Second bombardment—Gallant exertions of individual sappers—Repairing a magazine—Assistance to a comrade in an embrasure—Fatal meeting of schoolfellows—Cheerfulness in suffering—Slippery platforms—Repairing telegraph wire—Resistance of the magazines—Inkermann lighthouse battery—Progress of the siege—Mud in the trenches—Battery for two light field-pieces—Magazine on fire—Burning sand-bag on a merlon—Fixing mantlets—Unshrinking labours of sappers—Damages and repairs—Progress of the siege and works—Gallantry of two sappers—and two linesmen—Noble perseverance in an embrasure—Exertions at the batteries—Explosion of a magazine—No. 9 battery, left attack—Gallant extension of left advance sap, right attack—Devotion and firmness of the last leading sapper in it—Progress of the works—Capture of the rifle-pits—Gallantry of sergeant McDonald—Casualties—Devotion of corporal Coles—Acknowledgment of services of sappers in the attack.

As most of the works were ready it was considered advisable not to delay the second bombardment, which, on the morning of the 9th April, commenced on our side from 101 guns and mortars. Nearly all our batteries were in full play, whilst the Russians, opening by degrees a powerful array of ordnance from their extensive defences, checked the otherwise irresistible vigour of our well-served armaments. On the left attack, after blocking up a gap made for the passage of artillery, the workmen were withdrawn to the first parallel to place them out of immediate danger, leaving thirteen sappers with Captain Belson to attend to the urgent details of the fighting batteries. On the right attack there were 28 men of the corps dressed like their comrades on the left, in waterproofs and long boots. During the cannonading, 90 soldiers of the line fed the sappers with sand-bags for the 21-gun battery, and assisted them in covering the roof of a magazine in 12-mortar battery. Other sappers worked in No. 10 battery in providing channels for clearing away the mud which obstructed the artillerymen at the guns. The damage done by the enemy’s fire was comparatively trifling, and the breaches, in all vital cases, were promptly restored. Iron gabions made of the hoops of barrels and the bands of trusses of compressed hay, were, for the first time, opposed to discharges of heavy metal, and proved their excellence for defence. The Madras platform, still in use, only added to the cumulative facts of its inutility. The Russians fired about one shot to the besiegers’ three; yet the result of this battering fell marvellously short of what was expected. “The sappers behaved remarkably well” this day, and second-corporal James Edward McKimm and private Neil McInnes, of the corps, were mentioned in brigade orders for their energy and ardour in repairing the works in exposed situations.

The corporal was in charge of eight sappers and a detachment of the line in the 21-gun battery, and, by his example, excited so strong an emulation among his men, that the repairs were executed with beautiful rapidity. Late in the day, when his parties—which had toiled for many hours with scarcely a minute’s rest—began to show signs of exhaustion, his conduct was marked by an energy which seemingly rekindled with his straits. Moving from embrasure to embrasure, he worked upon the tired powers of the men by his own manly labours, aiding them, when, from lack of strength or spirit, they were unable to cope with the quickly-recurring damages. McInnes and John Harris, his most willing assistants, kept up to the last, but McInnes was the most distinguished sapper of the day. He had charge of the repairs of three embrasures; two of them did not require much attention, but the one numbered 17 was pressing in its wants. The firing upon it was very hot, and while McInnes occupied the opening, building its cheeks with sand-bags, six men were killed, and several wounded. Captain Crofton witnessing his extreme exposure, desired him to suspend work, but the solid man with a calm smile declined, observing, “I want to make a good job of it.” He was, however, not permitted to do this, for Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden soon after appeared, and ordered him from the embrasure. A private of the 47th helped McInnes as long as he needed sand-bags, bravely persisting in the duty, though he had been wounded in the head.

In the course of the day a shell entered a magazine in the vicinity of McInnes’s work, which sheared away a portion of the roof. To wait for adventitious chances to apply his skill in such cases was not his maxim, and so walking up to the point of danger, commenced the repair, assisted by private Patrick Nelles and two or three men of the 47th regiment; and though another shell struck the roof, and threw the sand with violence in his face, he gave himself up to the work with so noble a pertinacity that Captain Peel of the navy, eulogized his exertions to Captain Crofton; and when the time arrived for showing the estimate made of his soldier-like bearing and activity, he was awarded a medal for distinguished service accompanied by a gratuity of five pounds.

