Letter from a Dumfries Dragoon — 1st January, 1855.

[Currie]

From the Glasgow Herald, Monday, January 29, 1855.

LETTER FROM A DUMFRIES DRAGOON.
(From the Dumfries Herald).

Near the Camp, before Sebastopol,
1st January, 1855.

It is no uncommon thing here to see some gay young officer, who at home would be called an effeminate dandy, trudging through mud nearly knee deep from Balaklava to the front (Sebastopol), with a haversack full of potatoes, onions, cheese, candles, soap, and sometimes tea and sugar, and, if he has been lucky, a ham over his shoulder, which articles he has got on board of some transport just arrived from England. It is really interesting to see these young gentlemen, who have been reared in the most luxurious manner, toiling and working like navvies, and cracking jokes with each other on the degenerate state or their wardrobes, and about what their friends in England would say if they saw them in the state they are in now; it is really edifying to see how courageously these young men bear with all the hardships and privations of this—the severest campaign—that our oldest soldier has seen or been engaged in.

Serjeant Bernard Shamburg, or, as we familiarly call him, "Barney," has been 23 years in the service, 20 years of which he has spent in India—he went through three different campaigns, was in eight general engagements, besides innumerable skirmishes, and now wears three medals with eight clasps—he never got wounded; and on the return of his regiment, "the Third Light Dragoons," from India, he volunteered to our regiment, and was here with us at Balaklava and Inkermann; the former of which, he says, was the most "dangerous day" he ever was engaged in with an enemy—his horse was shot under him in the charge, while in the midst of the enemy, and he mounted a loose Russian charger, and went through the whole of that day's hard work on its back. He took ill after Inkermann, and is now in Scutari, reduced to a skeleton by dysentery.

I have seen, my dear brother in many newspapers that have been sent here, some very pathetic accounts of the miseries and hardships undergone by some of the army serving here; and I cannot help expressing my surprise at finding that, in nearly all these printed "extracts" and “letters from correspondents," there is no attempt made to give the readers a correct, idea, or proper account of the actual state or condition that we are really in; it seems that the writers of these articles and "letters” write more from imagination than facts; or perhaps if they began with an intention of describing our actual condition, their sympathy for our sufferings has carried them, in their enthusiasm, so far from their object, that, instead of a matter-of-fact account, you, in almost every case (except despatches), get a history of the writer's feelings on the subject; and, in almost nine cases out of ten, the empty desire of displaying their rhetoric has made them sacrifice truth to their vanity, or, at most, the real to the ideal. It may be said “that their intention was to excite the sympathies of our friends at home, so as to make them give substantial proof, in the shape of clothing and provisions," of their admiration of our endurance; but no end, however great, can justify such means, and God's sacred truth should never be sacrificed to the gaining of any end, however great it may be. Now, my dear brother, as it may be interesting to you to know what condition we are in, I will, as far as lies in my power, give you a correct account, and as I am in daily communication with one or more "orderlies" of every cavalry regiment here, you may rest assured of my account being correct: —

When our regiment left Ireland, in May last, our total strength was 290 men, and 250 horses, leaving 40 dismounted men as servants, tradesmen, and orderlies; on the voyage to Turkey, and up to the beginning of August, we lost about 24 horses, which were replaced by remounts; and 30 men, who never have been replaced, died of cholera, besides a great number of sick who were sent to Scutari, and of course cannot be counted as "effectives." At muster roll this morning our total strength consisted of 173 men, and 162 horses, a melancholy fact that says more for the severities of the climate than all the rhetoric of "composers" could in a month. Of course we consider all this very bad; but what will you think when I tell you that, in answer to an inquiry I made this morning of one the 11th Hussars, about how their horses were standing it, he assured me, and he spoke truth, that in his troop there were only six horses fit for duty, and that, although the other troops were not so badly off, there was every likelihood of their being, in a few weeks, not a single horse alive. The other regiments of the Light Cavalry are nearly all in the same deplorable condition; the Heavy Cavalry are somewhat better off, as they did not lose so many horses at the Battle of Balaklava; but their fatigue has been, in many instances, much greater—such as giving all the outlying pickets rest for some time; and, in consequence of the greatly reduced state of our Light Brigade, our Heavy Dragoons have had to do nearly all the mounted duty; and the great fatigue they have undergone, and the severities of the climate, combined with the heavy frosts and deep snows at night, have laid some of our finest dragoon's on a bed of sickness, if not of death.

