A History of the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own)

by Sir J. W. Fortescue

19th Sept.

Two days later the army began its advance; the infantry divisions massed in close column, and the cavalry on its skirts—the Seventeenth being in rear of the left flank of the infantry. Early in the afternoon the four squadrons of the advanced guard came upon 2000 of the enemy’s cavalry, a little way on the other side of the Bulganak River. Both parties threw out skirmishers, who fired some ineffectual carbine shots without dismounting, as was the fashion of the day; and then the Seventeenth and 8th Hussars were ordered up in haste to reinforce the advanced squadrons. The Russians, although in overwhelming force, did not attack, and the advanced squadrons then retired by alternate wings. A few artillery shots were exchanged, and with that the first encounter with the Russians was over. The troops bivouacked that night in order of battle, 20th Sept. and on the following day attacked and carried the Russian entrenched position on the heights of the Alma.

Details of the action of the Alma, wherein the cavalry, from the nature of the case, was little if at all engaged, would be out of place here. It is, however, worth while to remark that the first infantry division and the cavalry division, which occupied the left of the English line, were both under the command of former colonels of the Seventeenth, the Duke of Cambridge and Lord Lucan. During the infantry attack the cavalry, which was on the extreme left, remained perforce inactive; but when the Highland Brigade, which was next to the cavalry, had carried the heights before them, one squadron of the Seventeenth, which was presently joined by the other, moved off without orders from any general officer, and began to ascend the heights. 1854. On their way they contrived in some way to cross part of the front of the Highlanders, and were soundly rated by Sir Colin Campbell for their pains. When, finally, on reaching the summit they began to capture Russian prisoners, the pursuit was checked by Lord Raglan’s order; and in consequence little was done. Shortly after the action Colonel Lawrenson went home invalided, leaving to Major Willett the command of the regiment.

For two days after the battle of the Alma the army remained halted, 23rd Sept. and then on the 23rd slowly resumed the march on Sebastopol. Lord Raglan’s wish had been to push on immediately after the victory, but to this the French commander would not consent. On the 24th the cavalry, under Lord Lucan, was sent on to the river Belbec, a day’s march ahead of the main army, but encountered no opposition. Next day, Lord Raglan having been obliged, in deference to the French, to abandon his plan of attacking Sebastopol from the north, the army executed the flank march which brought it round from the north to the south side of the city. The march lay through difficult wooded ground; and the cavalry, which had been pushed forward to cover the advance, was misguided by a staff-officer. The result was that Lord Raglan and his escort were the first to come upon the rear-guard of the Russian army, which was likewise, though unknown to the English, executing a flank march across the British front. The cavalry soon came up, and captured some waggons as well as a few prisoners. After this trifling and rather ludicrous affair with the Russian rear-guard at Mackenzie’s Farm, the march was continued, and the army bivouacked that night on the Tchernaya River. 29th Sept. On the following day Balaclava was taken; and after three nights more bivouac on the Balaclava plains, the Seventeenth received some tents. They, like the rest of the army, had landed without tents or kits.

The main business of the cavalry now consisted in patrolling east and northward towards the Tchemaya, where, as early as the 5th October, it began to encounter Russian patrols. In a sense the cavalry was isolated from the rest of the army. 1854. The plain of Balaclava lies about a mile from Sebastopol, and extends on an average to a length of about three miles from east to west, and a breadth of two miles from north to south. It is enclosed on all sides by heights: on the north by the Fedioukine Hills, on the south by the Kamara Hills, on the east by Mount Hasport, and on the west by the Chersonese, where the bulk of the army was encamped. The plain is cut in two from east to west by a line of hills called the Causeway heights, which run almost to the Chersonese; and it was at the foot of these hills, on the south side of them, that the camp of the Light Brigade was situated. Just about due south of the camp, at a distance of about a mile, stands the village of Kadikoi, at the entrance to the gorge that leads down to Balaclava harbour.

Balaclava was now the British base of operations. Its defence was entrusted to Sir Colin Campbell, with the 93rd Highlanders, some marines, and a certain number of Turks; the cavalry being at hand to help him in the plain. But the better to secure the base with so small a force, an inner line of field-works was constructed from Kadikoi on the north, along the heights on the east of Balaclava to the sea, and an outer line of six redoubts on the Causeway heights. It has already been said that the English and Russian patrols had clashed on the Tchernaya; and as General Liprandi, with a Russian army, had fixed his headquarters at Tchorgoun, less than a mile beyond the Tchernaya to the north-east, this was hardly surprising. Shortly after the middle of October Captain White of the Seventeenth, while on outlying picquet on the Kamara Hills, had observed a large force of Russian cavalry and duly reported it. Knowing the Russians to be in considerable force, neither Sir Colin Campbell nor Lord Lucan were at their ease as to the safety of Balaclava, from the weakness of their defending force and its isolation from the rest of the army.

On the 23rd October Major Willett died, and the command of the regiment once more changed hands. The senior officer, Captain Morris, was employed on the staff; and it became a question whether he would remain where he was, leaving the command to Captain White, or whether he would return to the regiment. 1854.On the 24th Lord Lucan received intelligence that Balaclava would be attacked on the morrow by a Russian force of 25,000 men. He at once despatched an aide-de-camp to Lord Raglan, who said “Very well.” That evening Captain Morris decided that he would take command of the Seventeenth.

25th Oct.

Next day the cavalry turned out as usual an hour before daybreak, and were standing to their horses, when Lord Lucan rode off slowly to the easternmost redoubt on the Causeway heights. The coming of the dawn showed him a signal on the flagstaff of the redoubt, which told him that his information was correct, and that the Russians were advancing in force. Lord George Paget of the 4th Light Dragoons at once galloped back and ordered the Light Brigade to mount. The men were just about to be dismissed to their breakfasts when they were moved off toward the threatened quarter.

Meanwhile the Russians, with 11,000 men and 38 guns, attacked the easternmost redoubt; and in spite of a gallant resistance from the five or six hundred Turks that held it, carried it by storm. The Turks then abandoned the three next redoubts; and thus the line of the Causeway heights fell into the hands of the Russians. Simultaneously two more Russian columns had advanced and occupied the Fedioukine heights, and filled the valley between the Fedioukine and Causeway heights with 3500 cavalry and a battery of twelve guns. Lord Lucan, seeing that his 1500 men of the Light and Heavy Cavalry Brigades could not check the advance of 11,000 Russians, fell back to a position on the southern slopes of the Causeway heights, which would enable him to fall on the flank of any force that might cross the South Valley towards Balaclava. From this position he was ordered by Lord Raglan to retire. The result was that the Russians immediately detached four squadrons to attack the weak force of infantry that held the mouth of the gorge leading to Balaclava. So serious did Sir Colin Campbell judge this attack to be that he warned the 93rd, as the Russian cavalry came down on them, that they must die where they stood. 1854—25th Oct. Fortunately the Russian attack was not pushed home, and the four squadrons were utterly defeated by the unshaken firmness of the 93rd. Convinced as to the soundness of his dispositions, Lord Lucan shortly after moved the Light Brigade forward to its original station; while, in obedience to Raglan’s order, he despatched the Heavy Brigade across the valley to reinforce the defending troops at Kadikoi.