“The country,” wrote Lord Raglan, “was covered with water, and the ground was again very deep. The trenches were likewise extremely muddy, and their condition added greatly to the labours of the men employed in the batteries, chiefly of sailors, artillerymen, and sappers. They conducted their duties admirably.”^[175]

In the 21-gun battery the revetment of an embrasure had tumbled down and covered the muzzle of a gun. Corporal McGinn at once jumped into the aperture to remove the debris. Seeing him unassisted sergeant Joseph Morant forced among the rubbish, and while the corporal laid the bags, the sergeant shovelled up the earth and packed it to give firmness to the structure. The day was very wet, and the earth which had fallen on the sole of the embrasure, had become so muddy and greasy, they found it difficult to prevent themselves slipping into the ditch. Trying and hazardous as was the duty, the orifice was restored before the adventurers quitted it.

In the same battery, Morant was speaking of by-gone times to two seamen, one of whom, named Soper, had been “a school and form fellow” of the sergeant. “This,” said he to Morant, “is not such a cricket-match as we used to have at Portsmouth, and I’d advise you to look well to your stumps.” Scarcely had he uttered the caution when a shot carried away his head, and scattered his brains over the breast of his old schoolfellow.

One sapper—private Thomas Muir—was dangerously wounded in the calf of the right leg, while mending the embrasure of the right 68-pounder gun in the 21-gun battery. As sergeant Morant was marching the party down the middle ravine, he jocosely remarked to Muir, that one or the other would be struck that day. Two hours after, Muir passed on a stretcher, and seeing Morant, he called out with unmistakeable cheerfulness, “You see, sergeant, I’m the first struck;” and onwards he was borne to the camp, singing all the way, as if for the entertainment of his bearers, some of those inspiriting Scotch airs which connected his heart with home. Amputation was resorted to to save his life, but gradually sinking, he died on the 15th May.

Towards the close of the day the sappers busied themselves in draining the trenches, wretchedly deep in water and mud. Sawdust was scattered on the platforms to relieve them from slipperiness. Sliding about in every direction on the unctuous soil, the heavy mortars were unmanageable, and so to help the gunners in moving them, they were supplied with iron-shod handspikes from the engineer park. At night 58 sappers were thrown into the left attack, and about 28 into the right, and through the darkness and storm, though miserably wet and cold, completed all the essential restorations by the following morning. “The officers of engineers,” writes Major-General Jones, “and sappers and miners continue active and zealous; the duty in this weather is very hard and severe upon them.”

For some time the field electric telegraph had been in operation under Lieutenant Stopford. It was worked by several sappers, sergeant Anderson being the chief executive non-commissioned officer. By the 8th April, lines of communication were open to the stations of divisions, to the trenches, and to head-quarters. That night the wire was laid to a cave near the first parallel on the right attack. It was no sooner completed than the sergeant received an order from Lieutenant Stopford to fix an instrument and battery in the cave, to obtain two orderlies from the covering party in the trenches, and apprise head-quarters as soon as the service was accomplished. This done, Anderson was directed to remain and work the instrument. Pleased with this the first appointment to the station—a dismally picturesque spot it was—he sent and received several messages. Among the latter was one to the general in command of the trenches, “to open fire from every gun at daylight.” The bombardment commenced at daybreak, but in the midst of the din, at ten o’clock in the morning, an orderly, in breathless haste, delivered a note to the sergeant announcing the rather startling news that no communication could be sent to him from head-quarters, as it was supposed the wire was cut. He was, therefore, directed to examine and repair it. With some of the party, off he started, in a drenching rain, driving through sheets of water and swamp, and sinking at every step midleg in mud. He did not require to use the galvanometer to test the wire, for after bounding over the 21-gun battery, he soon found the spot where the current was interrupted. It was in the Woronzoff ravine, near the road, and in rear of the battery. A Russian 68-pounder had cut the line and laid about five feet of it bare. The duty was not devoid of danger. Shells burst around and shots flew by, but none of the manipulators were hurt. Removing the damaged wire, the sergeant replaced it with an approved piece, securing the connection by two joints; and after covering it with gutta-percha, relaid it in the furrow. It was a delicate operation to be performed under fire and required a cool head and a steady hand to effect it. On returning to the cave his situation was extremely disagreeable. Driven by a cutting wind, the rain beat into the chamber, and pattered against the faces of the operators. At whatever cost, the sergeant was determined to maintain the instrument in working order, and, accordingly, without any consideration for his own comfort, took off his mackintosh, and with it hooded the instrument which was yet to carry out important correspondences. There was no rest in the cave; the mind was anxious, the eye on the stretch; and in that miserable hole, for more than thirty hours, the sergeant was at his post. When relieved, he again passed along the communication to mend it, if necessary; but in all parts it was efficient, although he found six shot holes and several cannon balls lying on the line. His two orderlies belonged to the 47th regiment, intelligent and willing men, who exerted themselves creditably in conveying the various messages to the trenches of both attacks.

