The History of the Rifle Brigade (the Prince Consort's Own) Formerly the 95th

by William Henry Cope

‘(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.