Five bars in all were issued, but four is the greatest number awarded with any medal. The bars should read upward from the medal as follows: Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, but a number of the medals were issued without the bars being fixed, and the order is consequently sometimes found to be inaccurate; care should therefore be taken to verify the record of the person named on the medal. Many medals were issued before the grant of the bar for Sebastopol at the end of October 1855, and many exist without this bar, although all who took part in the battles of Balaklava and Inkermann were entitled to it. The troops who landed in the Crimea after September 9th, 1855, the day Sebastopol fell, were not entitled to the medal unless they had been engaged against the enemy after that date.
=The Turkish Medals.=--The Turkish Government, in whose cause we took up arms, gave to the allies a silver medal suspended by a bright-red ribbon with green edges ½ in. wide running through a small ring. This is illustrated beside the British Crimean medal. These medals vary; they were intended for the British, French, and Sardinian soldiers, and had among the trophy of flags that of the country the recipient belonged to in the front, beside the Turkish flag, and in the exergue either CRIMEA 1855, LA CRIMEA 1855, or CRIMEE 1855, but as the ship which was bringing the medals to England foundered, many men received the French or Sardinian variety. These medals, 1⅖ in. in diameter, bear on the obverse the Sultan's cypher encircled by a laurel wreath, with the date in Arabic Hegira "1271."
They were generally issued unnamed, but I have several impressed.
=The French Medal.=--The Emperor of the French awarded crosses of the Legion of Honour to officers and men who had been conspicuous during the war, and the Médaille Militaire to about 500 non-commissioned officers and men who had distinguished themselves. The Duke of Wellington and Sir William Cordington, who was presented by Marshal Pellisier with his own medal, were the only two British officers to receive it. The medal is silver, the eagle and centre being gilt, and the band surrounding the head of Louis Napoleon enamelled, likewise that on the reverse, encircling VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE. The medal is suspended from an orange-coloured ribbon with green edges.