Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-10-25
rxx xAIxxxosy Ayrx1 szz VICTORY

cage, and parallels, BY which the French
had worked their sure and teadly way close
to the heart Of the Russian defence, and
treadlng gently smong the heaps Of dead,
where the ground bears full tokens of the
bloody fray, we come 1t last to the head Of
the French sap 1t i barely ten yards from
that to the base Of the huge sloping mound
Of earth which rises full twenty feet in
height above the level. and shows in every
direction the grinning muszles Of its guns.
The tricolor waves placidly from its high
est point, and already the French are busy
constructing ssmaphore on the top. Step
briskly out Of the sap-svoid those poor
mangled braves who are lying all around,
and come on. There is a deep ditch at your
and ten feet broad. See, here is the place
where the French crossed-here is the
bridge Of planks, and here they swarmed in
upon the unsuspecting defenders the Ma
lakhsf. They had not ten yards to 60. We
had 200, aud were then out Of breath. Were
not planks better than scaling laddersl See
how easily the French crossed. You OBJ
serve on your right hand, a. you issue from
the head Of the French trench, a line Of
gabions on the ground running up to this
bridge That 10 flying sap. which the
French made the instant they got out of the
trench into the Malakhof, so that they were
enabled TO pour a continuous stream OF men
into the works, with comparative safety
from the flank Ere of the enemy. In the
same way they at once dug trench across
the work inside, to see if there were any
galvanic wires to FIRE mines. Mount the
parapet and descend-of what amazing
thickness are these embraxurcs! From the
level Of the ground inside to the top of the
parapet cannot be less than eighteen feet.
There are eight rows of gabions piled enc
above the other, and as each row recedes
towards the top it leaves in the ledge below
an excellent ban9uette for the defenders. In.
side the sight is too terrible to dwell upon.
The French are carrying away their own
and the Russian wounded, and there are
four distinct piles OF dead formed TO clear
the way The ground is marked BY pools
of blood, and the smell is already noisome;
swarms Of flies settle on dead and dying;
broken muskets, torn clothes, caps, shakos,
swords, buyonets, bags Of bread, csnteens
and haversacks are lying 10 indescribable
wreck all over the place, mingled with heaps
of shot, Of grape, bits of she'll, cartridges,
case and canister, loose powder, official pa
pers, and cooking tiLs. The traverses are
20 high and deep that it is impossible al
most to get view of the whole Of the NAL
akhof from any one spot, and there is
high mound Of earth in the middle of the
work, either intended as a kind Of shell
proof, or the remains of the old White Tow
ers. The guns, which 70 the number of
sixty were found in the work, are all ships
guns, and mounted on ships carriages, and
worked in the same way AZ ships guns.
There are a few old-fashioned, oddly shaped
mortars. Look around the work, and you
will ses that the strength of the Russian
was his weakness-he fell into his own
bomb-proofs. In the parapet Of the work
may be observed several entrances-rery
narrow outsidee, but descending and en-
lsrging DOWN. ards, and opening into rooms
some four or five feet high and eight or ten
square. These are only lighted from the
outside BY day, and must have been pitch
dark at night, unless the men were allowed
lanterns. Here the garrison retired exposed
to a heavy bombardment. The odour of
these narrow chambers is vilainous, and
the air reeks with blood and nominations
unutterable. There are several of these
places, and they might bid defiance to the
heaviest mortars in the world; over the roof
is a layer OF ships masts, cut into junks
and deposited carefully; then there is over
them a solid layer Of earth, and above that
a layer of gabions, and above that a pile OF
earth again. In one of these dungeons,
which is excavated in the solid rock, and
was probably underneath the old White
Tower, the officer commanding seems TO
have lived. IL must have been dreary res.
idence. The floor and the entrance were
Uttered feet deep with reports, returns,
and perhaps dispatches assuring the Gar
that the place had sustained no damage.
The garrison were in these narrow cham
bers enjoying their siesta, which they in
varably take at twelve o'clock, when the
French burst in on them like torrent, and,
az it were, drowned them in their holes.
The Malakhoff is closed work; it is oul;
open at the rear to the town, and the French
having once got in, threw open passage
to their own rear, and closed up the front
and the lateral-communications with the
curtains leading to the Great Redan and to
the Little Redan. Thus they were enabled
to pour in their supports, in order and with
out loss, in continued stream, and TO re-
sist the efforts of the Russians, which were
desperate and repeated, to retake the place.
They brought up their field guns at once,
| and swept the Russian reserves and sup
ports, while Strange's battery from the
Quarries carried death through their ranks
in every quarter of the Karabelnaa. With
the Malakhoff the enemy lost Sebas,opol
The ditch outside towards the north was We,
full Of French and Russians piled over each
other in horrid confusion. On the right,
the Little Redan, the ground was literally
strewn with bodies as thick as they could
lie, and in the ditch they were piled over
each other. Here the French, victorious
in the 4alakhof, met with q heavy loss and
a series Of severe repulses. The Russians
lay inside the work in heaps like carcsses
in butchers cart, and the wounds, the
blood-the sight, exceeded all I had hither
70 Witnessed Cor. London Times.
TIE WoMAN's RIGHTS CosvxsrIoH,-
which has been in session at Cincinnati,