The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1854-12-23
THE BATTLE OF INkERMANN.

InE BLOopIEST ENGN'EMENT OF TIE EAS-
Tern vAr.
From the Special Correspondent of the London
Times.
BALAKLAva, Nov. }, 1854,
, 1t had rained necessarily the night before.
and the early morning gave no promise of
any cessation Of the heavy showers which had
fallen for the previous four-and-twenty hours.
Towards dawn a heavy fog settled down on
the heights and on the valley of the Inkcr
mann. The pickcts and men on OUTLYING
posts were thoroughly saturated, and their
arms were wet, despite her precautions
and it is scarccI, TO be wos,,lcrtt az If iiCrc
were some CT them who were not quite as a.
!ert as Sentries should be in face of an enemy
tor it must be remembered that our small ar.
my Is almost worn out by its nccssant lalOrS
and that men on picket are frequently men
who have had but short rccp;." from work
III the trenches or from rccimcntai duties
The FOG and vapors of drifting rain were SC
Thick as morning broke tina. one could scarce.
l.: see two Yards before him. Att O'Clock III,
bells OF the churches in Schastorol wcr,
heard rincin" drcarily through the cold nirI,
air. but the occurrence has been 50 usual !,
excited no particular attention. During tn,
night, however, a sharp-carcd sergeant on an
outlying picket o.. the linht division heard III,
sound of wheels in the valley below. as thouol
they were approaching the position mp tn.
NIL. iic reported the circumstance to Maio,
hnnbtry. but it was supposed that the Sound
arose from ammunition carts or arahas ooino
into Srha>topoi. No one suspected for mo
mrnt that enormous masses of Russians were
creeping up the rurrcd siIce of the h"icllt,
over the valley of the Inkcrmann on the an
'lchn!cd ilank oi the Second Division. There
al wa security and rcrose Little did the
>lun1hcrin" troops in camp inaninc that a
subtle ard in6rtati.al'r enemy were hrinr-
inc into position an Overwhelming artillery
ready 70 play upon their tents at TIE frs,
glimpse Of dwight
1t was li',lc after ) o'clock this morninr
when Brirahicr Genera, Cot!rincton. in ac.
cor's.nc@ VII: hi> a>,:.l habit. visited Tie out
lvlrG iickci> + lis own brigade Of the H. il.
division. 1t was reported to aim that al
was well. and the Genera! entered into SOM,
conversation with Captain Prc.vman. oc the
;'"d Hrgiinc'', VII" We on lutv on the rroui:
in The course OF which it was remarked tim,
II would not be at all surprising if the Rus
slams availcd themselves Of the gloom of the
morning TO make an attack on our position.
calculating "n the effects Of the rain in dis
arm'n- our vigilance ana >,oilnr our arms.
The Erl-adicr Who has proved a most excel
lent. brave and coo! officer. turned his pouv
round at last an:; retraced his steps through
the hru>hwood towards his lines. He hal
only Proceeded few PAGES when sharp rat
Tie OF muskctrv was heard down the hill, and
on the lcft OF The rickctS Of tnc LIGHT division
l. was here that ,hc picbcts Of the second ii
VISION were stationed. General Co,!rinaton
at once turned his horses head in the dire,
ton OF the firing. and in few moments oa,
lo:'ed back to turn out his division. The
Hu>>lans were a1vancinr in force upon rs =
ihci' gray grcatcoat> rendered them almost
invisible even win, II close at hand The nick
cts of the second division had scarcely made
out the advancing lines of infantry who were
clanhcrlnG up the steep sides of the hill ,nro'
drzzling shower of rain. ere they were
forced to rctrca; by close. sharp vollcv of
muskctry, and were driven up towards the
brow OF the hill, contcsinc every step of it..
ard ti"in" as long as they had round of am
mun:tion on the Russian advance. The pick
cts of the li.h: divisions were assailed soon
afterwards, ahd were also obliged to retrca:
and fail back on their main BODY. and it was
evident that very strong sortic had been
made upon the right of the rosition Of ,bc
allied armies, with the object of forcing them
to raise the sciSc. and, if possible, of driving
them INTO the sea. About the same time that
the advance Of the Russians on our RIGHT flank
took place, demonstration was made bv the
cavalry, artii!cr::, and few infantry in the
valley, against Balak,ava. to divert the at;cn-
ton OF the French on the heights above. and
to occupy the Highland brigade and marines:
but only an interchange of few harmless
rounds OF cannon and muskctry took place
and the enemy cOntcntcd themselves with
drawing up their cavalry in order of battle
supported by field artillery. at the neck of
the valley, in readiness to sweep over the
heights, and cut our rc'rca1ing troops to pcc-
es, should the assault on orr right be succt S.
ful. y Semaphore post had been erected On
the heights over lnkelmann, in communica-
tion with another on the hill over their nosi-
ton, from which the intelligence of our de-
feat was to be corvcted to the cavalry GER
eral: and the news would have been made
known in Scbastopoi by similar means, in
order to encourage the garrison to general
sortie along their front. \ steamer with ve-
ry heavy shell guns and mortars was sent up
by night to the head of the creek at lnkcr-
mann, and caused much injury throughout
The day by the enormous shells she pitched
right over The hill upon our men. Everything
that could be done to bind victory TO their
cagles-if they have anv-was done hv the
Russian Generals. The presence of their
Grand Duke Michael Nicolavitch. who told