| Description | Cholera still raging amongst the men, "tho' the French have suffered more than we have, their habits not being cleanly and their camps very dirty". Describes disastrous French attack on the Dobrutskaas as "a mad cap expedition. They wanted to have the honour of first seeing the Russians & you may imagine what an affair it was when I tell you that General Espinasse marched a divison for 30 leagues without a drop of water except what they could carry on their persons. The consequence was that before they had reached their destination half the men were dead & the rest so ill that they were obliged to turn back & were chopped up by Cossacks, who fell on the sick in their rear" 2,000 men lost. "General Espinasse is reported to have shot himself". Cholera in the fleet now delaying any further advance & the men cannot now carry their packs. "The Guards marched into Varna the other day, they were about 10 miles off & with everything carried for them took 3 days to get in .... When we first came to Bulgaria our General's plan for the Light Division was ... to drill us from five to eight every morning in heavy marching order under a lively sun on empty stomachs breathing in the unwholesome malaria from the marsh close by." Consequently the men's constitutions were weakened, & they succumbed to disease. "This was done contrary to all advice of the Doctors, but the Generals knew better. We have lost more men than any other Division." He hopes that the attack on Sebastopol takes place before winter so that they can get away from this country." |