Chatham arrived at Balaklava in the ‘Adelaide’ on the 18th September;
and then followed on the 5th October, the disembarkation at Scutari of
the twenty-third company—93 strong—under Captain Siborne. This was the
driver troop, a community of little jockeys, light in weight and
sprightly in action, whose antecedents as ostlers, cabbies, grooms, and
carters, rendered them so ductile in military equestrianism that, when
inspected at Woolwich on the 17th August by Sir John Burgoyne, he
pronounced their evolutions and the management of their horses to be
very commendable. Captain Siborne had the merit of achieving this
proficiency, as his adjutant did not join the troop until its arrival at
Scutari. Eighty-eight horses were sent out in the ‘Assistance’ steamer
with the company, nine of which were killed before the landing of the
drivers. The stations of the troop were at Haida Pasha, Kulalee, and
Scutari. The total force despatched to the East up to this time counted
1,127 non-commissioned officers and men.
Late in September the eighth company was removed from the docks. A month
later the eleventh company was sent to the Karabelnaia, and took
possession of the same store for a barrack. It was a cold and cheerless
fabric, built on the wharf of the creek. At this time the fire upon it
was considerably diminished. Two or three companies of the 18th regiment
deputed to work with the sappers occupied quarters in the same range.
These were the only troops except the allies quartered, at one time, in
the dockyard. The French miners were cantoned in stores at the West
end—the English sappers at the East. In the selection of barracks there
was no occasion for national jealousies or bickerings, for neither
district was a Belgravia; that of the French only possessing the
designation without its style or a tithe of its comfort.
Working from the experience of the previous winter the Government
entered into contracts in the summer for the immediate provision of
materials for hutting the army in the Crimea. For a supply of such
magnitude a forest was scarcely sufficient, and no less than thirty-four
vessels of good tonnage were freighted with the residences. Between the
31st August and 10th October, all the ships were at sea, accompanied by
67 non-commissioned officers and men, chiefly carpenters, in charge. In
the ‘Cochrane’ only one sapper had embarked, but in all the rest two
each. The first vessels arrived on the 13th October luckily when the
pressure in front had ceased, and then followed others in quick
succession. Second corporal R. Lewis was appointed under the authority
of a general order issuer of huts with an allowance of 2_s._ 6_d._ a-day
from the 20th October. Two of the hutmen did not arrive until about the
31st December.
Between the erection of the huts and the demolition of the docks, the
business of the sappers was principally divided. There were besides many
other services which claimed their attention, such as dismantling the
trenches and batteries, mending the roads, repairing hospitals, wharves,
piers, waggons, &c., and surveying. A company was attached to each
infantry division[201] of the army to attend to its exigencies. It was
not however removed from its original hutting ground, except when the
requirements of the division rendered it desirable. As this arrangement
necessarily limited the command of the chief engineers in the direction
of the energies of the sappers so far as any work not a divisional one
was concerned, an explanatory instruction soon after followed.[202] Each
company was considered as under the orders of the general commanding the
division, and to preserve that command, the sappers when wanted for a
public duty, were obtained for its performance on the authority of the
commander of the forces communicated to the general officers of the
respective divisions. In this way there was no check to the fullest
employment of the corps, and the identification of particular companies
with particular divisions was not without advantage.
With the allied expedition sent to attack Kinbourn in October there were
sixty non-commissioned officers and men of the corps under Major Bent of
the engineers. The British contingent was commanded by Brigadier-General
the Hon. A. Spencer. On the 15th the disembarkation took place on a
tongue of land stretching into the sea; and the troops were halted at a
spot, which from its broken features and the presence of small patches
of morass in its front, rendered it acceptable for a defensive position.
Encamped on salient hillocks, the regiments were concealed from Russian
observation by spreading their canvas on the reverse of the declivities.
