FOOTNOTES:
[207] Major-General Edward Arthur Somerset, C.B.
[208] Major General Lord Alexander Gordon Russell.
[209] Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Gilbert Elliot, died May 25, 1865.
[210] i.e. track.
[211] Lieutenant-General the Hon. G. Cathcart had succeeded Sir Harry Smith as Governor of the Cape.
[212] i.e. team.
[213] i.e. the upper rocky margin of a ravine.
[214] Now Major-General the Hon. Leicester Smyth, C.B.
[215] i.e. a rill, a rivulet.
[216] Letter of January 17, 1875. For the account of the affair at Berea, I am indebted to Major-General the Hon. Leicester Smyth, with some information gathered from Captain W. R. King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffir-Land,’ and from the ‘Correspondence of Lieutenant-General the Hon. Sir George Cathcart, K.C.B.,’ published (after his death) in 1856. And a remarkable letter of Sir William Eyre which appeared in the ‘Morning Herald’ of October 23, 1856 (to which my attention was kindly drawn by General Smyth), commenting on some statements in the ‘Cathcart Correspondence’ as to the action at Berea, has also afforded me important information.
[217] A full-page engraving of the Battalion marching along Piccadilly is in the ‘Illustrated London News,’ vol. xxi. p. 477.
[CHAPTER X.]
The Service companies of the 1st Battalion arrived in Cowes Roads on January 7, 1854, and disembarking on the 10th at Portsmouth, proceeded direct by South Coast and South Eastern Railways to Dover, where they joined the Depôt companies and occupied the Western Heights barracks.
On March 12 and 13 the Battalion moved, by railroad, to Portsmouth in two divisions and occupied Clarence barracks.
Previous to this move an order was received that a hundred men should be transferred to the 2nd Battalion, then under orders to embark for Turkey. The men readily volunteered for this service, and many veterans who had served through both Kaffir wars were thus added to the 2nd Battalion, and formed a valuable nucleus of old soldiers in that Battalion, which since Waterloo had not been engaged in the field. The 1st Battalion being subsequently ordered to hold itself in readiness for embarkation, received an augmentation of 1 staff sergeant, 10 sergeants, 10 corporals, 1 bugler and 240 rank and file. These numbers were made up by a hundred volunteers from the 60th, and many from other regiments. Most of these were very young soldiers; many of them not dismissed drill.
On May 16 the Battalion was augmented to twelve companies, which were to be distributed as follows:—
Augmentation, dated May 16, 1854.
(Part one)
| Field Officers | Captains | Lieutenants | Ensigns | Staff | |
| 8 Service companies | 3 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 6 |
| 4 Depôt companies | 4 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 6 | |
(Part two)
| Staff Sergeants | Sergeants | Buglers | Corporals | Privates | |
| 8 Service companies | 7 | 50 | 21 | 50 | 950 |
| 4 Depôt companies | 20 | 8 | 20 | 380 | |
| 7 | 70 | 29 | 70 | 1330 | |
| 1400 | |||||
On June 6, 1854, an order was issued that the junior subalterns of the regiment should in future be ranked as ‘Ensigns’ and not ‘Second Lieutenants,’ as they had been ever since the formation of the Regiment—a singularly inappropriate designation: for Dr. Johnson defines as ‘Ensign’ ‘the officer of Foot who carries the flag;’ whereas this regiment had never had any flag or colour to carry. This, absurd anomaly continued until 1872.
The Battalion having received orders to hold itself in readiness to join the army under Lord Raglan in the East, was inspected on June 9 by Major-General Simpson, who expressed his entire satisfaction with its appearance and discipline.
At this time the Battalion, which hitherto had been armed with the Brunswick rifle, received the Minié. In order to supply a sufficient number, in this emergency, those which had been issued on approval to various regiments at home were handed over to the Riflemen.
The Service companies of the Battalion under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith, embarked from the Dock-yard at Portsmouth on July 13 on board the steamship ‘Orinoco,’ and steamed out of harbour on the 14th. The strength of the Battalion on embarkation was 20 officers, 4 staff, 54 sergeants, 21 buglers, 50 corporals, 850 privates. Total non-commissioned officers and men 975.
On the embarkation of the Battalion, the Depôt companies under command of Captain and Brevet-Major Lord Alexander G. Russell, removed from Clarence to Colewort barracks; and continued at Portsmouth, occupying different quarters, till about August 1855, when they moved to Winchester.
The Battalion arrived at Malta on the 24th, and there received orders to proceed at once to the East. The ‘Orinoco,’ having coaled, started the next day for Constantinople; where having arrived on the 30th, orders were received to proceed forthwith to Beicos bay, there to await further instructions.
On August 2 pursuant to orders then received the ‘Orinoco’ started for Varna; but after passing through the Bosphorus she was recalled and returned to her former anchorage.
The cholera having broken out on board, one Rifleman dying on August 6 and another on the 9th, it was decided to land the Battalion; on the 9th four companies, and on the 10th the remainder of the Battalion disembarked, and encamped on a range of heights on the Asiatic side.[218] The cholera however continued its ravages; and the Battalion lost during its stay here 1 colour-sergeant (Brown), 1 sergeant, 1 bugler and 24 privates. While in this camp the Riflemen were frequently exercised in the use of the new arm, which they had received before their departure from England.
On August 24 the Battalion was inspected by H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, who expressed his satisfaction with its state and its fitness for immediate service.
On September 2 the ‘Orinoco’ having two transports in tow, proceeded out of the Bosphorus; but on rounding the point into the Black Sea, encountered so heavy a sea, and so strong a head wind, that she was unable to proceed. And as it became dark and the wind increased, she put back and anchored in Buyukdere bay. The transports barely escaped shipwreck, the tow-ropes having broken.
On the 5th the ‘Orinoco’ again started, having now but one transport in tow, and passing out of the Bosphorus, arrived off Varna the following day, and anchored in the evening. During this voyage the Battalion was in great jeopardy, the ‘Orinoco’ having been on fire by the ignition of the patent fuel which she was carrying. As she was conveying the ammunition of the 4th Division, the danger for a time was very great; and the transport in tow was cast off in order to avoid the risk of her taking fire, or being destroyed by the explosion of the ‘Orinoco.’ At Varna the rest of the expedition was assembled; and the 1st Battalion was placed in General Torrens’ brigade and attached to the 4th Division, commanded by Sir George Cathcart: a great gratification to the Riflemen, who had served under him at the Cape.
The 2nd Battalion being by this time at Varna, I have now to trace its movements.
On February 23 it was inspected at Portsmouth by Major-General Simpson previous to embarkation. On the next day the Head-quarters consisting of six companies under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence[219] embarked on board H.M.S. ‘Vulcan.’ The total numbers embarked were 20 officers, 6 staff, 37 sergeants, 12 buglers and 703 rank and file. On the same day two companies proceeded to Southampton and embarked there on board H.M.S.S. ‘Himalaya.’ The numbers were 6 officers, 1 staff, 9 sergeants, 3 buglers and 195 rank and file.[220]
The Head-quarters reached Malta on March 11, and immediately disembarked and occupied quarters in the Rope-walk barracks, where they found the two companies, from the ‘Himalaya,’ who had arrived previously.
On the 17th the Battalion was inspected by Major-General Ferguson. And on the 23rd it paraded in review order for the inspection of the French General Canrobert.
On the 30th the Battalion embarked on board the S.S. ‘Golden Fleece,’ with the exception of Captain Newdigate’s[221] company, which (for want of room) proceeded in the ‘Sir George Pollock’ sailing transport.
This expedition was commanded by their former Lieutenant-Colonel, Sir George Brown, who, with his Staff, was on board the ‘Golden Fleece.’
On April 6 the Battalion arrived at Gallipoli, and disembarked on the 8th. And each company as soon as assembled on shore, marching eight miles to Balahar, near the Gulf of Xeros, there encamped. The Riflemen were employed until the 21st in making roads and digging wells. On the 18th two regiments came up from Gallipoli and formed brigade with the Battalion, of which Colonel Lawrence took command. From the 21st the Riflemen were employed in the construction of the English half of the Lines, from the Gulf of Xeros to the centre of the position.
On May 6 the Battalion marched to Gallipoli; and after having been inspected by Sir George Brown with General Canrobert and Prince Napoleon, re-embarked on board the ‘Golden Fleece.’ They arrived on the 7th at Scutari, and having disembarked on the 9th occupied part of the new barracks until the 11th, when they pitched camp between the Hospital and the barracks, having been obliged to turn out of the barracks, on account of the fleas by which they were infested.
On the 18th an order was received for the augmentation of this Battalion (as well as the 1st) to twelve companies.
At this time the Light Division was formed under the command of Sir George Brown, and the Battalion was attached to it.
On the 25th being the celebration of the Queen’s birthday, the Division was reviewed by the Sultan and Lord Raglan Commanding the forces. On the 29th the Battalion re-embarked on board the ‘Golden Fleece’ and proceeded to Varna, where they arrived on the following day; and on disembarking, the brigade encamped outside the town near the Shumla gate, the Battalion being nearest to the town.
On June 5 the Battalion marched to Aladyn nine miles on the road to Shumla, where they encamped on a hill with a lake in front and another in rear. And on the 30th marched to Devna seven miles further inland, where they encamped on a plateau near a marsh of some extent. On July 23 the Battalion was reinforced by a draft of 1 subaltern (Lieutenant Churchill), 2 sergeants and 150 rank and file, who arrived from England. On the next day, cholera having appeared in the Division, the Battalion marched four miles further to Monastir, where it encamped on an elevated plateau in hopes of finding healthier quarters. But without success; as on the 27th the scourge broke out in the Battalion, and two Riflemen died. And many others were ill. The men, probably to divert their attention, were engaged in learning to make fascines and gabions.
On August 17 preparatory to moving to the Crimea, the Battalion was inspected by Sir George Brown, who came up from Varna to see them.
On the 26th they marched to Yuksarood, and having halted during the next day, on the 28th proceeded to Karagola, and on the 29th marched into Varna, and embarked on the same afternoon.[222]
The Battalion was broken up into companies which embarked in the following sailing transports:
The Head-quarters under Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence with Captain Hammond’s company in the ‘Pride of the Ocean.’
Capt. Elrington’s[223] company in the ‘Monarchy.’
Capt. the Earl of Erroll’s in the ‘Echunga.’
Capt. Inglis’ in the ‘Caliope.’
Capt. Fyers’[224] in the ‘Marianne.’
Capt. Newdigate’s in the ‘Harkaway.’
Capt. Forman’s in the ‘Lord Raglan.’
