Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-09-20
6-The London lines gives a painful
sketch of the battle of the Chernava:
Correspondence Of the London Times.

Correspondence Of the London Times.
CAM on THE CHERNAYA. AuO. Ia. 1855.
Although not quite so obstinate and ~sanouin-
airy as the battle of Inkermann. which his affair
resembledl IN many points, it was a pitched bat
tie. The Russians, as in the battle of Inker.
MANN, gave up maheuvering, and confded en-
tirely in the valor of their troops. The sssen
tial difference was IN the manner of fighting
At the battle OF lnkermann the great mass of
the russians fell under the file firing and bayo-
nets of the infantry, while on the Chernaya il
was the guns which did the greatest execution.
Most Of the wounded and dead showed fright.
full traces OF roundshot, grape, shell, and can
lister, so that as a battlefield one could scarcely
imagine anything more terrible. Nearly all the
wounds were on the legs and the head. On the
bank of the acqueduct particularly the sight
was appalling; the Russians when scaling the
embankment of the acqueduct were taken in
flank by the Sandman batteries. and the dead
and wounded rolled down the embankment
sometimes more than 20 feet in height. The
French made every possible dispatch to collect
the wounded. They We're laid on the open space
about the bridge until the ambulance arrived.
While there, the Russians. who could see plain
ly that the French We're engaged i'm bringing
help TO their own wretched countrymen, sud-
denly began to open with their guns upon them,
repeating the barbarous practice which they
had already often previously shown to the
troops. A gentleman who was with me at the
moment, and who speaks Russian, asked one of
the poor fellows who was trying to trudge along
with deep flesh wounds on both his thighs. what
he thought of the behavior of the Russians in
firing among their own wounded ? He answer
ed ''They are accustomed to beat us when We
are with them, and there is no wonder that they
should try to ~ill-treat us when we are on the
point Of escaping their power"
According to the account of the prisoners, and
Judging from the straps on the shoulders of the
wounded and dead, three divisions were en-
gagged in the actual attack-the 5th of the corp,
d'aTmee (of General Paniutin,) lately arrived
from Poland, under the command of Genera
Wrangel; the 10Th division of the 4ih corp,
darmee (Ostea-Sacken's,) formerly under tn
command of General Liprandi, now under Gen
eral Martinolep; and the 18th division of thu
9Th corps d'armee (Liprandi's) under Major Gen
eral Wassielcosky. The prisoners say that ever
the reserves took part in the action. | saw
soldier who said he belonged to the last batta
lion of the reserves, who said that before tn
battle began Gorchakoff, who commanded il
person, had a letter of the Emperor read befor
them. i'm which he expressed a hope that the
would prove as valorous as last year when the,
took the nights of Balaklava, and then ther
was n large distribution of brandy. Not a sol
der | saw who had not his bottle lying empt'
near him, and good sized bottles they were too
This brandy distribution was, however, only 70
the infantry, whom they wished to excite I
madness. The artillery got only the usual ra
lions.
Are. l9.-The attack has not been renewed
and the French have been for the last two day
busy in bringing upthe wounded Russians, an
burying the dead. Up to yesterday e%yenin
I $40 wounded and prisoners have been brough
in. The number of dead, of whom / have nc
heard any official estimate, cannot be less tina
from | 300 to l 800. OF course the bridge an
the banks of the acqueduct are the spots mos
crowded with them. The latter is quite choci
ed up with them, so that it has been forbidde
to water the horses from it for fear it should b
injurious to their health.
The French had three divisions engaged: til
Division Faucheux to the right, the Diyisio
d'Herbillon in the center of the bridge, and I'll
Division Canon on the left; their loss is abou
! 1890 in dead and wounded. The Sandman
} had only one division engaged-the Divisio
Trotti-and suffered very little loss-a few hun
dred men.
/, According 10 the account of the prisoner
{ most OF them came from Bakshiserai, and the
had to attack without resting after their marcl
They had all large quantities of bread in the
foraging sacks hung across their shoulders, bl
l no knapsacks.