View source for Charge of the Light Brigade

{{Short description|1854 Crimean War cavalry charge}}
{{About|the military manoeuvre|the poem|The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|other uses}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Pp-move-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Charge of the Light Brigade
| partof            = [[Battle of Balaclava]], [[Crimean War]]
| image             = File:William Simpson - Charge of the light cavalry brigade, 25th Oct. 1854, under Major General the Earl of Cardigan.jpg
| image_size        = 250
| caption           = ''The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava'' by [[William Simpson (Scottish artist)|William Simpson]] (1855), illustrating the Light Brigade's charge into the "Valley of Death" from the Russian perspective.
| date              = 25 October 1854
| place             = {{Coord|44|32|16|N|33|37|27|E|type:event_region:UA-43|display=inline,title}}
| result            = Russian victory
| combatant1        = {{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}<br />{{flagcountry|Second French Empire}}
| combatant2        = {{flagcountry|Russian Empire}}
| commander1        = {{flagicon|UK}} [[James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan]]<br />{{flagdeco|France|1794}} [[Armand-Octave-Marie d'Allonville]]
| commander2        = {{flagicon|RUS}} [[Pavel Liprandi]]
| strength1         = About 670 (Adkin: 668; Brighton: "at least" 666)
| strength2         = Unknown
| casualties1       = ~110 killed<br />~161 wounded

| casualties2       = Unknown
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Crimean War}}
}}

The '''Charge of the Light Brigade''' was a military action undertaken by British [[light cavalry]] against Russian forces during the [[Battle of Balaclava]] in the [[Crimean War]], resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Brigade, led by [[James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan|Lord Cardigan]], mounted a frontal assault against a Russian artillery battery which was well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. The charge was the result of a misunderstood order from the commander-in-chief, [[FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan|Lord Raglan]], who had intended the Light Brigade to attack a different objective for which light cavalry was better suited, to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions. The Light Brigade made its charge under withering direct fire and reached its target, scattering some of the gunners, but was forced to retreat immediately.

The events were the subject of [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]]'s narrative poem "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]" (1854), published six weeks after the event. Its lines emphasise the valour of the cavalry in carrying out their orders regardless of the risk. Responsibility for the miscommunication is disputed, as the order was vague and Captain [[Louis Nolan]], who delivered the written orders with some oral interpretation, was killed in the first minute of the assault.

==Background==
[[File:Charge of the Light Brigade.jpg|thumb|left|''Charge of the Light Brigade'' by [[Richard Caton Woodville Jr.]]]]

The charge was made by the Light Brigade of the British cavalry, which consisted of the [[4th Queen's Own Hussars|4th]] and [[13th Light Dragoons]], the [[17th Lancers]], and the [[8th Hussars|8th]] and [[11th Hussars]],<ref name="Times14Nov" />  under the command of Major General [[James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan]]. Also present that day was the Heavy Brigade, commanded by Major General [[James Yorke Scarlett]]. The Heavy Brigade was made up of the [[4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards]], the 5th Dragoon Guards, the [[6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons|6th Inniskilling Dragoons]] and the [[Scots Greys]]. The two brigades were the only British cavalry forces at the battle.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kinglake |first1=Alexander |author1-link=Alexander Kinglake |title=The Invasion of the Crimea |date=1875 |publisher=[[Blackwood (publishing house)|Blackwood]] |location=Edinburgh |page=87 |edition=6 |volume=5}}</ref>

The Light Brigade was the British [[light cavalry]] force. It rode unarmoured, light, fast horses. The men were armed with [[lance]]s and [[sabre]]s. Optimized for maximum mobility and speed, they were intended for [[reconnaissance]] and [[skirmishing]]. They were also ideal for cutting down infantry and artillery units as they tried to retreat.<ref name=RUSI>{{cite journal |last1=Steinmetz |first1=Andrew |title=The Tactics of Cavalry |journal=Journal |volume=5 |pages=489–490 |publisher=[[Royal United Services Institution]]|year=1862}}</ref>
[[File:Charge of the light brigade -Our fighting services - Evelyn Wood pg451.jpg|thumb|right]]

The Heavy Brigade under James Scarlett was the British [[heavy cavalry]] force. It rode large, heavy [[war horse|chargers]]. The men were equipped with metal helmets and armed with cavalry swords for [[close combat]]. They were intended as the primary British [[shock tactics|shock force]], leading [[frontal attack|frontal charges]] to break enemy lines.<ref name=RUSI/>

Overall command of the British cavalry resided with Lieutenant General [[George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan]]. Cardigan and Lucan were brothers-in-law who disliked each other intensely. Lucan received an order from the army commander, [[Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan|Lord Raglan]], stating: "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Troop horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate".<ref>Kinglake (1875) p. 198.</ref> Raglan wanted the light cavalry to prevent the Russians from withdrawing the naval guns from the [[redoubt]]s they had captured on the reverse side of the Causeway Heights, the hill forming the south side of the valley. This was an optimal task for the Light Brigade, as their superior speed would ensure the Russians would be forced to either quickly abandon the cumbersome guns or be cut down ''en masse'' while they tried to flee with them.