The line, traced by Major Bent and a French engineer, took advantage of
the abounding irregularities of the ground, and was closed on the left
by a species of hornwork with its two salients rising from the summits
of two small mounds, and its flanks resting on the Licame sea. Into this
“keep” it was intended, in the event of any mischance, that the troops
should retire and hold it by intrepid fighting till the last man had
returned to the ships. On the right of the line two small detached works
were also traced on commanding heights to flank the front of the
position and to be defended by pickets. In the night of the 15th the
intrenchments commenced by each regiment throwing up the necessary cover
in its immediate front. The “keep” and the outworks were also advanced;
and wells, which produced excellent water at a depth of seven feet, were
also sunk. Under the superintendence of the royal engineers and the
company of sappers, the field defences, adequate for the protection of
kneeling musketeers, were finished on the 17th. The excavation was six
feet wide and three deep in which a banquette was formed three feet
broad. When the land arrangements were perfected, the allied fleet
opened a sharp fire on the old masonry fort and its two sand redoubts,
mounting respectively 60, 11, and 9 pieces of artillery. A block of
buildings in the fortress was speedily in flames, the old ramparts fell
down, many guns were destroyed, and the carriages upon which they were
mounted were shivered and disabled. To an attack so irresistibly
conducted, the garrison about 1,200 strong soon capitulated with the
loss of 60 killed and wounded, while the casualties in the Anglo-French
fleet were insignificant. On the 20th the troops, none of whom took part
in the fight, moved to the village; and on the following day, when the
main body of the expedition marched to enforce a reconnaissance of the
country, Major Bent, left in charge of the camp, set to work to repair
the damaged barracks. At this and kindred services in which the skill of
artificers was needed, the sappers laboured in unison with the French,
and were warmly complimented for their “intelligence, zeal, and
activity,” by the French general in chief. Major Bent and his company
embarked on board the ‘Indian’ on the 29th October, anchored at Kazatch
2nd November, and soon after landed to share in the general employments
of the camp. Their return to Sebastopol was followed by a communication
from Marshal Pélissier, a copy of which is added, acknowledging the
co-operation of the English with the French sappers in the restorations
at Kinbourn.
Armée d’Orient.
Etat Major Général,
No. 815,
Au sujet de la
brigade du Général Spencer.
“MON CHER GÉNÉRAL,
“_Grand Quartier Général à Sébastopol,
le 7 Novembre, 1855._
“LE Général Bazaine m’a prié de vous exprimer combien il a eu à se
louer de ses relations de service avec le Brigadier-Général Spencer,
et de la conduite des beaux regiments composant la brigade placée sous
ses ordres. Les relations les plus amicales n’ont pas cessées un
instant de régner dans les deux brigades, et les soldats du Génie des
deux armées ont travaillés avec le plus grand ensemble à la
ré-édification de la forteresse de Kinbourn. Je dois vous recommander
particulièrement le Major Bent, du corps Royal des Ingenieurs, qui à
dirigé avec beaucoup d’intelligence le travaux qu’il a eu à faire
exécuter.
“Veuillez agréer, mon cher Général, l’assurance de ma haute
considération, et de mon affectueux dévouement.
“Le Maréchal Commandant-en-Chef,
(Signed) “A. PÉLISSIER.
“_Monsieur le Général-en-Chef
de l’armée Anglais._”
[TRANSLATION.
------------------------------------
[TRANSLATION.]
“_Head-Quarters, Sebastopol,
November 7th._
“MY DEAR GENERAL,
“GENERAL BAZAINE has begged me to express to you how much he has
to congratulate himself on his military services with
Brigadier-General Spencer, and with the conduct of the splendid
regiments placed under his orders.
“The most amicable arrangements have not for an instant ceased to
exist in the two brigades, and the soldiers of engineers of the two
armies have worked together with the greatest cordiality at the
restoration of the fortress of Kinbourn. I must particularly recommend
to you Major Bent, royal engineers, who has directed with great
intelligence the works which he has had to execute.
“Pray receive, my dear General, the assurance of my high consideration
and my affectionate devotion.
“The Marshal Commanding-in-Chief,
(Signed) “A. PÉLISSIER.
“_The General in Command of the
English Army._”
General Sir James Simpson, who had commanded the army since the
death of Lord Raglan, resigned his high office on the 11th, and was
succeeded by General Sir William Codrington.
