Colonel Lindsay now headed a charge with the utmost gallantry on the Russians, who were soon in full retreat, and the Guards, joined by men of all sorts of regiments, picked up ammunition from the dead and dying foe, with which they fired into the enormous retreating columns, causing them the most fearful slaughter. Cheering one another on, and carried away by an indescribable enthusiasm, the glorious little band pushed on too far, and did not discover their false position till some of their men fell shot from behind. For a moment it was believed that the reserves, not perceiving them, were firing into them; but the next, the cry was raised, " The Russians — we're cut off!" "I could see," says an officer, who was fortunate enough to escape from this fearful guet-apens, only to share in another and more decisive charge later in the day, where again he seemed to bear a charmed life, " I could see a sea of Russian caps all round me, and the fire was tremendous." Those of his comrades who succeeded, like himself, in gaining their desperate way back again, now joined an ofiicer who was rallying some men, and the whole of them, having been supplied with fresh ammunition, and headed by the Duke of Cambridge, once more advanced to the attack. Here, as before. Guards and Linesmen were mixed up together, and formed as it were one regiment; for in the darkness and confusion caused by the fog, and with every movement hampered by the thick brushwood which at that time covered the whole of the field, it had been impossible for individuals to rally to their respective corps; and the only thought in every heart was in what direction there might be an enemy to attack or a comrade to succour. Five battalions, despatched by General Canrobert under the command of General Bosquet, had now arrived on the scene of action, and took ground to the right of the British. This was the culminating point of the battle. The French Lifantry consisted of a battalion of the Zouaves, and of some other corps d^ elite; and these magnificent troops now vigorously attacked the already wavering Russians with the point of the bayonet. Thrice and again did they charge with incredible ardour into the close and ponderous legions of the Muscovite,
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but it was only after the third charge that the obstinate foe at length beat a sullen retreat, and surrendered the ground, which was covered with his own dead and wounded.
Colonel Gambler had fallen wounded in the very act of bringing up his two eighteen-pounder guns, but their command devolved upon Colonel Dickson, an officer who handled them with such fatal effi?ct, that long lanes were seen to be ploughed through the Russian columns at each discharge; and the enemy's guns, which attempted to reply, were speedily dismantled and rendered useless.
While these events were going on on the right, the Light Division were not idle. A determined assault was made on the extreme left of the English Army; and for a moment the enemy possessed themselves of four of our guns, three of which were retaken by the Connaught Rangers, while the fourth was speedily re-captured by the 77th, under Lieutenant-Colonel Egerton, an officer of the highest distinction, whose untimely fate in the capture of the Rifle-pits is still doubtless fresh in the memory of every reader. During the thickest of the strife, Sir George Cathcart attempted to make a powerful diversion by descending the valley, and attempting to turn the flank of the enemy with a few companies of the 68th regiment; but finding the heights above him and the surrounding ravines occupied by them in great force, so that he was in fact exposed to a cross-fire from front, flank, and rear, he endeavoured to withdraw his men, in which attempt BrigadierGenefal Torrens received a severe wound, and his stouthearted and chivalrous chief was struck down from his horse with a bullet through his head. His body was afterwards found pierced with three bayonet wounds, for the Russians in their brutal ferocity savagely mutilated the dying and the dead alike, and he was interred on the hill which bears his name, where he lies side by side Avith General Goldie and the other officers of his Division who fell on that fatal day.