Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/369

 THE RATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 347 mentioned, General Scarlett with six of his squad- chap rons had reached that part of the South Valley which lay directly under the Russians now crown- ing the ridge. That which followed was the great fight be- tween the Russian cavalry and our Heavy Dra- goons. The Russian cavalry, upon being over- thrown, did not merely retreat to the ground whence it came, but moved off far away to the rear with its attendant batteries, leaving the two protruding columns of Liprandi and Jabrokritsky in a state of severance the one from the other — two wings without a body — and each of them very open to attack. Lord Raglan instantly saw his opportunity, and ordered — in writing — that the cavalry should advance and take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights. This direction not having been executed by the commander of our cavalry, was followed, after an interval, by the yet more peremptory order which Nolan brought down from Lord Raglan. Upon the delivery of this order there occurred the strange scene which ended in Lord Lucan's conceiving that, instead of attacking the heights, it was his duty to send Lord Cardigan and his Light Brigade down the fatal North Valley, and to follow himself in support with the Heavy Dragoons. The first moments of Lord Cardigan's forward movement proved the wisdom with which Lord Raglan had ordered an attack on the Cause- way Heights ; for when the Russians perceived