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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3811-h.zip b/3811-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..468466a --- /dev/null +++ b/3811-h.zip diff --git a/3811-h/3811-h.htm b/3811-h/3811-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5477f48 --- /dev/null +++ b/3811-h/3811-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,15673 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Star of Gettysburg, by Joseph A. Altsheler +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Star of Gettysburg, by Joseph A. Altsheler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Star of Gettysburg + A Story of Southern High Tide + +Author: Joseph A. Altsheler + +Posting Date: May 28, 2009 [EBook #3811] +Release Date: March, 2003 +First Posted: September 19, 2001 +Last Updated: May 25, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by Ken Reeder. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="transnote"> +Errata and other transcription notes are included as an appendix +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A STORY OF SOUTHERN HIGH TIDE +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOREWORD +</H3> + +<P> +"The Star of Gettysburg" is a complete romance, but it is also one of the +series dealing with the Civil War, beginning with "The Guns of Bull Run," +and continued successively through "The Guns of Shiloh," "The Scouts of +Stonewall," and "The Sword of Antietam" to the present volume. The story +centers about the young Southern hero, Harry Kenton, and his friends. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CIVIL WAR SERIES +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + VOLUMES IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES<BR> +<BR> + THE GUNS OF BULL RUN.<BR> + THE GUNS OF SHILOH.<BR> + THE SCOUTS OF STONEWALL.<BR> + THE SWORD OF ANTIETAM.<BR> + THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG.<BR> + THE ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA.<BR> + THE SHADES OF THE WILDERNESS.<BR> + THE TREE OF APPOMATTOX.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4> + PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES<BR> +</H4> + +<PRE> + HARRY KENTON, A Lad Who Fights on the Southern Side. + DICK MASON, Cousin of Harry Kenton, Who Fights on the Northern Side. + COLONEL GEORGE KENTON, Father of Harry Kenton. + MRS. MASON, Mother of Dick Mason. + JULIANA, Mrs. Mason's Devoted Colored Servant. + COLONEL ARTHUR WINCHESTER, Dick Mason's Regimental Commander. + COLONEL LEONIDAS TALBOT, Commander of the Invincibles, + a Southern Regiment. + LIEUTENANT COLONEL HECTOR ST. HILAIRE, Second in Command of the + Invincibles. + ALAN HERTFORD, A Northern Cavalry Leader. + PHILIP SHERBURNE, A Southern Cavalry Leader. + WILLIAM J. SHEPARD, A Northern Spy. + DANIEL WHITLEY, A Northern Sergeant and Veteran of the Plains. + GEORGE WARNER, A Vermont Youth Who Loves Mathematics. + FRANK PENNINGTON, A Nebraska Youth, Friend of Dick Mason. + ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, A Native of Charleston, Friend of Harry Kenton. + TOM LANGDON, Friend of Harry Kenton. + GEORGE DALTON, Friend of Harry Kenton. + BILL SKELLY, Mountaineer and Guerrilla. + TOM SLADE, A Guerrilla Chief. + SAM JARVIS, The Singing Mountaineer. + IKE SIMMONS, Jarvis' Nephew. + AUNT "SUSE," A Centenarian and Prophetess. + BILL PETTY, A Mountaineer and Guide. + JULIEN DE LANGEAIS, A Musician and Soldier from Louisiana. + JOHN CARRINGTON, Famous Northern Artillery Officer. + DR. RUSSELL, Principal of the Pendleton School. + ARTHUR TRAVERS, A Lawyer. + JAMES BERTRAND, A Messenger from the South. + JOHN NEWCOMB, A Pennsylvania Colonel. + JOHN MARKHAM, A Northern Officer. + JOHN WATSON, A Northern Contractor. + WILLIAM CURTIS, A Southern Merchant and Blockade Runner. + MRS. CURTIS, Wife of William Curtis. + HENRIETTA CARDEN, A Seamstress in Richmond. + DICK JONES, A North Carolina Mountaineer. + VICTOR WOODVILLE, A Young Mississippi Officer. + JOHN WOODVILLE, Father of Victor Woodville. + CHARLES WOODVILLE, Uncle of Victor Woodville. + COLONEL BEDFORD, A Northern Officer. + CHARLES GORDON, A Southern Staff Officer. + JOHN LANHAM, An Editor. + JUDGE KENDRICK, A Lawyer. + MR. CULVER, A State Senator. + MR. BRACKEN, A Tobacco Grower. + ARTHUR WHITRIDGE, A State Senator. +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<H4> + HISTORICAL CHARACTERS<BR> +</H4> + +<PRE> + ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States. + JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Southern Confederacy. + JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, Member of the Confederate Cabinet. + U. S. GRANT, Northern Commander. + ROBERT E. LEE, Southern Commander. + STONEWALL JACKSON, Southern General. + PHILIP H. SHERIDAN, Northern General. + GEORGE H. THOMAS, "The Rock of Chickamauga." + ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, Southern General. + A. P. HILL, Southern General. + W. S. HANCOCK, Northern General. + GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, Northern General. + AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, Northern General. + TURNER ASHBY, Southern Cavalry Leader. + J. E. B. STUART, Southern Cavalry Leader. + JOSEPH HOOKER, Northern General. + RICHARD S. EWELL, Southern General. + JUBAL EARLY, Southern General. + WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS, Northern General. + SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER, Southern General. + LEONIDAS POLK, Southern General and Bishop. + BRAXTON BRAGG, Southern General. + NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, Southern Cavalry Leader. + JOHN MORGAN, Southern Cavalry Leader. + GEORGE J. MEADE, Northern General. + DON CARLOS BUELL, Northern General. + W. T. SHERMAN, Northern General. + JAMES LONGSTREET, Southern General. + P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Southern General. + WILLIAM L. YANCEY, Alabama Orator. + JAMES A. GARFIELD, Northern General, afterwards President of + the United States. + + And many others +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<H4> + IMPORTANT BATTLES DESCRIBED IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES<BR> +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + BULL RUN<BR> + KERNSTOWN<BR> + CROSS KEYS<BR> + WINCHESTER<BR> + PORT REPUBLIC<BR> + THE SEVEN DAYS<BR> + MILL SPRING<BR> + FORT DONELSON<BR> + SHILOH<BR> + PERRYVILLE<BR> + STONE RIVER<BR> + THE SECOND MANASSAS<BR> + ANTIETAM<BR> + FREDERICKSBURG<BR> + CHANCELLORSVILLE<BR> + GETTYSBURG<BR> + CHAMPION HILL<BR> + VICKSBURG<BR> + CHICKAMAUGA<BR> + MISSIONARY RIDGE<BR> + THE WILDERNESS<BR> + SPOTTSYLVANIA<BR> + COLD HARBOR<BR> + FISHER'S HILL<BR> + CEDAR CREEK<BR> + APPOMATTOX<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">AHORSE WITH SHERBURNE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">JACKSON MOVES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">FREDERICKSBURG</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">A CHRISTMAS DINNER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">JEB STUART'S BALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">IN THE WILDERNESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHANCELLORSVILLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE NORTHERN MARCH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE CAVALRY COMBAT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE ZENITH OF THE SOUTH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">GETTYSBURG</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG +</H1> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY +</H3> + +<P> +A youth sat upon a log by a clear stream in the Valley of Virginia, +mending clothes. +</P> + +<P> +He showed skill and rapidity in his homely task. A shining needle +darted in and out of the gray cloth, and the rent that had seemed +hopeless was being closed up with neatness and precision. No one +derided him because he was engaged upon a task that was usually +performed by women. The Army of Northern Virginia did its own sewing. +</P> + +<P> +"Will the seam show much, Arthur?" asked Harry Kenton, who lay +luxuriously upon the leafy ground beside the log. +</P> + +<P> +"Very little when I finish," replied St. Clair, examining his work with +a critical eye. "Of course I can't pass the uniform off as wholly new. +It's been a long time since I've seen a new one in our army, but it will +be a lot above the average." +</P> + +<P> +"I admire your care of your clothes, Arthur, even if I can't quite +imitate it. I've concluded that good clothes give a certain amount of +moral courage, and if you get killed you make a much more decent body." +</P> + +<P> +"But Arthur St. Clair, of Charleston, sir, has no intention of getting +killed," said Happy Tom Langdon, who was also resting upon the earth. +"He means after this war is over to go back to his native city, buy the +most magnificent uniforms that were ever made, and tell the girls how +Lee and Jackson turned to him for advice at the crisis of every great +battle." +</P> + +<P> +"We surely needed wisdom and everything else we could get at +Antietam—leadership, tenacity and the willingness to die," said Dalton, +the sober young Virginia Presbyterian. "Boys, we were in the deepest +of holes there, and we had to lift ourselves out almost by our own boot +straps." +</P> + +<P> +Harry's face clouded. The field of Antietam often returned to him, +almost as real and vivid as on that terrible day, when the dead lay +heaped in masses around the Dunkard church and the Southern army called +forth every ounce of courage and endurance for its very salvation. +</P> + +<P> +"Antietam is a month away," he said, "and I still shudder at the name. +We didn't think McClellan would come up and attack Lee while Jackson was +away at Harper's Ferry, but he did. How did it happen? How did he know +that our army was divided?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard a strange story," said Dalton. "It's come through some +Union prisoners we've taken. They say that McClellan found a copy of +General Lee's orders in Frederick, and learned from them exactly where +all our troops were and what they intended. Then, of course, he +attacked." +</P> + +<P> +"A strange tale, as you say, a most extraordinary chance," said Harry. +"Do you think it's true, George?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've no doubt it fell out that way. The same report comes from other +sources." +</P> + +<P> +"At any rate," said Happy Tom, "it gave us a chance to show how less +than fifty thousand men could stand off nearly ninety thousand. Besides, +we didn't lose any ground. We went over into Maryland to give the +Marylanders a chance to rise for the South. They didn't rise worth a +cent. I suppose we didn't get more than five hundred volunteers in that +state. 'The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland,' and +it can stay on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland, if that's the way you +treat us. I feel a lot more at home here in Virginia." +</P> + +<P> +"It is fine," said Harry, stirring comfortably on the leaves and looking +down at the clear stream of the Opequon. "One can't fight all the time. +I feel as if I had been in a thousand battles, and two or three months +of the year are left. It's fine to lie here by the water, and breathe +pure air instead of dust." +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard that every man eats a peck of dirt in the course of his +life," said Happy Tom, "but I know that I've already beat the measure +a dozen times over. Why, I took in a bushel at least at the Second +Manassas, but I still live, and here I am, surveying this peaceful +domestic scene. Arthur is mending his best uniform, Harry stretched on +the leaves is resting and dreaming dreams, George is wondering how he +will get a new pair of shoes for the season, and the army is doing its +autumn washing." +</P> + +<P> +Harry glanced up and down the stream, and he smiled at the homely sight. +Thousands of soldiers were washing their ragged clothes in the little +river and the equally ragged clothes of many others were drying on the +banks or on the bushes. The sun-browned lads who skylarked along the +shores or in the water, playing pranks on one another, bore little +resemblance to those who had charged so fiercely and so often into the +mouths of the cannon at Antietam. +</P> + +<P> +Harry marvelled at them and at himself. It seemed scarcely possible +that human nature could rush to such violent extremes within so short +a space. But youth conquered all. There was very little gloom in +this great army which disported itself in the water or in the shade. +Thousands of wounded, still pale, but with returning strength, lay on +the October leaves and looked forward to the day when they could join +their comrades in either games or war. +</P> + +<P> +Harry himself had suffered for a while from a great exhaustion. He +had been terribly anxious, too, about his father, but a letter written +just after the battle of Perryville, and coming through with unusual +promptness by the way of Chattanooga and Richmond, had arrived the +day before, informing him of Colonel Kenton's safety. In this letter +his father had spoken of his meeting with Dick Mason in his home at +Pendleton, and that also contributed to his new lightness of heart. +Dick was not a brother, but he stood in the place of one, and it was +good to hear again of him. +</P> + +<P> +The sounds of shouts and laughter far up and down the Opequon became +steady and soothing. The October winds blowing gently were crisp and +fresh, but not too cold. The four boys ceased talking and Harry on his +bed of leaves became drowsy. The forests on the far hills and mountains +burned in vivid reds and yellows and browns, painted by the master hand +of autumn. Harry heard a bird singing on a bough among red leaves +directly over his head, and the note was piercingly sweet to ears used +so long to the roar of cannon and rifles. +</P> + +<P> +His drowsy lids sank lower and he would have gone to sleep had he not +been roused by a shouting farther down the little river. His eyes +opened wide and he sat up. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, George?" he said to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, but here comes Captain Sherburne, and I'll ask him." +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne was approaching with long strides, his face flushed with +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Captain?" asked Harry. "What are the boys shouting about?" +</P> + +<P> +"The news has just reached them that Old Jack has been made a +lieutenant-general. General Lee asked the government to divide his army +into two corps, with Old Jack in command of one and Longstreet in charge +of the other. The government has seen fit to do what General Lee +advises it to do, and we are now the Second Army Corps, two thousand +officers, twenty-five thousand men and one hundred and thirty guns, +commanded by Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, better known +to his enemy as 'Stonewall' Jackson and to his men as 'Old Jack.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Splendid!" exclaimed Harry. "Never was a promotion better earned!" +</P> + +<P> +"And so say we all of us," said Happy Tom. "But just a moment, Captain. +What is the news about me?" +</P> + +<P> +"About you, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, about me? Didn't I win the victory at the Second Manassas? +Didn't I save the army at Antietam? Am I promoted to be a colonel or +is it merely a lieutenant-colonel?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry, Tom," replied Sherburne with great gravity, "but there is no +mention of your promotion. I know it's an oversight, and we'll join in +a general petition to Richmond that you be made a lieutenant-colonel at +the very least." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, never mind. If it has to be done through the begging of my friends +I decline the honor. I don't know that I'd care to be any kind of a +colonel, anyhow. I'd have to pass the boys here, and maybe I'd have +to command 'em, which would make 'em feel bad. Old Jack himself might +become jealous of me. I guess I'm satisfied as I am." +</P> + +<P> +"I like the modesty of the South Carolinians, Tom," said Dalton. +"There's a story going the rounds that you South Carolinians made the +war and that we Virginians have got to fight it." +</P> + +<P> +"There may be such a story. It seems to me that it was whispered to +me once, but the internal evidence shows that it was invented by a +Virginian. Haven't I come up here and shed some of my blood and more of +my perspiration to save the sacred soil of the Mother of Presidents from +invasion? And didn't I bring with me Arthur St. Clair, the best dressed +man in Charleston, for the Yankees to shoot at? Hello, what's that? +This is a day of events!" +</P> + +<P> +Hoots, cat-calls, and derisive yells arose along a long line. A trim +young officer on a fine bay horse was riding down a path beside the +Opequon. He was as beautifully dressed as St. Clair at his best. +His hands were encased in long white buckskin gloves, and long brown +mustaches curled beautifully up until they touched either cheek. +It was he, this Beau Brummel of the Southern army, who had attracted the +attention of irreverent youth. From the shelter of trees and bushes +came a chorus of cries: +</P> + +<P> +"Take them mice out o' your mouth! I know they're there, 'cause I see +their tails stickin' out!" +</P> + +<P> +"What kind o' hair oil do you use? I know your head's oiled, or it +wouldn't shine so." +</P> + +<P> +"Be sure you keep your gloves on or the sun'll tan your hands!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my, it's mother's pretty boy, goin' to see his best girl!" +</P> + +<P> +The young officer flushed crimson through his brown, but he knew it was +no use to resent the words of his tormentors, and he rode steadily on, +looking straight before him. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Caswell, a Georgian, of Longstreet's corps," said Sherburne; "a +good soldier and one of the bravest men I ever saw." +</P> + +<P> +"Which proves," said St. Clair, in a tone of conviction, "that clothes +do help make the man." +</P> + +<P> +Caswell passed out of sight, pursued by derisive comment, but his place +was taken quickly by a new victim. A man of middle age, in civilian +clothes, came riding slowly on a fat horse. He was a well-known sutler +named Williams and the wild lads did not confine themselves to hidden +cries, but rushed from the shelter of trees and bushes, and held up worn +articles of apparel, shouting in his ears: +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Mr. Williams! The soles of these shoes are made of paper, not +leather. I bought leather, not paper." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the price of blue silk neckties? I've got a Yankee sweetheart +in New York, and I want to look well when our conquering army marches +into that city!" +</P> + +<P> +"A pair of blankets for me, Mr. Williams, to be paid for when we loot +the Yankee treasury!" +</P> + +<P> +But Williams was not disconcerted. He was used to such badinage. +He spread out his large hands soothingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Boys," he said, "those shoes wore out so fast because you chased the +Yankees so hard. They were made for walking, not for foot races. +Why do you want to buy blankets on time when you can get them more +cheaply by capturing them from the enemy?" +</P> + +<P> +His answers pleased them, and some one called for three cheers for +Williams, which were given with a will, and he rode on, unmolested. +But in a few minutes another and greater roar arose. Now it was +swelling, continuous, and there was in it no note whatever of criticism +or derision. It was made up wholly of affection and admiration, and +it rolled in unceasing volume along the stream and through the forest. +</P> + +<P> +The four lads and Sherburne sprang to their feet, shading their eyes +with their hands as they looked. +</P> + +<P> +"By the great Jupiter!" exclaimed Sherburne, "it's Old Jack himself in a +new uniform on Little Sorrel! The boys, I imagine, have heard that he's +been made lieutenant-general." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew that nothing could stir up the corps this way except Old Jack +or a rabbit," said Happy Tom, as he sprang to his feet—he meant no +disrespect to his commander, as thousands would give chase to a rabbit +when it happened to be roused out of the bushes. +</P> + +<P> +"Thunderation! What a change!" exclaimed St. Clair, as he ran with the +others to the edge of the road to see Stonewall Jackson, the victor of +twenty battles, go past in a uniform that at first had almost disguised +him from his amazed soldiers. Little Sorrel was galloping. He had +learned to do so whenever the soldiers cheered his rider. Applause +always embarrassed Jackson, and Little Sorrel, of his own volition, +now obeyed his wish to get by it as soon as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"What splendor!" exclaimed Harry. "Did you ever see Old Jack looking +like this before?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never! Never!" they exclaimed in chorus. +</P> + +<P> +Stonewall Jackson wore a magnificent uniform of the richest gray, +with heavy gold lace wherever gold lace could be used, and massive +epaulets of gold. A thick gold cord tied in a bow in front surrounded +the fine gray hat, and never did a famous general look more embarrassed +as the faithful horse took him along at an easy gallop. +</P> + +<P> +All through the woods spread the word that Stonewall Jackson was riding +by arrayed in plumage like that of the dandy, Jeb Stuart himself. +It was wonderful, miraculous, but it was true, and the cheers rolled +continuously, like those of troops about to go into battle and confident +of victory. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw clearly that his commander was terribly abashed. Blushes +showed through the tan of his cheeks, and the soldiers, who would not +have dared to disobey a single word of his on the battlefield, now ran +joyously among the woods and bushes. Harry and the other three lads, +being on Jackson's staff, hid discreetly behind the log as he passed, +but they heard the thunder of the cheering following him down the road. +</P> + +<P> +It was in truth a most singular scene. These were citizen soldiers, +welded into a terrible machine by battle after battle and the genius of +a great leader, but with their youth they retained their personality and +independence. Affection was strongly mingled with their admiration for +Jackson. He was the head of the family, and they felt free to cheer +their usually dingy hero as he rode abroad in his magnificent new +uniform. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we'd better cut across the woods to headquarters," said Harry. +"I want to see the arrival of Old Jack, and I'd wager any of you five +cents to a cent that he'll never wear that uniform again. Why, he +doesn't look natural in it at all." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't take your bet," said Happy Tom, "because I'm thinking just as +you do. Arthur, here, would look all right in it—he needs clothes to +hold him up, anyway, but it doesn't suit Old Jack." +</P> + +<P> +Their short cut took them through the woods to the general's quarters in +time to see him arrive and spring hurriedly from Little Sorrel. The man +whose name was a very synonym of victorious war was still embarrassed +and blushing, and as Harry followed him into the tent he took off the +gorgeous uniform and hat and handed them to his young aide. Then as he +put on his usual dingy gray, he said to an officer who had brought him +the new clothes: +</P> + +<P> +"Give my thanks to General Stuart, Major, but tell him that the uniform +is far too magnificent for me. I value the gift, however, and shall +keep it in recollection of him." +</P> + +<P> +The major and Harry took the uniform and, smoothing it carefully, +laid it away. But Harry, having further leave of absence went forth and +answered many questions. Was the general going to wear that uniform all +the time? Would he ride into battle clothed in it? When Harry replied +that, in his belief, he would never put it on again, the young soldiers +seemed to feel a kind of relief. The head of the family was not going +to be too splendid for them. Yet the event had heightened their spirits, +already high, and they began to sing a favorite song: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Come, stack arms, men, pile on the rails;<BR> + Stir up the camp fires bright.<BR> + No matter if the canteen fails,<BR> + We'll make a roaring night.<BR> + Here Shenandoah brawls along,<BR> + There lofty Blue Ridge echoes strong<BR> + To swell the brigade's rousing song<BR> + Of Stonewall Jackson's way."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"It's a bully song!" exclaimed Happy Tom, who had a deep and thunderous +voice. Then snatching up a long stick he began to wave it as a baton, +and the others, instinctively following their leader, roared it forth, +more than ten thousand strong. +</P> + +<P> +Langdon in his glory led his cohorts in a vast circle around Jackson's +quarters, and the mighty chorus thundered through verse after verse, +until they closed in a lower tone with the lines: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps off!<BR> + Old Blue Light's going to pray;<BR> + Strangle the fool that dares to scoff!<BR> + Attention! it's his way!<BR> + Appealing from his native sod<BR> + In forma pauperis to God<BR> + Lay bare thine arm—stretch forth thy rod,<BR> + Amen! That's Stonewall Jackson's way."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Then Happy Tom threw down his stick and the men dispersed to their +quarters. But they had paid Stonewall Jackson a tribute that few +generals ever received. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a wild and foolish fellow, Tom Langdon," said Dalton, "but I +like you for this thing you've done." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll notice that Old Jack never appeared while we were singing," +said Langdon. "I don't see why a man should be so modest and bashful. +Why, if I'd done half what he's done I'd ride the tallest horse in the +country; I'd have one of those Mexican saddles of yellow leather studded +with large golden-headed nails; the stirrups would be of gold and the +bridle bit would be gold, too. I'd have twelve uniforms all covered +with gold lace, and I'd have hats with gold-colored ostrich plumes +waving in them after the fashion of Jeb Stuart." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you worry, Tom," said Dalton. "You'll never have any excuse for +wearing so much gold. Have you heard what one of the boys said after +the chaplain preached the sermon to us last Sunday about leading the +children of Israel forty years through the wilderness?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, George; what was it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Forty years going through the wilderness," he growled. "Why, Stonewall +Jackson would have double-quicked 'em through in three days, and on half +rations, too." +</P> + +<P> +"And so he would," exclaimed Harry with emphasis. The great affection +and admiration in which his troops held Jackson began to be tinged with +something that bordered upon superstition. They regarded his mental +powers, his intuition, judgment and quickness as something almost +supernatural. His great flanking movement at the Second Manassas, +and his arrival in time to save the army at Antietam, inspired them with +awe for a man who could do such things. They had long since ceased to +grumble when he undertook one of his tremendous marches, and they never +asked why they were sent to do a thing—they had absolute confidence in +the one who sent them to do it. +</P> + +<P> +The great excitement of Jackson in his new uniform passed and the boys +resumed their luxurious quarters on the leaves beside the Opequon. +Sherburne, who had left them a while, returned, riding a splendid bay +horse, which he tethered to a bush before rejoining them. +</P> + +<P> +"That's not the horse I saw you riding at Antietam, Captain," said +Langdon. "I counted that fellow's ribs, and none show in this one. +It's no business of mine, but I want to know where you got that fine +brute." +</P> + +<P> +"No, it's none of your business, Tom," replied Sherburne, as he settled +himself comfortably, "you haven't anything in the world to do with it, +but that's no reason why you shouldn't ask and I shouldn't answer." +</P> + +<P> +"Drop the long-winded preliminaries, then, and go ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"I got him on a wild ride with the general, General Stuart. What a +cavalryman! I don't believe there was ever such another glutton for +adventure and battle. General Lee wasn't just sure what McClellan meant +to do, and he ordered General Stuart to pick his men and go see. +</P> + +<P> +"The general took six hundred of us, and four light guns, and we crossed +the Potomac at dawn. Then we rode straight toward the north, exchanging +shots here and there with Northern pickets. We went across Maryland and +clear up into Pennsylvania, a hundred miles it must have been, I think, +and at a town called Chambersburg we got a great supply of Yankee stores, +including five hundred horses, which came in mighty handy, I can tell +you. I got Bucephalus there. He's a fine steed, too, I can tell you. +He was intended to carry some fat Pennsylvania colonel or major, and +instead he has me for a rider, a thinner and consequently a lighter man. +I haven't heard him expressing any sorrow over the exchange." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you do after you got the remounts?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"We began to curve then. We passed a town called Gettysburg, and we +went squarely behind the Union army. Mountainous and hilly country up +there, but good and cultivated beautifully. Those Pennsylvania Germans, +Harry, beat us all hollow at farming. I'm beginning to think that +slaves are not worth owning. They ruin our land." +</P> + +<P> +"Which may be so," interrupted Langdon, "but we're not the kind of +people to give them up because a lot of other people order us to do it." +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up, Tom," exclaimed Harry. "Let the captain go on with his story." +</P> + +<P> +"We went on around the Union rear, rode another hundred miles after +leaving Chambersburg, coming to a place called Hyattstown, near which we +cut across McClellan's communications with Washington. Things grew warm, +as the Yankees, learning that we were in the country, began to assemble +in great force. They tried to prevent our crossing the Monocacy River, +and we had a sharp fight, but we drove them off before they could get up +a big enough force to hold us. Then we came on, forded the Potomac and +got back after having made an entire circuit of McClellan's army." +</P> + +<P> +"What a ride!" exclaimed St. Clair, his eyes sparkling. "I wish I had +been with you. It would have been something to talk about." +</P> + +<P> +"We did stir 'em up," said Sherburne with pardonable pride, "and we got +a lot of information, too, some of it beyond price. We've learned that +there will be no more attempts on Richmond by sea. The Yankee armies +will come across Virginia soil or not at all." +</P> + +<P> +"I imagine McClellan won't be in any hurry to cross the Potomac," +said Harry. "He certainly got us into a hot corner at Antietam, and +if the reports are true he had plenty of time to come up and wipe out +General Lee's whole force, while Old Jack was tied up at Harper's Ferry. +They feel that way about McClellan in the North, too. I've got an +old Philadelphia newspaper and I'll read to you part of a poem that's +reprinted in it. The poem is called 'Tardy George.' Listen: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "What are you waiting for, George, I pray?<BR> + To scour your cross belts with fresh pipe clay?<BR> + To burnish your buttons, to brighten your guns?<BR> + Or wait for May-day, and warm spring suns?<BR> + Are you blowing your fingers because they're cold,<BR> + Or catching your breath ere you take a hold?<BR> + Is the mud knee-deep in valley and gorge?<BR> + What are you waiting for, Tardy George?"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"That's pretty bitter," said Harry, "but it must have been written +before the Seven Days. You notice what the author says about waiting +for May-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Likely enough you're right, but it applies just the same or they +wouldn't be reprinting it in their newspapers. Some of them claim a +victory over us at Antietam, and nearly all are angry at McClellan +because he wouldn't follow us into Virginia. They think he ought to +have crossed the Potomac after us and smashed us." +</P> + +<P> +"He might have got smashed himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Which people are likely to debate all through this generation and the +next. But they're bitter against McClellan, although he's done better +than any other Yankee general in the east. Just listen to this verse, +will you? +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Suppose for a moment, George, my friend,<BR> + Just for a moment you condescend<BR> + To use the means that are in your hands<BR> + The eager muskets and guns and brands;<BR> + Take one bold step on the Southern sod,<BR> + And leave the issue to watchful God!<BR> + For now the nation raises its gorge,<BR> + Waiting and watching you, Tardy George."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Harry carefully folded up the paper and put it back in his pocket. +The contrast between these verses and the song that he had just heard +ten thousand men sing, as they whirled around Stonewall Jackson's +headquarters, impressed him deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"It's hard, boys," he said, "for a general to see things like this +printed about him, even if he should deserve them. McClellan, so all +the prisoners say, has the confidence of his men. They believe that +he can win." +</P> + +<P> +"And we know that we can and do win!" exclaimed Langdon. "We've got the +soldiers and the generals, too. Hurrah for Bobby Lee, and Stonewall +Jackson and Jim Longstreet, and old Jubal Early, and A. P. Hill and +D. H. Hill and Jeb Stuart and—and——" +</P> + +<P> +"And for Happy Tom Langdon, the greatest soldier and general of them +all," interrupted Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"That's true," said Langdon, "only people don't know it yet. Now, +by the great horn spoon, what is that? What a day this is!" +</P> + +<P> +A great uproar had begun suddenly, and, as if by magic, hundreds of men +had risen from the ground and were running about like mad creatures. +But the boys knew that they were not mad. They understood in an instant +what it was all about as they heard innumerable voices crying, "Rabbit! +Rabbit!" +</P> + +<P> +Rabbits were numerous in the underbrush and they made good stew. +The soldiers often surrounded them and caught them with their bare hands, +but they dared not shoot at them, as, owing to the number of pursuers, +somebody would certainly have been hurt. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and his comrades instantly joined in the chase, which led into the +deep woods. The rabbit, frightened into unusual speed by the shouts, +darted into the thick brush and escaped them all. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor little rascal," said Harry, "I'm glad he got away after all. +What good would one rabbit be to an army corps of twenty-five thousand +men?" +</P> + +<P> +As they were returning to their place on the creek bank an orderly came +for Harry, and he was summoned to the tent of Jackson. It was a large +tent spread in the shade of an old oak, and Harry found that Captain +Sherburne had already preceded him there. All signs of splendor were +hidden completely. Jackson once more wore with ease his dingy old gray +clothes, but the skin of his brow was drawn into a tiny knot in the +center, as if he were concentrating thought with his utmost power. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, Mr. Kenton," he said kindly. "I've already been speaking +to Captain Sherburne and I'll tell you now what I want. General +McClellan's army is still beyond the Potomac. As nearly as our +spies can estimate it has, present and fit for duty, one hundred and +thirty-five thousand men and three hundred and fifty cannon. McClellan, +as we well know, is always overcautious and overestimates our numbers, +but public opinion in the North will force him to action. They claim +there that Antietam was a victory for them, and he will surely invade +Virginia again. I shall send Captain Sherburne and his troop to find +out where and when, and you are to go with him as my aide and personal +representative." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, sir," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"When can you start?" +</P> + +<P> +"Within five minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"Good. I was going to allow you ten, but it's better to take only five. +Captain Sherburne, you have your instructions already. Now go, and bear +in mind, both of you, that you are to bring back what you are sent to +get, no matter what the cost. Prepare no excuses." +</P> + +<P> +There was a stern and ominous ring in his last words, and Harry and +Sherburne, saluting, retired with all speed. Harry ran to his own tent, +snatched up his arms and blanket-roll, saddled and bridled his horse, +and well within five minutes was riding by the side of Captain +Sherburne. He shouted to St. Clair, who had run forward in amazement: +</P> + +<P> +"Gone on a mission for Old Jack. Will be back—some time." +</P> + +<P> +The cavalry troop of two hundred splendid men, led by Sherburne, one of +the finest of the younger leaders, trotted fast through the oak forest. +They were fully refreshed and they were glad of action. The great +heats of that famous summer, unusually hot alike in both east and west, +were gone, and now the cool, crisp breezes of autumn blew in their faces. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you heard at what point on the Potomac the Union army is gathered?" +Harry asked. +</P> + +<P> +"At a village called Berlin, so our spies say. You know McClellan +really has some high qualities. We found a heavy reconnoitering force +of cavalry not far in our front two or three days ago, and we did not +know what it meant, but General Jackson now has an idea that McClellan +wanted to find out whether we were near enough to the Potomac to dispute +his passage." +</P> + +<P> +"We are not." +</P> + +<P> +"No, we're not, and I don't suppose General Lee and General Jackson wish +to keep him on the other side. But, at any rate, we're sent to find out +whether he is crossing." +</P> + +<P> +"And we'll see." +</P> + +<P> +"We surely will." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AHORSE WITH SHERBURNE +</H3> + +<P> +Harry was glad that General Jackson had detailed him for this task. +He missed his comrades of the staff, but Sherburne was a host in himself, +and he was greatly attached to him. He rode a good horse and there +was pleasure in galloping with these men over the rolling country, and +breathing the crisp and vital air of autumn. +</P> + +<P> +They soon left the forest, and rode along a narrow road between fields. +Their spirits rose continually. It was a singular fact that the Army of +Northern Virginia was not depressed by Antietam. It had been a bitter +disappointment to the Southern people, who expected to see Lee take +Baltimore and Philadelphia, but the army itself was full of pride over +its achievement in beating off numbers so much superior. +</P> + +<P> +It was for these reasons that Sherburne and those who rode with him felt +pride and elation. They had seen the ranks of the army fill up again. +Lee had retreated across the Potomac after Antietam with less than forty +thousand men. Now he had more than seventy thousand, and Sherburne and +Harry felt certain that instead of waiting to be attacked by McClellan +he himself would go forth to attack. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had seldom seen a day more beautiful. That long hot, dry summer +had been followed by a fine autumn, the most glorious of all seasons in +North America, when the air has snap and life enough in it to make the +old young again. +</P> + +<P> +He was familiar now with the rolling country into which they rode after +leaving the forest. Off in one direction lay the fields on which they +had fought the First and Second Manassas, and off in another, behind the +loom of the blue mountains, he had ridden with Stonewall Jackson on that +marvelous campaign which seemed to Harry without an equal. +</P> + +<P> +But the land about them was deserted now. There were no harvests in the +fields. No smoke rose from the deserted farm houses. This soil had +been trodden over and over again by great armies, and it would be a long +time before it called again for the plough. The stone fences stood, +as solid as ever, but those of wood had been used for fuel by the +soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +They watered their horses at a clear creek, and then Sherburne and Harry, +from the summit of a low hill, scanned the country with their glasses. +</P> + +<P> +They saw no human being. There was the rolling country, brown now with +autumn, and the clear, cool streams flowing through almost every valley, +but so far as man was concerned the scene was one of desolation. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think that McClellan would have mounted scouts some distance +this side of the Potomac," said Sherburne. "Certainly, if he were +making the crossing, as our reports say, he would send them ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"We're sure to strike 'em before we reach the river," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"I think with you that we'll see 'em, but it's our business to avoid +'em. We're sent forth to see and not to fight. But if General Stuart +could ride away up into Pennsylvania, make a complete circuit around the +Union army and come back without loss, then we ought to be successful +with our own task, which is an easier one." +</P> + +<P> +Harry smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I never knew you to fail, Captain. I consider your task as done +already." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, Harry. You're a noble optimist. If we fail, it will not be +for lack of trying. Forward, my lads, and we'll reach the Potomac some +time to-night." +</P> + +<P> +They rode on through the same silence and desolation. They had no doubt +that eyes watched them from groves and fence corners, keeping cautiously +out of the way, because it was sometimes difficult now to tell Federals +from Confederates. But it did not matter to Sherburne. He kept a +straight course for the Potomac, at least half of his men knowing +thoroughly every foot of the way. +</P> + +<P> +"What time can we reach the river and the place at which they say +McClellan is going to cross?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"By midnight anyway," replied Sherburne. "Of course, we'll have to slow +down as we draw near, or we may run square into an ambush. Do you see +that grove about two miles ahead? We'll go into that first, rest our +horses, and take some food." +</P> + +<P> +It was a fine oak grove, covering about an acre, with no undergrowth and +a fair amount of grass, still green under the shade, on which the horses +could graze. The trunks of the trees also were close enough together to +hide them from anyone else who was not very near. Here the men ate cold +food from their haversacks and let their horses nibble the grass for a +half hour. +</P> + +<P> +They emerged refreshed and resumed their course toward the Potomac. +In the very height of the afternoon blaze they saw a horseman on the +crest of a hill, watching them intently through glasses. Sherburne +instantly raised his own glasses to his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"A Yankee scout," he said. "He sees us and knows us for what we are, +but he doesn't know what we're about." +</P> + +<P> +"But he's trying to guess," said Harry, who was also using glasses. +"I can't see his face well enough to tell, but I know that in his place +I'd be guessing." +</P> + +<P> +"As we don't want him hanging on to our heels and watching us, I think +we'd better charge him." +</P> + +<P> +"Have the whole troop turn aside and chase him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; Harry, you and I and eight men will do it. Marlowe, take the rest +of the company straight along the road at an easy gait. But keep well +behind the hedge that you see ahead." +</P> + +<P> +Marlowe was his second in command, and taking the lead he continued with +the troop. +</P> + +<P> +Marlowe rode behind one of the hedges, where they were hidden from the +lone horseman on the hill, and Sherburne and Harry and the eight men +followed. While they were yet hidden, Sherburne and his chosen band +suddenly detached themselves from the others at a break in the hedge and +galloped toward the horseman who was still standing on the hill, gazing +intently toward the point where he had last seen the troop riding. +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne, Harry and the privates rode at a gallop across the field, +straight for the Union sentinel. He did not see them until they had +covered nearly half the distance, and then with aggravating slowness +he turned and rode over the opposite side of the hill. Harry had been +watching him intently, and when he had come much nearer the figure +seemed familiar to him. At first he could not recall it to mind, +but a moment or two later he turned excitedly to Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"I know that man, although I've never seen him before in a uniform," +he said. "I met him when President Davis was inaugurated at Montgomery +and I saw him again at Washington. His name is Shepard, the most +skillful and daring of all the Union spies." +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard you speak of that fellow before," said Sherburne, "and since +we've put him to flight, I think we'd better stop. Ten to one, if we +follow him over the brow of the hill, he'll lead us into an ambush." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you're right, Captain, and it's likely, too, that he'll come +back soon with a heavy cavalry detachment. I've no doubt that thousands +of Union horsemen are this side of the river." +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne was impressed by Harry's words, and the little detachment, +returning at a gallop, joined the main troop, which was now close to a +considerable stretch of forest. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, there they are!" exclaimed Harry, looking back at the hill on which +he had seen the lone horseman. +</P> + +<P> +A powerful body of cavalry showed for a moment against the sun, which +was burning low and red in the west. The background was so intense and +vivid that the horsemen did not form a mass, but every figure stood +detached, a black outline against the sky. Harry judged that they were +at least a thousand in number. +</P> + +<P> +"Too strong a force for us to meet," said Sherburne. "They must +outnumber us five to one, and since they've had practice the Northern +cavalry has improved a lot. It must be a part of the big force that +made the scout toward our lines. Good thing the forest is just ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"And a good thing, too, that night is not far off." +</P> + +<P> +"Right, my boy, we need 'em both, the forest and the dark. The Union +cavalry is going to pursue us, and I don't mean to turn back. General +Jackson sent us to find about McClellan's crossing, and we've got to do +it." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't dare go back to Old Jack without the information we're sent +to get." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I. Hurry up the men, Marlowe. We've got to lose the Union cavalry +in the forest somehow." +</P> + +<P> +The men urged their horses forward at a gallop and quickly reached the +trees. But when Harry looked back he saw the thousand in blue about +a mile away, coming at a pace equal to their own. He felt much +apprehension. The road through the forest led straight before them, +but the trail of two hundred horses could not be hidden even by night. +They could turn into the forest and elude their pursuers, but, as +Sherburne said, that meant abandoning their errand, and no one in all +the group thought of such a thing. +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne increased the pace a little now, while he tried to think of +some way out. Harry rode by his side in silence, and he, too, was +seeking a solution. Through the trees, now nearly leafless, they saw +the blue line still coming, and the perplexities of the brave young +captain grew fast. +</P> + +<P> +But the night was coming down, and suddenly the long, lean figure of a +man on the long, lean figure of a horse shot from the trees on their +right and drew up by the side of Sherburne and Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Lankford, sir, Jim Lankford is my name," he said to Sherburne, touching +one finger to his forehead in a queer kind of salute. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw that the man had a thin, clean-shaven face with a strong nose +and chin. +</P> + +<P> +"I 'low you're runnin' away from the Yankees," said Lankford to +Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne flushed, but no anger showed in his voice as he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, but we run for two reasons. They're five to our one, +and we have business elsewhere that mustn't be interrupted by fighting." +</P> + +<P> +"First reason is enough. A man who fights five to one is five times +a fool. I'm a good Johnny Reb myself, though I keep off the fightin' +lines. I live back there in a house among the trees, just off the road. +You'd have seen it when you passed by, if you hadn't been in such a +hurry. Just settin' down to take a smoke when Mandy, my wife, tells me +she hears the feet of many horses thunderin' on the road. In a moment +I hear 'em, too. Run to the front porch, and see Confederate cavalry +coming at a gallop, followed by a big Yankee force. Mandy and me didn't +like the sight, and we agree that I take a hand. Now I'm takin' it." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you intend to help us?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm gettin' to that. I saddled my big horse quick as lightnin', +and takin' a runnin' jump out of the woods, landed beside you. Now, +listen, Captain; I reckon you're on some sort of scoutin' trip, and +want to go on toward the river." +</P> + +<P> +"You reckon right." +</P> + +<P> +"About a mile further on we dip into a little valley. A creek, wide but +shallow and with a bed all rocks, takes up most of the width of that +valley. It goes nearly to the north, and at last reaches the Potomac. +A half mile from the crossin' ahead it runs through steep, high banks +that come right down to its edges, but the creek bottom is smooth enough +for the horses. I 'low I make myself plain enough, don't I, Mr. Captain?" +</P> + +<P> +"You do, Mr. Lankford, and you're an angel in homespun. Without you we +could never do what we want to do. Lead the way to that blessed creek. +We don't want any of the Yankee vanguard to see us when we turn and +follow its stream." +</P> + +<P> +"We can make it easy. They might guess that we're ridin' in the water +to hide our tracks, but the bottom is so rocky they won't know whether +we've gone up or down the stream. And if they guessed the right way, +and followed it, they'd be likely to turn back at the cliffs, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +They urged their horses now to the uttermost, and Harry soon saw the +waters of the creek shining through the darkness. Everything was +falling out as Lankford had said. The pursuit was unseen and unheard +behind them, but they knew it was there. +</P> + +<P> +"Slow now, boys," said Sherburne, as they rode into the stream. "We +don't want to make too much noise splashing the water. Are there many +boulders in here, Mr. Lankford?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not enough to hurt." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you lead the way. The men can come four abreast." +</P> + +<P> +The water was about a foot deep, and despite their care eight hundred +hoofs made a considerable splashing, but the creek soon turned around +a hill and led on through dense forest. Sherburne and Harry were +satisfied that no Union horseman had either seen or heard them, and they +followed Lankford with absolute confidence. Now and then the hoofs of a +stumbling horse would grind on the stones, but there was no other noise +save the steady marching of two hundred men through water. +</P> + +<P> +The things that Lankford had asserted continued to come true. The creek +presently flowed between banks fifty feet high, rocky and steep as a +wall. But the stone bed of the creek was almost as smooth as a floor, +and they stopped here a while to rest and let their horses drink. +</P> + +<P> +The enclosing walls were not more than fifty or sixty feet across the +top and it was very dark in the gorge. Harry saw overhead a slice of +dusky sky, lit by only a few stars, but it was pitchy black where he +sat on his horse, and listened to his contented gurglings as he drank. +He could merely make out the outlines of his comrades, but he knew that +Sherburne was on one side of him and Lankford on the other. He could +not hear the slightest sound of pursuit, and he was convinced that the +Union cavalry had lost their trail. So was Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"We owe you a big debt, Mr. Lankford," said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"I've tried to serve my side," said Lankford, "though, as I told you, +I'm not goin' on the firin' line. It's not worth while for all of us +to get killed. Later on this country will need some people who are not +dead." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right about that, Mr. Lankford," said Sherburne, with a little +laugh, "and you, for one, although you haven't gone on the firing lines, +have earned the right to live. You've done us a great service, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon I have," said Lankford with calm egotism, "but it was +necessary for me to do it. I've got an inquirin' mind, I have, and also +a calculatin' one. When I saw your little troop comin', an' then that +big troop of the Yankees comin' on behind, I knowed that you needed +help. I knowed that this creek run down a gorge, and that I could lead +you into the gorge and escape pursuit. I figgered, too, that you were +on your way to see about McClellan crossin' the Potomac, an' I figgered +next that you meant to keep straight on, no matter what happened. +So I'm goin' to lead you out of the gorge, and some miles further ahead +you'll come to the Potomac, where I guess you can use your own eyes and +see all you want to see." +</P> + +<P> +"The horses are all right now and I think we'd better be moving, +Mr. Lankford." +</P> + +<P> +They started, but did not go faster than a walk while they were in the +gorge. Harry's eyes had grown somewhat used to the darkness, and he +could make out the rocky walls, crested with trees, the higher branches +of which seemed almost to meet over the chasm. +</P> + +<P> +It was a weird passage, but time and place did not oppress Harry. +He felt instead a certain surge of the spirits. They had thrown off +the pursuit—there could be no doubt of it—and the first step in their +mission was accomplished. They were now in the midst of action, action +thrilling and of the highest importance, and his soul rose to the issue. +</P> + +<P> +He had no doubt that some great movement, possibly like that of the +Second Manassas, hung upon their mission, and Lee and Jackson might be +together at that very moment, planning the mighty enterprise which would +be shaped according to their news. +</P> + +<P> +They emerged from the gorge and rode up a low, sloping bank which gave +back but little sound to the tread of the horses, and here Lankford said +that he would leave them. Sherburne reached over his gauntleted hand +and gave him a powerful grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't forget this service, Mr. Lankford," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't goin' to let you forget it. Keep straight ahead an' you'll +strike a cross-country road in 'bout a quarter of a mile. It leads you +to the Potomac, an' I reckon from now on you'll have to take care of +yourselves." +</P> + +<P> +Lankford melted away in the darkness as he rode back up the gorge, +and the troop went on at a good pace across a country, half field, +half forest. They came to a road which was smooth and hard, and +increased their speed. They soon reached a region which several of +their horsemen knew, and, as the night lightened a little, they rode +fast toward the Potomac. +</P> + +<P> +Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was not much past midnight. +They would have ample opportunity for observation before morning. +A half hour later they discerned dim lights ahead and they knew that +the Potomac could not be far away. +</P> + +<P> +They drew to one side in a bit of forest, and Sherburne again detached +himself, Harry and eight others from the troop, which he left as before +under the command of Marlowe. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait here in the wood for us," he said to his second in command. +"We should be back by dawn. Of course, if any force of the enemy +threatens you, you'll have to do what seems best, and we'll ride back +to General Jackson alone." +</P> + +<P> +The ten went on a bit farther, using extreme care lest they run into a +Northern picket. Fortunately the fringe of wood, in which they found +shelter, continued to a point near the river, and as they went forward +quietly they saw many lights. They heard also a great tumult, a mixture +of many noises, the rumbling of cannon and wagon wheels, the cracking +of drivers' whips by the hundreds and hundreds, the sounds of drivers +swearing many oaths, but swearing together and in an unbroken stream. +</P> + +<P> +They rode to the crest of the hill, where they were well hidden among +oaks and beeches, and there the whole scene burst upon them. The +late moon had brightened, and many stars had come out as if for their +especial benefit. They saw the broad stream of the Potomac shining like +silver and spanned by a bridge of boats, on which a great force, horse, +foot, artillery, and wagons, was crossing. +</P> + +<P> +"That's McClellan's army," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"And coming into Virginia," said Sherburne. "Well, we can't help their +entering the state, but we can make it a very uncomfortable resting +place for them." +</P> + +<P> +"How many men do you suppose they have?" +</P> + +<P> +"A hundred thousand here at the least, and others must be crossing +elsewhere. But don't you worry, Harry. We've got seventy thousand men +of our own, and Lee and Jackson, who, as you have been told before, +are equal to a hundred thousand more. McClellan will march out again +faster than he has marched in." +</P> + +<P> +"Still, he's shown more capacity than the other Union generals in the +East, and his soldiers are devoted to him." +</P> + +<P> +"But he isn't swift, Harry. While he's thinking, Lee and Jackson have +thought and are acting. Queer, isn't it, that a young general should be +slow, and older ones so much swifter. Why, General Lee must be nearly +old enough to be General McClellan's father." +</P> + +<P> +"It's so, Captain, but those men are crossing fast. Listen how the +cannon wheels rumble! And I know that a thousand whips are cracking +at once. They'll all be on our soil to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"So they will, but long before that time we'll be back at General +Jackson's tent with the news of their coming." +</P> + +<P> +"If nothing gets in the way. Do you remember that man whom we saw on +the hill watching, the one who I said was Shepard, the ablest and most +daring of all their spies?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't forgotten him." +</P> + +<P> +"This man Shepard, Captain, is one of the most dangerous of all our +enemies. The Union could much more easily spare one of its generals +than Shepard. He's omniscient. He's a lineal descendant of Argus, +and has all the old man's hundred eyes, with a few extra ones added in +convenient places. He's a witch doctor, medicine man, and other things +beside. I believe he's followed us, that some way he's picked up our +trail somewhere. He may have been hanging on the rear of the troop when +we came through the gorge." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense, Harry, you're turning the man into a supernatural being." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just the way I feel about him." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, if that's the case, we'd better be clearing out as fast as we +can. We've seen enough, anyhow. We'll go straight back to the company +and ride hard for the camp." +</P> + +<P> +They reached the troop, which was waiting silently under the command +of the faithful Marlowe. But before they could gallop back toward the +south, the loud, clear call of a trumpet came from a point near by, +and it was followed quickly by the beat of many hoofs. +</P> + +<P> +"I see him! It's Shepard," exclaimed Harry excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +He had beheld what was almost the ghost of a horseman galloping among +the trees, followed in an instant by the more solid rush of the cavalry. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident to both Sherburne and Harry that the Federal pickets and +outriders had acquired much skill and alertness, and they urged the +troop to its greatest speed. Even if they should be able to defeat +their immediate pursuers, it was no place for them to engage in battle, +as the enemy could soon come up in thousands. +</P> + +<P> +As they galloped down the road they heard bullets kicking up the dust +behind, and the sound made them go faster. But they were still out of +range and the pursuit did not make any gain in the next few minutes. +But Harry, looking back, saw that the Union cavalry was hanging on +grimly, and he surmised also that other forces might appear soon on +their flanks. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to use every effort," he said to Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"That's apparent. You were right about your man Shepard, Harry. +He has certainly inherited all the eyes of his ancestor, Argus, and +about three times as many besides. He's omniscient, right enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Are they gaining?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet. But they will, as fresh pursuers come up on the flank. +Some of us must fall or be taken, but then at least one of us must get +back to Old Jack with the news. So we're bound to scatter. When we +reach that patch of woods on the left running down to the road, you're +to leave us, gallop into it and make your way back through the gorge. +I'll throw off the other messengers as we go on." +</P> + +<P> +"Must I be the first to go?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you're under my orders now, and I think you the most trustworthy. +Now, Harry, off with you, and remember that luck is with him who tries +the hardest." +</P> + +<P> +They were within the dark shade of the trees and Harry turned at a +gallop among them, guiding his horse between the trunks, pausing a +moment further on to hear the pursuit thunder by, and then resuming +his race for the gorge. +</P> + +<P> +He continued to ride at a great pace, meeting no enemy, and at last +reached the creek. He was a good observer and he was confident that he +could ride back up it without trouble. He feared nothing but Shepard. +A single horseman in the darkness could throw off any pursuit by cavalry, +but the terrible spy might turn at once to the creek and the gorge. +He had the consolation, though, of knowing that Shepard could not follow +him and all the others at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +Harry paused a moment at the water's edge and listened for the sounds +of pursuit. None came. Then he plunged boldly in and rode against +the stream, passing into the depths of the gorge. It was darker now, +being near to that darkest hour before the dawn, and the slit of sky +above was somber. +</P> + +<P> +But he rode on at a good walk until he was about half way through the +gorge. Then he heard sounds above, and drawing his horse in by the +cliff he stopped and waited. Voices came down to him, and once or twice +he caught the partial silhouette of a horse against the dark sky. +</P> + +<P> +He felt quite sure that it was a body of Union cavalry riding +practically at random—if they were led by Shepard they would have +come up the gorge itself. +</P> + +<P> +Presently something splashed heavily in the water near him. A stone had +been rolled over the brink. He drew his horse and himself more closely +against the wall. Another stone fell near and a laugh came from above. +Evidently the lads in blue had pushed the stones over merely to hear the +splash, because Harry ceased to hear the voices and he was quite sure +that they had ridden away. +</P> + +<P> +He waited a little while for precaution, and then resumed his own +careful journey through the gorge. Just as the dawn was breaking he +emerged from the stream and entered the forest. It was a cold dawn, +that of late October, white with frost, and Harry shivered. There was +still food in his knapsack, and he ate hungrily as he rode through the +deserted country, and wondered what had become of Shepard and the others. +</P> + +<P> +It was not yet full day. The grass was still white with frost. The +early wind, blowing out of the north, brought an increased chill. +The food Harry had eaten defended him somewhat against the cold, but his +body had been weakened by so much riding and loss of sleep that he found +it wise to unroll his blanket and wrap it around his shoulders and chest. +</P> + +<P> +He was, perhaps, affected by the cold and anxiety, but the country +seemed singularly lonesome and depressing. Sweeping the whole circle of +the horizon with his glasses, he saw several farm houses, but no smoke +was rising from their chimneys. Silent and cold, they added to his own +feeling of desolation. He wondered what had become of his comrades. +Perhaps Sherburne had been taken, or killed. He was not one to +surrender, even to overwhelming numbers, without a fight. +</P> + +<P> +But he would go on. Drawing the blanket more tightly around his body, +he turned into the narrow road by which he had come, and urged his horse +into that easy Southern gait known as a pace. He would have been glad +to go faster, but he was too wise to push a horse that had already been +traveling twenty hours. +</P> + +<P> +Harry did not yet feel secure by any means. The lads of the South, +where the cities were few and small, had been used from childhood to the +horse. They had become at once cavalry of the highest order; but the +lads of the North were learning, too. He had no doubt that bands of +Northern horsemen were now ranging the country to the very verge of the +camps of Jackson and Lee. +</P> + +<P> +The belief became a certainty when a score of riders in blue appeared on +a hill behind him. One of their number blew a musical note on a trumpet, +and then all of them, with a shout, urged their horses in pursuit of +Harry, who felt as if it were for all the world a fox chase, with +himself as the fox. +</P> + +<P> +He knew that his danger was great, but he resolved to triumph over it. +He must get through to Jackson with the news that the Army of the +Potomac was in Virginia. Others from Sherburne's troop might arrive +with the same news, but he did not know it. It was not his place to +reckon on the possible achievements of others. So far as this errand +was concerned, and so far as he was now concerned, there was nobody in +the world but himself. Swiftly he reckoned the chances. +</P> + +<P> +He changed the pace of his horse into an easy gallop and sped along the +road. But the horse did not have sufficient reserve of strength to +increase his speed and maintain the increase. He knew without looking +back that the Union riders were gaining, and he continued to mature his +plan. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was now cool and deliberate. It was possible that a Confederate +troop scouting in that direction might save him, but it was far from +a certainty, and he could not take it into his calculations. He was +now riding between two cornfields in which all the corn had been cut, +but he saw forest on the right, about a half mile ahead. +</P> + +<P> +He believed that his salvation lay in that forest. He hoped that it +stretched far toward the right. He had never seen a finer forest, +a more magnificent forest, one that looked more sheltering, and the +nearer he came to it the better it looked. +</P> + +<P> +He did not glance back, but he felt sure that the blue horsemen must +still be gaining. Then came that mellow, hunting note of the trumpet, +much nearer than before. Harry felt a thrill of anger. He remained +the fox, and they remained the hunters. He could feel the good horse +panting beneath him, and white foam was on his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +Harry began to fear now that he would be overtaken before he could reach +the trees. He glanced at the fields. If it had been only a few weeks +earlier he might have sprung from his horse and have escaped in the +thick and standing corn, but now he would be an easy target. He must +gain the forest somehow. He said over and over to himself, "I must +reach it! I must reach it! I must reach it!" +</P> + +<P> +Now he heard the crack of rifles. Bullets whizzed past. They no longer +kicked up the dust behind him, but on the side, and even in front. +Men began to shout to him, and he heard certain words that meant +surrender. Chance had kept the bullets away from him so far, but the +same chance might turn them upon him at any moment. It was a risk that +he must take. +</P> + +<P> +The shouts grew louder. The rapid thudding of hoofs behind him beat on +his ears in that minute of excitement like thunder. Nearer and nearer +came the forest. The rifles behind him were now crashing faster. +It seemed to him that he could almost smell their smoke, and still +neither he nor his horse was hit. After making all due allowance for +badness of aim at a gallop, it was almost a miracle, and he drew new +courage from the fact. +</P> + +<P> +He passed the cornfields and with a sharp jerk of the reins turned his +weary horse into the woods on the right. The forest was thick with a +considerable growth of underbrush, but Harry was a skillful and daring +rider, and he guided his horse so expertly that in a few moments he was +hidden from the view of the cavalry. But he knew that it could not +continue so long. They would spread out, driving everything in front +of them as they advanced. He was still the fox and they were still the +hunters. Yet he had gained something. For a fugitive the forest was +better than the open. +</P> + +<P> +He maintained his direction toward Jackson's camp. His horse leaped a +gully and he barely escaped being swept off on the farther side by the +bough of a tree. Then some of his pursuers caught sight of him again, +and a half dozen shots were fired. He was not touched, but he felt his +horse shiver and he knew at once that the good, true animal had been +hit. A few leaps more and the living machinery beneath him began to jar +heavily. +</P> + +<P> +Another thick clump of undergrowth hid him at that moment from the +cavalrymen, and he did the only thing that was left to him. Throwing +one leg over the saddle, he leaped clear and darted away. Before he had +gone a dozen steps he heard his horse fall heavily, and he sighed for a +true and faithful servant and comrade gone forever. +</P> + +<P> +He heard the shouts of the Union horsemen who had overtaken the fallen +horse, but not the rider. Then the shouts ceased, and for a little +while there was no thud of hoofs. Evidently they were puzzled. They +had no use for a dead horse, but they wanted his rider, and they did not +know which way he had gone. Harry knew, however, that they would soon +spread out to a yet greater extent, and being able to go much faster on +horseback than he could on foot, they would have a certain advantage. +</P> + +<P> +He had lost his blanket from his shoulders, but he still had his pistol, +and he kept one hand on the butt, resolved not to be taken. He heard +the horsemen crashing here and there among the bushes and calling to one +another. He knew that they pursued him so persistently because they +believed him to be one who had spied upon their army and it would be of +great value to them that he be taken or slain. +</P> + +<P> +He might have turned and run back toward the Potomac, doubling on his +own track, as it were, a trick which would have deluded the Union +cavalry, but his resolution held firm not only to escape, but also to +reach Jackson with his news. +</P> + +<P> +He stood at least a minute behind some thick bushes, and it was a +precious minute to his panting lungs. The fresh air flowed in again and +strength returned. His pulses leaped once more with courage and resolve, +and he plunged anew into the deep wood. If he could only reach a +part of the forest that was much roughened by outcroppings of rock or +gulleyed by rains, he felt that his chance of escape would almost turn +into a certainty. He presently came to one such gulley or ravine, +and as he crossed it he felt that he had made a distinct gain. The +horsemen would secure a passage lower down or higher up, but it gave +him an advantage of two hundred yards at least. +</P> + +<P> +Part of the gain he utilized for another rest, lying down this time +behind a rocky ridge until he heard the cavalrymen calling to one +another. Then he rose and ran forward again, slipping as quietly as he +could among the trees and bushes. He still had the feeling of being the +fox, with the hounds hot on his trail, but he was no longer making a +random rush. He had become skillful and cunning like the real fox. +</P> + +<P> +He knew that the horsemen were not trailers. They could not follow him +by his footsteps on the hard ground, and he took full advantage of it. +Yet they utilized their numbers and pursued in a long line. Once, +two of them would have galloped directly upon him, but just before they +came in sight he threw himself flat in a shallow gully and pulled over +his body a mass of fallen leaves. +</P> + +<P> +The two men rode within ten yards of him. Had they not been so eager +they would have seen him, as his body was but partly covered. But they +looked only in front, thinking that the fugitive was still running ahead +of them through the forest, and galloped on. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as they were out of sight Harry rose and followed. He deemed it +best to keep directly in their track, because then no one was likely to +come up behind him, and if they turned, he could turn, too. +</P> + +<P> +He heard the two men crashing on ahead and once or twice he caught +glimpses of them. Then he knew by the sounds of the hoofs that they +were separating, and he followed the one who was bearing to the left, +keeping a wary watch from side to side, lest others overhaul him. +</P> + +<P> +In those moments of danger and daring enterprise the spirit of Harry's +great ancestor descended upon him again. This flight through the forest +and hiding among bushes and gulleys was more like the early days of the +border than those of the great civil war in which he was now a young +soldier. +</P> + +<P> +Instincts and perceptions, atrophied by civilization, suddenly sprang +up. He seemed to be able to read every sound. Not a whisper in the +forest escaped his understanding, and this sudden flame of a great early +life put into him new thoughts and a new intelligence. +</P> + +<P> +Now a plan, astonishing in its boldness, formed itself in his mind. +He saw through openings in the trees that the forest did not extend much +farther, and he also saw not far ahead of him the single horseman whom +he was following. The man had slowed down and was looking about as if +puzzled. He rode a powerful horse that seemed but little wearied by the +pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +Harry picked up a long fragment of a fallen bough, and he ran toward +the horseman, springing from the shelter of one tree trunk to that of +another with all the deftness of a primitive Wyandot. He was almost +upon the rider before the man turned with a startled exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +Then Harry struck, and his was no light hand. The end of the stick +met the man's head, and without a sound he rolled unconscious from the +saddle. It was a tribute to Harry's humanity that he caught him and +broke his fall. A single glance at his face as he lay upon the ground +showed that he had no serious hurt, being merely stunned. +</P> + +<P> +Then Harry grasped the bridle and sprang into the saddle that he had +emptied, urging the horse directly through the opening toward the +cleared ground. He relied with absolute faith upon his new mount and +the temporary ignorance of the others that his horse had changed riders. +</P> + +<P> +As he passed out of the forest he leaned low in the saddle to keep the +color of his clothing from being seen too soon, and speaking encouraging +words in his horse's ears, raced toward the south. He heard shouts +behind him, but no shots, and he knew that the cavalrymen still believed +him to be their own man following some new sign. +</P> + +<P> +He was at least a half mile away before they discovered the difference. +Perhaps some one had found their wounded comrade in the forest, or the +man himself, reviving quickly, had told the tale. +</P> + +<P> +In any event Harry heard a distant shout of anger and surprise. Chance +had favored him in giving him another splendid horse, and now, as he +rode like the wind, the waning pursuit sank out of sight behind him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JACKSON MOVES +</H3> + +<P> +It was impossible for Harry to restrain a vivid feeling of exultation. +He was in the open, and he was leaving the Northern cavalry far behind. +Nor was it likely that any further enemy would appear now between him +and Jackson's army. Chance had certainly favored him. What a glorious +goddess Chance was when she happened to be on your side! Then +everything fell out as you wished it. You could not go wrong. +</P> + +<P> +The horse he rode was even better than the one he had lost, and a pair +of splendid pistols in holsters lay across the saddle. He could account +for two enemies if need be, but when he looked back he saw no pursuers +in sight, and he slowed his pace in order not to overtax the horse. +</P> + +<P> +Not long afterwards he saw the Southern pickets belonging to the +vanguard of the Invincibles. St. Clair himself was with them, and +when he saw Harry he galloped forward, uttering a shout. +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair had known of the errand upon which Harry had gone with +Sherburne, and now he was alarmed to see him riding back alone, worn +and covered with dust. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, Harry?" he cried, "and where are the others?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing's the matter with me, and I don't know where the others are. +But, Arthur, I've got to see General Jackson at once! Where is he?" +</P> + +<P> +Harry's manner was enough to impress his comrade, who knew him so well. +</P> + +<P> +"This way," he said. "Not more than four or five hundred yards. +There, that's General Jackson's tent!" +</P> + +<P> +Harry leaped from his horse as he came near and made a rush for the +tent. The flap was open, but a sentinel who stood in front put up his +rifle, and barred the way. A low monotone came from within the tent. +</P> + +<P> +"The General's praying," he said. "I can't let you in for a minute or +two." +</P> + +<P> +Harry took off his hat and stood in silence while the two minutes +lasted. All his haste was suddenly gone from him. The strong affection +that he felt for Jackson was tinged at times with awe, and this awe was +always strongest when the general was praying. He knew that the prayer +was no affectation, that it came from the bottom of his soul, like that +of a crusader, asking forgiveness for his sins. +</P> + +<P> +The monotone ceased, the soldier took down his rifle which was held like +a bar across the way, and Harry, entering, saluted his general, who was +sitting in the half light at a table, reading a little book, which the +lad guessed was a pocket Bible. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saluted and Jackson looked at him gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"You've come back alone, it seems," he said, "but you've obeyed my +instructions not to come without definite news?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you seen?" +</P> + +<P> +"We saw the main army of General McClellan crossing the Potomac at +Berlin. He must have had there a hundred thousand men and three or +four hundred guns, and others were certainly crossing elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +"You saw all this with your own eyes?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did, sir. We watched them for a long time. They were crossing on a +bridge of boats." +</P> + +<P> +"You are dusty and you look very worn. Did you come in contact with the +enemy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. Many of their horsemen were already on this side of the +river, and this morning I was pressed very hard by a troop of their +cavalry. I gained a wood, but just at the edge of it my horse was +killed by a chance shot." +</P> + +<P> +"Your horse killed? Then how could you escape from cavalry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Chance favored me, sir. I dodged them for a while in the woods and +underbrush, helped by gullies here and there, and when I came to the +edge of the wood only a single horseman was near me. I hid behind a +tree and knocked him out of the saddle as he was riding past." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you did not kill him." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not. He was merely stunned. He will have a headache for a day +or two, and then he will be as well as ever. I jumped on his horse and +galloped here as straight and fast as I could." +</P> + +<P> +A faint smile passed over Jackson's face. +</P> + +<P> +"You were lucky to make the exchange of horses," he said, "and you have +done well. The enemy comes and our days of rest are over. Do you know +anything of Captain Sherburne and his troop?" +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Sherburne, under the urgency of pursuit, scattered his men +in order that some of them at least might reach you with the news of +General McClellan's crossing. I was the first detached, and so I know +nothing of the others." +</P> + +<P> +"And also you were the first to arrive. I trust that Captain Sherburne +and all of his men will yet come. We can ill spare them." +</P> + +<P> +"I truly hope so, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"You need food and sleep. Get both. You will be called when you are +needed. You have done well, Lieutenant Kenton." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Harry, saluting again, withdrew. He was very proud of his general's +commendation, but he was also on the verge of physical collapse. +He obtained some food at a camp fire near by, ate it quickly, wrapped +himself in borrowed blankets, and lay down under the shade of an oak. +Langdon saw him just as he was about to close his eyes, and called to +him: +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Harry, I didn't know you were back. What's your news?" +</P> + +<P> +"That McClellan and the Yankee army are this side of the Potomac. +That's all. Good night." +</P> + +<P> +He closed his eyes, and although it was near the middle of the day, +with the multifarious noises of the camp about him, he fell into the +deep and beautiful sleep of the tired youth who has done his duty. +</P> + +<P> +He was still asleep when Captain Sherburne, worn and wounded slightly, +came in and reported also to General Jackson. He and his main force had +been pursued and had been in a hot little brush with the Union cavalry, +both sides losing several men. Others who had been detached before the +action also returned and reported. All of them, like Harry, were told +to seek food and sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Harry slept a long time, and the soldiers who passed, making many +preparations, never disturbed him. But the entire Southern army under +Lee, assisted by his two great corps commanders, Jackson and Longstreet, +was making ready to meet the Army of the Potomac under McClellan. +The spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia was high, and the news that +the enemy was marching was welcome to them. +</P> + +<P> +When Harry awoke the sun had passed its zenith and the cool October +shadows were falling. He yawned prodigiously, stretched his arms, +and for a few moments could not remember where he was, or what he had +been doing. +</P> + +<P> +"Quit yawning so hard," said Happy Tom Langdon. "You may get your mouth +so wide open that you'll never be able to shut it again." +</P> + +<P> +"What's happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's happened, while you were asleep? Well, it will take a long time +to tell it, Mr. Rip Van Winkle. You have slept exactly a week, and in +the course of that time we fought a great battle with McClellan, were +defeated by him, chiefly owing to your comatose condition, and have +fallen back on Richmond, carrying you with us asleep in a wagon. +If you will look behind you you will see the spires of Richmond. +Oh, Harry! Harry! Why did you sleep so long and so hard when we needed +you so much?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up, Tom. If ever talking matches become the fashion, I mean +to enter you in all of them for the first prize. Now, tell me what +happened while I was asleep, and tell it quick!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, me lad, since you're high and haughty, not to say dictatorial +about it, I, as proud and haughty as thyself, defy thee. George, +you tell him all about it." Dalton grinned. A grave and serious youth +himself, he liked Langdon's perpetual fund of chaff and good humor. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing has happened, Harry, while you slept," he said, "except that +the army, or at least General Jackson's corps, has been making ready for +a possible great battle. We're scattered along a long line, and General +Lee and General Longstreet are some distance from us, but our generals +don't seem to be alarmed in the least. It's said that McClellan will +soon be between us and Richmond, but I can't see any alarm about that +either." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should there be?" said St. Clair, who was also sitting by. "It +would make McClellan's position dangerous, not ours." +</P> + +<P> +"Arthur puts it right," said Langdon. "When we go to our tents, show +him the new uniform you've got, Arthur. It's the most gorgeous affair +in the Army of Northern Virginia, and it cost him a whole year's pay +in Confederate money. Have you noticed, Harry, that the weakest thing +about us is our money? We're the greatest marchers and fighters in the +world, but nobody, not even our own people, seem to fall in love with +our money." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that General Jackson is now ready to march whenever the word +should come," said St. Clair. "The boys, as far as I can see, have +returned to their rest and play. There's that Cajun band playing again." +</P> + +<P> +"And it sounds mighty good," said Harry. "Look at those Louisiana +Frenchmen dancing." +</P> + +<P> +The spirits of the swarthy Acadians were irrepressible. As they had +danced in the great days in the valley in the spring, now they were +dancing when autumn was merging into winter, and they sang their songs +of the South, some of which had come from old Brittany through Nova +Scotia to Louisiana. +</P> + +<P> +Harry liked the French blood, and he had learned to like greatly these +men who were so much underestimated in the beginning. He and his +comrades watched them as they whirled in the dance, clasped in one +another's arms, their dark faces glowing, white teeth flashing and black +eyes sparkling. He saw that they were carried away by the music and the +dance, and as they floated over the turf they were dreaming of their far +and sunny land and the girls they had left behind them. He had been +reared in a stern and more northern school, but he had learned long +since that a love of innocent pleasure was no sign of effeminacy or +corruption. +</P> + +<P> +"Good to look on, isn't it, Harry?" said St. Clair. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and good to hear, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me into this little dip, and I'll show you another sight +that's good to see." +</P> + +<P> +There was a low ridge on their right, crested with tall trees and +dropping down abruptly on the other side. A little distance on rose +another low ridge, but between the two was a snug and grassy bowl, +and within the bowl, sitting on the dry grass, with a chessboard between +them, were Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire. They were absorbed so deeply in their game that they did +not notice the boys on the crest of the bank looking over at them. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire had +not changed a particle—to the eyes, at least—in a year and a half of +campaigning and tremendous battles. They may have been a little leaner +and a little thinner, but they were lean and thin men, anyhow. Their +uniforms, although faded and worn, were neat and clean, and as each sat +on a fragment of log, while the board rested on a stump between, they +were able to maintain their dignity. +</P> + +<P> +It was Colonel Talbot's move. His hand rested on the red king and he +pondered long. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire waited without a sign of +impatience. He would take just as long a time with his knight or bishop, +or whichever of the white men he chose to use. +</P> + +<P> +"I confess, Hector," said Colonel Talbot at length, "that this move +puzzles me greatly." +</P> + +<P> +"It would puzzle me too, Leonidas, were I in your place," said +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire; "but you must recall that just before +the Second Manassas you seemed to have me checkmated, and that I have +escaped from a most dangerous position." +</P> + +<P> +"True, true, Hector! I thought I had you, but you slipped from my net. +Those were, beyond all dispute, most skillful and daring moves you made. +It pays to be bold in this world." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know," whispered St. Clair to Harry, "that this unfinished game +is the one they began last spring in the valley? We saw them playing +it in a fence corner before action. They've taken it up again at least +four or five times between battles, but neither has ever been able to +win. However, they'll fight it out to a finish, if a bullet doesn't get +one first. They always remember the exact position in which the figures +were when they quit." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Talbot happened to look up and saw the boys. +</P> + +<P> +"Come down," he said, "and join us. It is pleasant to see you again, +Harry. I heard of your mission, its success and your safe return. +Hector, I suppose we'll have to postpone the next stage of our game +until we whip the Yankees again or are whipped by them. I believe I +can yet rescue that red king." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps so, Leonidas. Undoubtedly you'll have plenty of time to think +over it." +</P> + +<P> +"Which is a good thing, Hector." +</P> + +<P> +"Which is undoubtedly a good thing, Leonidas." +</P> + +<P> +They put the chess men carefully in a box, which they gave to an orderly +with very strict injunctions. Then both, after heaving a deep sigh, +transformed themselves into men of energy, action, precision and +judgment. Every soldier and officer in the trim ranks of the +Invincibles was ready. +</P> + +<P> +But action did not come as soon as Harry and his friends had thought. +Lee made preliminary movements to mass his army for battle, and then +stopped. The spies reported that political wire-pulling, that bane of +the North, was at work. McClellan's enemies at Washington were active, +and his indiscreet utterances were used to the full against him. +Attention was called again and again to his great overestimates of Lee's +army and to the paralysis that seemed to overcome him when he was in the +presence of the enemy. Lincoln, the most forgiving of men, could not +forgive him for his failure to use his full opportunity at Antietam and +destroy Lee. +</P> + +<P> +The advance of McClellan stopped. His army remained motionless while +October passed into November. The cold winds off the mountains swept +the last leaves from the trees, and Harry wondered what was going to +happen. Then St. Clair came to him, precise and dignified in manner, +but obviously anxious to tell important news. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Arthur?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got news straight from Washington that McClellan is no longer +commander of the Army of the Potomac." +</P> + +<P> +"What! They've nobody to put in his place." +</P> + +<P> +"But they have put somebody in his place, just the same." +</P> + +<P> +"Name, please." +</P> + +<P> +"Burnside, Ambrose E. Burnside, with a beautiful fringe of whiskers +along each side of his face." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we can beat any general who wears side whiskers. After all, +I'm glad we don't have McClellan to deal with again. Wasn't this +Burnside the man who delayed a part of the Union attack at Antietam +so long that we had time to beat off the other part?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'm thinking that he'll be caught between the hammer and the anvil +of Lee and Jackson, just as Pope was." +</P> + +<P> +"Most likely. Anyhow, our army is rejoicing over the removal of +McClellan as commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac. That's +something of a tribute to McClellan, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, good-bye, George! We've had two good fights with you, Seven Days +and Antietam, with Pope in between at the Second Manassas, and now, +ho! for Burnside!" +</P> + +<P> +The reception of the news that Burnside had replaced McClellan was +the same throughout the Army of Northern Virginia. The officers and +soldiers now felt that they were going to face a man who was far less +of a match for Lee and Jackson than McClellan had been, and McClellan +himself had been unequal to the task. They were anxious to meet +Burnside. They heard that he was honest and had no overweening opinion +of his own abilities. He did not wish to be put in the place of +McClellan, preferring to remain a division or corps commander. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, if that's so," said Sherburne, "we've won already. If a man +thinks he's not able to lead the Army of the Potomac, then he isn't. +Anyhow, we'll quickly see what will happen." +</P> + +<P> +But again it was not as soon as they had had expected. The Northern +advance was delayed once more, and Jackson with his staff and a large +part of his force moved to Winchester, the town that he loved so much, +and around which he had won so much of his glory. His tent was pitched +beside the Presbyterian manse, and he and Dr. Graham resumed their +theological discussions, in which Jackson had an interest so deep and +abiding that the great war rolling about them, with himself as a central +figure, could not disturb it. +</P> + +<P> +The coldness of the weather increased and the winds from the mountains +were often bitter, but the new stay in Winchester was pleasant, like +the old. Harry himself felt a throb of joy when they returned to the +familiar places. Despite the coldness of mid-November the weather was +often beautiful. The troops, scattered through the fields and in the +forest about the town, were in a happy mood. They had many dead +comrades to remember, but youth cannot mourn long. They were there in +ease and plenty again, under a commander who had led them to nothing but +victory. They heard many reports that Burnside was marching and that he +might soon cross the Rappahannock, and they heard also that Jackson's +advance to Winchester with his corps had created the deepest alarm in +Washington. The North did not trust Burnside as a commander-in-chief, +and it had great cause to fear Jackson. Even the North itself openly +expressed admiration for his brilliant achievements. +</P> + +<P> +Reports came to Winchester that an attack by Jackson on Washington was +feared. Maryland expected another invasion. Pennsylvania, remembering +the daring raid which Stuart had made through Chambersburg, one of her +cities, picking up prisoners on the way, dreaded the coming of a far +mightier force than the one Stuart had led. At the capital itself it +was said that many people were packing, preparatory to fleeing into the +farther North. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry and his comrades thought little of these things for a few +days. It was certainly pleasant there in the little Virginia town. +The people of Winchester and those of the country far and wide +delighted to help and honor them. Food was abundant and the crisp cold +strengthened and freshened the blood in their veins. The fire and +courage of Jackson's men had never risen higher. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson himself seemed to be thinking but little of war for a day or +two. His inseparable companion was the Presbyterian minister, +Dr. Graham, to whom he often said that he thought it was the noblest and +grandest thing in the world to be a great minister. Harry, as his aide, +being invariably near him, was impressed more and more by his +extraordinary mixture of martial and religious fervor. The man who +prayed before going into battle, and who was never willing to fight on +Sunday, would nevertheless hurl his men directly into the cannon's mouth +for the sake of victory, and would never excuse the least flinching on +the part of either officer or private. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Harry that the two kinds of fervor in Jackson, the martial +and the religious, were in about equal proportions, and they always +inspired him with a sort of awe. Deep as were his affection and +admiration for Jackson, he would never have presumed upon the slightest +familiarity. Nor would any other officer of his command. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the tender side of Jackson was often shown during his last days in +his beloved Winchester. The hero-worshipping women of the South often +brought their children to see him, to receive his blessing, and to say +when they were grown that the great Jackson had put his hands upon their +heads. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and his three comrades of his own age, who had been down near the +creek, were returning late one afternoon to headquarters near the manse, +when they heard the shout of many childish voices. +</P> + +<P> +They saw that he was walking again with the minister, but that he was +surrounded by at least a dozen little girls, every one of whom demanded +in turn that he shake her hand. He was busily engaged in this task when +the whole group passed out of sight into the manse. +</P> + +<P> +"The Northern newspapers denounce us as passionate and headstrong, +with all the faults of the cavaliers," said St. Clair. "I only wish +they could see General Jackson as he is. Lee and Jackson come much +nearer being Puritans than their generals do." +</P> + +<P> +Harry that night, as he sat in the little anteroom of Jackson's quarters +awaiting orders, heard again the low tone of his general praying. +The words were not audible, but the steady and earnest sound came to +him for some time. It was late, and all the soldiers were asleep or at +rest. No sound came from the army, and besides Jackson's voice there +was none other, save the sighing of the winds down from the mountains. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, as he listened to the prayer, felt a deep and overwhelming sense +of solemnity and awe. He felt that it was at once a petition and a +presage. Sitting there in the half dark mighty events were +foreshadowed. It seemed to him that they were about to enter upon a +struggle more terrible than any that had gone before, and those had +been terrible beyond the anticipation of anybody. +</P> + +<P> +The omens did not fail. Jackson's army marched the next morning, +turning southward along the turnpike in order to effect the junction +with Lee and Longstreet. All Winchester had assembled to bid them +farewell, the people confident that the army would win victory, but +knowing its cost now. +</P> + +<P> +There was water in Harry's eyes as he listened to the shouts and cheers +and saw the young girls waving the little Confederate flags. +</P> + +<P> +"If good wishes can do anything," said Harry, "then we ought to win." +</P> + +<P> +"So we should. I'm glad to have the good wishes, but, Harry, when +you're up against the enemy, they can't take the place of cannon and +rifles. Look at Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. +See how straight and precise they are. But both are suffering from a +deep disappointment. They started their chess game again last night, +Colonel Talbot to make the first move with his king, but before he could +decide upon any course with that king the orders came for us to get +ready for the march. The chessmen went into the box, and they'll have +another chance, probably after we beat Burnside." +</P> + +<P> +They went on up the valley, through the scenes of triumphs remembered so +well. All around them were their battlefields of the spring, and there +were the massive ridges of the Massanuttons that Jackson had used so +skillfully, not clothed in green now, but with the scanty leaves of +closing autumn. +</P> + +<P> +Neither Harry nor any of his comrades knew just where they were going. +That secret was locked fast under the old slouch hat of Jackson, and +Harry, like all the others, was content to wait. Old Jack knew where he +was going and what he meant to do. And wherever he was going it was the +right place to go to, and whatever he meant to do was just the thing +that ought to be done. His extraordinary spell over his men deepened +with the passing days. +</P> + +<P> +As they went farther southward they saw sheltered slopes of the +mountains where the foliage yet glowed in the reds and yellows of autumn, +"purple patches" on the landscape. Over ridges to both east and west +the fine haze of Indian summer yet hung. It was a wonderful world, +full of beauty. The air was better and nobler than wine, and the creeks +and brooks flowing swiftly down the slopes flashed in silver. +</P> + +<P> +There were no enemies here. The people, mostly women and +children—nearly all the men had gone to war—came out to cheer them as +they passed, and to bring them what food and clothing they could. The +Valley never wavered in its allegiance to the South, although great +armies fought and trod back and forth over its whole course through all +the years of the war. +</P> + +<P> +They turned east and defiled through a narrow pass in the mountains, +where the sheltered slopes again glowed in yellow and gold. Jackson, +in somber and faded gray, rode near the head of the corps on his +faithful Little Sorrel, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes +apparently not seeing what was about them, the worn face somber and +thoughtful. Harry knew that the great brain under the old slouch +hat was working every moment, always working with an intensity and +concentration of which few men were ever capable. Harry, following +close behind him, invariably watched him, but he could never read +anything of Jackson's mind from his actions. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the soldiers in broad and flowing columns, that is, they +seemed to Harry, in the intense autumn light, to flow like a river of +men and horses and steel, beautiful to look on now, but terrible in +battle. +</P> + +<P> +"We're better than ever," said the sober Dalton. "Antietam stopped us +for the time, but we are stronger than we were before that battle." +</P> + +<P> +"Stronger and even more enthusiastic," Harry concurred. "Ah, there goes +the Cajun band and the other bands and our boys singing our great tune! +Listen to it!" +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Southrons hear your country call you;<BR> + Up, lest worse than death befall you!<BR> + To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie!<BR> + Lo! all the beacon fires are lighted—<BR> + Let all hearts now be united!<BR> + To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The chorus of the battle song, so little in words, so great in its +thrilling battle note, was taken up by more than a score of thousand, +and the vast volume of sound, confined in narrow defiles, rolled like +thunder, giving forth mighty echoes. Harry was moved tremendously and +he saw Jackson himself come out of his deep thought and lift up his face +that glowed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's certainly great," said Dalton to Harry. "It would drag a man +from the hospital and send him into battle. I know now how the French +republican troops on the march felt when they heard the Marseillaise." +</P> + +<P> +"But the words don't seem to me to be the same that I heard at Bull Run." +</P> + +<P> +"No, they're not; but what does it matter? That thrilling music is +always the same, and it's enough." +</P> + +<P> +Already the origin of the renowned battle song was veiled in doubt, +and different versions of the words were appearing; but the music never +changed and every step responded to it. +</P> + +<P> +The army passed through the defile, entered another portion of the +valley, forded a fork of the Shenandoah, crossed the Luray Valley, +and then entered the steep passes of the Blue Ridge. Here they found +autumn gone and winter upon them. As the passes rose and the mountains, +clothed in pine forest, hung over them, the soft haze of Indian summer +fled, and in its place came a low, gray sky, somber and chill. Sharp +winds cut them, but the blood flowed warm and strong in their veins as +they trod the upward path between the ridges. Once more a verse of the +defiant Dixie rolled and echoed through the lofty and bleak pine forest: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "How the South's great heart rejoices<BR> + At your cannon's ringing voices;<BR> + To arms!<BR> + For faith betrayed, and pledges broken,<BR> + Wrongs inflicted, insults spoken<BR> + To arms!<BR> + Advance the flag of Dixie."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Now on the heights the last shreds and patches of autumn were blown away +by the winds of winter. The sullen skies lowered continually. Flakes +of snow whirled into their faces, but they merely bent their heads +to the storm and marched steadily onward. They had not been called +Jackson's Foot Cavalry for nothing. They were proud of the name, +and they meant to deserve it more thoroughly than ever. +</P> + +<P> +"I take it," said Dalton to Harry, "that some change has occurred in the +Northern plans. The Army of the Potomac must be marching along in a new +line." +</P> + +<P> +"So do I. The battle will be fought in lower country." +</P> + +<P> +"And we will be with Lee and Longstreet in a day or two." +</P> + +<P> +"So it looks." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson stopped twice, a full day each time, for rest, but at the end of +the eighth day, including the two for rest, he had driven his men one +hundred and twenty miles over mountains and across rivers. They also +passed through cold and heavy snow, but they now found themselves in +lower country at the village of Orange Court House. The larger town of +Fredericksburg lay less than forty miles away. Harry was not familiar +with the name of Fredericksburg, but it was destined to be before long +one that he could never forget. In after years it was hard for him to +persuade himself that famous names were not famous always. The name of +some village or river or mountain would be burned into his brain with +such force and intensity that the letters seemed to have been there +since the beginning. +</P> + +<P> +It lacked but two days of December when they came to Orange Court House, +but they heard that the Northern front was more formidable and menacing +than ever. Burnside had shown more energy than was expected of him. +He had formed a plan to march upon Richmond, and, despite the +alterations in his course, he was clinging to that plan. He had at the +least, so the scouts said, one hundred and twenty thousand men and four +hundred guns. The North, moreover, which always commanded the water, +had gunboats in the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg, and they would be, +as they were throughout the war, a powerful arm. +</P> + +<P> +Harry knew, too, the temper and resolution of the North, the slow, +cold wrath that could not be checked by one defeat or half a dozen. +Antietam, as he saw it, had merely been a temporary check to the +Confederate arms, where the forces of Lee and Jackson had fought off +at least double their number. The Northern men could not yet boast of +a single clean-cut victory in the battles of the east, but they were +coming on again as stern and resolute as ever. Defeat seemed to serve +only as an incentive to them. After every one, recruits poured down +from the north and west to lift anew the flag of the Union. +</P> + +<P> +There was something in this steady, unyielding resolve that sent a chill +through Harry. It was possible that men who came on and who never +ceased coming would win in the end. The South—and he was sanguine that +such men as Lee and Jackson could not be beaten——might wear itself out +by the very winning of victories. The chill came again when he counted +the resources pitted against his side. He was a lad of education and +great intelligence, and he had no illusions now about the might of the +North and its willingness to fight. +</P> + +<P> +But youth, in spite of facts, can forget odds as well as loss. The +doubts that would come at times were always dispelled when he looked +upon the glorious Army of Northern Virginia. It was now nearly eighty +thousand strong, with an almost unbroken record of victory, trusting +absolutely in its leadership and supremely confident that it could whip +any other army on the planet. Its brilliant generals were gathered with +Jackson or with Lee and Longstreet. They were as confident as their +soldiers and no movement of the enemy escaped them. Stuart, with his +plume and sash, at which no man now dared to scoff, hung with his +horsemen like a fringe on the flank of Burnside's own army, cutting off +the Union scouts and skirmishers and hiding the plans of Lee. +</P> + +<P> +Messengers brought news that Burnside would certainly cross the +Rappahannock, covered by the Union artillery, which was always far +superior in weight and power to that of the South. Harry heard that the +passage of the river would not be opposed, because the Southern army +could occupy stronger positions farther back, but he did not know +whether the rumors were true. +</P> + +<P> +The word now came, and they went forward from Orange Court House toward +Fredericksburg to join Lee and Longstreet. When they marched toward the +Second Manassas they had suffered from an almost intolerable heat and +dust. Now they advanced through a winter that seemed to pour upon them +every variety of discomfort. Heavy snows fell, icy rains came and +fierce winds blew. The country was deserted, and the roads beneath the +rain and snow and the passage of great armies disappeared. Vast muddy +trenches marked where they had been, and the mud was deep and sticky, +covering everything as it was ground up, and coloring the whole army +the same hue. Somber and sullen skies brooded over them continually. +Not even Jackson's foot cavalry could make much progress through such a +sea of mud. +</P> + +<P> +"A battle would be a relief," said Harry, as he rode with the +Invincibles, having brought some order to Colonel Talbot. "There's +nothing like this to take the starch out of men. Isn't that so, Happy?" +</P> + +<P> +"It depresses ordinary persons like you, Harry," replied Langdon, +"but a soul like mine leaps up to meet the difficulties. Mud as an +obstacle is nothing to me. As I was riding along here I was merely +thinking about the different kinds we have. I note that this Virginia +mud is tremendously sticky, inclined to be red in color, and I should +say that on the whole it's not as handsome as our South Carolina mud, +especially when I see our product at its best. What kind of mud do you +have in Kentucky, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"All kinds, red, black, brown and every other shade." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's a lot of snow mixed with this, too. I think that at the +very bottom there is a layer of snow, and then the mud and the snow come +in alternate layers until within a foot of the top, after which it's all +mud. Harry, Old Jack doesn't believe it's right to fight on Sunday, +but do you believe it's right to fight in winter, when the armies have +to waste so much strength and effort in getting at one another?" +</P> + +<P> +He was interrupted by the mellow tones of a bugle, and a brilliant troop +of horsemen came trotting toward them through a field, where the mud was +not so deep. They recognized Stuart in his gorgeous panoply at their +head and behind him was Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +Stuart rode up to the Invincibles. Colonel Leonidas Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire gravely saluted the brilliant +apparition. +</P> + +<P> +"I am General Stuart," said Stuart, lifting the plumed hat, "and I +am glad to welcome the vanguard of General Jackson. May I ask, sir, +what regiment is this?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is the South Carolina regiment known as the Invincibles," said +Colonel Talbot proudly, as he lifted his cap in a return salute, +"although it does not now contain many South Carolinians. Alas! most of +the lads who marched so proudly away from Charleston have gone to their +last rest, and their places have been filled chiefly by Virginians. +But the Virginians are a brave and gallant people, sir, almost equal +in fire and dash to the South Carolinians." +</P> + +<P> +Stuart smiled. He knew that it was meant as a compliment of the first +class, and as such he took it. +</P> + +<P> +"I think, sir," he said, "that I am speaking to Colonel Leonidas Talbot?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are, sir, and the gentleman on my right is the second in command +of this regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, a most noble +gentleman and valiant and skillful officer. We have met you before, +sir. You saved us before Bull Run when we were beleaguered at a fort +in the Valley." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I remember!" exclaimed Stuart. "And a most gallant fight you were +making. And I recognize this young officer, too. He was the messenger +who met me in the fields. Your hand, Mr. Kenton." +</P> + +<P> +He stretched out his own hand in its long yellow buckskin glove, and +Harry, flushing with pride, shook it warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's good of you, General," he said, "to remember me." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad to remember you and all like you. Is General Jackson near?" +</P> + +<P> +"About a quarter of a mile farther back, sir. I'm a member of his staff, +and I'll ride with you to him." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks. Lead the way." +</P> + +<P> +Harry turned with Stuart and Sherburne and they soon reached General +Jackson, who was plodding slowly on Little Sorrel, his chin sunk upon +his breast as usual, the lines of thought deep in his face. General +Stuart bowed low before him and the plumed hat was lifted high. The +knight paid deep and willing deference to the Puritan. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson's face brightened. He wished plain apparel upon himself, +but he did not disapprove of the reverse upon General Stuart. +</P> + +<P> +"You are very welcome, General Stuart," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you, sir. I have come to report to you, sir, that General +Burnside's army is gathering in great force on the other side of the +Rappahannock, and that we are massed along the river and back of +Fredericksburg." +</P> + +<P> +"General Burnside will cross, will he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"So we think. He can lay a pontoon bridge, and he has a great artillery +to protect it. The river, as you know, sir, has a width of about two +hundred yards at Fredericksburg, and the Northern batteries can sweep +the farther shore." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry that we've elected to fight at Fredericksburg," said General +Jackson thoughtfully. "The Rappahannock will protect General Burnside's +army." +</P> + +<P> +Stuart gazed at him in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand you, sir," he said. "You say that the Rappahannock +will protect General Burnside when it seems to be our defense." +</P> + +<P> +"My meaning is perfectly clear. When we defeat General Burnside at +Fredericksburg he will retreat across the river over his bridge or +bridges and we shall not be able to get at him. We will win a great +victory, but we will not gather the fruits of it, because of our +inability to reach him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see," said Stuart, the light breaking on his face. "You consider +the victory already won, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Beyond a doubt." +</P> + +<P> +"Then if you think so, General Jackson, I think so, too," said Stuart, +as he saluted and rode away. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK +</H3> + +<P> +The division of Jackson reached Fredericksburg the next day and went +into camp, partly in the rear of the town, and a portion of it further +down the Rappahannock. Harry, as an aide, rode back and forth on many +errands while the troops were settling into place. Once more he saw +General Lee on his famous white horse, Traveler, conferring with Jackson +on Little Sorrel. And the stalwart and bearded Longstreet was there, +too. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry's heart bled when he rode into the ancient town of +Fredericksburg, a place homelike and picturesque in peaceful days, +but now lying between two mighty armies, directly within their line of +fire, and abandoned for a time by its people, all save a hardy few. +</P> + +<P> +The effect upon him was startling. He rode along the deserted streets +and looked at the closed windows, like the eyeless sockets of a blind +man. In the streets mud and slush and snow had gathered, with no +attempt of man to clean them away, but the wheels of the cannon had cut +ruts in them a foot deep. The great white colonial houses, with their +green shutters fastened tightly, stood lone and desolate amid their +deserted lawns. No smoke rose from the chimneys. The shops were +closed. There was no sound of a child's voice in the whole town. +It was the first time that Harry had ever ridden through a deserted city, +and it was truly a city of the dead to him. +</P> + +<P> +"It's almost as bad as a battlefield after the battle is over," he said +to Dalton, who was with him. +</P> + +<P> +"It gives you a haunted, weird feeling," said Dalton, looking at the +closed windows and smokeless chimneys. +</P> + +<P> +But the people of Fredericksburg had good cause to go. Two hundred +thousand men, hardened now to war, faced one another across the two +hundred yards of the Rappahannock. Four hundred Union cannon on the +other side of the river could easily smash their little city to pieces. +The people were scattered among their relatives in the farmhouses and +villages about Fredericksburg, eagerly awaiting the news that the +invincible Lee and Jackson had beaten back the hated invader. +</P> + +<P> +But the Southern army, save for a small force, did not occupy +Fredericksburg itself. +</P> + +<P> +Along the low ridge, a mile or so west of the town, Longstreet had been +posted and he had dug trenches and gunpits. The crest of this ridge, +called Marye's Hill, was bare, and here, in addition to the pits and +trenches, Longstreet threw up breastworks. Down the slopes were ravines +and much timber, making the whole position one of great strength. +Harry gazed at it as he carried one of his messages from general to +general, and he was enough of a soldier to know that an enemy who +attacked here was undertaking a mighty task. +</P> + +<P> +But Burnside did not move, and the somber blanket of winter thickened. +More snows fell and the icy rains came again. Then the mercury slid +down until it reached zero. Thick ice formed over everything and some +of the shallower brooks froze solidly in their beds. The Southern lads +were not nearly so well equipped against the winter as their foes. +Not many had heavy overcoats, and blankets and shoes were thin and worn. +</P> + +<P> +The forest was now their refuge. The river was lined thickly with it, +running for a long distance, and thousands of axes began to bite into +the timber. Hardy youths, skilled in such work, they rapidly built log +huts or shelters for themselves, and within these or outside under the +trees innumerable fires blazed along the Rappahannock, the crackling +flames sending a defiance to other such flames beyond the frozen river. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had a letter from Dr. Russell, which had come by the way of the +mountains and Richmond. He had already heard of the terrible day of +Perryville in Kentucky, and the doctor had been able to confirm his +earlier news that his father, Colonel Kenton, had passed through it +safely. But the hostile armies in the west had gone down into Tennessee, +and there were reports that they would soon move toward each other for +a great battle. It seemed that the rival forces in both east and west +would meet at nearly the same time in terrible conflict. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Russell told that Dick Mason had been wounded in the combat at +Perryville, but had been nursed back to health by his mother, who with +others had found him upon the field. He had since gone into Tennessee +to rejoin the Union army, and his mother had returned to Pendleton. +</P> + +<P> +Harry folded the letter, put it in his pocket, and for a while he was +very thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +It was a great relief to be sure that his father had gone safely through +Perryville, and that Dick Mason, although wounded there, was well again. +His heart yearned over both. His devotion to his father had always been +strong and Dick Mason had stood in the place of a brother. They were +alive for the present at least, but Harry knew of the sinister threat +that hung over the west. The terrible battle that was to be fought at +Stone River was already sending forth its preliminary signals, and for +a little while Harry thought more of those marching forces in Tennessee +than of the great army to which he belonged and of the one yet more +numerous that faced it. +</P> + +<P> +But these thoughts could not last long. The events in which he was to +have a part were too imminent and mighty for anyone to detach himself +from them more than a few minutes. He quickly returned, heart and soul, +to his duties, which in these days took all his time. Many messages +were passing between Lee and Jackson and Longstreet and the commanders +next to them in rank, and Harry carried his share. +</P> + +<P> +A few days after the letter from Dr. Russell the cold abated +considerably. The ice in the river broke, the melting snows made the +country a sea of mud and slush and horses often became mired so deeply +that it took a dozen soldiers to drag them out again. It was on such a +day as this that Dalton came to him, his grave face wearing a look of +importance. +</P> + +<P> +"General Jackson has just told me," he said, "to take you and join +General Stuart, who is going with his horse to the neighborhood of Port +Royal on the river." +</P> + +<P> +"What's up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing's up yet. But we understand that some of the Yankee gunboats +are trying to get up, now that they have a clear passage through the +ice." +</P> + +<P> +"Cavalry can't stop them." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but Stuart is taking horse artillery with him, and he's likely to +make it warm for the enemy in the water. Harry, if we only had a navy, +too, this war wouldn't be doubtful." +</P> + +<P> +"But, as we haven't got a navy, it is doubtful, very doubtful." +</P> + +<P> +They quickly joined General Stuart, who was eager for the duty, and +falling in line with the troop of Sherburne rode swiftly toward Port +Royal, the cavalrymen carrying with them several light guns. +</P> + +<P> +As they galloped along, mixed mud and snow flew in every direction, +but most of them had grown so used to it that they paid little +attention. The river flowed a deep and somber stream, and all the hills +about were yet white with snow. At that time, colored too, as it was +by his feelings, it was the most sinister landscape that Harry had ever +looked upon. Black winter and red war, neither of which spared, were +allied against man. +</P> + +<P> +But his pulses began to leap when they saw coils of black smoke blown +a little to one side by the wind. He knew that the smoke came from +gunboats. They must be endeavoring to land troops, and Stuart was no +man to allow a detached force to pass the Rappahannock and appear in +their rear. +</P> + +<P> +As the cavalry burst into a gallop from the snowy forest Harry saw that +he was right. A fleet of gunboats was gathered in the stream and on +the far shore they were embarking troops. But his quick eye caught a +horseman on their own side of the river who was galloping away. He was +already too distant for a rifle shot, but Harry instinctively knew that +it was Shepard. He had seen the man under such extraordinarily vivid +circumstances that the set of his figure was familiar. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was he surprised to behold Shepard now. He merely wondered that +he had not seen him earlier, so great was his activity and daring, and +he had no doubt that he had brought the gunboats and the Union troops +warning that Stuart was coming. He was sure of it the moment the +cavalry emerged from the woods, because one of the gunboats instantly +turned loose with two heavy guns which sent shells whistling and +screaming over their heads. Had they been a little better aimed they +would have done much destruction, and Harry saw at once that they were +going to have an ugly time with these saucy little demons of the water. +</P> + +<P> +Another boat fired. One of the cavalrymen was killed and several +wounded. Stuart promptly drew his men back to the edge of the wood, +unlimbered and posted his cannon. Quick as they were, the black wasps +on the river buzzed and stung as fast. Shells and solid shot were +whistling among them and about them. They were good gunners on those +boats and the men in gray acknowledged it by the rapidity with which +they took to shelter. +</P> + +<P> +But Stuart's blood was at its utmost heat. He had no intention of being +driven off, and soon his own light guns were sending shell and solid +shot toward the boats, which had relanded their troops on the other side, +and which were now puffing up and down the river like the angry little +demons they were, sending shells, solid shot, grape and canister into +the woods and along the slopes where the horsemen had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton were glad to dismount and to get behind both the +trees and the curve of the embankment. Harry, despite a pretty full +experience now, could not repress involuntary shivers as the deadly +steel flew by. He and Dalton had nothing to do but hold their horses +and watch the combat, which they did with the keenest interest. +</P> + +<P> +Stuart's cannon had unlimbered in a good place, where they were +protected partly by a ridge, and their deep booming note soon showed the +gunboats that they had an enemy worthy of their fire. Dalton and Harry +looked on with growing excitement. Dalton, for once, grew garrulous, +talking in an excited monotone. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that, Harry!" he cried. "See the water spurt right by the +bow of that boat! A shell broke there! And there goes another! That +struck, too! See the fallen men on the boat! Look at that little black +fellow coming right out in the middle of the stream! And it got home, +too, with that shot! By George, how the shell raked our ranks! Ah, but, +you saucy little creature, that shell paid you back! See, Harry, +its wheel is smashed, and it's floating away with the stream! Guns +on land have an advantage over guns on the water! As the negro said, +'When the boat blows up, whar are you? But if the explosion is on dry +land, dar you are!' Ah, another has caught it, and is going out of +action! Oh my, little boats, you're brave and saucy, but you can't +stand up to Stuart's guns." +</P> + +<P> +Dalton was right. The gunboats, sinkable and fully exposed, were +rapidly getting the worst of it. Stuart's guns, protected by the ridge, +were inflicting so much damage that they were compelled to drop down the +stream, two or three of them disabled and in tow of the others. +</P> + +<P> +A covering Union battery of much heavier guns opened fire from a hill +beyond the river, but it was unable either to protect the gunboats or +to demolish Stuart's horse artillery, which was sheltered well by the +ridge. The men in gray began to cheer. It soon became obvious that +they would win. Gradually all of the gunboats, having suffered much +loss, dropped down the stream and passed out of range. The heavy +battery was also withdrawn from the hill and the detached attempt to +cross the Rappahannock had failed. +</P> + +<P> +Stuart and his men rode back exultant, but Dalton said to Harry that he +thought it merely a forerunner. +</P> + +<P> +"A good omen, you mean?" said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Good, I hope, but I meant chiefly a sign of much greater things to +come. I'm thinking that Burnside will attack in a day or two now. +Lots of Northern newspapers find their way into our lines, and the whole +North is urging him on. They demand that a great victory be won in the +east right away." +</P> + +<P> +"I feel sorry for a general who is pushed on like that." +</P> + +<P> +"So do I, because he hasn't a ghost of a chance. He'll be able to cross +the river under cover of his great batteries, but look, Harry, look at +those frowning heights around Fredericksburg, covered with the finest +riflemen in the world, the ditches and trenches sown with artillery, +and the best two military brains on the globe there to direct. What +chance have they, Harry? What chance have they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very little that I can see, but a battle is never won or lost until +it's fought. We'd better report now to General Jackson." +</P> + +<P> +They saluted General Stuart, and rode away over the icy mud. General +Jackson received their report with pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"Excellent! Excellent!" he said. "General Stuart has routed them with +horse artillery! A capable man! A most wonderful man!" +</P> + +<P> +He said the last words to himself, rather than to Harry, and Stuart soon +proved that his horse artillery was not underrated by winning a second +encounter with the gunboats a day or two later. Early also beat back an +attempt to cross the river at a third place, and it became apparent now +that the Union army could make no flanking attack upon its enemy south +of the Rappahannock. It must be made, if at all, directly on its front +at Fredericksburg. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry had no doubt that it would be made. The reports of their +numerous scouts and spies told with detail of the immense preparations +going on in the Union camp. He could often watch them himself with his +glasses from the hills. He did not see much of St. Clair and Langdon +these days, as they remained closely with their regiment, the +Invincibles, but Dalton and he were much together. +</P> + +<P> +It was well into December when they were watching through the glasses +the concentration of Union cannon on Stafford Heights across the river. +One hundred and fifty great guns were in position there and they could +easily blow Fredericksburg to pieces. Harry looked down again at this +little city which had jumped suddenly into fame by getting itself +squarely between the two armies arrayed for battle. +</P> + +<P> +He felt the old sensation of pity as he gazed at the closed shutters and +the smokeless chimneys. Nobody was stirring in the streets, except some +Mississippi soldiers who had been placed there to oppose the passage, +and who were fortifying themselves in the houses and cellars along the +river front. +</P> + +<P> +"It's no good looking any more," Harry said to Dalton. "There's nothing +to do now but wait. That's what General Jackson is doing. I saw him +in his tent to-day, reading a book on theology that Dr. Graham has just +sent him." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, Harry. If the general can rest, so can we. Well, +not much of this day is left. See how the Yankee batteries are fading +away in the twilight." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Harry, fading now, but they'll come back again, massive metal and +as sinister as ever, in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Which won't keep me from sleeping soundly to-night. Funny how you get +used to anything. Neither the presence nor the absence of the Yankee +army will interfere with my sleep unless the general wants to send me on +an errand." +</P> + +<P> +"And we also grow used to sights so tremendous in their nature that they +turn the whole current of our history. Look at that winter sun setting +there over the western hills. It may be my fancy, Harry, but it seems +to have the colors of bronze and steel in it, a sort of menace, one +might call it." +</P> + +<P> +"I see the same colors, George, but I suppose it's fancy. The whole sky +is one of steel to me. I see the gleaming of steel everywhere, over the +hills, the river and the armies." +</P> + +<P> +"Our imaginations are too vivid, Harry. But look how that darkness +closes in on everything! Now the Yankee cannon and the Yankee army +are gone! The river itself is fading, and there goes the town! Now, +see the lights spring up on the far shore!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's supper and sleep for me," said Harry. "It doesn't do to let your +imagination run away with you. You know that Lee and Old Jack and Jim +Longstreet have arranged for everything." +</P> + +<P> +They ate their suppers, and, the general giving them leave, they lay +down in the tent next to his, wrapped in their blankets. Harry slept +soundly, but while the pitchy darkness of a winter night still enclosed +the land he was awakened by a heavy rumbling noise. His nerves had been +attuned so highly by exciting days that he was awake in an instant and +sprang to his feet, Dalton also springing up with equal promptness. +</P> + +<P> +They saw General Jackson standing in front of his tent and peering down +in the darkness toward the river. Other officers were already gathering +near him. Harry and Dalton stood at attention, where he could see them, +if he wished to send them on any errand. But Jackson was silent and +listening. +</P> + +<P> +The heavy rumbling reports—cannon shots—came again, but they were +fired on their side of the river. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said General Jackson, "the enemy has begun the passage. +Those are our guns giving the signal to the army." +</P> + +<P> +Harry's pulses began to throb. But, although fires flared up here and +there, little was to be seen in the darkness. Fortune seemed to have +shifted suddenly to the side of the Union. Not night alone protected +the bridge builders, but a thick, impenetrable fog, rising from the +river and the muddy earth, covered the stream and its shores. The +Southerners could not see just where the bridge head was and their +cannon must fire at random through the heavy darkness. Sixteen hundred +Mississippians were stationed in Fredericksburg below, well concealed +in cellars and rifle pits, but they could not see either, and for the +present their rifles were silent. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry's imagination immediately became intensely vivid again. +He fancied that he could hear through all the shifting gloom the sound +of axes and hammers and saws at work upon that bridge. These army +engineers could throw a bridge across a river in half a day. He +recognized at all times the great resources and the mechanical genius of +the North. The South had good bridge builders herself, but she had bent +all her powers to the development of public men and soldiers. Harry +felt more intensely all the time the one-sided character of her growth +and its defects. +</P> + +<P> +Dalton stood by Harry's side, and the darkness was so intense that he +seemed but a shadow. A little further away was Jackson. No fires had +been lighted in his camp, but nevertheless he was not a shadow. That +personality, quiet and modest, was so intense, so powerful that it +seemed to Harry to become luminous, to radiate light in the blackness +of the night. It was imagination, he knew, at work again, but it was +Jackson who had loosed its springs. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you see your watch, George?" he whispered to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and its says only twenty minutes past three in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"And our signal guns began about twenty minutes ago. They will have +nearly four hours in which to work before the sun rises and we can see +them well enough to take good aim." +</P> + +<P> +"And maybe longer than that, Harry. The whole night is permeated with +the heaviest inland fog I ever knew. Maybe it will take the sun a long +time to strike through it or drive it away. It's bad for us." +</P> + +<P> +"But we'll win anyhow. I tell you, we'll win anyhow! Do you hear me, +George?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Harry, I hear you. You're excited. So am I. There are mighty +few who wouldn't be at such a time; but look at the general! He stands +like a statue!" +</P> + +<P> +General Jackson did not move, save to lift his glasses now and then, +as if with their magnifying powers he could pierce the dark. But the +night and the swollen fog still hid everything going on beyond the river +from those on the heights. Down by the shore the Mississippians in +their rifle pits might see a little, and the scouts undoubtedly had seen +much, else the signal guns would not be firing. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's pulses, after a while, began to beat more smoothly and there was +not such a painful and insistent drumming in his head. Emotions yielded +now to will and he waited patiently. General Jackson for the first time +told some of his young officers that they could lie down and rest. +</P> + +<P> +"There can be no action before daylight," he said, "and it's best to be +fresh and ready." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke to them with the grave kindness that he always used, save when +some great fault was committed, and then his words burned like fire. +Harry and Dalton procured their blankets from their tents, wrapped them +about their bodies and lay down on the dryest spots they could find, +but they had no thought of sleep. They permitted their limbs to relax, +and that was a help to the nerves, but neither closed his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Those dark hours seemed an eternity to Harry. The floating fog seemed +to grow thicker and to enter his very bones. He shivered and drew the +blanket close. Now, with his ears close to the earth, he was sure that +he could hear the axes and the saws and the hammers beating on steel +rivets on the other side of the Rappahannock. +</P> + +<P> +The Confederate cannon still fired the signals of alarm at regular +intervals, but the night and the fog always closed in again quickly over +the flash that the discharge had made. After a while a murmur came from +the long Southern line along the heights and on the ridges. Horses +stirred here and there, cannon, moved to new positions, made sighing +sounds as their wheels sank in the mud; sabres and bayonets clanked, +thousands of men whispered to one another. All these varying sounds +united into one great soft voice which was like the murmur of a wind +through the summer night. +</P> + +<P> +Toward five o'clock in the morning, when the darkness had not diminished +a whit, a messenger from General Lee rode up with a note for General +Jackson. It merely stated that all was ready and to hold the positions +that he had taken up the night before. Jackson wrote a brief reply by +the light of a lantern that an orderly held, and the messenger galloped +away with it. It was the only incident that had occurred in a long time. +</P> + +<P> +"They're not using many lights on the other side of the river," said +Harry, although he noted an occasional flame in the darkness. "Of +course, they want to hide their bridge building, but you'd think they'd +have fires burning elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +"They've learned the value of caution," said Dalton. "I'm bound to say +they're going about the first part of their work with skill." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke with the calm superiority of a young Officer. +</P> + +<P> +Harry took out his own watch, and by holding it close to his eyes was +able to read its face. +</P> + +<P> +"A quarter to six," he said. "According to the watch it is less than +three hours since we first heard those alarm guns, but my five known +senses and all the unknown tell me that it has been at least a week." +</P> + +<P> +"In an hour we should see something," said Dalton. "Confound this fog. +If it weren't so thick we could see now." +</P> + +<P> +Harry's pulses began to beat hard again in the next hour. He strove +with glasses even for a glimpse of the winter sun which he knew would +come so late, but as yet the fog showed nothing save a faint luminous +tinge low down in the east. An orderly brought food to them, and while +they ate they saw the luminous tinge broaden and deepen. +</P> + +<P> +"The sun's rising behind that fog," said Dalton, "but here comes a +little wind that will drive away the fog or thin it out so we can see." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I feel it," said Harry, "and you can see the dull, somber red of +the sun trying to break through. Look, George, unless I'm mistaken the +fog's moving down the river!" +</P> + +<P> +"So it is, there's the flash of the stream, the color of steel, and by +all the stars, there's their bridge two-thirds of the way across!" +</P> + +<P> +Heavier puffs of wind came and the fog billowed off down the river. +The whole gigantic theater of action sprang at once into the light. +There were the two great armies clustered on opposing ridges, there was +the deserted town, there was the deep river, the color of lead, flowing +between the foes, two-thirds of its width already spanned by the Union +bridge, the bridge itself covered with workmen, and boats swarming by +its side. +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt a thrill and a shudder which were almost simultaneous. +Then came a deep muffled roar from the two armies on the ridges looking +at each other. But as the roar died it was succeeded by the rapid, +stinging fire of rifles. The Mississippians in their pits and cellars +near the bank of the river were sending a hail of bullets upon the +bridge builders. +</P> + +<P> +The rest of the Southern army stood by and watched. Harry knew that +Lee and Jackson would make their chief defense on the ridges, but the +Mississippians were there to keep the enemy from being too forward. +So deadly were their rifles that every workman fled off the bridge to +the Union shore, save those who were struck down upon it, falling into +the water. +</P> + +<P> +Then came a pause, a period of intense waiting, short, but seemingly +long, even to the veteran generals, after which the gallant builders, +who truly deserved the name of the bravest of the brave, ventured again +upon the bridge in the face of those terrible Mississippi rifles. +A blast of death again blew upon them. Bullets in hundreds struck upon +bodies or rattled on timbers. The workmen could not live in the face of +such a fire, and those who had not been slain retreated again to their +own side of the stream. A third time the heroic bridge builders +returned to their work, and a third time they were driven back by the +deadly Mississippi hail. Harry felt pity for them. +</P> + +<P> +"I never saw anything braver," he said to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Nor did I, Harry, nor anything more useless. The bridge builders never +had a chance before the rifles. But now their supports, which should +have been there all the time, are coming up." +</P> + +<P> +Heavy columns of Union riflemen moved forward to the edge of the river +and replied to the Mississippians. But the Southerners, in the shelter +of the cellars and pits, held their ground. But few of them were hit +and they kept up that deadly hail which swept the uncompleted bridge +clear of every workman who attempted to go upon it. +</P> + +<P> +The rapid fire of the rifles crashed up and down both sides of the river, +two sheets of flame seeming to reach out as if they would meet each +other. The wind that had driven away the fog also carried off the smoke, +and the river still gleamed like steel between. Then, as the rifle fire +died again, there was another silence for a while. +</P> + +<P> +"It will take more than rifles," said Harry, "to drive out those +intrenched Mississippians." +</P> + +<P> +"So it will, Harry," said Dalton, who was watching through glasses, +"and here it comes. Their great batteries are about to open." +</P> + +<P> +The next instant the whole earth seemed to be shaken by the roar of +heavy cannon. The opposing hills and ridges fairly poured forth flame, +and shells and solid shot crashed upon the whole devoted town. Nor did +this tremendous fire from a hundred and fifty great guns cease for an +instant. The roar and crash were appalling. Harry saw houses crumbling +in Fredericksburg, with flames leaping up from others. +</P> + +<P> +The artillery of Longstreet immediately facing the Union batteries was +too light and weak to reply, and the gunners remained quiet in their +trenches while the storm rained its showers of steel upon the town. +Yet the Mississippians in the rifle pits held fast, their earthen +shelters protecting them. While the bombardment was at its very height +workmen ran out on the bridge for the fourth time to complete it, +and while the shells and solid shot were whistling over their heads, +the rifles of the Mississippians once more swept it clean. Harry +groaned. He could not help it at the sight of men so brave who were cut +down like grass by the scythe. Then his attention turned away from the +bridge to the mighty cannonade which seemed to be growing in volume. +The wind took much of the smoke across the river and it floated in a +great cloud over Fredericksburg, through which shot the flames of the +burning buildings. +</P> + +<P> +But the main army of the South, stretched along a front of six miles, +remained silent. Jackson on the right scarcely moved, but all the while +he attentively watched through his glasses the great cannonade. Nearly +all the soldiers were lying down, and to most of them the earth seemed +to heave with the shock of all those blazing cannon. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton walked once to the point where the Invincibles lay. +That is, all but Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel +St. Hilaire were lying down. They stood rigidly erect, their eyes on +the great cannonade, and as Harry approached they were exchanging brief +comments with each other. +</P> + +<P> +"What harm does that cannonade do, Hector?" asked Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +"Much to the town, little to us." +</P> + +<P> +"What a pity we don't have an artillery equal to theirs." +</P> + +<P> +"A great pity, Leonidas." +</P> + +<P> +"They will presently move forward in much greater force to finish the +bridge." +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly, Leonidas. They have shown folly, wasting the lives of +such brave men in small efforts one after another. They will try +something else." +</P> + +<P> +"I see a great many boats against the bank on their side of the river. +I fancy they will use them in their next attempt, whatever it may be." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you. Good morning, Lieutenant Kenton. A mighty and +appalling sight." +</P> + +<P> +"Truly it is, sir," said Harry, saluting the two officers. +</P> + +<P> +"The Yankees will force the passage," said Colonel Talbot. "Our +artillery is not strong enough to reply to their covering cannonade. +We are glad to see you safe and whole, Harry. You'll find your friends +lying in that ravine just behind us." +</P> + +<P> +It was a rather deep ravine, and when Harry looked over its edge, +St. Clair and Langdon greeted him gladly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come down, Harry," said Langdon, "and be joyful. This gully is pretty +well dried out and you can rest. We've got a West Point fellow here and +he's humming one of his old songs to about the biggest chorus a song +ever had. Captain Swayne, Lieutenant Kenton, once of the Invincibles, +but now of General Jackson's personal staff. Swayne's from Tennessee, +Harry, and you two are well met. Swayne belongs to a regiment a few +yards beyond the gully. He was at the Seven Days and the Second +Manassas. We three thought we won those battles ourselves, but it seems +that Swayne was at both all the time, helping us. Take off your cap, +Harry, and thank the gentleman." +</P> + +<P> +Swayne, a slender, fair man, not over twenty-three, smiled and extended +a hearty hand, which Harry received with equal heartiness. The smile +turned into a slight twinkle. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been glad to meet your friends here, Mr. Kenton," he said, "but +the meeting has brought a disappointment with it." +</P> + +<P> +"How's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Until we began talking I thought I had won the Seven Days and the +Second Manassas all by myself. Now, it seems that I have to share the +honors with you fellows." +</P> + +<P> +"So you do," said Langdon, and then he sang: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "There comes a voice from Florida,<BR> + From Tampa's lonely shore,<BR> + It speaks of one we've lost,<BR> + O'Brien is no more.<BR> + In the land of sun and flowers,<BR> + His head lies pillowed low,<BR> + No more he'll drink the gin cocktail,<BR> + At Benjamin Haven's, Oh!<BR> + At Benny Haven's, Oh!<BR> + At Benny Haven's, Oh!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"Do I get it right, Swayne? Remember that I heard you sing it only +three times." +</P> + +<P> +"Fine! Fine!" said Swayne with enthusiasm. "You have it right, or as +near right as need be, and you're using it in a much better voice than I +can." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a great soldier, but my true place is on the operatic stage," +said Langdon modestly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's an old West Point song of ours, Kenton," said Swayne. "While I +was lying here listening to the continued roar of all those great guns, +I couldn't keep from humming it as a sort of undernote." +</P> + +<P> +"This gully has a queer effect," said St. Clair, who, lying on a blanket, +was dusting every minute particle of dried mud from his uniform. +"It seems to soften the sounds of all those guns—and they must be a +couple of hundred at least. It produces a kind of harmony." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the old god Vulcan and a thousand assistants of his hammering away +on their anvils," said Harry, "and they hammer out a regular tune." +</P> + +<P> +"Besides hammering out a tune," said St. Clair, "they're also hammering +out swords and bayonets to be used against us." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke he drew from his pocket a tiny round mirror, not more than +three inches in diameter, and carefully examined the collar of his coat. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you found a speck, Arthur?" asked Langdon. "If I hadn't seen you +risk your life fifteen or twenty thousand times I'd say you're a dandy." +</P> + +<P> +"I am a dandy," said St. Clair. "At least, I mean to be one, if I come +out of the war alive." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you intend to wear?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Depends upon what I can afford. If I have the money, it's going to be +the best, the very best any market can afford." +</P> + +<P> +"A dozen suits, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"At least as many, with hats, shoes, overcoats, cloaks, shirts and all +the et ceteras to match. Why shouldn't I wear fine clothes if I want +'em? Do you demand that instead I spend it on fiery whisky to pour down +me, as so many public men and leading citizens do? The clothes at least +don't burn me out and finally burn me to death." +</P> + +<P> +Langdon put up his hands in defense. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't jumped on you, Arthur," he said. "I admire you, though I +can't equal you. And as I'm not willing to be second even to you, +I'm going to our sea island, near the Carolina coast, when this war is +over, lie down under the shade of a live oak, have our big colored man, +Sam, to bring me luxurious food about once every three hours, and +between these three-hour periods I'll be fanned by Julius, another big +colored man of ours, and I won't make any exertion except to tell day by +day to admiring visitors how I whipped the Yankees every time I could +get near enough to see 'em, and how a lot more were scared to death just +because they heard me crashing through the brush." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll do the bragging part, all right, Happy," said St. Clair. +"I believe you could keep up the sort of existence you describe for +a year at least." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to try. Now, what under the stars is that?" +</P> + +<P> +Nothing had happened. Something had merely ceased to happen. The great +cannonade had stopped in an instant, as if by a preconcerted signal, +and their nerves, attuned so long to such a continuous roar, seemed to +collapse, because some support was withdrawn. Harry's face turned white +and his heart beat very fast, but in a few moments he recovered himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose they've given it up for the time being," he said, "but +they're sure to try it again in some other way." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a safe prediction," said St. Clair. "Burnside is trying to get +across the Rappahannock to attack us, because the whole North is driving +him on, and he hasn't got the moral courage to hold back until he can +choose his time and place. Funny how this silence oppresses one." +</P> + +<P> +The whole Southern army, along its six miles of length, was now standing +up and looking toward the point on the other shore of the Rappahannock +where the Union batteries were massed. All work seemed to have been +abandoned there, although the troops were still clustered along the +shore and about the bridge head. Clouds of smoke from the great +batteries floated down the river. +</P> + +<P> +"A Yankee failure so far, Harry," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot. "The +bridge has advanced no further, and I should say that our shore is now +enriched by about fifty thousand pounds of steel hurled from those +batteries and with little harm to us." +</P> + +<P> +"I've no doubt you're right, sir," said Harry, "and now that a period of +rest has come, I shall hurry back to General Jackson, who may need me to +carry some order." +</P> + +<P> +"A moment, please, Harry, my boy," said Colonel Talbot, twirling his +mustaches. "You are near to General Jackson, of course, being his +personal aide. If it should fall out conveniently, would you do myself +and my most excellent friend and second, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, +a small favor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, Colonel. Gladly. What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"If the enemy should cross the river, as he probably will, and if you +should be near enough to Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, +and if the moment should be propitious, would you kindly whisper in +his ear that the skeleton regiment, known as the Invincibles, Leonidas +Talbot, Colonel, and Hector St. Hilaire, Lieutenant-Colonel, would be +overjoyed at the honor of leading the attack upon the intrusive and +invading Yankee army?" +</P> + +<P> +"Promise, Harry, promise!" seconded Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire in his softest and most persuasive South Carolina accent. +"You really owe that to us." +</P> + +<P> +"I promise gladly," replied Harry; "but you know what General Jackson +is. He makes his plans without telling anybody what they are, and he +carries them out. If it is a part of his plan for the Invincibles to +lead the attack, so far as his division is concerned, you'll lead it. +If not, you won't." +</P> + +<P> +"But still a word in his ear might have some influence," persisted +Colonel Talbot. "It might come at the very moment when he was +hesitating over a choice, and it would probably decide him in our favor." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I shall do my best, sir," said Harry. "You can rely upon me" +</P> + +<P> +He returned to General Jackson, but found that his commander was yet +inactive. He was still waiting and watching with a patience that seemed +equal to that of the Sphinx. Noon came, food was served, and the hours +trailed their slow length on. +</P> + +<P> +Then they saw a great movement in the Union army. The Northern generals +were about to make their supreme effort. Hooker, who had shown such +desperate courage at Antietam and who had won the name of Fighting Joe, +called for men who would cross the river in boats under the fire of +the Mississippi rifles. It looked like certain death, but four entire +regiments came forward at once. They entered the boats, which promptly +pulled for the right bank, and the great batteries at once opened a +covering fire. +</P> + +<P> +The Mississippians once more sent forth their hail of bullets, but the +boats were so numerous that, although some were stopped, the majority +came on. Man after man, shot through, fell over the sides into the +deep river. Sometimes a boat itself sank, but the main force rapidly +approached the Southern side. +</P> + +<P> +"They have lost many men, but they will make the crossing at last, +Harry," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"So it seems," said Harry. "I suppose our generals could bring up +enough men to drive them back, but it looks as if they don't want to +do it." +</P> + +<P> +"It may be that they're holding the trap open for the victim to walk in." +</P> + +<P> +"However it may be, they're across. See, they're landing in thousands, +and the Mississippians, leaving their rifle pits, are retreating. +Now they can finish the bridge and as many more as they need at their +leisure." +</P> + +<P> +The retreating Mississippians rejoined their comrades, and still the +Southern army did not stir. The Northern army, almost unmolested, +continued its bridge building, and the afternoon and a dark night passed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FREDERICKSBURG +</H3> + +<P> +Before night the Union army had three bridges across the Rappahannock, +and before morning it had six. The regiment that had crossed held the +right bank of the river, that is, the side of the South, and the boats +moved freely back and forth in the stream. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the main army itself did not yet begin the crossing. Harry slept a +few hours before and after midnight, lying in the lee of a little ridge +and wrapped in a pair of heavy blankets, but as he wakened from time to +time he heard little from the river. There were no sounds to indicate +that great streams of armed men with their cannon were pouring over the +bridges. After the tremendous cannonade of the afternoon the night +seemed very quiet and peaceful. +</P> + +<P> +Fires were burning here and there, but they were not many. The +Confederate generals did not care to furnish beacons for the enemy. +When Harry stood up he could catch glimpses of the river, the color of +steel again, but the farther bank, where the great army of the foe yet +lay, was buried in darkness. He wondered why Burnside was not using +every hour of the night for crossing, but he remembered how the same +general had delayed so long at Antietam that Lee and Jackson were able +to save themselves. +</P> + +<P> +He became conscious that it was growing much colder again. The zero +weather of a few days since was returning. Every light puff of wind was +like the stab of an icicle. He was glad that he had a pair of blankets +and that they were heavy ones, too. But he did not ask anything more. +It was remarkable how fast the youth of both North and South became +inured to every form of privation. They lived almost like the primitive +man, and many thrived on it. +</P> + +<P> +When he last awoke, about four o'clock in the morning, he did not lie +down to sleep again; he walked to the edge of the slope and stared once +more toward the river and the Union camp. He found Dalton already there, +closely examining the river and the shores with his glasses. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you see, George?" Harry asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much; they've got all the bridges now they need, but they're not +using them. Why, Harry, the battle's won already. Lee and Jackson +don't merely fight. Plenty of generals are good fighters, but our +leaders measure and weigh the generals who are coming against them, +look right inside of them, and read their minds better than those +generals can read them themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you're right, George. And since Burnside is not crossing +to-night, he can't attack in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not. Lee and Jackson knew all the time that he'd waste a +day. They knew it by the way he delayed at Antietam, and they've been +reading his mind all the time he's been sitting here on the banks of the +Rappahannock. They knew just where he'd attack, just when, too, and +they'll have everything ready at the right point and at the right time." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course they will." +</P> + +<P> +They were but boys, and the great tactics and brilliant victories of Lee +and Jackson had overwhelmed the imaginations of both. In their minds +all things seemed possible to their leaders, and they had not the least +fear about the coming battle. +</P> + +<P> +They walked back toward their general's tent and saw him sitting on a +log outside. The night was not so dark as the one before. A fair moon +and clusters of modest stars furnished some light. The general was +gazing toward Stafford Heights, tapping his bootleg at times with a +little switch. But he turned his gaze upon the two boys as they came +forward and saluted respectfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, lads," he said in a voice of uncommon gentleness, "what have you +seen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, sir, but the river and the dark shore beyond," replied Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"But the enemy will cross to-morrow, and they say they will annihilate +us." +</P> + +<P> +"I think, sir, that they will recross the Rappahannock as fast as they +will cross it." +</P> + +<P> +Dalton spoke boldly, because he saw that Jackson was leading him on. +</P> + +<P> +"The right spirit," said Jackson quietly. "I see it throughout the army, +and so long as it prevails we cannot lose." +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned his glasses again toward the river and paid them no +further attention. Officers of greater age and much higher rank came +near, but he ignored them also. His whole soul seemed to be absorbed +in the searching examination that he was making of the river and the +opposite shore. Harry and Dalton watched him a little while and then +went back to the shelter of the ridge, where, sitting with their backs +against the earth, they, too, took up the task of watching. +</P> + +<P> +The earth was frozen hard now, but toward morning they saw the fog +rising again. +</P> + +<P> +"It will cover the river, the far shore, and what's left of the town," +said Dalton, "but what do we care? They'll be protected by it as they +advance on the bridges, but they wouldn't dare move through it to attack +us here on the heights." +</P> + +<P> +"Here's the dawn again," said Harry. "I can see the ghost of the sun +over there trying to break through, but as there's no wind now the fog's +going to hang heavy and long." +</P> + +<P> +Breakfast was served once more to the waiting army on the heights, +and then the youths in gray saw that the Union army, having let the +night pass, was beginning to cross the river. When the dawn finally +came many regiments were already over and the wheels of the heavy cannon +were thundering on the bridges. But the Confederate army lay quiet on +the heights, although before morning it had drawn itself in somewhat, +shortening the lines and making itself more compact. +</P> + +<P> +"Look how they pour over the bridges!" said Harry, who stood glass to +eye. "They come in thousands and thousands, regiments, brigades and +whole divisions. Why, George, it looks as if the whole North were +swarming down upon us!" +</P> + +<P> +"They're a hundred and twenty thousand strong. We know that positively, +and they're as brave as anybody. But we're eighty thousand strong, +just sitting here on the heights and waiting. Harry, they'll cross +that river again soon, and when they go back they'll be far less than a +hundred and twenty thousand!" +</P> + +<P> +He spoke with no sign of exultation. Instead it was the boding tone of +an old prophet, rather than the sanguine voice of youth. +</P> + +<P> +The fog deepened for a little while, and then some of the marching +columns were hidden. Out of the mists and gloom came the quick music +of many bands, playing the Northern brigades on to death. Then the fog +lifted again, and along the heights ran the blaze of the Southern cannon +as they sent shot and shell into the black masses of the Union troops +crowding by Fredericksburg. +</P> + +<P> +But as the echoes of the shots died away, Harry heard again the bands +playing, and from the great Northern army below came mighty rolling +cheers. +</P> + +<P> +"The battle is here now, Harry," said Dalton, "and this is the biggest +army we've ever faced." +</P> + +<P> +The Union brigades, black in the somber winter dawn, seemed endless to +Harry. From the point where he stood the advancing columns as they +crossed the river looked almost solid. He knew that men must be falling, +dead or wounded, beneath the fire of the Southern guns, but the living +closed up so fast that he could not see any break in the lines. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't see any sign of hesitation there," said Dalton. "The +Northern generals may doubt and linger, but the men don't when once they +get the word. What a tremendous and thrilling sight! It may be wicked +in me, Harry, but since there is a war and battles are being fought, +I'm glad I'm here to see it." +</P> + +<P> +"So am I," said Harry. "It's something to feel that you're at the heart +of the biggest things going on in the world. Now we've lost 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +His sudden exclamation was due to a shift of the wind, bringing back the +fog again and covering the river, the town and the advancing Union army. +The Confederate cannon then ceased firing, but Harry heard distinctly +the sounds made by scores of thousands of men marching, that measured +tread of countless feet, the beat of hoofs, the rumbling of cannon +wheels over roads now frozen hard, and the music of many bands still +playing. The thrill was all the keener when the great army became +invisible in the fog, although the mighty hum and murmur of varied +sounds proved that it was still marching there. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson was on the right of Lee's line. He would be, as usual, in the +thick of it. His fighting line ran through deep woods, and he was +protected, moreover, by the slope up which the Union troops would +have to come, if they got near enough. Fourteen guns, guarded by two +regiments, were on Prospect Hill at his extreme right, and on his left +the ravine called Deep Run divided him from the command of Longstreet, +which spread away toward Marye's Hill. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson's own line was a mile and a half long and he had thirty thousand +men, while Longstreet and the others had fifty thousand more. Lee +himself, directing the whole, rode along the lines on his white horse, +and whenever the men saw him cheers rolled up and down. But Lee had +little to say. All that needed to be said had been said already. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw the great commander riding along that morning as calmly as if +he were going to church. Lee, grave, imperturbable, was the last man +to show emotion, but Harry thought once that he caught a gleam from the +blue eye as he spoke a word or two with Jackson and went on. As he +passed near them, Harry, Dalton and all the other young officers took +off their hats, saluted and stood in silence. General Lee raised his +own hat in return, and rode back toward the division of Longstreet. +</P> + +<P> +Harry glanced toward General Jackson, who was also mounted. But he did +not move and the reins lay loose on the animal's neck. Once the horse +dropped his head and nuzzled under some leaves for a few blades of +sheltered grass that had escaped the winter. But the general took no +notice. He kept his glasses to his eyes and watched every movement of +the enemy, when the fog lifted enough for him to see. Presently he +beckoned to Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Ride over to General Stuart," he said, "and see if he has made any +change in his lines. It is important that our formation be preserved +intact and that no gaps be left." +</P> + +<P> +Then General Jackson himself rode to another elevation for a different +view, and the soldiers, from whom he had been hidden before by the fog, +gazed at him in amazement. The gorgeous uniform that Stuart had sent +him, worn only once before, and which they had thought discarded forever, +had been put on again. The old slouch hat was gone, and another, +magnificent with gold braid, looped and tasseled, was in its place. +Instead of the faithful pony, Little Sorrel, he rode a big charger. +</P> + +<P> +Usually cheers ran along the line whenever he appeared upon the eve of +battle, but for a little space there was silence as the men gazed at him, +many of them not even knowing him. Jackson flushed and looked down +apologetically at the rich cloth and gold braid he wore. His eyes +seemed to say, "Boys, I've merely put these on in honor of the victory +we're going to win. But I won't do it again." +</P> + +<P> +Then the cheers burst forth, spontaneous and ringing, proving a devotion +that few men have ever been able to command. Stern and unflinching as +Jackson invariably was in inflicting punishment, his soldiers always +regarded him as one of themselves, the best man among them, one fitted +by nature to lead democratic equals. After the cheers were over they +watched him as he looked through the glasses from his new position. +But he stayed there only a minute or two, going back then to his old +point of vantage. +</P> + +<P> +Harry meanwhile had reached Stuart, who, mounted upon a magnificent +horse and clad in a uniform that fairly glittered through the fog itself, +was waiting restlessly. But he had not changed any part of his line. +Everything remained exactly as Jackson had ordered. He now knew Harry +well and always called him by his first name. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you an order?" he exclaimed eagerly. "Does General Jackson want +us to advance?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has said nothing about an advance," replied Harry tactfully. +"He merely wanted me to ride down the line and report to him on the +spirit of the soldiers as far as I could judge. He knew that your men, +General, would be hard to hold." +</P> + +<P> +Stuart threw back his head, shook his long yellow hair and laughed in a +pleased way. +</P> + +<P> +"General Jackson was right about my men," he said. "It's hard to keep +them from galloping into the battle, and my feelings are with them. +Yet we'll have all the fighting we want. Look at the great masses of +the Union army!" +</P> + +<P> +The fog had lifted again and the Northern columns were still advancing, +marching boldly against the intrenched foe, although nearly every one of +their generals save Burnside himself knew that it was a hopeless task. +In all the mighty events of the war that Harry witnessed few were as +impressive to him as this solemn and steady march of the Union army, +heads erect and bands playing, into the jaws of death. +</P> + +<P> +He stayed only a few moments with Stuart, returning direct to Jackson. +On his way he passed Sherburne, who, with his troop, was on Stuart's +extreme left flank. Harry leaned over, shook hands with him, nothing +more, and rode on. With the lifting of the fog the Southern guns were +again sending shot and sell into the blue masses. Then, from the other +side of the river, the great Union batteries left on Stafford Heights +began to hurl showers of steel toward the hostile ridges a little more +than a mile and a half away. It was long range for those days, but the +Union gunners, always excellent, rained shot and shell upon the Southern +position. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, used now to such a fire, went calmly on until he rejoined Jackson, +who accepted with a nod his report that Stuart had not changed his lines +anywhere. The general signed to him and the rest of the staff as they +rode toward the center of the Southern line. Harry did not know their +errand, but he surmised that they were to meet General Lee for the final +conference. The general said no word, but rode steadily on. Union +skirmishers, under cover of the fog and bushes, had crept far in advance +of their columns, and, as the fog continued to thin away and the day to +brighten, they saw Jackson and his staff. +</P> + +<P> +Harry heard bullets whistling sinister little threats in his ear as they +passed, and he heard other bullets pattering on the trees or the earth. +They alarmed him more than the huge cannon thundering away from the +other side of the river. But the fog, although thin, was still enough +to make the aim of the skirmishers bad, and General Jackson and his +staff went on their way unhurt. +</P> + +<P> +They reached a little hill near the middle of the Southern bent bow. +It had no name then, but it is called Lee's Hill now, because at nine +o'clock that morning General Lee, mounted on his white horse, was upon +its crest awaiting his generals, to give them his last instructions. +Longstreet was already there, and, just as Jackson came, the fog thinned +away entirely and the sun began to blaze with a heat almost like that +of summer, rapidly thawing the hard earth. +</P> + +<P> +The young officers on the different staffs reined back, while their +chiefs drew together. Yet for a few moments no one said anything. +Harry always believed that the veteran generals were moved as he was by +the sight below. The great banks of white fog were rolling away down +the river before the light wind and the brilliant sun. +</P> + +<P> +Now Harry saw the Army of the Potomac in its full majesty. On the wide +plain that lay on the south bank of the Rappahannock nearly a hundred +thousand men were still advancing in regular order, with scores and +scores of cannon on their flanks or between the columns. The army which +looked somber black in the misty dawn now looked blue in the brilliant +sun. The stars and stripes, the most beautiful flag in the world, +waved in hundreds over their heads. The bands were still playing, +and the great batteries which they had left on Stafford Heights across +the river continued that incessant roaring fire over their heads at the +Southern army on its own heights. The smoke from the cannon, whitish in +color, drifted away down the river with the fog, and the whole spectacle +still remained in the brilliant sunlight. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's respect for the Union artillery, already high, increased yet +further. The field was now mostly open, where all could see, and the +gunners not only saw their targets, but were able to take good aim. +The storm of shot and shell from Stafford Heights was frightful. +It seemed to Harry—again his imagination was alive—that the very air +was darkened by the rush of steel. Despite their earthworks and other +shelter the Southern troops began to suffer from that dreadful sleet, +but the little conference on Lee's Hill went on. +</P> + +<P> +Longstreet, sitting his horse steadily, looked long at the dense masses +below. +</P> + +<P> +"General," he said to General Jackson, "doesn't that myriad of Yankees +frighten you?" +</P> + +<P> +"It won't be long before we see whether we shall frighten them," replied +Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +General Lee said a few words, and then Jackson and Longstreet returned +to their respective divisions, Jackson, as Harry noted, showing not the +least excitement, although the resolute Union general, Franklin, with +nearly sixty thousand men and one hundred and twenty guns, was marching +directly against his own position. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry felt excitement, and much of it. In front of Jackson in a +great line of battle, a mile and a half long, they were moving forward, +still in perfect array. But there was something wanting in that huge +army. It was the lack of a great animating spirit. There was no +flaming flag, like the soul of Jackson, to wave in the front of a fiery +rush that could not be stopped. +</P> + +<P> +The blue mass hesitated and stopped. Out of it came three Pennsylvania +brigades led by Meade, who was to be the Meade of Gettysburg, and less +than five thousand strong they advanced against Jackson. Harry was +amazed. Could it be possible that they did not know that Jackson with +his full force was there? +</P> + +<P> +The Pennsylvanians charged gallantly. The young General Pelham, who had +been sent forward with two pieces of artillery, opened on them fiercely, +but the heavy batteries covering the advance of the Pennsylvanians drove +Pelham out of action, although he held the whole force at bay for half +an hour. In his retreat he lost one of his own guns, and then Franklin +brought up more batteries to protect the further advance of Meade and +the Pennsylvanians. The batteries across the river helped them also, +never ceasing to send a rain of steel over their troops upon the +Southern army. +</P> + +<P> +But Jackson's men still lay close in the woods and behind their +breastworks. Nearly all that rain of steel flew over their heads. +A shower of twigs and boughs fell on them, but so long as they stayed +close the great artillery fire created terror rather than damage. +The men were panting with eagerness, but not one was allowed to pull +trigger, nor was a cannon fired. +</P> + +<P> +"Burnside must think there's but a small force here," said Dalton, +"or he wouldn't send so few men against us. Harry, when I look down at +those brigades of Yankees I think of the old Roman salute—it was that +of the gladiators, wasn't it?—'Morituri salutamus.'" +</P> + +<P> +"They're doomed," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson, like the others, had dismounted, and he walked forward with +a single aide to observe more closely the Union advance. A Northern +sharpshooter suddenly rose out of high weeds, not far in front, and +fired directly at them. The bullet whistled between Jackson and his +aide. Jackson turned to the young man and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you go to the rear. You might get shot." +</P> + +<P> +The young man, of course, did not go, and Harry, who was not far behind +them in an earthwork, watched them with painful anxiety. He had seen +the sudden uprising of the Northern skirmisher in the weeds and the +flame from the muzzle. The man might not have known that it was Jackson, +but he must have surmised from the gorgeous uniform that it was a +general of importance. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, with the trained eye of a country boy, saw a rippling movement +running among the weeds. The sharpshooter would reload and fire upon +his general from another point. The second bullet might not miss. +</P> + +<P> +But the second shot did not come. The marksman, doubtless thinking that +another shot was too dangerous a hazard, had retreated into the plain. +General Jackson walked on calmly, inspecting the whole Northern advance, +and then returning took up his station on Prospect Hill, where he waited +with the singular calmness that was always his, for the fit time to open +fire. +</P> + +<P> +The leader of the Army of the Potomac was watching from the other side +of the Rappahannock with a terrible eagerness. The man who had not +wished the command of the splendid Union army, who had deemed himself +unequal to the task, was now proving the correctness of his own +intuitions. He had taken up his headquarters in a fine colonial +residence on one of the highest points of the bank. He was surrounded +there by numerous artillery, and the officers of his staff crowded the +porches, many of them already sad of heart, although they would not +let their faces show it. +</P> + +<P> +But Burnside, now that his men had forced the river in such daring +fashion, began to glow with hope. Such magnificent troops as he had, +having crossed the deep, tidal Rappahannock in the face of an able and +daring foe, were bound to win. He swept every point of the field with +his glasses, and from his elevated position he and his officers could +see what the troops in the plain below could not see, the long lines of +the Confederates waiting in the trenches or in the woods, their cannon +posted at frequent intervals. +</P> + +<P> +But Burnside hoped. Who would not have hoped with such troops as his? +Never did an army, and with full knowledge of it, too, advance more +boldly to a superhuman task. He saw the gallant advance of the +Pennsylvanians and he saw them drive off Pelham. Hope swelled into +confidence. With an anxiety beyond describing he watched the further +advance of Meade and his Pennsylvanians. +</P> + +<P> +Stonewall Jackson also was watching from his convenient hill, and his +small staff, mostly of very young men, clustered close behind him. +Jackson no longer used his glasses, as Burnside was doing. Meade and +his Pennsylvanians were coming close to him now. The great Union +batteries on Stafford Heights must soon cease firing or their shells +and shot would be crashing into the blue ranks. +</P> + +<P> +"It cannot be much longer," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not much longer," said Dalton. "We'll unmask mighty soon. How far +away would you say they are now, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"About a thousand yards." +</P> + +<P> +"Over a half mile. Then I'll say that when they come within a half mile +Old Jack will give the word to the artillery to loosen up." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and George, in their intense absorption, had forgotten about the +other parts of the line. In their minds, for the present at least, +Jackson was fighting the battle alone. Longstreet was forgotten, +and even Lee, for a space, remained unremembered. They were staring at +the brigades which were coming on so gallantly, when the jaws of death +were already opened so wide to receive them. +</P> + +<P> +"They're at the half mile," said Dalton, who had a wonderful eye for +distance, "and still Old Jack does not give the word." +</P> + +<P> +"The closer the better," said Harry. Glancing up and down the lines he +saw the men bending over their guns and the riflemen in line after line +rising slowly to their feet and looking to their arms. In spite of +himself, in spite of all the hard usage of war through which he had been, +Harry shuddered. He did not hate any of those men out there who were +coming toward them so boldly; no, there was not in all those brigades, +nor in all the Union army, nor in all the North a single person whom he +wished to hurt. Yet he knew that he would soon fight against them with +all the weapons and all the power he could gather. +</P> + +<P> +"Eight hundred yards," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Fire!" was the word that ran like an electric blaze along the +whole Southern front; and Jackson's fifty cannon, suddenly pushing +forward from the forest, poured a storm of steel upon the devoted +Pennsylvanians. Harry felt the earth rocking beneath him, and his ears +were stunned by the roaring and crashing of the cannon all about him. +</P> + +<P> +The Union officers on the porches of the colonial mansion across the +river saw that terrible blaze leap from the Confederate line, and their +hearts sank within them like lead. Alarmed as they had been before, +they were in consternation now. Some had said that Jackson was not +there, that it was merely a detachment guarding the woods, but now they +knew their mistake. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton stayed close to their general. Shells and shot from +the batteries below on the plain were crashing along the trees, but, +like those from the great guns on Stafford Heights, they passed mostly +over their heads. The two youths at that moment had little to do but +watch the battle. The Southern riflemen crept forward in the woods, +and now their bullets in sheets were crashing into the hostile ranks. +The Union division commander hurried up reinforcements, and the +Pennsylvanians, despite their frightful losses and shattered ranks, +still held fast. But the Southern batteries never ceased for a moment +to pour upon them a storm of death. With red battle before him and the +fever in his blood running high, Harry now forgot all about wounds and +death. He had eye and thought only for the tremendous panorama passing +before him, where everything was clear and visible, as if it were an +act in some old Roman circus, magnified manifold. +</P> + +<P> +Then came a message from Jackson to hurry to the left with an order for +a brigadier who lay next to Longstreet. As he ran through the trees, +he heard now the roar of the battle in the center, where the stalwart +Longstreet was holding Marye's Hill and the adjacent heights. A mighty +Union division was attacking there, and out of the south from the embers +of Fredericksburg came another great division in column after column. +</P> + +<P> +Harry heard the fire of Jackson slackening behind him, and he knew it +was because Meade had been stopped or was retreating, and he stayed a +little with the brigadier to see how Longstreet received the enemy. +The hill and all the ridges about it seemed to be in one red blaze, +and every few minutes the triumphant rebel yell, something like the +Indian war-whoop, but poured from thirty thousand throats, swelled above +the roar of the cannon and the crash of the rifles and made Harry's +pulses beat so hard that he felt absolute physical pain. +</P> + +<P> +He hurried to Jackson, where the battle, which had died for a little +space, was swelling again. As the Pennsylvanians were compelled to draw +back, leaving the ground covered with their dead, the Union batteries +on Stafford Heights reopened, firing again over the heads of the men in +blue. The Southern batteries, weaker and less numerous, replied with +all their energy. A far-flung shot from their greatest gun, at the +extreme southern end of the line, killed the brave Union general, Bayard, +as he was sitting under a tree watching his troops. +</P> + +<P> +Gregg, one of the best of the Southern generals, was mortally wounded. +A great body of the Pennsylvanians, charging again, reached the shelter +of the woods and burst through the Southern line. At another point, +Hancock, always cool and brilliant on the field of battle, rallied +shattered brigades and led them forward in person to new attacks. +Hooker, who had shown such courage at Antietam, equally brave on this +occasion, rushed forward with his men at another point. Franklin, +Sumner, Doubleday and many other of the best Union generals showed +themselves reckless of death, cheering on their men, galloping up and +down the lines when they were mounted, and waving their swords aloft +after their horses were killed, but always leading. +</P> + +<P> +The Pennsylvanians who had cut into the Southern line were attacked in +flank, but they held on to their positions. Jackson did not yet know +of Meade's success. He still stood on Prospect Hill with his staff, +which Harry had rejoined. The forest and vast clouds of smoke hid from +his view the battle, save in his front. Harry saw a messenger coming at +a gallop toward the summit of the hill, and he knew by his pale face and +bloodshot eyes that he brought bad news. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson turned toward the messenger, expectant but calm. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The enemy have broken through General Archer's division, and he +directed me to say to you that unless help is sent, both his position +and that of General Gregg will be lost." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson showed no excitement. His calm and composure in the face of +disaster always inspired his men with fresh courage. +</P> + +<P> +"Ride back to General Archer," he said, "and tell him that the division +of Early and the Stonewall Brigade are coming at once." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his horse as if he would go with the relief, but in a moment +he checked himself, put his field glasses back to his eyes, and +continued to watch heavy masses of the enemy who were coming up in +another quarter. +</P> + +<P> +Harry did not see what happened when Early and Taliaferro, who now led +the Stonewall Brigade, fell upon the Pennsylvanians, but the Invincibles +were in the charge and St. Clair told him about it afterward. The Union +men had penetrated so far that they were entangled in the forest and +thickets, and nobody had come up to support them. They were much +scattered, and as their officers were seeking to gather them together +the men in gray fell upon them in overpowering force and drove them back +in broken fragments. Wild with triumph, the Southern riflemen rushed +after them and also hurled back other riflemen that were coming up to +their support. But on the plain they encountered the matchless Northern +artillery. A battery of sixteen heavy guns met their advancing line +with a storm of canister, before which they were compelled to retreat, +leaving many dead and wounded behind. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the entire Union attack on Jackson had been driven back, the +Northern troops suffering terrible losses. The watchers on the Phillips +porch on the other side of the river saw the repulse, and again their +hearts sank like lead. +</P> + +<P> +The watchers turned their field glasses anew to the Southern center and +left, where the battle raged with undiminished ferocity. Marye's Hill +was a formidable position and along its slope ran a heavy stone wall. +Behind it the Southern sharpshooters were packed in thousands, and every +battery was well placed. +</P> + +<P> +Hancock, following Burnside's orders, led the attack upon the +ensanguined slopes. Forty thousand men, almost the flower of the Union +army, charged again and again up those awful slopes, and again and again +they were hurled back. The top of the hill was a leaping mass of flame +and the stone wall was always crested with living fire. No troops ever +showed greater courage as they returned after every repulse to the +hopeless charge. +</P> + +<P> +At last they could go forward no longer. They had not made the +slightest impression upon Marye's Hill and the slopes were strewn with +many thousands of their dead and wounded, including officers of all +ranks, from generals down. The Union army was now divided into two +portions, each in the face of an insuperable task. +</P> + +<P> +But Burnside, burning with chagrin, was unwilling to draw off his army. +The reserve troops, left on the other side of the river, were sent +across, and Fighting Joe Hooker was ordered to lead them to a new +attack. Hooker, talking with Hancock, saw that it merely meant another +slaughter, and sent such word to his commander-in-chief. But Burnside +would not be moved from his purpose. The attack must be made, and +Hooker—whose courage no one could question—still trying to prevent it, +crossed the river himself, went to Burnside and remonstrated. +</P> + +<P> +Men who were present have told vivid stories of that scene at the +Phillips House. Hooker, his face covered with dust and sweat, galloping +up, leaping from his horse, and rushing to Burnside; the +commander-in-chief striding up and down, looking toward Marye's Hill, +enveloped in smoke, and repeating to himself, as if he were scarcely +conscious of what he was saying: "That height must be taken! That +height must be taken! We must take it!" +</P> + +<P> +He turned to Hooker with the same words, "That height must be taken +to-day," repeating it over and over again, changing the words perhaps, +but not the sense. The gallant but unfortunate man had not wanted to be +commander-in-chief, foreseeing his own inadequacy, and now in his agony +at seeing so many of his men fall in vain he was scarcely responsible. +</P> + +<P> +Hooker, his heart full of despair, but resolved to obey, galloped +back and prepared for the last desperate charge up Marye's Hill. The +advancing mists in the east were showing that the short winter day would +soon draw to a close. He planted his batteries and opened a heavy fire, +intending to batter down the stone wall. But the wall, supported by an +earthwork, did not give, and Longstreet's riflemen lay behind it waiting. +</P> + +<P> +At a signal the Union cannon ceased firing and the bugles blew the +charge. The Union brigades swarmed forward and then rushed up the +slopes. The volume of fire poured upon them was unequalled until +Pickett led the matchless charge at Gettysburg. Pickett himself was +here among the defenders, having just been sent to help the men on +Marye's Hill. +</P> + +<P> +Up went the men through the winter twilight, lighted now by the blaze +of so many cannon and rifles pouring down upon them a storm of lead and +steel, through which no human beings could pass. They came near to the +stone wall, but as their lines were now melting away like snow before +the sun, they were compelled to yield and retreat again down the slopes, +which were strewed already with the bodies of so many of those who had +gone up in the other attacks. +</P> + +<P> +Every charge had broken in vain on the fronts of Jackson and Longstreet, +and the Union losses were appalling. Harry knew that the battle was won +and that it had been won more easily than any of the other great battles +that he had seen. He wondered what Jackson would do. Would he follow +up the grand division of Franklin that he had defeated and which still +lay in front of them? +</P> + +<P> +But he ceased to ask the question, because when the last charge, +shattered to pieces, rolled back down Marye's Hill, the magnificent +Northern artillery seemed to Harry to go mad. The thirty guns of the +heaviest weight that had been left on Stafford Heights, and which had +ceased firing only when the Northern men charged, now reopened in a +perfect excess of fury. Harry believed that they must be throwing +tons of metal every minute. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was Franklin slack. Hovering with his great division in the plain +below and knowing that he was beaten, he nevertheless turned one hundred +and sixteen cannon that he carried with him upon Jackson's front and +swept all the woods and ridges everywhere. The Union army was beaten +because it had undertaken the impossible, but despite its immense losses +it was still superior in numbers to Lee's force, and above all it had +that matchless artillery which in defeat could protect the Union army, +and which in victory helped it to win. +</P> + +<P> +Now all these mighty cannon were turned loose in one huge effort. +Along the vast battle front and from both sides of the river they roared +and crashed defiance. And the Army of the Potomac, which had wasted +so much valor, crept back under the shelter of that thundering line +of fire. It had much to regret, but nothing of which to be ashamed. +Sent against positions impregnable when held by such men as Lee, Jackson +and Longstreet, it had never ceased to attack so long as the faintest +chance remained. Its commander had been unequal to the task, but the +long roll of generals under him had shown unsurpassed courage and daring. +</P> + +<P> +Harry thought once that General Jackson was going to attack in turn, +but after a long look at the roaring plain he shrugged his shoulders and +gave no orders. The beaten Army of the Potomac preserved its order, +it had lost no guns, the brigadiers and the major-generals were full of +courage, and it was too formidable to be attacked. Three hundred cannon +of the first class on either side of the river were roaring and crashing, +and the moment the Southern troops emerged for the charge all would be +sure to pour upon them a fire that no troops could withstand. +</P> + +<P> +General Lee presently appeared riding along the line. The cheers which +always rose where he came rolled far, and he was compelled to lift his +hat more than once. He conferred with Jackson, and the two, going +toward the left, met Longstreet, with whom they also talked. Then they +separated and Jackson returned to his own position. Harry, who had +followed his general at the proper distance, never heard what they said, +but he believed that they had discussed the possibility of a night +attack and then had decided in the negative. +</P> + +<P> +When Jackson returned to his own force the twilight was thickening into +night, and as darkness sank down over the field the appalling fire of +the Union artillery ceased. Thirteen thousand dead or wounded Union +soldiers had fallen, and the Southern loss was much less than half. +</P> + +<P> +All of Harry's comrades and friends had escaped this battle uninjured, +yet many of them believed that another battle would be fought on the +morrow. Harry, however, was not one of these. He remembered some words +that had been spoken by Jackson in his presence: +</P> + +<P> +"We can defeat the enemy here at Fredericksburg, but we cannot destroy +him, because he will escape over his bridges, while we are unable to +follow." +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless the young men and boys were exultant. They did not look so +far ahead as Jackson, and they had never before won so great a victory +with so little loss. Harry, sent on a message beyond Deep Run, found +the Invincibles cooking their suppers on a spot that they had held +throughout the day. They had several cheerful fires burning and they +saluted Harry gladly. +</P> + +<P> +"A great victory, Harry," said Happy Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a great victory," interrupted Colonel Leonidas Talbot; "but, +my friends, what else could you have expected? They walked straight +into our trap. But I have learned this day to have a deep respect for +the valor of the Yankees. The way they charged up Marye's Hill in +the face of certain death was worthy of the finest troops that South +Carolina herself ever produced." +</P> + +<P> +"That is saying a great deal, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire, "but it is true." +</P> + +<P> +Harry talked a little with the two colonels, and also with Langdon and +St. Clair. Then he returned to his own headquarters. Both armies, +making ready for battle to-morrow, if it should come, slept on their +arms, while the dead and the wounded yet lay thick in the forest and +on the slopes and plain. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry was not among those who slept, at least not until after +midnight. He and Dalton sat at the door of Jackson's tent, awaiting +possible orders. Jackson knew that Burnside, with a hundred thousand +men yet in line and no artillery lost, was planning another attack on +the morrow, despite his frightful losses of the day. +</P> + +<P> +The news of it had been sent to him by Lee, and Lee in turn had learned +it from a captured orderly bearing Burnside's dispatches. But neither +Harry nor Dalton knew anything of Burnside's plans. They were merely +waiting for any errand upon which Jackson should choose to send them. +Several other staff officers were present, and as Jackson wrote his +orders, he gave them in turn to be taken to those for whom they were +intended. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, after three such trips of his own, sat down again near the door +of the tent and watched his great leader. Jackson sat at a little table, +on a cane-bottomed chair, and he wrote by the light of a single candle. +His clothing was all awry and he had tossed away the gold-braided cap. +His face was worn and drawn, but his eyes showed no signs of weariness. +The body might have been weak, but the spirit of Jackson was never +stronger. +</P> + +<P> +Harry knew that Jackson after victory wasted no time exulting, but was +always preparing for the next battle. The soldiers, both in his own +division and elsewhere, were awakened by turns, and willing thousands +strengthened the Southern position. More and deeper trenches were +constructed. New abatis were built and the stone wall was strengthened +yet further. Formidable as the Southern line had been to-day, Burnside +would find it more so on the morrow. +</P> + +<P> +After midnight, Jackson, still in his gorgeous uniform and with boots +and spurs on, too, lay down on his bed and slept about three hours. +Then he aroused himself, lighted his candle and wrote an hour longer. +Then he went to the bedside of the dying Gregg and sat a while with him, +the staff remaining at a respectful distance. +</P> + +<P> +When they rode back—they were mounted again—they passed along the +battle front, and the sadness which was so apparent on Jackson's face +affected them. It was far toward morning now and the enemy was lighting +his fires on the plain below. The dead lay where they had fallen, +and no help had yet been given to those wounded too seriously to move. +It had been a tremendous holocaust, and with no result. Harry knew now +that the North would never cease to fight disunion. The South could win +separation only at the price of practical annihilation for both. +</P> + +<P> +The night was very raw and chill, and not less so now that morning +was approaching. The mists and fogs, which as usual rose from the +Rappahannock, made Harry shiver at their touch. In the hollows of the +ridges, which the wintry sun seldom reached, great masses of ice were +packed, and the plain below, cut up the day before by wheels and hoofs +and footsteps, was now like a frozen field of ploughed land. +</P> + +<P> +The staff heard enough through the fogs and mists to know that the Army +of the Potomac was awake and stirring. The Southern army also arose, +lighted its fires, cooked and ate its food and waited for the enemy. +Before it was yet light Harry, on a message to Stuart, rode to the top +of Prospect Hill with him, and, as they sat there on their horses, +the sun cleared away the fog and mist, and they saw the Army of the +Potomac drawn up in line of battle, defiant and challenging, ready to +attack or to be attacked. +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt a thrill of admiration that he did not wish to check. +After all, the Yankees were their own people, bone of their bone, +and their courage must be admired. The Army of the Potomac, too, +was learning to fight without able chiefs. The young colonels and +majors and captains could lead them, and there they were, after their +most terrible defeat, grim and ready. +</P> + +<P> +"The lion's wounded, but he isn't dead, by any means," said Harry to +Stuart. +</P> + +<P> +"Not by a great deal," said Stuart. +</P> + +<P> +There was much hot firing by skirmishers that day and artillery duels +at long range, but the Northern army, which had fortified on the plain, +would not come out of its intrenchments, and the Southern soldiers also +stuck to theirs. Burnside, who had crossed the river to join his men, +had been persuaded at last that a second attack was bound to end like +the first. +</P> + +<P> +The next day Burnside sent in a flag of truce, and they buried the dead. +The following night Harry, wrapped to the eyes in his great cloak, +stood upon Prospect Hill and watched one of the fiercest storms that he +had ever seen rage up and down the valley of the Rappahannock. Many of +the Southern pickets were driven to shelter. While the whole Southern +army sought protection from the deluge, the Army of the Potomac, still a +hundred thousand strong, and carrying all its guns, marched in perfect +order over the six bridges it had built, breaking the bridges down +behind it, and camping in safety on the other side. The river was +rising fast under the tremendous rain, and the Southern army could find +no fords, even though it marched far up the stream. +</P> + +<P> +Fredericksburg was won, but the two armies, resolute and defiant, +gathered themselves anew for other battles as great or greater. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CHRISTMAS DINNER +</H3> + +<P> +After the great battle at Fredericksburg both armies seemed to suffer +somewhat from reaction. Besides, the winter deepened. There was more +snow, more icy rain, and more hovering of the temperature near the zero +mark. The vast sea of mud increased, and the swollen Rappahannock, +deep at any time, flowed between the two armies. Pickets often faced +one another across the stream, sometimes firing, but oftener exchanging +the news, when the river was not too wide for the shouted voice to reach. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, despite his belief that the North would hold out, heard now that +the hostile section had sunk into deep depression. The troops had not +been paid for six months. Desertion into the interior went on on a +great scale. One commander-in-chief after another had failed. After +Antietam it had seemed that success could be won, but the South had come +back stronger than ever and had won Fredericksburg, inflicting appalling +loss upon the North. Yet he heard that Lincoln never flinched. The +tall, gaunt, ugly man, telling his homely jokes, had more courage than +anybody who had yet led the Union cause. +</P> + +<P> +Harry often went down to Fredericksburg, where some houses still stood +among the icy ruins. A few families had returned, but as the town was +still practically under the guns of the Northern army, it was left +chiefly to the troops. +</P> + +<P> +The Invincibles were stationed here, and Harry and Dalton got leave to +spend Christmas day with its officers. Nothing could bring more fully +home to him the appalling waste and ruin of war than the sight of +Fredericksburg. Mud, ice and snow were deeper than ever in the streets. +Many of the houses had been demolished by cannon balls and fire, and +only fragments of them lay about the ground. Others had been wrecked +but partially, with holes in the roofs and the windows shot out. +The white pillars in front of colonnaded mansions had been shattered and +the fallen columns lay in the icy slough. Long icicles hung from the +burned portions of upper floors that still stood. +</P> + +<P> +Used to war's ruin as he had become, Harry's eyes filled with tears at +the sight. It seemed a city dead, but not yet buried. But on Christmas +day his friends and he resolutely dismissed gloom, and, first making a +brave pretence, finally succeeded in having real cheerfulness in a fine +old brick house which had been pretty well shot up, but which had some +sound rooms remaining. Its owner had sent word that, while he could not +yet come back to it with his family, he would be glad if the Southern +army would make use of it in his absence. +</P> + +<P> +It was in this house that the little colony of friends gathered, +everyone bringing to the dinner what he could. Colonel Leonidas Talbot +and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire occupied the great sitting +room on the ground floor, and here the dinner would be spread, as a part +of the dining-room had been shot away and was still wet from snow and +rain. +</P> + +<P> +But the sitting room gladdened the eye. A heavy imported carpet covered +the central portion of the polished oaken floor. Old family portraits +lined its walls and those of the parlor adjoining it. Curtains hung +at the windows. They were more or less discolored by smoke and other +agencies, but they were curtains. All about the chamber were signs of +wealth and cultivation, and a great fire of wood was burning in a huge +chimney under a beautifully carved oaken mantelpiece. +</P> + +<P> +The room seemed to remain almost as it had been left by the owner, +save that two one-hundred-pound cannon balls, fired by the Union guns +into Fredericksburg, were lying by either side of the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Tickets, sir," said Langdon, as Harry appeared at the door. +</P> + +<P> +Harry drew from under his cloak two boxes of sardines which he had taken +from a deserted sutler's wagon on the field of Fredericksburg. He +handed them to Langdon, who said: +</P> + +<P> +"Pass in, most welcome guest." +</P> + +<P> +Harry was the first arrival, but Dalton was next. +</P> + +<P> +"Tickets double price to all Virginia Presbyterians," said Langdon. +</P> + +<P> +"Instead of a double ticket here are two singles," said Dalton, as he +drew from under his cloak two fine dressed chickens. "Don't these take +me in?" +</P> + +<P> +"They certainly do. Go in on the jump, Dalton." +</P> + +<P> +The next arrival was Sherburne, who brought a five-pound bag of coffee. +Then came the two colonels together, one with the half of a side of +bacon, and the other with a twenty-pound bag of flour. More followed, +bringing like tickets that were perfectly good, and it seemed that all +the invited ticket holders were in, when a big black man on a big black +horse rode up and saluted Langdon respectfully. He held out a pass. +</P> + +<P> +"This pass am from Gen'ral Jackson," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Am it?" said Langdon, looking at the pass, "Yes, it am." +</P> + +<P> +"Is you the orf'cer in command of this yere house?" asked the colored +man, his wide mouth parting in an enormous grin that showed his +magnificent white teeth. +</P> + +<P> +"For the present I am, Sir Knight of the Dark but Kind Countenance. +What wouldst thou?" +</P> + +<P> +The man scratched his head and looked doubtfully at Langdon. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you're asking me some kind of a question, sah?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am. Who art thou? Whence comest thou, Sir Knight of Nubia? Bearest +thou upon thy person some written token, or, as you would say in your +common parlance, what's your business?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see, sah. Yes, sah, I done got a lettah from Mr. Theophilus +Moncrieffe. That's the owner of this house, and I belong to him. +I'se Caesar Moncrieffe. Here's the lettah, sah." +</P> + +<P> +He handed a folded paper to Harry, who opened and read it. It was +addressed to the chief of whatever officers might be occupying his house, +and it ran thus, somewhat in the old-fashioned way: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +SIRS AND GENTLEMEN: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +The bearer of this is Caesar Moncrieffe. He and his ancestors have been +servants of my family and my ancestors in the State of Virginia for +more than two hundred years. He is a good man, as were his father and +grandfather before him. He will not steal unless he should think it +for his benefit or yours. He will not lie unless convinced of its +necessity. He will work if you make him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +All of his impulses are good, and though he will strenuously deny it at +first, he is about the best cook in the world. Knowing the scarcity of +nutritious food in the army, I have therefore sent him to you with what +I could gather together, in order that he might cook you a dinner worthy +of Christmas. Put him to work, and if he disobeys, shuffles or evades +in any manner, hit him over the head with anything that you can find +hard enough or heavy enough to make an impression. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Wishing the Army of Northern Virginia the continued and brilliant +success that has attended it heretofore, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + I remain,<BR> + Your most obedient servant,<BR> + THEOPHILUS MONCRIEFFE.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Ah, Sir Knight of the Dark but not Rueful Countenance, thou art doubly +welcome!" said Happy Tom, now thrice-happy Tom. "It is a stout and +goodly horse from which thou hast dismounted, and I see that he yet +carries on his back something besides the saddle. But let me first +speak to my Lord Talbot, our real commander, who is within." +</P> + +<P> +Caesar did not wholly understand, but he saw that Langdon meant well, +and he grinned. Happy Tom rushed toward Colonel Talbot, who stood +before the fire with Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. +</P> + +<P> +"Colonel Talbot! Colonel Talbot, sir!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Thomas, my lad? You appear to be excited, and that is not +seemly in a soldier of your experience." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Colonel, this isn't a battle. Of course, I wouldn't let myself be +stirred up by the Yankees, but it's a dinner, Colonel! It's a Christmas +dinner, and it bears all the signs of being as fine as any we ever ate +in the old times of peace!" +</P> + +<P> +"Thomas, my lad, I regret it, but I must say that you are talking in +a much more light-headed way than usual. All that we had we brought +with us, and your young brother officers, who I must say excel you in +industry, are now assembling it." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Colonel, there's a big black fellow outside. He's just come in +with a loaded horse, belonging to the owner of this house, and he's +brought a letter with him. Read it, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Talbot gravely read the letter and passed it to +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, who read it with equal gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds well, eh, Hector?" Colonel Talbot said. +</P> + +<P> +"Most excellent, Leonidas." +</P> + +<P> +They went to the door with Happy Tom, and again Caesar saluted +respectfully. +</P> + +<P> +"You are welcome, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot. "I am commander here. +What has your kind master sent us?" +</P> + +<P> +Caesar bowed low before the two colonels and then proceeded to unload +his horse. The young officers had come crowding to the door, but Happy +Tom received the first package, which was wrapped in sacking. +</P> + +<P> +"An old Virginia ham, nut-fed and sugar-cured!" he exclaimed. "Yes, +it's real! By all the stars and the sun and the moon, too, it's real, +because I'm pinching it! I thought I'd never see another such ham +again!" +</P> + +<P> +"And here's a dressed turkey, a twenty-pounder at least!" said Harry. +"Ah, you noble bird! What better fate could you find than a tomb in the +stomachs of brave Confederate soldiers!" +</P> + +<P> +"And another turkey!" said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"And a bag of nuts!" said Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"And, as I live, two bottles of claret!" said St. Claire. +</P> + +<P> +"And a big black cake!" said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. +</P> + +<P> +"And a great bunch of holly!" said Colonel Talbot, in whose eye, usually +so warlike, a large tear stood. +</P> + +<P> +"Dat," said Caesar, "was sent by little Miss Julia Moncrieffe, just nine +years old. She wished she had a bunch for every soldier in the army, +an' she sent her lub to all uv 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"God bless little Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine," said Colonel Talbot, +much moved. +</P> + +<P> +"God bless her, so say we all of us," the others added together. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot, "put your horse in the part of +the stable that remains. I noticed some hay there which you can give to +him. Then come to the kitchen. Mr. Moncrieffe, whose name be praised, +says that you're the best cook since those employed by Lucullus. +It's great praise, Caesar, but in my opinion it's none too great." +</P> + +<P> +Caesar, highly flattered, led his horse to the stable, and the approving +looks of the youths followed him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes I've had my doubts about Santa Claus" said Happy Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"So have I," said St. Clair, "but like you I have them no longer." +</P> + +<P> +"And there's a curious thing about this restoration of our belief in +Santa Claus," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Since we see him in person we all observe the fact," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"That he is a very large man." +</P> + +<P> +"Six feet two at the very least." +</P> + +<P> +"Weight about two twenty, and all of it bone and muscle." +</P> + +<P> +"And he is coal black." +</P> + +<P> +"So black that even on a dark night he would seem to be clothed around +with light." +</P> + +<P> +"Why did it never occur to anybody before that Santa Claus was a very +black, black man?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because we are the first who have ever seen him in the flesh." +</P> + +<P> +Caesar stabled his horse, went to the kitchen, where he lighted a +fire in the big stove, and fell to work with a will and a wonderful +light-handed dexterity that justified Mr. Moncrieffe's praise of him. +The younger officers helped in turn, but in the kitchen they willingly +allowed to Caesar his rightful position as lord and master. +</P> + +<P> +Delicious aromas arose. The luxury of the present was brightened by the +contrast with the hardships and hunger of two years. More than twenty +officers were present, and by putting together three smaller tables they +made a long one that ran full length down the center of the sitting-room. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll save a portion of what we have for friends not so fortunate," +said Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +"You have always had a generous heart, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. +</P> + +<P> +"We have much for others and much for ourselves. But many of our +friends and many thousands of the brave Southern youth have gone, +Hector. However, we will not speak of that to-day, and we will try +not to think of it, as we are here to celebrate this festival with the +gallant lads who are still living." +</P> + +<P> +Caesar proved to be all that his master had promised and all that they +had hoped. No better Christmas dinner was eaten that day in the whole +United States. Invincible youth was around the board, and the two +colonels lent dignity to the gathering, without detracting from its good +cheer. +</P> + +<P> +The table had been set late, and soon the winter twilight was +approaching. As they took another slice of ham they heard the boom of a +cannon on the far side of the Rappahannock. Harry went to the window +and saw the white smoke rising from a point about three miles away. +</P> + +<P> +"They can't be firing on us, can they, sir?" he said to Colonel Talbot. +"They wouldn't do it on a day like this." +</P> + +<P> +"No. There are two reasons. We're so far apart that it would be a +waste of good powder and steel, and they would not violate Christmas in +that manner. We and the Yankees have become too good friends for such +outrageous conduct. If I may risk a surmise, I think it is merely a +Christmas greeting." +</P> + +<P> +"I think so, too, sir. Listen, there goes a cannon on our side." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be answered in a few moments. The favorite Biblical numbers +are seven and twelve, and I take it that each side will fire either +seven or twelve shots. It is certainly a graceful compliment from the +Yankees, befitting the season. I should not have said a year ago that +they would show so much delicacy and perception." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that the number of shots on each side will be twelve," said +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. "It's three apiece now, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, three apiece," said Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +"Four now," said Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"Five now," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Six now," said St. Clair. +</P> + +<P> +"Seven now," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Eight now," said Happy Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"And seven has been passed," said Colonel Talbot. "It will surely be +twelve." +</P> + +<P> +All were silent now, counting under their breath, and they felt a +certain extraordinary solemnity as they counted. Harry knew that both +armies, far up and down the river, were counting those shots, as the +little group in the Moncrieffe house were counting them. Certainly +there would be no hostilities on that day. +</P> + +<P> +"Nine," they said under their breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Ten!" +</P> + +<P> +"Eleven!" +</P> + +<P> +"Twelve!" +</P> + +<P> +Then they listened, as the echo of the twelfth Southern shot died away +on the stream, and no sound came after it. Twenty-four shots had been +fired, twelve by each army, conveying Christmas good wishes, and the +group in the house went back to their dinner. Some glasses had been +found, and there was a thimbleful of wine, enough for everyone. The +black cake was cut, and at a word from Colonel Talbot all rose and drank +a toast to the mothers and wives and sweethearts and sisters they had +left behind them. +</P> + +<P> +Then the twilight thickened rapidly and the winter night came down upon +them, hiding the ruined town, the blackened walls, the muddy streets and +the icicles hanging from scorched timbers. +</P> + +<P> +Caesar Moncrieffe washed all the dishes—those left in the house had +been sufficient for their purpose—wiped them carefully, and returned +them to the cupboard. Then he announced that he must go. +</P> + +<P> +"Come now, Santa Claus," said Happy Tom, "you must stay here. You've +done enough for one day. In fact, I should say that you've earned a +week's rest." +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't no Santy Claus," said Caesar, "but I done got to git back to +Massa Moncrieffe. He'll be expectin' me." +</P> + +<P> +"But you'll get lost in the dark. Besides, some Yankee scout may shoot +the top of your head off." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't lose me anywhar' roun' here. 'Sides, I kin dodge them +Yankees every time. On a dark night like this I could go right up the +gullies and through the biggest army in the world without its seein' me." +</P> + +<P> +Caesar felt that he was bound to go, and all the officers in turn shook +his big rough black hand. Then they saw him ride away in the darkness, +armed with his pass from General Jackson, and on the lookout for any +prowling Yankees who might have ventured on the right bank of the river. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it odd, Colonel," said Harry to Colonel Talbot, "that so many of +our colored people regard the Yankees who are trying now to free them as +enemies, while they look upon us as their best friends?" +</P> + +<P> +"Propinquity and association, Harry," replied Colonel Talbot, "and in +the border states, at least, we have seldom been cruel to them. I +hope there has been little of cruelty, too, in my own South Carolina. +They are used to our ways, and they turn to us for the help that is +seldom refused. The Northerner will always be a stranger to them, +and an unsympathetic stranger, because there is no personal contact, +none of that 'give and take' which makes men friends." +</P> + +<P> +"What a pity we didn't free 'em ourselves long ago!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is. I say this to you in confidence now, Harry. Of course, +I would be denounced by our people if I said it. But many of our famous +men, Harry, have not approved of it. The great Washington said slavery, +with its shiftless methods of farming, was draining the life out of the +land, and he was right. Haven't we seen the 'old fields' of Virginia?" +</P> + +<P> +"And Clay was against it, too," said Harry; "but I suppose it's one of +the things we're now fighting for, unless we should choose to liberate +them ourselves after defeating the North." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," said Colonel Talbot, "but I am no politician or +statesman. My trade unfits me for such matters. I am a West Pointer—a +proud and glorious fact I consider it, too—but the life of a regular +army officer makes him a man set apart. He is not really in touch with +the nation. He cannot be, because he has so little personal contact +with it. For that reason West Pointers should never aspire to public +office. It does not suit them, and they seldom succeed in it. But here, +I'm becoming a prosy old bore. Come into the house, lad. The boys are +growing sentimental. Listen to their song. It's the same, isn't it, +that some of our bands played at Bull Run?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, it is," replied Harry, as he joined the others in the song: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The hour was sad, I left the maid<BR> + A lingering farewell taking,<BR> + Her sighs and tears my steps delayed<BR> + I thought her heart was breaking.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "In hurried words her name I blessed,<BR> + I breathed the vows that bind me,<BR> + And to my heart in anguish pressed<BR> + The girl I left behind me."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Most all the officers had leave for the full day. Harry and Dalton in +fact were to stay overnight at the house, and, forgetful of the war, +they sang one song after another as the evening waned. At nine o'clock +all the guests left save Harry and Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"You and Langdon will show them to their bedrooms," said Colonel Talbot. +"Take the candle. The rest of us can sit here by the firelight." +</P> + +<P> +There was but a single candle, and it was already burning low, but Happy +Tom and Arthur, shielding it from draughts, led the way to the second +floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Most of the houses were demolished by cannon shot and fire," said +Langdon, "but we've a habitable room which we reserve for guests of high +degree. You will note here where a cannon shot, the result of plunging +fire, came slantingly through the roof and passed out at the wall on the +other side. You need not get under that hole if it should rain or snow, +and meanwhile it serves splendidly for ventilation. The rip in the wall +serves the same purpose, and, of course, you have too much sense to fall +through it. Some blankets are spread there in the corner, and as you +have your heavy cloaks with you, you ought to make out. Sorry we can't +treat you any better, Sir Harry of Kentucky and Sir George of Virginia, +but these be distressful times, and the best the castle affords is put +at your service." +</P> + +<P> +"And I suspect that it's really the best," said Harry to Dalton, as +St. Clair and Langdon went out. "There's straw under these blankets, +George, and we've got a real bed." +</P> + +<P> +The moonlight shone through two windows and the cannon-shot hole, +and it was bright in the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's a little bureau by the wall," said Dalton, "and as I intend +to enjoy the luxury of undressing, I'm going to put my clothes in it, +where they'll keep dry. You'll notice that all the panes have been shot +out of those windows, and a driving rain would sweep all the way across +the room." +</P> + +<P> +"Now and then a good idea springs up in some way in that old head of +yours, George. I'll do the same." +</P> + +<P> +Dalton opened the top drawer. +</P> + +<P> +"Something has been left here," he said. +</P> + +<P> +He held up a large doll with blue eyes and yellow hair. +</P> + +<P> +"As sure as we're living," said Harry, "we're in the room of little +Miss Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine, the young lady who sent us the holly. +Evidently they took away all their clothing and lighter articles of +furniture, but they forgot the doll. Put it back, George. They'll +return to Fredericksburg some day and we want her to find it there." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, Harry," said Dalton, as he replaced the doll and closed +the drawer. "You and I ought to be grateful to that little girl whom we +may never see." +</P> + +<P> +"We won't forget," said Harry, as he undressed rapidly and lay down upon +their luxurious bed of blankets and straw. +</P> + +<P> +Neither of them remembered anything until they were dragged into the +middle of the room next morning by St. Clair and Langdon. +</P> + +<P> +"Here! here! wake up! wake up!" cried Langdon. "It's not polite to your +hosts to be snoring away when breakfast is almost ready. Go down on a +piece of the back porch that's left, and you'll find two pans of cold +water in which you can wash your faces. It's true the pans are frozen +over, but you can break the ice, and it will remind you of home and your +little boyhood." +</P> + +<P> +They sprang up and dressed as rapidly as they could, because when they +came from the covers they found it icy cold in the room. Then they ran +down, as they had been directed, broke the ice in the pans and bathed +their faces. +</P> + +<P> +"Fine air," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but too much of it," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Br-h-h-h-h, how it freezes me! Look at the icicles, George! I think +some new ones came to town last night! And what a cold river! I don't +believe there was ever a colder-looking river than the Rappahannock!" +</P> + +<P> +"And see the fogs and mists rising from it, too. It looks exactly as it +did the morning of the battle." +</P> + +<P> +"Let it look as it pleases," said Harry. "I'm going to make a dash for +the inside and a fire!" +</P> + +<P> +They found the colonels and the rest of the staff in the sitting-room, +all except two, who were acting as cooks, but their work ceased in a +moment or two, as breakfast was ready. It consisted of coffee and bread +and ham left over from the night before. A heap of timber glowed in +the fireplace and shot forth ruddy flames. Harry's soul fairly warmed +within him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, all of you," said Colonel Talbot, "and we'll help one +another." +</P> + +<P> +They ate with the appetite of the soldier, and Colonel Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, finishing first, withdrew to a wide +window seat. There they produced the board and box of chessmen and +proceeded to rearrange them exactly as they were before the battle of +Fredericksburg. +</P> + +<P> +"You will recall that your king was in great danger, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. +</P> + +<P> +"Truly I do, Hector, but I do not think it beyond my power to rescue +him." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be a hard task, Leonidas." +</P> + +<P> +"Hector, I would have you to remember that I am an officer in the Army +of Northern Virginia, and the Army of Northern Virginia prefers hard +tasks to easy ones." +</P> + +<P> +"You put the truth happily, Leonidas, but I must insist that your +position is one of uncommon danger." +</P> + +<P> +"I recognize the fact fully, Hector, but I assert firmly that I will +rescue my red king." +</P> + +<P> +Harry, his part of the work finished, watched them. The two gray +heads bent lower and lower over the table until they almost touched. +Everybody maintained a respectful silence. Colonel Talbot's brow was +corded deeply with thought. It was a full quarter of an hour before +he made a move, and then his opponent looked surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"That does not seem to be your right move, Leonidas." +</P> + +<P> +"But it is, Hector, as you will see presently." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. I will now choose my own course." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire's own brow became corded and knotted as +he put his whole mental energy upon the problem. Harry watched them +a little while, and then strolled over to the other window, where +St. Clair was looking at the ruined town. +</P> + +<P> +"Curious how people can find entertainment in so slow a game," he said, +nodding toward the two colonels. +</P> + +<P> +"That same game has been going on for more than a year," said St. Clair, +with a slight smile. "It's odd how something always breaks it up. +I wonder what it will be this time. But it's an intelligent game, +Harry." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think a sport is intellectual, merely because it is slow." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire made a move, Colonel Leonidas Talbot made +another, and then promptly uttered a little cry of triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"My king is free! He is free! You made no royal capture, Hector!" +he exclaimed joyously. +</P> + +<P> +"It is so, Leonidas. I did not foresee your path of retreat. I must +enter upon a new campaign against you." +</P> + +<P> +Harry, who was looking toward the heights on the other side of the river, +saw a flash of flame and a puff of smoke. A rumbling noise came to him. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +"A Yankee cannon. I suppose it was telling us Christmas is over. +The ball struck somewhere in Fredericksburg." +</P> + +<P> +"A waste of good ammunition. Why, they've done all the damage to +Fredericksburg that they can do. It's your move, Hector." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire corded and knotted his brow again, +and once more the two heads nearly met over the chessboard. A whistling +sound suddenly came from the street without. Something struck with a +terrible impact, and then followed a blinding flash and roar. The whole +house shook and several of the men were thrown down, but in a half +minute they sprang to their feet. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire were +standing erect, staring at each other. The chessmen were scattered on +the floor and the board was split in half. A fragment of the exploding +shell had entered the window and passing directly between them had done +the damage. The same piece had gone entirely through the opposite wall. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's quick glance told him that nothing had suffered except the +chessboard. He sprang forward, picked up the two halves, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"No real harm has been done. Two strips underneath, a few tacks, +and it's as good again as ever." +</P> + +<P> +The other lads carefully gathered up the scattered chessmen and +announced that not one of them was injured. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, boys," said Colonel Talbot. "It is a pleasing thing to see +that, despite the war, the young still show courtesy to their elders. +You will bear in mind, Hector, when this game is resumed at a proper +time and place, that the position of one of your knights was very +delicate." +</P> + +<P> +"Assuredly I will not forget it, Leonidas. It will be no trouble to +either of us to replace them exactly as they were at a moment's notice." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton were compelled now to return to General Jackson, +and they did so, after leaving many thanks with their generous hosts. +Heavy winter rains began. The country on both sides of the Rappahannock +became a vast sea of mud, and the soldiers had to struggle against all +the elements, because the rains were icy and the mud formed a crust +through which they broke in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +While they lingered here news came of the great battle in the West, +fought on the last day of the old year and the first day of the new, +along the banks of Stone River. Harry and his comrades looked for +a triumph there like that which they had won, and they were deeply +disappointed when they heard the result. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had a copy of a Richmond paper and he was reading from it to an +attentive circle, but he stopped to comment: +</P> + +<P> +"Ours was the smaller army, but we drove them back and held a part of +the field. Two or three days later we withdrew to Chattanooga. Well, +I don't call it much of a victory to thump your enemy and then go away, +leaving him in possession of the field." +</P> + +<P> +"But the enemy was a third more numerous than we were," said Happy Tom, +"and since it looks like a draw, so far as the fighting was concerned, +we, being the smaller, get the honors." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just the trouble," said Dalton gravely. "We are loaded down +with honors. Look at the great victories we've won in the East! +Has anything solid come of them? Here is the enemy on Virginia soil, +just as he was before. We've given the Army of the Potomac a terrible +thrashing at Fredericksburg, but there it is on the other side of the +Rappahannock, just as strong as ever, and maybe stronger, because they +say recruits are pouring into it." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop! Stop, Dalton!" said Happy Tom. "We don't want any lecture from +you. We're just having a conversation." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Dalton, laughing, "but I gave you my opinion." +</P> + +<P> +Days of comparative idleness followed. The Army of the Potomac moved +farther up the river and settled itself around the village of Falmouth. +The Army of Northern Virginia faced it, and along the hillsides the +young Southern soldiers erected sign posts, on the boards of which were +painted, in letters large enough for the Union glasses to see, the +derisive words: +</P> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> + THIS WAY TO RICHMOND +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JEB STUART'S BALL +</H3> + +<P> +But Hooker, the new Northern commander, did not yet move. The chief +cause was mud. The winter having been very cold in the first half, +was very rainy in the second half. The numerous brooks and creeks and +smaller rivers remained flooded beyond their banks, and the Rappahannock +flowed a swollen and mighty stream. Ponds and little lakes stood +everywhere. Roads had been destroyed by the marching of mighty masses +and the rolling of thousands of heavy wheels. Horses often sank nearly +to the knee when they trod new paths through the muddy fields. There +was mud, mud everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +Hooker, moreover, was confronted by a long line of earthworks and other +intrenchments, extending for twenty miles along the Rappahannock, +and defended by the victors of Fredericksburg. After that disastrous +day the Northern masses at home were not so eager for a battle. The +country realized that it was not well to rush a foe, led by men like +Lee and Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +But Hooker was a brave and confident man. The North, always ready, +was sending forward fresh troops, and when he crossed the Rappahannock, +as he intended to do, he would have more men and more guns than Burnside +had led when he attacked the blazing heights of Fredericksburg. Lincoln +and Stanton, warned too by the great disasters through their attempts to +manage armies in the field from the Capitol, were giving Hooker a freer +hand. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, the Confederate president and his cabinet suddenly +curtailed Lee's plans. A fourth of his veterans under Longstreet were +drawn off to meet a flank attack of other Northern forces which seemed +to be threatened upon Richmond. Lee was left with only sixty thousand +men to face Hooker's growing odds. +</P> + +<P> +It was not any wonder that the spirits of the Southern lads sank +somewhat. Harry realized more fully every day that it was not +sufficient for them merely to defeat the Northern armies. They must +destroy them. The immense patriotism of those who fought for the Union +always filled up their depleted ranks and more, and they were getting +better generals all the time. Hancock and Reynolds and many another +were rising to fame in the east. +</P> + +<P> +The Invincibles were posted nearly opposite Falmouth, and Harry had many +chances to see them. On his second visit the chessboard was mended so +perfectly that the split was not visible, and the two colonels sat down +to finish their game. Fifteen minutes later a dispatch from General +Jackson to Colonel Leonidas Talbot arrived, telling him to leave at once +by the railway in the Confederate rear for Richmond. President Davis +wished detailed information from him about the fortifications along the +coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina, which were now heavily +threatened by the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The two colonels had not made a move, but Colonel Leonidas Talbot rose, +buttoned every button of his neat tunic, and said in precise tones: +</P> + +<P> +"Hector, I depart in a half hour. You will, of course, have command +of the regiment in my absence, and if any young lieutenants should be +exceedingly obstreperous in the course of that time, perhaps I can prove +to them that they are not as old as they think they are." +</P> + +<P> +The colonel's severity of tone was belied by a faint twinkle in the +corner of his eye, and the lads knew that they had nothing to fear, +especially as Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire was quite as stern and +able a guardian as Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Talbot departed, good wishes following him in a shower, and that +day a young officer arrived from South Carolina and took a place in the +Invincibles that had been made vacant by death. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was still with his friends when this officer arrived, and the tall, +slender figure and dark face of the man seemed familiar to him. A +little thought recalled where he had first seen that eager gesture and +the manner so intense that it betrayed an excessive enthusiasm. But +when Harry did remember him he remembered him well. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do, Captain Bertrand?" he said—the man wore the uniform of +a captain. +</P> + +<P> +Bertrand stared at Harry, and then he gradually remembered. It was +not strange that he was puzzled at first, as in the two years that +had passed since Bertrand was in Colonel Kenton's house at Pendleton, +Harry had grown much larger and more powerful, and was deeply tanned by +all kinds of weather. But when he did recall him his greeting was full +of warmth. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, now I know!" he exclaimed. "It is Harry Kenton, the son of Colonel +George Kenton! And we held that meeting at your father's house on the +eve of the war! And then we went up to Frankfort, and we did not take +Kentucky out of the Union." +</P> + +<P> +"No, we didn't," said Harry with a laugh. "Captain Bertrand, Lieutenant +St. Clair and Lieutenant Langdon." +</P> + +<P> +But Bertrand had known them both in Charleston, and he shook their hands +with zeal and warmth, showing what Harry thought—as he had thought the +first time he saw him—an excess of manner. +</P> + +<P> +"We've a fine big dry place under this tree," said St. Clair. "Let's +sit down and talk. You're the new Captain in our regiment, are you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Bertrand. "I've just come from Richmond, where I met my +chief, that valiant man, Colonel Leonidas Talbot. I have been serving +mostly on the coast of the Carolinas, and when I asked to be sent to the +larger theater of war they very naturally assigned me to one of my own +home regiments. Alas! there is plenty of room for me and many more in +the ranks of the Invincibles." +</P> + +<P> +"We have been well shot up, that's true," said Langdon, whom nothing +could depress more than a minute, "but we've put more than a million +Yankees out of the running." +</P> + +<P> +"How are your Knights of the Golden Circle getting on?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +Bertrand flushed a little, despite his swarthiness. +</P> + +<P> +"Not very well, I fear," he replied. "It has taken us longer to conquer +the Yankees than we thought." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see that we've begun to conquer them as a people or a section," +said St. Clair, who was always frank and direct. "We've won big +victories, but just look and you'll see 'em across the river there, +stronger and more numerous than ever, and that, too, on the heels of the +big defeat they sustained at Fredericksburg. And, if you'll pardon me, +Captain, I don't believe much in the great slave empire that the Knights +of the Golden Circle planned." +</P> + +<P> +Bertrand's black eyes flashed. +</P> + +<P> +"And why not?" he asked sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"To take Cuba and Mexico would mean other wars, and if we took them we'd +have other kinds of people whom we'd have to hold in check with arms. +A fine mess we'd make of it, and we haven't any right to jump on Cuba +and Mexico, anyway. I've got a far better plan." +</P> + +<P> +"And what is that?" asked Bertrand, with an increasing sharpness of +manner. +</P> + +<P> +"The North means to free our slaves. We'll defeat the North and show to +her that she can't. Then we'll free 'em ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +"Free them ourselves!" exclaimed Bertrand. "What are we fighting for +but the right to hold our own property?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't understand it exactly that way. It seems to me that we went +to war to defend the right of a state to go out of the Union when it +pleases." +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you, this war is being fought to establish our title to our own." +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, so we fight well," said Harry, who saw Bertrand's +rising color and who believed him to be tinged with fanaticism; "it's +all that can be asked of us. After Happy Tom sleeps in the White House +with his boots on, as he says he's going to do, we can decide, each +according to his own taste, what he was fighting for." +</P> + +<P> +"I've known all the time what was in my mind," said Bertrand +emphatically. "Of course, the extension of the new republic toward +the north will be cut off by the Yankees. Then its expansion must be +southward, and that means in time the absorption of Mexico, all the +West Indies, and probably Central America." +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair was about to retort, but Harry gave him a warning look and he +contented himself with rolling into a little easier position. Harry +foresaw that these two South Carolinians would not be friends, and in +any event he hated fruitless political discussions. +</P> + +<P> +Bertrand excused himself presently and went away. +</P> + +<P> +"Arthur," said Harry, "I wouldn't argue with him. He's a captain in the +Invincibles now, and you're a lieutenant. It's in his power to make +trouble for you." +</P> + +<P> +"You're not appealing to any emotion in me that might bear the name of +fear, are you, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"You know I'm not. Why argue with a man who has fire on the brain? +Although he's older than you, Arthur, he hasn't got as good a rein on +his temper." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't resist flattery like that, can you, Arthur? I know I +couldn't," said Happy Tom, grinning his genial grin. +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair's face relaxed. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, fellows," he said. "We oughtn't to be quarreling among +ourselves when there are so many Yankees to fight." +</P> + +<P> +Mail forwarded from Richmond was distributed in the camp the next day +and Harry was in the multitude gathered about the officers distributing +it. The delivery of the mail was always a stirring event in either army, +and as the war rolled on it steadily increased in importance. +</P> + +<P> +There were men in this very group who had not heard from home since they +left it two years before, and there were letters for men who would never +receive them. The letters were being given out at various points, +but where Harry stood a major was calling them in a loud, clear voice. +</P> + +<P> +"John Escombe, Field's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +Escombe, deeply tanned and twenty-two, ran forward and received a thick +letter addressed in a woman's handwriting, that of his mother, and, +amid cheering at his luck, disappeared in the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +"Thomas Anderson, Gregg's brigade. Girl's handwriting, too. Lucky boy, +Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Tom, open it and show it to us! Maybe her picture's inside it! +I'll bet she's got red hair!" +</P> + +<P> +But Tom fled, blushing, and opened his letter when he was at a safe +distance. +</P> + +<P> +"Carlton Ives, Thomas' brigade." +</P> + +<P> +"In hospital, Major, but I'll take the letter to him. He's in my +company." +</P> + +<P> +"Stephen Brayton, Lane's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +There was a silence for a moment, and then some one said: +</P> + +<P> +"Dead, at Antietam, sir." +</P> + +<P> +The major put the letter on one side, and called: +</P> + +<P> +"Thomas Langdon, the Invincibles." +</P> + +<P> +Langdon darted forward and seized his letter. +</P> + +<P> +"It's from my father," he said as he glanced at the superscription, +although it was half hidden from him by a mist that suddenly appeared +before his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Tom, stand behind us and read it," said Harry, who was waiting in +an anxiety that was positively painful for a letter to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Henry Lawton, Pender's brigade," called the major. "This is from a +girl, too, and there is a photograph inside. I can feel it. Wish I +could get such a letter myself, Henry." +</P> + +<P> +Lawton, his letter in his hand, retreated rapidly amid envious cheers. +</P> + +<P> +"Charles Carson, Lane's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +"Dead at Fredericksburg, sir; I helped to bury him." +</P> + +<P> +"Thomas Carstairs, Field's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +"Killed at the Second Manassas, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Richard Graves, Archer's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +"Died in hospital after Antietam, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"David Moulton, Field's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +"Killed nearly a year ago, in the valley, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"William Fitzpatrick, Lane's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +"Taken prisoner at Antietam. Not yet exchanged, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Herbert Jones, Pender's brigade." +</P> + +<P> +"Killed at South Mountain, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt a little shiver. The list of those who would never receive +their letters was growing too long. But this delivery of the mail +seemed to run in streaks. Presently it found a streak of the living. +It was a great mail that came that day, the largest the army had yet +received, but the crowd, hungry for a word from home, did not seem to +diminish. The ring continually pressed a little closer. +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair received two letters, and, a long while afterwards, there was +one for Dalton, who, however, had not been so long a time without news, +as the battlefield was his own state, Virginia. Harry watched them with +an envy that he tried to keep down, and after a while he saw that the +heap of letters was becoming very small. +</P> + +<P> +His anxiety became so painful that it was hard to bear. He knew that +his father had been in the thick of the great battle at Stone River, +but not a word from him or about him had ever come. No news in this +case was bad news. If he were alive he would certainly write, and there +was Confederate communication between Eastern Tennessee and Northern +Virginia. +</P> + +<P> +It was thus with a sinking heart that he watched the diminishing heap. +Many of the disappointed ones had already gone away, hopeless, and Harry +felt like following them, but the major picked up a thick letter in a +coarse brown envelope and called: +</P> + +<P> +"Lieutenant Henry Kenton, staff of Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan +Jackson." +</P> + +<P> +Harry sprang forward and seized his letter. Then he found a place +behind a big tree, where St. Clair, Langdon and Dalton were reading +theirs, and opened it. He had already seen that the address was in his +father's handwriting and he believed that he was alive. The letter +must have been written after the battle of Stone River or it would have +arrived earlier. He took a hurried glance at the date and saw that it +was near the close of January, at least three weeks after the battle. +Then all apprehension was gone. +</P> + +<P> +It was a long letter, dated from headquarters near Chattanooga, +Tennessee. Colonel Kenton had just heard of the battle of Fredericksburg +and he was rejoicing in the glorious victory. He hoped and believed +that his son had passed through it safely. The Southern army had not +been so successful in the west as in the east, but he believed that they +had met tougher antagonists there, the men of the west and northwest, +used to all kinds of hardships, and, alas! their own Kentuckians. +At both Perryville and Stone River they had routed the antagonists +who met them first, but they had been stopped by their own brethren. +</P> + +<P> +Harry smiled and murmured to himself: +</P> + +<P> +"You can never put down dad's state pride. With him the Kentuckians are +always first." +</P> + +<P> +He had a good deal of this state pride himself, although in a less +accentuated form, and, after the momentary thought, he went on. The +colonel was looking for a letter from his son—Harry had written twice +since Fredericksburg, and he knew now that the letters would arrive +safely. He himself had been wounded slightly in a skirmish just after +Stone River, but he was now entirely well. The Southern forces were +gathering and General Bragg would have a great army with which they +were confident of winning a victory like that of the Second Manassas or +Fredericksburg. He was glad that his son was on the staff of so great a +genius as General Jackson and that he was also under the command of that +other great genius, Lee. +</P> + +<P> +Harry stopped reading for a moment or two and smiled with satisfaction. +The impression that Lee and Jackson had made upon the South was as +great in the west as in the east. The hero-worship which the fiery and +impressionable South gives in such unstinted measure to these two men +had begun already. Harry was glad that his father recognized the great +Virginians so fully, men who allied with genius temperate and lofty +lives. +</P> + +<P> +He resumed his reading, but the remainder of the letter was occupied +with personal details. The colonel closed with some good advice to his +son about caring for himself on the march and in camp, drawn from his +own experience both in the Mexican war and the present strife. +</P> + +<P> +Harry read his letter three times. Then he folded it carefully and put +it in an inside pocket of his tunic. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it good news, Harry?" asked Happy Tom, who had already finished with +his own letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's cheerful." +</P> + +<P> +"So's mine. I'm glad to hear that your father's all right. Mine didn't +go to the war. I wish you could meet my father, Harry. I get my +cheerful disposition and my good manners from him. When the war was +about to begin and I went over to Charleston in about the most splendid +uniform that was ever created, he said: 'You fellows will get licked +like thunder, and maybe you'll deserve it. As for you, you'll probably +get a part of your fool head shot off, but it's so thick and hard that +it will be a benefit to you to lose some of it and have the rest opened +up. But remember, Tom, whenever you do come back, no matter how many +legs and arms and portions of your head you've left behind, there'll be +a welcome in the old house for you. You're the fatted calf, but you're +sure to come back a lot leaner and maybe with more sense.'" +</P> + +<P> +"He certainly talked to you straight." +</P> + +<P> +"So he did, Harry; but those words were not nearly so rough as they +sound, because when I came away I saw tears in his eyes. Father's a +smart man, a money-maker as good as the Yankees themselves. He's got +sea island cotton in warehouses in more than one place along the coast, +and he writes me that he's already selling it to the blockade runners +for unmentionable prices in British and French gold. Harry, if your +fortunes are broken up by the war, you and your father will have to come +down and share with us." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks for your invitation, Tom; but from what you say about your +father we'd be about as welcome as a bear in a kitchen." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you believe it. You come." +</P> + +<P> +"Arthur, what do you hear?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"My people are well and they're sending me a lot of things. My mother +has put in the pack a brand new uniform. She sewed on the gold lace +herself. I hope the next battle won't be fought before it gets here." +</P> + +<P> +"Impossible," said Harry gravely. "General Hooker is too polite a man +to push us before Lieutenant St. Clair receives his new clothes." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," said St. Clair seriously. +</P> + +<P> +The new uniform, in fact, came a few days later, and as it even exceeded +its promise, St. Clair was thoroughly happy. Harry also received a +second letter from Colonel Kenton, telling of the receipt of his own, +and wishing him equally good fortune in the new battle which they in the +west heard was impending in the east. +</P> + +<P> +Harry believed they would surely close with Hooker soon. They had been +along the Rappahannock for many weeks now, and the winter of cold rain +had not yet broken up, but spring could not be far away. Meanwhile he +was drawn closer than ever to Jackson, his great commander, and was +almost constantly in his service. +</P> + +<P> +It was, perhaps, the difference in their natures that made the +hero-worship in the boy so strong. Jackson was quiet, reserved and +deeply religious. Harry was impulsive, physically restless, and now and +then talkative, as the young almost always are. Jackson's impassive +face and the few words—but always to the point—that he spoke, +impressed him. In his opinion now Stonewall Jackson could do no wrong +nor make any mistake of judgment. +</P> + +<P> +The months had not been unpleasant. The Southern army was recuperating +from great battles, and, used to farm or forest life, the soldiers +easily made shelter for themselves against the rain and mud. The +Southern pickets along the river also established good relations with +the pickets on the other side. Why not? They were of the same blood +and the same nation. There was no battle now, and what was the use of +sneaking around like an Indian, trying to kill somebody who was doing +you no harm? That was assassination, not war. +</P> + +<P> +The officers winked at this borderline friendship. A Yankee picket in +a boat near the left shore could knot a newspaper into a tight wad and +throw it to the Johnny Reb picket in another boat near the right bank, +and there were strong-armed Johnny Reb pickets who could throw a hunk +of chewing tobacco all the way to the Yankee side. Already they were +sowing the seeds of a good will which should follow a mighty war. +</P> + +<P> +Harry often went to the bank on the warmer and more sunny days and +leisurely watched the men on the other side. St. Clair, Langdon and +Dalton usually joined him, if their duties allowed. It was well into +March, a dry and warm day, when they sat on a little hillock and gazed +at four of the men in blue who were fishing from a small boat near their +shore. St. Clair was the last to join the little party, and when he +came he was greeted with a yell by the men on the left bank. One of +them put up his hands, trumpet-shaped, to his mouth and called: +</P> + +<P> +"Is that President Davis who has just joined you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Harry, using his hands in like fashion. "What makes you +think so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like him. I've got +to put my hands over my eyes to protect them from the blaze of that +uniform." +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair, who wore his new uniform, which was modelled somewhat after +the brilliant fashion of Stuart's, smiled with content. He was making a +great hit. +</P> + +<P> +"You can do all the talking, Harry," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"As I told you, he isn't President Davis," Harry called, "but he's sure, +when he's old enough, to be one of his successors." +</P> + +<P> +"Bet you a dollar, Johnny Reb, that President Davis has no successor." +</P> + +<P> +"Take you, Yank, and I'll collect that bet from you when I ride down +Pennsylvania Avenue in my Confederate uniform at the head of the Army +of Northern Virginia." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, you won't; you'll pay it to me before the State House in +Richmond, with the Army of the Potomac looking on and the Stars and +Stripes waving gracefully over your head." +</P> + +<P> +"Both of you are betting on things too far off," said Langdon, who could +keep out of the conversation no longer. "I'll bet you two dollars that +not one of those four men in the boat catches a fish inside of ten +minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"In Confederate bills or in money?" was called back. +</P> + +<P> +Roars of laughter, from both sides of the Rappahannock, crossed one +another above the middle of the stream. +</P> + +<P> +"What's this?" exclaimed a sharp voice behind the four. "Conversation +with the enemy! It's against all the rules of war!" +</P> + +<P> +They looked around and saw Bertrand, his face flushed and his eyes +sparkling. Harry leaned back lazily, but St. Clair spoke up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"We've been having conversations off and on with the enemy for two +years," he said. "We've had some mighty hot talks with bullets and +cannon balls, and some not so hot with words. Just now we were having +one of the class labelled 'not so hot.'" +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with you Johnnies?" was called across. "You've +broken off the talk just when it was getting interesting. Are you going +to back out on that bet? We thought you had better manners. We know +you have." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, we have," said St. Clair, shouting across the stream, +"but we were interrupted by a man who hasn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is that so?" was called back. "If you've troubles of your own, +we won't interfere. We'll just look on." +</P> + +<P> +Bertrand was pallid with rage. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a captain in the Invincibles, Mr. St. Clair," he said, "and you're +only a lieutenant. You'll return to your regiment at once and prepare +a written apology to me for the words that you've just used to those +Yankees." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, I won't do either," drawled St. Clair purposely. "It is true +that a captain outranks a lieutenant, but you're a company commander and +I'm a staff officer. I take no orders from you." +</P> + +<P> +"Nevertheless you have insulted me, and there is another and perhaps +better way to settle it." +</P> + +<P> +He significantly touched the hilt of his sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, if you mean a duel, it suits me well enough," said St. Clair, +who was an expert with the sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Early to-morrow morning in the woods back of this point?" +</P> + +<P> +"Suits me." +</P> + +<P> +"Your seconds?" +</P> + +<P> +Then Harry jumped to his feet in a mighty wrath and indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"There won't be any duel! And there won't be any seconds!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" asked Bertrand, his face livid. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I won't allow it." +</P> + +<P> +"How can you help it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a piece of thunderation foolishness! Two good Southern soldiers +trying to kill each other, when they've sworn to use all their efforts +killing Yankees. It's a breach of faith and it's silliness on its own +account. You've received the hospitality of my father's house, Captain +Bertrand, and he's helped you and been kind to you elsewhere. You owe +me enough at least to listen to me. Unless I get the promise of you two +to drop this matter, I swear I'll go straight to General Jackson and +tell all about it. He'll save you the trouble of shooting each other. +He'll have you shot together. You needn't frown, either of you. +It's not much fun breaking the rules of a Presbyterian elder who is also +one of the greatest generals the world has ever seen." +</P> + +<P> +"You're talking sound sense, Harry," said Happy Tom, an unexpected ally. +"I've several objections to this duel myself. We'll need both of these +men for the great battle with Hooker. Arthur would be sure to wear his +new uniform, and a bullet hole through it would go far toward spoiling +it. Besides, there's nothing to fight about. And if they did fight, +I'd hate to see the survivor standing up before one of Old Jack's firing +squads and then falling before it. You go to General Jackson, Harry, +and I'll go along with you, seconding every word you say. Shut up, +Arthur; if you open your mouth again I'll roll you and your new uniform +in the mud down there. You know I can do it." +</P> + +<P> +"But such conduct would be unparalleled," said Bertrand. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care a whoop if it is," said Harry, who had been taught by his +father to look upon the duel as a wicked proceeding. "General Jackson +wouldn't tolerate such a thing, and in his command what he says is the +Ten Commandments. Isn't that so, Dalton?" +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly, and you can depend upon me as a third to you and Happy +Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Captain," continued Harry soothingly, "just forget this, won't +you? Both of you are from South Carolina and you ought to be good +friends." +</P> + +<P> +"So far as I'm concerned, it's finished," said St. Clair. +</P> + +<P> +But Bertrand turned upon his heel without a word and walked away. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, there, you Johnnies!" came a loud hail from the other side of +the river. "What's the matter with your friend who's just gone away? +I was watching with glasses, and he didn't look happy." +</P> + +<P> +"He had a nightmare and he hasn't fully recovered from it yet." +</P> + +<P> +There was a sudden tremendous burst of cheering behind them. +</P> + +<P> +"On your feet, boys!" exclaimed Happy Tom, glancing back. "Here comes +Old Jack on one of his tours of inspection." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson was riding slowly along near the edge of the river. He could +never appear without rolling cheers from the thirty thousand veteran +troops who were eager to follow wherever he led. The mighty cheering +swept back and forth in volumes, and when a lull came, one among their +friends, the Yankee pickets on the other side of the river, called at +the top of his voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Johnnies, what's the racket about?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's Stonewall Jackson!" Harry roared back, pointing to the figure on +the horse. +</P> + +<P> +Then, to the amazement of all, a sudden burst of cheering came from the +far bank of the Rappahannock, followed by the words, shouted in chorus: +"Hurrah for Stonewall Jackson! Hurrah for Jackson!" Thus did the +gallant Northern troops show their admiration for their great enemy +whose genius had defeated them so often. Some riflemen among them lying +among the bushes at the water's edge might have picked him off, but no +such thought entered the mind of anyone. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson flushed at the compliment from the foe, but rode quietly on, +until he disappeared among some woods on the left. +</P> + +<P> +"We'd better be going back to headquarters," said Harry to Dalton. +"It'll be wise for us to be there when the general arrives." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, lazy little boys," said Happy Tom. "Wash your faces, +run to school, and be all bright and clean when teacher comes." +</P> + +<P> +"It's what we mean to do," said Harry, "and if Arthur says anything +more about this silly dueling business, send for us. We'll come back, +and we three together will pound his foolish head so hard that he won't +be able to think about anything at all for a year to come." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll behave," said St. Clair, "but you fellows look to Bertrand." +</P> + +<P> +Dalton and Harry walked to the headquarters of their general, who now +occupied what had been a hunting lodge standing in the grounds of a +large mansion. The whole place, the property of an orderly in his +service, had been offered to him, but he would only take the hunting +lodge, saying that he would not clutter up so fine and large a house. +</P> + +<P> +Now Harry and Dalton walked across the lawn, which was beginning to turn +green, and paused for a little while under the budding boughs of the +great trees. The general had not yet arrived, but the rolling cheers +never ceasing, but coming nearer, indicated that he would soon be at +hand. +</P> + +<P> +"A man must feel tremendous pride when his very appearance draws such +cheers from his men," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +The lawn was not cut up by the feet of horses—Jackson would not allow +it. Everything about the house and grounds was in the neatest order. +Beside the hunting lodge stood a great tent, in which his staff messed. +</P> + +<P> +"Were you here the day General Jackson came to these quarters, Harry?" +asked Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I was in service at the bank of the river, carrying some message or +other. I've forgotten what it was." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I was. We didn't know where we were going to stay, and a lady +came from the big house here down to the edge of the woods, where we +were still sitting on our horses. 'Is this General Jackson?' asked she. +'It is, madame,' he replied, lifting his hat politely. 'My husband owns +this house,' she said, pointing toward it, 'and we will feel honored and +glad if you will occupy it as your headquarters while you are here.' +He thanked her and said he'd ride forward with a cavalry orderly and +inspect the place. The rest of us waited while he and the orderly rode +into the grounds, the lady going on ahead. +</P> + +<P> +"The general wouldn't take the house. He said he didn't like to see so +fine a place trodden up by young men in muddy military boots. Besides, +he and his staff would disturb the inmates, and he didn't want that to +happen. At last he picked the hunting lodge, and as he and the orderly +rode back through the gate to the grounds, the orderly said: 'General, +do you feel wholly pleased with what you have chosen?' 'It suits me +entirely,' replied General Jackson. 'I'm going to make my headquarters +in that hunting lodge.' 'I'm very glad of that, sir, very glad indeed.' +'Why?' asked General Jackson. 'Because it's my house,' replied the +orderly, 'and my wife and I would have felt greatly disappointed if you +had gone elsewhere.'" +</P> + +<P> +"And so all this splendid place belongs to an orderly?" said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny you didn't hear that story," said Dalton. "Most of us have, +but I suppose everybody took it for granted that you knew it. As you +say, that grand place belongs to one of our orderlies. After all, +we're a citizen army, just as the great Roman armies when they were +at their greatest were citizen armies, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, here comes the general now," said Harry, "and he looks embarrassed, +as he always does after so much cheering. A stranger would think from +the way he acts that he's the least conspicuous of our generals, and if +you read the reports of his victories you'd think that he had less than +anybody else to do with them." +</P> + +<P> +General Jackson, followed by an orderly, cantered up. The orderly took +the horse and the general went into the house, followed by the two young +staff officers. They knew that he was likely to plunge at once into +work, and were ready to do any service he needed. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I'll want you boys," said the general in his usual kindly +tone, "at least not for some time. So you can go out and enjoy the +sunshine and warmth, of which we have had so little for a long time." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sir," said Harry, but he added hastily: +</P> + +<P> +"Here come some officers, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson glanced through the window of the hunting lodge and caught sight +of a waving plume, just as its wearer passed through the gate. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Stuart," he said, with an attempt at severity in his tone, +although his smiling eye belied it. "I suppose I might as well defer my +work if Jeb Stuart is coming to see me. Stay with me, lads, and help me +to entertain him. You know Stuart is nothing but a joyous boy—younger +than either of you, although he is one of the greatest cavalry leaders +of modern times." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton were more than willing to remain. Everybody was always +glad when Jeb Stuart came. Now he was in his finest mood, and he and +the two staff officers with him rode at a canter. They leaped from +their horses at Jackson's door, throwing the reins over their necks and +leaving them to the orderly. Then they entered boldly, Stuart leading. +He was the only man in the whole Southern army who took liberties with +Jackson, although his liberties were always of the inoffensive kind. +</P> + +<P> +If St. Clair was gorgeous in his new clothes, he would have been pale +beside Stuart, who also had new raiment. A most magnificent feather +looped and draped about his gold-braided hat. His uniform, of the +finest cloth, was heavy with gold braid and gold epaulets, and the great +yellow silk sash about his waist supported his gold-hilted sword. +</P> + +<P> +"What new and splendid species of bird is this?" asked General Jackson, +as Stuart and his men saluted. "I have never before seen such grand +plumage." +</P> + +<P> +Stuart complacently stroked the gold braid on his left sleeve and +looked about the hunting lodge, the walls of which had been decorated +accordingly long since by its owner. +</P> + +<P> +"Splendid picture this of a race horse, General," he said, "and the one +of the trotter in action is almost as fine. Ah, sir, I knew there were +good sporting instincts in you and that they would come out in time. +I approve of it myself, but what will the members of your church say, +sir, when they hear of your moral decline?" +</P> + +<P> +Jackson actually blushed and remained silent under the chaff. +</P> + +<P> +"And here is a picture of a greyhound, and here of a terrier," continued +the bold Stuart. "Oh, General, you're not only going in for racing, +but for coursing dogs as well, and maybe fighting dogs, too! Throughout +the South all the old ladies look up to you as our highest moral +representative. What will they think when they hear of these things? +It would be worse than a great battle lost." +</P> + +<P> +"General Stuart," said Jackson, "I know more about race horses than you +think I do." +</P> + +<P> +He would add no more, but Harry had learned that, when quite a small boy, +he had ridden horses in backwoods races for a sport-loving uncle. +But Stuart continued his jests and Jackson secretly enjoyed them. +The two men were so opposite in nature that they were complements and +each liked the society of the other. +</P> + +<P> +The two lads and the staff officers went outside presently, and the two +generals were left together to talk business for a quarter of an hour. +When Stuart emerged he glanced at Harry and Dalton and beckoned to them. +When they came up he had mounted, but he leaned over, and pointing a +long finger in a buckskin glove in turn at each, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Can you dance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," replied Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"And you, Sir Knight of the Sober Mien?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can try, sir," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"But can you make it a good try?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the right spirit. Well, there's going to be a ball down at +my headquarters to-night; not a little, two-penny, half-penny affair, +but a real ball, a grand ball. The bands of the Fifth Virginia and of +the Acadians will be there to play, alternating. You're invited and +you're coming. I've already obtained leave from General Jackson for you +both. I wish the general himself would come, but he's just received a +theological book that Dr. Graham at Winchester has sent him, and he's +bound to spend most of the night on that. Put on your best uniforms and +be there just after dark." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton accepted eagerly, and Stuart, a genuine knight of old +alike in his courage and love of adornment, rode out of the grounds. +</P> + +<P> +"There goes a man who certainly loves life," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"And don't you love it, and don't I love it, Mr. Philosopher and Cynic?" +said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"So we do. But, as General Jackson said, General Stuart is a boy, +younger than either of us." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope to be the same kind of a boy when I'm his age." +</P> + +<P> +Stuart was riding on, looking about with a luminous eye, fired by +the spirit within him and the great landscape spread out before him. +It was a noble landscape, the wooded ranges stretching to right and left, +with the long sweep of rolling country between. The somber ruins of +Fredericksburg were hidden from view just then, but in front of him +flowed the great Rappahannock, still black with floods and ice yet +floating near the banks. +</P> + +<P> +Stuart drew a deep breath. It was a beautiful part of Virginia, old and +with many fine manor houses scattered about. And the people, educated, +polite, accustomed to everything, gladly sacrificed all they had for the +Confederacy in its hour of need. They had cut up their rugs and carpets +and sent them to the great camp on the Rappahannock that the soldiers +who had no blankets might use them. The cattle and poultry from the +rich farms were also sent to Lee's men. Virginia sacrificed herself for +the Confederate cause with a devotion that would have brought tears from +a stone. +</P> + +<P> +Some such thoughts as these were in the mind of Stuart as he rode toward +his own camp. There was a mist for a few moments before the eyes of the +great horseman, but as it cleared he became once more his natural self, +the gayest of the gay. He hummed joyously as he rode along, and the +refrain of his song was: "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton had gone back to the big mess tent and were already +arraying themselves with the utmost care for Jeb Stuart's ball. Their +clothes were in good condition now. After the long rest they had been +able to brush and furbish up their best uniforms, until they were both +neat and bright. They had no thought of rivalling St. Clair, who +undoubtedly would be there, but they were satisfied—they never expected +to rival St. Clair in that respect. But they were splendid youths, fine, +tall, upstanding, and with frank eyes and tanned faces. +</P> + +<P> +"Will many girls be there?" asked Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course. They'll come in from all the country around to be at Jeb +Stuart's ball. I wish we could invite a few of the Yankees over to see +what girls we have in Virginia." +</P> + +<P> +"That would be fine, but Hooker wouldn't let 'em, and Lee and Jackson +would certainly disapprove." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton started at twilight, and on their way they met Captain +Sherburne, who was bound for the same place. The captain was pretty +fond of good dress himself, and he, too, had a new uniform, perhaps not +so bright as St. Clair's, but fine and vivid, nevertheless. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well," said Harry, as he greeted him heartily. "You've got a lot +of shine about you, but you just watch out for St. Clair. He's sure +to be there, and he has a new uniform straight from Charleston. He's +making the most of it, too. Now may be the time to settle that +sartorial rivalry between you." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Sherburne joyously. "I'm ready. Come on." +</P> + +<P> +The house, a large one standing in ample grounds, was already lighted as +brilliantly as time and circumstances afforded. It is true that most +of these lights were of home-made tallow candles, because no other +illumination was to be had, and they made a brave show to these soldiers +who were used so long only to the light of their fires and the moon and +stars. +</P> + +<P> +Before these lights people were passing and repassing, and the sounds +of pleasant voices reached their ears. But they were stopped by four +figures just emerging from the shadows. The four were Colonel Leonidas +Talbot, just returned from Richmond, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, +Lieutenant Arthur St. Clair, and Lieutenant Thomas Langdon, all arrayed +with great care and bearing themselves haughtily. Sherburne and +St. Clair cast quick glances at each other. But each remained content, +because the taste of each was gratified. +</P> + +<P> +The meeting was most friendly. Harry and Dalton were very glad to see +Colonel Talbot, whom they had missed very much, but Harry detected at +once a note of anxiety in the voice of each colonel. +</P> + +<P> +"Hector," said Colonel Talbot, "I shall certainly dance. What, go +to Jeb Stuart's ball and not dance, when the fair and bright young +womanhood of Virginia is present? And I a South Carolinian! What +would they think of my gallantry, Hector, if I did not?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is certainly fitting, Leonidas. I used to be a master myself of +all the steps, waltz and gavotte and the Virginia reel and the others. +Once, when I was only twenty, I went to New Orleans to visit my cousins, +the de Crespignys, and many of them there were, four brothers, with +seven or eight children apiece, mostly girls; and 'pon my soul, Leonidas, +for the two months I was gone I did little but dance. What else could +one do when he had about twenty girl cousins, all of dancing age? +We danced in New Orleans and we danced out on the great plantation of +Louis de Crespigny, the oldest of the brothers, and all the neighbors +for miles around danced with us. There was one of my cousins, a third +cousin only she was, Flora de Crespigny, just seventeen years of age, +but a beautiful girl, Leonidas, a most beautiful girl—they ripen fast +down there. Once at the de Crespigny plantation I danced all day and +all the night following, mostly with her. Young Gerard de Langeais, +her betrothed, was furious with jealousy, and just after the dawn, +neither of us having yet slept, we fought with swords behind the live +oaks. I was not in love with Flora and she was not in love with me, +but de Langeais thought we were, and would not listen to my claim of +kinship. +</P> + +<P> +"I received a glorious little scratch on my left side and he suffered an +equally glorious little puncture in his right arm. The seconds declared +enough. Then we fell into the arms of each other and became friends for +life. A year later I went back to New Orleans, and I was the best man +at the wedding of Gerard and Flora, one of the happiest and handsomest +pairs I ever saw, God bless 'em. Their third son, Julien, is in a +regiment in the command of Longstreet, and when I look at him I see both +his father and his mother, at whose wedding I danced again for a whole +day and night. But now, Leonidas, I fear that my knees are growing a +little stiff, and think of our age, Leonidas!" +</P> + +<P> +"Age! age! Hector Lucien Philip Etienne St. Hilaire, how dare you talk +of age! Your years are exactly the same as mine, and I can outride, +outwalk, outdance, and, if need be, make love better than any of these +young cubs who are with us. I am astonished at you, Hector! Why, +it's been only a few years since you and I were boys. We've scarcely +entered the prime of life, and we'll show 'em at Jeb Stuart's ball!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, Leonidas, and you do well to rebuke me," and +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire puffed out his chest—he was, in +fact, a fine figure of a man. "We'll go to Jeb Stuart's ball, as you +say, and in the presence of the Virginia fair show everybody what real +men are." +</P> + +<P> +"And we'll be glad to see you do it, Colonel," said Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +The dancing had not yet begun, but as they entered the grounds the +Acadian band swung into the air of the Marseillaise, playing the grand +old Revolutionary tune with all the spirit and fervor with which +Frenchmen must have first played and sung it. Then it swung into +the soul-stirring march of Dixie, and a wild shout, which was partly +feminine, came from the house. +</P> + +<P> +The two colonels had walked on ahead, leaving the young officers +together. Langdon caught sight of a figure standing before an open door, +with a fire blazing in a large fireplace serving as a red background. +That background was indeed so brilliant that every external detail of +the figure could be seen. Langdon, stopping, pulled hard on the arms +of Harry and Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"Halt all!" he said, "and tell me if in very truth I see what I see!" +</P> + +<P> +"Go on!" said St. Clair. +</P> + +<P> +"Item No. one, a pink dress of some gauzy, filmy stuff, with ruffle +after ruffle around the skirt." +</P> + +<P> +"Correct." +</P> + +<P> +"Item No. two, a pink slipper made of silk, perchance, with the toe of +it just showing beyond the hem of the skirt." +</P> + +<P> +"You observe well, my lord." +</P> + +<P> +"Item three, a fair and slim white hand, and a round and beautiful +wrist." +</P> + +<P> +"Correct. Again thou observest well, Sir Launcelot." +</P> + +<P> +"Item four, a rosy young face which the firelight makes more rosy, +and a crown of golden hair, which this same firelight turns to deeper +gold." +</P> + +<P> +"Correct, ye Squire of Fair Ladies; and now, lead on!" +</P> + +<P> +They entered the great house and found it already filled with officers +and women, most of whom were young. The visitors had brought with them +the best supplies that the farms could furnish, turkeys, chickens, hams, +late fruits well preserved, and, above all, that hero-worship with which +they favored their champions. To these girls and their older sisters +the young officers who had taken part in so many great battles were like +the knights of old, splendid and invincible. +</P> + +<P> +There was no warning note in all that joyous scene, although a hostile +army of one hundred and thirty-five thousand men and four hundred guns +lay on the other side of the river which flowed almost at their feet. +It seemed to Harry afterward that they danced in the very face of death, +caring nothing for what the dawn might bring. +</P> + +<P> +Stuart was in great feather. In his finest apparel he was the very life +and soul of the ball, and these people forgot for a while the desolation +into which war was turning their country. The Virginia band and the +Acadians carried on an intense but friendly rivalry, playing with all +the spirit and vigor of men who were anxious to please. It was a joy to +Harry when he was not dancing to watch them, especially the Acadians, +whose faces glowed as the dancers and their own bodies swayed to the +music they were making. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and his comrades were very young, but youth matures rapidly in war, +and they felt themselves men. In truth they had done the deeds of +men for two years now, and they were treated as such by the others. +Bertrand also was present, and while he cast a dark look or two at +St. Clair, he kept away from him. +</P> + +<P> +Bye and bye another young man, obviously of French blood, appeared. +But he was not dark. He had light hair, blue eyes, and he was tall and +slender. But the pure strain of his Gallic blood showed, nevertheless, +as clearly as if he had been born in Northern France itself. +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire welcomed him with warmth and +pride and introduced him to the lads, who at that moment were not +dancing. +</P> + +<P> +"This is that young cousin of mine of whom I was speaking," he said. +"It is Julien de Langeais, son of that beautiful cousin, Flora de +Crespigny, and of that gallant and noble man, Gerard de Langeais, +with whom I fought the duel. I did not know that you would be here, +Julien, and the surprise makes the pleasure all the greater." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not know myself, sir, until an hour ago, that I could come," +replied young de Langeais, "but it is a glorious sight, sir, and I'm +truly glad to be here." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes sparkled at the sight of the dancers and his feet beat time +to the music. Harry saw that here was one who was in love with life, +a soul akin to that of Langdon, and he and his comrades liked him at +once and without reservations. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire saw how +they received him and his splendid mustaches curled up with pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"Go with them, Julien," he said, "and they will see that you enjoy +yourself to the full. They are good boys. Meanwhile I have a dance +with that beautiful Mrs. Edgehill, and if I am not there, Leonidas, +honorable and lofty-minded as he is, but weak where the ladies are +concerned, will insert himself into my place." +</P> + +<P> +"Go, sir. Do not delay on my account," said young de Langeais. "I'm +sure that I'll fare well here." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire hurried away. Both he and Colonel Talbot +were fully maintaining their reputations as dancing men. St. Clair +and Langdon had partners, and making apologies they left to join them. +Harry and Dalton remained with de Langeais. +</P> + +<P> +"Colonel St. Hilaire said that you were with Longstreet," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"I am, or rather was. At least our regiment belongs with him, but when +he was detached to meet the possible march on Richmond we were left with +General Lee, and I am glad of it." +</P> + +<P> +"The great operations are sure to be where Lee and Jackson are." +</P> + +<P> +They got along so well that in another hour they felt as if they had +known de Langeais all their lives. The night lengthened. Refreshments +were served at times, but the dancers took them in relays. The dancing +in the ballroom never ceased, and Jeb Stuart nearly always led it. +</P> + +<P> +It was after midnight now and Harry and his new friend, de Langeais, +throwing their military cloaks over their shoulders, walked out on one +of the porticos for air. Many people, black and white, had gathered as +usual to watch the dancing. +</P> + +<P> +Harry glanced at them casually, and then he saw a large figure almost +behind the others. His intuition was sudden, but he had not the least +doubt of its accuracy. He merely wondered why he had not looked for the +man before. +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me a minute," he said to de Langeais, and they walked toward +the tree. But Shepard was gone, and Harry had expected that, too. +He did not intend to hunt for him any further, because he was sure not +to find him. +</P> + +<P> +The brilliant spirit of the ball suddenly departed from him, and as he +and de Langeais went back toward the house it was the stern call of war +that came again. The deep boom of a cannon rolled from a point on the +Rappahannock, and Harry was not the only one who felt the chill of its +note. The dancing stopped for a few moments. Then the gloom passed +away, and it was resumed in all its vigor. +</P> + +<P> +But Stuart came out on the porch and Harry and de Langeais halted, +because they heard the hoofs of a galloping horse. The man who came +was in the dress of a civilian, and he brought a message. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE WILDERNESS +</H3> + +<P> +Stuart's brilliant figure was seen no more in the ballroom that night, +but he disappeared so quietly that his absence created no alarm at +first. There was a low call for Sherburne, and the great cavalry leader +and his most daring horsemen were soon up and away. Harry and Dalton, +standing under the boughs of an oak, near the edge of the grounds, +saw them depart, but the dancers, at least the women and girls, knew +nothing. +</P> + +<P> +Another cannon shot came from some distant point along the stream, +and its somber echoes rolled and died away among the hills, but the +music of the band in the ballroom did not cease. It was the Acadians +who were playing now, some strange old dance tune that they had brought +from far Louisiana, taken thence by the way of Nova Scotia from its +origin in old France. +</P> + +<P> +"They don't know yet," said Harry, "but I'm thinking it will be the last +dance for many a day." +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like it," said Dalton. "What time is it, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Past two in the morning, and here comes Colonel Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire." +</P> + +<P> +The two colonels walked out on the lawn. Military cloaks were thrown +over their shoulders and all signs of merry-making were gone from their +faces. They stood side by side and with military glasses were sweeping +the horizon toward the river. Presently they saw Harry and Dalton +standing under the boughs of the oak, and beckoned to them. +</P> + +<P> +"You know?" said Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, we do," replied Harry. "We saw General Stuart and his staff +ride away, because a messenger had come, stating that divisions of +Hooker's army were about to cross the Rappahannock." +</P> + +<P> +"That is true, but we wish no panic here. Go back in the house, lads, +and dance. Officers are scarcer there than they were a half hour ago. +But you two lads will return to General Jackson before dawn, while +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire and I will gather up our young men and +return to our own place." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton obeyed promptly, and took their places again in the +dancing, but they soon discovered that the spirit was gone from it. +The absence of Stuart, Sherburne and others almost as conspicuous was +soon noted, and although those who knew gave various excuses, they were +not satisfactory. Gradually the belief spread that the long vacation +was over. After Fredericksburg the armies had spent four months in +peace along the Rappahannock, but there was a certainty in the minds +of all that the armed peace had passed. +</P> + +<P> +The music ceased bye and bye, the girls and the women went away in their +carriages or on horseback, the lights were put out, and the heroes of +the ballroom, veterans of the battlefield, too, went quietly to their +commands once more. The youths, including their new friend, Julien de +Langeais, parted shortly before dawn, and their parting was characteristic. +</P> + +<P> +"See you again, I think, at the edge of the Wilderness, where we'll be +holding converse with Hooker," said St. Clair. +</P> + +<P> +"At any rate you can look for me in the White House with my boots on," +said Happy Tom, returning to his original boast. +</P> + +<P> +Then they shook hands and hurried away to join the two colonels, leaving +de Langeais with Dalton and Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Gallant spirits," said the young Louisianian. "I like them." +</P> + +<P> +"As fine as silk, both of them," said Harry with enthusiasm. "I'm glad +we've met you, de Langeais, and I hope you'll be equally glad you've met +us. We'll see you again after the battle, whenever and wherever it may +be." +</P> + +<P> +"Many thanks," said de Langeais. "It gives me much pride to be taken +into your company. My command is several miles away, and therefore I +must ride. Adieu." +</P> + +<P> +He was holding his horse's reins as he spoke. Then he leaped lightly +into the saddle and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +"A brave and true spirit, if I know one," said Harry. "And now come, +George, the sooner we get back to Old Jack's headquarters the better it +will be for us." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think Hooker's army can cross?" asked Dalton, looking at the +black river. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it can. Remember that they have four hundred guns with which +they can cover a passage. Didn't Burnside build his bridges and force +the crossing in our face, when we had twenty thousand more men than we +have now, and the Union army had twenty thousand less? Their line is so +long and they are so much superior in numbers that we can't guard all +the river. As I take it, Lee and Old Jack will not make any great +opposition to the crossing, but there will be a thunderation of a time +after it's made." +</P> + +<P> +It was sunrise when they reached their own headquarters and entered the +great mess tent, where some of the officers who had not gone to the ball +were already eating breakfast. They said that the general had been +awake more than two hours and that he was taking his breakfast, too, +in the hunting lodge. He sent for various officers from time to time, +and presently Harry's turn came. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson was sitting at a small table, upon which his breakfast had been +laid. But all that had been cleared away long ago. He was reading in a +small book when Harry entered, a book that the youth knew well. It was +a copy of Napoleon's Maxims, which Jackson invariably carried with him +and read often. But he closed it quickly and put it in his pocket. +During the long rest Jackson's face had become somewhat fuller, but the +blue eyes under the heavy brows were as deep and thoughtful as ever. +He nodded to Harry and said: +</P> + +<P> +"You were present when General Stuart received the message that the +enemy was advancing? Was anything more ascertained at the time? +Did any other messenger come?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir. General Stuart mounted and rode at once. I remained at the +ball until its close. No other messenger came there for him. Of that I +am sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, very well," said Jackson to himself, rather than to the +young lieutenant. "One message was enough. Stuart has acted promptly, +as he always does. You, Mr. Kenton, I judge have been up all night +dancing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Most all of it, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"We must get ready now for another and less pleasant kind of dancing. +But nothing will happen to-day. You'd better sleep. If you are needed +you will be called." +</P> + +<P> +Harry saluted and withdrew. At the door he glanced back. Jackson had +taken out Napoleon's Maxims and was reading the volume again. The brow +was seamed with thought, but his countenance was grave and steady. +Harry never forgot any look or act of his great chief in those days when +the shadow of Chancellorsville was hovering near. +</P> + +<P> +A dozen officers were in the mess tent, and they talked earnestly of +various things, but Harry, unheeding their voices, lay down in a corner +without taking off his clothes and went quietly to sleep. Many came +into the tent or went out of it in the course of the morning, but none +of them disturbed him. A man in the army slept when he could, and there +was none wicked enough to awaken him until the right time for it. +</P> + +<P> +He slept heavily nearly all through the day, and shortly after he awoke +Sherburne and two other officers, their horses splashed with mud, +rode up to the hunting lodge. Jackson was standing in the door, and +with a rising inflection he uttered one word: +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's true, General," said Sherburne. "The enemy is advancing in heavy +force toward Kelly's Ford. We saw them with our own eyes. General +Stuart asked me to tell you this. He did not come himself, because, +as well as we can ascertain, General Hooker has separated his army +into two or three great divisions and they are seeking the crossing at +different fords or ferries." +</P> + +<P> +"As I thought," said Jackson. "It's the advantage given them by their +great numbers and powerful artillery. Ride back to General Stuart, +Captain, and tell him that I thank him, and you, too, for your +diligence." +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne, flushing deep with gratification, took off his cap and bowed. +But he knew too well to waste any time in words. +</P> + +<P> +That night the Union army laid its pontoon bridges again across the +Rappahannock near Fredericksburg and began to cross in great force. +Hooker, like Burnside four months before, was favored by thick fogs, +but he met with practically no resistance. At dawn a strong force under +Sedgwick was across at Deep Run, and another as strong had made the +passage at Kelly's Ford. +</P> + +<P> +The advanced riflemen of Sedgwick were engaged in scattered firing with +those of Jackson before the fog had yet lifted, but the main force had +made no movement. Dalton had been sent at dawn with a message telling +Lee that Sedgwick was over the river. Dalton, some time after his +return, told Harry of his ride and reception. +</P> + +<P> +"When I rode up," he said, "General Lee was in his tent. An aide took +me in and I gave him the message. He did not show any emotion. Several +others were present, some of them staff officers as young as myself. +He turned to them and said, smiling a little: 'Well, I heard firing not +long since, and I had concluded that it was about time for some of you +young idlers to come and tell me what it was all about. Go back to +General Jackson, Mr. Dalton, and tell him that I send him no orders now. +He knows as well what to do in the face of the enemy as I do.' I +brought this message, word for word, just as General Lee delivered it to +me, and General Jackson smiled a little, just as General Lee had done. +It's my opinion, Harry, that Lee and Old Jack haven't the slightest fear +of the enemy." +</P> + +<P> +Harry was convinced of it, too, but he felt also the steadily hardening +quality of the Army of the Potomac. Whatever Hooker might be he was +neither dilatory nor afraid. He and his comrades saw the corps of +Sedgwick entrenching on the Confederate side of the river, and they also +saw the great batteries still frowning from Stafford Heights, ready to +protect their men on the plain near Fredericksburg. +</P> + +<P> +But Jackson made no movement. He watched the enemy calmly, and +meanwhile messengers passed between him and Lee. Both were waiting +to see what their enemy, who was displaying unusual energy, would do. +In the evening they received news that the Union troops had crossed the +river at two more points. They still remained stationary, waiting, +and without alarm. +</P> + +<P> +Cavalrymen on both sides were active, ranging over a wide area. Stuart +came the next morning, having taken prisoners from whom he learned that +three more Union corps led by Meade, Slocum and Howard, all famous names, +had crossed the river and were advancing toward a little place called +Chancellorsville on the edge of a region known as the Wilderness. +The Southern general, Anderson, with a much smaller force, was falling +back before them. +</P> + +<P> +The Northern leaders had now shown the energy and celerity which +hitherto had so often marked the Southern. Hooker, with seventy +thousand splendid troops, had gone behind Lee and now three divisions +were united in the forest close to Chancellorsville. Sedgwick, with his +formidable corps, lay in the plain of Fredericksburg, facing Jackson, +and thousands of Northern cavalry rode on the Southern flanks. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was bewildered, and so were many officers of much higher rank than +he. It seemed that the Confederate army, surrounded by overwhelming +numbers, was about to be crushed. The exultation of Hooker at the +success of his movements against such able foes was justified for the +moment. He issued to his army a general order, which said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the commanding general announces +to his army that the operations of the last three days have determined +that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind +his defences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certain +destruction awaits him. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Hooker, it can be said again, had cause for exultation. He was closing +in with more than a hundred thousand stern fighters, and ten thousand +splendid cavalrymen under Stoneman were hanging on the Southern flank, +ready to cut off retreat. Besides, there were reserves, and he could +also join to the artillery the great batteries on Stafford Heights, +on the left bank of the river, which had done such good service for +the Army of the Potomac. He could go into action with men and guns +outnumbering his enemy more than two to one, and Lee and Jackson would +have no such hills and intrenchments as those which had protected them +while they cut down the army of Burnside at Fredericksburg. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and his young comrades were lost in the mists and doubts of +uncertainty. Nothing could shake their confidence in Lee and Jackson, +but yet they were only human beings. Had the time come when there was +more to be done than any men, great and brilliant as they might be, +could do? Yet they refused to express their apprehensions to one +another, and waited, their hearts now and then beating heavily. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the last day of April passed, and for Harry it was more fully +surcharged with suspense and anxiety than any other that he had yet +known. The forests and the fields were flush with the green of early +spring. Little wild flowers were peeping up in the thickets, and now +and then a bird, full throated, sang on a bough, indifferent to passing +armies. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry saw a red tint over everything. The spirit of his great +ancestor had descended upon him again. The acute sense which warned him +of mighty and tragic events soon to come was alive and active. His mind +traveled backward too. Sometimes he did not see the men around him, +but saw instead Pendleton, the boys playing in the fields, and his +father. He also saw again that log house in the Kentucky mountains, +and the old, old woman who had known his great-grandfather, Henry Ware. +Once more he heard like a whisper in his ears her parting words: "You +will come again, and you will be thin and pale and in rags, and you will +fall at the door. I see you coming with these two eyes of mine." +</P> + +<P> +What did they mean? What did those strange words mean? It was the +first time in a year, perhaps, that he had thought of that old, old +woman, and the log house in the mountains. But he saw her now, and she +was strangely vivid for one so old and so withered. Then she vanished, +and for the time was forgotten completely, because Lee and Jackson were +riding past, one on Traveler and the other on Little Sorrel, and it +was no time to be dreaming of glens in the mountains and their peace, +because mighty armies were closing in, bent upon the destruction of each +other. +</P> + +<P> +All that afternoon Harry heard in a half circle about him the distant +moaning of cannon, and he caught glimpses of galloping horsemen. +Stuart, equally at home on the floor of the ballroom or the field of +battle, was leading his troopers in a daring circuit. When he saw that +the Army of the Potomac was moving toward Chancellorsville he had cut +in on its right flank, taking prisoners, and when a Union regiment had +stood in his way, attempting to bar his path to his own army, he had +ridden over it and gone. +</P> + +<P> +All the time the sinister moaning of the guns on the far horizon never +ceased. It was this distant threat that oppressed Harry more than +anything else. It beat softly on the drums of his ears, and it said +to him continually that his army must make a supreme effort or perish. +General Jackson did not call upon him to do anything, and once he rode +forward with Dalton and looked at Sedgwick's Union masses upon the +plains of Fredericksburg, still protected by the batteries which had +not yet been moved from Stafford Heights. Harry thought, for a while, +that Lee and Jackson would certainly attack there, but night came and +they had made no movement for that purpose. +</P> + +<P> +But before the sun had set Harry with his glasses had been able to +command a wide view. He saw high up in the air three captive balloons, +from which some of Hooker's officers looked upon the Southern +intrenchments. Hooker also had signalmen on every height, and an ample +field telegraph. What Harry did not see he learned from the Southern +scouts. It seemed impossible that Lee and Jackson could break through +the circle of steel, and Hooker thought so, too. +</P> + +<P> +When the red sun set on that last day of April the confidence of the +Northern general was at its height. He had sent word to Sedgwick to +keep a close watch upon the enemy in his front, and if he exposed a weak +point to attack and destroy him. And if he showed signs of retreat, +also to follow and attack with the utmost vigor. +</P> + +<P> +The moaning of the cannon ceased with the night, and it brought Harry +intense relief. He was glad that those guns were silent for a while, +although he knew that they would be far busier on the morrow. The bands +of red and yellow left by the sun sank away, and as the cool, spring +night came down, a pleasant breeze began to blow through the forest. +Harry felt all the thrill of a mighty movement which was at hand, +but the nature of which he did not yet know. +</P> + +<P> +He had no wish to sleep. The feeling of tremendous events impending was +too strong and his nervous system was keyed too highly for such thoughts +to enter his mind. He was used to great battles now, but there was a +mystery, a weirdness about the one near at hand that sometimes turned +the blood in his veins to ice. +</P> + +<P> +They were not far from Fredericksburg, but the country about them looked +wild and lonely, despite the fact that nearly two hundred thousand +men were moving somewhere in those shades and thickets, preparing for +desperate combat. Harry knew that just back of them lay the Wilderness, +a desolate and somber region. Dalton, a Virginian, had been there, +and he told Harry that in ordinary times one could walk through it for +many miles without meeting a single human being. +</P> + +<P> +"And they say that Hooker is along its edge with the bulk of his army," +said Dalton. "He is in our rear ready to attack with his veterans. +What conclusion do you draw from it, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I infer that Lee and Jackson will not attack Sedgwick at Fredericksburg. +They will go for Hooker. They will strike where the enemy is strongest. +It's their way, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right, of course, Harry. We'll be marching against Hooker long before +the dawn." +</P> + +<P> +Dalton's prediction came true earlier than he had expected. Jackson +marched at midnight from his position on the Massaponnax Hills to join +the small command of Anderson, which alone faced Hooker. He was as +silent as ever, the figure bent forward a little and the brow knitted +with thought. Close behind him came his staff, Harry and Dalton knee to +knee. They had known as soon as Jackson mounted his horse and turned +his head southwestward that they were marching toward the Wilderness and +against Hooker. Sedgwick at Fredericksburg might do as he pleased. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton were glad. They were quite sure now that Lee and +Jackson had formed their plan, and, as they had formed it, it must be +good. It was a long ride under the moon and stars. There was but +little talk along the lines. The noises were those of marching feet and +not of men's voices. All the troops felt the mystery and solemnity of +the night and the deep import of their unknown mission. +</P> + +<P> +The dawn found them still marching, but that dawn was again heavy with +the fogs and mists that rose from the broad river. The three Northern +balloons could see nothing. The signalmen were of no avail. The clouds +of vapor rolled over the ruins of Fredericksburg and along the hills +south of the river. Neither Sedgwick and his men nor any of the Union +officers on the other shore knew that Jackson had gone, leaving only a +rear guard behind. Before the fog had cleared away Jackson with his +fighting generals had joined Anderson and they were forming a powerful +line of battle near Chancellorsville and facing Hooker. +</P> + +<P> +Harry now heard much of this name Chancellorsville, destined to become +so famous, and he said it over and over again to himself. And yet it +was not a town, nor even a village. Here stood a large house, with the +usual pillared porticoes, built long since by the Chancellor family and +inhabited by them in their generation, but now turned into a country +inn. Yet it had importance. Roads ran from it in various directions +and in territories very unlike, including the strange and weird region +known as the Wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +Hooker had come through the Wilderness with his main force, and was now +forming a line of battle in front of it in the open country, when for +some reason never fully known he fell back on Chancellorsville and began +to concentrate his army in the edge of the Wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, riding with Dalton and some others to inspect the enemy's front +through their glasses, saw this gloomy forest, destined to such a +terrible fame not alone from the coming battle, but from others as +great. Nature could have chosen no more fitting spot for the mighty +sacrifice to save the Union, because here everything is dark, solemn +and desolate. +</P> + +<P> +For twenty miles one way and fifteen the other the Wilderness stretched +its somber expanse. The ancient forest had been cut away long since and +the thin, light soil had produced a sea of scrub and thickets in its +place, in which most of the houses were the huts of charcoal burners. +The undergrowth and jungle were often impenetrable, save by some lone +hunter or wild animal. The gnarled and knotted oaks were distorted and +the bushes, even in the flush of a May morning, were black and ugly. +At evening it was indescribably desolate, and save when the armies came +there was no sound but the lone cry of the whip-poor-will, one of the +saddest of all notes. +</P> + +<P> +It was upon this forest that Harry looked, and he wondered, as many +officers much older and much higher in rank than he wondered, that +Hooker, with forces so much superior, should draw back into its shades. +And many of the Union generals, too, had protested in vain against +Hooker's orders. They knew, as the Confederate generals knew, that +Hooker was a brave man, and they never understood it then or afterwards. +</P> + +<P> +"It gives us our chance," said Dalton, with sudden intuition, to Harry. +"We'll carry the battle to them in the forest, and there numbers will +not count so much." +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" exclaimed Harry. "They're withdrawing farther into the +Wilderness. There go the last bayonets!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's so," said Dalton. "I can still see a few of them moving among the +trees and thickets. Now they're all gone. What does it mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"It means that Old Jack will follow into the Wilderness, as sure as you +and I are here. He isn't the man to let an enemy retreat in peace." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so. There are the bugles calling, and it's time for us to +rejoin Old Jack." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson was not more than a hundred yards away, and they were soon just +behind him, riding slowly forward, while he swept the forest with his +glasses. Riflemen sent far in advance began to fire, and from the +forest came replies. Harry saw bits of earth and grass kicked up by the +bullets, and now and then a man fell or, wounded, limped to the rear. +There was no fog here and the day had become beautiful and brilliant, +as became the first morning in May. The little white puffs of smoke +arose all along the edges of the Wilderness, and, sailing above the +trees and bushes, dissolved into the blue sky. It was yet only a +skirmish between the Southern vanguard and the Northern vanguard, +but the riflemen increased to hundreds and they made a steady volume of +sound. Now and then the lighter guns were fired and the like replied +from the thickets. +</P> + +<P> +Harry gazed intently at Jackson. Would he with his relatively small +force follow Hooker into the Wilderness, despising the dangers of ambush +and the possibility that his foe might turn upon him in overwhelming +numbers? Lee was with the troops elsewhere, and Jackson for the present +must rely upon his own judgment. +</P> + +<P> +But Jackson never hesitated. While the fire of the riflemen deepened +he plunged into the Wilderness in pursuit of Hooker, who for some +inscrutable reason was concentrating his masses about the Chancellor +House for pitched battle. They advanced by two ways, a pike and a plank +road, with Jackson himself on the plank road. +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt a strange prickling at the roots of his hair as the +Wilderness closed in on pursuer and pursued, but it was only for a +moment. The enemy far down the plank road held his attention. Many +riflemen were there and they were sending back bullets, most of which +fell short. Now and then a curving shell struck among the bushes, burst, +and hurt no one. +</P> + +<P> +It had grown darker when they entered the Wilderness. The scrub forest, +not lofty enough for dignity and nobility, was nevertheless dense enough +to shut out most of the sunlight. Despite the blaze of the firing, +both pursuer and pursued were enveloped in heavy shadows. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had nothing to do but to keep near his general, in case he was +wanted. But he watched everything with the utmost interest. Once he +looked back and saw the Invincibles, few in number, but still preserving +their regiment, marching in brave style along the plank road. Colonel +Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire were riding side by side +at its head, and in all the army there were not two more erect and +soldierly figures than theirs. +</P> + +<P> +They soon heard heavy artillery discharges from the other force on the +pike, and the fire in front of them increased heavily. Nevertheless +both forces pushed resolutely onward. Harry had no idea what it all +meant. The movements of Hooker were a mystery to him, but he felt the +presence of an enveloping danger, through which, however, he felt sure +that the sword of Jackson could slash. +</P> + +<P> +He saw that the generals were neglecting no precautions. The scouts and +hardy riflemen were now pressing through all the forests and thickets, +like Indians trailing in the Wilderness. They kept the two forces, +the one on the plank road and the other on the pike, in touch. McLaws, +who had shown so much spirit and judgment at Antietam, led on the pike. +</P> + +<P> +Now the fighting increased on both roads. Batteries faced batteries +and cavalry charged. But Harry felt all the time that these were not +supreme efforts. The opposing force seemed to be merely a curtain +before Hooker, and as the Southern army advanced the curtain was drawn +steadily back, but it was always there. +</P> + +<P> +One of the encounters rose almost to the dignity of a battle. A heavy +division of Northern regulars drove in all the Southern skirmishers, +but Jackson, sending forward a strong force, pushed back the regulars in +their turn. Harry watched the fighting most of the time, but at other +times he watched his general's face. It was the usual impenetrable mask, +but late in the afternoon Harry saw a sudden sparkle in the blue eye. +He always believed that at that moment the general divined the enemy's +intentions, but the boy never had any way of knowing. +</P> + +<P> +Scouts came in presently and reported that another heavy column was +marching from the Rappahannock to join Hooker in the Wilderness, and +now the advance of the Southern force became slower. It was obvious to +Harry that Jackson, while resolute to follow Hooker, intended to guard +against all possibility of ambush. Harry knew nothing then of the +Chancellor House, but Dalton told him. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a big place," he said, "standing on a heavy ridge surrounded by +thick timber, and it's a natural presumption that Hooker will stop +there. From the timbered ridge his cannon can sweep every approach." +</P> + +<P> +Harry had no doubt that Hooker would halt at the Chancellor House. +It was incredible that a great army of brave and veteran troops should +continue to retreat before a force which his scouts had surely informed +Hooker was far smaller, and only a portion of the Confederate army. +It must be merely a part of some comprehensive plan, and he was +confirmed in his belief by the increasing stubbornness of the defense. +</P> + +<P> +There was not sufficient room on either the plank road or the pike for +all the Confederate infantry, and masses were toiling through the dense +thickets of bushes and briars and creeping vines. The afternoon was +growing late, and while it was yet brilliant sunshine in the open, +it was dark and somber in the Wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +The division of Jackson seemed almost lost in the forest and +undergrowth. The cavalry riding along some of the narrow paths were +checked by large forces in front, and fell back under the protection +of their own infantry. On another path a strong body of Southern +skirmishers drove back those of the North, but were checked in their +turn by a heavy fire of artillery. +</P> + +<P> +Harry witnessed the repulse of the Southern riflemen and saw them +crowding back down the path and through the bushes which lined it on +either side. He also saw the usually calm and imperturbable face of +Jackson show annoyance. The general signed to his staff, and, galloping +forward a hundred yards or so, joined Stuart, who was just in front. +Stuart also showed annoyance, but, more emotional than Jackson, he +expressed it in a much greater degree. His face was red with anger. +Harry, who as usual kept close behind his commander, heard their talk. +</P> + +<P> +"General Stuart," said General Jackson, "we must find some position from +which we can open a flanking fire upon that Northern battery." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, sir," said Stuart. "Nothing would delight me more. The +narrowness of the road, and their place at the head of it, give them an +immense advantage. Ah, sir, here is a bridle path leading to the right. +Maybe it will give us a chance." +</P> + +<P> +The two generals, followed by their staffs and a battery, turned from +the main body into the narrow path and pushed their way between the +masses of thick undergrowth, bearing steadily toward the right. But the +road was so narrow that not more than two could go abreast, the generals +in their eagerness still leading the way. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, rising up in his stirrups, tried to see over the dense +undergrowth, but patches of saplings and scrub oaks farther on hid the +view. Nevertheless he caught the flash of heavy guns and saw many +columns of smoke rising. It was toward their left now, and they would +soon be parallel with it, whence their own guns would open a flanking +fire, if any open spot or elevation could be found. +</P> + +<P> +They had gone about a half mile, when Stuart uttered an exclamation and +pointed to a hillock. It was not necessary to say anything, because +everyone knew that this was the place for the guns. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we'll drop a few shells of our own among those Yankee gunners and +see how they like it," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +The cannon were unlimbering rapidly, but the open space on the hillock +was so small that only one gun could be brought up, and it sent a shot +toward the Union lines. The Union artillery, superb as always, marked +the spot whence the shot came, and in an instant two batteries, masked +by the woods, poured a terrible fire upon the hillock and those about it. +</P> + +<P> +So deadly was the steel rain that the little force was put out of action +at once. Harry had never beheld a more terrifying scene. Most of the +horses and men around the first cannon were killed. One horse and one +gunner fell dead across its wheels. Other horses, wounded and screaming +with pain and fright, rushed into the dense undergrowth and were +caught by the trailing vines and thrown down. Some of the cavalrymen +themselves were knocked out of the saddle by the fleeing horses, but +they quickly regained their seats. +</P> + +<P> +A second discharge from many guns sent another rain equally as deadly +upon the hillock and its vicinity. More men and horses fell, and a +scene of wild confusion followed. Attempting to turn about and escape +from that spot of death, the cannon crashed together. There was not +room for all the men and horses and guns. Most of them were compelled +to plunge into the undergrowth and struggle desperately through it for +shelter. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry did not forget the two generals who were worth so much to the +South. It would be fate's bitterest irony if Jackson and Stuart were +killed in a small flanking movement, when, as was obvious to everyone, +a battle of the first magnitude was just before them. And yet, while +fragments of steel, hot and hissing, fell all around them, Jackson and +Stuart and all the members of their staffs escaped without hurt. +</P> + +<P> +The deadly fire followed them as they retreated, but the two generals +rode on, unharmed. Harry and Dalton breathed deep sighs of relief when +they were out of range. +</P> + +<P> +"If a bullet had gone through my left side," said Dalton, "it wouldn't +have come near my heart." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because my heart was in my mouth. In fact, I don't think it has gone +back yet to its natural place. The Yankees certainly have the guns." +</P> + +<P> +"And the gunners who know how to use them. But doesn't it feel good, +George, to be back on the plank road?" +</P> + +<P> +"It does. I'll take my chance in open battle, but when I'm tangled up +among bushes and vines and briars, I do hate to have a hundred-pound +shell fired from an invisible gun burst suddenly on the top of my head. +What's all that firing off there to the left and farther on?" +</P> + +<P> +"It means that some of our people have got deeper into the Wilderness +than we have, and are feeling out Hooker. I imagine we won't go much +farther. Look how the night's dropping down. I'd hate to pass a night +alone in such a place as this Wilderness. It would be like sleeping in +a graveyard." +</P> + +<P> +"You won't have to spend the night alone here. I wish I was as sure of +Heaven as that. You'll have something like two hundred thousand near +neighbors." +</P> + +<P> +The sun set and darkness swept over the Wilderness, but it was still +lighted at many points by the flash of the firing and, after that ceased, +by the campfires. Jackson's advance was at an end for the time. +He was fully in touch with his enemy and understood him. Hooker had +retreated as far as he would go. When the fog cleared away in the +morning the men in the captive balloons had informed him that heavy +Southern columns were marching toward Chancellorsville. He was sure +now that the full strength of the Southern army was before him, and +he continued to fortify the Chancellor House and the plateau of Hazel +Grove. He also threw up log breastworks through the heavily wooded +country, and his lines, bristling with artillery and defended now by +six score thousand men, extended along a front of six miles. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson's division lay in the Wilderness before Hooker, but out of +cannon shot. All along that vast front hundreds and hundreds of pickets +and riflemen on either side were keeping a vigilant watch. Jackson and +his staff had dismounted and were eating their suppers around one of the +campfires. The general was again impassive. +</P> + +<P> +After the supper Harry walked a little distance and found the +Invincibles, resting comfortably on the trodden undergrowth. The two +colonels had preserved the neatness of their attire, and whatever they +felt, neither showed any anxiety. But St. Clair and Langdon were free +of speech. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Harry," said Happy Tom, "is Old Jack going to send us up against +intrenchments and four to one?" +</P> + +<P> +"He hasn't confided in me, but I don't think he means to do any such +thing. He remembers, as even a thick-head like you, Happy, would +remember, how the splendid army of Burnside beat itself to pieces +against our works at Fredericksburg." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, why are we here?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's sense in your question, Tom, but I can't answer it." +</P> + +<P> +"No, there isn't any sense in it," interrupted St. Clair. "Do you +suppose for an instant that Lee and Jackson would bring us here if they +didn't have a mighty good reason for it?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," admitted Happy Tom; "but General Lee isn't here. Yes, +he is! Listen to the cheering!" +</P> + +<P> +They sprang to their feet and saw Lee coming through the woods on his +white horse, Traveler, a roar of cheers greeting him as he advanced. +Behind him came new brigades, and Harry believed that the whole Southern +army was now united before Hooker. +</P> + +<P> +Lee dismounted and Jackson went forward to meet his chief. The staffs +stood at a respectful distance as the two men met and began to talk, +glancing now and then toward the distant lights that showed where the +army of Hooker stood. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHANCELLORSVILLE +</H3> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton sat down on a tiny hillock and waited while the two +generals carried on their long conference, to which now and then +they summoned McLaws, Anderson, Pender and other division or brigade +commanders. The two lads even then felt the full import of that +memorable night. +</P> + +<P> +Nature herself had stripped away all softness, leaving only sternness +and desolation for the terrible drama which was about to be played in +the Wilderness. The night was dark, and to Harry's imaginative mind the +forest turned to some vast stretch of the ancient, primitive world. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally cheerful and usually alive with the optimism of youth, the air +seemed to him that night to be filled with menacing signals. Often he +started at familiar sounds. The clank of arms to which he had been so +long used sent a chill down his spine. As the campfires died, the gloom +that hung over the Wilderness became for him heavier and more ominous. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, Harry?" asked Dalton, catching a glimpse of his face +in the moonlight. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, George. I suppose this war is getting on my nerves. +I must be looking too much into the future. Anyway, I'm oppressed +to-night, and I don't know what it is that's oppressing me so much." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't feel that way. Maybe I'm becoming blunted. But the generals +are talking a long time." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose they have need to do a lot of talking, George. You know +how small our army is, and we can't rush Hooker behind the strong +intrenchments they say he has thrown up. Oh, if only Longstreet and +his corps were back with us!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Longstreet and his men are not here, and we'll have to do the +best we can without them. Hold up your head, Harry. Lee and Jackson +will find a way." +</P> + +<P> +While Lee and Jackson and their generals conferred, another conference +was going on three miles away at the Chancellor House in the depths of +the Wilderness. Hooker, a brave man, who had proved his courage more +than once, was bewildered and uneasy. He lacked the experience in +supreme command in which his great antagonist, Lee, was so rich. +The field telegraph had broken down just before sunset, and his +subordinates, Sedgwick and Reynolds, brave men too, who had divisions +elsewhere, were vague and uncertain in their movements. Hooker did +not know what to expect from them. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the generals, chafing at retreat before a force which they knew +to be smaller than their own, wanted to march out and attack in the +morning. Hooker, suddenly grown prudent, awed perhaps by his great +responsibilities, wished to contract his camp and build intrenchments +yet stronger. He compromised at last amid varying counsels, and decided +to hold his present intrenched lines along their full length. His +gallant officers on the extended right and left were indignant at the +thought of withdrawing before the enemy, sure that they could beat him +back every time. +</P> + +<P> +But there were bolder spirits at the Southern headquarters, three miles +away. Lee and Jackson always saw clearly and were always able to +decide upon a course. Besides, their need was far more desperate. The +Southern army did not increase in numbers. Victories brought few new +men to its standards. Winning, it held its own, and losing, it lost +everything. Before it stood the Army of the Potomac, outnumbering it +two to one, and behind that army stood a great nation ready to pour +forth more men by the hundreds of thousands and more money by the +hundreds of millions to save the Union. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, leaning against a bush, fell into a light doze, from which Dalton +aroused him bye and bye. But the habit of war made him awake fully +and instantly. Every faculty was alive. He arose to his feet and saw +that Lee and Jackson were just parting. A faint moon shone over the +Wilderness, revealing but little of the great army which lay in its +thickets. +</P> + +<P> +"I fancy that the plan which will give us either victory or defeat is +arranged," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +But neither Harry nor Dalton was called, and bye and bye they sank into +another doze. They were awakened toward morning by Sherburne, who stood +before them holding his horse by the bridle. The horse was wet with +foam, and it was evident that he had been ridden far and hard. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Harry, springing to his feet. "I've been riding +with General Stuart," replied Sherburne, who looked worn and weary, +but nevertheless exultant. "How many miles we've ridden I'll never know, +but we've been along the whole Northern front and around their wings. +With the help of Fitz Lee we've discovered their weak point. The +Northern left, fortified in the thickets, is impossible. We'd merely +beat ourselves to pieces against it; but their right has no protection +at all, that is, no trenches or breastworks. I thought you boys might +be wanted presently, and, as I saw you sleeping here, I've awakened you. +Look down there and you'll see something that I think the Northern army +has cause to dread." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton looked at a little open space in the center of which +Lee and Jackson sat, having met for another talk, each on an empty +cracker box, taken from a heap which the Northern army had left behind +when it withdrew the day before. The generals faced each other and two +or three men were standing by. One of them was a major named Hotchkiss, +whom Harry knew. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton did not hear the words said, but one of those present +subsequently told them much that was spoken at this last and famous +conference. A man named Welford had recently cut a road toward the +northwest through the Wilderness in order that he might haul wood and +iron ore to a furnace that he had built. He had certainly never dreamed +of the far more important purpose to which this road would be put, +but he had been found at his home by Hotchkiss, the major, and, zealous +for the South, he had given him the information that was of so much +value. He had also volunteered to guide the troops along his road and +he had marked it on a map which the major carried. +</P> + +<P> +"What is your report, Major Hotchkiss?" asked General Lee. +</P> + +<P> +The major took a cracker box from the heap, put it between the two +generals, and spread his map upon it, pointing to Welford's road. +The two generals studied it attentively, and then Lee asked Jackson what +he would suggest. Jackson traced the road with his finger and replied +that he would like to follow it with his whole corps and fall upon the +Northern flank. He suggested that he leave his commander with only a +small force to make a noisy demonstration in the Northern front, while +Jackson was executing his great turning movement. +</P> + +<P> +Lee considered it only a few moments and agreed. Then he wrote brief +and crisp instructions, and when he finished, General Jackson rose +to his feet, his face illumined with eagerness. He was absolutely +confident that he would succeed in the daring deed he was about to +undertake. +</P> + +<P> +"It's over," said Dalton. "Whatever it is, we start on it at once." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson beckoned to all his staff, and soon Harry, Dalton and the others +were busy carrying orders for a great march that Jackson was about to +begin. Many of these orders related to secrecy. The ranks were to +be kept absolutely close and compact. If anybody straggled he was to +receive the bayonet. +</P> + +<P> +The Invincibles were in the vanguard. Harry and Dalton were near, +behind Jackson. Harry could speak now and then with his friends. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the Second Manassas over again, isn't it, Harry?" said St. Clair. +</P> + +<P> +"If it is, why do we seem to be marching away from the enemy?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know any more than you do. But I take it that when Stonewall +Jackson draws back from the enemy he merely does it in order to make a +bigger jump. We all know that." +</P> + +<P> +The dark South Carolinian, Bertrand, was riding just in front of them. +Now he turned suddenly and said: +</P> + +<P> +"St. Clair, we're about to go into a great battle, and I've felt for +some time that I provoked the quarrel with you. I'm sorry and I +apologize." +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair looked astonished, but he was not one to refuse so manly an +advance. +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, Captain, we did have a quarrel," he said, "but I had +forgotten it. It's not necessary for anybody to apologize where there's +no rancor." +</P> + +<P> +He took Bertrand's hand in a hearty grasp, which Bertrand returned with +equal vigor. Then the captain pushed his horse and rode a little ahead +of them. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, that was a singular thing," said Dalton, who came of a deeply +religious family, "and to my mind it was predestined." +</P> + +<P> +"Predestined?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, predestined! Decreed! Captain Bertrand is going to die. He'll +be killed in the coming battle. He was moved to make up the quarrel +which he forced on St. Clair because of his approaching fate, although +he does not know of it himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come, George! So much battle has keyed your mind too highly." +</P> + +<P> +But Dalton shook his head and remained resolute in his belief. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's confidence returned with action and the glorious flush of a May +morning. They had started after dawn. A splendid sun was rising in a +sky of satin blue. It even gilded the somber foliage of the Wilderness, +and the spirits of all the men in the great corps rose. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson stopped presently with his staff and let some of the regiments +file past him. General Lee was awaiting him there and the two talked +briefly. Harry saw that both were firm and confident. It was rare with +him, but Jackson's face was flushed and his eyes shining. He lingered +for only a few moments, and then rode on with his column. Lee's eyes +followed him, but he and his great lieutenant had spoken together for +the last time. +</P> + +<P> +Now they settled into silence, save for the marching sounds, of which +the most dominant was the rumbling of the artillery. But all the men in +the great column knew that they were embarked upon some mighty movement. +Very few asked themselves what it was. Nor did they care. They put +their faith in the great leader who had always led them to victory. +He could lead them where he chose. +</P> + +<P> +A light wind arose and the bushes and scrub forest of the Wilderness +moved gently like the surface of a lake. But that forest, as dense as +ever, extended on all sides of them and hid the tens of thousands who +marched in its shade. +</P> + +<P> +Harry presently heard the rolling of artillery fire and the distant +crash of rifles behind them. But he knew that it was Lee with the +minor portion of his army making the demonstration in Hooker's front, +deceiving him into the belief that he was about to be attacked by the +whole Southern army, while Jackson with his main force was making the +wide circuit under cover of the Wilderness in order to fall like a +thunderbolt upon his flank. +</P> + +<P> +Harry admired the daring of his two leaders, and at the same time he +trembled with apprehension. They had split their force, already far +smaller, in the face of the foe. Suppose that foe, with his army of +splendid fighters, should come suddenly from his intrenchments and +attack either division. Surely the Northern scouts and spies were +in the thickets. So great a movement as this could not escape their +attention. It would be impossible for a large army to pass on that +journey of many miles around Hooker and not one of the hundred thousand +men he had in the Wilderness bring him a word of it. +</P> + +<P> +They might be discovered by one of the balloons, and Harry strained his +eyes toward the far Rappahannock. He saw a black speck floating in the +sky, which he thought to be one of the balloons, and he felt a little +dread, but in a moment he realized that Jackson's army was as completely +hidden by the Wilderness from any such possible observer as if a blanket +lay over it. Then he dismissed all thoughts of balloons and rode on in +silence beside Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +Now he listened to the roar behind them. It had the violence of a great +battle, but he noticed that the sounds neither advanced nor retreated. +He smiled a little. Lee was still amusing Hooker, but it was a grim +amusement. +</P> + +<P> +A long time passed. Although the army could not move fast in the +Wilderness, its march was steady. The roar of Lee's attack had become +subdued, but Harry knew that the effect was due only to distance. +His trained ear told him that the demonstration in Hooker's front, +instead of decreasing, had increased in vigor. It was assuming the +proportions of a real battle, and with thickets and forests to obscure +sight, Hooker might well believe that the whole Southern army was yet +in front of him. +</P> + +<P> +The onward march had become rhythmic now. It was to Harry like the +regular throbbing of a pulse. The tread of many men, the beat of +horses' hoofs, and the clanking of guns melted into one musical note. +The sun crept slowly up, gilding thickets and forests with pure gold. +The sky was still an unbroken blue, save for the little white clouds +that floated in its bosom. The breeze of that May morning was +wonderfully crisp and fresh. It came tingling with life to the +thousands, so many of whom were about to die. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Harry as they went on through the thickets of the +Wilderness that the Union scouts would never discover them, but Northern +troops on an open eminence of Hazel Grove had seen a long column +moving away through the thickets and made report of it to the Northern +generals. But these leaders did not understand it. They had not +grasped the great daring of Jackson's march. +</P> + +<P> +They believed that Lee was merely extending his lines, but an hour +before noon a battery opened fire from a hill upon the marching +Confederate column. Harry and Dalton heard shrapnel whizzing over their +heads. After the first involuntary shiver they regained the calm of +youthful veterans and rode on in silence. +</P> + +<P> +But the fire of the Northern artillery was damaging, even at great +range. Shells and shrapnel sprayed showers of steel over the column. +Men were killed and others wounded. As they could not turn back to +fight those troublesome cannon, the column turned farther away and +forced a road through a new path. It seemed now that Jackson's march +was discovered and that the whole Northern army might press in between +him and Lee. Harry's heart rose in his throat and he looked at his +general. But Jackson rode calmly on. +</P> + +<P> +The curiosity of the Union generals in regard to that marching column +increased. Several of them appealed to Hooker to let them advance in +force and see what it was. Sickles was allowed to go out with a strong +division, but instead of reaching Jackson he was confronted by a portion +of Lee's force, thrown forward to meet him, and the battle was so fierce +that Sickles was compelled to send for help. A formidable force came +and drove the Southern division before it, but the vigilant Jackson, +informed by his scouts of what was happening behind him, turned his rear +guard to meet the attack, and Sickles was driven off a second time with +great loss. Then Jackson's men quickly rejoined him and they continued +their march, the vanguard, in fact, never having stopped. +</P> + +<P> +Harry took no part in this, but from a distance he saw much of it. +Once more he admired the surpassing alertness and vigor of Jackson, +who never seemed to make a mistake, a man who was able while on a great +march to detach men for the help of his chief, while never ceasing to +pursue his main object. +</P> + +<P> +The Northern forces, although they had fought bravely, retreated, +and the great movement that was going on remained hidden from them. +The gap between Lee and Jackson was growing wider, but they did not know +it was there. Hooker's retreat with his great army into the Wilderness +had given his enemies a chance to befog and bewilder him. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's supreme confidence returned. All things seemed possible to his +chief, and once more they were marching, unimpeded. It was now much +past noon, and they turned into a new road, leading north through the +thickets. +</P> + +<P> +"It scarcely seems possible that we can pass around a great army in this +way," said Dalton; "but, Harry, I'm beginning to believe the general +will do it." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course he will," said Harry. "It's Old Jack's chief pleasure to do +impossible things. He leaves the possible to ordinary men. See him. +He didn't even stop to look back while our rear guard returned to help +drive off the Yankees." +</P> + +<P> +The sun was near the zenith and the afternoon grew warm. They had come +upon hard, dry paths, and under the tread of the army great clouds of +dust arose, but it did not float high in the air, the thick boughs of +the trees and bushes catching it. But as it hovered so close to the +ground it made the breathing of the soldiers difficult and painful. +It rasped their throats, and soon they began to burn with the heat. +Many fell exhausted beside the paths, but they were helped by their +comrades or were put into the wagons, and the long column of steel never +ceased to wind onward. +</P> + +<P> +Near the middle of the afternoon, when they were about to cross the +western extension of the plank road, a young cavalry officer galloped up +and rode straight for Jackson. It was Fitzhugh Lee, whose services were +great at Chancellorsville. His glowing face showed that he brought news +of great importance. +</P> + +<P> +As he saluted, General Jackson checked his horse and Harry heard his +general ask: +</P> + +<P> +"You bring news. What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do, sir," responded young Lee eagerly. "I have something to show +you. A great Northern force is only a short distance away, and it does +not suspect your advance at all. If you will come with me to the crest +of a little hill here, I can show them to you." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson never hesitated a moment, signing to Harry to follow him, +evidently meaning to use him as a courier, if need arose. The three +then turned and rode through the bushes toward the hill, and Harry's +heart beat so hard that it gave him an actual physical pain when he +looked down on the sight below. He glanced at Jackson and saw that +his face was flushed and his eyes glowing. +</P> + +<P> +They were gazing upon a great Northern force which was to protect +Hooker's right. Its first lines were only three or four hundred yards +away. There were breastworks and other lines of defense running far +through the forest, positions that were formidable, but not manned at +this moment by riflemen or cannoneers. Rifles were stacked neatly +behind the intrenchments, extending in a long line as far as they could +see. Thousands of soldiers were sitting on the grass and among the +bushes, some asleep, some playing games, while others were cooking, +reading newspapers sent from the North, and some were singing. It was a +picture of idleness and ease in a camp, and not one among them suspected +that thirty thousand veterans of the South, led by Stonewall Jackson +himself, were within rifle shot, hidden under the vast canopy of the +Wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +Harry drew a deep breath, and then another. It was extraordinary, +unbelievable, but it was true. He looked again at Jackson and saw that +his eyes were still burning with blue fire. The general gazed for five +minutes, but never said a word. Then he turned and rode down the hill, +and swiftly the word was passed through the army that they would soon be +upon the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Harry?" asked St. Clair eagerly, as Harry rode along the +lines with a message for a general for whom he was looking. +</P> + +<P> +"They're just over there," replied Harry, nodding toward his right. +</P> + +<P> +"And they don't know we're here?" +</P> + +<P> +"They don't dream it." +</P> + +<P> +"And Lee and Jackson have got 'em in the trap again?" +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like it." +</P> + +<P> +Then Harry was gone with his message. And he bore other messages, +and like most of those he had borne earlier, their burden was secrecy +and silence. He never forgot any detail of that memorable day. Years +afterwards he could shut his eyes at any time and see the eve of +Chancellorsville in all its vivid colors, thirty thousand Southern +troops lying hidden in the thickets, General Jackson, followed by +himself and two other aides, riding upon the hill again and taking one +more look at the unsuspecting enemy below, the spreading out of the +cavalry like a curtain between them and Howard's corps to keep even a +single stray Northern picket or scout from seeing the mortal danger +at hand, and then Jackson dismounting and, seated on a stump, writing +to Lee that he was on the enemy's flank and would attack as soon as +possible. Harry was in fear lest the general should choose him to carry +back the dispatch, as he wished to stay with the corps and see what +happened, but the duty was assigned to another man. +</P> + +<P> +Confidence meanwhile reigned in the Union army. In the morning Hooker +had ridden around his whole line, and cheers received him as he came. +Scouts had brought him word that Jackson was moving, and he had taken +note of the encounter with the rearguard of Stonewall's force. But as +that force continued its march into the deep forest and disappeared from +sight, the brave and sanguine Hooker was confirmed in his opinion that +the whole Southern army was retreating. His belief was so firm that +he sent a dispatch to Sedgwick, commanding the detached force near +Fredericksburg, to pursue vigorously, as the enemy was fleeing in an +effort to save his train. +</P> + +<P> +While Hooker was writing this dispatch the "fleeing enemy," led by the +greatest of Lee's lieutenants, lay in full force on his flank, almost +within rifle-shot, preparing with calmness and in detail for one of +the greatest blows ever dealt in war. Truly no soldiers ever deserved +higher praise than those of the Army of the Potomac, who, often misled +and mismanaged by second-rate men, grew better and better after every +defeat, and never failed to go into battle zealous and full of courage. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed almost incredible to Harry, who had twice looked down upon +them, that the whole Union right should remain ignorant of Jackson's +presence. Twenty-eight regiments and six batteries strong, the Northern +troops were now getting ready to cook their suppers, and there was much +laughter and talk as they looked around at the forest and wondered +when they would be sent in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. Six of the +regiments were composed of men born in Germany, or the sons of Germans, +drawn from the great cities of the North, little used to the forests and +thickets and having the stiffness of Germans on parade. They were at +the first point of exposure, and they were certainly no match for the +formidable foe who was creeping nearer and nearer. +</P> + +<P> +Not all the country here was in forest. There were some fields, a +little wooden cottage on a hill, and in the fields a small house of +worship called the Wilderness Church. It was the little church of +Shiloh and the Dunkard church of Antietam over again. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton in the front of the lines often saw the gleam of +Northern guns and Northern bayonets through the foliage, but there was +still no sign that anyone in the Northern right flank dreamed of their +presence. Evidently the unconscious thousands there thought that all +chance of battle had passed until the morrow. The sun was already going +down the western heavens, and behind them in the Wilderness the first +shadows were gathering. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson's troops were filled with confidence and exultation. As they +formed for battle among the trees and bushes they too talked, and with +the freedom of republican troops, who fight all the better for it, +they chaffed the young officers, especially the aides, as they passed. +Harry received the full benefit of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit up straight in the saddle, sonny. Don't dodge the bullets!" +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't told the Yanks that we're comin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Will me that hoss if you get shot. I always did like a bay boss." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell old Hooker that we jest had to arrange a surprise party for him." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell 'em to make way there in front. We want to git into the fuss +before it's all over." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Old Jack I'm here and that he can begin the battle." +</P> + +<P> +Harry smiled, and sometimes chaffed back. They were boys together. +Most of the troops in either army were very young. He recognized that +all this talk was the product of exuberant spirits, and officers much +older than he, chaffed in a like manner, took it in the same way. +</P> + +<P> +But as they drew nearer, orders that all noise should cease were given, +and officers were ready to enforce them. But there was little need for +sternness. The soldiers themselves understood and obeyed. They were as +eager as the officers to achieve a splendid triumph, and it remains a +phenomenon of history how a great army came creeping, creeping within +rifle shot of another, and its presence yet remained unknown. +</P> + +<P> +The Southern lines now stretched for a long distance through the forest, +cutting across a turnpike, down which the muzzles of four heavy guns +pointed. The cavalry, not far away, were holding back their magnificent +horses. Harry saw Sherburne on their flank nearest to him, and a smile +of triumph passed between them. Off in the forest the strong division +of A. P. Hill was advancing, the sound of their coming audible to the +South but not to the North. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour and a half the formation of the Southern army went on. +Despite the danger of discovery, present every moment, Jackson was +resolved to perfect his preparations for the attack. He was calm, +methodical, and showed no emotion now, however much he may have felt it. +Harry rode back and forth, sometimes with him and sometimes alone, +carrying messages. He expected every instant to hear the crack of some +Northern scout's rifle and his shout of alarm, but the incredible not +only happened—it kept on happening. There was not a single Northern +skirmisher in the bushes. The only sounds that came from their camp +to the Southern scouts were the clatter of dishes and the laughter of +youths who knew that no danger was near. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was far down the western arch, and it seemed to Harry for a +moment or two that no battle might occur that day, but a glance at +Jackson and his incessant activity showed him he was mistaken. The +arrangements were now almost complete. In front were the skirmishers, +then the first line, and a little behind it the second line, and then +Hill with the third line. Although they stood in thick forest, the +lines were even and regular, despite trees and bushes. +</P> + +<P> +The Invincibles were in the second line. Owing to the density of the +forest, the two colonels and their young staff officers had dismounted. +Harry passed them, and Colonel Talbot said to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know when we'll advance, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be much longer. What time is it, Colonel?" +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Talbot opened his watch, looked carefully at the face, and as he +closed it again and put it back in his pocket, he replied gravely: +</P> + +<P> +"It's five forty-five o'clock of a memorable afternoon, Harry." +</P> + +<P> +"It's true, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, +"and whatever happens to us, it will be a pleasure to us both to know, +even beyond the grave, that we have served long under the Christian +soldier and great genius, Stonewall Jackson." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll both go through it," said Harry. "I know you'll be with us when +our victorious army goes over the Long Bridge and enters Washington." +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair and Langdon stood near, but said nothing. Harry saw that they +were enveloped by the mystery, the vastness and the terrible grandeur +of the occasion. So he said nothing to them, but rode back toward his +commander. Then he glanced again at the sun and saw that it was low, +filling all the western heavens with bars of red and yellow and gold. +He looked once again at that formidable line of battle, stretching in +either direction through the forest farther than he could see, the +soldiers eager, excited and straining hard at the hand that held them +there so firmly. It seemed now that nothing was left to be done, +and the time had grown to six o'clock in the evening. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson turned to Rodes, who commanded the first line of battle, just in +the rear of the skirmishers, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Are you ready, General?" +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Then charge," said Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +Rodes nodded toward the leader of the skirmishers, who gave the word. +A powerful man put a glittering brazen bugle to his throat and blew a +long, mellow note that was heard far through the forest. It was +followed by a shout poured from thirty thousand throats, the guns in the +turnpike fired a terrible volley straight into the Union camp, and then +the whole army of Jackson, line upon line, rushed from the thickets and +hurled itself upon its foe. +</P> + +<P> +The Northern army was paralyzed for a moment. Never was surprise more +sudden and terrific. Brave as anybody, the Union men rushed to their +arms, but there was no time to use them. The flood was upon them and +overwhelmed them. The German regiments were cut to pieces in an instant, +and the demoralized survivors retreated into the mass. Elsewhere a +battery was manned and stopped for a moment the Southern advance, +but only for a moment. It, too, was overwhelmed by the Southern +artillery which rushed forward, firing as fast as the cannoneers could +load and reload. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson himself was with his artillery, shouting to them and encouraging +them, and Harry, trying to follow him, found it hard to keep clear of +the guns. The second and third lines of the Southern army pressed +forward with the first, and the terrific impact overwhelmed everything. +The Northern officers showed supreme courage in their attempt to stem +the rout. Everyone on horseback was either killed or wounded, and +their bravery and self-sacrifice were in vain. Nothing could stem the +relentless tide that poured upon them. Harry had never before seen the +Southern troops so exultant. Jackson's march of a whole day, unseen, +almost by the side of the enemy, and then his sudden attack upon his +right flank, made their battle rush fierce and irresistible. They might +be stayed for a few moments, but they swept on and on, carrying before +them the blue brigades. +</P> + +<P> +The scene, while extraordinarily vivid to Harry, was nevertheless wild +and confused. The fire of the cannon and rifles on a long line was so +rapid and terrific that he was almost blinded by the incessant blaze, +which was like one solid sheet of flame. The dense smoke gathered +once more among the bushes and trees and the forest was filling with a +tremendous shouting. +</P> + +<P> +Harry kept as close as he could to his general, who was now in the very +heart of the conflict. But it was a difficult task. His clothing was +torn by bushes and briars, and boughs whipped him across the face. +Now and then in a rift in the smoke he beheld a terrible sight. The +ground was covered with the arms and blankets and tents of the Union +army. Ahead of them were great masses of men, retreating and jammed +among the wagons. The horses, many of them wounded, were running about, +neighing in pain and terror. Officers, their uniforms often red from +wounds, were rushing everywhere, seeking to stay the panic. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the Union officers at last succeeded in getting some order out of +the chaos. A battery was rallied on a hill and threw a sleet of steel +on the charging men in gray. Some of the seasoned infantry regiments +were managing to form a line and they were beginning to send back a +rifle fire. Harry felt that the resistance in front of them was +hardening a little. +</P> + +<P> +But as usual the eye of Jackson saw everything, even through the flame +and smoke and confusion of a battle fought in dense forests and thickets. +</P> + +<P> +He galloped up the turnpike himself, his staff hot at his heels, and +shouting to the gunners and pointing forward, he urged on the artillery. +Then he rode among the infantry, and they, as eager as he, rushed on +at increased speed. Yet the Northern resistance was still hardening. +Some of the German regiments atoned for their earlier panic by reforming +and making a brave resistance. Other regiments formed behind a +breastwork. +</P> + +<P> +"They are going to make a bold stand," shouted Harry to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"But it will not help them," the Virginian replied. +</P> + +<P> +The Southern battle front, which for a few minutes had lost cohesion, +now swelled higher than ever. Led by Jackson in person, nearly all the +officers in front sword in hand, the whole division with a mighty shout +charged. Harry saw the Invincibles in the first line, the two colonels, +one on either flank, waving their swords and their faces young again +with the battle fire. But it was only a glimpse. Then they were lost +from his sight in the fire and smoke. +</P> + +<P> +There could be no sufficient defense against the charge of such a foe, +numerous, prepared and wild with victory. They swept over the +breastwork, they seized the cannon, they took prisoners, and before them +they swept the right wing of the Union army in irreparable rout and +confusion. Harry had not seen its like in the whole war, nor was +he destined to see it again. An entire corps had been annihilated. +The Wilderness was filled with the fragments of regiments seeking to +join the main force with Hooker at Chancellorsville. +</P> + +<P> +Harry thought Jackson would stop. They were now in the deep woods. +The sun was almost gone. The shadows from the east had crept over the +whole sky, and it was already dark among the dense thickets of the +Wilderness. An hour had passed since the first rush, and few generals +would have had the daring to push on in the forest, dark already and +rapidly growing darker. But Jackson was one of the few. He continued +to urge on his men, and he sent his staff officers galloping back and +forth to help in the task. There was a road in the very rear of Hooker. +He intended to seize it, and he was resolved before the night closed +down utterly to plant himself so firmly against the very center of the +Union army that Hooker's complete defeat in the morning would be sure. +</P> + +<P> +The bugles sang the charge again all along the Southern line, and in +the dying twilight, lit by the flame of cannon and rifles, they swept +forward, driving all resistance before them. +</P> + +<P> +It was one of the most appalling moments in the history of a nation +which has had to win its way with immense toil and through many dangers. +Hooker, brave, not lacking in ability, but far from being a match for +the extraordinary combination that faced him, two men of genius working +in perfect harmony, had been sitting with two of his staff officers +on the portico of the Chancellor House. He was serene and confident. +He knew the courage of his soldiers and their numbers. The cannonade in +his front had died down. He was a full-faced man, ruddy and stalwart, +and with his powerful army of veterans he felt equal to anything. +There was nothing to indicate that the Southern army was not in full +retreat, as he had stated in his dispatch earlier in the day. The +thought of Jackson had passed out of his mind for the time, because his +long columns, he was sure, were marching farther and farther away. +</P> + +<P> +Hooker, as the cool of the later afternoon, so pleasant after the heat +of the day, came on, felt an increase of satisfaction. All his great +forces would be massed in the morning. Now and then he heard in the +east the far sound of cannon like muttering thunder on the horizon, +but after a while it ceased entirely. He heard that distant thunder in +the south, too, but it passed farther and farther away, and he felt sure +that it came from his valiant guns hanging on the rear guard of the +retreating Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +One wonders what must be the feelings of a man who, sitting in apparent +security, is suddenly plunged into a terrible pit. Commanders less +able than Hooker have had better luck. What had he to fear? With one +hundred and thirty thousand veterans of the Army of the Potomac within +call, almost any other general in his place would have felt a like +security. But he had not fathomed fully the daring and skill of the two +men who confronted him. +</P> + +<P> +It is related that on the approach of that memorable evening there was a +remarkable peace and quiet at the Chancellor House itself. Hooker was +conversing quietly with his aides. Officers inside the house were +copying orders. The distant mutter of the guns that came now and then +was harmonious and rather soothing. The east was already darkening and +it seemed that a quiet sun would set over the Wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +The cannonade in the south seemed to pass into a new direction, but +the officers at the Chancellor House did not give it much attention. +Hooker was still quiet and confident. Suddenly a terrific crash of +cannon fire came from a point in the northwest. It was followed by +another and then others, so swiftly that they merged. It never ceased +for an instant and it rapidly rolled nearer. Hooker and his officers +leaped to their feet and gazed appalled at the forest whence came those +ominous sounds. An officer ran upon the plank road and took a look +through his glasses. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" he cried, as he turned quickly back. "Here they come!" +</P> + +<P> +Down the road was pouring a mass of fugitives, and they brought with +them news that did not suffer in the telling, either in magnitude or +color. Stonewall Jackson and the bulk of the rebel army had suddenly +fallen on their wing, they said, and he and his men were hard upon their +heels. Hooker passed in a moment from the certainty of victory to the +certainty that his army must fight for its very existence. Yet he and +his generals showed presence of mind and great courage in the crisis, +bringing forward troops rapidly and, above all, massing the superb +artillery. +</P> + +<P> +Harry Kenton, his horse shot under him, again was in the front line of +the Southern troops that followed the mass of fugitives down the road +toward the Chancellor House. In the mad rush he lost sight of Jackson +for the time, and found himself mingled with the Invincibles. Both the +colonels were bleeding from slight wounds, but with fire equal to that +of any youth they were still at the head of their troops, leading them +straight toward the Union center. +</P> + +<P> +Harry only had time to glance at his friends and receive their glances +in return, and then he found Jackson again. Catching one of the +riderless horses, so numerous, he sprang upon him and rode close behind +his general, where Dalton, a slight bullet wound in the arm, had been +able to remain through all the confusion. +</P> + +<P> +Now the Southern troops were crashing through the woods and bearing +down upon the Chancellor House. The blaze of the cannon and rifles lit +up the early night, and the crash and tumult around the place became +indescribable. Many a Northern officer thought that all was lost, +but the trained artillerymen of the North never flinched. Occupying +an eminence, battery after battery was wheeled into line, until fifty +cannon manned by the best gunners in the world were pouring an awful +fire upon the Southern front. Jackson's men were compelled to stop, +and elsewhere the Southern line was halted also by the density of the +thickets. +</P> + +<P> +Yet it was but a lull. It was far into the night. Nevertheless, +Jackson meant to push the battle. He rode among his troops and +encouraged them for another effort. Everywhere he was received with +tremendous cheers, and the men were willing and eager to push on the +attack. Lee, his chief, meanwhile was closing in with the smaller +force. The whole line was reformed. Jackson cried to Hill and Lane +and other generals to push on. The whole army was in line for a fresh +attack, and they could hear the sounds made by the enemy cutting down +timber and fortifying. +</P> + +<P> +It was now nearly nine o'clock at night, and save for the fires that +burned here and there and the flash of the picket firing, the night that +hung over the Wilderness was dark and heavy. +</P> + +<P> +Harry passed once more near the Invincibles, who were lying down, +panting with weariness, but exultant. They had lost a third of their +numbers in the attack, but the wounds of his own friends were not +serious. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know whether we charge them again, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, sir; but you know General Jackson." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it probably means that we attack. Keep down, Captain Bertrand! +Those Northern pickets in the bushes in front of us are active, and, +upon my word, they know how to shoot, as the honorable wounds of many +of us attest!" +</P> + +<P> +Bertrand, eager to see the enemy, was standing on a hillock, and he did +not seem to hear the words of his chief. A rifle cracked in the bushes +and he fell back without a word. The arms of St. Clair received him and +eased him gently to the earth. But Harry saw at a glance that the man +and his fevered ambitions were gone forever. He was dead before he +touched the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad that I was the one to catch his body," said St. Clair simply. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was moved at the fall of this man, although he had never really +liked him, but he went on and rejoined his general. Colonel Talbot was +right. Jackson was still intent upon pressing the attack. Night and +darkness were now nothing to him. He meant to achieve Hooker's ruin. +</P> + +<P> +Harry always believed afterward that he felt the shadow of the great +tragedy soon to come. The roar of the cannon had died down, but from +every direction came the firing of scattered riflemen, skirmishers and +pickets. They buzzed like angry bees, and no man on the front of either +army was safe from their sting. But all through the Wilderness along +the line of Jackson's charge the dead and wounded lay. Here and there +clumps of fallen and dead wood of the winter before, set on fire by the +shells, were burning slowly. The smoke from so much firing drifted in +vast banks of vapor through the forest. The air was filled with bitter +odors. +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt a sensation of awe and terror, not terror inspired by man, +but of the unknown or uncontrolled forces that drive men to meet one +another in such deadly combat. Now night did not suffice to stop the +titanic struggle. He saw all around him the regiments ready for a new +attack, and he plainly heard in front of him the thud of axes as the +Northern men cut down trees for their defense. Now and then stray +moonbeams, penetrating the forest and the smoke, fell over them like +discs of burnished silver, but faded quickly. +</P> + +<P> +The firing of the skirmishers increased. Twigs and leaves cut off by +the bullets fell in little showers to the earth. Harry, on horseback +now, saw an impatient look pass over the general's face. The intrepid +fighter, A. P. Hill, was coming up fast, but not fast enough for +Stonewall Jackson. He turned and rode back toward him, careless of the +danger from the Northern skirmishers, who might at any moment see him. +</P> + +<P> +"General," said one of his staff in protest, "don't expose yourself so +much." +</P> + +<P> +"There is no danger," said the general quickly. "The enemy is routed +and we must push him hard. Hurry to General Hill and tell him to press +forward." +</P> + +<P> +The little group of men, Jackson and his staff, rode on. It was very +dark where they were, in the shade of the stunted forest. No moonlight +reached them there. Jackson paused, listening to the rising fire of +the skirmishers. A rifle suddenly flashed in the thickets before them. +Northern troops, lost in the bush and the darkness, were coming directly +their way. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson turned and, followed by his staff, rode toward his own lines. +The men of a North Carolina regiment, dimly seeing a group of horsemen +coming down upon them, thought they were about to be attacked, and an +officer gave an order to fire. He was obeyed at once, and the most +costly volley fired by Southern troops in the whole war sent the deadly +bullets whistling into Jackson's group. +</P> + +<P> +Officers and horses fell, shot down by their own men. Jackson was +struck in the right hand and received two bullets in his left arm. +One cut an artery and another shattered the bone near the shoulder. +The reins dropped from his hands, and his horse, the famous Little +Sorrel, broke violently away, rushing through the woods toward the +Northern lines. A bough struck Jackson in the face and he reeled in the +saddle. But with a violent effort he righted himself, seized the bridle +in his stricken right hand, and turned back his frightened horse. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had sat still in his saddle, petrified with horror. Then he urged +forward his horse and tried to reach his general, but another aide, +Captain Wilbourn, was before him. Wilbourn seized the reins of Little +Sorrel and then Harry felt the thrill of horror again as he saw Jackson +reel forward and fall. But he was caught in the arms of the faithful +Wilbourn. +</P> + +<P> +They laid Jackson on the ground, and a courier was sent in haste for his +personal physician, Dr. McGuire. Harry sprang down, and abandoning his +horse, which he never saw again, knelt beside his general. Wilbourn +with a penknife was cutting the sleeve from the shattered arm. +</P> + +<P> +The whole battle passed away for Harry. Death was in his heart at that +moment. When he looked at the white, drawn face of Jackson and his +shattered arm, he had no hope then, nor did he ever have any afterwards, +save for a few moments. The paladin of the Confederacy was gone, +shot down in the dark by his own men. +</P> + +<P> +General Hill, who also had been in great danger from the bullets of the +North Carolinians, galloped up, sprang from his horse and helped to bind +up the shattered arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you much hurt, General?" he asked, his face distorted with grief +and alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear so," was the reply, in a weak voice, "and I have suffered all my +wounds from my own men. I think my right arm is broken." +</P> + +<P> +Harry remained motionless. He saw Dalton by his side, and he also saw +tears on his face. Jackson closed his eyes and uttered no word of +complaint, although it was obvious that he was suffering terribly. +General Hill felt his pulse. He was rapidly growing weaker. Harry was +so stunned that he would not have known what to do, even had not senior +officers been present. When his pulse began to beat again he remained +silent, waiting upon his superiors. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry was now alert and watchful again. He heard the heavy firing +of the skirmishers on the right, on the left, and in front, and through +the darkness he saw the flashes of flame. The little group around the +fallen man was detached from the army and the enemy might come upon them +at any moment. Even as he looked, two Union skirmishers came through +the thicket and, pausing, their rifles in the hollows of their arms, +looked intently at the shadowy figures before them, trying to discern +who and what they were. It was General Hill who acted promptly. +Turning to Harry and Dalton, he said in a low tone: +</P> + +<P> +"Take charge of those men." +</P> + +<P> +The two young lieutenants, with levelled pistols, instantly sprang +forward and seized the soldiers before they had time to resist. They +were given to orderlies and sent to the rear. Harry and Dalton returned +to the side of their fallen general. While all stood there trying to +decide what to do, an aide who had gone down the road reported that a +battery of Northern artillery was unlimbering just before them. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we must take the General away at once," said Hill. +</P> + +<P> +Hill lifted in his arms the great leader who was now almost too weak to +speak, although he opened his eyes once, and, as ever, thoughtful of his +troops and the cause for which he fought, said. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell them it's only a wounded Confederate soldier whom you are +carrying." +</P> + +<P> +Then he closed his eyes again and lay heavy and inert in Hill's arms. +Hill held him on his feet, and the young staff officers, now crowding +around, supported him. Thus aided he walked among the trees until they +came to the road. It was as dark as ever, save for the flash of the +firing which went on continuously to right, to left, and in front, +mingled now with the sinister rumble of cannon. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, helping to support Jackson and overwhelmed with grief, felt as if +the end of the world had come. The darkness, the flash of the rifles, +the mutter of cannon, the blaze of gunpowder, the fierce shouts that +rose now and then in the thickets, the foul odors, made him think that +they had truly reached the infernal regions. +</P> + +<P> +The lieutenant, who saw the battery unlimbering, had not been deceived +by his imagination. Just as they entered the road it fired a terrible +volley of grape and shrapnel. Luckily in the darkness it fired high, +and the little Southern group heard the deadly sleet crashing in the +bushes and boughs over their heads. +</P> + +<P> +The devoted young staff officers instantly laid Jackson down in the road, +and, sheltering him with their own bodies as they lay beside him, +remained perfectly still while the awful rain of steel swept over their +heads again. Whether Jackson was conscious of it Harry never knew. +</P> + +<P> +It was one of the most terrible moments of Harry's life. He felt the +most overwhelming grief, but every nerve, nevertheless, was sensitive to +the last degree. His first conviction that Jackson's wounds were mortal +was in abeyance for the moment. He might yet recover and lead his +dauntless legions as of old to victory, and he, like the other young +officers who lay around him, was resolved to save him with his own life +if he could. +</P> + +<P> +The deadly rain from the cannon did not cease. It swept over their +heads again and again, all the more fearful because of the darkness. +Harry felt the twigs and leaves, cut from the bushes, falling on his +face. The whining of the grape and shrapnel and canister united in one +ferocious note. Some of it struck in the roadway beyond them and fire +flew from the stones. +</P> + +<P> +The general revived a little after a while and tried to get up, but one +of the young officers threw his arms around him and, holding him down, +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Be still, General! You must! It will cost you your life to rise!" +</P> + +<P> +The general made no further attempt to rise, and perhaps he lapsed +into a stupor for a little space. Harry could not tell how long that +dreadful shrieking and whining over their heads continued. It was five +minutes perhaps, but to him it seemed interminable. Presently the +missiles gave forth a new note. +</P> + +<P> +"They're using shells now," said Dalton, "because they're seeking a +longer range, and they're going much higher over our heads than the +canister." +</P> + +<P> +"And here are men approaching," said Harry. "I can make out their +figures. They must be our own." +</P> + +<P> +"So they are!" said Dalton, as they came nearer. +</P> + +<P> +It was a heavy mass of Confederate infantry pressing forward in the +darkness, and the young officers who had been so ready to give their +lives for their hero lifted him to his feet. Not wishing to have the +ardor of his men quenched by the sight of his wounds, Jackson bade them +take him aside into the thick bushes. But Pender, the general who was +leading these troops, saw him and recognized him, despite the heavy veil +of darkness and smoke. +</P> + +<P> +Pender rushed to Jackson, betraying the greatest grief, and said that +he was afraid he must fall back before the tremendous artillery fire of +the enemy. As he spoke, that fire increased. Shells and round shot, +grape and canister and shrapnel shrieked through the air, and the +bullets, too, were coming in thousands, whistling like hail driven by +a hurricane. Men fell all about them in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +But the great soul of Jackson, wounded to death and unable to stand, +was unshaken. Harry saw him suddenly straighten up, draw himself away +from those who were supporting him, and say: +</P> + +<P> +"You must hold your ground, General Pender! You must hold out to the +very last, sir!" +</P> + +<P> +Once more the eyes shot forth blue fire. Once more the unquenchable +spirit had spoken. The figure reeled, and the young officers sprang to +his support. He wanted to lie down there and rest, but the youths would +not let him, because every form of missile hurled from a cannon's mouth +was crashing among them. A litter arrived now and they carried him +toward a house that had been used as a tavern. A shot struck one of +the men who held the litter in his arm and he was compelled to let go. +The litter tipped over and Jackson fell heavily to the ground, his whole +weight crashing upon his wounded arm. Harry heard him utter then his +first and only groan. The boy himself cried out in horror. +</P> + +<P> +But they lifted him up again, and the litter bearers carried him on, +the young officers crowded close around him. Although it was far on +toward midnight, the roar of the battle swelled afresh through the +Wilderness. They came presently to an ambulance, by the side of which +Jackson's physician, Dr. McGuire, stood. The surgeon, tears in his eyes, +bent over the general and asked him if he were badly hurt. Jackson +replied that he thought he was dying. +</P> + +<P> +An officer of high rank, Colonel Crutchfield, whom Jackson esteemed +highly, was already lying in the ambulance, wounded severely. They +put Jackson beside him and drove slowly toward the rear. Once, when +Crutchfield groaned under the jolting of the ambulance, Jackson made +them stop until his comrade was easier. Then the mournful procession +moved on, while the battle roared and crashed about the lone ambulance +that bore the stricken idol of the Confederacy, Lee's right arm, the man +without whom the South could not win. Harry heard long afterward that a +minister in New Orleans used in his prayer some such words as these, "Oh, +Lord, when Thou in Thy infinite wisdom didst decree that the Southern +Confederacy should fail, Thou hadst first to take away Thy servant, +Stonewall Jackson." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton might have followed the ambulance that carried Jackson +away, as they were members of his staff, but they felt that their place +was on this dusky battlefield. While they paused, not knowing what to +do, a body of men came through the brushwood and they recognized the +upright and martial figures of Colonel Leonidas Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. Just behind them were St. Clair, +Langdon and the rest of the Invincibles. The two colonels turned and +gazed at the retreating ambulance, a shadow for a moment in the dusk, +and then a shadow gone. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw them putting an officer in that ambulance, Harry," said Colonel +Talbot. "Who was it?" +</P> + +<P> +Harry choked and made no answer. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Talbot, surprised, turned to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was it?" he repeated. +</P> + +<P> +Dalton turned his face away, and was silent. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of this emotion, a sudden, terrible suspicion was born in the +mind of Colonel Leonidas Talbot. It was like a dagger thrust. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean—it can't be—" he exclaimed, in broken words. +</P> + +<P> +Harry could control his feelings no longer. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Colonel," he burst forth. "It was he, Stonewall Jackson, shot +down in the darkness and by mistake by our own men!" +</P> + +<P> +"Was he hurt badly?" +</P> + +<P> +"One arm was shattered completely, and he was shot through the hand of +the other." +</P> + +<P> +The moonlight shone on Harry's face just then, and the colonel, as he +looked at him, drew in his breath with a deep gasp. +</P> + +<P> +"So bad as that!" he muttered. "I did not think our champion could +fall." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, Langdon and St. Clair, who had +heard him, also turned pale, but were silent. +</P> + +<P> +"We must not tell it," said Harry. "General Jackson did not wish it to +be known to the soldiers, and there is fighting yet to be done. Here +comes General Hill!" +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton flung themselves into the ranks of the Invincibles. +Hill took command in Jackson's place, but was soon badly wounded by a +fragment of shell, and was taken away. Then Stuart, the great horseman, +rode up and led the troops to meet the return attack for which the +Northern forces were massing in their front. Harry saw Stuart as he +came, eager as always for battle, his plumed hat shining in the light +of the moon, which was now clear and at the full. +</P> + +<P> +"If Jackson can lead no longer, then Stuart can," said Colonel Talbot, +looking proudly at the gallant knight who feared no danger. "What time +is it, Hector?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly midnight, Leonidas." +</P> + +<P> +"And no time for fighting, but fighting will be done. Can't you hear +their masses gathering in the wood?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do, Hector. The Yankees, despite their terrible surprise, have shown +great spirit. It is not often that routed troops can turn and put on +the defense those who have routed them." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and they'll be on us in a minute," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +It was much lighter now, owing to the clearness of the moon and the +lifting of the smoke caused by a lull in the firing. But Harry was +right in his prediction. Within five minutes the Northern artillery, +sixty massed guns, opened with a frightful crash. Once more that storm +of steel swept through the woods, but now the lack of daylight helped +the Southerners. Many were killed and wounded, but most of the rain +of death passed over their heads, as they were all lying on the ground +awaiting the charge, and the Northern gunners, not able to choose any +targets, fired in the general direction of the Southern force. +</P> + +<P> +The cannon fire went on for several minutes, and then, with a mighty +shout, the Northern force charged, but in a great confused struggle in +the woods and darkness it was beaten back, and soon after midnight the +battle for that day ceased. +</P> + +<P> +Yet there was no rest for the troops. Stuart, appreciating the numbers +of his enemy and fearing another attack, moved his forces to the side +to close up the gap between himself and Lee, in order that the Southern +army should present a solid line for the new conflict that was sure to +come in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +All that night the Wilderness gave forth the sound of preparations made +by either side, and Harry neither slept nor had any thought of it. +He knew well that the battle was far from over, and he knew also that +the Union army had not yet been defeated. Hooker's right wing had been +crushed by the sudden and tremendous stroke of Jackson, but his center +had rallied powerfully on Chancellorsville, and instead of a mere +defense had been able to attack in the night battle. The fall of +Jackson, too, had paralyzed for a time the Southern advance, and Lee, +with the slender forces under his immediate eye, had not been able to +make any progress. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton finally left the Invincibles and reported to General +Stuart, who instantly recognized Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," he said, "you were on the staff of General Jackson!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," replied Harry, "and so was Lieutenant Dalton here. We +report to you for duty." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll be on mine for to-night. After that General Lee will +dispose of you, but I have much for you both to do before morning." +</P> + +<P> +Stuart was acting with the greatest energy and foresight, manning his +artillery and strengthening his whole line. But he knew that it was +necessary to inform his commander-in-chief of all that was happening, +in order that Lee in the morning might have the two portions of the +Southern army in perfect touch and under his complete command. He +selected Wilbourn to reach him, and Harry was detailed to accompany that +gallant officer. They were well fitted to tell all that had happened, +as they had been in the thick of the battle and had been present at the +fall of Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +The two officers, saying but little, rode side by side through the +Wilderness. They were so much oppressed with grief that they did not +have the wish to talk. Both were devotedly attached to Jackson, and +to both he was a hero, without fear and without reproach. They heard +behind them the occasional report of a rifle. But it was only a little +picket firing. Most of the soldiers, worn out by such tremendous +efforts, lay upon the ground in what was a stupor rather than sleep. +</P> + +<P> +As they rode forward they met pickets of their own men who told them +where Lee and his staff were encamped, and they rode on, still in +silence, for some time. Harry's cheeks were touched by a freshening +breeze which had the feel of coming dawn, and he said at last: +</P> + +<P> +"The morning can't be far away, Captain." +</P> + +<P> +"No, the first light of sunrise will appear very soon. It seems to me I +can see a faint touch of gray now over the eastern forest." +</P> + +<P> +They were riding now through the force that had been left by General +Lee. Soldiers lay all around them and in all positions, most to rise +soon for the fresh battle, and some, as Harry could tell by their +rigidity, never to rise at all. +</P> + +<P> +They asked again for Lee as they went on, and a sentinel directed them +to a clump of pines. Wilbourn and Harry dismounted and walked toward a +number of sleeping forms under the pines. The figures, like those of +the soldiers, were relaxed and as still as death. The dawn which Harry +has felt on his face did not appear to the eye. It was very dark under +the boughs of the pines, and they did not know which of the still forms +was Lee. +</P> + +<P> +Wilbourn asked one of the soldiers on guard for an officer, and Lee's +adjutant-general came forward. Wilbourn told him at once what had +occurred, and while they talked briefly one of the figures under the +pines arose. It was that of Lee, who, despite his stillness, was +sleeping lightly, and whom the first few words had awakened. He put +aside an oilcloth which some one had put over him to keep off the +morning dew, and called: +</P> + +<P> +"Who is there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Messengers, sir, from General Jackson," replied Major Taylor, the +Adjutant-General. +</P> + +<P> +General Lee pointed to the blankets on which he had been lying, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down here and tell me everything that occurred last evening." +</P> + +<P> +Wilbourn sat down on the blankets. Harry stood back a little. The +other staff officers, aroused by the talk, sat up, but waited in +silence. Captain Wilbourn began the story of the night, and Lee did not +interrupt him. But the first rays of the dawn were now stealing through +the pines, and when Wilbourn came to the account of Jackson's fall, +Harry saw the great leader's face pale a little. Lee, like Jackson, +was a man who invariably had himself under complete command, one who +seldom showed emotion, but now, as Wilbourn finished, he exclaimed with +deep emotion: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Captain Wilbourn, we've won a victory, but it is dearly bought, +when it deprives us of the services of General Jackson, even for a short +time!" +</P> + +<P> +Harry inferred from what he said that he did not think General Jackson's +wounds serious, and he wished that he could have the same hope and +belief, but he could not. He had felt the truth from the first, that +Jackson's wounds were mortal. Then Lee was silent so long that Captain +Wilbourn rose as if to go. +</P> + +<P> +Lee came out of his deep thought and bade Wilbourn stay a little longer. +Then he asked him many questions about the troops and their positions. +He also gave him orders to carry to Stuart, and as Wilbourn turned to go, +he said with great energy: +</P> + +<P> +"Those people must be pressed this morning!" +</P> + +<P> +Then Wilbourn and Harry rode away at the utmost speed, guiding their +horses skilfully through lines of soldiers yet sleeping. The freshening +touch of dawn grew stronger on Harry's cheeks and he saw the band of +gray in the east broadening. Presently they reached their own corps, +and now they saw all the troops ready and eager. Harry rode at once +with Wilbourn to Stuart and fell in behind that singular but able +general. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw that Stuart's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes +fairly blazed. It had fallen to him to lead the great fighting corps +which had been led so long by Stonewall Jackson, and it was enough +to appeal to the pride of any general. Nor had he shed any of the +brilliant plumage that he loved so well. The great plume in his +gold-corded hat lifted and fluttered in the wind as he galloped about. +The broad sash of yellow silk still encircled his waist, and on his +heels were large golden spurs. Harry, as he followed him, heard +him singing to himself, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" That line seemed to have taken possession of Stuart's mind. +</P> + +<P> +All the staff and many of the soldiers along the battle front noted the +difference between their new commander and the one who had fallen so +disastrously in the night. There was never anything spectacular about +Jackson. In the soberest of uniforms, save once or twice, he would ride +along the battle front on his little sorrel horse, making no gestures. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the soldiers saw Stuart in the light that they knew +of Jackson's fall. Then the news spread among them with astonishing +rapidity, and while they liked Stuart, their hearts were with the great +leader who lay wounded behind them. But eagerness for revenge added to +their warlike zeal. Along the reformed lines ran a tremendous swelling +cry: "Remember Jackson!" +</P> + +<P> +They wheeled a little further to the right in order to come into close +contact with Lee, and then, as the first red touch of the dawn showed in +the Wilderness, the trumpets sounded the charge. The batteries blazed +as they sent forth crashing volleys, and in a minute the thunder of guns +came from the east and south, where Lee also attacked as soon as he +heard the sounds of his lieutenant's charge. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing could withstand the terrible onset of the troops who were still +shouting "Remember Jackson!" and who were led on by a plumed knight out +of the Middle Ages, shaking a great sabre and now singing at the top of +his voice his favorite line, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" +</P> + +<P> +They swept away the skirmishers and seized the plateau of Hazel Grove +which had been of such use to Hooker the night before, and the Southern +batteries, planted in strength upon it, rained death on the Northern +ranks. The veterans with Lee rushed forward with equal courage and fire, +and from every point of the great curve cannon and rifles thundered on +the Union ranks. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton stayed as closely as they could with their new chief, +who, reckless of the death which in truth he seemed to invite, was +galloping in the very front ranks, still brandishing his great sabre, +and now and then making it whirl in a coil of light about his head. +He continually shouted encouragement to his men, who were already full +of fiery zeal, but it was the spirit of Jackson that urged them most. +It seemed to Harry, excited and worshipping his hero, that the figure +of Jackson, misty and almost impalpable, still rode before him. +</P> + +<P> +But it was no mere triumphal march. They met stern and desperate +resistance. It was American against American. Once more the superb +Northern batteries met those of the South with a fire as terrible as +their own. The Union gunners willingly exposed themselves to death to +save their army, and from their breastworks sixty thousand riflemen +sent vast sheets of bullets. +</P> + +<P> +But the Northern leader was gone. As Hooker leaned against a pillar in +the portico of the Chancellor House a shell struck it over his head, +the concussion being so violent that he was thrown to the floor, stunned +and severely injured. He was carried away, unconscious, but the brave +and able generals under him still sustained the battle, and had no +thought of yielding. +</P> + +<P> +The Southern army, Lee and Stuart in unison, never ceased to push the +attack. The forces were now drawing closer together. The lines were +shorter and deeper. The concentrated fire on both sides was appalling. +Bushes and saplings fell in the Wilderness as if they had been levelled +with mighty axes. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw a vast bank of fire and smoke and then he saw shooting above +it pyramids and spires of flame. The Chancellor House and all the +buildings near it, set on fire by the flames, were burning fiercely, +springing up like torches to cast a lurid light over that scene of death +and destruction. Then the woods, despite their spring sap and greenness, +caught fire under the showers of exploding shells, and their flames +spread along a broad front. +</P> + +<P> +The defense made by the Union army was long and desperate. No men could +have shown greater valor, but they had been surprised and from the first +they had been outgeneralled. An important division of Hooker's army had +not been able to get into the main battle. The genius of Lee gathered +all his men at the point of contact and the invisible figure of Jackson +still rode at the head of his men. +</P> + +<P> +For five hours the battle raged, and at last the repeated charges of the +Southern troops and the deadly fire of their artillery prevailed. +</P> + +<P> +The Northern army, its breastworks carried by storm, was driven out of +Chancellorsville and, defeated but not routed, began its slow and sullen +retreat. Thirty thousand men killed or wounded attested the courage and +endurance with which the two sides had fought. +</P> + +<P> +The Army of the Potomac, defeated but defiant and never crushed by +defeat, continued its slow retreat to Fredericksburg, and for a little +space the guns were silent in the Wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +The men of Hooker, although surprised and outgeneralled, had shown great +courage in battle, and after the defeat of Chancellorsville the retreat +was conducted with much skill. Lee had been intending to push another +attack, but, as usual after the great battles of the Civil War, +Chancellorsville was followed by a terrific storm. It burst over the +Wilderness in violence and fury. +</P> + +<P> +The thunder was so loud and the lightning so vivid that it seemed for a +while as if another mighty combat were raging. Then the rain came in a +deluge, and the hoofs of horses and the wheels of cannon sank so deep in +the spongy soil of the Wilderness that it became practically impossible +to move the army. +</P> + +<P> +After a night of storm, Harry and Dalton rode forward with Sherburne and +his troop of cavalry, sent by Stuart to beat up the enemy and see what +he was doing. They found that Hooker's whole army had crossed the river +in the night on his bridges. +</P> + +<P> +Twice the Northern army had been driven back across the Rappahannock at +the same place—after Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville—but Harry +felt no elation as he returned slowly through the mud with Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"If it were in my power," he said, "I'd gladly trade the victory of +Chancellorsville, and more like it, to have our General back." +</P> + +<P> +By "our General" he of course meant Jackson, and both Sherburne and +Dalton nodded assent. The news had come to them that Jackson was not +doing well. His shattered arm had been amputated near the shoulder, +and the report spread through the army that he was sinking. Just after +the victory, Lee, with his wonted greatness of soul, had sent him a +note that it was chiefly due to him. Jackson, although in great pain, +had sent back word that General Lee was very kind, "but he should give +the praise to God." +</P> + +<P> +The deep religious feeling was no affectation with him. It showed alike +in victory and suffering. It was a part of the man's being, bred into +every fiber of his bone and flesh. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as the news of Hooker's escape across the Rappahannock had been +told, Harry and Dalton asked leave of Stuart to visit General Jackson. +It was given at once. Stuart added, moreover, that he had merely taken +them on his staff while the battle lasted. They were now to return to +their own chief. But his heart warmed to them both and he said to them +that if they happened to need a friend to come to him. +</P> + +<P> +They thanked Stuart and rode away, two very sober youths indeed. +Both were appalled by the vast slaughter of Chancellorsville. Harry +began to have a feeling that their victories were useless. After every +triumph the enemy was more numerous and powerful than ever. And the +cloud of Jackson's condition hung heavy over both. When he was first +struck down in the Wilderness, Harry had felt no hope for him, and now +that premonition was coming true. +</P> + +<P> +They learned that he was in the Chandler House at a little place called +Guiney's Station, and they rode briskly toward it. They passed many +troops in camp, resting after their tremendous exertions, many of whom +knew them to be officers of Jackson's staff. They were besieged by +these. Young soldiers fairly clung to their horses and demanded news +of Jackson, who, they had heard, was dying. Harry and Dalton returned +replies as hopeful as they could make them, but their faces belied their +word. Gloom hung over the Southern army which had just won its most +brilliant victory. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton found the same gloom at the Chandler House. The +officers who were there welcomed them in subdued tones, and in the house +everybody moved silently. The general's wife and little daughter had +just arrived from Richmond, and they were with him. But after a while +the two young lieutenants were admitted. Jackson spoke a few words to +both, as they bent beside his bed, and commended them as brave soldiers. +Harry knew now, when he looked at the thin face and the figure scarcely +able to move, that the great Jackson was going. +</P> + +<P> +They went out oppressed by grief, and sought the Invincibles, whom they +at last found encamped in an old orchard. Colonel Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire sat beneath an apple tree, and the +chessboard was between them. +</P> + +<P> +"They've been sitting there an hour," whispered Langdon, "but they +haven't made a single move, nor will they make one if they stay there +all day. It's in my mind that neither of them sees the chessmen. +Instead they see the General—they visited him this morning." +</P> + +<P> +Harry did not speak to the two colonels, but turned away. +</P> + +<P> +"We found the body of Bertrand yesterday," said Langdon, "and buried it +just where he fell." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad of that," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton lingered at the Chandler House with the staff to which +they belonged. Three days passed and Sunday came. Jackson was sinking +all the while, and that morning the doctor informed his wife that he was +about to die. Pneumonia had followed the weakness from his wounds and +his breathing had grown very faint. Mrs. Jackson herself told him that +all hope for him was gone, and he heard the words with resignation. +</P> + +<P> +After a while, as Harry learned, his mind began to wander. He spoke in +disjointed sentences of the army, of his battles, of his boyhood and +of his friends. This lasted into the afternoon, when he sank into +unconsciousness. Then came his death, and it was much like that of +Napoleon. He awoke suddenly from a deep stupor and cried out, in a +clear voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the +front! Tell Major Hawks—" +</P> + +<P> +He stopped, seemed to sink into a stupor again, but a little later +roused suddenly from it once more, and said, in the same clear voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." +</P> + +<P> +Then, as his eyes closed, the soul of the great Christian soldier passed +into the fathomless beyond, to sit in peace with Cromwell and Washington, +and in time with Lee and Grant and Thomas, who were yet to come. +</P> + +<P> +That night a whole army wept. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE NORTHERN MARCH +</H3> + +<P> +It was days before Harry felt as if life could move on in the usual way. +He had loved Jackson next to his father. In fact, in the absence of his +own father the great general had stood in that place to him. He had +received from him so many marks of approval, and, riding as a trusted +member of Jackson's staff, his head had been in such a rosy cloud of +glory and victory, that now it seemed for a while as if the world had +come to an end. +</P> + +<P> +He was disappointed, too, that they had reaped so little from +Chancellorsville. He believed at times that his general had died in +vain. He had but to ride a little distance and see the enemy across the +Rappahannock, where he had been so many months, with the same bristling +guns and the same superior forces. +</P> + +<P> +He had been eager, like all the other young officers, to move directly +after the battle and attack the foe on his own ground, but when he +talked with the two colonels he realized that their numbers were too +small. They must wait for Longstreet's great division, which had been +detached from the battle to guard against a possible flank attack upon +Richmond. Oh, if Longstreet and his twenty thousand veterans had been +at Chancellorsville! And if Jackson had not fallen just at the moment +when he was about to complete the destruction of Hooker's right wing! +He believed that then they would have annihilated the Army of the +Potomac, that only a few fugitives from it would have escaped across +the Potomac. The time came to him in after years when he often asked +himself would such a result have been a good result for the American +people. +</P> + +<P> +But now he was only a boy, as old, it is true, as many boys who led +companies, or even regiments, and the days were sufficient for his +thoughts. He was not thinking of the distant years and what they might +bring. Both he and Dalton felt joy when General Lee sent for them and +told them that, having been valued members of General Jackson's staff, +they were now to become members of his own. All he asked of them was +to serve him as well as they had served General Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was moved so deeply that he could scarcely thank him. He felt +springing up in his breast the same affection and hero-worship for Lee +that he had felt for Jackson. And as the close association with Lee +continued, this feeling grew both in his heart and in that of Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +The soul of youth cannot be kept down, and Harry's spirits returned as +he rode back and forth on Lee's errands. Moreover, spring was in full +tide and his blood rose with it. The Wilderness, in which the dead men +lay, and all the surrounding country were turning a deep green, and the +waters of the Rappahannock often flashed in gold or silver as the sun +blazed or grew dim. Pleasant relations between the sentries on the +two sides of the river were renewed. Tobacco, newspapers, and other +harmless articles were passed back and forth, when the officers +conveniently turned their backs. Nor was it always that the younger +officers turned away. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was in a boat near the right bank when he saw another boat about +thirty yards from the left shore. It contained a half dozen men, +and he recognized one of the figures at once. Putting his hands, +trumpet-shaped, to his mouth, he shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Shepard! Oh, I say, Mr. Shepard!" +</P> + +<P> +The man looked up, and, evidently recognizing Harry, he had the boat +rowed a little nearer. Harry had his own moved forward a little, +and he stopped at a point where they could talk conveniently. +</P> + +<P> +"You may not believe me," said Shepard, "but I felt pleasure when I +heard your voice and recognized your face. I am glad to know that you +did not fall in the great battle." +</P> + +<P> +"I do believe you, and I am not merely exchanging compliments when I say +that I rejoice that you, too, came out of it alive." +</P> + +<P> +"Nevertheless, luck was against us then," said Shepard, and Harry, +even at the distance, saw a shadow cross his face. "I saw the great +flank movement of Jackson and I understood its nature. I was on my way +to General Hooker with all speed to warn him, and I would have got there +in time had it not been for a chance bullet that stunned me. That +bullet cost us thousands of men." +</P> + +<P> +"And the bullets that struck General Jackson will cost us a whole army +corps." +</P> + +<P> +"We hear that they were fired by your own men." +</P> + +<P> +"So they were. A North Carolina company in the darkness took us for the +enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't rejoice over the fall of a great and valiant foe, but whether +Jackson lived or died the result would be the same. I told you long +ago that the forces of the Union could never be beaten in the long run, +and I repeated it to you another time. Now I repeat it once more. +We have lost two great battles here, but you make no progress. We +menace you as much as ever." +</P> + +<P> +"But your newspapers say you're growing very tired. There's no nation +so big that it can't be exhausted." +</P> + +<P> +"But you'll be exhausted first. So long, I see some of our generals +coming out on the bluffs with their glasses. I suppose we mustn't +appear too friendly." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Mr. Shepard. We've lost Jackson, but we've many a good man +yet. I think our next great battle will be farther north." +</P> + +<P> +They had not spoken as enemies, but as friends who held different views +upon an important point, and now they rowed back peacefully, each to his +own shore. +</P> + +<P> +With the return of Longstreet, the Southern army was raised to greater +numbers than at Chancellorsville. With Stuart's matchless cavalry it +numbered nearly eighty thousand men, most of them veterans, and a cry +for invasion came from the South. What was the use of victories like +Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, if they merely left matters where +they were? The fighting hitherto had been done on Southern soil. +The South alone had felt the presence of war. It was now time for the +North to have a taste of it. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and his comrades heard this cry, and it seemed to them to be full +of truth. They ought to strike straight at the heart of the enemy. +When their victorious brigades threatened Philadelphia and New York, +the two great commercial centers of the North, then the Northern people +would not take defeat so easily. It would be a different matter +altogether when a foe appeared at their own doors. +</P> + +<P> +Rumors that the invasion would be undertaken soon spread thick and fast. +Harry saw his general, Lee now in place of Jackson, in daily conference +with his most trusted lieutenants. Longstreet and A. P. Hill were there +often, and one day Harry saw riding toward headquarters a man who had +only one leg and who was strapped to his saddle. But a strong Roman +nose and a sharp, penetrating eye showed that he was a man of force and +decision. Once, when he lifted his hat to return a salute, he showed a +head almost wholly bald. +</P> + +<P> +Harry looked at him for a moment or two unknowing, and then crying +"General Ewell!" ran forward to greet him. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was right. It was what was left of him who had been Jackson's +chief lieutenant in the Valley campaigns and who had fallen wounded +so terribly at the Second Manassas. After nine months of suffering, +here he was again, as resolute and indomitable as ever, able to ride +only when he was strapped in his saddle, but riding as much as any other +general, nevertheless. +</P> + +<P> +And Ewell, who might well have retired, was one of those who had most to +lose by war. He had a great estate in the heart of a rich country near +Virginia's ancient capital, Williamsburg. There he had lived in a large +house, surrounded by a vast park, all his own. Even as the man, maimed +in body but as dauntless of mind as ever, rode back to Lee, his estate +was in the hands of Union troops. He had all to lose, but did not +hesitate. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saluted him and spoke to him gladly. Ewell turned his piercing +eyes upon him, hesitated a moment, and then said: +</P> + +<P> +"It's Kenton, young Harry Kenton of Jackson's staff. I remember you +in the Valley now. We've lost the great Jackson, but we'll beat the +Yankees yet." +</P> + +<P> +Then he let loose a volley of oaths, much after the fashion of the +country gentleman of that time, both in America and England. But Harry +only smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm to have command of Jackson's old corps, the second," said Ewell, +"and if you're not placed I'll be glad to have you on my staff." +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you very much, General," said Harry with great sincerity, +"but General Lee has taken me over, because I was with Jackson." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll have all the fighting you want," said the indomitable +Ewell. "General Lee never hesitates to strike. But don't be the fool +that I was and get your leg shot off. If anything has to go, let it be +an arm. Look at me. I could ride with any man in all Virginia, a state +of horsemen, and now a couple of men have to come and fasten me in the +saddle with straps. But never mind." +</P> + +<P> +He rode cheerily on, and Harry, turning back, met St. Clair and Langdon. +Both showed a pleased excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire are at it again, +and there have been results!" +</P> + +<P> +"What has happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"Colonel Talbot has lost a bishop and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire has +lost a knight. Each claims that he has gained a technical advantage in +position, and they've stopped playing to argue about it. From the way +they act you'd think they were Yankee generals. See 'em over there +under the boughs of that tree, sitting on camp stools, with the chessmen +on another camp stool between them." +</P> + +<P> +Harry looked over a little ridge and saw the two colonels, who were +talking with great earnestness, each obviously full of a desire to +convince the other. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Hector," said Colonel Talbot, "each of us has taken a piece. +It is not so much a question of the relative value of these pieces as it +is of the position into which you force your opponent." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly so, Leonidas. I agree with you on that point, and for that +reason I aver that I have made a tactical gain." +</P> + +<P> +"Hector, you are ordinarily a man of great intelligence, but in this +case you seem to have lost some part of your mental powers." +</P> + +<P> +"One of us has suffered such a loss, and while I am too polite to name +him, I am sure that I am not the man." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well, we'll not accuse each other while the issue still hangs in +doubt. Progress with the game will show that I am right." +</P> + +<P> +When Harry passed that way an hour later they were still bent over the +board, the best of friends again, but no more losses had been suffered +by either. +</P> + +<P> +May was almost spent and spring was at the full. The Southern army +was now at its highest point in both numbers and effectiveness. Only +Jackson was gone, but he was a host and more, and when Lee said that +he had lost his right arm, he spoke the truth, as he was soon to find. +Yet the Southern power was at the zenith and no shadow hung over the +veteran and devoted troops who were eager to follow Lee in that invasion +of the North of which all now felt sure. +</P> + +<P> +Doubts were dispelled with the close of May. Harry was one of the young +officers who carried the commander-in-chief's orders to the subordinate +generals, and while he knew details, he wondered what the main plan +would be. Young as he was he knew that no passage could be forced +across the Rappahannock in the face of the Army of the Potomac, which +was now as numerous as ever, and which could sweep the river and its +shores with its magnificent artillery. But he had full confidence in +Lee. The spell that Jackson had thrown over him was transferred to Lee, +who swayed his feelings and judgment with equal power. +</P> + +<P> +The figure of Lee in the height and fullness of victory was imposing. +An English general who saw him, and who also saw all the famous men of +his time, wrote long afterward that he was the only great man he had +ever seen who looked all his greatness. Tall, strongly built, with +thick gray hair, a short gray beard, clipped closely, ruddy complexion +and blue eyes, he was as careful in dress as Jackson had been careless. +He spoke with a uniform politeness, not superficial, but from the heart, +and his glance was nearly always grave and benevolent. +</P> + +<P> +General Lee in these warm days of late spring occupied a large tent. +Even when the army was not on the march he invariably preferred tents to +houses, and now Harry saw nearly all the famous Southern generals in the +east passing through that door. There was Longstreet, blue of eye like +Lee, full bearded, thick and powerful, and proud of his horsemanship, +in which he excelled. +</P> + +<P> +Ewell, too, stumped in on his crutches, vigorous, enthusiastic, but +never using profane language where Lee was. And there was A. P. Hill, +of soldierly slenderness and of fine, pleasing manner; McLaws, who had +done so well at Antietam; Pickett, not yet dreaming of the one marvelous +achievement that was to be his; Old Jubal Early, as he was familiarly +called, bald, bearded, rheumatic, profane, but brave and able; Hood, +tall, yellow-haired; Pender, the North Carolinian, not yet thirty, +religious like Jackson, and doomed like him to fall soon in battle; +Tieth, Edward Johnson, Anderson, Trimble, Stuart, as gay and dandyish as +ever; Ramseur, Jones, Daniel, young Fitzhugh Lee; Pendleton, Armistead, +and a host of others whose names remained memorable to him. They were +all tanned and sun-burned men. Few had reached early middle age, +and the shadows of death were already gathering for many of them. +</P> + +<P> +But the high spirits of the Southern army merely became higher as they +began to make rapid but secret preparation for departure. The soldiers +did not know where they were going, except that it was into the North, +and they began to discuss the nature of the country they would find +there. Harry took the message to the Invincibles to pack and march. +Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire reluctantly dropped +their unfinished game, put up the chessmen, and in an hour the +Invincibles—few, but trim and strong—were marching to a position +farther up the river. +</P> + +<P> +The corps of Longstreet was to lead the way, and it would march the +next morning. Harry now knew that the army would advance by way of the +Shenandoah valley. The Northern troops had been raiding in the great +valley and again had retaken Winchester, the pleasant little city so +beloved of Jackson. Harry shared the anger at this news that Jackson +would have felt had he been alive to hear it. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was well aware, however, that the army could not slip away from +its opponent. Hooker, still in command, was watching on the heights +across the river, and there were the captive balloons hovering again in +the sky. But the spirit of the troops was such that they did not care +whether their march was known or not. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton were awake early on the morning of the third of June, +and they saw the corps of Longstreet file silently by, the bugle +that called them away being the first note of the great and decisive +Gettysburg campaign. They were better clothed and in better trim than +they had been in a long time. They walked with an easy, springy gait, +and the big guns rumbled at the heels of the horses, fat from long rest +and the spring grass. They were to march north and west to Culpeper, +fifty miles away, and there await the rest of the army. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton felt great exhilaration. Movement was good not only +for the body, but for the spirit as well. It made the blood flow more +freely and the brain grow more active. Moreover, the beauty of the +early summer that had come incited one to greater hope. +</P> + +<P> +The great adventure had now begun, but it was not unknown to Hooker and +his watchful generals on the other shore. The ground was dry and they +had seen a column of dust rise and move toward the northwest. Their +experienced eyes told them that such a cloud must be made by marching +troops, and the men in the balloons with their glasses were able to +catch the gleam of steel from the bayonets of Longstreet's men as they +took the long road to Gettysburg. +</P> + +<P> +Hooker had good men with him. He, too, as he stood on the left bank of +the Rappahannock, was surrounded by able and famous generals, and others +were to come. There was Meade, a little older than the others, but not +old, tall, thin, stooped a bit, wearing glasses, and looking like a +scholar, with his pale face and ragged beard, a cold, quiet man, able +and thorough, but without genius. Then came Reynolds, modest and quiet, +who many in the army claimed would have shown the genius that Meade +lacked had it not been for his early death, for he too, like Pender, +would soon be riding to a soldier's grave. And then were Doubleday and +Newton and Hancock, a great soldier, a man of magnificent presence, +whose air and manner always inspired enthusiasm, soon to be known as +Hancock the Superb; Sedgwick, a soldier of great insight and tenacity; +Howard, a religious man, who was to come out of the war with only one +arm; Hunt and Gibbon, and Webb and Sykes, and Slocum and Pleasanton, +who commanded the cavalry, and many others. +</P> + +<P> +These men foresaw the march of Lee into the North, and the people behind +them realized that they were no longer carrying the battle to the enemy. +He was bringing it to them. Apprehension spread through the North, +but it was prepared for the supreme effort. The Army of the Potomac, +despite Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, had no fear of its opponent, +and the veterans in blue merely asked for another chance. +</P> + +<P> +On the following morning and the morning after, Ewell's corps followed +Longstreet in two divisions toward the general rendezvous at Culpeper +Court House, but Lee himself, although most of his troops were now gone, +did not yet move. Hill's corps had been held to cover any movement +of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, and Lee and his staff +remained there for three days after Longstreet's departure. +</P> + +<P> +The Invincibles had gone, but Harry and Dalton were just behind Lee, +who sat on his white horse, Traveler, gazing through his glasses toward +a division of the Army of the Potomac which on the day before had +crossed the Rappahannock, under a heavy fire from Hill's men. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry knew that it was no part of Lee's plan to drive these men back +across the river. A. P. Hill on the heights would hold them and would +be a screen between Hooker's army and his own. So the young staff +officer merely watched his commander who looked long through his glasses. +</P> + +<P> +It was now nearly noon, and the June sky was brilliant with the sun +moving slowly toward the zenith. Lee at length lowered his glasses and, +turning to his staff, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Now, gentlemen, we ride." +</P> + +<P> +Harry by some chance looked at his watch, and he always remembered that +it was exactly noon when he started on the journey that was to lead him +to Gettysburg. He and Dalton from a high crest looked back toward the +vast panorama of hills, valleys, rivers and forest that had held for +them so many thrilling and terrible memories. +</P> + +<P> +There lay the blackened ruins of Fredericksburg. There were the heights +against which the brave Northern brigades had beat in vain and with such +awful losses. And beyond, far down under the horizon, was the tragic +Wilderness in which they had won Chancellorsville and in which Jackson +had fallen. Harry choked and turned away from the fresh wound that the +recollection gave him. +</P> + +<P> +Lee and his staff rode hard all that afternoon and most of the night +through territory guarded well against Northern skirmishers or raiding +bands, and the next day they were with the army at Culpeper Court House. +Meanwhile Hooker was undecided whether to follow Lee or move on +Richmond. But the shrewd Lincoln telegraphed him that Lee was his "true +objective." At that moment the man in the White House at Washington was +the most valuable general the North had, knowing that Lee in the field +with his great fighting force must be beaten back, and that otherwise +Richmond would be worth nothing. +</P> + +<P> +It was Harry's fortune in the most impressionable period of life to be +in close contact for a long time with two very great men, both of whom +had a vast influence upon him, creating for him new standards of energy +and conduct. In after years when he thought of Lee and Jackson, which +was nearly every day, no weighing of the causes involved in the quarrel +between the sections was made in his mind. They were his heroes, +and personally they could do no wrong. +</P> + +<P> +As Lee rode on with his staff through the fair Virginia country he +talked little, but more than was Jackson's custom. Harry saw his brow +wrinkle now and then with thought. He knew that he was planning, +planning all the time, and he knew, too, what a tremendous task it was +to bring all the scattered divisions of an army to one central point +in the face of an active enemy. This task was even greater than Harry +imagined, as Lee's army would soon be strung along a line of a hundred +miles, and a far-seeing enemy might cut it apart and beat it in detail. +Lee knew, but he showed no sign. +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt an additional elation because he rode westward and toward +that valley in which he had followed Jackson through the thick of +great achievements. In the North they had nicknamed it "The Valley of +Humiliation," but Jackson was gone, and Milroy, whom he had defeated +once, was there again, holding and ruling the little city of Winchester. +Harry's blood grew hot, because he, too, as Jackson had, loved +Winchester. He did not know what was in Lee's mind, but he hoped that a +blow would be struck at Milroy before they began the great invasion of +the North. +</P> + +<P> +Culpeper was a tiny place, a court house and not much more, but now its +eager and joyous citizens welcomed a great army. Although Hill and +his corps were yet back watching Hooker, fifty thousand veterans were +gathered at the village. Soon they would be seventy thousand or more, +and Culpeper rejoiced yet again. The women and children—the men were +but few, gone to the war—were never too tired to seek glimpses of the +famous generals, whom they regarded as their champions. Stuart, in his +brilliant uniform, at the head of his great cavalry command, appealed +most to the young, and his gay spirit and frank manners delighted +everybody. They paid little attention to the Northern cavalry and +infantry on the other side of the Rappahannock, knowing that Hooker's +main army was yet far away, and feeling secure in the protection of Lee +and his victorious army. +</P> + +<P> +Harry slept heavily that night, wearied by the long ride. He, Dalton +and two other young officers had been assigned to a small tent, but, +taking their blankets, they slept under the stars. Harry seldom cared +for a roof now on a dry, warm night. He had become so much used to +hardships and unlimited spaces that he preferred his blankets and the +free breezes that blew about the world. It was a long time after the +war before he became thoroughly reconciled to bedrooms in warm weather. +</P> + +<P> +He was aroused the next morning by Dalton, who pulled him by his feet +out of his blankets. +</P> + +<P> +"Stick your head in a pail of water," said Dalton, "and get your +breakfast as soon as you can. Everything is waiting on you." +</P> + +<P> +"How dare you, George, drag me by the heels that way? I was marching +down Broadway in New York at the head of our conquering army, and +millions of Yankees were pointing at me, all saying with one voice: +'That's the fellow that beat us.' Now you've spoiled my triumph. +And what do you mean by saying that everything is waiting for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Our army, as you know, is spectacular only in its achievements, but +to-day we intend to have a little splendor. The commander-in-chief is +going to review Jeb Stuart's cavalry. For dramatic effect it's a chance +that Stuart won't miss." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so. Just tell 'em I'm coming and that the parade can begin." +</P> + +<P> +Harry bathed his face and had a good breakfast, but there was no need to +hurry. Jeb Stuart, as Dalton had predicted, was making the most of his +chance. He was going not only to parade, but to have a mock battle as +well. As the sun rose higher, making the June day brilliant, General +Lee and his staff, dressed in their best, rode slowly to a little +hillock commanding a splendid view of a wide plain lying east of +Culpeper Court House. +</P> + +<P> +General Lee was in a fine uniform, his face shaded by the brim of the +gray hat which pictures have made so familiar. His cavalry cape swung +from his shoulders, but not low enough to hide the splendid sword at +his belt. His face was grave and his whole appearance was majestic. +If only Jackson were there, riding by his side! Harry choked again. +</P> + +<P> +Lee sat on his white horse, Traveler, and above him on a lofty pole a +brilliant Confederate flag waved in the light wind. Harry and Dalton, +as the youngest, took their modest places in the rear of the group of +staff officers, just behind Lee, and looked expectantly over the plain. +They saw at the far edge a long line of horsemen, so long, in fact, +that the eye did not travel its full distance. Nearer by, all the guns +of "Stuart's Horse Artillery" were posted upon a hill. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's heart began to beat at the sight—mimic, not real, war, but +thrilling nevertheless. A bugle suddenly sounded far away, its note +coming low, but mellow. Other bugles along the line sang the same tune, +and then came rolling thunder, as ten thousand matchless horsemen, +led by Stuart himself, charged over the plain straight toward the hill +on which Lee sat on his horse. +</P> + +<P> +The horsemen seemed to Harry to rise as if they were coming up the curve +of the earth. It was a tremendous and thrilling sight. The hoofs of +ten thousand horses beat in unison. Every man held aloft his sabre, +and the sun struck upon their blades and glanced off in a myriad +brilliant beams. Harry glanced at Lee and he saw that the blue eyes +were gleaming. He, too, sober and quiet though he was, felt pride as +the Murat of the South led on his legions. +</P> + +<P> +The cavalrymen, veering a little, charged toward the guns on the hill, +and they received them with a discharge of blank cartridges which made +the plain shake. Back and forth the mimic battle rolled, charge and +repulse, and the smoke of the firing drifted over the plain. But the +wild horsemen wheeled and turned, always keeping place with such superb +skill that the officers and the infantry looking on burst again and +again into thunderous applause. +</P> + +<P> +The display lasted some time. When it was over and the smoke and dust +were settling, General Lee and his staff rode back to their quarters, +the young officers filled with pride at the spectacle and more confident +than ever that their coming invasion of the North would be the final +triumph. +</P> + +<P> +Northern cavalry, on the other side of the river, had heard the heavy +firing and they could not understand it. Could their forces following +Lee on the right bank be engaged in battle with him? They had not heard +of any such advance by their own men, yet they plainly heard the sounds +of a heavy cannonade, and it was a matter into which they must look. +They had disregarded sharp firing too often before and they were growing +wary. But with that wariness also came a daring which the Union leaders +in the east had not usually shown hitherto. They had a strong cavalry +force in three divisions on the other side of the river, and the +commanders of the divisions, Buford, Gregg and Duffie, with Pleasanton +over all, were forming a bold design. +</P> + +<P> +Events were to move fast for Harry, much faster than he was expecting. +He was sent that night with a note to Stuart, who went into camp with +his ten thousand cavalry and thirty guns on a bare eminence called +Fleetwood Hill. The base of the hill was surrounded by forest, and not +far away was a little place called Brandy Station. Harry was not to +return until morning, as he had been sent late with the message, and +after delivering it to Stuart he hunted up his friend Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +He found the captain sitting by a low campfire and he was made welcome. +Sherburne, after the parade and sham battle, had cleaned the dust from +his uniform and he was now as neat and trim as St. Clair himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, Harry," he said with the greatest geniality. "Here, orderly, +take his horse, but leave him his blankets. You'll need the blankets +to-night, Harry, because you bunk with us in the Inn of the Greenwood +Tree. We've got a special tree, too. See it there, the oak with the +great branches." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll never ask anything better in summer time, provided it doesn't +rain," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Wasn't that a fine parade?" Sherburne ran on. "And this is the +greatest cavalry force that we've had during the war. Why, Stuart can +go anywhere and do anything with it. A lot of Virginia scouts under +Jones are watching the fords, and we've got with us such leaders as +Fitz Lee, Robertson, Hampton and the commander-in-chief's son, +W. H. F. Lee—why should a man be burdened with three initials? We can +take care of any cavalry force that the Yankees may send against us." +</P> + +<P> +"I've noticed in the recent fighting," said Harry, "that the Northern +cavalrymen are a lot better than they used to be. Most of us were born +in the saddle, but they had to learn to ride. They'll give us a tough +fight now whenever we meet 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you," said Sherburne, "but they can't beat us. You can +ride back in the morning, Harry, and report to the commander-in-chief +that he alone can move us from this position. Listen to that stamping +of hoofs! Among ten thousand horses a lot are likely to be restless; +and look there at the hilltop where thirty good guns are ready to turn +their mouths on any foe." +</P> + +<P> +"I see them all," said Harry, "and I think you're right. I'll ride back +peaceably to General Lee in the morning, and tell him that I left ten +thousand cavalrymen lying lazily on the grass, and ten thousand horses +eating their heads off near Brandy Station." +</P> + +<P> +"But to-night you rest," said one of the young officers. "Do you smoke?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've never learned." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't smoke either unless we get 'em from the Yankees. Here's +what's left of a box that we picked up near the Chancellor House. +It may have belonged to Old Joe Hooker himself, but if so he'll never +get it back again." +</P> + +<P> +He distributed the cigars among the smokers, who puffed them with +content. Meanwhile the noises of the camp sank, and presently Harry, +taking his blankets and saying good night, went to sleep in the Inn of +the Greenwood Tree. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CAVALRY COMBAT +</H3> + +<P> +Harry was a fine sleeper. One learns to be in long campaigns. Most of +those about him slept as well, and the ten thousand horses, which had +been ridden hard in the great display during the day, also sank into +quiet. The restless hoofs ceased to move. Now and then there was a +snort or a neigh, but the noise was slight on Fleetwood Hill or in the +surrounding forests. +</P> + +<P> +A man came through the thickets soon after midnight and moved with the +greatest caution toward the hill on which the artillery was ranged. +He was in neither blue nor gray, just the plain garb of a civilian, +but he was of strong figure and his smoothly shaven face, with its +great width between the eyes and massive chin, expressed character and +uncommon resolution. +</P> + +<P> +The intruder—he was obviously such, because he sought with the minutest +care to escape observation—never left the shelter of the bushes. +He had all the skill of the old forest runners, because his footsteps +made no sound as he passed and he knew how to keep his figure always in +the shadows until it became a common blur with them. +</P> + +<P> +His was a most delicate task, in which discovery was certain death, +but he never faltered. His heart beat steadily and strong. It was an +old risk to him, and he had the advantage of great natural aptitude, +fortified by long training in a school of practice where a single +misstep meant death. +</P> + +<P> +The sharp eyes of the spy missed nothing. He counted the thirty pieces +of artillery on the hill. He estimated with amazing accuracy the number +of Stuart's horsemen. He saw a thousand proofs that the heavy firing he +had heard in the course of the day was not due to battle with Northern +troops. Although he stopped at times for longer looks, he made a wide +circuit about the Confederate camp, and he was satisfied that Stuart, +vigilant and daring though he might be, was not expecting an enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Shepard's heart for the first time beat a little faster. He had felt as +much as any general the Northern defeats and humiliations in the east, +but, like officers and soldiers, he was not crushed by them. He even +felt that the tide might be about to turn. Lee, invading the North, +would find before him many of the difficulties which had faced the +Northern generals attacking the South. Shepard, a man of supreme +courage, resolved that he would spare no effort in the service to which +he had devoted himself. +</P> + +<P> +He spent fully four hours in the thickets, and then, feeling that he had +achieved his task, bore away toward the river. Taking off his coat and +belt with pistols in it, and fastening them about his neck, he swam with +bold strokes to the other side of the stream. However, had anyone been +on the watch at that very point, it was not likely that he would have +been seen. It was the approach of dawn and heavy mists were rising on +the Rappahannock, as they had risen at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. +</P> + +<P> +Shepard gave the countersign to the pickets and was shown at once to +General Pleasanton, an alert, vigorous man, who was awaiting him. +His report was satisfactory, because the cavalry general smiled and +began to send quick orders to his leaders of divisions. +</P> + +<P> +But the peace in Stuart's command was not broken that night. No one had +seen the figure of the spy sliding through the thickets, and Harry and +his comrades in the Inn of the Greenwood Tree were very warm and snug in +their blankets. As day came he yawned, stretched, closed his eyes again, +thinking that he might have another precious fifteen minutes, but, +recalling his resolution, sprang to his feet and began to rub his eyes +clear. +</P> + +<P> +He had slept fully dressed, like all the rest, and he intended to go +down to a brook in a few minutes and bathe his face. But he first gave +Sherburne a malicious shove with his foot and bade him wake up, telling +him that it was too late for an alert cavalry captain to be sleeping. +</P> + +<P> +Then Sherburne also yawned, stretched, and stood up, rubbing his eyes. +The others about them rose too, and everybody felt chilled by the river +fog, which was uncommonly heavy. +</P> + +<P> +"Breakfast for me," said Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"Not just now, I think," said Harry. "Listen! Aren't those rifle +shots?" +</P> + +<P> +A patter, patter, distant but clear in the morning, came from a point +down the stream. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right!" exclaimed Sherburne in alarm. "It's on our side of +the river and it's increasing fast! As sure as we live, the enemy has +crossed and attacked!" +</P> + +<P> +They were not left in doubt. The pickets, running in, told them that +a heavy force of Northern cavalry was across the Rappahannock and was +charging with vigor. In fact, two of the divisions had passed the fords +unseen in the fog and were now rushing Stuart's camp. +</P> + +<P> +But Stuart, although surprised, never for an instant lost his presence +of mind. Throughout the Southern lines the bugles sounded the sharp +call to horse. It was full time. The outposts had been routed already +and were driven in on the main body. +</P> + +<P> +Harry ran to his horse, which had been left saddled and bridled for +any emergency. He leaped upon him and rode by the side of Sherburne, +whose troop was already in line. They could not see very well for the +mists, but the fire in front of them from cavalry carbines had grown +into great violence. It made a huge shower of red dots against the +white screen of the mist, and now they heard shouts and the beat of +thousands of hoofs. +</P> + +<P> +"They're making for our artillery!" exclaimed Sherburne with true +instinct. "Follow me, men! We must hold them back, for a few minutes +at least!" +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne and his gallant troops were just in time. A great force of +cavalry in blue suddenly appeared in the whitish and foggy dawn and +charged straight for the guns. Without delaying a moment, Sherburne +flung his troops in between, although they were outnumbered twenty to +one or more. He did not expect to stop them; he merely hoped to delay +them a few minutes, and therefore he offered himself as a sacrifice. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was beside Sherburne as they galloped straight toward the Northern +cavalry, firing their short carbines and then swinging their sabres. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll ride over us!" he shouted to Sherburne. +</P> + +<P> +"But we'll trouble 'em a little as they pass!" the captain shouted back. +</P> + +<P> +Harry shut his teeth hard together. A shiver ran over him, and then his +face grew hot. The pulses in his temples beat heavily. He was sure +that Sherburne and he and all the rest were going to perish. The long +and massive Northern line was coming on fast. They, too, had fired +their carbines, and now thousands of sabres flashed through the mists. +Harry was swinging his own sword, but as the great force bore down upon +them, the white mist seemed to turn to red and the long line of horsemen +fused into a solid mass, its front flashing with steel. +</P> + +<P> +He became conscious, as the space between them closed rapidly, that a +heavy crackling fire was bursting from a wood between the Northern +cavalry and the river. The Southern skirmishers, brushed away at first, +had returned swiftly, and now they were sending a rain of bullets upon +the blue cavalrymen. Many saddles were emptied, but the line went on, +and struck Sherburne's troop. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw a man lean from his horse and slash at him with a sabre. +He had no sabre of his own, only a small sword, but he cut with all his +might at the heavy blade instead of the man, and he felt, rather than +saw, the two weapons shatter to pieces. Then his horse struck another, +and, reeling in the saddle, he snatched out a pistol and began to fire +at anything that looked like a human shape. +</P> + +<P> +He heard all about him a terrible tumult of shots and shouts and the +thunder of horses' hoofs. He still saw the red mist and a thousand +sabres flashing through it, and he heard, too, the clash of steel on +steel. The Northern line had been stopped one minute, two minutes, +and maybe three. He was conscious afterwards that in some sort of +confused way he was trying to measure the time. But he was always quite +certain that it was not more than three minutes. Then the Northern +cavalry passed over them. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's horse was fairly knocked down by the impetus of the Northern +charge, and the young rider was partly protected by his body from the +hoofs that thundered over them. Horse and rider rose together. Harry +found that the reins were still clenched in his hand. His horse was +trembling all over from shock, and so was he, but neither was much +harmed. Beyond him the great cavalry division was galloping on, and +he gazed at it a moment or two in a kind of stupor. But he became +conscious that the fire of the Southern skirmishers on its flank was +growing heavier and that many horses without riders were running loose +through the forest. +</P> + +<P> +Then his gaze turned back to the little band that had stood in the path +of the whirlwind, and he uttered a cry of joy as he saw Sherburne rising +slowly to his feet, the blood flowing from a wound in his left shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't much, Harry," said the captain. "It was only the point of the +sabre that grazed me, but my horse was killed, and the shock of the fall +stunned me for a moment or two. Oh, my poor troop!" +</P> + +<P> +There was good cause for his lament. Less than one-fourth of his brave +horsemen were left unhurt or with but slight wounds. The wounded who +could rise were limping away toward the thickets, and the unwounded +were seeking their mounts anew. Harry caught a riderless horse. His +faculties were now clear and the effect of the physical shock had passed. +</P> + +<P> +"We held 'em three minutes at least, Captain," he cried, "and it may +be that three minutes were enough. We were surprised, but we are not +beaten. Here, jump up! We've saved the guns from capture! And listen +how the rifle fire is increasing." +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne sprang into the saddle and his little band of surviving +troopers gathered around him. They uttered a shout, too, as they saw +heavy forces of their own cavalry coming up and charging, sabre in hand. +Inspired by the sight and forgetting his wound, Sherburne wheeled about +and led his little band in a charge upon the Northern flank. +</P> + +<P> +A desperate battle with sabres ensued. Forest and open rang with shouts +and the clash of steel, and hundreds of pistols flashed. The Northern +horsemen were driven back. Davis, who led them here, a Southerner by +birth, but a regular officer, a man of great merit, seeking to rally +them, fell, wounded mortally. A strong body of Illinois troops came up +and turned the tide of battle again. The Southern horsemen were driven +back. Some of them were taken prisoners and a part of Stuart's baggage +became a Northern prize. +</P> + +<P> +This portion of the Southern cavalry under Jones, which Harry and +Sherburne had joined, now merely sought to check the Northern advance +until Stuart could arrive. Everyone expected Stuart. Such a brilliant +cavalryman could not fail. But the Northern force was increasing. +Buford and his men were coming down on their flank. It seemed that the +Confederate force was about to be overwhelmed again, but suddenly their +guns came into action. Shell and canister held back the Northern force, +and then arose from the Southern ranks the shout: "Stuart! Stuart!" +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw him galloping forward at the head of his men, his long, +yellow hair flying in the air, his sabre whirled aloft in glittering +circles, and he felt an immense sensation of relief. Leading his +division in person, Stuart drove back the Northern horsemen, but he in +his turn was checked by artillery and supporting columns of infantry +in the wood. +</P> + +<P> +Pleasanton, the Union leader, was showing great skill and courage. +Having profited by his enemy's example, he was pressing his advantage +to the utmost. Already he had found in Stuart's captured baggage +instructions for the campaign, showing that the whole Southern army was +on its way toward the great valley, to march thence northward, and he +resolved instantly to break up this advance as much as possible. +</P> + +<P> +Pleasanton pressed forward again, and Stuart prepared to meet him. +But Harry, who was keeping by the side of Sherburne, saw Stuart halt +suddenly. A messenger had galloped up to him and he brought formidable +news. A heavy column of horsemen had just appeared directly behind the +Southern cavalry and was marching to the attack. Stuart was in a trap. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw that Stuart had been outgeneralled, and again he shut his +teeth together hard. To be outgeneralled did not mean that they would +be outfought. The Northern force in their rear was the third division +under Gregg, and Stuart sent back cavalry and guns to meet them. +</P> + +<P> +Harry now saw the battle on all sides of him. Cavalry were charging, +falling back, and charging again. The whole forces of the two armies +were coming into action. Nearly twenty thousand sabres were flashing in +the sunlight that had driven away the fog. Harry had never before seen +a cavalry battle on so grand a scale, but the confusion was so great +that it was impossible for him to tell who was winning. +</P> + +<P> +The Northern horse took Fleetwood Hill; Stuart retook it. Then he +sought to meet the cavalry division in his front, and drove it to the +woods, where it reformed and hurled him back to the hill. The Northern +division, under Gregg, that had come up behind, fell with all its force +on the Southern flank. Had it driven in the Southern lines here, +Pleasanton's victory would have been assured, but the men in gray, +knowing that they must stand, stood with a courage that defied +everything. The heavy Northern masses could not drive them away, +and then Stuart, whirling about, charged the North in turn with his +thousands of horsemen. They were met by more Northern cavalry coming up, +and the combat assumed a deeper and more furious phase. +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne, with the fragment of his troop and Harry by his side, was in +this charge. The effect of it upon Harry, as upon his older comrade, +was bewildering. The combatants, having emptied their pistols or thrust +them back in their belts, were now using their sabres alone. Nearly +twenty thousand blades were flashing in the air. Again the battle was +face to face and the lines became mixed. Riderless horses, emerging +from the turmoil, were running in all directions, many of them neighing +in pain and terror. Men, dismounted and wounded, were crawling away +from the threat of the trampling hoofs. +</P> + +<P> +The gunners fired the cannon whenever they were sure they would not +strike down their own, but the horsemen charged upon them and wrenched +the guns from their hands, only to have them wrenched back again by the +Southerners. It was the greatest cavalry battle of the war, and the +spectacle was appalling. Many of the horses seemed to share the fury of +their riders and kicked and bit. Their beating hoofs raised an immense +cloud of dust, through which the blades of the sabres still flashed. +</P> + +<P> +Harry never knew how he went through it unhurt. Looking back, it seemed +that such a thing was impossible. Yet it occurred. But he became +conscious that the Southern horsemen, after the long and desperate +struggle, were driving back those of the North. They had superior +numbers. One of the Northern divisions, after having been engaged with +infantry elsewhere, failed to come up. +</P> + +<P> +Pleasanton, after daring and skill that deserved greater success, +was forced slowly to withdraw. Roused by the roar of the firing, +heavy masses of Ewell's infantry were now appearing on the horizon, +sent by Lee, with orders to hurry to the utmost. Pleasanton, +maintaining all his skill and coolness, dexterously withdrew his men +across the river, and Stuart did not consider it wise to follow. +Each side had lost heavily. Pleasanton had not only struck a hard blow, +but he had learned where Lee's army lay, and, moreover, he had shown +the horsemen of the South that those of the North were on the watch. +</P> + +<P> +It was late in the afternoon when the last Northern rider crossed the +Rappahannock, and Harry looked upon a field strewn with the fallen, +both men and horses. Then he turned to Sherburne and bound up his +wounded shoulder for him. The hurt was not serious, but Sherburne, +although they had driven off the Northern horse, was far from sanguine. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a Pyrrhic victory," he said. "We had the superior numbers, +and it was all we could do to beat them back. Besides, they surprised +us, when we thought we had a patent on that sort of business." +</P> + +<P> +"It's so," said Harry, his somber glance passing again over the field. +</P> + +<P> +Their feeling was communicated, too, to the advancing masses of +infantry. The soldiers, when they saw the stricken field and began +to hear details from their brethren of the horse, shook their heads. +There was no joy of victory in the Southern army that night. The enemy, +when he was least expected, had struck hard and was away. +</P> + +<P> +Harry rode to General Lee and gave him as many details as he could +of the cavalry battle, to all of which the general listened without +comment. He had reports from others also, and soon he dismissed Harry, +who took up his usual night quarters with his blankets under a green +tree. Here he found Dalton, who was eager to hear more. +</P> + +<P> +"They say that the Yankees, although inferior in numbers, pushed us hard, +Harry; is it so?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It is, and they caught us napping, too. George, I'm beginning to +wonder what's waiting for us there in the North." +</P> + +<P> +It was dark now and he gazed toward the North, where the stars already +twinkled serenely in the sky. It seemed to him that their army was +about to enter some vast, illimitable space, swarming with unknown +enemies. He felt for a little while a deep depression. But it was +partly physical. His exertions of the day had been tremendous, and the +intense excitement, too, had almost overcome him. The watchful Dalton +noticed his condition, and wisely said nothing, allowing his pulses to +regain their normal beat. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly an hour before his nerves became quiet, and then he sank +into a heavy sleep. In the morning youth had reasserted itself, both +physically and mentally. His doubts and apprehensions were gone. +The unconquerable Army of Northern Virginia was merely marching again +to fresh triumphs. +</P> + +<P> +Although Hooker now understood Lee's movement, and was pushing more +troops forward on his side of the Rappahannock, the Southern general, +with his eye ever on his main object, did not cease his advance. +He had turned his back on Washington, and nothing, not even formidable +irruptions like that of Pleasanton, could make him change his plan. +</P> + +<P> +The calls from the Valley of Virginia became more frequent and urgent. +Messengers came to Lee, begging his help. Milroy at Winchester, with a +strong force, was using rigorous measures. The people claimed that he +had gone far beyond the rules of war. Jackson had come more than once +to avenge them, and now they expected as much of Lee. +</P> + +<P> +They did not appeal in vain. Harry saw Lee's eyes flash at the reports +of the messengers, and he himself took a dispatch, the nature of which +he knew, to Ewell, who was in advance, leading Jackson's old corps. +Ewell, strapped to his horse, had regained his ruddiness and physical +vigor. Harry saw his eyes shine as he read the dispatch, and he knew +that nothing could please him more. +</P> + +<P> +"You know what is in this, Lieutenant Kenton?" he said, tapping the +paper. +</P> + +<P> +"I do, sir, and I'm sorry I can't go with you." +</P> + +<P> +"So am I; but as sure as you and I are sitting here on our horses, +trouble is coming to Mr. Milroy. Some friends of yours in the little +regiment called the Invincibles are just beyond the hill. Perhaps you'd +like to see them." +</P> + +<P> +Harry thanked him, saluted, and rode over the hill, where he found the +two colonels, St. Clair and Langdon riding at the head of their men. +The youths greeted him with a happy shout and the colonels welcomed him +in a manner less noisy but as sincere. +</P> + +<P> +"The sight of you, Harry, is good for any kind of eyes," said Colonel +Talbot. "But what has brought you here?" +</P> + +<P> +"An order from General Lee to General Ewell." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it must be of some significance." +</P> + +<P> +"It is, sir, and since it will be no secret in a few minutes, I can +tell you that this whole corps is going to Winchester to take Milroy. +I wish I could go with you, Colonel, but I can't." +</P> + +<P> +"You were at Brandy Station, and we weren't," said St. Clair quietly. +"It's our turn now." +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are, Arthur," said Langdon. "I mean to take this man Milroy +with my own hands. I remember that he gave us trouble in Jackson's +time. He's been licked once. What right has he to come back into the +Valley?