sappers for the right attack and sixty-one for the left, who gave
attention to the damages as they occurred, and also in blowing up the
rock in the new advanced trenches. Even while the bombardment was at its
highest the miners were busy in the approaches to the fourth parallel,
turning with tedious process the jumper in the rock, loading the holes
which had been sufficiently deepened, and firing them one after another
in open day. Eight other sappers were employed in rebuilding the
electric telegraph station in one of the dismal caves on the right
attack. All the men behaved with steadiness in their several duties, and
some showed so much confidence and daring in re-forming the shattered
embrasures, despite the firing, that their names were brought to the
notice of Lord Raglan. These were corporal Joseph J. Stanton, second
corporal Samuel Cole, and private Alexander McCaughey, to whom was
presented by his lordship’s order, a donation of two pounds each in
acknowledgment of their gallantry; and subsequently each was honoured
with the badge of a silver medal for “distinguished service in the
field,” accompanied by gratuities of ten pounds each to the two former
and five to the last.[184]
Corporal Stanton had to look after the batteries of the second parallel
on the right attack, having under him a small party of the Buffs and two
sappers of the ninth company, none of whom had been in the trenches
before. His superintendence was therefore irksome and laborious. By his
steadfastness and the vigour of his actions, he gradually dissipated
their hesitation, and following where he led, they assisted to remove
obstructions from the embrasures, particularly the broken hide mantlets
stuffed with wool, which, with their fastenings, had dropped across the
openings and choked up the gorges. Moving from battery to battery,
Stanton was repeatedly in the embrasures and even where the mantlets
were sound, cut them down with a strong arm—for he was a powerful man—as
the advantage of their retention as shields was far outweighed by the
terrible hazards of clearing them away should they fall in the
embrasures. While these deeds were in progress, showers of grape and
groups of shot and shell poured into the batteries causing accidents of
a very singular character. A shell came over into No. 13 battery, and
striking another shell which was being loaded, an explosion took place
wounding the captain and the sergeant of artillery engaged in the
service. The right gun of the battery had become useless from one of its
trunnions breaking; and so to prevent unnecessary casualty one of the
sappers filled up the neck of the embrasure with a mask of sand-bags.
While so employed a shot just passed over his head and entered the
disabled gun sticking fast in the muzzle. Narrowly, on two occasions, he
escaped during the day, but his comrade was severely wounded in the head
by the bursting of a 10-inch shell.
Among the troops the casualties were considerable, but in the sappers
three only were wounded:—
Colour-sergeant Alexander M. McLeod—slightly, in the head, by a shell
splinter.
Private John Peterson—slightly, in the face and head, while blasting.
” John Patterson—severely.
For the two attacks there were fifty sappers provided at dusk to shore
up the works and mend the breaches in the parapets during the night.
Some of the troops who occupied a dangerous post in front to guard the
trenches fell asleep, and thus failed to fire into the embrasures of the
Redan. This arose from a misconception of orders. It is worthy of
record, nevertheless, to show how cool were those brave men who, only a
bow-shot from danger, as if in undisturbed possession of an English
barrack-room and unaffected by care, reposed on the banquettes. The
working party on the right attack in No. 9 battery evinced great want of
spirit in the measures necessary to repair it. A ruinous fire had broken
it up and knocked down its embrasures. Much exertion was needed to make
it equal to the struggle, and the party quitted at the time for relief,
without having made that progress which it was calculated would result
from the number of men appointed to make good the damages. The corporal
of sappers in charge of the workmen who was consequently involved in
their inactivity, was subjected to the penalty he merited. Lieutenants
James and Somerville were the engineers responsible for the restorations
on the right, and they had under their orders thirty-two sappers. Half
of the number had been taken from the ninth company newly arrived from
England. This being their first time in the trenches they scarcely
understood their duty in the impromptu way in which war teaches it; but
yet, they left the advance that night with approbation. Corporal David
Simpson of the ninth company, was conspicuous for his tact and coolness
in mending an embrasure at grey light in the morning, while shells fell
wide of the devoted man who filled up the gap. Lord Raglan awarded him
two sovereigns in token of his satisfaction. Throughout the night the
cannonading was continued principally by vertical fire and additional
damage was done to the works; but, with few exceptions, the injuries
were repaired, and all the embrasures supplied with sound gabions and
sand-bags before daybreak. Even the batteries which kept up their fire
were attended to, and the shattered baskets and tubs, and the torn hides
and sand-bags, were replaced during the intervals of the several rounds.
