Trials in carrying on the works—Fifth parallel, right attack—Detachments and statistics—Spirited conduct of corporal Ross—Neglect of non-commissioned officers—Trench dress of the line—Shifts of the miners to form the parallels and approaches—Siege minutæ—Trenches flooded—A sergeant, in the absence of an engineer officer, in charge of the lines—Casualties—Sortie by the Russians—Sergeant Docherty examines the chevaux-de-frise—Overseers of the miners—The carpenters—Renewal of the chevaux-de-frise demolished in the sortie—Casualties during a moonlight night—Exertions of sergeant Jarvis and party; the sailors—Strange sensation produced by the blow of a shell splinter—Resources for field-work purposes—Progress of the trenches and batteries—Removal of the right attack sappers to the camp of the left attack—They thus escape a subsequent catastrophe—Fifth bombardment—Cost of a whiff of tobacco—Activity of the sappers in the batteries and works—Anecdote of a new comer visiting the works—No. 17 battery, left attack—Corporal Jenkins, the master carpenter of the left attack—The white-banded cap—Fifth parallel, right attack—Breaking ground from it for the last approach to the Redan—Workmanlike industry and vigour of corporal Ross in the sap—Corporal William Baker, 7th company—Progress in the advanced trenches; sergeant Hale of the guards; corporal Stanton—Prolongation of fifth parallel, right attack—Effects of wounds.

In the trenches were distributed, on the 17th July, a working party of 550 men superintended by 97 sappers. Of the latter, 73 were on the left where the mines demanded the skilled employment of men used to blasting. Several carpenters were detailed to the platforms and magazines, and others were sprinkled singly to the different works, embrasures and traverses. The majority were in advance prolonging the parallels and blowing up the rock. On the right attack, corporal George Luke was killed. A first-class miner and sapper, he was of signal service in the trenches, and his steady conduct throughout the siege added to the credit he had received for his exertions at Bomarsund.

In the night an old Russian trench, which by degrees had been reversed, was connected with the fifth parallel on the right attack by 11 sappers and 200 men, while 4 of the corps and 100 linesmen joined the approach from the left of No. 19 battery to the fourth parallel. These junctions were both effected under Lieutenant Brine of the engineers. Of the fifth parallel, a moiety was formed wholly of rubble masonry. Lacking gabions and revetting materials, the stones thrown up in blasting were the readiest means of forming the parapet. This rubble mound, forming a line of trench for about 450 feet, and stretching along the brow of the hill to the left of a hollow in the rock, which had acquired in official description the designation of the “little ravine,” was completed and backed in with earth by the 28th July. Being so near the enemy’s works, and disturbed by daily showers of grape, shell, &c., the construction of this stone parapet formed one of the curiosities of the siege.

Both attacks were hourly approaching nearer to those extraordinary structures it was hoped every day to storm. It still required time to render the preparations complete for the dénouement. The ever present rock, covered only by a few inches of soil, greatly increased the trials of the workmen. Sacrifices of energy and strength were made in its removal that ended in casualties unknown in former wars. The siege was one continuous battle; yet it was more than strange, considering the ferocity of the cannonade, that comparatively so few casualties occurred. Engines to destroy human life in the most approved methods were complete among the Russians; still they did not scruple to resort to the uncivilized use of horse-shoes and scrap-iron to mow down the assailants. So close were the parallels to the enemy’s works, that, on a clear day, a finger could easily be discovered above the parapet. Where the cover was scanty, it was a virtue to double up one-self into a cramped position and labour like a giant. The miners and sappers in every contortion of body, wheedled themselves under cover and stole onwards with insidious certainty; but to preserve a strict concealment was not an easy matter. For ambitious men the times were tempting; opportunities seemed to impel one forward, or to unbend one-self into an erect posture in delivering a blow; for, intent on progress, the mind forgot dangers, and it was just then that the ardent man let his head or his arm appear above the parapet, or his leg stray beyond the last pitched gabion, when he was struck down. It was different, however, at night, when all were alike veiled by the darkness. Works then were commonly prosecuted on the open in front of batteries, on the tops of merlons and magazines, and the crests of parapets. Experienced sappers after dusk seldom sought to shield themselves by the sap-roller or mantlet. A check to their progress, it was almost always cast aside to be used by men who feared to go ahead without it.

Private Rowland Nicholas was struck severely in the right foot while working in the fifth parallel of the right attack, and died of his wounds. The firing was more true than severe and eight casualties occurred in this parallel during the night.

