At the morning relief of the 5th there were 53 sappers and 41 line miners in the left trenches from five to nine o’clock, and 17 from three to seven in the evening, who placed the batteries in substantial order for the intended cannonade, and completed the splinter-proof hut for the surgeons in the first parallel. To-day commenced the sixth bombardment, very warmly by the French, less so by the English, who only discharged periodical shells at the Redan and Garden batteries. Brisk as was the fire from the Russians, only one man of the working party, out of about three hundred men, was killed on the left, viz., lance-corporal Richard Pinch—a very useful sapper, who had been wounded on the 26th July.
On the right there were 16 sappers employed all day in superintendence, chiefly in the deadly saps. A few were also scattered singly to No. 18 and the batteries in the first and second parallels, restoring embrasures and revetments. Two or three were finishing the doctors’ hut in the quarries, a like number plugged up shot-holes in the parapets, and three others were founding a new battery—No. 22, near Egerton’s pit—to open on the left flank of the Redan. With singular good fortune, only one casualty occurred among the workmen in the right attack, although a fire of average steadiness dismounted a gun in No. 17; knocked down the embrasures of No. 14, and damaged two or three magazines.
Night came on, and 32 sappers with 400 linesmen poured into the Gordon trenches, and half the number were detailed for the Chapman lines. Both parties were on duty for six hours, confining their exertions, in great part, to the renovation of the embrasures, merlons, and magazines. The front saps were still perseveringly advanced. Sixteen gabions were added to that advancing towards the Redan; and the unfilled ones, lodged the previous night near the little ravine, were crammed with earth in sand-bags brought from the rear. What was most unusual, not a shot or shell entered the saps during the darkness, and freed from this annoyance the workmen added much to the solidity of the trench. No. 22 was rapidly rising amid the general restorations, and while the chasms produced by driving shot and bursting shells were being filled up with the readiest contrivances, the battered magazines stood up with stronger roofs and stouter stanchions.
The effect of our fire was visible in the burning of a line-of-battle ship in the harbour, which threw out sheets of flame of such breadth and intensity, that the Russian works were wholly illuminated. Its magazines blew up, one after another, its shotted guns exploded, and in time the huge timbers which formed its ribs and walls were burnt to the water’s edge. Some storehouses on the west side of the dockyard creek also took fire, and blazed away till they had collapsed into ruins. These calamities did not in the least check the vigour of the besieged; the usual firing was kept up but with insignificant results. Not a man on the left was injured; and this shows what an outlay of treasure, endurance, and courage it costs to take at long ranges a single life. Private James Chesterman, on the right attack, was wounded slightly.
Two old acquaintances who had not met for years chanced in the early night, as the darkness was falling, to recognize each other in the quarries. Each grasped the other’s hand, and while engaged in an animated greeting, with the warm smile of welcome on their lips, a round-shot struck off both their heads! The friends were sergeants William Wilson of the corps and Morrison of the royal artillery. A genuine Scotchman was Wilson, with an accent as provincial as a Highlander. Thick-set, well knit, and athletic, he was formed for the hardships of labour. His composure under fire was remarkable; of danger he knew nothing. Among detachments of the corps he was the spirit of the trench, and moved about the lines and batteries with the same air of tranquillity as in a workshop. As a sapper few were more excellent, few more apt and bold in situations of difficulty, peril, and surprise than he. Throughout the siege he scarcely ever missed his turn in the front. If counted up, it would be found there were not many in the corps who had passed as many months in the trenches as Wilson. Safe and reliable, he was greatly in requisition by his officers. When new approaches were to be opened or new batteries constructed, Wilson, if not more importantly employed, was mostly deputed to start them. Indeed, of the execution of many he had the charge, and the tact he exercised in the arrangement of his working parties was something extraordinary. For many weeks of the concluding operations he was rarely away from the trenches, and had he lived, his brilliant services would have put him in the possession of the highest honours it belonged to his class to wear. That non-commissioned officer must have been a valuable public servant, when testimonies like the following—written under feelings of sorrow and sadness for his loss—became records of his merits:—
“I regret much,” wrote Lieut.-Colonel Chapman to Sir Harry Jones, on the 6th, “to have to report that sergeant Wilson of the first company royal sappers and miners was killed in the quarries by a round-shot yesterday evening.
“Frequently commended, and not long ago promoted for his distinguished conduct during the progress of the siege, this excellent sergeant of sappers has earned the esteem not only of three successive directors of the right attack, but also of every officer under whom he has done duty.
“Always ready for whatever he might be called upon in the severe weather of last winter; ever foremost at the point of danger, he has left to the young soldiers of the corps an example of devotion to the service which they may do well to emulate.”
This was the opinion of an officer who had a thousand opportunities, in the different phases of the siege, of taking the measure of this exemplary non-commissioned officer. A reflex of this commendation found its place in the brigade-orders of the 6th September in these words:—
“The corps of royal sappers and miners has lost in the late sergeant Wilson a non-commissioned officer distinguished for his conduct throughout the siege; ever foremost in danger and respected by the various officers of royal engineers under whom he served in the campaign.