ussians, assuming in
their turn the offensive, attacked our camps on the heights of
Inkerman, they were repulsed with heavy loss on both sides, and with
the result that more than six months elapsed before they again
ventured to show any inclination to attack in the open field, and then
only to meet with fresh discomfiture on the banks of the Tchernaya.

The battle of Inkerman was fought in the early morning of 5th
November, and again the brunt of the fighting fell on the English
army. The Russian General, Todleben, subsequently stated that he
reluctantly decided to attack the English camp instead of the French,
because "the English position seemed to be so very weak." Here again
the losses give no misleading idea of the proportionate share of the
two allied armies in the struggle. While the Russian loss was put down
in all at 11,000 men, the French lost 143 killed and 786 wounded; the
English, 597 killed and 1760 wounded.

The opinion has been confidently expressed that if a rapid advance and
attack had been made on Sebastopol immediately after Inkerman, the
fortress would have been easily captured; but both before and during
the siege the Russians made the best use of every respite the Allies
gave them, and this lost opportunity, if it was one, never recurred.
It will thus be seen that some of the most interesting incidents of
the war had passed before Gordon set foot in the Crimea, but for an
engineer officer the siege and capture of the fortress created by
Todleben under the fire of his foes presented the most attractive and
instructive phase of the campaign.

At this time the French army mustered about 100,000 men, the British
about 23,000, and the Russian garrison of Sebastopol 25,000. In
addition, there was a covering army, under the Grand Dukes and General
Liprandi, which, despite its losses at Inkerman, was probably not less
than 60,000 but the successive defeats at Alma, Balaclava, and
Inkerman had broken the confidence of the troops and reduced their
leaders to inaction. The batteries were nearly completed when Gordon
reached the front, and a good deal had already been written and said
about the hardships of the soldiers. Gordon was a man of few wants,
who could stand any amount of fatigue, and throughout his life he was
always disposed to think that soldiers should never complain. Writing
as late as 12th February 1855, when the worst of the winter was over,
he says: "There are really no hardships for the o