THIN RED LINE
Among Lord Raglan’s forces earmarked for the war against Russia at the outset of the Crimean War, was the hardy Highland Brigade. The brigade consisted of three Scottish battalions, including the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel William Bernard Ainslie. The regiment was eager to prove its mettle on the battlefield. In all, the battalion numbered 34 officers, 107 non-commissioned officers, 21 drummers, and 950 privates. Unbeknown to the men of the 93rd, they were soon to leave their mark on history as the ‘Thin Red Line’.
Their journey to the Crimea began on 27 March 1854, when they embarked for the Black Sea aboard the troopship Himalaya. While the voyage itself was uneventful, the battalion was to suffer a rather inauspicious start to the campaign when cholera swept through its ranks, killing 54 of their number and infecting over another 400. Nevertheless, the Allied commanders had set their objective – the Russian naval base at Sevastopol.
Surgeon William Munro of the 93rd described the regiment’s final departure for the Crimea, “A wonderful sight that mighty fleet, even while lying at anchor; but when it got under weigh and steamed out into the open sea, spreading out in long, parallel lines, and covering the face of the waters as far as the eye could see, it appeared to be magnified one hundredfold. The light-armed war-ships led the van, and on either flank hovered the mighty leviathans, which, with their huge hulls, immense spread of
