On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
^ Unt il-ftnna ¦ on" the 28 th , Lord Baglwrtad 35 £ T ££ SSrSS £ ^ mT ^ M . he was unconscious , and . from this period he gradually sank untU twenty-five ruautes before nine , at which hoar he died . _ ^ The event has p lunged the whole army into the most profound grief . " . General Pelissier thus announces the event to his Government : — " It is with deep regret I have to announce that the venerable chief of the English army expired this evening at nine o ' clock . « We are the more affected by his death , as during tne preceding twenty-four hours his health seemed to have considerably improved . "
JLord Raglan is succeeded by General , Simpsqji , hitherto Chief of the Staff , and an old Peninsular officer . THE REPULSE ON THE 18 th . DESPATCH FROM LORD RAGLAN . If early the last despatch which the late Commanderin-Chief addressed to his Government is dated June 19 th , and gives the details of the reverse which the Allies experienced on the preceding day . The new batteries having been completed , the bombardment reopened on the 17 th , and , being maintained throughout the day , produced so great an effect that the attack was determined on : —
" It was at first proposed that the artillery fire should be resumed on the morning of the 18 th , and should be kept up for about two hours , for the purpose of destroying any works the enemy might have thrown up in the night and of opening passages through the abattis that covered the Redan ; but on the evening of the 17 th it was intimated to me by General Pelissier that he had determined , upon further consideration , that the attack t > y his troops should take place at three the following morning . " The French therefore commenced their operations as day broke , and , as their several columns came within range of the enemy ' s fire , they encountered the most serious opposition both from musketry and the guns in the -works which had been silenced the previous evening , and observing this , I was induced at once to order our columns to move out of the "trenches upon the Redan .
" It had been arranged that detachments from the Light , Second , and Fourth Divisions , which I placed for the occasion under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir George Brown , should be formed into three columns ; that the right one should attack the left face of the Sedan between the flanking batteries ; that the centre should advance upon the salient angle ; and that the left should move upon the re-entering angle formed by the right face and flank of the work , the first and last preceding the centre column . " The flank columns at once obeyed the signal to advance , preceded by covering parties of the Rifle Brigade and by sailors carrying ladders and soldiers carrying woolbags ; but they had no sooner shown themselves bevond the trenches than they were assailed by a most
murderous fire of grape and musketry . Those in advance were either killed or wounded , and the remainder found it impossible to proceed . I never before witnessed such a continued and heavy fire of grape combined with musketry from the enemy ' s works , which appeared to be fully manned ; and tho long list of killed and "wounded in the Light and Fourth Divisions , and the seamen of tn ' e Naval Brigade , under Captain Peel , who -was unfortunately wounded , though not severely , will show that a very large proportion of those that went forward fell . Major-Genoral Sir John Campbell , who led the left attack , and Colonel Shadforth , of tho 67 th , who commanded the storming party under his direction , were both killed , as was also Colonel Yea , of the Royal 1 Fusiliers , who led the right column . "
Lord Raglan adds : — , " The superiority of our fire on the day we opened , } ed both General Pelissier and myself , and the officers of . the Artillery and Engineers of tho two services , and tho armies in general , to conclude that the Russian Artillery firp , was , in a great measure , subdued , and that the operation we projected could bo undertaken with every prospect of success . Tho result has shown that tho resources of the enemy -were not exhausted , and that thoy had still the power , either from their ships or from their batteries , to bring an overwhelming firo upon their assailants .
