Letters Home from the Crimea : A Young Cavalryman's Campaign Book

Among the British troops bound for the Black Sea in May 1854 was a young officer in the 5th Dragoon Guards, Richard Temple Godman. Godman sent many detailed letters home to his family in Surrey throughout the campaign. He served through the entire war, and took part in the Charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaklava, not returning to England until June, 1856.

Fresh and easy to read, Godman's letters provide an un-rivaled picture of what it was really like to be in the Crimea. His dispatches from the fields of war reveal his wide interests and varied experiences, including riding, hunting, and smoking Turkish tobacco. He also recorded the heavy casualties, among both men and horses, caused by battle, disease, deprivation and lack of medicines. He also wrote scathingly about military rivalry at the top, inaccurate newspaper reporting, and well-bred female volunteers in the hospitals.