Our Artillery, which had rendered a most essential service at a very critical moment of the day, by the admirably directed fire of two guns, which, in spite of the difficult nature of the ground, had been brought to bear on the masses of Russian infantry, now contributed to convert the already achieved success into a victory. Playing with the most deadly effect upon the columns of the retreating foe, they mowed them down by hundreds, and literally strewed the ground with their dead and dying. And now defeat would have been changed into utter rout had the Allies been able to follow up with Cavalry the advantages they had gained. The nature of the expedition, however, and the absolute necessity of landing every available foot-soldier, had compelled the French to leave this branch of their army to follow with the reserve; and the English Cavalry, which had already distinguished itself in the skirmish of the day before, and which was of the greatest use in holding in check the Cossacks who menaced our left flank, were yet not in sufficient numbers to justify their being employed in a long pursuit. They succeeded, however, in taking some prisoners. Three guns only belonging to the Russians were captured. " If, Sire," writes Marshal Saint Arnaud to the Emperor, " I had had Cavalry I should have obtained immense results, and Menschikoff would no longer have had an army; but it was late, our troops were harassed, and the cannon of our Artillery was exhausted." StiU the Russian loss was immense. It has been variously estimated at from 4000 to 6000: the latter number is probably the nearest to the truth. Near the redoubt, and on the heights, the dead of both sides lay in heaps, but those of the enemy were thickest. Accoutrements of aU kiqds, dead horses, Russian helmets, piles of arms, abandoned in the flight, were spread on every side, and completed the confusion of the terrible scene. It was about half-past four p. m. when the action terminated, and, as the roar of cannon and the roll of musketry died away, their last reverberations were succeeded by sounds, fainter indeed and less distinct, but whose import was more sad and desolating than the blank silence of an untrodden waste. On the night of the 20th the Allies bivouacked on the field of battle, and snatched such rest as was possible on a scene so fraught with horrors, and amidst the groans of the wounded, the agonised cry for water, and the hoarse death-rattle of strong men in their last earthly struggle. It was many, many hours before all our own sufferers could be cared for; and the Russian wounded, who, it is asserted, covered, when collected, an acre of ground, were necessarily left to the last; but in the long and painful interval many a wound was bound up, many a parched lip moistened, by the compassionate victors in the strife, who, in the tender and gentle spirit in which they discharged their errand of mercy, emulated qualities often supposed to be the distinguishing characteristics of the other sex. And when the shadows of night covered, with a pitying veil, the details of the harrowing scene, and permitted individual solitude amidst a throng, manly cheeks, which had not blenched " e'en where the thickest of war's tempest lowered," were wet with bitter tears for the untimely fate of comrades and friends, whom " the place that knew should know no more."
On the following day Marshal St. Amaud, who had long been suffering from an incurable heart disease, became so unwell as to be compelled to transfer the command-in-chief of the French army to General Canrobert. During the action, in spite of the physical exhaustion which rendered him unable to sit on his horse without support, he had continued to give his orders with the greatest calmness; and his presence of mind was no more disturbed by the corporeal anguish which he resolutely subdued, than by the surrounding dangers of which his bravery made him unconscious. But the excitement of the day, and this combined mental and bodily effort, overtaxed his failing strength. He never resumed his command; and on the 29th of September he died on board the Berthollet of exhaustion produced by cholera, deservedly lamented by France, and by the Emperor, who, on the 11th of October, decreed him a public funeral at the Invalides.