REPORT OF CAPT. GEORGE B. M'CLELLAN. 21 



forward, lie saw the party he had left in the work rapidly and hopelessly driven out at the point 

 of the bayonet. No further effort was made to carry the work. It would, in all j^robahility, 

 have failed, and would only have caused a useless sacrifice of men. 



The failure of the English assault may he attributed partly to the fact that their advanced 

 trenches were too small to accommodate the requisite force without confusion, in part to their 

 not being pushed sufficiently near the Kedan, but chiefly to that total absence of conduct and 

 skill in the arrangements for the assault which left the storming party entirely without 

 support. Had it been followed at once by strong reinforcements, it is almost certain that the 

 English would have retained possession of the work. 



The two French attacks on the west of the central ravine were probably intended only as 

 feints ; at all events, the parties engaged were soon driven back to their trenches with considerable 

 loss, and effected nothing. Their attempts upon the Little Eedan, and the works connecting it 

 with the Malakoff, met with even less success than the English assault. The Eussians repulsed 

 the French with great loss, meeting with the bayonet the more adventurous men who reached the 

 parapet. Thus, in five points out of six the defenders were fully victorious, but, unfortunately 

 for them, the sixth was the decisive point. 



In their admirable arrangements for the attack of the Malakoff, the French counted on two 

 things for succees : first, they had ascertained that the Eussians were in the habit of relieving 

 the guard of the Malakoff at noon, and that a great part of the old guard marched out before 

 the new one arrived, in order to avoid the loss which would arise from crowding the work with 

 men ; in the second place, it was determined to keep up a most violent vertical fire until the 

 very moment of the assault, thus driving the Eussians into the bomb proofs, and enabling the 

 storming party to enter the work with but little oj^jjosition. The hour of noon was therefore 

 selected for the assault, and the strong columns intended for the work were at an early hour 

 assembled in the advanced trenches, all in admirable order, and furnished with precise 

 instructions. 



The mortars maintained an unremitting fire until the moment appointed. The very instant 

 the last volley was discharged the storming })arty of Zouaves rushed over the thirty paces before 

 them, and were in the work before the astonished Eussians knew what had happened. It was 

 stated that this party lost but eleven men in entering the work. Other troops advanced rapidly 

 to the support of the storming party, a bridge was formed by rolling up five ladders with 

 planks lashed to them, a communication was at once commenced between the advanced trench 

 and the bridge, brigade after brigade passed over, the redoubt was at once occupied by the 

 storming party, and thus the Malakofi", and with it Sebastopol, was won. The few Eussians 

 remaining in the work made a desperate resistance. Many gallant attempts were made by 

 Eussian columns to ascend the steep slope in rear and regain the lost work ; but the road was 

 narrow, difficult, and obstructed ; the position strong, and the French in force. All their 

 furious efforts were in vain, and the Malakofl" remained in the possession of those who had so 

 gallantly and skilfully won it. Witli regard to the final retreat to the north side, it can only 

 be said that a personal examination of the locality merely confirms its necessity, and the 

 impression so generally entertained that it was the finest operation of the war ; so admirably 

 was it carried out that not a straggler remained behind ; a few men so severely wounded as to 

 be unfit for rough and hurried transportation were the sole ghastly human trophies that 

 remained to the allies. 



The retreat, being a more difficult operation than the assault, may be worthy of higher admi- 

 ration ; but the Eussian retreat to the north side and the French assault upon the Malakoff 



