The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-06-27

PROPONENTS in Balaklava must be reckon
ed the filing in Of tho harbor. Il has
become horrid swamp, hideous and
nauseous to every sense, whore water
and land had contended for tho mastery,
and at last effected compromise in the
the form Of the most abominable mud,
blended with floating offal from the ships
the debris of drowned animals from the
sea and starved animals from the land,
decayed vegetables, and slimy nastiness
| unutcrable. Thanks to Admiral Boxer
| or Colonel Harding, this DEVILS quag-
miro has now been covered over with
gravel and with stone, and stakes has
been driven into the sea 90 ns to form Q
quay all along the top Of the! harbOr.-
The slough is covered over, and hard,
clean, solid bit of ground takes its place
banked up at the seaside, and fit for
landing goods and stores on, from boats
with shallow draught of water.
THE SIEGE WORKS.
The siege works are in On excellent
state, and nothing can exceed the solid
ity Of our lines; but tho cover In the ad-
Yanoed parallels is not es perfect as
could be desired, owing to the difficulty
of the ground. have read some re.
marks copied from foreign Journal
with respect to the advantages rendered
to the enemy by the ravines, but, if they
have been considerable to them, they
have been incalculably great to us.-
They ore, in fact, SO many covered ways
and approaches to our batteries and
works and have saved Us prodigiOus
amount of labor in the earlier part OF
tho seige, but they fail Us in advance
of the mounds on which our batteries
rest, and the descents from these mounds
are commanded by the enemy on the
heights corresponding to our position on
the other side of the ravines. In this
| stage of the seige it would be unwise to
indicate tho position Of cur nem wozks
Suffice it to say that they are like to
prove very formidable and destructive,
and that the French are preparing some
astonishing effects" for their friends
on the left.
| MISS NIGHrENGALE AND NJ. soYER.
Miss Nightengale has visited several
of the hospitals since her arrival, and
has, believe, found matters much bet
ter than she expected. A marvellous
change has indeed been effected within
the last few months. Miss Nighten-
gallo remains on board steamer in the
harbor of Balaklava, and is attended by
Mr.. Bracebaidge. Mr. Soyer has also
arrived, and it is to be hoped he can
suggest some good and simple mode OF
cooking and messing, instead of our pres
ent very imperfect, irregular, wasseful,
aud unwholesome systom.
THE NIGHT ATTACK.
About / o'clock this morning the
camp in front vas aroused up by On ex-
tremely heavy fire Of musketry and ro-
peated cheering along our right attack.
The elevated ground and rides in front
of the Sd and 4th divisions was soon
crowded with groups of men from the
tents in the rear. It was o very dark
night, for tho moon had yet risen, and
the sky was overcast with clouds, but the
incipient flashing of small arms which
lighted up the front Of the trenches, the
yell of tho Russians, which our soldiers
have christened !" the Inkermann
screcch )" tho cheers of our mon, and
tho volume of the 6re, indicated the po-
sition, and showed that a contest Of no
ordinary severity was taking place.
Tho regularity and precision Of the
fen de Joie, the platoon or flo firing of
our reviews, have little kin Eith tho pas
sionate. intense, and startling burts Of
rife and musket, and give but an impor-
feet notion Of the deadly rattle and ftful
roll of small arms in action, whore every
man is loading aud firing as rapidly as
no caH, Auo H1c1S sn0 Iva LAoS1oh Va VIZ
line is altering every momont For o
milo and half tho darkness was broken
by outbursts of rOddy fame and bright
glittering sparks, which advanced, re-
coeded, died out altogether, broke out
fercely in patches in innumcrable twin
kles, fickered in long lines like tho olec-
trio fash along chain, and formed for
an instanb craters of FIRE. The wind
was favorable for hearing, and the cheors
Of tho men, their shouts, the voices Of
the officers, the Russian bugles and our
own, were distinctly audible. Tho mus
kotry, having rollod inOessantly for o
quarter of an hour, began to cease OF in
torrals along the limo. Here and there
it stopped for moment altoge her !;
again it burst forth. Then oame Brit
ish cheer, which thrilled through evory
heart. "Our fellows have driven them
back; bravo t" Then Russian yell,
rolling volley subsiding into spatter-
ing flashes and broken fire, ringing
hurrah from the front; and then the
Russian bugles sounding " the retreat, !"
and our own bugles the cease firing,
and the attack, after half an hours du-
ration, was sover. The enemy were beat
en-, aud we're retiriugto their earth-works,