No time was lost, no exertion withheld, to give an appearance to the
general works of freshness and strength. The sapper carpenters repaired
the various platforms in the 21-gun battery and the roof of the right
magazine of No. 9 battery, which, struck by a shell, was much shaken.
Alexander Montgomery, the sergeant in executive charge of the sappers on
the right—who had served in many a fight as a military adventurer in
maintaining the royal cause both of Portugal and Spain against
insurgents ranked on the side of powerful pretenders—was commended by
Major-General Jones for his zealous conduct and intelligent assistance
to his officers.
A party of sailors thrown into the trenches worked exceedingly well.
Indeed, without their help the repairs to the 21-gun battery could not
have been completed. The man-o’-war’s-man labours in his own way, and
does it with so much heartiness that, however singular and incautious
may be his modes of proceeding, he achieves his end in time. Five of the
seamen were wounded, but none of the sappers, though equally exposed,
were hurt.
Just as the sappers were paraded at the engineer hut in the first
parallel to return to camp, an artillery officer appeared and
represented that the embrasures of No. 11 battery—the only work which
raked the picket-house ravine—needed immediate attention. The news was
not pleasant to men who had performed a fatiguing night’s labour.
Feeling the hardship of this extra duty, the engineer officer was
disinclined to order any of his sappers to undertake the repairs, and
so, calling for volunteers, his wishes were instantly met by several
willing men offering for the service. Such unhesitating renunciation of
themselves was deservedly applauded. Corporal Joseph Lockwood,
lance-corporal Samuel Varren, and privates John Jaffray and Charles
Carlin, passing from No. 5 by the trench which rounded No. 9, pushed
onwards by the continued communication into No. 11, and leaped into the
embrasures. In about two hours, with such old materials as they could
find, they patched up the shapeless cheeks in as solid a form as the
urgency of the occasion permitted. The repairs were necessarily of a
rustic character, for wooden and iron gabions, sandbags, fascines,
earth, and loose stones—the available litter of the battery, in
fact—were all employed in tinkering the breaches. From the moment the
Russians perceived the sappers in the openings, a steady fire of Miniés
was maintained against them, and a couple of furious shells burst in
their rear; but they passed untouched from the trenches, and their
exertions and resource were acknowledged by Major-General Jones in
brigade orders.
The works of the adversary which had been uprooted by the fierceness of
the besiegers’ fire were rebuilt and rearmed in the night. There were
some, however, which seemed to totter on their bases. Wondrous must have
been the energy employed to give completeness to such a series of
extensive formations as comprised their defences. There was, let it be
acknowledged, a Vauban in the fortress. Todleben was he, an ardent and
skilful general and engineer, whose genius made him equal to any
pressure and capable of compassing any amount of devastation. We, too,
had Vaubans, disciples of the most approved military masters; and the
solid field structures founded by their talent and directed by their
skill and sleepless industry, prove their worthiness to rank with the
best engineers of any country. It only wanted this unprecedented siege
to make clear that which, for forty years, was an open question.
No working party was furnished for the left attack on the 7th. There
were, however, 54 sappers in the trenches who mended the embrasures and
threw up the rock by mining in different places in the third parallel.
Private Walter Conning, a delicate man but of robust purpose, was
noticed by Major Bent for his calm activity while mending an embrasure
in No. 4 battery on the left attack. His duty was to attend to the
repairs of the platforms; but as these were in a serviceable state and
he did not choose to remain idle, he leaped into an embrasure and
assisted his comrades to rebuild it. While doing so he was struck down
by a spent shot which knocked him from the aperture against the
traverse. This self-imposed employment, an instance of unobtrusive
devotion, coupled with his uniform steadiness and zeal in working the
advanced trenches, gained for him promotion and the decoration of the
Military War Medal of France.