Raglan could see what was happening from his high vantage point on the west side of the valley. However, the lie of the land around the cavalry position blocked Lucan from seeing the Russians' efforts to remove the guns from the redoubts.<ref name="smith">{{cite book
  | last = Woodham Smith
  | first = Cecil
  | title =The Reason Why
  | publisher = Constable
  | date =1953
  | page=235
  }}</ref>
[[File:Charge of the Light Brigade order NAM.jpg|thumb|right|The written order which led to the Charge]]

The order was drafted by Brigadier [[Richard Airey]] and carried by Captain [[Louis Nolan]]. Nolan carried the further oral instruction that the cavalry was to attack immediately.<ref name="Times14Nov">{{Cite news |title=The Cavalry Action at Balaclava 25 October |newspaper=[[The Times]] |issue=21898 |date=14 November 1854 |pages=7–8}} Although unnamed, the correspondent was William Howard Russell.</ref> By Lucan's account, when he asked Nolan what guns were referred to Nolan indicated in a most disrespectful way (with a wide sweep of his arm) the mass of Russian guns at the end of the valley: "There, my lord, is your enemy; there are your guns."<ref>Kinglake (1875), p. 626.</ref><ref>Woodham Smith, p. 239.</ref> His reasons for the misdirection are unknown because he was killed in the ensuing battle.

In response to the order, Lucan instructed Cardigan to lead his command of about 670 troopers of the Light Brigade straight into the valley between the Fedyukhin Heights and the Causeway Heights. War correspondent [[William Howard Russell]]'s report in ''[[The Times]]'' recorded that just short of 200 men were sick or for other reasons left behind in camp on the day, leaving "607 sabres" to take part in the charge.<ref name="Times14Nov"/> In his poem, "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]" (1854), [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Tennyson]] dubbed this hollow "The Valley of Death".

The opposing Russian forces were commanded by [[Pavel Liprandi]]. According to an estimate by [[Nicholas Woods (newspaper correspondent)|Nicholas Woods]], correspondent of ''[[The Morning Post]]'', the forces at his disposal amounted to 25,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, supported by 30 or 40 cannon.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nolan |first1=Edward Henry |title=The illustrated history of the war against Russia |date=1855 |publisher=[[ James Sprent Virtue|James Virtue]] |location=London |oclc=475948647 |page=533}}</ref> These forces were deployed on both sides and at the opposite end of the valley.

Lucan was to follow with the Heavy Brigade. The Heavy Brigade was intended for frontal assaults on infantry positions, but neither force was anywhere near to being equipped for a frontal assault on a fully dug-in and alerted artillery, much less one with an excellent [[Direct fire|line of sight]] over a mile in length and supported on two sides by artillery batteries providing [[enfilade|enfilading fire]] from elevated ground.<ref name="Times14Nov" />

==The charge==
[[File:Charge Timeline.jpg|thumb|Timeline of the charge from ''Forgotten Heroes: The Charge of the Light Brigade'' (2007)<ref>{{cite book | last =Dutton | first =Roy
 | title =Forgotten Heroes: The Charge of the Light Brigade
  | publisher = InfoDial Ltd.
  | date =2007
  | isbn = 978-0-9556554-0-1
  }}</ref>]]
[[image:Map of port of Balaklava and route to Sevastopol 1855.png| thumb|Contemporaneous map showing line of the charge, "Charge des Anglais"]]

The Light Brigade set off down the valley with Cardigan in front, leading the charge on his horse Ronald.<ref>{{citation |title=Lieutenant-Colonel (later Lieutenant-General) James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars, 1854 |work=Online Collection National Army Museum, London |url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?q=searchType%3Dsimple%26resultsDisplay%3Dlist%26simpleText%3Dronald&pos=2&total=7&page=1&acc=1967-02-19-1 |access-date=19 May 2017 |archive-date=31 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331210930/https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?q=searchType%3Dsimple%26resultsDisplay%3Dlist%26simpleText%3Dronald&pos=2&total=7&page=1&acc=1967-02-19-1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{citation|date=21 January 1855|title=Earl Cardigan's Cavalry Horses|journal=[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]|publisher=Frederick Ledger|location=London|issue=852}}</ref> Almost at once, Nolan rushed across the front, passing in front of Cardigan. It may be that he realised that the charge was aimed at the wrong target and was attempting to stop or turn the brigade,<ref>Kinglake (1875) p. 218.</ref> but he was killed by an artillery shell and the cavalry continued on its course. Captain [[Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar|Godfrey Morgan]] was close by:

