But the too confiding gunner in command appears to have thought that an armistice had been declared, and held his hand during those precious minutes which might have turned a defeat into a rout.

The chance passed, never to return.

The double error of firing into our own advance and of failing to fire into the enemy's retreat makes the battle one which cannot be looked back to with satisfaction by our gunners.
In the meantime some miles away another train of events had led to a complete disaster to our small cavalry force--a disaster which robbed our dearly bought infantry victory of much of its importance.

That action alone was undoubtedly a victorious one, but the net result of the day's fighting cannot be said to have been certainly in our favour.
It was Wellington who asserted that his cavalry always got him into scrapes, and the whole of British military history might furnish examples of what he meant.

Here again our cavalry got into trouble.
Suffice it for the civilian to chronicle the fact, and leave it to the military critic to portion out the blame.
One company of mounted infantry (that of the Rifles) had been told off to form an escort for the guns.