The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

THE CAMP AT ALDERSIIOTT.

FROM the daily-increasing force of militia centred
here the camp at Aldershott is gradually resuming
that military status which the drain of troops for
India threatened seriously to reduce. The strength
of the force now collected in camp amounts to some
9,000 men, and as the Southdown and Limerick
regiments are expected in camp next week the effec-
tive force will be raised to about 11,000 men. With
such a force General Knollys is enabled to resume,
on a small scale, and on fine days, those manoeuvres
which last year rendered Aldershott such an attrac-
tion to the public. On Wednesday a grand field-day
was held; the scale of operations was large, and the
forces of the camp were mustered for a sudden gene-
ral attack upon a neighbouring military institution—
the Cadets' College at Sandhurst. This plan in-
volved manceavres of all kinds, and required the
assistance of the three branches of the service; and
as the first step was a march of some seven or eight
miles, the whole force was under arms in camp by
eight o'clock. The troops were in heavy marching
order, each man carrying so many rounds of blank
cartridge, and apparently a good many rounds of
ammunition of a more pleasant kind in their havre-
sacks. Some waggons accompanied the troops with
barrels of beer for their further support during the
fatigue of the attack. There were several regiments
of infantry, a strong force of artillery, with the sixth
battalion of the Military Train, and part of the first
battalion, in all between 7,000 and 8,000 men. But
the force in appearance looked far more imposing,
occupying a good two miles of country road.
The whole force marched from camp along the
road to Farnborough, and so ou through Frimley to
Sandhurst, where it strived shortly before eleven.
The day was unusually fine, the sun bright and
clear, the air keen but bracing, and the mists that
lay about in and among the trees and valleys only
added greater variety to the picturesqueness of the
scene. A very large concourse of visitors trom the
surrounding neighbourhood had assembled in the
grounds round the college, which were freely thrown
open to all comers, and from which the best view of
the proceedings could be gained.
lne attacking force outnumbered the cadets
nearly fifty to one for the latter, who were divided
into three companies, were not 200 strong, and were
only assisted by some fifteen or twenty cavalry, with
a party of engineers to work their four small guns.
The nature of their position may be soon told. The
large sheet of ornamental water in front of the
college terminated at either end in a broad and deep
canal, crossed by several bridges, which of course
formed the keys of their whole position, and was de-
fended on the right, left, and centre. The left was
the main point of defence. It was defended by a
chevaux-de-trise and abattis, in rear of which again
was a strong work called Adams's redoubt, strength.
ened with a stockade and mined with a heavy charge
of powat.r. In rear of all was the 01(1 Flagstaff Bat-
tery, the cadets'last resource and rallying point. The
plan of attack was a feint on the right of the college
position at Forest-lodge--a real attack on the left at
King's bridge, to be followed and supported by an
attack on the centre from Yoik Town.

The affair commenced with a skirmishing fire on
the right, which continued for some time, now rising
to the noisy dignity of a regular fusillade, and then
again dropping to a mere random shot at long inter-
vals. Vedettes scoured about, but the nature of the
ground was against good reconnoitring, and thick
woods almost completely concealed their movements
and preparations on the right and centre. Under
cover of these, and protected by their skirmishers in
front, the main attack advanced against King's-
bridge, whets they were encountered in the wood by
the cadets, and a heavy fire instantly commenced.
This, as more and more of the camp forces came
into action, was maintained with additional vigour

1111

each moment, and at last swelled into a long-sus-
tained rattle, which instantly showed the non-pro-
fessional public where the great onset was, and
thither they flocked accordingly. The cadets made
a long fight of it, disputing every inch of ground, and
making every brake and tree a temporary lodgment
for their sharpshooters. At length the superiority
of numbers of the enemy compelled them to give
way and retire under the abattis at the
King's-
bridge. This they did in good order, still fighting
as they retreated. The shots now resounded from
every part of the wood, which was filled with a dense
smoke, amid which the masses of the enemy were
almost hidden, until, overcoming all obstacles, they
emerged on the banks of the canal in front of the
abattis and chevaux-de-frise. These held them
in check for a considerable time. While the
attack upon it was pressed with vigour, and
orders were sent to hurry up the field battery
and force it, the 4th Light Dragoons, a troop of
horse artillery, a party of Engineers, with the
pontoons and military train, and the 22nd Regiment,
were sent higher up the canal to effect a passage at
another point. A ,ew minutes after this force had
been sent off on a mission so fatal to the defenders,
the artillery came into play in the &battle, sending
its massive red streaks of flame into the very centre
of the felled trees, and scattering their leaves and
twigs like spray. At the same moment the attack
was pressed upon the centre, and now all along the
border of the lake were posted cannon, while the
woods swarmed with troops, and every gun and
Mime in the force converged upon two points and
poured a volley of flame and smoke upon the King's
and centre bridges. There were a few minutes of
terrific uproar, during which the whole college and
ground became so densely wrapped in smoke that it
was quite impossible, save for those actually with
the troops, to see what was passing. In the midst
of this scene, the whole line of the enemy advanced
a gainst the two bridges. At the centre the attack
was repulsed, amid an awful din of small arms ; at
King's-bridge it was successful the cadets
retired, and by this movement lost the day.
They fell back' into Adams's redoubt, which,
as we have said, was a very strong work, deeply
trenched and stockaded at the entrance, and which
had been mined in case of their being compelled
to abandon it. The enemy, however, after losing
some time in destroying the abattis, crossed King's-
bridge, and attacked the redoubt with artillery, while
the detached force, which had crossed higher up in
pontoons and by the Chinese-bridge, attacked it
from the other side. The redoubt became untenable,
and the cadets lit their mine and abandoned it,
retiring into the Flagstaff Battery, while the centre
and right division also fell back. To cover this
movement their handful of cavalry charged the
camp troops, which were crossing the bridges and
defiling in the open ground beyond, and compelled
them to halt and form squares in their own defence.
At the same time the mine in the redoubt blew up
with a fearful explosion, lifting a loose cloud of earth
and stones high into the air. These two checks,
however, were only temporary. The attack was
pressed with a charge of the 4th Dragoons, which
swept the open ground like a whirlwind of men and
horses, leaving a broad deep track of scattered tur-
where they bad passed. This last onset effectually
drove the cadets back to the very colonnade of the
college, whither they were pursued, when both par-
ties came to a stand, and a general delivery of all the
spare ammunition took place on all sides, and this
sulphureous climax brought the proceedings to a
close.