The great French magazine on the brow of the Ravin du Carénage blew
up on the 15th November. For miles the ground was convulsed by the
explosion as if an earthquake had shaken the land, and in the
vicinity of the devastation hill and ravine were covered with the
black dust of the gunpowder as if the area were the approach to
another Erebus. Shot, carcases, rockets, and shells, with their
myriad splinters, fell in a terrible shower breaking up tents,
collapsing stables, throwing into ruins store-sheds and hospitals,
burning huts and siege materials, and striking down men at a
considerable distance from the scene. The number of officers and
soldiers killed and wounded were as many as might have occurred in a
sharp action. Bugles were sounded to form a general parade, and the
troops drawn aside to a neighbouring height looked on in bewildered
amazement. The only two of the corps present at the moment of the
catastrophe were Lieutenant Brine and sergeant Jarvis, who were
inspecting work done at the stables of Captain Travers’ small-arm
ammunition brigade. That grave explosion blew down the stables and
also those of the Y battery, and let loose some four hundred horses
which ran wildly over the hills. As soon as the nature of the
disaster had been ascertained, Lieutenant Brine sent his sergeant
for the tenth company. It soon arrived with picks, shovels, hooks,
&c.; and, wrote Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd, “rendered valuable
service.” The army was then away, and the little band of sappers set
to work under the eye of Sir William Codrington to arrest the
conflagration. The powder mill at Inkermann was between two fires,
and had been greatly injured by the concussion. But little danger
was apprehended from the one on the valley side of it, because the
ravine intervened; but some burning shells having penetrated a
number of old French huts beyond the magazine, the little settlement
was soon in flames, and as the wind was blowing in the direction of
the mill it was a matter of first moment to stay the spread of the
conflagration and render the magazine safe. To these duties the
greater portion of the company was detailed. By digging a trench
around the burning locality and throwing the excavated earth on the
fire it thus became isolated, and the flames were gradually reduced
by tearing down the planking and beams and removing them to a
distance. Strong parties of the line, sent from the heights, working
by reliefs, also assisted to extinguish the burning mass, and
succeeded in preventing a repetition of the calamity.
Meanwhile the powder mill, on which all eyes were fixed, was scaled
by some gallant fellows risking a jeopardy it was exciting to
witness. Lieutenant Brine, who was directed to superintend the
arrangements for subduing the fire, and to devise means for
succouring the magazine, ordered sergeant Jarvis and corporal Osment
to ascend it. Without hesitation they did so, followed by other
sappers and Major Grant of the artillery and Lieutenant Hope 7th
Fusiliers. Sparks were falling on them like pyrotechnic rain, and
shells and rockets were still bursting, throwing their splinters and
burning fragments in that perilous direction. With wet blankets
handed to them from below they “promptly” covered the roof of the
magazine and only gave up the task when the officers were convinced
that further exertions were unnecessary. Of the brave and ready
conduct of corporal Osment, Major Grant reported most highly to
Lieutenant Brine, and he was therefore selected to protect the
entrance to the magazine which, facing the flames, was most likely
to take fire and yield to unforeseen disaster. At once he covered it
with wet blankets suspended from posts, and building against it a
wall of sand-bags, further protected it in front by a sand-bag
traverse. This done, all alarm was finally allayed by Lieutenant
Brine reporting to Sir William Codrington the perfect security of
the mill.
When the magazine blew up, some of the company were working at a
stone bridge in the ravine about 300 yards distant, and escaped
without injury, while several of the line who were assisting, were
killed and wounded. The party joined the company as soon as it was
perceived to be mustered for duty in front of the huts of the 33rd
regiment. Sir William Codrington observing the fire sweeping on to
the right of the siege train, asked for volunteers to extinguish it.
Several daring fellows answered the call and were soon in the heart
of the flames tearing down the burning tents; but as this service
did not seem to be of much profit in the presence of more imminent
danger, an artillery officer enlisted their exertions to remove many
box loads of live shells which, packed in the park of the siege
train, were imminently exposed; so much so that while bearing them
away, one after another ignited and burst, knocking down men, mules
and horses, killing some and wounding others. To some excavated
hollows where there had been an encampment, about 150 yards off, the
shells were taken and buried. The French and soldiers of all corps
assisted in the removal; those of the sappers who most distinguished
themselves were sergeant James, corporal Enwright, privates William
Church, John Burt, and others.
