Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/401

APPENDIX. 369 fight, no officer of rank superior to that of Captain Oldershaw was present in the battery from first to last on the 13th of April. Nor did Oldershaw from first to last receive any orders except those given him the night before by Captain Oldfield, and the above-mentioned order from Captain Shaw. Note 7. — To Oldershaw. — Captain Oldfield, it seems, took pains to inform himself of the tenor of the fight to which his order had given rise, and addressed to Captain Oldershaw on the subject a letter which commemorated his fight in terms of high praise. That letter has been mislaid ; but I am not without hope that it will be found. Captain Oldfield was killed on the 17th of August 1855. Note 8. — Came to an end. — If a man, although wounded, ia still not so gravely disabled as to be prevented from appearing on parade the next day, there is never a certainty that he will be included in the Returns of 'casualties,' and indeed, as is com- monly known, the question whether, in such a case, he will be ' returned ' or not, is often a matter of accident or even a matter of choice. Thus, for instance, Lord Cardigan, who had received the thrust of a lance at the battle of Balaclava, did not choose at the time to have it ' returned 'as a' wound,' and accordingly his name did not figure in the list of ' wounded. ' He used after- wards to express his regret that he had not taken the opjiosite course, and caused his name to appear in the ' Return ' of officers wounded. Thus it may and does constantly happen that the number of men really wounded exceeds the number of ' wounded ' appearing in the official Return ; but in this peculiar fight where ' assaults,' if so one may call them, were being ceaselessly made by cumber- some sand-bags sent flying under the impact of cannon-balls, it was plainly to be expected that the difference between the facts and the figures would be abnormally great ; for there was many a man who, when felled by the blows thus delivered, lay prostrate under the shock in an utterly helpless state, yet so free, all the while, from any injury of a lasting kind as to be able to appear the next day on parade, and avoid being ever put down in any Return of the wounded. The number of gunners thus stricken without being therefore ' returned ' was rendered so much the greater by the feeling which animated them. Every man in those days of keen ex- pectation strove his best to keep out of hospital, being not only willing but eager to remain with the force under arms. Note 9. — Strength of only three men. — Not going with any VOL. VIII. 2 A