The object of the attack of the 26th October, which was, in fact, as we have already intimated, merely a reconnaissance en force, was not long in being made apparent. It had been remarked that for some time the enemy's force in the valley of the Tchernaya had been receiving constant augmentations, and on the 4th of November it was discovered that a still further addition had been made to their numbers by the arrival of large masses of troops from the northward. These troops consisted of the 4th Corps d'Armee, and, in order to expedite their progress, every device that Russian ingenuity could contrive had been adopted. The extraordinary expedient of conveying the men in carts, collected from every quarter whence they could be procured, and
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of leaving behind all the impedimenta of the army, other than such as might have been supplied to a small body of men destined for a brief special service, demonstrates the importance that was attached to a rapid concentration of every available element of strength, for an attack of such gigantic proportions as could leave, even to the most timid, no possible doubt of the result. The Russian troops vp-ere animated by the presence and encouragement of two of the sons of the late Emperor, by the consciousness of their own overpowering numbers, and by other stimulants, which, if of a coarser character, had no less power to urge their recipients to rush, with drunken valour and with blind and incredible fury, once and again into the jaws of certain destruction.
Religious ceremonies of the most imposing character, performed during the night previous to the 5th of November by the most exalted functionaries of the church, contributed to lash their usual fanaticism into phrenzy, while Nature herself seemed to conspire against their foes by wrapping the Russian movements in an impenetrable veil of fog, and thus adding to the sacred enterprise those elements of stratagem and surprise, so dear to the Muscovite of every grade, unless all history speak false.
The point selected for the attack was the extreme right of the British position, which was, as we have before stated, defended by the Second Division, who were encamped on the edge of the plateau occupied by the Allies, which, at the distance of a few hundred yards from the camp, falls in a very steep descent to the banks of the Tchernaya. Favoured by darkness and fog, and by the incessant rain, which, softening the ground, had rendered the sound of wheels all but inaudible at a short distance, the Russians had been enabled, during the night, to drag up nearly 63 pieces of artillery to the heights which commanded the left and front of the Second Division, into the very tents of which they subsequently threw quantities of shot and shell. During the sortie of the 26th the enemy had satisfied themselves of the weakness of this important post, which, owing to the extreme diminution in the numbers of the British at this period, the harassing and constant employment of every available man in the trenches, and the various exigencies to be provided for at other points, it had been found impossible, in spite of the urgent representations of Sir De Lacy Evans, to take any steps to strengthen. Shortly after daylight strong columns of the enemy advanced in this direction and were not perceived till they were close
N THE CIIIMEA, 45
upon our advanced pickets, who received them with the utmost steadiness, firing as they fell back, contesting every inch of ground, and, by their coolness and courage, giving time to General Pennefather to get his Division under arms and place it in position, supported by its field •batteries. It was now apparent that an action of the most serious description was imminent, and preparations on an extended scale, to meet the emergency, were at once made, and are thus briefly described in Lord Raglan's Despatch of the bth of November: —
" The Light Division under Lieutenant-General Sir George Brown was also brought to the front without loss of time; the first brigade, under Major-General Codrington, occupying the long slopes to the left towards Sebastopol, protecting our right battery, and guarding against attack on that side; and the second brigade, under Brigadier-General BuUer, forming on the left of the Second Division, with the 88th regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Jeffreys, thrown in advance.