REPORT OF CAPT. GEORGE B. M'CLELLAN. 11 



The general configuration of the harbor of Sebastopol, and the peninsula to the south of it, 

 is too well known to require description. The most striking and, in their hearing upon the 

 siege, the most important features are : First. The complete isolation of the high plateau of the 

 peninsula from the main Crimea by the nearly continuous valleys of Balaklava and the Tchernaya . 

 Second. The lofty and almost inaccessible escarpment which limits the plateau towards the east, 

 south, and to a great extent on the north. Third. The deep and difficult ravines which intersect 

 this very irregular surface. 



Some points of the plateau exceed 700' in elevation ; the average height of the escarpment 

 above the valleys of Balaklava and the Tchernaya may safely be taken at 400'. It need scarcely 

 be stated that this plateau formed for the allies a position of great strength. 



Of the many ravines by which it is intersected, it is only those from the Careening to the 

 Quarantine bays, inclusive, that have an immediate bearing on the works of attack and defence. 

 All of these have their origin quite close to the eastern border of the plateau. 



The most important is the great central ravine, the main branch of which commences quite 

 near the "Col de Balaklava" — the depression through which the main road from Balaklava to 

 Kamiesch ascends the plateau — then runs a little west of north, forming, where it enters the 

 town, the inner harbor, which separates Sebastopol from the Karabelnaia suburb. During 

 nearly the first half of the siege the French approaches were confined to the west of this ravine, 

 occupying all the space thence to the sea ; while the English were on the east, occupying the 

 ground only as far as the Otchakoff ravine ; in other words, the original French attack was 

 directed against the city proper, while that of the English was against a portion of the Karabel- 

 naia suburb. 



It is now time to state that when the allies reached Balaklava the land defences of Sebastopol, 

 on the south side, consisted of a loopholed wall, 4' 8" thick, and from 18' to 20' high, extending 

 from the western point of Artillery bay to the position afterwards occupied by the Central 

 Bastion ; thence around the Karabelnaia suburb to the main harbor, the only defence consisted 

 of the Malakoff tower, a semicircular structure, with two stories of loopholes and 5 guns in 

 barbette. 



To resume the description of the ground west of the central ravine : the Artillery Bay ravine 

 commences about three-quarters of a mile outside of the city, and at first runs nearly north, 

 being separated from a spur of the central ravine by a ridge about one-eighth of a mile wide ; 

 on the highest point of this ridge was situated the Flag-staff Bastion, (Bastion du Mat ;) the 

 French approaches followed this ridge, and extended across the Artillery Bay ravine, which is 

 here by no means steep or difficult, but becomes much more pronounced upon entering the city, 

 when it for some distance runs off to the west of north. 



Just before this ravine enters the city there commences to the west of it, and separated from 

 it by a ridge about one-eighth of a mile wide, another ravine which runs into the Quarantine 

 hay, and which we will call the Central Bastion ravine ; the direction of this ravine is nearly 

 northwest ; near its head, and on the highest point of the ridge which separates it from the 

 Artillery Bay ravine, is situated the Central Bastion, at an elevation of 217' above the sea. 



The loop-holed wall, and the works constructed to replace or strengthen it, follow this ridge 

 for about three-quarters of the distance to the Quarantine batteries, and then turn off to the 

 north ; from this angle to the batteries a line of woi-ks called the Quarantine redans was erected 

 during the siege. 



The French attacks against the Central Bastion followed the ridge on which it was built, and 

 to the westward occupied the irregular ridge between the Central Bastion ravine and the Quar- 



