This same day, the 26th, the British resumed their march, crossing the valley of the Tchernaya towards the low hills which separated it from that of Balaklava. It was, perhaps, partly in consequence of the long, fatiguing march of the day before that men seized with cholera began to strew the roadside directly the advance began. Troops moving on the enclosing hills right and left of the valley protected the flanks of the main column, and some guns which accompanied them opened fire, while other and heavier shots were heard from the sea. On passing the ridge which divided the valleys right athwart our path, we looked down on the object of the whole movement, and very insignificant it seemed. At the end of a piece of richly cultivated garden ground was seen a pool lying deep between enclosing cliffs, which were crowned by walls and towers. From thence there presently came a shell travelling towards us at a height which showed it had been fired from a mortar. At the same time some companies of our rifles running along the hills on the left of the lake clambered over the walls, along which the garrison was seen to run, and from whence they presently made signs of surrender. Thereupon a small English steamer appeared suddenly in the piece of water below, assuring us that the harbour was our own, and the communication with the fleet reestablished. On this occasion four shots only were fired by the garrison (composed of militia of the place),
Question of Bases for the Two Armies. 79
and their commander, in excusing himself for provoking an assault by firing at all, said he thought he was bound to do so until summoned to surrender. Nobody was wounded on either side. But the following account appears in Todleben's official narrative : — " The enemy opened against Balaklava a powerful cannonade. Twenty ships approached . the coast and bombarded the old ruins. The mortars, however, only ceased fire after having exhausted their ammunition. This imperceptible garrison had defended itself even to the last extremity. There remained only Colonel Minto, six officers, and sixty soldiers, all wounded in many places." What are thus described as having " remained " were all that had been in the place — the account belongs altogether to the regions of fiction.
This day the French Army crossed the Tchernaya and bivouacked on the Fedukhine heights.
A question entailing momentous consequences now arose. It was whether the English or the French should occupy as a base the harbour of Balaklava. Hitherto on the mere evidence of the map, it had been counted on as available for both armies, but now that it lay before their eyes, a mere pool, already crowded, with one straggling row of poor houses for a street, it was seen that it would not bear division. The French had a strong ground of contention on their side, for the right of the Allied line had hitherto been conceded to them, and whoever took the right now must hold Balaklava. General Canrobert, who had succeeded Marshal St Arnaud in the command, took a course very considerate
80 Lord Raglan chooses Balaklava.
towards us. Seeing that we were already in possession, and that it would be difficult in many ways for us to move out, he gave Lord Raglan his choice whether to keep the left of the line, and give Balaklava to the French, or to take the right and keep that harbour. Admiral Lyons counselled strongly for keeping Balaklava, as the place best adapted for securing a due communication between the army and its base on the sea. It was an occasion which a Greek poet would have represented, after the event, as one in which the chooser, blinded by some angry god, had made choice of calamity. Lord Raglan took the right, and Balaklava, and with them brought untold miseries on his army.