The explosion led to the construction of a very strong magazine on
the plateau in rear of the land transport corps with the light
division. It was sunk partly in rock six feet deep, and was 24 feet
by 12 feet in the clear. The interior was walled with rubble stone,
and splinter proofs ten inches square formed the roof, above which
was a covering of earth between five and six feet deep. It was made
to contain, if necessary, more than a thousand barrels of small-arm
ammunition. Masons and carpenters of the tenth company built it
assisted by parties from the 97th regiment, under Lieutenants Brine,
R.E., and Hudson, 97th. It was completed on the 14th December, and
being a somewhat showy structure of its class, the little details
connected with its erection were inscribed on a slab built into the
work.
When in command of the light division, Sir William Codrington
desirous of adding facilities to the movement of the troops,
directed a bridge to be thrown across the middle ravine to connect
with the main road. The tenth company, with the assistance of
infantry detachments, built it in November under the superintendence
of Lieutenant Brine, R.E., who commanded the company. Sergeant
Jarvis was his foreman, and corporal Rylatt his principal artificer.
The bridge was of stone having one arch of nearly twenty feet span
and a roadway of seventeen and a half feet, approached at each end
by a long causeway with a gentle descent from the road. The
foundations were of ragstone collected in the vicinity, and the
piers, of great apparent strength, were formed of white stone from
the Redan. The planking was secured to ten baulks, each 24 feet long
and 10 inches square, taken from the white barracks in the
Karabelnaia. A stout wooden handrail lined both sides of the bridge
for convenience and finish. No mortar was used to give solidity to
the masonry; and though the rains and melted snows, rushing down the
slopes of the ravine, beat with violence against the rubble piers,
the bridge stood as firm as a rock, while other temporary structures
of the kind were carried away by the flood. On a stone let into one
of the piers of this neat specimen of military engineering, was cut
this inscription—
Erected
By 10th Company R. S. & M. and Detachments
of the Light Division, under
the superintendence of Lieut. Fred.
Brine, R.E. Commenced and finished
November, 1855.
In the same ravine, more towards its head, was constructed, in
January, another bridge, unique and picturesque, under the direction
of Lieutenant Brine, by the tenth company and parties of the line.
Sergeant Jarvis and corporal Luly had the superintendence of the
work. The bridge was to open a readier communication between the
first and second brigades of the light division, encamped on
opposite heights. It was formed of pork barrels two feet eight
inches long and two feet at the swell, easily procured, but greatly
inferior to porter barrels inasmuch as they were not iron hooped. No
excavation was made, but the barrels were laid along the swampy
bottom of the ravine, transversely in the centre and vertically at
the ends. The upright barrels, formed, so to speak, the buttresses,
fifty-four being on the first brigade side and thirty-six on the
second. This arrangement appears to require explanation. For the
former there were five barrels placed for a base and seven for the
latter, overlaid by another row, which, pushing well into the broken
slopes of the valley, took eleven barrels for the first and eighteen
for the second. This was the nature of the formation at both sides;
but, to make the bottoms firmer, a couple of barrels were introduced
at each end and the spaces thus enclosed were made solid with earth.
The centre division took 168 barrels, which were laid heads to the
stream on their swells, end to end, three in a row, with another
layer, of equal number, above them. Strips of iron hoop were nailed
on the casks through the length of the bridge, and their steadiness
was further assisted by filling in the interstices with earth and
small stones. The bridge, intended for foot-passengers and
equestrians, was 118 feet long and 8 feet wide, with a cross-braced
hand-rail rising more than 3 feet above its level supported by six
struts sunk into the ground. Heavy stones of large and irregular
sizes were built on the edges of the structure, between which 18
inches of metalling was strewn over the bridge, as ballast to
sustain it in position. Small roadways, about 10 feet broad, were
made to and from this rustic causeway. If baulks could have been
promptly procured, the bridge would have been constructed very
differently; but the existence of barrels in great numbers offered
the best chance of its speedy formation, which was effected in six
days. Its strength was proved by passing over it a 9-pounder
field-piece, which was borne without the barrels evincing any signs
of weakness, and it resisted with unexpected firmness the dashing
torrent that in heavy storms poured down the ravine.
A further reinforcement of 150 non-commissioned officers and men,
under the command of Captain Lambert with 29 horses, reached the
seat of war on the 28th January, 1856, in the ‘Indiana.’ The bulk of
the detachment sailed for Balaklava, leaving 23 drivers who joined
the field equipment troop at Scutari. Only 15 of the horses landed,
11 having died or been killed on the voyage and 3 left at Gibraltar.