There were nine companies in the Crimea on the 21st July, each of reduced strength, giving a total of 678 sergeants and rank and file. Of these there were 97 detailed to the following places:—

At St. Paul the detachment conjoined with the French and Turks in raising defences for the protection of the post. The men at Scutari attended to the artificers’ work in the hospitals and barracks, many being foremen, and sergeant William Sargent overseer. This non-commissioned officer was soon after discharged and appointed civil foreman of works at that great invalid depôt. Corporal Rinhy was the military foreman, and a most energetic and useful man he was found. Other non-commissioned officers were detached to the hospital-stations on the Bosphorus as overseers. Sergeant Barnard was at Pera, sergeant Lynn at Kulalee, corporal Cann at Ismid,^[190] and corporal J. T. Collins, after leaving the trenches in consequence of his wound, was appointed sapper superintendent in the island of Proti, where the Russian prisoners were confined, and for whose accommodation huts were erected and an old Greek monastery converted into an hospital. At Balaklava the detachment superintended the removal and erection of the huts at the camp and elsewhere, and fulfilled various duties in relation to the stores, wharves, and defences; while the party at the monastery and with the telegraph were busy in carrying out the details of that interesting field adjunct. Those at headquarters were employed in offices and as orderlies. Sappers were appointed bâtmen from the impossibility of retaining civil servants with the officers, and thus a rule had been broken, which for forty-four years had been adhered to without infringement. Of the remaining number on the rolls, there were 90 men sick in camp, and 59 dispersed in invalid ships and in the hospitals on the Bosphorus. Taking all these details into account, there were only 393 fighting-men left for trench-work, which will at once show how hard must have been the duties of that half-battalion. As, moreover, there were other indispensable services in camp which could not be relinquished, it followed that the usual routine of the companies necessarily appointed the same men to the trenches every other day or intervening night; and this, continued without intermission for months, amid varying vicissitudes of weather, of fearful exposure and untold hardships and suffering, gives an aspect of sapper character and endurance which few will be slow to eulogize. Indeed several of the non-commissioned officers charged with particular services, were every day in the trenches and sometimes even at night. Nor should it be omitted to observe that the extreme heat of the season had so enervated the men, that none but the most acclimatized and inured to fatigue could bear up against its exhausting influence. Thinned, therefore, by disease, hard work, long vigils, and night damps in the trenches and mines, the numbers of the sick fluctuated to such an extent, that the proportion above stated was at times considerably overshot. The reinforcements which arrived from England to fill up the places of casualties almost to a man fell sick from these causes, and many wanting sinew and hardihood were removed as invalids from the camp without seeing the trenches.

There were some works in the advance which required a nice appreciation of intention on the part of the operatives to carry them into effect. Of these the connection of an approach with a parallel, and one trench with another, were among those which called for particular circumspection. Expert men were invariably selected for those duties, whose wariness greatly mitigated their risks. Few appeared to be more skilful in these employments than their comrades, but on the night of the 21st, corporal John Ross, untiring, patient, and intrepid, pushed on like a master in the sap, and connected, under showers of grape, enough to disturb the equanimity of the sternest coolness, the fourth parallel with an old Russian rifle-pit in front. It will help to elucidate the business of a sapper to describe the process by which the corporal accomplished this service. With 200 men and a couple of privates of his own corps, he was sent forward, after dark, to trace and form an approach between the fourth parallel and the Russian advanced trench. Halting his men in the parallel, each bearing an intrenching tool and a gabion, he moved to the front with his two sappers and traced the zig-zag. Without losing a moment he returned to the party, and to prevent confusion, led them from the trench in single file. As each man arrived at his place, one sapper staked the gabion, and the other instructed the workman with respect to the space to be left for a berm and how to act in forming the parapet. So pushed on the line of gabions, till the end one touching the rifle-pit, approached within forty yards of the Russian trench. All the way the ground was solid rock. To make up for this disadvantage the corporal sent to the depôt for baskets and had the earth brought up a distance of sixty or seventy yards. So spiritedly was everything done through his own laborious example, that the gabions were not only filled but cover sufficient was obtained for the miners to work in the approach the next day. To a brisk musketry fire the party was exposed the whole time, but the darkness of the night favoured the exertions of the corporal and his men, and they left the boyau without casualty. Corporal Ross’s conduct in effecting the junction was noticed in brigade orders, and considered so deserving of reward that General Simpson ordered him to be paid a gratuity of two pounds. Private James Lacy of the ninth company was also noticed for his zeal in the work.

Next day private Nathanial Gillard, a rough but hardy miner, was killed in the advance trenches on the right attack.

While no instance of applause in which the merits of the men are concerned have been omitted, it would be unfair to hide any indiscretions which may have subjected any of them to censure. These pages would be incomplete if commendable deeds only were paraded and the objectionable ones suppressed. Well is it, however, that no case of cowardice has occurred in our ranks, although instances of natural timidity were sometimes discovered. Neglect in the trenches amount to offences among the sappers which in other corps would not be entitled to more than ordinary notice. A flagrant instance occurred on the night of the 22nd July. Very little work was done though the party was large. A sharp fire was maintained upon the linesmen which made it difficult to keep them to their tasks. Greatly as this may have operated in retarding the works, the indolence of the workmen was chiefly attributable to the carelessness of the non-commissioned officers of sappers in charge, who added to their heedlessness a disregard of orders repeatedly given them. Lying down in the trenches, the parties idled away their hours under the apparent sanction of the overseers, and the names of three non-commissioned officers seemingly unimpressed with the importance of their responsibility, were mentioned to General Simpson.

