The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-10-06

fnsilade, was kept up on the select band, who
now crouched in the ditch, waiting, but IN vain,
for reinforcements and that any OF them after
wards escaped alive is miraculous. Seeing what
insurmountable difficulties presented them
selves, the order was at last given to retire the
ionrhearted commander of the troops, Col.
Lemon, of the royal marines, (who was one of
the first into the furthest ditch Capt Vansit-
tart, of the Magicienne, and Capt. Shadwell, OF
! the Highfyer, all having been severely wound
ed. The latter was badly shot through the foot
shortly after landing, but nevertheless managed
to struggle nanfully forward, even to the ad-
yaneed trench. Poor Capt. Nansittart had his
leg shot off. Lieut.. Graves, of the Assistance,
Lieut.. Clutterbuck, of the Coromandel, young
Herbert, of the Chesapeake, and Lieuts. Inglis
and Woodbridge, of the royal marines, were all
killed while CALAMITY cheering on their men
and at least three fourths of the officers who
landed were more or less severely hit
In efecting the retreat, even more lives were
lost, perhaps, than in advancing, as the Chi
nese, by lighting blue lights, were enabled to
discover the exact position of our then reelng
and thoroughly-exhausted men, and SO to shoot
them down like birds. Even on arriving at the
waters edge, matters were not improved, as so
many of the boats had been smashed to pieces
by round shot that there were not enough re-
manning to take off the surviving men. Several
were, drowned in attempting to get of, while
many had to remain for more than an hour up
to their necks in water before they could get
place in boat; and even then their dangers
were not past, as the fire from the forts contin-
ued so heavy, that several boats full of wounded
were struck and swampea while pulling off TO
the ships The Coromandel was made the tenn
porary hospital ship and the scene on her up
per deck was truly horrible. 1t was nearly one
Al L. e <4aAe
brought off to her, and long ere that hour she
was crowded with the mutilated and the dying.
Every exertion, however, was made by the
medical staff Ito whom, and especially to DIR.
Little, of the marines, great credit is due,) and
long ere daybreak every sufferer had his wounds
tended. Every operation land their number
was sickening) was gratifed to hear was per
formed under the influence of chloroform.
Oar proportionate loss has, indeed been
| frightful-464 killed and wounded. The lst
battalion of marines alone which landed barely
400 strong, has lost altogether liz killed and
wounded; the Chesapeake, 26 killed or missing,
and "a wounded; and the gun-boats, 80 killed
and wounded. Nc expectation whatever is en-
tertained of those who are returned missing
being still alive. With such enemies as the
Chinese, and under the peculiar circumstances
of the case, all such hope is out of the question.
The belief is universal throughout the squad
ron that Europeans manned the batteries as well
as Chinese. Men in gray coats, with closely
cropped hair, and with Russian features, we're
distinctly visible in the batteries, and the whole
of the Notifications were evidently of European
designing. Some of those who advanced near
to the wall even go so far as to declare that they
heard men calling for the very description of
fire, only six hundred or seven hundred yards
off, which they were least able to resist, reply
to- or silence.
| The men fought their guns with the courage
of British sailors, but in an hour and half the
gunb boats had suffered 80 severely from the fire
that three were sunk or sinking the Admiral
had been obliged to shift his flag twice, and from
each vessel he bore fresh wound and orders
were sent to the depot vessels for the reserves
| But the tide was now running down like mill
race. Minute after minute revealed banks of
mud below the fort, deep, Shiny, and glistening.
! In very few minutes, latter 1907 the Opossum
had several of her crew killed or wounded. In
| the Plover, the Admiral was severely hit; her
| gallant commander, Rason, and Capt. McKena,
Of the LIST Royals, doing duty on the Admiral's
| staff, killed, and almost every man of the crew
disabled while the Naughty, (Broad,) Lee,
! (Jones,) Kestrel, (Bevan,) and Cormorant,
! (WodehOuse,) were so severely crippled that
| they were in a sinking state. Still, they fought
on lying well up to the forts, and plying them
so sharply with their shot, that they appear to
| have silenced at least some of their guns So
late as FIVE o'clock in the evening, the sailors
and marines previously embarked in the boats
received tho signal to land, and carry the works
by assault.
! And here begins another sad episode of that
which may fairly be called tragedy. The
boats touched no land but brought up the
troops to bank of mud. AS they struggled
to gain their legs in the sticky, treaeherous
mass, the guns which seemed to have been
silenced opened from all the forts with terrible
energy on our troops. Still, those who did not
sink down to die horrible death in that Slough
of Despond advanced through mud so deep that
it always took them up to their knees, and often
swallowed them in up to their waists but they
went on, struggling through this horrid bog,
swept down by artillery, to which was added,
as they approached the walls, musketry, MIME
rifles, and-arrows! They passed over quar-
ter ola mile of this terrible glacis, when they
arrived at the first of three wet ditches Of
which nothing was known, though they were
each ten feet broad and FIVE feet deep. Imagine
such an obstacle to men who had got through
the ordeal of the mud and yet they faced
it. In they went, up to their necks, while
! the water is torn around them by incessant
showers Of grape and musketry. They emerge
with soddened pouches and useless ammunition,
but with unhagging courage, if with diminished
numbers. They struggle on another dreary
interval, still scorched by incessant fire. An
other deep, wet ditch lies before them. The en-
emy's fire is redoubled in intensity the second
ditch is passed by those who have strength or
life for the task there is again another oasis of
dubious soil, but it bears them on. A third
ditch lies before them, close under the walls. Is
it so wonderful, that of the 1000 men who land
ed, only 100 are said to have reached the lastsof
these deadly trenches Is it not all but mirac-
ulous, that fifty of them got as far as the oppo-
site side of the bank of the third ditch, and
were there ready to assault the fort if they had
scaling ladders However, all scaling ladders
but one are broken, the covering fire is failing,
darkness sets in, and the retreat is ordered 1t
is effected from ditch to ditch, in the dark, and
in the mud, but still under fire. BY the light
of carcases, the Chinese throw their flights of
grape and musket balls on the weary men who
are staggering through the mud, and are search
ing, as they retire, for their wounded comrades.
1t is q most melancholy story. Without &C
cusing the Admiral of any grievous error as
yet, we may at least express our belief that the
two portions of the assault were singularly mis-
placed, and that each was i'll managed. Had
the forts been carried, the removal of the
booms, stakes, and barriers, had been harm
less and bloodless operation. The attack by sea
was too late-the landing singularly iniudi-
cious, both as to time and place. Scarcely had
the ships been engaged, when they were de-
prived Of half the benefit of reserves, reinforce
ments, and boats, by the ebbing tide. Any Off
Ger who had been week in a Chinese river
should have foreseen that there would be mud
banks on the shores at ebb-tide. In all opera-