By Isle of Wight Observer
The Isle of Wight Observer published on 16th December, 1854 contained a letter from a corporal in the Crimean War.
LETTERS FROM THE CRIMEA.
The following letter, addressed by the writer to his friends at Bristol, is not without interest :-
“Sebastopol, Nov. 12.
“Dear Friends, – I received your kind and welcome letter, and was glad to hear you were all well, and I am happy to say at present, I am the same. Since I wrote to you last I have a little more to relate; our army has been engaged no less than three times, but I was only at the last battle, having been engaged on other duty on the previous occasion. The first two fights were nothing to be compared with the one I was in; the loss in our regiment alone, in killed and wounded, was 117, out of 310 that went out in the morning; this happened at daybreak, on the 5th of November. I can assure you in was a real Guy-Fawkes day – one that I never shall forget as long as I live. The Russians out-numbered us greatly, they had all their artillery bearing upon us, as well as the guns from their shipping in the harbour; they were that wide awake to attack us in that part, so as to have us in range of their ships’ guns. We drove them back three or four times by ourselves before the French were able to come to our assistance; it was the hardest work that I ever did in my life, having nothing in our insides before we started. I had nothing to eat or drink for about 14 hours; my thirst was horrid. We were all in skirmishing order, and at times we had to run for our lives, being overnumbered by the enemy. Several times I wished myself dead, through over fatigue and weakness, with nothing in my inside; but, thank God, I got over it all without being hurt. The havoc committed by the cannon shot was a horrid sight to behold; I saw some with their heads blown off, some cut in two, and many other cases too numerous to mention at present, but I hope I shall be able to tell you all by word of mouth, sooner or later. The French came up at a critical time, where we could hardly bear up against the enemy, and that finished the horrid day’s work. We lost General Sir George Cathcart and two Brigadier-Generals also. I am writing this in a great hurry, having but little time to do it in. I forgot to tell you we have not received any pay since we left Turkey, and they won’t take money for the letters if we had it. I am very thankful to you for what you have done already. The times are very hard with us at present. We think it a great luxury if we get to wash once in two or three days, and lately we have had only every other night in the tent. I have been promoted to full corporal, and belong to No. 6 Company.
“Yours truly, GEORGE CANN, Corporal.”