both flanks, which emptied our saddles and knocked
over our horses by scores. I do not think that one man
flinched in the whole brigade, though every one allows
that so hot a fire was hardly ever seen. We went right
on, cut down the gunners at their guns (the Russians
worked the guns till we were within ten yards of them);
went on still, broke a line of cavalry in rear of the guns,
and drove it back on the third line. But here our bolt
was shot; the Russians formed four deep, and our thin
and broken ranks and blown horses could not attempt to
break through them, particularly as the Russian cavalry
had got round our flanks, and were prepared to charge
our rear (with fresh men). We broke back through
them, however, and then had to run the gauntlet
through the cross-fire of artillery and Minié rifles back
to our own lines, with their cavalry hanging on our
flank. The heavy brigade, which had made a good
charge of its own in the morning, covered our coming
out of action, and lost some men by the artillery.

"There is no concealing the thing—the light brigade
was greatly damaged, and for nothing; for, though we
killed the gunners and the horses of nine 12-pounders,
we could not bring them away.

"Nolan (who brought the order) is dead. The first
shell that burst hit him in the breast. He gave a loud
cry, his horse turned, trotted back (with him still in the
saddle) between the first and second squadrons of the
13th, and carried him so for some way, when he fell
dead. He was hit in the heart.

"In the two leading regiments, including Lord
Cardigan (who led in person) and his staff, we had nineteen
officers. Only three came out of action untouched,
both man and horse; all the others were killed,
wounded, or prisoners, or had their horses hurt. The
17th had no field officers, but five captains. They came
out of action commanded by the junior captain, I
believe. Morris is severely wounded; Winter is
supposed to be killed; Webb is shot through the thigh;
White through the leg; Thompson is supposed to be
killed, &c. One of Lord Cardigan's aides-de-camp is
wounded—Maxse; the other, Lockwood, is missing, and
supposed to be killed. We have lost about 335 horses
(exclusive of officers' horses), out of little more than
600 which we (the light brigade) had in the field.
Besides that, a great number are wounded with gunshot
wounds, and about twenty-five have already been
destroyed, and more will. .  .  .  It was a bitter
moment after we broke through the line of cavalry in
rear of their guns, when I looked round and saw
there was no support beyond our own brigade, which,
leading in the smoke, had diverged and scarcely filled
the ground. We went on, however, and hoped that
their own men flying would break the enemy's line, and
drive them into the river. When I saw them form four
deep instead, I knew it was 'all up,' and called out to the
men to rally. At this moment a solitary squadron of
the 8th came up in good order. This saved the remnant
of us; for we rallied to them, and they, wheeling about,
charged a line which the Russians had formed in our
rear. You never saw men behave so well as our men
did. As we could not hold our ground, all our dead
and badly wounded were left behind, and we know not
who are dead or who are prisoners. All this makes
me miserable, even to write; but it is the naked truth.
Our loss in men is not so great as that in horses; for
men whose horses were shot in the advance got back on
foot. I hear, from a man who dined with Lord Raglan
to-day, that they do us justice at head-quarters, and say
that our attack was an unheard-of feat of arms, and
that Lord Raglan says that the moral effect has been
wonderful."

The sortie of the Russians on the 26th is thus
described by the correspondent of the Times:—

"I happened to be with the Second Division on the
26th, when the order was given for them to turn out
and stand to their arms. On our side it was a sudden
and unexpected attack until a few minutes beforehand.
A lot of officers were standing on an eminence, looking
down upon the skirmishers on both sides, having no idea
that a powerful sortie was about to be made, when they
saw some guns on an opposite ridge, to the right, about
1000 yards distant. No one had the least suspicion as to
what they were, when some one, looking through a
glass, said, "Green guns, by Jove!" and all bolted.
(The Russian gun-carriages are painted pea-green). In
two minutes more the round-shot began to sing overhead,
and the sharp sound of musketry from the pickets
showed that some sharp fighting was going on. The
pickets were under the command of Major Champion,
of the 95th. They behaved admirably, and, although
compelled to retire, did so in excellent order, and kept
the Russians in check until our artillery got to work.
I saw three immense Russian columns cross the ridge I
have just spoken of. As soon as our gunners got the
range, they sent a storm of rockets, shot, and shell into
them, and the columns literally melted away. Our
infantry then advanced, firing; and the Russians retreated,
and were followed by some of our skirmishers nearly
down to the walls of Sebastopol. The Second Division,
under Sir De Lacy Evans, was the only one engaged.
The Duke of Cambridge, with the Guards, was in
reserve. Other divisions were coming up, and, had the
action lasted longer, would have come in for it. Two
officers were taken prisoners. From what they said, it
appears that in the morning Menschikoff assembled the
troops in Sebastopol, told them of the great victory
obtained over the English the day before at Balaklava,
that the English cavalry was destroyed, and that the
infantry only required finishing; whereupon they
demanded to be led against the English; on this a
Te Deum was performed, and an extra allowance of
rakee served out, and off they started, and were back
again in no time, for the fighting did not last above an
hour and a half. As I was on the ground from first to
last, and had nothing to do except look about me, you
may depend upon my account being correct. It is very
much the fashion to say that the Russians must have
lost so many, and, I am afraid, in general, rather to
overrate their losses, so I will give the losses of both
sides as far as can be correctly ascertained.

"Our loss was 12 killed, and 71, including five officers,
wounded, all of the Second Division. We took 100
prisoners; 112 bodies were buried by us, and we know
of many more lying beyond our position, so far away,
that the burying parties would be under the fire of the
guns of Sebastopol. The usual proportion of men
wounded to the killed is about 5 to 1, which will make
their loss upwards of 600; of course, they carried a
great quantity of both back with them to the fortress.
It is remarkable that the wounded Russians brought in
had nearly all received their wounds from the Minié
rifles. Our conical balls cause frightful wounds; whenever
they touch a limb, they smash the bone. I was on
the field during and after the action. Officers and men
(of the Russians, I mean) were dressed alike, in long
grey great-coats and high cloth caps. They are very
difficult to see in the thick brushwood which grows all
about; indeed, singly, they are as invisible as a rabbit
in dried fern. I examined many of the dead; some
were lying in pools of blood, their faces looking like
wax. Every man had a large piece of bread with him
—black, sour, and half-baked; one had a Russian
Prayer-book, which I have appropriated as a memento.
Their firelocks are of a very inferior sort; they are
dated 1834, and have been converted from flint to
percussion.

"The prisoners were sent off next day to Balaklava,
and placed on board ship, and the dead were buried."

A brilliant skirmish took place on the 22d of October
between a small party of thirty sharpshooters, under
Lieutenant Webb of the 88th regiment, and a body of
150 Russians. He had occasion, while pointing out a
certain position to an officer of engineers, to expose
himself and some of his men to the enemy's observation.
Not long afterwards a body of the enemy were observed
to be advancing towards the sharpshooters. Lieutenent
Webb detached a part of his little force, and ordered
them to conceal themselves among the brushwood, so
that, should the Russians make the attack, they might
thus be exposed to a flanking fire. The Russians came
forward, and as soon as they were within convenient
range, the party towards whom they were advancing
fired into them. This fire they returned; but almost
immediately afterwards the remainder of Lieutenant
Webb's party, who had been concealed, discharged their
Miniés among them with well-aimed effect. The Russians