And out of stricken helmets sprang the fire.
Part sat like rocks: part reeled, hut kept their seats:
Part rolled on the earth, and rose again and drew:
Pai't stumbled, mixed with floundering horses..
.
With stroke on stroke horses and horsemen came,
As comes a pillar of electric cloud,
Flaying off the roofs, and sucking up the drains,
And shadowing down the champain till it strikes
On a wood, and takes and hreaks, and cracks and splits.
And twists the grain with such a roar that the earth
Eeels, and the herdsmen cry."
The first line of the Russians received the impetuous attack right in the centre, and strove like a huge serpent coiling up its vast extremities to overlap and strangle its foe in a fatal embrace; but in vain: the deadly folds are severed at countless points by the relentless steel of the assailant, who, while the disjecta membra are striving with a languid vitality to reunite for fresh defence, has won his resistless way through the very heart of the supporting squadrons. The work thus nobly commenced was as gallantly completed, and, while the enemy were attempting to rally from the terrific shock of the first charge, the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards rushed on with the force of a pent-up torrent, and with an enthusiasm only equalled by that of their glorious predecessors, and in a few moments turned the first discomfiture of the Russian cavalry into an utter and disgraceful rout.
" Thus," says Lord Lucan, " under every disadvantage of ground, these eight small squadrons succeeded in defeating and dispersing a body of cavalry estimated at three times their number, and more;" and, it may be added, with a loss which was absolutely trifling in comparison to the results obtained. Up to this period, with the exception of the capture of the redoubts, a loss which there was every apparent probability of being able to remedy before the close of the engagement, the advantage had been decidedly on our side, and nothing had occurred to presage the catastrophe so shortly to occur, and beside whose tragic interest the minor incidents of this most eventful day sink into comparative insignificance.
At ten o'clock, the Guards and Highlanders composing the First Division, and who had been ordered up as soon as the threatening movements of the Russians were known at head-quarters, arrived on the plains, and were shortly afterwards followed by the Fourth Division under Sir George Cathcart. The Cavalry were then on the left of our position facing the enemy, the Light Cavalry Brigade being on the left flank forward, and the Heavy Brigade en echelon in reserve, with guns on the right; — the Fourth Division occupied the centre — and the First Division took the extreme right,
facing the captured redoubts, from which the Russians opened on them with such guns as had not been spiked. A small body of the Chasseurs d'Afrique also arrived at this moment, and took their place in advance of the ridges on our left. Lord Raglan, who had arrived on the field shortly, after eight o'clock, and who had watched with the most intense anxiety the events hitherto narrated, now perceived a movement on the part of the enemy with the object of carrying off the guns which had been abandoned by the Turks, and, desirous to prevent the accomplishment of this purpose, he dispatched Captain Nolan to Lord Lucan, with an order thus worded: —
" Lord Raglan wishes the Cavalry to advance rapidly in front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent their carrying away the guns. Troop of Horse Artillery may accompany. French Cavalry is on the left. Lumediate. R. Airey."
Lord Raglan thus states the circumstances under which this order was given, and the nature of the service on which he meant the Cavalry to be employed. " As the enemy withdrew from the ground which they had momentarily occupied, I directed the Cavalry, supported by the Fourth Division under LieutenajitGeneral Sir George Cathcart, to move forward and take advantage of any opportunity to regain the heights; and not having been able to accomplish this immediately, and it appearing that an attempt was being made to remove the captured guns, the Earl of Lucan was desired to advance rapidly, follow the enemy in their retreat, and try to prevent them from effecting their object. In the meanwhile the Russians had time to re-form on their own ground, with artillery in front and upon their flanks. The LieutenantGeneral considered that he was bound to attack at all hazards, and he accordingly ordered Major-General the Earl of Cardigan to move forward with the Light Brigade."