Chapter IX: Part 9

Lance-corporal William Swann and private Andrew Anderson accompanied Captain Bent and Lieutenant Burke to the beleaguered fortress of Silistria, starting on the 17th of June. Arriving too late to share in its defence, they shortly afterwards repaired to Rustchuk, where a hazardous attack upon the Russians holding the opposite bank of the Danube, was undertaken on the 7th of July by Hassan Haki Pacha, the commander of the Turkish force at that fortress. The attack was made on three points, Captain Bent leading one of the divisions. Lieutenant Burke also led a detached party of Turkish troops across the river in boats. The two sappers were attached to him, and it is of their conduct particularly, and not the general incidents of the battle, that the following record will give an account. Gaining the island, the party of Turks jumped on shore, and forming in line, gallantly pushed on, and were met by superior numbers. A fierce hand to hand struggle ensued, and Lieutenant Burke, with desperate valour, slew with his own strong arm six of his opponents, falling early on the strand covered with frightful wounds. The sappers stood by their officer, and fought “well and bravely.” In the midst of the conflict, private Anderson, a stalwart soldier, tried to save the heroic young man whose spirit inspired all with courage; but though the attempt unhappily failed, he dealt out slaughter among the Russians with incredible effect. It was not long before the little band of Turks, overpowered by numbers, retreated to the boats. Mindful of the sacred duty that devolved upon him, Anderson, with daring devotion, three times threw himself into the ranks of the enemy, and at last rescued the bleeding body of his officer. Though encumbered with his carbine and other arms, he endeavoured to bear it away on his back, but such was its weight—for the lieutenant was a powerful man, and of robust stature—and such the heaviness of the fire upon him, he was obliged to relinquish his purpose, leaving the body concealed in some long grass. Taking the dead man’s sword to save it from falling as a trophy into the hands of the enemy, he made good his retreat to the river. Scrambling down its sedgy bank, which varied from three to six feet in height, the party renewed the conflict, and improved their cover by a hasty entrenchment, in the formation of which the Turks used their hands and bayonets, and the sappers their swords. Corporal Swann was here soon disabled; and, wounded in the head by a blow from the butt end of a musket, he was falling, when, a second blow across the shoulder-blade, threw him into the water. There for four hours he lay insensible, and was providentially saved from drowning by a thick woollen shirt he wore.[147] Anderson, now the only British soldier with the little batch, acted as became his manly character, and encouraging the Turks by his prowess and endurance, the brave detachment maintained the unequal contest with veteran firmness, and only recrossed the Danube when the necessity for their services had ceased. In that hard-contested battle, private Anderson killed no less than fourteen Russians, himself escaping miraculously without wound or hurt. Next morning, though it was uncertain whether the enemy was in ambush or not, he pushed over to the island again, and recovered the body of his officer, but what a sad spectacle did it present! It was headless; thirty wounds from bullet, sabre, and bayonet, riddled his remains, and his fingers had been chopped off to secure the rings he wore! The battle of Giurgevo ended in a victory for the Turks. Ten hours the fight lasted, and the loss on both sides was considerable. For their gallantry Swann was promoted to be second corporal,[148] and private Anderson decorated, by Omar Pacha, with the order of the Medjidie. His highness himself placed the star on the brave man’s breast, and then, in friendship, warmly shook his hand. In the ‘London Gazette’ of January 12, 1855, appeared the following gratifying announcement. “The Queen has been pleased to grant unto private Andrew Anderson of the Sappers and Miners, her royal license and permission that he may accept and wear the order of the Medjidie, which the Sultan has been pleased to confer upon him, in approbation of his distinguished bravery and good conduct at the passage of the Danube on the 7th of July last, and subsequently in rescuing the body of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Burke, after he had fallen; and that he may enjoy all the rights and privileges thereunto annexed.”—“And also to command that Her Majesty’s said concession and especial mark of her royal favour be registered, together with the relative documents, in Her Majesty’s College of Arms.”

The four sappers landed from the ‘Agamemnon’ in May, were for six weeks in Circassia with Captain Brock, R.N. In returning to the ship, they, with six other men of the detachment on board of her, accompanied the fleet in its subsequent cruises along the coast, and in the Black Sea. No longer required for service afloat, the party landed at Baltschik, and marching to Varna, rejoined their companies on the 16th and 18th July.

Early in July, Lieutenant Lempriere left Varna for Circassia in the French steamer ‘Vauban’ with orders to place in a state of defence, some of the towns along the coast, which, having been wrested from the Russians were now being menaced by them. Sergeant Marshall and private Richards accompanied him. On the 11th the party landed at Churuksu, the Turkish head-quarters on that frontier, and soon completed a survey of the place and its vicinity. Obliged to remain there a few days, three or four officers of the ‘Vauban’ and Lieutenant Lempriere visited some of the Turkish outposts and detached forts. With the party were some French sailors and private Richards. When about to return, two of the sailors and the sapper were missing. Nothing could be heard of them, and it was concluded they had strayed into the hands of the Russians. Skirmishers were sent out to scour the country. Wood, wild, and mountain were threaded in quest of the wanderers, and all hope of tracking them had wellnigh been given up, when a quick eye observed them in the bush—apparently unconscious of the concern they had created or of the chances there were of the enemy capturing them—coolly stuffing themselves with blackberries! Stocked with a good supply of the fruit, they were guided back to the party, who, no longer uneasy about the safety of their attendants, shared with the wayfarers the contents of their wallets and enjoyed an agreeable dessert.

