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    PE H tremendous fire of bullets round sh...

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    The War. The Death Of Lord Raglan, Thoug...

    ~ » Until four P . M . on the 28 th , Lord Raglan had been progressing to the satisfaction of ^ his medical at-Wdantef whea alarming symptoms ^ developed themselves , Attended with difficulty of breathing , which gra-^^ SoTfive p ! m . he was unconscious , and from this period he gradually sank until twenty-five minutes before nine , at woich hour he died . . ??» , „ " The event has plunged the whole army into the most profound grief . " General Pelissier thus announces the event to his Government : — " It is with deep regret I have to announce that the venerable chief of the English army expired this evening at nine o ' clock . _ . . . the

    " We are the more affected by his death , as during preceding twenty-four hours his health seemed to have considerably improved . " Lord Raglan is succeeded by General Simpson , hitherto Chief of the Staff , and an old Peninsular officer . THE REPULSE ON THE 18 th . DESPATCH FROM LORD RAGLAN . Nearly the last despatch whicb the late Commanderin-Chief addressed to his Government is dated June 19 th , and gives the details of the reverse which the Allies experienced on tlie preceding day . The new batteries having been completed , the bombardment reopened on the 17 th , and , being maintained throughout the day , produced so great an effect that the attack was determined on : —

    " It was at first proposed that the artillery fire should be resumed on the morning of the 18 th , and should be kept up for about two hours , for tie purpose of destroying any works the enemy might have thrown up in the night and of opening passages through the abattis that covered the Redan ; but on the evening of the 17 th it was intimated to me by General Pelissier that he had determined , upon further consideration , that the attack by his troops should take place at three the following morning . " The French therefore commenced theif operations as day broke , and , as their several columns came within range of the enemy ' s fire , they encountered the most serious opposition both from musketry and the guns in the works which had been silenced the previous evening , and observing this , I was induced at once to order our columns to move out of the treneles upon the Redan .

    " It had been arranged that detachments from the Light , Second , and Fourth Divisions , which I placed for the occasion under the command of Lieiitenant-General Sir George Brown , should be formed into three columns ; that the right one should attack the left face of the Redan between , the flanking batteries ; that the centre should advance upon the salient angle ; and that the left should move upon the re-entering angle formed by the right face and flank of the work , the first and last preceding the centre column . " The flank columns at once obeyed the signal to advance , preceded by covering parties of the Rifle Brigade and by sailors carrying ladders and soldiers carrying wpolbags ; but they had no sooner shown themselves beyond the trenches than they were assailed by a most

    murderous fire of grape and musketry . Those in advance were either killed or wounded , and the remainder found it impossible to proceed . I never before witnessed such a continued and heavy fire of grape combined with musketry from the enemy's works , which appeared to be fully manned ; and the long list of killed and wounded in the Light and Fourth Divisions , and the seamen of the Naval Brigade , under Captain Peel , who was unfortunately wounded , though not severely , will show that a very large proportion of those that went forward fell . Major-General Sir John Campbell , who led the left . attack , and Colonel Shadforth , of the 57 th , who commanded the storming party under his direction , were both killed , as was also Colonel l £ ea , of the Royal Fusiliers , who led the right column . "

    Lord Raglan adds : — u The superiority of our fire on the day we opened , led both General Pelissier and myself , and the officers of tlie Artillery and Engineers of the two services , and the armies in general , to conclude that the Russian Artillery fire was , in a great measure , subdued , and that the operation we projected could be undertaken with every prospect of success . The result haa shown that the resources of the enemy were not exhausted , and that they had still the power , either from their ships or from their batteries , to bring an overwhelming lire upon their assailants .

    " While the direct attack upon the Redan was procecdir £ ? Lieutenant-General Sir R . England was directed to ssna one of the brigades of tho Third Division , under the command of Major-Goneral Barnard , down the Woronzoff Ravine , with a view to give support to tho attaking columns on his right , and the other brigade , under Major-General Eyre , still further to tho loft , to threaten the works at the head of tho Dockyard Creek . l " "I have not yet received thoir reports , and shall not be table to send them to your lordship to-day ; but General Eyre iraa very seriously engaged , and ho him-* $ tf wounded , though I am happy to say not severely , nnd he po ** OBaed himself of a churchyard which tho enemy had hitherto carefully wntched , and some houses

