in order of
battle, and for some time looked as if they meant to
renew the attack, but at length thought better of it,
and the whole retired towards the Belbek and Sulu.
An affair completely manquee, and on which the Rus-
sians counted a great deal. They made at the same
time a feigned attack on the French cavalry under
D'Allonville at Baidar. The Sardinians were on the
right of the trench at the Chernaya, and behaved very
well. They lost 300 men ; the French perhaps 500.
This morning the allied batteries opened, to silence
some of the Russian guns, which are troublesome to
the working-parties. We are in momentary expecta-
398 A FLOATING BRIDGE.
tion of a large arrival of mortars — 200, they say,
for the English. There is nothing for it but to per-
severe. Meantime the Russians are making a float-
ing bridge across the harbour, and have completed
200 metres of it out of 900 metres. It is 10 metres
broad ; but I hope we shall be able to destroy it before
its completion. I have reason to suspect that, when
we have taken the south side of Sebastopol, we shall
abandon the Crimea, in order to act elsewhere ; or at
least that we shall only have a small force here en-
trenched. It is said, and I believe it, that the two
divisions of Grenadiers which have been announced
are close at hand ; in which case, I imagine we may
look for another attack, with a large force on the
Chernaya, or perhaps at Chorguna ; but we are well
provided with field-artillery now, and with cavalry;
and I have no doubt of the result. These attacks
draw away people from the siege, which is inconve-
nient, as it increases the trench-duty for those who
remain. The 1st Division is no longer commanded
by C. ; he commands the Highland Division, at this
moment only consisting of four battalions, viz. one
brigade, 42d, 72d, 79th, 93d. The Light Division,
in front of us, in the same attack, has ten or eleven
battalions. C. is so capital a commander, that they
think him equal to three or four battalions. It is
natural to give the most troops to the worst generals.
THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 399
18 th August.
I went over the field of battle yesterday. You
have a map which will give you a clear idea of the
ground. The Turks were not engaged. The French
hold the proper left of the position, with their own left
towards the plateau on which we are encamped, and
their right on the Feduchine Heights, above and to
the southward of Traktir, extending a little to the
right of the bridge. The Piedmontese joined them
here, and their right went up to Chorguna. The
ground, from the French position, down to the river,
and for half a mile beyond it, was covered with bodies.
I feel sure 2000 lay there. There are 1500 wounded
brought in ; and we shall never know how many got
away, who were wounded in the arms and body. It
is asserted, that the Emperor or Constantine gave the
plan of the attack, with particular directions to drive
us into the sea ! A French ofiicer who was taken two
months ago has returned. He was kept a month at
Simpheropol, and he saw a great deal of the Russian
officers, who are all discouraged, and longing for the
war to be over ; the Russian police having to hunt
them out of hiding, in order to send them to the siege
of Sebastopol. The troops who made the attack at
the Chernaya seem to have behaved with uncommon
courage, advancing twice to the charge ; it is supposed
they expected nothing but Turks, whom they had
beaten so easily before. The French fully expect ano-
400 A DRAIN IN THE TRENCHES.
ther attack in some other place — perhaps nearer the
Inkermann works, i.e. more to the Russian right.
We shall do nothing against the place till the new
mortars arrive, except keeping a steady fire of such
projectiles as we possess. There is a regular drain
in the trenches, which is very annoying. Every day
2,800 go in to the right attack, out of which twenty
are usually hurt. The enemy of course lose many
also ; it is said, near 300 a day. They have 30,000
sick and wounded at Simpheropol. Their surgeons are
execrable. All the inhabitants have been sent away,
and their houses are turned into hospitals ; so that
humanity is paying pretty dearly for the fancies of
Peter and Catherine.
LETTER ex.
Camp before Sebastopol,
20th August 1855.
I AM so continually interrupted by business, that
it is very unsatisfactory to make an attempt at writ-
ing. Since the divorce of the Guards our military
matters have been a little in confusion ; and they
will continue to be so till all the arrangements con-
sequent on the change shall have been carried out.
Meantime we have hoisted St. Andrew's Cross as
our Division-flag, on a splendid mast got from the
A DELIVERANCE. 401
" Tribune," by way of a signal to the Guards that I
think a deliverance has been wrought. The altera-
tion has been made to please Lord Rokeby ; it will
give him a larger plaything and a little more patron-
age. There are now three divisions (Bentinck, Rokeby,
Codrington), and three brigades, (two brigades* of the
1st Division, and Windham's,) commanded by offi-
cers from the Guards ; which is pretty well, out of six
divisions and twelve brigades, besides the Comman-
der-in-Chief and the Chief of the Staff. This pro-
motion of Pakenham over my head hurts my feelings ;
and if I am not put in my proper place on the remon-
strance which has been made, I shall have to take a
line. It will be very repugnant to me to remain here
after such an insult ; of course I must stay till this
siege is over, at any rate : but it is a brutal way of
getting rid of old officers, many of whom cannot
affi)rd to abandon their profession. I am not one of
those. The generals, according to the new system,
are selected from the full colonels ; and putting
Pakenham (my junior) over my head on this occa-
sion gives him almost a moral certainty, if the war
lasts, of being made a Major-General, while I shall
remain a Lieutenant-Colonel. Of course, if he had
done any thing extraordinary, it might be put up
* Cral'f^rd, Ridley, ^c/ uy
fc/^e, ^.rZZT .x^^ y:i/// ^ y-^/y^^. /c.
402 CHAPLAINS PLUNDERING.
with ; he has been just doing his office-work very
well, but not a bit better than I did mine.
21st.
Last night, at midnight, we were roused by the
news of an intended sortie on the part of the enemy ;
80 we were all under arms an hour before daylight ;
but he would not come on. They have such a lot of
men, that I feel sure they ought to make an attempt
to stop our progress. The bombardment is incessant,
and I should hope annoying to the Russians. What
do you think of two wives of some of the employes
at Balaklava riding about the field of battle on the
Chernaya among the corpses ; and two army -chap-
lains going all over the field plundering, that is,
stripping the bodies of any thing they fancied, — arms,
I suppose, as trophies ? The French, whose property
they were, complained, and a reprimand was issued
in Orders. No person with humane feelings can go
to see a field of battle, while the dead are lying about,
without horror. Officers go professionally, to study
how the battle was fought ; but women and chap-
lains can be neither tender nor pious who go to
such a scene. A dead body, composed and decent,
is not to me a horrid sight ; but on a battle-field —
where the poor bodies are torn about by Mghtful
wounds, legs and arms shot off, twisted into strange
attitudes, exposed by the abstraction or derangement
TO KAMARA. 403
of their clothes, swelled up by the sun, blackened by
the blood, while all the preparations are going on for
burial in a great ditch — it is truly shocking. To-
morrow, for what we know, our own bodies may be
scattered about, a spectacle for these harpies.
LETTER CXI.
Camp, Kamara,
27th August 1855.
I LOST the post on Saturday morning (25 th). On
Friday we got a sudden order to march that night
down here to support the Piedmontese and Turks
against an expected attack of the Russians ; so I was
up all night. "We marched at 1 a.m. on Saturday
morning, and took up a position about Kamara
Church, with the 42d, 72d, 79th, and 93d, the only
battalions of the Highland Division now present with
the army. On our direct front north of us, the Pied-
montese army was posted on the hills on the left bank
of the Chernaya ; on our right front and flank, along
the Woronzow Road, with some posts beyond the
river, were the Turks ; towards Baidar more Turks,
two regiments of French infantry and five of cavalry,
under D'AUonville. On our left front two divisions
of French, under Herbillon, covering the bridge at
Traktir, with picquets beyond. We were informed
404; LORD STRATFORD.
that we should be attacked in the morning by from
60,000 to 80,000 men, including the Grenadiers just
arrived from Poland. We got into position before
daylight, and looked for the sun and the enemy ;
only one of those elements showed. After waiting
some hours, it was concluded we should march back
to our camp on the plateau, pack up our things and
tents, and move down again to encamp here. We
accordingly went back ; but not in time for the post.
We made our ^^pacquets" and marched again at 2
A.M. yesterday. We are to be ready every morning
for an attack, which the headquarter people say is
certain to be made. The ground the various allied
troops occupy was all held by the Russians last win-
ter, while we watched them for many an anxious
morning. In this fine weather it is beautiful. We
are about a mile and a half from the Chorguna
Bridge, about two miles from Traktir, and three
hundred yards from Kamara Church. Our men are
thus clear from the trenches, and during the day
have nothing to do. We all sleep accoutred, in
order to be ready for these boasted Grenadiers,
whenever they choose to come on. Lord Stratford
is arrived, and to-day holds the ^2in.di funzione of
investing the Knights of the Bath. I shall not be
present. C. is alone ordered up to receive his grand
cross. From the usual dilatoriness of our Govern-
ment, they have not arranged to give the French
TENNYSON. 405
their decorations. Omar Pasha, however, has had
his at Constantinople ; and I conclude Canrobert
has had his from the Queen at Paris. I am not so
sure as the headquarter people appear to be that we
shall be attacked here. The position is very strong,
and the dressing the Russians got on the 16th will
not be very encouraging to their soldiers, if they try
it again. However, an attack is quite en r^gle^ and
ought to be made if they can screw themselves up to
it. I should like to see our Highlanders make an-
other Alma charge. If we are beaten, we shall have
to occupy our old Balaklava lines, towards which our
retreat is open. I do not for a moment anticipate
this being our lot. Some sages suppose the Russians
are deceiving us, and are now on their march to
Kertsch, in the hope of recapturing that place. There
is a great lack of accurate information, which is ill-
supplied by vague rumours as a substitute. We are
nearly come round to our twelvemonth in the Crimea.
I have received the extract from Tennyson's new
poem. One cannot judge from such bits ; bricks from
Babylon. The metre you speak of does appear doubt-
ful, and I am against such experiments, although
so much license is given to a lyric. I look forward
to reading the thing as a whole, which is the only
way to measure a work of art. He is our only poet,
and we must not be unfair to him. His spirit is
mighty warlike. Perhaps he will come here a new
406 THE REAL THING.
minstrel boy. But the real thing would stifle his
strain ; the petty miseries and frightful horrors are
equally unpoetical. Men like us waiting for the
enemy might be depicted by Homer ; but he would
not enter into the shortcomings of my servant, my
tattered clothes, and ill-managed breakfast, nor
meddle with the wastefulness, carelessness, stupidity,
and selfishness of many who are helping to do this
great thing. What poet could draw the parson in a
white choker, with beard and mustachios, pillaging
the dead? That is only for Punch; his Reverence
slung round with Russian muskets, and his servant
turning over the corpses under his direction : also
a party of ensigns on their ponies, stopped by the
French sentry at the bridge over the aqueduct,
forming line and charging the watercourse, and clear-
ing it in triumph. Fine boys! The French begin
to understand our eccentricities, and are only amused
by them. Before this reaches you, the telegraph wi^
have told you whether the Grenadiers have come to
the scratch.
LETTER CXII.
Camp, Eamara,
31st August 1855.
Still expecting the enemy, who does not show ;
by which means he keeps so many soldiers away from
TRACTS. 407
the siege, and increases the work for those who re-
main. I see by the Gazette that Wilbraham is made a
Colonel ; he is the senior of the three Assistant- Adju-
tant-Generals passed over by Pakenham, and has now
got back into his place. I much fear I shall not be
so well treated. The answer to my letter of remon-
strance is not come ; if unfavourable, I shall have to
decide on something. When the siege is over, I think
the point of honour would permit me to resign ; but I
do not like to leave C, who probably finds me useful
to him. My want of books has set me to reading
tracts, which pious persons have sent out for the
soldiers. They are better written than I expected.
Yesterday, however, Sidney Smith's Life dropped
upon me accidentally, which will last me a few days.
With respect to the accident at Cremorne, it looks
like a judgment on the bad taste exhibited in making
a show of such an awful business.
As you say, it will be curious to see, when we
take the field, how Simpson and Barnard will man-
oeuvre a large army against the Russian generals.
Lord Panmure appointed them ; and if they do not
turn out skilful, on him should rest the blame.
General Beatson has not been murdered by the
Bashi-Bazouks ; that is a mistake. I saw him once at
Scutari in very fine clothes. He was here also with
General Scarlet at the time of the battle at Balaklava.
The answer to my letter of remonstrance is just
408 POSITION.
come. " The principle of selection cannot be carried
out if all officers, j tiniof to the selected one, are also
to be promoted." As if I did not know that. Be-
mark, "a//."
I shall not be able to decide what to do without
consideration.
LETTER CXIII.
Camp, Kamara,
6th September 1855.
I AM SO busy, that I have scarcely time to write.
In this new position a plan was wanting, which I have
been occupied in making. The French are strongly
fortified opposite Traktir Bridge. The Sardinians
opposite Chorguna and Karlovka ; the Turks ex-
tended from the right of the Sardinians, with the
Woronzow Road in their front ; the right of the Turks
bends away southwards to the old Cossack picquet-
house on the old Baidar Road, leading to our old
original Lines of Balaklava. We have here at Kamara
four battalions of Highlanders, and thirty-two pieces
of artillery, ready to support any one, and especially
the Turks. Should the latter be forced, our position
would be turned ; and we should have to get back into
the Balaklava Lines. Next Monday, the telegraph
will have told the people in London of the assault.
Scarcely any one here knows that it is to take place on
PROTEST. 409
Saturday the 8th instant. At the same moment, if
ever, we may confidently expect to be attacked here :
the enemy is in force at Sulu, about five miles ofi" ;
so the crisis is at hand. I told you in my last that
I had been refused my promotion. Wilbraham has
managed his ; he was senior to me. Here is my final
protest. " I have received a letter from Colonel Steele,
Military Secretary, addressed by Major-General Yorke"
(the Military Secretary in London) " to General Simp-
son, in reply to my remonstrance at the promotion of
Colonel Pakenham over my head. General Yorke in-
forms me that the ' principle of selection cannot be
carried out if all the ofiicers, senior to him who is
selected for promotion, are likewise to be promoted :'
a matter of fact which is pretty evident. I am nearly
the solitary instance of a Stafi'-officer who has been
present with the army the whole time without receiv-
ing a step of rank.. So far as I know, there is no
other. As it has been decided upon that I am not
to be promoted, and that a junior ofiicer is to be put
over my head, I cannot help perceiving, what is clear
to every one, that a punishment has been inflicted,
and a stigma cast upon me, which I have not earned.