At Redoubt Kaleh a small body of Russian cavalry closely approached the Turkish works to reconnoitre the position, but a few rounds from the batteries quickly dispersed them. Information had reached the enemy of the arrival of some English troops, which, in all probability, was more than corroborated, by the glimpse they must have caught of one of the four red-coated sappers constituting, at that time, the entire British contingent on the coast of Circassia. Whether this was or was not enough to excite the fears of the Russians, certain it is, that a considerable body of them in anticipation of an attack, threw up some earthworks on the banks of the river about five miles away.

Cruising along the coast, now in the ‘Vauban,’ now in the ‘Wasp,’ Lieutenant Lempriere and his men landed for short intervals at Pitsunda, Soukum Kaleh, Redoubt Kaleh, Anacrea, Churuksu, Batoum, and lastly, all went up to Trebizonde. The two Kalehs were the fortresses at which the services of the sappers were chiefly given. At Redoubt Kaleh two men who had been left by Captain Stanton as overseers to the Turks joined Lieutenant Lempriere’s little force. In addition to instructing the Ottoman soldiers in the mode of forming fieldworks, the sappers superintended the restoration of some old batteries and revetments, the construction of various new defences, and assisted Lieutenant Lempriere in the surveys be found it necessary to make for professional purposes. While they were thus busy, the Crimean Expedition had been determined on, and as every sapper was wanted for the enterprise, the party was recalled and rejoined the corps just as the siege was about to open.

Corporal John Pendered and lance-corporal John Hammond arrived at Varna on the 24th July, and were attached as photographers, under Captain Hackett, 77th regiment, to the head-quarters of the army. Previously to leaving London they had been instructed in the art by Mr. Thompson, and had practically tested their efficiency at Chatham, where patches of broken ground, and military scenes and fortifications, gave them a variety of subjects to portray. Many of their photographic sketches, taken under circumstances of difficulty and disadvantage, were exhibited at Gore House during the summer months; but without having the chance of proving their usefulness and skill, these two young men, promising and enterprising, perished in a storm.

At the request of Omar Pacha a detachment of the corps, under Captain Gage, R.A. and Lieutenant Pratt, R.E., started from Aladyn for Rustchuk on the 8th July, to form a bridge over the Danube for the passage of the Ottoman troops. It consisted of sergeant John F. Read, one bugler, and thirty-two rank and file, accompanied by fifteen French pontoneers, and thirty-five English seamen from the fleet, under Lieutenant Glynn and Prince Leiningen, R.N., twenty of whom led the way, and fifteen covered the rear. With characteristic pride, the seamen gave importance to the honour accorded them by carrying unfurled, both in front and rear, a large union jack. All were on horseback. Next to the advance sailors were the sappers, unskilled in equitation, in every conceivable attitude, mounted on young horses. Each led a second horse loaded with intrenching tools, &c. Behind them followed about 150 horses ridden by native grooms and guides, bearing tools, baggage, and forage; and then came the party of French pontoneers. The expedition went from twenty to thirty miles in twelve hours, killing three horses in the first two days. Many of the animals, unaccustomed to the rattling of picks and shovels against their flanks, were difficult to manage, and in their fright and restiveness, frequently dashed away from the cavalcade. Considerable delay occurred in recovering and restraining them, and what with unavoidable halts at Schumla and Rasgradt, the party did not reach Rustchuk until the 13th July, though the distance travelled was only 120 miles. This novel equestrian journey was accomplished without any material mishap, except a few almost harmless falls, and the occasional diversion of a horse and his rider rolling together on the road. Hard riding, however, on ill-formed and broken tracks, made the men so sore and stiff, that when the time for rest arrived, they found it preferable to sleep standing!

On the 15th, the sappers were sent over to Giurgevo, and for a few days assisted to intrench the position of the Turks; when, on the 19th, at the desire of Omar Pacha, they moved up to Slobedsie, and under the superintendence of Captain Bent and Lieutenant Pratt constructed, in a very creditable manner, a trestle bridge over the Slobedsie Creek, which was 450 feet across, to a small island in the Danube. Notwithstanding that several of the men, as many as fifteen in one day, had been ill during the operation, the work was finished on the 25th.

Next day the sappers joined the French pontoneers and English sailors, in throwing a bridge of boats across the main stream, at a place some 890 yards wide. A few boats had been laid when the sappers commenced. The pontoneers worked from one shore, the sappers from the other; whilst the sailors rowed up the boats and assisted to secure them in position. The boats, fixed with a clear bay of twenty feet between, gave for each of the series about forty feet of bridge. The breadth for the roadway was eighteen feet six inches. Wood was scarce at the spot, and the timbers for the superstructure in great part were obtained from Sistova and Widdin. Intended for heavy service the bridge was made of massive baulks and stout oak planking, strongly bolted, cramped, and racked. Much “difficulty was experienced in securing some of the boats in the more rapid part of the stream, but by mooring them with four anchors each, and the aid of heavy ordnance sunk above the boats and securely fastened to them,” they stood against wind and surge, firm and unbroken.[149] “It was completed on the 4th August, and on the 5th received some damage from the first Austrian steamer that passed during the war. This was soon repaired,”[150] and to obviate a similar casualty, an opening was contrived to permit the navigation to continue, which, when not required, was closed up again by a moveable raft to make good the bridge. In appearance it was as artistic and elegant as useful. The longest boats occupied the centre, from which the smaller craft gradually fell away to the two shores. Like ancient galleys they were shaped with stems and prows curving gracefully upwards from the water.[151] The bridge was no unworthy rival of the celebrated one formed by Xerxes, in his passage of the Hellespont at Abydos. “On the 10th, Omar Pacha opened it in person, and complimented the officers and men for the zeal and ability they had shown in its construction. Captain Bent was in command of the sappers.”[152] For the ceremony two triumphal arches of evergreens were run up, one at each end of the bridge, and above them proudly waved the allied banners of England, France, and Turkey. To crown the service, both French and English met in unmixed cordiality and friendship, at a costly repast provided by Omar Pacha.

