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No leverguns, but interesting reading for sure! And a healthy dose of bravery under fire too.
Great! Now I've got to re-watch "The Charge of the Light Brigade"! (Well, at least the battle scenes, that is, which means the first 4/5 of the movie can be skipped...).
Old No7
The following letter extract is reprinted from the Morning Chronicle (London)
Monday, 14 May 1855.
It provides an interesting first-hand account of life in a rifle pit during the Crimean War. Of particular note is the long range marksmanship with the newly issued Enfield rifle, together with comments on shooting in conjunction with a spotter whilst firing upon gunners.
Camp before Sebastopol, 27 April 1855
I have no news for you, but I write a few lines to tell you that I am in good health an spirits. It is no use telling you anything about the siege, for you see that in all the papers.
Within the last week I have been twice in the trenches, both times in the advanced trench, and the rifle pits in front of it, and for the first time I tried the new Enfield rifle (a smaller bore than the Minié). They carry beautifully and while clean for about twenty rounds, but then they begin to lead, and do not carry so well.
When I first saw our men firing (last Saturday, 21st) from the rifle pits, they had no idea of range or distance. Two of them were firing at the same place; one with his sight up for 700, and the other for 900 yards. I told them it was too much, and with the sight up for 400 I put two shots in succession through the loophole that the Russian was firing at them from. As I sat about a quarter of an hour afterwards, half asleep, in the pit, they called to me, and said that three men were coming down from the batteries towards the town. I told them to elevate for 900 yards. They made them dodge from house to house. But when they got into the street they thought they were out of our range, and coolly walked arm in arm down the middle of the street.
I could not quietly stand that. I took the best rifle, put up the sight for 900, and calculating the distance to be about 1,000 yards, I fired higher. The man on the right dropped like a stone, and the other two rushed into a house. He lay there for some time. They afterwards managed to get him into a house. This shows what the rifles will do when properly laid on. Afterwards I saw two carts laden with powder-boxes going from the town to the batteries, at what I guessed to be 1,100 yards. I took a rifle, and soon caused the drivers to run for the batteries, end leave the carts to come as they could. Our men said I knocked over five or six, but I only feel certain about one.
I was sent out to the rifle pits again on Tuesday (24th), but the Russians were very shy that day and gave very few chances. I had a regular duel with a Russian in the nearest rifle pit to us (250 yards). In about half an hour he gave up firing, and as I had put about four shots out of seven through his loophole, I thought I must have hit him. I left a namesake of mine in my company to watch him. Very soon the Russian, and I who by-the-by was a splendid shot, fired again, and put the ball right through Private ——’s cap, because he did not bob his head when he saw the smoke. They began to fire 68-pounders at us in the rifle pits from a great gun in the Redan, 700 yards from the pit I was in, and with two men loading rifles for me, I bullied them so much, that they were half an hour on loading the gun, for I had a very sharp corporal watching the gunners with my telescope, and directly they appeared I fired into the embrasure.
As soon as I saw the gun was loaded I made the men lie down close under the parapet until they fired. The shot came close over our heads, but did no harm. The same thing went on again, but they only fired four shots at us altogether, and did no harm. We lost no men that day, but on Saturday I had three men killed and one wounded of my party by round shot. Two were only a few yards from me, and were cut right in two by a 24-pound shot.
I have told you a few incidents of my experience in the trenches, and now I take no notice of shot or shell, except to take the necessary precautions to get out of the way.
The '51 Navy was used all over the planet. There were enough in use Colt built a plant in England.
People forget American guns served in some odd places, like how the Imperial Russian Army kept S&W solvent in the 1870s. If it wasn't for the No.3 (Russian) S&W might have gone under... 20,000 gun orders come in handy when your main competition has the home Army contract nailed down.
Steve, I believe just over 600 were in on the charge, and 200 came back. "The Reason Why" is an excellent source.
This Crimean rifle pit post has popped up in several places. It convinced me to invest in a new Pedersoli P1858 Enfield with 1:48 twist five-groove barrel. I have some Lyman 575213PH minies cast and lubed and will report.
Maybe Game Keeper or Nath or others can chime in to confirm this...
But I believe I've read that "The Charge..." resulted in the end of the practice where one could just buy a commission as an Officer in the British Army -- whether brave, smart, experienced, or not (Or none of the above! In some cases...).
