Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/203

 THE APRIL BOMBARDMENT. 171 2. A sand-bag parapet strong enough to wrestle chap. with the 6 8 -pounders, but not strong enough to arrest them : 3. A captain not only directed to work his four guns to extremity, but obeying the grim com- mand, and carrying it through to the letter : 4. A body of gunners so valiant, and so pas- sionately devoted to their chief that — without any seeming unwillingness to be sacrificed with him — they worked and fought on to the last. On the day of the fight the Brigadier-General General 1 'ncrcs * commanding (afterwards Sir Eichard Dacres) rode accompanied by his staff to the tent of Captain Oldershaw, and there thanked the Captain per- sonally for his exploit of that morning, saying, ' You fought vour battery nobly, and are an his words to • i * i j i t-n Oldershaw. ' honour to your regiment. Asked by Dacres what he would like, he said, ' Staff duty as ' Adjutant,' and a Staff appointment as Adjutant he quickly received. A greater Staff appoint- ment soon followed, but that last one withdrew him from the Sebastopol theatre of war. On the evening of the 13th, our authorities An order 1 i t i-i i ,i given out bj promulgated a direction, which was to be the mistake; next day, 'in orders.' This order 'in orders' directed a body of men told off for the purpose to go down in the morning — the morning of the 14th — under the command of Captain Oldershaw, and to fight the 'advanced No. VII.' The order — given out by mistake — was countermanded in