Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/219



in the despatch from Lord Raglan, published on Good Friday, April 6, closed the last door of hope that there might be some mistake in the telegraphic notice of Captain Vicars' death, communicated by the evening papers of the 4th:

"Early in the night a serious attack was made upon the works of our Allies in front of the Victoria redoubt, opposite the Malakhoff Tower.

"The night was very dark, and the wind so high, that the firing which took place, and which was very heavy, could scarcely be heard in the British camp; it is, therefore, difficult to speak with certainty of what occurred from any thing that could be heard or observed at the moment.

"It appears, however, that the Russians, after attacking the head of the sap which the French are carrying on towards the Mamelon, fell with two heavy masses on the new parallel, to the rear of which they succeeded in penetrating and momentarily possessing themselves of, after a gallant resistance on the part of our Allies.