{{quote|The first shell burst in the air about 100 yards in front of us. The next one dropped in front of Nolan's horse and exploded on touching the ground. He uttered a wild yell as his horse turned round, and, with his arms extended, the reins dropped on the animal's neck, he trotted towards us, but in a few yards dropped dead off his horse. I do not imagine that anybody except those in the front line of the 17th Lancers saw what had happened.<ref name="Flintshire Observer">{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3753760/3753766/57/Morgan|title=The Charge of the Light Brigade. Lord Tredegar Interviewed.|author=Morgan, Godfrey Charles|date=4 November 1897|work=Flintshire Observer, Mining Journal and General Advertiser, for the Counties of Flint and Denbigh, 43(1,827)|page=6, c. 2|access-date=14 November 2016|archive-date=14 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114170148/http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3753760/3753766/57/Morgan|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
[[image:Valley-of-Death-Panorama.jpg| thumb|The charge was from left to right, with the Russian batteries at the extreme right]]

The Light Brigade faced withering fire from three sides which devastated their force on the ride, yet they were able to engage the Russian forces at the end of the valley and force them back from the redoubt. Nonetheless, they had suffered heavy casualties and were soon forced to retire. The surviving Russian artillerymen returned to their guns and opened fire with [[grapeshot]] and [[canister shot]], indiscriminately at the mêlée of friend and foe before them.<ref name="Times14Nov" /> Captain Morgan continued:

<blockquote>When clear again of the guns I saw two or three of my men making their way back, and as the fire from both flanks was still heavy it was a matter of running the gauntlet again. I have not sufficient recollection of minor incidents to describe them, as probably no two men who were in that charge would describe it in the same way. When I was back pretty nearly where we started from I found that I was the senior officer of those not wounded, and, consequently, in command, there being two others, both juniors to me, in the same position — Lieut. Wombwell and Cornet Cleveland.<ref name="Flintshire Observer" /></blockquote>

[[File:Chasseurs d'Afrique at the battle of Balaklava.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Chasseurs d'Afrique]] led by General [[Armand-Octave-Marie d'Allonville|d'Allonville]] clearing Russian artillery from the Fedyukhin Heights]] Lucan and his troops of the Heavy Brigade failed to provide any support for the Light Brigade; they entered the mouth of the valley, but did not advance further. Lucan's explanation was that he saw no point in having a second brigade mown down, and he was best positioned to render assistance to survivors returning from the charge.<ref>Kinglake (1875) p. 293.</ref> The French light cavalry, the [[Chasseurs d'Afrique]], was of more assistance, clearing the Fedyukhin Heights of the two half-batteries of guns, two infantry battalions, and Cossacks to ensure that the Light Brigade would not be fired upon from that flank, and it provided cover for the remaining elements of the Light Brigade as they withdrew.<ref name="Times14Nov" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_lightbrigade.html|website=History of war|title=Battles: Charge of the Light Brigade|access-date=4 February 2011|archive-date=24 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624125652/http://historyofwar.org/articles/battles_lightbrigade.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

William Howard Russell witnessed the battle and declared, "Our Light Brigade was annihilated by their own rashness, and by the brutality of a ferocious enemy." His account of the casualties (along with non-contemporary percentages calculated using Russell's data for ease of comparison), compiled at 2 p.m., was:<ref name="Times14Nov" />
{|class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"
|-
!  !! Went into action strong !! Returned from action !! Loss
|-
| 4th Light Dragoons || 118 || 39 || 79
|-
| 8th Hussars || 104 || 38 || 66
|-
| 11th Hussars || 110 || 25 || 85
|-
| 13th Light Dragoons || 130 || 61 || 69
|-
| 17th Lancers || 143 || 35 || 110
|-
! Totals !! 607 !! 198 !! 409
|-
|}
A formal muster of survivors was also taken: of the 673 cavalrymen who had gone into action, a "mounted strength" of 195 was recorded at this count. This excludes riders whose horses had been lost and so it does not represent the actual casualty numbers. In all, the losses were 113 killed and 134 wounded.<ref> Kinglake (1875) p. 326.</ref> 

Cardigan survived the battle, although stories circulated that he was not actually present.<ref>Woodham Smith, p. 258.</ref> He led the charge from the front, never looking back, and did not see what was happening to the troops behind him. He reached the Russian guns, took part in the fight, and then returned alone up the valley without bothering to rally or even find out what had happened to the survivors. He afterwards said that all he could think about was his rage against Captain Nolan, who he thought had tried to take over the leadership of the charge. After riding back up the valley, he considered that he had done all that he could. He left the field and boarded his yacht in Balaclava harbour, where he ate a champagne dinner.<ref name="Woodham Smith, p. 262">Woodham Smith, p. 262.</ref> He described the engagement in a speech delivered at [[Mansion House, London]], which was quoted in the House of Commons:

<blockquote>We advanced down a gradual descent of more than three-quarters of a mile [1.2 km], with the batteries vomiting forth upon us shells and shot, round and grape, with one battery on our right flank and another on the left, and all the intermediate ground covered with the Russian riflemen; so that when we came to within a distance of fifty yards from the mouths of the artillery which had been hurling destruction upon us, we were, in fact, surrounded and encircled by a blaze of fire, in addition to the fire of the riflemen upon our flanks.

