Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1854-12-22
nliseclIaneous.
The Battle of Inkermann.

The Battle of Inkerlnann.
This sanguinary battle took place on the
9th of November, and yet it was not till
the 23d that the reports Of the allied COM
mandrrs and of the correspondents Of the
leading journals reached London Very
brief accounts Of the affair were brought to
this country BY the two recent steamers,
but nothing in sufficient detail to enable us
% form any satisfactory judgment on the
features of the struggle. To-day. however,
the mails of the Pacific enable us to furn.
ish the most complete accounts oflhe whole
including the dispatches Of Raglan, Canro-
bert and Menchikof, with the very excel.
lent and spirited letters of the special cor
respondents of The London Times and The
Morning HeroiR, both of which journals
are served on the spo, by writer's OF dstn.
guished ability. With all these, and other
documents at hand. we proceed to analyze
! tho story of The battle. with view to ena-
ble our readers to arrive at an impal ta and
intelligent opinion {, nccrning it.
Like the PrussaHs at Jena, the British
forces facing toward lnkerman were station.
cd on range Of heights accessible in front
BY a few deiles only. Like the Prussans.
the British had altogether neglected to oc-
cupy an elevation on their extreme left, on
which, like Napoleon at Jena, Menchikoff
threw portion of his army---therc eslab-
fishing himself upon the flank of the enc
my before daybreak, The intention ofthe
Russians was evidently to profit by this CIR
cumstance in order 10 bring the mass Of
their troops to bear upon the flank of the
British to deploy upon the heights thus Sc
cured. and crush the British divisions asthcy
came up singly during the fatal but newt
Inble mancuvre of changing their front, or 10
roll them up" as it is technically called
70 this maneuvre Napoleon owed his brill
ant success over an army which. though
ciumsey, slow and badly commanded, was
Iye! at thar time the best of the old cont,
mental armies. The rapidly Of his move
ments. executed with troops versed in the
new mode Of warfare introduced by the
American war of independence, by the
French revolutionary wars and by Napole-
on himself favored this bold stroke Here
at Inkermann, it was with slow and clumsy
troops that Menchikoifattempted this same
surprise upon the active and quick moving
troops of the British and French; and the
result was accordingly the opposite oI that
at Jena.
The negligence shown By the British 10
the manner OF occupying their positions is
utterly disgraceful to their commander
There is no excuse. either for the non-occu-
patton of the knoll on the south side of Cher
maya, or for The absence OF field works in
this important position, for the attack Of
which. as he well knew, many thousand
Russians were concentrating. The Rus
SLAMS, as we have said, pro6ted by this neg
lect a, once. by occupying the knoll on The
north end OF the range, forcing the British
position with heavy field artillery The
British papers say the Russians had "a and
Founders in the field, but this only shows
their utter ignorance Of artillery matters
The transport Of their own artillery from
Balaklava to the trenches should have shown
them that "a and 32 Founders cannot be
taken into the field, much less into night
surprise. The fact is, what they call "a
and 32-pounders were howizers, having a
caliber similar TO that of the "a and 32-
pound gun, but in fact light field guns, not
heavier than the British field. howitzers.-
The howitzer, throwing a hollow projectile
with a small charge. and obtaining range by
elevation chiefly, can be made Ct larger
bore than the cannon for solid shot The
% 2.pound howitzer corresponds 10 weight
and effect with the 6-pound gun. and the
so-calIed 92,pound (about 6-incb) bowitzers
to IL Founders; these howitzers are attach
ed in the Russian service to the batteries of
these calibers This shows how ignorance
and national vanity unite in manufacturing
heroes and enhancing the glory ofa nations
arms.
So far, everything went in favor of the
Russians. Their generalship had proved
far superior TO that Of Lord Raglan. Their
plan was excellent. and in fair way of ex.
ecution. A pivot had been secured. and the
enemy's flank was turned. Immense supe-
rorily of numbers, ready TO attack the long
and weak line of he British at its weakest
point. appeared to be guarantee of final
success. But the Russians did not yet full
! ly know the soldiers they had to deal with.
The British, surprised as they were. cody
changed their front from east to north. and
met the assailipg columns with q deadly fire.
And now fight began such as has not oc.
Cured in Europe since the day of Albuera,
as at Albuera the stubborn bravery of the
British troops had to regain. with the blood
of three-fourths of their number, battle
A.,l h. he