Adam McKechnie—a private—was no less conspicuous in No. 9 battery
repairing with sand-bags two embrasures which had been knocked to
pieces. A blaze of fire was upon him during the whole time, but he
continued his exertions for more than two hours with a bearing so manly,
that Lieutenant Oldfield of the royal navy and his seamen, looked on
with as much admiration as surprise.
Among those who were the most praised was private Andrew Fairservice. He
is stated to have been “exceedingly active in repairing embrasures under
heavy fire;” so much so, indeed, that his valour and perseverance gained
him the honour of a “distinguished service” medal and a gratuity of five
pounds.
For the right attack the numbers detailed—about forty—were told off to
their posts by sergeant Donald McFarlane. Captain Dawson of the
engineers, the officer on duty, was killed early in the morning in the
21-gun battery. He was the captain of the ninth company and this was his
maiden tour in the trenches. In little more than two hours after leaving
the camp he was borne back dead, his head having been shattered by a
round shot. Incessant repairs to the embrasures and parapets kept the
sappers constantly exposed, and they toiled with all the ardour for
which they had now become famous.
Some men of the ninth company in the 21-gun battery were unequal to the
hard work of the embrasures, and Captain Peel of the navy urged the
necessity of sending some _old_ sappers—meaning men who had been at the
siege from the commencement—to be allotted to the duty. Second-corporal
George H. Collins and a brigade of eight men were at once sent to the
front, and so incessant were their labours, they were never clear of the
embrasures for five minutes during the ten hours they served in the
battery. All day long the sun was hot and burning, the sky clear, and
not a man that thrust himself into the shattered apertures could reckon
for an instant on his safety. Not a shadow was thrown to conceal him
from observation, and he trusted to his agility to escape, when the
“look-out man” warning him of approaching shot or shell, gave him the
chance of making a desperate leap from the opening.
Most assiduous were the carpenters in strengthening the platforms, for
the continued friction of the guns in their heavy and irresistible
recoil injured not a few of them. A platform on the right of the 21-gun
battery required in haste for an effective piece of ordnance was rapidly
refitted; but before the mortar could be shifted on it, a 13-inch shell
from a battery in rear of the Redan struck the flooring and broke it in
pieces.
In the afternoon, the strongest and most secure magazine on the right
attack was blown up. It was on the left of the 8-gun battery. A shell
plunged through the roof and bursting, all that remained of the magazine
was a smoking ruin. Private John Heaton who was returning to his party
after mending a platform at a distance, was killed by the explosion and
not an atom of his remains was ever discovered. Privates George Wright
and Stephen Gossage were wounded by fragments of the scattered timber.
On hearing the report—ominous of loss both of material and life—the
Russians jumped on their batteries and parapets, and, intimating their
joy at the calamity by a fiendish yell, quickly disappeared behind their
revetments.
Wherever the Russians had established screens, they opened
communications to them, and then connecting each with the other, so
formed a parallel. One of this kind stretched its length 150 yards in
front of the British trenches which was nightly strengthened, widened,
and improved. The line, extending from the Mamelon to the Quarries,
formed the enemy’s exterior defence, beyond which except the rifle-pits
he was never able to advance. As the besiegers flung out their boyeaux
and breasted them with batteries or filled them with sharp-shooters, the
Russians, equally pushing, spent their arts and energies in rendering
their works both formidable and inaccessible. This advanced parallel
having greatly annoyed the besiegers and laid many a brave section low,
a combined attack was determined on,—the French to assault the _Ouvrage
Blancs_ and the Mamelon; the English, the Quarries and its appended
works facing the left of the right attack.