" While the direct attack upon the Redan was proooodir «? , Lieutenant-Genoral Sir R . England was directed to sana one of the brigades of the Third Division , under the command of Major-General Barnard , down the Woronzoff Ravine , with a view to give support to the \ attuklng columns on his right , and tho other brigade , , undor Mojor-General Eyre , still further „ to the left , to x . threaten tho works at tho head of tho Dockyard Creek . , ; " I Lave not yet received their reports , and ahull not ,. he ebie to send them to your lordship to-day ; but . 1 j £ tf n « r ^ LJSvre was very aoriously engaged , and ho him-.. flw > wwmd « d , though I am happy to say not severely , afl $ d *! fr . P 9 S « j <»« $ j , hipisolf of a churchyard which tho enemy had hitherto carefully watched , and florae houses
¦ within the- placer * ut , - as-the town ironfr was _ not attacked , it became necessary to withdraw his brigade at night . " , - ,- The services of Sir George Brown and of Major-General Harry Jones are warmly acknowledged . A later despatch from Lord Raglan incloses a report from General Eyre , giving an account of tle » P ~ of the brigade under his command near the Garden Wall Battery , and of the holding by the 18 th regiment of certain houses during several hours . The particulars of this exploit will be found in our extract from the Times correspondent . From General Pelissier ' s despatch of the 22 nd of June , we learn that the attack was precipitated by General Mayran fancying he recognised the signal for commencement in a shell with a blazing fusee sent up from one of the Russian redoubts . It seems that he was in vain
told of his mistake . THE ACCOUNT OF THE TIMES CORRESPONDENT . The skirmishers advanced just as the general attack began , and , with some French on their left , rushed at the Cemetery , which was very feebly defended . They got possession of the place after a slight resistance , with small loss , and took some prisoners , but the moment the enemy retreated their batteries opened a heavy fire on the place from the left of the Redan and from the Barrack Battery . Four companies of the 18 th at once rushed on out of the Cemetery towards the town , and actually succeeded in . getting possession of the suburb . Captain . Hayman was gallantly leading on h p company when he was shot through the knee . Captain Esraonde
followed , and the men , once established , prepared to defend the houses they occupied . As they drove the Russians out , they were pelted with large stones by the latter on their way up to the battery , -which quite overhangs the suburb . The Russians could not depress their guns sufficiently to fire down on our men , but they directed a severe flanking fire on them from an angle of the Redan works . There was nothing for it but to keep up a vigorous fir 8 * from the houses , and to delude the enemy into the belief that the occupiers -were more numerous than they were . Meantime the Russians did their utmost to blow down the houses with shell and shot , and
fired grape incessantly , but the soldiers kept close , though they lost men occasionally , and they were most materially aided by the fire of the regiments in the Cemetery behind them , which was directed at the Russian embrasures ; so that the enemy could not get out to fire down -on the houses below . Some of the houses were comfortably furnished . One of them was as well fitted up as most English mansions , the rooms full of fine furniture , a piano hi the drawing-room , and articles of luxury and taste not deficient . Our men unfortunately found that the cellars were not empty , and that there was abundance of fine muscat -wine from the south coast of the Crimea , and of the stronger wines , perfumed with roses and mixed with fruits , which are grown in the interior
in the better sort of houses . The troops entered the place about four o ' clock in the morning , and could not leave it till nine in the evening . The Russians blew up many of the houses and set fire to others , and , when our men retired , the flames were spreading along the street . The 18 th Regiment lost two hundred and fifty men . In the middle of the day , Captain Esmonde wrote to General Eyre to say that he required support , that the men were short of ammunition , and that the rifles were clogged . A sergeant volunteered to creep back with this letter ; but , when he reached the place where the general ought to have been , he found that the latter . had been obliged to withdraw owing to his wound , and he therefore delivered tho document to Colonel Edwardes . As there
was no possibility of getting support down to the troops , Colonel Edwardes crept down along with the sergeant and got into the houses to see how matters were going on . The officer in command , on learning tho state of the case , ordered the men to keep up tho hottest fire they could ; and meantime they picked up tho rides and ammunition of the killed and wounded , and were by that means enabled to continue their fusillade . The 9 th Regiment succeeded in effecting a lodgment in the houses in two or three different places , and held their position , as well as tho 18 th . A sergeant and a handful of men actually got possession of the littlo Wasp Battery , in which there -were only twelve or fourteen Russian artillerymen . Thoy fled at tho approach of our men ; but , when the latter turned round , they discovered they were quite unsupported , and tho
Russians , seeing that the poor fellows were left ulone , came down on them and drove them out of tho battery . An officer and half-a-dozen men of tho same regiment got up close to a part of the Flagstaff Battery , and wore advancing into it when they , too , saw that thoy were by themselves , and , as it was futile to attempt holding their ground , thoy retreated . About fifteen French soldiers on their left aided them ; but , as they were likewise unsupported , thoy had to retire . Another officer with only frwolvo men took one of tho Russian Rifle Pita , bayonctted those they found in it , and hold possession of it throughout tho day . Meantime , while those portions of tho 5 th and 18 th , and parties of tho 14 th and 28 th , wore in tho houses , the dotuchmonts of tho same regiments and of tho 88 th kept up u hot lire from , tho Cemetery on tho Russians in tho battery and on tho sharpshooters , all tho time boing exposed to a
