the highland brigade at the battle of alma
(september 20, 1854)
“leave me, comrades—here i drop;
no, sir, take them on;
all are wanted—none shall stop;
duty must be done:
those whose guard you take will find me,
as they pass below.”
so the soldier spake, and staggering
fell amid the snow,
and ever, on the dreary heights,
down came the snow.
henry lushington.
the years following waterloo were free from war, but full of domestic unrest. the national debt had risen from under 240 millions to over 860 millions, while the end of hostilities brought with it a fall in corn, a renewal of foreign competition in trade, and a tremendous increase in unemployment. riots and plots abounded; the introduction and development of machinery was blamed for throwing people out of work. there was even, in the cato street conspiracy in 1820, a futile idea of murdering the cabinet.
in 1832 the famous reform bill was passed, resisted to the last by wellington and the tories, while the abolition of slavery followed soon after. in 1837 queen victoria came to the throne.
in 1854 the crimean war broke out, after a peace in europe lasting practically forty years.
the trouble in the crimea was entirely political. england feared that russia would crush turkey and plant herself upon the shores of the eastern mediterranean. france was also alarmed and, to prevent the czar overwhelming the sultan, united her forces with the british. for two years they fought together as allies. in former chapters we have followed in the footsteps of wolfe, of moore, of abercromby, and of wellington, and now we meet, though not for the first time, a great scots soldier in sir colin campbell. he linked the peninsular campaign of 1809 with the indian mutiny of 1857, handing on the sword to roberts, who in his turn was to be succeeded by sir john french. of roberts and wolseley and lord kitchener we will hear a great deal soon enough. it is of colin campbell, of balaclava and lucknow, that the next few years are full.
colin campbell was born in glasgow on the 20th of october 1792. he was not sixteen when he joined the army as an ensign, and sailed at once for portugal, receiving his baptism of fire at vimiera. he served under sir john moore, taking part in the historic retreat to corunna. later on he was in the miserable walcheren expedition, and contracted a fever which visited him every season for thirty years afterwards. he was at the battles of barossa and vittoria, and in july 1813 served at the siege of san sebastian. there he was severely wounded and was compelled to return to england, but on his recovery he sailed for nova scotia to join his regiment. he won experience in america, gibraltar, and the west indies; took part in the battles of brandenburg and new orleans, and fought in the chinese war. just as lord roberts was enjoying well-earned repose in 1899, campbell contemplated retirement when his most important and historic work lay ahead. “i am growing old and only fit for retirement,” he wrote when the crimean war and the indian mutiny still lay buried in the future. he was sixty-two years of age when, in 1854, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the highland brigade, and found himself in the proud position of leading the black watch, the camerons, and the sutherland highlanders.
after a trying voyage, in which the troops suffered severely from sickness, the black sea was reached on the 19th of september 1854. the landing was accomplished in safety, and it was learned that the russians were holding a very strong position on the left bank of the alma, a shallow river confronting them a few miles distant. the russian forces were well posted, strong in artillery, and numbering some 40,000 men and 106 guns. the attack was launched without delay. the french advanced on the right, and the british on the left. in this manner the west drew near to the east, and everything hung upon the success of the assault. had the attacking columns suffered a reverse it would have been exceedingly difficult to save a retreat from degenerating into a rout. the russians fully expected to drive their enemies into the sea.
before the action sir colin campbell rode up and joined the ranks of his brigade, giving his men some words of advice before the advance commenced, begging them to keep their heads, and remember the land of their forebears.
facing the british troops was a high entrenched slope upon which the russians awaited their attack. “now, men,” said sir colin, “the army will watch us; make me proud of the highland brigade.”
the soldiers were confident of success. “when,” records kinglake, “the command travelled on along the ranks of the highlanders it lit up the faces of the men one after another, assuring them that now at length, and after long expectance, they would indeed go into action. they began obeying the order, and with beaming joy, for they came of a warlike race; yet not without emotions of a graver kind; they were young soldiers, new to battle.”