Capt. the Hon. W. J. Colville’s[225] in the ‘Talavera.’
Three ships started on September 7 for Battchick and three sailed on the 9th for the rendezvous at Cape Tarkan.
On the 13th the whole fleet anchored in Kalamita bay; and on the next day the landing commenced. Leaving their knapsacks on board, and taking with them a light kit folded in their blankets, the 1st Battalion landed about three in the afternoon, and bivouacked on the beach. The men were without tents; and heavy rain fell at night. The Battalion remained in this position (save that the tents were landed) until the 19th the Riflemen assisting in landing stores. On the 16th Sir George Cathcart saw the Battalion, and presented each man with a piece of black oil-cloth, which covered the blanket, keeping it dry and concealing its colour. These were also afterwards found very useful in keeping the men off the damp ground, when spread under them. Sir George, in addressing them, most kindly told them that he had considered what he could give them; and had thought these the most useful gift. On the 17th three companies, forming a patrol, marched about twelve miles inland: as they had to keep up with the cavalry they had little or no rest, the cavalry starting again almost as soon as our men came up with them. These companies did not get back till midnight, and the men had suffered much, their feet being sore from the salt which had got into their boots. However they brought back with them carts, camels, &c., taken in a village which the Cossacks had left about two hours before they reached it.
On the 18th the tents were struck and sent on board the fleet.
On that night the whole Battalion, fully equipped for the march, fell in to form a circle round some captured horses. About midnight the men had leave to sit down, front and rear rank alternately. This harassing duty continued till the general advance on the morning of the 19th.
The 2nd Battalion also landed on the 14th, and being disembarked by eleven in the forenoon, and marching from the left of the line along the front of the other regiments towards the right, were sent on in advance, after being broken up into wings; the right wing consisting of four companies under Colonel Lawrence; the left wing, also of four companies, under Major Norcott.[226] They advanced about five miles, the former moving to the eastward occupied the village of Kentúgan; the left wing advancing to the northward occupied Kamishli. On this march the right wing captured a convoy of seventy arrabas (country carts) drawn by oxen, and laden for the most part with flour. Colonel Lawrence appropriated two dromedaries, part of the spoil, for the use of his wing; where they did good service as baggage animals till the drivers contrived to elope with them in the winter. During the time that the Riflemen occupied Kentúgan and Kamishli they made friends of the inhabitants. ‘Their chief favourites, it seems, were the men of the Rifle Brigade. Quartered for a day or two in one of the villages, these soldiers made up for the want of a common tongue by acts of kindness. They helped the women in their household work; and the women, pleased and proud, made signs to the stately Rifles to do this and to do that, exulting in the obedience which they were able to win from men so grand and comely. When the interpreter came, and was asked to construe what the women were saying so fast and so eagerly, it appeared that they were busy with similes and metaphors, and that the Rifles were made out to be heroes more strong than lions, more gentle than young lambs.’[227]
The wing at Kentúgan occupied the residence of a person of some substance whose property they protected from the ravages of the French, who however pillaged the village.
During the stay of the Battalion in these villages, some amusing alarms from Cossacks took place. They were seen hovering about in the distance, and a night attack being expected, the companies of the right wing manifested their vigilance by very nearly firing into one of their own reliefs; while in the left wing a stray horse or a cow was taken for the expected Cossacks.
On another occasion an Aide-de-Camp from the Commander of the cavalry having demanded immediate assistance, the four companies under Lawrence were soon under arms, and went at the double to afford the required aid. They were met however by a message of thanks, and an assurance that their help was not needed. It appeared afterwards that the vedettes had mistaken their front, and that the supposed enemy was some of their own force.
‘But,’ writes Sir Arthur Lawrence, to whom I am indebted for these anecdotes, ‘we were all pretty new at soldiering at that time; and we were kept on the qui vive for some hours before we marched on the 19th by the Russians burning forage in our front.’ This Battalion, which had not seen a foreign foe for nigh forty years, was to learn soldiering, and to attain the prize of victory, in a severe school before the week was out.
On the 19th the whole army got into order of march at daylight. The 1st Battalion was divided between the two brigades of the 4th Division, four companies being attached to each. As the protection of the rear of the army was entrusted to this Division, the Riflemen did not leave their ground till about nine A.M. They then proceeded over the plain in the rear and on the left of the army. This march, although not more than twelve miles, was very fatiguing, on account of the heat and want of water. Vast numbers of men fell out; but those of the 1st Battalion all rejoined at nightfall after the heat of the day. During the advance the left flank was covered by Riflemen in skirmishing order, and a line of their skirmishers protected the rear. The Battalion reached the river Búlganak about six in the evening and bivouacked for the night. One company, Major Rooper’s, being detached to the left to protect that flank. On this night Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith was attacked by cholera, and Lieutenant-Colonel Horsford assumed command of the Battalion.
On the same day the 2nd Battalion advanced and were present at the cavalry affair on the Búlganak. They were moved forward in support of the cavalry and to protect the guns, but were not engaged. The Battalion bivouacked on the heights south of the river Búlganak.
On the 20th the 1st Battalion, being provided with three days’ rations, was ready to move at daylight, but did not leave its ground till a little before eight. It then advanced, covering, as on the day before, the left and rear of the army. On approaching the banks of the river Alma, a large force of the enemy’s cavalry was observed on the left flank, which he repeatedly extended with the view, apparently, of turning the flank; but Sir George Cathcart answered the movement by throwing out skirmishers of this Battalion, which kept them in check during the engagement. The enemy having been repulsed at all points in the battle of the Alma, their cavalry also retired. The Battalion then forded the Alma and ascended the heights on its south side, the enemy being then in full retreat. After a short halt the Battalion was ordered to bivouack on the bank of the river, and redescending the hill took up a position for the night. The 4th Division having been in reserve, the Battalion was not actually engaged; two men were however wounded.
But the 2nd Battalion was actively engaged. They were ordered to be ready to move by seven o’clock in the morning. I will first follow the movements of the right wing, consisting of four companies under Colonel Lawrence. At the hour appointed he extended two companies to cover the advance. But no order to move arrived for some hours; and it was not till about noon that the army was ordered to advance. The Riflemen then began to descend from the ridge the long slope which led to the Alma, two companies extended in skirmishing order, and two in support. As they drew near it the village of Búrliúk which they had not before noticed, for it was enfolded in a dip of the ground, burst into flames. They were sharply plied with grape from the batteries on the opposite slope, and with musketry from the village; while the smoke from the burning houses was so blinding that the Riflemen could hardly fire a shot.
As they could make no effectual use of their rifles, they inclined to their left and got some shelter from a dip in the ground. Meanwhile the Light Division behind them had deployed into line, and were ordered to lie down. Then Lawrence told his skirmishers to fix their bayonets, and to take two or three houses which were near them with a rush. On getting up to them however it was found that the enemy had evacuated them; and the Riflemen found shelter behind the smoking ruins. They then received the order to advance; and the Riflemen rushed into the vineyards which line the bank of the river, and which afforded some cover from the enemy’s fire. Meanwhile Major Norcott with the four companies of the left wing had attacked the Russians so vigorously that he had made the place too hot for their skirmishers, and the right wing skirmishers and supports passed through the vineyards, and forded the river without difficulty, though saluted with a shower of bullets in their passage of it. The 19th Regiment followed them. After passing the river they found some shelter under the slope of a bank: shelter from the shot and musketry which the enemy were pouring down from the redoubt, and the troops on the slope which rose from the crest of the bank which sheltered them: but not complete shelter; for the enemy had a battery on their right, which enfiladed them. The left wing of the Battalion had passed on, and the 19th Regiment was preparing to advance. Lawrence therefore accompanied by his Adjutant, Lieutenant Ross, rode up the bank and the Riflemen followed, exposed to a tremendous fire; for as soon as they left the shelter of the bank they came under the full fire of the Russians. However they advanced up the slope. When within a few yards of the redoubt Colonel Lawrence’s horse was killed by a discharge of grape, nearly rolling its rider under the breastwork of the redoubt, under which he found shelter when he had extricated himself; as did his Adjutant whose horse also was killed. These Riflemen were soon mixed up with their comrades of the left wing and with the men of the 19th Regiment, all firing indiscriminately at an advancing column of Russians. For we must now accompany Norcott’s wing, and see how he had got to the redoubt where he met Lawrence’s four companies.
Descending the slopes of the right bank of the Alma, Norcott’s Riflemen entered the vineyards, and at once were exposed to the fire of the Russian artillery and became engaged with their light troops. Fyers’ company was extended on the extreme left, with Lord Erroll’s company in support. The Riflemen inclining to the left to avoid the burning village of Búrliúk, which as we have seen had been fired by the Russians, forded the river and, ascending the other bank and passing through the vineyards, halted at a wall: a low wall which separated the cultivated ground from the slope beyond. Here Norcott moved up and extended Erroll’s company on the right of Fyers’; and then, or soon after, he advanced; and inclining to the right, on observing that Codrington’s brigade had disarranged or lost its formation and was threatened by a Russian column, he poured such a searching fire from his line of skirmishers, that the enemy were checked and hindered from taking full advantage of the want of regular formation of Codrington’s brigade. Still inclining to the right, the Riflemen approached the proper right flank of the great redoubt, where as I have said both wings met. As these Riflemen were rushing into the redoubt Norcott’s horse was wounded. Soon after they had attained the redoubt a Russian column was seen descending the hill beyond. By a most unfortunate mistake these were thought to be French, and some officer (of what regiment is unknown) desired a bugler to sound the ‘cease fire;’ and (it is said) afterwards the ‘retire.’ The men then began to leave the redoubt when their very existence seemed to depend on clinging fast to its bank, or boldly facing the enemy. In vain the officers of the various regiments endeavoured to check the stream, by calling on the men to halt or to return to the position they had won. They slowly and orderly moved down the hill. The Riflemen, carried along with this rolling mass, sought shelter under the bank from which they had first emerged on the slope. They rallied at the sound of the regimental call, and the companies of both wings, Lawrence’s and Norcott’s, united and advanced again to the redoubt. The enemy then fled. And on the final retreat of the Russians part of the 2nd Battalion were ordered to take off their packs (or rather their coats and blankets), to leave them there, and marched with the cavalry and guns in pursuit of the retreating Russians; but after proceeding about a mile they were recalled, and on their return the Battalion bivouacked on the heights above the Alma on the ground they had won.
The casualties in this Battalion were 2 sergeants and 9 rank and file killed; and Captain the Earl of Errol, 1 sergeant 3 buglers and 34 rank and file wounded.
