The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-11-08

turning point of the battle, in which
Lord Raglan, by his sagacity and mill
tary skill, probably secured the victory
at smaller sacrifice than would have
been otherwise the case He dashed
over the bridge, followed by his staff
From the road over it, under the Rus
sian guns, LIE saw the state ofthe 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 murder
Gus fire of the batteries, and by grape,
round shot, shell. canister, case shot and
nlusketry, from some of the guns of the
central battery, and from an immense
aud compact mass of Russian infantry.
Then commenced one of the most bloody
and determined struggles in the annals
of war. The I'd Division led by Sir d.
Evans, in the most dashing manner,
crossed the stream on the right. The
7th Fusiliers, led by Col. Vey, were
swept down-by fifties. The 55th, 3oth
and 95th, led by Brigadier Pcnnyfather,
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 fierce roll of Minnie
musketry, and Brigadier Adams, with
the 4lst, 47th and 59th, bravely charged
up the hill and aided them in the battle.
Sir Geo. Brown, conspicuous on gray
horse, rode in front of his light division,
urging them with voice and gesture
Gallant fellows they were worthy of
such gallant chief The 9TH, diminish
ed by one-half, fell back to reform their
columns lost, for time; the 23d, with
eight officers dead and four wounded
were still rushing to the front, aided by
the 45th, SD, 18th and 6Sth. Down
went Sir George in cloud of dust in
front of the battery. He was soon up,
and shouted ''23d, I'm all right, be
sure I'll remember this day." and led
ed by the fall of their chief, the gallant
regiment suffered terribly, while par
alyzed for moment.
Meantime the Guards on the right of
the Light Division, and the Brigade 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 ter
rible battery, and roar of musketry
! from behind thinned their front ranks by
dozeus. 1t was evident that we were
just able to contend against the Russians,
favored as they were by great position.
At this very time an immense mass of
Russian infantry were seen moving down
towards the battery They halted. 1t
i . l. &c =,
Tar, and solid, they hooked as If if slIcy
were cut out of the solid rock. 1t was
beyond all doubt that if our infantry,
harrassed and thinned as thev were, got
into the battery, they would have to en-
counter again a formidable fire, which
they were but i'll calculated TO bear
Lord Raglan saw the difficulties of the
situation. He asked if it would be pos
sible to get couple of guns to bear on
these masses. The reply was { Yes, u
and an artillery officer, whose name do
not now know, brought up two guns TO
fire on the Russian squares. The first
shot missed, but the next, aud the next.
and the next cut through the ranks 50
cleanly and SO keenly, that clear lane
could be seen for a moment through the
square. After a few rounds the columns
of the square became broken, wavered
to and fro, broke, and fed over the brow
of the hill, leaving behind them six or
seven distinct lines of dead, lying as
close as possible to each other, marking
the passage of the fatal messengers
This act relieved our infantry of dead
] ly incubus, and they continued their
magnificent aud fearful progress up the
hill. The Duke encouraged his men by
voice and example, and proved himself
worthy of his proud command and ot
the royal race from which he comes
(" Highlanders ~ said Sir c. Campbell
ere they came to the charge, q am go
ing to ask favor of you; it is that you
will act so as to justify me in asking
permission of the Queen for you to wear
i a bonnet Don'tpull trigger till you're
within yard of the Russians. ;" They
charged, and we'll they obeyed theil
chieftain's wish; Sir Colin had his horse
shot under him, but his men took the
battery at a bound. The Russians rush
ed out, and left multitudes of Gead be
hind them. The Guards had stormeC
the right of the battery ere the High
landers got into the left. and it is sale
that the Scots Fusilier Guards were the
first to enter. The Second and Ligh
Division crowned the heig is. Th'
French turned the guns on the hill
against the flying masses, which the cav
airy in vain tried to cover. A few fain
struggles from the scattered infantry,
few rounds of cannon and musketry, ant
5 the enemy fed to the southeast, leavin,
three generals, drums, three guns, 70t
prisoners, and 1000 wounded benin,
t them. The battle of Al'pa was won.
is won with loss of nearly 5000 kille'
f and wounded on our side. The Rus
i slams retreat was covered by their cav
: airy, but if we had an adequate fore
VIC could have captured many guns an,
7 multitudes of prisoners.
r Not far from the French General
+ Prince Napoleon, who made a mos
brilliant debut at the battle of Alma
f had a narrow escape from death, or a
e least grievous injury. During the tim
e that the sharpshooters of his divisio
e were endeavoring to dislodge the Ru:
: sian sharpshooters, ball directe
# against our liue struck the ground a fe'
s hundred steps from the Prince, an
e bounding on, took the direction toward
h him. General Thomas luckily saw th
d ball, and seeing the direction it wa
d about to take had time to cry out, TAX
b care, sir.n The Prince turned his hors
e rapidly on one side, and the ball brok
e the leg of Sons Intendent Leblanc, VIII
d was standing behind Nj. Leblanc hs
Y since been obliged to submit to have th
II limb amputated. s.t.i,,s se-.