196 COLONEL YEA'S ATTACK.
chap, had taken part in the enterprise. Of these other
vn " losses no separate return is before me; but we
know that of the three Engineer officers engaged
in this part of the field, one only, that is, A'Court
Fisher, came out of the action alive ; and that of
the six naval officers there engaged with the
ladder division, no less than five were struck down.
It was at an early moment that Captain Peel,
the commander of the sailors, the heroic, the
radiant Peel received the wound which disabled
him.
Advance Whilst (before they had been ordered to retire)
sequent'™- the scanty remains of the 'covering party' and
Sorts.' 6 of the 'storming column' were still confronting
Sebastopol, the supports, though unseen by our
people then lying down, as we saw, on the verge
of the Abattis, had already begun to advance.
Colonel Lysons commanded these troops. The
400 men of the 7th or Royal Fusiliers moved the
foremost in open column of companies, and were
followed by a like number drawn from the 33d
Kegiment. The blasts of mitrail and of mus-
ketry pouring down from the Great Redan soon
ih'.stroyed the formation of the Royal Fusiliers,
but did not arrest their advance, though con-
verting it nevertheless into a fierce onward rush.
' The fire,' writes one of their officers — the able
and brave Colonel Hibbert — ' was so tremendous,
' one could only put one's head down, and run on
• as fast as possible.' *
- Colonel Hibbert to Mr Kinglake, November 23, 1869.
