Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/204

171 GENERAL CAMPBELL'S ATTACK. CHAP, turned from its course by an unforeseen kind of VII . — obstacle. Theohstmc- What arrested the column was a throng of tion divert-. ingitfrom imglish soldiery belonging to various regiments. the assigned ° J ° ,°. course. and even to several Divisions who, although not on duty, were nevertheless so eager to take part in the attack that they had stolen away from their camps to this part of the 'Quarries,' and now crowded in on the trenches with a weight that intercepted the column and prevented its course clearing the parapet. Thus obstructed the men the column; of the 57th (who formed the ' main column') filed off to their left, moved westward until they had come to the end of the unfinished parapet, its actual then abandoned the shelter, and confronted the position fire that was instantly awakened against them in,':. from not only the whole western face of the Great Eedan, but also from the guns further west that guarded its re-entering angle — the guns of the Artakoff Battery.* The column, when thus it emerged, was far re- moved from the ground that it needs must have traversed if advancing, as directed by orders, in the wake of the ladder-party ; and accordingly we see that the troops meant to form a single body united under General Campbell were in a dis- severed state. Evolving themselves as they were from the thin trailing column in which they had marched along the sheltered side of the parapet, and then all at once facing the open, and confronting great
 * Colonel Wan-e, MS.