Afghan Wars; Crimean War, 1853-1856; Egypt -- History -- British occupation, 1882-1936; India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858
Our losses in killed, wounded, and missing were very severe--amounting
to 2,006 officers and men. About half of the entire number occurred in
the Light Division alone.
The following diagram gives the position of the infantry regiments
chiefly engaged, and of the casualties in each:
19th 23rd 33rd 7th Fus 95th 55th
226 210 239 222 193 115
Coldstream Guards Scots Guards Grenadier Guards
80 181 122
The joy and excitement of the English troops were intense as Lord
Raglan rode along the line formed on the heights they had just won. On
coming to the Highland Brigade rather an amusing incident occurred. Sir
Colin Campbell addressed the Commander-in-Chief, and begged him to do
him a favour. Lord Raglan, in reply, said it would give him pleasure
to serve him in any way. Sir Colin then said: 'My lord, you have in
years gone by shown me kindness when I was a young officer, and now I
am an old one. My request is that, so long as I am at the head of the
Highland Brigade, I may be allowed to wear the Highland bonnet.' This
delighted the Scotchmen, and great cheering followed.
In addition to the two guns captured, two Russian generals were taken
prisoners and about 900 of their wounded men were left on the field.
The total loss of the Russians in the battle is stated to have been
upwards of 5,000. The battle ended about four o'clock in the afternoon,
the head quarters camp being pitched near the river, and Lord Raglan
then went in search of his orderly officer, Lieutenant Tom Leslie, and
with the help of some guardsmen, with a stretcher, brought him to his
tent. Lord Raglan asked me if I knew Tom's mother, and on my replying
in the negative, he said: 'A charming woman. I must write to her. How
proud she will be to hear that he has a bullet in his shoulder!'
Several years after the battle, when in India, I met an old artillery
man at Delhi, who claimed my acquaintance, and reminded me of the
incident of bringing up Turner's guns from the ford. He said he was one
of the drivers of the battery at the time, and that I rode up to him
in the river and said: '"Johnson," says you, "you'll not spare whip
nor spur till you get to the top of that hill, for Lord Raglan wants
you."' I cannot vouch for the absolute correctness of his personal
reminiscences, but the main fact is correct enough.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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