At about six in the evening—just as the sun was setting—the assault was
made by half a battalion of infantry from the light and second divisions
headed by Lieutenant Lowry of the engineers and a small party of royal
sappers and miners. The whole were commanded by Colonel Shirley. Divided
into two columns of 200 each, the half battalion dashed on to the flanks
of the Quarries, and supported by a reserve of 600 men, fought nobly
against odds which threatened to overwhelm them. A tremendous cannonade
had swept the Quarries until a few minutes before the encounter, when
all the batteries turned their venom on the Russian lines and broke them
up one after another. Repelled once, the assailants soon recovered
themselves and drove the Russians before them; but, contending against
an enemy almost invincible, the stormers again and again were forced
back. At this moment, Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden of the engineers, who
had a working party of 800 men under his orders, let loose his armed
pioneers, and three-fourths of them rushed into the quarries—those
impregnable hollows, hemmed in by walls of rock and paved with broken
stones and boulders—to share in the contest. This timely help, giving
fresh vigour to the assault, the stormers, renewed in spirit, bravely
seconded the stern efforts of the reinforcements; and a withering
musketry, close and telling, struck down their antagonists to the earth,
leaving chasms in their masses which a stream of troops from the Redan
as quickly refilled. Swoop following swoop levelled section after
section, succeeded by a temporary wavering which augured a retreat. The
quivering, however, passed, and the enemy yet stood in the pits which so
long had shielded them and worried the assailants as if the last man
intended to die in the ambuscade. Already the immolation showed how
desperate was the strife; the Russians at length, were well nigh
exhausted; but a few minutes more, and the besiegers, struggling over
the debris of old explosions and amid rocky traverses and huge fragments
of stone, pressed the enemy’s columns at all points and drove them
bewildered into the Redan. The Ouvrage Blancs and the Mamelon by this
time were gallantly taken by the French.
As soon as the seizure had been accomplished, Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden
moved up from the right-ravine communication his working party of 200
eager men led by a few sappers with corporal Joseph J. Stanton. There
was no confusion; no complexity of detail; and at once, under Lieutenant
Elphinstone of the engineers, the lodgment was commenced, while the
zigzag from the quarries, to connect with the left advanced sap
adjoining Egerton’s rifle-pits, was opened under Captain Wolseley of the
90th regiment, assistant engineer. Every nerve was strained to perfect
the works before morning; the trenches were quickly reversed; and the
earth and stones belonging to the old revetment were built into the new
parapet which was faced with gabions, 200 of which, all that were
brought in by the working party, were laid by Lieutenant Elphinstone,
corporal Stanton, and the sappers. Bold efforts were ineffectually made
by the Russians to regain their loss, even carrying away, in their
desperate prowess, some of the lumbering gabions; but the victors,
indisposed to yield an inch, retook the baskets and held the ambuscade
with intrepid tenacity, while the working party, saved by the vigilance
of the stormers from material interruption in their exertions succeeded,
before the arrival of the new relief, in giving to the lodgment and
communication sufficient cover for immediate defence. All this being
effected in a dark night, with thick dangers around, was creditable to
the endurance and industry of the officers who directed and the soldiers
who toiled. Captain Browne of the engineers had the general
superintendence of the works under Colonel Tylden.
Lieutenant Lowry, a young officer, led the storming party most gallantly
and was killed while rallying the men after having been repulsed. He was
carried away by some sappers, who, working on the parapet of the
quarries saw him fall. His sword was delivered to corporal Stanton, of
which he made good use. A Russian was outside, behind a gabion, bent on
his knee. Observed while in the act of levelling his musket, Stanton
waved the sword, and with one blow struck him down. Lieutenant
Elphinstone and corporal Stanton were working side by side at the time,
but the former was unaware of his danger till the deadly act of the
latter had removed the cause.
Lieutenant Anderson of the 96th regiment, assistant engineer, was
wounded early in the night. The sappers present in the storming were
about 12, divided between the two assaulting columns; 40 were with the
reserve battalion and the working party, and other brigades were
distributed to the batteries. The casualties among the parties were
eight wounded:—
Second-corporal Peter Luxton—severely, in the head, by grape-shot.
Private William McDonald—dangerously, by fracture of skull, from
gun-shot. He died of his wounds.
