r officer: "In his
humble position as an engineer subaltern he had attracted the notice of
his superiors, not merely by his energy and activity (for these are
not, it may be asserted, uncommon characteristics of his class), but by
an extraordinary aptitude for war, developing itself amid the
trench-work before Sebastopol in a personal knowledge of the enemy's
movements such as no other officer attained. 'We always used to send
him out to find what new move the Russians were making,' was the
testimony given to his genius by one of the most distinguished officers
he served under." He not only exhibited the "aptitude for war" of which
Colonel Chesney speaks, but it appears that he also displayed on
several occasions a great deal of that personal courage for which he
afterwards became so renowned. A single incident may be taken as a
specimen of many. One day as he was passing along the trenches, he
overheard a heated altercation between a sapper and a corporal, both
belonging to his own corps. On inquiring into the cause, he discovered
that the corporal had ordered a man to stand on the parapet, where he
was exposed to the enemy's fire, while the corporal, under cover, was
going to hand him some gabions for repairing the parapet. Gordon at
once jumped on to the parapet himself and called the corporal to join
him, letting the sapper hand up the gabions from a place of safety.
Gordon remained until the work was completed, in spite of the fire of
the Russians, and then turning to the corporal said, "Never order a man
to do anything you are afraid to do yourself."

His warlike genius and his courage were by no means his only remarkable
characteristics, and it may not be out of place to mention here a
trifling event, which possibly had a marked influence on his whole
life. It so happened that Colonel Staveley, an officer who afterwards
attained to some eminence, but who at that time was of no great note
beyond being the second in command of a distinguished corps, the 44th
Regiment, mentioned in Gordon's hearing that he had been appointed
field-officer of the day for the trenches for the following day, but
owing to his having been on sick leave, was ignorant of the geography
of the place. Now considering that Gordon was at this time greatly
overworked in the trenches, he might well have been excused had he
allowed Colonel Staveley's remark to pass; for it must be remembered
that it is no part of the duty of a young engineer offic