As we ascended the hill, the oblique fire of the artillery poured upon our rear, so that we had thus a strong fire upon our front, our flank, and our rear. We entered the battery—we went through the battery—the two leading regiments cutting down a great number of the Russian gunners in their onset. In the two regiments which I had the honour to lead, every officer, with one exception, was either killed or wounded, or had his horse shot under him or injured. Those regiments proceeded, followed by the second line, consisting of two more regiments of cavalry, which continued to perform the duty of cutting down the Russian gunners.

Then came the third line, formed of another regiment, which endeavoured to complete the duty assigned to our brigade. I believe that this was achieved with great success, and the result was that this body, composed of only about 670 men, succeeded in passing through the mass of Russian cavalry of—as we have since learned—5,240 strong; and having broken through that mass, they went, according to our technical military expression, "threes about," and retired in the same manner, doing as much execution in their course as they possibly could upon the enemy's cavalry. Upon our returning up the hill which we had descended in the attack, we had to run the same gauntlet and to incur the same risk from the flank fire of the Tirailleur as we had encountered before. Numbers of our men were shot down—men and horses were killed, and many of the soldiers who had lost their horses were also shot down while endeavouring to escape.

But what, my Lord, was the feeling and what the bearing of those brave men who returned to the position. Of each of these regiments there returned but a small detachment, two-thirds of the men engaged having been destroyed? I think that every man who was engaged in that disastrous affair at Balaklava, and who was fortunate enough to come out of it alive, must feel that it was only by a merciful decree of Almighty Providence that he escaped from the greatest apparent certainty of death which could possibly be conceived.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ryan |first1=George |title=Our Heroes of the Crimea |date=1855 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |oclc=316580485 |pages=50–51}}</ref></blockquote>

==Aftermath==
[[File:Charge of the Light Brigade London Gazette dispatch.pdf|thumb|Initial ''[[London Gazette]]'' dispatches, addressed to [[Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle|the Duke of Newcastle]], in which the event was first reported. Raglan blamed Lucan in the dispatch, igniting significant controversy.]]
The brigade was not completely destroyed, but did suffer terribly, with 118 men killed, 127 wounded, and about 60 taken prisoner.<ref>This revised figure was arrived at in a later review of the contemporary sources: {{cite book |last1=Paget |first1=Henry |author1-link=Henry Paget, 7th Marquess of Anglesey |title=A History of the British Cavalry 1816 to 1919 |date=1975 |publisher=[[Leo Cooper (publisher)|Leo Cooper]] |location=London |isbn=9780850521740 |page=103 |edition=1998 |volume=2}}</ref> After regrouping, only 195 men were still with horses. The futility of the action and its reckless bravery prompted the French Marshal [[Pierre Bosquet]] to state: "''C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.''" ("It is magnificent, but it is not war.") He continued, in a rarely quoted phrase: "''C'est de la folie''"—"It is madness."<ref>{{cite book
  | last =Raugh
  | first =Harold E.
  | title =The Victorians at War, 1815–1914: An Encyclopedia of British Military History
  | url =https://archive.org/details/victoriansatware00raug
  | url-access =limited
  | publisher =ABC CLIO
  | date =2004
  | location =Santa Barbara, CA
  | page = [https://archive.org/details/victoriansatware00raug/page/n108 93]
  | isbn =1-57607-926-0 }}</ref> The Russian commanders are said to have initially believed that the British soldiers must have been drunk.<ref name="Woodham Smith, p. 262" /> [[Somerset Gough-Calthorpe, 7th Baron Calthorpe|Somerset Calthorpe]], the [[aide-de-camp]] to Lord Raglan, wrote a letter to a friend three days after the charge. He detailed casualty numbers but did not distinguish between those killed and those taken prisoner:
<blockquote>
{|
|-
|Killed and missing||
|align="right"| Wounded
|-
|9 || Officers
|align="right"| 12
|-
|14 || Sergeants <!-- "Serjeants" is the spelling in the original, quoted material -->
|align="right"| 9
|-
|4 || Trumpeters
|align="right"| 3
|-
|129 || Rank and file
|align="right"| 98
|-
|<hr style="width:25px;" /> ||
|align="right"| <hr style="width:25px;" />
|-
|156
| style="text-align:center;"| Total
|align="right"| 122
|-
|
| style="text-align:center;"| 278 casualties;||
|}
—besides 335 horses killed in action, or obliged afterwards to be destroyed from wounds. It has since been ascertained that the Russians made a good many prisoners; the exact number is not yet known.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Calthorpe
  | first = Somerset John Gough
  | title = Letters from Headquarters: Or, The Realities of the War in the Crimea, by an Officer on the Staff
  | publisher = John Murray
  | date = 1857
  | location = London
  | page = 132
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=okUQAAAAYAAJ&q=Letters+from+Headquarters+calthorpe&pg=PA159
  }}</ref></blockquote> The reputation of the British cavalry was significantly enhanced as a result of the charge, though the same cannot be said for their commanders.

