The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-28 00:00:00

THE FALL OF SEBASTOPOL.

Further particulars.
SEBASTOPOL, Sept. 14.—For the last two days I
have passed several hours each day in riding over
the whole of the city and batteries. Sebastopol, as
you know, is divided into two parts by the Dock-
yard Creek. The city (properly so called) is very
large ; its houses, public buildings, and churches
were for the most part nearly new, very handsome,
and built of a clean white stone. They are now
all crumbling, smoking ruins. The streets were
wide and planted with trees. Its forts—large case-
mated buildings constructed for three tiers of guns
facing the entrance of the harbour—were also very
handsome and solid, but are now in ashes.
On the other side of the Dockyard Creek (sepa-
rated from the city) the public buildings, docks,
quays and basins are on a scale of still greater
magnificence. These buildings, although much
shattered by our shells, are still standing, the
enemy having, I believe, failed to explode a mine
under them, owing to their hurried departure.
Here were collected vast stores of clothing and
other military materials.
As an instance of the frightful loss the Russians
must have sustained in men during the last bom-
bardment and assault, I may mention that one of
these vast ranges of buildings proved to have been
a hospital. On entering it our people found about
1,000 dead bodies lying in their beds ! The horror
of this scene far exceeds any I have ever witnessed.
They were evidently the bodies of men who had
been brought down from the batteries as they fell
wounded, but so rapid must have been the accu-
mulation that the medical men were overpowered
with numbers, and thus these poor creatures were,
unheeded, left in their beds to die. Many must
have been dead for days, and, horrible to relate,
among them a few were found still alive ! This
number, of course, excludes the hundreds and
thousands who were found lying in all parts of the
works after the assault. I cannot help feeling a
pity for the enemy now in their discomfiture, and
admiring them for their heroism in defending their
much beloved city. I have heard that a Russian
officer (a prisoner) said, "If our men only knew
how to fight as they know how to die, they would
be the finest troops in the world !"
Around the great buildings on the eastern side
of the Dockyard Creek was a town of small houses,
called the Karabelnaia suburb, once probably oc-
cupied by artisans and mechanics. Such is a short
and hurried account of the general features and
appearance of the city.
I will now give you some description of the
works which were thrown up for its defence. They
are all on the same plan—an earthen rampart of
amazing thickness, revetted with gabions and fas-
eines ; a ditch cut out of the earth—which, being
rocky, stood at a high angle—about 20 feet deep,
and even more, at the most vulnerable points. In-
side these works the enemy, having had plenty of
time to work, and knowing the fearful effect of our
vertical fire from mortars, had constructed numer-
ous and thick traverses, and under these traverses
were large bombproofs, some used as magazines,
the'rest as dwelling-houses for the defenders ; in
fact, all along, inside the terre-piein of the work,
were deep holes in which their men could find
shelter. These bombproofs were most solidly con-
structed, sometimes of masonry, but chiefly of large
beams (taken from the wrecks of their ships), and
covered with earth. Such was the general nature
of their works. Their guns were of heavy
calibre, and the gunners were perfectly sheltered
from musketry by rope mantlets. But the Rus-
sians did not stop here. As soon as they found
that any point in particular was threatened by
the advance of our sap they immediately com-
menced a second and inner line of works at that
point. This second line was equally well made,
and mounted with small carronades and field guns.
At the Bastion du Mat, which you will remember
was long the point to which the French directed
their attention, there were no less than four lines
of these inner works, one behind the other. This
will give you some slight idea of the perseverance
and activity of the enemy in anticipating and pro-
viding against an attack on any particular paint.
The circuit of these works is enormous, and I fancy
they had always about 40,000 men or more ready
to defend them. When you consider that when
we first arrived hardly a vestige of any of these
works existed, you will consider they deserve still
more credit for their exertions.
The general plan of these works was a series of
redans (with indented flanks), open at the gorge.
They only deviated from their plan in one instance
and it was, in my opinion, their ruin--I mean at
the Malakhoff works. So anxious were they about
this spot, and so fearful of its being turned and
taken by the rear, that they made here an enclosed
work, with a ditch all round of 20 feet. Now, in
the first place, the whole of the interior of the
work became by these means so encumbered with
traverses that there was little room to concentrate
large masses of troops, in addition to which you
will perceive that, if once taken it became a citadel
for the captors ; and so it proved.
I will now proceed to give you a short account
of the general assault of the place. It was ordered
to be attempted at four points—the Redan du
Carenage, Malakhoff, Great Redan, and (on the
town side) the Bastion Centrale. The Redan du
Carenage was attacked with immense force by the
French ; they got in, but, in spite of all their
efforts, the second line of entrenchments stopped
them, and they failed. The Great Redan had
been so terribly pounded by our artillery that
the ramparts had crumbled away into the ditch
and partly filled it. It was not very difficult to
get in, and our men did it easily ; but, once there,
they found themselves in a wide open space, and
were torn and driven out by works in the rear ;
and, unless we could have poured in thousands
upon thousands, the place could not have been
held, and as for intrenching in open day, with
columns of the enemy constantly coming up, it
• was impossible. Our men held it for some time,
_ but only by lying along on the outside of •the
rampart. The French attack on the Bastion.
Centrals failed altogether. Now with regard to
the Malakhoff. The French formed their troops
in trenches within 25 yards of it, swarmed in in
thousands, took it, and, once established, they
poured their masses through it down into the
small houses of the Karabelnaia suburb ; and here,
skilful in street fighting, they persevered in the
most heroic way. The Russians, true to their old
policy and mode of warfare, had previously pre-
pared even for the worst. Finding the key of
their position gone, they set fire to the city in
and by means of the bridge and steam-
boatsmpaarntlged to convey their whole army across
the night to the north side. They then
du everyr g
blew up all they could, destroyed their bridge,
sunk their men-of-war, and when the morning
came we found ourselves in possession of a burning
I ruin!

