who repaired the roads, removed the accumulations of years from deserted
fountains, rendering them again useful for thirsty wayfarers, built
ovens for baking bread, raised dams to collect water for the troops, and
constructed a bridge across the lake. From a lonely burial-ground,
filled with blocks of unhewn and unsculptured granite, marking
nevertheless the sites of numerous graves, the sappers took the largest
stones, and used them in erecting a bridge over one of the narrow
channels which joined the lakes of Aladyn and Devno. The men worked very
hard, at times up to their breasts in water. The correspondent of the
‘Times,’ in speaking of this work—June 29th—termed the sappers “a most
utilitarian corps while Captain Gordon, in a letter to a brother
officer, remarked with respect to its general services, “that the men
work well and behave well. To be with them is a pleasure.”
A party of twelve men with sergeant Thomas Dumvill, under Lieutenant
Creyke of the engineers, was employed for three days at Carra-Houssan;
and having placed the several wells in order, and rendered the neglected
fountains available for use, it returned to Devno. It was expected that
the light division would march through the village of Shumla, but the
intention was afterwards abandoned. The sappers therefore were the only
British troops at this advanced frontier station.
At Aladyn, the sappers were encamped in a valley covered with the
thickest foliage, and its many rural accessories of creepers, clematis,
wild vines, &c., made the scene as picturesque as grateful.[145] At
Varna, the companies were tented as nearly as possible to their work,
while a detachment was quartered for a time, close by the city walls, to
be ready for any emergency:[146] but when the cholera had to some extent
decimated the camp, the sappers were removed, to improve their sanitary
condition, to a healthier location on the south side of the bay.
The seventh company at Gallipoli and Boulair, in addition to their
duties on the lines, constructed a number of log-huts, stores, and
stables for the cantonment of a regiment, in the event of the army being
compelled to fall back to the isthmus, as to another Torres Vedras, for
succour and safety.
The eighth company from Scutari landed at Varna on the 19th of June from
the ‘Golden Fleece’ steamer, and joined the frontier companies.
Lance-corporal William Swann and private Andrew Anderson accompanied
Captain Bent and Lieutenant Burke to the beleaguered fortress of
Silistria, starting on the 17th of June. Arriving too late to share in
its defence, they shortly afterwards repaired to Rustchuk, where a
hazardous attack upon the Russians holding the opposite bank of the
Danube, was undertaken on the 7th of July by Hassan Haki Pacha, the
commander of the Turkish force at that fortress. The attack was made on
three points, Captain Bent leading one of the divisions. Lieutenant
Burke also led a detached party of Turkish troops across the river in
boats. The two sappers were attached to him, and it is of their conduct
particularly, and not the general incidents of the battle, that the
following record will give an account. Gaining the island, the party of
Turks jumped on shore, and forming in line, gallantly pushed on, and
were met by superior numbers. A fierce hand to hand struggle ensued, and
Lieutenant Burke, with desperate valour, slew with his own strong arm
six of his opponents, falling early on the strand covered with frightful
wounds. The sappers stood by their officer, and fought “well and
bravely.” In the midst of the conflict, private Anderson, a stalwart
soldier, tried to save the heroic young man whose spirit inspired all
with courage; but though the attempt unhappily failed, he dealt out
slaughter among the Russians with incredible effect. It was not long
before the little band of Turks, overpowered by numbers, retreated to
the boats. Mindful of the sacred duty that devolved upon him, Anderson,
with daring devotion, three times threw himself into the ranks of the
enemy, and at last rescued the bleeding body of his officer. Though
encumbered with his carbine and other arms, he endeavoured to bear it
away on his back, but such was its weight—for the lieutenant was a
powerful man, and of robust stature—and such the heaviness of the fire
upon him, he was obliged to relinquish his purpose, leaving the body
concealed in some long grass. Taking the dead man’s sword to save it
from falling as a trophy into the hands of the enemy, he made good his
retreat to the river. Scrambling down its sedgy bank, which varied from
three to six feet in height, the party renewed the conflict, and
improved their cover by a hasty entrenchment, in the formation of which
the Turks used their hands and bayonets, and the sappers their swords.
