MEMORANDA ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 251, 28 March 1855, Page 6

MEMORANDA ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE WAR.

(From the " Home News.") Danger among the Generals.—The escapes every man had (at the battle of Inkermann), ihe way small bodies of our men were surrounded, and cut their way out, and such like stone?, would fill volumes. The Duke of Cambridge was quite surrounded once, and had it not been for Dr. Wilson (who was in the -,7th Hussars) drawing his sword and cheering some men on, I believe he must have been taken or killed.—A shell i itched on the flap of my saddle, behind my leg and sword, which it bent, fell on the ground, where I saw it fizzing, but before I could kick my horse out ofthe way it burst, without touching either me or my horse. Why the horse's ribs were not broken, I.canhot conceive. 1 rode Fusilier aguiii until 2 o'clock, when ray other came up,' Fusilier being done up and lame. He is all right now. 'Lurid.'Raglan rode Shadrack the whole time. I never saw anybody so. beautifully calm and collected as Lord Italian during the whole fight, and there were many anxious minutes for him, our force being small, and we did not dare to draw any..'man away from the trenches and our left. Lord Raglan attended Sir G. Cath-

cari's and General Strangway's funeral on the sth/ They were side by/side—the 4th Division being uuder urmsi and General Straiigways' old troop of Horse Artillery, the same as was his rocket troop at Leipsie, attending. They are both a great loss.— Lieut. Kingscote of the 'Guards, to Ms father Colonel Kingscote. French Rifle Practice^-—I must7tell you what the francs-tireurs are. There are two companies of them, each composed of 150 men, chosen from among the best marksmen ofthe Chasseurs de Vincehries.; In the night £they creep iv; front of the intrerichments, dig holes, and place themselves in as well as they can. They then fire ori the Russian artillerymen. ; They have killed so many that the Russians now close their embrasures with a sort of double door, which is ball-proof; but they are obliged to -point, their gun arid fire, and no sooner is this donei than twenty balls whistle through it. The Russians liave sustained such losses that they were at times seized with despair—raising their grins from behind they fired volleys of grape shot at their disagreeable visitors. ". Nevertheless the latter have succeeded, in extinguishing all the first line of their batteries. I say first line, because there are several others in the rear, the part of the town Vyhich faces us being an inclined plane, on which batteries have been raised in lines one above the other. ; That ouvfrahcs-tiretirs have done good execution is evident from thefact that, in the evening of the 26th, General de Martinpre, chief of the general staff, received a note informing him" that the Russian fire had become uncertain, and that artillerymen were so scarce that the guns had to be served by infantry. Express no surprise at the word uncertain. For from the 6th to the 17th tlie Russian gentlemendid not cease to point their guns at us as a target,'-wbilst 'we did riot deign to answer them even by a musket shot; They consequently attained such precision that the day on which we unmasked our batteries, the balls entered our embrasures as if cast by the hand. One ball went into the very mouth of a cannon, but was too large to penetrate more than a third. It however stiick fast. This was considered so curious that the gun was carried to the general's tent to be shewn to him. ** * I am almost like a poacher! Igo out every day to shoot Russians! This is the way we;do it: as early as two o'clock iv the mornling, our toilette completed—and that of a Zoitave is riot long—rwe.leave, carrying with usa'rainunition and one or two biscuits. Arrived in^ the intrenchrnents; we take sandbags, a spade, and a pickaxe'■;' then, at a given signal, we leap;>from the parapets with 'the'" rapidity of deer, arid establish our homes close to.the forts. There; we dig a hole^ a sort ofgwarren, to hide ourselves in. We place our bags to protect us, and our residence is then terminated. We remain in these holes all day, arid it is not untilnight is rather advanced that we are permitted to leave them. This we often do amidst a shower of grape shot. You will ask me, my dear father, what we do in these holes all day. Very good work I assure you. We fire almost; as fast as we can load, and every discharge demolishes a Russian artilleryman. The other day two officers climbed up a large -pole-on the summit of a tower opposite my lodgings, and they began to examine our works. With twoshots I brought them both down. Then a storm of balls, shells, and grape shot was directed jagainst us ; but; happily, we were so near the forts that it passed over our heads without touching any one of us. Wounded Officers. — Colonel Griffith, of the Greys, got shot in the head : Brevet-major Clarke, a sabre cut at the back of his neck; Cornet Prendergast, shot right through the foot; Cornet Handley, stabbed in the side and arm, being at one time surrounded by four Cossacks, three of ISvhoni he shot with bis revolver, and the fourth was cut down by his sergeant. I saw this young gallant fellow a few hours after,' and he was then getting ready to rejoin his regiment from the temporary hospital, not finding his two wounds of sufficient consequence to keep ;him from his post. The colonel did the same, after getting his head dressed. Major Clarke did not, I believe, leave the field. Galiant Conduct of a Private.—This story is told of private McGuire, of the 33rd, who was made prisoner while in advance as ai sharpshooter. He was being marched away between two Russian soldiers, a third being in the rear; when, seeing his guard for a moment careless and looking in another direction, he suddenly seized a loaded musket from one of the two men at his side and discharged it at him. No sooner

had he done this than he swung round the-butt end; and with it struck the second hianbiit: his other side a blow on the head, which felledjhiui to the ground. The third Russian decaidped, arid McGuiie effected his escape. He w; s at the time within a hundred yards of the Ru; siari! line. The affair was witnessed by a sergea jt of the Rifle Brigade; and in consequence oljhis report, Lord Raglan awarded McGuiie a ira- • tuity of £5. •■■•■.. ':'':v;'. : 7'y■■ .-;; :/• " :'■' j.'.-.v V The Brave Allies. —The gallant. Istlt and the French Zouaves charged together as' one regiment, and were completely mirighj^-W. you could not tell one from tbe other, and Ipiit all to death that came in their way. Wliel in the act of charging, an Irishman, ons bf|;he 88th, recognised a long-lost brother in oiil,of the Zouaves ; .and.together they fought till |he close of the , action,-, hoth- escaping unlnui.— From a Sailor. I Lord Raglan.—Colonel Kingscote, whose son is aid-de-camp to Lord Raglan, states tliit throughout the entire day of the Battle of Ink\r-: man a Russian battery kept moving about in %■.s■.. direction Of Lord Riig'hin and his staff, but fo7 innately without effect. 1