The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-30
The Charge at Balaklava.
Survivor OF the Light Brigade Living
in Piscataquis County.
Lewiston Journal.1

4AAOS WYNN Va @AShAh9Obs lSCdtduuIS COuD-
ty, Me-, lives man known to his peighbors
as "Col." Thomas French. He became a
citizen of Atkinson about two years ago.
after much knocking about through the
world, and few of his own neighbors are
acquainted with his biography. He says he
rode with the Light Brigade in their charge
at Balaklava. He is not a boastful man.
He gives a straightforward account of his
life, and tells the particulars of the Crimean
campaign and of the charge with minute
ness He is about IS years old--a tall
straight, good-looking man, bearing howev-
er, the traces of an adventurous life. His
hair is white, but his black eyes have the
fire of youth. He was born in England, but
Gallo traits are very pronounced in his
face. His skin has the brown of sunny
climate. He is frequently called a French
man and some people think he is Span
lard. The fact thai his mother was Por-
tuguese lady accounts for this look. His
features are finely modelled and he has an
intelligent countenance. he has been mar
ried twice, and his younger children are not
too big to climb upon his knee. / can do
no better than to relate the story Of his life
as he told it to me, when / drove to his
place from Dover, and was welcomed to his
| cosy sitting-room.
81 was born,'' said the Colonel, sin Bath,
Somersetshire, England. My father was an
officer in the British service. While sta
10 :o5
Portuguese lady. I passed my youth in
Spain, England, Ireland and Canada. I was
educated in Spain and at Dublin college,
Ireland. When / was eighteen or twenty
years of age, my father went to Canada, and
| went with him. didn't like the country.
| was young daredevil, always getting in
to scrapes and full of the old Nick. | had
been in Canada but a few years, when de-
termined to cross to England. | sailed to
Liverpool, went from that place 10 Black
burn and thence to Burleigh. While I lived
| there, in 1858, fell in with two recruiting
officers, who were hunting for Just such q
fellow as 1. You've beard of the taking Of
Of The Queens Shilling. When a fellow ac-
cepts this coin from recruiting officer, it's
a token of his enlistment and he cannot
back out. The recruiting sergeants have
many ways OF inducing man to take this
shilling. The fellow that finally hooked me,
had been teasing me to enlist for long
time. | went into an ale-house to drink
with him. Unobserved, he slipped shilling
into my mug of ale. When drank l heard
it rattle and threw it out. MY man you've
taken the queens shilling'
81 knew there was no use to dodge. /
enlisted and was soon in Co. A. 18th Lam
/ Qsqumn1 tho ~ ~ nor,
ton for the reason it would have been con-
sidered disgrace for an officers son to en-
list as private. My father was in command
of the 18th regiment of Foot He ranked a
major, but the Col. and Lieut. Col. were
off, on leave of absence.
The first thing to be done was to break
me and my colt. One was as green as the
other. We went into a riding ring and
learned to jump hurdles. I've been flung
over my horses head in a heap, many a
time One thing / had to learn. was to
hold half dollar between my knee and the
saddle while rode around the ring. You
have to get the motion of the horse pretty
well in order to do that. Ten or fifteen
years ago belonged to the Boston Tigers.
and | used to astonish some of the bows by
doing this trick.
The war broke out in 50. In the fall
went with nv regiment to Portsmouth, en-
barked and sailed through the Dardanelles
to the peninsnlar. we had been there but
a little while, when be battle of Balaklava
occurred. | will tell you how the awful
blunder was committed. The men in the
infantry and artillery had accused the cav
airy OF doing nothing. They called us the
pet arm of the service, and tainted us with
having a soft time The charge was true
Our brigade had done nothing during the
campaign, but they were brave fellows and
it was not their fault. On the day of the
action, which was the 25th or 26t6 of Oc-
tober, Pm not certain which, Captain No
Ian conveyed to us an order from the com
mander of the division. The order, as it was
given to Nolan, was Order the brigade to
keep close watch on the movements of
the eEemy's artillery The way in which
Nolan transmitted the order to the Earl of
Cardigan, who commanded our brigade was !:
There are the guns; it is your duty to
take them.' Cardigan and every man in
his brigade were astounded at the order.
10 take the guns was sheer impossbility
We had nothing to do, however, but to obey
the order as it reached US. The bugle sound
ed, and we were off. There were cannon
in front OF MS and cannon on each side of
us. The Russian infantry was ambushed.
and also poured deadly volleys into us,
You've read Tennyson's poem, suppose.
It's grand description of the charge. And
the old cavalry man repeated the lines
Cannon to right of them
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon In front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and she'll
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of He'll
Rode the six hundred
just 500 OF us went in and Just sixteen of
us, to the best OF my knowledge and belief
came out. Capt. Nolan was the first man
who fell. A shell burst on his breast and
blew the man into SO many fragments that
there was nothing left of him. 1t is as well
for Nolan that he was killed. If he hadn't
been killed, he probably would have been
tried by court-martial and sentenced to a
disgraceful death for giving the order wrong
ly. knew Nolan very WELL He was a
high-spirited, impetuous fellow, and felt
keenlv the taunt that his brigade was the
pet of the service and was doing nothing
He wanted chance TO achieve glory aud he
gave that terrible order. This is the way T
account for the charge of the Light Brigade.
We went in and they moved us down like
grass l saw my chums falling around me
and I'm not ashamed to say that my hair
stood on end If ever any mans did. | don't
care how brave man is, there are times
when he's scared. That was one of those
times We didn't get very far We took
some of the guns and cut some of the gun
ners with their own sabres. | was hit in
the ankle with a musket ball, on the way
out Here is the scar"
The veteran pulled down his sock and
showed the mark where ball went through
his ankel. Then he continued the nara
tive:
CATER the battle, I was transported to
England. Through the influence of friends,