The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
Their file firing was anything but good, and a spattering of musketry
was kept up from rank to rank long after the general discharge had
ceased. The men had all polished musket-barrels, in imitation of the
French, and their arms appeared to be kept in a most creditable order.
The Egyptian field-pieces, six and nine-pounder guns of brass, were
beautifully clean and neat, and the carriages, though rather heavy,
were, perhaps, well suited to the country. The gunners seemed to
understand their business thoroughly, and the carriages shone with
scrubbing, varnish, and fresh paint; the men alone were dirty. They
retired to their tents very little fatigued, and partook of very
excellent rations, beef and mutton made into pilaff, and lard or grease
in lieu of butter. Their tents were just as commodious and as good as
our own, but they put more men into each than we were in the habit of
doing.
On the 30th of June the bulk of the British troops quitted their
original position at Varna. The Light Division, under Sir George Brown,
left their quarters on the plateau near Aladyn, and marched to Devna,
about eight and a half or nine miles off; on that day, and on Saturday
morning, the First Division, under his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cambridge, marched from their encampment outside Varna, and pitched
their tents on the plateau of Aladyn, with their left flank resting on
the ground which had just been abandoned by the Rifle Brigade, and their
right extending to the plains lately used by the Light Division as
parading and drill ground.
Sickness and diarrhoea in the camp were greatly on the decline; sore
lips were common, principally from exposure to the sun. The Duke's
Division seemed to grow beards with impunity. His Royal Highness, who
lived out close to his division under canvas, having abandoned his
quarters in Varna within a few days after he got into them, had his
men's parades and field-days before nine o'clock. The brigadiers
preferred the hours between nine and noon, under the impression that the
sun was not so powerful then, on account of the forenoon breezes, as it
was earlier in the morning. We had a thunderstorm almost every day, and
very grateful it was, for the temperature was always lowered ten or
twelve degrees by the rain and electrical discharges. The commissariat
were doing their duty manfully. The quality of the meat was really very
good, though the doctors thought a pound a day was not enough for each
man in such a climate, especially as the meat was rather deficient in
nutritious quality.
[Sidenote: OMAR PASHA VISITS THE CAMP.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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