makes me want to join up and charge with the Ligh

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makes me want to join up and charge with the Light Brigade.

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The brigade was not completely destroyed, but did suffer terribly, with 118 men killed, 127 wounded, and about 60 taken prisoner. After regrouping, only 195 men were still with horses. The futility of the action and its reckless bravery prompted the French Marshal Pierre Bosquet to state: "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." ("It is magnificent, but it is not war." He continued, in a rarely quoted phrase: "C'est de la folie" — "It is madness."[12]

The Russian commanders are said to have initially believed that the British soldiers must have been drunk.[9] Somerset Calthorpe, Aide de Camp to Lord Raglan, wrote a letter to a friend three days after the charge. He detailed casualty numbers but did not distinguish between those killed and those taken prisoner:


"Killed and missing. Wounded.
9 Officers 12
14 Serjeants 9
4 Trumpeters 3
129 Rank and file 98

156 Total 122
278 casualties;

— besides 335 horses killed in action, or obliged afterwards to be destroyed from wounds. It has since been ascertained that the Russians made a good many prisoners; the exact number is not yet known."[13]

The reputation of the British cavalry was significantly enhanced as a result of the charge, though the same cannot be said for their commanders.

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