Chapter XXXII, of Cassells Illustrated History of England, Volume 8 page 2

Kinburn, as we have said, stands on the southern shore of the estuary of the Dnieper, and forms, with Oczakov, the defence of those waters. It is a regular fortress, built almost on a level with the sea. The northern face looks up the spit, the southern along the road that leads to Kherson and Perekop; the eastern looks on to the estuary, and the western on to the Black Sea. Thus it presented four strong casemated faces, and north and south were deep ditches, supplied with sea Water. It mounted fifty-one guns, but they were only I8-pounders and 24-pounders. To the southward there was a small village, and some large stacks of wood. To the north there were two batteries - one called the Point Battery, mounting eight, the other called the Middle Battery, mounting eleven guns. These were connected by a deep-covered way, and their guns commanded the channel, which, inside the spit, ran along near the shore. There were in these works some 1,500 men, under General Kokanowitch. In this very neighbourhood Suvaroff, the most renowned of Russian marshals, had defeated the Turks in 1787, and the next year he captured Oczakov on the opposite shore. Kinburn was, therefore, much prized by the Russians, not only on account of its military value, which was great, but also on account of its relation to former exploits. Within the fort there was a monument to the memory of Suvaroff.

The allies had arrived, determined to capture the place. Their plan was to land their soldiers to the south, thus investing the fortress on that side, and preventing any force from Kherson from relieving the besieged; then to place their ships, gunboats, and floating batteries on both sides of the fortress and its outworks, and thus overwhelm them with a concentrated and concentric fire. The troops landed on the 15th, the British being the first to step ashore. As soon as they were assembled, lines of defence were marked out, and working parties began to ply the spade and throw up entrenchments in the sand. The British were entrusted with the task of showing a front on the Kherson road, which ran along the spit, while the French moved up towards Kinburn. During the night they occupied the village of that name, which the inhabitants had abandoned, and when morning came the defenders of the fortress saw their enemies on shore - in possession of the village and the huge stacks of wood near it - and already entrenched. The guns of the enemy at once opened upon the French, who replied with musketry and field artillery. This combat continued. The fleets could not take part because the sea was too rough, and night fell upon the scene, leaving the fleet in the offing and the troops ashore. On the 17th the wind had fallen; the sky was clouded, but the sea was calm. Then a movement began in the fleet. The gunboats and mortar vessels steered for the positions assigned them, some going southward to fire on the south-westerly angle, others steering northward to double the point and range along the inner side. The floating batteries were carried in nearer to the fort, until they were within about 700 yards of the south-west angle. The frigates went forward towards the batteries on the spit, one line on the Black Sea side, the other in the estuary. The Hannibal, line-of-battle ship, took part opposite the extreme northern end of the spit, and raked its defences. It was about half-past eight when the mortar vessels began to fire. They were followed by the floating batteries, whose guns crashed off altogether. Then the gunboats added their thunders to the din. The frigates ranging along the estuary delivered their broadsides, as they passed, at the Point and Middle Batteries, and then coming to a stop, plied them with fire. The enemy were not slow to respond. The Russians defended their post with energy; but they were overmatched. From all sides a hail of shot and shell struck and fell into the fort. The walls cracked and bulged, and tumbled down under the massive blows of the allied artillery. The fire of the floating batteries was most effective, while the comparatively light ordnance of the fort could make no impression on their iron walls. The interior of the fort was soon in flames. Part of the garrison ran out into the dry ditches for shelter, but here they were exposed to French musketry and grape shot. In order to terminate the contest the gunboats went closer in, and the line-of-battle ships, steaming up in line abreast, brought their guns to bear upon the torn, and shattered, and smoking ramparts. The Russian guns were now completely silenced. The batteries on the spit continued to fire a gun here and there, but five hours' cannonade and bombardment had placed Kinburn fort hors de combat. Seeing this, and not wishing to prolong a useless engagement, Admirals Lyons and Bruat made the signal to cease firing. They then summoned the garrison to surrender. General Kokanowitch complied. He could do no more. His guns were dismounted or unworkable. He had lost 45 killed and 130 wounded, nearly a seventh of his force. He had not the least hope of relief. He agreed to surrender on the condition offered - that he and his men should march out with everything except arms, ammunition, and guns. It is related that when he came forth General Kokanowitch "advanced with a sword and pistol in one hand, and a pistol in the other. He threw down his sword at the feet" of Admiral Stewart and General Bazaine, " and discharged his pistols into the ground, or, at least, pulled the triggers, with the muzzles pointing downwards, in token of surrender. He was moved to tears, and, as he left the fort, turned round and uttered some passionate exclamation in Russian, of which the interpreter could only make out - ' Oh, Kinburn! Kinburn! glory of Suvaroff, and my shame, I abandon you.' As the garrison marched out they were ordered to pile their arms, but many of them threw them on the ground at the feet of the conquerors, with rage and mortification depicted in their features." It is also related that many were intoxicated, and conducted themselves with a burlesque gaiety painful to their sober comrades. The next day the Russians blew up the fort at Oczakov, thus leaving the allies in full possession of the estuary of tie Dnieper and of the mouth of the Boug. But the capture of Kinburn was the only solid piece of work done by this expedition. It is true that the soldiers marched for a few miles towards Kherson and back again, and that the lighter war ships ran some distance up the Boug, and exchanged shots with a shore battery, constructed half way up the high cliff on the right bank. These, however, were bootless operations. The clear gain was Kinburn, and the demonstration - for what it was worth -that iron-cased floating batteries (an old idea revived and acted on by the Emperor) could run close in with a fortress armed with lighter guns, and knock it to pieces without any risk to themselves. Kinburn was repaired, and a French garrison, with a flotilla, was left to hold and defend it. the Boug and Dnieper were blockaded until the frost set in, when the ice performed the work of a blockading squadron; In the meantime the fleet and the greater part of the troops had returned to Sebastopol. The expediency of attacking Odessa had been mooted, but the idea met with no encouragement from the Governments of France and England. Indeed, unless a large army had been sent to take it, with the view of making it the base of future operations m Southern Russia, the town could not have been occupied; and to bombard and ruin it would have been an act unworthy of the allies.

