For the satisfaction of those to whom these camps are associated either in the past or in the present with the absent living or the unforgotten dead, we will endeavour, as we have done in the three preceding views, to trace out here as accurately as possible the exact position occupied by each regiment of the division. The first row of tents then on the extreme left* are those of the 17th Regiment; the next cluster to the right, with the two parallel rows beyond them, belong to the 89th; parallel to these again are the 38th; still more to the right and in the middle distance the 28th and the 44th, over whose tents there is just a glimpse of -Kamiesch, with its bay and shipping; the huts immediately next to the 38th are those of the Engineer department; behind which are the tents of the 50th; to the right again and somewhat in advance, the park of the Royal Artillery; next to these and still more forward are the Sappers; and farther back again and still to the right, the 1st Battahon of the Royals. The 4th regiment are in the last camp to the left of the Flag-staff Battery, where a puff of smoke announces that a gun has just been fired. Then comes Sebastopol itself, with Chapman's Battery, before referred to, in front of it; the view terminating on the right with a portion of the Redan.
* It should be remarked that in those descriptions, unless it be otherwise specified, the terms "left" and "right" refer to the position of the spectator.
THE EAST.
PLATE LIII.
INTEEIOE OF THE MAMELON VEET, LOOKING SOUTH.
The full importance of the position of this celebrated earthwork, to obtain possession of which cost the French so much labour and blood, was not fully appreciated until the Eussians seized the hill in the early spring, and established themselves strongly in it. It has indeed been stated that Colonel Gordon from the first saw the advantages which its occupation would confer on either side, and that he drew the attention of the allied commanders to this point; but the plan of our works of offence at that time did not admit of the extension which would have been necessary in order to bring it within their limits.
Long protected by its own artillery fire, and by that of the works in its rear and on its flanks, as well as by the obstinate resolution of the defenders of the rifle-pits, the Mamelon was at length, however, after a severe cannonade of more than twenty-four hours' duration, carried by assault on the 7th of June last by the French, who immediately turned and armed the work, which now became in fact an advanced battery against the Malakoff, from which it was only about 500 yards distant.
Colonel Hamley visited it in the beginning of August, and describes the interior in a passage which forms an admirable commentary on this sketch.
"A broad road," he says, "passed over the rampart of the former work, (the Mamelon) where the guns had once looked on the French lines, while what had been its gorge or rear when the enemy held it, was now a formidable battery, as yet unmasked, but completed, armed, and ready to open on its old ally the Eound Tower. The interior was still in a state of great confusion; Eussian guns were lying dismounted and half-buried, platforms shattered, guncarriages with their trucks in the air, and the numerous traverses which the Eussians had thrown up for protection from our shells were pounded and blown by explosions into shapeless heaps, making the interior of the redoubt look like a newly opened quarry. From one of its angles a path led to the advanced trenches and batteries, the latter beautifully finished and revetted with fascines, the guns already in them, and nothing wanting but the removal of the screen of earth still hiding the embrasures to enable them to open."
PLATE LIV.
BATTLE OF THE TCHEENAYA, 16th August, 1855. The details of this great action, so glorious for the French and Sardinian arras, have been already given in the introductory portion of this work; but a brief recapitulation of its leading events may not be out of place here, to enable the reader more fully to appreciate the merit of the very spirited and accurate drawing with which Mr. Simpson has commemorated the crowning moment of the struggle.