On the 25th the linesmen appeared in the trenches in a brown linen fatigue suit, like so many storehousemen from a sugar refining establishment. Unrestrained by stout cloth and tight sleeves they worked with obvious energy. This novel dress had also the advantage of enabling the engineer to distinguish the workmen at a glance from the guard of the trenches, and of assisting the sappers to look after their parties and prevent attempts at straying or shirking.

On the left three more rifle-pits were sunk in sheltered spots to command positions from which danger threatened. In broad daylight the blasters carried out their duties in the communication leading to the French picket near the cemetery. Many sappers were pushed into the foremost trenches of both attacks, who blew out the rock with a spirit that suffered no abatement, though the same men for many successive days had given their exertions in removing impediments which nothing but mining could reduce. Impossible to get earth in those difficult trenches, it was even scraped from the face of the rock, and picked out of crevices and indentations in which the sweeping wind or the rushing torrent had lodged it. Soil carried from the rear was husbanded in diminutive heaps, and shovelled at night on the incipient works. Clay also was gathered for the purpose and borne in baskets to the front. Walls of loose stones were formed in short lengths along the different traces to protect the sappers in their progress. Without this temporary expedient they could not have advanced. Where their lives were imminently imperilled, the trench was not thrown forward by day, but was simply deepened or widened by numerous small explosions. The boulders and stones thus loosened were worked unsquared into the parapets at dark, and all vacuities stuffed with clay or earth. So effectual were the efforts of the blasters, it was ascertained that one sapper in daylight upheaved enough rock to occupy nine men for four hours at night in giving it a lodgment in the parapet.

In the valleys the besiegers had penetrated to some old walls and crazy structures, which formed the buildings of a wild and scattered suburb. All these were made to serve their uses, either as parts of the trenches, or in furnishing materials for platforms and magazines. A few brigades of carpenters having the run of the batteries, took pride in the efficiency of their labours. In the front parallels sand-bag loop-holes, and others of wooden troughs after the Russian fashion, were built to scour the ravines. The latter never obtained favour with the British riflemen, because the smoke moved lazily from the tubes and precluded the chances of seeing the effect of the fire. Shot-holes were plugged up in all the parapets, and breaches mended in places of arms. Unfinished works, and embrasures ruptured by the enemy’s shot and shells, necessitated considerable attention; but as revetting materials had reached their utmost limit of scarcity, the Turks and Sardinians helped by their labours to meet the deficiency. Gabions made by the former were slack and ricketty, fit only for secondary uses, while those put out of hand by the Sardinians were everything that could be desired. New batteries with ample magazines were formed on rocky sites and others powerfully enlarged. No. 18 battery, on the right attack, was armed on the morning of the 26th July with seven 13-inch mortars, three of them being sea-service ones. The work spread out in great length in the first demi-parallel, nearly to the crest of the middle ravine. Some of the earliest batteries wore an appearance of age and even permanence, for spots of scanty verdure grew upon their slopes, and rank herbelets sprang from shot-rents and seams. The soil had solidified, and tearing shells had less effect upon them than younger constructions; still the repairs they needed were generally of some magnitude, because they were assailed by the heaviest ordnance, of the largest calibres and weightiest missiles. For several days heavy showers diversified the obstacles of progress and attack. Fortunately the works suffered little, but some of the low parts of the trenches were flooded. The increase of mud, deep as it was, was barely regarded as a difficulty, although every tramp buried the leg to the swell and played annoying pranks with boots and shoes inadequately secured with thongs or laces. This was far from pleasant, and consequently efforts to avoid the pools were carried to an extravagant pitch by many, who, sooner than soil a badly-polished boot or draggle in mire the legs of an old pair of trousers, risked their lives by mounting the reverse of the trench in passing to their duties. All these discomforts were however speedily relieved, and eventually in great part removed, by cutting tunnels through the rock and forming channels by chisel and jumper along its face.

On the 28th at night, Major Campbell of the 46th regiment, assistant engineer, was wounded in the back and obliged to retire from the right attack. Sergeant Philip Morant succeeding him, it fell to his lot to distribute the working parties to their several duties and control their services until the day relief. It also happened on the 30th, from some miscarriage of arrangement, that sergeant Docherty, by order of Major Bent, was placed in charge of the workmen on the left attack. For the day he stood in the place of an engineer and kept his widely-spread parties in full activity. These are the only instances during the siege in which non-commissioned officers of the corps held positions of unusual responsibility.