No longer required for service with the force of his highness, eighteen of the detachment returned, on horseback, to Varna, under Lieutenant Pratt, R.E., passing through Turtukai and Silistria, where joining the English seamen, they quitted it again on the 15th August. At night, after a march of twenty miles, the party halted at Kinarjik. On the next day a further march of thirty miles found them encamped at Karapelt; another thirty took them to Karayal, where a sapper who had died on the route was buried. A beautiful spot was selected for the encampment, and at sunset the deceased was interred in a hastily-excavated grave, beneath the sombre shade of a wild pear-tree.[153] All the officers and men were present, and from the absence of all display, and the fatigued, rusty, and travel-stained aspect of the men, the ceremony was impressive and mournful. On the 18th August, travelling fifteen miles that morning, the sappers reached head-quarters, and rejoined the tenth company. Corporal Swann, who had been appointed by Lord Raglan provost-sergeant to the mule-drivers at Rustchuk with a salary of 4_s._ 6_d._ a-day, returned to Varna with the party.

Not without mortification it is necessary to introduce in this place a record relative to the misconduct of the Rustchuk detachment. Honoured as they were by being the only British soldiers selected for an advanced frontier duty, much was expected from their conduct and exertions; but their extreme irregularity and drunkenness, with few exceptions,[154] offered a striking contrast to the behaviour of the party of sailors and the Turkish garrison. To mark therefore the displeasure of Brigadier-General Tylden, he subjected the detachment to a course of severe discipline, and stopped the promotion of some of the non-commissioned officers. Several men of the seventh company also, who had commenced a career of intemperance at Hurst Castle, behaved with equal discredit, and disgusted their officers. It is a pity in a corps possessing the advantages of education, skill, and mechanical attainments, that there should exist anything to tarnish the fame the well-intentioned are striving to brighten.

As a set-off against this censure, it is well there is occasion to give place to an instance of individual good conduct, as honourable as meritorious. Varna was set on fire by some Greek incendiaries, instigated by Russian agents, and was only extinguished after much of the city had been laid waste, and considerable munitions destroyed. Brigadier-General Tylden directed the operations for saving the town. The companies of sappers, being on the south side of the bay, were not present, but lance-corporal James Cray, whose services under Lieutenant Burke have been already noticed, acting as the Brigadier’s orderly, lent material aid by his intrepidity in arresting the flames. “When the danger was greatest,” says the official report, “and the spreading flames threatened to reach the large Turkish powder-magazine, corporal Cray laboured voluntarily and incessantly, by mounting scaling-ladders and closing the openings with blankets, thus not only largely contributing to the safety of the magazine, but setting an example to the sailors and others assisting, which was of the greatest service.” He was promoted to be second-corporal for his conduct.

Captain Bent, with fifteen non-commissioned officers and men left at Rustchuk under Omar Pacha, accompanied the Ottoman troops into the Wallachian principality, entering the capital on the 22nd August. Corporal Harding, a zealous and able sapper and pontoneer, died that day from cholera on the line of march, and was buried in the graveyard of a small country Greek church. His remains, covered with a union jack, were attended to their final resting-place by all the Englishmen in Bucharest, and the service was read by Mr. Meyer, a missionary clergyman. A private was attacked by the grave of his comrade, and returning to his tent, soon afterwards died. He was buried in the Lutheran churchyard. Several other choleraic seizures occurred in the detachment, which were ascribed to the intemperance of the men, and their imprudent use of fruits. No British soldiers, save this small party, served during the campaign in the Wallachian capital.

The occupation of Bucharest by the Austrians was followed by many ungracious acts which it was never anticipated a chivalric nation would impose on a defenceless people. These were chiefly felt in the forcible possession of the houses of the citizens without the courtesy of seeing whether they could be accommodated. No excuse could be offered for such ungallant proceedings, as the police had provided the Austrian troops with suitable billets. The same inconsiderate demeanour was paraded before the few British sappers quartered in the capital, who, to prevent the possibility of a pretext for collision, were all pent up with their Captain-Bent-in one domicile.[155] In their activity to find comfortable stabling, some Austrians, commanded by a sergeant, ordered the horses belonging to Captain Bent to be taken out to make room for three lively steeds which the pirating party had brought with them. It was not to be borne that they should attempt to encroach upon premises already too limited for the reasonable wants of the Captain and his sappers; and private Andrew Anderson, who happened to be on the spot at the time, met their demands with courageous sternness. This unexpected resistance caused the sergeant valorously to motion with his sabre, and to threaten, among other desperate penalties, to hang the Englishman; but Anderson, indisposed to yield his trust—though the odds were against him—made so imposing a demonstration of physical determination, that the dragoons, taken somewhat aback at his boldness, quickly decamped, and abandoned the intention of quartering themselves or their horses in the British billets.

