The Crimea in 1854, and 1894 ... With plans and illustrations ... by Colonel the Hon. W. J. Colville

Front matter

a CAPTAIN WILLIAM PEEL, R.N. (Reproduced by Miss A. M. Grace, from a Sketch taken front Life in 1855.) TH E CRI MEA IN 1854, AND J894. BY GENERAL SIR EVELYN WOOD, V.C., G.C.B., G.C.M.G. WITH PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM SKETCHES TAKEN ON THE SPOT BY COLONEL THE HON. W. J. COLVILLE, C.B. LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, ld. 1895a 3 in loving .memory of CAPTAIN SIR WILLIAM PEEL, R.N., WHO, BY PRECEPT AND EXAMPLE, TAUGHT THOSE UNDER HIS COMMAND TO DEDICATE THEIR LIVES TO THE SERVICE OF QUEEN AND COUNTRY. "It is held That valour is the chiefest virtue, and Most dignifies the haver : if it be, The man I speak of cannot in the world Be singly counterpoised." Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act ii. Sc. 2.

Preface

. Last year, after revisiting the Crimea, I wrote some articles in a magazine * recalling incidents of forty years ago. These, considerably amplified, I now venture to submit to the Public. Memory in Youth cuts her track deeply and surely, and, while the opinions formed then may be modified by Time and Experience, yet, as regards facts I have found but little to alter in revising my first impressions of our Great War. The habits of precision enforced in the Navy by the keeping of a log or journal, and my daily letters written to my mother, have assisted a naturally retentive memory, and I have had many letters from comrades of both Services in the trenches, expressing general concur rence in my statements. When, last year, I stood on the trenches of the Right Attack, by the side of ones who for months laboured in them, " carrying his life in his hand," and we looked on the now smiling scene, where many of * The Fortnightly Review. \ Viscount Wolseley, K.P.

PREFACE.

. VIII our comrades froze, starved, or bled to death — the old sights and sounds lived again with almost startling reality. Perhaps the saddest recollections were con nected with the harbour of Balaklava. In 1894 on its placid waters floated Russian yachts, and merchant vessels. In 1854 it was crowded with British shipping, which brought us supplies of food and clothing, indeed, but for want of adequate arrangements, we could not get them conveyed eight miles to our suffering, yet uncomplaining soldiers. We must not shut our eyes to the moral of such grim lessons. A great country should not tolerate the possibility of a recurrence in a campaign, of such failures as those which discredited Representative Government for some months in 1854-5. Far above all Party questions should be the efficiency of our Forces.

Now and again the country demands from its defenders the highest moral and physical exertions, and we are bound no less in prudence than in honour to afford them efficient material aid ; but in the sad winter of 1854-5 England so neglected to provide for her soldiers, that the survivors may justly be said to have been supported mainly by the fine qualities inherent in the Race, strengthened by the traditions of a grand record in the Past. EVELYN WOOD. 18 th June, 1S95. CONTENTS CHAPTER PACE I. The Bombardment of Odessa ... ... 1 II. The Invasion of the Crimea ... ... 17 III. The Alma... ... ... ... ... 31 IV. The March round Sevastopol ... ... 66 V. The Landing of a Naval brigade ... ... 75 VI. The First Bombardment ... ... 91 VII. Balaklava ... ... ... ... 105 VIII. The Russians Reconnoitre the Inkerman Position ... ... ... ... 124 IX.

