CRIMEAN EXPEDITION.
The Crimea--The Fleet--Appearance in the Bay of Baltjik--Sail from
Varna--Land at Eupatoria--March Inland--Battle of the Alma--Lord
Raglan--Appearance of the Troops--Distance from Sebastopol--The
Morning of Battle--Advance to the River Alma--Russian Position
--The Zouaves--Storming the Heights--March to Sebastopol--Death
of Marshal St. Arnaud--General Canrobert.
Until the last twelvemonth opened a new page in history, it could
not have been anticipated that the battle-field of Europe would be
a little arid peninsula in the remotest corner of the Black Sea,
and that the armies of Britain, France, Turkey and Russia would be
concentrated in direct strife around a fortress, whose very name was
hardly known in this country before the present war broke out.
Connected with the barren steppes of the mainland of Southern
Russia only by the narrow strip of flat and sandy land, not five
miles across, which constitutes the Isthmus of Perekop, the Crimea
stretches out in a nearly northerly direction, in the form of a
diamond-shaped peninsula, about one-third the size of Ireland. At its
western point is Cape Tarkham; at its eastern, Kirtch and Kaffa, and
in the south, the bay, town, and fortress of Sebastopol.
At least one-third of the Crimea consists of vast waterless plains of
sandy soil, rising only a few feet above the level of the sea, and
in many places impregnated with salt; but all along the south-eastern
side of the peninsula, from Sebastopol to Kertch and Kaffa, there
extends a chain of limestone mountains. Beginning at Balaklava, nine
miles east of Sebastopol, precipices fringe all this north-eastern
coast; but at foot of these limestone precipices extends a narrow
strip of ground, seldom half a league in width, intervening between
the hills and the shore. It is in this picturesque and delightful
region that the Allied army established its base of operations. A
luxuriant vegetation descends to the water’s edge. Chesnut trees,
mulberries, almonds, laurels, olives, and cypresses grow along its
whole extent. Numbers of rivulets of the clearest water pour down
from the cliffs, which effectually keep off cold and stormy winds.
Thickly studded with villages, and adorned with the villas and
palaces of the richest Russian nobles, this tract offers a most
striking contrast to the remainder of the peninsula, or indeed to any
part of Russia.
The possession of the Crimea, and the construction of a maritime
fortress of the first order in the magnificent harbour of Akhtiar
(for such was the former name of Sebastopol) were prominent parts of
that vast scheme of policy, by which the genius of the Czar Peter,
and his successors, transformed Muscovy into the Russian Empire.
The ever-memorable expedition of the Allies, designed to wrench this
fortress and fleet from the possession of the Czar, set sail from
Varna in the first week of September, 1854. No naval expedition ever
before equalled it.
In the Bay of Baltjik, where the expedition first rendezvoused, the
sea was literally covered for a space of eight miles long with
splendid shipping. Thirty-seven sail of the line--ten English,
sixteen French, and eleven Turkish, about a hundred frigates and
lesser vessels of war, and nearly two hundred of the finest steam
and sailing transports in the world, lay at anchor, in one immense
semicircle, nine or ten deep. The great line of battle-ships, with
lights gleaming from every port, looked like illuminated towns
afloat; while the other vessels, with position-lights hoisted at
the main and fore, shed a light upon the sea, twinkling away until
lost in the distance. Each division of the army carried lights,
corresponding to the number of their division, and at night, when
every ship was lighted up, the scene was of the most extraordinary
and interesting description. Constantinople, during the feast of
Bairam, or the Feast of Lamps, described in Moore’s poems, would have
been a worthy illustration.
On the 4th September, 1854, six hundred vessels sailed from Varna,
bearing the combined army of 60,000 in the direction of Sebastopol:
at the same time intelligence was received by the commanders of a
signal victory obtained by Schamyl at Tiflis, over the Russians under
Prince Bebutoff. They lost on this occasion many men and horses,
seven guns, 3000 tents, all their ammunition, baggage, provisions,
and retreated in some disorder from Kutais and Kars to Tiflis.
On the 14th September, 58,000 men were landed at Eupatoria, about
forty-five miles N.W. of Sebastopol. They subsequently advanced some
distance inland without meeting with any opposition.
The place of debarkation had many advantages. It is a small town,
containing only 4,000 inhabitants, weakly defended by a garrison of
about 12,000 men, and in no condition to resist an invasion such as
this. The commanders had intended, in the first place, to have thrown
up entrenchments sufficiently strong to secure the place; but having
experienced no resistance, the troops marched at once towards their
destination. In this march they proceeded for about eleven miles,
along a slip of land, having on the left the salt lake Sasik, and the
sea on their right.