Being at this moment in the presence of the enemy, I
am precluded from requesting that I may be relieved
from this Staff situation, in order to retire from a
scene where I have been so treated. It is, however,
very hard that a man of honour should be placed in
410 THE BOMBARDMENT.
such a position as I now find myself in, — one which
no theory of selection can ever make tolerable to any
person with keen feelings. I beg you will be so kind
as to forward this letter through the proper channel,
in order to place my sentiments upon record, and to
convince my friends that I have made every effort
consistent with military discipline to avert and resist
my misfortune." This letter has been forwarded by
C, and may possibly afiront some one. I cannot help
that ; the fallacy of assuming that I proposed all the
seniors to be promoted will be palpable to you. No
warrant for selection could ever have contemplated
this kind of usage of officers in the field who have
done their duty well, as my chief will certify that I
have. I am driven out of my profession : at present,
with my notions of soldier-like propriety, it is impos-
sible to go ; neither can I ask any further favour. The
bombardment is going on, fast and furious. I saw a
great fire last night reflected in the sky, which I hope
may turn out to have been one of the Russian ships.
This bombardment will of course continue till we make
the assault. I have read Sidney Smith with utter dis-
appointment. Whom shall we hang ? has also fallen
into my hands ; it is a bit of special pleading to defend
the Duke of N., who was by no means the real culprit.
The Duke is still here ; and will, I suppose, go back
knowing something about it, especially if he waits till
November. It is now two o'clock a.m. ; in two hours
UP FOR THE ASSAULT. 411
we shall be under arms, expecting the threatened at-
tack, for which we get ready every morning, sleeping
in our clothes.
7 th September.
We are ordered up to-morrow morning to form a
reserve for the assaulting columns. I cannot find that
Simpson has asked any advice from C. about this as-
sault. It is a pity ; for he has seen so much fighting,
and understands the soldiers so well. The troops
which assaulted on the 18th of June are very much
pumped out ; some of the regiments suffered fright-
fully at the Alma ; they have been kept all this time
in the trenches, losing men ; they have made one as-
sault, and failed. Of course, many of their best and
bravest officers and men have been killed or disabled.
There was an officer down here two days ago who told
me he had been sent out with a hundred men of the
Regiment to form a line of sentries after dark
outside the advanced trench, and that they all ran
away and left him, with the exception of six men.
The heart is out of them. They ought to employ
Eyre or C. for the assault, if they wish to make a sure
job of it ; but then Codrington would not get the
credit, and he has friends about head-quarters, where
C. and Eyre are not in good odour ; I wonder why ;
they are the two best soldiers here, and, in fact, the
only good ones that I see among the higher ranks.
God help us ! — we are in strange hands.
412 MAJOR RANKIN.
This begins the account of the greatest, and per-
haps the only, disgrace of this sort which has ever
befallen the British arms. Are we not to ask how,
and why ? Is the English army and nation to en-
dure the discredit which has fallen upon them, solely
from the appointment to supreme command of an
incompetent person in himself, and the more incom-
petent because he had not moral energy enough to
break through the trammels of a clique which hung
about headquarters ?
There has been published a small book, Selec-
tions from a Diary and Letters of the late Major
Rankin of the Royal Engineers, who led the ladder-
party at this disastrous assault. He could have told,
and probably did write, much more than has been
published. His brother, who edits the book, says in
his preface, " Some passages, referring to the attack
on the Redan, I have, for obvious reasons, purposely
omitted ; my brother not being alive to support the
truth of his assertions."
The " obvious reasons," I suppose, are that this
editor did not think the commanders and planners
of this attack would like to hear what a gallant and
intelligent officer had to say about their utter incom-
petence.
Major Rankin states : " I found the ladder-party,
composed of men from the 3d Buffs and 90th and
MAJOR RANKIN. 413
97th Regiments, lining the sap in front of the
Redan (called the Sixth Parallel), the trench which
Cooke and myself commenced on my first night's
duty in the trenches. The party consisted of 320
men, who were told-ofi" to forty scaling-ladders, each
twenty-four feet long. My instructions were, to ad-
vance with my sappers, armed with crowbars and
axes for cutting through the abattis, and with the
ladder-party immediately after the skirmishers had
been thrown out. The (ladder) party was under
command of Major Welsford, 97th Regiment, with
whom I conferred for several minutes, and to whom
I explained the point where the ladders were to be
placed, in order to screen them as much as possible
from the fire of the enemy. I then told my party of
sappers what they were to do, and assembled the non-
commissioned officers to point out the measures to be
taken under their directions, in the event of my being
either killed or wounded. These arrangements being
made, I awaited the signal to advance ; silently call-
ing upon God to aid and assist me in doing my duty,
and, if it were His will, to preserve my life. Sud-
denly there was a shout that the French were attack-
ing the Malakofi". I looked over the parapet, and
saw them rushing up the salient ; they were appa-
rently unresisted. The French flag in a minute was
seen waving on the ramparts. All this happened so
instantaneously that it took us all by surprise.
414 MAJOR RANKIN.
"We had anticipated a hard struggle, and we
were ordered not to advance till a decided success
had been achieved ; but, as it were in a second, the
dreaded Malakoff had fallen into the hands of the
French. Our men could no longer be restrained;
before there was time to get the ladders to the front,
and before the sappers could advance to cut away
the abattis, they rushed in a straggling line over the
parapets, and dashed onwards towards the salient.
I hurried up my sappers as fast as I could, shouting
to them till I was nearly hoarse, and ran forwards
with them and the ladder-party, with a drawn sword
in my hand (my scabbard and belt I left behind).
In the hurry and confusion many ladders were left
behind. There was, however, little excuse for this,
as the men had their places distinctly assigned to
them, and should not have left the trench without
their ladders. It was of course impossible to per-
ceive that any thing of the kind had occurred, and
still more impossible to have rectified it, had it been
known. The only word was * Forward !' — the only
course to pursue, to advance as rapidly as possible.
Nearly two hundred yards of rough broken ground
and an abattis had to be crossed under the enemy's
fire. The men advanced with the greatest spirit.
I could see bodies, dead and wounded, lying along,
and strewing the ground on each side of me as I
pressed forward, shouting continually to the men to
MAJOR RANKIN.
415
advance, and not to pause for an instant. When I
came to the abattis, I found five men nearly ex-
hausted carrying a ladder, and trying to get it over
the opposing branches ; the remaining three men,
composing the party of eight, had probably been
killed or wounded in the advance. I lent them my
aid, and urged them on. The edge of the ditch was
soon reached, and I was relieved to find the ditch
not nearly so formidable as it had been represented,
and as I had good reason, from the solidity and
extent of the Russian defences, to suppose it was
likely to prove. I was prepared for a broad deep
ditch, flanked by caponnieres, and for military pits,
chevaux-de-frise, palisades, and all kinds of obstacles.
The dreaded ditch of the Eedan, however, proved
nothing but a simple trench, perhaps fourteen or
fifteen feet deep at the counter-scarp, and twenty,
or rather more, at the escarp. I kept my ladders
rather to the right of the salient angle, having been
warned that the flanking fire would probably be
severe up the proper left face. Half a dozen or so
were lowered and reversed in a minute, and the men
passed up them with eager haste. I set to work with
every sapper I could get hold of, or to whom amid
the din I could make myself audible, to tear down
the rubble-stone work, with which the salient of the
escarp was revetted, and form a ramp practicable for
ascent without ladders.
41 6 MAJOR RANKIN.
" The long continuance of dry weather which pre-
ceded the assault must be regarded as a very favour-
able circumstance. The gabions staked to the ground
with wooden stakes (with which the counter-scarp
was revetted) were torn down, and used in forming,
with rocks, stones, and debris, a small parapet across
the ditch of the proper left face, and a similar counter-
caponniere thrown up also on the other side. I had.
to work, however, with my own hands ; it was diffi-
cult to get any one to do any thing ; the men, as
they struggled up to the assault in support of the
advance, seemed stunned and paralysed. There was
little of that dash and enthusiasm which might have
been looked for from British soldiers in an assault ;
in fact, it required all the efforts and example of their
officers to get the men on, and these were rendered
almost ineffective from the manner in which the
various regiments soon got confused and jumbled
together. The men, after firing from behind the tra-
verses, near the salient, for half an hour at the enemy,
— also firing behind his parados and traverses, — began
to waver. I rushed up the salient with the view of
cheering them on, and the officers exerted themselves
to sustain them ; the men gave a cheer, and went at
it afresh. The supports or reserves, ordered to follow,
struggled up in inefficient disorder, but were unable
to press into the work, as the men in advance, oc-
cupying the salient, refused to go on, notwithstanding
MAJOR RANKIN. 41 7
the devoted efforts of the officers to induce them to
do so. Whether it was that they dreaded some se-
cret trap, or some mine which would destroy the
whole of them at once ; whether it was that the long
and tedious siege-works had lowered their morale; or
whether it was owing to the dreadful manner in which
their Division (the Light, most injudiciously selected
to lead) had been cut up in previous actions, — it is a
melancholy truth that the majority of the assaulting
column did not display the spirit and dash of thorough
soldiers when assaulting the enemy. They refused,
however, to retreat, and seemed to look round for
aid ; I trembled when I saw no one coming, and
looked continually anxiously round for the reserves
I considered, as a matter of course, would be advanced
immediately it was perceived that the leading columns
had failed to carry the position, and were commencing
to waver.^
" I had just given directions to the portion of the
* At this moment the whole of the trenches were crammed
with men : the first trench had Sir W. Codrington in command
of the remainder of his immense division ; behind him, General
Markham with his men ; and behind him, Sir Colin Campbell
with the Highlanders; but he had no orders to meddle with an
assault, the whole arrangements for which were put expressly
in charge of his junior officers, Codrington and Markham. So
long as their men remained in the trenches, no one else could
go on.
E £
418 MAJOR RANKIN.
working-party of one hundred men told off to me,
which reached the ditch, what they were to do, and
was returning towards the salient, when the sad repulse
took place. What brought matters completely to a
crisis I have never exactly ascertained ; I heard, directly
after I regained our trenches, that three officers of the
41st, after vainly striving to induce the men to ad-
vance, rushed forward together, and were all three shot
down like one man by the cross-fire of the Russians
behind their parados. This was the turning-point, ac-
cording to this account, of the men's indecision ; they
wavered and fled. I was near the counter-scarp when
I saw the whole living mass on the salient begin reeling
and swaying to and fro ; in a moment I found myself
knocked down and lying on my face, with a number
of men scrambling over me, their bayonets running
through my clothes. I expected to have been stunned
and bayoneted, and to have been left insensible in
the ditch, or shot by the enemy before I could drag
myself out of it. However, at last I saw an open-
ing, and, holding on by my hands and knees, managed
to force my way to it through the moving mass, and
regain my legs. I ran then as fast as I could towards
our advanced trenches, the grape whistling past me
like hail, and the Russians standing on the top of
their parapets, and firing volleys into the crowd of
fugitives.
" In our trenches all was shame, ra^e, and fear ;
THE ASSAULT. 419
the men were crowded together and disorganised. It
was hopeless to attempt to renew the attack with the
same troops/' —
It was indeed truly hopeless ever to make an at-
tack with such troops ; a set of raw recruits, — undisci-
plined, unacquainted with one another and with their
officers, and of different regiments mixed together.
But the British Government chose the Commander-
in-Chief, and he chose his own General, and his chosen
GeneraPs own division, to make this attack, and to
risk and lose the honour of England.
LETTER CXIV.
Camp, Kamara,
10th September 1855.
In my last I told you that we were ordered up to
the trenches. We marched on the morning of the 8th
(Saturday). Our instructions were, to form the second
reserve of the 2d and Light Divisions, which were des-
tined to assault the Redan, under the management and
arrangement of Generals Codrington and Markham.
C. has never been consulted. We deposited our knap-
sacks and feather-bonnets in our old camp on the
plateau, and filed into the first parallel just as the
French began their attack on the Malakoff. We fol-
lowed along the trenches the reserves of the assault-
420 VINOY.
ing troops, and finally took up the position assigned
to us in the third parallel, under a very heavy fire,
which caused us about seventy casualties. From
thence we could see the French rush succeed, and
the sad catastrophe of the English attack on the Re-
dan, sad — not merely from our loss of life, but from
the palpable inexperience of the General, who did not
understand his metier, and from the actual misbe-
haviour of the reserves with him, who ought to have
followed the first assaulting columns. The French
have performed^ marvellous feat of arms ; they were
lucky as well as brave. The Russians did not expect
them at noon ; if they had been prepared, no troops
could have got into the Malakoflf, the strength of
which had never been estimated properly till it was
taken. The French assault on the Little Redan to
the proper left of the Malakoff was repulsed with im-
mense loss, also that on the Bastion Centrale ; that
on the Bastion du Mat never took place. Our friend
Vinoy was the hero of the day ; he got in and main-
tained himself, and thus won Sebastopol, which be-
came untenable when the Malakofi"was gone. Our
column got into the salient of the Redan, but the sup-
port would not follow. The officers exerted them-
selves and sacrificed themselves in vain ; the men
stuck behind the parapet of the advanced trenches ;
they seemed paralyzed. The Light Division, mis-
managed at the Alma, were beaten there ; they have
TAKE IT NEXT MORNING. 421
been punished ever since, and so many of their best
men killed, that the heart was out of them. The in-
trigue which kept them and Codrington in the front
will some time or other be exposed. They ought to
have been sent to support the Piedmontese instead
of our Division ; but then C. would have taken the
Redan, or left his body there with those of his faith-
ful Highlanders. That appeared too great a risk to
be run by the clique at head-quarters. The soldiers
of the Light Division had been so long exposed to fire
in the trenches, that they had got a habit of skulking
behind gabions ; " gabion dodging" is their own word.
Those who did go out, for the most part clung like a
swarm of bees on the exterior slope of the parapet of
the Redan, and finally they gave up and ran back
into their own trenches. About four o'clock p.m. our
Division and part of another was ordered to occupy
the front trenches, and the beaten troops were sent
home. We had just posted our sentries, and fully
occupied the trenches, when C. was summoned by
General Simpson, who gave him orders to assault the
Redan on the morning of the 9th. Meantime, the
Russians, finding the Malakoff lost, began their evacu-
ation. They exploded magazines in every direction,
making it impossible to move forward in the dark
and see what they were about. The tremendous ex-
plosion, and the blazing of the town, which they set
on fire, made a very beautiful spectacle. At one a. m.
