Sept. 6—A steady fire was kept up along the front, to prevent the Russians repairing damages. At 5 1/2 o’clock the whole of the batteries from Quarantine to Inkermann opened with a grand crash. The Russians were silent as before. The cannonade was maintained as it was the day before. There were three breaks or lulls in the tempest; from 8 1/2 till 10 o’clock, from 12 till 5, and from 6 1/2 till 7 o’clock the fire was comparatively slack.
THIRD DAY’S BOMBARDMENT.
Sept. 7—The cannonade was resumed at daybreak, the Inkermann batteries firing briskly. A counsel of generals was held at headquarters. The firing was tremendous all day, but clouds of dust which a high wind from the north drifted, rendered a view of the place impossible.
At 12 o’clock on Saturday the 8th, within a few days of the anniversary of the landing of the allied forces in the Crimea, and 316 days after the opening of the besieging batteries against Sebastopol, on the 17th of October, 1854, a final and victorious assault was made. The morning was bitterly cold.
THE ASSAULT.
Sept. 8—A biting wind from the north side of Sebastopol blew intolerable clouds of harsh dust. The sun was obscured; the sky was of a leaden, wintry grey.
Early in the morning a strong force of cavalry, under the command of Colonel Hodge, was moved up to the front, and formed a chain of sentries in front of Cathcart’s hill and all along the lines.