upon the right of the highland brigade were the guards, while between the coldstreams and the black watch rode sir colin campbell. while they stood there the muffled thunder of guns on their right told every man that the engagement had already started, and that far away their french allies were already in action upon the russian front. to the left of sir colin campbell was a gorge where the enemy had constructed a large redoubt, flanked on each side by artillery upon the heights, while in support of the artillery were large numbers of troops. this redoubt was defended by fourteen heavy guns. the advance began under a merciless fire, but so fierce was the attack that the enemy were compelled to retreat until their reserves were called up, when they outnumbered the british by twenty to one. it was at this critical moment, when a reverse seemed inevitable, and the light troops engaged were recoiling, that sir colin campbell shouted, “forward, the 42nd!”—the bagpipes struck up, and the advance of the highland brigade commenced. against his three battalions in echelon were twelve regiments of russians in mass. but without a halt, without a pause, the 42nd forded the river alma and faced the heights, advancing steadily and without faltering, the sutherlands in the centre and the camerons upon the left flank. for a few moments sir colin campbell halted the brigade to let them recover their breath, and then giving the order, “advance firing”—a man?uvre in which the black watch were greatly expert—they drew nearer to the closely packed forces of the enemy. it was inevitable that they should lose very heavily, and that the fire that was opened upon them should be exceedingly hot, but always into the dense clouds of smoke that floated between the intervening distance the 42nd advanced. the time was nearly ripe.
“charge!” cried sir colin, and down went the steel line of bayonets. but instead of a clear front a new situation arose which called upon all the strategic skill of the scottish leader to avert disaster. the solitary regiment of the 42nd was not only faced by the hosts of russians on their front; other battalions of the enemy were on the move preparing to attack upon the flank. instantly he turned to the sutherlands, ordering them to protect the flank of the black watch. in perfect order, amid the thunder of the conflict, the two highland regiments charged straight at the enemy. it is difficult to believe that the russians should have retired before two battalions with only one other in support, but they did. whether it was the appearance of the highlanders, or the invincible character of their advance, one cannot say, but after a momentary wavering the enemy gave way to panic. and then upon the other flank of the brigade the russians threatened a similar movement.
again campbell saved the situation and this time by calling up the camerons. kinglake has given a vivid impression of the effect of this new force of kilted troops appearing out of the smoke. “some witchcraft,” he says, “the doomed men might fancy, was causing the earth to bear giants. above the crest or swell of the ground on the left rear of the 93rd yet another array of the tall bending plumes began to rise in a long ceaseless line, stretching far into the east; and presently, in all the grace and beauty that marks a highland regiment when it springs up the side of a hill, the 79th came bounding forward without a halt, or with only the halt that was needed for dressing the ranks, it advanced upon the flank of the right sousdal column and caught the mass in its sin—caught it daring to march across the face of a highland battalion—a battalion already near and swiftly advancing in line. wrapped in the fire thus poured upon its flank the hapless column could not march—could not live.”
the russian force was indeed in a position that was not tolerable, and its rout was complete and immediate. and now the three highland regiments, with sir colin in the centre, extending in open order for nearly a mile, swept forward in perfect formation against the confused masses of the russian army, to whom they presented a never-ceasing wave of soldiers, with (to their imagination) unending supports that would spring up just as readily as on the two occasions that they had attempted an outflanking movement. to the horror of their troops in reserve, who could well see how great was the difference numerically between their comrades and the british, the russians took to their heels, overwhelming their own supports and carrying everything before them in their blind panic. the highland brigade had turned the scales, and the time was ripe to convert defeat into disaster. the cavalry were advanced to harass the broken russian columns; the artillery commenced to shell their shattered ranks.
but, as sir colin wrote to a friend, “it was a fight of the highland brigade. lord raglan came up afterwards, and sent for me. when i approached him i observed his eyes to fill and his lips and countenance to quiver. he gave me a cordial shake of the hand. the men cheered very much. i told them i was going to ask the commander-in-chief a great favour—that he would permit me to have the honour of wearing the highland bonnet during the rest of the campaign, which pleased them very much. my men behaved nobly. i never saw troops march to battle with greater sang-froid and order than those three highland regiments.”
not long after, when sir colin campbell was returning, he addressed the regiments of the highland brigade, never thinking how soon he would be called upon to lead them again. “our native land,” he said, “will never forget the name of the highland brigade, and in some future war that nation will call for another one to equal this, which it will never surpass.”
it was indeed a victory to be proud of. three regiments had put to rout no fewer than twelve battalions, including the famous division of picked czar’s infantry.
the russians retreated before the highland advance across the belbec river, falling back towards sevastopol, a strongly fortified place upon the shore of the black sea. it is probable that had the pursuit been carried out energetically, as lord raglan advised, the russians would have been utterly dispersed, and the war concluded, but the delay enabled them to enter sevastopol at their leisure, and in consequence of this movement the allies decided to march across the peninsula to balaclava, and by forcing the action from that point to invest the russian forces in sevastopol by land and sea.