Casualties from splinters of shells and flying stones, from cohorns in the Redan, and heavy shells and carcases discharged from the collateral works were very great. Those which occurred among the sappers from the 23rd to the end of July were as follows:—

Entertaining a predilection for sorties, the Russians attempted an attack on the night of the 2nd August, sending forth a small force to feel the way, intending, if access were readily attainable, to rush upon the quarries with powerful columns. Driving up the Woronzoff ravine, the enemy was brought to a stand by the iron chevaux-de-frise which crossed the valley and blocked up the road. Confused movements and the clanging of arms was heard by the British picket in the ravine, who, thus put on their guard, opposed the assailants with volleys of musketry, from which the Russians turned and ran into their works, leaving, however, the impress of their perseverance in the partial destruction of the chevaux-de-frise. During the sortie the fire by the besieged upon the right demi-parallel was very fierce. Five sappers and 45 men, altering its direction from a curvilinear trench to a straight one, held unflinchingly by their tasks and acquired much credit for their labours. Lance-corporal John Miller was killed on the right attack.

Sergeant Docherty went into the ravine after the Russians had retired to ascertain the extent of the damage. He passed along the entire length of the barricade. The centre was embedded in sand washed down by heavy rains. As it could not be readily dislocated, its spikes were stricken off by the enemy at the axis. Most of the chains which connected the tubes were wrenched from their staples, the flank pieces drawn aside, and gaps at intervals occurred along the line. There were only seven portions of the chevaux-de-frise left in a serviceable state, and such of the other tubes and spears as could not be borne away in the flight were broken with sledge hammers and scattered in fragments to wide distances over the ground. The sergeant’s little episode was not without its risks; for the ground was dangerous and the enemy’s picket-house near. While Docherty was busy ascertaining the extent of the demolition, the moon rose brightly above and he was perceived. One bullet after another whizzed in his direction and two of them perforated his greatcoat, but he cleverly eluded the Russian riflemen by creeping up a rut in the side of the ravine, which worn away by storm-flows, was sufficiently deep to cover him. On returning to the trenches he reported the result of his reconnaissance to the assistant engineer on duty, Lieutenant Jones of the 46th regiment.

Next day there were 97 sappers in the trenches of the left attack principally occupied in blasting hard ground in the advance saps. With the aid of line quarrymen, there were turned into the parallels at least 80 blasters at every relief. The non-commissioned officers superintending the miners on the 4th August were noticed in the official journal. Their names are here preserved, having as overseers superintended the formation of works which in after time, looking at the danger and extreme difficulty of their execution, may doubtlessly be held up as examples of extraordinary toil. These were second-corporals Robert Hanson, John Paul, and James Hill, all of whom received promotion for “conducting operations of the siege entrusted to them with ability and perseverance whilst under a constant heavy fire.” Speaking of the first Colonel Gordon of the engineers acknowledged, under date the 6th December, that he was one of the “most distinguished in the corps for bravery, and had just received a step of rank ”—that of corporal—“for very distinguished service in the field.” This eulogium had reference to his intrepid services on the left attack, from the beginning of May to the end of the siege, in conducting the blasting operations for forming the fourth and fifth parallels from the double sap to the cemetery. Hanson was an indefatigable man, uniting to a strong frame vigour of purpose and great energy, which led to his selection by Major Bent to be one of his standing overseers. Boring rock was a tedious and uninteresting sort of employment. It chafed many a brave spirit, who would have preferred the rash hazards of assault to the plodding exertions and quiet discretion of a resigned miner. Besides its hard difficulties it was attended with perpetual risks. The ringing of hammers on the jumpers boring the rock, and the rising clouds of smoke from the blasts, gave indications so certain that projectiles of all kinds, from the invisible Minié bullet to the raging shell, were directed against the quarriers. So greatly exposed were these parallels, especially on the crest of the ravine and in driving down its broken side, that the casualties were excessive. Still, though the working of them was one continued adventure, Hanson moving among his parties early and late, day after day without missing a tour, was never touched!

So extensive now was the work for carpenters in the front it was found necessary to break in upon the routine of the rollster and send them irrespective of any assumed periods of relief to the trenches. Even those of the corps employed in the parks were added to the skilled resources of the engineers in both attacks. Magazines and platforms required repairs in every battery and new huts were wanted for doctors. Little clusters of these craftsmen were told off to every work, and without making a marvel of their exertions it is not the less creditable to say that their perseverance and quickness under the superintendence of non-commissioned officers who were citizens of the trenches, were, if not astonishing, highly satisfactory.

The chevaux-de-frise demolished on the 2nd, which left a clear passage for a sortie of between 45 and 50 yards, was almost made good in one night by a few sapper blacksmiths, under a direct fire of Miniés, shells, and grape. More would have been accomplished, but it was found an intricate matter in the dark to fellow the iron fitments. Next night two of the men repaired to the ravine to finish the barricade, but unable to procure help from the guard of the trenches, the moon rose upon them before the gap was filled up, and it was left for a subsequent night to complete the junction.

