the cellars were not empty, and that there was
abundance of fine muscat wine from the south coast of the
Crimea, and of the stronger wines, perfumed with roses
and mixed with fruits which are grown in the interior,
in the better sort of houses. Some of the officers, when
they went away, carried off articles of clothing and
papers as proofs of their entrance into the place, and
some others took away pigeons and guineapigs, which
were tame in the houses. The troops entered the place
about four o'clock in the morning, and could not leave
it till nine o'clock in the evening. The Russians blew
up many of the houses and set fire to others, and when
our men retired the flames were spreading along the
street. The 18th Regiment lost 250 men. In the
middle of the day Captain Esmonde wrote to General
Eyre to say that he required support, that the men
were short of ammunition, and that the rifles were
clogged. The rifles, which were of the Enfield pattern,
had been only served to the regiment the day before,
and again it was found that these admirable weapons
are open to the grave defect which has been so frequently
mentioned, and that they are liable to become useless
after firing twenty rounds. A sergeant volunteered to
creep back with this letter, but, when he reached the
place where the general ought to have been, he found
that the latter had been obliged to withdraw, owing to
his wound, and he therefore delivered the document to
Col. Edwardes. As there was no possibility of getting
support down to the troops, Col. Edwardes crept down
along with the sergeant and got into the houses to see
how matters were going on. The officer in command,
on learning the state of the case, ordered the men to
keep up the hottest fire they could; and meantime they
picked up the rifles and ammunition of the killed and
wounded, and were by that means enabled to continue
their fusillade. The 9th Regiment succeeded in effecting
a lodgment in the houses in two or three different places,
and held their position as well as the 18th. A sergeant
and a handful of men actually got possession of the
little Wasp Battery, in which there were only twelve
or fourteen Russian artillerymen. They fled at the
approach of our men, but when the latter turned round
they discovered they were quite unsupported; and the
Russians, seeing that the poor fellows were left alone,
came down on them and drove them out of the battery.
An officer and half-a-dozen men of the same regiment
got up close to a part of the Flagstaff Battery, and
were advancing into it, when they, too, saw that they
were by themselves, and as it was futile to attempt
holding their ground, they retreated. About fifteen
French soldiers on their left aided them, but as they
were likewise unsupported, they had to retire. Another
officer, with only twelve men, took one of the Russian
Rifle Pitts, bayonetted those they found in it, and held
possession of it throughout the day. Meantime while
these portions of the 5th and 18th and parties of the
44th and 28th were in the houses, the detachments of
the same regiments and of the 38th kept up a hot fire
from the Cemetery on the Russians in the battery and
on the sharpshooters, all the time being exposed to a
tremendous shower of bullets, grape, round shot and
shell. The loss of the brigade, under such
circumstances, could not be but extremely severe. One part
of it, separated from the other, was exposed to a
destructive fire in the houses, the upper portion of which
crumbled into pieces or fell in under fire, and it was
only by keeping in the lower story, which was vaulted
and well built, that they were enabled to hold their
own. The other parts of it, far advanced from our
batteries, were almost unprotected, and were under a
constant mitraille and bombardment from guns which
our batteries had failed to touch.

A graphic account of this affair and the proceedings
of the English troops, during their brief occupation of
the houses in the suburb, is given by a young Irish
sergeant, in a letter to his "Cousin Kate," at Strabane;—
"You have heard about the action of the 18th; it was
a most sanguinary one. On account of our staff
situations, neither the paymaster, myself, nor the regimental
clerks, were allowed to go into action with the regiment,
so we were ordered to take charge of the camp along
with two other sergeants; we volunteered to go with
the regiment, but were told, if we dared to leave the
camp, we should be tried by a court-martial. During
the day I suffered great anxiety about John, who was
along with the regiment, and while the heavy firing was
going on, I slipt out of camp and went down to the
Picket-house Battery, so that, if anything unfortunately
happened to my brother, I would be near at hand to
tend to his wants, as on account of the Picket-house
Battery being near the scene of action the wounded
were brought under it. However, most fortunately,
thank God, he did not require my services, as he
returned to camp safe, after the action was over, after
many narrow escapes. During the time I was at the
battery an officer of the 38th regiment and I did all we
could to relieve the sufferings of the poor wounded, in
getting them conveyed to the General Hospital—getting
them water, &c, for the day was very warm. My dear
Kate, you can have no idea of the horrors of war; it
was awful to look at these poor wounded fellows suffering
under every description of wounds, through heads,
necks, bodies, arms, and legs, some in the pangs of
death, blaspheming, others raving, while others were
praying, while the blood trickled from their wounds—
such ghastly wounds. One poor fellow was severely
wounded with grape. The officer asked him if it was
grape that caused the wound? 'Yes, Sir,' he replied,
'it was d——sour grape to me.' The most of them
bore their sufferings very patiently. The 2nd brigade
of the 3rd division, to which the 9th regiment belongs,
were the only troops engaged on the left. Some of the
men of the regiment told me that Johnny behaved most
gallantly in leading on the men along with the officers
when under fire in charging the Cemetery plain and
gardens, where they were compelled to take shelter
behind the houses there on account of their small
numbers. They could neither advance or retire. They
would have taken the Garden Batteries had the Round
Tower on the right been taken by our troops there. I
hear that the divisions on the right had taken the Round
Tower twice, but were compelled to evacuate it in
consequence of the Russian shipping raking the tower, and
retired with heavy loss, and, had the troops on the left
taken the Garden Batteries, they could not have held
them, as the Round Tower completely covered them.
During the time the brigade was charging through the
Cemetery 'plain and gardens they were exposed to a
most galling fire of grape, round shot, shell, and
musketry, and even when under shelter of the houses
the enemy never ceased firing at them, tumbling the
houses and walls down; some of the regiments were in
rifle-pits, and if one dared to show himself he was
instantly struck down; they had to remain there until
dark, when they returned to camp. The 9th regiment
had three officers wounded (one has since died), eight
privates killed, two sergeants, and forty-three privates
wounded; each regiment in the brigade furnished one
sergeant and thirty rank and file volunteers for the
forlorn hope or advanced guard; these gallant fellows
actually got into the houses of Sebastopol, which they
plundered according to the custom of war. Enclosed is
a perforated cardboard pattern for my dear Louisa, which
was taken from a house at Sebastopol (in which a
Russian general lived) by one of the men of the regiment,
who gave it to me; he told me that when he and some
others broke into the house, after driving the Russians
away, they found a woman and four children in it; as
soon as they saw the English soldiers, they supplicated
for mercy, but our gallant fellows were too generous to
harm them, and made signs that they had nothing to
fear from them, so they retired to a corner, where they
remained till our men left the house. The man who
gave me the cardboard came to camp laden with plunder.
I shall enumerate the articles I saw with him—viz., a
general's gold-laced hat, a guinea-pig, a valuable
microscope, the cardboard, knives and forks, a most ingenious
Russian toy, some plates, some bottles containing wine
and rum, a pair of lady's satin slippers (the lady who
wore them must have had a remarkably small foot).
How he managed to carry them all surprised me.
While in the house they destroyed beautiful pianos,
ladies' and gentlemen's wardrobes, mirrors, &c.; but
while there he said they did not neglect their duty;
when they returned to camp their forage caps were
gaily decorated with gold lace and satin ribands. The