Frightful Carnage

♦ The plnn Oí tlxb1 Bteiaöfï was to bring on three or fonr regiiUeni?1 of four battalions apiece, onc af ter the other, in a great column, with very little distance between the battalions - an obrlmisly foolish proceeding irhen witliin BW f afán of our position, as the great gttp H theif rankR which our shelln Söon began totüakereryqnickly showed. Ab ílíey appíoached the hill the Muscovs hrdke iüto 'èfl order, and made a hort rtísh for a ïinè ití ífl ícrofld Whích offered sfeme írítle coer, afld thpflce they treateiJ ttt to' a síoíin of riüe-tmllets, ■while their gun' lü fle rëar èhelled ofir redoubta and intrenciiiu;riii überally. I 'lid uot nee many Turks fall, i(Tf"et for síifelíi-fii'e, althongh terrible for individuáis if it (ílíáíí ío come on them, is not dangerous for troopfi i long, high, narrow trench, or a Tvell-nmle felnbt, The BnBuians appeared to think othei' wise( and for ncarly an hour continued thèii distaüt Shell and rifle-ftre, not moviög flflaïe tiJl nearJy 2 o'clook, when they began to öomo tip ib oarnest. To attempt to describe what follotved is past tíe Power of writing. No sooner did they Shoüf thetnselves in the open than their first rank Wa )raost swept away by the fearful iire vliich the Turks poured in upon them. Oü rtJshed the aecond battalion, srettiüg a little fnrfcber np the hill, lmt sharing the same íale. A tliird made a little more progresa, only o cover the ground with corpses eventunlly. Then a fourth line was all but mowed down, the men behiud still pushing up the hill over the thickeniug bodies oí their fallen comrades, maiutaining the while a heavy flre, but not greatly injuring the Turks, who were nearly covered by their intrenchments. I ani afraid to say hoiv niany the Russians were losing at this moment, but there must have been thousnnds of them beaten down by the storm of bulletif which came upon their masses as they as ceniied tlie deadly slopes. Still, on they came, the troops that were" killed benig constantly repïaced by others, till thoy were actually so near the top of our ridge that they could flriï into the intrenchments, and their officers did, as a matter of f act, use their revolvers. Young Dr. Byan, a brave young Iiishnian here, has since dressed several revolver wounds recerved during this struggle. At that supreme moment the Turks were reinforced, and, rising out of their cover, made a rush forward. Away went the Russians pell-mell, the Turks firing into theniandcheeringloudly as their enemy rau down the hill to gain the shelter of the valley - not maDy of them gettiug away,however, so dreauful was the hail of bullets. Over tlie trenches now, too, went the Turkish cavalry a little way in pursuit, bcing, however, uuable to ride far on account of tlie Russian batteries, which thundered upon tl-em from the hill beyond, killing, liowever, a good many more ol the Russians than of our horsemen. The flght so far had coBt the Czar nearly 3,000 men, and had given him no advantage. The cannonading continued, but, as I now heard the nttack quickening on tlie northern side, I hastenec over there to see what might happen. Ten minutes' trot brougut me to the ücene of action. Hcre the position to be attacked was a very difficult one, and I am still at a loss to account for the atteinpt the Russians made. In the flrst place, they bied to come up the center of the face of a steep hill, which was held by five strong redoubts. There was no elïbrt whatever to turn our position; a heavy cannonade ■was showered upon it from batteries moie or less distant, that was all. Al along the top of this hill or ridge ran a long trench, connecting each battery with the next to it. The task of the Russians was to clamber up iu the middle of all, storm the trench and tako the redoubts. I never heard of a madder enterprise in my life; the man who made it must have been a military idiot. To resist the attack Osinan Pasha had sent Adil Pasha, who eoinmauded here, sufficient troops to cram his intrenchments with men, as well as - the redoubts. He kac also sent a couple of reserve battalions, and ammunition supplies in such abundance ns to enable Adil to serve out to all his men a doublé quantity. Past firing and plenty of it ws to be the order of the day. ' ' Aim low, my children ! aim at their belts, my lambs !" s lid one oE the officers near me; " let the Giaours have as much lead as they want !" The Turks were quite intelligent enough to obey the order. The flriit Russian advanee censisted of aboul liine battalions, who came on with greal impetnosity, and met with the usual rcee.ptiou. 1 know how easy it is to exoggerate losses at a moment of such oxcitement, but to me it seomed that not a man of the first six battalions which topped the slope escapod. A huge dark mass of bodies marked the spot where they stood ; and, when, later in the day, a Russian prisoner was taken, he liimself said that only fivo men had escapcd the carnage at that time. Tliis attack was no sooner over, however, thau a new assault begiin. Another deep column oi men made a fresh attempt to climb the hill, pushing forward just as they did on the oppositc side of the camp, and always getting largely shot down, but stil) leaving some, with the aid of fresh men, to struggle forwiird, till at last the top of the hill was reached. The n it was the old story repeated. Out rushed the Turks with a yell, and away went the Russians, nine of whom had turned out to be Moslem Tartars, being fortúnate tnough to be taken prisoners while the flying maes was scourged and swept by shell and bullets as it descended the slope. It was siniply a human butehery, notliing more or less, and the Russian oflicer who ordered that attack is frighti'ully responsible for the slaughter he caused. I do not think the Turks on this üide lost 500 men. I am sure the Russians lost nearly 7,000. The madness of the assanlt may be judged when it is known that, had they entered the trenches, they wouid still have had to contend with five redoiibte full of men md two reserve battalions, by whoni they must have been destroyed very quiokly, as their supports, from the very nature of the ground, would have been unablc to come to their help for many minutes. There never was a chance of tlie undertaking succeeding ; it was a willful cruel, ignorant waste of the Russinn soldiers' lives.