The Republican journal., 1873-07-31
From the Galaxy for August.
The MARTYR of Balaklava.

All the world has heard of the famous
Charge Of the Light Brigade" and of
the words of Bosquet, applied to it, This
Is magnticent-bu it is not war We
have all agreed with Tennyson that sssome
one had blundered'' but most of the
blame has fallen on the wrong shoulders
The popular verdict has in substance been.
| that Captain Louis Nolan, of Lord Rag
lan's staff, being an impetuous cavalier.
| consciously or unconsciously wrested the
real meaning of an order which he carri-
ed, into an authorization of the senseless
sacrifice Of the Light Brigade and that his
only excuse was that he was the first man
killed in the charge The careful King
lake, with patience and industry the
most remarkable, has succeeded in u-
rayellmg from the conflicting stories of
various witnesses full, true, and minute
account Of this famous charge, and every
thing connected with it, from the lemean-
or of Lord Raglan overlooking the field
| from the edge of the Chersonese, down to
the sabre cuts of individual horsemcn
among the Russian guns. an account eX-
| tending over onc-toulth of the volume in
| which it j. contained on more than a hun
! .!i"d printed pages. \ conscientious ex-
| animation of this mass of testimony Will
show that the blame Of the blunder will
| be found to rest with the very man who
has escaped with the least censure We
refer to Lord Lucan, commander of the
English cavalry division, whose conduct,
rightly considered, appears without a
shade of excuse, marked by every fault
which a leader could possibly exhibit, eX-
cept that form of physical cowardice
which actually runs away. 1t was he that
| nd
the evidence will show that had Nolan
been listened to, the charge of the Light
Brigade might have been as splendid in
success as it was glorious in disaster
In order to understand this fully Il rap
id summary of the topography and move
ments of the battle of Balaklava is neces-
sary, to which We beg the readers atten-
ton. On the 25th of October, 1884, the
allied armies lay around the south side of
Sebastopo, in u semicircle. The ground
they lay on was a lofty table-land, in form
nearly an isosceles triangle the point be
ing Cape Chersonesc; the two sides wash
ed by the Black sea and Sebastopol road
stead; the base, bordered by the Sapounye
Ridge, looking down on the low rolling
''plam of Balaklava" This tabe-land
| was known as the :. ChersoneSen Sc
bastopol was cut into one side Of the tri-
angle like a horseshoe In one of the
base angles lay the little harbor of Bala-
klay;, the English storehouse, but outside
OF the lines, exposed to attack from the
country at large The other angle was
occupied by the plateau of mkerman,
equally as weak. In the usual fashion Of
the Crimean war, these weak points We're
left to the English, the astute French
holding the mpregnable Sapomye Ridge
| with BoSquet'S corps Of observation, and
having a comfortable Storehouse and hal'-
bon for their siege corps, under General
Foy, iii kamiesch bay, high mp near the
apex of the triangle, and secure from mo-
| lestation Balakiava harbOr was defended
by some two thousand men, under Sir Co
lin Campbell, in 4 chain OF earthW0rks
close to the town The plain Of Bala
| klava was about a mile north OF the har-
bor, and was by no means flat surface
Although much lower than the ChcrSOncSe,
| it was divided INTO the north and south
valleys by ranges OF low hills, running
east and west, AT right angles to the bluffs
of the Sapounye Ridge, the base of the
| triangle. / he central range OF these low
hills was trayersed from end to end by the
| WoronZoti road. and thus gained the
name of CauSeway Ridge. Five redoubts
Were built along it, and occupied by some
tw" OF three thousand Turks On the
other side of the north valley lay the
Fcdionkinr hills The south valley was
bounded by the hamara and Balaklava
heights On this ground was fought the
| battle of Balakllya, the north valley be
| mg the scene OF the Light Brigade charge
the south valley of that Of Sc1rIctt's
" HeaVics
Early on the morning OF the 18th of
October General Liprandi, with some
twenty five thousand Russians, OF whom
about four thousand We're cavalry, storm
ed the line Of Turkish redouhtS on the
| Causeway Ridge, and threatened Balakla-
! va. The movement was in the nature OF
q surprise, and quite successful The on
| ly forces on the plain We're Lord Lucm's
| two brlgade> of cavalry, about twelve
| hundred strong; and they stood looking
! on at the disaster of the Turks without
any apparent ability to check the Russians
| The French covering force, intrcnched
along the Sapounye Ridge, turned out,
but also remained idle spectators; and
| the allies had the modification to see the
enemy complete the conquest Of the re
doubts with hardly any resistance. Lord
| Raglan, from the edge of the ChcrsoneSe
| looked down on the battle, and despatched
orders for two divisions Of English int.t-
| try to leave the trenches at Sebastopol
| and march to the help of the threatened
seaport. He saw that the Russians had
| paused in their conquestS Part of their
| infantry hung around the captured re
| doubts on Calsewav Ridge, part were on
the Fedioukine hills, while their cavalry
was advancing up the north valley in Il
I 4
Causeway Ridge, and mace Il dash at Baia
klava, but Were easily driven off by sin
gle volley from Sir Collins infantry The
Were lowering aimlessly on the skirts of
the battle, doing nothing Their battery
and horse artillery tried a little harmless
cannonading but soon fell back out of
ammunition
Lord Raglan was not a rash command
CT. On the contrary. early in the morn
ing he had sent an order withdrawing the
cavalry to the foot If the upland, to save
it till the infantry C., uld come up. This
order ran thus
Cavalry to take ground to the left of second line
OF redonhts occupied by Turks.
This, now called the first order, Ln-
can obeyed with scrupulous fidelity, al
though. as was his custom, he Growled
and grumbled So particular was he to
obey the spirit as well as the letter, that
he requested Captain Wetherall the aid
de-camp, to remain and indicate the exact
spot meant by Lord Raglan, which the
latter did. Then occurred pause in the
battle The Russians satisfied with THEN
work, and afraid to risk its results. re-
manned clustered round the redoubts, pre-
pared to carry Oft the guns. Their caval- |
ry alone moved up the north valley, till
they We're checked by some shots from
the French batteries on the CherSonese
Then they turned to the left, crossed |
Canseway Ridge, and prepared to descend |
into the south valley. Almost at the same |
time Raglan despatched the second on
der to Lucan directing him to send eight
squadrons Of heavy dragons to support
Sir Colin at Balaklava. This also Lucan
obeycd, and sent General Scarlet, with
the Heavy Brigade, up the south valley
The 'Heavies," moving peacefully along
the valley among gardens and vineyards,