Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/65

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 43 defence of Balaclava; for excellent as was the chap. understanding between Lord Lucan and Sir Colin ' Campbell, their concord was no equivalent i'or the advantage which belongs to absolute unity of command. Above all, if the plan of defence were to rest at all on our cavalry, there was cogent need of an effort to neutralise in some measure the vice of Lord Hardinge's peace-service appointments, and to make arrangements for giving more or less of initiative power in the field to men such as Morris and Elliot, who were practised in war, and knew by their own experience what it was to lead squadrons in battle. No such effort was made. It was against these defences of Balaclava that Mentschi- Prince Mentschikoff now resolved to direct an P ose S : pur attack. So early as the night of the 13th of the month, Colonel Eakovitch, with three battalions, the forces four guns, and a couple of hundred Cossacks, had for this ventured down from the Mackenzie Heights ; and enterpris having been suffered at break of day on the fol- lowing morning to take possession of the village of Tchorgoun, he there established the nucleus of a force complete in all arms, which thenceforth began to gather in the valley of the Tchernaya. On the 23d, this force had been definitely con- stituted as the 'Detachment of Tchorgoun,' and placed under the command of General Liprandi. The force comprised 17 battalions of foot, 30 squadrons of horse,* and 64 guns. But besides
 * 20 squadrons of regular cavalry, and 10 'sotnias' (or, as J