Next day the bombardment was renewed. There were 36 sappers in the right works, and 30 in the left. The ordnance organized to play on the Russian works were about 94 pieces. Much injury was done to the magazines, embrasures, and parapets, chiefly by the heavy rains causing the sand-bag revetments to yield in several places. Though struck by several shot, the magazines on the whole stood well. One in the 21-gun battery bore up against the shock of a 13-inch shell. It was nevertheless much riven, but rapidly repaired. A 10-inch shell exploded on a magazine close to General Jones, simply disturbing a few sand-bags and the superincumbent earth.

The casualties were very few. Among them was Lieutenant Graves of the engineers, who received a contusion from stones thrown up by a shot striking a damaged embrasure, the repair of which by a sapper he was superintending. Private John Baston was also severely wounded and lance-corporal Peter Towell slightly. “The sappers behaved very well in repairing the embrasures, and even reconstructing them under fire;” and the coolness and soldier-like conduct in this service of privates George Harris, second company, and William Bruce of the seventh, were brought to the attention of Lord Raglan, and also communicated to the corps in general orders.

Early in the morning a corporal and five sappers were sent to the Inkermann light-house battery on the extreme right of the French position, to open embrasures and fit the work to share in the bombardment. It was manned at the time by British artillerymen, and the sappers were despatched to the battery at the instance of the adjutant of the siege-train. Two embrasures only were cut through, when the eager gunners opened fire on the enemy. So weak an armament brought upon it a crushing cannonade, which effected considerable mischief before the Russian fire could be drawn off to other batteries. Corporal Ramsay—“a valuable man”^[176]—“one of the best corporals at the right attack, and a most efficient sapper”^[177]—was killed by a round shot, which made a trough in his chest and tore out his heart. Of this non-commissioned officer Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden thus wrote: “This morning corporal Ramsay was killed while at his duty in charge of a detachment opening embrasures of the battery opposite to the light-house at Inkermann; and such is the high character this non-commissioned officer bore, and such the very high opinion entertained of his merits and services since he joined the siege, that I am inclined to submit to the major-general commanding royal engineer, that some recognition of his merit be recorded in corps orders.” Impressed with the justice of this suggestion, Lord Raglan gave directions that his name and deeds be recorded at Chatham. Private William Taylor was severely wounded in the right hand. Two casualties out of this weak brigade induced the artillery adjutant to relinquish the employment of the men by day in so fatal a spot. At night the work was completed by four sappers under the foremanship of corporal George Cann.

During the night of the 10th there were allotted to the engineers seventy-three sappers, who were so disposed that the repairs were executed with promptitude. The trenches were knee-deep in mud; the night was foggy, and the wind and rain, though heightening the miseries of the men, scarcely interrupted their exertions. Of the 9-pounder battery on the left attack, the revetments of one of its epaulments, penetrated by wet, subsidized and partially tumbled down. Efforts were made to restore it, but the morning broke before the desired solidity was attained. In every battery of the first parallel the embrasures were rebuilt and several magazines repaired and strengthened. Three embrasures were also reconstructed in the Picket House battery, and several gun and mortar platforms mended in different places. Among the numerous works on the right, the 21-gun battery and those bearing the numbers 8 and 11 claimed especial attention. When the working party had been removed at three o’clock in the morning three brigades of sappers were retained to finish the repairs. By daylight the embrasures, merlons, and parapets were all squared, even to their crests, and ready again for action.

Sixty-six fresh sappers were at work on the 11th. With the assistance of strong parties of the line all essential repairs were made to the batteries, traverses, &c. Sand-bags were filled in great numbers, and a magazine cave on the left of the second parallel of the Chapman attack was completed. The mud was cleared away in several places to the depth of eight inches. Pools standing in hollows or rocky localities were drained off and a flooded magazine was relieved of the storm water by baling. Difficulties like these added vastly to the fatigues of the workmen, and now and then, as a shell with its roaring fuze plunged near them, their only resource for safety was to dive into the turbid soil, from which, when the danger passed, they arose more picturesque than comfortable. The Major-General commanding made known in orders his appreciation of the good conduct of the companies in performing the laborious duties required of them in the siege.