" After crossing the cemetery," says a letter to
the Semaphore de Marseilles, " where there is still
a chapel riddled with balls and bullets, I entered
Sebastopol through an enormous breach made in
the central bastion. A large fortified wall protects
all this side of the town ; within it lies a suburb
composed of small houses, which were no doubt
occupied by various small tradesmen. This suburb
gradually descends towards the water ; four streets
converge to a sort of platform, connected with a
little bridge, which enabled the inhabitants to cross
a street below when violent rains transformed it
into a torrent. In this small space I counted 68
shells that had not burst, and balls. We then
proceeded to the street and boulevard which bear
the name of Catherine ; it is the elegant quarter
of the town ; all the houses have but one storey,
are very neat, and are surrounded with gardens.
There is not one that has not received at least a
ball ; they are completely gutted ; all the furni-
ture, such as mahogany bedsteads, chests of drawers,
writing-desks, ikc., were lying about the street.
I remarked a considerable number of pianos, many
prints (most of them rather licentious), and, what
is very extraordinary, portraits of the Emperor
Napoleon and the Empress Eugenie. The whole
of this quarter rises in amphitheatre just op-
posite Fort Constantine; the theatre is untouched;
it is a pretty white building. When I passed by,
the scenes were lying outside against the wall.
The church called St. Catherine's, a Doric temple,
with a gilt pediment, has also suffered very little.
In this quarter not a soul was to be seen ; the
streets were deserted, the houses completely aban-
doned ; and it made one melancholy to see these
vast solitudes. Tito whole town is now peopled
with only 2,000 French soldiers, who are encamped
in the streets. General Bazaine, who has been ap-
pointed governor of the place, occupies a pretty
house, pierced like the others with three or four
balls. In Catherine-street is a house, which was
occupied as a tavern, the doors have been torn
down, and the soldiers have written on a board,
Entrcz sans frapper. The soldiers amuse them-
selves with playing at pitch and toss, and shooting
at cats, which aro the only inhabitants of the town.
Most of the houses have a storey underground,
where artisans had their shops. From this quar-
ter we went down to the quays. The nearer
one gets to the port the greater is the number of
barricades. The Russians evidently intended to
have defended Sebastopol street by street, for at
the top of every street is a wall of large stones, two
metres in height, behind which small pieces of
artillery were placed. On the quays, which are
wide and planted with trees, it was more difficult
to enjoy one's walk, as the Russians still occupy
Fort Constantine opposite, and every three minutes
they threw either a shell or a ball at the people
who were walking about ; an Englishman was

