AT BALACLAVA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVI, Issue 8625, 6 December 1906, Page 3

AT BALACLAVA.

Charge of the Light Brigade.

Graphically Narrated by a

Survivor.

When can their glory fade ? 0 tbe wild charge they made ! All the world wonder'd. Honour the charge they made ! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble Six Hundred! —Tennyson,

October 25th last was the anniversary of the Battle of Balaclava (it took place on October 25th, 1851), and its most historic feature was the brilliant charge of the Light Brigade. It is an episode in the military history of Great Britain that can never fade — ought never to be allowed to fade. Many" graphic descriptions have )( been given of the " wild charge they made," but probably the most brilliant is that by J. W. Whiteman, late private of the 17th Lancers. He i escribes the charge of the heavy Brigade, and the impatient waiting of himself and comrades for the order to do some thing. Then up comes the celebrated and ill-fated Captain Nolan. A.D.C, of the 15th Hussars.

Riding up to Lord Cardigan, commander of the Light Brigade, Captain Nolan spoke a few low words' drew his sword and then fell back.

" I remember " (says Mr Whiteman) " as though it were yesterday, Cardigan's figure and attitude as he faced tho brigade, and in his strong, hoarse voice, gave the momen tous order: ' The Brigade will advance ! First squadron of 17th Lancers direct! ' Calm as on parade calmer, indeed, than was his wont -stately, square and erect, master of himself, his brigade, and his noble charger, Cardigan looked the ideal cavalry leader, with his stern, firm face, and quiet soldierly bearing. His drawn sword was at the slope, and I never saw a man litter to wield the weapon. "'Sound the advance,' he said to his trumpeter, Britten of the Lancers, and wheeled his horse, facing the dark mass at the farther end of the valley, which we knew to be the enemy. The trumpet sounded ' walk,' then ' trot,' then ' gallop.' Neither voice nor trumpet ordered 'charge.' for Britten was a dead man a few strides after he sounded ' gallop,' but we went.

" We had ridden barely 200 yards, when a fragment of an exploding shell struck poor Nolan. He was waving his sword, and though it fell from his hand his arm remained upraised, though he was dead. Tne weird dea;h-cry and the awful face as rider and horse tore past me haunt me to this day, the first hoiror of that ride of horrors. "' Just as we broke into the ' charge,' Cardigan, directly behind whom I rode, shouted : ' Steady, Morris, steady.' We were directing, so gave the pace. Later, when we were in the midst of our torment, and burning for revenge, I again heard Cardigan, 'Steady, steady, the 17th Lancers !'

" But, resolute man though he was, a time came when neither his command nor example could restrain us, and when, to maintain his position in advance, he had to let his charger go, for hell had opened on us from front and either flank during the minutes—they seemed hours to us- which passed while we traversed tbe mile and aquarter at the end of which was the enemy.

" But even when the ranks were continually broken and thiDned by shot ancl shell, the discipline was splendid. ' Close in, close in !' was the constant command ; but the order was scarcely needed, for of their own instance men and horses alike sought to regain the touch. " Old John Lee, an Indian veteran, my right hand man, was struck by a bursting shell and almost smashed to pieces. He gave my arm a twitch as, with a strange smile on his worn old face, he quietly said : ' Domino, Chum,' and fell out of the saddle.

" Just then I got a musket ball through my right knee and another in my shin, and my horse had three bullets in his neck. I was told to fall out, but I jammed the spurs well home and faced it with my comrades.

•' We were nearly out of the valley at last, and close to those cursed guns. Cardigan was still straight in front .of me, steady as a church, but now his sword was in the air ; he turned in his saddle for an instant and shouted bis final command: ' Steady! steady! Close in.' Immediately afterwards there crashed into us a volley from the Russian cannon. I saw Captain White go down and Cardigan disappear in tbe smoke. A shell burst"right over my head, and all but stunned me. Immediately I felt my horse take a tremendous leap into the air. What he jumped for I never saw or knew. The smoke was so thick I could not see an arm's length around me. Through the dense veil I heard noises of fighting and slaughter, but saw nothing. In short I was through and beyond the Russian battery before I knew for certain I had reached it.