Corporal William Hollis and private Joseph Finch were this day distinguished among their comrades for quickness and cleverness in the batteries, imperilled as were their lives by the enemy’s fire. It occurred in this way. The parapet on the right of No. 8 battery in the third parallel of the left attack had been washed down by the storm for several yards. It was an object of great moment to restore it, with a view to protect from enfilade a two-gun battery on its right. The ground was so muddy the two sappers were obliged to undermine the low parapet by drawing from it some dry earth and spreading it in the direction of their exertions to render their task less heavy. No sooner had they repaired the revetment with sand-bags and thickened the work as far as an elbow of the trench, than they were appointed to clear the embrasures of the new battery on the right for two light field-pieces to play on the quarries, which, harbouring a nest of expert marksmen, picked off our artillerymen at the guns. Wanted in a hurry, it was impossible to provide platforms in the time named, and a couple of boards for one gun having been laid to assist the recoil, in a few minutes a 9-pounder was run up to the aperture and fired on the quarries. At every discharge the boards sank deeper into the soil; now one, then the other was depressed so much that the gun heeled on either side and threw it out of the line of aim. Energetic attempts were made by the sappers to rectify the defect by forcing earth under the plank which happened to be lower; but the next discharge driving the boards still deeper in the mud and tilting the gun it was evidently useless to persevere in a service which demanded labour altogether disproportioned to its questionable advantages. Both embrasures were finished and supplied with temporary platforms in the night, and afterwards the battery swelled into a formidable structure—No. 14—armed with 32-pounders.

Larger contingents of men were sent to the attacks the following night, among whom were 90 sappers and miners. This was rather an effective party, and the weakened works were reproduced in as strong a condition as practicable. A new mortar-battery—No. 12 on the right—was also completed, and the great 21-gun work, with its ragged revetments, worn platforms, and disfigured magazines and traverses, was adjusted in a manner that, however dexterous were the men who wearied themselves in patching up its breaches, still bore the rugged features of its stern resistance.

The dawn of the 12th opened with the customary firing, but its results were far more serious than for the few days previous. The enemy had ascertained the range of the 21-gun battery with so much exactness that every shot or shell, falling true at the work, tore up its embrasures and parapets. Two 13-inch shells, however, fell upon magazines without breaking through them. From splinters of shells the casualties were many. In the naval brigade alone about twelve men were killed and wounded. Captain Crofton of the Engineers was severely injured and died of his wounds. Private Alfred Jarratt was killed; both of his legs were carried away: and three privates were wounded. One—Donald McArthur—died a few days after the amputation of one of his legs, and James Bayne had his jaw fractured and his left cheek wounded.

A live shell having struck the roof of the magazine near the right 68-pounder gun in the 21-gun battery, some of the sandbags took fire. Apprehending danger, Captain Peel of the navy begged some soldiers near him to quench it, who, indisposed to risk an enterprise so perilous, refused compliance. Two sappers superintending the man-o’-war’s men, though busy in repairing the embrasures, were then called on by the Captain to extinguish the burning bags. Without hesitation, corporal James Wright and lance-corporal William J. Lendrim leaped on the roof, and, under fire from the enemy, quickly removed them, refilling the chasm with fresh sand-bags. Captain Peel himself assisted in the work. The delay of a few seconds might have seen the magazine in the air and the ground strewed with lifeless artillerymen. In descending, Captain Peel thanked the sappers for their exertions; but they had scarcely time to reflect on the service they had accomplished when a ball tearing through the battery covered them with earth. At this addendum to their labours the sailors chuckled with their accustomed mirth, and swore that was the fulsome way in which the Russians always bespattered the British with praise.

The same day Lendrim was about to enter an embrasure to remove a sand-bag which was burning on the sole, when the petty officer in charge of the gun mounted there requested him not to do so until he had fired, as the piece was already loaded. While waiting, a very young naval officer approached, and asked Lendrim why he delayed the service. He soon explained, but the midshipman as quick as thought leaped into the opening and threw the bag on the merlon. Piqued at this interference, Lendrim told the officer he did not thank any one for doing a duty for which he was responsible; and added, “Since you have done so much you had better finish the job.” With as much good sense as good nature, the officer, seeing the chafed spirit of the sapper, did not attempt to supplant him, and so Lendrim sprang into the embrasure. With some water brought to him by an assistant line soldier he quenched the smoking sand-bag and patched up the breach in the stricken check. Witnessing the corporal’s coolness and celerity the officer observed, evidently to dissipate the unpleasant feeling which his daring had induced, “I would not have touched the bag had I known you were one of the old sappers.” Lendrim was more than satisfied with this complimentary apology.