During the reduction of Kinburn the troops at Eupatoria had been reinforced by the division of General de Failly, and the British Light Cavalry Brigade, under Lord George Paget. But the fine body of troops of all arms then concentrated at Eupatoria was not able to accomplish anything important. On several occasions they sought the enemy, but he always fell back, and avoided a combat; and the want of water on these steppes compelled the allies to return each time to Eupatoria. The allies never got farther than Karagourt and Tchobotar on the road to Simpheropol. Before the entrenchments of the latter place they were obliged to halt. The position was too strong for an assault, and the enemy would not quit it. So each time the allies marched upon Tchobotar, want of food and water obliged them to return to Eupatoria.

Thus the pleasant autumn weather passed away. All was quiet around Sebastopol, beyond the Tchernaya and around the Baidar Valley, and the only activity displayed was in those expeditions we have described on the extremities of the Crimea - at Kinburn, at Eupatoria, at Kertch, and in the Sea of Azoff. The reasons for this inactivity have not been disclosed; but they may be safely traced to differences at Paris and London touching the conduct and field of war, and to the desire of making peace, which the allies were resolved should be honourable and satisfactory to them, and which the Russians were anxious should involve the minimum of sacrifices on their side.

But there was another reason of great weight. General Sir James Simpson had sent home his resignation immediately after the fall of Sebastopol. He was a brave and able soldier, but he had passed the prime of life, and not knowing the French language, he was m a false position, and unable to struggle with success against the natural self-assertion of Marshal Pélissier. He had also been unjustly assailed, because a few hundred English soldiers had not been able to wrest the Redan from thousands of Russians, supported by heavy flanking batteries. The Government accepted his resignation. That was easy. Whom should they put in his place? They were at a loss for an answer. The fittest man was Sir Colin Campbell - old, it is true, but still as hardy, and active, and vigorous as ever. But a report had been industriously spread that Campbell would quarrel with the French, and he did not, besides, belong to the privileged few from whose ranks, with rare exceptions, we take our generals. Perhaps the Cabinet wanted a safe man; one who would not propose or urge decisive action. At all events, they found one. Sir William Codrington, a guardsman, who had not seen a hundredth part of Campbell's service, who had not a hundredth part of Campbell's ability; but who was an average soldier, a brave leader in battle, and one of the " right set," was selected to command the Anglo- Sardinian armies. If the British Government had at that time made up its mind to stop the war as soon as possible, the choice of a general was a matter of comparative indifference. Sir William was just as well able to command a peaceful army as Sir Colin. But if they contemplated a continuance or an extension of the war, in that case their choice should have fallen on the best man, and the best soldier in the Crimea was not Sir William Codrington. But he received the commands of the Queen to direct and control her army; that he was chosen was not his fault. It was for him to obey. On the 11th of November he assumed the command, and Sir James Simpson went home.

