New-York tribune., 1912-01-28

G. H. Baynes, Veteran OF Three
Wars, Tells of the Immortal
Sacrifice at BaIaklava.
"lNTO THE MOUTH OF HE'LL"
Most Vivid Memory in the
Years of Fighting Seen by
This Soldier of
Fortune.


Cannon TO left Of them,
cannon in front Of them
Vclleyed and thundered; ,
f.f Stormed at with shot and shell,
BOdlv they rode and well,
Into the jaws Of death,
Into the mouth Of hell
..... Rode the six Hundred.
Perbaps 10 no other man in the United
States. certainly 70 no other man in WASH
ington. does the stirring poem OF Tenny-
sons appeal as il does to George H.
Baynes. soldier of fortune, veteran OF
three wars. and one of the handful OF sur
yiyors of the immortal charge OF the Eng
lisb Light Brigade at the battle OF Ball'
klava. in the Crimean war. He Is spending
q the twilight Of a long and evcntful lie at
the National Soldiers Home.
The piercing eye Of the old warrior is
little dimmed by age and. although for
six wears during the last century he fought
the Maori cannibals in the New Zealand
bush and in more recent times has re-
ceiyed an honorable discharge from the
Tinted States cavalry on account Of dis
abilities from hard riding his years, which
now number only four less than fourscore'
weigh lightly upon him.
Survivors of the tragic charge of the
Light Brigade were never many. or IN"
3 SO cavalrymen who entered the fatal val
ley under the ambiguous command 'Ad-
vance on the enemys 'front.' only l9>
came back alive. The reasons for the
charge being made as it was have never
teen satisfactorily explained, although
they have furnished the theme for whole
volumes. whose authors delve into the
question from every possible angie.
g. HIS MOST VIVID MEMORY.
To Cornet Baynes-for'in the English
army he had the commission OF cornet
which corresponded very nearly TO that Of
second lieutenant in the army Of the United
States. the events of the War OF the Crl-
mea. in 1854 are as well remembered as
events of Yesterday His life has been
crowded with deeds of daring, and he has
faced every weapon of offence, from the
broadsides of Russian batteries, to the
tomahawk of Western Indians in The
United States soon after the close OF the
Civil War. when the red men trailed the
warpath Yet he says that the most vivld
recollection of his life. the one thing which
stands out above all else, is the desperate
! ride he made into the teeth of Russian
gunners on the plain of Balaklava, between
. the guns on the Causeway Heights and
the Fedioukine Hills.
Mr. Baynes receives his visitors aftably
in the pleasant sun parlor at the Soldiers
Home. He is comfortable there. despite
the fact that ne expects soon to go to his
old home in Colorado Springs, COL where
his wife is buried and where his friends
live. Pressed to tell the story of the III
mean War. and especially of the carnage
made immortal through the song of poet
he lnoks oui4sically at his visitor and says
Ut may he a long story, my frienc
Though, of course. the battle of BalaklaN
was the most noted battle of the war an
the best known i'm countries where TennS
sons poem i read, yet there were othe
fights. there were even more desperate er
counters, and, withal, battles which toi
more for England than Balalllava.
p. He speaks i'm the broad infections OF IN
true Englishman and every sentence show
the effect of a thorough education receive
in Eaton College. England. His father We
Charles Robert Baynes, chief justice of II
English Presidency Of Madras, in lndi'
The son was born there. and when Geore