The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-03 00:00:00

were generally serious, many of them being occupied
in writing home in case of their death, while a general feeling
of •relief prevailed in those regiments which were not fixed
upon for the assault. About eight o'clock, p.m.;there was a
tremendous fire of musketry on the right, which broke in
upon the occasional roar of cannon almost as- suddenly as a
clap of thunder, which for a moment it almost resembled. It
was caused by the Russians threatening to make a sortie on
the Mamelon. This continued with unabated. violence for ten
minutes, and then died away almost as •suddenly as it had
began. A general order appeared in the evening, exhorting
the regiments to keep their order, and not to -scatter when an
an entry Iliad been effected, which showed that success was as
positively expected at head-quarters as elsewhere. The regi-
ments-were to parade at one o'clock, a.m. The cavalry, at
two &clock, were stationed at about twenty yards apart
across the whole of the line, immediately "in front of the
camps, to prevent any one passing down to see the assault.
The plan of operations was as follows :—The French
were to attack the Malakoff Battery, six regiments of the 3rd
Division, viz., the 9th, 14th, 18th, 28th, 38th, and 44th, were,
at the same time, to assault the Garden Battery, while the 2nd
battalion-of the 4th Division, and part of the Light Division
were to make a simultaneous attack at the opposite angles of
the Redan Battery. I cannot give you the names of all the
different regiments engaged of these two divisions, but among
them were-the 17th, 57th, and 21st regiments of the Fourth
Division, and the 7th, 33rd, 34th, 55th, 95th, and Rifles of the
Light. The rest of the Fourth and Light Divisions were to
act as supports and as reserves, and to move up immediately
an entrance was effected. Sir John Campbell was to com-
mand the attack. It commenced about half-past two, a.m.,
and the first mistake was in the fire not having been kept
up with its full vigour during the night. In an attack, too,
of this sort, it might be reasonably supposed that a torrent of
shot would be poured on the batteries till the very moment
that our men were ready to scale them, so that not a Russian
would be able -to move from cover; but nothing of the sort
took place, and some of the Russians actually stood on the
parapet to fire at our men as they climbed over the abattis.
I will, first of all, describe the attack upon the Redan. The
men rushed gallantly on, and reached the abbattis, which was
of a very formidable description. Sir John Campbell ad-
vanced at their head—the act of a brave man, but hardly that
of a good general, as the result proved, for he was shot,
and fell dead, almost at the commencement. The men
made repeated efforts to climb the abattis, but could not
succeed, a few only getting over, and being shot in the
act. Three times did the gallant fellows rally and return
to the attack succeeding each time in climbing the abattis,
and even, some say, of entering the Redan ; but they were
without support, and were a mere handful in comparison
to the numbers within the battery. Indeed, I should say
that the whole of the regiments I have enumerated were not
engaged, each storming party consisting only of from one
thousand to fifteen hundred men, who were not supposed to
take the battery without assistance ; but Sir John Campbell
being dead, there was no one to give orders to the supports
and reserves to advance, they therefore remained inactive,
while the storming parties were almost swept away.
After the third attack alone, finding they were without
support, did these gallant fellows retire, having for half an
hour faced a perfect storm of musket bullets, round and
grape shot ; for a great many of the guns of the Redan, that
had been either silenced and replaced, or else never properly
silenced, opened upon them.
The loss cannot, at present, be accurately ascertained; it
is, however, somewhere about 1,000 killed and wounded.
Among these is Sir John Campbell, the colonels of the 57th
and 7th, and an immense number of officers. The 57th has
suffered most severely, hardly an officer escaping without a
wound; indeed, the regiment was nearly annihilated. The
34th and the Rifles have suffered also very severely. The
men are greatly disheartened ; it is their first reverse, and
all, officers and men, attribute it entirely to no support being
sent them. General Jones is wounded, but not dangerously.
I will now proceed with that on the Garden Battery. Here
the troops made a dash, took three small redoubts in the
Garden in front of it, but were unable to penetrate farther;
they have lain the whole day in the grave-yard and garden,
which are both immediately in front of it. Here they have
been exposed to a heavy fire from various quarters. The
Quarantine Battery has been playing on them, the Redan has
had a gun constantly firing at them, which has demolished
many a headstone in the grave-yard; but more than all, they
have been annoyed with grape-shot from a four-gun battery,
near the Quarantine. Their loss was stated to me by wounded
soldiers returning, to be about 100 killed and wounded. They
expected to take the Garden Battery as night came on.
