Sebastopol and its Beseigers
The important results which are connected with the struggle going on in the Crimea, may well serve to render any facts relating to the position of affairs in that quarter deeply interesting, Not to speak of the thousands who await with fearful expectation every scrap of fresh intelligence from the seat of war - and to whom the list of killed and wounded may be the sad record which darkens their future hopes - there are those who look breathlessly forward to the ”glorious victory” —those also who speculate on Change; and last not least, those who associate with the contest the higher principles of liberty and human progress.
Truly, there is something more than the mere contest of individual superiority - something more than the hollow plaudits which follow victory - confided to those bayonets; and it is gratifying to think that, though the destinies of men and of nations accompany the standards of England and France over the battle-field, the greatest confidence may be felt that they will not cease to wave in triumph and success.
In the engraving which we have presented above is depicted one of those terrible charges - many of which have taken place before Sebastopol - which show the impetuous and irresistible courage of the allied soldiers. The barrier-columns of the gaunt and powerful Muscovite are like so many pillars of sand before the spirit which urges on the attack. Marshal St. Arnaud well said that the men of Jena and of Friedland still followed the French eagles - we may truly boast that the banners of England still wave over the soldiers of Salamanca, Vittoria, and of Waterloo!
The relation of the dispositions and manoeuvres of a battle may be necessary to its explanation, but the nature of the contest is more vividly pictured to the minds of those ”who live at home at ease” by the narration of the individual episodes and incidents which occur, and we have collected a few of such - narrated by an eye-witness - connected with the deadly contest which has been waged around the walls of Sebastopol:—
“After the battle of the 25th,” (October) says the narrator, ”I saw Cornet Handley carried into headquarters. He had been stabbed in the side and arm, being at one time surrounded by four Cossacks, three of whom he shot with his revolver, and the fourth was cut down by his sergeant. I saw this gallant young fellow a few hours after, and he was, then getting ready, in spite of his wounds, to rejoin his regiment from the temporary hospital.”
”The deadly lance of the Cossack, though it wounded and staggered for a while, could not keep the hero from his post or his duty—and where danger and peril was greatest there was Cornet Handley again to be found. But this young officer is not alone in such devotion and courage—he only repréfents the general spirit which animates our troops:-
”Presently,” says the eye-witness before alluded to, ”I saw a man on horseback riding towards the temporary hospital. His face and clothes were so covered with blood and his head so bound up that we could not recognise him, Though severely wounded, he dismounted with the greatest sang froid, and lightly alluded to the ”scratch” he had received. On nearer observation we discovered that it was Lieutenant Elliott, of the 5th Dragoon Guards, whose regiment had suffered fearfully in executing a charge. He was soon under the care of Surgeon Kendall, formerly of Southampton. In the garden of this temporary hospital could be seen men with every description of wound, from the sabre cut to the grape and canister shot. One poor fellow's leg was taken off while we were there, nor can we easily forget the shocking scenes which we beheld. The surgeons and their assistants were working away with their sleeves turned up, arms bloody, faces the same, looking more like butchers than surgeons, so hard had they worked all day.”
There may be something revolting in the picture drawn, but it is real; and furnishes some idea of that part of the costs of a victory which can never be replaced, but which are in general too transiently remembered.