The country traversed is fertile, and well supplied with water by
three rivers, the Alma, the Katcha, and the Balbek. On the left, or
southern bank of the latter stream, the first obstacles encountered
were the outworks recently thrown up by the Russians, and an old
star fort. Having surmounted these, the Allies found themselves in
possession of the high ground commanding the rear of the defences on
the northern shore of the inlet, and they were scarcely adapted to
resist a strong attack.
As the Black Sea expedition was departing from Varna for the Crimea,
the Baltic fleet, or the greater part of it, received orders to “bear
up” for England.
THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA.
On the night of the 18th September, 1854, orders were given by Lord
Raglan that the troops should strike tents at daybreak. An advance
had been determined upon, and it was understood that the Russian
light cavalry had been sweeping the country of all supplies up to a
short distance of the outlying pickets.
At three o’clock next morning, the camp was roused by the reveille,
and all the 30,000 sleepers woke into active life. Of Turkish
infantry, 7,000, under Suleiman Pacha moved along by the sea side;
next came the divisions of Generals Bosquet, Canrobert, Forey, and
Prince Napoleon. The order of march of the English army was about
four miles to the right of their left wing, and as many behind them.
The right of the Allied forces was covered by the fleet, which
moved along with it in magnificent order, darkening the air with
innumerable columns of smoke, ready to shell the enemy should they
attack the right, and commanding the land for nearly two miles from
the shore.
The troops presented a splendid appearance. The effect of these grand
masses of soldiery descending the ridges of the hills, rank after
rank, with the sun playing over forests of glittering steel, can
never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. Onward the torrent of
war swept, wave after wave, huge stately billows of armed men; while
the rumbling of the artillery, and tramp of cavalry, accompanied
their progress. A halt took place about three o’clock, at a muddy
stream, of which the men drank with avidity. At this stage they
passed the Imperial post-house, twenty miles from Sebastopol.
Orders were given to halt and bivouac for the night, which was cold
and damp, but the men were in excellent spirits, looking forward
to the probability of an engagement with the enemy with perfect
confidence as to the result.
THE MORNING OF BATTLE.
On the morning of the 20th, ere daybreak, the whole force was under
arms. They were marshalled silently; no bugles or drums broke the
stillness; but the hum of thousands of voices rose loudly from
the ranks, and the watchfires lighted up the lines of the camp as
though it were a great town. When dawn broke it was discovered that
the Russians had retired from the heights. It was known that the
Russians had been busy fortifying the heights over the valley through
which runs the little river Alma, and that they had resolved to
try their strength with the allied army in a position giving them
vast advantages of ground, which they had used every means in their
power to improve to the utmost. The advance of the armies this great
day was a sight which must ever stand out like the landmark of the
spectator’s life. Early in the morning, the troops were ordered to
get in readiness, and at half-past six o’clock they were in motion.
It was a lovely day; the heat of the sun was tempered by a sea
breeze. The fleet was visible at a distance of four miles, covering
the ocean as it was seen between the hills, and steamers could be
seen as close to the shore as possible. The Generals, St. Arnaud,
Bosquet, and Forey, attended by their staff, rode along the lines,
with Lord Raglan and his Generals at second halt, and were received
with tremendous cheering.
The order in which the army advanced was in columns of brigades in
deploying distance; the left protected by a line of skirmishers of
cavalry and of horse artillery. The advantage of the formation was,
that the army, in case of a strong attack from cavalry and infantry
on the left or rear, could assume the form of a hollow square, with
the baggage in the centre. The great object was to gain the right of
the position, so that the attacking parties could be sheltered by the
vertical fire of the fleets. As soon as the position of the allies
could be accurately ascertained, the whole line, extending itself
across the champaign country for some five or six miles, advanced. At
the distance of two miles the English army halted to obtain a little
time to gather up the rear; and then the troops steadily advanced in
grand lines, like the waves of the ocean.
The French occupied the high road, nearest the beach, with the Turks;
and the English marched to the left. At about one o’clock in the
afternoon, the Light Division of the French army came in sight of the
village of Almatamak, and the British Light Division descried that of
Burliuk, both situated on the right bank of the river Alma.