    within the place ; bnt , as the town front was not attacked , it became necessary to withdraw his brigade at night . " . The services of Sir George Brown and of Major-General Harry Jones are warmly acknowledged . A later despatch frdm Lord Raglan incloses a report from General Eyre , giving an account of the operations of the brigade under his command near the Garden Wall Battery , and of the holding by the 18 th regiment of certain houses during several hours . The particulars of this exploit will be found in our extract from the Times correspondent . From General Pelissier ' s despatch of the 22 nd of June , we learn that the attack was precipitated by General Mayran fancying he recognised the signal for commencement in a shell with a blazing fusee sent up from one of the Russian redoubts . It seems that he was in vain

    told of his mistake . ¦ XllK ACCOUNT OF THE TIMES CORRESPONDENT . The skirmishers advanced just as the general attack began , and , with some French oh their left , rushed at the Cemetery , which vras very feebly defended . They got possession of the p lace after a slight resistance , with small loss , and took some prisoners , but the moment the enemv retreated their batteries opened a heavy fire on the place from the left of the Redan and from the Barrack Battery . Four companies of the 18 th at once rushed on out of the Cemetery towards the town , and actually succeeded in getting possession of the suburb . Captain Hayman was gallantly leading on his company when he was shot through the knee . Captain Esmonde

    followed , and the men , once established , prepared to defend the houses they occupied . As they drove the Russians out , they were pelted with large stones by the latter on their way up to the battery , which quite overhangs the suburb . The Russians could not depress their guns sufficiently to fire down on our men , but they directed a severe flanking fire on them from an angle of the Redan works . There was nothing for it but to keep up a vigorous fire from the houses , and to delude the enemy into the belief that the occupiers were more numerous than they were . Meantime the Russians did their utmost to

    blow down the houses with shell and shot , and fired grape incessantly , but the soldiers kept close , though they lost men occasionally , and they were most materially aided by the fire of the regiments in the Cemetery behind them , which was directed at the Russian embrasures ; so that the enemy could not get out to fire down on the houses below . Some of the houses were comfortably furnished . One of them was as well fitted up as most English mansions , the rooms full of fine furniture , a piano in the drawing-room , and articles of luxury and taste not deficient . Our men unfortunately found that the cellars were not empty , and that there was abundance of fine muscat wine from the south coast of the

    Crimea , and of the stronger wines , perfumed with roses and mixed with fruits , which are grown in the interior , in the better sort of houses . The troops entered the place about four o'clock in the morning , and could not leave it till nine in the evening . The Russians blew up many of the houses and set fire to others , and , when our men retired , the names were spreading along the street . The 18 th Regiment lost two hundred and fifty men . In the middle of . the day , Captain Esmonde wrote to General Eyre to say that he required support , that the men were short of ammunition , and that the rifles were clogged . A sergeant volunteered to creep back with this letter ; but , "when he reached the place where the general ought to have been , he found that the latter had been obliged

    to withdraw owing to las wound , and he therefore delivered the document to Colonel Edwardea , As there was no possibility of getting support down to the troops , Colonel Edwardcs crept down along with tho sergeant and got into the houses to see how matters were going on . The officer in command , on learning the state of the case , ordered the men to keep up tho hottest fire they could 5 and meantime they picked up the rifles and ammunition of the killed and wounded , and were by that means enabled to continue their fusillade . Tho 9 th Regiment succeeded in effecting a lodgment in the houses in two or three different places , and held thoir position , aa well as the 18 th . A sergeant arid a handful of men actually got possession of the little Wasp Battory , in which there were only twelve or fourteen Russian artillerymen . They fled at * tho approach of our men ; but , when the latter turned round ,

    they discovered they -wore quite unsupported , and tho Russians , seeing that tho poor fellows were left alone , came down on them and drove them out of tho battery . An officer and half-a-dozen men of tho same regiment got up close to a part of tho Flagstaff Battory , and were advancing into it when they , too , saw that they were by themselves , and , as it was futile to attempt holding their ground , they retreated . About fifteen French soldiers on thoir loft aided them ; but , as they wero likewise unsupported , they had to retire . Another officer with only twelve men took one of tho Russian Rifle Pita , bayoncttod those they found in it , and hold possession of it throughout the day . Meantimo , while theso portions of tho fith and 18 th , and parties of tho 44 th and 28 th , wero in tho houses , the detachments of the same regiments and of the 88 th kept up a hot fire from the Cemetery on the Russians in the battery and on the sharpshooters , all the time being exposed to a

    tremendous fire of bullets , grape , round shot , and shell . The loss of the brigade , under such circumstances , could not but be extremely severe . One part of it , separated from the other , was exposed to a destructive fire in houses , the upper portion of which crumbled into pieces or fell in under fire ; and it was only by keeping in the lower story , which was vaulted and well built , that they were enabled to hold their own . The other parts of it , far advanced from our batteries , were almost unprotected , and were under a constant mitraille and bombardment from guns which our batteries had failed to touch . THE ARMISTICE ON TUB 19 TH . An armistice was demanded by the Allies on the 19 th ; but , though ultimately granted by the Russians , they took a long time to make up their minds . The Times correspondent remarks : — ¦¦ " * % _ & V .-. 11 -in « M « t >»\ wv **»* fcs 3 nit a 4 > ___ Jl _ 1 «»

