The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
Omar Pasha arrived at Kamiesch on the 8th, in the _Colombo_; and next
day visited General Canrobert and Lord Raglan. These interviews
constituted a council of war, and it is reasonable to suppose that the
operations of the campaign were finally determined upon and arranged
between the allied Generals.
It rained heavily all night on the 9th, and the ground was reduced to
such a state that the _reconnaissance_ which Sir Colin Campbell, aided
by the French, intended to have made was postponed. The atmosphere was
so obscure, that it was all but impossible to catch a glimpse of the
enemy's movements; but a break in the rain and a lift in the haze now
and then enabled us to see them working at some earthworks on the brow
of the hills before Kamara. They pushed vedettes up to the top of
Canrobert's Hill (formerly the site of Redoubt No. 1, held by the Turks
previous to the 25th of October). About the middle of the day three
columns, estimated at 3,000 men, were observed moving round from their
right by the back of Kamara towards the hills over Baidar with guns.
There was a swarm of Cossacks between Kamara and the road to Mackenzie's
farm, and their vedettes were posted along the heights over the
Woronzoff-road. Our vedettes on the mound over that road nearest to our
lines had also been doubled. Some of the Cossacks came so close to our
front that a shell was fired at them from No. 4 Battery, near Kadekeeva
(Kadikoi).
An English artilleryman, for some fancied slight, set upon a Turk, gave
him a beating, and attacked "outrageously" a Turkish officer who came to
his countryman's assistance. He was found guilty of the double offence
by general court-martial, and sentenced to fifty lashes. Osman Pasha,
the commander of the Turkish troops, and the officer who had been
struck, interceded with Lord Raglan for the remission of the man's
punishment, and his lordship, in general orders, rescinded the sentence
of the court-martial.
A considerable number of sick men (217) were sent down on the 10th from
the camp to Balaklava. There were many bad cases of scurvy and of
scorbutic dysentery among the men; and yet vegetables of all sorts, and
lemons and oranges, were to be found in abundance, or could have been
purchased in any quantities, all along the shores of the Black Sea and
the Sea of Marmora. No one could say there were no ships to bring them.
Balaklava contained ships which had been lying here for weeks--ay, for
months--_doing nothing_. The splendid screw steamer _Jason_ fitted up
especially as a horse transport, came in many days before from Ismed
laden _with a cargo of wood for fuel_. The expenses of such a large
vessel must have been enormous, and yet she had been in harbour for
nearly a fortnight doing nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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