MEMORANDA ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 252, 31 March 1855, Page 5

MEMORANDA ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE WAR.

: (From the Home News.) Mr. Hewett, mate of the Beagle, greatly distinguished himself during the sortie of the 26th. Mr. Hewett was in charge of a Lancaster gun on the right. "Some mistake," says Caplpn Lushington, reporting to Admiral Dund'as oil the 28th, " occurred in the orders of the officer commanding the picket, and1 the word; was passed to spike the gun and retreat. But Hewett replied, ' that such an order did not come from Captain Lushirigton, and he would not do so till it did.' (He was aware I was in the vicinity.) He then pulled down the "parapet,- and, with the assistance of some soldiers, pulled his gun round, and poured a most destructive fire of grape into a large column of-'.Russians,; and, on their retreating from the British troops, followed them down the hill with solid 68-lb. shot, fired with fstal precision." /Xdrairal Duridas has mentioned Mr. Hewett to the admiralty in his special despatch : and the admiralty have promoted Mr. Hewett to the mnk of a Lieutenant, his commission to date from the 26th October.

The Emperor of Russia .-—The Debats states that the? plan of the Russians at InkeVman, which it Says was prepared by the Emperor Nicholas himself, was to take the height to the right of the English, then to descend like a torrent on the siege works; to cut off the .communicationof the besiegers with Balaklava, arid to take in reverse the line of circurnvallation.;■• whilst General Liprandi, advancing by the road of Balaklava, should make a junction with the assailants. " If," it says, "this great and able manoeuvre had succeeded, the combined army, attacked in the rear, would have been forced to abandon the. siege- works, and to fight its way through the enemy's army to reach Balaklava and the Bayof Karnieh." Shooting.—Yesterday, 'says a letter dated the 23rd, fifty riflemen were out in advance, and on their return the sergeant of the party described his work in tbe'following manner to" the colonel of a regiment. 'We went, Sir/quite close in, and managed to pick off a great many; but there was one man: we could not hit. At last I said, Come here, six of you, and fire a volley. They did so, and down he fell. But, sir, after the blowing-up of the magazine, for a little time during the confusion, we had sortie beautiful shooting, I assure you!" vr The Artillbrt.—The crest of the hill'(lnk-' erniaun) was covered with smoke, and the entire ground there thickly clothed with brushwood, through which with the greatest difficulty we: moved the guns. Suddenly, the smoke cleared away, and we discovered the Russian infantry: in great force within 10 yards of us. I never shall forget the aspect of those fellows, dressed in their long grey coats and flat glazed caps; firingf most deliberately at our poor gunnlersj and picking them down like so many crows. We at this time were under a heavy fire of shot and shell. Major Townsend saw at once the critical position of the gunsy and most wisely gave the order to retire, as we were quite ■.unsupported—but too late •, theenemy's skirmishers had come up to the guns. However, five out of the six escaped ; and one of ourmen seeing the last, as was then supposed, certain to betaken, judiciously spiked it. The gun belonged to a division of our battery to which was attached yonnff [Miller, one of our lieutenants ; and poor Major Townsend, turning ground his horse, seeing what was likely to occu^ cried out, "You won't disgrace me." The words w^re hardly out^of his mouth:when a shell burst in among usj and one fragment struck him 'on the head, and literally crushed it to pieces, of course killing him immediately. Miller drew his sword, and single-handed galloped his horse towards the gun, riding down one, and cutting down a second Russian. He alone turned aside a dozen of the enemy, and we recovered the gnn. Was not this a most plucky thing to do? He returned with his gun without having received even a scratch. — -From an Artillery Officer. ~ The 63kd.—Our regiment and the 21st formed line. We then charged, and we did it most gloriously. We routed thousands; and as fast as we could run and load our pieces, so fast they fell; for we could not miss them, they were so thick. We chased them for the best part of a mile past their own intrencbment, and close up to that^ in the thick of the whole of it, fell poor Mr. Clutterbuck, who was carrying the Queen's' colour, and cheering the men on. I think his last words were, " Come on, 63rd!" when he received a shot through the neck, which killed him instantly. He died gloriously. I never saw a braver man than him in the field that day. After the fig-lit was over, I went to him, and got his remains carried into the camp. I took a small piece of his hair, which I send you to give over to his respected friends. His disconsolate father may well be proud of having such a son, for he fought and died bravely, with the Queen's colour of the 63rd regiment in his hand.— From a -private in the 63rd to his Mother. ...'..,..■• Fearfui. Odds.—About 7 o'clock, a. in., our regiment drove up in line on the extreme left; the ground was thickly covered with brushwood, and there was a pretty thick fog, which prevented our seeing a powerful force of 3000 men, who almost completely surrounded our poor devoted regiment. .We had only four companies of the regiment present at.the engagement, the remainder were on ;:icket, guarding the batteries and trenches we made round Sebasiopol. Our four companies did not amount to over 300 men. General Buller exclaimed, "My God, we are surrounded!" He ordered v volley to be fired into them, and charged them with

the bayonet, which was done in excellent style, and, together with charging,;-they cheered wildly and routed the. cowardly Russians in 'disorder, and confusion, inflicting a teniblecbastisemerit on them in their flight.— From a Setgeant in the 47th. ' ? The Reaxities of War.—l have always.;" imagined that split skulls and cloven heads were figures of speech'until to-day, when I have indeed been terribly convinced of the reality of such horrors. Some of the dead to-day had their heads as completely cloven as if the operation was performed by a surgeon with a saw. Nearly all the Russians were so killed. Our fellows had been principally slain with lancethrusts ; I saw one body with 13 such wounds through the chest and stomach. Another man had six, which were all mere flesh wounds, and not dangerous: The-same man (in the 17th Lancers), extraordinary and incredible as it may appear, had two horses killed under hiihvone or two sabre and bullet wounds in his cap, bis sword bent double in its sheath by a Minie bullet, five bullets in his saddle, one in his lance staff, and sword-cuts innumerable. v One afternoon's Work. - —An anecdote somewhat cruel is related of a skirmisher, who, having picked off his man, took the body to a covered spot and laid it down. He issued forth, shot a second, and a third Russian skirmisher, and quietly deposited their bodies in a row with the first. Then, seeing a Highlander approach, he led himby the arm to the spot, and said— 'That's not such a bad afternoon's work, ■Willie.'- ■"•"■'.■;-' / ",- ■■ '■■'■";'■■■. ...■.: : V -■'■"-■ -