We're getting very close to the end of WALTON's story now, and he has one last surprise for us:
The Hidden Hero - The Crimean War.
Searching further back into the campaign history of the 57th Regiment, I discovered the Ancestry.com database UK Military Campaign and Medal Award Rolls. Searching this I was astonished to discover that No. 2355 Thomas WALTON received three medal clasps, awarded for battles in the Crimean War: Balaklava (25 October 1854), Inkerman (5 November 1854) and Sebastopol (9 September 1856).
A Crimean veteran! WALTON was a very experienced professional soldier with at least six years hard service behind him by the time he stepped on to New Zealand soil.
In mid-September 1854 the British Army under Lord Raglan landed at Calamita Bay on the west coast of the Crimean peninsula with the intent of capturing the Russian naval port of Sebastopol. Their allies were the Turks and the French. Their strategic goal was to prevent the Russians having access to the Black Sea but their immediate aim was to march south and gain control of a port to guarantee their lines of supply.
The Russians under Prince Menschikov took up strong defensive positions along a ridge of hills above the River Alma, blocking the Allied line of march. On 20 September the Anglo-French army crossed the Alma and stormed the position. The Russians, outnumbered, and fearful of losing their artillery, withdrew into Sebastopol with the realization they must prepare for a siege.
Continuing south, Lord Raglan bypassed Sebastopol and captured the southern port of Balaklava while the French took the port of Kamiesch. They then began the siege of Sebastopol, and the first serious bombardment took place on 17 October. The Russian field army based in the northern Crimea made several attempts to break the siege at the battles of Balaklava, Inkerman and Tchernaya.
Thomas WALTON was present at the first two of these battles.
At Balaklava on 25 October 1854 the Russians attacked the thinly-held lines protecting the harbour at Balaklava but their attack failed.
At the battle of Inkerman on 5 November 1854 the Russians launched a two-pronged surprise assault on British forces holding high ground above the village of Inkerman. Known as ‘The Soldiers Battle’, Inkerman was fought in heavy fog as a series of hand-to hand combats with rifle butt and bayonet, with junior officers and NCO’s commanding fragmented units without central control. British forces were strengthened at a crucial moment by French reinforcements and the Russians retreated.
WALTON's last medal clasp was earned at the siege of the fortress port of Sebastopol, although the date provided for his award in the medal rool above seems to be incorrect: it should read 8 September 1855. This was the day the 57th and other regiments attacked the Redan, a sister fortress below the Malakov, situated on a hill overlooking Sebastopol. The 57th lost its colonel and 113 men during the failed attack, but the French successfully gained the Malakov and that night the Russians abandoned Sebastopol. The Crimean War was effectively over, although British forces remained in the Crimean for a further winter but with improved supplies of clothing, equipment and medical services.
