The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-04 00:00:00

LETTERS FROM THE CRIMEA.

EXTRACT FROM THE LETTER OF AN
OFFICER AT SEBASTOPOL.

We have now been more than two months at this
work, and I had hoped era this that Sebastopol would
have fallen, but it still holds out, with every propect of
doing so for some time yet. Indeed, nothing but-the
bayonet, I believe, will take it, and the sooner we make
our assault the better, for it is quite impossible that; we
can go on much longer the way that we are doing. Yon
will expect sae to give some descriptieß of Sebastopolebut
it is not easy to do so without reference to a map. Our
position, then, before the place is as follows :—At ;the
distance of perhaps half a mile from the Careening Bay,
in a south-easterly direction, stands a round tower, or
rather what was one formerly, for our artillery have
battered it all to pieces—around which the Russians
have thrown up extensive earthworks, armed with ship
guns. This tower was originally whitewashed, hue' the
Russians, like cunning fellows as they are, painted it a
deep dun: colour, the better to remark the earthworks
which surround it, and which they have faced lately
with abettis, or stakes and boughs of trees driven
into the ground. Fronting this, and in a direct
tioa near'y south south-west, we have thrown up a
heavy battery of 21 guns, to which we have given the
name, in compliment to our gallant Allies, of " French-
' man's-hill." This battery is distant, perhaps, 1,200
yards from the dockyard creek, along the front of
which the Ru-eians have thrown up a large earthwork
in the form of a right angle, called a redan, and an-
other, to which our engineers have applied the name
of " Barrack Battery." Next to Frenchman's-hill,
awl on the opposite side of a deep ravine running down
into the dockyard creek, is another heavy battery,
denominated " Green-hill," beyond which the French
lines commence, which extend from that to "Arrow
Bay "on the sea. Fronting the French lines, from
which they are distant now only four or five
hundred yards, the Russians have thrown up two heavy
earCiworkfe called, in the language of the camp, the
" Summer-house and " Flag-staff" batteries. These
terminate the chain of Russian earthwOrks, but they
have a large stone battery on the extreme right near the
sea, which is likely to give the French some trouble be.
fore it is taken. Beyond Frenchman's-hill and more-to
the right we had another five gun battery of 68-pound.
ors, commanding the left face of the Round 'Tower,
but they have removed four of the guns to Green-bill,
where they have done great execution to the barracks and
thehouses on that side of the town. When first we opened
fire the RuSsians had a large three-decker, called the
Twelve Apostles, moored in the dockyard creek, at the
mouth of the ravine between Frenchman's-bill and
Greenhill batteries, but they soon shifted it out of that
to prevent its being set on fire, which it would have
been to a certainty had it remained in the same place
Since then also they have concealed all their shipping in
the Careening Bay, at the back of the Round 'rower,
where they are effectually hid from observation, and
protected from the fire of our guns, unless a stray shot
goei near them. The entrance of the harbour is only
eight hundred yards across, and is defended on the north
side by forts Constantine and Catherine, and on the south
side by forts Alexander, St. Nicholas, and Paul, mount-
ing I should be afraid to say how many guns,. but you
may be able to form some estimate of their number
when I tell you that fort St. Nicholas, which is the
largest, mounts 192 alone. Above Fort Constantine,
and on the north side, is a small fort., which the navy
have given the name of the " Wasp's Fort," anl a large
earthwork called the "Star Fort," which I expect will give
us some trouble to take, even after this side is taken,
unless we can starve the garrison out, which we
shall certainly attempt. The Russians have a
large army assembled there, with which they made an
attack on our right flank on the sth of this; month,
where the camp of the Second Division, Sir "de Lacy
Evans's, rests on the valley of Inkerman. This action,
to which Lord Raglan has given the name of "the
Battle of Inkerman," is the severest that we have had
yet, more so than Alma, as it began at 7 o'clock in the
morning, and raged without ceasing until 4 in the after.
noon. lam afraid to say what our losses have been,
but that of the Russians is variously estimated, from
12,000 to 15,000, which is rather under than
above the mark, incredible as it may seem.
The Russians had at least fifty thousand men en-
