went straight up the slope, passed the line of intrenchment which crossed it, and in a few minutes was crowding the edge of the ditch. Presently the leading troops were seen on the parapet, still led by Colonel Brancion, who leaped into the work, where he was instantly slain. At the same moment the Turcos, passing the intrenchments which extended to the left of the work, ascended the slopes towards its rear, when the defenders, with the Admiral, abandoned it almost without a struggle, and hurried off towards the Malakoff, while the tricolour was presently seen fluttering over the Mamelon.
The captured work was of the kind called a lunette (though a very irregular one), two sides meeting in a salient, and open in the rear, so that not only could reinforcements be poured quickly in, but the batteries of the main line could sweep the interior if occupied by the enemy. To cover their working parties, who would now close 'and fortify the open rear, the foremost assailants pressed out in pursuit, even up to the ve-rge of the Malakoff, the guns of which at once opened on them, while the rifles of the garrison blazed along the parapets. For a quarter of an hour the scene was wrapt in smoke ; then the Russian reinforcements, arriving in strength, drove the French back upon the Mamelon. The Russians, in their turn, followed up their success, pressing into the Mamelon, and after a short struggle the French gave way, and ran down the hill to their own trenches. Ample provision of reserves had been made for this contingency, and reinforced by these the French again went up the hill and into the work, which they captured
Assaidt of the Qiiarries. 253
and held, and round which their musketry continued to sparkle in the darkness, while their comrades constructed the necessary trench across the rear of the lunette, converting it into what was henceforth called, in obedience to a general order, " the Brancion Redoubt."
The entry of the French into the Mamelon was to be the signal for the English to attack the Quarries. Troops of the Light and Second Divisions were assigned to this purpose, in number 700, for the immediate assault, with 600 in close support, and the 62d regiment in reserve, with strong working parties, the whole under Colonel Shirley. The stormers, operating by the flanks of the work, easily drove out the defenders, not only from it, but from the collateral trench extending thence across the ridge. But the work, unenclosed, afforded no protection from the fire of the Russian batteries behind it, which came into play, till their infantry, sallying from the Redan, engaged the assailants on the ridge outside. The combat swayed to and fro at intervals, as often as the Russians made a fresh sally, throughout the night, but all the trenches fought for remained in possession of the British.
Morning disclosed not only that Pelissier had accomplished the object of driving the enemy everywhere from their outworks, and restricting them to the main line of defence (for they had abandoned the auxiliary battery on the edge of Careening Bay), but that the advanced positions they had occupied had been converted into the front line of the siege works, connected by trenches with
254 The Emperor still persists.
those in rear. In accomplishing this the French had lost in all, killed, wounded, and prisoners, 5440 men ; the English, 693 ; the Russians, 5000. But, besides these losses, in the six days' cannonade, from the 6th to the loth June inclusive, the Allies lost 750 men ; the Russians, 3500. The French had taken in the works seventy-three guns.