Slow communications meant that news of the disaster did not reach the British public until three weeks after the action. The British commanders' dispatches from the front were published in an extraordinary edition of the ''[[London Gazette]]'' of 12 November 1854. Raglan blamed Lucan for the charge, claiming that "from some misconception of the order to advance, the Lieutenant-General (Lucan) considered that he was bound to attack at all hazards, and he accordingly ordered Major-General the Earl of Cardigan to move forward with the Light Brigade."<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21624|page=3456|date=12 November 1854}}</ref> Lucan was furious at being made a scapegoat: Raglan claimed he should have exercised his discretion, but throughout the campaign up to that date Lucan considered Raglan had allowed him no independence at all and required that his orders be followed to the letter. Cardigan, who had merely obeyed orders, blamed Lucan for giving those orders. Cardigan returned home a hero and was promoted to Inspector General of the Cavalry.<ref>{{ODNB|title=Brudenell, James Thomas, seventh earl of Cardigan}}</ref>

Lucan attempted to publish a letter refuting point by point Raglan's ''London Gazette'' dispatch, but his criticism of his superior was not tolerated, and Lucan was recalled to England in March 1855. The Charge of the Light Brigade became a subject of considerable controversy and public dispute on his return. He strongly rejected Raglan's version of events, calling it "an imputation reflecting seriously on my professional character."<ref name=Hansard>{{cite web |title=The Earl of Lucan |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1855-03-02/debates/612b18a5-3c40-43ee-9ebd-2b4379098a81/TheEarlOfLucan |website=UK Parliament |publisher=[[Hansard]] |access-date=16 March 2024 |date=2 March 1855}}</ref> In an exchange of public correspondence printed in the pages of ''[[The Times]]'', Lucan blamed Raglan and his deceased aide-de-camp Captain Nolan, who had been the actual deliverer of the disputed order. Lucan subsequently defended himself with a speech in the [[House of Lords]] on 2 March.<ref name=Hansard/>

Lucan evidently escaped blame for the charge, as he was made a member of the [[Order of the Bath]] in July of that same year. Although he never again saw active duty, he reached the rank of general in 1865 and was made a [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal]] in the year before his death.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25773|page=223|date=5 January 1888}}</ref>

==Evaluation==
The charge continues to be studied by modern military historians and students as an example of what can go wrong when accurate [[military intelligence]] is lacking and orders are unclear. Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]], who was a keen military historian and a former cavalryman, took time out from the [[Yalta Conference]] in 1945 to visit the battlefield.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wrigley |first1=Chris |title=Winston Churchill: a biographical companion |date=2002 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif |isbn=9780874369908 |pages=341}}</ref>

One research project used a [[Salvo combat model|mathematical model]] to examine how the charge might have turned out if conducted differently. The analysis suggested that a charge toward the redoubt on the Causeway Heights, as Raglan had apparently intended, would have led to even higher British casualties. By contrast, the charge might have succeeded if the Heavy Brigade had accompanied the Light Brigade along the valley, as Lucan had initially directed.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Connors D.|author2=Armstrong, M.J.|author3=Bonnett, J.|name-list-style=amp|date= 2015|title= A counterfactual study of the Charge of the Light Brigade |journal= Historical Methods |volume=48 |number=2|pages= 80–89|doi=10.1080/01615440.2014.979273|s2cid=56078521|hdl=10464/9358|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

According to Norman Dixon, 19th-century accounts of the charge tended to focus on the bravery and glory of the cavalrymen, much more than the military blunders involved, with the perverse effect that it "did much to strengthen those very forms of tradition which put such an incapacitating stranglehold on military endeavor for the next eighty or so years," i.e., until after [[World War I]].<ref>{{cite book
  | last =Dixon
  | first =Norman
  | title =[[On the Psychology of Military Incompetence]]
  | publisher =Jonathan Cape
  | date =1976
  | location =London
  | page = 41
  | isbn =0-224-01161-8 }}</ref>

==Fates of the survivors==
The fate of the surviving members of the charge was investigated by [[Edward James Boys]], a military historian, who documented their lives from leaving the army to their deaths. His records are described as being the most definitive project of its kind ever undertaken.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chargeofthelightbrigade.com/index3.html|title=The E.J. Boys Archive online|website=ChargeOfTheLightBrigade.com|access-date=14 May 2013|archive-date=28 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828035009/http://chargeofthelightbrigade.com/index3.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In October 1875, survivors of the charge met at the [[Alexandra Palace]] in Middlesex to celebrate its 21st anniversary. The celebrations were fully reported in the ''[[Illustrated London News]]'' of 30 October 1875,<ref name="Julienco.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.julienco.com/balaclava.pdf|website=Julienco.com|title=Calaclava|access-date=13 September 2009|archive-date=25 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225140652/http://www.julienco.com/balaclava.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> which included the recollections of several of the survivors, including those of [[Edward Richard Woodham]], the Chairman of the Committee that organised the celebration. Tennyson was invited, but could not attend. Lucan, the senior commander surviving, was not present, but attended a separate celebration, held later in the day, with other senior officers at the fashionable Willis's Rooms, St James's Square.<ref>{{cite journal|date=30 October 1875|title=The Officers' Dinner|journal=[[Illustrated London News]]|volume=67|issue=1890|page=6}}</ref> Reunion dinners were held for a number of years.<ref>Dutton lists them{{where|date=November 2015}}, and the attendees where known</ref>