In the night of the 4th the moon again was up, and undimmed by mist or cloud, shone brightly over the trenches, telling our secrets to the Russians ensconced in concealed pits. Harassed in their work, the workmen in the fifth parallel of the right attack were withdrawn to less open trenches. The firing upon Nos. 17 and 20 batteries was very warm and the casualties heavy. The line officer in charge was dangerously injured, and between 20 and 30 other accidents occurred, among whom were a corporal and two sappers slightly wounded.

On the 6th August sergeant George Jarvis, a useful and pushing overseer and accredited to be one of the most competent, gallant, and go-ahead sergeants of the left attack, held a roving superintendence with a party of 54 men of the 68th regiment and 4 sappers. With broken stones they filled up the shot holes and craters in the second, third, and fourth parallels, and also collected loosened rock in heaps to be worked into the parapets at night. Sand-bags and gabions at this time were very scarce. In some works they could not be had. The latter, heavy with wet and bulged and ricketty by pressure and hard service, were nevertheless made to do duty in the front, intermixed with gabions woven with the iron hoops of broken barrels. These, with beef casks, worn tubs, and fascines tied with rope-yarn, strips of hide or iron bands, were the staple of the new constructions; and bread or biscuit bags, laid with gingerly care, formed faces to the revetments, backed by blocks of rock rolled into the parapets by manual labour. Even coal-sacks, heavy as they were when filled with earth, were found to be useful auxiliaries to the sand-bags. With singular abnegation the stalwart sailors mended their own embrasures, supervised by a few of the old sappers; and in driving some new communications gave material help, overriding by their strange but energetic combinations and procedure the more orderly but less picturesque efforts of disciplined troops.

On the 8th, though a storm broke over the trenches, choking up the channels and beating down the parapets, the men still worked. Many casualties were counted in the advance saps that day, two of whom were sappers—privates Matthew Hall wounded in the head, and John Fraser in the face, both slightly.

In the following night, the play of cohorn shells was more grand and vivid than hurtful. As many as sixteen of these missiles were screaming in the air at one time, marking their vicious courses through the darkness by a continuous burst of fire. Several of them pitched in the unfinished portions of the fifth parallel of the right attack, where parties of sappers and some men of the 31st regiment were busy reversing an old Russian trench. Corporal Curgenven, who was in charge, seeing no absolute shelter anywhere hugged the parapet closely, as did also a sergeant and an officer of the 31st who fell in line behind the corporal. Just then a shell burst above, scattering its splinters without apparently touching any one. “Are you hit, corporal?” asked the sergeant. “Not I,” said Curgenven, cheerfully. “Depend upon it you are,” returned the sergeant, “for a fragment fell so near you, I wonder you are alive to say you escaped.” When about to withdraw from the parapet, the corporal felt so heavy a weight on his hand, he fancied a portion of the revetment must be bearing on it. He was soon undeceived. A splinter had struck him, benumbing the limb to such an extent that the sensation produced was one of overpowering pressure. After satisfying himself that no bones were broken, and binding up his hand which was bleeding and much swoln, he resumed work as if nothing had transpired to cause him a moment’s uneasiness.

It was a hard matter when grape showered among the parties to keep them at their tasks. From this cause in the same night very little progress was made. An unarmed detachment appointed to cut a drain to the front on the left of the fourth parallel of the right attack wavered in its performance notwithstanding the personal risks and labours of the sapper in charge to win their firmness and zeal. At daybreak on the 11th sergeant Jarvis was again the chief sapper superintendent on the left, and with a force of sixty linesmen attended to the general drainage of the trenches. In the following night forty men were employed clearing loosened rock in the fifth parallel and building traverses. This party, under corporal Cray, whose constant faithfulness and ardour secured him many commendations, worked exceedingly well. On the 12th there were ninety-eight sappers mostly miners, boring and blasting in the fourth and fifth parallels. This was the largest force of sappers in the trenches of either attack at one time, except on the 3rd March, the first night of breaking ground for No. 7 battery of the left attack. At midnight on the 14th, twenty-five men in charge of a corporal of sappers, extending the fifth parallel of the right attack to the white Russian rifle pit, were opposed by shells and shot, which breaking the rock threw the stones into the gabions; but one striking more effectually tore up the last-pitched gabion and dashing it at the corporal knocked him down. Next day private Alexander Weir, a strong and pushing miner, was killed on the left attack; and in the succeeding night sergeant William Wilson on the right attack was entrusted with raising from the trace a 2-gun battery (No. 21) to enfilade the right face of the Redan. It was built on the right central boyau leading to the fourth parallel.