422 REDAN ABANDONED.
we felt on cautiously, and discovered that the Redan
was abandoned. Before leaving, the Russians dressed
our wounded, and they did not blow up the magazine
in the Redan, which was very humane on their part.
They made a mag-nificent retreat ; carrying off their
whole garrison intact over the bridge, which they re-
moved at daylight, leaving us in quiet possession of
the ruins of the town, and about 500 guns in the
batteries, besides a multitude of stores not yet ascer-
tained. They sunk their ships during the night, and
have not fired on us from the batteries on the north side
of the Harboun It is quite likely that they will now
abandon the Crimea. I was all over the Redan at
daylight on the morning of the 9 th ; it was very
strong, but not enclosed at the gorge, as the Malakoff
was. The French surprised the Malakoff, as they
did the Mamelon and the Batteries Blanches. I do
not believe we have any plan ; but I conclude, if
the Russians quietly go away, we shall occupy both
sides of the Harbour, clear it out, fill with our ships,
and wait for spring. We all feel intensely the dis-
grace of our failure, and also feel sure, if our High-
landers had assaulted instead of the others, that we
should have taken the place. General Vinoy lost fifty-
five officers out of his six battalions. We lost 154
officers altogether. The French total is said to be
12,000 men hors de combat, ours 2000. I have been
over the Malakoff to-day, and into the town, which
A PEETTY MESS. 423
is in ruins. I only write now to say I am unhurt.
The crack young Generals Codrington and Markham
had the entire management of it ; and a pretty mess
they made ! Codrington, who was with the front di-
vision, ought to have rushed up to the Redan when
he found his men wavering.
C. remarked to General Simpson, when he ordered
the Highlanders to assault, that they had marched
twelve miles, and gone straight into the trenches, and
would spend the night there, and that they had no
food. " Oh, but the young people about me,'' meaning
his aides-de-camp, *' are so anxious it should be
done!" A nice general! The devil help England!
No one else will help a nation which puts its repu-
tation in such keeping. The one capable man they
have, to be so commanded! The cavalry is to winter
at Scutari. That, I believe, is the only thing decided
upon ; and now I suppose the diplomatists will begin
again.
LETTER CXV.
Camp, Kamara,
14th September 1855.
Twelve months ago we landed in this peninsula.
I send a woman's letter, taken from the body of an
officer in the Redan. I cannot read it, but I dare
say you will find some one who can. I have been all
424 CHANGES.
over Sebastopol ; it is utterly ruined, but gives the
notion of its having been a pretty place. The enemy's
batteries on the opposite side of the harbour will reach
it, and make any troops quartered therein uneasy.
We are beginning to embark our siege-train out of
the batteries. No one knows what may be our ul-
terior movements. My own impression is, that the
Russians will leave the Crimea of their own accord
before winter ; at present they are very busy building
batteries, but that may be only to cover their retreat.
We have got the 9 2d Highlanders added to our Di-
vision ; the 71 st* is to spend the winter at Kertsch.
Your criticism on the " Simple Story" is very just.
It only requires a little practice to get over the old
fashion of the writing. There will now be so many
changes in this army, that it becomes impossible to
foresee who will stay. Bentinck, I heard, sent in his
resignation the day before yesterday ; whether it will
be accepted, is another affair ; his going will make
C. second senior, i.e. next to Simpson. But I suspect
there is a scheme to make Codrington Commander-in-
Chief. I know there has been an offer of Malta to
C. He said the enemy was before him, and that his
place was here. wise J. B. ! fat-headed calf of an
ineffectual cow ! what art thou about ? I do not be-
lieve they will let him arrive at the command of this
army. Luckily he is independent in his circumstances,
and so he can afford to decline the command at Malta,
SHELVING. 425
which is, in fact, an insult at this moment to a man
of his antecedents. The best officer in this force to be
selected for shelving, by placing him in the charge of
the recruits at Malta ! The Government, having such
a man on the spot, is more silly than Governments
usually are, in not seizing the opportunity of putting
him into command, when, as it so rarely happens, that
post has fallen by seniority to his lot. Simpson is bet-
ter ; but he is going. The taking of the Malakoff was
a fortunate fluke for the French. The old guard had
marched out ; the new guard had not marched in :
there was only a handful of men in the work ; the
General Officer commanding was eating his soup. The
Russians had a mine, which it only required two days'
work to complete, when they would have blown up
the whole of the French advanced trenches. The
French were driven back three times. Vinoy's strength
of character kept his men to their work. He planted
his sword in the ground, near the flag which was
hoisted at the gorge of Malakoff, and, with revolver
in hand, threatened to shoot any one who retired be-
yond the sword. If he had been killed, the place
would not have been taken. I understand tbe Russian
losses from our bombardment were excessive. Their
officers behaved admirably ; their men showed great
endurance ; but they want the inteUigence of the
French. All that teaching can give, they have ; but
they are only serfs, after all, and cannot, in the long-
426 MORALE.
run, stand against free men. I think it will be a
very great misfortune for the character of the English
army, if we have not an opportunity of meeting the
Russians, and beating them, before they go, in the
open field. I do not doubt of our success, although
so much depends upon the leading. However, we are
not the army we were last year ; so many old soldiers
are gone, so many good ofiicers. The Highland Regi-
ments are fortunate ; they never broke down at all,
like so many others. I beheve this army would be
rendered more efi&cient than it is by the withdrawal
of certain corps, whose morale has been shaken ; but
the chiefs know nothing about soldiers or human
nature. The Regiment was dreadfully cut up
in India; nearly all the officers, and an immense pro-
portion of the men, were killed and wounded. It had
been in admirable discipline, and was one of the
finest regiments in India. The next time this regi-
ment was engaged, although they were scarcely under
fire and suffered nothing, yet they were quite nerv-
ous, and not to be depended upon. A wise general,
therefore, will never employ troops in a ticklish opera-
tion who have been much punished previously. Place
them in reserve ; their self-respect is preserved, and
they gradually come to again. The greatest, and also
the rarest, valour is shown by troops which can bear
to be beaten day after day, and yet come again. To
do this, you should have old soldiers, and not mere
WOOD OR IRON. 427
boys. Some martinets, who have seen nothing but
parades in England, imagine that a boy put into a
red coat becomes wood or iron. There is as much
art in maintaining the courage of soldiers as in pre-
serving their health: in both arts C , from long
experience, as well as natural aptitude, is a master.
The bravest have always most compassion, and make
the most allowance for youthful nervousness. It was
well known in the army that this Division was
shaken. After the 18th of June they ought to have
been withdrawn in a great degree, or even before that.
They might have gone to the left attack, where we
were not pushing. A wise general has a head, and
uses it for thinking. At the late assault, our Com-
mander-in-Chief allowed himself to be placed by the
Engineers in rear of the left attack, from whence he
could not communicate with the assaulting troops
without a great loss of time.
LETTER CXVI.
Camp, Kamara,
18th September 1855.
You ask about William Mansfield. He was for-
merly Colonel Mansfield of the 53d Regiment; a
very clever and accomplished man. He is now at-
tached, with the rank of Brigadier-General, to the
428 READY TO MOVE.
embassy at Constantinople, as a military medium of
communication with the Turkish Contingent. We
have received notice that four of our Divisions are to
be kept in readiness to move at a moment's notice,
dependent, I conclude, on the decision come to by
Pelissier or by the French Emperor. The unfortu-
nate Light and Second Divisions are not to be
employed. Codrington is universally reprobated.
There he stood in the advanced trench, with all his
Staff, about 250 yards from the angle of the Redan,
with his men clustered on its rampart, neither ad-
vancing nor retiring for three-quarters of an hour.
If ever there was a time when a General should have
played the part of a grenadier,* that was the time.
If he had rushed up, he might have failed in getting
the men to move on ; but he should have tried, and
have died there. Could he have got fifty men to
go over the parapet, the rest would have followed.
England has suffered an indelible disgrace ; and this
young general, I should suppose, is extinguished.
How the people could have had the idea of pushing
him into supreme command, is beyond me ; for he
has literally no experience, and this war hitherto has
been quite uninstructive in any sort of manoeuvring.
Markham I knew long ago ; he is brave, but has
nothing at all in him, — a rather dull man, I should
• Napoleon at Areola.
SELECTION. 429
say. This selection system, which is now proposed,
will, if acted upon, place Military Officers in the same
position as those of the Navy have always been in;
that is, young men of interest will be placed over the
heads of older officers ; and the present old officers,
not having been educated for such treatment, will
not submit to the injustice, but will retire in disgust.
Theoretically, a selection by merit is very good ; but
with our Government, it must be a mere job. Of
all who have been promoted, the two whom I know
to have decided military talent are Brigadier-Gene-
rals Cameron and Rumley. Our Division Generals
have been ordered to send a list of officers, non-com-
missioned officers, and men, who have served with
zeal and distinction, during the siege of Sebastopol,
since the 18th Nov. 1854. From these lists, Simp-
son is to make a selection of names for submission
home. No accident can put me right now ; for they
must antedate me above Pakenham, to do what
seems to me common justice ; and that they will
never do, even if they promote me, which I do not
expect. We have not above six weeks now of weather
in which an army could be moved. If nothing is
done during that time, we shall go into winter- quar-
ters, and I shall be adrift. I am sadly puzzled what
to do. Possibly C may be sent on some com-
mand, to clear him out of the path of the crack
young generals. If so, I may go on his personal
430 PREPARE TO WINTER.
staff. Lord Hardinge very likely will be displeased
at my remonstrance, and his Lordship may suppose
that a Committee of the House of Commons, having
decided on giving him the power of selection, has also
enabled him to change people's feelings and to recon-
cile men of intelligence and education like myself
to any injustice ; — ^in which idea, he and his House
of Commons will find themselves mistaken.
LETTER CXVn.
Camp, Kamara,
21st September 1855.
Thb next mail will tell us how the universal
J. B. has borne the news of the fall of Sebastopol.
There has come a telegraphic message forbidding the
destruction of the docks. Our people are reembark-
ing the siege guns, &c. We hear that some 12,000
Russian guns have been found, some of them very
beautiful. Their army is massed on the Belbek, and,
we hear, very dispirited. No plan is yet decided
upon, or, at least, no symptoms of moving. It is
quite time we should begin making preparations for
wintering ; a-few huts have arrived, which are ordered
to Kertsch, for the 71st. The others will, I suppose,
follow shortly. I hope our chiefs will not attempt
any thing further this autumn. Our men are many
RAIN. 431
of them very young, and six months' quiet and
comfort will add greatly to their strength. It must
be decided very soon, as we cannot reckon on more
than six weeks of good weather. The last few days
have been very bad indeed, cold and rainy, quite
unlike last year. The expedition would have very
likely failed, if we had not been so fortunate in our
weather ; it is now clearing up, and I suppose we
shall have the Indian summer. I am trying to per-
suade myself that, when we go into winter-quarters,
we shall still have the enemy before us. I would
fain not quit the army ; yet know not how to stay.
There will most likely be a gazetteful of promotions
and honours ; but I think Lord Hardinge will be too
much affronted at my protest to do any thing for me.
These great people, who have always had the world
at their feet, cannot understand an independent man,
who thinks nothing of them or their greatness. Your
administrative reform seems to have come to nothing ;
it wants Cobden. They say the French are mending
the road up to Aitodor, which is at least a threat to
Gortschakoff. We cannot go up by Mackenzie's Farm,
but, once on the plateau now before us, we should
winter at Bakchi-Serai. You ought to get a good map
of these parts : if we move, you will know nothing
without a map ; I do not mean a pretty sketch of the
scenery, but a faithful map, giving the roads, rivers,
and hills, which will be famous henceforward for ever-
432 PREDICTION.
more. The Allied Generals have agreed to let Omar
Pasha take away the only three good battalions he
left here ; the rest of the Turks might as well go with
them. Before the assault these battalions were re-
fused to him, to his immense disgust. This change
will weaken our right towards Baidar ; but I do not
think the Russians meditate any sort of an advance.
How do the Italian Liberals bear the glory recently
acquired by the Piedmontese ? The latter are in the
seventh heaven. I cannot help hoping that this small
country will some time or other get rid of Pope,
Bomba, Austria, &c., out of Italy, and make a regno
d^ Italia; for I do not put any faith in a United
Italy, made up of little republican states ; they would
go to war with one another, and the devil would laugh
at that.
LETTER CXVIII.
Camp, Kamara,
24th September 1855.
We are still in indecision here. A spy came back
yesterday to Osman Pasha, whom I saw this morn-
ing : the statement is, that 10,000 Russians have gone
back past Perekop ; that the Russians are withdrawing
guns and powder from the North Fort, or Sivemaya,
to some place which is not known ; they have two
divisions opposite Sebastopol, i. e. opposite to us, and
BAIDAR. 433
three, or about 30,000 men, at Khorales ; total force in
the Crimea 70,000. The Eussian soldiers are much
dispirited ; before the fall of Sebastopol, they were
told to die in that place ; now they are told not to
attack us, but to resist to the last, should we attack
them ; but if we should cut off their retreat, they
were to surrender, — which idea, entering into the sol-
diers' minds, is very ominous. Most likely the spy
is a double one, and only tells part of what he knows ;
he promises that before eight days we shall hear
something astonishing. The losses in the retreat are
described as enormous, whole battalions slipping off
the bridge into the sea : this is very likely, as it was
a floating bridge, with no sides. I rode yesterday
along the Woronzow Road to Baidar, which is a miser-
able Turkish village; the cottages wattle and mud;
the people unmolested, and with some small shops,
selling things at an exorbitant rate to the French.
They have there four Divisions, perhaps 1 5,000 men,
some miles to the north of Baidar, feeling the Eussian
outposts. I picked a tobacco -leaf out of a small
garden at Baidar. They appear to cure their tobacco
for home consumption themselves. The reply to
Bentinck's resignation came yesterday by telegraph,
after considerable delay ; it was a refusal to accept it,
and a direction to Simpson not to forward any simi-
lar applications. At the same time, I am convinced
they are scheming something to put young generals
F F
434 PAR POLITIQUE.
in command. They surely will not try to compel the
seniors to serve under the juniors, whether they like
it or not ; so that an old general will have to sham
sick, or else resign his commission, in order to get
away from such an intolerable position. has
heard that they will take an opportunity of pro-
moting him ; I suppose he has friends. As Vinoy
said to me last winter, when I was trying to arrange
sometliing for the convenience of landing his stores
at Balaklava, " Je vois que chez vous tout se fait par
politique." The feeling here is strong against Cod-
rington for not going out of the trenches when he
found his men hanging back. No one intends to
allude to his personal courage, but to his ignorance
of his metier. If Lord Panmure knows the truth,
he will scarcely give him a high command : he ought
to be recalled, if justice is to be done. I cannot
comprehend the folly of the English nation in not
giving the command of our army to C. ; he is not
only the best, but the only competent man here.