The fourth company from Malta, under Captain Craigie, reinforced the corps at Varna on the 14th August, and a detachment of the third company at Corfu was also sent thither, arriving at the head-quarters on the 25th August. They were ordered from their respective stations to the seat of war by Lord Raglan.[156]

-----

Footnote 135:

Promoted to be sergeant. Was the principal non-commissioned officer in
charge of the huts sent from this country to the Crimea; and was
wounded severely in the assault on the Redan on the 8th September,
1855.

Footnote 136:

A man of unsteady propensities from a long residence at the Cape of
Good Hope, where liquor is cheap. He is, however, a first-rate soldier
and sapper, and his intrepid bearing in the trenches before
Sebastopol, gained him a special medal “for distinguished service in
the field,” and a gratuity of five pounds. Such notice accorded to him
as one of sixteen out of a fighting force of about 900 men, may well
excite his pride; and if there be a tide in the affairs of men, surely
this proud incident will cause that turn, and so fashion his future
career that it will be as remarkable in peace for temperance and good
behaviour, as in battle for heroism.

Footnote 137:

Died in camp before Sebastopol, in January, 1855.

Footnote 138:

Sent to the Crimea as a submarine diver, and died in camp before
Sebastopol, April, 1855.

Footnote 139:

Died in December, 1854, before Sebastopol of cholera.

Footnote 140:

Killed in the trenches at the siege of Sebastopol, July 17, 1855.

Footnote 141:

Now second sergeant-major of the corps at the Royal Engineer
Establishment, Brompton.

Footnote 142:

Has been frequently noticed in these pages for his labours in the
demolition of the ‘Royal George’ and ‘Edgar’ at Spithead.

Footnote 143:

June 12, 1854.

Footnote 144:

‘United Service Gazette,’ June 17, 1854.

Footnote 145:

The ‘Times,’ June 29, 1854.

Footnote 146:

Ibid.

Footnote 147:

‘Illustrated London News,’ August 5, 1854.

Footnote 148:

Soon after was advanced to the rank of corporal for his conduct at the
siege of Sebastopol, and died of wounds received in the trenches, in
May, 1855. One of his legs was amputated, from which, though he bore
up for a few days, his exhausted strength did not permit him to rally.

Footnote 149:

The ‘Times,’ Sept. 15, 1854.

Footnote 150:

Ibid.

Footnote 151:

Ibid.

Footnote 152:

The ‘Times,’ Sept. 15, 1854.

Footnote 153:

Ibid.

Footnote 154:

Sergeant John F. Read, corporals William Harding, William Swann, and
privates Robert M. Rylatt, Michael Westacott, and John Piper.

Footnote 155:

The ‘Times,’ Oct. 26, 1854, by the Author of ‘The Russian Empire.’

Footnote 156:

A few weeks before the Central Association commenced its humane
operations, a fund was raised by Captain and Adjutant Somerset to aid
the wives and children of men of the corps ordered to the East. The
Central Association took its rise from a letter which appeared in the
‘Times’ on the 22nd February, 1854, on which date, singularly enough,
Captain Somerset received the first subscriptions for his fund. As the
working of this regimental charity could not but be limited, Captain
Somerset did his best to lessen the chances of its being too soon
exhausted. He therefore personally advised every married man before
embarking, as to the course he ought to pursue during his absence from
England, and obtained from him an agreement to make a monthly
remittance, suitable to his means, for the support of his wife and
family. This was not a difficult interference, for the men were only
too anxious to make the utmost provision it was in their power to
arrange. Of this regimental fund Captain Somerset had the entire
charge. By his exertions it reached the sum of 240_l._; of which
72_l._ were subscribed by the four survey companies. The rest was
added by officers of the corps at home, a few companies of sappers,
and the personal friends of the Adjutant. Its plan was to make
advances—obtaining repayment of them by remittances from the seat of
war; also to award donations, and to provide, in unforeseen
circumstances, domestic troubles, sickness and death, such relief as
the several cases needed, and which could only be met in this way.
“The Somerset Fund,” so quiet and unpretending in its exercise, was of
great benefit to the corps; and of about sixty women and nearly one
hundred children who, by loans and grants, drew support from its
means, not one ever had occasion to seek the cold shelter of a
workhouse. With one or two exceptions, the wives of the sappers
behaved with virtuous propriety during the absence of their husbands,
and were a credit both to them and the corps.

The Central Association was a national undertaking, in which the wives
and families of the corps, equally with those of the rest of the army,
shared to the full extent of its numbers. It properly does not belong
to this history to notice the gigantic operations of the Association,
and the extraordinary good it achieved; but it may nevertheless be
permitted to say, that the royal sappers and miners will ever retain a
warm recollection of its beneficence, and cherish the name of Major
the Hon. Henry Littleton Powys—the untiring advocate of protection to
the soldier’s wife and family, and the gratuitous Honorary Secretary
of the Association—with feelings of lasting gratitude.