By the middle of August the whole sapper force on the right was removed to the royal engineer camp on the left attack. In the former camp they held a forward position on the extreme right of the light division, and next to them on their left were the rifles. From high elevations shot and shells sometimes dropped in their vicinity, and one plunging furiously into the tent of sergeant-major Pringle shattered the table at which he was writing, and driving through a box of clothes and comforts buried itself in the earth. The startled occupant escaped, but in the violent overturning of his table and chair he was knocked down.^[191]

On the morning of the 16th the Russians attempted a sortie, but before they had proceeded far up the Woronzoff road were compelled to retire followed by a sharp fire which accelerated their retreat. This was succeeded on the 17th, as soon as day broke, by the English and French opening their batteries for the fifth bombardment with a sweeping fire upon the whole range of the enemy’s works. In the early part of the day the cannonading was frightfully brisk: on both sides it was accurate; but as the hours wore on, the Russian batteries, crumbling into useless shapes, no longer able to cover the artillerymen at the guns, fell off by degrees in fierceness till the intervals became so long, it seemed as if the silence was the solemn consequence of the slaughter. In several places the parapets were so ploughed up and shaken, that, tumbling into the ditches, wide breaches were exhibited which clearly told of the ravages committed by shot and shell. It would indeed have been remarkable had not the destruction been excessive, for the guns and mortars playing from the British batteries alone were 187. In the right attack there were 20 batteries, but only 19 in action. The great 21-gun battery, early the terror of the siege, now shorn of its strength, was more than rivalled by No. 16 battery which had 14 pieces of artillery at work. The first eight batteries too distant for a striking cannonade only counted 18 pieces of artillery among them. On the left attack the batteries were numbered up to 17, but of these 5 and 6 were defunct, the materials composing them having been employed in more recent constructions. In No. 1 battery there were 13 guns and mortars, and in 14 and 15, 11 each. The English formations suffered but little comparatively and only five guns were disabled and a few carriages shattered. From our own sharp fire many of the embrasures were injured in the necks; and in the old batteries there was a general tottering which occasioned much labour to prop them up for battle. Nos. 7 and 8 were the most unstable and beaten. The turgent sand-bags and the worn-out gabions, alternately wet from violent rains and dry from the charring heat of the sun, burst and broke up at every blow. A couple of 13-inch shells struck two platforms in No. 14 battery of the Chapman attack and tore them from the sleepers. Shocks of shot and pieces of shells shivered some timbers in different works, and in others drew the bolts which held them in their places. Three shells one after another exploded on a magazine in No. 8 battery left attack, breaking the roof and starting the frame. The smoke still hovered over the spot when lance-corporal Jenkins with that spirited readiness for which he was remarkable, entered the place to ascertain the extent of the injury. It was of a nature to require the instant removal of the powder, in which Jenkins assisted, and by the next morning the damage was made good and the powder replaced. On the right there were 28 sappers in the batteries who were relieved in the afternoon by 36 of the corps. Their duties were those which arose out of superintendence and the platforms. On No. 14 battery of the Gordon attack, the firing had told so destructively that two of the embrasures were in ruins. As sappers could not be had in the work to effect the restoration, the naval captain in command of the seamen gunners telegraphed to the rear for a reinforcement. A few able fellows were hurried to the battery, who at once commenced and continued through the heat of the bombardment to remove the debris which choked up the openings and to rebuild the cheeks with gabions and fascines handed to them by the willing sailors. It was an exciting sight to watch the firmness and exertions of privates David Boyd and George Harvey in one of the embrasures, who remained at their posts till the renewal was finished; and when, after risking perils with fearless indifference, they leaped from the opening, the admiring seamen welcomed their escape with cheers. Privates Allan Hay, Alexander Norval, and William Robertson, also acted with firmness in mending the embrasures of No. 9 battery of the same attack; and Lieutenant Brine, the officer of engineers on duty, reported that the five men just named “displayed great courage and energy in repairing embrasures and clearing them out under fire.” On the left no working party was employed, but three sappers opened an embrasure in No. 1 battery; 20 posted in front of No. 7 improved its cover; 30 in No. 16 built the terreplein, and six carpenters with saws, chisels, and bags of bolts and nails traversed the batteries to make repairs wherever emergency called for their services. The general casualties in the day’s bombardment were severe. Of the sappers two were killed and five wounded, viz.:—

Collings, Smith, McGinn, Delany, and Finch, had been repairing platforms on the left of the second parallel, which being in a serviceable condition, they thought to relieve the suspense of the temporary leisure with a whiff of tobacco. Lighting their pipes they had scarcely begun to feel the comfort of the luxury when a shell bursting knocked down the whole of them. Collings struck in the heart fell dead and a second shell tearing through the parapet buried the lifeless man under a pile of earth and stones. McGinn for a time was ignorant of the injury he had received and was only made conscious of it by feeling a weight at his back and strange sensations of fainting.

