Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/216

186 COLONEL YEA'S ATTACK. CHAP, signal which threw forward Colonel Yeas column VI! ! — against the eastern flank of the work. , With — foremost of all — its 'covering party 'of and number -,nr ~n-n • i -.i ' • ' i n -n of force 100 Riflemen in open order; with next its 12 Ji.11- under Veil. gineers, followed by some 180 soldiers and sailors bearing wool-sacks and ladders ; with next again the 'main body/ or 'storming party,' of 400 men drawn from the 34th Regiment; and with finally, though held back at first, its ' reserve ' of 800 men, furnished by the 7th or Royal Fusiliers and by the 33d Regiment, — this column entrusted to Colonel Yea was almost exactly a counterpart of the one we saw led by General Campbell on the oppo- site flank, comprising therefore a strength of 1300 bayonets, and, in all, nearly 1500 men.* But Col- onel Yea did not direct (as did General Campbell strength of elsewhere) that the so-called 'reserve' should the column,. moving with come up at once in close support to the storming column, and accordingly the whole of the infantry yet empowered to move with the chief comprised only 500 bayonets. The piloting Engineer officer was Lieutenant A'Court Fisher, and Lieutenant Graves headed the ladder-party. When the signal was given, Advance of the 100 Riflemen from the foremost trench and the rest of the force from the other trench in its rear sprang swiftly over the parapets, and then at once fairly confronted that part of the Sebastopol defences which was formed by the eastern face and flank of the Great Redan, by the chain of works thence trending northwards, and again by the column.
 * Viz., with the 12 Engineers and ISO bearers, 1402.