Lord Raglan in his despatch praises the conduct of the Regiment, and states that the capture of the great redoubt was ‘materially aided by the advance of four companies of the Rifle Brigade under Major Norcott.’
He was also recommended for the Victoria Cross by Sir George Brown; who adds: ‘Major Norcott’s conduct on that occasion was not only conspicuous to the whole Division, but attracted the notice of the enemy; for the Officer in command of the Russian Battery, who was subsequently made prisoner, informed Lord Raglan, that he had laid a gun specially for the “daring officer in the dark uniform on the black horse.”’
On the 21st the 1st Battalion moved at daylight, and ascending the heights halted on the ground which had been occupied by the enemy’s right. Here they bivouacked; and were engaged on this and the following day in burying the dead and conveying the wounded to the field-hospitals. The cholera, which had disappeared from the time the Battalion left the Bosphorus, reappeared directly after they landed; and the Battalion suffered much from it about this time; having lost 1 assistant surgeon (Mr. Shorrock) 1 sergeant and 9 privates.
The 2nd Battalion on these two days was similarly employed in the burial of the dead and the assistance of the wounded.
On the 23rd both Battalions, being under arms from seven o’clock, left the heights of the Alma and advanced to the Katchka, which they reached at sunset, and there bivouacked. The 1st Battalion formed the rear-guard of the army. The 2nd Battalion, in front of the rest of the army, passed through the vineyards and a village, and crossing the river, approached the position with caution; but it was found to be evacuated.
On the next day both Battalions were under arms at seven o’clock, but were kept hanging about till near twelve while a reconnaissance was being made. The 2nd Battalion, again covering the advance of the army, then mounted the ridge, and advancing over a level plateau, descended to the valley of the Belbek, through vineyards and gardens; fording the river and pushing on, they covered with their skirmishers the crossing of the Belbek by the army. They ascended the opposite height, and at dusk their skirmishers were drawn in and they bivouacked on these heights, and furnished a picquet of two companies.
On the 25th the army made a further advance; but the 1st Battalion (with the rest of the 4th Division) remained on their ground to protect the wounded, and to cover the supplies. The Riflemen were ordered to conceal themselves in the bushes and to keep as quiet as possible. And at night occupied the bivouack of the night before. On this day Sidney Beckwith, who had been conveyed on board the ‘Orinoco,’ died; and thus the roll of the Regiment for the first time since its formation was without the honoured name of Beckwith.
On this day the 2nd Battalion under the command of Lawrence, its wings being now reunited, was ordered to place itself at the disposal of Lord Lucan, and to cover the flank of the cavalry on the advance from the Belbek towards Mackenzie’s farm. The men were ordered to place their shirts and boots wrapped in their great coats (for they had not their packs) on the limbers of the guns; and starting at half-past eight four companies preceded or were on the flank of the cavalry, and four brought up the rear. Soon the wood became so thick that it was with some difficulty that the connection between the files—for they were in skirmishing order—could be kept up. As they approached Mackenzie’s farm Lord Lucan and Lord William Paulet, Deputy-Adjutant-General, dismounted to look at a map; and while they were poring over it the sound of a gun startled the party. A second soon succeeded, the cavalry hurried forward, and the Riflemen followed, their pace quickened not only by their desire to be ‘first in the fight,’ but by a message from Lord Raglan to push on as quickly as they could. A few minutes at the double brought them out on the road, and on the baggage of Menchikoff’s column. They pursued the rear-guard, but not far; and the men helped themselves to provisions, wine and whatever they could lay hands on; some horses amongst the rest; of which a piebald, taken out of a team, replaced Norcott’s charger disabled at the Alma.
Subsequently this Battalion crossed the Tchernaya by a stone bridge and bivouacked on the height beyond. The men were much fatigued, having been on the move from an early hour till after dark without anything to eat.
On the 26th the 1st Battalion moved at 5.30 A.M., and throwing out skirmishers marched along the high road to Sebastopol for about three miles. They then turned to the left and proceeded with great caution through the forest to Kútor Mackenzie, where they halted for a very considerable time to allow the baggage and supplies of the army to precede. From Mackenzie’s farm the Battalion descended to the valley of the Tchernaya, the whole road covered with loaded waggons and the remains of the Russian baggage train, which had been surprised the day before. On arriving at the banks of the Tchernaya about half-past six they bivouacked; having been thirteen hours under arms.
On this day the 2nd Battalion led the advance on Balaklava. The approach was by a narrow gorge, with high bare hills on each side. Colonel Lawrence detached his majors, Norcott to the right, Bradford[228] to the left, while he himself with two companies kept the centre. Thus they approached Balaklava, throwing out skirmishers. No opposition was offered till they had advanced some distance, when some musketry fire was opened; but this was only from a few men on the heights who were soon driven in; and the advance continued. A staff officer then reported to Lord Raglan that the road was clear, and he rode forward and was just entering the gorge, when Lawrence observed to him that he still saw some of the enemy on the hills, and asked permission to send a company in advance. This was granted, and Fyers’ company was taken by Norcott towards the town. On their approaching it and the Battalion appearing on the heights, a few harmless shots were fired from the old Genoese fort; and soon after on their advancing nearer a white flag was hoisted. Fyers, who mistrusted the sincerity of the Governor, directed his subaltern to halt with one subdivision, whilst he, with the other, advanced by a narrow road engineered between the high ground and the sea. On Fyers’ men entering the fort, the Governor left it by another side; and meeting Egerton and Ross surrendered, handing his sword to the former. Then Fyers taking his company into the town, a baker, evidently in great terror, came out of his house and, notwithstanding the early hour of the morning, produced a roast turkey which he offered him, and a great number of loaves. These Fyers desired him to break in two, and to give half to each man. So that all the men of his company had a good meal.
The Battalion subsequently occupied Balaklava, posting sentries for the protection of the inhabitants; and at night bivouacked among beautiful vineyards two miles outside the town.[229]
Some spoil was found in the fort; Lawrence became the possessor of a fur coat, by gift from one of the Riflemen, and Ross obtained a remount in place of his horse killed at the Alma. On the next day this Battalion was moved about a mile nearer to Sebastopol, and encamped for some days.
On the 27th the 1st Battalion was under arms at half-past six; but having to wait to allow the whole of the supplies and all the impedimenta of the army to pass over the Traktir bridge, did not themselves move until ten o’clock. They then followed, and advanced almost to Balaklava when they came up with the rest of the army; and passing it ascended the hill to the right and approached Sebastopol. They traversed the valley, and the quarries afterwards occupied by the 3rd Division, and advanced to the high ground overlooking the south harbour, becoming thus the most advanced battalion in front of the place. This was a great satisfaction to the Battalion, which had been so long protecting the rear; and the Riflemen greeted their change of position with hearty cheers. Here they bivouacked, throwing out one company as an outlying picquet. Shot and shell were thrown from the town, some reaching so near the bivouack that some rifles piled by the men were knocked down by the bursting of a shell.
On September 28 a Russian column having issued from the place, the Riflemen with the 4th Division advanced to meet it. The enemy however immediately retired, with the evident intention of drawing Cathcart in pursuit under the fire of the guns of the place; but finding the Riflemen declined the fight he returned to his camp. This was situated on a flattened limestone ridge extending in the direction of the city, a ravine separating it from the Inkerman heights and another from the ridge on which was placed the battery of the English right attack.
On the 28th, in consequence of the gunners of the place having got the exact range of the position which the Battalion occupied, it was moved about 100 yards to the rear into a situation rather more sheltered.
On the 29th the 2nd Battalion, leaving their bivouack near Balaklava, advanced on Sebastopol, and took up ground on the left of the position towards Kamiesh. And on October 1 moved its position to the right of the Woronzow road, and shortly after to near the Windmill, having a wing on each flank of the Light Division.
From the time the 1st Battalion left the position of the Alma till its arrival before Sebastopol it had lost by cholera, Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith, Sergeant-Major Tucker, 1 colour-sergeant, 1 corporal and 7 privates.[230] Its strength on October 1 was—
| Field officer | Captains | Subalterns | Staff | Sergeants | Buglers | Rank and file |
| 1 | 5 | 11 | 5 | 43 | 19 | 691 |
On October 2 the Battalion being still exposed to the Russian fire, and many shells falling into the position, again moved to the rear and east of the stone quarries, and took up the position which it occupied during the remainder of the siege. On the next day the 2nd Battalion was kept on the alert all day by shot and shell thrown by the enemy into its position.
On the 4th the Regiment, which had hitherto since September 18 bivouacked without shelter, received tents, which the Riflemen brought up from Balaklava harbour.
On the 5th the 1st Battalion furnished a party to escort Engineer officers making a reconnaissance and marking ground for the approaches. They started at three in the morning and returned soon after daylight.
On the 8th the 2nd Battalion furnished a picquet under Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence, consisting of two companies, to cover the working parties at the five-gun battery. These companies held this battery for twenty-four hours under constant fire without a man being touched. The Battalion also furnished a covering party under Major Norcott at Gordon’s battery.
On the 9th a similar party was furnished by the 1st Battalion to escort the Engineers marking ground at the Greenhill battery. The Riflemen descended the ravine about a mile, and lay down while the Engineers marked the ground. They had scarcely retired when the Russians were out looking at the same ground.
On the 10th the right wing of the Battalion went down to the trenches afterwards so memorable, to cover the working parties. They remained on for twenty-four hours, and were relieved at daylight on the 11th by the left wing. This duty in the trenches was thenceforward performed by wings alternately, with the other regiments of the Division.[231]
On the 12th Private Francis Wheatley of the 1st Battalion, being on duty in the trenches when a live shell fell among the party, having unsuccessfully endeavoured to knock out the fuze with the butt of his rifle, took up the shell with great deliberation and flung it over the parapet. It had scarcely fallen outside when it exploded. For this act of valour he afterwards received the Victoria Cross, and the cross of the Legion of Honour.[232]
On October 13 a man of the 2nd Battalion, Herbert, made a most remarkable shot. He was on outlying picquet, and observing a Russian officer on a white horse he took a shot at him, fixing the sight of his rifle at its extreme range. The officer fell, while the horse moved on. The distance at which he shot him has been variously estimated from 1300 yards[233] downwards; the man himself told me that he thought the Russian whom he shot was about 1000 yards from him.
On the 14th the 1st Battalion lost its first man in the trenches; he was killed by a fragment of a shell.
