Inkermann.—On Sunday, November 5th, 1854, the battle of Inkermann was fought. The Russians had received considerable reinforcements; it is estimated that by that time 120,000 troops were under Prince Mentschikoff's command, and the Czar's soldiers were in high fettle, owing to the presence in camp of the Czar's sons, Michael and Nicholas. A general advance was made by the Russians, Mount Inkermann being the objective, and the battle commenced by an assault thereon by General Danneburg with about 40,000 men. The Mount of Inkermann and the district thereof was held by the Second Division under General Pennefeather. At daybreak masses of Russians were discerned marching to the attack, and soon afterwards the armies were in conflict. Then began the "soldiers' battle," which was to add lustre to the record of the several British regiments whose gallantry gained the day. How can one adequately paint the picture of 200 men of the 30th charging a couple of Russian battalions and putting them to rout, or of the 49th defeating a strong column and chasing their flying foemen? How can one do justice to the 525 men of the 41st who fought and dispersed five battalions of the enemy, and the 260 men of the 77th who put to rout 1,500 of the famous Tomsk Regiment? In the first stage of the battle 4,000 British soldiers beat back 15,000 Russians from the slopes of Inkermann, where, in the detached fighting that had taken place, many a V.C. was well earned. In the second stage the terrific struggle ranged around the worthless sand-bag battery; seven times did the Russians capture it, and as often was it retaken by the British, each time with awful slaughter, until the dead lay around the battery in heaps and filled the entrenchment. In this useless and stubborn fight Generals Adams, Cathcart, and Torrens fell. There young Captain Stanley of the "Die Hards" fell as he called to his men to "remember Albuera" and follow him. There a few hundred Coldstreams, who had 8 officers killed, fought back to back against 6,000 Russians, and sustained "the bloodiest struggle ever witnessed since war cursed the earth." Then two 18-pounders were ordered up by Lord Raglan, and, as happened at the Alma, helped to determine the events of the day. An artillery duel resulted, many a British gunner falling by his gun, in the discomfiture of the enemy ere the Zouaves, led by their Vivandière, pushed into the fight and drove the Russians toward the sand-bag battery, where the dead had formed a wall. The French Zouaves and British soldiers then made short work of the contest, and the Zouaves' standard was firmly planted on the sand-bag battery. By 1 o'clock the battle was decided, but such was the straggling and intermittent nature of the fighting that it was not until 3 o'clock that Mount Inkermann was again entirely in the possession of the allies. In this great battle 10 British Generals were killed or wounded—Lord Raglan alone being unharmed—39 officers and 558 men killed, and 1,760 officers and men wounded (rather more than one-third of the total strength of the army engaged). The French lost 130 killed and wounded, and the Russians over 11,000, including 256 officers killed.
The following regiments were present at Inkermann: Grenadiers, Coldstreams, and Scots Fusilier Guards; 1st, 4th, 7th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, 28th, 30th, 33rd, 38th, 41st, 2 companies 46th, 47th, 49th, 50th, 55th, 57th, 63rd, 68th, 77th, 88th, 95th; 4th, 8th, 11th, and 13th Hussars; 17th Lancers and 2 batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery.
Medals with bars for the Alma or Inkermann, or both, are rare to the 46th Foot, while the medals awarded the Coldstream Guards and to participants in the charge of the Light Brigade realise good prices when offered for sale.
