2-913-986 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sortie of the Russians from Sebastopol, October 26, 1854. Crimean War. 'The Russian prisoners relate that General Luders, thinking he had gained a victory...sent a grandiloquent account of the affair to Sebastopol...double and triple rations of brandy [were] given to the troops; they made speeches: "You are mistaken if you think you are fighting against the English...at Alma. The troops before you are merely Turks. Our brethren attacked them yesterday in the plain of Balaclava. They...killed large numbers, and plundered the dead...you can do as well as your brethren did yesterday, for the Turks are now discouraged. You can see they are Turks, for they wear grey coats; whereas, British soldiers...have red coats"... The poor fellows walked up bravely, never once expecting that our red-coated soldiers have great coats of dark grey to keep out the keen winds of the Crimean mountains'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.