    " It was agonising to see the wounded men who were lying there under a broiling sun parched with excruciating thirst , racked with fever , and agonised with painto behold them waving their caps faintly or making signals towards our lines , over which they could see the white flag waving , and not to be able to help them . They lay where they fell , or had scrambled into the holes formed by shells ; and there they had been for thirty hours —oh ! how long and how dreadful in their weariness I An officer told me that one soldier who was Jclose to the abattis , when he saw a few men come out of an

    embrasure , raised himself on bis elbow , and , fearing he should be unnoticea and passed by , raised his cap on a stick and waved it till he fell back exhausted . Again he rose , and managed to tear off his shirt , which he agitated in the air till his strength failed him . His face could be seen through a glass ; and my friend said he never could forget the expression of resignation and despair with which the poor fellow at last abandoned his useless efforts , and folded his shirt under his head to await the mercy of Heaven . Most of our dead seemed to lie close

    to the abattis of the Redan , and many , no doubt , had been dragged up to it at night for plunder ' s sake . Colonel Yea ' s body was found near the abattis on the right of the Redan ; his boots and epaulettes were . gone , but otherwise his clothing was untouched . His head was greatly swollen , and his features , and a fine manly face it had been , were nedrly undistinguhshable . Colonel Shadforth's remains were discovered in a similar state . The shattered frame of Sir John Campbell lay close up to the abattis . His sword and boots were taken , but the former is said to be in the Light Division Camp . It is likely he was carried away from the spot where he fell up to the ditch of the abattis for the facility of searching the body , as he could not have got so f ;» r in

    advance aa the place where lie lay . Already his remains were decomposing fast , and his face was much disfigured . Captain Hume , his attached aide-de-camp , had the body removed , and this evening it was interred on Cathcart ' s-hill—his favourite resort , where every one was sure of a kind word and a cheerful saying from the gallant brigadier . It was but the very evening before his death that I saw him standing within a few feet of his own grave . He had come to the ground in order to attend the funeral of Captain Vaughan , an officer of his own regiment ( the 38 th ) , who died of wounds received two days previously in the trenches , and he laughingly invited one who was talking to him to come and lunch with him next day at the Clubhouse of Sebnstonol . "

    THE NAVAI ., BRIGADE :. Despatches from Sir Edmund Lyons and from < ' aptain Lushington , relative to the operations of the Naval Brigade on the 18 th , have been received . Captain Peel , of the Leander , who led one of the storming party of sailors , and who was shot through tho arm , is mentioned with the highest praise . Lieutenant Thomas 0 . Kidd , of the Albion , was killed . Nine seamen were also killed ; forty-seven wero wounded ; mid one is missing . Captain Luuhington reports the bursting of ono of the 95 cwt . 08-poundcni , which caused tho death of four men and wounded three .

    From another despatch of Admiral Lyons , we learn a few particulars of tho nightly attacks by the ships on tlio defences of Sebastopol on the lGth and 17 th of June , as a preparation for tho assault . It was on the second of theso occasions that Captain Lyons received his death-wound , and not while reconnoitring Knfru , us at first stated . Being seriously lacerated in the calf of tho left leg by a shell , Admiral Lyons was obliged to send him to Therapia Hospital . Ho was in his thirlysixth year . On tho same night , three of tho aoanu'ii were killed , and thirteen were wounded .

    TICK BALTIC . Admiral Dundas , in a despatch dated Juno 21 « t , encloses a communication from Admiral Seymour , giving an account of his exmninatiou of tho Bay of Narva . A few houra' firing was interchanged between tho fortguna on the ono hand , and tlio whips and gunboat * of tho expedition on tho other . Only one casualty occurred — " William R . Searlo , Captain Royal Murinoo , contusion of left flido of chest from ttplintor . " Tho defences of the pla / jo having boon ascertained , and it being evident that no attempt could be mado on thu enemy ' s powition , th « ships withdrew .

    We quote tho annexed from tho Timea Dant / . ig correspondent , writing on Juno 2 l ) tli : — " Tho subject which forma at tho present moment tin

    Pe H Tremendous Fire Of Bullets Round Sh...

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07071855/page/4/