The Press. — London, England, 1855-09-01 00:00:00

826 open ground behind. The pennons of the Lancers fluttered gaily in long lines in the fresh morning breeze, and when the sun rose high the scene became one of parsing splendour as well as of passing interest. We looked in breathless anxiety for the renewal of the con flict. The combatants had taken breath—their blood was up, and the artillery evidently was simply playing an interlude till the curtain rose upon another act in the tragedy. We were not kept long waiting. From behind the cloud of smoke which hung around the Russian batteries came two large columns of the enemy, marching in quick time, about 200 yards apart and exactly parallel, a short distance from the river, and in a line with the bank. As they wound and twisted, mounted and descended, follow ing &he inequalities in the ground in long compact masses, their bayonets glancing in the sunlight, they looked exactly like two huge serpents creeping rapidly along, their scales glistening, and their prey in sight. On arriving within about eight hundred yards of the ford, one halted, and the other turned off abruptly towards the river. It was evident they were about to assail the French position more to the right, on the side next the Sar dinians. On reaching the water, some passed on small bridges hastily thrown over, the rest forded, and on gaining this aide the column broke into loose order, and pushed on towards the canal or aqueduct, which rises within an embankment at the very foot of the hill. Before reaching it they had to traverse about two hundred yards of smooth green sward ; they were no longer exposed to the French artillery, because the guns could not be depressed suffi ciently to reach them, but they had their flank turned to that of tne Piedmontese, who had got the range to an inch, and fired with an accuracy little short of marvellous. The head of the column had hardly come up dripping from the water, when they found themselves in the midst of a storm of round shot, grape, and shell, beating upon them relentlessly, unrelaxingly, mowing them down by the score, and covering the survivors with clay and gravel. But I must do these survivors justice, and say that they bore up right gallantly, marched firmly onward and upward, passed the canal, though the water was breast high, pushed some yards still on the precipitous side of the hill, though here every wound was mortal, for all who fell rolled helplessly downwards into the aqueduct, and were instantly drowned ; but at last halted, turned, and fled—never stopping till they reached the rivet, when they got shelter under the banks and amongst the old willows. An officer remained for some time alone on the declivity, vainly urging them to follow him. Reinforcements now came up from the second column; they re-formed, but again in loose open order, or rather no order at all, for they marched exactly like a flock of sheep. This was done evi dently so that they might present less mass for the artil lery to play upon, but it was a great mistake, as will be seen afterwards. This time they displayed more pluck and resolution; they fell to be sure by the dozen, but they never wavered nor faltered, climbed on slowly and labo riously, and at last reached the crest of the hill, and came out on the level. When the head of the column attained this point, the Zouaves, who were lying down behind the ridge on the Russian left, jumped up and ran off to join the main body, posted near the artillery on the centre of the plateau, and at the same moment the whole of the French, the artillery included, retired about a hundred yards before the advancing enemy. The firing had ceased except broken file-firing from the assailants, who now, un able to form in line, and mixed up in disorder, doubtless perceived they should have either mounted in line or halted and deployed before coming out on the open ground above. For some moments I thought the French were about to give way and retreat, and the Russians become masters of the height, but I was soon convinced of my mistake. One could see them, it is true, falling back on all sides, and closing up into a small round mass, but in the twinkling of an eye this mass opened out like a fan, two black lines shot from it on each side across the plateau, the centre closed up, divided itself, and the next moment a sheet of flame broke from the whole line, fol lowed by a cloud of smoke, and the crash of the musketry fell on our ears in a long, continuous, unfaltering whirr, like the roar of a waterfall, drowned every second by the mightier thunder of the artillery, which had made half a wheel to the right, and raked the crest of the hill with a tempest of grape. Strongly as one's sympathies might be engaged for the French, it was impossible to repress for the mo ment a sentiment of pity as one looked upon the crawd of Russians looming out through the smoke, as it rolled across them, feebly returning the fire, unable to advance, afraid to retreat, ten thousand deaths in front—ten thou sand more behind—help and hope nowhere. They paused for a few seconds, seemed to hesitate, but were speedily re lieved from all embarrassment as to the course they should pursue by the advance of the French, whose cheer rang merrily through the morning air as they levelled their bayonets and rushed to the charge. The Russians gave one " hurrah," as if they intended to come up to the scratch, but instead of suiting the action to the word, they wheeled about and flung themselves down the hillside in complete disorder, the Sardinian artillery again playing upon them as before. Some hundreds threw down their arms and surrendered to the French, sooner than run the gauntlet once more across the aqueduct and the river. The remnant of the column got under cover on the other side of the stream, and remained there for some minutes, until two battalions of Piedmontese came out upon the plain, and throwing out skirmishers advanced upon the river. The Russians now retired in haste, and not in very good order, skirmishing as they went, until they reached the high ground on which their cavalry and the reserve of their artillery were stationed. During the pursuit the Piedmontese