Lord Lucan, heated by the irritating language of his junior officer,
must have lost his power of discrimination, for although his first
instructions clearly indicated the guns in the redoubt, and his
second, brought by Nolan, obviously referred to the same guns, the
cavalry general was misled--by his own rage, or Nolan's sweeping
gesture, who shall say?--misled into a terrible error.
He conceived it to be his duty to send a portion of his cavalry
against a formidable battery of Russian guns, well posted as they
were, and already sweeping the valley with a well-directed, murderous
fire.
Of the two cavalry brigades, the Light was still fresh and untouched
by the events of the day. The Heavy Brigade, as we have seen, had
already done splendid service in routing the Russian cavalry. The turn
of the Light Brigade had come, although, unhappily, the task entrusted
to it was hopeless, foredoomed to failure from the first.
It stood close by, proudly impatient, its brigadier, Lord Cardigan, at
its head.
To him the divisional general imparted Lord Raglan's order.
"You are to advance, Lord Cardigan, along the valley, and attack the
Russians at the far end," was the order he gave.
"Certainly, sir," replied Lord Cardigan, without hesitation. "But
allow me to point out to you that the Russians have a battery in the
valley in our front, and batteries and riflemen on each flank.
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