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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Tjbee War. The Detailed Accounts Of The ...
1 ^ e " g ^" 6 n ~ iaie '' flafiS " of ;' tlie' Redan opened on them as they moved'up rapidly to the salient , in which there were , of course , no cannon , as the nature of such a work does not permit of their being placedin that particular position . In a few seconds , Brigadier Shirley Was'temporarily blinded by the dust and by earth Knocked into hiseyes by a shot . He was obliged to retire , and his place was taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Bunbury , of the 23 rd Regiment . . . . Many offi-¦ cers and men were hit and fell ; and of the commanders of parties only acting Brigadier-General Windham , Captain Fyere , Captain Lewes , and Captain Maude , got untouched into the Redan , and escaped scathless from the volleys of grape and rifle balls which swept the iflanks of the work towards the salient .
" It was a few minutes after twelve when our men left the fifth parallel . The musketry commenced at once , and in less than five minutes , during which the troops had to pass over about thirty yards from the nearest approach to the parapet of the Redan , they had lost a larg ' ^ prbpdrtion of their officers , and been deprived of the aid of their leaders , with the exceptions I have ' stated . The Riflemen advanced admirably , but from their position they could not do much to reduce the fire of the guns on the flanks and below the re-entering angles . The bravery and coolness of : that experienced , deserving , and much-neglected
officer , Captain Fyers , were never more brilliantly displayed , or urgently called for . . . As the storming party caine nearer , the enemy ' s fire became less fatal . They crossed the abattis without difficulty ; it was torn to pieces and destroyed by our shot , and the men stepped over and through it with -ease . The Light Division made straight for the salient jand projecting angle of the Redan , and came to the iditch ,-which is here about fifteen feet deep . The party detailed for the purpose placed the ladders , but they were ifound to be too short . However , had there been enough of them that would not have mattered much , but some Jiad been lef t behind in the hands of dead or wounded
men , and others had been broken , so that if one can vtJredifc the statements made by those who were present , . there ' were not more than six or seven ladders at the salient ! The men , led by their officers , leaped into the : ditch ' and scrambled up the other side ,-whence they got ittp-the parapet almost -without opposition , for the few JRussianswho were in front ran back and got behind their traverses and breastworks as soon as they saw our men on the top , and opened fire upon them . To show what different impressions the same object can make on different people , let me remark that one officer of rank told jnethe Russians in the Redan did hot exceed 150 men when he got into it , and that the men could have carried the breastwork with the greatest ease if they had . only made a rush for it , and he expressed an opinion that they had no field-pieces inside the breastwork . A
'regimental officer , on the other hand , ' positively assured metthat when he got on the top of the-jaarapet of the salient he saw at about one hundred yards in advance of ^ lrim a breastwork with gaps in it , through which were run the muzzles tof field-pieces , and that in the rear of , it : were compact masses of Russian infantry , the front xank kneeling with fixed bayonets , as if prepared to receive a . charge of cavalry , while the two rear ranks over them kept up a sharp and destructive fire on our men . The only way to reconcile these discrepancies is to suppose : that the first spoke of 1 the earliest stage of the assault , and : thats the latter referred to a later period , , when the Russians may have opened embrasures in . the c breastwork ^ and - had ( been reinforced ! by the' fu gitives from the Malakhoff , and by the troops behind the barracks in its rear .-. Lamentable , aa it no doubt is , and incredible almost to those who know how the British
soldier generally behaves before the enemy , the men , when they got on * the parapet , were seized by some strange infatuation , and began firing , instead of following their officers , who now began to fall as fast as they . rushed on in front and tried to stimulate their soldiers by their example . The small party of the 90 th , much . diminishedj went on gallantly towards the breastwork , ]> ut ' they were too weak to force it , and they had to ro-, t ^ re and get behind ; the , traverses , where men of difffeiren , ^ . regiments had already congregated , and were . Jceej ^ ng . -upj , ft . brisk , fire on the . Russians ,, whose heads were just visible above the , breastwork . Simultaneously with theJhpad of the storming party of the Light Divi-. felon ,:. Colonel Windham had got inside the Redan on