" Presently, there was no semblance of a line, and not a lancer near me. I saw Cardigan ahead, alone in a knot of Cossacks, his sword flashing right and left.

"I was hurrying on to help Cardigan when a Cossack came at me and sent his lance into my right thigh I went for him, but he bolted ; I overtook him, drove my lance into his back and unhorsed him. I lost sight of Cardigan, nor did I ever again see the chief who led us down the valley so grandly. " With difficulty I cut my way through a a lot of Cossacks, and was joined by two of the 4th. We were through, and on the wrong side of a big body of Russian cavalry. We were all three badly wounded, and so were our horses ; so we determined to make for home. We forced our way through ring after ring of the enemy, and soon heard our Corporal Morley's familiar Nottingham voice roaring: ' Coom 'ere! Coom 'ere ! fall in, lads, fall in.' He collected about 20 men of various regiments. A body of Russian Hussars blocked our way, but Morley, roaring Nottingham slang, let us straight at them, and we went through them like tinsel paper. "Presently we had to take the fire of the infantry, who had raked us on our way to the guns. Not many of Morley's party got back. My horse fell dead, a bullet struck me on the forehead, and another went through the top of my shoulder. While struggling out from under my dead horse a Cossack, standing over me, stabbed me with his lance, once in the neck near the jugular, again above the collar bone, several times in the back, and once under the short rib; and when, having regained my feet, I was trying to draw my sword, he sent his lance through the palm of my hand. I believe he would have killed me, clumsy as he was, if I had not blinded him for a moment with a handful of sand.

" Private Fletcher also lost his horse and was wounded, and we were both taken prisoners. The Copsacks treated us very roughly indeed. With shattered knee and shin I could hardly limp, and good old Fletcher said : ' Get on my back, chum.' I did so, and then found he had been shot through the back of the head. When I told him his only answer was : ' Oh, never mind that, it's not much, I don't think.' But it was that much that he died a few days later; and here was he, a doomed man, making light of a mortal wound, and carrying a chance comrade of another regiment on his back.

"When we reached the Tehernaya, the Russians were as kind as the Cossacks had been brutal. We found there a number of our comrades

" The same afternoon, when we were all very stiff and sore, General Lipraudi, the Russian Commander, paid us a visit. He . was * very pleasant^' and spoke excellent English. 'Come, now, men,' he asked,

' what did they give you to driuk. Did they not prime you with spirits to come down and attack us in such a mad manner ?'

"William Kirk, ot the Ii th Lancers, an unwoundea piisouer, who had lost his horse, was leaning against the door, whdl Lipraudi spoke He baa been punishing the Russian vodki a bit, and ho stepped up to the General'aud ssid : 'You think we were druuK ? By heavens, I lell you that if we had so much as smelt the barrel, we would have taken half lussia by this time!' Lipraudi looKecl at him with a. smile, and remarked quite humorously, "Indted, then, to be sure, we should have had a poor chance!' "Sergeant-Major Fowler, of the 4th, had been run through by a Cossack lance, and was sitting in the corner. He was a fine dignified "soldier, a gentleman born, I believe, and one oi the handsomest men in the Light Brigade. To give more room to his comrades in the carts lie walked every step of the way to Simleropoi; his wound mortified, and lie dud within a week after his capture. Raiaiug hims-elf with great pain and difficulty, Ue Mood upright and severely checked Kuk for his lmpwiinence; then coming smartly t> 'atieiition' before Lipraudi aud saluting him, he said with great earnestness : On my honour, sir, except for the vodki which your men have given to some of them, there is not a man of us who has tastod foou or drink ihis day. We left camp before daylight, and were continuously in the field until we became prisoners of war. Our uncooked rations are still in our haversacks. Our uaily issue of a mouthful of rum is made in and, believe me, sir, wo don't hoard it I wis.i all the men who have gone to their account this day were as frer of sin as ih-y were of drink !' Liprau.d was moved • You are noble fellows,' he sai , and I am sinwrely sorry for you I wilt order you some vodki, aud will send you a so .-oaie pens, ink and paper, for some of you at le<tst have parents, wives or sweethearts; a< wiiir and tell them that they can rely < n your b. ing well tr.ated.'"