In the following pages the author has endeavoured to pay a small tribute to the heroism of the rank and file, and to show how they won for themselves in the hearts of the British public the warm place they have ever since occupied. The survivors of the Crimean war are, alas! growing yearly fewer; but the author desires to acknowledge with thankfulness much information he has gained from the veterans he has had the opportunity of knowing, amongst whom he wishes specially to mention Sergeant James Mustard, of the 17th Lancers, a survivor of the immortal charge, and happily still alive. He also wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the fascinating pages of Kinglake’s _Invasion of the Crimea_ and Russell’s _British Expedition to the Crimea_. Stirling’s _Highland Brigade in the Crimea_, and Steven’s _Connaught Rangers_ have also been advantageously consulted. ESCOTT LYNN. LONDON, 1911. FOREWORD. BY A SURVIVOR OF THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. It is many a long year now since the misty October morning when with my regiment, the 17th Lancers, I rode up that fatal valley where so many of my gallant comrades fell. Yet, as I read Mr Lynn’s description of the charge, I seemed to see and hear it all again: my comrades’ faces grim and set, the fine figure of Lord Cardigan leading us, poor Captain Nolan wildly trying to direct us out of the course we were following, the rattle of rifle-fire, the crash of the shells, the blazing of the guns all round us, the constant gaps in the ranks as man and horse went down, the ever-increasing speed till we were in amongst the Russian gunners and avenging those who had fallen. I shivered again when I read of the awful storm of November and of the miseries of the road to Balaclava. My heart beat with pride at the tale of Inkermann, so well is the story told. Many of the characters in the story I recognise--Jack Blair, Sergeant Barrymore, Sergeant Linham, Captain Norreys, Pearson, Brandon, and so on. I knew them under different names in the old regiment, but they were the same men. If any boy is interested in what we did, what we suffered, and what part in the Crimean war my regiment played, let him read _Blair of Balaclava_. As a survivor of the Light Brigade I can truly say that had Mr Lynn soldiered with me and ridden by my side in the charge he could not have given a truer account of our doings in the Crimea in 1854 and 1855. (Signed) JAMES MUSTARD, _late 17th Lancers_. * * * * * SERGEANT JAMES MUSTARD, the writer of the fore-going letter, was born in St James’s, Piccadilly, on January 13th, 1829. Coming of a family of soldiers, a love for the profession of arms was born in him, and he joined the 3rd Light Dragoons, in London, on May 1st, 1850. Two years later he transferred, at Canterbury, to the 17th Lancers.