1854.
CRIMEA.
September—18th October.

Instructional operations—Embarkation for the Crimea—The landing—The
sappers sink wells—Attempt to erect a pier for landing the horses—Bed
of the Bulganak improved with reeds for the passage of artillery—The
Alma—Services of the sappers during the battle—They repair the Buliack
timber bridge—March to Balaklava; Sir John Burgoyne; services of the
third company—The corps encamps at Balaklava—Then removes to the
heights before Sebastopol; misery for want of tents—Parties assist to
reconnoitre the positions and trace the lines—An instance given—Two
sappers carrying the mail miss their way, are wounded and
benighted—Destruction of Upton’s aqueduct—Positions on the heights;
staff engineers—The attacks; parks—Sapper brigades—Reliefs—Breaking
ground—Duties of the sappers—Their deficiency of tact in working the
skilled portions of the batteries—Progress of the works; a party
wanders from the trace—Sergeant Morant misses his way, and only
discovers his mistake when encountered by a Russian guard—A mistrusted
guide restores confidence by his conduct—State of the works on the
night before the first bombardment—The batteries and parallels—Siege
operations—Restoration of the works—Sir John Burgoyne’s remarks on
them.

Preliminary to active operations in the Crimea, the companies of the corps at Varna superintended contingents of the line in preparing a park of gabions, fascines, sand-bags, and platforms for siege purposes. Each sapper at the duty had charge of fifteen men of the line, divided into three squads of five in a squad. The troops were also practised in the hasty formation of field-works; and these instructional services were not without profit to the men of the corps, who, as overseers, superintended their execution.

Early in September the allied forces embarked for the Crimea, and the naval arrangements for the occasion, though vast and complicated, were comprehensive and perfect. To each of the British divisions was attached a body of sappers and miners, bearing with them intrenching tools. Up to this time there had landed in Turkey six companies of the corps, mustering a force of 513 non-commissioned officers and men, which had been reduced to 492 men by the decease of 21 non-commissioned officers and privates, chiefly from cholera and exposure. Leaving the seventh company at Gallipoli, also detachments at Varna, Redout Kaleh, and Bucharest, and the sick on board the transports and at Scutari, the force of sappers and miners that landed near Lake Tuzla in Kalamita Bay on the 14th and 16th September counted a total of 308 of all ranks.

Under a teeming rain, two of the companies debarked, and without tents or covering, took up a miserable bivouac with their divisions. In the night they lay huddled together for warmth, while the storm beat ceaselessly upon them, and turned their selected resting-places into pools and quagmires. The returning day found them drenched, stiff, and comfortless; but in none, except those poor enfeebled fellows still suffering from the pest that had proved so fatal to the troops at Varna, was there wanting a cheerfulness to work, a spirit to master hardship, and a determination to endure. Unsheltered as they were, that fearful weather brought on many aggravated cases of cholera.

Water, the first want felt after landing at Lake Tuzla, caused several wells to be sunk by the sappers on the strip of land which stretched between the lake and the Black Sea. The supply thus obtained was too brackish for human use, and the duty of furnishing the troops, therefore, depended on the fleet.

At noon on the 15th, a detachment of the fourth company commenced to erect a temporary pier for landing the horses, with timbers furnished by the fleet. For a considerable distance to seaward, the water was shallow, but it swelled to the beach, and broke there with great violence. Trestles fixed and braced were held for a time in their places by sturdy men, but the driving breakers rushed to the shore with so resistless a force it was impracticable to proceed; and men and timbers borne away in the surge, only escaped by grasping at ropes which were laid conveniently to the site in anticipation of such accidents.

When the army was put in motion, and the Bulganak stream was reached, its bed was found to be too muddy for the passage of the artillery with the 4th division. Early in the morning of the 20th a portion of the fourth company was told off to make a track through the water for the guns. Collecting the reeds which grew there in abundance, the sappers tied them faggot fashion into long bundles, and placing them in the bed of the stream from bank to bank, the artillery, in twenty-two minutes from the time of commencing, was crossing the river with clean wheels in comparative ease.

On the 20th was fought the battle of the Alma, which was gained in three hours by the allies, with a loss to the British exceeding 2,000 killed and wounded; whilst the carnage amongst the Russians was even greater. The sappers and miners during the action were thus distributed:—

No.
Head-quarters. 3rd company 36
Light division, 10th ” 62
1st ” 11th ” 62
2nd ” 8th ” 77
3rd ” 4th ” 34
4th ” 4th ” 35

The fourth division was not engaged, being in reserve; but the sappers with the other divisions, though not called upon to participate to an extent that placed them in much danger, were under fire. The companies were held back, ready with their intrenching tools, to perform any service for which they might suddenly be required; but the daring advance and overpowering prowess of the British rendered a resort to field-works as a means of defence wholly unnecessary. The tenth company crossed the river by the ford and bridge while the battle raged. The eighth company, attached for the moment to one of the field-batteries, assisted in dragging through the river some field-carriages belonging to the royal artillery, one of which, having become disabled, capsized in the stream.

The eleventh company, under the direction of Captain Montagu of the engineers, rapidly repaired the broken timber bridge of Buliack, part of the sheeting of which had been removed by the Russians, leaving the end on the side of the British untouched. Had this artful contrivance not been discovered, the troops would doubtless have suffered fearfully in their attempt to pass over the bridge. Its restoration was of great service, as it enabled the whole of the baggage to be up with the army the same evening. For six hours there was an uninterrupted stream of well-laden carts and other vehicles crossing it, which tested to the utmost the efficiency of its renewal, and corroborated in part the encomium of Captain Montagu that it was “done right well and very quickly.” The fourth company was stationed about a quarter of a mile away from the Alma, and the third was with the baggage in rear.