The French have also failed in their attack upon the Mala-
koff Tower; they never were even able to approach it, as the
shipping threw shell and shot into them, and cut them up as
fast as they left the Mamelon. They were, I believe--
although of this I am not certain—supported by the Guards
and Highlanders, who are said to have suffered severely.
The French loss is estimated at 1,200 killed alone. They
continued their efforts until 11 o'clock, a.m. General Pelis-
sier declares that the Malakoff shall be taken cost what it
may, and I believe the same is the case with us with respect
to the Redan. I observed, in the afternoon, three three-
deckers of the Russians, moving over to Fort Constantine,
and my supposition was, that they were intended, in case of
a successful assault taking place to-night upon the Redan and
Malakoff, followed, as it would immediately be, by the capture
of the town, to open fire upon the south side. Two large
sailing-boats have been moving about the harbour all day,
apparently only for amusement; but, of course, with some pur-
pose or other, though certainly none was apparent While the
attack of the French continued on the Malakhoff, a flag was
flying there. I could not see with my glass what it was, ex-
cept to decide it certainly was not Russian. I have since been
told it was a blank flag. What the import of this may be, I
do not know ; it could hardly be that which generally attaches
to it—of no quarter. About twelve o'clock at noon, a species
of whirlwind passed over the camp, levelling some of the
tents, filling the air with dust so thickly, that it was impos-
sible to see twenty yards, besides completely blinding one
%vita. I,IIG ce %Vila Mall we paro.o. Anteica uue eyes,
even when sitting in a tent. It was succeeded by a short,
though heavy shower of rain. It is said—though with what
truth I know not—that a letter has been intercepted from
Liprandi to the Governor of Sebastopol, urging him to hold
out as long as possible, to enable him (Liprandi) to make his
retreat from the Crimea by Perekop. Some ships have
passed Sebastopol in that direction, and it is said they are in-
tended to take Perekop, and thus cut Liprandi off.
The special correspondent of the same journal, writ-
ing on the 19th, says :---
The attack commenced yesterday morning about four
o'clock, the troops having been brought up to their positions on
the previous night, in as complete silence as possible. Early
in the morning Lord Raglan and Gen. Pelissier took their
stand near the ravine facing the so-called Careening Port of
Sebastopol. The approach of the troops destined for the at-
tack was soon perceived by the Russians, who were the first to
to
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of the Chasseurs de Vincennes. To enter into all the details
of this day's memorable fight is not possible at present, for
the accounts are still conflicting, and the dense smoke arising
from the sanguinary contest prevented even near specta7
tors forming a correct idea of what was going on. Since
the siege of Sebastopol commenced there has not been a more
furious bombardment than that of the last two days, nor a
harder fought battle than that of yesterday. The Malakoff
Tower, the possession of which would have placed the fleet in
the power of the Allies, is principally an earthwork on a pla-
teau, well fortified and entrenched, with a deep fosse, and
hence its great strength. Some of the main approaches to it
are defended by the Russian men-of-war lying opposite, and,
for the most part, near the ravine to which I have previously
alluded. That fleet, prisoner as it was within the port of Sebas-
topol, did great execution yesterday, and, unfortunately, its
fire could not be silenced. Some of the outward works of the
Malakoff Tower were taken, and the French flag was hoisted
for a time, but neither the English troops, who also made
good their way into the little works of Fort Redan, nor
the French, who were near becoming masters of the
Malakoff, were duly supported, and hence the necessity of
falling back, followed by hosts of rifle balls. The most daring
bravery was manifested by the English and French divisions,
altogether some 40,000 strong, engaged more or less pro-
minently in the action. One of our gallant generals was par-
ticularly noted for his enthusiasm, as he frequently declared to
his men that he would enter Sebastopol or die.
P.S.—lt is believed that the Quarantine batteries will be
attacked in a day or two, it is to be hoped with greater
success than attended yesterday's efforts.