The siege continued during the months of July and August. The duties in the trenches were constant, and the Riflemen were engaged either in working parties or in covering them.[263] Almost nightly attacks were made on these parties; and they were vigorously plied with shot and shell.
On the evening of September 1 a party of the 2nd Battalion were ordered to cover a sap which was in course of construction from the fifth parallel towards the flank of the Redan.
At 7.30 Captain Balfour,[264] with one subaltern (Lieutenant Cary), 2 sergeants and 48 rank and file, left the camp for that duty. The Russians had erected a screen of stones about 80 yards in front of the head of the sap, as a protection to their sentries; and their reserves occupied a pit behind this screen and also a ravine on their left in which there was a cave. Captain Balfour detached Cary with one sergeant and 23 men to proceed down the ravine and turn the Russian left; while he himself with the remainder of the party made a rush at the screen of stones behind which the Russian riflemen were posted. After a short but sharp encounter the Russians abandoned the screen of stones and the pit, and retired towards the ditch of the Redan and to a small graveyard in the Karabelnaia ravine.
Lieutenant Cary and Sergeant Henry Wood much distinguished themselves in this affair, and were both wounded. One Rifleman was killed and 14 were wounded. Cary died at Malta, from the effects of his wounds, on November 9.
On September 8, when the assault was to take place, one half of the 1st Battalion being in the trenches under Colonel Norcott, the remainder, consisting of about 280 men under Lieutenant-Colonel Somerset, moved out of camp at eleven A.M. and took up a position in reserve on the Woronzow road.
The 2nd Battalion furnished a covering party for the assault of the Redan consisting of 100 men, under the command of Captain Fyers, who were to cover the advance of the ladder party, and to keep down the fire from the parapet; a party, also of 100 men, under Captain Balfour, occupied some broken ground and a Russian rifle-pit in front of and to the right of our most advanced works, who were also directed to keep down the fire from the parapet. With the same object two parties of 50 men each under Lieutenants Baillie and Playne, were stationed, one in the fifth parallel, and one in the Woronzow road. The remainder of the Battalion, about 230 men under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, took part in the general attack.
These men had to advance 150 yards, exposed to a most terrible fire in front and flank. This attack, most gallantly carried out, was not entirely successful; though, as is well known, the operations of this day led to the abandonment of the works by the Russians, and the fall of the place.
During the night following this attack Major Woodford (who had been slightly wounded) and Captain Balfour, with about 150 Riflemen, occupied the stone screen, the rifle pit, and the cave above mentioned. Major Woodford (it is said) had obtained a promise from Sir Colin Campbell that, if his Highlanders assaulted the Redan on the next morning, these men should again form a covering party. But the dawn of the 9th revealed the fact that the Russians were abandoning the flaming town; and the services of these Riflemen, utterly exhausted by the fighting and excitement of the assault, were not required.
The 2nd Battalion lost 2 officers, Captain Hammond and Lieutenant Ryder, 4 sergeants and 19 rank and file killed. And 8 officers, Major Woodford, Captain the Hon. B. R. Pellew, Lieutenants Eyre, Riley, Eccles, Moore, Borough and Playne, 8 sergeants, 1 bugler and 128 rank and file were wounded.[265]
The following interesting account of Captain Hammond and Lieutenant Ryder is extracted from a letter written by Staff Assistant-Surgeon Walter Clegg, dated September 9, 1855: