Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/436

 392 THE BATTLE OF INKERMAN. CHAP. VI. bth Period. supported by Lord George Paget with the Light Brigade. The great power now iu Bosquet"! hands. supporting distance — by another and much smaller body of horse upon which people looked with an admiring, though mournful interest, for — compris- ing five regiments, yet numbering only 200 men — it represented what now, after the battle oi Balaclava, was the whole nunmted strength of the famous ' Light Brigade.' In the absence of Lord Cardigan (who had slept and tarried too long on board his yacht), the brigade was commanded by Lord George Paget. In obedience to the order he had received through Nigel Kingscote, and complying too with a peculiarly urgent entreaty addressed to him by General Canrobert, Lord George Paget felt bound to take care that the brigade should be always within supporting dis- tance of the Chasseurs d'Afrique ;* but, to do this, he was forced to keep his troops for some time under fire, and endure to see yet further losses sustained by that remnant of horsemen which the battle of Balaclava had spared.-f- Bosquet now had assembled on the right of the Post-road, and ready for united action, full 3000 foot with 24 guns, supported by several squadrons of cavalry : and, considering not only the losses and those who conveyed the request of Canrobert were Colonel Claremont and a French staff officer. It may seem strange that Canrobert should have made such a point of having his own cavalry supported by this small remnant of the Light Bri- gade ; but certainly to this measure (if his messengers accu- rately re])resented him) he attached unbounded impoitance. t Out of his 200 men lie lost five killed, including one oilicer (Cornet Cleveland), and live wounded. At a later hour, Lord Cardigan presented himself.
 * Nigel Kingscote was one of Lord Rnglaii's aides-de-camp,