Sixteen extra sappers were sent to the left in the afternoon for exposed duty, and in two or three hours fixed mantlets across the gaping mouths of No. 7 battery. Under fire all the time the operation was necessarily hurried, and did not admit of those nice attentions which unopposed exertions would have permitted. The mantlets were simply suspended across the openings on a piece of wood jambed into the parapets of the embrasures. Four guns of the battery did good service against the Boulevard works. In the course of the evening two of the mantlets were blown away, but the battery stood up firmly.

In allusion to the officers and men under this date ‘The Times’ thus speaks of their unshrinking labours:—“It is impossible to deny to the Russian engineers great credit for the coolness with which they set about repairing damages under fire; but words cannot do more than justice to the exertions of our own men and to the engineer officers and sappers engaged in this most perilous duty. When an embrasure is struck and injured it is the business of the sappers to get into the vacant space and repair the damage, removing the gabions, &c., under fire, and without the least cover from shot, shell, or riflemen. Our engineer officers have frequently set the example to their men in exposing themselves when not called upon to do so; and I believe that, as yet, there has not been a single instance in which a gun has been silent owing to damage done to an embrasure. The officers and men charged with this dangerous work have not waited for the cover of night to effect repairs, but have carried them on in the face of the enemy.”^[178] This eulogium is corroborated by a conversation held between two officers of the engineers, in which one exclaimed to the other, “How admirably and cool these sappers behave under fire. They are really good men and brave soldiers.”

As the night crept on 900 of the line and 89 sappers marched into the trenches, who, scattered among the batteries, left no point unstrengthened, no embrasure unequal to its wonted work. Everywhere the platforms obtained fixity, and the gaps which had been made in the parapets for the passage of cumbersome guns were filled up before the darkness sped. Much shattered was the Gordon battery, and its fascines, broken at the bands, were strewn in waste about the gorges, while the sand-bags were ripped up and disembowelled by every telling shot and tearing splinter. Iron gabions and fresh sand-bags were pressed into the embrasures to patch up their furrowed cheeks, and the shot-holes behind were plugged up with earth. A new sand-bag battery for four guns on the right attack was founded this night in rear of the left communication from the 8-gun battery to the left boyau. Much would have been done to raise it, but the night was dismally dark, and as rain was falling the men straggled on the road and loitered in their tasks. With fruitless effect the engineers and sappers tried to awaken in the workmen something like passable animation. Nevertheless 1,600 sand-bags reached the site and the sappers tossed and packed them in their places with nonchalant dexterity. Though much annoyed by fire from opposing rifle-screens, four men, superintending 100 of the infantry, made good progress in rendering defensible the advanced works on the left of the second parallel across the Woronzoff road, and six sappers in the 8-gun battery first relieved it of the debris which choked up the embrasures and then masked them. Early in the morning private Joseph McAsh was killed.

The fifth day’s bombardment commenced on the 13th April, and No. 9 battery on the right attack opened for the first time on the Malakoff and Mamelon. Until ready to fire its embrasures were blinded with hide bags filled with hay, which effectually answered the intention of their employment. No. 7 battery on the left was silenced by overpowering discharges upon it from the Upper Garden batteries. It was, moreover, much broken and its salients knocked into grotesque forms. Ninety-four sappers were in the trenches eleven hours giving heed to the quickly-recurring urgencies of the siege. In the following night No. 7 battery was again in battle order, and No. 8, which had been delayed from untoward vicissitudes in weather, was also provided with its equipment of heavy guns. About this time the scaling-ladders at the parks were prepared and held in readiness with selected parties of sappers to take advantage of any event that might turn up by tactics or strategy to render an assault desirable.

In a despatch dated 14th April Lord Raglan remarked:—“Our parapets and batteries continue to stand remarkably well, notwithstanding the very unfavourable state of the weather. Although the duties have been unusually severe and arduous both by night and day during the week they have been carried out with the utmost cheerfulness and zeal, reflecting much credit both on officers and men.” The necessity for these repairs and exertions were constant, and never more so than on the date of the despatch.

Captain Burnett of the navy, who narrowly watched the efforts made to execute the repairs in the 21-gun battery, was impressed with the steadiness and intelligent activity of privates Robert Crawford Cowan and William Baker, seventh company, while working at the embrasure for the Lancaster gun. It was mended with gabions, fascines, and sand-bags. Completing the restoration before quitting the opening, their gallant perseverance, despite the bursting of shells and the flight of Miniés, was recorded by Major-General Jones in brigade orders. Indeed the cheeks were thrice patched up during the day by these intrepid men who also attended to the lesser damages in Nos. 15 and 16 embrasures. With No. 17 embrasure, these three constituted, in the homely phraseology of the sailors, “the slaughter-house.” Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden also observed that he could mention other sappers who were zealous and unflinching under fire; “but,” he proceeds, “I am glad to be able to report that the men generally do their duty so well that there are few who can be named as exceptions.” Private William Smale was severely wounded this day in the right leg by the splinter of a shell while repairing a platform in the 21-gun battery.

