The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-01 00:00:00

1855.

DESPATCH FROM GENERAL PELISSIER

The Monileur of yesterday publishei the follow-
ing despatch from General Pelissier to the Minister
of War. It is dated July 17
"Monsieur le Marochal,—For some time the besieged
had not ventured from their works, except to reconnoitre
and examine by a few men as far as possible our works
of approach. In the night, between the 14th and 15th,
as I have already had the honour to announce to you
summarily by telegraph, they attempted a bold stroke
against the left of our advanced works against the
Malakhoff. You are already aware that it did not suc-
ceed. We have crowned with a strong gabionade the
quarries situated between the Brancion redoubt (IVlame-
lon) and the Malakhoff tower, thus forming a continu( us
line, the right of which is secured on the Careening
ravine by a large place d'arnies, and the left of which is
well defended by good ambuscades near the Karabelnaia,
ravine. A temporary ambuscade, occupied only by a
few skirmishers in holes, was made on the extreme left,
with a view to attract the enemy's fire.
"This line, the centre point of defence of which is the
Brancion redoubt, was occupied, on the right, by Lieu-
tenant. Colonel Granchette of the 49th of the line, with
three battalions of his regiment, having the 4th Chas-
senrs-a-Pied as a reserve.

" Lieutenant-Colonel de Chabron, of the 86th, com-
manded the left, consisting of a battalion of his regiment
and of the 91st of the line. Forty Yoltigeurs who had
occupied the ambuscade on the left received a support
during the night of 200 picked men of the 91st, com-
manded by Commandant Teillier. The first battalion of
the 100th Regiment, placed in the parallel, was to act,
according to circumstances, either. on the right or on
the left. Finally, the Karabelnaia ravine was strongly
occupied i❑ the rear by a battalion of each of the two
regiments of the Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, and
by 200 marksmen of the 100th of the Line.
" The commencement of the night, which a stormy
sky and no moon rendered obscure, offered nothing par-
ticular, but about one o'clock in the morning a consi-
derable sortie took place against the English lines,
though without result. Half-an-hour later a Russian
column, five or six battalions strong, advanced by the
bottom of the Karabelnaia ravine, and debouched on our
left. Our skirmishers in the temporary ambuscade fell
back, as they were instructed to do, and gave the alarm.
" They had scarcely done so when on came the Rus-
sians with loud hurrahs, and keeping up a well sup-
ported fire of musketry. They were received at fair
distance by a fire equally energetic, and despite their
efforts they could not get near our works. By half-
an-hour they renewed their attacks, but without suc-
cess. Finally, crushed by our fusillade and by the well-
directed fire from two of our batteries they were com-
pelled to retreat, carrying away their killed and wounded,
and abandoning in front of our gabionade muskets, ac-
coutrements, and five killed, one of whom was an officer.
" The loss of the enemy must have been considerable.
Ours, happily, was small, for during the 24 hours' duty,
and including this combat, the Motterouge division,
which was on duty, only lost 20 men killed, and 94
wounded.

" These excellent results are due to the bravery and
firmness of the troops, to the good arrangements made
by the General of Brigade Uhrich, on duty in the
trenches, as also to the energy of Lieutenant-Colonel de
Chabron, and of Commandant Teillier, of the 91st, both
of them excellent officers.

" I have this moment received the reports of General
Bosquet on a new sortie attempted by the Russians last
night.

-"
The enemy, having vainly attempted, as your Ex-
cellency has seen, to stop on the left our approaches
against the Malakhoff, tried to drive us back ou the
right. They were brilliantly repulsed by General Can-
robert's division, which was on night duty in the Vic-
toria Attacks, as also by a portion of the battalions of
the Guards.

"At dusk, General Vinoy, who was on duty in the
trenches, thought he saw some movement of the enemy
towards the Malakhoff. In fact, the Russians had pre-
pared two sorties, one against our left (already attacked
on the night between the 14th and 15th), which was a
false attack, the other on our right, which was the real
,one. Towards the middle of the night the besiegers ad-
vanced with loud shouts. Their attempts on our left
were of short duration, but the sortie against our right,
which left the Little Redan,e was a serious one, and thrice
did the enemy charge our ambuscades on the right.
These ambuscades were occupied by a company of Gre•
nadiers of the 20th of the line, supported by some Zouaves
of the Guards. On the first attack, these troops, aided
by the working parties of the 52d of the Line and the
Sappers of the Engineers, made a valiant resistance
without falling back, and forced the Russians to re-enter
the place under the fire of their musketry, and that of
two field-guns of our battery No. 30.
"Anticipating a new attack, General Vinoy had placed
his reserves, supported ,by a detachment of Zouaves of
the guard, sent by General Espinasse.
"'this attack was not long waited for ; the Russians
arrived very close, but were so warmly received that
they were again compelled to retreat, leaving a number
of slain upon the ground. A third time the enemy re-
turned to the charge without more success, and finally
left us masters of this small but precious battle-field.
"Commandant Cardonne, recently promoted to the 27th,
Captain Duran, of the 20th Grenadiers, Lieutenant
Chazotte, of the Zouaves of the Guards, gave proofs of
brilliant valour in this series of engagements, as also
Captain Segretain, of the Engineers, Aide-de-camp of
General Frosssrd, who was present, and who greatly
contributed, with the working parties of the 52d and his
brave Sappers, in supporting the brunt of the first attack.
"During the night between the 14th and 15th such of
our batteries as were favourably placed contributed to
the success by their excellent firing. The artillery of
the English batteries near our lines of attack as usual
gave me their support by sending a well-directed fire of
projectiles into the Malakhoff.

