The drama now shifted into a new act, in which the Allies were to be themselves attacked, and forced to fight for their foothold in the Crimea.

Jumbo Map: Upland Plans (extremely slow: 510K)

Immediately after he quitted Sebastopol, Menschikoff had been joined by the remainder of his forces in the peninsula, hitherto beyond the sphere of action, being stationed in its south-western corner. These amounted to 12,000 men, and he also received the further reinforcements which, as already said, were on their way from Russia. In fact, the troops which might come to him from thence had, practically, no other limit than the means of transporting them.

He therefore drew closer to the place, and while keeping his main force beyond our ken, had begun on the 7th October to send parties down to the Tchernaya. Soon afterwards his lieutenant, General Liprandi, established his headquarters at Tchorgoun, on the further bank, and the force of all arms placed under him began to assemble about that place. It gradually grew till it reached, according to Russian official accounts, the number of 22,000 infantry, 3400 cavalry, and seventy-eight guns, when it was considered strong enough for immediate action.

It has been said that the valley between Balaklava and the Tchernaya is crossed by a line of low heights, stretching from the foot of the plateau to the village of Kamara, and that along their course lies the Woronzoff road. Four of these hills had earthworks on their summits--mere sketches with the spade; a donkey might have been ridden into some of them--and they had been armed with, in all, nine twelve-pounder iron guns. The extent of this line of works was more than two miles. Their garrisons had no support nearer than the 93d regiment, and the Turks and marines immediately around the harbour, who were 3000 yards off.

The Russians had, of course, observed this, and also the weakness of the works, from the high hills above Kamara, and at daybreak on the 25th October their attack began. Crossing the Tchernaya from the Traktir Bridge upwards, and keeping at first altogether on the side of the valley nearest Kamara, their advanced guard came rapidly on, brought ten guns into positions commanding the hill (known as Canrobert's Hill) most distant from us and nearest Kamara, and began to cannonade it. Liprandi's main body was coming up, and he at length brought thirty guns, some of them of heavy calibres, to bear upon Canrobert's Hill and the next to it. These replied from their five twelve-pounders; and about this time a troop of our horse-artillery and a field battery, supported by the Scots Greys, were brought up to the ridge, and joined in the artillery combat, till the troop, having exhausted its ammunition, was withdrawn with some loss in men and horses.

When the formidable character of the attack was seen, our First and Fourth Divisions, and two French brigades, were ordered down to the scene of action. Reaching the point where the Woronzoff road descends from the plateau, the First Division made a short halt. If its orders had enabled it to march down to the plain there, followed by the other troops mentioned, the enemy must have hastily withdrawn over the Tchernaya, or have accepted battle with his back to the Kamara Hills. Instead of this, it was marched along the edge of the heights towards the other road down from the plateau at Kadikoi.

Moving at a height of several hundred feet above the valley, it saw the plain spread out like a map, and what next occurred there took place immediately below it, and in full view. The Russians had just captured the two assailed outworks. That on Canrobert's Hill was occupied with a battalion of Turks and three of the guns already mentioned, the other with half a battalion and two. After silencing the guns, the Russians had stormed Canrobert's Hill with five battalions, the Turks, thus outnumbered, maintaining the combat so stubbornly that 170 of them were killed before they were driven out Pushing on, the enemy captured more easily the next and smaller work: and the garrisons of the others, thus menaced by an army, and seeing no support anywhere, hastily left them and made for Balaklava, pursued by the cavalry, who rode through the feeble earthworks with perfect case, seven of the nine guns remaining in the hands of the Russians.

Near these hills the ground on either side rises to a ridge which forms their base, thus dividing the valley into two plains, the one on the side of Balaklava, the other stretching to the Tchernaya, and it was these that presently became the scene of two famous encounters.