The Battle of Inkerman ... ... ... 133 X. The Gale of the 14TH of November ... 163 XL The Grievous Sufferings of our Soldiers ... 173 XII. The Collapse of our Transport Arrangements 181 XIII. The Life of a Soldier in the Crimea during the Winter of 1854-5 ... ... ••■ 193 XIV. Life in the Naval brigade ... ... 217 XV. The Opening of the April Bombardment ... 232 XVI. The End of the April Bombardment ... 248 XVII. Incidents of the Siege ... ••■ ••• 2^1 CONTENTS. X CHAI-TEK PAGE XVIII. The Capture of the Mamelon, and the Quarries ... ... ... ... 274 XIX. The Unsuccessful Assaults on the Malakoff, and Redan ... ... ... ... 289 XX. The Death of Lord Raglan, and the Battle of the Tchernaya ... ... ... -^^ XXI. The Capture of Sevastopol ... ... 355 Index ... ... ... ... ... 3gr LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE Captain William Peel, R.N. ... Frontispiece Map of the Black Sea ... ... ... ... 3 The British Soldier before he left Varna, Bulgaria 21 Map. of the Crimea, S.W. Section ... ... 24 Plan of the Battle of the Alma ... ... ... 33 Plan showing the Continuation of the Second Fight on the kourgane hlll ... ... ... 62 The British Soldier a Week after he landed in the Crimea ... ... ... ... ... 76 Plan of Attack and Defences of the South and North Sides of Harbour and Town of Sevastopol ... 80 Map of the Upland ... ... ... ... 82 Plan of the Siege of Sevastopol by the Allied Armies ... ... ... ... ... 85 Plan of the Battle of Balaklava ... ... ... 107 Plan of the Battlefield of Inkerman ... ... 134 Taking Rations to the Front in a Snowstorm ... 188 Le Col de Balaklava ... ... ... ... 198 "Fall in" for the Trenches ... ... ... 205 A British Soldier on Picquet in Front of the Camp 207 Cavalry conveying Sick Soldiers to Balaklava ...

LIST OF ILLUSTRATLONS. XII PAGE On Sentry in the Trenches ... ... ... 227 The British Soldier, when the Warm Weather, and the Warm Clothing arrived ... ... ... 233 "An Old Hand " watching New Boys Disembarking at Balaklava, 1854-5 ... ... ... ... 236 Plan of the Attacks on the Mamelon, and Quarries, 7th of June, 1855 ... ... ... ... 276 Plan of the Attacks on the Karabelnaia Enceinte, i8th of June, 1855 ... ... ... ... 302 The Battle of the Tchernaya ... ... ... 343 Marshal Pelissier on the Field of the Tchernaya ... 351 The Russian Soldier, imperturbably Brave to the Last 357 Plan of the Attacks on the Karabelnaia Enceinte, 8th of September, 1855 ... ... ... 362 The Mouth of Sevastopol Harbour, looking North ... 384 (The Publishers beg leave to thank Messrs. Blackwood cV Sons, and Messrs. Secley 6° Co. , /or permission to reproduce certain plans.) 1854, AND 1894

Chapter I. The Bombardment Of Odessa

In 1888 a hospitable host arranged to take a party of his friends, of whom I was one, on a voyage to the Crimea ; but, for unavoidable reasons, the ship went no farther than to Constantinople. In 1894 the project was revived, and I was invited to revisit the Black Sea and the Crimea, where forty years ago as a midshipman I spent eighteen exciting and happy months, in spite of many attendant discomforts. I gladly accepted the offer, and receiving my " sailing orders " for the 1 2th of August, it occurred to me to look out in my journal where I was, and what we were doing on the 12th of August, 1854. Therein I read — " H. M.S. Queen at sea. Last night H. M.S. Trafalgar stood under our stern, and asked for medical assistance." We had known for some weeks that cholera was rassin-y in Bulgaria, and we had heard dismal accounts of its ravages amongst our soldiers, but it was only on the 10th of August that the outbreak of the scourge B <-*■ 7854, AND 7894. 2 in the fleet became generally known, and the Trafalgar, with two other infected ships, sailed for a short cruise.

The disease spread, and on the morning of the 12th the combined fleets, till then anchored in Baljic Bay, put out to sea, to endeavour to shake off the sickness which -was sapping the strength of the army, and had now become serious in the fleets. For nearly nine months before the armies landed in the Crimea, the Allied Navies had virtually confined the Russian ships to the harbour of Sevastopol, and, before I proceed to write about the Crimea, it is desirable I should account for the proceedings of our sailors during that period. From the 22nd of October, 1853, when the fleet was ordered up from Besika Bay, it remained at anchor in the Bosphorus, opposite to Therapia, till the 3rd of January, 1854, when we weighed to enter the Black Sea. Our start was not successful. The current, strong* at all times, was accelerated by a fresh Northerly breeze blowing down from the Black Sea, and in a few minutes there were three collisions.

