I saw a soldier belonging to the last battalion of the reserves, and he said, that before the attack began, General Gortschakoff, who commanded in person, had a letter from the Empsror read before them, in which he expressed a hope that they would prove as valorous as last year when they took the heights of Balaklava, and then there was a large distribution of brandy. Not a soldier I saw who had not liis bottle lying empty near him, and good-sized bottles they were, too. This brandy distribution was, however, only for the infantry, whom they wished to excite to madness. The artillery got only the usual rations. Besides the three divisions which attacked, there was another, the 7th, whicii occupied Tchorgoun and the heights, but which did not attack except in the small outpost affair of the Sardinians.
August IS. The attack has not been renewed, and the French have been for the last two days busy in bringing in the wounded Eussians and burying the dead. Up to yesterday Cv-ening, 1800 wounded and prisoners have been brought in. The number of dead, of •whom I have not heard any official estimate, cannot be less than from 1200 to 1500. Of course the hridge and the banks of the aqueduct are the spots most crowded with them. The latter is quite choked up with them, so that it has been forbidden to -water the horses from it, for fear it should prove injurious to their health. The French had three divisions engaged — the Division Faucheux to the right, the Division d'Herbillon in the centre of the bridge, and the division (Camou) on the left; their loss is about 1000 in dead and wounded.
The Sardinians had only one division engaged (the Division Trotti), and suffered very little, having lost but a few hundred men; they have, however, to regret the loss of a distinguished general officer, the Brigadier-General Count de Montevecchio, who is severely wounded, and not expected to live. Not protected by any intrenchments, except that small epaulement near the bridge, which, moreover, could be turned on all sides, our gallant allies, although taken by surprise, showed once more that the Russians have no chance against them in the field — that they must remain behind their earthworks, and be protected by siege guns, in order to establish a Icind of equilibrium with the allies. It is worthy of remark, that the gi-eater part of the Eussians were old soldiers, scarcely one bemg under thirty.
According to the account of the prisoners, most of them came from Bakschisei-ai, and they had to attack without resting after their march. They had all large quantities of bread in their foraging sacks hung across their shoulders, but no knapsacks. The French outpost beyond the bridge consisted of a company of the 2nd regiment of Zouaves. The other avant postes, to the right of the Zouaves up to the Sardinian outposts, were furnished by the 20th leger and the 22nd of the line. The reveil had not yet gone in camp, but some of the men were already busy in preparing their coffee, when the sentinels in advance were alarmed by hearing close at hand the tramp of men, whose forms were yet invisible in the darkness.
Discharging their muskets, they ran in to the posts, who had not time to stand to their arms ere they were engaged with overwhelming masses of the enemy. They were driven across the river; but the desultory firing wdiich took place in this preliminary skirmish had given timely warning to the main guards and to the camps, and the men turned out just as a storm of round shot began to rush over the ground, upsetting cainp-kettles, dashing out tires, and destroying tents in its career. The despatch of Marshal Pelissier is so admirably lucid, that I shall make no apology for adding it to the excellent description of my colleague, who was present during the action from the tirst onset till its close.
Head Quarters, before Sebastopol, August 18. Monsieur le Makechal, — You will have learnt by my telegraphic despatches of yesterday and of the day before the general results of the battle of the Tchernaya; to-day I send your Excellency a detailed report of that battle so glorious for our arms. For some days, although the enemy abstained from any apparent movement, certain indications made us suppose he would attack our lines on the Tchernaya. You know those positions, which are excellent, and which are covered to the full extent by the Tchernaya itself, and b}^ a canal, which forms a second obstacle. The Sardinian army occupies the whole of the right, opposite Tchorgoun; the French troops guard the centre and the left, which joins after a declivity our plateaux of Inkermann.