On October 14 Fyers was with his company in the five-gun battery when he observed a column of Russian infantry advancing. Taking a rifle from one of the men, he put the sight at what he considered their distance, and fired, carefully watching the effect of the shot. When he perceived that it struck the ground a little in front of the column, he ordered his men to fix their sights for 750 yards, and to stand up on the parapet and ‘give it them.’ They had not been long firing when he found that he was under fire from the rear. Some of the Russians had moved up the ravine towards a house which was occupied by a picquet of another regiment, under a sergeant, which had retreated on their approach, and the Russians having taken possession of the house were firing on Fyers’ party. He therefore sallied with his company out of the battery and drove the Russians back, not before they had eaten the dinners of the former occupants of the picquet-house, and carried off their coats and blankets. Most of these they dropped on their way back, as they probably impeded their retreat, pressed as they were by Fyers and his party.
In this affair Hugh Hannan, the tallest man in the Battalion, was attacked by a Russian rifleman who turned upon him. Hannan fired; the shot was returned, and the Russian was preparing to fire again, but before he could find a cap, Hannan rushed upon him, and with a tremendous blow knocked him over a low wall, and leaped after him. They grappled; and a fierce struggle ensued in which Hannan was getting the worst of it. For the Russian had drawn his short sword and was almost in the act of stabbing him in the thigh, when Hannan’s friend and comrade, Ferguson, by a sure shot brought the Russian down dead.[234]
In this affair two Riflemen were wounded. Fyers took a sergeant and some men prisoners, of whom three were wounded; several others were carried off by their companions, and many were killed.
On the alarm Sir De Lacy Evans had moved up two regiments, and some of the 1st Division; and the rest of the 2nd Battalion were brought up and halted in rear of Gordon’s battery, and some guns were ordered up; but before these troops came into action, Fyers had repulsed and effectually disposed of the Russian attack.
On one occasion about this time, when a party of the Regiment had been pushed forward, four Riflemen crept up to within 500 yards of the place and fired into the windows of the grand barracks of Sebastopol.[235]
On the 16th, while the left wing of the 1st Battalion was in the trenches, the enemy opened a murderous fire about ten A.M. on the whole length of the English trenches and continued it for half-an-hour, apparently determined to drive them from their position; however the Riflemen did not suffer much loss, but one colour-sergeant, James Powell, was disabled.
From this date the Riflemen were nightly thrown out in advance of the intrenchments; whatever regiments found the duties, they formed a line of double sentries, to watch and report any suspicious movements in the place.
On the 17th the Allies opened fire.
On the 19th a man of the Regiment was seen to pick off eight men from a Russian battery.[236]
On the 25th the 1st Battalion was ordered out to repel the attack on Balaklava. They fell in between eight and nine o’clock, and starting at the double took up a position on the side of a hill. The Russians had driven the Turks out of the forts in their occupation. The Riflemen arrived just after the heavy cavalry charge. After the light cavalry charge the 4th Division was ordered to advance, the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade leading by wings. The right wing under Colonel Horsford took up a position with its left resting on the road from Sebastopol to the Traktir bridge; the 68th being deployed in line on its right; and the left wing under Major Rooper being on the right of the 68th in support of Captain Barker’s battery. The enemy brought forward a field battery of six guns and opened fire on the line. This fire became very troublesome on the right flank, and Lieutenant Godfrey with a few men was sent to try to silence these guns. This they did most effectually in a very short time. The task was difficult, for the ground afforded no cover; the utmost shelter they could get being some slight undulation in the surface. However the Riflemen lay down on their stomachs and picked off the gunners whenever they attempted to handle their guns; and in about twenty minutes forced the Russian guns to retire.
The Battalion remained in the same order and in the same position until dark; but no further attack being made by the enemy, and it having been resolved to abandon these forts, the Battalion returned to its camp.
One man was wounded, being struck in the leg by a round shot.
On the 26th at noon the Russians came out from Sebastopol and attacked the extreme right of the English position, which was occupied by the 2nd Division. The enemy having advanced in a mass of columns, our guns opening upon them within easy range caused them such loss that they quickly retired. On this occasion the 1st Battalion, although the most distant from the right of the position, turned out so quickly, with Sir George Cathcart at its head, that it was on the scene of action in a very short time, but not till the enemy had retired.
On this occasion a picquet, under Lieutenant W. T. Markham of the 2nd Battalion,[237] which was on duty in the five-gun battery, joining some men of the Guards under Captain Goodlake in the Careenage ravine, had an obstinate combat with a strong Russian column. They kept them back for a considerable time; and eventually the Riflemen succeeded in driving them out of the cave there, known as the Magazine Grotto; but not without a hard fight in which 5 Riflemen were wounded. They however inflicted considerable loss on their opponents; and a Russian officer and many men were taken prisoners.[238]
On November 1 the morning state of the 1st Battalion was as follows:—
| Field officer | Captains | Subalterns | Staff | Sergeants | Buglers | Rank and file |
| 1 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 38 | 18 | 550 |
showing a decrease of 5 sergeants, 1 bugler and 141 rank and file since the arrival of the Battalion before the place.
Early on the 2nd the enemy’s batteries opened a cannonade, by which four men of the 2nd Battalion, forming part of a company which was going to relieve in the trenches, were wounded.
On November 4, four companies of the 2nd Battalion, the Earl of Errol’s, Hammond’s, Fyers’ and Colville’s, under Major Bradford (Major Norcott being sick), proceeded to the heights of Balaklava.
On the morning of Sunday, November 5, an hour before daybreak, the alarm was sounded through the English camp. The greater part of the 1st Battalion had just returned from the trenches, and were still accoutred, though wet through; for it had rained the previous day, all through the night, and even then there was dense damp fog, with frequent showers. As they were passing the head of the ravine, a bugle was heard sounding in camp, which these men at first fancied to be the usual parade horn. It proved however to be the ‘assembly.’ The remainder of the Battalion was soon under arms, and moved towards the fight, which the rattle of musketry and the roar of guns told them was going on, at the head of the 4th Division under Sir George Cathcart.
In like manner General Codrington, the first to give the alarm, turned out the Light Division, and the 2nd Battalion assembled at once. Three companies only were on parade, one wing having gone on the previous day, as we have seen, to the heights of Balaklava, and Captain Forman’s company being in the five-gun battery. Of these three companies, one had just come in after being twenty-seven hours in the trenches. However they at once advanced, and General Codrington having placed his brigade on the Victoria ridge, these Riflemen extended along the left bank of the Careenage ravine on the extreme left of the line. Soon after they took up their position a column of Russians, part of Soimonoff’s force, advanced up the Careenage ravine, and after opening fire on the Riflemen, attempted to ascend its left bank; but Captain Elrington, with two companies of the 2nd Battalion, at once attacked them, and drove them down at the point of the bayonet; they retreated by the bottom of the ravine, and did not again make their appearance in that part of the fight. In this attack a Rifleman named Hewitt, having put on a greatcoat and cap late the property of a Russian soldier deceased, followed the retreating Muscovites down the ravine, and picked off a number of them. He narrowly escaped however being shot by his own comrades. This man, as well as a brother in the same Battalion, afterwards died in the Crimea. This repulse occurred at the very beginning of the Russian attack. These companies under Elrington lost 5 men killed and 10 wounded in this gallant affair.[239]
Meanwhile the 1st Battalion were advancing with Cathcart towards the scene of the fight. As they approached the end of the English line, manifest tokens of the battle greeted them. The rattle of musketry in front, indeed apparently on every side; dead lying about, and wounded carried by; and tents thrown to the ground by the fire of the enemy’s guns. On their arriving at the heights of Inkerman, where General Pennefather was maintaining a hard and unequal fight, Sir George Cathcart handed over to him the 1st Battalion which he so much esteemed, telling him that he had brought him ‘a Battalion which could do anything.’ Pennefather riding up to Lieutenant-Colonel Horsford, who was in command of the Battalion, and paying it a high compliment, informed him that he was hard pressed on the left of the centre ravine, and wished a reinforcement sent there. The three leading companies were immediately detached for that purpose under Major Rooper who deployed them into line below the crest of the hill. They soon were confronted by a Russian column, part of Dannenberg’s force. They were at a short distance, and the Riflemen halted and opened fire. For a short time the enemy returned their fire, then began to waver and eventually to retreat, hotly pursued by the Riflemen, who drove them down into the Quarry ravine. Those of them who were wounded, or who had not made good their escape into the ravine, were in a state of extreme terror, and called upon the Riflemen on their knees and with clasped hands raised in prayer to spare their lives.[240]
Soon after Rooper’s wing had been thus sent forward, the remaining three companies under Horsford moved to the right, deployed into line, and advanced to the Kitspur, and thence by the head of St. Clement’s gorge they fought their way to the Barrier. On their way they opened their files to allow stragglers and wounded to pass through, and two companies of the Guards who were then retiring. Finding themselves without support, and their ammunition beginning to fail, they halted. But eventually both wings, that under Horsford which had worked round from the right, and that under Rooper, were posted at the Barrier. From thence Horsford with some men in extended order skirmished along the right bank of the Quarry ravine. About half-past twelve, Captain Somerset, who had been obliged to go to Head-quarters on account of ill-health, with much difficulty found his way to the front, and joined a party of the Battalion whom he found in rear of the two-gun battery under Ensign Brett.[241] Soon Lieutenant Morgan brought him a message from Colonel Horsford that he wished to collect all the Battalion in front at the Barrier. Accordingly he brought up these men and joined Horsford under the ridge. During this terrible conflict many of the Riflemen fought independently, or by twos and threes. Sometimes they found themselves mixed up with men of other regiments, the mistiness of the day and their being all in greatcoats rendering it not always easy to distinguish their comrades. Some few Riflemen under Tryon joined the 57th Regiment in resisting an attack on the ridge. The Riflemen got cover where they could among the scrub oak on the rocks. Some of them running short of detonating caps took them from dead Russians, and these, though large, exploded their rifles. These Riflemen getting cover in the brushwood on the left of the Barrier picked off the gunners of the Russian battery on the Shell hill.
About this period of the fight Colour-Sergeant Higgins,[242] collecting some thirty men of No. 2 company, formed them up on the left of the French division, and with them drove the Russians down the ravine.
Later in the day, and towards the close of the fight, Horsford with the remains of the Battalion, advanced from the Barrier, and pushed up the Shell hill to where a Russian battery had stood. Ascending the hill, almost hand to hand with the enemy, these Riflemen fixed bayonets and charged, driving the Russians from the ridge, on whose retiring masses they kept up fire. Four tumbrils with ammunition remained in their hands; but the Russians had withdrawn the guns.
The Battalion, or the remnant of it, remained extended on the heights till about nine at night, when being relieved by picquets of the 2nd Division it marched to camp.
No. 2 company was brought out of the field in command of the Colour-Sergeant (Higgins), who indeed had been in charge of it from the time its Captain (Cartwright) had been killed.