On the night of the 20th the companies bivouacked on the site of the battle, where one of the privates, worn out by disease and fatigue, covered himself with his blanket and died. Resuming the march, the allies passed the Katscha on the 23rd September, on which day the third company, attached to the head-quarters of the army, was reinforced by the arrival from Woolwich of 66 non-commissioned officers and men under Captain W. M. Inglis of the royal engineers. Two days later the march was continued across the Belbec, and on the 26th to Balaklava by a bold flank movement through a difficult and thickly-wooded country. Sir John Burgoyne passed a night in bivouac with the company, and all that could be got for him to rest upon was an old door. Upon that the aged warrior stretched himself with a composure and satisfaction that showed how well he had braced himself to the vicissitudes and hardships of war. On the way the baggage of a Russian division, spreading over a vast extent of road, fell a prize to the British army. The third company was hurried to the front with artillery to remove it, and tumbling the waggons over the hill they broke in fragments in the valley. When the army pushed forward, the third company remained, blew up a magazine of thirteen barrels of gunpowder which was found with the train of baggage, and then hastened to Balaklava. All the companies arrived there on the 27th September, and were at once disposed of in making roads, sinking wells, and repairing shattered waggons, while the third company made good a rough pier at Balaklava, at which were landed the heavy ordnance, ammunition, and siege stores.

The royal engineers formed their encampment on the S.S.E. of the harbour of Balaklava, whither the siege material was conveyed. With great promptitude, guns and ammunition, gabions, fascines, sand-bags, and tools of all descriptions, unsurpassed in magnitude, were collected, and then despatched to the depôt about four miles nearer to the scene of operations.

By the 30th September a strong force of sappers moved to the ground, and soon commenced those services which the public, too enthusiastic in its anticipations, expected would reduce a fortress of unexampled strength in a few days. Full twenty days the company were without tents, their camp equipage having been left in the ships which conveyed the sappers from the shores of Bulgaria; and, exposed as they were in bivouac to the damp and chills of night, many robust and able men fell a prey to cholera at Balaklava, or predisposed, by these early trials and rigours, to disease, were struck down by suffering and exhaustion in the camp before Sebastopol.

Next night some sappers, pushed forward under their officers, assisted to examine the ground in front of the fortress towards Chersonese Bay; and although at times within rifle-range of the walls, were unmolested by the Russians. It was at first intended that the English troops should occupy this position, but in consequence of the tools of our allies being too light to carry out the heavy intrenchments assigned to them on the right, the disposition of the forces was altered to adapt them to the situations for which their material seemed to render them adequate. This change in the arrangements was followed by the preliminary duty of tracing the sites of the required trenches and batteries inland, in which some sappers were permitted to participate.

Among those who first left the camp to reconnoitre were lance-corporal McKimm and private Jenkins, in whose resolution and discipline reliance could be placed. They were apt men and sufficiently acute in comprehending orders not to worry their officers with strings of fatiguing questions about small details; and such was their stamp and bearing, they were not likely, in danger, to leave their officer unshielded. To Captain Montagu’s party of six sappers they were attached. In the darkness of the morning of the 1st October, the whole moved on in advance of the outlying pickets for nearly a mile and a-half, and quietly and in whispers, wandered over a country guarded by pickets in ambuscades as yet unknown. On their way they passed some posts which were alive with Cossacks, one of which they unwittingly approached so closely, that a couple of shots were fired at them. This was simply tendered as a warning to depart, for the Cossacks made no attempt to follow the explorers, and so continuing to give the points of ground and intersections to the Captain to enable him to form his sketch of the position of the left attack, the delineation was, in three or four hours, finished. With a careful pace yielding no perceptible sound, and a sharp look out, the party in returning crossed hill and ravine and passed pickets and sentries, reaching the camp safely at six o’clock in the morning.

It being necessary to despatch the mail from the first division at Balaklava to that of General Cathcart’s on the heights S.W. of Sebastopol, corporal John McQueen and private James Brennan volunteered for the duty. Cheerfully they jogged along the lonely road, and having delivered the letters at the camp commenced to return with that easy _abandon_ so becoming soldiers. McQueen had been out on a coasting expedition, and prided himself with the belief that because he knew Sebastopol from the sea, he must as a consequence know every step of the road to Balaklava. He, however, soon found out his mistake. Losing their way, the letter-carriers struck on a road which took them into the Picket House ravine, up which they strode at a steady pace, straining their eyes through the darkness to discover a clue which should enlighten them as to their situation. Presently they were hounded by some dogs led on by a horseman with a glimmering lamp attached to his girdle. Luckily a cavern was near, and the sappers bounding into it, the dogs and the Cossack passed on. Allowing sufficient time to elapse to confuse the rider and his canine attendants, the comrades emerged from the cave, and regaining the road, turned in the direction of Sebastopol, impressed with the conviction that they had taken the correct route for the port. Allured by a fire which was burning on the hill to the left of the ravine, they began to ascend the slope to join the picket—supposed to be a Turkish one—who, grouped around the blazing sticks, were enjoying their pipes—an enviable pastime in which McQueen was anxious to participate. The night was still black; nothing could be seen, especially in the valley, for the picket-fire spread its capricious illumination over so small an area, that beyond the guard, the faint outline of objects only could be traced, and a little further on the dimness thickened into impenetrable darkness. So, suddenly coming on a pair of sentries concealed under some overhanging rocks, the sappers as suddenly stopped without losing their coolness. “Give me light, Turco?” said McQueen, placing a pipe between his teeth and pressing its bowl near the sentry’s chibouk. The sentry shrunk back: he was a Russian; and without word or challenge, in a moment the bayonet flashed, and the next it was plunged through the corporal’s body, while the companion sentry stabbed Brennan in the left shoulder. At the instant McQueen shot up in the air, then fell; but deadly wounded as he was, his entrails bursting through the puncture, he started from the ground, and, accompanied by Brennan, both ran at a furious speed pursued by the swift-footed sentinels. A wide ditch interrupted their course, into which McQueen and Brennan tumbled, but the cowardly Russians—for such they were to attack two unarmed men—gave up the pursuit.