Corporal Swann was here soon disabled; and, wounded in the head by a
blow from the butt end of a musket, he was falling, when, a second blow
across the shoulder-blade, threw him into the water. There for four
hours he lay insensible, and was providentially saved from drowning by a
thick woollen shirt he wore.[147] Anderson, now the only British soldier
with the little batch, acted as became his manly character, and
encouraging the Turks by his prowess and endurance, the brave detachment
maintained the unequal contest with veteran firmness, and only recrossed
the Danube when the necessity for their services had ceased. In that
hard-contested battle, private Anderson killed no less than fourteen
Russians, himself escaping miraculously without wound or hurt. Next
morning, though it was uncertain whether the enemy was in ambush or not,
he pushed over to the island again, and recovered the body of his
officer, but what a sad spectacle did it present! It was headless;
thirty wounds from bullet, sabre, and bayonet, riddled his remains, and
his fingers had been chopped off to secure the rings he wore! The battle
of Giurgevo ended in a victory for the Turks. Ten hours the fight
lasted, and the loss on both sides was considerable. For their gallantry
Swann was promoted to be second corporal,[148] and private Anderson
decorated, by Omar Pacha, with the order of the Medjidie. His highness
himself placed the star on the brave man’s breast, and then, in
friendship, warmly shook his hand. In the ‘London Gazette’ of January
12, 1855, appeared the following gratifying announcement. “The Queen has
been pleased to grant unto private Andrew Anderson of the Sappers and
Miners, her royal license and permission that he may accept and wear the
order of the Medjidie, which the Sultan has been pleased to confer upon
him, in approbation of his distinguished bravery and good conduct at the
passage of the Danube on the 7th of July last, and subsequently in
rescuing the body of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Burke, after he
had fallen; and that he may enjoy all the rights and privileges
thereunto annexed.”—“And also to command that Her Majesty’s said
concession and especial mark of her royal favour be registered, together
with the relative documents, in Her Majesty’s College of Arms.”
The four sappers landed from the ‘Agamemnon’ in May, were for six weeks
in Circassia with Captain Brock, R.N. In returning to the ship, they,
with six other men of the detachment on board of her, accompanied the
fleet in its subsequent cruises along the coast, and in the Black Sea.
No longer required for service afloat, the party landed at Baltschik,
and marching to Varna, rejoined their companies on the 16th and 18th
July.
Early in July, Lieutenant Lempriere left Varna for Circassia in the
French steamer ‘Vauban’ with orders to place in a state of defence, some
of the towns along the coast, which, having been wrested from the
Russians were now being menaced by them. Sergeant Marshall and private
Richards accompanied him. On the 11th the party landed at Churuksu, the
Turkish head-quarters on that frontier, and soon completed a survey of
the place and its vicinity. Obliged to remain there a few days, three or
four officers of the ‘Vauban’ and Lieutenant Lempriere visited some of
the Turkish outposts and detached forts. With the party were some French
sailors and private Richards. When about to return, two of the sailors
and the sapper were missing. Nothing could be heard of them, and it was
concluded they had strayed into the hands of the Russians. Skirmishers
were sent out to scour the country. Wood, wild, and mountain were
threaded in quest of the wanderers, and all hope of tracking them had
wellnigh been given up, when a quick eye observed them in the
bush—apparently unconscious of the concern they had created or of the
chances there were of the enemy capturing them—coolly stuffing
themselves with blackberries! Stocked with a good supply of the fruit,
they were guided back to the party, who, no longer uneasy about the
safety of their attendants, shared with the wayfarers the contents of
their wallets and enjoyed an agreeable dessert.
At Redoubt Kaleh a small body of Russian cavalry closely approached the
Turkish works to reconnoitre the position, but a few rounds from the
batteries quickly dispersed them. Information had reached the enemy of
the arrival of some English troops, which, in all probability, was more
than corroborated, by the glimpse they must have caught of one of the
four red-coated sappers constituting, at that time, the entire British
contingent on the coast of Circassia. Whether this was or was not enough
to excite the fears of the Russians, certain it is, that a considerable
body of them in anticipation of an attack, threw up some earthworks on
the banks of the river about five miles away.
Cruising along the coast, now in the ‘Vauban,’ now in the ‘Wasp,’
Lieutenant Lempriere and his men landed for short intervals at Pitsunda,
Soukum Kaleh, Redoubt Kaleh, Anacrea, Churuksu, Batoum, and lastly, all
went up to Trebizonde. The two Kalehs were the fortresses at which the
services of the sappers were chiefly given. At Redoubt Kaleh two men who
had been left by Captain Stanton as overseers to the Turks joined
Lieutenant Lempriere’s little force. In addition to instructing the
Ottoman soldiers in the mode of forming fieldworks, the sappers
superintended the restoration of some old batteries and revetments, the
construction of various new defences, and assisted Lieutenant Lempriere
in the surveys be found it necessary to make for professional purposes.