The 2nd Battalion, after Elrington’s exploit in the morning, continued posted on the left of Codrington’s force on the Victoria heights. They kept up fire on the Russians on the opposite height (Mount Inkerman) whenever they came within range. Some Russian riflemen having come into the Careenage ravine and as far as the Magazine caves, took shelter there, and while the companies on the hill kept up a constant fire as often as they showed themselves, to prevent their emerging or escape, some of the Battalion descended into the ravine and made them prisoners. Three companies only of this Battalion were engaged, Elrington’s, Inglis’ and Newdigate’s, mustering about 150 rifles. Forman’s company was in the five-gun battery; and the other four companies were at Balaklava.
The losses of the Regiment were very severe. In the 1st Battalion Captain Cartwright, 5 sergeants and 22 rank and file were killed. And Brevet-Major Rooper and Lieutenant Coote Buller[243] were severely wounded, and 5 sergeants and 26 rank and file were wounded. Colour-Sergeant Noseley,[244] who was dangerously wounded, was taken prisoner.
Cartwright was killed late in the day, while sitting under the Barrier, which the men were then lining. He was shot through the eye and also in the chest. Colonel Horsford was also wounded by a shell, which exploded between his legs, and lifted him off the ground; but not being disabled he did not return himself as wounded.
This Battalion also had to lament the loss of its kind friend Sir George Cathcart, under whom it had fought in Kaffraria, and who had from that time manifested great attachment to it.
In the 2nd Battalion Lieutenant Malcolm and 8 rank and file were killed and Captain Newdigate and 27 rank and file wounded.[245]
Of these Rooper died on the 11th on board the steamer ‘Golden Fleece,’ on his passage to Malta.
For some days after the battle of Inkerman the Riflemen were engaged in burying the dead. Their other duties also were very severe. In consequence of four companies of the 2nd Battalion having been moved to Balaklava the 1st Battalion found duty both on the right and left attack. Even when other regiments were in the trenches they furnished a party a hundred yards in front; and wherever there was an alarm or a position to be stormed the green-jackets were in request. During this time and while the duties were so constant, the men suffered much also from scarcity of rations. And even those issued were such as the men could scarcely use. Until the end of December the coffee was served out green; there were no vegetables for a considerable time; the biscuit when the weather was wet, was mouldy; and fuel was scarcely to be procured. Even such supplies as were in Balaklava were but scantily brought up owing to want of transport; and the position of the 1st Battalion being the most distant from that place, rendered their supply more scanty and precarious.
On November 14 occurred the memorable gale. The tents were blown down, and the hospital marquee of the 1st Battalion being torn to pieces the wounded had to be carried to such of the companies’ tents as could be set up. On this occasion an instance occurred of the good feeling which has always existed in the Regiment between the Riflemen and their officers. Coote Buller was lying in his tent suffering from his wound, a broken thigh, at Inkerman. The men of the company held his tent during the gale, and thus, by preventing his exposure to the storm, rain and hail, probably saved his life.
The tents of the four companies of the 2nd Battalion at Balaklava, and everything belonging to them, except what they were standing in, were blown clean away, and were never heard of afterwards. At the same time the four companies of this Battalion on duty in the trenches were not relieved for forty-eight hours. And one man of this Battalion died from exposure to the cold and to the storm.
The Russian riflemen having established themselves in some rifle pits in front of the left attack along some rising ground, annoyed our working parties as well as those of the French on the opposite side of the ravine by their fire. Lord Raglan determined to drive them back and to take possession of the pits. These pits, caverns, or ‘ovens’ as they were called by the men, are formed by the decay of softer portions of the rock between the harder strata, leaving caves in the sides of the hill. The duty of driving the Russians from them was confided to the 1st Battalion; and on November 20 a party consisting of Lieutenant Henry Tryon, in command, with Lieutenants Bourchier[246] and Cuninghame,[247] 4 sergeants and 200 rank and file, was detailed to carry it into execution. It was kept a secret what the service was to be till the party fell in about four o’clock in the afternoon. Then Tryon wheeled them round him and told the men what they were wanted for. He said that he intended to drive the Russians out, and that he was sure that they could do it. And right well they did it. Marching down to the trenches they lay down till dark. They then advanced stealthily, creeping along the broken ground which led first down a slight incline, and then up towards the enemy, who were completely surprised by the attack. Fifty men under Tryon formed the storming column; 50 the supports under Bourchier and 100 the reserve under Cuninghame. Eventually these parties became practically one. They quickly drove the Russian riflemen from their cover, though supported by a heavy column of Russian infantry. The occupants of the pits were evidently surprised. But soon the guns bearing on the pits poured grape and canister on the Riflemen, who had no cover, for the pits were open on the enemy’s side. In the moment of taking possession of the pits the gallant Tryon fell shot in the head; Bourchier, who succeeded to the command of the party, maintained his advantage; and Cuninghame greatly distinguished himself by the energy with which he repulsed an attempt to turn the left flank of the advanced party, and thereby ensured the success of the capture. Repeatedly during that long night did the Russians attempt to retake the pits; sometimes by sending forward strong columns, sometimes by creeping up a few at a time, and when they got near making signals for their companions to come on. But this handful of Riflemen, under the command of these two young officers, bravely withstood them, and held the position until relieved next day by another party of the Battalion. In this affair Lieutenant Tryon and 9 men were killed, and 17 men were wounded. This gallant feat of arms, the first of the kind during that war, and never surpassed, was thus described in the despatch addressed by Lord Raglan to the Duke of Newcastle:
‘Before Sebastopol, November 23, 1854.
‘My Lord Duke,—The Russian advanced posts in front of our left attack having taken up a position which incommoded our troops in the trenches, and occasioned not a few casualties, and at the same time took in reverse the French troops working in their lines, a representation of which was made to me both by our own officers and by General Canrobert, a detachment of the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade, under Lieutenant Tryon, was directed on the night of the 20th to dislodge the enemy; and this service was performed most gallantly and effectively, but at some loss both in killed and wounded, and at the cost of the life of Lieutenant Tryon, who rendered himself conspicuous on the occasion: he was considered a most promising officer, and held in the highest estimation by all. The Russians attempted several times to re-establish themselves on the ground before daylight on the 21st, but they were instantly repulsed by Lieutenant Bourchier, the senior surviving officer of the party, and it now remains in our possession. Brigadier Sir John Campbell speaks highly of the conduct of the detachment, and of Lieutenant Bourchier and Lieutenant Cuninghame, and he laments the death of Lieutenant Tryon, who so ably led them in the first instance. This little exploit was so highly prized by General Canrobert that he instantly published an “Ordre Général” announcing it to the French army, and combining, with a just tribute to the gallantry of the troops, the expression of his deep sympathy in the regret felt for the loss of a young officer of so much distinction.
‘(Signed) Raglan.’
The following General Order from Lord Raglan was also issued:
‘General Order, November 24, 1854.
‘The Commander of the Forces cannot pass unnoticed the attack, on the night of the 20th inst., of a detachment of the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade under Lieutenant Tryon upon the advanced posts of the enemy, which had been pushed forward so as to enfilade the English trenches, and to take in reverse those of the French troops.
‘The advance was made in the most spirited and determined manner, and was completely successful. And though several vigorous attempts were afterwards made by the enemy to dislodge the gallant band, they utterly failed, and the ground remains in our possession.
‘Lieutenant Tryon, whose conduct was most conspicuous, was unfortunately killed, and several valuable soldiers shared the same fate.
‘The General-in-Chief of the French army so highly prized the achievement that he published a General Order eulogising the conduct of the detachment, and paying a just tribute to the officer who led it.
‘(Signed) J. B. B. Estcourt.
‘Adjutant-General.’
The following is the order referred to issued by the French. General, a most honourable and unusual distinction:—
‘Ordre Général.
‘Dans la nuit du 20 au 21, sur la demande de concours que j’avais adressée au Commandant de l’Armée Anglaise, en lui faisant observer que les tirailleurs Russes s’établissaient à couvert en avant de ses lignes pour prendre à revers nos travailleurs, cent riflemen, conduits par le capitaine Tryon, sont sortis des tranchées Anglaises, ont tourné par la gauche les positions occupées par l’ennemi, et les ont enlevées après, l’avoir débusqué. Les Russes, formés en colonnes profondes, ont tenté trois fois de les reprendre à la baïonnette, après avoir fait pleuvoir la mitraille sur le détachment Anglais. Nos alliés ont tenu ferme avec l’énergie que nous leur connaissons, et sont restés maîtres de la position, où nous pouvons les apercevoir ce matin.
‘J’ai voulu rendre hommage devant vous à la vigueur avec laquelle s’est accompli ce hardi coup de main, qui a malheureusement coûté la vie au vaillant capitaine Tryon. Nous lui donnerons les regrets dûs à sa fin glorieuse. Elle resserrera les liens de loyale confraternité d’armes qui nous unissent à nos alliés.
‘Au quartier général, devant Sébastopol le 21 Novembre, 1854.
‘Le Général en chef,
(Signé) Canrobert.
‘Pour ampliation.
Le Général Chef d’Etat-Major général
E. de Martimprey.’[248]
The following is the translation of the preceding General Order which was appended to Lord Raglan’s orders on this occasion:
‘Camp before Sebastopol, November 21, 1854.
‘On the night of the 20th or 21st, on a request made by me to Lord Raglan, Commander-in-Chief of the English army, pointing out to him that the Russian riflemen had placed themselves under cover in front of the lines, from whence they could enfilade our workmen, one hundred Riflemen, under the command of Lieutenant Tryon, left the English trenches and, turning the flank of the enemy, charged and dispersed them. The Russians, formed in deep columns, attempted three times during the night to retake the place, after pouring in grape and canister on the English detachment. With that energy belonging to our allies, they held firmly their ground, and we can now see them where the enemy once stood.
‘I wish before you all to render the homage due to so gallant an act, which unfortunately cost the life of the brave officer Lieutenant Tryon. We will give him all the regrets so glorious an end deserves. It will be an additional link to the loyal fraternity of arms which unites us to our allies.
‘(Signed) General Canrobert.’
For their gallant conduct in this affair Lieutenant Bourchier received the Victoria Cross, the Legion of Honour, the 5th Class of the Medjidie, and the Turkish Medal; Cuninghame the Victoria Cross, the 5th Class of the Medjidie, and the Turkish Medal; and Colour-Sergeant Hicks, who had volunteered for this duty, and was close to Tryon when he fell, obtained the French War Medal.