Possibly the steamers, which in many cases had two line-of-battle ships in tow, had scarcely sufficient horse-power for the purpose in hand. Our ship was just in the " fair way " when Captain (later Sir Frederick) Michell, seeing that the others wanted assistance, ordered the lieutenant on the forecastle to let go the towing hawser, and hail our steamer to help those in trouble. Captain Michell had commanded a corvette in 1838, and later a frigate, both of which were often in the Bosphorus; and knew, there fore, the currents and soundings. We made four or five boards,* but anchored when we reached the mouth of the Black Sea, as the remainder of the fleet, delayed by accidents, had not accomplished the distance, ten * I.e. turnings about. 7854, AND 7894. 4 miles, before a thick fog fell. No other Commander attempted to follow our Captain's example, though the Admiral signalled " Well done, Queen."

The praise was merited, as any one will understand who realizes the difficulty of tacking a 116-gun ship many times in such narrow, and swift running waters. Next morning the Admiral, when steering for Sinope, made the signal, " The ships and territory of Turkey throughout the Black Sea are to be protected under any circumstances from all attacks." This exemplified the old adage of "shutting the stable door after the horse was stolen," for, on the 30th November, a Turkish squadron of eleven vessels, lying at anchor in Sinope Bay, had been destroyed by Admiral Nakimoff's fleet, one vessel only escaping to carry the news to Constantinople. When 4000 Turks had been killed, England decided she would protect her faithful ally ! Three Russian men-of-war were off Sinope the day before we arrived, and as we neared the point there was a false rumour of the approach of the enemy's fleet.

We beat to quarters and loaded our guns, the men showing a keenness for fight which was not lessened by the sight in the bay. Six weeks had elapsed since the action, but the Turk, though careful to bury his father with all honour, is strangely indifferent to appearances as regards other corpses, and there were many still floating in and around the wrecks, several of which had been blown up. Nothing came of this cruise, and on the 28th of January we were back in the Bosphorus. On the 24th of March the fleets again entered the Black Sea, the Admiral signalling " Russian men-of war are to be constrained to retire to Sevastopol." After a cruise the British fleet, on the 9th April, " manned yards," and gave six cheers for the news that war was declared, repeating these cheers in concert with the French fleet on the 15th April, as our allies received the declaration of war only on that day.

On the 23rd of April we anchored off Odessa, the defences of which were attacked early next morning by the steamers, while all the sailing vessels, except the Arcthusa, remained at anchor, she and the boats of the sailing ships being employed in stopping for examination vessels which were leaving the port. During the bombardment H. M.S. Arethusa, a full-sized frigate, stood in shore to intercept ships escaping along the coast. In carrying out this duty she came under the fire of a three-gun battery on the high ground of Langeron Point, which shelters the Odessa anchorage from the Southward. The Arethusa, at the moment under all plain sail, immediately hove to and sent a storm of shot and shell into the battery, from which the Russians were driven ; they soon returned, however, and fought their guns bravely, but without doing the frigate any damage.

The Admiral now signalled, "Arethusa make sail," and filling her foresails she wore, firing her bow guns, then the other broadside, and later her stern guns, as she went round. Having stood off shore a little, she tacked, and standing in again engaged the battery, this time first with her bow guns, 7854, AND 7894. then with the lee broadside, till she went about and poured in the other broadside. The Admiral's signal then became more peremptory, " Captain come on board," and the Captain accordingly getting into a boat, pulled to H. M.S. Britannia, but his first lieutenant stood in, and repeated the manœuvre till he was recalled in such decided terms as to admit of no evasion. Most of us have read in books thrilling descriptions of ships in action under all plain sail, but few now alive can have seen, nor will any one ever again behold, such a beautiful scene as that which riveted our attention, drawing all eyes away from the more destructive, but prosaic duel then being fought by our steamers and the Mole forts.