At the place where the bulk of the British army crossed, the banks
of the Alma are generally at the right side, and vary from two and
three to six and eight feet in depth to the water; where the French
attacked, the banks are generally formed by the unvaried curve of
the river on the left hand side. A village is approached from the
north by a road winding through a plain nearly level till it comes
near to the village, where the ground dips, so that at the distance
of three hundred yards a man on horseback can hardly see the tops
of the nearer and more elevated houses, and can only ascertain the
position of the stream by the willows and verdure along its banks.
At the left or south side of the Alma the ground assumes a very
different character--smooth where the bank is deep, and greatly
elevated where the shelve of the bank occurs, it recedes for a few
yards at a moderate height above the stream, pierced here and there
by the course of the winter’s torrents, so as to form small ravines,
commanded, however, by the heights above. It was on these upper
heights, and to the sea, that the Russian army, forty-five thousand
strong, besides six or eight thousand cavalry, and at least a hundred
pieces of artillery, were posted. A remarkable ridge of mountain,
varying in height from 500 to 700 feet, runs along the course of the
Alma on the left or south side with the course of the stream, and
assuming the form of cliffs when close to the sea. At the top of
the ridges, between the gullies, the Russians had erected earthwork
batteries, mounted with 32lb. and 24lb. brass guns, supported by
numerous field pieces and howitzers. These guns enfiladed the tops of
the ravines parallel to them, or swept them to the base, while the
whole of the sides up which an enemy, unable to stand the direct fire
of the batteries, would be forced to ascend, were filled with masses
of skirmishers, armed with an excellent two-groove rifle, throwing
a large solid conical ball with force at 700 and 800 yards, as the
French learnt to their cost. The principal battery consisted of an
earthwork of the form of the two sides of a triangle, with the apex
pointed towards the bridge, and the sides covering both sides of the
stream, corresponding with the bend of the river below it, at the
distance of 1000 yards; while, with a fair elevation, the 32-pounders
threw, very often, beyond the houses of the village to the distance
of 1400 and 1500 yards. This was constructed on the brow of a hill
about 600 feet above the river, but the hill rose behind it for
another 50 feet before it dipped away towards the road. The ascent of
this hill was enfiladed by the fire of three batteries of earthwork
on the right, and by another on the left, and these batteries were
equally capable of covering the village, the stream, and the slopes
which led up the hill to their position. In the first battery were
thirteen 32-pounder brass guns of exquisite workmanship, which only
told too well. In the other batteries were some twenty-five guns in
all.
The force of the British was about 26,000, that of the French about
23,000.
It had not escaped the observation of the Allied Commanders that the
Russian General had relied so confidently on the natural strength
of his position towards the sea where the cliff rose steep and high
above the gardens of an adjacent village, that he had neglected to
defend this part of his works by masses of troops or by heavy guns.
These military defences were, on the contrary, accumulated on his
right and centre. The plan of the battle was therefore formed so as
to enable the French, and a Turkish division, in the first instance,
to turn the Russian left, and gain the plateau; and, as soon as this
operation was accomplished, so as to occupy a portion of the Russian
army, the British troops and the French Third Division were to attack
the key of the position on the right of the enemy, while the French
completed his defeat on the upper ground.
[Illustration: ZOUAVE.]
General Bosquet’s division crossed the river Alma near the mouth
about 11 30; the Turkish battalions crossing at the same time close
to the bar, and within musket-range of the beach. This movement
was unopposed; and, although a crowd of French skirmishers and
light-infantry crossed the gardens and brushwood below the hill,
which might easily have been defended, not a shot was fired on them,
and not a gun seemed to bear on the line of march they followed. It
was afterwards ascertained from the Russian prisoners, that Prince
Menschikoff had left this line unguarded, because he regarded it as
absolutely impassable even for goats. He did not know the Zouaves.
With inconceivable rapidity and agility they swarmed up the cliff,
and it was not till they formed on the height, and deployed from
behind a mound there, that the Russian batteries opened upon them.
The fire was returned with great spirit, and a smart action ensued,
during which General Bosquet’s division was engaged for some time
almost alone, until General Canrobert came to his support. The
Turkish division, which presented a very martial appearance, and was
eager to fight, formed part of the army under the command of Marshal
St. Arnaud; and some regret was felt by these brave troops that they
had no active part assigned to them in the struggle.
While the French troops were scaling the heights, the French steamers
ran in as close as they could to the bluff of the shore at the south
side of the Alma, and commenced shelling the Russians in splendid
style; the shells bursting over the enemy’s squares and batteries,
and finally driving them from their position on the right, within
3000 yards of the sea. The Russians answered the ships from the
heights, but without effect.
