Battle of the Alma, 1854

Colour photogravure by Richard Caton Woodville, 1896.

A line of Coldstream Guardsmen with fixed bayonets advances under fire towards the enemy. The Duke of Cambridge had not handled the Brigade of Guards well and when the Light Division was forced back from the Great Redoubt, the Guards were not in close enough support. The Scots Fusilier Guards crossed the River Alma slightly before the Grenadier and the Coldstream Guards but, having had their ranks disordered by men of the Light Division retreating through them, were thrown back in turn from the Great Redoubt. The situation was retrieved by the approach of the Grenadiers and Coldstreams, who dispersed the Russians with accurate Minié fire.