who left the trenches. I performed my duty to the entire satisfaction of all the senior officers of my corps, several of whom, Colonel Chapman, Major Bent, and Major Stanton, expressed themselves to me very handsomely on the subject. I sent the other day the following letter to the Times on the subject of the scaling-ladders, most untruly described as too short by their correspondent. SIR, "To the Editor of The Times. "Your Correspondent's letter describing the grand assault of the allied armies upon Sebastopol, though generally very accurate and correct, contains a misrepresentation respecting the English attack upon the Redan, which, as I was personally present throughout the assault, and charged by General Jones with the conduct of the scaling-ladders, you will perhaps permit me to rectify, through the medium of your columns. The scaling-ladders are stated in your Correspondent's letter to have been 'too short,' and it is further asserted that there were very few of them placed round the salient. A simple statement of the facts of the case is the best answer to these assertions. ""Forty scaling-ladders, each twenty-four feet long, to be carried by 320 men, were collected on the morning of the assault in the most advanced trench. Eight men were told off to each ladder; and about half an LETTER TO THE "TIMES.' 245 hour before the attack took place, the late Major Welsford, in command of the party, ordered, at my request, every man to stand or sit by the side of the ladder he was told off to assist in carrying. 666 ""My duty consisted in conducting the party to the best point for placing the ladders, and I had about twenty Sappers under my orders, provided with axes and crowbars for breaking through the abatis, and with picks and shovels, for forming a ramp into the ditch, &c. When the signal for the advance was given, the ladder party ran to the front as rapidly as they could. The fire of the enemy, however, was heavy, and several ladders were left behind in the advanced trench. "The ditch proved much slighter than had been anticipated. Its depth at the salient could not have been more than twelve to fifteen feet. 666 "I was ordered by General Jones to make the descent into the ditch, and ascent of the escarp, practicable. With the assistance of my Sappers I effected this in a few minutes, and numbers of men ran up the ramp thus formed, without using any ladders at all. When the first column mounted the salient, they drew several ladders after them. This may have led those who came up afterwards to imagine the number of ladders employed much smaller than they really were. Not a man was delayed from want of means for mounting the escarp. Trusting that you will excuse my trespassing upon your valuable space, but feeling that it was only due to my corps and to myself to make the statement that I have done, and that you would be the first to receive such an explanation, 666 666 "Your most obedient servant, “Lieut. Royal Engineers. 'Royal Engineers' Camp, near Sebastopol: October 16." 'Nothing so annoys and dispirits one as finding, after passing through the most trying ordeals, everything misrepresented and unappreciated, and rewards and honours conferred on undeserving men, who have done little or nothing to gain them. This miserable system I hold to be one of the chief causes of inferiority of our army, as an intelligent machine of war. Everyone. who has had the dangerous and arduous trench duty to do, is disgusted beyond measure at finding himself, instead of being distinguished, confounded in a heterogeneous mass with the cavalry, who have not been under fire for a year, and even with men on board ship, and at Kertch, who have been indiscriminately rewarded with "the Sebastopol clasp." Injustice and stupidity are seeds which never will produce good fruit, and untill justice and common-sense prevail, no one must feel surprised at misfortune and failures. "Our movements since the grand final struggle have been principally confined to preparations for the approaching winter. It would astonish a novice to see the prodigious amount of labour necessary for the PREPARING FOR WINTER. 247 formation of a thoroughly good road from Balaclava to the front. Several thousand men are employed daily along the whole length, under the superintendence of the Army Works Corps, and several captains of line regiments, specially told off to particular sections. I am the only officer of Engineers employed, and I have between 500 and 600 men under my directions. My portion will be finished in ten days or a fortnight, its breadth varying, according to circumstances, from twenty to twenty-four feet, well macadamised, with a margin of several feet, on each side, sloping down towards deep trenches. Several large culverts are constructed where, from the nature of the ground, there appeared a probability of a great rush of water.' CHAPTER XIV. WINTER IN THE CRIMEA. 'November 23. THE variety of residence is amazing in camp; almost every officer who could procure labour has built himself a small snuggery. The general rule is to dig a square pit in the ground, and then edge it with a dwarf wall, cutting an opening at one side for a window and at another for a door. 'After the terrible explosion which occurred on the 15th, it was fully expected that the Russians would have made some decisive movement. We shall probably remain in quiet winter quarters, paddling about in the mud, or wading through snow drifts; we have, on the whole, been very fortunate as yet with regard to our weather. We have only had one short taste of the Crimean winter, consisting of three or four days' decidedly disagreeable weather. The army is going on building and making roads, as if it had several more weeks of sunshine and clear sky to depend on. The main communications are all but finished, and building is going on well everywhere. |