"A little on the road in front, and recognisable by his helmet, is one of the Heavy Cavalry, employed at this time in pulling up half-famished mules to the camp, laden with the wood for the huts; the figure encumbered with coats, shoes, and flannel comforters, is one of the ' Guards.' "
Such were the fantastic forms evoked by the genius of Winter; and, while we may now afford to bestow a smile on the ludicrousness of the spectacle, none will forbear a prayer that no British Army may ever again go through the tragic scenes of which this drawing preserves but a passing episode.
PLATE XVII.
CAMP OF THE NAVAL BRIGADE BEFOEE SEBASTOPOL. We are here gratified with a peep at the local habitation of " Jack ashore." With his usual handiness and ready adaptation to circumstances, he has a thousand little contrivances for making himself at home in his unaccustomed mode of life, and in and around those symmetrical rows of neat-looking tents there is abundance of knick-nacks and devices for comfort, of which dwellers in camp have usually no notion. As we gaze upon the well-remembered scene, crowds of grateful recollections come back upon us; the unfailing welcome, the flowing hospitality, the unstinting cheer, the hearty merriment, and the genial warmth of social intercourse in which we were permitted to share among these tents, are' present to our mental eye, as they will ever be enshrined amongst our most cherished memories.
The most conspicuous object in this drawing is the marquee of Captain Lushington, pitched in the centre of an enclosure thrown up for its protection, in one corner of which the " Union Jack," denoting the command-in-chief, is displayed. To the right we observe a tall, bell-shaped tent, which is the residence of Captain Peel, the darling of the dauntless Koh-i-nohrs. The group of officers in the foreground on the right consists of Mr. Maxse, the naval aidede-camp at head-quarters; Captain Burnet, whom we have already seen in the society of our friend, the 68-pounder; Captain Peel; Captain Lushington, the gallant commander of the Naval Brigade; and Captain Moorsom, the ingenious inventor of the shell which bears his name. Knots of happy-looking tars are dispersed about the camp chatting and enjoying themselves, and one minute object on the left of the drawing jn'oves that some habits of nautical life are still preserved on shore. This is the bell with which they make the hours as on board ship, and whose clear tones are responded to with equal alacrity, whether they announce the expected and well-earned repast, or utter the neverneglected summons to the perilous and wearisome service of the batteries.
PLATE XVIII.
CAMP OF THE FIRST DIVISION,
Looking North Towards the Camp of the Second Division: the Heights of
Inkermann in the Distance.
This view, and that representing the camp of the Second Division, have a special interest for those who had friends or relatives engaged in the great battle of the 5th November, the brunt of which was borne by those two divisions. It was from these tents, to which so many were never to return, that the brigade of Guards, roused from slumber by the sounds of a sharp musketry fire on their right, marched with dauntless hearts and unfaltering step into the very thickest and hottest of the fight. Their road lay past the tents of the Second Division, and, by carrying a straight line up from the left of the ofiicer on horseback in the foreground to where the high ground in the distance slopes down to the Tchernaya, the reader will obtain a correct idea of the exact spot where they entered the battle. The Second Division camp is just visible on the rising ground above the group of soldiers in the middle distance.
THE EAST.
The tents of the Grenadier Guards extend from the windmill on the extreme left to where these soldiers are standing; those of the Coldstreams are seen in the distance; those of the Fusiliers on the right, with two marquees, which are the hospitals belonging to the latter. In the foreground a skeleton of a horse tells the well-known tale of difficulty and privation, and a string of mules and a rough country cart, drawn by the patient and hardy buffaloes, are toiling through the snow, with their hardly-earned store of provisions from Balaklava. Outside several of the tents may be observed the bear-skins of the men placed there to air; an attention which evinces the pride and appreciation of its usefulness with which the Guards regard their favourite head-dress, the only one, it has been stated, which was never thrown away either on the march or in action.
PLATE XIX.
SEBASTOPOL FEOM THE 26-GUN BATTEKY,
On the Extreme Eight of the French Attack.