New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-03-01
The Battle of citate

4 ~N%fhoSs
| me London Times gives the following parti-
letter; ii''" private
On Friday, the 9th of January, the Turkish
troops, under the orders of Ishmail Paeha and
Ahmed Pacha, marched to attack the Russiany
who had fortified themselves in the village II
Citate, which is about Eve hours march from Ks.
eiat The force Of fshnail Pacha was composed
| OF three regiments of regular cavalry and one
regiment Of Bashi- Bozouks, with six guns.
ahihed Facha was stah )nef at some distance
rom the village, with so ne reserve troops. con-
7isGrhg T o. o. nve battaiicns, and also six guns.
me husslan force In The village consisted Of
SnIee pnOeaiiohs OF infantry, commanded by
ooipnei M Dohhegaroe, three squadrons OF hussars
snn q, Two squadrons of eossacks, with six guns
iafhisn troops were, as will be seen, su-
perior In number; but the position Of the Rns-
s1ans. who were distributed in all the bouses "a
slle village, which is Of great extent, and which
surrounded BY double ditch, r. ldered tho
na. gs.acA ex xtremey perflous, as the enemy. we'll
sneitered' were enabled to direct d rnurderops
~ IL upon tne Turks, without the latter berng
| able to reply to it. "sii's
In spite Of this evident disadvantage Ishnoa;I
| racha gave orders for the attacL and ,a-,.
himself INTO the village under shower of haIIs
nred from all the windows At first the TnrLs
received very serious injury; but alrbanoh tb;s
circumstance somewhat disorganized tbs;r at'
tack, their impetuosity was by no means cb baekas
me greater portion Of the soldiers, who had
never before been exposed to musketrv 49, 80
theless displayed indomitable courage.
After desperate struggle they attacked the
houses, and fought hand to hand with the sword
ana payonet The massacre was frightful The
Russians in vain begged for quarter In tbe
| iever Of the fight the Turks listened to nothing.
anu slaughtered, without pity, all who fell nm
uel snelr nands. The Mussulmans of the Crimea,
I 1rlt xha
| appealed TO their character of Mussulmans No
quarter vas giyen TO them Cutters of blood
| ran doHn tine streets from this Wholesale human
slaughter 10 add to the horrors of the scene
| 1t may be stated that a number of nios which
had been let loose were sean ao.;p :; p'ss "hioI 5
| bodies e"'i's WIG ueao
| All who could escape the slanob+ar ...,-
refuge in redoubt at the head Of III v;l,a@e
and thence recommended a murderous fre ~,
the Turks, who returned it yigorousIv but ~
without receiving considerable injury from Tia
Russian guns.
At last the enemy, incapable of any further
struggle, decided ON abandoning the entrench-
ments a number of Russian troops had already
evacuated the place, when colonel of Turkish,
cavalry conceived the unfortunate idea of en-
deayoring to oppose their passage
The Russians, finding themselves surrounded.
ana having no outlet for escape, and no resource
but the terrible energy derived from despair.
no osher alternative but to conquer or die, re-
commenced the tight with desperation, and in q,
vigorous sortae they succeeded in capturing two
I guns ltshould be stated that the Turks. unon
| the hrst success in the entrenchments comnir-
| TED the Incredible fault of not DESTROYING The
| enemy's guns
While the battle was thus going ON in the
village, twelve battalions of infantry Of the
Russian army and squadron of the cavalry
with sixteen pieces of cannon, were brought to
a sEIl nnftb tbaI Iaa;o
place the Turks between two fires Information
OF this was siven to Ahmed Pacha, who, by a
skilful mlAoeuvre, directed his soldiers to the
point IN order to prevent the junction with the
besieged troops For this movement he made
use of three of his reserved battalions.
The advantage of the position was now on the
side of the Turks, who were on ground which
sloped towards the Russians but the latter
were in three, times greater number than the
Turks. In spite of this inequality, however,
the Russians were entirely beaten and fed in
the greatest disorder They were completely
routed, a fact constituting feat of arms on the
part of the Turks. which does great honor to
them, and establishes another important truth
that the Russians cannot cope with Turkish
troops IN equal numbers to themselves in open
field, and that they can only hope for any sue
cess when they have a much more powerful force
tnan their enemy. Their losses in these two
simultaneous affairs amount to nearly 1000
men, among whom are included so superior Off
GERS The Turks had about 300 killed and 396
wounded, who were sent to the hospitals at Wild
den, and Of whom, it is hoped, the greater part
4 may oe saved.
| According to the opinion of some European
| officers now at Widden, this affair is a most
| glorious one for the Turks, and, if not produce
tive of any material result, will at least prove
OF great moral advantage to them
On the next day the Russians attempted TO
q
been driven in the night, but the appearance of
| some Turkish battalions discouraged them from
the attempt, and they beat a retreat.
AT the time of the attack upon the village
the Turkish soldiers, particularly the Bashi-
bazouks, committed the fault of stopping to pill
lage before being entirely assured of victory,
and by this means, in despoiling the dead. Oh
tanned some trlting articles, much to the preiu-
dice OF the general interest 1t is to be regret
ted thatit has not been possible to derive all the
| advantage from this affair of which it is suseep
tible, at least SO far as regards material benefit;
but, as far as regards the moral effect, there is
nothing to desire.
lshmail Paeha fought like lion, and more
like soldier than a general. He had two
horses killed under him H. was grazed with
two balls-one on the shoulder, and another on
the wrist. A third ball struck the scabbard of
his sword
The Turks took from the field of battle, be-
sides number OF horses, a great many muskets.
sabres, .schakos, epaulettes and decorations, and
also many wounded. The latter consoled them
selves for their wounds by the sight of watches
or handfulls of gold, gathered in the midst of
danger, which they placed by their beds of
pain, as a solace to their sufferings.
Justice has been done to the bravery of the
Russian officers who courageously did their duty,
but were badly seconded by the soldiers, whom
1t was often necessary to prick with the point
OF the bayonet in order to prevent them from run
ming away Some of the Wallachian militia
were incorporated among the Russian troops;
but the former forces were in very bad odor with
the Russian officers, and were continually sub
Jected to their jeers A Wallachian captain re
fused to march against the Turks, and he con-
summated his refusal by blowing outhis brains
This fact may be relied on.
The Wallachian soldiers are continually de-
serting to the Turks, whose position is decidedly
becoming advantageous. 1t is believed that
they will shortly undertake new expeditions
Besides this, although do not state the fact as
certain it is said that 0mer Pacha is about to
proceed to Widden At all events, the Turks
will be received in Wallachia as liberators
The Turkish soldier enjoys a reputation for hon
esty and good conduct which is well founded.
All the provisions which are necessary are
paid for in ready money, and no burden is
thrown on the inhabitants So much cannot be
said for the Russians, who are, indeed charged
with all sorts of oaious acts Ahont two or