The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-10-15

L
| which WAS untefended
Colotiei Wiudham was the first or one Of the yer'
frs, men In ,eI this side, and With him entere'
Mahpney. q great granadier of the list. killean,
$ aud coTnellis Yf the same regiment. AS Mahonc,
entered with cheer, he Was shot through the hea'
by a Russian rteman and fell dead across Colone
Windhsm, and at the same moment killesnr snt
| Coinellis were both wounded As the alarm of al
assault was spread, the enemy came rushing M
| IRON the barracks in rear of the Rcdan, and in
creased the force and intensity of their fire, while
our soldiers dropped fast and encouraged tho Rus
sians ny their nnobility and tic weakness OF thei
fusuiade, from which the enemy wero well protect
ed In vain the officers, by voice and act, by OK
ample and daring, tried TO urge our soldiers on
They had an impression that the Rcdan was al
mined and that if they advanced they would all bt
| blown up but many Of them acted As betaIno the
men of Alma and Inkermaiin, and, rushing to the
front, were swept down by the enemys fire. The
ofcers fell on all sides, singled out for the enemy
| hre by their courage. The men Of the different
regiments became mingled together in incxtricable
confusion The 10Th men did not care for the OF
ders OF tho officers of the 9Th did the soldiers
OF the G}d heed the commands of an officer who did
not belong to his regiment The officers could not
| ma their rmen-the men had lost sight of their own
of1cers. All the brigadicrs. save Colonel Windham
| were wounded or tendered unfit for the guidance
! Of the attack
| The narrow neck of the salient was too close to
| allow Of any kind of formation. and the more the
men crowded into il the more thev got out of order
and the more they suffered from the enemys fire.
lhis miserable work lasted for an hour The Rus
SLAMS were now i'll dense bciiiid Chg breast
WORK, and Col Windham walked back again acros 5
the open space to the left to make one more at
tempt to retrieve the day. The men on the para
pet of the salient, who were firing at the Russians
sent their shot about him, and the latter who were
pouring Holicy after vollcy all points of the head
Of the work likewise directed ther mtlskets against
him, bu. he passed 'trcigh This cross fire in safety
aud got within the inner parapet the left, where
the men were becoming thinner and thinner.
Russian officer now stepped over the breastwork
aud tore down gabion with his own hands; il was
to make room for field piece. Col. Wndham ex
claimed to several soldiers who were firing over the
parapct, well, as you are SO fond of firing why
don't YOU shoot that RussianF They fired volIey
and missed him. and soon afterwards the field piece
began TO play on the head of the salient with
grape. Col Windham saw there no time to
be lost He had sent three officers for reinforce
mentS, and above alli for men of Information and
he now resolved TO go to General CodringtOn him.
| self Seeing Capt. Crcalock, of the Goth, near him.
busy in encouraging his men, and exerting himself
with great courage and energy to get them into
order, he said Il must go to the General for sup
ports. Now mind, let it be known, in case am
killed. why went away"
AWFUL DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN LIFE-HoRR1B1E
SCENES WITHIN sEBAsroPoL-THE DYING AND
THE DEAD.
From the Sebastopol Correspondence of the Lon
don Times, Sept. llth.
Of all the pictures of the horrors of war which
Scbastopol presents the horrible beart-ren,l-
ing and revolving. II canrot be described and the
imagination of Fusei could not conceive ANYTHING
at all like unto it. How the poor human body can
be mutlated and yet hold its soul within. when ev-
cry limb is shattered and every vein and artery is
pouring out the life stream might study here
at every step, and at tho same time wonder what
little will kill The building used as an hospital is
one OF the noble piles inside the dockyard wall and
is Situated in the centre Of tho row at right angles
to the line Of the Redan
The whole row was peculiarly exrosed 10 the ac.
ton of shot and shell botindng over the Redan and
to the missiles directed at the Barrack Battery and
it bears In sides roofs, windows and doors frequent
and destructive proofs of the severity of the can
nonade. Entering one Of these doors, / beheld such
sight as few men, thank God, hate ever witness
ed In long, low room, supported by square pill
lars, arched at the top aud dmly lighted through
shattered and unglazed window frames, lay the
wounded Russians, who had been abandoned to our
mercies by their General The wounded, did sayY
No, but the dead the rotten and fostering corpSes
of the soldiers who were left to die in their extreme
agony, unattended uncared for; packed as close as
they can be slowed; some on the floor, others on
wretched trestes and bedsteads, pallets of straw
sopped and saturated with blood, which oozed and
trickled through upon the floor, mingled with the
droppings of corruption.
With the roar of exploding fortresses in their
ears with shell and shot forcing through the roof
and sides of the rooms in which they Law; with tho
cracking and kissing of fire around them, these
poor fellows, who had served their loving friend
and master, the Gar, hut too we'll were consigned
to their terrible fate Many might have been saw
ed by ordinary care; many lay vet alive with mag.
g0ts crawling about in their wounds many nearly
mad by the scene around them, or seeking escape
from it i'll their EXTREMIST agony, had rolled away,
under the beds and gared out on the hear-strc ken
spectators-oh! with such looks. Many with legs
and arms broken and twisted, the Jagged splinters
sticking through the raw flesh, mplored aid, water,
food or pity; deprived of speech by the approach
of death, or by dreadful injuries on the head and
trunk, pointed TO the lethal spot
Many seemed bent alone on making their peace
with heaven. The attitudes of some were so hide
ousy fantastic as to appall and root one to the
ground by sort Of dreadful fascination Could that
bloody mass of clothing and white bones ever have
been a human being, or that burnt black mass of
flesh have ever been human soul 1t WAS fearful
to think what the answer must be. The bodies of
numbers of men were swollen and bloated to an
incredible degree and the features distcnled to a
gigantic size, with eyes protruding from the sock
cts, and the blackcned tongue lolling out of the
mouth, compressed tightly by the teeth, which had
set upon il III the death rattle, made one shuildcr
and reel round ,.
In the midst of one of these Chambers of hor-
rors'-for there were many of then---vere found
some dead and some living English soldiers, and
among them poor captain Vaughan, of the Goth
who has since succumbcd to his wounds ] con
fcss it was impossible for me to stand the sight
which horrihed our most experienced surgeons
the deadly clammy stencil, the smell of ganGrened
wounds, Of corrupted blood, of rotting fesh were
what must the wounded have felt who were obliged
TO endure all this, and who passed away without
a hand TO give them a cup of water, or a voice TO
say one kindly word to them.
Most of these men were wounded on Saturday
many perhaps the Friday before-indeed it is
impossible to say how long they might have been
there. In the hurry of their retreat the Muscoytes
seem to have carried in dead men to get them out
OF the way, and to have put them upon pallets in
horrid mockery. So that this retreat was secured
the enemy cared but little for the wounded On
Monday only did they receive those whom we sent
out TO them during brief armistee for the purpose
which was l believe, sought by ourselves, our
overcrowded hospitals could not contain, and our
oyerworked surgeons could not attend to any more
The Great Redan was next visited Such
scene of wreck and ruin AL the houses behind
1t mass of broken stoncs-a clock turret, with
shot right through the clock-a pagoda in ruins
another clock tower with all the clocks DESTROYED
save the dial, with the words "Barwise, London
thcreon-cook houses, where human blood was run
ming among the utensils in place a shell had
lodged in the boiler and blown it and its contents.
and probably IFS attendants, TO pieces. Everywhere
wreck and destruction This evidently was bean
qWG,ticr once. g
The oldest inlabitant could not recognise II now
Climbing up to the Redan, which was fearfully
numbered with the dead we witnessed the scene of