The principal duty of the cavalry at present, on account of the inefficiency of our Commissariat department, consists in carrying provisions from Balaklava to the "front" (Sebastopol); and the state of the road is such that no wheeled vehicle could be drawn by any number of horses, not even a distance of a quarter of a mile. The first question, after the party has returned, is generally, have you lost any horses? as it is no uncommon thing for three or four horses to fall down on the way to or from Sebastopol, and die. How long this state of things may continue, I know not. The hills are covered with snow, and we know not what it is to have a fine day; besides, the ground in and around the camp is so cut up by our horses, and the heavy rains that have fallen have so saturated the ground, that we cannot move apace but we sink at least half a yard into the ground, and from our being so often wet through our clothes, we are all nearly choked with coughs; and lying in our wet clothing at night causes our legs and feet to swell so much that it with great difficulty we can draw on our boots in the morning. All this, you will say, my dear brother, is very awful, and is enough to create discontent among our soldiers; but it is not discontent that I see on the sternly composed features of my brave comrades. No! on all these pale suffering countenances I see written the firm and unalterable determination to conquer or to die; and though we all feel the horrors of our situation keenly, I am sure, and I speak the opinion of every soldier of ours in the Crimea, that there is not a true British soldier here who would not sooner die frostbitten in the trenches, with his rifle pointed towards the enemy, than go into comfortable winter quarters, without first taking Sebastopol.

I find, my dear brother, that I omitted in my last enclosing the paper with the "movement" previous to the charge at Balaklava, and as I have a little space I will give you it here:— When we came to our original "front" after having retired out of range of the redoubts taken from the Turks, we were in "column of squadron" (each regiment having two squadrons.) Well, when the Russians were seen advancing we were ordered to advance, but there being a vineyard on our left we had to advance "en echelon" of squadrons to clear it, and while moving "en echelon" the Enniskillens and 5th took too much ground to their right, which caused them, when we changed front to the left to be some distance to the right of the parallel, and, of course, when we wheeled into line the Enniskillens and 5th were thrown to the rear; and the Enniskillens, finding no space to act in front, passed the rear of the Greys, and charged the left flank of the enemy; while the 4th charged their right flank, the 5th and 1st formed the second line.

It would be invidious to make comparisons when all did their duty so well; but I must, in justice to my brave comrades say that our regiment was next the Greys in entering on the charge; and were the last in returning from the pursuit of the enemy; and, in corroboration of my statement, I refer you to Lord Lucan's report of the affair, in which he distinctly states that the charge of the Greys was supported by a flank attack of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards.

JAMES AUCHENCLOSS
Of the 4th Dragoon Guards (a native of Dumfries.)


Alan

P.S. Serjeant Bernard (Barney) Shamburg’s medal is in somebody’s collection marked as “Sergt B. Shamburg of the 4th Dragoon Guards”. It seems likely that he would have died in service in which case his army records would probably have been destroyed. At least he now has a name.

[nelmit]

Very poignant Alan.

All the best for 2013.................hope you enjoyed the celebrations!

[nwquinn]

Thanks for posting this very interesting letter. Bernard Shamburgh (or Schomberg) did in fact survive and was discharged from the Army 1856, having served almost 24 years [his service record is available]. He married Anne Addy Parkinson in the same year and later had 2 daughters, one of which was Mary Elizabeth Ellen Schomberg (b.1863) who married my great-grandfather, William David Quinn. I'd be interested in finding out more about the medals if you have any further information. Nevil Wyndham Quinn.

[Currie]

Hello Nevil and Welcome to TalkingScot.

It’s nice to hear that Sergeant Shamburg made it through it all.

I usually would have provided a link to things I found but maybe I had a problem with that at the time. There doesn’t seem to be any trace now of the information about the whereabouts of the medal.

You could try the British Medal Forum. Perhaps I found it there? There doesn’t appear to be any access without membership and perhaps they now have Google etc access blocked as well. https://britishmedalforum.com/index.php ... 5f4918ecac

The newspaper story is in the 2nd last column this page. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z ... 4%2C669260

Best of luck,
Alan