Two rival armies drawn up in position, and awaiting each other's attack, it may readily be imagined must present a grand and sublime spectacle, and it will be interesting to hear the description given of such a scene by one actually present :-
“I cannot conceive a more splendid sight than was witnessed on the afternoon of the 26th, the two armies (the Russians being enormously strong), waiting for one or the other to advance, with an occasional shell thrown by way of invitation or challenge. Poor Captain Maude, of the Horse Artillery, was severely wounded early in the day by one of these shells, which bursting near, hit him in three places. The loss of his services will be severely felt.” “One of the most wonderful things I think is to see the way in which our riflemen go about in small detached parties, crawling along on the ground up the side of a hill, till they appear to be within three hundred yards of the enemy, and thus they lie on their bellies till a chance offers, then crack goes a Minie, and down falls a Russian. I was informed most credibly that one of these brave fellows a few days since thinking he would go and do a little business on his own account, got away from his company, and crawled up close to a battery under shelter of a hill, lay on his back and loaded, and turned over and fired, when, after killing eleven men, a party rushed out, and he took to his heels, but, sad to say, a volley fired after him levelled him with the earth, and he was subsequently picked up with 82 balls in his body,”
Eleven bullets of our brave rifleman killed eleven men in succession. A sure aim, a steady aim, and a true weapon, are happily the characteristics which distinguish our rifle brigades, and which gives us the advantage in spite of our inferiority of numbers. The result of the temerity of the soldier was to be expected. The shock of that volley must have been terrible, though death must have been almost instantaneous.
Since the affair at Balaklava, when the Turks deserted their guns they have been exposed to reproach and ridicule—but these runaways are not to be confused with the veterans of Omer Pacha, whose courage has been everywhere so conspicuous. Before Sebastopol, however, the situation of the Turkish soldiers must henceforth be anything but agreeable, as the following will prove:-
“Whenever during the day,” continues the narrator before quoted, “you saw any of the Turkish soldiers, the people were hooting them and calling them cowards and poor runaways. I witnessed two Irishwomen actually driving four of these chivalrous gentry before them, probably to their own wounded husbands, and saying, ‘ Eh! ye cowardly divils, this is all you're fit for, to be our servants ; sure, you are afraid to fight; and on our return I saw a young middy drawn up before some fifty of them, abusing them most heartily for their having run away.”
The disastrous charge of the light brigade was attended with some interesting incidents, which will serve to give an idea of the perils of the battle-field. We know not whether it be the fortune of war, or the favour supposed to be shown to the brave, but certainly the careers of some soldiers would seem to suggest a charm against the death-shot:—
”Mr, Wombwell, of the 17th Lancers, had a most extraordinary escape. Two horses were shot under him, and he was taken prisoner, but seeing an opportunity, he mounted a Russian’s horse, and galloped back, rejoining his brigade who had reformed, and charged again without sword or pistol. Mr. Cook, of the 11th, also had a regular run for his life of a mile and a half, pursued by the Russian cavalry, to avoid whom he ran under range of the guns of one of their batteries, and finally escaped, Major Clerke, of the Grays, in addition to a bad cut in the neck, had his horse's tail almost cut off by a sabre cut. Lord Cardigan, (whose name, it will be recollected, has been before the public in this country in connection with some rather ridiculous affairs,) was attacked by two Cossacks, who with their lances gave him several pricks, and rather staggered him in his saddle; but his lordship being well mounted, and a good cross country rider, parried their thrusts, and escaped with the aforesaid lance pricks in his legs.
If, however, there is one feeling more satisfactory and admirable than another which is brought out by these contests, it is the continued unanimity and fraternity exhibited between the English and French divisions. Hitherto always accustomed to manoeuvre in opposition to each other, it might have been thought scarcely possible that they should support the English with such facility. Both armies act together with the most perfect ease, and there is that mutual respect between them which the brave feel for the brave, and which renders their fellow ship that of the stern and true companion-in-arms. In the retreat of the light cavalry, in the battle of the 25th October, the French rendered the most gallant assistance. The French General Bosquet, acting in a truly brotherly spirit—though he disapproved of the cavalry manoeuvre, and indeed could not understand it—ordered a regiment of horse to move forward and overthrow an advancing Russian force. The illustration given below furnishes some idea of the sanguinary nature of the contest. The success of the French charge, though they were exposed to a raking fire during its execution, was not doubtful from the first, and though at its close the ground was plentifully strewn with their own dead, the satisfaction was theirs of having saved a small force of their allies from total annihilation by superior numbers of the foe.
