Perhaps one of the hardest services during the whole operation was the working of the fifth parallel on the left attack. Sweeping round the brow of the hill, it dropped down the cliff towards the chevaux-de-frise, and ended at a cave which served as a place of arms. To the left it extended, with diminished cover, towards the direct double sap. The boyau communicating with the right of the parallel was a trench about forty yards long, and from the parallel itself issued several small covered ways in advance, with pits at the extremities for riflemen. No trace was followed in the execution of these lines; no breadth, no width uniformly adhered to. All depended on the nature of the obstacles encountered and the stern intricacies of the work, which, giving rise to many deflexions to meet the broken contour of the ground, resulted in a line of sap so irregular in form, as to require many stout traverses and auxiliary cuttings and parapets to prevent certain parts being raked and exposed to cross fires. The labour in executing it was immense, for every inch of the way was driven through rock by the irksome processes of boring and blasting. The hazards were unmitigated; the firing at times terrific; but guided and managed by the experience and judgment of corporal Paul—to whom was entrusted the superintendence of the parallel and its branches—the casualties were so few as to excite surprise. Only one man of the blasting party was killed in the parallel. He was a brave and pushing miner of the 20th regiment. Seldom were less than twenty mines fired in a day, frequently as many as forty. The stones thus broken up were mostly worked into the parapets during the night, but the facing of the work and the formation of the banquettes were left for the miners to attend to in day-time. All the large stones were employed for these purposes; and on one occasion, when building the revetment in the portion of the parallel which descended the hill, one huge block required the united strength of the overseer and the 20th man to fix it firmly. It was a stubborn task, executed only by risking danger; and at frequent intervals for nearly a quarter of an hour they were exposed from the waist upwards in doing it. Immovably calm, always fresh in vigour though constantly at work, a better overseer than Paul could scarcely have been provided for difficult employment, and as a consequence, his example—of zeal, perseverance, and coolness, approaching even to placidity—had the best effect on his parties. So wrapt up was he in the progress of the trench—indeed it was said he was never happy out of it—that his comrades termed the work “Paul’s parallel!” Let not this be an aggravation of the charge preferred in jealousy and ill-feeling against the engineers, because certain works, by common consent, were called after the names of engineer officers—now memorable in history. In this case the application of the designation was simply a sapper one; and if among his comrades who knew of his soldierly qualities and exertions in that trench, which but for his care would perhaps have become a human shambles, he was considered entitled to this very natural honour, who will write an angry pamphlet and say the distinction is unbecoming and should be borne by some one of another corps? From the beginning of the siege he performed severe duties in the front. Before his worth as a sterling sapper was known he was commonly four or five nights in the trenches out of six, and was one of the surest guides to the works when the positions and the roads to them were as yet ill understood by the troops. Selected by Major Bent to be one of his foremen of miners, he was daily in the saps from the middle of May. His permanent duty commenced with the boyaux between the second and third parallels and only terminated a day or two before the fall of Sebastopol. So much for the bravery and spirit of a non-commissioned officer, who, deserving great rewards, became a sergeant, received a gratuity of 10l., a silver medal for “distinguished service in the field,” and the proud decoration of the Legion of Honour.