The gallant captors of the pits were relieved a little before daylight on the 21st by a party of the 1st Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Flower, and accompanied by Lieutenant the Hon. G. B. Legge. The Russians kept up a very heavy fire on them all day, by which several men were wounded. So sharp was the fire, that it was impossible to go from one of the pits to the other without great caution. The ground, as we have seen, was rocky and crumbling, and most of the men who were wounded were struck about the face by fragments of rock. The position was so exposed to the enemy’s fire that it was difficult even to get away the wounded; and Flower and Legge could only recover two wounded men, struck in the face and eyes and nearly blinded, by making them crawl on all fours into a pit where these officers had taken shelter. This party held the pits till nightfall, when they were relieved by another detachment of the Battalion. And for some days these pits, captured by Riflemen, were held by Riflemen, though occasionally a few men of other regiments may have been added to eke out the number required, which the diminished strength of the Battalion could hardly furnish.
The men of the 2nd Battalion were at this time called upon for very hard work, the right wing having been on duty on the 22nd three nights consecutively; and from the 26th the men were on duty five nights out of six. These duties, which were almost as severe in the 1st Battalion; the exposure to the weather; the shortness of food, rations being sometimes wanting for two or three days together; began to tell heavily on the Riflemen. Cholera and dysentery ravaged both Battalions. On November 27 Lieutenant Godfrey died, and the 1st Battalion, which had left England little more than four months before nearly a thousand strong, could only parade as fit for duty 275 men of all ranks.[249] And this, notwithstanding that it had received a draft from home of 154 non-commissioned officers and men. This shows a deficiency, even to this date, of 850 men.[250] The men of the 2nd Battalion at this time had for some days a ration of only a quarter of a pound of salt pork and a pound of biscuit, owing to the difficulty of getting up supplies from Balaklava.
On the morning of December 2, about five o’clock, the Russians made a determined attempt to retake the ‘ovens.’ They advanced in considerable numbers. Surprising the sentries, they entered a trench which had been formed, after Tryon’s party had taken the pits, into the second parallel, and driving out a party of another regiment who occupied it, took possession of it. At this moment a party of the 1st Battalion under Captain Churchill,[251] and accompanied by Lieutenant Blackett[252] and Ensign Brett, which formed the new guard of the trenches, came up and found the others retiring before the Russians. With the usual dash of the Riflemen, unabated in its energy by the severity of the weather or the urgency of their sufferings, they quickly attacked the Russians, drove them out, and took possession of the trenches, which they held as the guard for the day.[253]
The Riflemen lost in this affair one killed and two wounded; but the Russians left seven men dead on the field, and carried off seven wounded.
It was on this occasion that a mot is recorded of a non-commissioned officer of the Battalion, who, being asked how they came to be there, replied, ‘If you please, Sir, the Russians relieved the —th, and we relieved the Russians.’
On December 12 a party of the 1st Battalion, under Captain Churchill (with Ensign Brett), being on duty in the trench near the Woronzow road, was violently attacked during the night by the enemy; but by showing a determined front and delivering an efficient fire they were at once driven off, and prevented from penetrating at this important point, which was the key to the British position.
On the 27th Colonel Horsford, who had commanded the Battalion at the Alma and Inkerman, and since Beckwith’s fatal illness, had to return to Balaklava, and thence home on sick leave. And on the 29th Major Somerset, who had been on sick leave on board ship, arrived and assumed the command.
On the morning of December 30 the four companies of the 2nd Battalion, which were stationed on the heights near Balaklava, were ordered by Sir Colin Campbell to be under arms at half-past six. They paraded accordingly under Major Bradford, and after waiting till about eight o’clock, proceeded with a regiment of Highlanders to cover the flank of a considerable French force which made a reconnaissance. The Riflemen marched on, skirmishing through the woods and ravines. They advanced to Kamara, and the French troops pushed on to the village of Tchorgúna, which they burned. However, the Riflemen were not actively engaged; and after being under arms till the afternoon, returned to their camp.
The clothing which the Riflemen brought out from England being worn or torn by hard service, they presented a strange appearance. The greatcoat was always worn, and the blanket, with a hole cut through for the head, was put on under it. Over their shoulders they wore Cathcart’s oilskins; and sand-bags, pieces of knapsacks, anything that would bend, were wrapped round the legs by way of gaiters. Some had loose Russian boots, which were worn over the trousers; for the cold was intense and food and fuel scanty, and everything that could give warmth, for comfort it could not be called, was pressed into service.
Great indeed were the sufferings of the men. During the whole month of December fresh meat was only served out two or three times, and they could not obtain vegetables of any kind. Some warm articles of clothing were indeed supplied; such as jerseys, drawers, blankets, socks and mitts; but these were not in sufficient quantities. The men were seven hours out of twenty-four in the trenches. Fifteen men of the 1st Battalion were wounded in the trenches during the month, of whom one died.
On January 4, 1855, by the efforts of the men of the 1st Battalion, assisted by two carts and six ponies from Head-quarters, put at the disposal of the Battalion by the kindness of Lord Raglan and his Staff, the materials of the first wooden hut were brought from Balaklava to the front, but not without the loss of one horse, and the break-down of one cart; the Battalion, though probably weaker in numbers than any regiment at the front, showing a noble example, and proving the possibility (which some had doubted) of bringing a hut up at this season from Balaklava to the plateau on which the army was encamped. For driving snow and inclement weather continued for some weeks. They proceeded as opportunity admitted to get up the huts, the 2nd Battalion beginning to erect theirs on the 22nd.
During this time of suffering and disease (for diarrhœa, dysentery and pulmonary complaints prevailed, and thirty-four men of the 1st Battalion died during this month) the camp of the Riflemen was frequently visited by Lord Raglan; who on one occasion, finding a deficiency of port wine in the hospital marquee, immediately sent down four bottles from his own quarters.[254]
On January 17, 1855, General Sir Andrew F. Barnard, Colonel Commandant of the 1st Battalion, died at his residence at Chelsea Hospital, of which he was Lieutenant-Governor. On his death Sir Harry Smith became Colonel Commandant of the 1st, and Lieutenant-General Sir George Brown, who had as Lieutenant-Colonel for seventeen years commanded the 2nd Battalion, became its Colonel Commandant.
On February 1, Colonel Norcott joined, and took command of the 1st Battalion, to which he succeeded by Beckwith’s death; and thus the son of one of the earliest officers of the Regiment succeeded the nephew of another, both of whom had commanded it in many bloody fields.
On February 19 a party of the 2nd Battalion, under Colonel Macdonell, formed part of a reconnaissance in force under Sir Colin Campbell. They were under arms soon after midnight, and about four in the morning moved down towards the plain, and marched in the direction of Kamara and Tchorgúna. It was snowing heavily when they started, and the storm increased as the day broke. The Riflemen preceded the advance in skirmishing order. Orders were given not to fire if they came on the enemy, and it was hoped that they might be surprised; but the density of the snow-storm prevented the men seeing many feet to their front. However, the skirmishers made three sentries prisoners, who were probably part of the picquet at Kamara. And it seemed that the alarm was given; for the vedettes fell back firing their carbines into the darkness, the drums were heard beating to arms, and through the snow their battalions were dimly seen assembling on the heights over the Tchernaya. The snow fell more thickly than ever; the men could scarcely hold their rifles; the position and strength of the enemy were unknown; and Sir Colin gave the word to return. The Riflemen arrived in camp about eleven in the forenoon, suffering much from cold and fatigue.
On the 24th the 1st Battalion marched down to Balaklava and exchanged the Minié rifle for the Enfield. This was the long Enfield, for which the short Enfield was afterwards substituted.
On March 7 Major Macdonell took command of the four companies of the 2nd Battalion at Balaklava, Colonel Bradford having been promoted to the command of the 3rd Battalion, which was now again raised.
During this month the work in the trenches was, owing to the shortness of the numbers effective, most severe and harassing to the men. Many sank under it. But as regards provisions and comforts, things began to mend. For these were issued not only from Government stores, but were also provided from private sources. About the middle of March the climate much improved, and from that time, though the duties were still severe, the sufferings of the Riflemen much diminished.
On March 23 the Russians made a great attack on the whole length of the allied line. It was particularly severe on the right attack; Captain Forman’s company formed part of the trench guard, and was actively engaged. This attack was led by a Greek in full dress who rushed at the magazine, and fired his musket into it, but it was empty; and he was immediately bayonetted in the trench.
After this the enemy began firing shells into the camp of the 1st Battalion, but without doing any material injury. During the month of March three sergeants and 82 men died, of whom 1 sergeant and 10 men died in camp; the remainder at Scutari or Kulalie.
During this month seven men of the 2nd Battalion were wounded in the trenches.
On March 19 the 1st and 2nd Battalions were augmented to sixteen companies, and were to consist of the following numbers:
| Lieutenant-Cols. | Majors | Captains | Lieutenants | Ensigns | Staff |
| 2 | 2 | 16 | 26 | 14 | 7 |
| Staff-Sergeants | Sergeants | Buglers | Corporals | Privates | |
| 9 | 100 | 41 | 100 | 1,900 |
On April 9, fire was reopened and kept up till the 12th, and on the 13th volunteers were called for to man the rifle pits in front of No. 7 battery. Lieutenant the Hon. A. Anson[255] and eighteen men of the 1st Battalion volunteered for the duty. They occupied the pits from daylight until dark; but suffered a heavy loss, Sergeant Devitt and four men being killed. These pits were afterwards connected and formed the fourth parallel.
On April 22 a bandsman of the 2nd Battalion named Wright, who was on duty in the trenches, going to fetch water from a well in front of the advanced trench near the Quarries, was killed; it being impossible to throw up any cover near the well in consequence of the rockiness of the soil. This man being a great favourite of his comrades, a number of them rushed out determined to drive out the Russian riflemen, by whose fire he had fallen, from the pits which they occupied. Three men, Bradshaw, Humpston and MacGregor, were the first to reach them, and drove the Russians out, killing some while a few escaped. For this gallant deed these three Riflemen received the Victoria Cross, Bradshaw being also decorated with the French War Medal.[256]
About this time clothing of a new pattern was served out to both Battalions; a tunic being substituted for the old coatee for the men, and taking the place of the jacket and pelisse for the officers, which they had both worn with slight variations since the formation of the Regiment.
The 1st Battalion received their new clothing April 1855, partly coatees and partly the new tunic.
In April two men of the 1st Battalion died of wounds received from the enemy.
The left wing of the 2nd Battalion embarked on May 3 as part of the Expedition destined for Kertch; but the order having been countermanded after they had arrived at the rendezvous, they landed again and joined the Head-quarters before Sebastopol on May 8.
On May 18 the Queen in person distributed the Crimean Medal on the Horse Guards parade, when the following officers and men of the Regiment received it from Her Majesty’s hands:
Lieutenant-Colonels Bradford and Horsford; Majors Elrington, Hardinge, the Earl of Errol and the Hon. G. Elliott; Captains Inglis, Newdigate, Ross, Drummond, Nixon, C. Buller, Warren, Rowles, Lindsay, Bourchier, Deedes.
Second Battalion: Corporal William Muggridge (wounded), Privates Thomas Palmer (wounded), William Careless (wounded) and T. Dulahan.
Third Battalion: Colour-Sergeant Andrew Holdaway, Sergeant James Johnson and Private John Titcombe.
In May one man of the 2nd Battalion was killed; and 1 officer and 12 men were wounded in the trenches; of whom 3 died. One man was killed in action.
On June 7 the 2nd Battalion was engaged in the attack and capture of the Quarries, one of the principal outworks of the enemy, and had one Rifleman killed and 11 wounded. On that evening a working party of the 1st Battalion, consisting of all the men off duty, were employed to turn the works thus captured, and to make a covered way to the Mamelon. Several attempts were made by the enemy during the night to retake these works; and just before daylight a fierce attack was made. It was at first almost a hand-to-hand fight, and the Riflemen were for a time driven out of the works, but they eventually repulsed their assailants. These frequent attacks however seriously hindered their work, as the men were obliged to stand to their arms as often as the advanced sentries fell back.
On the evening of the 17th orders were issued to the 4th Division that it should attack the proper left face of the Redan. The 1st Battalion furnished 100 men under the command of Captain the Hon. James Stuart,[257] with Lieutenants Boileau and Saunders,[258] to act as a covering party. They were to get as near the works as possible and to pick off the Russians if they showed themselves above the parapet while the storming party advanced. This party left the camp at a quarter after one in the morning of the 18th, and occupied the trench round the Quarries until daybreak. But instead of issuing from the trench at once in extended order, they were moved down to the left, and passing a narrow opening between two rifle-pits, began to extend on the enemy’s side of the cover afforded by the parapet of the trench. As soon as they appeared the enemy poured grape and canister, and opened musketry fire on them from the parapet of the Redan. The Riflemen were mown down like grass, but pushing on to the right advanced followed by the crew of the ‘Leander’ carrying the scaling ladders. Boileau, sword in hand, and shouting out ‘Come on, Rifles!’ gallantly led on his party, and endeavoured to get them below the line of fire from the guns. But these brave men, not being supported, were eventually obliged to withdraw. They had got up to an abattis in front of the Redan and lay close under it until the middle of the day. For unfortunately they did not discover in time that the attack had failed; and there seemed no possibility of their crossing the open ground between their then position and the trenches in broad daylight without immense loss. Happily for them a sand-storm swept across the ground about mid-day; and screened by that they retired, regained the trenches, and returned to their camp.
The remainder of the Battalion, under Colonel Norcott, left camp about an hour after the covering party and occupied the trenches in front of the Redan, but were not moved out against the enemy.
The Light Division was directed to storm the right face of the Redan. And the 2nd Battalion furnished a ladder party of 100 men under Captain Blackett; a woolbag party of the same number under Lieutenant Fremantle;[259] a covering party of the same number under Captain Forman; and a working and gabion party under Colonel Macdonell. The attack was led by Captain Forman, who was killed. But these parties were only supported by the 34th Regiment; thus this attack likewise failed, and the troops were recalled and returned to their respective camps.
In the 1st Battalion Lieutenant Boileau was wounded, and died at Malta on August 1; one sergeant (Jerram) and 7 men were killed; and 11 men were wounded. And in the 2nd Battalion, besides Captain Forman, 2 sergeants and 23 rank and file were killed; and Captain Blackett (who lost his leg), Lieutenants Knox (who lost his arm) and Fremantle were severely wounded; and 3 sergeants and 75 rank and file were wounded.
At night the enemy made a general attack on the English lines; but were repulsed without any loss in the Regiment.
When parties were sent out to collect the dead on the 19th (a flag of truce having come in at four P.M.) the body of Sir John Campbell, who had led the attack of the 4th Division, was found inside the abattis; and that of Private Flannery of the 1st Battalion was found close to the ditch, and twenty yards in advance of where Sir John lay.
At night the cemetery was occupied and a communication carried down to it from the caves.[260]
On June 30 Lieutenant Woodford of the 2nd Battalion was wounded when on duty in the trenches, and died on the same day.
On July 3 Captain Fyers was coming off picquet in the advanced works with about 400 men. They were retiring by a zig-zag which by some oversight of the Engineers was directly enfiladed by a Russian gun. As soon as the men were well in the boyau a round shot was fired, which, bounding along, knocked down 13 men, of whom 8 were killed or died of their wounds.[261] The wounded were removed by Fyers, Colour-Sergeant Kemp, and some soldiers of another regiment who came to their assistance. The rest of the men turned into another zig-zag not exposed to this fire. The ball after this destructive course ran along the boyau and stopped against the bank of the parallel, a dead ball.[262]
On July 3 the body of Lord Raglan, Commander-in-Chief, who died on June 28, was conveyed on a gun-carriage to Kazatch bay, and was embarked on board the ‘Caradoc’ and taken to England. A party of 100 men of each Battalion accompanied his remains to the place of embarkation.
The siege continued during the months of July and August. The duties in the trenches were constant, and the Riflemen were engaged either in working parties or in covering them.[263] Almost nightly attacks were made on these parties; and they were vigorously plied with shot and shell.
On the evening of September 1 a party of the 2nd Battalion were ordered to cover a sap which was in course of construction from the fifth parallel towards the flank of the Redan.
At 7.30 Captain Balfour,[264] with one subaltern (Lieutenant Cary), 2 sergeants and 48 rank and file, left the camp for that duty. The Russians had erected a screen of stones about 80 yards in front of the head of the sap, as a protection to their sentries; and their reserves occupied a pit behind this screen and also a ravine on their left in which there was a cave. Captain Balfour detached Cary with one sergeant and 23 men to proceed down the ravine and turn the Russian left; while he himself with the remainder of the party made a rush at the screen of stones behind which the Russian riflemen were posted. After a short but sharp encounter the Russians abandoned the screen of stones and the pit, and retired towards the ditch of the Redan and to a small graveyard in the Karabelnaia ravine.
Lieutenant Cary and Sergeant Henry Wood much distinguished themselves in this affair, and were both wounded. One Rifleman was killed and 14 were wounded. Cary died at Malta, from the effects of his wounds, on November 9.
On September 8, when the assault was to take place, one half of the 1st Battalion being in the trenches under Colonel Norcott, the remainder, consisting of about 280 men under Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset, moved out of camp at eleven A.M. and took up a position in reserve on the Woronzow road.
The 2nd Battalion furnished a covering party for the assault of the Redan consisting of 100 men, under the command of Captain Fyers, who were to cover the advance of the ladder party, and to keep down the fire from the parapet; a party, also of 100 men, under Captain Balfour, occupied some broken ground and a Russian rifle-pit in front of and to the right of our most advanced works, who were also directed to keep down the fire from the parapet. With the same object two parties of 50 men each under Lieutenants Baillie and Playne, were stationed, one in the fifth parallel, and one in the Woronzow road. The remainder of the Battalion, about 230 men under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, took part in the general attack.
These men had to advance 150 yards, exposed to a most terrible fire in front and flank. This attack, most gallantly carried out, was not entirely successful; though, as is well known, the operations of this day led to the abandonment of the works by the Russians, and the fall of the place.
During the night following this attack Major Woodford (who had been slightly wounded) and Captain Balfour, with about 150 Riflemen, occupied the stone screen, the rifle pit, and the cave above mentioned. Major Woodford (it is said) had obtained a promise from Sir Colin Campbell that, if his Highlanders assaulted the Redan on the next morning, these men should again form a covering party. But the dawn of the 9th revealed the fact that the Russians were abandoning the flaming town; and the services of these Riflemen, utterly exhausted by the fighting and excitement of the assault, were not required.
The 2nd Battalion lost 2 officers, Captain Hammond and Lieutenant Ryder, 4 sergeants and 19 rank and file killed. And 8 officers, Major Woodford, Captain the Hon. B. R. Pellew, Lieutenants Eyre, Riley, Eccles, Moore, Borough and Playne, 8 sergeants, 1 bugler and 128 rank and file were wounded.[265]
The following interesting account of Captain Hammond and Lieutenant Ryder is extracted from a letter written by Staff Assistant-Surgeon Walter Clegg, dated September 9, 1855:
‘With Captain Hammond’s name you will be familiar, as I frequently mentioned to you the many acts of kindness I received from him when he commanded the Depôt at Fort Cumberland. A braver soldier never on that day mounted the Redan; a Christian of more unaffected piety never entered the presence of God.
‘He had only been in the Crimea forty-eight hours when he was killed. When the Rifles were forming for the assault, a young subaltern, going into action for the first time, who had come out with Hammond, addressed him: “Captain Hammond, how fortunate we are! we are just in time for Sebastopol.”
‘Hammond’s eye was gazing where the rays of the sun made a path of golden light over the sea, and his answer was short and remarkable, and accompanied by the quiet smile which those who knew him so well remember: “I am quite ready,” said he.
‘The next that was seen of Hammond was when his sword was flashing at one of the embrasures of the Redan. He was indeed at the head of his company, fighting to gain an entrance for them.
‘A dozen bayonets were at his heart and once he was dragged in a prisoner. In a few minutes he was recognised again outside the embrasure, still hacking with his sword. The next morning at six o’clock Captain Balfour found him in the ditch beneath a dozen of the slain, with a bayonet wound through his heart.
‘Hammond and Ryder were buried this afternoon in the burial-ground of the division, rendered sacred long ago by the sepulture of brave men. Ryder was barely eighteen years old.
‘Before the assault had lasted an hour he was shot in the throat and fell, and was carried to the rear and consigned to the surgeon. But as it happened the surgeon was engaged at the moment that Ryder was brought in, and the young Lieutenant tied his handkerchief round his throat, and was seen again on the ladder, and when he was found the next day in the ditch a bayonet thrust had transfixed his forehead.’[266]
The English troops now took possession of the Redan and the Karabelnaia district, and the Regiment took its share of the duty in Sebastopol during the destruction of the dock-yard and other works. Soon after the taking of the place a detachment of the 2nd Battalion, consisting of 8 officers, 12 sergeants and 200 men, under the command of Captain Fyers, proceeded to Head-quarters, where they acted as escort or body-guard to the Commander-in-Chief.
