2-913-850 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Field of the Alma, after the Battle, sketched by an officer of the 21st N.B. Fusiliers, 1854. Crimean War: bodies on the battlefield. 'The village of Alma is seen in the distance, and immediately in front of it Lord Raglan's camp...Many of the [dead or wounded] Russians had small crosses and chains fastened round their necks. Several were found with Korans in their knapsacks...[some] had portraits of wives or mistresses, of mothers or sisters inside their coats...Last night all these poor wretches lay in their agony; nothing could be done to help them. The groans, the yells, the cries of despair and suffering, were a mournful commentary on the exultation of the victors...faint lights might be seen moving over the frightful field, marking the spots where friendship directed the steps of some officer in search of a wounded comrade, or where the pillager yet stalked about on his horrid errand'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.