The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-26 00:00:00

EXT..O3( ANOTHER OFFICER

Camp above Sebastopol, Nov. 28.
We laneied from the Queen of the South last Tuesday,
and were first ordered to encamp near Balaklava, but I
had Ro sooner marched up to the ground indicated,
abor.t a mile from the bay, and got all ready for the tents,
tl-.an an orderly came up with orders that we were to
march up t• the front that night. We accordingly got
our packs on again, unpiled arms, and marched back to
the beach, where I found the rest of the detachments all
going up to the ground we had just left, and where they
passed the night. We got our ammunition served out '
to us, loaded our pistols, and began our weary march at
about twelve o'clock. Balaklays. was, I dare lay, before
the demon of war entered it, a pretty little town ; even
now its situation is beautiful—the harbour very small,
but completely land-locked with high mountains on
each side, those on the right looking up the country
occupied by the Highlanders and marines facing the
Russians ; the outposts are not a mile from each other.
We marched up the road through the valley where
the cavalry action took place on the 25th ; the road
-was most dreadful, up to the knees in mud, aid encum-
bered with dead bodies of mules, bullocks, and horses.
What a sight this place would be for some enthusiastic
member of the Humane Society ! French and Turkish
troops were marching in every direction, arabas laden
with provisions to supply the wants of the immense
army surrounding the place. Well, we proceeded on as
best we could through the mud till dark, and to every
inquiry as to how far the Third Division was, " Five
miles," was the invariable answer. As it became per-
fectly dark we began to suspect that our guide, an or-
derly of the 13th Dragoons, did not know much about
the country. At last we reached a French camp, and
asked them where the English were ! They guided us
0 a camp, and, to our great dismay, we found we were 1
among the Light Division, on the extreme right of the
whole position, about 4 miles beyond our camp. As it
could not be helped, we turned to the rig,htabout, and
again went on ; out of 120 men not more than 30 re-
mained with us, and, if it had not been for shame, I
should have laid down too. We left our baggage on the
beads in charge of a serjeant ; some men and I carried
a pack with a change of things, great-coats, eec , besides
canteen, pistols, sword, and spade. We found that a
coatee and shako is not the most convenient walking-
dress, and after more than three weeks on board ship
my first walk in the Crimea completely knocked me up.
At last we reached our camp, about 8 o'clock, after hav-
ing by our wanderings converted a march of 6 miles
into nearly 20. We got some supper, and I passed my
first night under canvas in the tent of a brother officer
who was in the trenches.

Yesterday we got no rations, and the men are suffer-
ing very much indeed from the continual exposure to
the constant wet and cold that we have had for the last
week ; their feet are never dry, some of them have no
soles to their shoes and no socks, others no shirts ' • and
I would defy any one who saw the regiments leave
England to recognise the careworn, half-starved skeletons
of which they now consist. We are encamped on a
clayey piece of ground, whioh is now mud up to the
knees • the tents are as wet within as on .the outside,
and there is, what is worse than anything else, a scarcity
of wood. We have been told that we may hut our-
selves, but how to do so without wood I know not.
Our engineers and artillery are doing nothing. The French
are pushing forward their approaches to within 200 yards
of the mad fort ; but the storm of shot and shell is
so great that it is a wonder how they exist at all. They
are magnificent soldiers. I made my debut in the
trenches last night, and marched down in silence in a
storm of wind and rain.
The trenches are very wet, and no attempt has been
made to drain them. The consequence is that we are all
standing in wet up to our knees, with no dry places to
put our firelocks. If the enemy came out, not one half of
the muskets would go off. The sight at night is most
grand, especially when you hear the shot and shell
coming close over you, not knowing whether the next
may be on your own head. We were all relieved in the
morning at eight, half dead with cold and Wet. One
poor fellow, whom we brought out in the draft, actually
did die.
Dec. 2.—The mail closes early, so I will just send a
few more lines to let you know how lam till the last mo-
ment. I was in the trenches again last night. With the
exception of a heavy cannonade on the French, which
lasted about an hour, they were pretty quiet. It did not
rain much, but the wind is now blowing north-west, and
is very cold ; the trenches and the way to them, as usual,
were deep with mud and water, so that it is impossible
to keep one's feet dry for a moment. lam better now
than I was, but still troubled with diarrhoea.
Since writing this, I have buried three unfortunate
men who died last night of cholera, and there are two
more yet unburied, but I am glad to say the doctors re-
port it decreasing, though, as long as the men are so often
exposed to the rain and cold in the trenches, without a
dry place or clothes to get into when they return, it will
be impossible to extinguish it. There arc four doctors in
the regiment, but the hospital is very badly supplied. The
tent is all ragged, and the men are forced to lie on the
Geld ground without any bedding. Medicines Are to be