At 3 A.M. on the 9th Corporal Ross, Royal Engineers, who was employed in
the advanced sap, being struck by the unusual silence within the Redan,
crept across the ditch, and, climbing over the parapet, found that the
enemy had evacuated the work.
At daylight all the Russian fleet except the Vladimir had disappeared
under water, and the last of this heroic garrison was seen forming up on
the north side of the floating bridge, which was then cut, leaving on
the southern side two hundred or three hundred men, who had remained
behind, setting fire to the houses. This was the last of the active
operations. Gortschakoff withdrew his troops, and, placing the cavalry
on the Belbeck, extended the infantry along the Mackenzie Farm heights
position, which he proceeded to fortify.
The allies were now in possession of the bloodstained ruins of
Sebastopol, and the last of the Black Sea fleet was at the bottom of the
harbor. Perhaps it was well that peace ensued. Although we might have
dislodged the Russians from their position on the heights, it would have
been difficult to obtain any further material advantage in the Crimea.
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