The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-29 00:00:00

gallants were up on the parapet of the little redoubt fir-
inc,, down into them. To prolong the conflict here would
only have caused a useless massacre, and the Sardinians
consequently withdrew behind an epaulenzent on the
other side of the river, near the aqueduct, and there de-
fended themselves till the day broke clearly, and the
attack became general. On the side of the French the
tete de pont was assaulted in great force, and carried very
soon after the enemy's first showing himself on the
ground, notwithstanding the heroic resistance of the 20th
Regiment of the line, which in one battalion alone lost 12
officers. The bridge was now izicetipiid-,Ltwo batteries of
artillery were brought across, so as to sweep the road
leading between the two heights towards Balaklava, and a
strong column was pushed on to the assault and mounted
the declivity. Strange to say, although Gen. Pelissier bad
received full warning the previous night, he refused to
believe in an attack until it actually commenced, and
consequently no dispositions were made, and nobody
was ready. The Russians had already reached the crest
of the hill, while the French were still asleep ! many
officers were awakened by the round-shot passing through
their tents ; a serjeant had his head taken off while
writing the orders of the day for the division. At this
critical moment two battalions alone of the 24 Regiment
of Zouaves held the whole assaulting column in check,
and contested the ground inch by inch till they were
forced back upon their own tents. In the meantime the
alarm was sounding, the troops got into order, the artil-

lery into position, and a vigorous onset drove the Rus-
sians down the declivity, leaving it covered with their

dead and wounded.

All this, be it well remembered, occurred in the grey
of the morning, which the smoke of the action converted
into something like positive darkness, leaving everybody
as yet in complete ignorance as to the force they had to

contend with, or the dangers they had to bear. In the

short pause which followed, however, and during which
both sides prepared for a renewal of the struggle, the
sun came out from behind the hills, the smoke rose, and
the valley of the Tcbernaya lay before us like a picture.

The tract of table-land lying at the foot of the Macken-

zie heights was covered with masses of cavalry, infantry,

and artillery. About 30 guns were ranged in a crescent
outside the bridge, and thundered unceasingly against

the French position. On the hill from which the Pied-
montese picket had been driven were crowds of men
around a battery of field artillery, which fired inces-
santly, though against what I could never clearly make

out. I must not forget to mention, however, that they
had previously shelled two battalions of Tuiks encamped

in the hollow near the Woronzoff-road, and forced them to
retire. This retrograde movement was the only part the
latter bore in the affair, but it is right to add they were un-
der arms already, in case the positions had been attacked.
The Piedmontese were drawn up in line behind a small
eminence close to the ford on the Tchorgoun road, and
their batteries on the heights to the right were vigor-

ously replying to the Russian fire ; the three divisions
of French, Camoux, Erbillon, and Faucheux were under
arms, front line a little way back from the brow of the
hill, and a great number of Zouaves were lying down
in shelter behind a small ridge. Below, on the plain,

along the hollow on which the English light horse died
so gallantly last winter, every turf beneath their feet a
soldier's sepulchre, were ranged the English and French
cavalry, squadron after squadron, extending back nearly
to the Turkish redoubts, ready to act in case the enemy
should force the Piedmontese position and attempt to
debouch upon the open ground behind. The pennons
of the Lancers fluttered gaily in long lines in the
fresh morning breeze, and when the sun rose high in

glory and poured down its rays full on the plain,
making scarlet look redder, and steel and brass brighter
and more resplendent, gilding the hill tops, making the
tents glitter, and rolling smoke and mist in great packs
up the valley towards Inkerman, the scene became one

of passing splendour as well as of passing interest. We
looked in breathless anxiety for the renewal of the con-

flict. The combatants had taken breath—their blood was

up, for hundreds on both sides lay already stark and stiff

on river side around the bridge, and the artillery evi-

dently was simply playing an interlude till the curtain
rose upon another act in the tragedy.
We were not kept long waiting. From behind the cloud

of smoke which naturally hung around the Russian batte-

ries came two large columns of the enemy, marching in
quick t,,ine, about 200 yards apart and exactly parallel, a

short distance from the river, and in aline with the bank.

As they wound and twisted, mounted and descended, fol-
lowing the inequalities in the ground in long compact

masses, their bayonets glancing in the sunlight they looked
exactly like two huge serpents, creeping rapidly along,
their scales glistening, and their prey in sight. On ar-
riving within about eight hundred yards of the ford, one
halted, and the other turned off abruptly towards the
river. It was evident they were about to assail the
French position more to the right, on the side next the
Sardinians. On reaching the water, some passed on
Ismail bridges, hastily thrown over, the rest forded, and
on gaining this side the column broke into loose order,
and pushed on towards the canal, or aqueduct, which
rises within an embankment at the very foot of the hill.
Before reaching it they had to traverse about 200 yards
of smooth green sward ; they were no longer exposed to
the French artillery, because the guns could not be de-
pressed sufficiently to reach them, but they had their
flank turned to that of the Piedmontese, who had got the
range to an inch, and fired with an accuracy little short of
marvellous. The head of the column had hardly come
up dripping from the water, when they found themselves in
the midst of a storm of round shot, grape, and shell,
bent upon relentlessly, unrelaxingly, mowing them down
by the score, and covering the survivors with clay and
gravel. But I must do these survivors justice, and say
that they bore up right gallantly, marched firmly on-
ward and upward, passed the canal, though the water
was breast high, pushed some yards still on the precipi-
tous side of the hill, though here every wound was mor-
tal, for all who fell rolled helplessly downwards into the
aqueduct, and were instantly drowned ; but at last
halted, turned, and fled—never stopping till they reached
the river, where they got shelter under the banks and
amongst the old willows. An officer remained for some
time alone on the declivity, vainly urging them to fol-
low him. Reinforcements now came up from the se-
cond column ; they re-formed, but again in loose open
order, or rather no order at all, for they marched
exactly like a flock of sheep. This was done evi-
dently so that they might present less mass for the
artillery to play upon, but it was a great mistake, as
will be seen afterwards. This time they displayed more
pluck and resolution ; they fell to be sure by the dozen,
but they never wavered nor faltered, climbed on slowly

and laboriously, and at last reached the crest of the bill,

and came out on the level. When the head of the eo.
lumn attained this point, the Zouaves, who were lying
down behind the ridge on the Russian left, jumped up
and ran off to join the main body, posted near the artil-
lery on the centre of the plateau, and at the same mo-
ment the whole of the French, the artillery included,
retired about a hundred yards before the advancing
enemy. The firing had ceased except broken and puny
file-firing from the assailants, who now, unable to form
in line, and mixed up in disorder, doubtless perceived
they should have either mounted in line, or halted and
deployed before coming out on the open ground above.
For some moments I thought the French were about
to give way and retreat, and the Russians be-
come masters of the height, but I was soon con-
vinced of my mistake. One could see them, it Is true,
falling back on all sides, and closing up into a small
round mass, but in the twinkling of an eye this mass
opened out like a fan, two black lines shot from it on
each side across the plateau, the centre closed up, di-
vided itself, and the next moment a sheet of flame broke
from the whole line, followed by a cloud of smoke, and
the crash of the musketry fell on our ears in a long, con-
tinuous, unfaltering whirr, like the roar of a waterfall,
drowned every second by the mightier thunder of the
artillery, which had made half a wheel to the right, and
raked the crest of the hill with a tempest of grape.
Strongly as one's sympathies might be engaged for the
French, it was impossible to repress for a moment a sen-
timent of pity as one looked upon the crowd of Russians
looming out through the smoke, as it rolled across them,
feebly returning the fire, unable to advance, afraid to
retreat, ten thousand death in front—ten thousanosed
for
behind—help and hope nowhere. They
paeedily re-
-1 a few seconds, seemed to hesitate, but
should pursue by the advance of the
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remained there for some minutes, until two bat-
talions of Piedmontese came out upon the plain, and
throwing out skirmishers advanced upon the river. The
Russians now retired in haste, and not in very. good
order, skirmishing as they went, until they reached
the high ground on which their cavalry and the
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might have cut them up completely.
I`.lajor Grovac, the second on the Sardinian etat-
mnjor,, accordingly brought down their four squadrons,
but the colonel objected to charge in face of the Russian
cavalry force, fully five thousand in number, unless he