While they were thus busy, the Crimean Expedition had been determined
on, and as every sapper was wanted for the enterprise, the party was
recalled and rejoined the corps just as the siege was about to open.
Corporal John Pendered and lance-corporal John Hammond arrived at Varna
on the 24th July, and were attached as photographers, under Captain
Hackett, 77th regiment, to the head-quarters of the army. Previously to
leaving London they had been instructed in the art by Mr. Thompson, and
had practically tested their efficiency at Chatham, where patches of
broken ground, and military scenes and fortifications, gave them a
variety of subjects to portray. Many of their photographic sketches,
taken under circumstances of difficulty and disadvantage, were exhibited
at Gore House during the summer months; but without having the chance of
proving their usefulness and skill, these two young men, promising and
enterprising, perished in a storm.
At the request of Omar Pacha a detachment of the corps, under Captain
Gage, R.A. and Lieutenant Pratt, R.E., started from Aladyn for Rustchuk
on the 8th July, to form a bridge over the Danube for the passage of the
Ottoman troops. It consisted of sergeant John F. Read, one bugler, and
thirty-two rank and file, accompanied by fifteen French pontoneers, and
thirty-five English seamen from the fleet, under Lieutenant Glynn and
Prince Leiningen, R.N., twenty of whom led the way, and fifteen covered
the rear. With characteristic pride, the seamen gave importance to the
honour accorded them by carrying unfurled, both in front and rear, a
large union jack. All were on horseback. Next to the advance sailors
were the sappers, unskilled in equitation, in every conceivable
attitude, mounted on young horses. Each led a second horse loaded with
intrenching tools, &c. Behind them followed about 150 horses ridden by
native grooms and guides, bearing tools, baggage, and forage; and then
came the party of French pontoneers. The expedition went from twenty to
thirty miles in twelve hours, killing three horses in the first two
days. Many of the animals, unaccustomed to the rattling of picks and
shovels against their flanks, were difficult to manage, and in their
fright and restiveness, frequently dashed away from the cavalcade.
Considerable delay occurred in recovering and restraining them, and what
with unavoidable halts at Schumla and Rasgradt, the party did not reach
Rustchuk until the 13th July, though the distance travelled was only 120
miles. This novel equestrian journey was accomplished without any
material mishap, except a few almost harmless falls, and the occasional
diversion of a horse and his rider rolling together on the road. Hard
riding, however, on ill-formed and broken tracks, made the men so sore
and stiff, that when the time for rest arrived, they found it preferable
to sleep standing!
On the 15th, the sappers were sent over to Giurgevo, and for a few days
assisted to intrench the position of the Turks; when, on the 19th, at
the desire of Omar Pacha, they moved up to Slobedsie, and under the
superintendence of Captain Bent and Lieutenant Pratt constructed, in a
very creditable manner, a trestle bridge over the Slobedsie Creek, which
was 450 feet across, to a small island in the Danube. Notwithstanding
that several of the men, as many as fifteen in one day, had been ill
during the operation, the work was finished on the 25th.
Next day the sappers joined the French pontoneers and English sailors,
in throwing a bridge of boats across the main stream, at a place some
890 yards wide. A few boats had been laid when the sappers commenced.
The pontoneers worked from one shore, the sappers from the other; whilst
the sailors rowed up the boats and assisted to secure them in position.
The boats, fixed with a clear bay of twenty feet between, gave for each
of the series about forty feet of bridge. The breadth for the roadway
was eighteen feet six inches. Wood was scarce at the spot, and the
timbers for the superstructure in great part were obtained from Sistova
and Widdin. Intended for heavy service the bridge was made of massive
baulks and stout oak planking, strongly bolted, cramped, and racked.
Much “difficulty was experienced in securing some of the boats in the
more rapid part of the stream, but by mooring them with four anchors
each, and the aid of heavy ordnance sunk above the boats and securely
fastened to them,” they stood against wind and surge, firm and
unbroken.[149] “It was completed on the 4th August, and on the 5th
received some damage from the first Austrian steamer that passed during
the war. This was soon repaired,”[150] and to obviate a similar
casualty, an opening was contrived to permit the navigation to continue,
which, when not required, was closed up again by a moveable raft to make
good the bridge. In appearance it was as artistic and elegant as useful.
