LESSON 16.

THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN.

Sir William H. Russell, the father of war correspondents, was born in Ireland in 1821. After leaving Trinity College, Dublin, he joined the staff of the Times, and, on the outbreak of the Crimean War, he was sent with the army. Writing fearlessly of what he saw by keeping his own eyes open, he opened the eyes of people at home to the gross blundering and stupidity which were causing the death of hundreds of our brave soldiers, and causing needless suffering to thousands more who were not killed outright. He thus rendered greater service than if he had won a battle. He afterwards followed the Indian Mutiny, the Civil War in the United States, the war between Prussia and Austria, and the war between Prussia and France. He was knighted in 1895. THEN commenced the most desperate struggle ever witnessed since war cursed the earth. Military historians had doubted whether any enemy had ever stood a charge with the bayonet; but here the bayonet was often the only weapon employed in conflicts of the most obstinate and deadly character.

The battle of Inkermann admits of no description. It was a series of dreadful deeds of daring, of hand-tohand fights, of despairing rallies, of desperate assaults in glens and valleys, in brushwood glades and remote dells, and from which the conquerors, Russian or British, issued only to engage fresh foes; till our old supremacy, so rudely assailed, was triumphantly asserted, and the battalions of the Czar gave way before our steady courage and the chivalrous fire of France. No one, however placed, could have witnessed even a small portion of the doings of this eventful day, for the vapours, fog, and drizzling mist obscured the ground where the struggle took place to such an extent as to render it impossible to see what was going on at the distance of a few yards. Besides this, the irregular nature of the ground, the rapid fall of the hill towards Inkermann, where the deadliest fight took place, would

have prevented any one, under the most favourable circumstances, from seeing more than a very insignificant and detailed piece of the terrible work below.

It was six o'clock when all the Head-Quarter camp was roused by roll after roll of musketry on the right, and by the sharp report of field guns. Lord Raglan was informed that the enemy were advancing in force; and soon after seven he rode towards the scene of action, followed by his staff, and accompanied by Sir John Burgoyne, Brigadier-General Strangways, R.A., and several aides-de-camp. As they approached, the volume of sound, the steady unceasing thunder of gun and rifle and musket told that the engagement was at its height. The shells of the Russians, thrown with great precision, burst so thickly among the troops that the noise resembled continuous discharges of cannon, and the massive fragments inflicted death on every side. One of the first things the Russians did, when a break in the fog enabled them to see the camp of the Second Division, was to open fire on the tents with round shot and large shell; and tent after tent was blown down, torn to pieces, or sent into the air, while the men engaged in camp duties, and the unhappy horses tethered up in the lines, were killed or mutilated.

Our generals could not see where to go. They could not tell where the enemy were-from what side they were coming, nor where they were coming to. In darkness, gloom, and rain they had to lead our lines through thick scrubby bushes and thorny brakes, which broke our ranks and irritated the men, while every pace was marked by a corpse or man wounded by an enemy whose position was only indicated by the rattle of musketry and the rush of ball and shell.

Sir George Cathcart, advancing in haste from our centre, perceived, just as he did so, that the Russians had actually gained possession of a portion of the hill in rear of the right flank of his men, but still his stout heart never failed him for a moment. He rode at their head encouraging them, and when a cry rose that the ammunition was failing, he said coolly, "Have you not got your bayonets?" As he led on his men it was observed that another body of the enemy had gained the top of the hill behind them on the right. A deadly volley was poured into our scattered companies. Sir George cheered them and led them back up the hill, but a flight of bullets passed where he rode, and he fell from his horse close to the Russian column. The men had to fight their way through a host of enemies, and suffered fearfully. They were surrounded and bayoneted on all sides, and won their desperate way up the hill with diminished ranks and the loss of nearly 500 men.

The conflict on the right was equally uncertain and equally bloody. In the Light Division, the 88th in the front were surrounded; but four companies of the 77th under Major Straton charged the Russians, broke them, and relieved their comrades. Farther to the right a contest, the like of which, perhaps, never took place before, occurred between the Guards and dense columns of Russian infantry of five times their number. The Guards for a second time had charged them and driven them back, when they perceived that the Russians had outflanked them. They were out of ammunition too. They were uncertain whether these were friends or foes in the rear. They had no support, no reserve, and they were fighting with the bayonet against an enemy who stoutly contested every inch of

ground, when the corps of another Russian column appeared on their right far in their rear. Then a fearful deluge of grape shot was poured into them, and volleys of rifle and musketry. They had lost fourteen officers; they had left one-half of their number on the ground, and at last they retired along the lower road of the valley. They were, however, soon reinforced by a wing of the 20th under Major Crofton, and speedily avenged their fallen comrades by a desperate charge, in which they drove the Russians before them like sheep.

The fight about the battery was most sanguinary. The Russians advanced mass after mass of infantry. As fast as one column was broken and repulsed, another took its place. For three long hours about 8500 British infantry contended against at least four times their number. No wonder that at times they were compelled to retire. But they came to the charge again.

At last came help. About ten o'clock a body of French infantry appeared on our right, a joyful sight to our struggling regiments. Three battalions rushed by, the light of battle on their faces. They were accompanied by a battalion of the Arab sepoys of Algiers. Their trumpets sounded above the din of battle, and when we watched their eager advance right on the flank of the enemy, we knew the day was won.

Assailed in front by our men, broken by the impetuosity of our charge renewed again and again, attacked by the French infantry, sometimes led on by English officers, on the right, and by artillery all along the line, the Russians began to retire, and at twelve o'clock they were driven pell-mell down the hill towards the valley.

At twelve o'clock the battle of Inkermann seemed to

have been won; but the day, which had cleared up about eleven, so as to enable us to see the enemy, again became obscured. Rain and fog set in, and as we could not pursue the Russians who were retiring under the shelter of their artillery, we formed in front of our lines, and the enemy, covering their retreat by bodies of horse on the slopes near the Careening Bay, and by a tremendous fire of artillery, fell back upon the works and retreated in immense confusion across the Inkermann Bridge.

If it is considered that the soldiers who met these furious columns of the Czar were the remnants of three British divisions, which scarcely numbered 8500 men ; that they were hungry and wet and half famished; that they were men belonging to a force which was generally "out of bed " four nights out of seven; which had been enfeebled by sickness, by severe toil, sometimes for twenty-four hours at a time without relief of any kind; that among them were men who had within a short time previously lain out for forty-eight hours in the trenches at a stretch; it will be readily admitted that never was a more extraordinary contest maintained by our army since it acquired a reputation in the world's history.

From "The Invasion of the Crimea," by SIR W. H. RUSSELL, by permission of Messrs. ROUTLEDGE.

Then.

At daybreak on the 5th of November, 1854. Sebastopol stands on the south side of a small gulf. The works of the besiegers stretched around the south side from sea to sea. Inkermann was on the extreme right (east), and the position of the besiegers there was considered to be weakest. Long Insignificant. Not worth notice.

before sunrise a great Russian army left the town silently, hoping, by the help of rain, mist, and darkness, to surprise and destroy the enemy. Chivalrous. Brave, noble. It will be seen that the Russians were at last defeated by the aid of the French.