On 2 August 1890, trumpeter Martin Leonard Landfried, from the 17th Lancers, who may<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shorehamfort.co.uk/about/martin-leonard-landfried/ |title=Martin Leonard Landfried |last1=Greenwood |first1=Hilary |date=October 2012 |website=Shoreham Fort |publisher=Friends of Shoreham Fort |access-date=3 May 2016 |quote="Later Landfried became famous as the man who sounded the charge of the Light Brigade but it is not clear whether this was his responsibility or not. Taking part in the charge were 17 men listed as trumpeters on the muster rolls... including William Brittain who rode with Lord Cardigan in the Charge. [...] There is much argument about whether the 'charge' was actually sounded at all [...] William Brittain, it is agreed, sounded the 'walk, trot, gallop' and he may have sounded the 'charge.' It may be that one or more of the other trumpeters sounded the charge." |archive-date=10 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510052206/http://www.shorehamfort.co.uk/about/martin-leonard-landfried/ |url-status=live }}</ref> have sounded the bugle charge at Balaclava, made a recording on an [[Thomas Edison|Edison]] cylinder that can be heard [[iarchive:EDIS-SWDPC-01-04|here]], with a bugle which had been used at [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]] in 1815.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SWDPC-01-04 |title=Trumpeter Landfrey's Charge of the Light Brigade |author=Hilary Greenwood |date=22 June 2004 |website=Internet Archive |access-date=3 May 2016 |quote="Martin Landfried retired as bandmaster for the 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers at Shoreham Fort, West Sussex, UK. He left the army in 1865 [...] At the time of his death he was living in Portland Road Hove and his grave is Hove Cemetery. The recording was made and distributed by the Light Brigade Relief Fund. The aim was to benefit the remaining veterans and inform the public about the bad times some of them had fallen on. [...] Researched by Hilary Greenwood, Shoreham Fort historian"}}. Landfried's name is misspelled as "Landfrey" at the beginning of the annotations to the recording; and the annotations refer to the instrument as a trumpet, but Landfried twice calls it a bugle.</ref>

In 2004, on the 150th anniversary of the charge, a commemoration of the event was held at Balaclava. As part of the anniversary, a monument dedicated to the 25,000 British participants of the conflict was unveiled by [[Prince Michael of Kent]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/Xcelerate/graphics/images/PostUA/magazine/docs/200403/eng/4.htm |title=Remembering Together: Sevastopol in the Crimean War |work=The quarterly magazine of the British Embassy in Kyiv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108221024/http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/Xcelerate/graphics/images/PostUA/magazine/docs/200403/eng/4.htm |archive-date=8 January 2008}}</ref>

A survivor, John Penn, who died in [[Dunbar]] in 1886, left a personal account of his military career, including the Charge, written for a friend. This survives and is held by East Lothian Council Archives.<ref>{{cite web |author=Penn, John |url=http://www.johngraycentre.org/collections/getrecord/ELCAS_EL146/ |title=John Penn's Account Of His Life And Military Career, Particularly The Charge Of The Light Brigade |publisher=John Gray Centre |access-date=2016-12-29 |archive-date=5 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805085047/http://www.johngraycentre.org/collections/getrecord/ELCAS_EL146/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Private William Ellis of the [[11th Hussars]] was erroneously described as the last survivor of the Charge at the time of his funeral at [[Upper Hale Cemetery, Farnham|Upper Hale Cemetery]] in [[Farnham]], [[Surrey]] in 1913 after his death aged 82.<ref>'Death of William Ellis, last of the Six Hundred', ''Aberdeen Press and Journal'', Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 10 June 1913, Page 4</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lawrence W. Crider|title=In Search of the Light Brigade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNnxF2LrpgkC&pg=PA169|year=2004|publisher=Lawrence Crider|isbn=978-1-898763-12-3|page=169|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727202536/https://books.google.com/books?id=rNnxF2LrpgkC&pg=PA169|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=GAC>Glenn Christodoulou, 'Forgotten Men of the Light Brigade' - ''The War Correspondent'': Journal of the [[Crimean War Research Society]] (October 1986)</ref> A number of individuals who died during 1916–17 were thought to be the 'last' survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade. These include Sergeant James A. Mustard of the 17th Lancers, aged 85, who had his funeral with military honours at [[Twickenham]] in early February 1916. In the ''[[Abergavenny Chronicle]]'' news report published on 11 February 1916, it was stated:

