Litchfield enquirer., 1879-11-06

uutLer1lg leaves requiem TOT the Q6aQ WnOSe refrain seemed to be ''Woe is me, Bulgaria !'' Soon we all crept to our tents and courted sleep; and in few minutes thoughts of home of wars alarms, of those whom ''the arch angels trump, not glory's, must awake" of a Congress doing all that's mean" were sunk in oblivion. Heavy rains beat and lashed on the canvass, and thunder rolled overhead, and the trees moaned and creaked before the blast; but slept through it all, and only awoke when the cooing of the ringdove and the twit- tering of the golden oriole told that the storm had passed. All have experienced the exhil- arating freshness of the air after thunder storm and, as stepped out of the tent and inhaled the pure oxygen of the valley. could not help exclaiming
 The morn is up again, the dewy morn, .e. ., - With breath all lucense, and with cheek all bloom,
 Laughing the clouds away with playful scorD, And kissing as if earth contained no tomb.
 Perhaps at this point it may be we'll to give a short sketch of the battle of Senovo, both be- cause it will illustrate the course of the subse- quent narrative, and because the leading de- tails are little known in Great Britain. The general plan of the Russian attack upon the Turkish Shipka army, then under the con- mand of Vessel Pasha, was that Prince MirskY was to advance from the neighborhood- of Elna across the Balkans by the Maglis Pass,
 
 Balkans to the west of Shipka by passes which he himself was to discover. Once in the Tundza valley the two Russian armies were to march upon and enclose Vessel Pasha. Like all combinations, it was as General Scobielef said to me, beautiful plan lon paper;" but though in the end this strategy was successful, like most combinations, it failed primarily, and might, but for the brilliancy of Scobeletf's dispositions and the energy of his attack, have resulted in great disaster. According to this plan, Scobielef started from Toplish in the neighberhood of Selvi on December 23, with twelve battalions of the 16th division, nine of the Bulgarian legion, three of sharpshooters, one of engineers. and twenty squadrons of cavalry. Prince Mirsky had about the same number of men to accomplish his part of the movement. Through the reports of spies and scouts, Scobielef learned that the Turks ex- pected he would make the attempt to cross the mountains by the Rosalita Pass by which there is a feasible path, and that they had accoding- ly posted troops on the heights commanding the pass. He therefore determined to force a passage through the sinuosities of succession of glens of which penetrate what are known as the Magarcia Dag and the Ozan Dag. Snow lay deep on the ground and, as there was not even path in these unexplored fastnesses, General Scobielef was compelled to abandon
 
 and cavalry. Very early. the cavalry had to disnount and the intelligence and docility of the Russian horses were exhibited in the man. ner in which they traversed in single file the bottoms of the glens or chung sure-footedly to the sides of overhanging precipices AS they entered into the heart of the mountains, ad- vanced post, of sharpshooters occupied the commanding heights. Slow progress was made both on account of the difficulty of the way and because the defles were in many in- stances almost blocked with snow. When night fell the devoted troops sank to rest on the soft snow, glad occasionally to seek the shelter of some crystal-cOvered pine-tree, and lulled to sleep by the loud roar of torrents At the watershed of the OZan Dag a critical point was reached, for if here the Turks had had possession of the mountains of either side, it would have been impossible to have DOT ceeded farther. A steep perpendicular cliff was encountered, over which cartridge boxes had to be thrown, and down which the men had to creep on hands and knees, while the horses were made to slide at best they might into the yawning abyss below. In this man. ner the 24th, 25th, and 26th December were passed, when at last the plain of the Tundza was disclosed to them through an opening ID the mountains. The Turkish troops had also discovered their approach, and hurrying east wards occupied the heights immediately above the village of Hemedli, whence, opening a musketry fire upon the long snake-lne of the Muscovite soldiers, they endeavored to stop their passage and prevent them from debouch- ing into the open ground. The danger of the situation was great for Scobieleff's force, and stubborn fight took place in the deep recesses of the forest. among the scrub which covered the mountain tops and on the little table-lands which were encountered here and there. The Russians fought with desperation, and wood and mountain, valley and defle, all-re-echoed with the rattle of musketry. Coming round the shoulder of the hill which overlooks the village of Hemedi, the Russian column was also exposed to the artillery fire of the central redoubts of the Turkish position at Senovo j; but they were not to be denied their advance, and before nightfall, with loss of 456 men, Scobielef had driven back into the plain the Turkish skirmishers, while his battalions gaining closer formation, had by the evening of the 27th gained sure footing on the south- ern side of the Balkans, in and around the village of Hemedl, where they entrenched themselves It was while reconnoitring the eneny's position and surveying the nature of the ground that the incident of the bursting of the shell beneath General Scobieleff's horse, previously referred to, took place. Vessel Pasha occupied very strong position. His left flank, protected by wood, strengthened by formidable earthworks, faced the west his centre was in front of an open glade crossed by a stream while his right tended in north easterly direction towards the village of Shlp- ,ka with redoubts placed at convenient inter- ivals on commanding ground all along the line. As, in order to make his attack with effect, Scobieleff would have to advance eastwards, his first duty was to clear the plain to the southwards of the enemy so as to make sure that he would not be Outf1anded. According lv, the Cossacks were sent to the wood to the east of Becerli, and the 61st Regiment was despatched southwards to drive in the Turkish skirmishers and their supports which threaten. ed his right flank. They had to advance across an open plain whose slope was down wards towards the Turks, but with spades with which every soldier in Scobeleff's corps is armed-they speedily entrenched themselves and opened fire on the enemy, This was about seven in the morning, and in an hour they had cleared all the ground in front and secured the right flank. Meanwhile, the troops on the left had not been idle They had been advancing briskly in the direction of Senovo under whitening fire from the re- doubts. It has already been explained that the Russians were without artillery, and had the ground been dead level it would have simply been impossible for them to have GOV cred two or three miles exposed to continn- ous shower of shells, before being able to de- liver their assault. Fortunately, there were a series of hollows and dry water-courses run hing in all directions over the plain, and Scobielef foresaw that with rush from one to the, other the advance was possible. Then, too, the Turkish commander had left in his front, very foolishly, two large mounds, which proved of much service, as they offered safe breathing space to the attacking force, Early in the day General Scobileff rode along the line, informing his men that there was no re- treat; all that was left to them was death, glory, or--after pause. shame. Death or glory y. was the cry, with loud huzzas for their loved and devoted leader; and nobly did they vindicate their choice. The right flank hav- ing been swung round, with colors flying and bands playing, the great attack was made. Turk ish infantry occupied natural entrench- ments in front of the wood and the banks of two small streams, from which, entirely pro- tected, they kept up terrible fire. Onwards, however came the Muscovite soldiers, now seeking shelter in the hollows spoken of, now making rush across the open ground into oDOthar hn1lOu onaiv oli Ebo &l,