Markham never was a man of any ability; he was
brave, and had extraordinary physical powers, but his
constitution is a wreck ; and with that sort of man,
the physique being gone, all is gone. Austria will be
in a sad way at having taken part with the losing side.
I trust they will pinch her well ; although, in truth,
I do not see how to do it, unless by causing revolu-
tions, which Louis Napoleon cannot very well do. The
ENEMY HUTTING. 435
true reward for France will be the Prussian Ehenish
Provinces ; and I have little doubt that is what they
are looking forward to. We, I conclude, shall get
nothing; money cannot be expected from Russia,
and territory she has none that would suit us. A
French Division and some cavalry have been sent to
Eupatoria, as a threat against the enemy's commu-
nication with Perekop. The fleet came off Balaklava
and pretended to embark men ; they put all the
marines on deck, and passed the Russian positions,
on the north side of the harbour, cheering, to make
believe we were sending English troops to Eupatoria ;
but it is only a ruse. I do not think that any thing
will be done. We are longing for the decision, in
order that we may begin to hut our men, and make
them comfortable before the bad weather ; but pa-
tience is our only motto.
LETTER CXIX.
Camp, Kamara,
29th September 1855.
We are all anxious to hear how you behave after
the digestion of our failure and success. Here we are
doing nothing. The enemy does not show the smallest
sign of vacating the Crimea ; he is hutting and pre-
paring for winter, on the one hand, and on the other.
436 MARKHAM.
is firing red-hot shot into the ruins of Sebastopol,
to annoy our fatigue-parties. Markham, the General,
is gone home sick, quite broken up in constitution, I
should say : his Division is to be kept for him, in
case of his recovery, and of his being able to return
in the spring. I believe that the Court had been
planning to give Codrington the command of the
army ; but that Lord Panmure, the responsible man,
has concluded that Markham shall have it, and that
he positively would have been named in the spring :
this design his illness will disturb ; and should he not
recover. Lord P. will have to look out for some one
else. I cannot imagine what has given his Lordship
so liigh an opinion of his capacity. In India, he was
considered to be very brave, and the best ibex-shot
in the country. Now, if this idea of mine be correct,
as I do not doubt, what do you think of the wisdom
or the consideration of a public minister who would
leave senior ofiicers here — nay, compel them to stay —
during the winter in mud and snow, taking care of
their men, entertaining all the while a fixed intention
of placing a junior over their heads when the cam-
paign shall be about to commence? Then their mili-
tary honour would force them to remain in so false
a position. Little more than two years ago, this very
Markham was under the command of C. in India. I
told you Bentinck's resignation had been refused, and
that Simpson had been told not to forward any simi-
EAT MY LEEK. 437
lar applications ; knowing what I think I know, you
perceive that C, with his long and admirable ser-
vice, is about to be situated as I have been since
Pakenham's promotion. Mind this goes no further
than yourself. The moment that we receive definite
orders to go into winter-quarters, which we expect
every day, C. intends to ask for six weeks' leave
of absence : he will go direct to London, and take
Lord Hardinge and Lord Panmure by the throat ;
and, I think, will not come back to this army. I
shall wait till I hear from him, before doing any
thing. If they try to make me serve, after the injus-
tice I have suffered, there will be nothing left for me
than to sham sick, which I disdain to do, or to sell
out. Strictly speaking, I ought to refuse any em-
ployment except on the personal staff, unless I am
promoted into my proper place, viz., a Colonel, with
date of I7th July ; but in extremities my iron tem-
per may have to yield a little, and I may have to
eat my leek. Nothing can possibly be more against
the grain. There is, indeed, the resource of writing
to the newspapers, with my name subscribed. This is
not legally a military offence, if done in proper lan-
guage ; but it is a course which I do not admire. I
have now put before you a little picture of the state
to which punctilios in the point of honour may bring
a man. Would that I were an M.P., or rather a
peer ; had I been either, the wish would be unneces-
438 SELLING OFF.
sary ; for I should not have been passed over. Most
of the fleet is going away, as there are no Russian
men-of-war left ; I suppose one or two steamers off
the port to cruise will be enough. The Admiral will
winter in Kasatch Bay. He and the French one have
offered to carry 60,000 men in the line -of- battle
ships, now become useless. I expect a horrible job
of arranging and selling off all my things and those
of C, about the end of October or the beginning of
November ; as I cannot believe they will find it pos-
sible to compel me to remain here. You cannot help
me ; but you can understand how awkwardly I am
situated.
LETTER CXX.
Camp, Kamara,
2d October 1855.
Our position remains the same. We have not
yet got the order to • begin camping for the winter ;
but I believe it k decided that all the Turks here
under Omar Pasha are to go to Asia, and the High-
land Division will have the outposts for another
winter. I hope we may be able to get our men
hutted before the bad weather ; to do that in the
short time which remains will require all our energies.
We hear of successes of General D'Allonville at Eupa-
MURAL CROWNS. 489
toria. Would that he had all our cavalry under his
command ! He would give them a fair chance.
There is news of a party of our 10th Hussars
being surprised at Kertsch. Hussars should be all
eyes, and those never closed. Personal bravery is
only a small part of their requirements. Bentinck
has, I understand, got leave to go home : he will
never come back, and his departure will make C.
second in seniority in the army ; but I believe Gene-
ral Panmure has quite settled to improvise a young
general after his own beau -ideal. They give us a
clasp, in addition to the Crimean medal for Sebas-
topol : it seems to me this finish ought to have been
a separate decoration. How would J. B. like the
army in mural crowns? The enemy keeps firing
very vigorously across the harbour into the town.
The French are trying to repair many of the build-
ings ; but unless the Russians are either driven away,
or are so good as to go of their own, accord, the place
will be untenable. Napoleon, I suspect, thinks they
will go, and has hindered Pelissier from attacking
them. We have rumours here of an insurrection at
St. Petersburg, and the flight of the Emperor to
Moscow. The monotony of our state here is so great,
that it is impossible to find any thing to make a
letter out of. All our men are employed in cutting
fascines for a road from Balaklava to the camp on
the plateau. We are doing nothing for ourselves,
440 SERIOUS ADVICE.
and cannot even drill the young officers and the
recruits.
LETTER CXXI.
Camp, Kamara,
5th October 1855.
The mail has brought in the despatches of Gene-
ral Simpson, relating how we did not take the Redan.
I also received for perusal the answer of General
Yorke to my last letter, a copy of which I sent you.
The gist of it is, that such are the necessary results
of selection ; with a special serious advice to me to be
moderate in my expressions when writing officially.
It is indeed difficult so to write that a military com-
plainant shall not become criminal ; but I thank
my good brains that I can say pretty near what I
choose, and yet steer clear of the gripe of the law.
The real object should be so to write that injustice
may be impossible; there I fail. We shall soon
have, I suppose, a fresh batch of promotions ; and,
perhaps, I may be made a substantive Lieutenant-
Colonel, i. e. \s. 6^. per diem more half-pay. I
cannot answer Yorkers last letter, because I should
be obliged to throw up my appointment, and I have
settled to wait till C. reaches England. The 18,000
Turks under Osman Pasha are all going off to Souk-
KINBOURN. 441
houm Kale, and our seven battalions will take up
their, ground ; that is, cover the right of the Pied-
montese, looking towards Sulu and Baidar. The
French, how at the latter place, will return when the
weather breaks up, and we shall have the outposts
as we had last winter, only further advanced. C.
will hut his men, and then go off some time in the
beginning of November. The Russians stop all the
spies from going up on the high ground where their
troops are posted ; so that, I believe, we know abso-
lutely nothing of their doings. The French made a
reconnoissance the other day about Aitodor, when
a Russian Division retired before them ; that is, I
conclude, gained the strong part of the position.
The Russians, if they can keep the north side during
the winter, will help their diplomacy ; that, I judge,
will be their only gain. In the spring they will
infallibly be dislodged, and we shall have the Crimea.
An expedition of, they say, 7000 French and English
is gone to Kinboum, so as to block up the entrance
to Nicolaieff. The result of the extra 6d. a day
given to our soldiers, with back pay to the amount
of 455. per man, has been frightful drunkenness.
They are quite incurable, poor fools. Danby Sey-
mour is here sight-seeing ; he is going to Asia, and
then to the Danube on his way home. Kinglake
stopped at Marseilles sick. I shall have a weary
time of it when C. goes, while waiting for orders to
442 M. PAUL RANGUIS.
pack up and sell off our things. I see by the papers
that Fenton, the photographist, has got his exhibition
up : you will be much interested by it, I should think ;
probably he has taken some field of battle, and you
will see the horrid sight in all its gloom. There is no
mistaking a dead body killed in battle for any thing
else ; and a very mysterious and awe-striking object
it is, till habit dulls its terrors. Our weather this
October has turned out much more changeable than
it was last year ; but the men continue very healthy
in spite of their drinking. It is to be hoped that
next winter we shall not have so much maudlin sen-
timent and muffettees, as the goodies in England
favoured us with, under the influence of the news-
paper spasmodic efforts to keep up the ball We are
all hard-worked at road-making, and various prepa-
rations to meet the bad weather, which will surely
come in about three weeks. I beg to introduce to
your acquaintance M. Paul Ranguis, a French libe-
ruble, or one who has served his seven years and
over in the 20""^ de Ligne. He has served fourteen
campaigns, and was present at the sieges of Rome and
of Sebastopol. Instead of embarking for France, he
has preferred becoming my valet ; and a very simple,
obliging, good creature he seems. Seven years, and
never punished ! for a young man and a Frenchman.
His etat is that of ciergist, his country Gave, near
the Alps. He has enabled me to discharge the last of
CLOUDS. 443
my Constantinople Turks, who are an abomination;
idle, lying, lazy, grasping thieves, by birth and edu-
cation. When I leave this army, what shall I do?
Curses on their selection system and their aristocracy,
which drive me out of my profession for the second
time ! There is an amount of discontent in this
army which must sooner or later bring a revolution
in it. Clouds are gathering, only to be dispersed by
a storm. We hear that there is to be an exchange
of Crosses of the Legion of Honour, for ditto of the
Bath : I suppose regulated by diplomacy, and the
Legion of Honour issued according to the amount of
people's connection with Dukes and Lords of high
degree. The Commissariat here are furious ; a young
, who was Commissary to De Lacy Evans, has
got promoted clean over the heads of a number of
most deserving officers : two have already resigned ;
they are non-combatants, and can do as they please ;
but men with famihes dependent on them are com-
pelled to submit to the indignity. I am much puz-
zled and perplexed.
44'4 SLEDGES.
LETTER CXXII.
Camp, Kamara,
8th October 1855.
Our division is now busy preparing the ground
for their huts ; but now to-day there has arrived an
order stating how much, or rather how little, the
soldiers are to carry in case of their being called
upon to move in light marching order. The expedi-
tion to Kinbourn or elsewhere is embarked. I do
not think it will come to any thing ; the fort is on a
tongue of land, and is frozen up in winter, so that
the garrison could not be reached by us, and would
be exposed to the attack of the Russians, who under-
stand sledges, and who are fully equipped for winter
campaigning. The next post which reaches you will,
I suppose, bring you my account of the assault, and
of our disgraceful failure. I have heard to-day, from
good authority, that has been refused his
promotion, as well as myself ; and that he means to
go home as soon as it is certain nothing more can be
done this autumn. You know my plans. I am now
so situated, having held out a threat of resigning, that
even if I repented of it, I could not well avoid taking
the leap. It distresses me very much ; but I am
certain it is becoming to go. Perhaps it may prevent
some one else from being unjustly treated. We know
nothing of the Russians ; but I see the French are
VERY SAD. 445
disposed to press them from Baidar, in the Aitodor
direction. As there cannot be more than about three
weeks of tolerable weather, we shall soon know our
fate. I do not expect C. will go till the middle of
November. I shall not hear from him till the middle
of December ; so that I shall have plenty of bad
weather to meet before I can go. I am very sad and
put out at this affair.
LETTER CXXIII.
Camp, Kamara,
12th October 1855.
The mail has come, but it has not yet reached
this excrescence of the British camp. The rumour
has come, however, that Windham has been made a
Major-General. He showed plenty of courage, and his
want of knowledge of the profession cannot be con-
sidered glaring, with the example of his superior
officers staring us in the face. His having begun in
the Guards gave him early rank, and the chance of
commanding a brigade on this occasion. Bentinck
goes to-morrow. One of his brigades is gone in the
expedition to Kinboum ; the other, which Windham
commanded, being now vacant (Windham is com-
mandant of Sebastopol), is given to Lord William
Paulet, who has been all this time at Scutari. He
446 CATCH TARTARS.
will have Bentinck's division. We are exerting every
energy to get up huts for our division, — riding and
routing about from Kamara Church to Balaklava, —
one set of officers and men preparing the ground,
others sorting the huts, and others urging on the
Tartar carts, here called arabas. We literally catch
Tartars, and keep them with a guard. They are paid,
and get rations. Besides sending our men to load
them at Balaklava, we have two relays of 1 000 men
each, who carry pieces of the huts on their shoulders,
from Balaklava to the camp, about four miles. The
moment the rain begins, all this will be stopped ; the
huts will have to go by the rail up to the front, and
come down the Woronzow Road, a tremendous round.
We have determined, if energetic exertion will do it,
to get up all our huts before the end of this month.
I shall take a pride in this my last military duty, in
hutting the Division before any other one, notwith-
standing they all have the rail except ourselves. As
soon as all the huts are up, C. will, I suppose, go
away. Bentinck being gone, C. is next in senior-
ity to Simpson ; so that something remains for the
chapter of accidents. If Simpson were taken sud-
denly worse, and forced to go, Lord Panmure would
be in a predicament. Markham sick at home ;
Codrington covered, not with glory ; there is still
Eyre to put in command over C. Lord Grey thinks
highly of him, and, I suppose, has some influence.
