The siege of Sebastopol had been quiet during the winter while both sides endured the bitterly cold conditions. Here the soldiers on duty in one of the British batteries try to keep warm on a frosty night. The print was published as part of a series entitled The Seat of War in the East, dedicated to Queen Victoria. William Simpson who provided the drawing for this print was invited by P. and D. Colnaghi to go to the Crimea as a war artist. Queen Victoria commissioned Simpson to provide a watercolour (now untraced) from the front. She met him on his return, and gave him numerous other commissions.