Note 199 — 1855. SEBASTOPOL. 9th September, 1855-28th January, 1856.

A few cases occurred in which the rank of sergeant was attained by a junior non-commissioned officer within eighteen months. Samuel Cole is an instance. He went to the Crimea a young second corporal, but so conspicuous was his conduct in the trenches, and so sustained his usefulness and gallantry, that besides the grant of pecuniary rewards, a special medal for distinguished service, and the Order of the Legion of Honour, he was promoted successively to the ranks of corporal and sergeant. Of him Colonel Gordon wrote on the 6th December, 1855, that he was one of the “most distinguished in the corps for bravery and had just received a step of rank”—that of sergeant—“for very distinguished service in the field.”