McQueen moved not from the spot where he fell, for the shock he had received had doubled him up, and though his agonies were deep, he retained his consciousness. Brennan, suffering himself, set to work to alleviate, if possible, those mortal pains which at times made the corporal writhe and groan. His hand came on a well of blood, which told him, if the flow were not immediately stopped, the closing scene would soon be over. His plan of action in this extremity was quickly fixed, and taking off his shirt he tore it in strips, and tying them into one length bound it round his comrade. This, however, was not enough, for the blood still oozed through the bandage, and tearing away as much as he could of the corporal’s shirt without increasing his pangs, he knotted this also, as he added shred to shred, and plied it over the wound. This was the most he could do, except to encourage his spirit to bear the trial with the manliness his comrades would expect to hear he had exercised. “My head feels cold,” said he faintly. Both had lost their caps in the violent run they made to the ditch. Brennan instantly took off his coatee and turbaned it round the poor fellow’s head. “Here is a little bag with fourteen shillings in it,” said the corporal, as he released it from his neck. “Give it to my wife. It will never be my happiness to see her or the children.” This he said with an affectionate but choked utterance. “Tell her,” he added in a stronger voice, “I’m sorry I shall not see Sebastopol fall.”

“Why not? there’s plenty of skill in the camp to cure you,” returned Brennan in a tone of mingled sympathy and confidence.

But McQueen had become absorbed in his thoughts, and his agonies giving him but little disposition and energy to hear with attention anything that Brennan might say, the latter proposed to reconnoitre in the hope of discovering some means of bringing in succour or of escaping. The corporal assented, and Brennan stole away bare to the waist with a streaming wound bitten by the cold of a raw night. The battery above them was an earthen one well armed, but no gunners were in it. From its ditch he proceeded by a sort of ramp towards the Garden batteries, and came upon a strong structure built, as it seemed, out of a ship’s side. It was near the Flag-staff battery, and mounted many guns, forty-five of which he counted—some of very large calibre. Clear it was that he was in the heart of the Russian outworks. In that direction there was no escape, and as every step towards the creek bore the aspect of seeking danger when there was still a chance of evading it, he returned to the ditch, and threw himself by the side of the corporal. Time wore on sluggishly; moments were minutes, minutes hours. At length the morning broke; still he waited till it had sufficiently opened, to guide himself, to the best of his reason, aright; when, gathering up the wounded man, he bore him in his arms to a broken wall in front of a wine-press where had lived a Scotchman for more than twenty years before the war had driven him from his chosen homestead. Here Brennan, overpowered, laid down his comrade, for he was a massive man and deadly heavy. Concealing him in a secure place, and binding up his head with a handkerchief, Brennan dressed himself again in his worn coatee, and darted off for assistance, keeping well under the rocks which, overgrown with broom and wild vegetation, helped to cover him from observation. At last he made the bend of the ravine, and climbing up the steep, gained the top, where, crawling onwards among the heather and scrub he saw at the back of the hill the red points of six English tents—distant about fifty yards. It was a grateful sight, but he had not time fully to enjoy it; and so dashing up to the encampment, breathlessly demanded help for his suffering comrade. A few words to explain the nature of the painful adventure which had occasioned his unexpected appearance was more than enough for the officer of the 60th rifles in command. With two men of his regiment bearing a stretcher they hastened along the ravine guided by Brennan, now running, now walking to recover breath. It was a bright morning; hazard was in every step, but the errand was one of humanity, and they pushed on. At length they made the broken wall, from whence they carried the corporal for more than two miles to the tents of the rifle guard. In a few minutes medical aid was doing its best for the sufferer, but though his wounds were laved and dressed, the air had caught his torn bowels and gangrene was irretrievably at work. He was now borne to the camp at Balaklava, where, gradually sinking, he was the first of the siege army to die by the hand of the enemy before Sebastopol.

Meanwhile a party of twelve armed sappers, with sergeant James H. Drew, directed by Lieutenant Ravenhill of the royal engineers, repaired to the Inkermann ravine, and cut off the main aqueduct which supplied the docks in the Karabelnaia with water. This was known as Upton’s aqueduct. It was situated in a hollow of the plain which stretched onwards, and at its extremity were some well-appointed horsemen or Cossacks watching for chances to display their prowess. When they retired, the sappers, concealed by some bushes which clothed the slopes of the valley, crept from the underwood and stole on to the reservoir, advancing two sentries to look out from among some trees to give warning of impending peril. The sluice of the aqueduct was arched with stone. All the machinery by which it was manipulated was destroyed; the gate driven into the channel to stop the supply, and coping-stones, key-bricks, and earth jammed into the well and against the now useless gate. Without opposition the demolition was effected, and the little party returned to camp after being out seven hours in this preliminary adventure.