Charge of the Heavy and Light Brigades

The Heavy Brigade of Cavalry, under General Scarlett, had joined the army. It included the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, and the 1st, 2d, and 6th Dragoons (Royals, Scots Greys, and Inniskillings), and formed with the Light Brigade the cavalry division commanded by Lord Lucan.

Our two cavalry brigades had been maneuvering so as to threaten the flank of any force which might approach Balaklava, without committing themselves to an action in which they would have been without the support of infantry. The Light Brigade, numbering 670 sabres, was at this moment on the side of the ridge looking to the Tchernaya; the Heavy Brigade, say 900 sabres, on the side towards Balaklava.

Its commander, General Scarlett, was at that moment leading three of his regiments (Greys, Inniskillings, 5th Dragoon Guards) through their camping ground into the plain; a fourth, the Royals, was for the moment behind, at no great distance, while the 4th Dragoon Guards was moving at the moment in the direction of the Light Brigade. Having witnessed the hasty retreat of the Turks, the many spectators on the Upland, consisting of the French stationed on it, and the English marching along it, next saw a great body of Russian cavalry ascend the ridge.

Scarlett, unwarned till then, wheeled the Greys and half the Inniskillings into line; the 5th Dragoon Guards and the other squadron of the Inniskillings were in echelon behind the flanks; the Royals, galloping up, formed in extension of the 5th.

The Russians, after a momentary halt, leaving the Li'ght Brigade unnoticed, perhaps unseen, on their right, swept down in a huge column on the Heavy Brigade, and at the moment of collision threw out bodies in line on each flank; the batteries which accompanied them darting out and throwing shells, all of which burst short, against the troops on the Upland. just then three heavy guns, manned by Turkish men and officers, in an earthwork on the edge of the Upland, were fired in succession on the Russian cavalry, and those troops nearest on the flank of the column losing some men and horses by the first shot, wavered, halted, and galloped back.

At the same moment the mass slackened its pace as it drew near, while our men, embarrassed at first by the picket lines of their camp, as soon as they cleared them, charged in succession. All who had the good fortune to look down from the heights on that brilliant spectacle must carry with them through life a vivid remembrance of it. The plain and surrounding hills, all clad in sober green, formed an excellent background for the colours of the opposing masses; the dark grey Russian column sweeping down in multitudinous superiority of number on the red-clad squadrons that, hindered by the obstacles of the ground in which they were moving, advanced slowly to meet them.

There was a clash and fusion, as of wave meeting wave, when the head of the column encountered the leading squadrons of our brigade, all those engaged being resolved into a crowd of individual horsemen, whose swords rose, and fell, and glanced; so for a minute or two they fought, the impetus of the enemy's column carrying it on, and pressing our combatants back for a short space, till the 4th Dragoon Guards, coming clear of the wall of a vineyard which was between them and the enemy, and wheeling to the right by squadrons, charged the Russian flank, while the remaining regiments of our brigade went in in support of those which had first attacked.

Then--almost as it seemed in a moment, and simultaneously--the whole Russian mass gave way, and fled, at speed and in disorder, beyond the hill, vanishing behind the slope some four or five minutes after they had first swept over it.

While this was going on, four of the enemy's squadrons, wheeling somewhat to their left, made a rush for the entrance of the harbour. The 93d were lying down behind a slope there; as the cavalry approached, they rose, fired a volley, and stood to receive the charge so firmly that the horsemen fled back with the rest of the column.

All this had passed under the observation of Lord Raglan. He does not seem to have made any comment on the strange inaction of the Light Brigade, which was afterwards explained to be due to Lord Cardigan's impression that he was expected to confine himself strictly to the defensive.

But Lord Raglan sent the following written order to Lord Lucan: "Cavalry to advance and take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights. They will be supported by the infantry, which have been ordered to advance on two fronts." The last sentence referred to the two English Divisions on the march, and still at some distance.

