V.

*

CHAP. Major Low, it became plain that for the moment, at all events, no guidance was to be had from the General commanding the Brigade, and that the emergency must be met without the aid of Lord Cardigan. Lord George Paget was the senior officer present; and the few rapid words which he and Colonel Douglas found time to exchange were enough to prove them agreed upon the course that ought to be taken.t

It was determined that, with the whole of the little band which had been formed from the remnants of the two united regiments, our men should endeavour as best they could to break through the newly-interposed force of Russian Lancers, and should do this without persisting in the attempt to oppose a front to the cavalry advancing from the opposite direction. Our men well understood the predicament in which they stood; and Lord George Paget holloaed out to them, 'Well, you must go about, and do the best you can. Threes about!'

The order was obeyed, and both regiments now fronted towards the body of Lancers which stood barring their line of retreat. In both regiments strenuous exertions were made to get the men together; and wherever, in this little band, an officer sat in his saddle, there also there was a sword in the

* Of the purport of the answer given to this question I have not yet obtained sufficing proof; but its alleged tenor will be found in the affidavits of Edden and David Thomas.

In the circumstances stated should it be judged that the whole of the body thus acting in concert came out under the command of Lord George Paget?

air, and a voice commanding the rally. The force CHA P. was joined by some troopers belonging to the first line.

In the hastily-attempted array which was now in some slight measure formed, the (proper) rear-rank formed the front, and the officers had to follow, instead of leading, their line. In such a position they were evidently more likely than the rest of the force to be cut off by the Russian Lancers: but this was not all; for behind them, as we know, and at a distance of but a few yards, they had the bodies of the Russian cavalry which had come up in pursuit from the neighbourhood of the aqueduct. Thus placed, our officers were not only exposed beyond measure to the dangers of the hour, but also shut back in positions unfavourable to the exercise of command.

With but little attempt at the preservation of order, the English horsemen moved off at such speed as they could command, driving straight towards the thicket of lances which threatened to bar their retreat. They presently began to incur the fire of some Russian artillery; but, upon the whole, this effort of the enemy's gunners proved to be an advantage to our people, for, without inflicting heavy loss upon our retreating horsemen, it delivered them from the pursuit of the cavalry in their then rear. The body of Russian Lancers which stood barring the retreat of our horsemen was that moiety of Jeropkine's six squadrons which had been placed, as we saw, on the north side of the valley, and in the fold of the hills enclosing the road from Tractir; but there is reason for believing that these three squadrons had

V.

V.

CHAP. been joined by some portions at least, if not by the whole of those other three squadrons through which Colonel Shewell had broken.

Position of the interposed force.

Its formation and apparent strength.

Hitherto, the position taken up by the Lancers now undertaking to cut off Lord George Paget and Douglas had been exactly of the same kind as that of the three squadrons on the other side of the valley which attempted, and attempted in vain, to bar Colonel Shewell's retreat; for, just as their comrades had done before, these Lancers stood ranged with a front towards the Russian rear; but, upon the nearer approach of our people, the force they were going to assail disclosed a new plan of action; and it is not improbable that the overthrow which the first three squadrons had undergone, may have so far influenced Colonel Jeropkine as to cause this change in his tactics.

The force, it seems, was a double column of squadrons, having two strong squadrons abreast, and being two, if not three squadrons deep.* It was in a per

* We saw that the portion of Jeropkine's Lancers which was originally placed on this side of the valley consisted of only three squadrons; but we also saw, that of the other three squadrons overthrown by Colonel Shewell some part at once crossed the valley, and it is evidently probable that they did this with the intention of joining their comrades in the gorge of the Tractir road. Also, those of the Lancers who at first fled southward, must have found in a few moments that they were flying from nothing; and it seems likely that they too would very soon turn or cross over the valley, to the point where their comrades were stationed. I am able to say, on good grounds, that the time which intervened between Shewell's combat and the affair I am now speaking of, was sufficient to allow of this movement taking place. Upon the whole, it seems probable that all the six squadrons of the regiment were at this time together, and if so, the column with its front of two, had a depth of three squadrons.

V.

fect state of formation, and directly confronting our CHAP. retreating horsemen; but when the remnants of the two English regiments drew near them, the commander of these Russian Lancers retracted all at once Its sudden change of the right shoulder, and wheeled his squadrons half front. back; so that, instead of continuing to oppose a direct barrier in the face of our returning Dragoons, his force now stood ranged in such way as to flank the line of retreat, and became, in that way, much more formidable than before. The movement was executed with a precision which made the strength of the close serried squadrons seem more than ever overwhelming to the few score of English horsemen now moving, each man as he could, with hardly a trace of formation. The evident purpose of the manœuvre was to enable the Russian column to descend upon the flank of the English, and overwhelm them at the moment of passing. The direction in which the English moved was such that, supposing it to continue unchanged, the Russian column would have a distance of about thirty yards to go through in order to come down upon the flank of our horsemen at the intended moment.

When he saw this manoeuvre and detected its purpose, Lord George Paget determined that he would endeavour to oppose some semblance of a front to the new front the enemy had formed; and accordingly he shouted to the men, 'Throw up your left 'flank!' But in the din which prevailed, his words, it would seem, were but little heard; and, instead of attempting, as they moved, to form up a front to

CHAP. wards their right, our people, in the course they now took, inclined somewhat to their left.

V.

Advance

and sud

of the column.

At a moment which seems to have been rightly den halt enough chosen, the Russian column commenced its advance, and descended at a trot to the very verge of the point where the two hostile forces thus moving at right angles with one another seemed going to meet ; but then all at once the column was halted, and again the Russian horsemen displayed that same air of hesitation and bewilderment which our people had observed several times before on that day-hesitation and bewilderment not apparently resulting from any want of firmness on the part of the men, but rather from their not knowing what to do next.

The nature

of the collision

which

then oc

When a body of cavalry has been moved forward some way at a gallop, or even at a trot, and then is brought to a halt, it very commonly happens that the flanks overshoot the centre, and render the line concave. It was so with the Russian column; and its right flank especially, at the moment of the halt, had swung forward in advance of the centre. Therefore now when our horsemen undertook to ride across the front of the column, they had before them some lancers on the extreme right of the enemy's line, who had so far edged forward as to be directly obstructing the path of retreat; but with this exception, the foe our men had to overcome or evade was entirely on their right flank.

Then there occurred a contact of hostile forces for which, I imagine, it would be hard to find a parallel.

curred. In a very irregular body, and with a hardly per