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V.

CHAP. to send Lord Cardigan and his Light Brigade down the fatal North Valley, and to follow himself in support with the Heavy Dragoons. The first moments of Lord Cardigan's forward movement proved the wisdom with which Lord Raglan had ordered an attack on the Causeway Heights; for when the Russians perceived the advance of the Light Brigade, without yet being able to foresee its actual destination, the Odessa battalions-those battalions which stood on the spot to which Lord Raglan had directed the attack—retreated at once from the forward position they had occupied on the Causeway Heights, and formed square a good way to the rear.

The Light Brigade continued to move forward; and, for a time, Lord Lucan was anxiously following its advance with a portion of his Heavy Dragoons; but afterwards (though still holding his Heavy Dragoons in readiness to cover his Light Cavalry during a portion at least of its anticipated retreat) he judged that it was his duty to save the rest of his squadrons from the disasters which the Light Brigade was incurring, and determined that Lord Cardigan's attack must thenceforth remain unsupported.

It

Lord Cardigan persisted in his advance down the valley; and then followed the rest of the operations which constitute the 'Light Cavalry Charge.' was in advancing down the length of the valley that our Light Cavalry incurred their main losses, and were reduced to a third of their strength; but the remnant of the brigade seized the battery at the foot of the valley, overthrew the main body of the Russian

V.

cavalry, and forced their way back through the rest CHAP. of them, owing much of their immunity in retreat to the brilliant achievement of D'Allonville and his famous Fourth Chasseurs d'Afrique.'

Emboldened by the disaster which our Light Cavalry incurred, and possibly, also, by visible signs of hesitation in the counsels of the Allies, Liprandi began to reverse his movement of retreat. The Odessa battalions countermarched to the ground from which they had been withdrawn, and some additional troops were established on the line of the Causeway Heights.

For reasons based on the difficulty of holding a wide extent of ground in the plain of Balaclava, the Allies determined to acquiesce in Liprandi's conquest of the redoubts; and with that decision- though vain shots were afterwards fired-the battle came to an end.

XIII.

The loss

of ground

by the

In ground, the Allies lost the outer line of defence which the English by the aid of the Turks had pro- sustained vided for Balaclava; and with it, they so lost their Allies. freedom of action in the country they had made bold to invade, as to be thenceforth confined during several months within very narrow limits, and that, too, with great strictness. They remained, of course, in the occupation of the whole of the Chersonese; but there was a question, as we shall hereafter see, of actually abandoning Balaclava; and although the proposal to that effect was ultimately discarded by the Allies, the

V.

CHAP. scope of their dominion on the land side of the place became so contracted as only to include the marine heights on our right, and just so much ground in front of the place as was necessary for maintaining its communications with the Chersonese by the way of the 'Col.'

The casualties resulting from the battle.

Trophies taken by the Russians.

Treatment of the

taken

In submitting to be thus extruded from the Causeway Heights, the Allies gave up the control of the Woronzoff road, and the time was at hand when this loss would become a cause of cruel sufferings to the English army.

The Allies lost in killed and wounded about 600 officers and men, besides some fifteen unwounded English and a small number of Turks who were taken prisoners.* The Russians, it seems, lost in men killed and wounded about 627.t

The Russians took out of the redoubts captured from the Turks seven cast-iron English guns. Also, Liprandi was enabled to send to his chief the welcome trophy of a Turkish standard.

It may here be recorded, and recorded with gratiprisoners tude, that the English prisoners, upon the whole, were treated with great kindness; and I will mention a touching example of good feeling displayed by the poor Muscovite soldiers. Simple, untutored men, they

by the enemy.

* I am not aware that any one unwounded Englishman having under him an unwounded horse was taken prisoner.

+ This includes some who were only 'contusionnés,' and also fifteen missing. I include those last because I believe that all who were 'missing' had been either killed or wounded. The basis of the statement as to the Russian losses is the official return, to which (by adopting it) General de Todleben gives the weight of his authority.

V.

yet had heard so much of the ways of other nations CHA P. as to be aware that the Englishmen did not live on that strange waxy substance which goes by the name of 'black bread;' and their kindly natures were so moved by the thought of this that they generously subscribed out of their humble pittances to buy white loaves for the prisoners.

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With the knowledge of the kindness thus extended to our own people, it is painful to have to add that the Turkish prisoners were ill treated.

whom the

With which of the two contending forces did the With victory rest? If it be believed that—however irreso- victory? lutely—the Russians entertained the design of trying to break into Balaclava, the failure of their attempt would be a circumstance strongly bearing upon the question; for when they ventured to descend into that South Valley by which Balaclava might be approached, they were instantly stopped at one point by the 93d Highlanders, and superbly defeated at another by Scarlett's dragoons. If that were all, it might seem to follow that the palm was with those who repulsed the attacks; but, on the other hand, it must be remembered that our Light Cavalry after seizing the twelve-gun battery and routing the main body of the enemy's horse was itself obliged to retreat, and that the Russians, though worsted in combat after

* General de Todleben communicated this to me, and I have great confidence in the accuracy of the statement. The statement must not be understood as applying specially to the prisoners taken at Balaclava.

CHAP. combat, still were suffered to remain in possession of

V.

The effect of the battle upon the self

the ground, the redoubts, and the trophies which they had won in the first hour of the morning. Upon the whole, therefore, it will probably be thought that there was no such decisive inclination of the balance as to give to one side or the other the advantage which men call a 'victory.'

But, apart from the mere name of victory, one of the weightiest effects of a battle is the change which confidence it commonly works in the self-confidence of the opposRussians. ing forces; and under this aspect of its consequences

of the

the result of the day's fighting in the plain of Balaclava was somewhat anomalous; for the action consisted of five several combats not effectually brought into one by any pervading design; and, excepting only the first, there were none of these combats which ended without shedding glory on the Allies, and inflicting something like humiliation on the enemy. Therefore the effect of the day's conflict was such as to be disheartening-oppressively disheartening-to those of the Russians who actually fought in it; and it is probable that for a long time afterwards it would have been impracticable to make the Russian cavalry act with anything like confidence in the presence of a few English squadrons; but, on the other hand, the facts were such that, without any actual misstatement of them, they could be narrated in a way highly encouraging to all Russians who were not on the field, and especially encouraging to the soldiery, the seamen, and the people upon whose spirit the fate of Sebastopol was depending. Liprandi could dwell upon the

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