The true Democrat., 1854-11-22

Lord Raglan Tn person, the rest advanced, cneer- ing the men,
 And now came the turning point of the bat tie, in which Lord Raglan, by his sagacity and military skill, probably secured the victory at smaller sacrifice than would have been oth- erwise the case. He dashed over the bridge, followed by his staff From the road over it, under the Russian guns, he saw the state of the action. The British line, which he had ordered to advance, was struggling through the river and up the heights in masses, firm indeed, but moved down by the murderous fire of the batteries, and by grape, round shot, shell, can- lster, case shot and musketry, from some of the guns of the central battery, and from an inn mense and compact mass of Russian infantry. Then commenced one of the most bloody and determined struggles in the annals of war; The 2d division, led by Sir D.. Evans in the most dashing manner, crossed the stream on the right. The 7th Fusileers, led by Col. Yea were swept down by fifties.
 The 55th, 3Oth and 95th, led by Brigadier Pennefather, who was in the thickest of the fight, cheering on his men, again and again were checked indeed, but never drew back in their onward progress which was marked by a fierce roll of Mimic musketry; and Brigadier Adams, with the fist, 47th and 49th, bravely charged up the hill, and aided them in the battle. Sir George Brown, conspicuous on a grey horse, rode in front ot Light Division, urgingng them with voice and gesture. Gallant fellows! they were worthy of such gallant chief. The 7th, diminished by one-h half, fell back to reform their colums lost for the time; the 23d, with eight officers dead and four wounded, were still rush. ing to the front, aided by the 18th, 33d, 77th and 98th. Down went Sir George in a cloud of dust in front of the battery He was soon up and shouted "23d Pm all right. Be sure Pll remember this day." and led them on again but in the shock produced by the fall of thelr chief, the gallant regiment suffered terribly while paralyzed for moment
 Meantime the Guards, on the right of the Light Division, and thes esBngade of Highlanders were storming the heights on the left Their line was almost as regular as though they were in Hyde-park Suddenly tornado of round and grape rushed through from the terrible battery. and a roar of musketry from behind thinned their front ranks by dozens. It was evident that We were just able to contend against the Russians, favored as they were bva great position. At this very time an immense mass of Russian infantry were seen moving down toward the battery They halted. It was the crisis of the day. Sharp angular and solid, they looked as they were cut out of the solid rock It was beyond all doubt that if our infantry harrassed and thinned as they were, got into the battery they would have to encount- CT again formidable fire, which they were but i'll calculated to bear.
 Lord Raglan saw the difficulties of the situa- tion. He asked if it would be possible to get a couple of guns to bear on these masses. The reply was Yes," and an artillery officer. whose name do not know, brought up two guns to fire on the Russian squares. The first shot missed but the next, and the next and the next cut through the ranks so cleanly and so keenlv, that clear lane could be seen for moment through the square, After a few rounds the square became broken, waved to and fro, broke and fled over the brow of the hill, leaving be- hind 1t six or seven distinct lines of dead. lying as close as possible to each other, marking the passage of the fatal messengers This act re- lleved our infantry Of deadly incubus, and they continued their magnificent and fear less progress up the hil The Duke encour- aged his men by voice and example, and prov ed himself worthy of his proud command and of the Royal race from which he comes.
 Highlanders," said Sir Colin Campbell, ere they came to the charge, "don't pull trigger till you're within yard of the Russans.'' They charged, and we'll they obeyed the chief tains' wish; Sir Colon had his horse shot under him, but his men took the battery at a bound. The Russians rushed out, and left multitudes of deat behind them. The Guards had storm ed the battery ere the Highlanders got into the left, and 1t is said the Scots Fusileer Guards were the first to enter The Second and Light Division crowned the heights The French turned the guns on the hill against the flying masses, which the cavalry in vain tried to cover. few faint struggles from the scattered infant ": few rounds of cannon and musketrv. and the enemy fled to the southeast, leaving three guns, 700 prisoners and 4,OOO wounded behind them. The battle of the Alma was won. It is won with loss of nearly 5000 killed and wounded on our side The Russian retreat was covered by their cavalry, but if we had had an adequate cavalry force we could have cap tured many guns and multitudes of prisoners
 Heights of Alma, Sept. 2l.
 The battle of the Alma was perfect in all respects except one--the cavalry arm was in operative. The Russian cavalry covered itself with disgrace Itnever gave our horse chance of charge and the nature of the ground for bade our attempting demonstration against a very superior force maneuvreing in higher position. The Russians, indeed barely cover- ed the retreat, and the squadrons were too weak to try dash at them. As an exemplifcation ofthe several uses of light infantry skirmishers, heavy infantry, and of horse and field artillery, the battle was complete.
 There is this very peculiar feature about the action--that we had the very thing to do which we alone could have done, and that the French to do work for which they were particularly suited. Ours it was to face steadily the fire of tremendous batteries; to advance with rush, steady and sure, and resistless as the swell of the ocean, against wall of fire and solid mass es ofinfantry; to struggle on, at one time over- whelmed by crashing volleys of grape and mus ketry, at another disorganized by round shot, winning the ground from death at every pace; to form tranquilly and readily when thrown into momentary disorder and at last to nail vic tory to our coors by the never-failing British bayonet It is said that several French off, cers have declared, since they viewed the ground, that they thought their men would mol have been able to carry the position as we did General Canrobert, in moment of enthusiasm exclaimed to one of our Generals at the close O the day, "All I would ask of fortune now i that might command a corps of Englisl