The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1854-12-16
Incidents at the Battle of the Alma.

be, we suppose, that nearly everything that
reaches us from the theater of the war in
the East. comes from French or English
sources, and although the reports are as true
and reliable, we dare say, as the reports of
bolligerents generally are, still they ought
not TO be unhesitatingy credited; and even
their official reports furnish but a one-sided
account of events. The Russian.re we
10 not often see, or, if we do, they come to
us mutilated, modified, and sometimes so
disfSured and changed that they would not
be. recognizable BY the writers. This hap
pens partly through design, and is partly
consequence Of hasty translations from and
into German, or French, or English, and at
tempts al condensation. For example, on
this side Of the Atlantic we ought not TO
believe TOO hastily that the defeat at the Alma
was so disastrous as the allies represent it to
be. We ought first to hear Menschikoff.-
If they take Sebastopol though, then we
may conclude that they did nearly all at the
Alma that they claim to have done.
The British are said to have behaved with
great humanity TO the Russian wounded, but
their conduct met with the basest ingratl-
,ude One man deliberately fired al and
wounded an arliicryman, who had just given
him some water TO quench his burning
thirst. An indignant guardsman instantly
ciubbed the sc0undrel An eyewitness
mentions an instance Of a Russian officer
who was being assisted from the field. where
nc had lain two days severely wounded, by
Two marines. He solicited some water TO
drink, and after he had been lifted down and
had drank enough, as one OF the marines was
in the act Of turning round TO pick him up
again, the ungrateful villain shot him dead.
His comrade amply resented the cowardly
act for seizing a small spar, that the cot
was strung TO, he beat out the rascaily Rus
SLAMS brains Several Of the wounded Rus
slams fred at our wounded who were lying
disabled near them. In consequence Of acts
OF this sort, all the muskets OF the prisoners
aud wounded were broken Oft al the stock,
and their cartridges taken from them. The
Russians who crow ded the field in all the
oon,ort;ons of the last agony were princi-
pally soldiers of the 18th and 32l regiments.
One officer, says an eyewitness, lay dead,
with little dog sitting between his legs, Il
position from which no persuasion could
move him. He had been mortally wounded.
hUu Ildtl ANtll EoIu No'NH W u oOAu'C' " az
kindly gave him draught Of water. Anoth-
,r, quite boy, lay with his hands clasped in
the attitude of prayer. Beyond the battery
was a scene of utter Muscovite route, very
few English having fallen after its destruc-
ton; the ground was covered with the dead,
dying, and wounded arms and knapsacks
lying about in the widest confusion. The
Russians were buried outside the mounds
The English and French inside. There was
great spoil on the fald-coats, swords, guns,
rifles, &c, and in some instances large sums
of mony.
At the commencement Of the action many
ladies were on the heights. Prince Mems
chikoT had given them to understand that.
on the part OF the Russians, it would be a
mere review-that the allies would retreat.
A scaffolding had been erected for their &C,
commodation, but they appear to have re-
treated in great haste when the enemy got
100 close, for next day, we are told, the
French had great sport after the battle with
some women's clothes, which they found
near the redoubt where they lost SO many
men.
One of the Russian generals IAN old MANI
who is prisoner on board the Agamemnon,
is described as being more distressed about
the loss of his uniform coat and epaulets
than anything else, and is constantly wor-
Tyino about them. and repeatedly has asked