Next night the sappers were mainly employed repairing the different batteries and filling up shot-holes and gaps in the parapets and revetments. An incessant musketry fire followed them wherever they went, but the shelling was unimportant. On the left attack, private Lancaster had charge of the work in the double sap. He had with him seven men of the 9th regiment, and another party was employed in the rear filling sandbags to permit the advance to proceed unchecked. As these were brought to the front, the linesmen assisted Lancaster to throw the earth over the parapet and also to load some biscuit bags for the purpose of superadding them to the revetment. While filling one of the bags a shell plunged among the party and with its splinters killed two and wounded five. Lancaster strangely enough escaped. He threw himself down at the instant close to the half-filled bag, and when the shell burst he was only stunned. As soon as he had recovered himself and saw the havoc committed among his assistants, he went into the parallel for help; and on returning received a slight bayonet thrust from one of a party of men who in haste were retreating from the rear of the sap. The whole of the workmen laboured through the darkness with praiseworthy activity, especially the parties under corporals Cray^[192] and McEachran, to whom much credit was given for their exertions and example in coolly entering the broken embrasures and replacing the damaged gabions and sandbags with old powder barrels or any other means which could at the moment be obtained. The stricken gabions, turned with their best sides to the front to form the cheeks, were picketed down to insure their steadfastness. Almost all the embrasures in No. 16 battery were mended in this way, and McEachran not to be outdone in the work even gathered some of the broken gabions from the open, and while the fire was warm on the battery built them with much tact and as much exertion into the cheeks. On the right the masked approach to No. 19 battery was thrown down and a ramp rapidly formed for the passage of the guns. As soon as they were hauled through, the gorge was remasked with gabions. One sapper and ten men effected this operation. The succeeding day private Michael McNamara, a firm soldier under fire, was killed by a round-shot while eating his dinner. The ball carried away part of his head.

Immediately after completing No. 15 battery, corporal Hill was directed to oversee by day the miners working in the right demi-parallel of the left attack, which swept in a curve over the edge of the hill, and dropping down its side crossed the Woronzoff road. Under his charge a portion of this trench on the crest of the ravine was converted into No. 17 battery for two guns. As the principal materials for forming it were obtained by quarrying, the construction was difficult and arduous. The revetments were chiefly of stone. Large gabions filled with fragments of rock faced the embrasures, and the soles were bevelled outwards from the necks to admit the guns being sufficiently depressed to fire down the ravine. A magazine for gunpowder and shot was hollowed out of the rock under the parapet, and two traverses were built to protect the gunners from the cross fire of the Malakoff. Constantly were the workmen annoyed by musketry. Shells fell so truly at times that they even burst on the platforms, but the steady miners, habituated to danger, never quitted their labours. Just finished was the work when its overseer, losing the use of his limbs from exertion and exposure, was relieved on the 20th August from the fatigues he had sustained so well during the siege.

On the 21st lance-corporal William Jenkins was slightly wounded in the right knee. Such however was his spirit he would not leave the front. Exposed to so many hazards in “repairing embrasures and platforms under the most severe fire of the enemy,” and present in so many sorties and bombardments it was a wonder he escaped with so insignificant a reminiscence of his exploits. At different times no less than four furious shots have flown through his huge legs without affecting his composure or staying the exertions of his strong arm.^[193] Herculean in stature and strength he was acknowledged by officers and men to be a brave man and competent and quick in every work. Master carpenter of the left attack he was every day in the trenches from the 1st of May, and was considered even by his comrades to be one of the most unexceptionable sappers among the rank and file. As a recognition of his useful and gallant exertions he was decorated with a “distinguished service” medal, and granted a gratuity of 5l.^[194]

By this time the fifth parallel on the right was completed, lying in almost a straight line across the hill from crest to crest, leaving an opening in a fall of the ground near the small quarry next the middle ravine. It was judged best not to touch the hollow as the sacrifice of life in attempting it would then have been enormous. But even this resolve was afterwards given up and the cavity trenched to finish the parallel. In connection with this parallel was an abandoned Russian white rifle pit, which was converted into a commanding post with parapets and banquettes. Smart Minié practice was carried on from that screen by lynx-eyed musketeers, who drew upon themselves showers of grape and canister that considerably damaged the parapets and lessened the number of the marksmen. All repairs however were rapidly executed, which kept the post in constant efficiency.

On the night of the 22nd was commenced a new approach from the fifth parallel on the right attack towards the salient of the Redan. It jutted out from an angle about the centre of the trench. Four or five of the old sappers, indomitable men, with a party of the 1st Royals, worked remarkably well in its execution. Captain Cooke of the engineers had the honour of opening this boyau, and eighty-seven gabions set by flying sap were filled with earth brought from the remote rear in breadbags. Partial cover was obtained without interruption for fifty-eight yards, during which only one of the working party was wounded.

