The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-06 00:00:00

SURGEONS' WORK AT THE REDAN.

An acting assistant-surgeon of the 55th has sent
home, in a letter to his father, a vivid account of the
duty he had to perform during the assault on the
Redan. It may be taken as an example of the trying
work which his class had to perform, and of the
noble manner—we have no doubt—in which they
executed it :

SATURDAY, SErr. B.—C awoke me about daylight;
tremendously cold morning; had a cup of tea; went round
hospital, and then marched off with regiment to parade-
ground, where we waited a long time, having started too
soon. At parade, General Codrington gave a short address,
informing us that we were to act as supports to the storm-
ing party—an important duty which would, he doubted not,
be well performed—that we were to occupy the fourth
parallel, moving gradually into the fifth, then to enter the
Redan, and insure the possession of it to the stormers.
So off we marched down the middle ravine. My staff con-
sisted of Carmodie and two bandsmen, as orderlies, car-
rying my havresack, rum-barrel, dtc. I marched beside
Burke, our adjutant, at the head of the grenadier company.
As we went along I gathered that the French were to
attack the Malakoff at twelve o'clock, and that their
standard, planted on the tower, and the English flag on the
Mamelon, were to be our signal of attack upon the Redan.
On we went through the ravine to the oft-trod trenches,
keeping up a smart fire, to which the Russians replied but
seldom. On the left the bombardment was kept up heavily.
We jogged along till we got to the fourth parallel, then
gradually moved down the approach of the fifth ; now
sitting on the breastwork, speaking over the coming event
of the day, then moving on a little. Being with the gre-
nadier or flank company, I was next to the light company
of the 30th, and went along talking with its officers—
among others Colonel Patullo, who not long after was
brought to me mortally wounded, and Sanders, who was
also severely wounded. Gradually we reached the end of
the approach, where it joins the fifth parallel, and at that
corner most of us of the bsth and 30th were talking
together with General Warren, all keeping a sharp looa-out
at the Malakoff as far as possible amid the rifle-bullets that
were flying about from the Redan. We were now on the
tiptoe of expectation, for our guns had commenced such a
fire as I never before heard—volleys of eight and ten at a
time, which, being fired from behind, passed but a few feet
over our heads, tearing up the earthworks of the Redan in
grand style; the French, too, opened 'a tremendous fire
from the Mamelon. At twelve o'clock exactly " There go
the French ! " was heard ; in a moment we were all up on
the breastwork, thinking nothing of the round-shot and
grape that came bounding and whizzingabout us, throwing
up earth and stones, smashing gahions and knocking down
men. It was a splendid sight to see the French rushing
up the steep aide of the Malakoff; we saw it but a few
minutes, as all was soon obscured in smoke, but high
above we could distinguish the French standard waving
over the Malakoff Tower, and it was pleasanter still to see
the Russians rushing helter-skelter out from the works
down to the Redan. It was sharp work, for at twenty
minutes past twelve our signal was up—a white flag—on
the Mamelon. Colonel Cuddy saw it first, and rushed off
to the head of his men; so we all shook hands and moved
down the trench as fast as we could, for our attacking
party had passed out of the sap and we saw them rushing
on the Redan. Many a fine fellow was cut short in his
career across the open by the grape shot, which came in
fearful volleys. I kept up with my regiment as well as I
could, for the wounded falling around me kept me back. I
bound them up and then made a run after the regiment till
arrested by others, and so on till 1 got to the end of the
sap which led to the open. To go further was useless,
already there was such a crowd of wounded around, so I
took up my position there—no enviable one, for grape and
shot came bounding among us wounding those beside me ;
two riflemen fell dead almost on the top of me ; I had
plenty to do, and time passed without my knowing how it
flew—l was so busy. Cure, our major, was one of the first
officers who came to me, a grape-shot breaking his arm ;
then Richards, one of our captains, struck on the ancle by
grape. He wanted to go back, but I would not let him,
nor could he if I had, for he fainted when I had him laid
on the breastwork. Officers and men came crowding on,
mowed down by the grape from the flanking fire which
rushed over and among us, throwing up dust and stones,
which dealt us no gentle raps. I was struck twice, once
on the back, by, I think, a grape-shot, but I had no time to
look, and once on the foot by a rifle-ball, both "smatters,"
but that was all. I was too busy to observe anything that
was going on, so, except the first rush, I saw nothing, I
may say, of the attack. While I was hard at work among
the wounded, the soldiers arouni cried out, " Doctor, you
must get out of the way, they are retreating!" so I looked
up and saw our men rushing helter-skelter into and over
the open to the trenches in the rear of us. I did not
exactly know what to do, so I drew my sword (which, by
the way, got very bloody that day, but not with Russian
blood), and went on with my dressing till I had finished
all about me, and then thought of moving off. I could
not leave poor Richards, as we all expected the Russians
to be in among us every minute, so there was nothing for
it but to put him on my back and carry him, which I did