{{quote|He was one of thirty-eight men of the 145 of the 17th Lancers that came out of the charge led by Cardigan, and was always of the opinion that no one sounded the charge at all. He was in the [[Battle of the Alma|battles of Alma]] and Mackenzie's Farm, and the storming and taking of [[Sebastopol]], and before leaving for [[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]] marched with his regiment from Hampton Court to Portsmouth.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4121623/4121625/10/Brigade|title=Last Balaclava Hero|last=Anon.|date=11 February 1916|work=[[Abergavenny Chronicle]], Monmouthshire Advertiser, Brynmawr, Blaenavon, Tredegar, Abersychan, Crickhowell, Pontypool, Usk, Raglan, Monmouth, Longtown, Pontrilas, Grosmont and Skenfrith Record, 80|page=2, c. 3|access-date=14 November 2016|archive-date=15 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115071815/http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4121623/4121625/10/Brigade|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

''The Cambrian News'' of 30 June 1916 noted the passing of another 'last', Thomas Warr, who had died the previous day at 85.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3413322/3413325/25/|title=Brevities|last=Anon.|date=30 June 1916|work=The Cambrian News, Merionethshire Standard and Welsh Farmers' Gazette, (2,891)|page=3, c. 5|access-date=14 November 2016|archive-date=15 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115071819/http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3413322/3413325/25/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[William Henry Pennington]] of the 11th Hussars, who embarked a relatively successful career as a Shakespearean actor on leaving the Army, died in 1923.<ref name=GAC/><ref>{{cite book|author=Roy Dutton|title=Forgotten Heroes: The Charge of the Light Brigade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CwDdEHu2hVgC&pg=PA158|year=2007|publisher=Infodial Ltd|isbn=978-0-9556554-0-1|page=158|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727193430/https://books.google.com/books?id=CwDdEHu2hVgC&pg=PA158|url-status=live}}</ref> The last survivor was [[Edwin Hughes (soldier)|Edwin Hughes]] of the 13th Light Dragoons, who died on 18 May 1927, aged 96.<ref name="Adkin2017">{{cite book|author=Mark Adkin|title=The Charge: The Real Reason Why the Light Brigade Was Lost|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qNfKDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA259|date=30 April 2017|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-5267-0722-2|page=259|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727194351/https://books.google.com/books?id=qNfKDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA259|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8170000/8170593.stm |title=Edwin Hughes |publisher=BBC |access-date=24 August 2009 |date=27 July 2009 |archive-date=15 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815035832/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8170000/8170593.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Fenton13ltdragoons.jpg|Officers and men of the [[13th Hussars|13th Light Dragoons]], survivors of the charge, photographed by [[Roger Fenton]]
File:Charge of the Light Brigade survivors reunion - 1904.jpg|Souvenir picture of the 1904 survivors' reunion
File:Charles Macaulay 600.jpg|Grave of Charles Macaulay, former Sergeant 8th KRI Hussars "One of the Six Hundred" in [[Woodhouse Cemetery]], [[Leeds]]
</gallery>

==Works about the Charge or its aftermath==
{{src|Maud, and other poems/The Charge of the Light Brigade|The Charge of the Light Brigade}}

[[Poet Laureate]] [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], wrote evocatively about the battle in his poem "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]". Tennyson's poem, written 2 December and published on 9 December 1854, in ''The Examiner'', praises the brigade ("When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made!") while trenchantly mourning the appalling futility of the charge ("Not tho' the soldier knew, someone had blunder'd&nbsp;... Charging an army, while all the world wonder'd"). Tennyson wrote the poem inside only a few minutes after reading an account of the battle in ''The Times'', according to his grandson Sir Charles Tennyson. It immediately became hugely popular, and even reached the troops in the Crimea, where 1,000 copies were distributed in pamphlet form.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=Alfred Lord |title=Poems |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |year=1908 |editor-last=Tennyson |editor-first=Hallam Lord |edition=2 |location=London |pages=369}}</ref>

Nearly 36 years later, [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling]] wrote "[[The Last of the Light Brigade]]" (1890), commemorating a visit by the last 20 survivors to Tennyson (then aged 80) to reproach him gently for not writing a sequel about the way in which England was treating its old soldiers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kipling|first=Rudyard|date=28 April 1890|title=The Last of the Light Brigade|journal=St James's Gazette|location=London}}</ref> Some sources treat the poem as an account of a real event,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/11/02/archives/last-light-brigade-officer-dies-kipling-poem-discovered-anniversary.html|title=Last "Light Brigade" officer dies; Kipling poem discovered|author=Staff writer|date=2 November 1913|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=SM8|access-date=7 April 2009|archive-date=28 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728003213/https://www.nytimes.com/1913/11/02/archives/last-light-brigade-officer-dies-kipling-poem-discovered-anniversary.html|url-status=live}}</ref> but other commentators class the destitute old soldiers as allegorical, with the visit invented by Kipling to draw attention to the poverty in which the real survivors were living, in the same way that he evoked [[Tommy Atkins]] in "[[The Absent-Minded Beggar]]" (1899).<ref name="Terry Brighton2004">{{cite book|last=Brighton|first=Terry|author-link=Terry Brighton|title=Hell riders: the true story of the charge of the Light Brigade|year=2004|publisher=Henry Holt|location=New York|isbn=0-8050-7722-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hellriderstruest00terr/page/229 229–34]|url=https://archive.org/details/hellriderstruest00terr/page/229}}</ref><ref name="Bristow2000">{{cite book|last=Lootens|first=Tricia|editor=Bristow, Joseph|editor-link=Joseph Bristow (literary scholar)|title=The Cambridge companion to Victorian poetry|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England|isbn=0-521-64115-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00bris_0/page/269 269–70]|chapter=Victorian poetry and patriotism|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00bris_0/page/269}}</ref>