Next night one hundred men in two reliefs with four sappers under corporal John Ross were pushed into this trench. The corporal marched the working party into the fifth parallel and awaited orders. Captain Wolseley of the 90th regiment, assistant engineer, was on duty in charge of the advance works. From him the corporal received directions to distribute the men to the best advantage. Half the party he detailed to fill bags to be carried by the other half to the sap as required. After these preliminary arrangements he sought the field officer of the trenches and obtained a covering party of twenty men. Eight of the number he kept as sentries in the approach and with the others crept onwards, posting them individually a short distance apart in front of the trace where the sap was to be extended. Having instructed them how to act should the slightest movement of the Russians be heard, and cautioned them, should a light-ball come over, to roll themselves up a short distance from it and lie quiet, he reappeared among his men. With his four sappers he moved to the vent of the zigzag. Gabions and earth were carried to them by the fifty men. The corporal himself placed the gabions and the sappers emptied the earth into them. Grape and musketry from the Malakoff and the Redan made the task very laborious, for frequently the staked gabions were capsized and had to be renewed. However, they succeeded in placing and filling twenty-five, despite the blazing of light-balls which pitched at times around them and exposed their work. Thus far had the corporal proceeded when he moved the whole party forward, and leading the way with lance-corporal William Baker in opening a trench by the side of the newly-laid gabions, the work had good cover before the morning, and that also which had been executed the night before was strengthened and improved. So interesting and exciting was the work that Captain Wolseley was constant in his visits to the sap and encouraged its progress by his praises. The lance-corporal was wounded a few minutes before the relief arrived. For the “extremely creditable” manner in which corporal Ross performed his duty, he received a present from General Simpson of three sovereigns. This was the second instance of his being rewarded by the commander-in-chief for distinguished services.

Four men of the 77th were wounded and two killed in this zigzag. Two also of the five sappers were wounded, viz., lance-corporal William Baker, seventh company, slightly in the head with stones thrown at him by a round shot, and private James Colquhoun slightly in the right leg. Spare in person like a lean boy, ready apparently to snap at any pressure, Baker stood up in singular contrast to his comrade Jenkins; but few possessed more spirit than Baker; few more of that solid dash indispensable to the stormer. Signalised by his calmness and qualifications in the open embrasures his name was once brought before Lord Raglan, and promotion was given him in appreciation of his soldierly merits.

During the night of the 24th, sergeant Benjamin Castledine was slightly wounded in the head by a rifle ball—the second stroke he had received during the siege. He was giving instructions at the time with respect to the revetment of No. 21 battery, situated on the central boyau between the third and fourth parallels of the right attack, and though the wound was such as would have sent most men to the rear, he remained in the trenches after receiving the blow for seven hours visiting his parties.

The new sap on the Redan was the absorbing work on the right attack. Ninety men were told off for it this night; but as the moon had risen, a portion of the men only were permitted to enter the zigzag, who toiled by reliefs an hour at a time. A few experienced sappers acquainted with the incidents and chances of advanced trench duty, pushed spiritedly ahead, and placed eighteen gabions. These were filled in part by the Grenadier Guards, and the former night’s work was strengthened by earth thrown over the parapet from sacks passed from hand to hand. The operation was a confined one, for the brightness of the night made it hazardous to send them forward on the reverse of the trench. Sergeant Hale of the Guards kept a small detachment of his regiment so well at work and in such perfect discipline that he was rewarded by General Simpson with a gift of three sovereigns, one of which he retained for himself, generously distributing the remainder among his comrades. Corporal Joseph J. Stanton was in charge of the front saps that night, and amid defections in some of his parties, which it seemed impossible by any amount of example and daring to overcome, the conduct of Hale and his men was so marked that the corporal felt proud to name the sergeant to the engineer officer on duty. Of Stanton, it may be added, that no soldier in the army perhaps, quitted the Crimea with so many decorations. He had medals for the Danube and Crimea with three clasps, a medal for “distinguished service in the field,” and the French Legion of Honour. He also became a colour sergeant and was offered a commission, but the war, closing before it could be consummated, the rank was consequently lost.

In the night of the 25th, was begun a prolongation of the fifth parallel on the right, down a small ravine towards a screened wall where the Russians had a picket in ambuscade. When the moon had gone down, the ground was quickly opened and forty-seven gabions were planted and tolerably filled by five sappers and one hundred men. Three sappers and seventy men were also driving as far as they dare between the small ravine and the white pit connected with the fifth parallel. By these means the entrenched “hollow,” commenced with fatal anticipations, was gradually united to the French line of works.

This day lance-corporal William Monds on the right attack was dangerously wounded in the back by a rifle ball, while laying a bridge of planks for the passage of artillery into Nos. 18 and 19 batteries. Strangely enough he was struck a little above the same spot on the 7th June by a sand-bag thrown at him by a shot; and though this injury did not fall into the category of wounds, it caused him much more suffering than the rifle wound which threatened his life.