Add MS 69463

SEBASTOPOL: 'Sevastopol shewing the position of the Allied Forces'; Oct. 1854. Scale circa 1:26000. The map shows Sebastopol harbour and the Crimean coast as far as the Katcha river in the north and Balaclava in the south. Roads are marked, and cliffs and high ground are indicated by hill-shading. Army positions are shown with the conventional symbols. The presence of Sir George Cathcart's name at the head of the 4th Division establishes that the plan relates to the situation before the Battle of Inkerman (5 Nov.) as Cathcart was killed outright during the fighting. The absence of any mention of the battle of Balaclava (25 Oct.) may suggest that the plan represents positions before 25 Oct.; fewer Russian positions outlying Sebastopol are marked than still existed at this date, but this may be because the author of the map did not know the Russian troop dispositions. The pencilled figures for Sardinian troop strengths must have been added after May 1855, when the large detachment of Sardinians landed in the Crimea. For a manuscript view and plan contemporary with this map, see Add. 41581, ff. 194v and 196v. For printed plans relating to the campaign in early autumn 1854, see Christopher Hibbert, The destruction of Lord Raglan; a tragedy of the Crimean War 1854-55 (1961), pp. 134, 164; Denis Judd, The Crimean War (1975), pp. 82, 96; A. W. Kinglake, The invasion of the Crimea (one vol. ed. with atlas, 1899), pp. 13-39. Purchased at Sotheby's, July 1989, lot 215.

Ink, pencil and watercolours on paper. 677 x 484mm.