Six battalions of Russian infantry, 30 cannons, and a cavalry force deployed in the North Valley east of Sevastopol near the town of Balaclava. They occupied three sides of the valley, looking down on it. The other end was in the hands of the British Army. Spread across the valley floor were thin lines of horsemen belonging to Great Britain's Light Brigade. The 674 men and officers looked resplendent in their blue and red uniforms, trimmed in gold around the chest and shoulders. They clutched their lances and swords and eyed in the distance the Russian guns that they were ordered to capture.
At their head sat Maj. Gen. James Brudenell, Lord Cardigan, an English nobleman with a reputation as a bad-tempered, impulsive man. He took position in front of his brigade. Despite his faults, he did not lack courage. Without a trumpet call, he urged his horse forward and the brigade followed at a trot. Some distance behind and to their right, the Heavy Brigade trailed them. It was a spectacle as foolhardy and pointless as it was courageous and heroic. The Charge of the Light Brigade would go down in history and verse, but the ill-fated attack was only one act of bravery and determination that would occur on the morning of October 25, 1854.
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