its contents, and probably its attendants, to pieces.
Everywhere wreck and destruction. This evidently
was a beau quartier once. The oldest inhabitant could
not recognise it now. Climbing up to the Redan, which
was fearfully cumbered with the dead, we witnessed
the scene of the desperate attack and defence, which
cost both sides so much blood. The ditch outside
made one sick—it was piled up with English dead,
some of them scorched and blackened by the explosion,
and others lacerated beyond recognition. The quantity
of broken gabions and gun-carriages here was
extraordinary, the ground was covered with them. The
bomb proofs were the same as in the Malakoff, and
in one of them a music book was found, with a woman's
name in it, and a canary bird and vase of flowers were
outside the entrance."

On the day after the victory general orders,
congratulating the army, were issued by the commanders.
General Simpson's address was as follows:—"The
Commander of the Forces congratulates the army on the result
of the attack of yesterday. The brilliant assault and
occupation of the Malakhoff by our gallant allies obliged
the enemy to abandon the works they have so long held
with such bravery and determination. The Commander
of the Forces returns his thanks to the General Officers
and Officers and men of the Second and Light Divisions,
who advanced and attacked with such gallantry the
works of the Redan. He regrets, from the formidable
nature of the flanking defences, that their devotion did
not meet with that immediate success which it so well
merited. He condoles and deeply sympathises with the
many brave officers, non-commissioned officers, and men
who are now suffering from the wounds they received
in the course of their noble exertions of yesterday. He
deeply deplores the death of the many gallant officers
and men who have fallen in the final struggle of this
long and memorable siege. Their loss will be severely
felt, and their names long remembered in this army
and by the British nation. General Simpson avails
himself of this opportunity to congratulate and convey
his warmest thanks to the general officers, officers and
soldiers of the several divisions, to the Royal Engineers
and Artillery, for their cheerful endurance of almost
unparalleled hardships and sufferings, and for the
unflinching courage and determination which on so many
trying occasions they have evinced. It is with equal
satisfaction that the Commander of the Forces thanks
the officers and men of the Naval Brigade for the long
and uniform course of valuable service rendered by them
from the commencement of the siege."

Marshal Pelissier's general order was in these terms:—
"Soldiers!—Sebastopol has fallen! The taking of the
Malakhoff decided its fate. With his own hands the
enemy has blown up his formidable defences, set fire to
the town, the storehouses, and military establishments,
and sunk the rest of his vessels in the port. The
boulevard of Russian power in the Black Sea exists no
longer. You owe these results, not alone to your
brilliant courage, but to your indomitable energy and
perseverance during a long siege of eleven months'
duration. Never before did land or marine artillery,
engineers, or infantry, have to overcome such obstacles
as in this siege; and never did the three services display
more valour, more science, or more resolution. The
taking of Sebastopol will be your eternal honour. This
immense success, while it augments the importance of
our position in the Crimea, makes the maintenance of it
less onerous. It will now be permissible to send home
to their hearths and families such of you as having
served their full time have yet remained with us from
necessity. I thank those soldiers in the emperor's name
for the devotedness of which they have never ceased to
give proof, and I will take care that they shall very soon
return to their native land. Soldiers! the 8th of
September, the day on which the English, Piedmontese,
and French flags were unfurled together, will ever be a
memorable day. You have invested your eagles with a
new and imperishable glory. Soldiers! you have well
deserved of France and the Emperor."

From the numerous letters from officers and soldiers
we extract the two following as being among the most
interesting. The first is from Lieutenant Harkness, of
the 55th Regiment:—

"About half-past twelve, a white flag, hoisted on the
Mamelon, gave notice to the English to attack the
Great Redan. Away went the stormers of the Light
Division, closely followed by those of the Second. The
enemy, of course, were well prepared for us, and had
been firing grape at our trench from the beginning of
the French attack. My company was the third from
the front. When it came to my turn, I jumped up and
over the parapet, and calling to my men to follow me
close and keep together, we rushed across the open
ground. The distance from our trench to the Redan
ditch, as since ascertained, is over 200 paces. The heavy
fire of grape and musketry from the flanking batteries
swept this space from both sides in a fearful storm, and
our men fell rapidly from it. I reached the ditch
unhurt, and slid down into it. It was about ten feet deep,
and twenty or thirty feet across. The men here got
mixed, all regiments together. We crowded up the
scaling-ladders, which was very difficult to do, as many
wounded were trying to come down by them. Once on
the top slope, it was possible to stand without the
ladders. All this time, a fierce hand-to-hand fight was
going on within. The parapet was very high inside,
which made it extremely difficult for the men to get
down, so that no sufficient body could be formed at once
for a charge. The Russians had brought up a large
force, which occupied the interior defences and traverses,
and kept up a murderous fire, which shot down our
poor fellows as fast as they could get in. Those on the
parapet kept up the heaviest possible fire on the
Russians, but suffered terribly from the concentrated aim
directed upon them in return. Colonel Windham was
most conspicuous, giving directions everywhere in the
midst of the fire. Of ours, J. Hume, Roxby, Johnson,
and myself, were on the parapet near together. We
held our position for nearly two hours, unable to advance
for the crushing fire of the enemy, who not only occupied
an extended and flanking position, but actually
outnumbered us. Still we were unwilling to give up
what we had gained. At length the order to retire was
given; and now came the most dreadful part of the
business, for a retreat is always worse than an advance.
Every one was in such a hurry to get down the ladders,
and we were so closely packed together, that the whole
mass of men on the steep parapet overbalanced, and they
fell together into the ditch head-foremost. I shall never
forget that horrible moment: several hundred men fell
headlong together, all with fixed bayonets and drawn
swords; numbers must have been run through by falling
on the bayonets, and had their limbs broken by the
weight falling on them. It is miraculous to me how I
escaped so well: I was at the top of the ladder when I
fell with the rest, so that I was not so much underneath
the others; I turned aside several bayonets with my
hands, which nearly ran into me. My sword was
wrenched out of my hand, and I lost it. It was every
one for himself at that moment. As we scrambled up
the counterscarp, the Russians, who had charged back
into the Redan on the signs of our retiring, mounted the
parapet, and threw at us in the ditch stones, grape-shot,
muskets with fixed bayonets, live shell, and actually
hatchets and axes. We returned to our trenches through
the fire of grape and musketry, which was now, if
anything, heavier than before, and the ground was thickly
strewed with our killed and wounded."

The other is from a private of the 88th:—"My dearest
Father—Through the mercy of God I have been one of
the few that returned safe after the dreadful carnage of
yesterday. We marched down yesterday at about seven
o'clock in the morning; the French were to storm the
Malakhoff and the Light Division the Redan. I think
it was about eleven o'clock when the French attacked
in beautiful style. They advanced in thousands, the
tricolor waving before them: almost without a shot
the Russians fled, and the flag of France floated proudly
over the battlements of the Malakhoff. Our fellows then
advanced, the 97th, I think; and two others, the 19th
and ours, were the supports. We saw our fellows
advance beautifully up to the Redan, and we almost
thought we would have nothing to do; but while we
saw them still struggling we got the order to advance.
We doubled up through the trenches until we got to
the advanced one, right opposite to the Redan. We