slopes were cut into longitudinal slips by the ravines which descend from the plateau to the basin in which lies the great harbour. It has been said that the largest of these divides the Upland, descending to the head of the inner harbour. To our right of it is another, which came to be known as the Valley of the Shadow of Death, running into the great ravine 1400 yards from its end ; and it was near this point of junction that the left of our earthworks rested on the chasm. At an 'average distance of 500 yards to the right of these combined ravines another cuts the plain, ending, like them, at the head of the inner harbour ; in this lies the Woronzoff road as it enters Sebastopol. It was across the strip of plain, called by us Green Hill, between the great ravine and that of the Woronzoff road, that part of our first batteries, with their connecting line of trench were constructed, known, from the engineer in charge of the works, as Chapman's . Battery, and later as the first parallel of the Left Attack. The system of fortification which had been created by the science of Louis XIV.'s engineers had, with some modifications, endured down to this time. It was based on the range of artillery and musketry, and the rules prescribed that the first parallel, with its batteries, should be traced at 600 yards from the enemy's works. Chapman's Battery was at a much greater distance, and for this reason : — The ground sloping constantly downward, was more and more commanded by the guns on the opposing heights, therefore the parapets must needs be higher in proportion as the works descended the hill. The ground here was stony,
96 Chapman s and Gordoris.
and a rocky substratum lay very near the surface ; hence the labour of trenching was very severe, rendering the construction of high parapets extremely difficult, and advantage was therefore taken of a terrace on the face of the slope to place the battery at 1300 to 1400 yards from the Redan. But the distance was of the less consequence, as our siege-guns were far more powerful than those of an earlier day, and the old rules could not therefore be now considered as applicable. Another cause of difficulty, affecting the English, but scarcely the French, was the power which the Russians possessed of placing guns in position, in the ground between our right and their fortifications, which would enfilade our trenches in proportion as they were pushed forward.
On the other side of the Woronzoff ravine, on the slope between it and the Docks ravine, which, like the other slope, varied from 400 to 600 yards in width, was traced the work called, after the engineer who constructed it, Gordon's Battery, and known later as the first parallel of our Right Attack. The name of the slope was Mount Woronzoff, and this slope or ridge was the only one that led direct to the Redan without intervening obstacles.
Again, on the next slope, which lay between the Docks ravine and the Careenage ravine, our sailors made and armed with heavy guns a work called the Victoria Battery. It was not less than 2000 yards from the enemy's works, at which distance its guns were well within their own range, and almost outside that of the opposing artillery. It was also known as the Lancaster Battery, because armed with Lancaster guns.
The First French Batteries. 97
Of these batteries, part of Chapman's guns, which were forty-one in number, fired across the great ravine upon the Flagstaff Bastion and its dependencies, that lay between the French attack and the city ; part across the Woronzoff ravine, on the faces of the Redan, and the works in extension of it on its proper right. Gordon's guns, twenty-seven in number, bore in parts, according to their position, on the left face of the Redan, on the Malakoff, and on the ships in the inner harbour and the Careenage Creek. The naval battery bore on the Malakoff, which stood on the continuation of the same slope, and one gun was directed on a ship in the Careenage Creek.