The Crimean Medals.—In December 1854 Queen Victoria commanded that a medal bearing the word "CRIMEA" should be struck, and that bars for the ALMA and INKERMANN ("the soldiers' battle") should be awarded to those who had taken part in the battles; but the world had wondered at the "death-ride" of the Light Brigade—on October 29th, 1854—and so no one was surprised when, in February 1855, a clasp for BALAKLAVA was granted to those who rode so bravely into the jaws of death, and, wonder of wonders, came out again; likewise to the Heavy Brigade and to the regiments engaged in the vicinity. The bar for SEBASTOPOL was added to the list in October 1855, so that the four-bar medal illustrated is a complete record of one of the greatest of modern wars, significant because of the fact that we fought shoulder to shoulder with our old adversaries the French, and side by side with the Turks and Sardinians against the Russian Army. The medal, designed by W. Wyon, represents on the reverse a Roman warrior with a flying figure of Victory crowning him with a laurel wreath; to the right of the figure is the word CRIMEA arranged perpendicularly. The obverse is the same as that on the Peninsular and India General Service medals. The bars are the most ornate of the whole series given with British medals. A special bar for AZOFF was given to the Navy. The suspender is of a very appropriate character, suggesting a palm wreath issuing from a conventional cusp. The ribbon is of pale blue with yellow edges, and, be it noted, the ribbon for the Baltic medal—illustrated facing page [296]—granted to sailors and a few marines, is yellow, with pale-blue edges. The Baltic medals were all issued unnamed, as were also the Crimean; but some recipients of the latter had their name and regiment engraved privately. Others were officially named later, with the same stamps as were used for the Army General Service and early Kaffir War medals, in square Roman capitals.
Five bars in all were issued, but four is the greatest number awarded with any medal. The bars should read upward from the medal as follows: Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, but a number of the medals were issued without the bars being fixed, and the order is consequently sometimes found to be inaccurate; care should therefore be taken to verify the record of the person named on the medal. Many medals were issued before the grant of the bar for Sebastopol at the end of October 1855, and many exist without this bar, although all who took part in the battles of Balaklava and Inkermann were entitled to it. The troops who landed in the Crimea after September 9th, 1855, the day Sebastopol fell, were not entitled to the medal unless they had been engaged against the enemy after that date.
The Turkish Medals.—The Turkish Government, in whose cause we took up arms, gave to the allies a silver medal suspended by a bright-red ribbon with green edges ½ in. wide running through a small ring. This is illustrated beside the British Crimean medal. These medals vary; they were intended for the British, French, and Sardinian soldiers, and had among the trophy of flags that of the country the recipient belonged to in the front, beside the Turkish flag, and in the exergue either CRIMEA 1855, LA CRIMEA 1855, or CRIMEE 1855, but as the ship which was bringing the medals to England foundered, many men received the French or Sardinian variety. These medals, 1⅖ in. in diameter, bear on the obverse the Sultan's cypher encircled by a laurel wreath, with the date in Arabic Hegira "1271."
They were generally issued unnamed, but I have several impressed.
The French Medal.—The Emperor of the French awarded crosses of the Legion of Honour to officers and men who had been conspicuous during the war, and the Médaille Militaire to about 500 non-commissioned officers and men who had distinguished themselves. The Duke of Wellington and Sir William Cordington, who was presented by Marshal Pellisier with his own medal, were the only two British officers to receive it. The medal is silver, the eagle and centre being gilt, and the band surrounding the head of Louis Napoleon enamelled, likewise that on the reverse, encircling VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE. The medal is suspended from an orange-coloured ribbon with green edges.
The Sardinian Medal.—The King of Sardinia awarded the Sardinian war medal to 400 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the Army, sailors, and marines. The obverse has the arms of Savoy within a wreath of palm or laurel encircled by the legend AL VALORE MILITARE. On the reverse is a laurel wreath and the inscription SPEDIZIONE D'ORIENTE 1855-1856. The medal of silver is suspended by blue watered silk ribbon through a broad loop with a flat top, much the same as the handle of a flat-iron; medals of gunmetal with similar loops were given by the German States for certain campaigns.
Turkish General Service Medal.—The Turkish General Service medal, incorrectly called the "Danube Medal," was awarded by the Turkish Government in 1855 to the officers and 30 men comprising the crew of a British gunboat, and to a Colonel and 16 men of the Royal Engineers, for services rendered on the Danube in 1854. On the obverse is the cypher of the Sultan Abdil Mageed Khan II within a beaded circle, with flags and laurel branches, and above all a crescent and star. On the reverse is an elliptical star of twelve points, with a smaller one of six in the centre; underneath is a scroll bearing an inscription in Persian characters, reading "Mischani Iftikar" (Medal for Glory), and under all a small star between laurel wreaths. The medal is 1⅕ in. in diameter, and was suspended from a silver scroll bar by the same ribbon as used with the Turkish Crimean medal. The General Service medals were issued in gold and silver, gold to the officers and silver to the men.