You were assumed to be of good birth, education and training (handled at home, at school, and by your unit) or you would never be allowed to become an officer, no matter how rich you were. The regimental officers had to vote whether to allow you into the unit as all units recruited their own, thus why 2-3 generations of a family would be in one regiment.
Sometimes it worked VERY well (Arthur Wellington was a general in his 30s because of this system) and at other times, not so much. Considering all promotions were pretty much seniority based, thus the old toast about bloody wars and sickly seasons. Short of having the $$$ to buy a higher rank, that was the only method of promotion that didn't take time.
Not-connected guys could stay lieutenants or captains for decades. That's also the reason why the East India Company (which had it's own army) was a popular alternative for guys without personal fortunes.
The British naval system worked in a similar way, but to pass for lieutenancy (from midshipman/ensign, where you'd already have been at sea for some years as a boy) you had a very hard test to pass, sometimes only done once or twice a year depending on who was where, conducted by senior officers. College-graduate level understanding of seamanship, gunnery, navigation, etc. No small thing.
My wife's grandfather, a cousin of Lord Kenneth Clarke, left his estate here in Oregon in 1915 for London, where he consulted members of his club for suggestions on what sort of officer he should be. I don't know how they arranged this stuff. He did survive the war and returned to Oregon.
The wife found a fascinating video at our local library entitled "Battlefield Detectives" which is put out by Athenalearning.com. Of the nine battles they cover, the Balaclava debacle is one. Here I found out that the "killed" of the Light Brigade was more like 150, and maybe the true heroes of the action were the Turks who held on to a critical end point for a couple hours while the General was getting done with his breakfast so he could wander up to the lines and find out that there was an attack going on. The Turks got blamed for a bunch of stuff by the British press so the General wouldn't be questioned about why he couldn't be bothered to get to the battle area a little quicker. Which then sets us up for the next meeting with Turks at Gallipoli and maybe explains a bit of why that also didn't go so well for the Brits...
Anyway, I quite recommend the "Battlefield Detectives" series which is a 3-disc set, takes about an hour per battle. Stretches from 1066 at Battle of Hastings to Vietnam, and generally puts forth some new perspectives on most of the battles for our interest and entertainment.
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
Old No7 wrote:
But I believe I've read that "The Charge..." resulted in the end of the practice where one could just buy a commission as an Officer in the British Army -- whether brave, smart, experienced, or not (Or none of the above! In some cases...).
Per Charles Messenger's For Love of Regiment Vol I, Secretary for War Edward Cardwell started the process to end the purchasing of commissions and going by seniority alone around 1871-1872 and the purchase system was gone by the 1880s. It had less to do with events in the Crimea and more to do with a shortage of young officers. The Queen's Regulations set forth the prices to be paid for each step in rank but as happens anytime demand exceeds supply, the actual prices paid were usually far above the "official" price (it affected the Cavalry more than the Infantry). In short, the street price went high enough that only the well-heeled could afford to buy in (so to speak) and those who may (or may not) have been made of officer material simply couldn't afford to join in.
BTW, if you're interested in the history of the British Infantry and the Regimental System the above reference is a very good one. It's a two volume set (and I think there's a third either in the works or already out) with Vol I covering 1660-1914 and Vol II covering 1915-1994.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
-Mark Twain
Proverbs 3:5; Philippians 4:13
Got to have a Jones for this
Jones for that
This running with the Joneses boy
Just ain't where it's at
Pretty much the entire point of buying in was keeping 'the wrong sort' out.
The American concept of mustang officers was almost unheard of for them. Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series of books (where Sharpe is battlefield commissioned) covers this quite well, and why the normal officers and their system and him do not get along.
The cavalry also had the issue where each man bought his own mount and gear and maintained it. In the event of battlefield loss, the government would replace it typically, but it made certain cavalry troops came from better-off families and had a stake in maintaining their horse and gear because it was theirs.
I remember a line from a fictional book about this time period called Soldier of the Queen where the main character survives the charge at Balaclava and goes on to soldier all over for the British Army, including surviving a cavalry charge in the Civil War (as an observer, which was pretty common back then) where during the retreat from the valley at Balaclava one of the troops whose horse went down pulls the saddle off and runs for it holding the saddle saying something like "i won't get as good a one from the Army" because he of course, bought his own stuff like everyone, and the replacement would probably be far worse.