This order did not commend itself to Lord Lucan's mind so clearly as to cause him to act on it. He moved the Heavy Brigade to the other side of the ridge, where he proposed to await the promised support of infantry, and this, under the circumstances, was not an irrational decision. After a while a disposition seemed manifest on the Russian side to carry off the captured guns, which might very well seem to signify a general retreat of the forces.

Therefore a second written order was sent to Lord Lucan, thus worded: "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Troop of horse-artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate."

This order was carried by the Quartermaster-General's aide-de-camp, Captain Nolan, author of a book on cavalry tactics, in which faith in the power of that arm was carried to an extreme.

He found Lord Lucan between his two brigades, Scarlett's on the further slope of the ridge, Cardigan's beyond the Woronzoff road, where it ascends to the Upland, drawn up across the valley and looking down it towards the Tchernaya. D'Allon-Ville's French brigade of cavalry had descended into the plain, and was now on the left rear of the Light Brigade.

In order to appreciate the position of the Russian army at this time, it is necessary to note an additional feature of this part of the field. Rising from the bank of the Tchernaya, close to the Traktir Bridge, and stretching thence towards the Chersonese upland, but not reaching it, is a low lump of hills called the Fedioukine heights. Their front parallel to the ridge, at about 1200 yards, forms with it the longer sides of the oblong valley leading to the Tchernaya. Menschikoff had sent a force of the three arms to co-operatc with Liprandi, but not part of his command; and these troops and guns were posted on the Fedioukine heights.

The situation, then, was this: the defeated Russian cavalry had retreated down the valley towards the Tchernaya, and was there drawn up behind its guns, a mile and a quarter from our Light Brigade; Liprandi's troops were posted along the further half of the Woronzoff ridge, enclosing, with those just said to be on the Fedioukine heights, the valley in which the hostile bodies of cavalry faced each other ; eight Russian guns bore on the valley from the ridge ; fourteen Russian guns from the Fedioukine heights; Russian rifleman had been pushed from those slopes into the valley on each side ; also on each side were three squadrons of Russian lancers, posted in the folds of the hills, ready to emerge into the valley; and in front of the main body of the Russian cavalry were twelve guns in line.

Probably anyone viewing the matter without prepossession will think that Lord Raglan's orders to Lord Lucan were not sufficiently precise. For instance, in the last order, "to the front " is manifestly vague, the enemy being on several fronts.

Lord Raglan, in a subsequent letter, explains his meaning thus: "It appearing that an attempt was making to remove the captured guns, the Earl of Lucan was desired to advance rapidly, follow the enemy in their retreat, and try to prevent them from effecting their objects." But the enemy were not removing the guns at that time, and not retreating, and the order, thus given by Lord Raglan under a mistake, did not apply.

Here was plenty of room for misinterpretation; and on receiving this order, Lord Lucan, by his own account, read it "with much consideration--perhaps consternation would be the better word--at once seeing its impracticability for any useful purpose whatever, and the consequent great unnecessary risk and loss to be incurred."

He evidently interpreted "the front" to mean his own immediate front, and was presently given to understand that "the guns" were those which had retired along with the Russian cavalry. For when he uttered his objections, Nolan undertook to reply, though there is no evidence that he had any verbal instructions with which to explain the written order. "Lord Raglan's orders," he said, "are that the cavalry should attack immediately."

"Attack,sir! attack what? What guns, sir?" asked Lord Lucan sharply.

"There, my lord, is your enemy, there are your guns," replied the believer in the supreme potency of cavalry, pointing towards the valley, and uttering these words, Lord Lucan says, "in a most disrespectful but significant manner."

Very indignant under what he held to be a taunt, Lord Lucan thereupon rode to Lord Cardigan, and imparting to him the order as he understood it, conveyed to him the impression that he must charge right down the valley with his brigade as it stood in two lines (presently made three by moving a regiment from the first line), while the Heavy Brigade would follow in support.

And it certainly was impossible for Lord Cardigan to know what he could advance against except the cavalry that stood facing him; and though he shared and echoed Lord Lucan's misgivings, he at once gave the order, "The brigade will advance!"

