The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1854-11-01
MhFUs.

What whrIs.
The following extracts are from an Eng
ish account of the battle of the Alma,
ought on the 2oth Of September, near Sc
oastopol. The Russians fought well-so
heir enemies admit--an admission which
constitutes unexceptionable evidence. Il
A DREADFUL sIGHT-NEARLY TEN THOUSAND
DEAD BODIES.
1t was a terrible and sickening sight to go
over the battlefield. Till deprived OF my
horse by a chance shot, / rode about to as
certain, as far as possible, the loss OF our
friends, and in doing so i was often brought
to standstin by the difficulty OF getting
through the piles OF wounded Russians,
mingled too often with our own poor SOL
diers. The hills of Greenwich Park in
fair time are not more densely covered with
human beings than were the heights OF the
Alma with dead aud dying. On these
bloody mounds fell 2,196 English officers
and men, and upwards of 5000 Russians,
while their western extremity was covered
with the bodies of l,4OO gallant Frenchmen,
and of more than $500 o.. their foes.
HOW LONG THE FIGHT LASTED.
When Lord Raglan and his staff and the
Duke Of Cambridge rode round to the top
of the hill, the troops cheered them with a
thrilling offect-a shout of victory--which
never can be forgotten. The enemy, who
were flying in the distance, might almost
have heard its echoes as it rolled among
the hills. Our men had indeed done their
work well, for the action, which commenc-
ed at twenty-five minutes past one o'clock
on our part, was over about four p. M; in
fact, the actual close continuous fighting did
not last two hours.
THE RUSSIANS.
The Russian regiments engaged against
us, judging from the numbers on the caps
and buttons of the dead and wounded, were
some of the Imperial Guard. The Rus
sian regiment. consists of four battalions,
and each battalion may be said to be six
hundred and fifty strong. The soldiers were
mostly stout strong men. Several of the
regiments, thirty-second and sixteenth for
example, wore black leather helmet, hand
somely mounted with brass, and having a
brass cone on the top, with hole for the
reception of tult, feather or plume; others
wore simply white linen foraging cap
They were all dressed in long drab coats
with brass buttons, bearing the number of
the regiment. These coats fitted loosely,
were gathered in at the back by small
strap and button, descend to the ankles,
and seemed stout comfortable garments,
though the cloth was coarse in texture; the
trowsers, of coarse blue stuff, were thrust
inside pair of Wellington boots, open at
the top, to admit of their being comforta-
bly, tucked down; the boots were stout, well
made, and serviceable.
THEIR POWERS OF ENDURANCE.
The surgeons remarked that their tenac.
!, ity Of life was very remarkable. Many o.
them lived with wounds calculated to de-
stroy two or three ordinary men. | saw
one of the 32d regiment on the field jus
after the fight. He was shot right through
the head, and the brain protruded in large
masses at the back of the head and from
the front of the skull. saw with my owI
eyes the wounded man raise his hand, wipe
the horrible mass from his brow, and pro.
ceed to struggle down the hill towards the
water! Many of the Russians were shot ir
three or four places; few of them had only
, one wound. They seemed to have gen
, eral idea that they would be murdered; pos
siblv, they had been told no quarter woult
be given, and several deplorable events took
place in consequence. .
sIcKENING INCIDENTS.
AS our men were passing by, two OF
three of them were shot or stabbed by mer
lying on the ground, and the cry was rails
ed that "the wounded Russians were firing
on our men. There is story, indeed, tina
one officer was severely injured by MAI
to whom he was in the very act of admins
tering succor as he lay in agony upon thu
field; be this as it may, there was at ont
time q near chance of massacre taking
place, but the men were soon controlled
and confined themselves to the pillagt
which always takes place on battlefield
One villain, with red coat on his back,
regret to say, | saw 60 to wounded Rus
sian, who was rolling on the earth in th
rear of the 7th regiment, and before W,
could say word, he discharged his riff
right through the wretched creatures brain
Colonel Yea rode at him to cut him down
but the fellow excused himself by declar
ing the Russian was going to shoot him.
This was the single act ofinhumanity ] saw
perpetrated by this army, fl ashed with vcto
ry and animated by angry passions, although
the wounded enemy had unquestonably en-
dangered their lives by acts of ferocious fol
ly. Many of the Russians had small eros
ses and chains fastened round their necks.-
, Several were found with Korans in thei
knapsacks-most probably recruits from
the Kasan Tartars. Many of the officer
had portraits of wives or mistresses, o
mothers or sisters, inside their coats. Tht
privates wore the little money they possess
ed in purses fastened below their left knees
. and the men, in their eager search after th'
money, often caused the wounded painful
apprehensions that they were about to de
] siroy them. Last night all these poo
wretches lay in their agony; nothing cou
be done to help them. The groans, tn
: yells, the cries of despair and suffering
4 were mournful commentary on the cxul
tation of the victors, and on the joy whic
d reigned along the bivouac fires of our men
: AS many Of our wounded as could be posi-
). bly, picked up ere darkness set in, were con
i veyed on stretchers to the hospital tents
Many of the others were provided wit
: blankets, and covered as they lay in the
q blood The bandsmen of the regimen,
II worked in themost cheerful and iadefatig'
), BILE manner, hour after hour, searching 0,
6 and carry off our wounded. ~
SCENE AFTER THE BATTLE.
'r Long after night had closed, faint lgh
q might be seen moving over tn frightful fiel