'My packhorse, "the black slave", loaded for the march', 1854 (c)

Watercolour and pencil by Second Lieutenant William Thomas Markham (1830-1886), 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, 1854 (c).

Much to the chagrin of the Army officers, who purchased their baggage animals privately, there was not space aboard the transport vessels to carry packhorses from Bulgaria to the Crimea. When the Army set sail in September 1854 the animals had to be set loose and left to fend for themselves.

From an album of watercolours and sketches by Colonel William Markham, 1820 (c) and Second Lieutenant William Thomas Markham, 1854 (c).

Purchased with the assistance of the Society of Friends of the National Army Museum.