Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/358

 332 TiiH HALT OX Tiir: CHAP, up; and, wiLhiii the period of the ludt on the __ill__ Alma, it was not practicable for the I'Jiglisli to do more than get their own wounded men on board ship. So when, on the morning of the 23d, the Allies resumed their advance, the wounded Rus- sians were left where they lay on the banks oi the Alma, in charge of a medical officer. As soon as might be, they were to be got on board ship and sent to some Russian port under a flag of truce. It fell to the lot of Dr Thompson, assistant- surgeon of the 44th Regiment, to be left with the charge of these sufferers in a country abandoned to the enemy.* He kept with him his servant, a soldier named John M'Grath, but no other was left to take part with him in the performance of the forlorn duty that he had to fulfil.-}- In the event of a Russian force coming upon this sur- upon this painful duty, but the language of Captain Lushington rather leads to the inference that Dr Thompson had volunteered the service. See the next note. t Captain Lushington to Admiral Dundas, 27th September 1854. Captain Lushington speaks of Dr Thompson, with his servant M'Grath, as having 'remained alone in an enemy's ' country, without tent or accommodation of any sort, for the ' sole purpose of alleviating the sufferings of 500 of his fellow- ' creatures.' And Dundas, in reporting the matter to Lord Ra'dan, speaks of Dr Thompson and his servant as having ' remained by themselves in an open country, without food or ' shelter.' — Dundas to Lord Raglan, official despatch, 30th September 1854. What they needed, however, was the help of their fellow-men, not shelter; and with regard to Dundas's idea of their having been without food. Lord Eaglan, I see, with his own hand, has written on the margin opposite to that passage the following words : ' Theij had food. IV
 * I have always understood that Dr Thompson was ordered