Here it may be remarked that for all the foremost works only experienced hands, upon whom reliance could be placed for qualification and constancy, were selected to lead the work-men. Young soldiers lacking strength and patience in toil and danger were unfitted for the hardships and vicissitudes of the front. So scattered at times were the working parties over the embarrassing meshes of trenches that a private of the corps at different points of the works has been nominated to oversee two small detachments of the line. Wanting rank as non-commissioned officers, they were often resisted, and as supineness in the pioneers sometimes followed, the service naturally suffered. In most cases, however, the sapper privates gained the compliance of their men more by their own earnest example and exertions than by any exercise of authority. Corporals and sergeants frequently controlled the energies of very heavy parties, but when they had any trying or dangerous works to execute entailing the necessity of close observation and personal toil, the workmen under them were usually limited in number. In the latest weeks of the siege, sergeant Jarvis, who was almost daily in the trenches, had with him a force of between forty and fifty men and three or four sappers. His duties were then mostly confined to the fourth parallel on the left, and included the drainage and repairs to banquettes, traverses, and parapets. A firm soldierlike man, with strong physical powers, his conduct throughout the siege in the execution of hard and critical services attracted the notice of his officers, and his bustling activity and usefulness, coupled with his bravery, gained him the decoration of the Legion of Honour. Corporal Cray shared largely in the concluding operations in mending and re-forming embrasures and batteries, assisted sometimes by as many as eight sappers and fifty workmen. His chief work in the trenches was overseeing the rebuilding of No. 8 battery, left attack, so as to alter its line of fire; and the creditable manner in which it was executed was recorded by Major Chapman as one of the incidents of his brave and useful services in Bulgaria and the Crimea. Corporal Hanson is also named in connection with services discharged in 19 battery of the Chapman attack, in which, aided by two sappers and fifty men, he mined the rock and thickened the parapet with the stones thrown up in the blasts. These instances, officially recorded, and, hence, here preserved, may be taken as the average measure of command meted to non-commissioned officers of sappers in the closing throes of this great struggle.

Between the 30th August and 2nd September the following casualties occurred:—

Left attack.—30th. Private Thomas A. Eccles—wounded severely in the head.
31st. Private William Thompson—wounded slightly in right shoulder.
Right attack—2nd Sept.
2nd ” 		Lance-corporal Charles Bell
Private John Morrison}killed, while fixing the last
splinter proof timber to the magazine of No. 21 battery, by a shell—the first thatdropped there from the Malakoff. The formerwas struck in the side; the latter in thehead, besides which a fragment shattered oneof his arms, and another exposed his bowels.
2nd. ” Private Joseph Fitzgerald—wounded dangerously;his head was fractured by the blow of astone, which drove a portion of the peak ofhis cap into his skull. Persevering and cool,he was a man in whom dependence could beplaced for progress under difficulties; andfor his valiant conduct on the 26th Augustwas noticed in the orders of General Jones,and rewarded by the Commander-in-Chief.

Early in September a small batch of sappers and linesmen fixed six lengths of chevaux-de-frise in extension of the barricade across the Woronzoff valley, and threw up a circular breastwork, issuing from the trench on the right of No. 17 battery of the left attack to flank the main road. An attempt was also spiritedly made to connect the two attacks by running an arm across the ravine and up the hill from the second parallel of the left attack to the right of the third. The gabions laid for the purpose by the sappers were rapidly filled by the line, and a few nights more would have witnessed the completion of the communication, but ulterior events rendered further labour in that trench unnecessary. In the fifth parallel, facing the Redan, two sappers formed loop-holes, chiefly of bread-bags, at intervals along the entire trench for light troops.

In the cemetery the gabionade being much shattered was quickly repaired. A trench too was run out from that gloomy area, crested by a parapet made up of the usual expedients; and the rude slabs and blocks which, struck down and broken by shot and shell, lay confusedly over the ground. Another was cleverly cut from the point where the double sap joined the centre of the fifth parallel, and, descending the hill in a backward sweep, connected with the approach from the cemetery. Two or three brigades of sappers, working simultaneously at different parts of the trench, fixed the gabions sometimes by the flying method, and at others, when the firing was heavy, by the surer plan of completing the cover before moving an inch in advance. One night at this sap corporal Henry T. Stredwick had with him a half brigade of sappers who were tasked to lodge and fill eighteen gabions, but the moment they began to work a galling array of heavy projectiles opposed every foot of progress. Repeatedly the gabions were capsized; full ones on two or three occasions were blown from the trace, and the sappers knocked over and buried under them. Even resolute men would have had ample excuse for abandoning so murderous a spot; but regarding nothing as insuperable or too hot, the sappers held obstinately to the work, and succeeded in lengthening the trench by twelve gabions. A rifle-screen was partly formed half way between the cemetery and the central communication to the fifth parallel, and two old Russian pits, by a slight deviation, were embodied in the sap. A gentle ridge being on the line of trace, the sappers, too quick to calculate the inconvenience of their go-ahead zeal, planted the gabions for the revetment nearly on its edge. Once filled, the earth thrown up for the parapet fell down the slope, and no end of bread-bags were emptied to gain cover. There was no remedy for the defect but perseverance; and this being cheerfully yielded, a tolerable mound in time had risen, which outvied in strength with the contiguous parapets. The work was chiefly done at night; the darkness was great, the firing incessant. Varied was the progress; sometimes as few as nine or ten gabions were fixed, at others as many as twenty-four. This was looked upon as excellent work, and St. Jacques of Monzon himself might have been proud, to share in such success. Steadily was the trench pushed on, and in a few days it was numbered among the finished formations.

