The daily union., 1854-11-26

,s breze sprsue up from the south, which cleared
away the smoke and allowed full view OF what WAS
going on Our friend the Round Tower was then barely
the delicate attentions Of the Lancaster gun
effected most unAvorsbe change in it's appearance
as a place of strength Not soldier remained on iS roo
the four guns which overhrown and lay about ke
dead horses Huge holes also visible in Its SIDE
where masses of the solid masonry dislodged Ihe
earhworks round the tower were torn up ana pt'ea WIN
shot from the other batteries but beyond this Ienheu
much the same Between these works and the redAn wal
and the Twelve Apostles the side, and our crown
and Greennound batteries on the other an a"uI no ~
shells being interchanged but most OF the 'hc ~
usual burst in the air On the left the French were sn
lantly maintaining splendid fire against the nag pa
teres from the commanding position oi ine A'el az"
the logun battery which completely hanKea our
was evident that they fighting at disadvantage
As the view cleared, the Lancaster gun on our 'gnt ~
doubled it's fire on the tower. ! never saw Sucn nrihs
Every shot told full upon the sn1 o the house
were speculating how long the tower could sAhd wheh
suddenly there explosion, which ior a ume at
tracted all attention To our sorrow we saw dense mass
of smoke hanging over one of the French batteries the
cause of which guessed too trulythe flank he OF he
lO-gun battery had succeeded in blowing up one OF he
killing several men, and doing serious injury 10
the works Thus the moment when 1t was most need
ed one of the French batteries was cOmpeeu 70 Cease
firing did it again resume during the rest OF 'ne
About this time o'clock could the fleet IN the on
ing making preparations for attack All the steamers
were being ashed alongside the ne-obate ships hoagn
than this it WINS impossible to see as the "lhu M
and the smoke again collected in dense masses over the
Things continued in this state until about III o'clock
when became evident that the re OF the fIench on our
left had sackened considerably and was falling OH still
more every minute. The fact was the commanding posi-
ton of the enemys batteries left allies chance They
suffered heavily while working their guns st % ,sr
mander the men were withdrawn, and the hre OF tne
French ceased AS it did that OF the heet commenced
Through the smoke the harbor we could plainly per
ceive the masts and funnel of large screw
ship which, without firing shot, stood in until her broad
side within 200 yards OF one OF the princpa
at the north of the harbor Then her guns began to roar
loud above the hesh din which seemed to rend the very
sky.
The vessel which performed this gallant exploit was
French and believe the Monebeo, l20, the crew OF
which suffered dreadfully from cholera while at 'arna
From the moment she arrived alongside the tort her sdes
seemed literally on fire. so rapid 50 ncessan ~ere m.l
eries to effect diversion in her favor, redoubled their
fire while the Russian flagstaff battery began again upon
the abandoned French lines This time, unfortunately he
enemy assaed the latter with dreadful effect One Rus
sian shel by uck dropped and exploded full upon the
reserve magazine of the principal French battery Inc
effect was instantaneous and awful About twenty tons
of powder with shell and rockets in proportion, instantly
gned and the earth seemed to heave as the greater pr
Of the battery with l6 guns and nearly all the men, were
hurled high into the air. Hardly had the stunning report
which catastrophe produced ceased to ybrae upon
the ear when following the Monebeo four more French
screw lines each having another in tow, dashed up 10
the forts.
What the allied fleets did you will hear of from other
correspondents Wherever the fire was most awful ana
it appeared to deal the greatest
amount of death and destruction among the enemythere
was sure to be seen the French rcoor flying conspcu
GUS above all At time during the day, in consequence
of ntercepng objects, did we ever catch glimpse OF an
English flag.
As each French liner in, she added her ncessant
broadsdes to the continuous roar OF eannon Whch pre-
vailed all sides The scene was perfectly helish he
atmosphere was only thick urid smoke which seemed to
suocate and through its heavy folds the Of shot
and shell enough TO make ones hair stand on end
No words of mine could do justice to such pandemonum
Let your readers imagine least 1000 pieces OF the heav
lest ordnance in the world firing shell and rockets
without seconds ntermisson The air seemed one per-
petual explosion but in the midst of which, singular
enough the peculiar jerking scream OF the Lancaster shell
could be plainly heard.
Our batteries were full play and appeared to engage
than due amount of the enemys attention. Tor the
Twelve Apostles, which completely sheltered by land
from the attack of the French ships and quite as COM
pete sheltered from everything but one OF the
battery The effect of this apparent Before
dozen had been fired, Of them bounded and struck
spare ammunition wagon full of powder, which 1t instantly
exploded The shock was not so severe as might have
been for the powder comparatively unconhned II OF
killed few of men, but the works OF the bat
terry unnjured. The Russians sent up tremendous
cheers when they the explosion they did when the
batteries Of allies blew up imagining they had done
the mischief Their mrth however, was but short
lived While in the act Of cheering shell from the Lam
caster lodged presume SO in the magazine redoupt
in front of the redan wall The explosion which followed
appalling 1t made the stoutest mems blood run cold
At first it seemed if the whole of Sebastopol was en-
veoped in the ruin five minutes after, when the loose
earth and smoke cleared away and allowed to the
extent of the mischief that only black hole re-
manned where the grand redoubt had Stood and that the
greater part of the edan wall was blown away so stun
ming appeared the effects of the terrible blow to the enemy
that it minutes before they fired single gun
When they did they concentrated their whole fire upon the
battery where the fatal Lancaster gnp ap placed but In
van it quite out OF range and their GhOt stopped
rolling nearly yards in advance OF the battery Seeing
this the Russians wisely gave up the attempt to reach IT.
and turned their attention to the French fleet which IN
deed required it. During all this time their fire. instead OF
sackenng had rather increased and was evident from
the perpetual thunders they sent FORTH that or the
other party must give in for 1T was impossible for
both to go at that rate any longer Which was actually
the victor could guess though could not for the
smoke dense than ever.
1t o'clock the feet still volleying forth
their thunder hut the fire of the Russians had slackened
considerably. Just at this moment the smoke cleared
away and both forts and fleets could distinctly see each
the harbor Another detachment of neofbattle ships
attacking those to the north The smoke was still
too thick to allow make out the flags of these latter
but we had no doubt they were English.
The batteries at the mouth Of the harbor mount three
tiers of guns the uppermos the roof being open
being almost level with the waters edge The
had completely abandoned the guns the roof many of
which dsmounted and the works much cut up; but
the casemated guns seemed little injured and as the smoke
cleared they attacked the fleets with redoubed vgor
We could also that earthworks had been thrown
up to flank the forts which pouring destructive fire
upon the fleet
The smoke hid all again. and the battle ragged with
as much fury as before until dusk The cannonade then
seemed to sacken and before night had almost entirely
ceased The English entertainments never ceased their
fire. though matter of course it siackened much rs
the darkness increased.
This evening it is rumored that the enemys positions
be taken the point of the bayone fear much that