Charged with the right attack, the British held the position which approached the Tchernaya valley, while the French spread in a curve to the left, as far almost as Chersonese Bay. The ground was a sterile waste, wild, rocky, and undulated; bleak in winter, burning in summer. Sir John Burgoyne conducted the British portion of the siege, supported by Colonel Alexander, Major J. W. Gordon, and many officers of the corps. Colonel Alexander, from overwork and anxiety, soon died, and the executive direction of the works devolved on Major Gordon. In time the veteran engineer Sir John Burgoyne, recalled to England to discharge the responsible duties of his home appointment, was succeeded by Major-General Jones, who had received honour and promotion for his distinguished services in the capture and destruction of Bomarsund. Major, now Colonel, Gordon commanded the companies in the Crimea as a regiment; Captain, now Major, C. B. Ewart filled the appointment of adjutant, and Lieutenant A. Leahy that of quartermaster, afterwards that of Deputy-Assistant Quartermaster-General.

The British force was divided into two attacks, called “right”[157] and “left,”[158] their contiguity being broken by a deep ravine through which passed the Woronzoff road. The right abutted on the heights overlooking the middle ravine, and the left leaned away to the position of the allies, but separated from it by the precipitous sides of the Picket House ravine, which debouched on the head of the inner harbour. No longer attached to divisions, the fourth, eighth, and tenth companies of sappers were appointed to the right, and the third and eleventh companies to the left. The united strength of the companies amounted to a force of about 386 non-commissioned officers and men, 32 of whom were sick and 21 at Balaklava. On the high road leading from Sebastopol, and near the windmill, was stationed the engineer depôt for the right attack; while that for the left occupied an area in rear of the third division, on a plateau adjacent to the artillery depôt. At both the parks, the carpenters, sawyers, and blacksmiths of the companies carried on the mechanical requirements of the operation unprotected from the weather, or at best in scanty sheds of the most primitive character. In order that the sappers might be easily distinguished in the trenches, they were ordered to wear a band of white tracing tape round the forage-cap.

The strength of the brigades of sappers altogether depended upon the exigencies of the duty, and the numbers available for work. As a general rule, however, each brigade of sappers comprised a non-commissioned officer and eight privates; and each brigade of carpenters a non-commissioned officer and three privates. Whatever may have been the changes in the distribution of the men, there were seldom less at work, on the right, than three brigades of sappers and two of carpenters by day; and two of sappers and one of carpenters by night; while on the left, where a diminished force was employed, the arrangements only permitted for the daily routine two brigades of sappers and one of carpenters; and, for the night duty, one brigade of each.

Usually, the brigade remained twelve hours in the trenches, being relieved at daybreak and soon after dusk; but this period of duty, on many occasions, was necessarily prolonged, when any pressure required particular works to be completed in haste. Some of the most reliable men were on duty in the front eight nights out of nine. Fatigue and sickness caused very inconvenient fluctuations in the numbers disposable for the operation; but when less vigour was demanded in the formation of the lines, the men were relieved from duty in the trenches for three or four days at a time—the interval being filled up with labours in the camp, and in the performance of a variety of services subsidiary to the siege.

At nightfall, on the 8th October, ground was broken before Sebastopol. It commenced at the Greenhill battery left attack; and on the right attack at the 5-gun battery in front of Victoria hill, and at the picket-house for the right Lancaster-gun. By order of Lord Raglan, the working-parties, after receiving the necessary tools and instructions, were marched from the park, guided by engineer officers and sappers, to the trenches. This proceeding was followed throughout the siege; and it was also a practice to send both sappers and operatives into the batteries unarmed, to prevent the paramount work of the lines being neglected for the more natural one of resorting, on any slight instance of alarm, to measures of personal defence.

Acting as overseers, it was the province of the sappers and miners to instruct the line and the Turks in forming the trenches and batteries, attending themselves to the more constructive portions of the works requiring art and skill;—such as laying the gabions, fascines, sand-bags, and platforms; erecting the splinter-proof magazines, and sloping and lining the embrasures. Formidable obstacles occasionally offered serious impediments to the progress of the excavations, for the soil was rocky: to overcome the difficulties, the sappers led the way with an earnestness and zeal that stimulated the workmen to activity and exertion; but such was the sacrifice of useful energy, that many a brave fellow, already enfeebled by overwork, scanty rations, and hard weather, faltered from the trenches never more to return.

Singular as it may appear, the sappers at first were somewhat at a loss in carrying out their more ordinary duties. The details were easy enough in peaceful practice; but in a siege where every effort required the utmost care and caution to make the work strong and durable and to avoid danger, it was much more difficult. A little earnest experience however in actual conflict, taught them the secrets of their art, gave them confidence and cunning, and rendered them, as far as their numbers permitted, quite equal to the emergencies of the enterprise.

Everywhere the lines continued to be prosecuted with commendable rapidity, and to claim even the fastidious attention of the sappers with regard to the smoothness and accuracy of the slopes of the interior revetments and the sharpness of the angles. The Madras platforms, to which a high reputation was attached, were quickly laid for the general siege-pieces, and common ones were fixed for the naval guns. There were times, however, when, from the guiding sappers missing their way to the appointed hill, the works were somewhat retarded in their execution. An instance of this kind occurred on the 10th October, when some sappers, sent to throw up a battery in front of the right of the light division, could not discover the position. The night was densely dark, foggy, and close. For more than two hours they endeavoured to find the points marked previously by Major Gordon, but finally seeing the fruitlessness of their efforts, they quitted the front and returned to camp. The working parties were retained in rear under cover; the only men exposed on the hill-top that night were two captains of engineers, and sergeant Coppin and lance-corporals Stupple and Kerr.