It will not, perhaps, be misplaced to mention here the names of privates Samuel Evans and James Callaghan of the 19th regiment. Seeing a sapper—private Alexander McCaughey—toiling by himself in the difficult repair of a broken embrasure—No. 17 of the 21-gun battery—the former voluntarily went into the opening and shared with the overseer the duty of removing the debris. The latter received a blow on the head from a stone sufficient to draw blood, and certainly sufficient for ninety-nine men out of a hundred to get excused from a working party, but he nevertheless remained steadily at work.^[179] These instances of devotion were noticed in general orders and praised by Lord Raglan.

After the embrasure spoken of was cleared Evans quitted it; and private David Thompson, who had just finished the repair of a neighbouring one, came to the assistance of McCaughey. Both were robust men, immovable in danger, and nobly stood the fire of two guns from the Redan, the accurate aim of which sent several missiles into the work. Of one cheek they had replaced the gabions and partly filled them, when a 68-pounder shot swept four of them from the row, and shortly after another whizzed closely over Thompson’s head as he was springing from the sole to avoid the threatened blow. In another instant both were at work again, but as the firing became still warmer, their labour was obviously as fruitless as that of Sisyphus. “You cannot do impossibilities, men,” said Captain Owen, who witnessed their perseverance, and ordered them from the aperture, which, on leaving, they blinded with a gabion. The gun mounted in rear of the opening was a 68-pounder, and a black sailor, considered to be one of the best artillerists in the battery, usually fired it. McCaughey was “considered an able and active sapper for difficult duty in the trenches;” a character he well sustained throughout the siege.

Throughout the following night spirited efforts were made to mend the breaches sustained in the day. There were nearly 700 of the line and 82 of the corps given up to these midnight labours. Great as the force was it scarcely fulfilled the immediate requirements of an exacting siege. Mist and rain fell through the darkness, the men were drenched, and the wind swept with unfriendly chills over the hills; but before the morning the damages were nearly all made good in battery and trench to prolong a contest the end of which was still far distant.

As the morning arose with renewed demands and dangers the engineers for the day were early astir, and the works so gravely handled by the enemy’s fire still looked haughty and imposing. To a working party of 480 linesmen there were 50 sappers, who, for the most part, were detailed to the 21-gun battery, upon which the fire from the Redan had a mischievous effect. Worn and battered as it was the embrasures were repaired without any appreciable interruption of the besiegers’ fire. Between the rounds the sappers leaped into the apertures and built up as much of their cratered faces as the activity they could command permitted. Those working in the left advanced approach towards the crest of the hill overlooking the Woronzoff road were much impeded by discharges of round shot and musketry from the Redan, during which, flying on with the sap, private John Lethbridge and one of the working party were killed. “The conduct of the officers and men,” wrote Major-General Jones, “has been such as to merit the warmest approbation of the Major-General commanding; the duties on which they have been employed being most arduous and requiring the greatest steadiness.”

Next night 87 sappers were in the trenches, and in the succeeding day 60. The 21-gun battery, cleared of its old gabions and fascines, was resuscitated by the morning and fired well in the day’s struggle. Advantages always seem to be chased away or ridden over by catastrophes, for a magazine in the centre of the work, visited by a shell which obtruded at the door, blew up and killed a gunner and wounded eight or nine more. Out of about thirty magazines on the right attack this was the only one, after eight days’ firing, which broke up and collapsed.

Fifty-five sappers were allotted to the left attack, where No. 9 battery, commenced on the 14th April, was in course of completion. It was cut for six pieces of ordnance; the rock cropping up to the surface was blasted by some miners of the corps and the broken stones were built into the parapet. Soil to fill the gabions was brought in basket-loads from a sand cave on the left of the second parallel, which subsequently was converted into a magazine for ammunition. Alderson platforms were laid in the battery by the sapper carpenters on the 16th with so much expedition that their usefulness and skill were noticed with encouraging commendation. The battery was completed and armed by the 23rd.

