four o'clock
Matters had gone no less prosperously on the left . The renewed attack of the Light Division , supported by the Guards , had ended in the capture of the great redoubt ; while Sir Colin Campbell , a veteran warrior , at the head of his `` bare-legged savages , '' as they were christened by their affrighted foe , had made himself master of the Kourgané Hill . The Battle of the Alma was won ! Three short hours had sufficed to finish it , and by four o'clock the enemy was in full retreat . It was a flight rather than a retreat -- a headlong , ignominious stampede , in which the fugitives cast aside their arms , accoutrements , knapsacks , everything that could hinder them as they ran . Pursuit , if promptly and vigorously carried out , would assuredly have cost them dear . But the allies were short of cavalry ; the British , greatly weakened by their losses in this hard-fought field , could spare no fresh troops to follow ; the French , although they had scarcely suffered , and had a large force available , would do nothing more ; St. Arnaud declared pursuit impossible , and this , the first fatal error in the campaign , allowed the beaten general to draw off his shattered battalions .