killed in that way ten steps off from where I was
standing. From this quay, and as far as the docks,
we may distinguish the mast-tops of the Russian
fleet rising above the water ; it has all been burnt
and sunk, with the exception of a small steamer on
her beam-ends at the corner of the military port.
The streets are actually covered with projectiles
of every description. The docks have suffered
considerably from our fire : skirting them was
a quarter of the town, set apart most likely
for workmen and invalids ; it is now a shape-
less mass of ruins. Nothing in the town has been
destroyed by us ; our artillery has only ruined
what was indispensable ; it was the Russians
who, during their retreat, sprung an enormous
number of mines, and we are finding more daily.
Even on Monday and Tuesday, the 10th and
11th, there were explosions every moment, and
many fell victims to their curiosity. A Rus-
sian colonel, they tell me, was killed at the mo-
ment that he was stooping down to fire a new
mine while hurriedly retreating. Since then our
firemen have thrown water over all the suspected
spots, andiht out all the fires. Our soldiers be-
haved well during the first hours of the occupation ;
they did not then pillage to any very great extent,
and allowed inoffensive men, women, and children
to retire unmolested. Afterwards they spread
over the town, and, you may be sure, took very
exact inventories of all that could be turned to any
use. Thus, I met a soldier carrying off an enormous
mahogany bedstead for firewood. To conclude, the
general aspect of Sebastopol is heartrending : no-
thing but ruins, blackened walls, and gutted
houses ; the ground strewed with projectiles and
broken or spoilt furniture. But few visitors in the
streets ; not a cry, not the slightest noise denoting
a living city—all is. mournful and silent. Tlie
Russians are shut up in Fort Constantine ; their
camp extends beyond Fort Sivernaia. There is a
rumour that they are about to evacuate the
north ; but, in order to make them do so sooner,
General d'Herbillon is to attack them on the side
of the Tchernaya with 70,000 men. Our fleets are
still opposite the Quarantine Harbour, and, as soon
as the entrance into the great harbour is cleared,
they will enter it, and then, if the Russians have
not yet evacuated the north, the fleets will cannon-
ade Fort Constantine on one side and harass them
on the other, and that part of Sebastopol will then
soon be in our power." . ,

(Front a Correspondent of La Presse.)
Before Sebastopol, Sept. 15.
The Malakhoff was constructed mainly for the
purpose of protecting the neighbouring works, and
lived, it must be said, a little on its credit. The
two faces were singularly constructed at their
coping ; the embrasures were formed by enormous
pieces of ship timbers, having between 70 and 80
centimetres square surface and right angles ; owing
to their lateral position relatively to our fire they
had remained intact, excepting the first of each
file. These embrasures play a curious part in the
assault.

The Yinoy brigade, consisting of the 20th and
27th Regiments of the line, and the Ist brigade of
the same division (Ist battalion of foot Chasseurs,
_ _

lit Zouaves, and 7th of the Line), dashed resol
lutely into the ditch, their special duty being to
act on the two flanks. It was found that the ditch,
which they had imagined very deep, was not so
throughout its whole extent ; in several spots the
Russians had met with rock, and had not been able
to work with sufficient freedom so as to blast it.

