The bridge was speedily carried, and the Russian columns crossing at this point, and at others to the right and left of it, by means of pontoons, temporary bridges, aud through the fords, traversed the canal and the trench of the lines, and threw themselves with impetuosity upon the heights. Here the French, who had been driven back from the tete du pont, rallied upon their supports, and, changing the defensive for the offensive, forced the Russians to recross the river, and re-took the bridge. As the latter retired they were terribly cut up by an oblique fire from two Sardinian batteries, and thrown into the greatest disorder. The attempt was twice repeated, fresh columns twice again crossed the river and the canal, and urged by their own momentum, in spite of the withering fire of cannon and musketry with which they were received, actually twice again crowned the heights. But in each case their success ended here; and, when the moment of retreat arrived, this temporary advantage only served to aggravate their loss. Hampered by the dense masses of their own men in the rear, escape became almost an impossibility — a vast number of prisoners were taken, and the remainder of the assailants, presenting in their slow descent of the heights an easy mark to the French, fell thickly on the banks of the canal and the river, or rolled down into the water, which soon ran red with blood.
By nine o'clock the enemy were in full retreat on aU points, their dense columns retiring as rapidly as possible under the protection of the cavalry and artillery, which showed a firm front in the plain until this movement was safely efiected.
General Pelissier wisely refrained from employing his own and the English cavalry, who were drawn up in the valley behind, in pursuit of the enemy: as, had he done so, these splendid troops would have been exposed to a heavy fire from the Russian field-batteries in position, as well as from those on the Mackenzie heights: and the loss they must have suffered, if so employed, would have clouded the lustre of this most brilliant and decisive day.
The reverse sustained by the Russians had been indeed severe. Including the wounded, more than two thousand two hundred prisoners remained in the hands of the French and Sardinians, and the enemy's loss in killed and wounded was estimated in all at from 8000 to 10,000 men. Compared with this, that of the French and Sardinians was trifling. That of the former amounted to 1551, of whom 181 were killed, 1224 wounded, and 146 missing; and the Sardinians had only 200 men in all kors de combat, a result which General La Marmora attributes to the strength with which they had fortified their position, and the telling efiect of the fire from their batteries, armed with heavy guns lent to them by the English. They had however to deplore the death of one of their most
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distinguished generals, the Count de Montevecchio, who fell at the head of his brigade, mortally wounded by a ball in the chest.
The attack of the 16th seems to have been the result of desperation, caused by the difficulty of supporting a large army with a daily increasing deficiency of provisions and a failing supply of water, rather than the prudent effort of judicious daring: and its failure established in the most striking manner the physical superiority and moral ascendancy of the Allied troops over those of the enemy. To contend against the overwhelming masses brought against them by the Russians, the French had only twelve thousand infantry and four batteries of artillery engaged: and, though the Sardinians had ten thousand men in position, no more than 4500, with 24 pieces of cannon, were actually engaged.
Prince Gortschakoff attempts to account for the defeat by an alleged misunderstanding of orders on the part of General Read, who commanded the right wing, and was killed on the field; but there is nothing to bear out his statement. The orders for the battle, signed by the Prince himself, were found on the body of the general; and from these it would appear that it was a most determined attempt to force the Allies to raise the siege.
Had the Russians succeeded, Balaklava was to be attacked by one portion of their army, and the plateau was to have been stormed by the other, while a sortie was to have been made from the Quarantine Battery on the French on the extreme left: and another on the works on the extreme right on Mount Sapoune.
The Russians attacked at the prescribed hour, and with a perfect knowledge of the ground: and, on General Read's death. Prince Gortschakoff in person assumed the command of the right wing, and defeat under these conditions tells its own story, in language which does not admit of a double construction.