At 1 50 our line of skirmishers got within range of the battery on
the hill, and immediately the Russians opened fire at 1200 yards,
with effect, the shot ploughing through open lines of the Riflemen,
and falling into the advancing columns behind. Shortly ere this time,
dense volumes of smoke rose from the river, and drifted along to
the eastward, interfering with the view of the enemy on the left.
The Russians had set the village on fire. It was a fair exercise of
military skill--was well executed--took place at the right time, and
succeeded in occasioning a good deal of annoyance. It is said the
Russians had taken the range of all the principal points in their
front, and placed twigs and sticks to mark them. In this they were
assisted by the post sign-boards on the road. The Russians opened
a furious fire on the whole English line. The round shot whizzed
in every direction, dashing up the dirt and sand into the faces
of the staff of Lord Raglan. Still he waited patiently for the
development of the French attack. At length, an Aide-de-Camp came
to him and reported the French had crossed the Alma, but they had
not established themselves sufficiently to justify an attack. The
infantry were, therefore, ordered to lie down, and the army for a
short time was quite passive, only that the artillery poured forth
an unceasing fire of shell, rockets, and round shot, which ploughed
through the Russians, and caused them great loss. They did not waver,
however, and replied to the artillery manfully, their shot falling
among the men as they lay, and carrying off legs and arms at every
round.
CROSSING THE ALMA.
Lord Raglan at last became weary of this inactivity, and gave
orders for the whole line to advance. Up rose these serried
masses, and--passing through a fearful shower of round, case-shot
and shell--they dashed into the Alma and “floundered” through its
waters, which were literally torn into foam by the deadly hail. At
the other side of the river were a number of vineyards, occupied by
Russian riflemen. Three of the staff were here shot down; but, led
by Lord Raglan in person, they advanced, cheering on the men. And
now came the turning point of the battle, in which Lord Raglan, by
his sagacity, probably secured the victory at a smaller sacrifice
than would have been otherwise the case. He dashed over the bridge,
followed by his staff. From the road over it, under the Russian
guns, he saw the state of the action. The British line, which he
had ordered to advance, was struggling through the river and up the
heights in masses, firm indeed, but mowed down by the murderous
fire of the batteries; and by grape, round shot, shell, canister,
case-shot, and musketry, from some of the guns in the central
battery, and from an immense and compact mass of Russian infantry.
Then commenced one of the most bloody and determined struggles in
the annals of war. The 2nd Division, led by Sir de Lacy Evans in
the most dashing manner, crossed the stream on the right. Brigadier
Pennefather (who was in the thickest of the fight, cheering on his
men), again and again was checked, but never drew back in his onward
progress, which was marked by a fierce roll of Minié musketry; and
Brigadier Adams bravely charged up the hill, and aided him in the
battle. Sir George Brown, conspicuous on a grey horse, rode in front
of his Light Division, urging them with voice and gesture. Gallant
fellows! they were worthy of such a gallant chief. Down went Sir
George in a cloud of dust in front of the battery. He was soon up,
and led them on again; but in the shock produced by the fall of their
chief, the gallant regiment suffered terribly while paralysed for
a moment. Meantime, the Guards on the right of the Light Division,
and the brigade of Highlanders, were storming the heights on the
left. Suddenly a tornado of round and grape rushed through from the
terrible battery, and a roar of musketry from behind it thinned their
front ranks by dozens. It was evident that the troops were just able
to contend against the Russians, favored as they were by a great
position. At this very time an immense mass of Russian infantry
were seen moving down towards the battery. They halted. It was the
crisis of the day. Sharp, angular, and solid, they looked as if they
were cut out of the solid rock. Lord Raglan saw the difficulties of
the situation. He asked if it would be possible to get a couple of
guns to bear on these masses. The reply was “Yes;” and an artillery
officer brought up two guns to fire on the Russian squares. The first
shot missed, but the next, and the next, and the next, cut through
the ranks so cleanly, and so keenly, that a clear lane could be seen
for a moment through the square. After a few rounds the columns of
the square became broken, wavered to and fro, broke, and fled over
the brow of the hill, leaving behind them six or seven distinct
lines of dead, lying as close as possible to each other, marking the
passage of the fatal messengers. This act relieved the infantry of
a deadly incubus, and they continued their magnificent and fearful
progress up the hill. “Highlanders,” said Sir C. Campbell, ere
they came to the charge, “don’t pull a trigger till you’re within
a yard of the Russians!” They charged, and well they obeyed their
chieftain’s wish; Sir Colin had his horse shot under him; but he was
up immediately, and at the head of his men. But the Guards pressed on
abreast, and claimed, with the 33rd, the honor of capturing a cannon.
