There were some works in the advance which required a nice appreciation of intention on the part of the operatives to carry them into effect. Of these the connection of an approach with a parallel, and one trench with another, were among those which called for particular circumspection. Expert men were invariably selected for those duties, whose wariness greatly mitigated their risks. Few appeared to be more skilful in these employments than their comrades, but on the night of the 21st, corporal John Ross, untiring, patient, and intrepid, pushed on like a master in the sap, and connected, under showers of grape, enough to disturb the equanimity of the sternest coolness, the fourth parallel with an old Russian rifle-pit in front. It will help to elucidate the business of a sapper to describe the process by which the corporal accomplished this service. With 200 men and a couple of privates of his own corps, he was sent forward, after dark, to trace and form an approach between the fourth parallel and the Russian advanced trench. Halting his men in the parallel, each bearing an intrenching tool and a gabion, he moved to the front with his two sappers and traced the zig-zag. Without losing a moment he returned to the party, and to prevent confusion, led them from the trench in single file. As each man arrived at his place, one sapper staked the gabion, and the other instructed the workman with respect to the space to be left for a berm and how to act in forming the parapet. So pushed on the line of gabions, till the end one touching the rifle-pit, approached within forty yards of the Russian trench. All the way the ground was solid rock. To make up for this disadvantage the corporal sent to the depôt for baskets and had the earth brought up a distance of sixty or seventy yards. So spiritedly was everything done through his own laborious example, that the gabions were not only filled but cover sufficient was obtained for the miners to work in the approach the next day. To a brisk musketry fire the party was exposed the whole time, but the darkness of the night favoured the exertions of the corporal and his men, and they left the boyau without casualty. Corporal Ross’s conduct in effecting the junction was noticed in brigade orders, and considered so deserving of reward that General Simpson ordered him to be paid a gratuity of two pounds. Private James Lacy of the ninth company was also noticed for his zeal in the work.
Next day private Nathanial Gillard, a rough but hardy miner, was killed in the advance trenches on the right attack.
While no instance of applause in which the merits of the men are concerned have been omitted, it would be unfair to hide any indiscretions which may have subjected any of them to censure. These pages would be incomplete if commendable deeds only were paraded and the objectionable ones suppressed. Well is it, however, that no case of cowardice has occurred in our ranks, although instances of natural timidity were sometimes discovered. Neglect in the trenches amount to offences among the sappers which in other corps would not be entitled to more than ordinary notice. A flagrant instance occurred on the night of the 22nd July. Very little work was done though the party was large. A sharp fire was maintained upon the linesmen which made it difficult to keep them to their tasks. Greatly as this may have operated in retarding the works, the indolence of the workmen was chiefly attributable to the carelessness of the non-commissioned officers of sappers in charge, who added to their heedlessness a disregard of orders repeatedly given them. Lying down in the trenches, the parties idled away their hours under the apparent sanction of the overseers, and the names of three non-commissioned officers seemingly unimpressed with the importance of their responsibility, were mentioned to General Simpson.
On the 25th the linesmen appeared in the trenches in a brown linen fatigue suit, like so many storehousemen from a sugar refining establishment. Unrestrained by stout cloth and tight sleeves they worked with obvious energy. This novel dress had also the advantage of enabling the engineer to distinguish the workmen at a glance from the guard of the trenches, and of assisting the sappers to look after their parties and prevent attempts at straying or shirking.