The longest boats occupied the centre, from which the smaller craft
gradually fell away to the two shores. Like ancient galleys they were
shaped with stems and prows curving gracefully upwards from the
water.[151] The bridge was no unworthy rival of the celebrated one
formed by Xerxes, in his passage of the Hellespont at Abydos. “On the
10th, Omar Pacha opened it in person, and complimented the officers and
men for the zeal and ability they had shown in its construction. Captain
Bent was in command of the sappers.”[152] For the ceremony two triumphal
arches of evergreens were run up, one at each end of the bridge, and
above them proudly waved the allied banners of England, France, and
Turkey. To crown the service, both French and English met in unmixed
cordiality and friendship, at a costly repast provided by Omar Pacha.
No longer required for service with the force of his highness, eighteen
of the detachment returned, on horseback, to Varna, under Lieutenant
Pratt, R.E., passing through Turtukai and Silistria, where joining the
English seamen, they quitted it again on the 15th August. At night,
after a march of twenty miles, the party halted at Kinarjik. On the next
day a further march of thirty miles found them encamped at Karapelt;
another thirty took them to Karayal, where a sapper who had died on the
route was buried. A beautiful spot was selected for the encampment, and
at sunset the deceased was interred in a hastily-excavated grave,
beneath the sombre shade of a wild pear-tree.[153] All the officers and
men were present, and from the absence of all display, and the fatigued,
rusty, and travel-stained aspect of the men, the ceremony was impressive
and mournful. On the 18th August, travelling fifteen miles that morning,
the sappers reached head-quarters, and rejoined the tenth company.
Corporal Swann, who had been appointed by Lord Raglan provost-sergeant
to the mule-drivers at Rustchuk with a salary of 4_s._ 6_d._ a-day,
returned to Varna with the party.
Not without mortification it is necessary to introduce in this place a
record relative to the misconduct of the Rustchuk detachment. Honoured
as they were by being the only British soldiers selected for an advanced
frontier duty, much was expected from their conduct and exertions; but
their extreme irregularity and drunkenness, with few exceptions,[154]
offered a striking contrast to the behaviour of the party of sailors and
the Turkish garrison. To mark therefore the displeasure of
Brigadier-General Tylden, he subjected the detachment to a course of
severe discipline, and stopped the promotion of some of the
non-commissioned officers. Several men of the seventh company also, who
had commenced a career of intemperance at Hurst Castle, behaved with
equal discredit, and disgusted their officers. It is a pity in a corps
possessing the advantages of education, skill, and mechanical
attainments, that there should exist anything to tarnish the fame the
well-intentioned are striving to brighten.
As a set-off against this censure, it is well there is occasion to give
place to an instance of individual good conduct, as honourable as
meritorious. Varna was set on fire by some Greek incendiaries,
instigated by Russian agents, and was only extinguished after much of
the city had been laid waste, and considerable munitions destroyed.
Brigadier-General Tylden directed the operations for saving the town.
The companies of sappers, being on the south side of the bay, were not
present, but lance-corporal James Cray, whose services under Lieutenant
Burke have been already noticed, acting as the Brigadier’s orderly, lent
material aid by his intrepidity in arresting the flames. “When the
danger was greatest,” says the official report, “and the spreading
flames threatened to reach the large Turkish powder-magazine, corporal
Cray laboured voluntarily and incessantly, by mounting scaling-ladders
and closing the openings with blankets, thus not only largely
contributing to the safety of the magazine, but setting an example to
the sailors and others assisting, which was of the greatest service.” He
was promoted to be second-corporal for his conduct.
Captain Bent, with fifteen non-commissioned officers and men left at
Rustchuk under Omar Pacha, accompanied the Ottoman troops into the
Wallachian principality, entering the capital on the 22nd August.
Corporal Harding, a zealous and able sapper and pontoneer, died that day
from cholera on the line of march, and was buried in the graveyard of a
small country Greek church. His remains, covered with a union jack, were
attended to their final resting-place by all the Englishmen in
Bucharest, and the service was read by Mr. Meyer, a missionary
clergyman. A private was attacked by the grave of his comrade, and
returning to his tent, soon afterwards died. He was buried in the
Lutheran churchyard. Several other choleraic seizures occurred in the
detachment, which were ascribed to the intemperance of the men, and
their imprudent use of fruits. No British soldiers, save this small
party, served during the campaign in the Wallachian capital.