Our anxiety to fight was so great as to make every one anxious to join the draft of Marines we sent to help to fight the guns of H. M.S. Terrible, by whose Captain they were greatly praised. H. M.S. Fury arrived during the bombardment, bringing despatches from Constantinople, and, crossing the Admiral's bows, stood in, and opened fire, but was immediately recalled, as she was again next morning, when, on being ordered to reconnoitre, she fired on the forts. The Tiger, Sampson, and Vauban began the bombardment at 6.30 a.m., on the 24th of April, followed shortly by all the other steamers, and, circling round, en gaged the batteries on the Mole at long range till 8 a.m., when the steamers closed in. Though the Terrible was hulled eleven times, and the Vauban was set on fire by a red-hot shot, the loss on the side of the Allies was small, but the enemy must have suffered considerably, as four magazines were blown up, and all their guns were silenced.

We left Odessa Bay on the 26th of April, and cruised off Sevastopol till the 6th of May, when we were caught in so dense a fog as to oblige us to anchor in eighty -nine fathoms of water, not being able to see a hundred yards from the ship. The fog lasted, occasionally lifting a little, till the 12th of May, when H. M.S. Tiger grounded five miles from Odessa, at 6.30 a.m., under a cliff eighty feet high, within 150 yards of the shore, and close to the villa belonging to Mr. Cortazzi, who was Mayor of the city at the time. This high ground, which was then studded here and there with houses, is now thickly built over, being a favourite suburb for merchants of the city. Though every effort was made to get the ship off, guns and stores being thrown overboard, yet, when the fog lifted, she fell an easy prey to a field battery, being set on fire in two places in less than ten minutes.

Then, after some loss, the Captain being dangerously, and his nephew mortally, wounded, the Russian flag was hoisted. The Russians gave permission for the crew to remove all personal effects, but, as the fog cleared away to seaward, H. M.S. Vesuvius approached, and then the disembarkation, to the great suffering of the wounded, was necessarily hurried ; for the Russians, searing an attempt to release the Tiger's crew, cancelled the permission to remove personal effects, and enforced an immediate landing by threaten ing to re-open fire. 7854, AND 7894. 8 No nation could have treated prisoners more generously. Officers and men were well lodged, fed, and cared for, and the wife of the General in command sent daily from her house, jellies, etc., for the wounded officers. Two months later most of the crew were liberated, and rejoined the fleet when it lay in Baljic Bay, the officers and a few men only being retained in Russia.

When I visited the place of the disaster in August, 1894, the scene was very different. A tramcar was at the beach, from which citizens of all ages and sexes were hastening to the water ; many persons were already swimming in the sheltered bay, which has recently become the favourite bathing-place of Odessa, but nevertheless a tree, standing on a ledge of earth which has slipped from the cliff, still marks plainly the spot where H. M.S. Tiger was lost. During the first week in July my career nearly came to an end. Every evening the midshipmen, and there were twenty-five of us in mess, used to skylark, the favourite game being " follow my leader," which often ended in some one standing on the main truck — to my great distress, for I could not cure myself of becoming giddy. On this occasion, three of us had crawled from the main yard-arm down the brace,* and I was resting on the after-brace block, level with the poop, when a messmate, opening the quarter-gallery window, called out " Boo !

" to startle me, which he * The rope which hauls the yard round for the sail to catch the wind. did so effectually as to make me let go, and down I fell, forty-three feet, to the water. The lower-deck ports (the Queen was a three-decker) were open, and I just missed one, but striking my shins till they bled freely, on the round* of the ship, I had some difficulty in swimming to a boat which was moored to the stern ladder. On the 20th of July, Sir George Brown and General Canrobert embarked in the flagship, and we stood across to Sevastopol, clearing for action, and loading our guns before we hove-to off Fort Constantine. After counting the enemy's fleet, and examining as far as possible the defences, we cruised up and down the coast. The Russians fired on the steamers which went closer, but H. M.S. Fury was the only vessel hulled, and she got a shot in the butter-cask in the midshipmen's mess store.

After a good look at Balaklava we returned to Baljic Bay, where we found cherries, grapes, and plums, the latter, known as " Kill-Johns," in profusion. Blue-jackets were often seen carrying their trousers in their hands, with the feet tied up to hold the fruit ; but Captain W. F. Burnett, our Commander, never allowed any to be brought on board, which possibly helped to preserve us from the epidemic which was shortly to decimate some of our ships, and cost us at that time the lives of 600 soldiers, besides the temporary loss of nearly a battalion from each division, invalided to Scutari. The French Army a few days later had upwards of 10,000 rendered * Where the sides of a wooden ship swell out on nearing the water line. 7854, AND 7894. 10 non-effective, from this scourge alone, of whom a large proportion died.

We went to sea to try and shake off the cholera, of which there had been some cases in the fleet, but with so little success that five days later, three line-of battle ships returned to Baljic Bay to land their sick. There they remained at anchor, for the men remaining effective were insufficient to work their ships, although they carried crews of 700 to 1000 men. The soldiers suffered considerably from want of medicines, for although the Government had proposed in April to make an attack on Sevastopol, yet in one Division camp, on the 1st of August, with cholera raging, there was no wine, brandy, arrowroot, or sago. There was a small reserve at Head-quarters, but the medical officer in charge of the Division in question had been ad monished during July to demand less medical comforts, as he had asked for more of one article than the whole amount of the reserve supply.

The same officer, having urgently demanded a drug, was answered some days later, during which time his letter miscarried, that as it did not make an araba (country waggon) load it could not be sent unless he supplied a man to carry it the few miles intervening between the Division and Head quarters. It apparently was not contemplated in those days that soldiers could get ill, for the battalions arriving at Gallipoli on the 15th of April, when the thermometer was 2 8° at night, were without hospital equipment, and the sick had no mattress, and but one blanket. During the cholera epidemic we read how the Medical officers complained of their patients being in want of bedding, blankets, and fuel, which rendered it impossible to maintain the animal heat necessary for their recovery. When our troops landed at Gallipoli, we also sailed to provide for them adequately in the hospitals, nor was there any transport for the sick.

A friend of mine, writing from Gallipoli to a brother officer at home, commented on the needless sufferings caused to soldiers who were conveyed from the Regimental camps to hospital tents, or to ships lying in the Dardanelles, over unmetalled tracks, in a rough country wagon without springs. This letter was eventually published in a newspaper, and formed the basis of a question asked in the House of Commons on the 25th of July, 1854. The War Minister was one of the best who have ever sat in that chair, and I quote his answer, not to animadvert on his want of knowledge on technical details, for such is necessarily furnished by experts, but rather to show how different is the amount of military knowledge throughout the country at the present day. I suppose it would be difficult to find now any one in the House of Commons who could mistake a medical pannier, i.e. a covered basket for holding surgical instruments and drugs, for an ambulance intended for transporting sick men.

It will be observed that the Secretary of State at War, as he was then called, showed in answering the question raised on my friend's letter that he was as ill-informed as regards the supply of medicines as he 7854, AND 7894. 12 was as to the transport of the sick. Any curious inquirer may read in Hansard this following remarkable record in the debate on the vote of Credit taken on the 25th of July, 1854: — Extract from "Parliamentary Debates," Hansard. Vol. cxxxv., Page 719. "Debate on Vote of Credit, 2^th July, 1854 ' The Secretary of State at War said : — " The hon. member also made another statement. He said that an officer had written home stating that they had not the means of sending sick men from the camp to Gallipoli, and had been forced to borrow the means from the French. Now I happen to have looked over the list of articles sent out for the hospital establishment, and almost the first thing upon which my eye glanced, was forty pair of panniers for the conveyance of the sick.

His complaint on this subject, therefore, was not better founded than that which he made with respect to the want of medicines. . . ." This statement is astounding, but what is even more remarkable is that it was accepted by the House. Neither of the Opposition members who were attack ing the Government, and one was a Colonel in the Army, knew the difference between a medical pannier and a litter ! But if the Ministers knew little, the Public under stood even less about military matters, and thus, when the story of the terrible condition of our heroic soldiery during the winter in the Crimea became known in England, men's minds instinctively sought for scape-goats, and, as sometimes happens when People are ill-informed, chose for the sacrifice the two men who were doing most to retrieve the blunders of many years during which civilians had controlled detailed expenditure of the Army.