made some pri soners. The moment was propitious for a charge of cavalry, who might have cut them up completely. Major Grovac, the second on the Sardinian etat major, accor dingly brought down their four squadrons, but the colonel objected to charge in face of the Russian cavalry force, THE PRESS. fully five thousand in number, unless he were supported by French or English. A message was accordingly sent to General Maurice, the French general commanding the cavalry, requesting him to push forward a body of his men in the rear of the Piedmontese, but he declined, alleging that he had positive orders not to pursue, having returned a similar answer to a similar request on the part of General Erbillon, who commanded on the heights. The greater part of the Russian artillery now retired, followed up for a short distance by the French Chasseunt de Vincennes : the cavalry then advanced in an immense line, forming a crescent, from out of which issued three guns, which tired away to protect the retreat, till the last column had wound its weary way up the road to Mackenzie's Farm, or disap peared amongst the hills towards Tchionlion. Nothing now remained but to visit the field of battle, on which the Zouaves had already descended like vultures, and were removing everything portable. The scene which presented itself on the banks of the river, below the canal, was something fearful beyond description, much more fearfel than the ordinary horrors of a battle-field. The canal itself was choked with dead, most of whom had doubtless fallen into it living, after rolling down the hill side, and found repose in its muddy waters ; broken muskets, bags of bread, cartridges, or dark-red stain on the white chalky gravel, often alone marked the spot where the men first fell. On towards the bridge the dead lay thicker and thicker. On the banks of the river about it, and in the river itself, they were " heaped and piled," mostly fine men, in the prime of life—many with a vies: grognard air, which bespoke long years of service. Nearly every one had a brandy-bottle, either actually in his hand or lying near him, or broken under him in his fall. I was riding with a Polish officer, who conversed with a great many of the wounded, who informed us that large quan tities of brandy had been served out to the soldiers before the action, except the artillerymen. There were a great many small platforms lying about, some resembling ladders with the rungs very close, and carried by rope-slings at tached to each end, as bridges to be thrown across the aqueduct. The great majority, however, passed without them. Some very fine rifles, quite new, and now seen for the first time, were found on the field, but were instantly taken possession of by the military authorities, and the sale prohibited. The Russian divisions engaged were the sth, 7th, 12th, and 17th, most of them belonging to different corps d'armie. One bad never been under fire before, and bad made a rapid march from Backtchi-Serai and rested eight hours before the attack. One man, who fell high upon the hillside, assured us that he was in the last battalion of the reserve, and that every single soldier had been sent down from the heights ; so that had we pursued them we might have gained the Mackenzie ptateau along with them, and held it. Prince Gortschakoff commanded in chief, and General Martinaloff the assaulting columns. The whole force, including cavalry and artillery, is calculated at 60,000 men. Theme were sixty guns in the field, There were only ten or twelve officers left on the ground, which proves that a great number must have been carried off in the retreat. The Piedmontese have lost 300 men killed and wounded ; amongst others, General Monte Vecchio, commanding one of the brigades, who was shot through the body, and was not expected to survive through yester day. The French have about 1,100 men hors de combat. I was standing at the bridge while the French were col lecting the wounded from the other side, and placing them in the ambulances. The Russians could see perfectly well what they were about, from the Mackenzie heights, and nevertheless had the barbarity to fire from one of their bat teries right into the crowd on the road. A scene of great confusion ensued ; the ambulance mules galloped off, causing the wounded they were carrying to shrink with pain. It was little short of a miracle that no one was hurt by the shot, which continued to be fired at intervals during the whole day. The Times correspondent writes on the 18th ult : The attack has not been renewed, and the French have been for the last two days busy in bringing in the wounded Russians, and burying the dead. Up to yesterday evening 1,800 wounded and prisoners have been brought in. The number of dead, of whom I have not heard any official es• timate, cannot be less than from 1,200 to 1,500. Of course the bridge and the banks of the aqueduct are the spots most crowded with them The latter is quite choked up with them, so that it has been forbidden to water the horses from it for fear it should be injurious to their health. The French had three divisions engaged—the Division Faucheux to the right, the Division Erbillon in the centre of the bridge, and the division (Camoux ) on the left; their loss is about 1,000 in dead and wounded. The Sardinians had only one division engaged (the division Trotti ), and suffered very little loss—a few hundred men : but they have to regret the loss of a distinguished general officer, the Brigadier General Count Monte Vecchio, who is severely wounded and not expected to live. Not protected by any intrenchmenta except that small ipaulement near the bridge, which, moreover, could be turned on all sides, our gallant allies, although taken by surprise, showed once more that the Russians have no chance against them in the tield—that they must remain behind their earthworks, and be protected by siege guns, in order to establish a kind of equilibrium with the allies. It is worthy of remark that the greater part of the Russians were old soldiers, scarcely one under 35. According to the account of the prisoners, many of them came from Baktehi-Serai, and they had to attack without resting after their