On October 1 Colonel Norcott having proceeded to England, the command of the 1st Battalion devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset, who going to England on the 24th, Lord Alexander Russell took command. And on the 14th Colonel Hill having arrived from England, assumed command of the 2nd Battalion.
A great attack on the Inkerman side having been expected in consequence of telegraphic information from England, both Battalions were under arms at an early hour on the 16th and the following mornings for some time.
On the 26th Colour-Sergeant Noseley, who had been reported as killed at the battle of Inkerman, rejoined the 1st Battalion, he having been wounded and taken prisoner by the Russians. He was the only man of the Battalion who was in the hands of the enemy during the campaign.
The 1st Battalion continued to occupy the ground on which it was encamped. And early in November pannelled huts began to be erected.
On November 15, about two o’clock in the afternoon, a tremendous explosion took place in the French siege train, situated at the head of a ravine which ran down towards Careenage bay. Colour-Sergeant Pescott of the 1st Battalion, who had gone down in charge of a fatigue party, received injuries from a rocket, from the effects of which he died. And Lieutenant Eccles and several men of the 2nd Battalion were wounded, two of whom died from the injuries then inflicted.
On the 17th Lieutenant Borough, 2nd Battalion, died of fever.
On the 26th no one was reported sick in the 1st Battalion; this was the second time only that such an occurrence had taken place since its arrival in the East.
During the winter the Battalions were employed in road-making, in fetching up huts, in furnishing picquets, or guards in the town.
On February 24, 1856, the two Battalions (with the rest of the army) paraded on the Telegraph hill above Balaklava for the inspection of the Commander-in-Chief, General Codrington; Marshal Pelissier was also present.
Though the cold was very severe and much snow fell in the early part of this year, the Riflemen, having the protection of the huts and sufficient rations and fuel, were in far greater comfort than during the preceding winter. A theatre was erected with wood fetched from Sebastopol. Other amusements beguiled the time not required for duties, and in a foot race of the whole army on March 19, Lieutenant Palliser of the 1st Battalion won the officers’ hurdle race, and Lieutenant Thomas, 2nd Battalion, came in second.
The whole English army paraded in the afternoon of April 17 for the inspection of the Russian General Lüders. The Generals having gone down the line the troops marched past and returned to their camps.
On the 25th the 1st Battalion paraded for the inspection of General Vanlinsky, who had commanded the Russian troops on Mackenzie heights on September 25, 1854.
On May 9 a Rifleman (Private Connolly of the 1st Battalion) died from the effects of a wound received on April 26, by the explosion of a Russian shell, which was carelessly dropped by a soldier of another regiment, while they were gathering shells in Sebastopol.
On the 24th the two Battalions were marched to Balaklava plains to celebrate (with the rest of the troops) the Queen’s birthday. On this occasion the medals granted by the Emperor of the French were distributed.
On June 4 the 1st Battalion marched to Balaklava at eight in the morning, and embarked immediately in H.M.S. ‘Apollo,’ and went out of harbour in tow of H.M.S. ‘Medusa;’ and after touching at Scutari, Malta, Algiers and Gibraltar, anchored off Corunna on the 27th. Here they were visited by Spanish Generals, soldiers, ladies (upward of fifty of whom came on board), and apparently everyone who could get a seat in a boat. A strange contrast to the scene forty-seven years before, when the Battalion embarked at Corunna!
Leaving Corunna on the 28th the Battalion landed at Portsmouth on July 7, and proceeding at once to Aldershot by rail, encamped there.
On June 8 the 2nd Battalion embarked at Balaklava on board the sailing transport ‘King Philip,’ and arrived at Portsmouth on July 11 and proceeded by rail to Aldershot.
On the 1st Battalion leaving the Crimea the following General Order was published by Major-General Garrett, K.H., commanding the 4th Division:
‘Camp before Sebastopol, June 3, 1856. Division After-Order.
‘Major-General Garrett regrets that the separation of the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade from the 4th Division by their embarkation to-morrow for England, calls on him to take leave of them.
‘The Major-General will look back with pride and pleasure to those eventful days when they were under his command, first as a Brigadier and afterwards commanding the Division, for upwards of a year and a half. During that period the willingness and smartness which the officers and the men invariably evinced, whether on duties in camp or in the trenches, clearly showed that that magnificent esprit de corps which descended from their predecessors, the old 95th, still animates the young soldiers, who were brought to supply the heavy casualties of the late campaign; which they quickly caught up from the fine old soldiers whose education had been formed in the rough and arduous enterprises of two Kaffir wars.
‘That that noble esprit de corps may never fail them is the sincere wish of the Major-General, who hopes soon to see them exhibiting that spirit amongst their comrades in England.’
On July 8 the 1st Battalion was reviewed by the Queen, when the officers who disembarked with the Battalion, 8 sergeants, 7 buglers, 8 corporals and 9 privates, were selected to be addressed personally by Her Majesty. And being (with others) formed up round her carriage Her Majesty addressed them in the following words:
‘Officers, Non-commissioned officers, and soldiers: I wish personally to convey to you, for the regiments assembled here this day, my hearty welcome on their return to England in health and full efficiency.
‘Say to them, I have watched anxiously over their different trials and hardships which they have so nobly borne; that I mourn with deep sorrow for the brave men who have fallen for their country; and that I have felt proud of that valour, which with their gallant allies, they have displayed in the field. I thank God that your dangers are over whilst the glory of your deeds remains; but I know that should your services be again required, you will be animated by the same devotion which in the Crimea has rendered you invincible.’
And on the 16th the 2nd Battalion was reviewed by Her Majesty, when the 1st Battalion was also present. The appearance of the Riflemen, all of whom wore the Crimean Medal, with three or four clasps, many the Kaffir Medal, and some the Sardinian and other decorations, specially attracted attention.
The two Battalions were again reviewed by Her Majesty on July 30.
By letter from the War Office, dated August 11, the strength of the 1st Battalion was reduced from 109 sergeants, 41 buglers, and 2,000 rank and file, to 57 sergeants, 25 buglers, and 1,000 rank and file. A similar reduction took place in the 2nd Battalion.
On April 1, 1855, a 3rd Battalion was, a second time, added to the Regiment. They were formed at Haslar barracks, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bradford, by transfers from the Depôts of the 1st and 2nd Battalions; but as he very shortly afterwards exchanged with Colonel Hill,[267] to the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Horsford assumed the command and in fact made this new Battalion. They were inspected on June 25 by Major-General Breton, their strength then being 29 officers and 590 men.
On August 3 they moved by rail to Aldershot. And soon after 240 volunteers were received from the 1st Middlesex, 1st Surrey, and East Warwick, and on October 11, 180 volunteers from the Royal Elthorne, Militia regiments. On the 22nd the Battalion was inspected by Major-General Knollys, when its strength had increased to 39 officers and 947 men. During the early part of 1856, volunteers continued to be received from several Militia regiments; and on June 9 the Battalion proceeded to Portsmouth, where, on their inspection by Major-General Breton, the strength of the Battalion had increased to 41 officers and 1,165 men.
On August 3 the Battalion was divided into Service and Depôt companies; the former returned to Aldershot, and the latter (two companies) proceeded to Winchester.
On September 30, in consequence of reductions, 170 men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions were transferred to the 3rd.
But on October 8 the establishment of the Battalion was reduced to 1,000 rank and file.
The 1st Battalion remained at Aldershot till July 27, 1857, when they proceeded by rail to Edinburgh, where they arrived on the 28th and occupied quarters in the Castle; one company (Brevet-Major Oxenden’s) being detached to Greenlaw. This detachment was relieved monthly.
The following Brigade Order was issued by Major-General the Hon. A. A. Spencer on the Battalion leaving Aldershot:
‘Major-General Spencer takes leave of Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset, the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade on their departure for Edinburgh, with much regret.
‘It is now upwards of two years since he became acquainted and connected with the Battalion in the 4th Division before Sebastopol, during which time he has had opportunities of judging of their soldierlike qualities and habits of discipline.
‘The greatest proofs of these are the success which always attended their separate important undertakings against the enemy, and also their speedy recovery from the effects of hardships they, as well as every other regiment in that army, experienced in the winters of 1854–5.
‘The Major-General now bids them farewell, and trusts it may be his good fortune to meet them again in his military career.’
On August 5 a serious fire broke out in the old town of Edinburgh, which the Battalion succeeded with great exertions in extinguishing. Their conduct on this occasion elicited the following letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset from the Lord Provost:
‘Edinburgh, August 11, 1857.
‘Sir,—I have the honour to convey a resolution unanimously adopted by the magistrates and town council of this city at their meeting to-day, to express their warm and cordial thanks to the officers and men of your regiment for the valuable and effective aid rendered by you in extinguishing the late fire and preserving order.
‘(Signed) John Melvill, Lord Provost.
‘Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset, C.B., Rifle Brigade.’
During the time the Battalion was at Edinburgh the men received the short Enfield and resumed the armament of the sword bayonet, as of old.
Riots of the mill-hands being apprehended, three companies of the Battalion were hurriedly moved by rail to Glasgow on November 11 in aid of the Civil power; and these were reinforced by an additional company on December 1.
A few days afterwards the Head-quarters and remaining companies of the Battalion followed them to Glasgow, arriving there on the 10th and detaching two companies to Ayr.
The 2nd Battalion remained at Aldershot until June, on the 26th of which month they proceeded to London. And were present at the first distribution of the Victoria Cross by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. On which occasion the following officers and men of the Regiment received the cross from the hands of Her Majesty:
Brevet-Major the Hon. H. Clifford.
Brevet-Major C. T. Bourchier.
Captain William J. Cunninghame.
Lieutenant John Knox.
Private Francis Wheatley.
Private Joseph Bradshaw.
Private Roderic MacGregor.
Private John Humpston.
After taking part in the review which followed this ceremony, the Battalion proceeded the same evening to Liverpool, where they embarked the following day for Dublin. And on their arrival there Head-quarters and five companies occupied Beggar’s-bush barracks, and the other three companies Linen-hall barracks.
A letter was issued from the War Office, dated September 22, 1857, by which a 4th Battalion was directed to be added to the Regiment. This Battalion was therefore immediately formed at Winchester under Lieutenant-Colonel Elrington, who was promoted from Senior Major on September 1.
Recruiting at once commenced, and transfers were received from the 1st and 2nd Battalions, and from some other regiments, so that by the end of the year the Battalion had attained a strength of 28 sergeants, 10 corporals, 15 buglers and 413 privates.
They proceeded by rail on December 15 from Winchester to Chichester.
Plate IV.
RIFLE BRIGADE,
1856 TO 1860.