The Second and Light Division crowned the heights. The French turned
the guns on the hill against the flying masses, which the cavalry
in vain tried to cover. A few faint struggles from the scattered
infantry, a few rounds of cannon and musketry, and the enemy fled to
the South-east, leaving three Generals, three guns, 700 prisoners,
and 4000 killed and wounded, behind them.
The loss on the part of the British was 2000 killed, wounded, and
missing; that of the French, about 1400.
On the night after the battle the allied army bivouacked on the
summit of the heights which they had so gloriously won; the French
Marshal pitching his tent on the very spot occupied by that of Prince
Menschikoff the morning before.
THE MARCH TO SEBASTOPOL.
On the 23d the Allied armies left the Alma and proceeded to cross
the Katcha; on the 24th they crossed the Belbec, where it had been
intended to effect the landing of the siege _matériel_ with a
view to an attack on the north side of Sebastopol. It was found,
however, that the enemy had placed a fortified work so as to prevent
the vessels and transports from approaching this river; and it was
determined to advance at once by a flank march round the east of
Sebastopol, to cross the valley of the Tchernaya, and seize Balaklava
as the future basis of operations against the south side of the
harbor at Sebastopol.
On leaving the high road from the Belbec to Sebastopol, the army had
to traverse a dense wood, in which there was but one road that led
in the direction necessary to take. The march was toilsome, and the
troops suffered much from want of water. At length, about mid-day,
Lord Raglan and his staff, preceding the light division, arrived at
the outskirts of the wood, in the neighbourhood of a place known as
Mackenzie’s Farm, and, no doubt to the surprise of both parties,
found himself on the flank of a Russian division retreating from
Sebastopol to Bakshi-serai. The Russians only thought of making
good their retreat, and before any of the British cavalry and horse
artillery could be brought up, they had passed by the critical spot.
A few men fell on the side of the Russians, and some were taken
prisoners. A vast quantity of ammunition and much valuable baggage,
fell into the hands of the British.
After resting for awhile at Mackenzie’s Farm, where two wells
afforded a scanty supply of water to the thirsty troops, the march
was resumed down a steep and difficult defile, leading to the valley
of the Tchernaya river, which they succeeded in reaching the same
night.
Next morning (the 26th) the army was again on the march, and a few
miles more sufficed to bring them to the end of their journey.
The enemy did not hold Balaklava in any strength. After a few shots
the little garrison surrendered, and as Sir E. Lyon’s ship, the
Agamemnon, reached the mouth of the harbour at the very time that the
troops appeared on the heights, the British army was once more in
full communication with the fleet.
The march of the French army, which followed in the track of the
British, was still more prolonged and fatiguing. They did not reach
the Tchernaya river until the 26th, having passed the previous night
at Mackenzie’s Farm. It was on this day that the French marshal, at
length succumbing to his fatal malady, issued his last order of the
day, in which he took leave formally of his troops, and resigned the
command into the hands of General Canrobert. “Soldiers!” said this
memorable and touching address, “Providence refuses to your chief the
satisfaction of continuing to lead you in the glorious path which
is open before you. Overcome by a cruel disease, with which he has
vainly struggled, he regards with profound grief, the imperious duty
which is imposed upon him by circumstances--that of resigning the
command, the weight of which a health for ever destroyed will no
longer permit him to bear.
“Soldiers! you will pity me, for the misfortune which falls on me is
immense, irreparable, and perhaps unexampled.”
Next day (the 27th) the marshal was seen entering Balaklava,
indulging, like every one around him, in eating some of the delicious
grapes which abound in the vineyards of this country.
It is the last note we have of him; his task was done; he could no
more lead his army, and he sank at once. He embarked on board ship on
the morning of the 29th, and in a few hours afterwards expired, in
the midst of the officers who accompanied him.
Thus closed the first part of the expedition.
GENERAL CANROBERT,
On assuming the command-in-chief of the French troops, addressed them
thus:--
“Soldiers of the Army of the East, my comrades.--The melancholy
circumstances under which has fallen upon me the high honor of being
your commander-in-chief, would increase the weight of that task, if
the co-operation of all were not assured to me in the name of the
country and of the Emperor. Penetrated as I am with the grandeur of
the historical mission which we accomplish on this distant land, you
will each of you bring to it, each within your sphere, and with the
most absolute devotedness, that active part which is indispensable to
enable me to bring it to a successful termination.
“A few days more of sufferings and of trials, and you will have
caused to fall at your feet the threatening bulwark of the vast
empire which only a little time ago braved Europe. The successes
which you have already gained are the guarantees for those which
await you; but do not forget that the intrepid Marshal who was our
General-in-Chief, prepared them by his perseverance in organizing the
great operation which we execute, and by the brilliant victory of the
Alma.”
[Illustration: GENERAL CANROBERT.]
There is often an epoch in the life of a man when every incident in
his career is invested with a novel and extensive interest, when
the present reflects a lustre on the past, and recollection gives
confidence to hope. So is it with the commander of the French army in
the Crimea.
Francis Canrobert was born in 1809, in the department of Lot, some
leagues from the village where Murat first saw the light. He entered
the school of St. Cyr in the month of November, 1826, and obtained
the highest honors in that establishment, after passing two years in
laborious study. On the first of October, 1828, he was appointed to
the sub-lieutenancy of the 47th regiment of the line, and was made
lieutenant on the 20th of June, 1832. In 1835 he embarked for Africa,
and arrived in the province of Oran, where the Emir, Abd-el-Kader,
had held the French troops for some time in check. Soon after his
arrival, he accompanied the expedition to Murcara, when he first
distinguished himself. He followed with his regiment the movements
of the generals Clausel, D’Arlanges, and Letang, in the province of
Oran. The capture of Tlemcen, the expeditions to Chelif and Mina, the
battles of Sidi, Yacoub, Tafua, and Sikkah, revealed his brilliant
military qualities, and gained him the rank of captain on the 26th
April, 1837. Captain Canrobert returned to France in 1839, with the
decoration of the Legion of Honor. In 1840 he was on duty at the
camp of St. Omer, when he composed, in obedience to the commands of
the Duke of Orleans, several chapters of a Manual for the use of
the light troops. In the month of October he was incorporated into
the sixth battalion of _Chasseurs-à-Pied_, and returned to Africa in
1841. In this new campaign he signalised himself on all occasions.
He had been an officer of the Legion of Honor for ten years, when
Colonel St. Arnaud, who in the year 1845 succeeded Colonel Cavaignac
in the government of Orleansville, made use of his services against
Bon Maga. He succeeded with two hundred and fifty bayonets in holding
his own against more than three thousand men, who could make no
impression on him; consequent upon these transactions followed his
appointment to a lieutenant-colonelcy on the 26th of October.
It was in 1848, however, that Colonel Canrobert displayed energies
beyond all praise. Cholera was raging in the garrison of Aumale,
but the events which were passing at Zaatcha summoned them before
the walls of this oasis. What courage and coolness did it require
in the commander of the Zouaves to lead his soldiers in this manner
through all the perils of an adventurous march; soldiers constantly
accompanied by the afflicting spectacle of misery. He, as it were,
multiplied himself. He exhorted the sick, devoted himself to them;
threw a reinforcement into the town of Bon Sada, the garrison of
which was blockaded; deceived the enemy, who opposed his passage, by
announcing that he brought pestilence with him, and that he should
communicate it to his assailants. On the 26th he led, with wondrous
intrepidity, one of the attacking columns--but of four officers
and sixteen soldiers who followed him to the breach, sixteen were
killed or wounded at his side. In recompense for his conduct he was
nominated Commander of the Legion of Honor on the 11th of December,
1849.
Having distinguished himself at the battle of Narah, he was elevated
to the rank of general of brigade on the 13th of January, 1852.
He came then to Paris, and took the command of a brigade of infantry,
and was attached as aide-de-camp to the Prince President of the
Republic.
On the 14th of January, 1853, he was appointed general of division,
still preserving his functions as aide-de-camp to the Emperor.
Three months afterwards he was called to the command of a division of
infantry at the camp of Helfaut; lastly, being placed at the head of
the first division of the army of the East, he has played one of the
most active parts since the commencement of the war, both in making
preparations for the difficult operation of the debarcation, and in
contributing greatly to the success at Alma, where he received a
wound.
It is well known that Marshal St. Arnaud, who had learned his value,
had absolute confidence in his talents and bravery, and it is certain
that the young general had neglected nothing to make him worthy of
this confidence. Before his departure he was known to be occupied at
the military depôt in profound studies, having for their object the
knowledge of the theatre of war, as if he had a presentiment of his
future destiny.