With these words the famous ride began. But the brigade was scarcely in motion when Captain Nolan rode obliquely across the front of it, waving his sword. Lord Cardigan thought he was presuming to lead the brigade; his purpose could never be more than surmised, for a fragment of the first shell fired by the enemy struck him full in the breast.

His horse turned round and carried him back, still in the saddle, through the ranks of the 13th, when the rider, already lifeless, fell to the ground. Led by Lord Cardigan, the lines continued to advance at a steady trot, and in a minute or two entered the zone of fire, where the air was filled with the rush of shot, the bursting of shells, and the moan of bullets, while amidst the infernal din the work of destruction went on, and men and horses were incessantly dashed to the ground. Still, at this time, many shot, aimed as they were at a rapidly moving mark, must have passed over, or beside the brigade, or between the lines.

A deadlier fire awaited them from the twelve guns in front, which could scarcely fail to strike somewhere on a line a hundred yards wide. It was when the brigade had been advancing for about five minutes that it came within range of this battery, and the effect was manifest at once in the increased number of men and horses that strewed the plain. With the natural wish to shorten this ordeal, the pace was increased ; when the brigade neared the battery, more than half its numbers were on the grass of the valley, dead or struggling to their feet; but, still unwavering, not a man failing who was not yet disabled, the remnant rode straight into the smoke of the guns, and was lost to view.

Lord Lucan moved the Heavy Brigade some distance forward in support of the Light; but finding his first line suffering from a heavy fire, he halted and retired it, not without considerable loss.

Further Movement

At the same time another and more effectual movement took place. General Morris, commander of the French cavalry, directed a regiment of his chasseurs d'Afrique (the 4th) to attack the troops on the Fedioukine heights, and silence the guns there. The regiment ascended the slopes, drove off the guns, and having accomplished their object, retired, with a loss of ten killed and twenty eight wounded.

Thenceforth the retreat of our cavalry. was not harassed by the fire of guns from this side of the field, and the good comradeship implied in this prompt, resolute, and effectual charge of the French was highly appreciated by their allies, and has received just and warm praise from the historian Kinglake.

What the Light Brigade was doing behind the smoke of the battery was of too fragmentary a kind to be here more than touched on. The Russian gunners were driven off, and parties of our men even charged bodies of Russian cavalry ; and that these retreated before them is not only recorded by the survivors of the Light Brigade, but by Todleben. But the combat could end but in one way, the retreat of what was left of our light cavalry.

They rode back singly, or in twos and threes, some wounded, some supporting a wounded comrade. But there were two bodies that kept coherence and formation to the end.

On our right, the 8th Hussars were joined by some of the 17th Lancers, when they numbered together about seventy men. The three squadrons of the enemy's lancers, already said to be on the side of the Woronzoff heights, descended from thence, and drew up across the valley to cut off the retreat of our men. Colonel Shewell of the 8th led this combined party against them, broke through them with ease, scattering them right and left, and regained our end of the valley.

A little later, Lord George Paget led also about seventy men of the 4th Light Dragoons and 11th Hussars against the other three squadrons of lancers on the side of the Fedioukine heights, and passed by them with a partial collision which caused us but small loss.

The remaining regiment, the 13th Light Dragoons, mustered only ten mounted men at the close of the action. The mounted strength of the brigade was then 195 ; it had lost 247 men in killed and wounded, and had 475 horses killed, and forty-two wounded.

The First Division, after its circuitous march by the Col, was now approaching the Woronzoff ridge, followed by the Fourth. It could see nothing of what was occurring in the adjoining valley; but it presently began to have tokens of the charge, in the form of wounded men and officers who rode by on their way to Balaklava.*

(*The commander of the Royals, Colonel Yorke, rode by the writer with a shattered leg. He died in 1890, while this chapter was being written, at the age of seventy-seven.)