WOE ! WOE ! 447
Still, chance and a fit of illness might, by possibility,
place the best officer in the army at its head. You
are to understand that S. often differs with C. about
his plans ; but no one I have seen can hold a candle
to the latter as an officer ; he is quite above all in-
trigue, and scorns meanness and idleness and shirk-
ing so fiercely and so openly, that all our fine highly-
connected people both hate and fear him ; he is also
the man to make Lord Panmure afraid. If he were
Commander-in-Chief, I am convinced he would not
submit to manage his army under the dictation of
the electric wires from the War-Office. It is re-
ported that a message has come, beginning "Woe,
woe," to all the Head-quarter Staff, if the army suf-
fers this winter from the want of roads, or of any
thing else. We have no information about the
Kussians. Our spies cannot get up on the plateau
at Mackenzie's Farm ; but I have no notion they
mean to retire ; nothing short of another army landed
behind them can compel them to such a step. Ano-
ther Battle of Alma fought in spring would do it ;
but speculation is vain. So many heads, so many
secret cords pulled in different directions, leave our
fate in a great measure to be decided by some acci-
dent ; with which sad and too true conviction I bid
you farewell.
448 GETTING UP HUTS.
LETTER CXXIV.
Camp, Kamara,
15th October 1855.
We have been excessively busy since we got the
order to encamp here, in carrying up huts for winter
barracks. The distance is not much less than five
miles ; so you may fancy it is a job to carry hutting
enough for 5000 men.
We have hired country-carts out here, and 1000
men go down every morning to load these carts.
They then load themselves. The men carry their
loads half-way, and are there met by another 1 000,
who bring the huts into camp. Then all the pieces
are classified, and laid out in bundles for issuing ;
n\eantime other men are levelling the ground, making
roads, &c. I hope, if we work steadily, we may have
the men hutted by the end of this month. On Satur-
day last, we got a sudden order to embark the Divi-
sion and two batteries for Eupatoria, to act on the
enemy's lines of communication.
This would have made our hutting impossible
before the winter, and we should have had our old
mud and misery.
To-day this expedition has been countermanded,
partly because it was found that shipping would not
be ready for some time to carry the 3700 animals
necessary for our baggage and ammunition, and partly
SIMPSON. 449
because Simpson has just had a message from Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe, to the effect that he has heard
from Berliiij that the Russians intended to hazard
another battle. To tell you the truth, I do not think
they will ; but it is as well to be prepared. While
it was thought we were going, a small discussion
arose as to who would be in command, whether
General d'Allonville or C.
In your letter to me, you speak of the trenches
being crowded, as a fault of Simpson's. These crowds
ought to have rushed out. In making a fresh as-
sault, it would have been necessary to withdraw
the first, which had been employed, and their re-
serves, before we could get our men into the ad-
vanced trenches.
Simpson's great fault, since he could not manage
the details himself, was, to give the arrangements for
the assault to an inexperienced man like Codrington.
General Wetherall's sou, who was a Captain in the
Royals, is going to be made Quarter-Master General.
The first thing he got was an appointment to the
Guards, then a brevet Majority, then a Lieutenant-
Colonelcy, then local rank of full Colonel, and Quar-
ter-Master General to the Turkish Contingent. Ge-
neral Freeth, who is Quarter-Master General at the
Horse Guards, is going to give up ; and Airey gets
that patent appointment. Colonel the Honourable A,
Gordon, who began as Assistant Adjutant-General
GG
450 THE TIMES.
to the 1st Division, is made deputy Quarter-Master
General at the Horse Guards. Great luck some peo-
ple have, to be sure !
LETTER CXXV.*
To the Editor oftlie Times.
Camp, Kamara,
19th October 1855.
Sir, — I have read with amazement a leading
article in the Times of the 4th October, on the sub-
ject of the command of this army. The paragraph I
wish to remark upon, is as follows ; and I have itali-
cised the parts I mean to touch upon : " A single
year of warfare has disposed of the whole of these
veterans, with the exception of Sir Colin Camphelly
who has been laid up in lavender all the winter with
his Highlanders^ and whose military talents, if we
may judge of them by his exploits in the Punjab, do
not entitle him to aspire to a great command. We
* This Letter was published in the Times of Tuesday, No-
vember 13th, 1855. I think it just to the responsible Editor of
the Times that I should state, that when the attack on Sir C.
Campbell appeared, he was travelling in the Pyrenees; and that
I have reason to know, that he was very sorry when he saw
what his locuvi tenens had done. A. C. S.
THE TIMES. 451
have seen the result of sending a young army into
the field almost entirely led by old chiefs, who owed
their rank to seniority and brevet promotion ; the
best of them, however, have either fallen in battle, or
sunk under disease ; and those who remain are mere
obstructions to the real strength of the army."
The first assertion here is, that Sir Colin Camp-
bell and his Highlanders were laid up in lavender
during the winter. As I also was in lavender with
them, I have better reason than the writer of this
article to know what the fact was as to our comforts.
The three regiments, the 42d, the 79th, and 93d,
were united in front of Balaklava on the day after
the so-called action of Balaklava. Their business
was, aided by the Brigade of Eoyal Marines, consist-
ing of some 1200 men, and several thousands of the
poor Turks, who were driven out of the redoubts on
the day of Balaklava, and who nearly all died during
the winter of the cold and hardship, which the sturdy
Scotchmen endured without a murmur, under the
cheerful, noble, generous leading of Sir Colin Camp-
bell ; — their business, I say, was to finish the works on
the heights, and to construct trenches, in mud and
frost and snow; and when made, to guard them. The
guarding consisted in the whole of the soldiers being
fully accoutred all night and every night ; one half
of them lay every night in the trenches, and the
other half in the muddy tents, from the 25th Octo-
452 THE TIMES.
ber to the 6th December, when the Russians retired
across the Chernaya.
During this period, and for many weeks after-
wards, they were never dry. Immediately on the
enemy's retreat, the fatigue-parties to the front be-
gan ; on which subject I beg to introduce an extract
of a letter written by Sir Colin Campbell to Major
General Airey, dated January 29th, 1855 :
" During the last eight weeks the European troops
under my command have been employed on fatigue
to a very great extent. When I understood from
the Artillery Officers here, that the progress of the
siege would be assisted by my doing so, I employed
of my own accord, and without any order, all the
available soldiers in carrying to the park the follow-
ing ordnance stores, besides a quantity of shot and
shell, of which I have no account : viz.
33 platforms of 60 pieces, being a load for . 3960 men.
120 large platform sleepers .... 1200 „
Iron shoes for platforms, in 90 packets . . 90 „
450 pickaxes 220 „
About 60 fascines 120 „
About 30 cwt. of coals for platform stoves, &c. 1236 „
6826
" Besides which, these men have carried to Lord
Raglan's house nearly 4000 bags of biscuit, being
above thirteen days' consumption for 25,000 men.
Frequently 1300 Europeans, and from 300 to 500
THE TIMES. 453
Turks, have been thus employed. At the same time
the troops had to carry up from Balaklava the whole
of their rations, their regimental transport having
been taken from them by the A. Q. M. G. of the
1st Division, and their public animals by the Com-
missary, the latter for the purpose of carrying the ra-
tions of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division. During
these fatigues, there frequently remained to protect
the position merely the ordinary day guards and the
cooks : these fatigues usually lasted from seven to eight
hours daily, during which time the men were mid-leg
in mud."
Until the 6th December, the small British force
in the lines of Balaklava had 18 battaHons of Rus-
sian infantry, and 24 guns in position, close over-
hanging them, and threatening an attack at any
moment. The vigilance, the energy, and judgment
displayed all this time by Sir Colin Campbell will be
long remembered by those who witnessed the exhi-
bition. That officer during the winter exposed himself
to more cold and hardship than all the other Generals
in the army and all their Staff-officers put together :
always on parade, with all his officers and men, in
rain and mud, before daylight, he slept in his clothes
regularly for eight months ; and this is the lavender
you write about.
The next point is a reference to Sir Colin Camp-
bell's exploits in the Punjab, which can be called
464 THE TIMES.
nothing but a depreciatory one, since the deduction
drawn is, that they did not entitle him to a great
command. I should like to know what does entitle
a man to a great command? See Sir C. Napier's
despatches, where he speaks of Sir Colin. The latter,
when he left India, brought with him letters from
Lord Dalhousie, containing the highest possible enco-
miums on his whole military conduct in the Punjab.
His leading of the 61st Regiment at the battle of
Chillianwallah decided the action and saved the
British Army : the feat of this regiment on that
day, under Sir Colin Campbell's leadership, was pro-
nounced by the Duke of Wellington, as may be seen
in his Grace's letter, preserved in the Orderly-room
61st Regiment, to have been one of the most brilliant
exploits ever performed by the English Army. Sir
Colin Campbell resigned the lucrative employment
which he held at Peshawer, because he would not
allow the Governor-Generars political agents to dictate
to him how he should fight; and the Governor-General
preferred losing his services, which he acknowledged in
the most flattering terms, rather than have an inde-
pendent man fighting the battles of England with an
energy and skill equalled by none, except Sir C. Na-
pier. In Hart's Army List there are recorded some
parts of Sir Colin's exploits ; his early ones in the Pen-
insula may well be called so, as he commanded the
storming party at Saint Sebastian's, and was twice
THE TIMES. 455
wounded in the breach ; but it is the fashion now to
laugh at Peninsular heroes. Sir Colin commanded
in India, and with constant success, against the enemy,
from five to six batteries, as many cavalry regiments,
and up to fourteen battalions ; besides which, at one
time, he also held command of the Punjab Division,
consisting of 54,000 men of all arms.
The third point is the sentence about old chiefs,
who owe their rank to seniority and brevet promo-
tion. It so happens, that Sir Colin was promoted to
a company out of his regiment for distinguished con-
duct ; that he purchased his regimental Majority
over another officer's head, and also purchased an
unattached Lieutenant-Colonelcy ; his rank of Co-
lonel he got by being made Queen's A. D. C, for
his service in China ; and he was selected to be a
Brigadier -General in this army on its formation.
So that he never got a single step either by brevet
or seniority.
The last point is the accusation implied of being
a mere obstruction to the real strength of the army.
This is very curious. I do not believe there are many
men in the army who could outrun him now ; and not
one who could outride him, or endure more fatigue.
With all this great experience and practice in
war, joined to a wonderful physical vigour, an untir-
ing energy and will, a care and providence for his
men not to be surpassed, — it seems to me that if any
456 THE TIMES.
man could be selected more fit than another to com-
mand this army, that man is Sir Colin Campbell.
It is not a command to be wished for by a wise
man, considering the tenure on which it must be
held ; it is the last thing which any friend of Sir
Colin's would wish to see him accept : but that is no
reason for allowing him to be assailed in your columns
without a reply.
If you really have the honest wish to keep the
English nation well informed as to facts concerning
the officers out here, you will publisli this letter. I
pledge my honour to the truth, or to my belief in the
truth, of them ; and few people have better means of
getting at the truth than I have had in this case. I
have to assure you, that Sir C. Campbell has not
seen this letter, nor does he know I am writing it.
I have the honour to be. Sir, &c.
(Signed) A. C. Sterling, Lieut.-Col.,
Assistant Adjutant- General Highland Division.
LETTER CXXVI.
Camp, Kamara,
22d October 1855.
The Morning Post goes a little too far. My
peak is very well ; it was only a knock, not a knock
GOING TO THE REAR. 457
off. The curious of England seem to think it so odd
if a shot comes near any acquaintance. I only re-
marked, " That is a close shave ;'' — but bullets come
quite as close without touching, and one knows no-
thing about it. To call a peak of a cap shot off
shocking ! What was shocking, I have described,
viz. : that the honour of England should have been
left in such hands, and that it should still be left
there. The people of England have given us up to
the Press ; why does not the Press protect us ? We
have a new hero set up now, Major-General Wind-
ham of the Guards, whose experience was limited to
what could be acquired in command of a company
of that corps. He came out of the Eedan to ask for
supports. If he had had any experience, he would
have known that his leaving the spot would have
been, as it was, the signal for all the rest to follow.
An ofi&cer ought to stay with his men, and die with
his men. The Duke of Wellington once met an
officer, commanding a regiment which was engaged,
going to tlie rear for ammunition. He never would
see him again, and sent him back to Lisbon. All
the officers who were wounded did as well as Wind-
ham, with the exception of getting back unhurt. You
ask what the Redan is like, and what are traverses.
The inside of the Redan, when I saw it last, was filled
with broken gun-carriages, and strewed with dead men
and firelocks and clothes. Standing on the parapet.
458 A TRAVERSE.
you looked down on a deck, as you would standing
on a frigate's hammock nettings. Assaulting the
Redan was very much like boarding a frigate from
boats. A traverse is a mound of earth, usually about
seven feet high, joined at one end to the parapet of
the work. One use of it is, to get behind, or at that
side of it on which the shell about to burst has not
fallen ; it is a protection to guns and to men against
shot falling into a work. I believe it was originally
invented to prevent ricochetting shot from dismount-
ing guns ; the shots stuck in the traverse, and there
remained. If I had nothing else to do than to write
about these warlike scenes, I dare say I could do it
well enough ; but I have no time I can call my own,
and no newspaper would publish me. I am sure no
newspaper, or man in England, has had so much
truth written to them on this Crimean business as
has come from me to you. I doubt not at all, that a
bookmaker would construct a good article out of my
Letters.
LETTER CXXVIL
Camp, Kamara,
27th October 1855.
We continue working away, getting up huts ; the
completion of which job, and the commencement of
the rains, will be the signal for our Hegira. We have
PRIVATE AFFAIES. 459
vague rumours of an iutended promotion, founded on
certain lists, which were called for by Simpson, from
each General of Division. The Times, I observe, has
begun to be satirical at the number of officers of the
Guards, who have urgent private affairs. Poor young
men ! they have been accustomed all their lives to
receive a certain portion of leave per annum.
LETTEE CXXVIII.
Camp, Eamara,
30th October 1855.
I HAVE moved myself into our new camp, about
half a mile east of the old one, and have put up
a wooden hut, which for the present I am occupying,
while I am engaged in preparing the other huts and
conveniences, in the way of kitchen, stables, &c., neces-
sary for the entourage of a General Officer. The situa-
tion of the hut I am in, which is intended for C, is
very beautiful, although exposed to all winds ; it is
surrounded by a gabionade, to keep off the blasts.