Three days afterwards a great calamity befell the French, and inflicted severe losses upon us. On the 14th of November the powder magazines in the park of the French siege train, containing 250,000 pounds of gunpowder, blew up; not powder only, but an immense quantity of shells, carcasses, rockets, and cartridges. " The earth shook - the strongest houses rocked to and fro - men felt as if the very ground on which they stood was convulsed by an earthquake. The roar and concussion was so great at Balaclava that the ships in the harbour and outside trembled and quivered. The ships at Kamiesch and Kazatch reeled from side to side. The noise pealed through the passes of Baidar like the loudest thunder." " I was riding from head-quarters" writes Dr. Russell, "reading my letters, when the explosion took place, and had just reached the hill, or elevated part of the plateau, at the time, and happened to be looking in the very direction of the park. The phenomena were so startling as to take away one's breath. Neither pen nor pencil could describe them. The rush of fire and smoke and iron, in one great pillar, attained a height I dare not estimate, and then seemed to shoot out like a tree, which overshadowed half the camp on the right, and rained down missiles upon it. The colour of the pillar was dark grey, flushed with red, but it was pitted all over with white puffs of smoke, which marked the explosions of shells. It retained the shape of a fir-tree for nearly a minute, and then the sides began to swell out, and the overhanging canopy to expand and twist about in prodigious wreaths of smoke, which flew out to the right and left, and let drop, as it were from solution in its embrace, a precipitate of shells, carcasses, and iron projectiles. I clapped spurs to my horse, and rode off as hard as I could towards the spot, as soon as my ears had recovered from the shock. The noise was tremendously abrupt, vehement, grand, terrible; and, when the shells began to explode, the din was like the opening crash of one of the great cannonades or bombardments of the siege. As I rode along I could see thousands hurrying away from the place, and thousands hastening towards it. The smoke became black; the fire had caught the huts and tents. General Windham overtook me, riding from head-quarters as hard as he could go. He was ignorant of the cause and locality of the explosion, and was under the impression that it was one of the French redoubts. Sir Richard Airey followed else after him, and General Codrington rode towards the fire a few minutes afterwards. On arriving close to the place I saw that the ground had been torn up in all directions. The fragments of shell were still smoking, and shells were bursting around in most unpleasant proximity. Captain Piggott, in a short time after the explosion, came up with the ambulances at a gallop, and urged the horses through the flames, and amid the exploding shells, in order to render assistance to the sufferers; and in this arduous duty he was manfully and courageously assisted by Surgeons Alexander, Muir, Mouatt, Wall, Longmore, and others. As we were all looking on at the raging fire, an alarm was spread that the mill used as a powder magazine had caught fire, and a regular panic ensued. Horses and men tore like a storm through the camp of the Second Division." Happily all were not panic-stricken. General van Straubenzee, calling for volunteers from the gallant 7th, Lieutenant Hope and a number of men stood forward. These brave fellows, headed by their officer, quickly joined by others, ascended the walls of the roofless mill, and by great labour succeeded in covering up the powder with wet blankets. It was a service where the risk was awful, for all around were conflagrations; the air was full of fleeting flames, and there stood the great magazine without doors, windows, or roof; all had been blown in or torn off. Yet the daring deed was well done, and the place saved. By this calamity we lost ten men killed and sixty-nine wounded. One of the killed was Deputy-Assistant Commissary Yellon. The French lost six officers killed and thirteen wounded, and 166 men killed and wounded. The cause of this catastrophe was never discovered. We must now leave the Crimea for a season to narrate the operations of the British fleet in the Baltic and Pacific.