CHAPTER IV. Eupatoria Landing on shores of Crimea Rain - Cholera Lord Raglan's camp Contrast with Marshal St. Arnaud's French pillage Sak March Order of divisions Bulganak-Cavalry encounter - Col. Lagondie - Bivouac French army pass the mouth of river under cover of fleet - Malamak -Sharpshooters - Bourlick- Marshal St. Arnaud's orders Advance of Sir George Brown's division - Lord Raglan Turner's battery - Attack of Light and crosses the Alma 2nd Divisions 23rd regiment - Brigade of Guards and Highlanders - Delay in arrival of artillery - Rout of Russians - Capture of guns - Enthusiasm for Lord Raglan- Excitement Sir Colin Campbell - Flight of enemy General Shokanoff wounded - Horrors of battle-field - General Torrens - Sir G. Brown General Pennefather-General Codrington Kindness to wounded - Russian prisoners Katcha - Dr. Thompson Head-quarter Camp, 18 miles S. of Eupatoria, I HAVE not much time, and therefore can only give you a short account of the landing of the troops. On the morning of the 14th, at 3 o'clock, we weighed anchor, and from then till 8 A.M. the transports, &c., were getting into their proper places. There was some confusion in consequence of the French taking up our centre buoy as their left, so in that manner threw us out by half a mile, which caused much crowding. The French were the first to land. Soon after 7 A.M. they sent a boat on shore with half a dozen men, who erected a flag-staff and hoisted the French colours. Their first flat of troops landed at a quarter to 9 A.M. about two miles south of us. Sir G. Brown and General Airey and their staffs were the first English on shore; half a minute afterwards a boatload of the 7th Fusileers landed. It was then 20 minutes to 10 A.M. By 10 o'clock the French had upwards of 6000 men landed and we about 70! Our being so slow in landing was entirely the fault of Admiral Dundas. He has been from the first against the expedition, and has predicted all sorts of disasters, and, now that he sees everything is likely to go well, he does all in his power to thwart and annoy Sir Edmund Lyons and Lord Raglan. In the first place, he stood four miles out to sea instead of remaining in the centre of our fleet, the place where he had agreed to be, and then shortly before the landing he signalled for four of our ships of the line to come outside and look at nothing. The con sequence was, that all their boats were absent from that time till two in the afternoon. Nevertheless, the landing went on very rapidly; all worked with a will, and the manner in which the sailors assisted was beyond all praise. The enemy never made the least resistance to the landing; indeed we never saw any troops, except some half-dozen Cossacks, who galloped up to the cliffs and then off again as fast as they came. Strange that they should have attempted nothing, for, although they could not have prevented it, as we were covered by the heavy guns from the fleets, still they might have annoyed us very much and caused great confusion. By 3 P.M. the Light, 1st, and 2nd Divisions were almost all landed-about 14,000 men and 12 guns. Soon after this, Lord Raglan and his staff came on shore and rode up to the advanced posts of the army. The 2nd battalion of the Rifles had been pushed on to a village five miles inland, called Tagailii: here they had established themselves in capital quarters, and, as it was situated on rather higher ground than any in the neighbourhood, it was well adapted as an advanced post. From it you overlooked the country in front for some miles: every here and there could be distinguished Cossack videttes; but they took good care not to come within range of our rifles. Another advantage this village had, viz. plenty of good water, and it has not yet been found elsewhere. Lord Ragland rode round the whole of the outposts, and did not return until quite dark, past eight o'clock. Wherever he went to-day the troops cheered him, and indeed all seemed animated with the most enthusiastic spirits. Up to two o'clock this day the weather was fine; but afterwards there was a good deal of rain at intervals, and soon after 8 P.M. it began to pour down in torrents, and continued doing so till early the following morning. I was one of the fortunate ones who had not to sleep out, as I got a berth on board ship. By night we had landed 23,700 men and 19 guns, with their horses, &c., complete. The French by the same time said they had landed 22,000 infantry and 53 guns (but without horses). I am sorry to say the cholera is still with the armies. We lost on the voyage about 70 men in the infantry dead, and 200 bad cases left on board. In the cavalry the proportion is greater—22 deaths and 104 bad cases left. The French have suffered much more severely; but that is not to be wondered at, as their men are so dreadfully crowded on board their line-of-battle ships. The "Montebello" and "Ville de Paris" each brought 1500 soldiers; the 66 Valmy," I hear (it sounds almost impossible), 2400 soldiers! the "Henri Quatre" the same! their other liners in like proportion. I understand they will disembark 1100 men fewer than they embarked at Varna. During the night a good deal of wind got up right on shore, and consequently the surf was so great as to make the landing of cavalry or artillery dangerous on the following morning, the 15th instant. However, about midday it went down somewhat, and immediate advantage was taken of it to land the remainder of the artillery and the brigade of cavalry; this was successfully performed, although some few horses were drowned, I think chiefly, however, belonging to staff officers. By night nearly the whole of the cavalry (1100 horses) were disembarked. Lord Raglan took up his quarters during the day on some rising ground near the landing-place. His camp is a very modest |