Almost touching the hut, there is a very, very small
chapel, with its wee cupola and cross ; the inside of
it is not more than six feet square. Who knows
if we shall ever occupy these huts, which I am labour-
ing at ? It is certain that Simpson has sent in his
460 DAMAGED.
resignation ; and the command may be offered to C.
in such a manner that he will not be able to refuse
it. The objections to his taking it are these : he
was first damaged by Lord Raglan, who took the
troops he had formed, and sent them to Kertsch
under command of a junior officer, Sir John Camp-
bell ; it afterwards became known in the army, that
it had been intended to place first Codrington, and
then Markham, in command over him. Codrington
has swamped himself, I should think ; and Markham
is gone home sick. Were the command now conferred
on C, he would not be placed there in a fair position,
but merely stuck in as a pis alter j which he does not
choose to be. So that, I imagine, the resignation of
Simpson will hurry C. in his own departure, as it is
to be hoped we shall have all our men under cover
in about ten days. On the other hand, if C. be com-
pelled to assume the command, I am sure he will not
submit for a moment to insolent messages from .
LETTER CXXIX.
Camp, Kamara,
2d November 1855.
I HAVE applied for leave of absence, which I be-
lieve I am to obtain ; this is the first step to my
resignation : once away, they cannot put their finger
OFF. 461
on me again. 0. goes off to-morrow : he will go
direct to London, and place his resignation in Hard-
inge's hands. We expect every day to hear the name
of Simpson's successor ; it might chance to be C, but
I do not believe it. He goes away to avoid the un-
pleasantness of having a junior officer put over his
head. If he were himself the man, I should remain
as his Military Secretary. I cannot take any appoint-
ment from the Horse Guards, after the way I have
been used ; and I am fairly driven out of the profes-
sion. There is good reason for believing that there
is a gazette of promotion on the tapis ; meantime the
army is undisciplined, and wants a General ; and a
precious job he will have of it. The probabilities are,
that I shall leave this place for Constantinople on
to-morrow week, the 10th November ; but I do not
know what I am going to do afterwards, feeling in a
sort of maze. All the things have to be sold off,
which is a troublesome affair. I deeply grieve at
leaving the army. All the old officers will go, who
have any spirit, and who are so treated : let us hope
the young ones are deserving of the way in which
they are pushed on, and that their great merits will
fully make up for the loss of the experienced people
who are expelled.
5 th November.
I cannot tell you how much I regret leaving these
Highland soldiers, with whom I have been serving so
462' CLASSE DANGEREUSE.
long ; they are so entirely different, and so superior,
to any of the other Divisions, from the way in which
they have been managed by C. ; there is that put
into them, which will make the reputation of what-
ever officer has the good fortune to command them,
when matters look murky ! Ah, me ! I am sick, and
belong to the classe dangereuse. What else can an
officer be, used as I have been? I declare I only
wonder my brain is still sound.
LETTER CXXX.
Camp, Karoara,
Monday, 5th November 1855.
I HAVE got my leave. C. sailed on Saturday ; I
shall do so on Saturday next, for Constantinople and
Malta. The weather, which has been very windy, is
now beautiful again ; and I hope may continue so, at
least till Wednesday, when my sale will take place.
Regret at the departure of C. seems universal. We
have, as yet, no news of the relieving General-in-
Chief It is expected hourly ; meantime a Russian
Officer has deserted, and declares they are going to
do something on the 7th : either to attack us or to
retire. I do not believe a word of either. As I shall
not embark till Friday at soonest, I shall have posi-
tive information on this point The list is now to be
MALTA. 463
made of things for my auction ; such a collection of
odds and ends, that I have been carrying about with
me. Infinite trouble, but which is now at an end.
Baggage is a great impediment ; and all the soldier
servants seem to think, that the moment they come
to a Staff-officer, they are also to carry baggage, which
goes to load his mules. I am very sad and provoked,
and know not where to go, nor what to do.
LETTER GXXXI.
Malta, 20th November 1855.
After a tedious voyage, I landed here yesterday.
I find papers to the 11th ; and I see that I am made
a substantive Lieutenant-Colonel, which they will pre-
tend is according to the warrant : whereas the war-
rant says, if an officer shall have received brevet rank
for distinguished service, he may afterwards be made
substantive. Now I have not had any brevet rank
conferred upon me, while is made a Colonel.
On what pretence I am not to be promoted, is more
than I can understand. The Times^ I perceive, says,
C. will be an irreparable loss. It is a pity they did
not find that out sooner. The Editor then proceeds
to objurgate him for not serving under a junior officer,
ignoring the fact that Malta had been offered to
him. It is not mentioned in the papers how Moles-
464 LONDON.
worth is to be replaced. Just as he had worked him-
self to the top of his profession, to be carried off, is
a kind stroke of fate. No disappointments for him
any more.
LETTER CXXXII.
Malta, 29th November 1855.
I have been very much comphmented here by
many officers, on the score of my vindication of my
chief. I do not think General Pennefather likes it ;
as I asserted that C. endured more hardships than
any of the other (Jenerals.
A letter from C. is just come, dated London.
Lord Panmure had written to him on the 22d October,
making an appeal to his patriotism of the strongest
nature, so far as words go, to induce him to accept
command under Codrington. Lord Panmure told
him to take a copy of the letter with him, and make
known his decision to Lord Hardinge for his infor-
mation. C. then saw Lord Hardinge, and told him,
neither the request of Lord Panmure nor of the
whole body of Ministers would make him accede to
this proposition. He is invited to Windsor on the
20th; if her Majesty asks him, I fear he cannot refuse,
and I must follow his lead. The intention is to "make
him Commander of a Corps d'Armee of three Divi-
sions. A mail from England is expected to-morrow,
pelissier's last. 465
bringing six days' later news. If C. is induced to
accept, I must go to England to get another fit-out,
all my things having been sold. " Jacob Omnium"
judged quite right in cutting out any parts of my
Letter which were oiffensive to the Editor of the
Times; the main point being to put C. right in the
same paper which traduced him. I hope they will not
meddle with us any more : " Nemo me impune la-
cessit." The explanation in Parliament for the ne-
cessity of putting Codrington over C. will be rather
curious. If he consents to serve, after being super-
seded by a junior ofiicer, no one can doubt that I am
justified in doing so likewise, although it goes against
the grain. I am not surprised at your appreciation
of' "s goodness, which I can believe in without
reading his book. Goodness, I think, is never without
some sort of talent ; and clever people are always
good, so to speak : when they are bad, it is a mistake.
Fools are the only all-wicked ; from them may the
Devil deliver me ! I am principally alluding to those
with the army ; any where else I can keep them at
arm's-length, and the Devil as well. Most probably
the steamer which carries this letter will carry me ;
for I have a strong persuasion that the Queen will
persuade C, who will not say no to a woman, still
less to his Queen. Did I tell you Pelissier's last,
when he heard C. was gone ? " Je ne vois jamais cet
homme sans avoir en vie de Tembrasser." Also, his
HH
466 C. AGREES.
getting hold of one of my French notes to Vinoy, and
carrying it off as an autograph, it being signed C. C.
Then I find it reported that he could not get on
with the French. Vinoy 's remark was, " lis renvoy-
ent leur meilleur general, et leur plus brave soldat."
The Spartans would have sent him their most beauti-
ful maidens, to produce more Colins. My own feel-
ing now about our army is, that it is in a helpless
state. The General's first combat will be with his
own officers. I have therefore, independent of feeling
that I have entered into a lutte in which I have been
unsuccessful, a strong fear of further disaster and dis-
grace, from the incompetence of the selected.
2d December.
The mail is in up to the 26th, and brings a short
letter from C. The Queen proposed that he should
return, in such a manner that he could not refuse.
I am truly sorry ; it puts him altogether in a false
position. It also deprives me of the power of re-
tiring ; for it may fairly be remarked, " If C. serves
after having Codrington put over his head, you can
have no pretence to refuse doing the same." I am
much vexed on account of C. They first put the
Court favourites at the top, and then employ the
Queen to make the good officers serve under them ; it
is a shame of the first water. I should think C. must
be deeply disgusted ; and I can scarcely believe so un-
natural an arrangement will work for any time.
EXTEACTS FEOM LETTEKS
AFTER MY RETURN TO THE CRIMEA.
Camp, Kamara,
17th February 1856.
The old date ! how odd it seems ! We dined with
the Ambassador at Constantinople, and I admired his
house, which was built for him by the British Govern-
ment. I hear that Sir H. Seymour had been repri-
manded from home for having allowed the Austrian
propositions to be sent off with his signature, although
the fifth article was not defined, and the Austrians
were required to recall the document, which they ob-
jected to do, and began to threaten ; whereupon Lord
Clarendon wrote a capital despatch, intimating that
Great Britain would not be threatened at any price ;
so I suppose the possibility of a hitch in the negotia-
tion is still extant. In truth, the question of peace
or war turns upon the interior wish, or rather neces-
sity, of Russia for peace. Matters are very disgusting
out here. C. left England after receiving a clear in-
timation that he was to command a corps d'armde.
When he arrived in the Crimea, he found that no
468 PEACE OR WAR.
arrangements had been made to form a corps, and
that Codrington was opposed to the system of corps ;
also, that Commander was disposed to leave C. in the
air, with no command at all, till it should be seen
whether it was to be peace or war. However, it was
represented that his position by such a scheme would
be a false one. He is now in orders to command a
corps, the divisions to be named hereafter. This he
also objects to ; and I believe the Highland Division
is to be put in orders as part of his corps. The
ostensible reasons put forward by Codrington are
military ; but it is to be surmised that he does not
wish to name divisions, because he could scarcely
take them away again, which might interfere with
comfortable arrangements for influential parties. If
peace be made, I imagine C.^will ask to go home im-
mediately ; and I cannot think Codrington will wish
to keep him. If it be war, we ought to go to Asia ;
and a most difficult and formidable war it will be. I
estimate two years as a period requisite to get a Bri-
tish army, with its supplies, from Trebizonde to Erze-
rum. It will be necessary to make roads, and form
depots of provisions all along the road. However,
I believe in peace, and expect to be home immedi-
ately.
22d February 1856.
Yours of the 8th is come, and I have papers of
the 9 th. As to politics, really do I care much about
SINECURE. 469
them ? Airey is coining here directly ; most pro-
bably to collect facts for his defence. I cannot admit
that when he found the Commissary could not, or
would not, comply with his request, he was absolved.
He ought to have then, de son chef, commenced some
operation to procure the needful ; besides, I do not
think they pushed the Commissary half enough.
Airey has now a patent office for life. What can
they do to him ? It will all end in newspaper
attacks, of which I see a severe one in the Times.
You speak highly of Ruskin's remarks on the war.
I suppose he knows nothing about war ; I do know
war, and I hate it ; but I hate tyranny more, and
would fight against that any day. As to my respect
for the Russian Government, I only think it good for
Russia, not for England, although Cromwell's des-
potism did very well there.
28th February 1856.
My cold is getting better. We have had some
very heavy snow-storms ; but I trust it is over now,
and that fine weather will soon begin. I wrote ex-
plaining that our corps is not yet formed, and that at
present I have a sinecure. We have heard privately
that the Military Conference advises to attack by
Eupatoria, which, as I remember, was always my
plan. If peace be not made, we shall no doubt have
a force to hold this position, and move some 60,000
men to Eupatoria, and direct their march upon Sim-
470 A VICTIM.
pheropol. The result of which march must be, that
the Russians on the north side of Sebastopol, for fear
of being cut off, will retire on Simpheropol, and give
us battle. The press and the public seem at last to
have got their victim. A storm has burst upon
Airey, which might sink any one. With Gordon
they have nothing to do ; for he was a subordinate,
and has been ill-advised in writing a letter. It is not
every one who is capable of entering the arena with
success against the regular gladiator. Lord Raglan
was responsible for the appointment of Airey, as well
as for that of his predecessor. In spite of the obser-
vations of the TimeSy I assert that the misery of the
army generally was exaggerated. What misery there
did exist, might no doubt have been diminished by
men of more experience.
3d March 1856.
We have a sort of horrid day, not absolutely a
down-pour of rain, but cloudy, windy, threatening,
and snow still on the hills. Hiawatha I have not
read. In truth, Longfellow is rather milky-watery for
me, and is the very stuff for those who think Shelley
no poet. Lucan's answer seems to clear him : he is a
man of considerable ability ; but Cardigan was thought
to be a favourite of Lord Raglan's. His Lordship
always seemed disposed to put him in an unfair
position towards Lord Lucan. I understand there
is to be a Board of General Officers in Airey's case.
NEGOTIATION. 4?!
Some parts of the accusation against him he will dis-
pose of, and, in the general scuffle, he will, I dare say,
retain his place. Our armistice is still under nego-
tiation ; and I have full belief in an almost certain
peace. The Russian officers, who came to meet ours,
rode horses which seemed nearly starved ; and I sus-
pect those on the bleak Mackenzie heights must have
been very badly off for more than forage. If we are
disappointed in the terms of peace, depend upon it
the Russians do not like them either. We cannot
help it. The French and Russians being determined
on stopping the affair, what can we do? You are
quite right in doubting Rogers's wonderful wit. He
was well placed to please many people, by entertain-
ing, giving money, and saying ill-natured things. I
am now in the possession of a perfect sinecure, which,
with my intense activity, you may suppose, is no
great catch. To-morrow, if the weather be tolerable,
I am going, with C. and Vinoy, to breakfast with
Marshal Pelissier, of which repast I shall send you an
account.
7th March 1856.
Last night it rained, and now it is snowing again.
My cold, however, is quite gone, in spite of feeling
very cold in my feet and hands ; this hut is so
wretchedly thin, and full of splits. I do not consider
it at all fair : last year we had no snow after the 20th
February ; it cannot, I trust, last very long now, as
472 TRACING LINES.
the sun has so much power. Our breakfast yester-
dry with Marshal Pelissier did not take place ; the
weather was so desperate, that we thought it out of
the question. We gave our first dinner to-day to
some officers, ten in number ; quite an undertaking
with so few appliances. This peace we still have no
news of ; you probably know by this time whether it
is to be, or not to be. We have, however, the armis-
tice, and are not allowed to go beyond the aqueduct.
The engineers are tracing lines all round Balaklava,
both east and west ; I believe this is only in anticipa-
tion of no peace, to allow us to embark behind them,
and enable the rear-guard to defend itself for forty-
eight hours. I have been struck by the extreme bad
English written by Codrington, with a good deal of
ambitious attempt, too, at fine writing.
