The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
smitten by the angel of death! At the same moment the division of
Espinasse was stricken with equal rapidity and violence at Kerjelouk.
All that night men suffered and died, and on the 31st of July General
Yusuf made his appearance at Kostendji with the remains of his haggard
and horror-stricken troops, and proceeded towards Mangalia in his death
march. On the 1st of August General Canrobert, who had returned from his
_reconnaissance_, arrived at Kostendji from Varna, and was horrified to
find that his camp was but a miserable hospital, where the living could
scarcely bury the remains of their comrades. He could pity and could
suffer, but he could not save. That day and the next the pestilence
redoubled in intensity, and in the midst of all these horrors food fell
short, although the General had sent most urgent messages by sea to
Varna for means of transport, and for medicine and the necessaries of
life. The 2nd and the 3rd Divisions were also afflicted by the same
terrible scourge, and there was nothing left for the Generals but to
lead their men back to their encampments as soon as they could, leaving
behind them the dead and the dying. The details of the history of this
expedition, which cost the French more than 7,000 men, are among the
most horrifying and dreadful of the campaign. On returning to Varna the
Bashi-Bazouks, tired of the settled forms of a camp life, and impatient
of French drill, and the superintendence of brutal or rude
non-commissioned officers, began to desert _en masse_, and on the 15th
of August the corps was declared disbanded, and General Yusuf was
obliged to admit his complete failure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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