2-913-734 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Camp, at Slobodzie, 1854. Crimean War, soldiers camped near the River Danube. 'The camp...assumes every day a more permanent and military appearance. It has lost much of its first picturesqueness in consequence...The soldiers having at first but few tents, rigged out all sorts of substitutes. Sticks were planted in the ground and made to support either willow boughs cut in the neighbouring island, or old Turkish carpet of various patterns and devices...many were so slight that they merely covered the head and chest of the soldiers, leaving the rest of their body exposed. So long as the fine weather lasted, however, these temporary tents were sufficient to keep off dews and the sun; but we have had three or four remarkable thunderstorms within the last few days, which made the position of ill-sheltered men extremely unpleasant'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.