tremendous fire of bullets , grape , , . The loss of the brigade , under such circumstances , couW not but be extremely severe . One part of it , separated from the other , was exposed to a destructive fire in houses , the upper portion of which crumbled into pieces or fell in under fire ; and it was only by keeping in the lower story , which was vaulted and well built , that they were enabled to hold their own . The other parts of it , far advanced from our batteries , were almost unprotected and were under a constant mitraille and bombardment from guns which our batteries had failed to touch . THE AKMISTICE ON THE 19 TH . An armistice was demanded by the Allies on the 19 th ; but , though ultimately granted by the Russians , they took a long time to make up their minds . The Times correspondent remarks : —
" It was agonising to see the wounded men who were lying there under a broiling sun parched with excruciating thirst , racked with fever , and agonised with painto behold them waving their caps faintly or making signals towards our lines , over which they could see the white flag waving , and not to be able to help them . They lay where they fell , or had scrambled into the holea formed by shells ; and there they had been for thirty hours—oh ! how long and how dreadful in their weariness ! An officer told me that one soldier who was [ close to the abattis , -when he saw a few men come out of an
embrasure , raised himself on his elbow , and , fearing he should be unnoticed and passed by , raised his cap on a stick and waved it till he fell back exhausted . Again he rose , and managed to tear off his shirt , which he agitated in the air till his strength failed him . His face could be seen through a glass ; and my friend said he never could forget the expression of resignation and despair with which the poor fellow at last abandoned his useless efforts , and folded his shirt under his head to await the mercy of Heaven . ' . . . Most of our dead seemed to lie close
to the abattis of the Redan , and many , no doubt , had been dragged up to it at night for plunder ' s sake . Colonel Yea's body was found near the abattis on the right of the Redan ; his boots and epaulettes were gone , but otherwise his clothing was untouched . His head was greatly swollen , and his features , and a fine manly face it had been , were nearly undistinguishable . Colonel Shadforth ' s remains were discovered in a similar state . The shattered frame of Sir John Campbell lay close up to the abattis . His sword and boots were taken , but the former is said to be in the Light Division Camp . It is likely he was carried away from the spot where he fell up to the ditch of the abattis for the facility of searching the body , as he could not have got so far in
advance as the place where he lay . Already his remains were decomposing fast , and his face was much disfigured . Captain Hume , his attached aide-de-camp , had the body removed , and this evening it was interred on Cathcart ' s-hill—his favourite resort , where every one was sure of a kind word and a cheerful saying from the gallant brigadier . It was but the very evening before his death that I saw him standing within a few feet of his 'own grave . He had come to the ground in order to attend the funeral of Captain Vaughan , an officer of his own regiment ( the 38 th ) , who died of wounds received two days previously in the trenches , and he laughingly invited one who was talking to him to come and lunch with him next day at the Clubhouse of Sebastopol . "
THE NAVAL BIUGADE . Despatches from Sir Edmund Lyons and from CoV tain Lushington , relative to the operations of tho Naval Brigade on the 18 th , have been received . Captain Peel , of the Leander , who led one of the storming party of sailors , and who was shot through the arm , is mentioned with the highest praise . Lieutenant Thomas O . Kidd , of the Albion , was killed . Nine seamen were also killed ; forty-seven were wounded ; and one is missing . Captain Lushington reports the bursting of one of the 95 cwt . G 8-pounders , which caused the death of four men and wounded three .
From another despatch of Admiral Lyons , we learn a few particulars of tho nightly attacks by the ships on tho defences of Sebastopol on tho 16 th and 17 th of June , ns a preparation for tho assault . It was on the second of theso occasions that Captain Lyons received his death-wound , and not while reconnoitring Kafiu , us at first stated . Ueing seriously lacerated in tho calf of tho left leg by a shell , Admiral Lyons waa obliged to send him to Therapia Hospital . Ho was in his thirtysixth year . On tho same night , throo of tho seamen wore killed , and thirteen wore wounded .
THUS UALTIO . Admiral Duiulas , in a despatch dated Juno 21 st , encloses a communication from Admiral Seymour , giving an account of his examination of tho Bay of Narva . A few hours' firing was interchanged between tho fortguns on tho one hand , and tho ships and gunboata of the expedition on tho other . Only one casualty occurred . — " William K . Scarle , Captain Royal Marines , contusion of left side of choBt from nplintor . " Tho defences of tho place having boon ascertained , and it being evident that no attempt could bo made on tho enemy's position , tho uhipH withdrew .
Wo quoto tho annexed from tlua Times Duntzig correspondent , writing on Juno 2 » th : — , , ..,.., " Tho subject which forma at tho present moment tho
Untitled Article
[ round shotand shell THE LEADER . No . 37 g , Satubpay , » YW __ : — ' ' '» ' ¦ - ' —* - ———¦«—~^*~^^ m .. .. _ . J _! . „« . __ J _ T . _ , i
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 640, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2098/page/4/
-