In the Turkish camp, on the other hand, perfect unity prevailed, and a young, ardent, and able sovereign concentrated in his hands the most despotic authority over a numerous and well-disciplined army.  To excite the energy of that army to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, the Sultan proclaimed to his troops that he granted them the whole plunder of Constantinople, reserving to himself only the public buildings.  The day of the battle was regarded as a religious festival in the Ottoman camp, and on the previous night lamps were hung out before every tent, and fires were kindled on every eminence in or near the lines.  Thousands of lanterns were suspended from the flagstaffs of the batteries and from the masts and yards of the ships, and were reflected in the waters of the Propontis, the Golden Horn, and the Bosporus.  The whole Ottoman encampment was resplendent with the blaze of this illumination.  Yet a deep silence prevailed during the whole night, except when the musical cadence of the solemn chant of the call to prayers showed the Greeks the immense numbers and the strict discipline of the host.

Before the dawn of day, on the morning of May 29, 1453, the signal was given for the attack.  Column after column marched forward, and took up its ground before the portion of the wall it was ordered to assail.  The galleys, fitted with towers and scaling-platforms, advanced against the fortifications of the port protected by the guns on the bridge.  But the principal attack was directed against the breach at the gate of St. Romanus, where two flanking towers had fallen into the ditch and opened a passage into the interior of the city.  The gate of Charsias and the quarter of Blachern were also assailed by chosen regiments of janizaries in overwhelming numbers.  The attack was made with daring courage, but for more than two hours every point was successfully defended.  In the port, the Italian and Greek ships opposed the Turkish galleys so effectually that the final result appeared to favor the besieged.  But on the land side, one column of troops followed the other in an incessant stream.  The moment a division fell back from the assault, new battalions occupied its place.  The valor of the besieged was for some time successful, but they were at last fatigued by their exertions, and their scanty numbers were weakened by wounds and death.  Unfortunately, Justiniani, the protostrator or marshal of the army, and the ablest officer in the place, received a wound which induced him to retire on board his ship to have it dressed.  Until that moment he and the Emperor had defended the great breach with advantage; but after his retreat Sagan Pacha, observing that the energy of the defenders was relaxed, excited the bravest of the janizaries to mount to the assault.  A chosen company led by Hasan of Ulubad, a man of gigantic frame, first crossed the ruins of the wall, and their leader gained the summit of the dilapidated tower which flanked the breach.  The defenders, headed by the emperor Constantine, made a desperate resistance.  Hasan and many of his followers were slain, but the janizaries had secured the vantage-ground, and, fresh troops pouring in to their aid, they surrounded the defenders of the breach.  The Emperor fell amid a heap of slain, and a column of janizaries rushed into Constantinople over his lifeless body.