These rocks presented jagged points, and their
roughness aided our brave soldiers, who thus
quickly gained the level of the embrasures, and
scarcely used their ladders.
There, by dint of their dexterity, they managed
to slip in, some by seizing the bayonets held against
them, others by clutching the mouths of the very
guns. To explain how all that was done is not so
easy, and one of these heroes declared to me yes-
terday that he did not clearly recollect how he had
got in. One thing is quite certain, and that is,
that they took the bull by the horns.
The Russians did not expect this furious attack ;
their officers have since admitted as much. The
soldiers had just been taking their meal ; their plat-
ters, bread, and wooden spoons covered the
ground. The gunners of the front were driven back
at the first rush, and they didnot stand their ground;
they retreated to the centre of the work, and dis
appeared behind the traverses. At the flanks, on
the contrary, the gunners made a stand, resisted
vigorously, and were killed fighting bravely at their
guns.
This first step taken, our soldiers found them-
selves confronting traverses of earth tolerably high,
running into one another, where the men could
only advance by a step at a time in following a
winning course under the enemy's fire. This way
appeared to our soldiers too long and dangerous.
With that marvellous instinct that distinguishes
them they soon found another way, which the
Russians had not thought of.
Instead of attacking these intricate defences,
they turned them by running along the embra-
sures, bounding like roebucks from one battlement
to the other, at the risk of falling down a frightful
precipice. In this way, to the great amazement of
the Russians, they reached the centre of the posi-
tion, and fell on them with fixed bayonets.
The attack was perfectly successful.
To the right of the Malakhoff, visible from our
trenches, runs a curtain connecting the tower with
the Little Redan of the Careening Bay. The at-
tack on the Little Redan was confined to the 4th
division of the second corps, General Dulac com-
manding the brigade Saint-Pol (17th battalion of
Foot Chasseurs, 57th and 83d Regiments of the
Line), and the brigade Brisson (10th and 61st Re-
giments of the Line) ; the attack on the curtain,
intersected by a postern, was entrusted to General
Bourbaki, who had under his orders, if I am not
mistaken, the second brigade, second division of
the reserve corps, 15th and 93d Regiments of the
Line, and also Zouaves. There was likewise the
brigade Ponteves, Mellinet's division of the Guard,
consisting of the Chasseurs and the 2d Grenadiers
of the Guard. The Voltigeurs of the Guard of
the old Uhric brigade obeyed General Marolles.
It was there that the combat was the hottest,
and where we suffered three-fourths of our total
loss in generals and soldiers.
The fire that received them, directed from four
points at once, was dreadful ; the grape ploughed
through the ranks, without, however, stopping the
advance of the columns. Having reached the foot
of the work, they found themselves met by a steep
slope, so abrupt that they could only scale it in
front by means of ladders ; but others found an
ascent, up which they climbed and rushed to the
left along the Redan way.
On this side the curtain bastion thundered on
the assailants. General Marolles was in the fore-
most ranks of the:Grenadiers, and fell ; he was not
found before the evening, under pile of dead
bodies.
At this place General Bourbaki had been equally
unfortunate. He was struck on his breast by a
spent ball, and vomited blood. General Ponteves
and General Bisson were wounded at the Redan.
General Saint Pol fell, shot through the heart.
Almost at the same instant General Ponteves,
whose shoulder had been already broken by a mus-
ket ball, received another in the spine. Generals
Bisson and Couston fell, and General Bosquet him-
self, stationed in the sixth parallel, 200 metres off
the curtain, had his shoulder splintered by a bullet.

The writer of a letter from before Sebastopol,
the 14th, given in the Courricr de Marseille,
says—
Without entering into details, which you will have
had in the official despatchv, I will mention a few little
facts which I consider authentic. It was about eleven
o'clock that General Pelissier, with all his staff, pro-
ceeded to the Brancion Redoubt, and there took up his
position for the purpose of giving orders. Being in my
own battery at some distance from that spot, I did not
see the general, but I am informed that nothing could
exceed his composure and sang froid. General M`Ma-
hon's division had been duly provided with portable
bridges and ladders, but they threw them down
as they rushed On the Malakhoff, end climbing up, no
one can say how, to the parapet of the formidable forti-
fication, overcame the Russians everywhere, and in a
few minutes (eleven, it is said, from the moment that the
signal to advance was given) were masters of the posi-
tion. Soon after, the English made their attack on the
Great Redan, and everywhere established themselves on
the works. The Little Redan was at the same time at-
tacked by the French troops, and almost immediately
occupied ; but the enemy then seeing the Malakhoff and
the Great Redan occupied, made a tremendous effort to
regain the Little Redan, and sent forward vast masses of
troops to attack the men who held it. I can still see
them advancing in serried columns, like the waves of a
sea, up the slope leading to the works. It was in vain that
the French fought with the most determined valour
they bad not sufficient space to deploy in, and there-
fore contended under marked disadvantage. The
French were in the end obliged to give way, without,
however, ceasing to fight ; and then the Russians made
an immense attempt to regain the Malakhoff. There,
however, their attack failed, as General M‘Malion was
firmly established there. Indeed, ho felt himself so
much so, that he wrote to the General-in-Chief the fol-
lowing lines lam in the Alalakhoff, and certain to
maintain myself there.' Then the Russians fell back
towards the right, and reinforced the columns which
were attacking the English in the Great Redan. The
English were here exposed to a terrific fire—from the
batteries of the barracks, from the vessels in the har-
bour, and from the northern side ; and after an hour's
heroic resistance began to give way. The General-in-
Chief, seeing the manner in which the English were
pressed, sent forward a column from the Malakhoff on
the flank of the Russians. This column, led by General
Marolles, was dashing forward, when a formidable ex-
plosion behind the tower arrested its advance, blowing
up into the air the head of the column and its brave
leader, not a morsel of whose body, uniform, or arms