The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

guns, which were only spiked with wood, and were soon
rendered fit for service.

The close of the battle is thus related by the cor-
respondent of the Herald:—
Our men had fallen back so far that the two•gun Lan-
caster battery, which was erected to command the harbour
and shipping in Sebastopol, fell into the enemy's hands.
They spiked and dismounted both the guns, and, pushing
forward on our left, tried to cut off the whole body of our
men from the advancing French succours.

The tight was now quite among the tents of the 21 and
light divisions. All the canvas of the tents was cut and
blown to pieces by the storm of shot and shelL But at
this spot the tide of fottnne turned. The enemy were now
completely out of the bush which had screened and shel-
tered them ou their advance, and upon fair ground they
stood no chance with our men. Our regiments halted,
extended their line to the left, and commenced sit tre-
mendous file-fire. The enemy, in disorder, hardly returned
a shot, but stood their ground, and fell by hundreds and
hundreds. Thrice they moved up stolidly to break our
line on the left, and were met each tune by terrible volleys
of musketry, until they closed iu, when our fellows charged
and massacred them at the point of the bayonet. The for-
tune of the day still hung doubtful. The enemy were get.
Ling up all their strength for a final effort, when Caurobert
came up with three regiments of Zouaves, five regiments of
French infantry, and a strong force of artillery, and com-
menced a terrible attack on the enemy's right flank.
This occurred at about eleven o'clock, and from that
moment the Russian chance was hopeless. Yet., though
under the French fire they were literally falling by bat-
talions, they never showed the least signs of trepidation or
disorder. On the contrary, they formed up iu the most
beautiful order, altered their front so as to meet the attack
of the French, and, extending their line to the left, pre-
pared to resume their attack upon the English. At that
time, however, our men were well prepared, and, without
any order or arrangement, flung themselves headlong upon
the enemy, charging with the bayonet, which the
enemy met for the first time. The Russians now boldly
charged with the bayonet also, and for the space of five
minutes the 30th, 41st, 40th, Kith, and six or seven Russian
regiments were stabbing, beating, and fixing at each other
in the most fearful manner. At last the enemy gave way,
and began retiring in good order across towards the Inker-
man heights. Until I saw it, 1 never in my life could
have believed that any troops in the world could have
roiled under such a murderous fire in such perfect order.
The French and English, with a whole mass of artillery,
followed close upon the retreating battalions, pouring in
volley after volley of grapeshot, shell, and musketry. In
fact, it was a perfect carnage. Yet in spite of tins the
enemy kept their order, retreating almost at slow time,
and every five or ten minutes halting and charging
desperately up the hill at our men and the French. In
these charges the Russians lost fearfully. We received
them with volleys of musketry, and then dashed at them
with the bayonet. In one of these charges the 50th
French regiment of the line recaptured the two guns
which in the commencement of the day we had lost. By
half-past two o'clock the great mass of the enemy bad com-
pletely fallen back, leaving between 7,000 and 8,000 dead
upon the field behind.
During the whole battle, Lord Raglan and staff
were in the front of the troops, and in the very
thickest of the fire. So hot was the cannonade and
musketry round his lordship that no one can under-
stand how he escaped uninjured. An 8-inch shell
came roaring and hissing along the ground, passed
right between the legs of Lord Raglan's horse, and
exploded behind him and the staff. They were
covered for the moment with dust and smoke, but
fortunately escaped unhurt. Major-General Strang-
ways was killed close behind Lord Raglan. When
raised from the ground he was perfectly calm and
collected, and appeared not to suffer in the least.
His thigh was fractured near the hip joint, and the
brave old soldier looked at the mangled limb with
perfect composure, saying he knew the wound was
mortal. He died in about half an hour after the
amputation was performed. Sir G. Cathcart, who
was only a few paces in front of Lord Raglan, was
shot through the heart, and fell from his horse a
dead man.

The conduct of the Coldstream Guards should
immortalise their name. They fought literally to
the death. They went into action with sixteen
officers and about 400 men, and out of this small
number had eight officers killed, five wounded, and
upwards of 200 rank and file killed and wounded.
The Grenadiers and Fusiliers also performed pro-
digies. On the whole, the brigade of Guards lost
thirteen officers killed, fifteen wounded, and 530 rank
and tile, out of about 1000 men engaged. The
Coldstreams charged the enemy at the point of the
bayonet eleven times. At each time the Russians
crossed bayonets and fought fiercely, but were
slaughtered like sheep by our gallant fellows. After
the battle, the three battalions of Guards barely
mustered 1,000 effective men.
After the Guards, the 2nd and 4th divisions have
suffered most. The 95th and 30th Regiments are
the principal sufferers, having lost most of their
officers and men. The unfortunate 23rd Regiment
of the light division, which was so terribly cut up
at Alma, has again lost heavily. The 20th and 55th
Regiments of the 4th division have lost many men
and officers, as well as the 41st, 47th, and 49th
Regiments of the 2nd division.