"In proportion as the enemy gave way and retreated,
the fire of the artillery of the place and of the batteries
on the other side of the roadstead increased, until it
finally attained intensity.
"Despite this vigorous cannonade and a close fire of
musketry, dur losses are not considerable, and, as far as
we can form an estimate, those of the enemy must
amount to some hundred men placed hors do combat.
As regards ourselves, we had, during the 24 hours, 23
killed and 77 wounded. Among the latter we regret to
number Colonel Adam, of the 27th (bullet in the left
shoulder), and Commandant Boissonner of the Engineers
(bullet above the knee).
"In these two combats every man ably did his duty.
I cannot enumerate to your Excellency the names of all
the officers or men who distinguished themselves ; the
limits of this despatch deprive me of that satisfaction ;
but I shall shortly beg of you, M. le Marechal, to obtain
his Majesty's sanction for the recompences I purpose
awarding to those who, among so many brave men,
showed themselves the most deserving of them.

"Nothing remarkable has occurred on the other
points of our attacks. The efforts of the enemy only
interrupt our works during the combat ; as soon as it is
over we resume them, and they are pushed forward with
activity and perseverance.
" PELISSIER, Commander-in-Chief."

OFFICIAL DESPATCH.

(From last Evening's Gazette.)
ADMIRALTY, JULY 30.

A despatch, of which the following is an extract, has
been received at the Admiralty from Rear-Admiral the
Hon, R. S. Dundas, Commander-in-Chief of her Majes-
ty's Ships and Vessels in the Baltic :
Extract of a letter from Rear• Admiral the Hon. R. S.
Dundas to the Secretary of the Admiralty, dated
Duke of Wellington, at Nargen, July 23 :
I have the satisfaction of transmitting a copy of a re-
port which I have received from Captain Yelverton, de-
tailing the circumstances under which, with the Cossack,
Magicienne, and Ruby in company, he has again: availed
himself of an opportunity to attack, with good effect, a
position occupied by troops of the enemy, assembled in
considerable force, for the defence of Frederickshamin ;
and I have much pleasure in submitting to their lord-
ships this additional proof of the zeal and gallantry of
the officers and men under his orders, and of their good
conduct, especially of Mr. H. G. Hale, mate, and crew
of the Ruby gun-boat.—l have, &c.
(Signed) R. S. D UNDA.S.

Enclosure in Admiral Dundas's Letter,
Her Majesty's ship, Arrogant,
off the Crops Islands, July 22, 1855.
Sir,—l have the honour to inform you that, on leav-
ing the fleet, I proceeded off the Island of Hogland,
where I was joined by the Cossack, Magicienne, and
Ruby gun-boat.

Information having reached me that the enemy had
sent 3,000 troops to Frederickshamm, and were making
every possible exertion to put the place in a state of de-
fence, I lost no time in getting there.
I arrived on the afternoon of the 20th, mad would
have attacked them that evening, bat that the Ruby got
on shore in examining the intricate channel leading to
the town, and it was too late to take the ships in by the
time she was off.

Early the following morning I succeeded in getting
the ships up to the town, and at 9.40 we opened fire.
After an engagement of one hour, the enemy ceased fire
and abandoned their guns, some of which were dis•
mounted.

If I judge by the number of men we saw them carry-
ing away on stretlhers they must have suffered severely.
I am happy to say the injury on our side has been
trifling, though our hull bears evidence of the precisio❑
with which they fired, but generally speaking their shot
fell short.

I regret to say that one man belonging to the Ruby
was dangerously wounded by a round shot.
I must not allow this opportunity to pass without
mentioning Mr. Hale, Mate, Commanding the Ruby
gun-boat, who, together with his gallant crew, deserve
the highest praise for the way in which they worked
and fought their long gun, so close to this, that I had
an opportunity of observing the precision of their fire.
One portion of a suburb caught fire and was destroyed,
but I am happy to say the town remaining uninjured,
owing to the strict observance of an order I gave to fire
on the fort only.

I beg to enclose a list of casualties.
I have, &c.,
H. R. YELVERTON, Captain.
Rear-Admiral the Hon. R. S. Dundas,
&c. &c. &c.
List of Casualties on board her Majesty's ship Arrogant,
and Ruby gun-boat, attached at present to the Arrogant,
on the 21st of July, 1'55, during an attack on the
enemy's battery at Fredericksiniuni .

WOUNDED.
Arrogant—John Feast, A. 8.. slightly
Ruby—Edward Quinn, A. 8., dangerously
y William
Brandon, Ord., severely.
Approved.
(Signed) JOHN GALLAGHER, Surgeon.
(Signed) H. R. X,ELYERION, Captain..