River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-02-19
INTO THE JAWS or DEATH.
A Charge that Amazed the World Just
Thirty Years Ago.

~ WAC ICoAo etEO NO-0oJ VIA
the Earl of Cardigan's light brigade
made its famous charge at Balaklava,
near Sebastopol. A gentleman who
was on the staff Of an English General,
and who witnessed the charge, gives
the Dispatch this description of it:
On October %, 1854, our eyes turned
to the heights of Balaklava, ON the pos
session of which depended the very exls.
tence of the allied forces. On that day
the Russians made desperate attack on
our lines, to be as desperately repulsed.
Word was sent to headquarters that the
enemy, under cover of heavy fire from
the forts. had left Sebastopol in force
and was massing himself so as to threat
en- the safety of the heights. / was at
once sent with an order for the cavalry
and horse artillery to move and be ready
to assume the offensive. They had not
to wait long. The Turkish lines
were swept as by whirlwind,
and with our Mohammedan allies the
word was 'sauve qui peut.' The heavy
cavalry on the right and the light bri-
gade on the left were advanced, with
the artillery in the center playing
game at hong bowls. Meanwhile
Russian battery was ostentatiously
moved forward, whose we'll served guns
promised to be embarrassing.
Lord Raglan, who did not know the
full strength of the foe, saw that this
obstacle must be removed; but wheth
er or not he also foresaw the necessity OF
first looking before the leap was taken
must be forever mystery. The COM
manders of the cavalry brigades,
Lords Lucan and Cardigan, broth
s-in-law,, between whom no love
was lost, were waiting the word
to engage, Lord Lucan, being the senior
officer. To them sped Captain Nolan,
dashing hussar. Saluting the Gener.
al, he said he bore an order-unwritten
/ from Lord Raglan that the battery
must be silenced and the guns captured.
Lord Lucan, man so cautious as te
have earned the nickname Lord Look.
on fearing to expose his small force to
any ambushed dangers, asked for more
definite orders. With a slightly con.
temptuous turn of his handsome lip, the
abide camp pointed in the direction 81
the battery and said:
"You see your enemy, my lord
"Even the Earl of Cardigan, i'm.
petuous as he was, generally speak.
ing, looked at his commander in
doubt as to the works. But, owing
to the unhappy enmity existing be.
tween them, neither would speak his
thoughts, and once more Nolan, impa-
tiently waving his sword, which he had
ficrcely drawn from his scabbard, and
pointing it to the artillery, cried: Take
the guns; these are your orders!
"The crisis has arrived. No resource
is left but to do as be bids. A cold nod
of assent from Lord Lucan. A pro-
found bow follows from Lord Cardigan.
Light Division, forward, charged
breaks from his lips. An echoing cheer
is the reply from GOT Threats, as with
clang of scabbard and rattle of bride
of bit, and the braying of the trumpet,
and the ringing cheer of the 'Heavies'
the Fourth and Thirteenth Lights, the
Eighth and Eleventh Hussars, the latter
Lord Cardigan's own corps conspicuous
in their cherry-colored trousers, and the
Seventeenth Lancers, with ranks closed
up and squadrons dressed as evenly as
if at march past, trot forward down
the slight declivity. At their head ride
the gallant Nolan and the dauntless
Cardigan-even in this supreme mo-
ment with a reckless laugh upon his
face, as he argues some point of war
with his brother hussar.
"The unmasked batteries are already
belching forth shot and she'll The trot
breaks into gallop, the gallop into a
furious, headlong charge. Already
Nolan has fallen, cut down by grape
shot, the secret of the fatal day dy-
ing with him. The serried ranks
show frequent gaps as saddle
after saddle is emptied. Close up!
Close upl Charged is the unceasing
cry, and in shorter time than il takes
to tell the opening ranks of the foe dis
closed to the doomed, but indomitable
few, cannon to right of them cannon to
left of them, cannon in front of them
and now cannon behind them. On
through the broken Russian line
pressed the noble army of martyrs,
their orifamme, their brave leaders
flashing sabre, their support.
with wild cheer and wilder leap
the cheery-c clad heroes fly over the guns
as lightly as they would over a five
barred gate on the hunting field saber-
ing the gunners as they leap. A beard
less boy, not yet seventeen, holds fast
to the colors he has sworn to carry to
death or victory and falls with the cry,
My mother will hear of this on his
dying lips, still grasping that banner in
his hand.
Far away, clear in front, with his
aide-de-camp and few choice spirits
on his right hand and on his left-none
ahead of him, raging like lion, fights,
as with forlorn hope. the leader and
commander of the Light Brigade. He
bears charmed life, and his brawny
arms endowed with power or slaugh-
ter that grows mightier every moment
from the meat it feeds on Further and
further he dashes on. cleaving his way
with his blood-stained sword till he
reaches the last of the guns.
Here, when he sees the end is not
yet, but that rank upon rank of cavalry
and infantry, with heavy artillery in
the rear, stretches out back to the
city's utmost bastion, he recognizes
how useless it will be further to tempt
the fates and fight one against thou
sand. Coolly pnd calmly, as if in Hyde
Park, he takes in the situation at a
glance, and gives the word to the trum-
peter to sound first the assembly, ;
then the retreat A bullet flashes
through the boys hand as he raises his
trumpet to his mouth but, Stole like, he
makes no sign. Clear rings out the
summons. A dozen only answer the
call. Not one save Lord Cardigan, but
is wounded more or less severely, and
his clothing shows where lance or
saber or ball had ploughed their
way over his unscathed flesh. Right
about the little band turns, leaving the
boy trumpeter dead on the ground be-
hind them.
The enemy, paralyzed by the shock
of the charge, and fancying that the
whole British army supports the hand
full of braves, pauses in his murderous
work to cheer the los survivors who re-
turned slowly and sadly to the place
from which they came, having, from a
military standpoint, achieved nothing,
yet covered with deathless, fadeless
wreath of glory. 1t was magnificent.
said Gen. Bosquet, but it was not
war
The Vanderbilt Residences.