Soyer's Culinary Campaign: Being Historical Reminiscences of the Late War.: With The Plain Art of Cookery for Military and Civil InstitutionsSoyer, Alexis
History
Soyer's Culinary Campaign: Being Historical Reminiscences of the Late War.: With The Plain Art of Cookery for Military and Civil Institutions
Soyer, Alexis
Cooking for military personnel; Crimean War, 1853-1856
It was almost dark, and we galloped home. The next morning my Zouave
attended the funeral of his friend, and it took so long that I did not
see him again for forty-eight hours. When he returned, he brought two
Zouaves with him, and they were all laden with trophies; among them was
an entirely new tent, which, from its very superior quality, was
supposed to have belonged to some general officer. The Zouaves had
pitched upon Prince Orloff as the owner, no doubt to increase its value.
It really was worthy of a commander-in-chief. I purchased it, and have
it still in my possession. The rest of the booty consisted of guns,
swords, church relics, &c.--in fact, all they could lay hands upon which
was likely to be converted into money. The only thing which surprised me
was, that he had returned sober. While I was reprimanding him for his
long absence, he coolly replied--
“You are right, governor; but you see, after paying the last duties to
poor Adrien, in order to drown the melancholy feeling of human
existence, I got boosy enough to make all the wine-sellers, and even old
Father Bacchus himself, turn pale. When I began to find that I could no
longer see, I said to myself, ‘Bornet, my friend, you must not disgrace
the governor’s quarters. Go to bed upon the straw like a pig as you
are.’ In ten hours my drunken fit had passed away like a vaporous cloud;
and here, governor, is your Zouave, in a fit state, ready to dance upon
a rope without a balance-pole.”
The original and comic nature of the excuse caused me to laugh at him,
instead of scolding him.
He then proposed to go in the evening and find the remaining part of
Count Orloff’s tent, spend the night in Sebastopol, and meet me the next
morning at the Greek church in the town.
All was going on well at the General Hospital. It was crammed full, and
amputations were being performed night and day. I called there daily
with some of my men, and sent the others in various directions. The next
day I visited Sebastopol, and went to the French side. I could not find
Bornet, but saw one of his friends, who told me that he had slept in the
French camp. I therefore gave him up, and determined to get rid of him
as soon as possible. After visiting the town in company with a few
friends whom I happened to meet there, we went to the Russian hospital,
which we had been told was full of dead, sick, and wounded. During the
few days that had elapsed since the capture of the city I had witnessed
many awful scenes, but this was the most harrowing of all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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