Passing on to the night of the 17th, when 80 sappers were in the lines—28 being on the right and 52 on the left—corporal Joseph J. Stanton and four leading men, with 200 of the infantry, were detailed for the extension of the left demi-parallel situated between the third parallel and Egerton’s rifle-pit under Captain King of the engineers. The little brigade crept silently to the head of the sap, and after placing the gabions crammed them with sand-bags passed from hand to hand. As the sappers steadily moved on, the working party broke the ground and increased the cover. In this way, though the soil was very rocky, about a hundred gabions obtained a footing before morning. It was hot work to advance even the length of a yard, and gabion after gabion torn from the row was gallantly replaced. Constant volleys from the rifle-pit in front compelled the men to proceed with the greatest caution and silence. Persevering in this way till reaching the brow of the hill, they were stopped by an old Russian rifle-screen, which was immediately reversed by transferring the large gabions and sand-bags forming the original revetment to the opposite side. During the operation Captain King was severely wounded in the thigh and expired a few days after. Three of the sappers were also wounded—privates Alexander McCaughey, John Limming, and George Hobson: the last was wounded in the arm, had three or four bullets through his greatcoat, and the frog of his waist-belt carried away. Among the workmen there were five injured. Best able to judge of the exertions of the party, Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden thus wrote of them:—“The conduct of the sappers under Captain King and the working party under Major Welsford, 97th regiment, exposed the whole time to a most galling and dangerous fire, was admirable.”

Private Boyland carried Captain King from the trench to the 21-gun battery, and though such an act might fairly have excused him from further duty that night, he returned with all haste to his post. There were still between fifty and sixty gabions to place. Hobson was at the head of the sap, and the firing was close and destructive, for the enemy’s ambuscades were only about twenty yards in front. In time Hobson was disabled, and it became Boyland’s turn to lead. He was pushing on very successfully, when Colonel Tylden appeared, and seeing that the opposition to progress was excessively sharp, he ordered Boyland to place six gabions at a right angle to keep the enemy’s fire from enfilading the new piece of trench. Ready and fearless, he commenced the work; but, in order that it might be finished with greater expedition, he begged, as all the sappers save the corporal who was superintending had been wounded, to have the assistance of any men of the 88th who would volunteer to join him. One was speedily at his service. The gabions were quickly planted despite an unceasing fusillade; but while filling them with sand-bags, the poor 88th man was shot through the side. Calling for help, an officer sprang up to the gorge, and Boyland and he bore the spirited volunteer under cover. Colonel Tylden, who was never disposed to relinquish a moment’s work if he thought it could be employed to advantage, would not permit the sapper, who had escaped so many perils and whose firmness and exertions received his praise, to return again that night to the head of the sap.

Day and night the companies furnished parties equivalent to their strength for the inexhaustible wants of the siege. Batteries misshapen and tottering, put on stubborn and threatening aspects after a few hours’ toil. New armaments were made up, new batteries opened; and to ensure their stedfastness, one at least boasted of a parapet 26 feet thick. This was No. 13, a sand-bag battery on the right attack. Approaches by the stealthy boyau were cautiously cut, but invariably opposed by vigilant sharpshooters who held positions in screened defences. For any one work, few only of the sappers could be spared. Half a brigade was in this sap, half in that; two or three were in the right rifle-pits, two or more in the left; nine in the most advanced trenches placing gabions and protecting themselves by heaping up earth from the tops of barren rocks; four at the communication between the caves at the advanced post, and others deputed to an infinite variety of field employment. So passed on the siege to the 19th April; and taking the interval from the 17th, only one sapper, private James Queen, was killed. He was shot through the head by a rifle-bullet. “Up to this time,” says the record, “the repairs to the batteries injured by the enemy’s fire have throughout been performed in a very satisfactory manner by the sappers, many of whom have been particularly active and zealous.” To the list of names already honourably mentioned, must be added that of private James Lancaster of the 3rd company. Being a powerful man, whom no amount of exertion could tire, he was conspicuous for his very good work and coolness in forming a communication from the left of No. 7 battery to the “Ovens.” He was the leading sapper in scarping the rock under corporal Joseph T. Collins, and continued with abiding zeal at this heavy service, though a constant rifle firing was maintained on the work.

The rifle-pits on the left advance sap of the right attack had fatally annoyed the besiegers in their foremost works, and it was determined either to destroy or seize them. With this object they were attacked at half-past nine o’clock in the evening of the 19th April. There were 600 bayonets of the 77th regiment engaged in this nocturnal assault, commanded by Colonel Egerton. When the orders were given, the troops rushed forward, and after a warm engagement for about half an hour, were masters of the pits, with a loss of two officers and several men. Colonel Egerton also sustained a contusion of the thigh. As soon as the covering sentries were posted, Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden advanced with the working party of 150 men, headed by colour-sergeant Henry McDonald and six sappers, under the personal orders of Captain H. C. C. Owen and Lieutenant Baynes of the engineers. The Russian gabions were quickly faced about, the sand-bags thrown down, and after reducing the earth, the enemy’s pits were incorporated with a communication which led to the boyau in rear. The lodgment was achieved in about two hours, under a roar of missiles from rifles and ordnance, with so little confusion and so much gallantry, that the affair deserves to be characterized as a dashing exploit.

