" In the meanwhile the Light Division under Sir George Brown effected the passage of the Alma in his immediate front. The banks of the river itself were, from their rugged and broken nature, most serious obstacles, and the vineyards, through which the troops had to pass, and the trees which the enemy had felled, created additional impediments, rendering every species of formation, under a galling fire, nearly an impossibility. LieutenantGeneral Sir George Brown advanced against the enemy under great disadvantages. In this difficult operation he nevertheless persevered, and the first brigade, under Major-General Codrington, succeeded in carrying a redoubt, materially aided by the judicious and steady manner in which Brigadier-General BuUer moved on the left flank, and by the
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advance of four companies of the Rifle Brigade under Major Norcott, who promises to be a distinguished officer of light troops. The heavy fire of grape and musketry, however, to which the troops were exposed, and the losses consequently sustained by the 7th, 23d, and 33d regiments, obliged this brigade partially to relinquish its hold."
The Russians had taken accurate ranges for their fire, which they had marked by targets and posts, so that, as the leading regiments reached the points thus designated, they entered literally into a storm of missiles of every description. Incredible as it may appear, such is the innate coolness and contempt of danger in the British soldier, that in the midst of this fatal hail, and with their comrades falling thickly around them, numbers of the men were observed eagerly to seek for and pluck the ripe grapes, whose tempting clusters hung in profusion on the vines through which they had to pass. The losses referred to in the last paragraph quoted from Lord Raglan's Despatch, were indeed terrific; but it was not until the gallant Light Division had actually crowned the height, and forced the redoubt, that physical exhaustion and numerical weakness compelled them partially to retire. The 95th regiment, which was immediately on the right of the 7th, suffered equally with the Light Division, and the melancholy fate of two of its officers, brothers, who were shot down within a few minutes of each other, supplies one of the saddest incidents of the history of the campaign, but one which is, alas! by no means a solitary one. " The 5oth, 30th, and 95th," says Mr. Russell, " led by Brigadier Pennefather, who was in the thickest of the fight, cheering on his men, again and again were checked indeed, but never drew back in their onward progress, which was marked by a fierce roll of Minie musketry. The 7th Fusiliers, led by Colonel Yea, were swept down by fifties." " In the capture of the battery," says General Torrens, writing to the father of one of the officers who fell there, " the poor dear old Welsh (the 23d) were foremost. Their loss has been frightful. Chester (their Colonel), Wynn, Evans, Conolly, my poor sister's boy, Harry Anstruther, Butler, Radcliffe. Young, were all killed dead at the same moment, and within a space of 100 square yards. Applethwaite (it is feared mortally), Campbell, Sayer, Bathurst, Stopton, wounded; only six officers remain untouched, and nearly 200 men are hors de combat." Sir George Brown, who was in front of his division, cheering on the men, had his horse shot under him, and was for a moment supposed to be killed.
" By this time, however, the Duke of Cambridge had succeeded in crossing the river, and had moved up in support, and a brilliant advance of the brigade of Foot Guards, under Major-General Bentinck, drove the enemy back and secured the final possession. The Highland brigade, under Sir Colin Campbell, advanced in admirable order and steadiness up the high ground to the left, and in co-operation with the Guards; and Major-General Pennefather's brigade, which had been connected with the right of the Light Division, forced the enemy completely to abandon the position they had taken such pains to defend and secure."