At the same time I requested the English cavalry to move down into the plain to be in readiness to charge. I had given similar orders to my own cavalry. When the soldiers of mj' 5th Brigade arrived at the Mamelon they found that the enemy's attack had been already repulsed; but the fii-e of the two batteries of the 2nd Division (Troths) appeared to do great execution on the 2nd Russian column, which, checked in front by the French troops, and harassed in the rear by the fire of our batteries and the musketry of our battalions, fell back in the greatest disorder. I then ordered some of our battalions to advance under cover of the Eifiemen (Bersaglieri), but I was requested to countermand this movement.
The enemy repulsed at all points commenced his retreat. One column, Avhich appeared to me to consist of a division, retreated by the valley of the Souliou. Another division, the 74 LINE OF THE TCHER>fAYA. one wliich had attacked our outposts and the French right in the morning, fell hack upon the zig-zag Mamelon; while a third division followed the road which leads to Mackenzie's farm. I took advantage of this state of things to re-occupy with my troops the zig-zag Mamelon; in which design I succeeded perfectly, in spite of the imposing force which the enemy still retained on that point. In the mean time, three battalions of Turkish troops advanced into the Valley of Tchorgoun, to replace the battalion of Cialdini's brigade, which was occupying the heights of Karlooka.
Later in the day, I crossed the Tchernaya with four squadrons, and marching in a parallel line with the zig-zag Mamelon, came upon the old Russian redoubt, whence I could easily discern, at a little distance before us, a very fine array of regulai' cavalry, supported by horse artillery. It was distributed in twelve separate bodies, and must have been composed of at least fifty squadrons. This cavalry did not fall back on Mackenzie'sroad till the whole of the infantry and artillery had effected their retreat. The losses sustained by our troops, a portion only of whom was engaged, Avere very inconsiderable. They amount to about two hundred men placed Itors de combat; and I impute the fact of our not having lost more men mainly to the works with which Ave fortified our position, and to the batteries of heavy guns which you were so obliging as to lend ns for theu* defence.
It is, however, m}^ painful duty to announce to yoiu' Excellency that Count Montevecchio, the General commanding the 4th Brigade, is mortally Avounded; a ball passed through his chest. Pi'ay accept, General, the assurance of my high consideration. The General Commanding-in-Chief the Sardinian Expeditionary Forces, (Signed) La IVIaemoea. To 7iis ExceJkncy the General Commandimj - in - Chief iJie Enijlish Army. The battle had been raging for an hour ere I reached the line of the French works at Fedukhine. From the higli grounds over which I had to ride, the Avhole of the battle- (leld Avas marked out by rolling columns of smoke, and the irregular SPLENDID VIE^y OF THE tbiclj puffs of the artQlery. All oiucavalry camps were deserted; but the sun played on the helmets and sabres of the solid squadi'ons, -which were drawn up about two miles in advance, and just in rear of the line of hills which the French and Sardinians were defending, so as to be ready to charge the Eussians, should they force the position.
The French cavalry, chasseurs, hussars, and two regiments of dragoons, were on our left. Our light and our heavy cavalry brigades were formed in two heavy masses, supported by artillery in the plain behind the second Fedulchine hillock, and seemed in splendid case, and eager for the fray." The allies had, in fact, not less than 6000 very fine cavalry that day in the field, but they were held in check, "for fear " of the artillery, which there is no doubt they could have captured, in addition to many thousands of prisoners, if handled b}' a Seidlitz or a Murat. But the French general would not permit a charge to be executed, though French and English cavalry leaders were alike eager for it, and so this noble force was rendered ineffective.
Having passed by the left of the cavaby, I gained the side of the hill j ust as a large body of French troops crowned it at the^«.? double, dej)loyed and at once charged down towards the aqueduct, where a strong column of Eussians, protected by a heavy fire of artillery on the crest of the ridge, were making good their ground against the exhausted French. This new regiment attacking them with extraordinary impetuosity on the flank, literally swept the Eussians like flies into the aqueduct, or rolled them headlong down its steep banks; and at the same moment a French battery on my right, belonging, I think, to the Imperial Guards, opened on the shattered crowd with grape, and tore them into atoms.