After the Charge by Lady Butler

Two of the main characters in this famous painting were drawn from actual survivors. The Central figure with sword in hand is W H Pennington. He wrote an account of his experience in which he describes his sorrow at the loss of his beloved horse, Black Bess. He was shot in the leg but managed to limp back, resolved 'to sell my life as dearly as I might'. He saw unarmed men killed without mercy by Russian lancers and bullets kicking up dust all around. He was a mile away from the starting point of the Charge and suffering from the pain in his leg when relief came in the shape of some 8th Hussars with a spare horse for him. They continued to fight as a group until Pennington lost contact with them and was chased back to safety.
The other figure, mounted, to the left of the picture is Sgt-Major Loy Smith. He had a similar experience to Pennington and recounts how he came across a wounded Russian who was a private of the Russian 11th Hussars. He cut off one of his butttons and continued to wear it on his own jacket for the rest of his time in the regiment. As he rode back to the lines on a 4th Light Dragoons horse and carrying a Russian carbine, he was hailed by some gunner friends. But he was more angry thatn relieved and said "Someone will have to answer for this day's work."

The Crimean War