their rjght , below the salient , on the proper left face of K th >¦ Re . (^ n but , in spite of all his exertions , could do little more than the ' gallant officers of the 90 th and 97 th , aiad of the supporting regiments . " Atf tike Light Diyision , noshed out in the front they were swept by the guns of the- Barrack Battery and by several pieces on the proper right of the Redan , loaded tieavily with grape , which . caused them considerable loss before they reached the salient or apex of the work which they were to assault . The storming columns of the Second Division issuing out of the fifth parallel rushed np immediately after the Light Division , but when they came up close to the apex Brigadier Windham very juj'dloiously brought them by a slight detour on the right ; n * u } c of tho Light Division , bo as to come a little down ' jontlje alopo o ? the proper left face of the Redan . The e WW ^ ta | 6 riMliire to which they came was in flames , but , ^ nw ^ jbag dni to the next , the men leaped Into the ditch ,
and ; with " the aid ' of TadoLera and " of eacfr other ' s hands , scrambled up on the other side , climbed the parapet , or poured in through the embrasure which was undefended . Colonel Windham was the first , or one of the very first men in on this side , and with him entered Daniel Mahoney , a great Grenadier of the 41 st , and Kilkenny and Cornelis , of the same regiment . As Mahoney entered with a cheer he was shot through the head by a Russian rifleman , and fell dead across Colonel Windham , and at the same moment Kilkenny and Cornelis were both
wounded . The latter claims the reward of 51 . offered by Colonel Herbert to the first man of his division who entered the Redan . Running parallel to the faces of the Redan there is , as I have described , an inner parapet , intended to shield the gunners at the embrasures from the effects of any shell which might fall into the body of the work , and strike them dow n if this high bank were not there to protect them from the splinters . Several cuts in the rear of the embrasures permitted the men to retire m case of need inside , and very strong and high traverses ran all along the sides of the work itself to afford them
additional shelter . "At the base of the Redan , before the re-entering angles , is a breastwork , or rather a parapet , with an irregular berme , up to a man ' s neck , which runs in front of the body of the place . As our men entered through the embrasures , the few Russians who were between the salient and this breastwork retreated behind the latter , and got from the traverses to its protection . From it they poured in a quick fire on the parapet of the salient , which was crowded by the men of the Light Division , and on the gaps through the inner parapet of the Redan , and our men , with an infatuation which all Officers deplore , but cannot always remedy on such occasions , began to return the fire of the enemy without l
advancing or crowding behind ' the traverses , oaded and fired as quickly as they could , but did but little execution , as the Russians were well covered by the breastwork . There were also groups of Russian riflemen behind the lower traverses near the base of the Redan , who kept up a galling fire on our men . As the ^ alarm of an assault was spread , the enemy came rushing up from the barracks in the rear of the Redan , and increased the force and intensity of their fire , while Our soldiers dropped fast and encouraged the Russians by their immobility and the weakness of their fusillade , from which the enemy were well protected . In vain the officers , by voice and act , by example and daring , tried to urge our soldiers on . They had an impression that the Redan was mined , and that if they advanced they would all be blown up ; but many of them' acted as became the men of Almi and Inkerman , and , rushing to the front , were swept down by the enemy ' s fire . The officers fell on all fire btheir
sides , singled out for the enemy ' y courage . The men of the different regiments became mingled together in inextricable confusion . The 19 th men did not care for the orders of the officer of the 88 th , nor did the soldier of the 23 rd heed the commands of an officer who did not belong to bid regiment . The officers could not find their men—the men had lost sight of their own officers . All the Brigadier * , save Colonel Windham , were wounded or rendered unfit for the guidance of the attack- That gallant officer did all that man could do to form his men for the ' attaek , andto lead them against the enemy . Proceeding from traverse to traverse , he coaxed the men to come out , and succeeded several times in forming a few of them , but they melted away as fast as he laid hold of them , and either fell in their little ranks or retired to cover , to keep up their fusillade . Many of them crowded to lower parts of the inner parapet and kept up a smart' fire on the enemy , but nothing could'induce them to come out into the open space and
charge the breastwork . This was all going on at the proper left face of the Redan , while nearly the same scene was being repeated at the salient . Every moment our men were diminishing in numbers , while tho Russians came up in swarms from the town , and rushed down from the Malakhoff , wliich had now been occupied by the French . Thrice did Colonel Windham send officers to Sir E . Codrington , who was in the fifth parallel , begging of him to Bond up supports in some order of formation ; but all these three officers were wounded as they passed from the ditch of the Redan to the rear , and the Colonel ' s own aide-de-camp , Lieutenant Swire , of the 17 th , a gallant young officer , was hit dangerously in the hip" as lie went on his perilous errand . Supports were , indeed , sent up , but they came in disorder , from the fire to which they were exposed on their way , and arrived in driblote , only to increase the confusion of the carnage .
