Letters From Head-Quarters

Book excerpt: Illustrated with over two hundred and sixty maps, photos and portraits, of the battles, individuals and places involved in the Crimean War. In this fascinating volume of letters and memoirs, the history of the Crimean War is full brought to life by Lt.-Col. Calthorpe. Lt.-Col. Calthorpe, later 7th baron Calthorpe (1831-1912), edited and initially published these letters anonymously that he had sent to friends from the Crimea, where he served as aide-de-camp to his uncle, Lord Raglan, whose reputation he stoutly defended. The letters run from 18 September 1854 until 30 June 1855 when, following Raglan’s death on 28 June, Calthorpe returned to Britain. In addition to the detailed account of military actions, Calthorpe mentions his participation in a decoy mission by ship to Yalta in late May 1855 and recalls a pleasure trip he had made to the southern Crimean coast in the summer of 1851.