In the night of the 2nd it was intended to open a screen in advance of the white rifle-pit on the right attack. Two officers of engineers reconnoitred the ground, attended by a volunteer party carrying tools and gabions. Being perceived, the enemy’s pickets plied them with so hot a fire they were compelled to make a hurried retreat, while the men who were struck bore on as best they could with gashing wounds; but one poor fellow, more deeply injured than the rest, was left on the field. Indisposed to yield their comrade, sergeant Newman of the 62nd led back six men, one of whom was private McNamara of the sappers, to search for the missing man and recover the abandoned tools; but another volley of hissing bullets drove them in haste to the sap. Yet again did these men offer their services to renew the search; but as the moon had newly risen, rendering distant objects visible, the engineers wisely declined to permit an exploit which in all probability would have sacrificed the entire party. For his spirited conduct the sergeant received a present of three sovereigns from General Simpson.

Passing on to the night of the 4th, there were 17 sappers in the trenches on the left, and 32 on the right. Those on the left were distributed in 17 and 19 batteries, and the circular breastwork, flanking the Woronzoff ravine; a few also were in the cemetery, and others in the excavation leading down the hill to it. Of this small party two were wounded: private John Boyce severely in the eye, and second-corporal Charles Phillips, “a most zealous and active non-commissioned officer,” in both arms. The left was broken above the elbow by a grape-shot, and though subsequently cured without amputation, a frightful limb was left, withered, rigid, and useless. He had been working during the early night in the double sap with Mooney and Lancaster, two first-class sappers, from which he was removed by Lieutenant Neville to complete the screen spotted half-way between the cemetery and the sap to the fifth parallel. He had with him four men of the 57th regiment. As the screen was small, and barely permitted the little batch to move in it, the corporal jumped from the hole, and directed their exertions on the open slope. He also withdrew one of the privates, and soon after on came the grape, inflicting the injuries described and striking the hilt from the bayonet of his comrade.

Boyce had missed his way and wandered with his men into the double sap. Corporal Phillips happening to be there at the time, instructed him how to rectify his course. The route was one of risk, for the trench down the hill had only been cut in parts. Sooner than retrace his steps, and thus obtain the cover necessary to protect him, he shot across the open at the head of his men, and luckily reached the spot to which he had been appointed without casualty. The injury to his eye occurred soon after.

The sappers on the right were chiefly in the advance works, extending the trenches by flying saps. That on the Redan was prolonged 31 gabions, which were all loaded with earth and stones; and the other up the little ravine had 36 gabions staked, but only 16 filled. The moon now appearing put an end to the onward flight of the sappers, who when withdrawn into safer cover brought with them the body of Captain Anderson of the 31st regiment, assistant engineer, who was killed while directing the approach to the Redan. Few, indeed, left those perillous saps without a scar, or a shot-hole in their garments. “From the heavy fire maintained on the head of our sap,” wrote General Simpson, under this date, “the progress made has been slow, and accompanied, as must be expected, by several casualties among the sappers and working parties.”