Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/235

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THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 213 that from the moment in which he learnt the chap. nature of the task imposed upon him to the one ' when he bowed to authority and composedly ac- cepted his martyrdom, Lord Cardigan's demean- our was faultless. X. As altered by Lord Lucan at the moment of Dispositions • • t • i_ for the directing the advance, the disposition of the Light advance of & ' r ° the cavalry Brigade was as follows:— The 13th Light Dragoons, <iown the ° ° ° North commanded by Captain Oldham, and the 17th vaiiey. Lancers, commanded by Captain Morris, were to form the first line ; the 11th Hussars, commanded by Colonel Douglas, was ordered to follow in support ; * and the third line was composed of the 4th Light Dragoons under Lord George Paget, and the 8th Hussars, or rather, one may say, the main portion of it, under Colonel Shewell."}" Lord Cardigan, as commander of the whole brigade, had to place himself at the head of the first line. The second line, consisting of only one regiment, was commanded by Douglas, its colonel ; and the two

  • Before the change thus ordered hy Lord Lucan the three

first-named regiments had heen all in first line. I speak of the change actually effected, and not of the one contemplated hy Lord Lucan. He meant to have placed the 4th Light Dragoons in the same alignment as the 11th Hussars ; but his orders to that last purpose were never communicated to the 4th Light Dragoons. The order for the 11th Hussars to drop back and act in support was given by Lord Lu can in person to Colonel Douglas. + A troop of the 8th Hussars, commanded by Captain Chet- wode, had been abstracted from the regiment to act as escort to the Commander of the Forces, and was at the Headquarters camp.