12th March 1856.
We are much amused by the Government trying
their own commission before a court-martial. I see
Roebuck proposes a resolution on the subject. He
can scarcely hope to carry it, as that would upset the
Ministry, who are safe from that event till peace be
made. To-morrow our breakfast with Pelissier comes
off. The weather has completely taken up, and is
now most agreeable. I send a copy of a letter ; pro-
bably Codrington would find it rather flat, after his
own high-seasoned performances.
A LETTER. 473
General Sir Colin Campbell to the Editor of the
Morning Chronicle.
Camp, Kamara, Crimea,
11th March 1856.
Sir, — I received yesterday, from Major-General
Lord Rokeby, commanding the first Division, a printed
slip, cut out of a newspaper, headed " Highlanders in
the Crimea ;'' " Sir Colin Campbell ;'' dated Sebas-
topol, 3d February, and stated to be from " the Cor-
respondent of the Morning Chronicle." As I am
sure you would not willingly circulate unfounded
statements, I have concluded that you will be glad
of the opportunity of contradicting the assertions of
the person who wrote the passages upon which I am
about to remark. "When the Guards and High-
landers were brigaded together. Sir Colin, on more
than one occasion, in his usual midnight inspection,
found the Guards still under canvas ; and on those
occasions he usually muttered forth his angry male-
diction in these, or something like these, terms ; ' Oot
on you, ye lazy Guards I nae wonder ye wur surprised
and licked at Inkermann.' I have to state that' it is
not true that I made usual midnight inspections ; I
doubt if I ever made one midnight inspection. It is
not true that I ever found the Guards under canvas
when they ought to have been under arms. And the
sentence in broad Scotch, imputed to me, bears its
474 A LETTER.
own evidence of falsehood ; for I do not know how to
speak broad Scotch, and I am told I have not even a
Scotch accent ; however, in Scotch or in English, I ne-
ver said any thing of the kind. The Guards were quite
as vigilant and as ready to turn out, when under my
command, as any of the Highland Regiments. Your
correspondent goes on to assert, that I was offered my
choice between the command of the Guards and that
of the Highlanders. This is not true ; I never was
offered any such choice. He gives an account of my
reception by her Majesty : " How he was honoured
by leading -in the Princess Royal ; how the royal
piper was stationed behind his chair at dinner ;** and
how, above all, " after dinner, the Queen summoned
him to sit by her side on the sofa." I had not the
honour of leading-in the Princess Royal ; the royal
piper was not stationed behind my chair at dinner ;
and her Majesty did not summon me to sit by her
side on the sofa. Whether the person who wrote
this account intended to injure me, I cannot tell ; but
I do feel that there may be many people not ac-
quainted with me who might believe these idle and
impertinent stories, the truth of which I emphatically
repudiate.
(Signed) C. Campbell, General.
FUNNY BREAKFAST. 475
14th March 1856.
Yesterday we rode to General Vinoy's, picked
him up, and then went on to the French head-quar-
ters to breakfast with the Marshal. He has a large
salon of reception, besides a great dining-room. The
breakfast was funny : at 10 a.m. soup, then a turbot,
then three or four dishes of meat, then vegetables,
th.eu foie ^ras and cheese, with claret and champagne.
Marshal Pelissier is a little fat man, his hair snow-
white and cut close to half an inch, eyebrows black,
moustache and beard grizzled, sharp penetrating eyes,
one smaller than the other, a great look of strong
sense, perfect determination, a commander all over,
considerable processes over the eyes, rather receding
forehead. All about him seemed afraid of him, as he
launched slight sarcasms in a low voice. The con-
versation did not become general till the foie gras,
when I began to explain to my neighbour, that our
philanthropic companies would prosecute people who
made foie gras, for cruelty to animals. Pelissier
pricked up his ears, and he began to compare the
propriety of using geese so with that of fattening
beeves, &c. &c. ; he denied the cruelty : he said that
when he was a young officer he was quartered at
Strasburg ; " he had an apartment — no, not an apart-
ment, he was too poor to have an apartment, but a
chambre — chez une vewce who reared geese for their
livers." He said " they were only shut up in a small
476 FOIE GRAS.
court, and hourres with food comme des ogres; in
fact/' said he, " the flesh of these geese is not so good
as that of geese who are not destined to make pates ;
and thus the poor profit, and buy their carcases,
minus the liver, at a cheap rate/' "So," I said, " we
may deduce from that fact, that it becomes a charit-
able duty to eat foie gras ;' which finished the talk
with a general laugh. It appears there were certain
points in the armistice which were not agreed upon,
and which were referred by the Russians. They have
all been conceded ; and it is to be signed to-day at
Traktir Bridge ; and I mean to be present, as there
may be something to relate. Our position here, with
respect to Codrington, continues very unpleasant.
The officers named for the Commission are well se-
lected. I dare say they will make a very fair and
good report.* Lord Seaton is quite incapable of
doing any thing dirty, and he has very good sense ;
and General Peel is a man of perfect honour, and ex-
tremely shrewd.
17th March 18.56.
On the 14th, I went to meet the Russians at
Traktir Bridge : about twenty Russian officers came,
in all sorts of uniforms ; all speaking French, many
of them English. The escort was a small party of
Don Cossacks, and some red Cossacks of the Em-
* Lord Seaton did not sit.
SIGNING. 477
peror's Guard. The officers crossed the bridge, and
came to where there were two tents pitched ; one for
the three cliiefs of the Staff — Windham, Martimpret,
and Timacheff — who were to sign. It was very odd
to find Russians, French, Sardinians, and English, all
mixed up together, smoking, and drinking champagne,
close to the spot where, last August, I saw many
hundred Russian corpses buried. The Russians were
very polite. On the hill just behind us a large collec-
tion of French soldiers made a capital background to
the picture. Yesterday I rode down to Traktir, and
from thence all along the valley of the Chernaya,
which river is now our boundary, keeping close to the
aqueduct. This course brought me by a long march
to the head of the harbour : the rocky cliffs at Inker-
mann, and on both sides of the river near the mouth,
are all perforated with caves, mostly natural, which
have been improved by stone walls, and even in some
places with ornamental architecture. Here, I have
heard, the poor old ancient Tartars used to dwell in
the good times of the Khans. Following on by the
margin of the harbour, and winding along its inlets,
there runs the dry canal, or aqueduct, which used to
give water to the town and shipping. This aqueduct
now does duty in some places for a road, and by it
and baddish pathways I rode clean into Sebastopol.
In many places before I came to the head of the
harbour, I saw small spots covered with remains of
478 VERY COLD.
uniforms, and human bones loosely scattered about,
relics of dead and mortally-wounded Russians, left
there in their retreat after the Battle of Inkermann.
The weather here is now fine, but very cold ; a bright
sun and north wind. It freezes hard every night ; my
ink is now of the consistence of ice-cream ; and a wood
fire in my small stove seems to do nothing to raise
the temperature of the hut, which is all full of yawn-
ing cracks, besides being made of very thin boards. It
is impossible to believe that such severe weather can
last much longer.
19th March 1856.
We remain still suspended here, with nothing to
do but to shiver at the cold. The frost continues as
intense as ever ; at night the thermometer goes down
to 14° Fahrenheit ; by day a shamefully bright and
impertinent sun, with a cutting north wind direct
from the steppes, without an atom of caloric left in
it. As to Sir De Lacy Evans, of whom you write, I
see he has made an apology, which was quite right,
if he thought he had said any thing which was in-
correct. Many people may think the advice to Lord
Raglan to change his position was sound. Evans de-
nies in toto that he proposed embarking, and leaving
guns, &c. The event proves nothing ; and at last Lord
Raglan was forced to tell Pelissier or Canrobert that
if he did not take part of the English trenches, he
(Lord R.) would be obliged to raise the siege. That
A VERDICT. 479
was in truth a change of position on the part of the
English. As to the MiHtary Commission, you are to
understand that military officers are never severe in
their decision upon other officers, unless some dis-
honourable action is proved against them. Incom-
petence is no crime ; the crime is, to place incom-
petent men in critical positions ; they do not place
themselves there. The honest verdict should run :
" These officers do not all appear to have been good
selections for the posts they filled ; perhaps they may,
nevertheless, have been the best that could be made
at the time. They have erred, if at all, out of ig-
norance, and they did all they thought they were
empowered to do. Where fault may be found with
them, that blame should fall on the shoulders of the
person who appointed them ; we do not know who
that was." Whether the generals will have the cour-
age and the wit to say this, we shall see. Colonel
Gordon was an exceedingly hard-working and anxious
man ; his manner was very disagreeable, and often
almost insulting, and he was disliked accordingly;
but he was not head of a department, and if that
head did not find fault with him, no one else had a
right to do so. IJe was mistaken in writing that
letter to the Times. I see it is said that Milnes is
to be a peer. Lord Dicky will be very happy ; and all
his friends, and he has many, will be glad to see him
happy. I ought, if I was wise, to go out and ride ;
480 HUT BURNED DOWN.
but I have no duty, and the wind Is so cold, that I
cannot make up my mind to face it. They have
Crimean games on the plateau, which will go on with-
out my presence. All the flowers which were coming
out are nipped and gone, and I suppose the crocusses
cannot bloom twice, however unreasonable the wea-
ther is.
Easter Monday, 23d March 1856.
I got your letter of the 6th just now. It was put
into my hands about a quarter of an hour after my
hut, with most of its contents, had been burned down.
I left the habitation apparently all right at nine
o'clock A.M., and went to breakfast in the next one.
At ten o'clock, flames burst out, with no cause that I
can suggest, and the wretched concern in about ten
minutes was consumed with fire. Some of my things
are saved, but many small odds and ends are gone
" where the good niggers go." When I saw no one
would be burned, I took heart of grace, and laughed
immensely at the ridiculous scene. *' So fiddled Nero
when his Rome was burned." My bed is ashes ; my
good sword, unlike his master, has lost his temper ;
my few remaining cigars are dissolved into the ele-
ments ; all my boots are gone ; my favourite old
dressing-gown ditto ; — and I shall send in a long bill
to the Government, in the hope that I my receive
compensation for what money cannot purchase here.
My writing-desk is burned outside, but most of the
THE RACES. 481
things inside are saved ; my Medal and Cross of the
Bath saved. Now I have got a bed from the hospital'
which is put up in C.'s tent. To-morrow I shall get
a marquee, and go under canvas.
27th March 1856.
I believe I told you we were to have races last
Monday (Easter Monday), the day after I was burned
out of house and home. My loss in effects amounts
to 200/. Many things gone which would have been
indispensable had the war continued. Now I have
got another hut, smaller and with no fire-place, so I
shall not be burned out again. All my remaining
goods are sadly scorched, including my whiskers and
beard. Well, as to the races ; the plain by the Cher-
naya, on the north side of the Feduchine heights,
was the ground selected. The links of the Chernaya
separated us from the Russians. On our side there
was about 20,000 people, and several thousand of-
ficers among them, all mounted. The Russians
thought it was a cavalry force, and they were sur-
prised, as^well they might be, at the condition of the
cattle. The day was lovely, and the whole scene lively
in every way, including colour. The first two races
were won by Frenchmen ; the pony-race by a little
gray Arab, ridden by I don't know whom ; the
steeple-chase by an English mare, bought from Lord
Burghersh, and admirably ridden by M. Le Baron
Talon, a sous-officier in the 4™^ Houssards. He is
I I
482 BARON TALON.
a rich man, well known in the French sporting circles,
who I conclude entered the army for a lark when the
war broke out. He rode most gallantly ; and we were
all very glad to see the fine young fellow come in a
winner. You know I am not a sportsman ; so I soon
came away.
This morning when I woke with the full under-
standing that summer had begun, lo ! there was a
snow-storm and hard frost ; only fancy what a take-
in, and all my furs burned ! The Times has an article
on Codrington's rhetoric. You may easily see that,
no corps having been formed, I have an absolute sine-
cure here, and that the situation is most disffustincr.
I cannot write very well, for my fingers are frozen,
and there are six or seven carpenters at work at the
other end of this hut, fixing it up for the two aides-
de-camp ; their hammering, and, above all, their
swearing, is very distracting. The officers here are all
speculating on their future prospects ; many will be
sent adrift who would wish to serve, and others will
be compelled to serve who would be well contented
to retire. Besides which, it is evident that the Com-
mission consequent upon Evans's motion about pur-
chase will alter every military man's fortune. I do
not think it will make the least difference as to the
class which will enter the army, but it will perhaps
save some heartburnings among the very few who
cannot muster cash enough to pay the regulation.
FROST STILL. 483
The true difficulty is, to restrain the current ex-
penses of the officer's daily existence. A poor man
living among rich ones is always in a false position ;
and a boy of eighteen, who perhaps lived at his
father's in the most frugal manner, before he has
been three months at the mess will be calling for
claret and champagne, in imitation of his richer com-
panions. It is the story of college-life with a red
coat on its back. No one has been able to stop extra-
vagance at college ; in fact, credit for meat and drink
is more easily obtained at college than in the army.
In all well-regulated regiments the bills are paid every
week, and the officers who exceed their means have
to borrow money to pay their mess- and wine-bills ;
failing which payment, they come under the notice of
the commanding officer.
31st March 1856.
Frost ! sleet ! rain ! cold weather ! Oh ! oh ! oh !
The longer I am kept here waiting in this ridiculous
position, the more annoying does it become, and the
more do I grow out of sorts. Our armistice is pro-
longed till further orders ; so decided, I conclude, by
orders from the seat of Conference. If the weather
would only become a little warm, one might ride and
look about a bit ; but I am too cold to do any thing
of that sort, unless I had duty to perform, and duty
does not exist for me.
5 P.M. I have just come in from a walk in the
484 CUTTING STICKS.
woods, where I have been cutting sticks. The occu-
pation is rather amusing, although fatiguing. One
carries a hatchet and saw, and roots about in the cop-
pices ; suddenly the eye hits on a straight stick, with
some sort of a grotesque twist for a handle. The
sticks, when brought home, are roasted over a fire to
get the bark off, and are then put by ; they afterwards
require dressing, filing, rasping, and polishing ; finally
varnishing and a ferule, and the article is complete.
You see how hard I am pushed for something to do.
3d April 1856.
The weather continues dreadful. At this moment
there is a heavy snow-storm falling, and drifting into
the hut and on my paper, and the water in my jug
is frozen every night. It cannot last, one says every
morning; but still it does last.
6th April 1856.