Colour-sergeant McDonald took the lead in the sap, followed by private Thomas Ewen and other sappers who planted the gabions as fast as they could be handed up. The officers of engineers assisted pressing in their turn to the very head. At intervals they and the sergeant moved among the workmen, instructing them how to fill the gabions and where to lodge the sand-bags. As the sergeant was pushing up the trench, he stumbled over a prostrate officer; and on inquiring, found that Captain Owen was at his feet, dangerously wounded. McDonald proposed to bear him from danger on his back, but the captain, preferring a stretcher for the purpose, one, after a little time, was brought by the sergeant. On this field convenience Lieutenant Baynes and McDonald carried the wounded officer bleeding from the pit. His left leg was afterwards amputated and he lived to obtain the honours due to his heroic efforts. Finding some sappers in the old trench sending up the gabions, Lieutenant Baynes relieved the sergeant and sent him again to the pits, following himself as soon as he had despatched the captain to the camp; but in forcing to the front, this young officer was mortally wounded in the chest and arm. In retracing his steps, McDonald was astonished to find the working party running from the lodgment. Asking the reason, he was informed that the Russians, in some strength, had driven up to the work and forced them back. At once McDonald ordered them to stand, and after facing them to the right-about, drew his sword and placed himself at their head. Ewen was there ready to second his authority with any amount of daring he might find it necessary to command. Seeing the Russians still creeping over the works, the sergeant desired the workmen to kneel, and after firing a volley, to charge. Strictly obeyed were the orders; the charge was gallantly made, and the enemy having vanished before the cool volley and the bayonet point, the pits were reoccupied and the lodgment resumed. The commanding officer and Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden now appeared, the covering party being about 200 yards away; and on learning what had happened, Colonel Egerton praised the sergeant for his energy and valour. To protect the linesmen from further molestation, the colonel distributed a portion of the covering party in front of the lodgment. Next in command of the workmen, McDonald aided Lieutenant-Colonel Tylden in directing the new trench. Moving to the gorge, still followed by Ewen, he quickly fixed the gabions one after another, intermixing with them the Russian baskets and sand-bags. Just as he had completed the curve at the vent of the sap, Colonel Tylden again appeared, and laid with his own hands the last gabion. The steady and zealous demeanour of the sergeant attracted the notice of Colonel Egerton, who, standing over him, encouraged his exertions by commendations and promises; but he too at last fell back severely wounded by a grape-shot in the right side. Colonel Egerton was near at the time and administered his brandy-flask to sustain, in a measure, the drooping head of that brave soldier.

Three hours after the pits had been captured the enemy in strong force made a sortie to recover them. So far had they succeeded, that the sentries and workmen occupying the further screen were driven back into the nearest trench; but the lodgment there had been so well managed and its details so well carried out, that the troops holding it made sure work of the defence, and the Russians, pressed at all points, hastily retreated. Now it was that the valiant Colonel Egerton was killed. His promises, however, were caught up by Colonel Tylden, who failed not to make such a representation of sergeant McDonald’s conduct as earned for him substantial reward and honour. After the hopeless abandonment of the pits, the enemy, from the furthest screen, which was still in his possession, kept up a constant rifle fire on the sappers and line in the lodgment. Lieutenant James, royal engineers, directed them in their final efforts till daylight, and received, as a sign of his presence, a ball through his cap. He arrived just as McDonald fell; and himself, with that good and constant man Ewen, assisted to bear the sergeant to the rear.

The casualties in the assault were 6 officers and about 40 men. Of these, three were sappers—the colour-sergeant before named, lance-corporals John Evans, killed, and Peter Towell, dangerously wounded. The right arm of the latter was broken, and the amputation which followed ended in his death. This non-commissioned officer had only been wounded a few nights before.

It should be noted to show the ardour of the man, though perhaps in many cases such conduct would be imprudent, that corporal Samuel Cole left his post at the sand-bag battery without orders and pitched into the thick of the fight. In reversing the trench he laboured with great zeal, and while endeavouring to place a gabion in a difficult spot, Evans, a fearless soldier, not to be outdone in prowess, leaped outside the trench and pressed the basket in the line. In this act of devotion he fell by the blow of a grape-shot.

The following complimentary order was promulgated to the corps relative to the assault:—