The joy and excitement of the English troops were intense as Lord Raglan rode along the line formed on the heights they had just won. On coming to the Highland Brigade rather an amusing incident occurred. Sir Colin Campbell addressed the Commander-in-Chief, and begged him to do him a favour. Lord Raglan, in reply, said it would give him pleasure to serve him in any way. Sir Colin then said: 'My lord, you have in years gone by shown me kindness when I was a young officer, and now I am an old one. My request is that, so long as I am at the head of the Highland Brigade, I may be allowed to wear the Highland bonnet.' This delighted the Scotchmen, and great cheering followed.
In addition to the two guns captured, two Russian generals were taken prisoners and about 900 of their wounded men were left on the field. The total loss of the Russians in the battle is stated to have been upwards of 5,000. The battle ended about four o'clock in the afternoon, the head quarters camp being pitched near the river, and Lord Raglan then went in search of his orderly officer, Lieutenant Tom Leslie, and with the help of some guardsmen, with a stretcher, brought him to his tent. Lord Raglan asked me if I knew Tom's mother, and on my replying in the negative, he said: 'A charming woman. I must write to her. How proud she will be to hear that he has a bullet in his shoulder!'
Several years after the battle, when in India, I met an old artillery man at Delhi, who claimed my acquaintance, and reminded me of the incident of bringing up Turner's guns from the ford. He said he was one of the drivers of the battery at the time, and that I rode up to him in the river and said: '"Johnson," says you, "you'll not spare whip nor spur till you get to the top of that hill, for Lord Raglan wants you."' I cannot vouch for the absolute correctness of his personal reminiscences, but the main fact is correct enough.
The two days following the victory were passed in collecting our wounded (upwards of 1,400), and carrying them in hammocks and stretchers to the beach for embarkation. Amongst others I remember saying a few words to Baring of the Coldstream Guards, as he was carried away from the field. He had lost an arm. Reserves of ammunition were also landed from the transports to meet the expenditure, which, however, was not large, the infantry having fired about six rounds a man and the artillery fifteen rounds a gun. The Russians' muskets, lying about the field in thousands (many of them with the old flint lock) were broken, and the accoutrements, knapsacks, &c., collected in heaps and burned.
The Russian Commander-in-Chief having omitted to send in a flag of truce, or to make any inquiry as to his wounded left on the ground, they were collected in a field and as far as possible attended to. An English medical officer, having volunteered, was left in charge of them as we marched away; a message being sent to Prince Menschikoff informing him of the arrangement.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] General Canrobert was slightly wounded during the attack.
[5] Nearly two years afterwards, when peace was signed, I re-visited the scene of the battle, and found the skeleton of the horse lying in the lane, with its skull pierced by a bullet.