Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/289

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'J'HE MAIN FIGHT. 245 clusters of Eussian soldiery and drive them down ch a i*. from the Ledgeway upon the heads of the columns " below. Captain Burnaby himself passed through 2dP«7^od this fight on the Ledgeway without any hurt ; and of the thirteen men of the right Hank company of the Grenadiers who are shown to have followed him, two only were killed and five wounded ; so that one exact half of the band remained still alive, and unharmed.* It was scarce possible that fights such as these Downward ,,„., I'll ^ ^ c rush of the should tail to kmdle the ardour oi our troops troops on • 1 1 • rrn 1 eacli flank Within reach of contagion. Those men of the of the Battery Coldstream and other intermixed soldiery on the right of the Sandljag Battery who had been hither- to restrained, broke loose from their bounds on the crest and descended ujDon the Eussians below ; whilst on the left of the work, the line of the Scots Fusiliers, no longer enduring to be kept back by the exertions of their officers, became so frenzied with zeal, and at the same time so disordered, as to be in effect an impassioned crowd. The gathered mass heaved itself over the brow, carrying all the dissuaders along with it, and tearing pell-mell down the steeps. But now also, and almost simultaneously with

  • In speaking of the thirteen Grenadiers of the right flank

company who are ' shown ' to have followed their captain, I purposely leave room for the supposition that there may have been more men of the same company who did the like, though their names have remained unrecorded. There were also, as we have seen, on the Ledgeway men of other companies, but I don't know either their exact number or the amount of the losses they there sustained.