" Finding that ho could not collect any men on the left face , Colonel Windham passed through one of the cuts of the inner parapet and walked over to tho right face , at tho distance of thirty yards from tho Russian breastwork , to which he moved in a parallel lino , oxposed to a close fire , but , wonderful to say , without being touched . When ho got behind tho inner parapet at tho right face , ho found tho same state of things as that which existed at the left . Tho men wore behind the traverses , firing away at tho Russians or blazing at them from tho broken parts of tho front , and tho soldiers who came down from the salient in
front only got behind thoso works for cover wlillo they loaded and fired at the enemy . The Colonel got soaio riflemen aud a few men of the 88 th together , but no
sooner "hadKe brought them out ihaiTlKey were'kllled , wounded , or dispersed by a concentrated fire . The officers , with the noblest devotion , aided Colonel Windham , and became the special marks of the' enemy's riflemen . The narrow neck of the salient was too close to allow of any kind of formation , and the more the men crowded into it the more they got out of order , and the more they suffered from the enemy ' s fire . ¦ " This miserable work lasted for an hour . The Russians were now in dense masses behind the breastwork , and Colonel Windham walked back again across "the open space to the left to make one more attempt to retrieve the day . The men on the parapet of the salient , who were firing at the Russians , sent their shot about him , and
the latter , who wjere pouring volley after volley on all points of the head of the work , likewise directed their muskets against him , but he passed through this cross fire in safety , and got within the inner parapet on the left , where the men were becoming thinner and thinner . A Russian officer now stepped over the breastwork , and tore down a gabion with his own hands ; it was to make room for a field-piece . Colonel Windham exclaimed to several soldiers who were firing over the parapet , ' Well , as you are so fond of firing , why don ' t you shoot that Russian ? ' They fired a volley and missed him , and soon afterwards the field-piece began to play on the head of the salient with grape . Colonel Windham saw there was no time to be lost . He had sent-three officers
for reinforcements , and above all for men in formation , and he now resolved to go to General Codrington himself . Seeing Captain Crealock , of the 90 th , hear him , busy in encouraging his men , and exerting himself with great courage and energy to get them 'into order , he said , 'I must go to the General for supports . Now , mind , let it be known , in case I am killed , why I went away . ' He crossed the parapet and ditch , and succeeded in gaining the fifth parallel through a storm of grape and rifle bullets in safety . Sir Edward Codrington asked him if he thought he really thought he could do anything with such supports as he could afford , and said
he might take the Royals , who were then in the parallel . 4 Let the officers come out in front—let us advance in order—and , if the men keep their formation , the Redan is ours , ' was the Colonel ' s reply ; but he spoke too late , for at that very moment our men were seen leaping into the ditch , or running down the parapet of- the salient , and through the embrasures out of the work into the ditch , while the Russians followed them with thebayonet arid with heavy musketry , and even threw stones and grapeshot at them as they lay in the ditch . The -fact was , that the Russians , having accumulated several thousands of men behind the breastwork , and seeing our
men all Scattered and confused behind the inner parapet and the traverse , crossed the breastwork , through which several field-pieces were now playing with grape on the inner face of the Redan , and charged our bioken groups with the bayonet , at the same time that the rear ranks , getting on the breastwork , poured a heavy hail Of bullets on them over the heads of the advancing column . " The struggle that took place was short , desperate , and bloody . Our soldiers , taken at every disadvantage , met the enemy with the bayonet too , and isolated combats took place , in wliich the brave fellows who stood their ground had to defend themselves against three or
four adversaries at once . In this melee , the officers , armed only with their swords , had little chance ; nor had those who carried pistols much opportunity of using them in such a rapid contest . They fell like heroes , and many a gallant soldier with them . But the solid weight of tho advancing mass , urged on and fed each moment from tho rear by company after company and battalion after battalion , prevailed at last against the isolated and disjointed band , who had abandoned the protection of unanimity , and had lost the advantages of discipline and obedience . As though some giant rock had advanced into the soa and forced back the waters that
buffeted it , so did the Russian columns press down against tho spray of soldiery which fretted their edge with fire and steel and contended in vain against their weight . The struggling band was forcod back by the enemy , who moved on , crushing friend and foe beneath their stolid tramp , and , bleeding , panting , and exhausted , our men lay in heaps in the ditch beneath the parapet , sheltered themselves behind stones and in bomb-craters , in the slope of the work , or tried to pass back to our advanced parallel and sap , and had to run the gauntlot of a tremendous fire . " The writer adds that some of the Russians brought
water to our wounded ; which to some extent wipes out the stain of their former cruelties . Touching the rawness of our soldiers , Mr . Russell relates that one man confessed he had never fired eff his piece because he could not , and that several men who canio out to regiments in tho Fourth Division had only been enlisted a few days , and had never fired a riflo in their lives ! It must bo borne in mind , however , that all accounts do not agree in imputing blame to tlio conduct of tho troops while in tho Redan . Marshal Pelisaicr , indeed , spenks with great praise- of tho attempt , unsuccessful though it was . Ho writes : — " The English had to go over 200 metres , under a torriblo flro of grapo . This » paqo was now covered with dead . Nevertheless , thoso lossou did not impedo tho progress of tho attacking column , which came up directing its course towards the principal work . It descended into tho trench , which is
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Q » g TrM & J ^ A ^ - JPf i j * jffip « ^ SB ^^ ApxiiDAY ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 29, 1855, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29091855/page/4/
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