The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
The worst thing was the want of comforts for the sick. Many of the men
labouring under diseases contracted at Malta were obliged to camp in the
cold, with only one blanket, as there was no provision for them at the
temporary hospital. Mr. Alexander succeeded in getting hold of some
hundreds of blankets by taking on himself the responsibility of giving a
receipt for them, and taking them off the hands of the commanding
officer of one of the regiments from Malta. This responsibility is a
horrid bugbear, but no man is worth his salt who does not boldly incur
it whenever he thinks the service is to be benefited thereby. It would
be lucky if more people had a supply of desirable recklessness, and
things would have gone on much better.
Regiments arrived daily, and encamped near the town. The 4th, 28th,
50th, 93rd, and 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade were stationed between
Bulair and Gallipoli. The 33rd, 41st, 49th, 77th, and 88th, lay in
Scutari or in the adjoining barracks.
The French poured in their troops. Towards the end of April they had
22,000 men in the neighbourhood of Gallipoli, and the narrow streets
were almost impassable. The Zouaves, from their picturesque costume,
quite threw our men in the shade--all but their heads and shoulders,
which rose in unmistakable broadness above the fez caps of their Gallic
allies. Even the Zouaves yielded the prize of effectiveness to the
Chasseurs Indigènes, or French Sepoys. These troops wore a white turban,
loose powder-blue jackets, faced and slashed with yellow, embroidered
vests with red sashes, and blue breeches extremely wide and loose, so
that they looked like kilts, falling to the knees, where they were
confined by a band; the calf of the leg encased in greaves of yellow
leather with black stripes; and white gaiters, falling from the ankle
over the shoe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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