” William R. Collings—dangerously, in left leg, by rifle-ball. He
had crept up the open and was in the act of stretching the tape
by which to place the line of gabions to connect the zigzag from
the quarries to the left advanced approach, when the ball
entered below the swell of his leg and issued at the knee. He
died of his wounds.
Lance-corporal Robert Young—severely, in the right arm, in Greenhill
battery.
Private Walter Conning—slightly, in the hip.
” Samuel Dines—slightly, in the head, by a rifle ball, while
entering an embrasure of the 21-gun battery.
” Alexander Hosie—severely, in the throat, by splinter of a shell,
while in the 21-gun battery.
” Peter Slade—severely, in the head, in No. 9 battery, left
attack.
“Notwithstanding,” wrote Lord Raglan, under date the 9th June, “the
frequency of the endeavours of the Russians to regain possession of the
quarries, and the interruptions to the work to which these attacks gave
rise, Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden was enabled to effect the lodgment, and
to establish the communication with the advanced parallel; and this
redounds greatly to his credit and that of the officers and men employed
as the working party; and I cannot omit this opportunity to express my
approbation of the conduct of the sappers throughout the operations.”
With remarkable skill the quarries had been entrenched by the Russians
and novel schemes adopted to render them successful against an assault.
About twenty yards in front of the works there were hidden dangers
intended to throw advancing columns into hopeless confusion. It was well
that the troops had no knowledge of their presence or they might have
shrunk from an attack which yielded them such important advantages.
Entering the quarries by the flanks, they were preserved from calamities
that awaited them had they made the attack direct. Cubical boxes, filled
with gunpowder, were buried in the ground with glass tubes attached to
them containing an explosive composition. Delicately adjusted, though
roughly constructed, these infernal machines only required the tread of
hasty feet to produce combustion and blow up the stormers. Luckily, no
accident occurred during the attack; and although forty or more of the
boxes had subsequently been extracted from the soil, only two or three,
bursting by pressure, occasioned any accident.
-----
Footnote 184:
Gunner Burke, of the royal artillery, also assisted in repairing an
embrasure under the heaviest fire in No. 14 battery of the right
attack, and Lord Raglan rewarded him, like the sappers, with a present
of two sovereigns.
1855.
8th June-18th June.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
Repairs to the works—Death of corporal Fraser—Conduct of private
Orr—Improviséd church—Perseverance in the quarries—Segmental trench in
front of them—Successful exertions of the miners—Yenikale—Cape St.
Paul—Detail of sappers furnished for the trenches—Completion of
defences in the lodgment—Casualties in a party mending a trench
bridge—State of the works—Platforms—What is an embrasure?—Destruction
of one—Its repair—Casualties—A tolerated grumbler—Generous conduct of
corporal Lockwood—Fourth bombardment; preparations for
assault—Vigorous conduct of sergeant Anderson in repairing the
electric wires—And of corporal Borbidge in renewing a platform for a
sea-service mortar—First storming of the Redan—Chivalric behaviour of
private Head—Casualties—Conduct of the sappers in the
assault—Volunteer services of sergeant Drew and corporal
Jenkins—They rescue some of the wounded—So also does private
Ramsay—Brigadier-General Eyre’s column in the cemetery grounds—Valiant
behaviour of corporal Baker—General casualties—Death of Lord Raglan.
No time was lost in making the most of the position won by the gallantry
of the besiegers; but on the 8th June, owing to the exhausted state of
the troops from the labours of the previous night, no working party
could be provided for the right attack. Fifty-two sappers, however, took
their places as usual in the lines, repairing embrasures, improving the
cover of the quarries, and deepening the communications to them. To
preserve their energies, they were employed in four reliefs of four
hours each throughout the day. Very heavy was the firing from the
Russian batteries during the first relief, occasioning many casualties
among the guard of the trenches and harassing though not interrupting
the workmen. On the left there were 150 linesmen and 38 sappers
scattered over the trenches, restoring demolished embrasures and
parapets, and re-roofing magazines torn up by shells.