On the left three more rifle-pits were sunk in sheltered spots to command positions from which danger threatened. In broad daylight the blasters carried out their duties in the communication leading to the French picket near the cemetery. Many sappers were pushed into the foremost trenches of both attacks, who blew out the rock with a spirit that suffered no abatement, though the same men for many successive days had given their exertions in removing impediments which nothing but mining could reduce. Impossible to get earth in those difficult trenches, it was even scraped from the face of the rock, and picked out of crevices and indentations in which the sweeping wind or the rushing torrent had lodged it. Soil carried from the rear was husbanded in diminutive heaps, and shovelled at night on the incipient works. Clay also was gathered for the purpose and borne in baskets to the front. Walls of loose stones were formed in short lengths along the different traces to protect the sappers in their progress. Without this temporary expedient they could not have advanced. Where their lives were imminently imperilled, the trench was not thrown forward by day, but was simply deepened or widened by numerous small explosions. The boulders and stones thus loosened were worked unsquared into the parapets at dark, and all vacuities stuffed with clay or earth. So effectual were the efforts of the blasters, it was ascertained that one sapper in daylight upheaved enough rock to occupy nine men for four hours at night in giving it a lodgment in the parapet.
In the valleys the besiegers had penetrated to some old walls and crazy structures, which formed the buildings of a wild and scattered suburb. All these were made to serve their uses, either as parts of the trenches, or in furnishing materials for platforms and magazines. A few brigades of carpenters having the run of the batteries, took pride in the efficiency of their labours. In the front parallels sand-bag loop-holes, and others of wooden troughs after the Russian fashion, were built to scour the ravines. The latter never obtained favour with the British riflemen, because the smoke moved lazily from the tubes and precluded the chances of seeing the effect of the fire. Shot-holes were plugged up in all the parapets, and breaches mended in places of arms. Unfinished works, and embrasures ruptured by the enemy’s shot and shells, necessitated considerable attention; but as revetting materials had reached their utmost limit of scarcity, the Turks and Sardinians helped by their labours to meet the deficiency. Gabions made by the former were slack and ricketty, fit only for secondary uses, while those put out of hand by the Sardinians were everything that could be desired. New batteries with ample magazines were formed on rocky sites and others powerfully enlarged. No. 18 battery, on the right attack, was armed on the morning of the 26th July with seven 13-inch mortars, three of them being sea-service ones. The work spread out in great length in the first demi-parallel, nearly to the crest of the middle ravine. Some of the earliest batteries wore an appearance of age and even permanence, for spots of scanty verdure grew upon their slopes, and rank herbelets sprang from shot-rents and seams. The soil had solidified, and tearing shells had less effect upon them than younger constructions; still the repairs they needed were generally of some magnitude, because they were assailed by the heaviest ordnance, of the largest calibres and weightiest missiles. For several days heavy showers diversified the obstacles of progress and attack. Fortunately the works suffered little, but some of the low parts of the trenches were flooded. The increase of mud, deep as it was, was barely regarded as a difficulty, although every tramp buried the leg to the swell and played annoying pranks with boots and shoes inadequately secured with thongs or laces. This was far from pleasant, and consequently efforts to avoid the pools were carried to an extravagant pitch by many, who, sooner than soil a badly-polished boot or draggle in mire the legs of an old pair of trousers, risked their lives by mounting the reverse of the trench in passing to their duties. All these discomforts were however speedily relieved, and eventually in great part removed, by cutting tunnels through the rock and forming channels by chisel and jumper along its face.
On the 28th at night, Major Campbell of the 46th regiment, assistant engineer, was wounded in the back and obliged to retire from the right attack. Sergeant Philip Morant succeeding him, it fell to his lot to distribute the working parties to their several duties and control their services until the day relief. It also happened on the 30th, from some miscarriage of arrangement, that sergeant Docherty, by order of Major Bent, was placed in charge of the workmen on the left attack. For the day he stood in the place of an engineer and kept his widely-spread parties in full activity. These are the only instances during the siege in which non-commissioned officers of the corps held positions of unusual responsibility.
Casualties from splinters of shells and flying stones, from cohorns in the Redan, and heavy shells and carcases discharged from the collateral works were very great. Those which occurred among the sappers from the 23rd to the end of July were as follows:—
Day 23rd—Colour-sergeant Alexander M. McLeod, slightly wounded in the right breast. This was his second wound, having been struck in the head on the 6th June.
Day 25th—Private Alfred Rowlett—killed on the right attack.