Camps, Quarters, and Casual PlacesForbes, Archibald
History
Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places
Forbes, Archibald
Military camps; Military history, Modern
At this point only the left-hand gun of "C" Troop was on the crest,
with a view into the North valley; the other guns were on the southern
slope. But little had been previously seen of the terrible and glorious
experiences of the Light Brigade; and now what was witnessed was not
the glory but the horror of battle. For the wounded of the charge were
passing to the rear, shattered and maimed, some staggering on foot,
others reeling in their saddles, calling to the gunners and the Heavies
to look at a "poor broken leg" or a dangling arm. Brandling and his
officers held their flasks to the poor fellows' mouths as long as the
contents lasted. The "C" Troop chronicler, whose narrative I have been
following, tells how Captain Morris, who commanded the 17th Lancers,
was carried past the front of the troop towards Kadiköi, dreadfully
wounded about the head and calling loudly: "Lord, have mercy on my
soul!" Kinglake gives a wholly different account of Captain Morris's
removal from the field; but the "C" Troop chronicler is quite firm on
his version, and explains that the 17th Lancers and "C" Troop having
lain together shortly before the war all the people of the latter knew
and identified Captain Morris.
Balaclava is rather an old story now, and some readers may require to
be reminded that the Light Brigade charged in two lines, the first line
being led by Lord Cardigan, the second by Lord George Paget; that the
first line rode into the Russian batteries considerably in advance of
the second, the latter having advanced at a more measured pace; and
that the second line, with sore diminished ranks and accompanied by a
couple of groups rather than detachments of the first, came back later
than did the few survivors of Cardigan's regiments other than the
groups referred to. The aspersion on Cardigan was that he returned
prematurely, instead of remaining to share the fortunes of the second
line of his brigade, and this he did not deny. Kinglake's statement is
that "he rode back alone at a pace decorously slow, towards the spot
where Scarlett was halted." He adds that General Scarlett maintained
that Lord Lucan was present at the time; but Lord Lucan's averment was
that Lord Cardigan did not approach him until afterwards when all was
over. Kinglake relates further that when Lord George Paget came back at
the head of the last detachment, some officers rode forward to greet
him one of whom was Lord Cardigan. Seeing him approach composedly from
the rear Lord George exclaimed: "Halloa, Lord Cardigan, weren't you
there?" to which, according to one version of the story, Cardigan
replied: "Wasn't I, though? Here, Jenyns, didn't you see me at the
guns?"
The reasonable inferences from Kinglake are that Cardigan's first halt
was made and that his earliest remarks were uttered when he reached
Scarlett, and that he and Paget met after the charge for the first time
when the alleged question and answer passed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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