This amazing ignorance was practically universal. Neither the Government, nor our soldiers, nor their masters the Public, realized adequately what might be the result of invading an enemy's country with an army unprovided with transport for sick, wounded, ammunition, or even food. The Commander-in-Chief naturally, as a Peninsular soldier, knew more than any one else, but he was most loyal to the Ministers, and though he demurred to their orders, yet he obeyed, and against his better judgment. The Minister with whom he corresponded, with the generosity of a gentleman, recorded this fact in writing to Lord Raglan : — " I cannot help seeing, through the calm and noble tone of your announcement of the decision to attack Sevastopol, that it has been taken in order to meet the views and desires of the Government, and not in entire accordance with your own opinions.

God grant that success may reward you, and justify us ! " There was one staff officer at our Headquarters in the Crimea to whom all there looked up. He thought more deeply and did more than all the rest to provide for the wants of the Army. When, how ever, his indomitable energy was most wanted, he lay in bed grievously sick, prostrated by rheumatism, from the 16th of November to the 20th of December, 7854, AND 7894. 14 at which time he was allowed up on crutches. During that month he could neither read nor write, but still endeavoured to direct, and yet, after the war, he was the officer most blamed by the public for all cur misfortunes, for his gallant chief had gone before a Tribunal where his courageous and unselfish nature will assuredly be rewarded. It is impossible to write frankly of the Crimean War, without seeming to impute gross mismanage ment to some or all of those whose duty it was to see that the soldier, whose life must be freely hazarded in battle to attain the end in view, should never want for any article which might enable him to live until required for fighting, and in the most perfect condition attainable on service.

I will therefore state at once that I intend in this book to cast no reflections on any one serving in the East. Ten years before we went to the Crimea, Runjeet Singh, after seeing our men fight in the Punjaub, said, " If I owned such soldiers, I should carry them in palanquins to the field of battle, let them fight, and carry on for the next engagement any that remained alive." This sounds absurd, but he was much wiser than most Enelishmen in 1854, and his plan would have been far less expen sive than our haphazard economies. During a peace of forty years, the Representatives of our taxpayers had insisted on reduction of expenditure in all warlike establishments. A Commissariat officer cannot learn his multifarious duties in a few weeks, any more than a Staff officer can acquire from books only, however closely he may read, that experience and knowledge essential for controlling the different units of an army, to the best advantage of the whole.

A Treasury clerk, however able and zealous, who has spent his service in curtailing expenditure, cannot reasonably be expected to launch out in a lavish outlay for which he has no autho rity, and thus incur heavy personal pecuniary responsibility, in order to provide in advance for the wants of soldiers, of which he has had no previous experience. The Medical officers were of a high social class ; many had entered the Service with excellent profes sional qualifications, but in their ordinary duties two of these men had merely the care of twenty or thirty men with simple ailments. A different Department held and issued drugs, and from the replies the more ardent doctors received to requisitions, it had come to be understood, at least by some, that a medical officer was valued in inverse ratio to his demand for drugs and medical comforts.

A General, however brave, however devoted to his Queen and country, who for forty years had worked in an office, could not with any justice be expected to develop into what Wellington became after ten years' war service — an able Adjutant- General, Quartermaster-General, Commissary-General, Principal Medical Officer, and Commander-in-Chief combined in one person. The neglect of all preparation for war during forty years of peace foredoomed the gallant army which 7854, AND 7894. left England in 1854, and general mismanagement led it to the verge of annihilation. England's futility cost her dear in Treasure, in Reputation, and Blood, but the victims of her short-sighted parsimony sustained the honour of Englishmen, and with ragged clothes, muddy tents, and empty stomachs enriched the best traditions of the Service — past and to come.

Chapter II. The Invasion Of The Crimea

While the soldiers were insufficiently supplied with medical necessaries, the sailors were amply provided for in every respect during the cholera epidemic, but they suffered even more acutely perhaps from its ravages by being crowded so closely together, as all crews must be on board ship. One man would scream out in pain on the lower-deck at night, and his cries were generally followed by those of others. Thus the flagship lost 109 men in a few days, and on board some of the French ships the mortality was even greater. During the second week of August, Admiral Bruat, when leaving H. M.S. Queen, after five o'clock tea, said he was thankful he had not a case. Next morning he sent to tell our Captain he had 140 of which 40 had proved fatal. This French ship lost nearly 100 men in twenty-four hours.