Much sickness was experienced in May by the troops of the English army, and the extravagance, dirt, and confusion of the transport service caused a heavier sick list than would otherwise have been reported.
The King of Sardinia having joined the alliance against Russia, several thousand fine troops from that nation landed at Balaklava. They were eventually quartered upon the Tchernaya, and, with some Turkish detachments, and French divisions, held at bay the Russian army in the field, and rendered all further operations of the enemy against Balaklava impossible.
An expedition was sent against Kertch.
When May closed, the allies and the Russians confronted one another, in formidable force, upon the opposite heights of the Tchernaya.
June was an eventful month before Sebastopol. It began with a third bombardment of the gallant city, which, like previous ones, was a failure—the means of the allies, vast as they were, being inadequate to the undertaking. The French made a successful attack upon the White Works and the Mamelon; and the British were equally successful in attacks upon the Quarries, by which the part of the Russian lines which they opposed were protected. The Russians made desperate, but eventually abortive, attempts to retake all these positions.
The third bombardment having failed, the allies lost no time in bringing fresh resources of attack and storm against the defences. A fourth bombardment produced signal havoc and extensive dilapidation. On the 18th of the month, the allies attempted to take the place. A combined assault of a most sanguinary nature was made and defeated. This defeat was accompanied and followed by the loss of many distinguished officers in the British army. On the 28th the English commander-in-chief died. Illness and anxiety, with chagrin at his failure in conducting the siege to the satisfaction of his country, brought on his death. Cholera was the immediate agent in his removal. General Simpson succeeded to the command of the British army, through the instrumentality of his patron and countryman, Lord Panmure. He was still less competent than Lord Raglan for so great a responsibility, and the people of the United Kingdom were indignant at the jobbing and patronage to which the interests of the country were sacrificed. General Simpson while he remained in command was in every respect feeble, and a mere cipher in the hands of the French general. Lord Raglan, by his reserve, dignity of manner, and high rank, preserved influence and respect notwithstanding his inactivity and dulness; but General Simpson possessed no qualities that could set off or redeem his utter incompetency, unless, perhaps, his modesty, and the absence of all self-seeking about him. He urged upon his government that he was unequal to so great an appointment, but Lord Panmure insisted in thrusting the honour upon him.
General Simpson, on his assumption of command, ordered the siege to be prosecuted without intermission, in the hope of giving a fresh and successful assault. The month of July and part of August witnessed the progress of events for the grand and final struggle, but before it could take place, incidents apart from the siege excited general attention in Europe. Lord Raglan had been very anxious for operations against Kertch, and ordered a second expedition against it, which was successful, and was a means of greatly annoying, distracting, and injuring the Russians.
After the failure of the assault on the 18th of June, the opposing hosts on the Tchernaya assumed gradually a more menacing attitude, so that from the middle of July a battle was daily and even hourly expected. It was the interest of the Russians to strike the first blow, and the allies prepared to ward it off, and, if possible, deal in return a more deadly stroke. The great trial of strength on the banks and steep acclivities of “the Black River” was destined to occur in August. On the 16th, the Russians attacked the whole line of the French and Sardinian posts, and, after a long and sanguinary battle, were defeated. This decisive repulse of the Russian army in the field, left the allies more at liberty to prosecute to perfection the works necessary to secure a successful assault. Before that event occurred the British experienced many serious losses; a surprising number of regimental officers fell in conflict or died. The disgraceful state of the English transports caused many deaths. The same inaptness and incompetency for general management characterized the English chiefs as at the very beginning of the siege. The British army experienced a serious injury in the retirement of Lieutenant-general Sir Richard England. He had probably endured more fatigue, and worked on with more patience, perseverance, and continuity of action than any officer in the British army. One by one the English chiefs had fallen away by death, or wounds, or sickness, General England, with frame of iron and indomitable will, still bearing up, although sharing cold, watchings, labours, and privations with his soldiers in a way characteristic of his generous nature and military temper. He was perhaps the least ostentatious soldier in either army. He never put himself forward prominently, but was always ready to perform the most arduous task committed to him with scrupulous precision, and quiet and indomitable resolution. Had he not offended the agents of the press by his resolution of not allowing any reporters within his division—under the conviction, probably erroneous, that the reports which found their way into the English papers, gave information to the enemy injurious to the service—he would have had many a gallant deed, and his stern uncompromising sense of duty, emblazoned to the world. His health at last suffered so severely, that he was obliged to return home, shortly before the grand conquest was achieved.
September opened with the immediate preliminaries of the grand struggle. The final bombardment of the strong city began. The number of guns with which the allies opened the bombardment was 803. On the old French attack there were 332 pieces; on the French Inkerman attack, 267 pieces: making a total in the two separate French attacks of 599 pieces of ordnance.
The English had 204 pieces, consisting of 91 mortars, and 113 guns.