gaged that day, and brought up nearly a hundred
guns to bear upon our position, consisting chiefly of 24
and 32-pounders, which put our modest little field-pieces,
so to speak, to the blush. However, two 18-pounders
which we brought up late in the day did good execution,
and mowed down their crowded ranks like corn before
the sickle. Indeed I never saw such frightful carnage
in my life, not even at Alma, when the 28d lost
so many, and could not have believed it possible
that the dead could lie so thick together, if I bad
not witnessed it with my own eyes. As fur the
numbers of muskets and bayonets, brass caps, great-
coats, cartoucieboxes, cartridges, grapeshot, cannon-balls,
fragments of shell, and dead horses lying upon the
ground, they ex .eeded all calculation. The Russians evi-
dently came for a lengthened stay on the heights, as they
brought up a quantity of faseines and gabions to entrench
themselves with, in which design they wore grievously
disappointed, and had to leave them all behind when
they retired, besides 4 ammunition waggons, which we
found filled full of shot, and purpose sending back to
them the next time we meet. If ever they had a chance
of thrashing us it was then, as a dense fog hung about
the hills, which enabled them to get their guns into
position; and to assemble their forces unperceived, yet ne
people ever failed more completely.
The 2d Division was taken first by surprise, and had
hardly time to seize their arms and to fall in before the
enemy was upon them. To add to their confusion, when
they came to discharge their arms, net more than
one in five would go off after the wetting of the previous
night, when it rained in torrents. However, they held.
their ground like trumps until the other Division came
up, and succeeded in inflicting severe loss upon their
opponents, who had been led to expect that they, would
meet with little or no opposition from us. The Empe-
ror's two sons, Constantine and Nicholas, were both on
the ground, but took precious gond ,care, I have no
doubt, not to expose themselves more than they could
help. My regiment was one of the first up, and upon
being ordered to charge, dashed forward with such spirit
that we got completely surrounded. Fortunately, a
panic seized the Russians, who ran away like a flock of
sheep, and we were enabled to return in comparative
safety, or we should have been cut to pieces. As it was,
we lost a fifth of our numbers, but were the
means of saving four of our guns which the
artillery had already abandoned as no longer ten-
able. The- hardest fighting decidedly was around a
two gun-battery on the extreme right of our line, where
I counted five hundred dead Russians in a space that yon
could hardly put fifty. The Coldstreams, who defended
this position, had eight officers, and I don't know how
many men, cruelly butchered, in cold blood, by the Rus-
sians, after they had been left wounded on the ground,and
consequently could do nothing to defend themselves.
Most of the prisoners were found to be quitedrunk, which
is a common practice of the Russians to give them false
courage ; however it did not answer, if they expected
them to gain the victory. Another practice, too, of
theirs is to station battalions in the rear with orders to
fire on those in front in case they attempt to run back,
which was done both at Alma and Inkerman—so at
least their deserters declare. The troops that we fought
at Inkerman were very different to those we met
at Alma, who were really fine able-bodied men,
with light hair and eyes, and high checked
bones, vary like the Scotch, whereas__ the former
looked half starved, and had the moat villaneue
expressions of countenance. Many of them had come
all the way from the Danube, and had been three
mouths nn the march. They are still encamped on the
other side of the Inkerman valley, but are not likely to
renew their attack on that quarter, which the French
are ,busy fortifying. A battalion of Freach rendered
material assistance at Inkerman, and drove the
ff
Russians before them like cha before the wind,
since which our men can never ineet them with-
out shouting, " Bravo la France!" to which the
others say, "le brave Anglais." The silence and
gloom of our encampment contrasts strongly with
the noise of theirs, which is often enlivened by the
strains of one of their military bands. The fact is, when
we landed in the Crimea all our instruments were left
on board ship, and the bandsmen being required to carry
about stretchers for the sick and wounded, it has not
been thought worth while to send for them. I could.
relate many amusing anecdotes of the sailors 'who have
camps next ours, but must leave theta to another oppor-
tunity.