2-913-950 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Siege of Sebastopol - General Canrobert and Escort, 1854. Crimean War: commander-in-chief of the French troops. '...our Artist happened to meet General Canrobert and his escort of Chasseurs d'Afrique, and he has forwarded a Sketch of the party, who appear to be galloping in the direction of the besieged town, in order to discover what the enemy is about'. Canrobert addressed the Army of the East: 'Penetrated as I am with the grandeur of the historical mission which we accomplish on this distant land, you will each of you bring to it, each within your sphere, and with the most absolute devotedness, that active part which is indispensable to enable me to bring it to a successful termination...A few days more of sufferings and of trials, and you will have caused to fall at your feet the threatening bulwark of the vast empire which only a little time ago braved Europe'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.