Yesterday I was looking over a plan of the bat-
tle of Chillianwallah, which was fought where Porus
and Alexander fought. The country about there is
full of Greek remains and remains of roads. The
soldiers heard people talking about Alexander having
made this or that ; they saw the roads were very bad ;
at last they came to a broken bridge, and one fellow
called out, "Well, that Alexander has a great deal to
answer for.'' We hear that we are to have passes to
go into the Russian lines. I shall at any rate go to
NOT ANSWERING. 485
Bakchi-Serai, the old city of the Khans ; it is about
fifteen miles from here, up by the Mackenzie Farm
Road. It will be curious for us to go up that road,
which we descended last September year. What
events have taken place since then, and how many
good fellows in the prime of their lives have been
laid under ground ! You speak of the Hall and Ca-
vendish affair. There is no conspiracy among officers
to show-up their profession ; it is the publicity now
demanded by the nation which brings those and such
matters to light. Lord Stratford is like to suffer
more for not answering some letters, than if he had
committed a crime : sometimes one does pay dearest
for mistakes.
Engineer officers tell me that latterly our troops
always behaved ill when attacked by night in the
trenches, i.e. they did not stand. They were rallied
by their officers, and retook the trenches, and their
officers were rewarded. Whereas in the really well-
regulated regiments, where the officers, instead of
clustering together, and spending the night in
smoking, drinking, and conversation, were continu-
ally circulating among the men, the first attack of
the Russians was always repulsed with perfect ease.
These officers were never noticed ; there had been no
loss ; and rewards go with the butcher's bill, and in
proportion to it. Just as at the battle of the Alma,
we only lost 100 men killed and wounded, and those
486 FIRST SWALLOW.
who know nothing about the matter think the High-
land Brigade did but little towards winning the day.
9th April 1856.
Yesterday I took a very long ride up the Mac-
kenzie Road ; when at the top, I turned to the left,
and went all the way to the North Fort, or Sever-
naia, then down to the harbour, and so back, up
the right bank of the river, to Traktir, about thirty
miles. The Russian huts are very wretched ; and I
saw no stores, nor any signs of the abundance and
comfort in which our men revel. The Russians told
General Vinoy, who was of the party, that they were
surprised we did not go and take the north side after
the storm : but he pooh-pooh 'd it ; he said, " The
French Emperor knew you could not stay there ; and
you see he was right, for you have been obliged to
ask for peace." They have evidently the " con-
signed to be civil to the French, and cold to the
English, which Vinoy told them all the French could
see through.
13th April 1856.
On the 11th I saw the first swallow, or rather
swift, and the first butterfly. There are violets too,
and the various bulbs of this flowery land are pushing
out their green leaves, and preparing to paint the
bare soil. I have made several longish rides up the
gorges of the hills to the north-east. I have come
A RIDE. 487
upon little Tartar villages, which seemed to have es-
caped in a great degree from the ravages of war ; at
least the houses were inhabited, and not roofless ; they
had only been put under the contribution of receiv-
ing Cossacks, who seem to have been billeted upon
them. The gardens and fruit-trees were intact ; they
had been making up the fences ; but the fields, alas,
were untilled ! Magnificent groves of walnut-trees,
with an under-fringe of hazels, although leafless,
seemed beautiful, after this denuded neighbourhood.
16th April 1856.
Mounted at 6 a.m. for Bakchi-Serai. Our road
lay up to Mackenzie Farm ; and it was interesting
to us, as we trotted along, to look at the changes
made along the sides of the road since we descended
from these heights last September twelvemonth, on
the day of the celebrated flank-march which made
us masters of Balaklava. Then the ground was
covered with thick coppices ; the sides of the road
lined with good substantial trees, all now cut down
by the Russians, to deprive us of cover in the event
of our trying to take the heights from them. After we
had reached the top, a couple of miles' riding showed
us the interior of the country, and we could see
where Bakchi-Serai lay, about fifteen miles ofi". The
country is all volcanic, strange misshapen blocks of
granite rising in hillocks all round, and, as far as we
488 BAKCHI-SERAI.
could see, the general soil chalky, and the roads also
of that material, which must have made them nearly
impassable in winter. After a long descent, we
reached the upper waters of the Belbek, a rapid moun-
tain-stream, fringed with oak and poplars, beyond
which a nearly level, but winding, track was seen
stretching itself along to the Katscha, a rather larger
river, on which there was a good-sized Turkish or
Tartar village, which at first we took for Bakchi-
Serai. Plenty of trees grew here ; four wersts further
on, we at last came to the beginning of Bakchi-Serai
itself, a considerable Turkish town, squeezed up in
a very narrow ravine, through which there flowed a
diminutive rivulet. In appearance this place differs
not at all from any Turkish town in Turkey : shops
open to the street, with the proprietors squatting
within them in busy idleness. The only pretty
things to buy as memorials were some silver ribbons,
with oxidised silver bosses and buckles and slides,
the work of the Caucasus, with ' Caucasus' imprinted
on them ; some silver plaited bracelets ; and silver
thimbles, all Caucasian, and enormously dear. We
were taken by our guide, a Turco-Polish officer, to
the house of a merchant, the interior of which had a
sort of Chinese look. The room we were introduced
into was wainscoted with pine unvarnished, the ceil-
ing of the same, carved with some rude ornamental
battens running along the beams; Chinese -looking
THE KHANS. 489
drawings and patterns, glazed, hung about the walls,
and some of the windows had coloured glass in them.
A divan ran round the room, and a small low table,
about a foot high, was placed near the divan, at one
end of the room. We were treated with excellent
tea, the most delicious white bread, caviar, and honey
in the comb. The only sight here is the old palace
of the Khan, and the tombs of the Khans and Khan-
esses. The most famous, Kerim Garai, was stated to
have died in 1185. There was also to be looked for
the fountain of one Marie Potoska, which I do not
believe we found ; in the search, we came into a small
kiosk, with a dried-up fountain, and on one side, on
the divan, the corpse of a dead Russian soldier, — for
the place is a hospital now ; the principal diseases
scurvy and low (not typhus) fever. The palace is far
from splendid, although it has some rough coloured
ornamentation outside, and one hall well enough
wainscoted, and lighted with good coloured glass.
The ride from Kamara to Bakchi-Serai and back is
about forty-four miles, which we performed in twelve
hours, including four hours' halt at Bakchi-Serai.
PEACE !
I.
Peace, P6ace ! How soon shall we forget
The friends, the loves who crumbling rest,
Whose fame has earn'd no coronet
To deck the humble soldier's crest !
490 VERSES.
II.
Poor artisan or peasant lad,
Beguiled by drink or glory's tale,
In worn red jacket meanly clad.
Who died to win the peace we hail !
III.
In long gazettes his name was told,
Dead, mangled, lost, for ever gone ;
The wave of time is o'er him roll'd.
His place is fill'd, his duty done.
IV.
The village wonder of a day.
His sweetheart is another's now !
Bleak Tauris holds his lifeless clay.
Without a cross its place to show.
V.
The blazon'd urn for lordly dead,
The spurs, the stars for those that live,
The kiss of love, the bridal bed, —
The country and the women give.
VI.
But who shall for plebeian weep.
Of all who spell the warlike story ?
The mothers only, — they will weep.
When hearing of the nation's glory.
20th April 1856.
I sent by the last post a few lines about the poor
dead soldiers ; there are many who have never even
been heard of, who never will be heard of. I have
been reading an article in the Westminster about Kars.
EARS. 491
It is curious to reflect on the consequences of a mili-
tary appointment. Pelissier, of course, cared nothing
about the Kars frontier ; it was highly interesting to
us. Our General, as we are told, took part with Pe-
lissier in refusing to part with the Turkish troops,
which Omar wanted to relieve Kars with. General
Williams is made Military Commissioner in those
parts, and, by the aid of the British Government ap-
parently, he succeeded, in spite of the Turkish Go-
vernment, in getting hold of the command, and then,
in the teeth of the entreaties of the poor Turkish
Cabinet, he kept the garrison at Kars till too late,
and then let them all become prisoners of war. There
has been a great review of the French and English,
on the same day, for the benefit of Liiders and the
Piussians. They were surprised at the state of the
horses, and imagined the troops were all picked men.
One Eussian said he saw porter and beefsteaks in all
their figures. Pelissier says the Highlanders are the
finest soldiers in the world. From what the Russians
saw of the two armies, I have little doubt they will
write to the Emperor to let him know he was very
wise to make peace. Not that our army is really what
it looks : both men and officers are un drilled. I do
not believe in the least that Russia has abandoned
or will abandon her policy ; she awaits a better oppor-
tunity, and I think will ultimately succeed, as perse-
verance usually does. The Turks will never submit to .
492 EYRE TO CANADA.
be civilised, and to be made really strong and capable
of self-defence. Omar is a quack, I should say ; but
the Turkish soldiers believe in him. We have got
rainy weather, which was much wanted ; every thing
is parched, and the flowers cannot poke their heads
up easily through the hard crust. General Vinoy has
got his orders to embark his division ; and will, I
suppose, be off" in a very few days. Would that our
turn were come ! The Artillery have a letter from
their own department, warning them to be ready.
The Russians are doing great politeness to all our
officers who go into their country ; I imagine their
policy is to try and persuade both English and French
that each of them has the preference in their affec-
tions.
24th April 1856.
Will you believe that we have frost still every
night ; sometimes the thermometer down to 23° ; but
it is generally fine and sunshiny by day. Sir William
Eyre is ordered with six battalions to Canada ; this
will replace the usual force in that colony. This is a
good appointment, as he had experience of a frontier
warfare in Africa, and was also with the 73d in the
Canadian rebellion. I have heard that Lord Grey is
an admirer of his. He will have local rank, which
will put him over the head of Major General Home,
late of the Guards, now commanding in Canada ; but
the case is very diff'erent of putting Eyre, with his
SPEECH TO HIGHLAND BRIGADE. 493
experience, over Home, who has none, from that of
putting Codrington, with no experience and after a
gross failure, over C, with his antecedents. A report
has come of a new change of uniform. Really it is
intolerable; a set of rascally men -milliners amusing
themselves with dressing up the army, like girls with
a doll ; only the officers have to pay. Have you read
St. Arnaud's letters ? He was evidently a capital sol-
dier ; and if he had had another month's life in him,
we should have taken Sebastopol at once ; but it is
not clear that Russia has not been more punished by
the length of the siege than if she had been put out
of pain by a short operation. I am disposed to think
that Russia has exaggerated her losses, for the purpose
of reconciling the war-party to making peace.
28th April 1856.
I send you the draft of the oration which C.
means to make to the old Highland Brigade before he
embarks ; and shall be curious to hear how you like it.
Speech of Sir C. Campbell to the Highland Brigade ^
in taking learn of them ; delivered on the dth
May 1856.
" Soldiers of the 42d, 79th, and 93d ! old High-
land Brigade ! with whom I passed the early and
perilous part of this war ! I have now to take leave
of you ; in a few hours I shall be on board ship,
never to see you again as a body — a long farewell !
494 SPEECH TO HIGHLAND BRIGADE.
I am now old, and shall not be called to serve any
more, and nothing will remain to me but the memory
of my campaigns, and of the enduring, hardy, generous
soldiers with whom I have been associated ; whose
name and whose glory will long be kept alive in the
hearts of our countrymen. When you go home, as
you gradually fulfil your term of service, each to his
family and his cottage, you will tell the story of your
immortal advance in that victorious echelon up the
heights of Alma, and of the old Brigadier who led
you, and who loved you so well ; your children, and
your children's children, will repeat the tale to other
generations, when only a few lines of history will re-
main to record all the enthusiasm and discipline which
have borne you so stoutly to the end of this war.
" Our native land will never forget the name of
the Highland Brigade ; and in some future war that
nation will call for another one to equal this, which
it can never surpass. Though I shall be gone, the
thought of you will go with me wherever I may be,
and cheer my old age with a glorious recollection of
dangers affronted and of hardships endured. A pipe
will never sound near me without carrying me back
to those bright days when I was at your head, and
wore the bonnet which you gained for me, and the
honourable decorations on my breast, many *of which
I owe to your conduct. Brave soldiers ! kind com-
rades ! farewell !"
KENSINGTON GARDENS. ' 495
I hope your supposition will not come true, that I
shall have to appear before the Commissioners ; I doubt
my having any thing to say ; but I might submit my
letter-book. I know we generally got our rations for
our men, and that the hardships of war are great.
When the English go to war again, it would save
trouble if they would embark a Commission at once
with the army. Lord Lucan, as you remark, is
managing his affairs badly. The cavalry had a feel-
ing against him, as they had also against Cardigan.
Lord Raglan favoured the latter. What I personally
saw of Lord Lucan was favourable to him. He was
senior officer to C, and was always ready to take his
advice. I know that C. stopped people's mouths in
London, when they were going to abuse him. I sin-
cerely congratulate you on the musical victory at
Kensington Gardens of Sense over Dogmatism ; it is
getting the small end of the wedge in, and will bear
fruit. I suppose I must plead guilty to not caring
about the people as much as you do ; but I have a
strong wish to see them educated. That word, how-
ever, must be interpreted ; for I do not consider the
trick of reading and writing to be education ; it is a
tool. I am more for useful things ; and cannot con-
ceive that answering questions in geology is any use
to a washerwoman. What I should like to see pro-
vided for the people would be leisure, and some ra-
tional amusement, instead of that damnable public-
496 TARTARS EMIGRATE.
house, and beating their wives, who very often de-
serve it.
2d May 1856.
There is a large number of disconsolate officers
here now, who are to be reduced on half- pay, and
turned adrift from their regiments, which to many of
them was their only home. Peace is not a blessing
to every one. All the Tartars from Baidar and the
great and small Miskomia are emigrating to Bulgaria ;
Turkish Government vessels are come for them. The
procession of wagons and entire families put me quite
in mind of Herman and Dorothea ; Goethe evidently
drew from nature. The Russians are glad to be rid
of the Tartars, and will, I suppose, people the Crimea
with German colonists. A clever Russian officer said
the other day to a Frenchman, " You have given us
a lesson, for which we thank you.''
8th May 1856.
I have now to tell you that I shall embark at
Kamish in the French packet which will convey this
letter, on the 10th instant (Saturday). You will
never, in all your life, receive another letter from
Grim Tartary. That scene is now closed. The cur-
tain is dropped, the tears dried up, — and to supper
with what appetite we may !
/-^
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