he war ended. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris,
March 30, 1856, Russia abandoned her claim to a protectorate over
Christians in Turkey, and the Sultan agreed to grant them more favorable
terms.

Sir Edward Bruce Hamley and Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, British generals who
served in the Crimean War, give us the best accounts of the siege and
capture of Sebastopol, in which they were active participants. The siege
had continued through many weeks without decisive developments, when on
June 18, 1855, the French made a strong but unsuccessful assault on the
Malakoff, which, like the Redan, formed one of the main defences. The
following narratives describe the British assault on the Redan and the
final storming of the Malakoff by the French.

SIR EDWARD BRUCE HAMLEY

Seeing how desperate was the condition of the fortress, Prince
Gortschakoff had resolved, after the Battle of the Tchernaya, to abandon
Sebastopol. In letters to the Minister of War, of August 18 and 24,
1855, he expressed this intention, saying there was not a man in the
army who would not call it folly to continue the defence longer. With a
view to conducting a retreat he pressed forward rapidly the construction
of the bridge across the harbor, which was to have a roadway of sixteen
feet and to bear heavy vehicles. He also conferred with Todleben on
other measures to protect the withdrawal, and accordingly barricades
were built across the streets and formed into armed and defensible works
which were intended, as a last resort, to hold in check the assailants.
Preparations were also made for blowing up the principal forts and
magazines.

Another great cannonade had begun on August 17th. The French lines had
now approached so close to the place that new additions to them were
immediately destroyed or rendered untenable by the fire from the
Malakoff and Little Redan; and the shower of small shells, easily cast
into the trenches from the ramparts, and called by the French
"bouquets," greatly increased their losses. For the silencing of the
artillery, which thus hindered the French sappers, the allied batteries
opened in full force against the part of the enemy's lines from the
Redan to the great harbor. But the town front was not included, and the
English batteries suffered greatly from want of support by the works on
their left.

On August 20th Gortschakoff entered the fortress, and went round the
lines of defence, upon which the fire of the allies was ju