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C E T S 2 T O S E B A S T O P O L 1854-5 Lith'attheTopographicalDepbyJ.Ferguson. HC.Elphinstono,Del. ROYAL ENGINEER PARK . ( RICHT ATTACK ) JOURNAL OF THE OPERATIONS CONDUCTED BY THE CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PART I. FromtheInvasion ofthe Crimea tothe close of theWinter Campaign 1854-55, O T H BY IE CAPTAIN H. C. ELPHINSTONE, R.E. of the Topographical Depot. London: PRINTED BYGEORGE EDWARD EYRE ANDWILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE Itinurs to theQueen's Mus' Ex'cient Malesty. 1859. 1 CONTENTS. l'age LETTER FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT iii PREFACE INTRODUCTION 1 INVASION OF THE CRIMEA 8 SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL 21 APPENDIX 89 VOL.I. 1 i i i War Department, SIR, 30th September 1856. I am directed by Lord Panmure to request that you will state to His Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief, that Lord Panmure considers it expedient, while the incidents of the Siege of Sebastopol are still recent, and the Officers who conducted the important operations of the British Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers at that siege are still for the most part within reach, that an official record should be compiled relating all that is of interest or value to those arms of the service, whether for future instruction or as matter of history, a record that will be in some degree similar to those published by Colonel, afterwards Sir J. Jones, of the sieges of the Peninsular War. Lord Panmure apprehends that there will now be no difficulty in collecting these facts, and preserving the experience acquired through them, although a short lapse of time may make it difficult; and I am to request that you will move His Royal Highness to call upon the Inspector-General of Fortifications and the Adjutant-General ofArtillery to compile in a narrative form , with statistical Appendix, and with any illustrations required, all those particulars relating to their arm of the service which they deem of professional value, and to embody the same in a Report for his Lordship’s information. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, (Signed) JOHN CROOMES, For the Under-Secretary of State. The Military Secretary, Horse Guards. b 3 ! 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 ? V PREFACE TO THE FIRST VOLUME. In compliance with the preceding instructions of the Secretary of State for War, this volume has been drawn up in two distinct parts; the one containing a general narrative ofevents, from the commencement of the war to the close of the winter campaign 1854–55 ; the other, a Statistical Appendix including the more important official documents relating to that interval, a series of papers by Sir John Burgoyne on matters referring to the siege, a detailed Trench Journal showing the work executed each day, and several Reports of great interest, in connection with the operations in the Crimea. The strictly professional character of the work has constantly been kept in view, and nothing has been inserted that was not required to elucidate the engineering operations. This will to some extent explain why several of the more important events of the campaign have been but casually alluded to, whereas others, solely of professional interest, but of little importance to a general reader, have been dwelt upon at considerable length. This will necessarily render the work unattractive in a general sense ; nor was it to be expected that the interest of an ordinary narrative could have been attained under this condition of a strictly technical treatment. The data upon which this volume has been based have been obtained from the official documents in the offices of the Adjutant-General, Quarter master-General, and Inspector-General of fortifications. Recourse has like wise been had to the journals ofsome of the Officers of Engineers, who most vi PREFACE. kindly placed them at the disposal of the compiler ; but these last-named documents have been used but sparingly and with due circumspection. The Reports at the end of the Appendix have all been written sub sequent to the War, by the persons who respectively had the charge of the particular duties to which they refer. The operation of landing in the Crimea, although strictly a naval proceeding, involved so many strategical and tactical points, and was an operation of such magnitude, and so successfully executed, that a detailed description of this operation was considered necessary; and on referring the matter to Captain Mends, R.N., who had the charge of its execution, he drew up, in a most obliging manner,, the very able Report which has been inserted in the Appendix.