The occupation of Bucharest by the Austrians was followed by many
ungracious acts which it was never anticipated a chivalric nation would
impose on a defenceless people. These were chiefly felt in the forcible
possession of the houses of the citizens without the courtesy of seeing
whether they could be accommodated. No excuse could be offered for such
ungallant proceedings, as the police had provided the Austrian troops
with suitable billets. The same inconsiderate demeanour was paraded
before the few British sappers quartered in the capital, who, to prevent
the possibility of a pretext for collision, were all pent up with their
Captain-Bent-in one domicile.[155] In their activity to find comfortable
stabling, some Austrians, commanded by a sergeant, ordered the horses
belonging to Captain Bent to be taken out to make room for three lively
steeds which the pirating party had brought with them. It was not to be
borne that they should attempt to encroach upon premises already too
limited for the reasonable wants of the Captain and his sappers; and
private Andrew Anderson, who happened to be on the spot at the time, met
their demands with courageous sternness. This unexpected resistance
caused the sergeant valorously to motion with his sabre, and to
threaten, among other desperate penalties, to hang the Englishman; but
Anderson, indisposed to yield his trust—though the odds were against
him—made so imposing a demonstration of physical determination, that the
dragoons, taken somewhat aback at his boldness, quickly decamped, and
abandoned the intention of quartering themselves or their horses in the
British billets.
The fourth company from Malta, under Captain Craigie, reinforced the
corps at Varna on the 14th August, and a detachment of the third company
at Corfu was also sent thither, arriving at the head-quarters on the
25th August. They were ordered from their respective stations to the
seat of war by Lord Raglan.[156]
-----
Footnote 135:
Promoted to be sergeant. Was the principal non-commissioned officer in
charge of the huts sent from this country to the Crimea; and was
wounded severely in the assault on the Redan on the 8th September,
1855.
Footnote 136:
A man of unsteady propensities from a long residence at the Cape of
Good Hope, where liquor is cheap. He is, however, a first-rate soldier
and sapper, and his intrepid bearing in the trenches before
Sebastopol, gained him a special medal “for distinguished service in
the field,” and a gratuity of five pounds. Such notice accorded to him
as one of sixteen out of a fighting force of about 900 men, may well
excite his pride; and if there be a tide in the affairs of men, surely
this proud incident will cause that turn, and so fashion his future
career that it will be as remarkable in peace for temperance and good
behaviour, as in battle for heroism.
Footnote 137:
Died in camp before Sebastopol, in January, 1855.
Footnote 138:
Sent to the Crimea as a submarine diver, and died in camp before
Sebastopol, April, 1855.
Footnote 139:
Died in December, 1854, before Sebastopol of cholera.
Footnote 140:
Killed in the trenches at the siege of Sebastopol, July 17, 1855.
Footnote 141:
Now second sergeant-major of the corps at the Royal Engineer
Establishment, Brompton.
Footnote 142:
Has been frequently noticed in these pages for his labours in the
demolition of the ‘Royal George’ and ‘Edgar’ at Spithead.
Footnote 143:
June 12, 1854.
Footnote 144:
‘United Service Gazette,’ June 17, 1854.
Footnote 145:
The ‘Times,’ June 29, 1854.
Footnote 146:
Ibid.
Footnote 147:
‘Illustrated London News,’ August 5, 1854.
Footnote 148:
Soon after was advanced to the rank of corporal for his conduct at the
siege of Sebastopol, and died of wounds received in the trenches, in
May, 1855. One of his legs was amputated, from which, though he bore
up for a few days, his exhausted strength did not permit him to rally.
Footnote 149:
The ‘Times,’ Sept. 15, 1854.
Footnote 150:
Ibid.
Footnote 151:
Ibid.
Footnote 152:
The ‘Times,’ Sept. 15, 1854.
Footnote 153:
Ibid.
Footnote 154:
Sergeant John F. Read, corporals William Harding, William Swann, and
privates Robert M. Rylatt, Michael Westacott, and John Piper.
Footnote 155:
The ‘Times,’ Oct. 26, 1854, by the Author of ‘The Russian Empire.’
Footnote 156: