"Russell, the correspondent of the London Times, was there"
I don't believe he was. Russell's diaries show him arriving on the 16th. This may be a case where Mary's notes were out of order.
Well, it's done. The young men who will fight and die are champing at the bit. The old men face what's coming soberly. The women fear the sacrifices their families will have to make.
And it will all be over in a few months.