There is a lively description of the cavalry charge in the 1862 novel ''[[Ravenshoe (novel)|Ravenshoe]]'' by [[Henry Kingsley]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192806871.001.0001/acref-9780192806871-e-6320 | isbn=978-0-19-280687-1 | title=The Oxford Companion to English Literature | chapter=Ravenshoe | date=January 2009 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>

The 1877 novel ''[[Black Beauty]]'', written in the first person as if by the horse of the title, includes a former cavalry horse named Captain who describes his experience of being in the Charge of the Light Brigade.

[[Charge of the Light Brigade (disambiguation)|Several films]] have been made of the Charge, including the 1936 film ''[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]'', starring [[Errol Flynn]], which gives a fictitious reason for it.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
<!-- Please maintain alphabetical order by last name, or publisher where no author is credited. -->
* ''The Charge: The Real Reason Why the Light Brigade Was Lost'', Mark Adkin, Leo Cooper, London 1996, {{ISBN|0-85052-469-5}}, (also: Pimlico, London 2004, {{ISBN|1-84413-734-1}})
* "New Accounts Emerge of Charge of the Light Brigade", Jasper Copping, ''The Telegraph'', London, 20 Apr. 2014
* ''Hell Riders: The True Story of the Charge of the Light Brigade'', [[Terry Brighton]], Henry Holt and Co, {{ISBN|0-8050-7722-7}}, 2004.
* ''Forgotten Heroes: The Charge of the Light Brigade'', Roy Dutton, InfoDial Ltd., {{ISBN|0-9556554-0-4}}, 2007
* ''[[Flashman at the Charge]]'' (novel), George McDonald Fraser, 1973
* ''Illustrated London News'' 30 October 1875, reporting the celebration at Alexandra Palace of the survivors of the Charge and some of their recollections including those of [[Edward Richard Woodham]] the Chairman of the Committee that organised the celebration
* ''[[s:The Charge of the Light Brigade (article)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]''. Contemporary eyewitness account from journalist [[William Howard Russell]].
* ''The Reason Why, Story of the Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade'', [[Cecil Woodham-Smith]], Penguin Books, {{ISBN|0-14-139031-X}}, first published in 1953 by Constable for the Book Society

==External links==
{{Wikisource|The Charge of the Light Brigade (article)|"The Times" account of The Charge of the Light Brigade}}
{{Commons category|Charge of the Light Brigade}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=CwDdEHu2hVgC&q=Forgotten+Heroes+Charge+of+the Confirmed Chargers:], Forgotten Heroes Charge of the Light Brigade
* {{In Our Time|Charge of the Light Brigade|b008md8x|Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade}}
* [https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210802111709/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/battles/crimea/charge.htm Charge of the Light Brigade], The National Archives
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050309092722/http://eserver.org/poetry/light-brigade.html "The Charge of the Light Brigade"], by Lord Alfred Tennyson at Eserver.org
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050816113615/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/britpo/tennyson/TenChar.html A copy of the poem hand-written by Tennyson] at Virginia.eud
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/uk_charge_of_the_light_brigade/html/1.stm Illustrated history of the Charge of the Light Brigade] (gallery), [[BBC News]]
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/251_fen.html Roger Fenton photographs] at the Library of Congress
* [https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_brigade.htm "The Last of the Light Brigade"] by [[Rudyard Kipling]] at Kiplingsociety.co.uk
* [http://www.genes.plus.com/ARMYLIST/CRIMEANCAS.HTM Casualty list] at Plus.com
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4123120 Retelling the Tale of the Light Brigade], 
* {{Find a Grave|6183|Monument to the Brigade in Ukraine}}
* [https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SWDPC-01-04 Trumpeter Martin Landfrey (or Lanfried) plays the charge he sounded at the Charge of the Light Brigade]. He uses a bugle which was previously used by Wellington's forces at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815. Edison cylinder recording, 2 August 1890, London. The Internet Archive.
* [http://www.julienco.com/balaclava.pdf ''Illustrated London News'' article dated 30 October 1875] about the 21st Anniversary Reunion dinner at [[Alexandra Palace]] on 25 October 1875. Julienco.com.
* [[iarchive:EDIS-SWDPC-01-04|Trumpeter Landfrey's Charge of the Light Brigade]], surviving member of the charge performs the Bugle charge

{{Queen's Royal Hussars}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:19th-century history of the British Army]]
[[Category:Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)]]
[[Category:Cavalry charges]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1854]]
[[Category:October 1854]]
[[Category:Military operations involving France]]
[[Category:Military operations involving the United Kingdom]]