The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-02-14
TRon An ASSISTANT SURGEON.

JANUARY 1.-The only thing have nom
to complain Of is living in tent and the
abominabls trench work, which kills half
our men. Four weeks back, all the regi-
ments in this (the third division, had their
full complement Of assistant surgeons, and.
now few regiments haze mere Than one; the
others are all knocked up. tq4..,
All ones friends being sick is not at all
pleasant. 4 am myself, at present, IN excel
lent health, thank God. and hope / may re-
main So, do my best, and buy every sort
of luxury ] can, but there is very little to be
got hope shall not again has te live
on salt pork and biscuit for a fortnight, as
am persuaded il 10 that, with the wet that
gives the officers and men dysentery. We
lose .at least Eve hundred, and i should
think nearly one thousand men a week from
disease. They are sent to Sentari, and new
er seen to return. DID" s' ''f''h'P f.''
- "''" THE MENfIK THE rKEEcHEs. m''.
Z CAMP BEFORE SEBAsropoL, Dec. 2o.-A-
gain we are halEdrowned with wet; but al
though raining as if it had never rained be-
fore, we can't complain, for we have actually
had six days Of fine weather. We sent one
hundrdd sick from this brigade down 10 Bal
aklava yesterday, to be forwarded to Scutari;
Eif this goes on we will soon be done up.-
Last night was furiously wet. s | never saw
any thing like il beiore-coming down in
torrents and flooding everything. The rain
changed to snow this morning, and il was
three or four inches deep, but il has all be-
come slush now; we had taken advantage OF
the dry weather to dig a hole in the ground,
and put roof over it, hoping that with fire
in it We should he able to dry our things and
cook Our only material for the roof was
mud, which, to our sorrow, let in the water
like a sieve, SO this plan will not do. We
are anxiously looking forward to the arrival
of the wooden houses, which are mentioned
in the papers; but we hardly dare believe in
them, as we have been so deceived about
fuel, vegetables, and materials for hutting,
&c. We have very little fuel, and are obii-
iged to grub up roots. ... ......
Since the battle OF Inkermann nothing
Of moment has taken place beyond few
vigorous sorties from the garrison. In one
about week ago, the enemy was repulsed
with great loss. Another, which was made
the night before last, was, however, attend
ed with more disastrous consequence to Us:
True, the Russians, wrre beaten back; but
saw thirteen dead Englishmen in a heap
in one Of our parallels, stripped to their
shirts and drawers.
In the last week Of November and De-
cember. cholera made most fearful ravaees
among our already thinned ranks. NV Var
ma experience of sickness became us almost
nothing when compared with the awful scene
which took place; I wandered over blood
red battle fields with almost perfect indiffer-
ence, feeling intoxicated, as II were, think
| ing Of the glorious victories we had won;
but when mortal disease was hourly laying
| hold of my comrades on every side-whcn
almost constantly, day and night, men were
borne yelling to the hospital, and in a few
hours their bodies thrust into holes, a dozen
at time, sometimes felt my heart sink
within me at the dismal prospect around me.
One hundred and TWENTY-FIVE of one
dranght landed in November. write month
ly sort of MS. newspaper. designated the
e Sebastopol Journal for the edifcation OF
a few surviving comrades, and give you the
following extract;
! 1.-The men are all very young, and appear
little suited to brave the hardships Of win
ter campaign in the Crimea ;" a1 e. es.aaa7.r
Alas! they are less adapted to the Crime
| an warfare than ever the editor anticipated
In fourteen days between fifty and sixty OF
these boys were in their graves, about twenty
hors de combat, and the remainder any thing
but efficient soldiers. ..... ....
FROM THE STAFF GFFIcLRs. ..
The only beds for weeks in the hospitals
in camp was an inch and half Of mud; the
only transport springless artillery wagon
or worse arapa! After the French have lent
us aids we. are now employing the cavalry
horsesto convey the men on board ship;
poor fellows who can't stand. and possibly
have neyerridden, are hoisted on half-starved
horses, and thus conveyed. The French, on
the contrary, do well, they are organiznd fol
war---we a.e for nothing; the result is that
out Of an army employed in the East of A.,
600 men, we cannot produce above 22,OOC
under arms, and those not half fit to fight, ant
the whole in such state of apparent disor
der that no one would take them to be Brit
ish soldiers. .n....... ......