march. They had all large quanti , ies of bread in their foraging sacks hung across their shoulders, but no knapsacks. The official despatches which have been published in London and Paris furnish a few additional par ticulars, and give the authentic results of the battle. I General Simpson thus reports to the War-on ce SATURDAY, Before Sebastopol, August 18. In my despatch of the 14th inst., I informed your lord. ship that I had reason to believe at the Russians would attempt, by a vigorous attack, to force us to raise the siege. This they endeavoured to do on the morning of the Nth, but the result was most glorious to those of the allied troops who had the good fortune to be engaged. The action commenced before daylight, by a heavy column of Russians, under the command of General Li prandi, and composed of the 6th and 17th Divisions, with the 4th and 7th Divisions in reserve, attacking the advanced post of the Sardinians. The ground occupied by them is on commanding hills on the right of the position, on the left bank of the Souhid river, where it forms its junction with the Tschernaya, with two advanced posts on the opposite side. These were held with very determined gallantry for a considerable time, but being separated from their supports by the river, mid not having the protection of artillery, they were com pelled to leave the most advanced one. About the same time, the bth and 12th Divisions, to which was added a portion of the 17th, advanced against the bridge of Tractir, held by one batallion of French infantry of the line, who were for a short time obliged to yield and fall back upon the main au; orts ; with these however, they quickly retook the bridge at the point of the bayonet. Again the Russians attacked with persevering courage, and were enabled to follow up their advantage by gaining the heights which rise precipitously on each aide of the road : their success was but momentary ; they were driven back across the river, leaving the ground covered with dead and wounded. The Russian general, in no way daunted by the failure of his two attempts, ordered a second column, of equal force to the first, to attack ; they advanced with such im petuosity, covered by the fire of their numerous artillery, that a third time the bridge was carried, and the heights above it crowned, but they were again repulsed and retired in great confusion into the plain, followed by the bayonets of our gallant allies. The general officer who commanded the Russian column, and who is supposed to be General Read, was killed, and in his possession was found the orders for the battle, signed by Prince Gortschakoff, who commanded in person. From these it would appear that it was a most deter mined attempt to force us to raise the siege. Had they succeeded Balaklava was to have been attacked by one portion of their army, whilst the heights on which we now are were to have been stormed with the other ; at the same time a vigorous sortie was to have been made from the town on the French works on our extreme left from the Quarantine, and another on the works on our extreme right on Mount Sapoune. The action which I have endeavoured to describe is moat glorious to the arms of the French and Sardinian troops. To meet the force of the Russians the former had but 12,000 infantry, and four batteries of artillery engaged, the latter had 10,000 men in position, 4,500 actually engaged, and twenty-four pieces of cannon. The Russian force consisted of from 50,000 to 60,000 men, with 160 pieces of artillery, and cavalry to the amount of 6,000. This disparity of numbers will readily explain to your lordship the difficulty that would have been experienced had au attempt been made to follow up the advantage by a pursuit. The Russian retreat, moreover, was protected by the fire from the heavy guns in position on the Mackenzie heights. The loss sustained by the Russians is estimated at be tween 5,000 and 6,000 men, including 600 prisoners, while on the part of the allies it does not amount to more than a thousand men. This brilliant affair has caused the greatest delight amongst the ranks of the allied evilly ; and while it adds fresh lustre to the gallant achievements of the French arms, it is with the utmost pleasure that I have to record the intrepid conduct and gallant bearing of the Serdinian troops, under General de la Marmara, who have for the first time met, conquered, and shed their blood against oar common enemy, who is now disturbing the peace of Europe. Captain Mowbray's battery of 32-pounder howitzers was placed in advance with the Sardinian troops, and did most excellent service in preventing the advance of the enemy's artillery. Our cavalry, under Lieutenant-General Sir J. Scarlett, K.C.8., was placed in the plain of Balaklava, prepared to take advantage of any circumstance that might present itself, but the opportunity did not arise for calling upon their services. regret that I am unabled to give a more detailed account of the part performed by the Sardinians, as up to this time I have not received General de la Marmora's report. JAMES SimrsoN, General Commanding. General Pelissier, after the victory, issued the sub joined General Orders to his army, which were re published in the Moniteur on Wednesday:— Soldiers,—Yon fought valiantly on the 16th of August, and punished the Russian army for its adventurous attempt against our positions on the Tschernaya. Your victory does not the less worthily celebrate the fete of your Emperor that it was won the day after St. Napoleon. Nothing could be more gratifying to his great soul than the new laurel with which you have decorated your eagles. Five divisions of Russian infantry, supported by • numerous artillery and considerable masses of cavalry, presenting an effective of about 80,000 men, made an effort against our lines. The enemy counted on driving you from them, and rolling you back on the plateau of the Chersonese. You confounded his presumptuous hopes. Ile failed on his whole line of attack, and the Sardinians on your right showed themselves your worthy emulators. The bridge of Tractir was the theatre of a glorious struggle, that covers with glory the brave regiments who took part in it. 4%.