The total force of sappers, which up to this date had landed in the
East, was 1,344 of all ranks.
-----
Footnote 198:
Distinguished at the battle of Giurgevo for his gallantry. A fine,
handsome soldier, he was admired by both officers and men. When work
had to be done, he would toil like a slave to accomplish it; and when
duty demanded his services he was never absent. His propensity to
drink, however, placed it out of the power of his officers to award
him promotion. At the Cape of Good Hope, he earned a medal for his
services in the Kaffir war of 1846-47, and received another medal and
a second-class prize for his conduct and usefulness at the Great
Exhibition of 1851. He was employed in that duty at the instigation of
Major Bent, who generously became surety for his good behaviour. Well
did he support the Major’s recommendation; but on his removal from
London at the close of the Exhibition, he soon relapsed into his
former habits. His bravery in the battle of Giurgevo is already told;
and the decoration of the order of the Medjidie, placed on his breast
by Omar Pacha—a distinction never before conferred on one of so humble
a rank—failed to inspire him with sufficient pride to curb his
excesses; and there is reason to fear, that his melancholy fate was
brought on by his infatuated indulgence.
Footnote 199:
A few cases occurred in which the rank of sergeant was attained by a
junior non-commissioned officer within eighteen months. Samuel Cole is
an instance. He went to the Crimea a young second corporal, but so
conspicuous was his conduct in the trenches, and so sustained his
usefulness and gallantry, that besides the grant of pecuniary rewards,
a special medal for distinguished service, and the Order of the Legion
of Honour, he was promoted successively to the ranks of corporal and
sergeant. Of him Colonel Gordon wrote on the 6th December, 1855, that
he was one of the “most distinguished in the corps for bravery and had
just received a step of rank”—that of sergeant—“for very distinguished
service in the field.”
Footnote 200:
From a feeling of kindness, as modest as generous in its exercise,
Major Ranken of the engineers, who fell soon after, buried under the
ruins of the White Barracks in the Karabelnaia, presented Cornet
Falkner with a grey pony. In asking his acceptance of it, the Major
thus concluded his note: “I feel a pleasure in offering it to you as I
am enabled thereby to mark my sense of your good services while
attached to the company under my command.”
Footnote 201:
General Order, 24th October, 1855.
Footnote 202:
General Order, 20th November, 1855.
1855-56.
13th September-1st March.
DEMOLITIONS AT SEBASTOPOL.
Testing the authenticity of some Russian plans concerning the
docks—Force employed in the demolition—Situation of the
docks—Their magnitude and strength—The operations—Difficulties
encountered in their execution by storms and frosts—Labours and
hardships of the miners—The explosions—Destruction of the
docks—Accidents; intrepid exertions of corporal Cray—Poisonous gas
in a gallery; prompt efforts to rescue the sufferers—Shelling the
docks while the demolitions were proceeding—Sir William
Codrington’s dispatch reporting the success of the operations—Also
Colonel Lloyd’s report—The White Barracks—Their destruction—Death
of Major Ranken; notice of conduct of second corporal Baker.
Meanwhile the mining of the docks proceeded. On the 13th September,
one sergeant and nine sappers with some line miners only were
employed; but their efforts were mainly directed to prove the
authenticity of some Russian plans which had fallen into our hands
when the allies first ascended the heights. A few shafts had been
excavated in different places behind the revetments when, on the
19th, a subaltern of engineers and forty-two sappers having been
detached from the camp, the works spread over a larger area, and
were continued till the 24th September, when the service was
suspended.
Whether or no these preliminary exertions verified the information
which had fallen by the chances of war to the assailants it is
needless to inquire, but the resolution had gone forth which doomed
the docks to destruction. Accordingly on the 24th October, the
sinking of shafts was resumed by forty-eight sappers commanded by a
subaltern, who took possession of the large storehouse vacated by
the previous detachment. A few companies of the 18th foot were also
appointed to assist, a portion of whom from the 2nd of November was
domiciled with the sappers. Another reinforcement of forty-eight men
of the corps under a subaltern was, about this time, turned into the
shafts; and as the demolition progressed, and the line miners began
to show expertness in the duty, some of the best of them toiled
equally with the sappers in the pits and galleries.