THE HIGHLANDERS AT THE BA THE OF ALMA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2462, 21 April 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE HIGHLANDERS AT THE BA THE OF ALMA.

Oitr fine brigade of gua 'Is was sevcrly cut up when the Highlanders drew near, and then as Kingslake tells us, a man in one of the regiments re-forming on the slope cried, in the deep and honest bitterness of his heart, " Let the Scotsmen go on ; they'll do the work !" and with his three kilted battalions, Sir Colin, whose horse was shot under him, advanced to meet twelve of the enemy. " Now, men," said he, " you are going into action ; and remember this,that whoever is wounded —I don't care what his rank is-must lie where he falls. No soldier must carry off wounded men. If any man does such a thing, his name shall be stuck up in his parish kirk Be steady—keep silence lire low ! Now men the army is watehine us ! Make me proud of my Highland Brigade !" So beautifully does the author of " liothen" —an eye-witness of this part of the battle—describe their movements that wc cannot resist ([noting him again. The ground they had to ascend was a good deal more steep and broken than the slope beneath tin; redoubt. In the land where those Scots arc bred there are shadows of sailing clouds skimming up the mountain side, and their paths are rumred and steep ; yet their course is sinooth, easy and swift. Smoothly, easily, and swiftly the Black Watch seemed to glide up the hill. A few instants more and their tartans ranged dark in the 1 valley ; now their plumes were on the crest. Another line came on in cchclttn and another slill—the Cameron and the Sutherland Highlanders. And now, fco the eyes of the superstitions Russians, the strange uniforms of those bare-kneed troops seemed novel, and even terrible ; their white, waving sporrans were taken for the heads of low horses ; and they cried to each other that the ang»d of light had departed, and that the demon of death had come. A close and deadly fire was now poured into these " grey blocks, as Russell calls the Russian squares. No particular sound followed, save the yells of the wounded, while the Highlanders ''cast about" to reload ; but after their next volley a strange rattling noise was heard, as the bullets fell like rain among the tin canteens and kettles which the enemy carried outside their knapsacks, for they were all right about face now. A wail of despair floated over those greycoated masses of Muscovite infantry as they broke and fled, throwing away muskets, knapsacks, and everything that might encumber their flight ; and now for the first time rose the Highland cheer.— Cassell's " British Battles on Land and Sea."