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's there," said Harry, "and they say that he's riding it hard with +ironshod hoofs." +</P> + +<P> +"He won't be doing it by the time we see you again," said St. Clair +confidently as they rode away. +</P> + +<P> +Harry did not see them again for several days, but when Ewell's division +rejoined the main army, all that St. Clair predicted had come to pass. +St. Clair himself, with his left arm in a sling, where it was to remain +for a week, gave him a brief and graphic account of it. +</P> + +<P> +"All the soldiers in the army that he had once led knew how Old Jack +loved that town," he said, "and they were on fire to drive the Yankees +away from it once more. We marched fast. We were the foot cavalry, +just as we used to be; and, do you know, that Cajun band was along with +our brigade, as lively as ever. The Yankees had heard of our coming, +but late. They had already built forts around Winchester, but they +didn't dream until the last moment that a big force from Lee's army was +at hand. Their biggest fort was on Applepie Ridge, some little distance +from Winchester. We came up late in the afternoon and had to rest a +while, as it was awful hot. Then we opened, with General Ewell himself +in direct command there. Old Jube Early had gone around to attack their +other works, and we were waiting to hear the roaring of his guns. +</P> + +<P> +"We gave it to 'em hot and heavy. General Ewell was on foot—that is, +one foot and a crutch—and you ought to have seen him hopping about +among the falling cannon balls, watching and ordering everything. +Sunset was at hand, with Milroy fighting us back and not dreaming that +Early was coming on his flank. Then we heard Early's thunder. In a few +minutes his men stormed the fort on the hill next to him and turned its +guns upon Milroy himself. +</P> + +<P> +"It was now too dark to go much further with the fighting, and we +waited until the next morning to finish the business. But Milroy was +a slippery fellow. He slid out in the night somehow with his men, and +was five miles away before we knew he had gone. But we followed hard, +overtook him, captured four thousand men and twenty-three cannon and +scattered the rest in every direction. Wasn't that a thorough job?" +</P> + +<P> +"Stonewall Jackson would never have let them escape through his cordon +and get a start of five miles." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, Harry, Old Jack would never have allowed it. But then, +Harry, we've got to remember that there's been only one Stonewall +Jackson, and there's no more to come." +</P> + +<P> +"You're telling the whole truth, St. Clair, and if General Ewell did let +'em get away, he caught 'em again. It was a brilliant deed, and it's +cleared the Valley of the enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"Our scouts have reported that some of the fugitives have reached +Pennsylvania, spreading the alarm there. I suppose they'll be gathering +troops in our front now. What's the news from Hooker, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's moving northwest to head us off, but I don't think he has any +clear idea where we're going." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we going, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's more than I can tell. Maybe we're aiming for Philadelphia." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there'll be a big stir among the Quakers," said Happy Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't matter, young gentlemen, where we're going," said Colonel +Talbot, who heard the last words. "It's our business to be led, and +we know that we're in the hands of a great leader. And we know, too, +that whatever dangers he leads us into, he'll share them to the full. +Am I not right, Hector?" +</P> + +<P> +"You speak the full truth, Leonidas." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir," said Harry. "It's sufficient for us to follow where +General Lee leads." +</P> + +<P> +"But we need a great victory," said Colonel Talbot. "We've had news +from the southwest. The enemy has penetrated too far there. That +fellow Grant is a perfect bulldog. They say he actually means to take +our fortress of Vicksburg. He always hangs on, and that's bad for us. +If we win this war, we've got to win it with some great stroke here in +the east." +</P> + +<P> +"You speak with your usual penetration and clearness, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, and then the two rode on, side by +side, firm, quiet figures. +</P> + +<P> +Now came days when suspense and fear hung heavy over the land. The +sudden blow out of the dark that had destroyed Milroy startled the +North. The fugitives from his command told alarming stories of the +great Southern force that was advancing. The division of Hill, watching +Hooker on the Rappahannock, also dropped into the dark where Lee's main +army had already gone. The Army of the Potomac took up its march on a +parallel line to the westward, but it was never able to come into close +contact with the Army of Northern Virginia. There were clouds of +skirmishers and cavalry between. +</P> + +<P> +Undaunted by his narrow escape at Brandy Station, Stuart showed all his +old fire and courage, covering the flanks and spreading out a swarm of +horsemen who kept off the Northern scouts. Thus Lee was still able +to veil his movements in mystery, and the anxious Hooker finally sent +forward a great force to find and engage Stuart's cavalry. Stuart, +now acting as a rear guard, was overtaken near the famous old +battlefield of Manassas. For a long time he fought greatly superior +numbers and held them fast until nightfall, when the Northern force, +fearing some trap, fell back. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had been sent back with two other staff officers, and from a +distance he heard the crash and saw the flame of the battle. But he +had no part in it, merely reporting the result late in the night to his +general, who speedily pressed on, disregarding what might occur on his +flanks or in his rear, sure that his lieutenants could attend to all +dangers there. +</P> + +<P> +The days were full of excitement for Harry. While he remained near Lee, +the far-flung cavalry continually brought in exciting reports. As Harry +saw it, the North was having a taste of what she had inflicted on the +South. The news of Milroy's destruction, startling enough in itself, +had been magnified as it spread on the wings of rumor. The same rumor +enlarged Lee's army and increased the speed of his advance. +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne, recovered from his slight wound, was the most frequent +bringer of news. There was not one among all Stuart's officers more +daring than he, and he was in his element now, as they rode northward +into the enemy's country. He told how the troopers had followed +Milroy's fugitives so closely that they barely escaped across the +Potomac, and then how the Unionists of Maryland had fled before the +gray horsemen. +</P> + +<P> +Sherburne did not exaggerate. Hitherto the war had never really touched +the soil of any of the free states, but now it became apparent that +Pennsylvania, the second state of the Union in population, would be +invaded. Excitement seized Harrisburg, its capital, which Lee's +army might reach at any time. People poured over the bridges of the +Susquehanna and thousands of men labored night and day to fortify the +city. +</P> + +<P> +Jenkins, a Southern cavalry leader, was the first to enter Pennsylvania, +his men riding into the village of Greencastle, and proceeding thence to +Chambersburg. While the telegraph all over the North told the story of +his coming, and many thought that Lee's whole army was at hand, Jenkins +turned back. His was merely a small vanguard, and Lee had not yet drawn +together his whole army into a compact body. +</P> + +<P> +The advance of Lee with a part of his army was harassed moreover by the +Northern cavalry, which continued to show the activity and energy that +it had displayed so freely at Pleasanton's battle with Stuart. Harry, +besides bearing messages for troops to come up, often saw, as he rode +back and forth, the flame of firing on the skyline, and he heard the +distant mutter of both rifle and cannon fire. Some of these engagements +were fierce and sanguinary. In one, more than a thousand men fell, +a half to either side. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was shot at several times on his perilous errands, and once he +had a long gallop for safety. Then Lee stopped a while at the Potomac, +with his army on both sides of the river. He was waiting to gather all +his men together before entering Pennsylvania. Already they were in +a country that was largely hostile to them, and now Harry saw the +difficulty of getting accurate information. The farmers merely regarded +them with lowering brows and refused to say anything about Union troops. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had parted company for the time with his friends of the +Invincibles. They were far ahead with Ewell, while he and Dalton +remained with Lee on the banks of the Potomac. Yet the delay was not as +long as it seemed to him. Soon they took up their march and advanced on +a long line across the neck of Maryland into Pennsylvania, here a region +of fertile soil, but with many stony outcrops. The little streams were +numerous, flowing down to the rivers, and horses and men alike drank +thirstily at them, because the weather was now growing hot and the +marching was bad. +</P> + +<P> +It was near the close of the month when Harry learned that Hooker had +been relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac at his own +request, and that he had been succeeded by Meade. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know anything about Meade?" he asked Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"He's been one of the corps commanders against us," replied the +Virginian, "and they say he's cautious. That's all I know." +</P> + +<P> +"I think it likely that we'll find out before long what kind of a +general he is," said Harry thoughtfully. "We can't invade the North +without having a big battle." +</P> + +<P> +The corps of Hill and Longstreet were now joined under the personal eye +of Lee, who rode with his two generals. Ewell was still ahead. Finally +they came to Chambersburg, which the Southern advance had reached +earlier in the month, and Lee issued an order that no devastation should +be committed by his troops, an order that was obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton walked a little through the town, and menacing looks +met them everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +"We've treated 'em well, but they don't like us," he said to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should they? We come as invaders, as foes, not as friends. +Did our people in the Virginia towns give the Yankees any very friendly +looks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not that I've heard of. I suppose you can't make friends of a people +whom you come to make war on, even if you do speak kind words to them." +</P> + +<P> +"Is General Stuart here?" asked Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"No, he's gone on a great raid with his whole force. I suppose he's +going to sweep up many detachments of the enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"And meanwhile we're going on to Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania." +</P> + +<P> +"But it seems to me that Stuart ought to be with us." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe he's gone to find out just where the Army of the Potomac is. +We've lost Meade, and Meade has lost us. Some prisoners that we've +brought in say that nobody in the North knows just where our army is, +although all know that it's in Pennsylvania." +</P> + +<P> +But that night, while Harry was at General Lee's headquarters, a scout +arrived with news that the Army of the Potomac was advancing upon an +almost parallel line and could throw itself in his rear. Other scouts +came, one after another, with the same report. Harry saw the gravity +with which the news was received, and he speedily gathered from the talk +of those about him that Lee must abandon his advance to the Pennsylvania +capital and turn and fight, or be isolated far from Virginia, the +Southern base. +</P> + +<P> +Stuart and the cavalry were still absent on a great raid. Lee's orders +to Stuart were not explicit, and the cavalry leader's ardent soul gave +to them the widest interpretation. Now they felt the lack of his +horsemen, who in the enemy's country could have obtained abundant +information. A spy had brought them the news that the Army of the +Potomac had crossed the Potomac and was marching on a parallel line with +them, but at that point their knowledge ended. The dark veil, which was +to be lifted in such a dramatic and terrible manner, still hung between +the two armies. +</P> + +<P> +The weather turned very warm, as it was now almost July. So far as +the heat was concerned Harry could not see any difference between +Pennsylvania and Kentucky and Virginia. In all three the sun blazed +at this time of the year, but the country was heavy with crops, now +ripening fast. It was a region that Harry liked. He had a natural +taste for broken land with slopes, forests, and many little streams of +clear water. Most of the fields were enclosed in stone fences, and the +great barns and well-built houses indicated prosperous farmers. +</P> + +<P> +He and Dalton rode up to one of these houses, and, finding every door +and window closed, knocked on the front door with a pistol butt. +They knew it was occupied, as they had seen smoke coming from the +chimney. +</P> + +<P> +"This house surely belongs to a Dutchman," said Dalton, meaning one +of those Pennsylvanians of German descent who had settled in the rich +southeast of Pennsylvania generations ago. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear they don't know how to talk English," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"They can if they have to. Hit that door several times more, Harry, +and hit it hard. They're a thrifty people, and they wouldn't like to +see a good door destroyed." +</P> + +<P> +Harry beat a resounding tattoo until the door was suddenly thrown open +and the short figure of a man of middle years, chin-whiskered and gray, +but holding an old-fashioned musket in his hands, confronted them. +</P> + +<P> +"Put down that gun, Herr Schneider! Put it down at once!" said Dalton, +who had already levelled his pistol. +</P> + +<P> +The man was evidently no coward, but when he looked into Dalton's eye, +he put the musket on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, still sitting on his horse—they had ridden directly up to the +front door—saw a stalwart woman and several children hovering in the +dusk of the room behind the man. He watched the whole group, but he +left the examination to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to tell me, Herr Schneider, the location of the Army of the +Potomac, down to the last gun and man, and what are the intentions of +General Meade," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +The man shook his head and said, "Nein." +</P> + +<P> +"Nine!" said Dalton indignantly. "General Meade has more than nine men +with him! Come, out with the story! All those tales about the rebels +coming to burn and destroy are just tales, and nothing more. You +understand what I'm saying well enough. Come, out with your +information!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nein," said the German. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Dalton in a ferocious tone. "After all, we are the +rebel ogres that you thought we were." +</P> + +<P> +He turned toward his comrade and, with his back toward the German, +winked and said: +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think I'd better do with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, kill him," replied Harry carelessly. "He's broad between the eyes +and there's plenty of room there for a bullet. You couldn't miss at two +yards." +</P> + +<P> +The German made a dive toward his musket, but Dalton cried sharply: +</P> + +<P> +"Hands up or I shoot!" +</P> + +<P> +The German straightened himself and, holding his hands aloft, said: +</P> + +<P> +"You would not kill me in the shelter uf mein own house?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that depends on the amount of English you know. It seems to me, +Herr Schneider, that you learned our language very suddenly." +</P> + +<P> +"I vas a man who learns very fast when it vas necessary. Mein brain +vorks in a manner most vonderful ven I looks down the barrel of a big +pistol." +</P> + +<P> +"This pistol is a marvelous stimulant to a good education." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know mein name vas Schneider?" +</P> + +<P> +"Intuition, Herr Schneider! Intuition! We Southern people have +wonderful intuitive faculties." +</P> + +<P> +"Vell, it vas not Schneider. My name vas Jacob Onderdonk." +</P> + +<P> +Harry laughed and Dalton reddened. +</P> + +<P> +"The joke is on me, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "But we're here on a +serious errand. Where is General Meade?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haf not had my regular letter from General Meade this morning. +Vilhelmina, you are sure ve haf noddings from General Meade?" +</P> + +<P> +"Noddings, Jacob," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Dalton flushed again and muttered under his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"We want to know," he said sharply, "if you have seen the Army of the +Potomac or heard anything of it." +</P> + +<P> +A look of deep sadness passed over the face of Jacob Onderdonk. +</P> + +<P> +"I haf one great veakness," he said, "one dot makes my life most bitter. +I haf de poorest memory in de vorld. Somedimes I forget de face of mein +own Vilhelmina. Maybe de Army uf de Potomac, a hundred thousand men, +pass right before my door yesterday. Maybe, as der vedder vas hot, +that efery one uf dem hundred thousand men came right into der house +und take a cool drink out uf der water bucket. But I cannot remember. +Alas, my poor memory!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then maybe Wilhelmina remembers." +</P> + +<P> +"Sh! do not speak uf dot poor voman. I do not let her go out uf der +house dese days, as she may not be able to find der vay back in again." +</P> + +<P> +"We'd better go, George," said Harry. "I think we only waste time +asking questions of such a forgetful family." +</P> + +<P> +"It iss so," said Onderdonk; "but, young Mister Rebels, I remember one +thing." +</P> + +<P> +"And what is that?" asked Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"It vas a piece of advice dot I ought to gif you. You tell dot General +Lee to turn his horse's head and ride back to der South. You are good +young rebels. I can see it by your faces. Ride back to der South, +I tell you again. We are too many for you up here. Der field uf +corn iss so thick und so long dot you cannot cut your way through it. +Your knife may be sharp and heavy, but it vill vear out first. Do I +not tell the truth, Vilhelmina, mein vife?" +</P> + +<P> +"All your life you haf been a speaker of der truth, Hans, mein husband." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you're a poor prophet, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "We +recognize, however, the fact that we can't get any information out of +you. But we ask one thing of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Vat iss dot?" +</P> + +<P> +"Please to remember that while we two are rebels, as you call them, +we neither burn nor kill. We have offered you no rudeness whatever, +and the Army of Northern Virginia is composed of men of the same kind." +</P> + +<P> +"I vill remember it," said Onderdonk gravely, and as they saluted him +politely, he returned the salute. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bad fellow, I fancy," said Harry, as they rode away. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but our stubborn enemy, all the same. Wherever our battle is +fought we'll find a lot of these Pennsylvania Dutchmen standing up to +us to the last." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton rejoined the staff, bringing with them no information +of value, and they marched slowly on another day, camping in the cool of +the evening, both armies now being lost to the anxious world that waited +and sought to find them. +</P> + +<P> +Lee himself, as Harry gathered from the talk about him, was uncertain. +He did not wish a battle now, but his advance toward the Susquehanna +had been stopped by the news that the Army of the Potomac could cut in +behind. The corps of Ewell had been recalled, and Harry, as he rode to +it with a message from his general, saw his old friends again. They +were in a tiny village, the name of which he forgot, and Colonel Talbot +and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, sitting in the main room of what +was used as a tavern in times of peace, had resumed the game of chess, +interrupted so often. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire was in great glee, +just having captured a pawn, and Colonel Talbot was eager and sure of +revenge, when Harry entered and stated that he had delivered an order +to General Ewell to fall back yet farther. +</P> + +<P> +"Most untimely! Most untimely!" exclaimed Colonel Talbot, as they +rapidly put away the board and chessmen. "I was just going to drive +Hector into a bad corner, when you came and interrupted us." +</P> + +<P> +"You are my superior officer, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire, "but remember that this superiority applies only to +military rank. I assert now, with all respect to your feelings, that +in regard to chess it does not exist, never has and never will." +</P> + +<P> +"Opinions, Hector, are—opinions. Time alone decides whether they +are or are not facts. But our corps is to fall back, you say, Harry? +What does it signify?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think, Colonel, that it means a great battle very soon. It is +apparent that General Lee thinks so, or he would not be concentrating +his troops so swiftly. The Army of the Potomac is somewhere on our +flank, and we shall have to deal with it." +</P> + +<P> +"So be it. The Invincibles are few but ready." +</P> + +<P> +Harry rode rapidly back to Lee with the return message from Ewell, +and found him going into camp on the eve of the last day of June. +The weather was hot and scarcely any tents were set, nearly everybody +preferring the open air. Harry delivered his message, and General Lee +said to him, with his characteristic kindness: +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better go to sleep as soon as you can, because I shall want you +to go on another errand in the morning to a place called Gettysburg." +</P> + +<P> +Gettysburg! Gettysburg! He had never heard the name before and it +had absolutely no significance to him now. But he saluted, withdrew, +procured his blankets and joined Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"The General tells me, George, that I'm to go to Gettysburg," he said. +"What's Gettysburg, and why does he want me to go there?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm to be with you, Harry, and we're both going with a flying column, +in order that we may report upon its conduct and achievements. So I've +made inquiries. It's a small town surrounded by hills, but it's a +great center for roads. We're going there because it's got a big shoe +factory. Our role is to be that of shoe buyers. Harry, stick out your +feet at once!" +</P> + +<P> +Harry thrust them forward. +</P> + +<P> +"One sole worn through. The heel gone from the other shoe, and even +then you're better off than most of us. Lots of the privates are +barefooted. So you needn't think that the role of shoe buyer is an +ignominious one." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be ready," said Harry. "Call me early in the morning, George. +We're a long way from home, and the woods are not full of friends. +Getting up here in these Pennsylvania hills, one has to look pretty +hard to look away down South in Dixie." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, Harry. A good sleep to you, and to-morrow, as shoe buyers, +we'll ride together to Gettysburg." +</P> + +<P> +He lay between his blankets, went quickly to sleep and dreamed nothing +of Gettysburg, of which he had heard for the first time that day. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ZENITH OF THE SOUTH +</H3> + +<P> +The sun of the first day of July, which was to witness the beginning +of the most tremendous event in the history of America, dawned hot and +clouded with vapors. They hung in the valleys, over the steep stony +hills and along the long blue slopes of South Mountain. The mists made +the country look more fantastic to Harry, who was early in the saddle. +The great uplifts and projections of stone assumed the shapes of castles +and pyramids and churches. +</P> + +<P> +Over South Mountain, on the west, heavy black clouds floated, and the +air was close and oppressive. +</P> + +<P> +"Rain, do you think?" said Harry to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"No, just a sultry day. Maybe a wind will spring up and drive away +all these clouds and vapors. At least, I hope so. There's the bugle. +We're off on our shoe campaign." +</P> + +<P> +"Who leads us?" +</P> + +<P> +"We go with Pettigrew, and Heth comes behind. In a country so thick +with enemies it's best to move only in force." +</P> + +<P> +The column took up its march and a cloud of dust followed it. The +second half of June had been rainy, but there had been several days of +dry weather now, allowing the dust to gather. Harry and Dalton soon +became very hot and thirsty. The sun did not drive away the vapors as +soon as they had expected, and the air grew heavier. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope they'll have plenty of good drinking water in Gettysburg," +said Harry. "It will be nearly as welcome to me as shoes." +</P> + +<P> +They rode on over hills and valleys, and brooks and creeks, the names +of none of which they knew. They stopped to drink at the streams, and +the thirsty horses drank also. But it remained hard for the infantry. +They were trained campaigners, however, and they did not complain as +they toiled forward through the heat and dust. +</P> + +<P> +They came presently to round hillocks, over which they passed, then they +saw a fertile valley, watered by a creek, and beyond that the roofs of a +town with orchards behind it. +</P> + +<P> +"Gettysburg!" said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be the place," said Harry. "Picturesque, isn't it? Look at +those two hills across there, rising so steeply." +</P> + +<P> +One of the hills, the one that lay farther to the south, a mass of +apparently inaccessible rocks, rose more than two hundred feet above the +town. The other, about a third of a mile from the first, was only half +its height. They were Round Top and Little Round Top. In the mists and +vapors and at the distance the two hills looked like ancient towers. +Harry and George gazed at them, and then their eyes turned to the town. +</P> + +<P> +It was a neat little place, with many roads radiating from it as if it +were the hub of a wheel, and the thrifty farmers of that region had made +it a center for their schools. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had learned from Jackson, and again from Lee, always to note +well the ground wherever he might ride. Such knowledge in battle was +invaluable, and his eyes dwelled long on Gettysburg. +</P> + +<P> +He saw running south of the town a long high ridge, curving at the east +and crowned with a cemetery, because of which the people of Gettysburg +called it Cemetery Ridge or Hill. Opposed to it, some distance away and +running westward, was another but lower ridge that they called Seminary +Ridge. Beyond Seminary Ridge were other and yet lower ridges, between +two of which flowed a brook called Willoughby Run. Beyond them all, +two or three miles away and hemming in the valley, stretched South +Mountain, the crests of which were still clothed in the mists and vapors +of a sultry day. Near the town was a great field of ripening wheat, +golden when the sun shone. Not far from the horsemen was another little +stream called Plum Run. They also saw an unfinished railroad track, +with a turnpike running beside it, the roof and cupola of a seminary, +and beside the little marshy stream of Plum Run a mass of jagged, +uplifted rocks, commonly called the Devil's Den. +</P> + +<P> +Harry knew none of these names yet, but he was destined to learn them +in such a manner that he could never forget them again. Now he merely +admired the peaceful and picturesque appearance of the town, set so +snugly among its hills. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Gettysburg, which for us just at this moment is the shoe +metropolis of the world," said Dalton, "but I dare say we'll not be +welcomed as purchasers or in any other capacity." +</P> + +<P> +"You take a safe risk, George," said Harry. "Tales that we are terrible +persons, who rejoice most in arson and murder, evidently have been +spread pretty thoroughly through this region." +</P> + +<P> +"Both sections scatter such stories. I suppose it's done in every war. +It's only human nature." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mr. Pedantic Philosopher. Maybe you're telling the truth. +But look, I don't think we're going into Gettysburg in such a great +hurry! Yankee soldiers are there before us!" +</P> + +<P> +Other Southern officers had noted the blue uniforms and the flash of +rifle barrels and bayonets in Gettysburg. As they used their glasses, +the town came much nearer and the Union forces around it increased. +Buford, coming up the night before, had surmised that a Southern force +would advance on Gettysburg, and he had chosen the place for a battle. +He had with him four thousand two hundred mounted men, and he posted +them in the strong positions that were so numerous. He had waited there +all night, and already his scouts had informed him that Pettigrew and +Heth were advancing. +</P> + +<P> +"Are we to lose our shoes?" whispered Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think so," replied Dalton in an undertone. "We're in strong +force, and I don't see any signs that our generals intend to turn back. +Harry, your glasses are much stronger than mine. What do you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"I see a lot. The Yankees must be four or five thousand, and they are +posted strongly. They are thick in the railroad cut and hundreds of +horses are held by men in the rear. It must be almost wholly a cavalry +force." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see any people in the town?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is not a soul in the streets, and as far as I can make out all +the doors are closed and the windows shuttered." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's a heavy force waiting for us. The people know it, and +expecting a battle, they have gone away." +</P> + +<P> +"Your reasoning is good, and there's the bugle to confirm it. Our lines +are already advancing!" +</P> + +<P> +It was still early in the morning, and the strong Southern force which +had come for shoes, but which found rifles and bayonets awaiting them +instead, advanced boldly. They, the victors of Fredericksburg and +Chancellorsville, had no thought of retreating before a foe who invited +them to combat. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton found their hearts beating hard at this their first +battle on Northern soil, and Harry's eyes once more swept the great +panorama of the valley, the silent town, the lofty stone hills, and far +beyond the long blue wall of South Mountain, with the mists and vapors +still floating about its crest. +</P> + +<P> +Heth was up now, and he took full command, sending two brigades in +advance, the brigades themselves preceded by a great swarm of +skirmishers. Harry and Dalton rode with one of the brigades, and they +closely followed those who went down the right bank of the stream called +Willoughby Run, opening a rapid fire as they advanced upon a vigilant +enemy who had been posted the night before in protected positions. +</P> + +<P> +Buford's men met the attack with courage and vigor. Four thousand +dismounted cavalry, all armed with carbines, sent tremendous volleys +from the shelter of ridges and earthworks. The fire was so heavy that +the Southern skirmishers could not stand before it, and they, too, +began to seek shelter. The whole Southern column halted for a few +minutes, but recovered itself and advanced again. +</P> + +<P> +The battle blazed up with a suddenness and violence that astonished +Harry. The air was filled in an instant with the whistling of shells +and bullets. He heard many cries. Men were falling all around him, +but so far he and Dalton were untouched. Heth, Davis, Archer and the +others were pushing on their troops, shouting encouragement to them, +and occasionally, through the clouds of smoke, which were thickening +fast, Harry saw the tanned faces of their enemies loading and firing +as fast as they could handle rifle and cannon. The Northern men had +shelter, but were fewer in number. The soldiers in gray were suffering +the heavier losses, but they continued to advance. +</P> + +<P> +The battle swelled in volume and fierceness along the banks of +Willoughby Run. There was a continuous roar of rifles and cannon, +and the still, heavy air of the morning conducted the sound to the +divisions that were coming up and to the trembling inhabitants of the +little town who had fled for refuge to the farmhouses in the valley. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and George had still managed to keep close together. Both had +been grazed by bullets, but these were only trifles. They saw that the +division was not making much progress. The men in blue were holding +their ground with extraordinary stubbornness. Although the Southern +fire, coming closer, had grown much more deadly, they refused to yield. +</P> + +<P> +Buford, who had chosen that battlefield and who was the first to command +upon it, would not let his men give way. His great hour had come, +and he may have known it. Watching through his glasses he had seen long +lines of Southern troops upon the hills, marching toward Gettysburg. +He knew that they were the corps of Hill, drawn by the thunder of the +battle, and he felt that if he could hold his ground yet a while longer +help for him too would come, drawn in the same manner. +</P> + +<P> +Harry once caught sight of this officer, a native of Kentucky like +himself. He was covered with dust and perspiration, but he ran up and +down, encouraging his men and often aiming the cannon himself. It was +good fortune for the North that he was there that day. The Southern +generals, uncertain whether to push the battle hard or wait for Lee, +recoiled a little before his tremendous resistance. +</P> + +<P> +But the South hesitated only for a moment. Hill, pale from an illness, +but always full of fire and resolution, was hurrying forward his massive +columns, their eagerness growing as the sound of the battle swelled. +They would overwhelm the Union force, sweep it away. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the time gained by Buford had a value beyond all measurements. +The crash of the battle had been heard by Union troops, too, and +Reynolds, one of the ablest Union generals, was leading a great column +at the utmost speed to the relief of the general who had held his ground +so well. A signalman stationed in the belfry of the seminary reported +to Buford the advance of Reynolds, and the officer, eager to verify it, +rushed up into the belfry. +</P> + +<P> +Then Buford saw the columns coming forward at the double quick, Reynolds +in his eagerness galloping at their head, and leaving them behind. +He looked in the other direction and he saw the men of Hill advancing +with equal speed. He saw on one road the Stars and Stripes and on +the other the Stars and Bars. He rushed back down the steps and met +Reynolds. +</P> + +<P> +"The devil is to pay!" he cried to Reynolds. +</P> + +<P> +"How do we stand?" +</P> + +<P> +"We can hold on until the arrival of the First Corps." +</P> + +<P> +Buford sprang on his horse, and the two generals, reckless of death, +galloped among the men, encouraging the faint-hearted, reforming the +lines, and crying to them to hold fast, that the whole Army of the +Potomac was coming. +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt the hardening of resistance. The smoke was so dense that he +could not see for a while the fresh troops coming to the help of Buford, +but he knew nevertheless that they were there. Then he heard a great +shouting behind him, as Hill's men, coming upon the field, rushed into +action. But Jackson, the great Jackson whom he had followed through all +his victories, the man who saw and understood everything, was not there! +</P> + +<P> +The genius of battle was for the moment on the other side. Reynolds, +so ably pushing the work that Buford had done, was seizing the best +positions for his men. He was acting with rapidity and precision, +and the troops under him felt that a great commander was showing them +the way. His vigor secured the slopes and crest of Cemetery Hill, +but the Southern masses nevertheless were pouring forward in full tide. +</P> + +<P> +The combat had now lasted about two hours, and, a stray gust of wind +lifting the smoke a little, Harry caught a glimpse of a vast blazing +amphitheater of battle. He had regarded it at first as an affair of +vanguards, but now he realized suddenly that this was the great battle +they had been expecting. Within this valley and on these ridges and +hills it would be fought, and even as the thought came to him the +conflict seemed to redouble in fury and violence, as fresh brigades +rushed into the thick of it. +</P> + +<P> +Harry's horse was killed by a shell as he rode toward a wood on the +Cashtown road, which both sides were making a desperate effort to +secure. Fortunately he was able to leap clear and escape unhurt. +In a few moments Dalton was dismounted in almost the same manner, +but the two on foot kept at the head of the column and rushed with +the skirmishers into the bushes. There they knelt, and began to fire +rapidly on the Union men who were advancing to drive them out. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw an officer in a general's uniform leading the charge. The +bullets of the skirmishers rained upon the advance. One struck this +general in the head, when he was within twenty yards of the riflemen, +and he fell stone dead. It was the gallant and humane Reynolds, falling +in the hour of his greatest service. But his troops, wild with ardor +and excitement, not noticing his death, still rushed upon the wood. +</P> + +<P> +The charge came with such violence and in such numbers that the Southern +skirmishers and infantry in the wood were overpowered. They were driven +in a mass across Willoughby Run. A thousand, General Archer among them, +were taken prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton barely escaped, and in all the tumult and fury of the +fighting they found themselves with another division of the Southern +army which was resisting a charge made with the same energy and courage +that marked the one led by Reynolds. But the charge was beaten back, +and the Southerners, following, were repulsed in their turn. +</P> + +<P> +The battle, which had been raging for three hours with the most +extraordinary fury, sank a little. Harry and Dalton could make nothing +of it. Everything seemed wild, confused, without precision or purpose, +but the fighting had been hard and the losses great. +</P> + +<P> +Heth now commanded on the field for the South and Doubleday for the +North. Each general began to rectify his lines and try to see what had +happened. The Confederate batteries opened, but did not do much damage, +and while the lull continued, more men came for the North. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton had found their way to Heth, who told them to stay +with him until Lee came. Heth was making ready to charge a brigade of +stalwart Pennsylvania lumbermen, who, however, managed to hold their +position, although they were nearly cut to pieces. Hill now passed +along the Southern line, and like the other Southern leaders, uncertain +what to do in this battle brought on so strangely and suddenly, ceased +to push the Union lines with infantry, but opened a tremendous fire from +eighty guns. The whole valley echoed with the crash of the cannon, +and the vast clouds of smoke began to gather again. The Union forces +suffered heavy losses, but still held their ground. +</P> + +<P> +Harry thought, while this comparative lull in close fighting was going +on, that Dalton and he should get back to General Lee with news of what +was occurring, although he had no doubt the commander-in-chief was now +advancing as fast as he could with the full strength of the army. Still, +duty was duty. They had been sent forward that they might carry back +reports, and they must carry them. +</P> + +<P> +"It's time for us to go," he said to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"I was just about to say that myself." +</P> + +<P> +"We can safely report to the general that the vanguards have met at +Gettysburg and that there are signs of a battle." +</P> + +<P> +Dalton took a long, comprehensive look over the valley in which thirty +or forty thousand men were merely drawing a fresh breath before plunging +anew into the struggle, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Harry, all the signs do point that way. I think we can be sure of +our news." +</P> + +<P> +They had not been able to catch any of the riderless horses galloping +about the field, and they started on foot, taking the road which they +knew would lead them to Lee. They emerged from some bushes in which +they had been lying for shelter, and two or three bullets whistled +between them. Others knocked up the dust in the path and a shell +shrieked a terrible warning over their heads. They dived back into the +bushes. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you see that sign out there in the road?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Sign! Sign! I saw no sign," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"I did. It was a big sign, and it read, in big letters: +'No Thoroughfare.'" +</P> + +<P> +"You must be right. I suppose I didn't notice it, because I came back +in such a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +They had become so hardened to the dangers of war that, like thousands +of others, they could jest in the face of death. +</P> + +<P> +"We must make another try for it," said Dalton. "We've got to cross +that road. I imagine our greatest danger is from sharpshooters at the +head of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Stoop low and make a dash. Here goes!" +</P> + +<P> +Bent almost double, they made a hop, skip and jump and were in the +bushes on the other side, where they lay still for a few moments, +panting, while the hair on their heads, which had risen up, lay down +again. Quick as had been their passage, fully a dozen ferocious bullets +whined over their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"I hate skirmishers," said Harry. "It's one thing to fire at the mass +of the enemy, and it's another to pick out a man and draw a bead on him." +</P> + +<P> +"I hate 'em, too, especially when they're firing at me!" said Dalton. +"But, Harry, we're doing no good lying here in the bushes, trying to +press ourselves into the earth so the bullets will pass over our heads. +Heavens! What was that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only the biggest shell that was ever made bursting near us. You know +those Yankee artillerymen were always good, but I think they've improved +since they first saw us trying to cross the road." +</P> + +<P> +"To think of an entire army turning away from its business to shoot at +two fellows like ourselves, who ask nothing but to get away!" +</P> + +<P> +"And it's time we were going. The bushes rise over our heads here. +We must make another dash." +</P> + +<P> +They rose and ran on, but to their alarm the bushes soon ended and they +emerged into a field. Here they came directly into the line of fire +again, and the bullets sang and whistled around them. Once more they +read in invisible but significant letters the sign, "No Thoroughfare," +and darted back into the wood from which they had just come, while +shells, not aimed at them, but at the armies, shrieked over their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"It's not the plan of fate that we should reach General Lee just yet," +said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"The shells and bullets say it isn't. What do you think we ought to do?" +</P> + +<P> +Harry rose up cautiously and began to survey their position. Then he +uttered a cry of joy. +</P> + +<P> +"More of our men are coming," he exclaimed, "and they are coming in +heavy columns! I see their gray jackets and their tanned faces, and +there, too, are the Invincibles. Look, you can see the two colonels, +riding side by side, and just behind them are St. Clair and Langdon!" +</P> + +<P> +Dalton's eyes followed Harry's pointing finger, and he saw. It was a +joyous sight, the masses of their own infantry coming down the road in +perfect order, and their own personal friends not two hundred yards +away. But the Northern artillerymen had seen them too, and they began +to send up the road a heavy fire which made many fall. Ewell's men came +on, unflinching, until they unlimbered their own guns and began to reply +with fierce and rapid volleys. +</P> + +<P> +The two youths sprang from the brush and rushed directly into the gray +ranks of the Invincibles before they could be fired upon by mistake +as enemies. The two colonels had dismounted, but they recognized the +fugitives instantly and welcomed them. +</P> + +<P> +"Why this hurry, Lieutenant Kenton?" said Colonel Talbot politely. +</P> + +<P> +"We were trying to reach General Lee, and not being able to do so, +we are anxious to greet friends." +</P> + +<P> +"So it would seem. I do not recall another such swift and warm +greeting." +</P> + +<P> +"But we're glad, Leonidas, that they've found refuge with us," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. +</P> + +<P> +"So we are, Hector. Down there, lads, for your lives!" +</P> + +<P> +The colonel had seen a movement in the hostile artillery, and at his +sharp command all of the Invincibles and the two lads threw themselves +on their faces, not a moment too soon, as a hideous mass of grape and +canister flew over their heads. The Invincibles, rising to their feet, +sent a return volley from their rifles, and then, at the command of a +general, fell back behind their own cannon. +</P> + +<P> +The Northern artillery in front was shifted, evidently to protect some +weaker position of their line, but the Southern troops in the road did +not advance farther at present, awaiting the report of scouts who were +quickly sent ahead. +</P> + +<P> +"You're welcome to our command," said Langdon, "but I notice that you +come on foot and in a hurry. We're glad to protect officers on the +staff of the commander-in-chief, whenever they appeal to us." +</P> + +<P> +"Even when they come running like scared colts," said St. Clair. +"Why, Happy, I saw both of 'em jump clean over bushes ten feet high." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd have jumped over trees a hundred feet high if a hundred thousand +Yankees were shooting at you as they were shooting at us," rejoined +Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"What place is this in the valley, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. +</P> + +<P> +"It's called Gettysburg, sir. We heard that it was full of shoes. +We went there this morning to get em, but we found instead that it was +full of Yankees." +</P> + +<P> +"And they know how to shoot, too," said Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. +"We heard all the thunder of a great battle as we came up." +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't come too soon, sir," said Dalton. "The Yankees are +fighting like fiends, and we've made very little headway against 'em. +Besides, sir, fresh men are continually coming up for 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"And fresh men have now come for our side, too," said Colonel Leonidas +Talbot proudly. "I fancy that a division of Jackson's old corps will +have a good deal to say about the result." +</P> + +<P> +"What part of the corps, sir, is this?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Rodes' division. General Ewell himself has not yet arrived, but you +may be sure he is making the utmost haste with the rest of the division." +</P> + +<P> +Rodes, full of eagerness, now pushed his troops forward. Hill, who saw +his coming with unmeasured joy, shifted his men until they were fully in +touch with those of Rodes, the whole now forming a great curving line of +battle frowning with guns, the troops burning for a new attack. +</P> + +<P> +Harry looked up at the sun, which long ago had pierced the mists and +vapors, but not the smoke. He saw to his surprise that it had reached +and passed the zenith. It must now be at least two o'clock in the +afternoon. He was about to look at his watch when the Southern trumpets +at that moment sounded the charge, and, knowing no other way to go, +he and Dalton fell in with the Invincibles. +</P> + +<P> +Howard was in command of the Northern army at this time, and from a roof +of a house in Gettysburg he had been watching the Southern advance. +He and Doubleday gathered all their strength to meet it, and, despite +the new troops brought by Rodes, Hill was unable to drive them back. +Harry felt, as he had felt all along, that marked hardening of the +Northern resistance. +</P> + +<P> +The battle wavered. Sometimes the North was driven back and sometimes +it was the South, until Hill at last, massing a great number of men on +his left, charged with renewed courage and vigor. The Union men could +not withstand their weight, and their flank was rolled up. Then Gordon +and his Georgians marched into the willows that lined Rock Creek, +forded the stream and entered the field of wheat beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw this famous charge, and during a pause of the Invincibles he +watched it. The Georgians, although the cannon and rifles were now +turned upon them, marched in perfect order, trampling down the yellow +wheat which stood thick and tall before them. The sun glittered on +their long lines of bayonets. Many men fell, but the ranks closed +up and marched unflinchingly on. Then, as they came near their foe, +they fired their own rifles and rushed forward. +</P> + +<P> +The men in blue were taken in the flank at the same time by Jubal Early, +and two more brigades also rushed upon them. It was the same Union +corps, the Eleventh, that had suffered so terribly at Chancellorsville +under the hammer strokes of Jackson, and now it was routed again. +It practically dissolved for the time under the overwhelming rush on +front and flank and became a mass of fugitives. +</P> + +<P> +Harry heard for the first time that day the long, thrilling rebel yell +of triumph, and both Howard and Doubleday, watching the battle intently, +had become alarmed for their force. Howard was already sending messages +to Meade, telling him that the great battle had begun and begging him +to hurry with the whole army. Doubleday, seeing one flank crushed, was +endeavoring to draw back the other, lest it be destroyed in its turn. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton and all the Invincibles felt the thrill of triumph +shooting through them. They were advancing at last, making the first +real progress of the day. +</P> + +<P> +Harry felt that the days of Jackson had come back. This was the way +in which they had always driven the foe. Ewell himself was now upon +the field. The loss of a leg had not diminished his ardor a whit. +Everywhere his troops were driving the enemy before them, increasing the +dismay which now prevailed in the ranks of men who had fought so well. +</P> + +<P> +Harry began to shout with the rest, as the Southern torrent, +irresistible now, flowed toward Gettysburg, while Ewell and Hill led +their men. The town was filled with the retreating Union troops and the +cannon and rifles thundered incessantly in the rear, driving them on. +The whole Southern curve was triumphant. Ewell's men entered the town +after the fugitives, driving all before them, and leaving Gettysburg +in Southern hands. +</P> + +<P> +But the Northern army was not a mob. The men recovered their spirit and +reformed rapidly. Many brave and gallant officers encouraged them and +a reserve had already thrown up strong entrenchments beyond the town on +Cemetery Hill, to which they retreated and once more faced their enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton stopped at Gettysburg, seeing the battle of the +vanguards won, and turned back. Their place was with the general to the +staff of whom they belonged, and they believed they would not have to +look far. With a battle that had lasted eight hours Lee would surely +be upon the field by this time, or very near it. +</P> + +<P> +There were plenty of riderless horses, and capturing two, one of which +had belonged to a Union officer, they went back in search of their +commander. It was a terrible field over which they passed, strewed with +human wreckage, smoke and dust still floated over everything. They +inquired as they advanced of officers who were just arriving upon the +field, and one of them, pointing, said: +</P> + +<P> +"There is General Lee." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton saw him sitting on his horse on Seminary Ridge, his +figure immovable, his eyes watching the Union brigades as they retreated +up the slopes of the opposite hill. It was about four o'clock in the +afternoon and the sunlight was brilliant. The commander and his horse +stood out like a statue on the hill, magnified in the blazing beams. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and his comrade paused to look at him a few moments. Their +spirits had risen when they saw him. They felt that since Lee had come +all things were possible and when the whole of the two armies met in +battle the victory would surely be theirs. +</P> + +<P> +The two rode quietly into the group of staff officers gathered at a +little distance behind Lee. They knew that it was not necessary now +to make any report or explanation. Events reported for themselves and +explained everything also. Their comrades greeted them with nods, +but Harry never ceased to watch Lee. +</P> + +<P> +The commander-in-chief in his turn was gazing at the panorama of battle, +spread almost at his feet. Although the combat was dying, enough was +left to give it a terrible aspect. The strife still went on in a part +of Gettysburg and cannon were thudding and rifles cracking. The flames +from houses set on fire by the shells streamed aloft like vast torches. +Horses that had lost their riders galloped aimlessly, wild with terror. +</P> + +<P> +While he looked, General Hill rode up and joined them. Hill had been +ill that day. His face was deadly in its pallor, and he swayed in his +saddle from weakness. But his spirit and courage were high. Harry saw +the two generals talking together, and again he glanced at the valley. +After long and desperate fighting the Southern victory had been +complete. Any young lieutenant could see that. The whole Northern +force was now being driven in great disorder upon Cemetery Hill, and a +man like Jackson, without going to see Lee, would have hurled his whole +force instantly upon those flying masses. Some one had called Ewell and +Hill, brave and able as they were, small change for Jackson, and the +phrase often came to Harry's mind. Still, it was not possible to find +any man or any two men who could fill the place of the great Stonewall. +</P> + +<P> +The day was far from over. At least three hours of sunlight were left. +More Southern troops had come up, and Harry expected to see Lee launch +his superior numbers against the defeated enemy. But he did not. +There was some pursuit, but it was not pressed with vigor, and the +victors stopped. Contradictory orders were given, it was claimed later, +by the generals, but Lee, with the grandeur of soul that places him so +high among the immortals, said afterward: +</P> + +<P> +"The attack was not pressed that afternoon, because the enemy's force +was unknown, and it was considered advisable to await the rest of our +troops." +</P> + +<P> +When failure occurred he never blamed anyone but himself. Yet Harry +always thought that his genius paled a little that afternoon. He did +not show the amazing vigor and penetration that were associated with the +name of Lee both before and afterwards. Perhaps it was an excess of +caution, due to his isolated position in the enemy's country, and +perhaps it was the loss of Jackson. Whatever it was, the precious hours +passed, the enemy, small in numbers, was not driven from his refuge on +Cemetery Hill, and the battle died. +</P> + +<P> +The Southern leaders themselves did not know the smallness of the +Northern force that had taken shelter on the hill. That hardening of +the resistance which Harry had felt more than once had been exemplified +to the full that deadly morning. Buford and Reynolds had shown the +penetration and resolution of Jackson himself, and their troops had +supported them with a courage and tenacity never surpassed in battle. +Only sixteen or seventeen thousand in number, they had left ten thousand +killed and wounded around the town, but with only one-third of their +numbers unhurt they rallied anew on Cemetery Hill and once more turned +defiant faces toward the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Hancock, whose greatest day also was at hand, had arrived, sent forward +in haste by Meade. Unsurpassed as a corps commander, and seeing the +advantage of the position, he went among the beaten but willing remnants, +telling them to hold on, as Meade and the whole Army of the Potomac were +coming at full speed, and would be there to meet Lee and the South in +the morning. +</P> + +<P> +Both commanding generals felt that the great battle was to be fought to +a finish there. Meade had not yet arrived, but he was hurrying forward +all the divisions, ready to concentrate them upon Cemetery Hill. +Lee also was bringing up all his troops, save the cavalry of Stuart, +now riding on the raid around the Northern army, and absent when they +were needed most. +</P> + +<P> +Harry did not know for many days that this fierce first day and the +gathering of the foes on Gettysburg was wholly unknown to both North and +South. The two armies had passed out of sight under the horizon's rim, +and the greatest battle of the war was to be fought unknown, until its +close, to the rival sections. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton, keeping close together, because they were comrades and +because they felt the need of companionship, watched from their own hill +the town and the hill beyond. Harry felt no joy. The victory was not +yet to him a victory. He knew that the field below, terrible to the +sight, was destined to become far more terrible, and the coming twilight +was full of omens and presages. +</P> + +<P> +The sun sank at last upon the scene of human strife and suffering, +but night brought with it little rest, because all through the darkness +the brigades and regiments were marching toward the fatal field. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GETTYSBURG +</H3> + +<P> +Harry took many messages that night, and he witnessed the gathering of +the generals about Lee. He saw Ewell come, hobbling on his crutches, +eager for battle and disappointed that they had not pushed the victory. +Hill returned again, refusing to yield to his illness. And there was +Longstreet, thick-bearded, the best fighter that Lee had since the death +of Jackson; McLaws, Hood, Heth, Pender, Jubal Early, Anderson and others, +veterans of many battles, great and small. +</P> + +<P> +They talked long and earnestly and pointed many times to the battlefield +and the opposing heights. While they talked, a man appeared among the +men in blue on Cemetery Hill, accompanied only by a staff officer and an +orderly. He had ridden a long distance, and naturally lean and haggard, +these traits in his appearance were exaggerated by weariness and +anxiety. He looked as little like a great general as Jackson had looked +in those days before he had sprung into fame. +</P> + +<P> +His military hat was black and broad of brim, and the brim, having +become limp, drooped down over his face. There were spectacles on his +nose, and it is said of him that he could have been taken more easily +for a teacher than for a commander-in-chief. Thus Meade came to his +army in the decisive moment of his country's life. He inspired neither +enthusiasm nor discouragement. He looked upon those left from the +battle and upon the brigades which had come since, thousands of men +already sound asleep among the white stones of the churchyard. Then +he turned in a calm and businesslike manner to the task of arranging a +stern front for the storm which he knew would burst upon them to-morrow. +The respect of his officers for him increased. +</P> + +<P> +Lee's generals went to their respective commands. Harry once more took +orders, and, as he carried messages or brought them back, he never +failed to see all that he could. The great corps of Ewell was drawn up +on the battlefield of the day, Hill's forces extended to Willoughby Run, +and the Southern line was complete along the whole curve. They also had +the welcome news that Stuart at Carlisle had heard of the battle and +would be present with the cavalry on the morrow. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, riding about in the darkness, recovered much of his spirits. +The whole Southern army would be present in the morning, and while +Jackson was dead, his spirit might ride again at their head. Now he +awaited the dawn with confidence, believing that Lee would win another +great victory. +</P> + +<P> +Harry was sent on his last errand far after midnight, and it took him to +one of Ewell's divisions, in the edge of Gettysburg. It was a clear +night, with a bright summer sky, a good moon and the stars in their +myriads twinkling peacefully over the panorama of human passion and +death. But they seemed very far away and cold to the boy, who was +chilled by the night and the impending sense of mighty conflict. +In Virginia they were fighting against the invader and in defense of +their own soil. Now they were the invader, and it was the men in blue +who defended. +</P> + +<P> +As he passed over that battlefield, on which the dead and the badly hurt +yet lay, his heart was dissolved for the time in sadness. The dead were +thick all around him, and there were many hurt seriously who were so +still that he did not know whether they were alive or not. He heard +very few groans. He noticed often on the battlefields that the hurt +usually shut their teeth together and endured in silence. As he +approached one of the little streams, a form twisted itself suddenly +from his path, and a weak voice exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake don't step on me!" +</P> + +<P> +Harry looked down. It was a boy with yellow hair, younger than himself. +He could not have been over sixteen, but he wore a blue uniform and a +bullet had gone through his shoulder. Harry had a powerful sensation of +pity. +</P> + +<P> +"I would not have stepped on you," he said. His duty urged him on, +but his feelings would not let him go, and he added: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll help you." +</P> + +<P> +He lifted the lad, rapidly cut away his coat, and slicing it into strips, +bound up tightly the two wounds in his shoulder where the bullet had +gone in and where it had come out. +</P> + +<P> +"You've lost a lot of blood," he said, "but you've got enough left to +live on until you gather another supply, and you won't lose any more +now." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," murmured the boy; "but you're very good for—for a rebel." +</P> + +<P> +Harry laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you innocent child!" he said. "Have they been filling your head +with tales of our ferocity and cruelty?" +</P> + +<P> +He went down to the stream, dipped up water in his cap, and brought +it back to the boy, who drank eagerly. Then he placed him in a more +comfortable position on the turf, and patting his head, said: +</P> + +<P> +"You'll get well sure, and maybe you and I will meet after the war and +be friends." +</P> + +<P> +All of which came true. Its like happened often in this war. But he +went out of Harry's mind, as he walked on and delivered his message +in the edge of Gettysburg. He could not return before seeking the +Invincibles, who were surely here in the vanguard—if they were yet +alive. Harry shuddered. All his friends might have perished in that +whirlwind of death. He soon learned that they had suffered greatly, +but that those who were left were lying on the grass of what had been +a lawn. +</P> + +<P> +He found the lawn quickly and saw dark figures strewed about upon the +ground. They were so still and silent that they looked like the dead, +but Harry knew that it was the stupor of exhaustion. As they were +inside the lines and needing no watch, there was no sentinel. +</P> + +<P> +Harry stepped over the low fence and looked again at the figures. +The moonlight silvered them and they did not stir. He could not see a +single form move. It was weird, uncanny, and the blood chilled in his +veins. But he shook himself violently, angry at his weakness, and +walked among them, looking for the two colonels and the two lieutenants. +A figure suddenly sat up before him and a dignified voice said: +</P> + +<P> +"Your footstep awakened me, Harry, and if there is a message, I am here +to receive it. But I ask you in the name of mercy to be quick. I was +never before so much overpowered that I could not hold up my head a +minute." +</P> + +<P> +Before Harry could speak another figure rose. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Harry, be quick if you can, and let us go back to sleep," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire in a pleading voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God I've found you both. I have no message for you. I was +merely looking to see if all of you were alive." +</P> + +<P> +"You've always had a kind heart, Harry," said Colonel Talbot, "and we +can't tell you how much we appreciate what you've done." +</P> + +<P> +"Are St. Clair and Happy Tom here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot tell you. We suffered from such tremendous exhaustion that +our men fell upon the grass, we with them, and all of us sank into +stupor. But, Harry, they must be here! We couldn't have lost those +boys! Why, I can't think of them as not living!" +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll let me make a suggestion, lie down and go to sleep again," +said Harry. "I'll find 'em." +</P> + +<P> +The two colonels stretched a little, as if they were about to rise and +go with him, but the effort was beyond their powers. They sank back and +returned to sleep. Harry went on, his heart full of fear for the two +young friends who were so dear to him. +</P> + +<P> +The survivors of the Invincibles lay in all sorts of positions, some +on their backs, some on their sides, some on their faces, and others +doubled up like little children. It was hard to recognize those dark +figures, but he came at last to one in a lieutenant's uniform, and he +was sure that it was Langdon. He was afraid at first that he was dead, +but he put his hand on his shoulder and shook it. +</P> + +<P> +There was no response, but Harry felt the warmth of the body pass +through the cloth to his hand, and he knew that Langdon was living. +He shook him again. +</P> + +<P> +Happy opened his eyes slowly and regarded Harry with a long stare. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you a ghost?" he asked solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I was never more alive than I am now." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe you, Harry. You're a ghost and so am I. Look at the +dead men lying all around us. We're just the first up. Why, Harry, +nobody could go through the crater of an active volcano, as we've done, +and live. I was either burned to death or shot to death with a bullet +or blown to pieces with a shell. I don't know which, but it doesn't +matter. What kind of a country is this, Harry, into which we've been +resurrected?" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop your foolishness, Happy. You're alive, all right, although you +may not be to-morrow night. The whole Army of the Potomac is coming up +and there's going to be another great battle." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's just as well that I'm alive, because General Lee will need +me. But, Harry, don't you think I've answered enough questions and that +I've been awake long enough? Harry, remember that I'm your friend and +comrade, almost your brother, and let me go back to sleep." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is St. Clair? Was he killed?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. A million shells burst over both of us, but we escaped them all. +But Arthur will be dead to the world for a while, just the same. +His is the fourth figure beyond me, but you couldn't wake him if you +fired a cannon at his ear, and in two minutes you won't be able to wake +me with another cannon." +</P> + +<P> +Happy's head fell back as he spoke, and in less than half the time he +gave he had joined the band of the original seven sleepers. Harry, +stepping lightly over the slumbering figures—he had left his horse +on the hill—went back to the staff, where he saw that many were yet +watching. At the urgent advice of an older officer he stretched himself +between two blankets to protect his body from dew and slept a little +before dawn. He, too, had felt the exhaustion shown by the Invincibles, +but his nervous system was keyed highly, too high, in fact, to sleep +long. Moreover, he seemed to find some new reserve of strength, and +when Dalton put his hand upon his shoulder he sprang to his feet, +eager and active. Dalton had not been sent on many errands the night +before, and, sleeping longer than Harry, he had been up a half hour +earlier. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll find coffee and food for the staff back a little," said Dalton, +"and I'd advise you to take breakfast, Harry." +</P> + +<P> +"I will. What's going on?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, except the rising of the sun. See it, Harry, just coming over +the edge of the horizon behind those two queer hills." +</P> + +<P> +The rim of the eastern sky was reddening fast, and Round Top and Little +Round Top stood out against it, black and exaggerated. They were raised +in the dawn, yet dim, to twice their height, and rose like gigantic +towers. +</P> + +<P> +But there was light enough already for Harry to see masses of men on the +opposing slopes, and stone fences running along the hillsides, some of +which had been thrown up in the night by soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +"I take it that the whole Army of the Potomac is here," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"So our scouts tell us," replied Dalton. "Our forces are gathered, too, +except the six thousand infantry under Pickett and McLaws and the +cavalry under Stuart. But they'll come." +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton ate breakfast quickly, and, hurrying back, stood near +their chief, ready for any service. All the Southern forces were in +line. Heth held the right, Pender the left, and Anderson, Hood, and +McLaws and the others were stationed between. The brilliant sun moved +slowly on and flooded the town, the hills and the battlefield of the +day before with light. The officers of either side with their powerful +glasses could plainly see the hostile troops. Harry had glasses of +his own, and he looked a long time. But he saw little movement in the +hostile ranks. Meade and Hancock and the others had worked hard in the +hours of darkness and the Army of the Potomac was ready. +</P> + +<P> +Harry expected to hear the patter of rifles. Surely the battle would +open at once. But there was no sound of strife. It seemed instead +that a great silence had settled over the two armies and all between. +Perhaps each was waiting for the other to make the first cast of the +dice. +</P> + +<P> +Harry studied Lee's face, but he could read nothing there. Like Jackson +he had the power of dismissing all expression. He wore a splendid new +uniform which had recently been sent to him by the devoted people of +Virginia, and with his height and majestic figure, his presence had +never seemed more magnificent than on that morning. It was usually he +who opened the battle, never waiting for the enemy, but as yet he gave +no order. +</P> + +<P> +Longstreet, Hill and Hood presently joined Lee, and the four walked a +little higher up the ridge, where they examined the Northern army for a +long time through their glasses. Lee must have recognized the strength +of that position, the formidable ridges, the stone walls bristling with +batteries, all crowned with an army of veterans more numerous than his +own, and, even when Stuart and Pickett should come, more numerous yet +by fifteen thousand men. But his army, with the habit of victory, was +eager for battle, sure that it could win, despite the numbers and +position of the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The generals came back, but Lee said little. Harry often wished that +he could have penetrated the mind of the great commander that morning, +a mind upon which so much hung and which must have been assailed by +doubts and fears, despite the impenetrable mask of his face. But he did +not yet give any orders to attack, and Harry and Dalton, who had nothing +to do but look on, were amazed. There was the Army of the Potomac +waiting, and it was not Lee's habit to let it wait. +</P> + +<P> +Slow though the sun was, it was now far up the blue arch and the day was +intensely hot. The golden beams poured down and everything seemed to +leap out into the light. Harry clearly saw the Northern cannon and +now and then he saw an officer moving about. But the men in blue were +mostly still, lying upon their arms. The troops of his own army were +quiet also, and they, too, were lying down. +</P> + +<P> +It suddenly occurred to Harry that no more fitting field for a great +and decisive battle could have been chosen. It was like a vast arena, +enclosed by the somber hills and the two Round Tops, on both of which +flew the flags of the Union signalmen. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the day drew on. The two armies of nearly two hundred thousand men +merely sat and stared at each other. Noon passed and the afternoon +advanced. Harry yet wondered, as many another did. But it was not for +him to criticize. They were led by a man of genius, and the great mind +must be working, seeking the best way. +</P> + +<P> +He and Dalton and some others lay down on the grass, while the heavy +silence still endured. Not a single cannon shot had been fired all that +day, and soon the sun would begin its decline from the zenith. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I'll go to sleep," said Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't if you tried," said Harry, "and you know it. If General +Lee is waiting, it's because he has good reasons for waiting, and you +know that, too." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right in both instances, Harry. I could never shut my eyes on +a scene like this, and, late as it grows, there will yet be a battle +to-day. Weren't some orders sent along the line a little while ago?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the older men took 'em. What time is it, George?" +</P> + +<P> +"Four o'clock." Then he closed his watch with a snap, and added: +</P> + +<P> +"The battle has begun." +</P> + +<P> +The heavy report of a cannon came from the Southern right under +Longstreet. It sped up the valleys and returned in sinister echoes. +It was succeeded by silence for a moment, and then the whole earth shook +beneath a mighty shock. All the batteries along the Southern line +opened, pouring a tremendous volume of fire upon the whole Northern +position. +</P> + +<P> +The young officers leaped to their feet. A volcano had burst. The +Union batteries were replying, and the front of both armies blazed with +fire. The smoke hung high and Harry and Dalton could see in the valley +beneath it. They caught the gleam of bayonets and saw the troops of +Longstreet advancing in heavy masses to the assault of the slope where +the peach trees grew, now known as the Peach Orchard. Here stood +the New Yorkers who had been thrust forward under Sickles, a rough +politician, but brave and in many respects capable. There was some +confusion among them as they awaited the Confederates, Sickles, it is +charged, having gone too far in his zeal, and then endeavoring to fall +back when it was too late. But the men under him were firm. On this +field the two great states of New York and Pennsylvania, through the +number of troops they furnished for it, bore the brunt of the battle. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton, crouched down in order that they might see better +under the smoke, watched the thrilling and terrible spectacle. The +Southern vanguard was made up of Texans, tall, strong, tanned men, +led by the impetuous Hood, and shouting the fierce Southern war cry they +rushed straight at the corps of Sickles. The artillery and rifle fire +swept through their ranks, but they did not falter. Many fell, but the +others rushed on, and Harry, although unconscious of it, began to shout +as he saw them cross a little stream and charge with all their might +against the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The combat was stubborn and furious. The men of Sickles redoubled +their efforts. At some points their line was driven in and the Texans +sought to take their artillery, but at others they held fast and even +threatened the Southern flank. They knew, too, that reinforcements were +promised to them and they encouraged one another by saying they were +already in sight. +</P> + +<P> +Harry could not turn his eyes away from this struggle, much of which was +hidden in the smoke, and all of which was confused. The cannon of Hill +and Ewell were thundering elsewhere, but here was the crucial point. +The Round Tops rose on one side of the combatants. Round Top itself +seemed too lofty and steep for troops, but Little Round Top, accessible +to both men and cannon, would dominate the field, and he believed that +Hood, as soon as his men crushed Sickles, would whirl about and seize +it. But he could not yet tell whether fortune favored the Blue or the +Gray. +</P> + +<P> +The generals from both sides watched the struggle with intense anxiety +and hurried forward fresh troops. Woods and rocks and slopes helped +the defense, but the attack was made with superior numbers. Longstreet +himself was directing the action and a part of Hill's men were coming +up to his aid. Sedgwick and Sykes, able generals, were rushing to +help Sickles. The whole combat was beginning to concentrate about the +furious struggle for the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top. +</P> + +<P> +Hood, in all the height of the struggle, saw the value of Little Round +Top and tried his utmost to seize it. Again the Northern generals were +to show that they had learned how to see what should be done and to do +it at once. Little Round Top rose up, dominant over the whole field, +a prize of value beyond all computation. Just then it was the most +valuable hill in all the world. +</P> + +<P> +A Northern general, Warren, the chief engineer of the army, had seen the +value of Little Round Top as quickly as Hood. The signalmen were about +to leave, but he made them stay. An entire brigade, hurrying to the +battle, was passing the slope, when Warren literally seized upon them by +force of command and rushed the men and their cannon to the crest. +</P> + +<P> +Hood's soldiers were already climbing the slopes, when the fire of +the brigade, shell and bullets, struck almost in their faces. Harry, +watching through his glasses, saw them reel back and then go on again, +firing their own rifles as they climbed over the rocky sides of Little +Round Top. Again that fierce volley assailed them, crashing through +their ranks, and again they went on into the flame and the smoke. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw the battle raging around the crest of Little Round Top. +Then he uttered a cry of despair. The Southerners, with their ranks +thin—woefully thin—were falling back slowly and sullenly. They had +done all that soldiers could do, but the commanding towers of Little +Round Top remained in Union hands, and the Union generals were soon +crowding it with artillery that could sweep every point in the field +below. +</P> + +<P> +But Sickles himself was not faring so well. His men, fighting for +every inch of ground about the Peach Orchard, were slowly driven back. +Sickles himself fell, a leg shattered, and walked on one leg for more +than fifty years afterwards. Hood, his immediate opponent, also fell, +losing an arm then and a leg later at Chickamauga, but Longstreet still +pushed the attack, and the Northern generals who had stood around +Sickles resisted with the stubbornness of men who meant to succeed or +die. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the battle Harry had seen General Lee walk forward to a point +in the center of his line and sit down on a smooth stump. There he sat +a long time, apparently impassive. Harry sometimes took his eyes away +from the combat for the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top to watch his +commander-in-chief. But the general never showed emotion. Now and then +General Hill or his military secretary, General Long, came to him and +they would talk a little together, but they made no gestures. Lee would +rise when the generals came, but when they left he would resume his +place on the stump and watch the struggle through his glasses. +Throughout the whole battle of that day he sent a single order and +received but one message. He had given his orders before the advance, +and he left the rest to his lieutenants. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could be as calm as he is," said Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll risk saying that he isn't calm inside," said Dalton. "How could +any man be at such a time?" +</P> + +<P> +"You're right. Duck! Here comes a shell!" +</P> + +<P> +But the shell fell short and exploded on the slope. +</P> + +<P> +"Now listen, will you!" exclaimed Harry. "That's the spirit!" +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after the shell burst a Southern band began to play. +And it played the merriest music, waltzes and polkas and all kinds of +dances. Harry felt his feet move to the tunes, while the battle below, +at its very height, roared and thundered. +</P> + +<P> +But he promptly forgot the musicians as he watched the battle. He knew +that the Invincibles were somewhere in that volcano of fire and smoke, +and it was almost too much to hope that they would again come unhurt +out of such a furious conflict. But they, too, passed quickly from his +mind. The struggle would let nothing else remain there long. +</P> + +<P> +He saw that the Union troops were still in the Peach Orchard and that +they were pouring a deadly fire also from Little Round Top. Hancock had +come to take the place of Sickles, and he was drawing every man he could +to his support. The afternoon was waning, but the battle was still at +its height. Men were falling by thousands, and generals, colonels, +majors, officers of all kinds were falling with them. The Southerners +had not encountered such resistance in any other great battle, and the +ground, moreover, was against them. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the grim fighter, Longstreet, never ceased to push on his brigades. +The combat was now often face to face, and sharpshooters, hidden in +every angle and hollow of the earth, picked off men by hundreds. +The great rocky mass known as the Devil's Den was filled with Northern +sharpshooters and for a long time they stung the Southern flank terribly, +until a Southern battery, noticing whence the deadly stream of +bullets issued, sprayed it with grape and canister until most of the +sharpshooters were killed, while those who survived fled like wolves +from their lairs. +</P> + +<P> +The day was now passing, but Harry could see no decrease in the fury of +the battle. Longstreet was still hurling his men forward, and they were +met with cannon and rifle and bayonet. The Confederate line now grew +more compact. The brigades were brought into closer touch, and, +gathering their strength anew, they rushed forward in a charge, heavier +and more desperate than any that had gone before. Generals and colonels +led them in person. Barksdale, young, but with snow-white hair, was +riding at the very front of the line, and he fell, dying, in the Union +ranks. +</P> + +<P> +The Southern charge was stopped again on the left wing of the Union army, +and with the coming of the night the battle there sank, but elsewhere +the South was meeting with greater success. Ewell, making a renewed and +fierce attack at sunset, drove in the Northern right, and, seconded by +Early, took their defenses there. But the darkness was coming fast, +and although the firing went on for a long time, it ceased at last, +with the two enemies still face to face and the battle drawn. +</P> + +<P> +Harry, who had expected to see a glorious victory won by the setting of +the sun, was deeply depressed. His youth did not keep him from seeing +that very little advantage had been won in that awful conflict of +the afternoon, and he saw also that the Army of the Potomac had been +fighting as if it had been improved by defeat. Nor had Lee thrown in +his whole force where it was needed most. If Jackson had only been +there! Harry pictured his swift flank movement, his lightning stroke, +and the crumpling up of the enemy. Jackson loomed larger than ever now +to his disappointed and excited mind. +</P> + +<P> +Harry had been all day long and far into the night on Seminary Hill. +Often he had scarcely moved for an hour, and now, when the firing ceased +and he stood up and tried to peer into the valley of death, he found his +limbs so stiff for a minute or two that he could scarcely move. His +eyes ached and his throat was raw from smoke and the fumes of burned +gunpowder. But as he shook himself and stretched his muscles, he +regained firmness of both mind and body. +</P> + +<P> +"We didn't win much," he said to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"Not to-day, but we will to-morrow. Harry, wasn't it awful? It looks +to me down there like a pit of destruction." +</P> + +<P> +And Dalton described it truly. The losses of the day before had been +doubled. Thirty thousand men on the two sides had now fallen, and there +was another day to come. +</P> + +<P> +Harry saw that the generals themselves were assailed by doubts and +fears. He with other young staff officers witnessed the council of +Lee and his leading officers in the moonlight on Seminary Ridge. Some +spoke of retreat. A drawn battle in the enemy's country, and with an +inferiority of numbers, was for them equivalent to a defeat. Others +pointed out, however, that while their losses had been enormous, the +courage and spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia were unshaken. +Stuart with the cavalry, expected earlier, would certainly be up soon, +and, after all, the day had not been without its gains. Longstreet held +the Peach Orchard and Ewell was in the Union defenses on the flank of +Gettysburg. +</P> + +<P> +But Lee thought most of the troops. These ragged veterans of his +who had been invincible asked to be led once more against the enemy. +A spirit so high as theirs could not be denied. His decision was given. +They would stay and smash the Union army on the morrow. +</P> + +<P> +Harry heard of the decision. He had never doubted that it would be so. +They must surely win the next day with the addition of Pickett's men +and Stuart's cavalry. He wondered why Stuart had not come up already, +but he learned the next morning that a good reason had held him back. +</P> + +<P> +The Union cavalry, always vigilant now, had intercepted Stuart in the +afternoon and had given him battle, just when the combat of the second +day had begun at Gettysburg. Gregg led the horsemen in blue and there +was another combat like that at Brandy Station, now about five thousand +sabres on a side. There was a long and desperate struggle in which +neither force could win, young Custer in particular showing uncommon +skill and courage for the North, while Wade Hampton performed prodigies +for the South. At last they drew off by mutual consent, Gregg into the +forest, while Stuart, with his reduced force, rode on in the night to +Lee. But Gregg in holding back Stuart had struck the Southern army a +great blow. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton with nothing to do received permission to go among the +soldiers, and as they marked their spirits, their own rose. Then they +passed down toward the battlefield. Harry had some idea that they might +again find the Invincibles, as they had found them the night before, +but their time was too short. The Invincibles were somewhere in the +front, he learned, and, disappointed, he and Dalton turned back into the +valley. +</P> + +<P> +The night was clear and bright, and they saw many men coming and going +from a cold spring under the shadow of the trees. Some of them were +wounded and limped painfully. Others carried away water in their hats +and caps for comrades too badly wounded to move. Harry observed that +some wore the blue, and some the gray. Both he and Dalton were assailed +by a burning thirst at the sight of the water, and they went to the +spring. +</P> + +<P> +Here men who an hour or two ago had been striving their utmost to kill +one another were gathered together and spoke as friends. When one went +away another took his place. No thought of strife occurred to them, +although there would be plenty of it on the morrow. They even jested +and foes complimented foes on their courage. Harry and Dalton drank, +and paused a few moments to hear the talk. +</P> + +<P> +The moon rode high, and it has looked down upon no more extraordinary +scene than this, the enemies drinking together in friendship at the +spring, and all about them the stony ramparts of the hills, bristling +with cannon, and covered with riflemen, ready for a red dawn, and the +fields and ridges on which thirty thousand had already fallen, dead or +wounded. +</P> + +<P> +"Another meeting, Mr. Kenton," said a man who had been bent down +drinking. As he rose the moonlight shone full upon his face and Harry +was startled. And yet it was not strange that he should be there. +The face revealed to Harry was one of uncommon power. It seemed to him +that the features had grown more massive. The powerful chin and the +large, slightly curved nose showed indomitable spirit and resolution. +The face was tanned almost to blackness by all kinds of weather. +Harry would not have known him at first, had it not been for his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"We do meet in unexpected places and at unexpected times, Mr. Shepard," +he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not merely trying to be polite, when I tell you that I'm glad to +find you alive. You and I have seen battles, but never another like +this." +</P> + +<P> +"And I can truthfully welcome you, Mr. Shepard, as an old acquaintance +and no real enemy." +</P> + +<P> +It was an impulse but a noble one that made the two, different in years +and so unlike, shake hands with a firm and honest grip. +</P> + +<P> +"Your army will come again in the morning," said Shepard, not as a +question, but as a statement of fact. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you doubt it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't, but to-morrow night, Mr. Kenton, you will recall what I +told you at our first meeting in Montgomery more than two years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"You said that we could not win." +</P> + +<P> +"And you cannot. It was never possible. Oh, I know that you've won +great victories against odds! You've done better than anybody could +have expected, but you had genius to help you, while we were led by +mediocrity in the saddle. But you have reached your zenith. Mark how +the Union veterans fought to-day. They're as brave and resolute as you +are, and we have the position and the men. You'll never get beyond +Gettysburg. Your invasion is over. Hereafter you fight always on the +defensive." +</P> + +<P> +Harry was startled by his emphasis. The man spoke like an inspired +prophet of old. His eyes sparkled like coals of fire in the dark, +tanned face. The boy had never before seen him show so much emotion, +and his heart sank at the appalling prophecy. Then his courage came +back. +</P> + +<P> +"You predict as you hope, Mr. Shepard," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Shepard laughed a little, though not with mirth, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"It is well that it should be settled here. There will be death on a +greater scale than any the war has yet seen, but it will have to come +sooner or later, and why not at Gettysburg? Good-bye, I go back to the +heights. May we both be alive to-morrow night to see which is right." +</P> + +<P> +"The wish is mine, too," said Harry sincerely. +</P> + +<P> +Shepard turned away and disappeared in the darkness. Harry rejoined +Dalton who was on the other side of the spring, and the two returned to +Seminary Ridge, where they walked among sleeping thousands. They found +their way to their comrades of the staff, and their physical powers +collapsing at last they fell on the ground where they soon sank into a +heavy sleep. The great silence came again. Sentinels walked back and +forth along the hostile lines, but they made no noise. There was little +moving of brigades or cannon now. The town itself became a town of +phantom houses in the moonlight, nearly all of them still and deserted. +On all the slopes of the hostile ridges lay the sleeping soldiers, +and on the rocks and fields between lay the dead in thousands. But from +the crest of Little Round Top, the precious hill so hardly won, the +Union officers watched all through the night, and, now and then, they +went through the batteries for which they were sure they were going to +have great use. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton awoke at the same time. Another day, hot and burning, +had come, and the two armies once more looked across the valley at each +other. Harry soon heard the booming of cannon off to his right, where +Ewell's corps stood. It came from the Northern guns and for a long time +those of the South did not answer. But after a while Harry's practiced +ear detected the reply. The hostile wings facing each other were +engaged in a fierce battle. He saw the flash of the guns and the rising +smoke, but the center of the Army of Northern Virginia and the other +wing did not yet move. He looked questioningly at Dalton and Dalton +looked questioningly at him. +</P> + +<P> +They expected every instant that the combat would spread along the +entire front, but it did not. For several hours they listened to the +thunder of the guns on the left, and then they knew by the movement of +the sound that the Southern wing had been driven back, not far it is +true, but still it had been compelled to yield, and again Harry's heart +sank. +</P> + +<P> +But it rose once more when he concluded that Lee must be massing his +forces in the center. The left wing had been allowed to fight against +overwhelming numbers in order that the rest of the army might be left +free to strike a crushing blow. +</P> + +<P> +Then noon came and the battle on their left died completely. Once more +the great silence held the field and Harry was mystified and awed. +Lee, as calm and impassive as ever, said little. The ridges confronted +one another, bristling with cannon but the armies were motionless. +The day was hotter than either of those that had gone before. The sun, +huge and red, poised in the heavens, shot down fiery rays in millions. +Harry gasped for breath, and when at last he spoke in the stillness his +voice sounded loud and harsh in his own ears. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it mean, George?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, but I think they are massing behind us for a charge." +</P> + +<P> +"Not against the sixty or seventy thousand men and the scores of cannon +on those heights?" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe not yet. It's likely there will be a heavy artillery fire first. +Yes, I'm right! There go the guns!" +</P> + +<P> +One cannon shot was followed by many others, and then for a while a +tremendous cannonade raged along the front of the armies, but it too +died, the smoke lifted, and then came the breathless, burning heat again. +</P> + +<P> +The fire of the sun and of the battle entered Harry's brain. The valley, +the town, the hills, the armies, everthing swam in a red glare. The +great pulses leaped in his throat. He was anxious for them to go on, +and get it over. Why were the generals lingering when there was a +battle to be finished? Half the day was gone already and nothing was +decided. +</P> + +<P> +Conscious that he was about to lose control of himself he clasped his +hands to his temples and pressed them tightly. At the same time he made +a mighty effort of the will. The millions of black specks that had been +dancing before his eyes went away. The solid earth ceased to quiver and +settled back into its place, careless of the armies that trampled over +it. Again he clearly saw through his glasses the long lines of men in +blue along the slopes and on the crest of Cemetery Hill. He marked, too, +there, at the highest point, a clump of trees waving their summer green +in the hot sunshine. Turning his glasses yet further he saw the massed +artillery on Little Round Top, and the gunners leaning on their guns. +A house, set on fire purposely or by shells, was burning brightly, +like some huge torch to light the way to death. +</P> + +<P> +"You told me they were preparing for a charge," he said to Dalton. +</P> + +<P> +"So they are, Harry. Pickett's men, who have not been here long, +are forming up in the rear, but their advance will be preceded by a +cannonade. You can see them wheeling guns into line." +</P> + +<P> +Lee, with Hill and Longstreet, had recently ridden along the lines +followed by the older staff officers, and often shells and the bullets +of sharpshooters had struck about them, but they remained unhurt. +Now Lee stopped at one of his old points of observation. It was now +about one o'clock in the afternoon, and as the last gun took its +place the whole artillery of the Southern army opened with a fire so +tremendous that Harry felt the earth trembling, and he was compelled +to put his fingers in his ears lest he be deafened. +</P> + +<P> +A storm of metal flew across the valley toward the Northern ranks, +but the guns there did not reply yet. The Union troops lay close behind +their intrenchments and mostly the storm beat itself to pieces on the +side of the hill. The smoke soon became so great that Harry could not +tell even with glasses what was going on in the enemy's ranks, but he +inferred from the fact that they were not yet replying that they were +not suffering much. +</P> + +<P> +But in a quarter of an hour the tremendous cannonade was suddenly +doubled in volume. The Union guns were now answering. Two hundred +cannon facing one another across the valley were fighting the most +terrible artillery duel ever known in America. The air was filled with +shells, shot, grape, shrapnel, canister and every form of deadly missile. +</P> + +<P> +Harry and Dalton sprang to cover, as some of the shells struck about +them, but they stood up again when they saw that Lee was talking calmly +with his generals. +</P> + +<P> +The Southern fire was accurate. General Meade's headquarters were +riddled. Many important officers were wounded, but the Northern gunners, +superb always, never flinched from their guns. They fell fast, but +others took their places. Guns were dismounted but those in the reserve +were brought up instead. +</P> + +<P> +The appalling tumult increased. The shells shrieked as they flew +through the air in hundreds, and shrapnel and grape whined incessantly. +Harry thought it in very truth the valley of destruction, and it was a +relief to him when he received an order to carry and could turn away for +a little while. He saw now in the rear the brigades of Pickett which +were forming up for the charge, about four thousand five hundred men who +had not yet been in the battle, while nearly ten thousand more, under +Trimble, Pettigrew and Wilcox, were ready to march on their flanks. +Pickett's men were lying on their arms patiently waiting. The time had +not quite come. +</P> + +<P> +When Harry came back from his errand the cannonade was still at its +height. The roar was continuous, deafening, shaking the earth all +the time. A light wind blew the smoke back on the Southern position, +but it helped, concealing their batteries to a certain extent, while +those of the North remained uncovered. +</P> + +<P> +The Northern army was now suffering terribly, although its infantry +stood unflinching under the fire. But the South was suffering too. +Guns were shattered, and the deadly rain of missiles carried destruction +into the waiting regiments. Harry saw Lee and Longstreet continually +under the Union fire. They visited the batteries and encouraged the +men. Showers of shells struck around them, but they went on unharmed. +Wherever Lee appeared the tremendous cheering could be heard amid the +roar of the guns. +</P> + +<P> +Now the Southern artillerymen saw that their ammunition was diminishing +fast. Such a furious and rapid fire could not be carried on much longer, +and Lee sent the word to Pickett to charge. Harry stood by when the +men of Pickett arose—but not all of them. Some had been struck by the +shells as they lay on the ground and had died in silence, but their +comrades marched out in splendid array, and a vast shout arose from the +Southern army as they strove straight into the valley of death. +</P> + +<P> +Harry shouted with the rest. He was wild with excitement. Every nerve +in him tingled, and once more the black specks danced before his eyes in +myriads. Peace or war! Right or wrong! He was always glad that he saw +Pickett's charge, the charge that dimmed all other charges in history, +the most magnificent proof of man's courage and ability to walk straight +into the jaws of death. +</P> + +<P> +The dauntless Virginians marched out in even array, stepping steadily +as if they were on parade, instead of aiming straight at the center of +the Union army, where fifty thousand riflemen and a hundred guns were +awaiting them. Their generals and those of the supporting divisions +rode on their flanks or at their head. Besides Pickett, Garnett, Wilcox, +Armistead, Pettigrew and Trimble were there. +</P> + +<P> +The Southern cannon were firing over the heads of the marching +Virginians, covering them with their fire, but the light breeze +strengthened a little, driving away the smoke. There they were in the +valley, visible to both friend and foe, marching on that long mile from +hill to hill. The Southern army shouted again, and it is true that, +at this moment, the Union ranks burst into a like cry of admiration, +at the sight of a foe so daring, men of their own race and country. +</P> + +<P> +But Harry never took his eyes for a moment from Pickett's column. +He was using his glasses, and everything stood out strong and clear. +The sun was at the zenith, pouring down rays so fiery that the whole +field blazed in light. The nature of the ground caused the Virginians +to turn a little, in order to keep the line for the Union center, +but they preserved their even ranks, and marched on at a steady pace. +</P> + +<P> +Harry began to shout again, but in an instant or two he saw a line +of fire pass along the Union front. Forty guns together opened upon +the charging column, and Hancock at the Union center, seeing and +understanding the danger, was heaping up men and cannon to meet it. +</P> + +<P> +The shells began to crash into the ranks of the Virginians and the ten +thousand on their flanks. Men fell in hundreds and now the batteries +on Little Round Top added to the storm of fire. The clouds of smoke +gathered again, but the wind presently scattered them and Harry, waiting +in agony, saw Pickett's division marching straight ahead, never +faltering. +</P> + +<P> +But he groaned when he saw that there was trouble on the flanks. +The men of Pettigrew, exhausted by the great efforts they had already +made in the battle, wavered and lost ground. Another division was +driven back by a heavy flank attack. Others were lost in the vast banks +of smoke that at times filled the valley. Only the Virginians kept +unbroken ranks and a straight course for the Union center. +</P> + +<P> +Pickett paused a few moments at the burning house for the others to get +in touch with him, but they could not do so, and he marched on, with +Cemetery Hill now only two hundred yards away. The covering fire of the +Southern cannon had ceased long since. It would have been as dangerous +now to friend as to foe. Harry, watching through his glasses, uttered +another cry. Pickett and his men were marching alone at the hill. +Half of them it seemed to him were gone already, but the other half +never paused. The fire of a hundred guns had been poured upon them, +as they advanced that deadly mile, but with ranks still even they rushed +straight at their mark, the Union center. +</P> + +<P> +Then Harry saw all the slopes and the crest of Cemetery Hill blaze with +fire. The Virginians were near enough for the rifles now, and the +bullets came in sheets. Harry saw it, and he groaned aloud. He no +longer had any hope for those brave men. The charge could not succeed! +</P> + +<P> +Yet he saw them rush into the Union ranks and disappear. A group in +gray, still cleaving through the multitude, reappeared far up the slope, +and then burst, a little band of a few dozen men, into the very heart of +the Union center, the point to which they had been sent. +</P> + +<P> +A battle raged for a few minutes under the clump of trees where Hancock +had stood directing. There Armistead, who had led them, his hat on the +point of his sword, fell dead among the Northern guns, and Cushing, +his brave foe who commanded the battery, died beside him. All the +others fell quickly or were taken. A few hundreds on the slopes cut +their way back through the Union army and reached their own. Pickett, +preserved by some miracle, was among them. +</P> + +<P> +Harry gasped and threw down his glasses. Now he knew that the words +Shepard had spoken to him the night before at the spring were true. +The Southern invasion had been rolled back forever. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at General Lee, who on foot had been watching the charge. +The impenetrable mask was gone for a moment, and his face expressed deep +emotion. Then the great soul reasserted itself and mounting his horse +went forward to meet the fugitives and encourage them. He rode back and +forth among them, and Harry heard him say once: +</P> + +<P> +"All will come right in the end. We'll talk it over afterward, but +meanwhile every good man must rally. We want all good and true men just +now." +</P> + +<P> +His manner was that of a father to his children, and, though they had +failed, the spontaneous cheers again burst forth wherever he passed. +The wounded as they were carried to the rear raised themselves up to see +him, and their cheers were added to the others. +</P> + +<P> +Harry never forgot anything that he saw or heard then. Although the +battle, in effect, was over, the Northern artillery, roaring and +thundering triumphantly, was sending its shells across the valley and +upon Seminary Ridge. But he did not think anything of them, even when +they struck near him. It would be days before he could feel fear again. +He heard Lee say to an officer who rode up, and stated, between sobbing +breaths, that his whole brigade was destroyed: +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, General. All this has been my fault. It is I who have +lost this fight, and you must help me out of it in the best way you can." +</P> + +<P> +To another he said: +</P> + +<P> +"This has been a sad day for us, a sad day. But we can't expect always +to gain victories." +</P> + +<P> +Beholding such greatness of soul, Harry regained his own composure. +He rejoined Dalton, and soon they saw the Southern army reform its lines, +and turn a bristling front to the enemy. The Northern cannon were still +flashing and thundering, but the Northern army made no return attack. +Gettysburg, in all respects the greatest battle ever fought on the +American continent, was over, and fifty thousand men had fallen. +</P> + +<P> +The sun set, and Harry at last sank on the ground overpowered. The +next day the two armies stood on their hills looking at each other, but +neither cared to renew the battle after such frightful losses. That +afternoon a fearful storm of thunder, lightning and rain burst over the +field. It seemed to Harry an echo of the real battle of the day before. +</P> + +<P> +That night Lee, having gathered up his wounded, his guns and his wagons, +began his retreat toward the South. His army had lost, but it was still +in perfect order, willing, even anxious to fight again. The wagons +containing the wounded and the stores stretched for many miles, moving +along in the rain, and the cavalry rode on their flanks to protect them. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the next morning that Harry discovered anything of the +Invincibles. In the dawn he saw a covered wagon by the side of which +rode an officer, much neater in appearance than the others. He knew at +once that it was St. Clair and he galloped forward with a joyous shout. +</P> + +<P> +"Arthur! Arthur!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +St. Clair turned a pale face that lighted up at the sight of his friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God, you're alive, Harry!" he said, as their hands clasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you alone left?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"Look into the wagon," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Harry lifted a portion of the flap, and, looking in, saw Colonel +Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire sitting on +rolls of blankets facing each other. One had his right arm in a sling +and the other the left, but the chessmen rested on a board between them +and they were playing intently. They stopped a moment or two to give +Harry a glad welcome. Then he let the flap drop back. +</P> + +<P> +"They began at daylight," said St. Clair. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Happy?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's in the wagon, too. He's lying on some blankets behind them." +</P> + +<P> +"Not hurt badly?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was nipped in the shoulder, but it doesn't amount to anything. +What he wanted was sleep and he's getting it. He told me not to wake +him up again for a month." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Arthur, we lost." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and I don't know just how it happened." +</P> + +<P> +"But we're here, ready to fight them again whenever they come." +</P> + +<P> +"So we are, Harry, and if they ever reach Richmond it will be many a +long day before they do it." +</P> + +<P> +"I say so, too." +</P> + +<P> +The great train toiled on through the mud, and the Army of Northern +Virginia continued its slow march southward. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<PRE> +Appendix: Transcription notes: + +This etext was transcribed from a volume of the 15th printing + + +The following modifications were applied while transcribing the +printed book to e-text: + + chapter 1 + - page 3, para 4, added a missing open-quote + - page 8, para 3, deleted a misplaced comma + - page 13, Langdon and Dalton are having a conversation, but para 4 + incorrectly stated "said St. Clair". It is clear that this should + be changed to "said Dalton", because Langdon replies to "George" in + his next sentence. + - page 20, para 7, the troop is specified here as "six hundred" men, + but is subsequently repeatedly specified as two hundred - changed + this reference from "six" to "two" + + chapter 2 + - page 25, para 8, Sherburne incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed + to "Harry" + - page 36, para 7, fixed typo "ghose" + + chapter 3 + - page 49, para 3, fixed typo "Jackkson" + - page 53, para 3, fixed typo "lud" + + chapter 5 + - page 105, para 3, Dalton incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed + to "Harry" + - page 109, para 6, changed "Its" to "It's" + - page 120, para 5, added a missing open-quote + - page 121, para 1, fixed typo ("plan" changed to "plain") + - page 121, para 1, fixed typo "cannister" + + chapter 6 + - page 143, para 5, changed an erroneous period to a comma + + chaper 7 + - page 153, para 3, changed "And" to "and" + - page 181, para 2, fixed typo "Longeais" + + chapter 8 + - page 189, para 1, added a missing close-quote + + chapter 9 + - page 259, para 3, changed "outgeneraled" to "outgeneralled" + (whether 'tis a word or not, the variant with double-"l" occurs 3 + times in this book, the single-"l" variant only once) + + chapter 10 + - page 272, para 2, changed "fulness" to "fullness" + - page 273, para 1, fixed typo "marvellous" + - page 282, end of para 2, changed "division" to "divisions" + + chapter 11 + - page 295, para 3, fixed typo "dextrously" + + chapter 13 + - page 347, para 4, fixed typo "occurrred" + - page 351, para 4, fixed typo "wofully" + - page 358, para 9, added a missing close-quote + - page 359, para 1, changed "You" to "Your" + + Modifications resulting from conversion to plain ASCII: + - chapter 1, page 12, the phrase "In forma pauperis" was presented + in italics in the printed book + - chapter 10, page 282, the name "Duffie" was presented in the + printed book with an accented "e" + + +I did not modify: + + - There are instances where the use of the comma in the printed + book seems to me inappropriate. However, I have adhered to the + punctuation as printed (except for obvious printing errors, + which are noted above). + + For example: + + But Harry, having further leave of absence went forth and + answered many questions. + + - Each section of verse is formatted to appear similar to its + presentation in the printed book. Consequently: some verse is + indented more than others, some is left-aligned, some is + staggered on the left margin, some is center-aligned. + + - The author sometimes uses a technique whereby a paragraph introducing + a quotation ends with a colon, with the quotation following as the + next paragraph. +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Star of Gettysburg, by Joseph A. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Star of Gettysburg + A Story of Southern High Tide + +Author: Joseph A. Altsheler + +Posting Date: May 28, 2009 [EBook #3811] +Release Date: March, 2003 +First Posted: September 19, 2001 +Last Updated: May 25, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by Ken Reeder. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +Errata and other transcription notes are included as an appendix + + + + + +THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG + +A STORY OF SOUTHERN HIGH TIDE + + +by + +JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER + + + + + +FOREWORD + + + + +"The Star of Gettysburg" is a complete romance, but it is also one of the +series dealing with the Civil War, beginning with "The Guns of Bull Run," +and continued successively through "The Guns of Shiloh," "The Scouts of +Stonewall," and "The Sword of Antietam" to the present volume. The story +centers about the young Southern hero, Harry Kenton, and his friends. + + + + +THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + + + + VOLUMES IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + THE GUNS OF BULL RUN. + THE GUNS OF SHILOH. + THE SCOUTS OF STONEWALL. + THE SWORD OF ANTIETAM. + THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG. + THE ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA. + THE SHADES OF THE WILDERNESS. + THE TREE OF APPOMATTOX. + + + PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + HARRY KENTON, A Lad Who Fights on the Southern Side. + DICK MASON, Cousin of Harry Kenton, Who Fights on the Northern Side. + COLONEL GEORGE KENTON, Father of Harry Kenton. + MRS. MASON, Mother of Dick Mason. + JULIANA, Mrs. Mason's Devoted Colored Servant. + COLONEL ARTHUR WINCHESTER, Dick Mason's Regimental Commander. + COLONEL LEONIDAS TALBOT, Commander of the Invincibles, + a Southern Regiment. + LIEUTENANT COLONEL HECTOR ST. HILAIRE, Second in Command of the + Invincibles. + ALAN HERTFORD, A Northern Cavalry Leader. + PHILIP SHERBURNE, A Southern Cavalry Leader. + WILLIAM J. SHEPARD, A Northern Spy. + DANIEL WHITLEY, A Northern Sergeant and Veteran of the Plains. + GEORGE WARNER, A Vermont Youth Who Loves Mathematics. + FRANK PENNINGTON, A Nebraska Youth, Friend of Dick Mason. + ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, A Native of Charleston, Friend of Harry Kenton. + TOM LANGDON, Friend of Harry Kenton. + GEORGE DALTON, Friend of Harry Kenton. + BILL SKELLY, Mountaineer and Guerrilla. + TOM SLADE, A Guerrilla Chief. + SAM JARVIS, The Singing Mountaineer. + IKE SIMMONS, Jarvis' Nephew. + AUNT "SUSE," A Centenarian and Prophetess. + BILL PETTY, A Mountaineer and Guide. + JULIEN DE LANGEAIS, A Musician and Soldier from Louisiana. + JOHN CARRINGTON, Famous Northern Artillery Officer. + DR. RUSSELL, Principal of the Pendleton School. + ARTHUR TRAVERS, A Lawyer. + JAMES BERTRAND, A Messenger from the South. + JOHN NEWCOMB, A Pennsylvania Colonel. + JOHN MARKHAM, A Northern Officer. + JOHN WATSON, A Northern Contractor. + WILLIAM CURTIS, A Southern Merchant and Blockade Runner. + MRS. CURTIS, Wife of William Curtis. + HENRIETTA CARDEN, A Seamstress in Richmond. + DICK JONES, A North Carolina Mountaineer. + VICTOR WOODVILLE, A Young Mississippi Officer. + JOHN WOODVILLE, Father of Victor Woodville. + CHARLES WOODVILLE, Uncle of Victor Woodville. + COLONEL BEDFORD, A Northern Officer. + CHARLES GORDON, A Southern Staff Officer. + JOHN LANHAM, An Editor. + JUDGE KENDRICK, A Lawyer. + MR. CULVER, A State Senator. + MR. BRACKEN, A Tobacco Grower. + ARTHUR WHITRIDGE, A State Senator. + + + HISTORICAL CHARACTERS + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States. + JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Southern Confederacy. + JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, Member of the Confederate Cabinet. + U. S. GRANT, Northern Commander. + ROBERT E. LEE, Southern Commander. + STONEWALL JACKSON, Southern General. + PHILIP H. SHERIDAN, Northern General. + GEORGE H. THOMAS, "The Rock of Chickamauga." + ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, Southern General. + A. P. HILL, Southern General. + W. S. HANCOCK, Northern General. + GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, Northern General. + AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, Northern General. + TURNER ASHBY, Southern Cavalry Leader. + J. E. B. STUART, Southern Cavalry Leader. + JOSEPH HOOKER, Northern General. + RICHARD S. EWELL, Southern General. + JUBAL EARLY, Southern General. + WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS, Northern General. + SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER, Southern General. + LEONIDAS POLK, Southern General and Bishop. + BRAXTON BRAGG, Southern General. + NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, Southern Cavalry Leader. + JOHN MORGAN, Southern Cavalry Leader. + GEORGE J. MEADE, Northern General. + DON CARLOS BUELL, Northern General. + W. T. SHERMAN, Northern General. + JAMES LONGSTREET, Southern General. + P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Southern General. + WILLIAM L. YANCEY, Alabama Orator. + JAMES A. GARFIELD, Northern General, afterwards President of + the United States. + + And many others + + + IMPORTANT BATTLES DESCRIBED IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + BULL RUN + KERNSTOWN + CROSS KEYS + WINCHESTER + PORT REPUBLIC + THE SEVEN DAYS + MILL SPRING + FORT DONELSON + SHILOH + PERRYVILLE + STONE RIVER + THE SECOND MANASSAS + ANTIETAM + FREDERICKSBURG + CHANCELLORSVILLE + GETTYSBURG + CHAMPION HILL + VICKSBURG + CHICKAMAUGA + MISSIONARY RIDGE + THE WILDERNESS + SPOTTSYLVANIA + COLD HARBOR + FISHER'S HILL + CEDAR CREEK + APPOMATTOX + + + +CONTENTS + + I. THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY + II. AHORSE WITH SHERBURNE + III. JACKSON MOVES + IV. ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK + V. FREDERICKSBURG + VI. A CHRISTMAS DINNER + VII. JEB STUART'S BALL + VIII. IN THE WILDERNESS + IX. CHANCELLORSVILLE + X. THE NORTHERN MARCH + XI. THE CAVALRY COMBAT + XII. THE ZENITH OF THE SOUTH + XIII. GETTYSBURG + + + + +THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY + + +A youth sat upon a log by a clear stream in the Valley of Virginia, +mending clothes. + +He showed skill and rapidity in his homely task. A shining needle +darted in and out of the gray cloth, and the rent that had seemed +hopeless was being closed up with neatness and precision. No one +derided him because he was engaged upon a task that was usually +performed by women. The Army of Northern Virginia did its own sewing. + +"Will the seam show much, Arthur?" asked Harry Kenton, who lay +luxuriously upon the leafy ground beside the log. + +"Very little when I finish," replied St. Clair, examining his work with +a critical eye. "Of course I can't pass the uniform off as wholly new. +It's been a long time since I've seen a new one in our army, but it will +be a lot above the average." + +"I admire your care of your clothes, Arthur, even if I can't quite +imitate it. I've concluded that good clothes give a certain amount of +moral courage, and if you get killed you make a much more decent body." + +"But Arthur St. Clair, of Charleston, sir, has no intention of getting +killed," said Happy Tom Langdon, who was also resting upon the earth. +"He means after this war is over to go back to his native city, buy the +most magnificent uniforms that were ever made, and tell the girls how +Lee and Jackson turned to him for advice at the crisis of every great +battle." + +"We surely needed wisdom and everything else we could get at +Antietam--leadership, tenacity and the willingness to die," said Dalton, +the sober young Virginia Presbyterian. "Boys, we were in the deepest +of holes there, and we had to lift ourselves out almost by our own boot +straps." + +Harry's face clouded. The field of Antietam often returned to him, +almost as real and vivid as on that terrible day, when the dead lay +heaped in masses around the Dunkard church and the Southern army called +forth every ounce of courage and endurance for its very salvation. + +"Antietam is a month away," he said, "and I still shudder at the name. +We didn't think McClellan would come up and attack Lee while Jackson was +away at Harper's Ferry, but he did. How did it happen? How did he know +that our army was divided?" + +"I've heard a strange story," said Dalton. "It's come through some +Union prisoners we've taken. They say that McClellan found a copy of +General Lee's orders in Frederick, and learned from them exactly where +all our troops were and what they intended. Then, of course, he +attacked." + +"A strange tale, as you say, a most extraordinary chance," said Harry. +"Do you think it's true, George?" + +"I've no doubt it fell out that way. The same report comes from other +sources." + +"At any rate," said Happy Tom, "it gave us a chance to show how less +than fifty thousand men could stand off nearly ninety thousand. Besides, +we didn't lose any ground. We went over into Maryland to give the +Marylanders a chance to rise for the South. They didn't rise worth a +cent. I suppose we didn't get more than five hundred volunteers in that +state. 'The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland,' and +it can stay on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland, if that's the way you +treat us. I feel a lot more at home here in Virginia." + +"It is fine," said Harry, stirring comfortably on the leaves and looking +down at the clear stream of the Opequon. "One can't fight all the time. +I feel as if I had been in a thousand battles, and two or three months +of the year are left. It's fine to lie here by the water, and breathe +pure air instead of dust." + +"I've heard that every man eats a peck of dirt in the course of his +life," said Happy Tom, "but I know that I've already beat the measure +a dozen times over. Why, I took in a bushel at least at the Second +Manassas, but I still live, and here I am, surveying this peaceful +domestic scene. Arthur is mending his best uniform, Harry stretched on +the leaves is resting and dreaming dreams, George is wondering how he +will get a new pair of shoes for the season, and the army is doing its +autumn washing." + +Harry glanced up and down the stream, and he smiled at the homely sight. +Thousands of soldiers were washing their ragged clothes in the little +river and the equally ragged clothes of many others were drying on the +banks or on the bushes. The sun-browned lads who skylarked along the +shores or in the water, playing pranks on one another, bore little +resemblance to those who had charged so fiercely and so often into the +mouths of the cannon at Antietam. + +Harry marvelled at them and at himself. It seemed scarcely possible +that human nature could rush to such violent extremes within so short +a space. But youth conquered all. There was very little gloom in +this great army which disported itself in the water or in the shade. +Thousands of wounded, still pale, but with returning strength, lay on +the October leaves and looked forward to the day when they could join +their comrades in either games or war. + +Harry himself had suffered for a while from a great exhaustion. He +had been terribly anxious, too, about his father, but a letter written +just after the battle of Perryville, and coming through with unusual +promptness by the way of Chattanooga and Richmond, had arrived the +day before, informing him of Colonel Kenton's safety. In this letter +his father had spoken of his meeting with Dick Mason in his home at +Pendleton, and that also contributed to his new lightness of heart. +Dick was not a brother, but he stood in the place of one, and it was +good to hear again of him. + +The sounds of shouts and laughter far up and down the Opequon became +steady and soothing. The October winds blowing gently were crisp and +fresh, but not too cold. The four boys ceased talking and Harry on his +bed of leaves became drowsy. The forests on the far hills and mountains +burned in vivid reds and yellows and browns, painted by the master hand +of autumn. Harry heard a bird singing on a bough among red leaves +directly over his head, and the note was piercingly sweet to ears used +so long to the roar of cannon and rifles. + +His drowsy lids sank lower and he would have gone to sleep had he not +been roused by a shouting farther down the little river. His eyes +opened wide and he sat up. + +"What is it, George?" he said to Dalton. + +"I don't know, but here comes Captain Sherburne, and I'll ask him." + +Sherburne was approaching with long strides, his face flushed with +enthusiasm. + +"What is it, Captain?" asked Harry. "What are the boys shouting about?" + +"The news has just reached them that Old Jack has been made a +lieutenant-general. General Lee asked the government to divide his army +into two corps, with Old Jack in command of one and Longstreet in charge +of the other. The government has seen fit to do what General Lee +advises it to do, and we are now the Second Army Corps, two thousand +officers, twenty-five thousand men and one hundred and thirty guns, +commanded by Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, better known +to his enemy as 'Stonewall' Jackson and to his men as 'Old Jack.'" + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Harry. "Never was a promotion better earned!" + +"And so say we all of us," said Happy Tom. "But just a moment, Captain. +What is the news about me?" + +"About you, Tom?" + +"Yes, about me? Didn't I win the victory at the Second Manassas? +Didn't I save the army at Antietam? Am I promoted to be a colonel or +is it merely a lieutenant-colonel?" + +"I'm sorry, Tom," replied Sherburne with great gravity, "but there is no +mention of your promotion. I know it's an oversight, and we'll join in +a general petition to Richmond that you be made a lieutenant-colonel at +the very least." + +"Oh, never mind. If it has to be done through the begging of my friends +I decline the honor. I don't know that I'd care to be any kind of a +colonel, anyhow. I'd have to pass the boys here, and maybe I'd have +to command 'em, which would make 'em feel bad. Old Jack himself might +become jealous of me. I guess I'm satisfied as I am." + +"I like the modesty of the South Carolinians, Tom," said Dalton. +"There's a story going the rounds that you South Carolinians made the +war and that we Virginians have got to fight it." + +"There may be such a story. It seems to me that it was whispered to +me once, but the internal evidence shows that it was invented by a +Virginian. Haven't I come up here and shed some of my blood and more of +my perspiration to save the sacred soil of the Mother of Presidents from +invasion? And didn't I bring with me Arthur St. Clair, the best dressed +man in Charleston, for the Yankees to shoot at? Hello, what's that? +This is a day of events!" + +Hoots, cat-calls, and derisive yells arose along a long line. A trim +young officer on a fine bay horse was riding down a path beside the +Opequon. He was as beautifully dressed as St. Clair at his best. +His hands were encased in long white buckskin gloves, and long brown +mustaches curled beautifully up until they touched either cheek. +It was he, this Beau Brummel of the Southern army, who had attracted the +attention of irreverent youth. From the shelter of trees and bushes +came a chorus of cries: + +"Take them mice out o' your mouth! I know they're there, 'cause I see +their tails stickin' out!" + +"What kind o' hair oil do you use? I know your head's oiled, or it +wouldn't shine so." + +"Be sure you keep your gloves on or the sun'll tan your hands!" + +"Oh, my, it's mother's pretty boy, goin' to see his best girl!" + +The young officer flushed crimson through his brown, but he knew it was +no use to resent the words of his tormentors, and he rode steadily on, +looking straight before him. + +"That's Caswell, a Georgian, of Longstreet's corps," said Sherburne; "a +good soldier and one of the bravest men I ever saw." + +"Which proves," said St. Clair, in a tone of conviction, "that clothes +do help make the man." + +Caswell passed out of sight, pursued by derisive comment, but his place +was taken quickly by a new victim. A man of middle age, in civilian +clothes, came riding slowly on a fat horse. He was a well-known sutler +named Williams and the wild lads did not confine themselves to hidden +cries, but rushed from the shelter of trees and bushes, and held up worn +articles of apparel, shouting in his ears: + +"Hey, Mr. Williams! The soles of these shoes are made of paper, not +leather. I bought leather, not paper." + +"What's the price of blue silk neckties? I've got a Yankee sweetheart +in New York, and I want to look well when our conquering army marches +into that city!" + +"A pair of blankets for me, Mr. Williams, to be paid for when we loot +the Yankee treasury!" + +But Williams was not disconcerted. He was used to such badinage. +He spread out his large hands soothingly. + +"Boys," he said, "those shoes wore out so fast because you chased the +Yankees so hard. They were made for walking, not for foot races. +Why do you want to buy blankets on time when you can get them more +cheaply by capturing them from the enemy?" + +His answers pleased them, and some one called for three cheers for +Williams, which were given with a will, and he rode on, unmolested. +But in a few minutes another and greater roar arose. Now it was +swelling, continuous, and there was in it no note whatever of criticism +or derision. It was made up wholly of affection and admiration, and +it rolled in unceasing volume along the stream and through the forest. + +The four lads and Sherburne sprang to their feet, shading their eyes +with their hands as they looked. + +"By the great Jupiter!" exclaimed Sherburne, "it's Old Jack himself in a +new uniform on Little Sorrel! The boys, I imagine, have heard that he's +been made lieutenant-general." + +"I knew that nothing could stir up the corps this way except Old Jack +or a rabbit," said Happy Tom, as he sprang to his feet--he meant no +disrespect to his commander, as thousands would give chase to a rabbit +when it happened to be roused out of the bushes. + +"Thunderation! What a change!" exclaimed St. Clair, as he ran with the +others to the edge of the road to see Stonewall Jackson, the victor of +twenty battles, go past in a uniform that at first had almost disguised +him from his amazed soldiers. Little Sorrel was galloping. He had +learned to do so whenever the soldiers cheered his rider. Applause +always embarrassed Jackson, and Little Sorrel, of his own volition, +now obeyed his wish to get by it as soon as possible. + +"What splendor!" exclaimed Harry. "Did you ever see Old Jack looking +like this before?" + +"Never! Never!" they exclaimed in chorus. + +Stonewall Jackson wore a magnificent uniform of the richest gray, +with heavy gold lace wherever gold lace could be used, and massive +epaulets of gold. A thick gold cord tied in a bow in front surrounded +the fine gray hat, and never did a famous general look more embarrassed +as the faithful horse took him along at an easy gallop. + +All through the woods spread the word that Stonewall Jackson was riding +by arrayed in plumage like that of the dandy, Jeb Stuart himself. +It was wonderful, miraculous, but it was true, and the cheers rolled +continuously, like those of troops about to go into battle and confident +of victory. + +Harry saw clearly that his commander was terribly abashed. Blushes +showed through the tan of his cheeks, and the soldiers, who would not +have dared to disobey a single word of his on the battlefield, now ran +joyously among the woods and bushes. Harry and the other three lads, +being on Jackson's staff, hid discreetly behind the log as he passed, +but they heard the thunder of the cheering following him down the road. + +It was in truth a most singular scene. These were citizen soldiers, +welded into a terrible machine by battle after battle and the genius of +a great leader, but with their youth they retained their personality and +independence. Affection was strongly mingled with their admiration for +Jackson. He was the head of the family, and they felt free to cheer +their usually dingy hero as he rode abroad in his magnificent new +uniform. + +"I think we'd better cut across the woods to headquarters," said Harry. +"I want to see the arrival of Old Jack, and I'd wager any of you five +cents to a cent that he'll never wear that uniform again. Why, he +doesn't look natural in it at all." + +"I won't take your bet," said Happy Tom, "because I'm thinking just as +you do. Arthur, here, would look all right in it--he needs clothes to +hold him up, anyway, but it doesn't suit Old Jack." + +Their short cut took them through the woods to the general's quarters in +time to see him arrive and spring hurriedly from Little Sorrel. The man +whose name was a very synonym of victorious war was still embarrassed +and blushing, and as Harry followed him into the tent he took off the +gorgeous uniform and hat and handed them to his young aide. Then as he +put on his usual dingy gray, he said to an officer who had brought him +the new clothes: + +"Give my thanks to General Stuart, Major, but tell him that the uniform +is far too magnificent for me. I value the gift, however, and shall +keep it in recollection of him." + +The major and Harry took the uniform and, smoothing it carefully, +laid it away. But Harry, having further leave of absence went forth and +answered many questions. Was the general going to wear that uniform all +the time? Would he ride into battle clothed in it? When Harry replied +that, in his belief, he would never put it on again, the young soldiers +seemed to feel a kind of relief. The head of the family was not going +to be too splendid for them. Yet the event had heightened their spirits, +already high, and they began to sing a favorite song: + + "Come, stack arms, men, pile on the rails; + Stir up the camp fires bright. + No matter if the canteen fails, + We'll make a roaring night. + Here Shenandoah brawls along, + There lofty Blue Ridge echoes strong + To swell the brigade's rousing song + Of Stonewall Jackson's way." + +"It's a bully song!" exclaimed Happy Tom, who had a deep and thunderous +voice. Then snatching up a long stick he began to wave it as a baton, +and the others, instinctively following their leader, roared it forth, +more than ten thousand strong. + +Langdon in his glory led his cohorts in a vast circle around Jackson's +quarters, and the mighty chorus thundered through verse after verse, +until they closed in a lower tone with the lines: + + "Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps off! + Old Blue Light's going to pray; + Strangle the fool that dares to scoff! + Attention! it's his way! + Appealing from his native sod + In forma pauperis to God + Lay bare thine arm--stretch forth thy rod, + Amen! That's Stonewall Jackson's way." + +Then Happy Tom threw down his stick and the men dispersed to their +quarters. But they had paid Stonewall Jackson a tribute that few +generals ever received. + +"You're a wild and foolish fellow, Tom Langdon," said Dalton, "but I +like you for this thing you've done." + +"You'll notice that Old Jack never appeared while we were singing," +said Langdon. "I don't see why a man should be so modest and bashful. +Why, if I'd done half what he's done I'd ride the tallest horse in the +country; I'd have one of those Mexican saddles of yellow leather studded +with large golden-headed nails; the stirrups would be of gold and the +bridle bit would be gold, too. I'd have twelve uniforms all covered +with gold lace, and I'd have hats with gold-colored ostrich plumes +waving in them after the fashion of Jeb Stuart." + +"Don't you worry, Tom," said Dalton. "You'll never have any excuse for +wearing so much gold. Have you heard what one of the boys said after +the chaplain preached the sermon to us last Sunday about leading the +children of Israel forty years through the wilderness?" + +"No, George; what was it?" + +"Forty years going through the wilderness," he growled. "Why, Stonewall +Jackson would have double-quicked 'em through in three days, and on half +rations, too." + +"And so he would," exclaimed Harry with emphasis. The great affection +and admiration in which his troops held Jackson began to be tinged with +something that bordered upon superstition. They regarded his mental +powers, his intuition, judgment and quickness as something almost +supernatural. His great flanking movement at the Second Manassas, +and his arrival in time to save the army at Antietam, inspired them with +awe for a man who could do such things. They had long since ceased to +grumble when he undertook one of his tremendous marches, and they never +asked why they were sent to do a thing--they had absolute confidence in +the one who sent them to do it. + +The great excitement of Jackson in his new uniform passed and the boys +resumed their luxurious quarters on the leaves beside the Opequon. +Sherburne, who had left them a while, returned, riding a splendid bay +horse, which he tethered to a bush before rejoining them. + +"That's not the horse I saw you riding at Antietam, Captain," said +Langdon. "I counted that fellow's ribs, and none show in this one. +It's no business of mine, but I want to know where you got that fine +brute." + +"No, it's none of your business, Tom," replied Sherburne, as he settled +himself comfortably, "you haven't anything in the world to do with it, +but that's no reason why you shouldn't ask and I shouldn't answer." + +"Drop the long-winded preliminaries, then, and go ahead." + +"I got him on a wild ride with the general, General Stuart. What a +cavalryman! I don't believe there was ever such another glutton for +adventure and battle. General Lee wasn't just sure what McClellan meant +to do, and he ordered General Stuart to pick his men and go see. + +"The general took six hundred of us, and four light guns, and we crossed +the Potomac at dawn. Then we rode straight toward the north, exchanging +shots here and there with Northern pickets. We went across Maryland and +clear up into Pennsylvania, a hundred miles it must have been, I think, +and at a town called Chambersburg we got a great supply of Yankee stores, +including five hundred horses, which came in mighty handy, I can tell +you. I got Bucephalus there. He's a fine steed, too, I can tell you. +He was intended to carry some fat Pennsylvania colonel or major, and +instead he has me for a rider, a thinner and consequently a lighter man. +I haven't heard him expressing any sorrow over the exchange." + +"What did you do after you got the remounts?" asked Harry. + +"We began to curve then. We passed a town called Gettysburg, and we +went squarely behind the Union army. Mountainous and hilly country up +there, but good and cultivated beautifully. Those Pennsylvania Germans, +Harry, beat us all hollow at farming. I'm beginning to think that +slaves are not worth owning. They ruin our land." + +"Which may be so," interrupted Langdon, "but we're not the kind of +people to give them up because a lot of other people order us to do it." + +"Shut up, Tom," exclaimed Harry. "Let the captain go on with his story." + +"We went on around the Union rear, rode another hundred miles after +leaving Chambersburg, coming to a place called Hyattstown, near which we +cut across McClellan's communications with Washington. Things grew warm, +as the Yankees, learning that we were in the country, began to assemble +in great force. They tried to prevent our crossing the Monocacy River, +and we had a sharp fight, but we drove them off before they could get up +a big enough force to hold us. Then we came on, forded the Potomac and +got back after having made an entire circuit of McClellan's army." + +"What a ride!" exclaimed St. Clair, his eyes sparkling. "I wish I had +been with you. It would have been something to talk about." + +"We did stir 'em up," said Sherburne with pardonable pride, "and we got +a lot of information, too, some of it beyond price. We've learned that +there will be no more attempts on Richmond by sea. The Yankee armies +will come across Virginia soil or not at all." + +"I imagine McClellan won't be in any hurry to cross the Potomac," +said Harry. "He certainly got us into a hot corner at Antietam, and +if the reports are true he had plenty of time to come up and wipe out +General Lee's whole force, while Old Jack was tied up at Harper's Ferry. +They feel that way about McClellan in the North, too. I've got an +old Philadelphia newspaper and I'll read to you part of a poem that's +reprinted in it. The poem is called 'Tardy George.' Listen: + + "What are you waiting for, George, I pray? + To scour your cross belts with fresh pipe clay? + To burnish your buttons, to brighten your guns? + Or wait for May-day, and warm spring suns? + Are you blowing your fingers because they're cold, + Or catching your breath ere you take a hold? + Is the mud knee-deep in valley and gorge? + What are you waiting for, Tardy George?" + +"That's pretty bitter," said Harry, "but it must have been written +before the Seven Days. You notice what the author says about waiting +for May-day." + +"Likely enough you're right, but it applies just the same or they +wouldn't be reprinting it in their newspapers. Some of them claim a +victory over us at Antietam, and nearly all are angry at McClellan +because he wouldn't follow us into Virginia. They think he ought to +have crossed the Potomac after us and smashed us." + +"He might have got smashed himself." + +"Which people are likely to debate all through this generation and the +next. But they're bitter against McClellan, although he's done better +than any other Yankee general in the east. Just listen to this verse, +will you? + + "Suppose for a moment, George, my friend, + Just for a moment you condescend + To use the means that are in your hands + The eager muskets and guns and brands; + Take one bold step on the Southern sod, + And leave the issue to watchful God! + For now the nation raises its gorge, + Waiting and watching you, Tardy George." + +Harry carefully folded up the paper and put it back in his pocket. +The contrast between these verses and the song that he had just heard +ten thousand men sing, as they whirled around Stonewall Jackson's +headquarters, impressed him deeply. + +"It's hard, boys," he said, "for a general to see things like this +printed about him, even if he should deserve them. McClellan, so all +the prisoners say, has the confidence of his men. They believe that +he can win." + +"And we know that we can and do win!" exclaimed Langdon. "We've got the +soldiers and the generals, too. Hurrah for Bobby Lee, and Stonewall +Jackson and Jim Longstreet, and old Jubal Early, and A. P. Hill and +D. H. Hill and Jeb Stuart and--and----" + +"And for Happy Tom Langdon, the greatest soldier and general of them +all," interrupted Dalton. + +"That's true," said Langdon, "only people don't know it yet. Now, +by the great horn spoon, what is that? What a day this is!" + +A great uproar had begun suddenly, and, as if by magic, hundreds of men +had risen from the ground and were running about like mad creatures. +But the boys knew that they were not mad. They understood in an instant +what it was all about as they heard innumerable voices crying, "Rabbit! +Rabbit!" + +Rabbits were numerous in the underbrush and they made good stew. +The soldiers often surrounded them and caught them with their bare hands, +but they dared not shoot at them, as, owing to the number of pursuers, +somebody would certainly have been hurt. + +Harry and his comrades instantly joined in the chase, which led into the +deep woods. The rabbit, frightened into unusual speed by the shouts, +darted into the thick brush and escaped them all. + +"Poor little rascal," said Harry, "I'm glad he got away after all. +What good would one rabbit be to an army corps of twenty-five thousand +men?" + +As they were returning to their place on the creek bank an orderly came +for Harry, and he was summoned to the tent of Jackson. It was a large +tent spread in the shade of an old oak, and Harry found that Captain +Sherburne had already preceded him there. All signs of splendor were +hidden completely. Jackson once more wore with ease his dingy old gray +clothes, but the skin of his brow was drawn into a tiny knot in the +center, as if he were concentrating thought with his utmost power. + +"Sit down, Mr. Kenton," he said kindly. "I've already been speaking +to Captain Sherburne and I'll tell you now what I want. General +McClellan's army is still beyond the Potomac. As nearly as our +spies can estimate it has, present and fit for duty, one hundred and +thirty-five thousand men and three hundred and fifty cannon. McClellan, +as we well know, is always overcautious and overestimates our numbers, +but public opinion in the North will force him to action. They claim +there that Antietam was a victory for them, and he will surely invade +Virginia again. I shall send Captain Sherburne and his troop to find +out where and when, and you are to go with him as my aide and personal +representative." + +"Thanks, sir," said Harry. + +"When can you start?" + +"Within five minutes." + +"Good. I was going to allow you ten, but it's better to take only five. +Captain Sherburne, you have your instructions already. Now go, and bear +in mind, both of you, that you are to bring back what you are sent to +get, no matter what the cost. Prepare no excuses." + +There was a stern and ominous ring in his last words, and Harry and +Sherburne, saluting, retired with all speed. Harry ran to his own tent, +snatched up his arms and blanket-roll, saddled and bridled his horse, +and well within five minutes was riding by the side of Captain +Sherburne. He shouted to St. Clair, who had run forward in amazement: + +"Gone on a mission for Old Jack. Will be back--some time." + +The cavalry troop of two hundred splendid men, led by Sherburne, one of +the finest of the younger leaders, trotted fast through the oak forest. +They were fully refreshed and they were glad of action. The great +heats of that famous summer, unusually hot alike in both east and west, +were gone, and now the cool, crisp breezes of autumn blew in their faces. + +"Have you heard at what point on the Potomac the Union army is gathered?" +Harry asked. + +"At a village called Berlin, so our spies say. You know McClellan +really has some high qualities. We found a heavy reconnoitering force +of cavalry not far in our front two or three days ago, and we did not +know what it meant, but General Jackson now has an idea that McClellan +wanted to find out whether we were near enough to the Potomac to dispute +his passage." + +"We are not." + +"No, we're not, and I don't suppose General Lee and General Jackson wish +to keep him on the other side. But, at any rate, we're sent to find out +whether he is crossing." + +"And we'll see." + +"We surely will." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AHORSE WITH SHERBURNE + + +Harry was glad that General Jackson had detailed him for this task. +He missed his comrades of the staff, but Sherburne was a host in himself, +and he was greatly attached to him. He rode a good horse and there +was pleasure in galloping with these men over the rolling country, and +breathing the crisp and vital air of autumn. + +They soon left the forest, and rode along a narrow road between fields. +Their spirits rose continually. It was a singular fact that the Army of +Northern Virginia was not depressed by Antietam. It had been a bitter +disappointment to the Southern people, who expected to see Lee take +Baltimore and Philadelphia, but the army itself was full of pride over +its achievement in beating off numbers so much superior. + +It was for these reasons that Sherburne and those who rode with him felt +pride and elation. They had seen the ranks of the army fill up again. +Lee had retreated across the Potomac after Antietam with less than forty +thousand men. Now he had more than seventy thousand, and Sherburne and +Harry felt certain that instead of waiting to be attacked by McClellan +he himself would go forth to attack. + +Harry had seldom seen a day more beautiful. That long hot, dry summer +had been followed by a fine autumn, the most glorious of all seasons in +North America, when the air has snap and life enough in it to make the +old young again. + +He was familiar now with the rolling country into which they rode after +leaving the forest. Off in one direction lay the fields on which they +had fought the First and Second Manassas, and off in another, behind the +loom of the blue mountains, he had ridden with Stonewall Jackson on that +marvelous campaign which seemed to Harry without an equal. + +But the land about them was deserted now. There were no harvests in the +fields. No smoke rose from the deserted farm houses. This soil had +been trodden over and over again by great armies, and it would be a long +time before it called again for the plough. The stone fences stood, +as solid as ever, but those of wood had been used for fuel by the +soldiers. + +They watered their horses at a clear creek, and then Sherburne and Harry, +from the summit of a low hill, scanned the country with their glasses. + +They saw no human being. There was the rolling country, brown now with +autumn, and the clear, cool streams flowing through almost every valley, +but so far as man was concerned the scene was one of desolation. + +"I should think that McClellan would have mounted scouts some distance +this side of the Potomac," said Sherburne. "Certainly, if he were +making the crossing, as our reports say, he would send them ahead." + +"We're sure to strike 'em before we reach the river," said Harry. + +"I think with you that we'll see 'em, but it's our business to avoid +'em. We're sent forth to see and not to fight. But if General Stuart +could ride away up into Pennsylvania, make a complete circuit around the +Union army and come back without loss, then we ought to be successful +with our own task, which is an easier one." + +Harry smiled. + +"I never knew you to fail, Captain. I consider your task as done +already." + +"Thanks, Harry. You're a noble optimist. If we fail, it will not be +for lack of trying. Forward, my lads, and we'll reach the Potomac some +time to-night." + +They rode on through the same silence and desolation. They had no doubt +that eyes watched them from groves and fence corners, keeping cautiously +out of the way, because it was sometimes difficult now to tell Federals +from Confederates. But it did not matter to Sherburne. He kept a +straight course for the Potomac, at least half of his men knowing +thoroughly every foot of the way. + +"What time can we reach the river and the place at which they say +McClellan is going to cross?" asked Harry. + +"By midnight anyway," replied Sherburne. "Of course, we'll have to slow +down as we draw near, or we may run square into an ambush. Do you see +that grove about two miles ahead? We'll go into that first, rest our +horses, and take some food." + +It was a fine oak grove, covering about an acre, with no undergrowth and +a fair amount of grass, still green under the shade, on which the horses +could graze. The trunks of the trees also were close enough together to +hide them from anyone else who was not very near. Here the men ate cold +food from their haversacks and let their horses nibble the grass for a +half hour. + +They emerged refreshed and resumed their course toward the Potomac. +In the very height of the afternoon blaze they saw a horseman on the +crest of a hill, watching them intently through glasses. Sherburne +instantly raised his own glasses to his eyes. + +"A Yankee scout," he said. "He sees us and knows us for what we are, +but he doesn't know what we're about." + +"But he's trying to guess," said Harry, who was also using glasses. +"I can't see his face well enough to tell, but I know that in his place +I'd be guessing." + +"As we don't want him hanging on to our heels and watching us, I think +we'd better charge him." + +"Have the whole troop turn aside and chase him?" + +"No; Harry, you and I and eight men will do it. Marlowe, take the rest +of the company straight along the road at an easy gait. But keep well +behind the hedge that you see ahead." + +Marlowe was his second in command, and taking the lead he continued with +the troop. + +Marlowe rode behind one of the hedges, where they were hidden from the +lone horseman on the hill, and Sherburne and Harry and the eight men +followed. While they were yet hidden, Sherburne and his chosen band +suddenly detached themselves from the others at a break in the hedge and +galloped toward the horseman who was still standing on the hill, gazing +intently toward the point where he had last seen the troop riding. + +Sherburne, Harry and the privates rode at a gallop across the field, +straight for the Union sentinel. He did not see them until they had +covered nearly half the distance, and then with aggravating slowness +he turned and rode over the opposite side of the hill. Harry had been +watching him intently, and when he had come much nearer the figure +seemed familiar to him. At first he could not recall it to mind, +but a moment or two later he turned excitedly to Sherburne. + +"I know that man, although I've never seen him before in a uniform," +he said. "I met him when President Davis was inaugurated at Montgomery +and I saw him again at Washington. His name is Shepard, the most +skillful and daring of all the Union spies." + +"I've heard you speak of that fellow before," said Sherburne, "and since +we've put him to flight, I think we'd better stop. Ten to one, if we +follow him over the brow of the hill, he'll lead us into an ambush." + +"I think you're right, Captain, and it's likely, too, that he'll come +back soon with a heavy cavalry detachment. I've no doubt that thousands +of Union horsemen are this side of the river." + +Sherburne was impressed by Harry's words, and the little detachment, +returning at a gallop, joined the main troop, which was now close to a +considerable stretch of forest. + +"Ah, there they are!" exclaimed Harry, looking back at the hill on which +he had seen the lone horseman. + +A powerful body of cavalry showed for a moment against the sun, which +was burning low and red in the west. The background was so intense and +vivid that the horsemen did not form a mass, but every figure stood +detached, a black outline against the sky. Harry judged that they were +at least a thousand in number. + +"Too strong a force for us to meet," said Sherburne. "They must +outnumber us five to one, and since they've had practice the Northern +cavalry has improved a lot. It must be a part of the big force that +made the scout toward our lines. Good thing the forest is just ahead." + +"And a good thing, too, that night is not far off." + +"Right, my boy, we need 'em both, the forest and the dark. The Union +cavalry is going to pursue us, and I don't mean to turn back. General +Jackson sent us to find about McClellan's crossing, and we've got to do +it." + +"I wouldn't dare go back to Old Jack without the information we're sent +to get." + +"Nor I. Hurry up the men, Marlowe. We've got to lose the Union cavalry +in the forest somehow." + +The men urged their horses forward at a gallop and quickly reached the +trees. But when Harry looked back he saw the thousand in blue about +a mile away, coming at a pace equal to their own. He felt much +apprehension. The road through the forest led straight before them, +but the trail of two hundred horses could not be hidden even by night. +They could turn into the forest and elude their pursuers, but, as +Sherburne said, that meant abandoning their errand, and no one in all +the group thought of such a thing. + +Sherburne increased the pace a little now, while he tried to think of +some way out. Harry rode by his side in silence, and he, too, was +seeking a solution. Through the trees, now nearly leafless, they saw +the blue line still coming, and the perplexities of the brave young +captain grew fast. + +But the night was coming down, and suddenly the long, lean figure of a +man on the long, lean figure of a horse shot from the trees on their +right and drew up by the side of Sherburne and Harry. + +"Lankford, sir, Jim Lankford is my name," he said to Sherburne, touching +one finger to his forehead in a queer kind of salute. + +Harry saw that the man had a thin, clean-shaven face with a strong nose +and chin. + +"I 'low you're runnin' away from the Yankees," said Lankford to +Sherburne. + +Sherburne flushed, but no anger showed in his voice as he replied: + +"You're right, but we run for two reasons. They're five to our one, +and we have business elsewhere that mustn't be interrupted by fighting." + +"First reason is enough. A man who fights five to one is five times +a fool. I'm a good Johnny Reb myself, though I keep off the fightin' +lines. I live back there in a house among the trees, just off the road. +You'd have seen it when you passed by, if you hadn't been in such a +hurry. Just settin' down to take a smoke when Mandy, my wife, tells me +she hears the feet of many horses thunderin' on the road. In a moment +I hear 'em, too. Run to the front porch, and see Confederate cavalry +coming at a gallop, followed by a big Yankee force. Mandy and me didn't +like the sight, and we agree that I take a hand. Now I'm takin' it." + +"How do you intend to help us?" + +"I'm gettin' to that. I saddled my big horse quick as lightnin', +and takin' a runnin' jump out of the woods, landed beside you. Now, +listen, Captain; I reckon you're on some sort of scoutin' trip, and +want to go on toward the river." + +"You reckon right." + +"About a mile further on we dip into a little valley. A creek, wide but +shallow and with a bed all rocks, takes up most of the width of that +valley. It goes nearly to the north, and at last reaches the Potomac. +A half mile from the crossin' ahead it runs through steep, high banks +that come right down to its edges, but the creek bottom is smooth enough +for the horses. I 'low I make myself plain enough, don't I, Mr. Captain?" + +"You do, Mr. Lankford, and you're an angel in homespun. Without you we +could never do what we want to do. Lead the way to that blessed creek. +We don't want any of the Yankee vanguard to see us when we turn and +follow its stream." + +"We can make it easy. They might guess that we're ridin' in the water +to hide our tracks, but the bottom is so rocky they won't know whether +we've gone up or down the stream. And if they guessed the right way, +and followed it, they'd be likely to turn back at the cliffs, anyhow." + +They urged their horses now to the uttermost, and Harry soon saw the +waters of the creek shining through the darkness. Everything was +falling out as Lankford had said. The pursuit was unseen and unheard +behind them, but they knew it was there. + +"Slow now, boys," said Sherburne, as they rode into the stream. "We +don't want to make too much noise splashing the water. Are there many +boulders in here, Mr. Lankford?" + +"Not enough to hurt." + +"Then you lead the way. The men can come four abreast." + +The water was about a foot deep, and despite their care eight hundred +hoofs made a considerable splashing, but the creek soon turned around +a hill and led on through dense forest. Sherburne and Harry were +satisfied that no Union horseman had either seen or heard them, and they +followed Lankford with absolute confidence. Now and then the hoofs of a +stumbling horse would grind on the stones, but there was no other noise +save the steady marching of two hundred men through water. + +The things that Lankford had asserted continued to come true. The creek +presently flowed between banks fifty feet high, rocky and steep as a +wall. But the stone bed of the creek was almost as smooth as a floor, +and they stopped here a while to rest and let their horses drink. + +The enclosing walls were not more than fifty or sixty feet across the +top and it was very dark in the gorge. Harry saw overhead a slice of +dusky sky, lit by only a few stars, but it was pitchy black where he +sat on his horse, and listened to his contented gurglings as he drank. +He could merely make out the outlines of his comrades, but he knew that +Sherburne was on one side of him and Lankford on the other. He could +not hear the slightest sound of pursuit, and he was convinced that the +Union cavalry had lost their trail. So was Sherburne. + +"We owe you a big debt, Mr. Lankford," said the captain. + +"I've tried to serve my side," said Lankford, "though, as I told you, +I'm not goin' on the firin' line. It's not worth while for all of us +to get killed. Later on this country will need some people who are not +dead." + +"You're right about that, Mr. Lankford," said Sherburne, with a little +laugh, "and you, for one, although you haven't gone on the firing lines, +have earned the right to live. You've done us a great service, sir." + +"I reckon I have," said Lankford with calm egotism, "but it was +necessary for me to do it. I've got an inquirin' mind, I have, and also +a calculatin' one. When I saw your little troop comin', an' then that +big troop of the Yankees comin' on behind, I knowed that you needed +help. I knowed that this creek run down a gorge, and that I could lead +you into the gorge and escape pursuit. I figgered, too, that you were +on your way to see about McClellan crossin' the Potomac, an' I figgered +next that you meant to keep straight on, no matter what happened. +So I'm goin' to lead you out of the gorge, and some miles further ahead +you'll come to the Potomac, where I guess you can use your own eyes and +see all you want to see." + +"The horses are all right now and I think we'd better be moving, +Mr. Lankford." + +They started, but did not go faster than a walk while they were in the +gorge. Harry's eyes had grown somewhat used to the darkness, and he +could make out the rocky walls, crested with trees, the higher branches +of which seemed almost to meet over the chasm. + +It was a weird passage, but time and place did not oppress Harry. +He felt instead a certain surge of the spirits. They had thrown off +the pursuit--there could be no doubt of it--and the first step in their +mission was accomplished. They were now in the midst of action, action +thrilling and of the highest importance, and his soul rose to the issue. + +He had no doubt that some great movement, possibly like that of the +Second Manassas, hung upon their mission, and Lee and Jackson might be +together at that very moment, planning the mighty enterprise which would +be shaped according to their news. + +They emerged from the gorge and rode up a low, sloping bank which gave +back but little sound to the tread of the horses, and here Lankford said +that he would leave them. Sherburne reached over his gauntleted hand +and gave him a powerful grasp. + +"We won't forget this service, Mr. Lankford," he said. + +"I ain't goin' to let you forget it. Keep straight ahead an' you'll +strike a cross-country road in 'bout a quarter of a mile. It leads you +to the Potomac, an' I reckon from now on you'll have to take care of +yourselves." + +Lankford melted away in the darkness as he rode back up the gorge, +and the troop went on at a good pace across a country, half field, +half forest. They came to a road which was smooth and hard, and +increased their speed. They soon reached a region which several of +their horsemen knew, and, as the night lightened a little, they rode +fast toward the Potomac. + +Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was not much past midnight. +They would have ample opportunity for observation before morning. +A half hour later they discerned dim lights ahead and they knew that +the Potomac could not be far away. + +They drew to one side in a bit of forest, and Sherburne again detached +himself, Harry and eight others from the troop, which he left as before +under the command of Marlowe. + +"Wait here in the wood for us," he said to his second in command. +"We should be back by dawn. Of course, if any force of the enemy +threatens you, you'll have to do what seems best, and we'll ride back +to General Jackson alone." + +The ten went on a bit farther, using extreme care lest they run into a +Northern picket. Fortunately the fringe of wood, in which they found +shelter, continued to a point near the river, and as they went forward +quietly they saw many lights. They heard also a great tumult, a mixture +of many noises, the rumbling of cannon and wagon wheels, the cracking +of drivers' whips by the hundreds and hundreds, the sounds of drivers +swearing many oaths, but swearing together and in an unbroken stream. + +They rode to the crest of the hill, where they were well hidden among +oaks and beeches, and there the whole scene burst upon them. The +late moon had brightened, and many stars had come out as if for their +especial benefit. They saw the broad stream of the Potomac shining like +silver and spanned by a bridge of boats, on which a great force, horse, +foot, artillery, and wagons, was crossing. + +"That's McClellan's army," said Harry. + +"And coming into Virginia," said Sherburne. "Well, we can't help their +entering the state, but we can make it a very uncomfortable resting +place for them." + +"How many men do you suppose they have?" + +"A hundred thousand here at the least, and others must be crossing +elsewhere. But don't you worry, Harry. We've got seventy thousand men +of our own, and Lee and Jackson, who, as you have been told before, +are equal to a hundred thousand more. McClellan will march out again +faster than he has marched in." + +"Still, he's shown more capacity than the other Union generals in the +East, and his soldiers are devoted to him." + +"But he isn't swift, Harry. While he's thinking, Lee and Jackson have +thought and are acting. Queer, isn't it, that a young general should be +slow, and older ones so much swifter. Why, General Lee must be nearly +old enough to be General McClellan's father." + +"It's so, Captain, but those men are crossing fast. Listen how the +cannon wheels rumble! And I know that a thousand whips are cracking +at once. They'll all be on our soil to-morrow." + +"So they will, but long before that time we'll be back at General +Jackson's tent with the news of their coming." + +"If nothing gets in the way. Do you remember that man whom we saw on +the hill watching, the one who I said was Shepard, the ablest and most +daring of all their spies?" + +"I haven't forgotten him." + +"This man Shepard, Captain, is one of the most dangerous of all our +enemies. The Union could much more easily spare one of its generals +than Shepard. He's omniscient. He's a lineal descendant of Argus, +and has all the old man's hundred eyes, with a few extra ones added in +convenient places. He's a witch doctor, medicine man, and other things +beside. I believe he's followed us, that some way he's picked up our +trail somewhere. He may have been hanging on the rear of the troop when +we came through the gorge." + +"Nonsense, Harry, you're turning the man into a supernatural being." + +"That's just the way I feel about him." + +"Then, if that's the case, we'd better be clearing out as fast as we +can. We've seen enough, anyhow. We'll go straight back to the company +and ride hard for the camp." + +They reached the troop, which was waiting silently under the command +of the faithful Marlowe. But before they could gallop back toward the +south, the loud, clear call of a trumpet came from a point near by, +and it was followed quickly by the beat of many hoofs. + +"I see him! It's Shepard," exclaimed Harry excitedly. + +He had beheld what was almost the ghost of a horseman galloping among +the trees, followed in an instant by the more solid rush of the cavalry. + +It was evident to both Sherburne and Harry that the Federal pickets and +outriders had acquired much skill and alertness, and they urged the +troop to its greatest speed. Even if they should be able to defeat +their immediate pursuers, it was no place for them to engage in battle, +as the enemy could soon come up in thousands. + +As they galloped down the road they heard bullets kicking up the dust +behind, and the sound made them go faster. But they were still out of +range and the pursuit did not make any gain in the next few minutes. +But Harry, looking back, saw that the Union cavalry was hanging on +grimly, and he surmised also that other forces might appear soon on +their flanks. + +"We've got to use every effort," he said to Sherburne. + +"That's apparent. You were right about your man Shepard, Harry. +He has certainly inherited all the eyes of his ancestor, Argus, and +about three times as many besides. He's omniscient, right enough." + +"Are they gaining?" + +"Not yet. But they will, as fresh pursuers come up on the flank. +Some of us must fall or be taken, but then at least one of us must get +back to Old Jack with the news. So we're bound to scatter. When we +reach that patch of woods on the left running down to the road, you're +to leave us, gallop into it and make your way back through the gorge. +I'll throw off the other messengers as we go on." + +"Must I be the first to go?" + +"Yes, you're under my orders now, and I think you the most trustworthy. +Now, Harry, off with you, and remember that luck is with him who tries +the hardest." + +They were within the dark shade of the trees and Harry turned at a +gallop among them, guiding his horse between the trunks, pausing a +moment further on to hear the pursuit thunder by, and then resuming +his race for the gorge. + +He continued to ride at a great pace, meeting no enemy, and at last +reached the creek. He was a good observer and he was confident that he +could ride back up it without trouble. He feared nothing but Shepard. +A single horseman in the darkness could throw off any pursuit by cavalry, +but the terrible spy might turn at once to the creek and the gorge. +He had the consolation, though, of knowing that Shepard could not follow +him and all the others at the same time. + +Harry paused a moment at the water's edge and listened for the sounds +of pursuit. None came. Then he plunged boldly in and rode against +the stream, passing into the depths of the gorge. It was darker now, +being near to that darkest hour before the dawn, and the slit of sky +above was somber. + +But he rode on at a good walk until he was about half way through the +gorge. Then he heard sounds above, and drawing his horse in by the +cliff he stopped and waited. Voices came down to him, and once or twice +he caught the partial silhouette of a horse against the dark sky. + +He felt quite sure that it was a body of Union cavalry riding +practically at random--if they were led by Shepard they would have +come up the gorge itself. + +Presently something splashed heavily in the water near him. A stone had +been rolled over the brink. He drew his horse and himself more closely +against the wall. Another stone fell near and a laugh came from above. +Evidently the lads in blue had pushed the stones over merely to hear the +splash, because Harry ceased to hear the voices and he was quite sure +that they had ridden away. + +He waited a little while for precaution, and then resumed his own +careful journey through the gorge. Just as the dawn was breaking he +emerged from the stream and entered the forest. It was a cold dawn, +that of late October, white with frost, and Harry shivered. There was +still food in his knapsack, and he ate hungrily as he rode through the +deserted country, and wondered what had become of Shepard and the others. + +It was not yet full day. The grass was still white with frost. The +early wind, blowing out of the north, brought an increased chill. +The food Harry had eaten defended him somewhat against the cold, but his +body had been weakened by so much riding and loss of sleep that he found +it wise to unroll his blanket and wrap it around his shoulders and chest. + +He was, perhaps, affected by the cold and anxiety, but the country +seemed singularly lonesome and depressing. Sweeping the whole circle of +the horizon with his glasses, he saw several farm houses, but no smoke +was rising from their chimneys. Silent and cold, they added to his own +feeling of desolation. He wondered what had become of his comrades. +Perhaps Sherburne had been taken, or killed. He was not one to +surrender, even to overwhelming numbers, without a fight. + +But he would go on. Drawing the blanket more tightly around his body, +he turned into the narrow road by which he had come, and urged his horse +into that easy Southern gait known as a pace. He would have been glad +to go faster, but he was too wise to push a horse that had already been +traveling twenty hours. + +Harry did not yet feel secure by any means. The lads of the South, +where the cities were few and small, had been used from childhood to the +horse. They had become at once cavalry of the highest order; but the +lads of the North were learning, too. He had no doubt that bands of +Northern horsemen were now ranging the country to the very verge of the +camps of Jackson and Lee. + +The belief became a certainty when a score of riders in blue appeared on +a hill behind him. One of their number blew a musical note on a trumpet, +and then all of them, with a shout, urged their horses in pursuit of +Harry, who felt as if it were for all the world a fox chase, with +himself as the fox. + +He knew that his danger was great, but he resolved to triumph over it. +He must get through to Jackson with the news that the Army of the +Potomac was in Virginia. Others from Sherburne's troop might arrive +with the same news, but he did not know it. It was not his place to +reckon on the possible achievements of others. So far as this errand +was concerned, and so far as he was now concerned, there was nobody in +the world but himself. Swiftly he reckoned the chances. + +He changed the pace of his horse into an easy gallop and sped along the +road. But the horse did not have sufficient reserve of strength to +increase his speed and maintain the increase. He knew without looking +back that the Union riders were gaining, and he continued to mature his +plan. + +Harry was now cool and deliberate. It was possible that a Confederate +troop scouting in that direction might save him, but it was far from +a certainty, and he could not take it into his calculations. He was +now riding between two cornfields in which all the corn had been cut, +but he saw forest on the right, about a half mile ahead. + +He believed that his salvation lay in that forest. He hoped that it +stretched far toward the right. He had never seen a finer forest, +a more magnificent forest, one that looked more sheltering, and the +nearer he came to it the better it looked. + +He did not glance back, but he felt sure that the blue horsemen must +still be gaining. Then came that mellow, hunting note of the trumpet, +much nearer than before. Harry felt a thrill of anger. He remained +the fox, and they remained the hunters. He could feel the good horse +panting beneath him, and white foam was on his mouth. + +Harry began to fear now that he would be overtaken before he could reach +the trees. He glanced at the fields. If it had been only a few weeks +earlier he might have sprung from his horse and have escaped in the +thick and standing corn, but now he would be an easy target. He must +gain the forest somehow. He said over and over to himself, "I must +reach it! I must reach it! I must reach it!" + +Now he heard the crack of rifles. Bullets whizzed past. They no longer +kicked up the dust behind him, but on the side, and even in front. +Men began to shout to him, and he heard certain words that meant +surrender. Chance had kept the bullets away from him so far, but the +same chance might turn them upon him at any moment. It was a risk that +he must take. + +The shouts grew louder. The rapid thudding of hoofs behind him beat on +his ears in that minute of excitement like thunder. Nearer and nearer +came the forest. The rifles behind him were now crashing faster. +It seemed to him that he could almost smell their smoke, and still +neither he nor his horse was hit. After making all due allowance for +badness of aim at a gallop, it was almost a miracle, and he drew new +courage from the fact. + +He passed the cornfields and with a sharp jerk of the reins turned his +weary horse into the woods on the right. The forest was thick with a +considerable growth of underbrush, but Harry was a skillful and daring +rider, and he guided his horse so expertly that in a few moments he was +hidden from the view of the cavalry. But he knew that it could not +continue so long. They would spread out, driving everything in front +of them as they advanced. He was still the fox and they were still the +hunters. Yet he had gained something. For a fugitive the forest was +better than the open. + +He maintained his direction toward Jackson's camp. His horse leaped a +gully and he barely escaped being swept off on the farther side by the +bough of a tree. Then some of his pursuers caught sight of him again, +and a half dozen shots were fired. He was not touched, but he felt his +horse shiver and he knew at once that the good, true animal had been +hit. A few leaps more and the living machinery beneath him began to jar +heavily. + +Another thick clump of undergrowth hid him at that moment from the +cavalrymen, and he did the only thing that was left to him. Throwing +one leg over the saddle, he leaped clear and darted away. Before he had +gone a dozen steps he heard his horse fall heavily, and he sighed for a +true and faithful servant and comrade gone forever. + +He heard the shouts of the Union horsemen who had overtaken the fallen +horse, but not the rider. Then the shouts ceased, and for a little +while there was no thud of hoofs. Evidently they were puzzled. They +had no use for a dead horse, but they wanted his rider, and they did not +know which way he had gone. Harry knew, however, that they would soon +spread out to a yet greater extent, and being able to go much faster on +horseback than he could on foot, they would have a certain advantage. + +He had lost his blanket from his shoulders, but he still had his pistol, +and he kept one hand on the butt, resolved not to be taken. He heard +the horsemen crashing here and there among the bushes and calling to one +another. He knew that they pursued him so persistently because they +believed him to be one who had spied upon their army and it would be of +great value to them that he be taken or slain. + +He might have turned and run back toward the Potomac, doubling on his +own track, as it were, a trick which would have deluded the Union +cavalry, but his resolution held firm not only to escape, but also to +reach Jackson with his news. + +He stood at least a minute behind some thick bushes, and it was a +precious minute to his panting lungs. The fresh air flowed in again and +strength returned. His pulses leaped once more with courage and resolve, +and he plunged anew into the deep wood. If he could only reach a +part of the forest that was much roughened by outcroppings of rock or +gulleyed by rains, he felt that his chance of escape would almost turn +into a certainty. He presently came to one such gulley or ravine, +and as he crossed it he felt that he had made a distinct gain. The +horsemen would secure a passage lower down or higher up, but it gave +him an advantage of two hundred yards at least. + +Part of the gain he utilized for another rest, lying down this time +behind a rocky ridge until he heard the cavalrymen calling to one +another. Then he rose and ran forward again, slipping as quietly as he +could among the trees and bushes. He still had the feeling of being the +fox, with the hounds hot on his trail, but he was no longer making a +random rush. He had become skillful and cunning like the real fox. + +He knew that the horsemen were not trailers. They could not follow him +by his footsteps on the hard ground, and he took full advantage of it. +Yet they utilized their numbers and pursued in a long line. Once, +two of them would have galloped directly upon him, but just before they +came in sight he threw himself flat in a shallow gully and pulled over +his body a mass of fallen leaves. + +The two men rode within ten yards of him. Had they not been so eager +they would have seen him, as his body was but partly covered. But they +looked only in front, thinking that the fugitive was still running ahead +of them through the forest, and galloped on. + +As soon as they were out of sight Harry rose and followed. He deemed it +best to keep directly in their track, because then no one was likely to +come up behind him, and if they turned, he could turn, too. + +He heard the two men crashing on ahead and once or twice he caught +glimpses of them. Then he knew by the sounds of the hoofs that they +were separating, and he followed the one who was bearing to the left, +keeping a wary watch from side to side, lest others overhaul him. + +In those moments of danger and daring enterprise the spirit of Harry's +great ancestor descended upon him again. This flight through the forest +and hiding among bushes and gulleys was more like the early days of the +border than those of the great civil war in which he was now a young +soldier. + +Instincts and perceptions, atrophied by civilization, suddenly sprang +up. He seemed to be able to read every sound. Not a whisper in the +forest escaped his understanding, and this sudden flame of a great early +life put into him new thoughts and a new intelligence. + +Now a plan, astonishing in its boldness, formed itself in his mind. +He saw through openings in the trees that the forest did not extend much +farther, and he also saw not far ahead of him the single horseman whom +he was following. The man had slowed down and was looking about as if +puzzled. He rode a powerful horse that seemed but little wearied by the +pursuit. + +Harry picked up a long fragment of a fallen bough, and he ran toward +the horseman, springing from the shelter of one tree trunk to that of +another with all the deftness of a primitive Wyandot. He was almost +upon the rider before the man turned with a startled exclamation. + +Then Harry struck, and his was no light hand. The end of the stick +met the man's head, and without a sound he rolled unconscious from the +saddle. It was a tribute to Harry's humanity that he caught him and +broke his fall. A single glance at his face as he lay upon the ground +showed that he had no serious hurt, being merely stunned. + +Then Harry grasped the bridle and sprang into the saddle that he had +emptied, urging the horse directly through the opening toward the +cleared ground. He relied with absolute faith upon his new mount and +the temporary ignorance of the others that his horse had changed riders. + +As he passed out of the forest he leaned low in the saddle to keep the +color of his clothing from being seen too soon, and speaking encouraging +words in his horse's ears, raced toward the south. He heard shouts +behind him, but no shots, and he knew that the cavalrymen still believed +him to be their own man following some new sign. + +He was at least a half mile away before they discovered the difference. +Perhaps some one had found their wounded comrade in the forest, or the +man himself, reviving quickly, had told the tale. + +In any event Harry heard a distant shout of anger and surprise. Chance +had favored him in giving him another splendid horse, and now, as he +rode like the wind, the waning pursuit sank out of sight behind him. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JACKSON MOVES + + +It was impossible for Harry to restrain a vivid feeling of exultation. +He was in the open, and he was leaving the Northern cavalry far behind. +Nor was it likely that any further enemy would appear now between him +and Jackson's army. Chance had certainly favored him. What a glorious +goddess Chance was when she happened to be on your side! Then +everything fell out as you wished it. You could not go wrong. + +The horse he rode was even better than the one he had lost, and a pair +of splendid pistols in holsters lay across the saddle. He could account +for two enemies if need be, but when he looked back he saw no pursuers +in sight, and he slowed his pace in order not to overtax the horse. + +Not long afterwards he saw the Southern pickets belonging to the +vanguard of the Invincibles. St. Clair himself was with them, and +when he saw Harry he galloped forward, uttering a shout. + +St. Clair had known of the errand upon which Harry had gone with +Sherburne, and now he was alarmed to see him riding back alone, worn +and covered with dust. + +"What's the matter, Harry?" he cried, "and where are the others?" + +"Nothing's the matter with me, and I don't know where the others are. +But, Arthur, I've got to see General Jackson at once! Where is he?" + +Harry's manner was enough to impress his comrade, who knew him so well. + +"This way," he said. "Not more than four or five hundred yards. +There, that's General Jackson's tent!" + +Harry leaped from his horse as he came near and made a rush for the +tent. The flap was open, but a sentinel who stood in front put up his +rifle, and barred the way. A low monotone came from within the tent. + +"The General's praying," he said. "I can't let you in for a minute or +two." + +Harry took off his hat and stood in silence while the two minutes +lasted. All his haste was suddenly gone from him. The strong affection +that he felt for Jackson was tinged at times with awe, and this awe was +always strongest when the general was praying. He knew that the prayer +was no affectation, that it came from the bottom of his soul, like that +of a crusader, asking forgiveness for his sins. + +The monotone ceased, the soldier took down his rifle which was held like +a bar across the way, and Harry, entering, saluted his general, who was +sitting in the half light at a table, reading a little book, which the +lad guessed was a pocket Bible. + +Harry saluted and Jackson looked at him gravely. + +"You've come back alone, it seems," he said, "but you've obeyed my +instructions not to come without definite news?" + +"I have, sir." + +"What have you seen?" + +"We saw the main army of General McClellan crossing the Potomac at +Berlin. He must have had there a hundred thousand men and three or +four hundred guns, and others were certainly crossing elsewhere." + +"You saw all this with your own eyes?" + +"I did, sir. We watched them for a long time. They were crossing on a +bridge of boats." + +"You are dusty and you look very worn. Did you come in contact with the +enemy?" + +"Yes, sir. Many of their horsemen were already on this side of the +river, and this morning I was pressed very hard by a troop of their +cavalry. I gained a wood, but just at the edge of it my horse was +killed by a chance shot." + +"Your horse killed? Then how could you escape from cavalry?" + +"Chance favored me, sir. I dodged them for a while in the woods and +underbrush, helped by gullies here and there, and when I came to the +edge of the wood only a single horseman was near me. I hid behind a +tree and knocked him out of the saddle as he was riding past." + +"I hope you did not kill him." + +"I did not. He was merely stunned. He will have a headache for a day +or two, and then he will be as well as ever. I jumped on his horse and +galloped here as straight and fast as I could." + +A faint smile passed over Jackson's face. + +"You were lucky to make the exchange of horses," he said, "and you have +done well. The enemy comes and our days of rest are over. Do you know +anything of Captain Sherburne and his troop?" + +"Captain Sherburne, under the urgency of pursuit, scattered his men +in order that some of them at least might reach you with the news of +General McClellan's crossing. I was the first detached, and so I know +nothing of the others." + +"And also you were the first to arrive. I trust that Captain Sherburne +and all of his men will yet come. We can ill spare them." + +"I truly hope so, sir." + +"You need food and sleep. Get both. You will be called when you are +needed. You have done well, Lieutenant Kenton." + +"Thank you, sir." + +Harry, saluting again, withdrew. He was very proud of his general's +commendation, but he was also on the verge of physical collapse. +He obtained some food at a camp fire near by, ate it quickly, wrapped +himself in borrowed blankets, and lay down under the shade of an oak. +Langdon saw him just as he was about to close his eyes, and called to +him: + +"Here, Harry, I didn't know you were back. What's your news?" + +"That McClellan and the Yankee army are this side of the Potomac. +That's all. Good night." + +He closed his eyes, and although it was near the middle of the day, +with the multifarious noises of the camp about him, he fell into the +deep and beautiful sleep of the tired youth who has done his duty. + +He was still asleep when Captain Sherburne, worn and wounded slightly, +came in and reported also to General Jackson. He and his main force had +been pursued and had been in a hot little brush with the Union cavalry, +both sides losing several men. Others who had been detached before the +action also returned and reported. All of them, like Harry, were told +to seek food and sleep. + +Harry slept a long time, and the soldiers who passed, making many +preparations, never disturbed him. But the entire Southern army under +Lee, assisted by his two great corps commanders, Jackson and Longstreet, +was making ready to meet the Army of the Potomac under McClellan. +The spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia was high, and the news that +the enemy was marching was welcome to them. + +When Harry awoke the sun had passed its zenith and the cool October +shadows were falling. He yawned prodigiously, stretched his arms, +and for a few moments could not remember where he was, or what he had +been doing. + +"Quit yawning so hard," said Happy Tom Langdon. "You may get your mouth +so wide open that you'll never be able to shut it again." + +"What's happened?" + +"What's happened, while you were asleep? Well, it will take a long time +to tell it, Mr. Rip Van Winkle. You have slept exactly a week, and in +the course of that time we fought a great battle with McClellan, were +defeated by him, chiefly owing to your comatose condition, and have +fallen back on Richmond, carrying you with us asleep in a wagon. +If you will look behind you you will see the spires of Richmond. +Oh, Harry! Harry! Why did you sleep so long and so hard when we needed +you so much?" + +"Shut up, Tom. If ever talking matches become the fashion, I mean +to enter you in all of them for the first prize. Now, tell me what +happened while I was asleep, and tell it quick!" + +"Well, me lad, since you're high and haughty, not to say dictatorial +about it, I, as proud and haughty as thyself, defy thee. George, +you tell him all about it." Dalton grinned. A grave and serious youth +himself, he liked Langdon's perpetual fund of chaff and good humor. + +"Nothing has happened, Harry, while you slept," he said, "except that +the army, or at least General Jackson's corps, has been making ready for +a possible great battle. We're scattered along a long line, and General +Lee and General Longstreet are some distance from us, but our generals +don't seem to be alarmed in the least. It's said that McClellan will +soon be between us and Richmond, but I can't see any alarm about that +either." + +"Why should there be?" said St. Clair, who was also sitting by. "It +would make McClellan's position dangerous, not ours." + +"Arthur puts it right," said Langdon. "When we go to our tents, show +him the new uniform you've got, Arthur. It's the most gorgeous affair +in the Army of Northern Virginia, and it cost him a whole year's pay +in Confederate money. Have you noticed, Harry, that the weakest thing +about us is our money? We're the greatest marchers and fighters in the +world, but nobody, not even our own people, seem to fall in love with +our money." + +"I suppose that General Jackson is now ready to march whenever the word +should come," said St. Clair. "The boys, as far as I can see, have +returned to their rest and play. There's that Cajun band playing again." + +"And it sounds mighty good," said Harry. "Look at those Louisiana +Frenchmen dancing." + +The spirits of the swarthy Acadians were irrepressible. As they had +danced in the great days in the valley in the spring, now they were +dancing when autumn was merging into winter, and they sang their songs +of the South, some of which had come from old Brittany through Nova +Scotia to Louisiana. + +Harry liked the French blood, and he had learned to like greatly these +men who were so much underestimated in the beginning. He and his +comrades watched them as they whirled in the dance, clasped in one +another's arms, their dark faces glowing, white teeth flashing and black +eyes sparkling. He saw that they were carried away by the music and the +dance, and as they floated over the turf they were dreaming of their far +and sunny land and the girls they had left behind them. He had been +reared in a stern and more northern school, but he had learned long +since that a love of innocent pleasure was no sign of effeminacy or +corruption. + +"Good to look on, isn't it, Harry?" said St. Clair. + +"Yes, and good to hear, too." + +"Come with me into this little dip, and I'll show you another sight +that's good to see." + +There was a low ridge on their right, crested with tall trees and +dropping down abruptly on the other side. A little distance on rose +another low ridge, but between the two was a snug and grassy bowl, +and within the bowl, sitting on the dry grass, with a chessboard between +them, were Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire. They were absorbed so deeply in their game that they did +not notice the boys on the crest of the bank looking over at them. + +Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire had +not changed a particle--to the eyes, at least--in a year and a half of +campaigning and tremendous battles. They may have been a little leaner +and a little thinner, but they were lean and thin men, anyhow. Their +uniforms, although faded and worn, were neat and clean, and as each sat +on a fragment of log, while the board rested on a stump between, they +were able to maintain their dignity. + +It was Colonel Talbot's move. His hand rested on the red king and he +pondered long. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire waited without a sign of +impatience. He would take just as long a time with his knight or bishop, +or whichever of the white men he chose to use. + +"I confess, Hector," said Colonel Talbot at length, "that this move +puzzles me greatly." + +"It would puzzle me too, Leonidas, were I in your place," said +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire; "but you must recall that just before +the Second Manassas you seemed to have me checkmated, and that I have +escaped from a most dangerous position." + +"True, true, Hector! I thought I had you, but you slipped from my net. +Those were, beyond all dispute, most skillful and daring moves you made. +It pays to be bold in this world." + +"Do you know," whispered St. Clair to Harry, "that this unfinished game +is the one they began last spring in the valley? We saw them playing +it in a fence corner before action. They've taken it up again at least +four or five times between battles, but neither has ever been able to +win. However, they'll fight it out to a finish, if a bullet doesn't get +one first. They always remember the exact position in which the figures +were when they quit." + +Colonel Talbot happened to look up and saw the boys. + +"Come down," he said, "and join us. It is pleasant to see you again, +Harry. I heard of your mission, its success and your safe return. +Hector, I suppose we'll have to postpone the next stage of our game +until we whip the Yankees again or are whipped by them. I believe I +can yet rescue that red king." + +"Perhaps so, Leonidas. Undoubtedly you'll have plenty of time to think +over it." + +"Which is a good thing, Hector." + +"Which is undoubtedly a good thing, Leonidas." + +They put the chess men carefully in a box, which they gave to an orderly +with very strict injunctions. Then both, after heaving a deep sigh, +transformed themselves into men of energy, action, precision and +judgment. Every soldier and officer in the trim ranks of the +Invincibles was ready. + +But action did not come as soon as Harry and his friends had thought. +Lee made preliminary movements to mass his army for battle, and then +stopped. The spies reported that political wire-pulling, that bane of +the North, was at work. McClellan's enemies at Washington were active, +and his indiscreet utterances were used to the full against him. +Attention was called again and again to his great overestimates of Lee's +army and to the paralysis that seemed to overcome him when he was in the +presence of the enemy. Lincoln, the most forgiving of men, could not +forgive him for his failure to use his full opportunity at Antietam and +destroy Lee. + +The advance of McClellan stopped. His army remained motionless while +October passed into November. The cold winds off the mountains swept +the last leaves from the trees, and Harry wondered what was going to +happen. Then St. Clair came to him, precise and dignified in manner, +but obviously anxious to tell important news. + +"What is it, Arthur?" asked Harry. + +"We've got news straight from Washington that McClellan is no longer +commander of the Army of the Potomac." + +"What! They've nobody to put in his place." + +"But they have put somebody in his place, just the same." + +"Name, please." + +"Burnside, Ambrose E. Burnside, with a beautiful fringe of whiskers +along each side of his face." + +"Well, we can beat any general who wears side whiskers. After all, +I'm glad we don't have McClellan to deal with again. Wasn't this +Burnside the man who delayed a part of the Union attack at Antietam +so long that we had time to beat off the other part?" + +"The same." + +"Then I'm thinking that he'll be caught between the hammer and the anvil +of Lee and Jackson, just as Pope was." + +"Most likely. Anyhow, our army is rejoicing over the removal of +McClellan as commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac. That's +something of a tribute to McClellan, isn't it?" + +"Yes, good-bye, George! We've had two good fights with you, Seven Days +and Antietam, with Pope in between at the Second Manassas, and now, +ho! for Burnside!" + +The reception of the news that Burnside had replaced McClellan was +the same throughout the Army of Northern Virginia. The officers and +soldiers now felt that they were going to face a man who was far less +of a match for Lee and Jackson than McClellan had been, and McClellan +himself had been unequal to the task. They were anxious to meet +Burnside. They heard that he was honest and had no overweening opinion +of his own abilities. He did not wish to be put in the place of +McClellan, preferring to remain a division or corps commander. + +"Then, if that's so," said Sherburne, "we've won already. If a man +thinks he's not able to lead the Army of the Potomac, then he isn't. +Anyhow, we'll quickly see what will happen." + +But again it was not as soon as they had had expected. The Northern +advance was delayed once more, and Jackson with his staff and a large +part of his force moved to Winchester, the town that he loved so much, +and around which he had won so much of his glory. His tent was pitched +beside the Presbyterian manse, and he and Dr. Graham resumed their +theological discussions, in which Jackson had an interest so deep and +abiding that the great war rolling about them, with himself as a central +figure, could not disturb it. + +The coldness of the weather increased and the winds from the mountains +were often bitter, but the new stay in Winchester was pleasant, like +the old. Harry himself felt a throb of joy when they returned to the +familiar places. Despite the coldness of mid-November the weather was +often beautiful. The troops, scattered through the fields and in the +forest about the town, were in a happy mood. They had many dead +comrades to remember, but youth cannot mourn long. They were there in +ease and plenty again, under a commander who had led them to nothing but +victory. They heard many reports that Burnside was marching and that he +might soon cross the Rappahannock, and they heard also that Jackson's +advance to Winchester with his corps had created the deepest alarm in +Washington. The North did not trust Burnside as a commander-in-chief, +and it had great cause to fear Jackson. Even the North itself openly +expressed admiration for his brilliant achievements. + +Reports came to Winchester that an attack by Jackson on Washington was +feared. Maryland expected another invasion. Pennsylvania, remembering +the daring raid which Stuart had made through Chambersburg, one of her +cities, picking up prisoners on the way, dreaded the coming of a far +mightier force than the one Stuart had led. At the capital itself it +was said that many people were packing, preparatory to fleeing into the +farther North. + +But Harry and his comrades thought little of these things for a few +days. It was certainly pleasant there in the little Virginia town. +The people of Winchester and those of the country far and wide +delighted to help and honor them. Food was abundant and the crisp cold +strengthened and freshened the blood in their veins. The fire and +courage of Jackson's men had never risen higher. + +Jackson himself seemed to be thinking but little of war for a day or +two. His inseparable companion was the Presbyterian minister, +Dr. Graham, to whom he often said that he thought it was the noblest and +grandest thing in the world to be a great minister. Harry, as his aide, +being invariably near him, was impressed more and more by his +extraordinary mixture of martial and religious fervor. The man who +prayed before going into battle, and who was never willing to fight on +Sunday, would nevertheless hurl his men directly into the cannon's mouth +for the sake of victory, and would never excuse the least flinching on +the part of either officer or private. + +It seemed to Harry that the two kinds of fervor in Jackson, the martial +and the religious, were in about equal proportions, and they always +inspired him with a sort of awe. Deep as were his affection and +admiration for Jackson, he would never have presumed upon the slightest +familiarity. Nor would any other officer of his command. + +Yet the tender side of Jackson was often shown during his last days in +his beloved Winchester. The hero-worshipping women of the South often +brought their children to see him, to receive his blessing, and to say +when they were grown that the great Jackson had put his hands upon their +heads. + +Harry and his three comrades of his own age, who had been down near the +creek, were returning late one afternoon to headquarters near the manse, +when they heard the shout of many childish voices. + +They saw that he was walking again with the minister, but that he was +surrounded by at least a dozen little girls, every one of whom demanded +in turn that he shake her hand. He was busily engaged in this task when +the whole group passed out of sight into the manse. + +"The Northern newspapers denounce us as passionate and headstrong, +with all the faults of the cavaliers," said St. Clair. "I only wish +they could see General Jackson as he is. Lee and Jackson come much +nearer being Puritans than their generals do." + +Harry that night, as he sat in the little anteroom of Jackson's quarters +awaiting orders, heard again the low tone of his general praying. +The words were not audible, but the steady and earnest sound came to +him for some time. It was late, and all the soldiers were asleep or at +rest. No sound came from the army, and besides Jackson's voice there +was none other, save the sighing of the winds down from the mountains. + +Harry, as he listened to the prayer, felt a deep and overwhelming sense +of solemnity and awe. He felt that it was at once a petition and a +presage. Sitting there in the half dark mighty events were +foreshadowed. It seemed to him that they were about to enter upon a +struggle more terrible than any that had gone before, and those had +been terrible beyond the anticipation of anybody. + +The omens did not fail. Jackson's army marched the next morning, +turning southward along the turnpike in order to effect the junction +with Lee and Longstreet. All Winchester had assembled to bid them +farewell, the people confident that the army would win victory, but +knowing its cost now. + +There was water in Harry's eyes as he listened to the shouts and cheers +and saw the young girls waving the little Confederate flags. + +"If good wishes can do anything," said Harry, "then we ought to win." + +"So we should. I'm glad to have the good wishes, but, Harry, when +you're up against the enemy, they can't take the place of cannon and +rifles. Look at Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. +See how straight and precise they are. But both are suffering from a +deep disappointment. They started their chess game again last night, +Colonel Talbot to make the first move with his king, but before he could +decide upon any course with that king the orders came for us to get +ready for the march. The chessmen went into the box, and they'll have +another chance, probably after we beat Burnside." + +They went on up the valley, through the scenes of triumphs remembered so +well. All around them were their battlefields of the spring, and there +were the massive ridges of the Massanuttons that Jackson had used so +skillfully, not clothed in green now, but with the scanty leaves of +closing autumn. + +Neither Harry nor any of his comrades knew just where they were going. +That secret was locked fast under the old slouch hat of Jackson, and +Harry, like all the others, was content to wait. Old Jack knew where he +was going and what he meant to do. And wherever he was going it was the +right place to go to, and whatever he meant to do was just the thing +that ought to be done. His extraordinary spell over his men deepened +with the passing days. + +As they went farther southward they saw sheltered slopes of the +mountains where the foliage yet glowed in the reds and yellows of autumn, +"purple patches" on the landscape. Over ridges to both east and west +the fine haze of Indian summer yet hung. It was a wonderful world, +full of beauty. The air was better and nobler than wine, and the creeks +and brooks flowing swiftly down the slopes flashed in silver. + +There were no enemies here. The people, mostly women and +children--nearly all the men had gone to war--came out to cheer them as +they passed, and to bring them what food and clothing they could. The +Valley never wavered in its allegiance to the South, although great +armies fought and trod back and forth over its whole course through all +the years of the war. + +They turned east and defiled through a narrow pass in the mountains, +where the sheltered slopes again glowed in yellow and gold. Jackson, +in somber and faded gray, rode near the head of the corps on his +faithful Little Sorrel, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes +apparently not seeing what was about them, the worn face somber and +thoughtful. Harry knew that the great brain under the old slouch +hat was working every moment, always working with an intensity and +concentration of which few men were ever capable. Harry, following +close behind him, invariably watched him, but he could never read +anything of Jackson's mind from his actions. + +Then came the soldiers in broad and flowing columns, that is, they +seemed to Harry, in the intense autumn light, to flow like a river of +men and horses and steel, beautiful to look on now, but terrible in +battle. + +"We're better than ever," said the sober Dalton. "Antietam stopped us +for the time, but we are stronger than we were before that battle." + +"Stronger and even more enthusiastic," Harry concurred. "Ah, there goes +the Cajun band and the other bands and our boys singing our great tune! +Listen to it!" + + "Southrons hear your country call you; + Up, lest worse than death befall you! + To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie! + Lo! all the beacon fires are lighted-- + Let all hearts now be united! + To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie!" + +The chorus of the battle song, so little in words, so great in its +thrilling battle note, was taken up by more than a score of thousand, +and the vast volume of sound, confined in narrow defiles, rolled like +thunder, giving forth mighty echoes. Harry was moved tremendously and +he saw Jackson himself come out of his deep thought and lift up his face +that glowed. + +"It's certainly great," said Dalton to Harry. "It would drag a man +from the hospital and send him into battle. I know now how the French +republican troops on the march felt when they heard the Marseillaise." + +"But the words don't seem to me to be the same that I heard at Bull Run." + +"No, they're not; but what does it matter? That thrilling music is +always the same, and it's enough." + +Already the origin of the renowned battle song was veiled in doubt, +and different versions of the words were appearing; but the music never +changed and every step responded to it. + +The army passed through the defile, entered another portion of the +valley, forded a fork of the Shenandoah, crossed the Luray Valley, +and then entered the steep passes of the Blue Ridge. Here they found +autumn gone and winter upon them. As the passes rose and the mountains, +clothed in pine forest, hung over them, the soft haze of Indian summer +fled, and in its place came a low, gray sky, somber and chill. Sharp +winds cut them, but the blood flowed warm and strong in their veins as +they trod the upward path between the ridges. Once more a verse of the +defiant Dixie rolled and echoed through the lofty and bleak pine forest: + + "How the South's great heart rejoices + At your cannon's ringing voices; + To arms! + For faith betrayed, and pledges broken, + Wrongs inflicted, insults spoken + To arms! + Advance the flag of Dixie." + +Now on the heights the last shreds and patches of autumn were blown away +by the winds of winter. The sullen skies lowered continually. Flakes +of snow whirled into their faces, but they merely bent their heads +to the storm and marched steadily onward. They had not been called +Jackson's Foot Cavalry for nothing. They were proud of the name, +and they meant to deserve it more thoroughly than ever. + +"I take it," said Dalton to Harry, "that some change has occurred in the +Northern plans. The Army of the Potomac must be marching along in a new +line." + +"So do I. The battle will be fought in lower country." + +"And we will be with Lee and Longstreet in a day or two." + +"So it looks." + +Jackson stopped twice, a full day each time, for rest, but at the end of +the eighth day, including the two for rest, he had driven his men one +hundred and twenty miles over mountains and across rivers. They also +passed through cold and heavy snow, but they now found themselves in +lower country at the village of Orange Court House. The larger town of +Fredericksburg lay less than forty miles away. Harry was not familiar +with the name of Fredericksburg, but it was destined to be before long +one that he could never forget. In after years it was hard for him to +persuade himself that famous names were not famous always. The name of +some village or river or mountain would be burned into his brain with +such force and intensity that the letters seemed to have been there +since the beginning. + +It lacked but two days of December when they came to Orange Court House, +but they heard that the Northern front was more formidable and menacing +than ever. Burnside had shown more energy than was expected of him. +He had formed a plan to march upon Richmond, and, despite the +alterations in his course, he was clinging to that plan. He had at the +least, so the scouts said, one hundred and twenty thousand men and four +hundred guns. The North, moreover, which always commanded the water, +had gunboats in the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg, and they would be, +as they were throughout the war, a powerful arm. + +Harry knew, too, the temper and resolution of the North, the slow, +cold wrath that could not be checked by one defeat or half a dozen. +Antietam, as he saw it, had merely been a temporary check to the +Confederate arms, where the forces of Lee and Jackson had fought off +at least double their number. The Northern men could not yet boast of +a single clean-cut victory in the battles of the east, but they were +coming on again as stern and resolute as ever. Defeat seemed to serve +only as an incentive to them. After every one, recruits poured down +from the north and west to lift anew the flag of the Union. + +There was something in this steady, unyielding resolve that sent a chill +through Harry. It was possible that men who came on and who never +ceased coming would win in the end. The South--and he was sanguine that +such men as Lee and Jackson could not be beaten----might wear itself out +by the very winning of victories. The chill came again when he counted +the resources pitted against his side. He was a lad of education and +great intelligence, and he had no illusions now about the might of the +North and its willingness to fight. + +But youth, in spite of facts, can forget odds as well as loss. The +doubts that would come at times were always dispelled when he looked +upon the glorious Army of Northern Virginia. It was now nearly eighty +thousand strong, with an almost unbroken record of victory, trusting +absolutely in its leadership and supremely confident that it could whip +any other army on the planet. Its brilliant generals were gathered with +Jackson or with Lee and Longstreet. They were as confident as their +soldiers and no movement of the enemy escaped them. Stuart, with his +plume and sash, at which no man now dared to scoff, hung with his +horsemen like a fringe on the flank of Burnside's own army, cutting off +the Union scouts and skirmishers and hiding the plans of Lee. + +Messengers brought news that Burnside would certainly cross the +Rappahannock, covered by the Union artillery, which was always far +superior in weight and power to that of the South. Harry heard that the +passage of the river would not be opposed, because the Southern army +could occupy stronger positions farther back, but he did not know +whether the rumors were true. + +The word now came, and they went forward from Orange Court House toward +Fredericksburg to join Lee and Longstreet. When they marched toward the +Second Manassas they had suffered from an almost intolerable heat and +dust. Now they advanced through a winter that seemed to pour upon them +every variety of discomfort. Heavy snows fell, icy rains came and +fierce winds blew. The country was deserted, and the roads beneath the +rain and snow and the passage of great armies disappeared. Vast muddy +trenches marked where they had been, and the mud was deep and sticky, +covering everything as it was ground up, and coloring the whole army +the same hue. Somber and sullen skies brooded over them continually. +Not even Jackson's foot cavalry could make much progress through such a +sea of mud. + +"A battle would be a relief," said Harry, as he rode with the +Invincibles, having brought some order to Colonel Talbot. "There's +nothing like this to take the starch out of men. Isn't that so, Happy?" + +"It depresses ordinary persons like you, Harry," replied Langdon, +"but a soul like mine leaps up to meet the difficulties. Mud as an +obstacle is nothing to me. As I was riding along here I was merely +thinking about the different kinds we have. I note that this Virginia +mud is tremendously sticky, inclined to be red in color, and I should +say that on the whole it's not as handsome as our South Carolina mud, +especially when I see our product at its best. What kind of mud do you +have in Kentucky, Harry?" + +"All kinds, red, black, brown and every other shade." + +"Well, there's a lot of snow mixed with this, too. I think that at the +very bottom there is a layer of snow, and then the mud and the snow come +in alternate layers until within a foot of the top, after which it's all +mud. Harry, Old Jack doesn't believe it's right to fight on Sunday, +but do you believe it's right to fight in winter, when the armies have +to waste so much strength and effort in getting at one another?" + +He was interrupted by the mellow tones of a bugle, and a brilliant troop +of horsemen came trotting toward them through a field, where the mud was +not so deep. They recognized Stuart in his gorgeous panoply at their +head and behind him was Sherburne. + +Stuart rode up to the Invincibles. Colonel Leonidas Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire gravely saluted the brilliant +apparition. + +"I am General Stuart," said Stuart, lifting the plumed hat, "and I +am glad to welcome the vanguard of General Jackson. May I ask, sir, +what regiment is this?" + +"It is the South Carolina regiment known as the Invincibles," said +Colonel Talbot proudly, as he lifted his cap in a return salute, +"although it does not now contain many South Carolinians. Alas! most of +the lads who marched so proudly away from Charleston have gone to their +last rest, and their places have been filled chiefly by Virginians. +But the Virginians are a brave and gallant people, sir, almost equal +in fire and dash to the South Carolinians." + +Stuart smiled. He knew that it was meant as a compliment of the first +class, and as such he took it. + +"I think, sir," he said, "that I am speaking to Colonel Leonidas Talbot?" + +"You are, sir, and the gentleman on my right is the second in command +of this regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, a most noble +gentleman and valiant and skillful officer. We have met you before, +sir. You saved us before Bull Run when we were beleaguered at a fort +in the Valley." + +"Ah, I remember!" exclaimed Stuart. "And a most gallant fight you were +making. And I recognize this young officer, too. He was the messenger +who met me in the fields. Your hand, Mr. Kenton." + +He stretched out his own hand in its long yellow buckskin glove, and +Harry, flushing with pride, shook it warmly. + +"It's good of you, General," he said, "to remember me." + +"I'm glad to remember you and all like you. Is General Jackson near?" + +"About a quarter of a mile farther back, sir. I'm a member of his staff, +and I'll ride with you to him." + +"Thanks. Lead the way." + +Harry turned with Stuart and Sherburne and they soon reached General +Jackson, who was plodding slowly on Little Sorrel, his chin sunk upon +his breast as usual, the lines of thought deep in his face. General +Stuart bowed low before him and the plumed hat was lifted high. The +knight paid deep and willing deference to the Puritan. + +Jackson's face brightened. He wished plain apparel upon himself, +but he did not disapprove of the reverse upon General Stuart. + +"You are very welcome, General Stuart," he said. + +"I thank you, sir. I have come to report to you, sir, that General +Burnside's army is gathering in great force on the other side of the +Rappahannock, and that we are massed along the river and back of +Fredericksburg." + +"General Burnside will cross, will he not?" + +"So we think. He can lay a pontoon bridge, and he has a great artillery +to protect it. The river, as you know, sir, has a width of about two +hundred yards at Fredericksburg, and the Northern batteries can sweep +the farther shore." + +"I'm sorry that we've elected to fight at Fredericksburg," said General +Jackson thoughtfully. "The Rappahannock will protect General Burnside's +army." + +Stuart gazed at him in astonishment. + +"I don't understand you, sir," he said. "You say that the Rappahannock +will protect General Burnside when it seems to be our defense." + +"My meaning is perfectly clear. When we defeat General Burnside at +Fredericksburg he will retreat across the river over his bridge or +bridges and we shall not be able to get at him. We will win a great +victory, but we will not gather the fruits of it, because of our +inability to reach him." + +"Oh, I see," said Stuart, the light breaking on his face. "You consider +the victory already won, sir?" + +"Beyond a doubt." + +"Then if you think so, General Jackson, I think so, too," said Stuart, +as he saluted and rode away. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK + + +The division of Jackson reached Fredericksburg the next day and went +into camp, partly in the rear of the town, and a portion of it further +down the Rappahannock. Harry, as an aide, rode back and forth on many +errands while the troops were settling into place. Once more he saw +General Lee on his famous white horse, Traveler, conferring with Jackson +on Little Sorrel. And the stalwart and bearded Longstreet was there, +too. + +But Harry's heart bled when he rode into the ancient town of +Fredericksburg, a place homelike and picturesque in peaceful days, +but now lying between two mighty armies, directly within their line of +fire, and abandoned for a time by its people, all save a hardy few. + +The effect upon him was startling. He rode along the deserted streets +and looked at the closed windows, like the eyeless sockets of a blind +man. In the streets mud and slush and snow had gathered, with no +attempt of man to clean them away, but the wheels of the cannon had cut +ruts in them a foot deep. The great white colonial houses, with their +green shutters fastened tightly, stood lone and desolate amid their +deserted lawns. No smoke rose from the chimneys. The shops were +closed. There was no sound of a child's voice in the whole town. +It was the first time that Harry had ever ridden through a deserted city, +and it was truly a city of the dead to him. + +"It's almost as bad as a battlefield after the battle is over," he said +to Dalton, who was with him. + +"It gives you a haunted, weird feeling," said Dalton, looking at the +closed windows and smokeless chimneys. + +But the people of Fredericksburg had good cause to go. Two hundred +thousand men, hardened now to war, faced one another across the two +hundred yards of the Rappahannock. Four hundred Union cannon on the +other side of the river could easily smash their little city to pieces. +The people were scattered among their relatives in the farmhouses and +villages about Fredericksburg, eagerly awaiting the news that the +invincible Lee and Jackson had beaten back the hated invader. + +But the Southern army, save for a small force, did not occupy +Fredericksburg itself. + +Along the low ridge, a mile or so west of the town, Longstreet had been +posted and he had dug trenches and gunpits. The crest of this ridge, +called Marye's Hill, was bare, and here, in addition to the pits and +trenches, Longstreet threw up breastworks. Down the slopes were ravines +and much timber, making the whole position one of great strength. +Harry gazed at it as he carried one of his messages from general to +general, and he was enough of a soldier to know that an enemy who +attacked here was undertaking a mighty task. + +But Burnside did not move, and the somber blanket of winter thickened. +More snows fell and the icy rains came again. Then the mercury slid +down until it reached zero. Thick ice formed over everything and some +of the shallower brooks froze solidly in their beds. The Southern lads +were not nearly so well equipped against the winter as their foes. +Not many had heavy overcoats, and blankets and shoes were thin and worn. + +The forest was now their refuge. The river was lined thickly with it, +running for a long distance, and thousands of axes began to bite into +the timber. Hardy youths, skilled in such work, they rapidly built log +huts or shelters for themselves, and within these or outside under the +trees innumerable fires blazed along the Rappahannock, the crackling +flames sending a defiance to other such flames beyond the frozen river. + +Harry had a letter from Dr. Russell, which had come by the way of the +mountains and Richmond. He had already heard of the terrible day of +Perryville in Kentucky, and the doctor had been able to confirm his +earlier news that his father, Colonel Kenton, had passed through it +safely. But the hostile armies in the west had gone down into Tennessee, +and there were reports that they would soon move toward each other for +a great battle. It seemed that the rival forces in both east and west +would meet at nearly the same time in terrible conflict. + +Dr. Russell told that Dick Mason had been wounded in the combat at +Perryville, but had been nursed back to health by his mother, who with +others had found him upon the field. He had since gone into Tennessee +to rejoin the Union army, and his mother had returned to Pendleton. + +Harry folded the letter, put it in his pocket, and for a while he was +very thoughtful. + +It was a great relief to be sure that his father had gone safely through +Perryville, and that Dick Mason, although wounded there, was well again. +His heart yearned over both. His devotion to his father had always been +strong and Dick Mason had stood in the place of a brother. They were +alive for the present at least, but Harry knew of the sinister threat +that hung over the west. The terrible battle that was to be fought at +Stone River was already sending forth its preliminary signals, and for +a little while Harry thought more of those marching forces in Tennessee +than of the great army to which he belonged and of the one yet more +numerous that faced it. + +But these thoughts could not last long. The events in which he was to +have a part were too imminent and mighty for anyone to detach himself +from them more than a few minutes. He quickly returned, heart and soul, +to his duties, which in these days took all his time. Many messages +were passing between Lee and Jackson and Longstreet and the commanders +next to them in rank, and Harry carried his share. + +A few days after the letter from Dr. Russell the cold abated +considerably. The ice in the river broke, the melting snows made the +country a sea of mud and slush and horses often became mired so deeply +that it took a dozen soldiers to drag them out again. It was on such a +day as this that Dalton came to him, his grave face wearing a look of +importance. + +"General Jackson has just told me," he said, "to take you and join +General Stuart, who is going with his horse to the neighborhood of Port +Royal on the river." + +"What's up?" + +"Nothing's up yet. But we understand that some of the Yankee gunboats +are trying to get up, now that they have a clear passage through the +ice." + +"Cavalry can't stop them." + +"No, but Stuart is taking horse artillery with him, and he's likely to +make it warm for the enemy in the water. Harry, if we only had a navy, +too, this war wouldn't be doubtful." + +"But, as we haven't got a navy, it is doubtful, very doubtful." + +They quickly joined General Stuart, who was eager for the duty, and +falling in line with the troop of Sherburne rode swiftly toward Port +Royal, the cavalrymen carrying with them several light guns. + +As they galloped along, mixed mud and snow flew in every direction, +but most of them had grown so used to it that they paid little +attention. The river flowed a deep and somber stream, and all the hills +about were yet white with snow. At that time, colored too, as it was +by his feelings, it was the most sinister landscape that Harry had ever +looked upon. Black winter and red war, neither of which spared, were +allied against man. + +But his pulses began to leap when they saw coils of black smoke blown +a little to one side by the wind. He knew that the smoke came from +gunboats. They must be endeavoring to land troops, and Stuart was no +man to allow a detached force to pass the Rappahannock and appear in +their rear. + +As the cavalry burst into a gallop from the snowy forest Harry saw that +he was right. A fleet of gunboats was gathered in the stream and on +the far shore they were embarking troops. But his quick eye caught a +horseman on their own side of the river who was galloping away. He was +already too distant for a rifle shot, but Harry instinctively knew that +it was Shepard. He had seen the man under such extraordinarily vivid +circumstances that the set of his figure was familiar. + +Nor was he surprised to behold Shepard now. He merely wondered that +he had not seen him earlier, so great was his activity and daring, and +he had no doubt that he had brought the gunboats and the Union troops +warning that Stuart was coming. He was sure of it the moment the +cavalry emerged from the woods, because one of the gunboats instantly +turned loose with two heavy guns which sent shells whistling and +screaming over their heads. Had they been a little better aimed they +would have done much destruction, and Harry saw at once that they were +going to have an ugly time with these saucy little demons of the water. + +Another boat fired. One of the cavalrymen was killed and several +wounded. Stuart promptly drew his men back to the edge of the wood, +unlimbered and posted his cannon. Quick as they were, the black wasps +on the river buzzed and stung as fast. Shells and solid shot were +whistling among them and about them. They were good gunners on those +boats and the men in gray acknowledged it by the rapidity with which +they took to shelter. + +But Stuart's blood was at its utmost heat. He had no intention of being +driven off, and soon his own light guns were sending shell and solid +shot toward the boats, which had relanded their troops on the other side, +and which were now puffing up and down the river like the angry little +demons they were, sending shells, solid shot, grape and canister into +the woods and along the slopes where the horsemen had disappeared. + +Harry and Dalton were glad to dismount and to get behind both the +trees and the curve of the embankment. Harry, despite a pretty full +experience now, could not repress involuntary shivers as the deadly +steel flew by. He and Dalton had nothing to do but hold their horses +and watch the combat, which they did with the keenest interest. + +Stuart's cannon had unlimbered in a good place, where they were +protected partly by a ridge, and their deep booming note soon showed the +gunboats that they had an enemy worthy of their fire. Dalton and Harry +looked on with growing excitement. Dalton, for once, grew garrulous, +talking in an excited monotone. + +"Look at that, Harry!" he cried. "See the water spurt right by the +bow of that boat! A shell broke there! And there goes another! That +struck, too! See the fallen men on the boat! Look at that little black +fellow coming right out in the middle of the stream! And it got home, +too, with that shot! By George, how the shell raked our ranks! Ah, but, +you saucy little creature, that shell paid you back! See, Harry, +its wheel is smashed, and it's floating away with the stream! Guns +on land have an advantage over guns on the water! As the negro said, +'When the boat blows up, whar are you? But if the explosion is on dry +land, dar you are!' Ah, another has caught it, and is going out of +action! Oh my, little boats, you're brave and saucy, but you can't +stand up to Stuart's guns." + +Dalton was right. The gunboats, sinkable and fully exposed, were +rapidly getting the worst of it. Stuart's guns, protected by the ridge, +were inflicting so much damage that they were compelled to drop down the +stream, two or three of them disabled and in tow of the others. + +A covering Union battery of much heavier guns opened fire from a hill +beyond the river, but it was unable either to protect the gunboats or +to demolish Stuart's horse artillery, which was sheltered well by the +ridge. The men in gray began to cheer. It soon became obvious that +they would win. Gradually all of the gunboats, having suffered much +loss, dropped down the stream and passed out of range. The heavy +battery was also withdrawn from the hill and the detached attempt to +cross the Rappahannock had failed. + +Stuart and his men rode back exultant, but Dalton said to Harry that he +thought it merely a forerunner. + +"A good omen, you mean?" said Harry. + +"Good, I hope, but I meant chiefly a sign of much greater things to +come. I'm thinking that Burnside will attack in a day or two now. +Lots of Northern newspapers find their way into our lines, and the whole +North is urging him on. They demand that a great victory be won in the +east right away." + +"I feel sorry for a general who is pushed on like that." + +"So do I, because he hasn't a ghost of a chance. He'll be able to cross +the river under cover of his great batteries, but look, Harry, look at +those frowning heights around Fredericksburg, covered with the finest +riflemen in the world, the ditches and trenches sown with artillery, +and the best two military brains on the globe there to direct. What +chance have they, Harry? What chance have they?" + +"Very little that I can see, but a battle is never won or lost until +it's fought. We'd better report now to General Jackson." + +They saluted General Stuart, and rode away over the icy mud. General +Jackson received their report with pleasure. + +"Excellent! Excellent!" he said. "General Stuart has routed them with +horse artillery! A capable man! A most wonderful man!" + +He said the last words to himself, rather than to Harry, and Stuart soon +proved that his horse artillery was not underrated by winning a second +encounter with the gunboats a day or two later. Early also beat back an +attempt to cross the river at a third place, and it became apparent now +that the Union army could make no flanking attack upon its enemy south +of the Rappahannock. It must be made, if at all, directly on its front +at Fredericksburg. + +But Harry had no doubt that it would be made. The reports of their +numerous scouts and spies told with detail of the immense preparations +going on in the Union camp. He could often watch them himself with his +glasses from the hills. He did not see much of St. Clair and Langdon +these days, as they remained closely with their regiment, the +Invincibles, but Dalton and he were much together. + +It was well into December when they were watching through the glasses +the concentration of Union cannon on Stafford Heights across the river. +One hundred and fifty great guns were in position there and they could +easily blow Fredericksburg to pieces. Harry looked down again at this +little city which had jumped suddenly into fame by getting itself +squarely between the two armies arrayed for battle. + +He felt the old sensation of pity as he gazed at the closed shutters and +the smokeless chimneys. Nobody was stirring in the streets, except some +Mississippi soldiers who had been placed there to oppose the passage, +and who were fortifying themselves in the houses and cellars along the +river front. + +"It's no good looking any more," Harry said to Dalton. "There's nothing +to do now but wait. That's what General Jackson is doing. I saw him +in his tent to-day, reading a book on theology that Dr. Graham has just +sent him." + +"You're right, Harry. If the general can rest, so can we. Well, +not much of this day is left. See how the Yankee batteries are fading +away in the twilight." + +"Yes, Harry, fading now, but they'll come back again, massive metal and +as sinister as ever, in the morning." + +"Which won't keep me from sleeping soundly to-night. Funny how you get +used to anything. Neither the presence nor the absence of the Yankee +army will interfere with my sleep unless the general wants to send me on +an errand." + +"And we also grow used to sights so tremendous in their nature that they +turn the whole current of our history. Look at that winter sun setting +there over the western hills. It may be my fancy, Harry, but it seems +to have the colors of bronze and steel in it, a sort of menace, one +might call it." + +"I see the same colors, George, but I suppose it's fancy. The whole sky +is one of steel to me. I see the gleaming of steel everywhere, over the +hills, the river and the armies." + +"Our imaginations are too vivid, Harry. But look how that darkness +closes in on everything! Now the Yankee cannon and the Yankee army +are gone! The river itself is fading, and there goes the town! Now, +see the lights spring up on the far shore!" + +"It's supper and sleep for me," said Harry. "It doesn't do to let your +imagination run away with you. You know that Lee and Old Jack and Jim +Longstreet have arranged for everything." + +They ate their suppers, and, the general giving them leave, they lay +down in the tent next to his, wrapped in their blankets. Harry slept +soundly, but while the pitchy darkness of a winter night still enclosed +the land he was awakened by a heavy rumbling noise. His nerves had been +attuned so highly by exciting days that he was awake in an instant and +sprang to his feet, Dalton also springing up with equal promptness. + +They saw General Jackson standing in front of his tent and peering down +in the darkness toward the river. Other officers were already gathering +near him. Harry and Dalton stood at attention, where he could see them, +if he wished to send them on any errand. But Jackson was silent and +listening. + +The heavy rumbling reports--cannon shots--came again, but they were +fired on their side of the river. + +"Gentlemen," said General Jackson, "the enemy has begun the passage. +Those are our guns giving the signal to the army." + +Harry's pulses began to throb. But, although fires flared up here and +there, little was to be seen in the darkness. Fortune seemed to have +shifted suddenly to the side of the Union. Not night alone protected +the bridge builders, but a thick, impenetrable fog, rising from the +river and the muddy earth, covered the stream and its shores. The +Southerners could not see just where the bridge head was and their +cannon must fire at random through the heavy darkness. Sixteen hundred +Mississippians were stationed in Fredericksburg below, well concealed +in cellars and rifle pits, but they could not see either, and for the +present their rifles were silent. + +But Harry's imagination immediately became intensely vivid again. +He fancied that he could hear through all the shifting gloom the sound +of axes and hammers and saws at work upon that bridge. These army +engineers could throw a bridge across a river in half a day. He +recognized at all times the great resources and the mechanical genius of +the North. The South had good bridge builders herself, but she had bent +all her powers to the development of public men and soldiers. Harry +felt more intensely all the time the one-sided character of her growth +and its defects. + +Dalton stood by Harry's side, and the darkness was so intense that he +seemed but a shadow. A little further away was Jackson. No fires had +been lighted in his camp, but nevertheless he was not a shadow. That +personality, quiet and modest, was so intense, so powerful that it +seemed to Harry to become luminous, to radiate light in the blackness +of the night. It was imagination, he knew, at work again, but it was +Jackson who had loosed its springs. + +"Can you see your watch, George?" he whispered to Dalton. + +"Yes, and its says only twenty minutes past three in the morning." + +"And our signal guns began about twenty minutes ago. They will have +nearly four hours in which to work before the sun rises and we can see +them well enough to take good aim." + +"And maybe longer than that, Harry. The whole night is permeated with +the heaviest inland fog I ever knew. Maybe it will take the sun a long +time to strike through it or drive it away. It's bad for us." + +"But we'll win anyhow. I tell you, we'll win anyhow! Do you hear me, +George?" + +"Yes, Harry, I hear you. You're excited. So am I. There are mighty +few who wouldn't be at such a time; but look at the general! He stands +like a statue!" + +General Jackson did not move, save to lift his glasses now and then, +as if with their magnifying powers he could pierce the dark. But the +night and the swollen fog still hid everything going on beyond the river +from those on the heights. Down by the shore the Mississippians in +their rifle pits might see a little, and the scouts undoubtedly had seen +much, else the signal guns would not be firing. + +Harry's pulses, after a while, began to beat more smoothly and there was +not such a painful and insistent drumming in his head. Emotions yielded +now to will and he waited patiently. General Jackson for the first time +told some of his young officers that they could lie down and rest. + +"There can be no action before daylight," he said, "and it's best to be +fresh and ready." + +He spoke to them with the grave kindness that he always used, save when +some great fault was committed, and then his words burned like fire. +Harry and Dalton procured their blankets from their tents, wrapped them +about their bodies and lay down on the dryest spots they could find, +but they had no thought of sleep. They permitted their limbs to relax, +and that was a help to the nerves, but neither closed his eyes. + +Those dark hours seemed an eternity to Harry. The floating fog seemed +to grow thicker and to enter his very bones. He shivered and drew the +blanket close. Now, with his ears close to the earth, he was sure that +he could hear the axes and the saws and the hammers beating on steel +rivets on the other side of the Rappahannock. + +The Confederate cannon still fired the signals of alarm at regular +intervals, but the night and the fog always closed in again quickly over +the flash that the discharge had made. After a while a murmur came from +the long Southern line along the heights and on the ridges. Horses +stirred here and there, cannon, moved to new positions, made sighing +sounds as their wheels sank in the mud; sabres and bayonets clanked, +thousands of men whispered to one another. All these varying sounds +united into one great soft voice which was like the murmur of a wind +through the summer night. + +Toward five o'clock in the morning, when the darkness had not diminished +a whit, a messenger from General Lee rode up with a note for General +Jackson. It merely stated that all was ready and to hold the positions +that he had taken up the night before. Jackson wrote a brief reply by +the light of a lantern that an orderly held, and the messenger galloped +away with it. It was the only incident that had occurred in a long time. + +"They're not using many lights on the other side of the river," said +Harry, although he noted an occasional flame in the darkness. "Of +course, they want to hide their bridge building, but you'd think they'd +have fires burning elsewhere." + +"They've learned the value of caution," said Dalton. "I'm bound to say +they're going about the first part of their work with skill." + +He spoke with the calm superiority of a young Officer. + +Harry took out his own watch, and by holding it close to his eyes was +able to read its face. + +"A quarter to six," he said. "According to the watch it is less than +three hours since we first heard those alarm guns, but my five known +senses and all the unknown tell me that it has been at least a week." + +"In an hour we should see something," said Dalton. "Confound this fog. +If it weren't so thick we could see now." + +Harry's pulses began to beat hard again in the next hour. He strove +with glasses even for a glimpse of the winter sun which he knew would +come so late, but as yet the fog showed nothing save a faint luminous +tinge low down in the east. An orderly brought food to them, and while +they ate they saw the luminous tinge broaden and deepen. + +"The sun's rising behind that fog," said Dalton, "but here comes a +little wind that will drive away the fog or thin it out so we can see." + +"Yes, I feel it," said Harry, "and you can see the dull, somber red of +the sun trying to break through. Look, George, unless I'm mistaken the +fog's moving down the river!" + +"So it is, there's the flash of the stream, the color of steel, and by +all the stars, there's their bridge two-thirds of the way across!" + +Heavier puffs of wind came and the fog billowed off down the river. +The whole gigantic theater of action sprang at once into the light. +There were the two great armies clustered on opposing ridges, there was +the deserted town, there was the deep river, the color of lead, flowing +between the foes, two-thirds of its width already spanned by the Union +bridge, the bridge itself covered with workmen, and boats swarming by +its side. + +Harry felt a thrill and a shudder which were almost simultaneous. +Then came a deep muffled roar from the two armies on the ridges looking +at each other. But as the roar died it was succeeded by the rapid, +stinging fire of rifles. The Mississippians in their pits and cellars +near the bank of the river were sending a hail of bullets upon the +bridge builders. + +The rest of the Southern army stood by and watched. Harry knew that +Lee and Jackson would make their chief defense on the ridges, but the +Mississippians were there to keep the enemy from being too forward. +So deadly were their rifles that every workman fled off the bridge to +the Union shore, save those who were struck down upon it, falling into +the water. + +Then came a pause, a period of intense waiting, short, but seemingly +long, even to the veteran generals, after which the gallant builders, +who truly deserved the name of the bravest of the brave, ventured again +upon the bridge in the face of those terrible Mississippi rifles. +A blast of death again blew upon them. Bullets in hundreds struck upon +bodies or rattled on timbers. The workmen could not live in the face of +such a fire, and those who had not been slain retreated again to their +own side of the stream. A third time the heroic bridge builders +returned to their work, and a third time they were driven back by the +deadly Mississippi hail. Harry felt pity for them. + +"I never saw anything braver," he said to Dalton. + +"Nor did I, Harry, nor anything more useless. The bridge builders never +had a chance before the rifles. But now their supports, which should +have been there all the time, are coming up." + +Heavy columns of Union riflemen moved forward to the edge of the river +and replied to the Mississippians. But the Southerners, in the shelter +of the cellars and pits, held their ground. But few of them were hit +and they kept up that deadly hail which swept the uncompleted bridge +clear of every workman who attempted to go upon it. + +The rapid fire of the rifles crashed up and down both sides of the river, +two sheets of flame seeming to reach out as if they would meet each +other. The wind that had driven away the fog also carried off the smoke, +and the river still gleamed like steel between. Then, as the rifle fire +died again, there was another silence for a while. + +"It will take more than rifles," said Harry, "to drive out those +intrenched Mississippians." + +"So it will, Harry," said Dalton, who was watching through glasses, +"and here it comes. Their great batteries are about to open." + +The next instant the whole earth seemed to be shaken by the roar of +heavy cannon. The opposing hills and ridges fairly poured forth flame, +and shells and solid shot crashed upon the whole devoted town. Nor did +this tremendous fire from a hundred and fifty great guns cease for an +instant. The roar and crash were appalling. Harry saw houses crumbling +in Fredericksburg, with flames leaping up from others. + +The artillery of Longstreet immediately facing the Union batteries was +too light and weak to reply, and the gunners remained quiet in their +trenches while the storm rained its showers of steel upon the town. +Yet the Mississippians in the rifle pits held fast, their earthen +shelters protecting them. While the bombardment was at its very height +workmen ran out on the bridge for the fourth time to complete it, +and while the shells and solid shot were whistling over their heads, +the rifles of the Mississippians once more swept it clean. Harry +groaned. He could not help it at the sight of men so brave who were cut +down like grass by the scythe. Then his attention turned away from the +bridge to the mighty cannonade which seemed to be growing in volume. +The wind took much of the smoke across the river and it floated in a +great cloud over Fredericksburg, through which shot the flames of the +burning buildings. + +But the main army of the South, stretched along a front of six miles, +remained silent. Jackson on the right scarcely moved, but all the while +he attentively watched through his glasses the great cannonade. Nearly +all the soldiers were lying down, and to most of them the earth seemed +to heave with the shock of all those blazing cannon. + +Harry and Dalton walked once to the point where the Invincibles lay. +That is, all but Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel +St. Hilaire were lying down. They stood rigidly erect, their eyes on +the great cannonade, and as Harry approached they were exchanging brief +comments with each other. + +"What harm does that cannonade do, Hector?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"Much to the town, little to us." + +"What a pity we don't have an artillery equal to theirs." + +"A great pity, Leonidas." + +"They will presently move forward in much greater force to finish the +bridge." + +"Undoubtedly, Leonidas. They have shown folly, wasting the lives of +such brave men in small efforts one after another. They will try +something else." + +"I see a great many boats against the bank on their side of the river. +I fancy they will use them in their next attempt, whatever it may be." + +"I agree with you. Good morning, Lieutenant Kenton. A mighty and +appalling sight." + +"Truly it is, sir," said Harry, saluting the two officers. + +"The Yankees will force the passage," said Colonel Talbot. "Our +artillery is not strong enough to reply to their covering cannonade. +We are glad to see you safe and whole, Harry. You'll find your friends +lying in that ravine just behind us." + +It was a rather deep ravine, and when Harry looked over its edge, +St. Clair and Langdon greeted him gladly. + +"Come down, Harry," said Langdon, "and be joyful. This gully is pretty +well dried out and you can rest. We've got a West Point fellow here and +he's humming one of his old songs to about the biggest chorus a song +ever had. Captain Swayne, Lieutenant Kenton, once of the Invincibles, +but now of General Jackson's personal staff. Swayne's from Tennessee, +Harry, and you two are well met. Swayne belongs to a regiment a few +yards beyond the gully. He was at the Seven Days and the Second +Manassas. We three thought we won those battles ourselves, but it seems +that Swayne was at both all the time, helping us. Take off your cap, +Harry, and thank the gentleman." + +Swayne, a slender, fair man, not over twenty-three, smiled and extended +a hearty hand, which Harry received with equal heartiness. The smile +turned into a slight twinkle. + +"I've been glad to meet your friends here, Mr. Kenton," he said, "but +the meeting has brought a disappointment with it." + +"How's that?" + +"Until we began talking I thought I had won the Seven Days and the +Second Manassas all by myself. Now, it seems that I have to share the +honors with you fellows." + +"So you do," said Langdon, and then he sang: + + "There comes a voice from Florida, + From Tampa's lonely shore, + It speaks of one we've lost, + O'Brien is no more. + In the land of sun and flowers, + His head lies pillowed low, + No more he'll drink the gin cocktail, + At Benjamin Haven's, Oh! + At Benny Haven's, Oh! + At Benny Haven's, Oh!" + +"Do I get it right, Swayne? Remember that I heard you sing it only +three times." + +"Fine! Fine!" said Swayne with enthusiasm. "You have it right, or as +near right as need be, and you're using it in a much better voice than I +can." + +"I'm a great soldier, but my true place is on the operatic stage," +said Langdon modestly. + +"It's an old West Point song of ours, Kenton," said Swayne. "While I +was lying here listening to the continued roar of all those great guns, +I couldn't keep from humming it as a sort of undernote." + +"This gully has a queer effect," said St. Clair, who, lying on a blanket, +was dusting every minute particle of dried mud from his uniform. +"It seems to soften the sounds of all those guns--and they must be a +couple of hundred at least. It produces a kind of harmony." + +"It's the old god Vulcan and a thousand assistants of his hammering away +on their anvils," said Harry, "and they hammer out a regular tune." + +"Besides hammering out a tune," said St. Clair, "they're also hammering +out swords and bayonets to be used against us." + +As he spoke he drew from his pocket a tiny round mirror, not more than +three inches in diameter, and carefully examined the collar of his coat. + +"Have you found a speck, Arthur?" asked Langdon. "If I hadn't seen you +risk your life fifteen or twenty thousand times I'd say you're a dandy." + +"I am a dandy," said St. Clair. "At least, I mean to be one, if I come +out of the war alive." + +"What do you intend to wear?" asked Harry. + +"Depends upon what I can afford. If I have the money, it's going to be +the best, the very best any market can afford." + +"A dozen suits, I suppose." + +"At least as many, with hats, shoes, overcoats, cloaks, shirts and all +the et ceteras to match. Why shouldn't I wear fine clothes if I want +'em? Do you demand that instead I spend it on fiery whisky to pour down +me, as so many public men and leading citizens do? The clothes at least +don't burn me out and finally burn me to death." + +Langdon put up his hands in defense. + +"I haven't jumped on you, Arthur," he said. "I admire you, though I +can't equal you. And as I'm not willing to be second even to you, +I'm going to our sea island, near the Carolina coast, when this war is +over, lie down under the shade of a live oak, have our big colored man, +Sam, to bring me luxurious food about once every three hours, and +between these three-hour periods I'll be fanned by Julius, another big +colored man of ours, and I won't make any exertion except to tell day by +day to admiring visitors how I whipped the Yankees every time I could +get near enough to see 'em, and how a lot more were scared to death just +because they heard me crashing through the brush." + +"You'll do the bragging part, all right, Happy," said St. Clair. +"I believe you could keep up the sort of existence you describe for +a year at least." + +"I'd like to try. Now, what under the stars is that?" + +Nothing had happened. Something had merely ceased to happen. The great +cannonade had stopped in an instant, as if by a preconcerted signal, +and their nerves, attuned so long to such a continuous roar, seemed to +collapse, because some support was withdrawn. Harry's face turned white +and his heart beat very fast, but in a few moments he recovered himself. + +"I suppose they've given it up for the time being," he said, "but +they're sure to try it again in some other way." + +"That's a safe prediction," said St. Clair. "Burnside is trying to get +across the Rappahannock to attack us, because the whole North is driving +him on, and he hasn't got the moral courage to hold back until he can +choose his time and place. Funny how this silence oppresses one." + +The whole Southern army, along its six miles of length, was now standing +up and looking toward the point on the other shore of the Rappahannock +where the Union batteries were massed. All work seemed to have been +abandoned there, although the troops were still clustered along the +shore and about the bridge head. Clouds of smoke from the great +batteries floated down the river. + +"A Yankee failure so far, Harry," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot. "The +bridge has advanced no further, and I should say that our shore is now +enriched by about fifty thousand pounds of steel hurled from those +batteries and with little harm to us." + +"I've no doubt you're right, sir," said Harry, "and now that a period of +rest has come, I shall hurry back to General Jackson, who may need me to +carry some order." + +"A moment, please, Harry, my boy," said Colonel Talbot, twirling his +mustaches. "You are near to General Jackson, of course, being his +personal aide. If it should fall out conveniently, would you do myself +and my most excellent friend and second, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, +a small favor?" + +"Of course, Colonel. Gladly. What is it?" + +"If the enemy should cross the river, as he probably will, and if you +should be near enough to Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, +and if the moment should be propitious, would you kindly whisper in +his ear that the skeleton regiment, known as the Invincibles, Leonidas +Talbot, Colonel, and Hector St. Hilaire, Lieutenant-Colonel, would be +overjoyed at the honor of leading the attack upon the intrusive and +invading Yankee army?" + +"Promise, Harry, promise!" seconded Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire in his softest and most persuasive South Carolina accent. +"You really owe that to us." + +"I promise gladly," replied Harry; "but you know what General Jackson +is. He makes his plans without telling anybody what they are, and he +carries them out. If it is a part of his plan for the Invincibles to +lead the attack, so far as his division is concerned, you'll lead it. +If not, you won't." + +"But still a word in his ear might have some influence," persisted +Colonel Talbot. "It might come at the very moment when he was +hesitating over a choice, and it would probably decide him in our favor." + +"Then I shall do my best, sir," said Harry. "You can rely upon me" + +He returned to General Jackson, but found that his commander was yet +inactive. He was still waiting and watching with a patience that seemed +equal to that of the Sphinx. Noon came, food was served, and the hours +trailed their slow length on. + +Then they saw a great movement in the Union army. The Northern generals +were about to make their supreme effort. Hooker, who had shown such +desperate courage at Antietam and who had won the name of Fighting Joe, +called for men who would cross the river in boats under the fire of +the Mississippi rifles. It looked like certain death, but four entire +regiments came forward at once. They entered the boats, which promptly +pulled for the right bank, and the great batteries at once opened a +covering fire. + +The Mississippians once more sent forth their hail of bullets, but the +boats were so numerous that, although some were stopped, the majority +came on. Man after man, shot through, fell over the sides into the +deep river. Sometimes a boat itself sank, but the main force rapidly +approached the Southern side. + +"They have lost many men, but they will make the crossing at last, +Harry," said Dalton. + +"So it seems," said Harry. "I suppose our generals could bring up +enough men to drive them back, but it looks as if they don't want to +do it." + +"It may be that they're holding the trap open for the victim to walk in." + +"However it may be, they're across. See, they're landing in thousands, +and the Mississippians, leaving their rifle pits, are retreating. +Now they can finish the bridge and as many more as they need at their +leisure." + +The retreating Mississippians rejoined their comrades, and still the +Southern army did not stir. The Northern army, almost unmolested, +continued its bridge building, and the afternoon and a dark night passed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FREDERICKSBURG + + +Before night the Union army had three bridges across the Rappahannock, +and before morning it had six. The regiment that had crossed held the +right bank of the river, that is, the side of the South, and the boats +moved freely back and forth in the stream. + +Yet the main army itself did not yet begin the crossing. Harry slept a +few hours before and after midnight, lying in the lee of a little ridge +and wrapped in a pair of heavy blankets, but as he wakened from time to +time he heard little from the river. There were no sounds to indicate +that great streams of armed men with their cannon were pouring over the +bridges. After the tremendous cannonade of the afternoon the night +seemed very quiet and peaceful. + +Fires were burning here and there, but they were not many. The +Confederate generals did not care to furnish beacons for the enemy. +When Harry stood up he could catch glimpses of the river, the color of +steel again, but the farther bank, where the great army of the foe yet +lay, was buried in darkness. He wondered why Burnside was not using +every hour of the night for crossing, but he remembered how the same +general had delayed so long at Antietam that Lee and Jackson were able +to save themselves. + +He became conscious that it was growing much colder again. The zero +weather of a few days since was returning. Every light puff of wind was +like the stab of an icicle. He was glad that he had a pair of blankets +and that they were heavy ones, too. But he did not ask anything more. +It was remarkable how fast the youth of both North and South became +inured to every form of privation. They lived almost like the primitive +man, and many thrived on it. + +When he last awoke, about four o'clock in the morning, he did not lie +down to sleep again; he walked to the edge of the slope and stared once +more toward the river and the Union camp. He found Dalton already there, +closely examining the river and the shores with his glasses. + +"What do you see, George?" Harry asked. + +"Not much; they've got all the bridges now they need, but they're not +using them. Why, Harry, the battle's won already. Lee and Jackson +don't merely fight. Plenty of generals are good fighters, but our +leaders measure and weigh the generals who are coming against them, +look right inside of them, and read their minds better than those +generals can read them themselves." + +"I believe you're right, George. And since Burnside is not crossing +to-night, he can't attack in the morning." + +"Of course not. Lee and Jackson knew all the time that he'd waste a +day. They knew it by the way he delayed at Antietam, and they've been +reading his mind all the time he's been sitting here on the banks of the +Rappahannock. They knew just where he'd attack, just when, too, and +they'll have everything ready at the right point and at the right time." + +"Of course they will." + +They were but boys, and the great tactics and brilliant victories of Lee +and Jackson had overwhelmed the imaginations of both. In their minds +all things seemed possible to their leaders, and they had not the least +fear about the coming battle. + +They walked back toward their general's tent and saw him sitting on a +log outside. The night was not so dark as the one before. A fair moon +and clusters of modest stars furnished some light. The general was +gazing toward Stafford Heights, tapping his bootleg at times with a +little switch. But he turned his gaze upon the two boys as they came +forward and saluted respectfully. + +"Well, lads," he said in a voice of uncommon gentleness, "what have you +seen?" + +"Nothing, sir, but the river and the dark shore beyond," replied Dalton. + +"But the enemy will cross to-morrow, and they say they will annihilate +us." + +"I think, sir, that they will recross the Rappahannock as fast as they +will cross it." + +Dalton spoke boldly, because he saw that Jackson was leading him on. + +"The right spirit," said Jackson quietly. "I see it throughout the army, +and so long as it prevails we cannot lose." + +Then he turned his glasses again toward the river and paid them no +further attention. Officers of greater age and much higher rank came +near, but he ignored them also. His whole soul seemed to be absorbed +in the searching examination that he was making of the river and the +opposite shore. Harry and Dalton watched him a little while and then +went back to the shelter of the ridge, where, sitting with their backs +against the earth, they, too, took up the task of watching. + +The earth was frozen hard now, but toward morning they saw the fog +rising again. + +"It will cover the river, the far shore, and what's left of the town," +said Dalton, "but what do we care? They'll be protected by it as they +advance on the bridges, but they wouldn't dare move through it to attack +us here on the heights." + +"Here's the dawn again," said Harry. "I can see the ghost of the sun +over there trying to break through, but as there's no wind now the fog's +going to hang heavy and long." + +Breakfast was served once more to the waiting army on the heights, +and then the youths in gray saw that the Union army, having let the +night pass, was beginning to cross the river. When the dawn finally +came many regiments were already over and the wheels of the heavy cannon +were thundering on the bridges. But the Confederate army lay quiet on +the heights, although before morning it had drawn itself in somewhat, +shortening the lines and making itself more compact. + +"Look how they pour over the bridges!" said Harry, who stood glass to +eye. "They come in thousands and thousands, regiments, brigades and +whole divisions. Why, George, it looks as if the whole North were +swarming down upon us!" + +"They're a hundred and twenty thousand strong. We know that positively, +and they're as brave as anybody. But we're eighty thousand strong, +just sitting here on the heights and waiting. Harry, they'll cross +that river again soon, and when they go back they'll be far less than a +hundred and twenty thousand!" + +He spoke with no sign of exultation. Instead it was the boding tone of +an old prophet, rather than the sanguine voice of youth. + +The fog deepened for a little while, and then some of the marching +columns were hidden. Out of the mists and gloom came the quick music +of many bands, playing the Northern brigades on to death. Then the fog +lifted again, and along the heights ran the blaze of the Southern cannon +as they sent shot and shell into the black masses of the Union troops +crowding by Fredericksburg. + +But as the echoes of the shots died away, Harry heard again the bands +playing, and from the great Northern army below came mighty rolling +cheers. + +"The battle is here now, Harry," said Dalton, "and this is the biggest +army we've ever faced." + +The Union brigades, black in the somber winter dawn, seemed endless to +Harry. From the point where he stood the advancing columns as they +crossed the river looked almost solid. He knew that men must be falling, +dead or wounded, beneath the fire of the Southern guns, but the living +closed up so fast that he could not see any break in the lines. + +"You can't see any sign of hesitation there," said Dalton. "The +Northern generals may doubt and linger, but the men don't when once they +get the word. What a tremendous and thrilling sight! It may be wicked +in me, Harry, but since there is a war and battles are being fought, +I'm glad I'm here to see it." + +"So am I," said Harry. "It's something to feel that you're at the heart +of the biggest things going on in the world. Now we've lost 'em!" + +His sudden exclamation was due to a shift of the wind, bringing back the +fog again and covering the river, the town and the advancing Union army. +The Confederate cannon then ceased firing, but Harry heard distinctly +the sounds made by scores of thousands of men marching, that measured +tread of countless feet, the beat of hoofs, the rumbling of cannon +wheels over roads now frozen hard, and the music of many bands still +playing. The thrill was all the keener when the great army became +invisible in the fog, although the mighty hum and murmur of varied +sounds proved that it was still marching there. + +Jackson was on the right of Lee's line. He would be, as usual, in the +thick of it. His fighting line ran through deep woods, and he was +protected, moreover, by the slope up which the Union troops would +have to come, if they got near enough. Fourteen guns, guarded by two +regiments, were on Prospect Hill at his extreme right, and on his left +the ravine called Deep Run divided him from the command of Longstreet, +which spread away toward Marye's Hill. + +Jackson's own line was a mile and a half long and he had thirty thousand +men, while Longstreet and the others had fifty thousand more. Lee +himself, directing the whole, rode along the lines on his white horse, +and whenever the men saw him cheers rolled up and down. But Lee had +little to say. All that needed to be said had been said already. + +Harry saw the great commander riding along that morning as calmly as if +he were going to church. Lee, grave, imperturbable, was the last man +to show emotion, but Harry thought once that he caught a gleam from the +blue eye as he spoke a word or two with Jackson and went on. As he +passed near them, Harry, Dalton and all the other young officers took +off their hats, saluted and stood in silence. General Lee raised his +own hat in return, and rode back toward the division of Longstreet. + +Harry glanced toward General Jackson, who was also mounted. But he did +not move and the reins lay loose on the animal's neck. Once the horse +dropped his head and nuzzled under some leaves for a few blades of +sheltered grass that had escaped the winter. But the general took no +notice. He kept his glasses to his eyes and watched every movement of +the enemy, when the fog lifted enough for him to see. Presently he +beckoned to Harry. + +"Ride over to General Stuart," he said, "and see if he has made any +change in his lines. It is important that our formation be preserved +intact and that no gaps be left." + +Then General Jackson himself rode to another elevation for a different +view, and the soldiers, from whom he had been hidden before by the fog, +gazed at him in amazement. The gorgeous uniform that Stuart had sent +him, worn only once before, and which they had thought discarded forever, +had been put on again. The old slouch hat was gone, and another, +magnificent with gold braid, looped and tasseled, was in its place. +Instead of the faithful pony, Little Sorrel, he rode a big charger. + +Usually cheers ran along the line whenever he appeared upon the eve of +battle, but for a little space there was silence as the men gazed at him, +many of them not even knowing him. Jackson flushed and looked down +apologetically at the rich cloth and gold braid he wore. His eyes +seemed to say, "Boys, I've merely put these on in honor of the victory +we're going to win. But I won't do it again." + +Then the cheers burst forth, spontaneous and ringing, proving a devotion +that few men have ever been able to command. Stern and unflinching as +Jackson invariably was in inflicting punishment, his soldiers always +regarded him as one of themselves, the best man among them, one fitted +by nature to lead democratic equals. After the cheers were over they +watched him as he looked through the glasses from his new position. +But he stayed there only a minute or two, going back then to his old +point of vantage. + +Harry meanwhile had reached Stuart, who, mounted upon a magnificent +horse and clad in a uniform that fairly glittered through the fog itself, +was waiting restlessly. But he had not changed any part of his line. +Everything remained exactly as Jackson had ordered. He now knew Harry +well and always called him by his first name. + +"Have you an order?" he exclaimed eagerly. "Does General Jackson want +us to advance?" + +"He has said nothing about an advance," replied Harry tactfully. +"He merely wanted me to ride down the line and report to him on the +spirit of the soldiers as far as I could judge. He knew that your men, +General, would be hard to hold." + +Stuart threw back his head, shook his long yellow hair and laughed in a +pleased way. + +"General Jackson was right about my men," he said. "It's hard to keep +them from galloping into the battle, and my feelings are with them. +Yet we'll have all the fighting we want. Look at the great masses of +the Union army!" + +The fog had lifted again and the Northern columns were still advancing, +marching boldly against the intrenched foe, although nearly every one of +their generals save Burnside himself knew that it was a hopeless task. +In all the mighty events of the war that Harry witnessed few were as +impressive to him as this solemn and steady march of the Union army, +heads erect and bands playing, into the jaws of death. + +He stayed only a few moments with Stuart, returning direct to Jackson. +On his way he passed Sherburne, who, with his troop, was on Stuart's +extreme left flank. Harry leaned over, shook hands with him, nothing +more, and rode on. With the lifting of the fog the Southern guns were +again sending shot and sell into the blue masses. Then, from the other +side of the river, the great Union batteries left on Stafford Heights +began to hurl showers of steel toward the hostile ridges a little more +than a mile and a half away. It was long range for those days, but the +Union gunners, always excellent, rained shot and shell upon the Southern +position. + +Harry, used now to such a fire, went calmly on until he rejoined Jackson, +who accepted with a nod his report that Stuart had not changed his lines +anywhere. The general signed to him and the rest of the staff as they +rode toward the center of the Southern line. Harry did not know their +errand, but he surmised that they were to meet General Lee for the final +conference. The general said no word, but rode steadily on. Union +skirmishers, under cover of the fog and bushes, had crept far in advance +of their columns, and, as the fog continued to thin away and the day to +brighten, they saw Jackson and his staff. + +Harry heard bullets whistling sinister little threats in his ear as they +passed, and he heard other bullets pattering on the trees or the earth. +They alarmed him more than the huge cannon thundering away from the +other side of the river. But the fog, although thin, was still enough +to make the aim of the skirmishers bad, and General Jackson and his +staff went on their way unhurt. + +They reached a little hill near the middle of the Southern bent bow. +It had no name then, but it is called Lee's Hill now, because at nine +o'clock that morning General Lee, mounted on his white horse, was upon +its crest awaiting his generals, to give them his last instructions. +Longstreet was already there, and, just as Jackson came, the fog thinned +away entirely and the sun began to blaze with a heat almost like that +of summer, rapidly thawing the hard earth. + +The young officers on the different staffs reined back, while their +chiefs drew together. Yet for a few moments no one said anything. +Harry always believed that the veteran generals were moved as he was by +the sight below. The great banks of white fog were rolling away down +the river before the light wind and the brilliant sun. + +Now Harry saw the Army of the Potomac in its full majesty. On the wide +plain that lay on the south bank of the Rappahannock nearly a hundred +thousand men were still advancing in regular order, with scores and +scores of cannon on their flanks or between the columns. The army which +looked somber black in the misty dawn now looked blue in the brilliant +sun. The stars and stripes, the most beautiful flag in the world, +waved in hundreds over their heads. The bands were still playing, +and the great batteries which they had left on Stafford Heights across +the river continued that incessant roaring fire over their heads at the +Southern army on its own heights. The smoke from the cannon, whitish in +color, drifted away down the river with the fog, and the whole spectacle +still remained in the brilliant sunlight. + +Harry's respect for the Union artillery, already high, increased yet +further. The field was now mostly open, where all could see, and the +gunners not only saw their targets, but were able to take good aim. +The storm of shot and shell from Stafford Heights was frightful. +It seemed to Harry--again his imagination was alive--that the very air +was darkened by the rush of steel. Despite their earthworks and other +shelter the Southern troops began to suffer from that dreadful sleet, +but the little conference on Lee's Hill went on. + +Longstreet, sitting his horse steadily, looked long at the dense masses +below. + +"General," he said to General Jackson, "doesn't that myriad of Yankees +frighten you?" + +"It won't be long before we see whether we shall frighten them," replied +Jackson. + +General Lee said a few words, and then Jackson and Longstreet returned +to their respective divisions, Jackson, as Harry noted, showing not the +least excitement, although the resolute Union general, Franklin, with +nearly sixty thousand men and one hundred and twenty guns, was marching +directly against his own position. + +But Harry felt excitement, and much of it. In front of Jackson in a +great line of battle, a mile and a half long, they were moving forward, +still in perfect array. But there was something wanting in that huge +army. It was the lack of a great animating spirit. There was no +flaming flag, like the soul of Jackson, to wave in the front of a fiery +rush that could not be stopped. + +The blue mass hesitated and stopped. Out of it came three Pennsylvania +brigades led by Meade, who was to be the Meade of Gettysburg, and less +than five thousand strong they advanced against Jackson. Harry was +amazed. Could it be possible that they did not know that Jackson with +his full force was there? + +The Pennsylvanians charged gallantly. The young General Pelham, who had +been sent forward with two pieces of artillery, opened on them fiercely, +but the heavy batteries covering the advance of the Pennsylvanians drove +Pelham out of action, although he held the whole force at bay for half +an hour. In his retreat he lost one of his own guns, and then Franklin +brought up more batteries to protect the further advance of Meade and +the Pennsylvanians. The batteries across the river helped them also, +never ceasing to send a rain of steel over their troops upon the +Southern army. + +But Jackson's men still lay close in the woods and behind their +breastworks. Nearly all that rain of steel flew over their heads. +A shower of twigs and boughs fell on them, but so long as they stayed +close the great artillery fire created terror rather than damage. +The men were panting with eagerness, but not one was allowed to pull +trigger, nor was a cannon fired. + +"Burnside must think there's but a small force here," said Dalton, +"or he wouldn't send so few men against us. Harry, when I look down at +those brigades of Yankees I think of the old Roman salute--it was that +of the gladiators, wasn't it?--'Morituri salutamus.'" + +"They're doomed," said Harry. + +Jackson, like the others, had dismounted, and he walked forward with +a single aide to observe more closely the Union advance. A Northern +sharpshooter suddenly rose out of high weeds, not far in front, and +fired directly at them. The bullet whistled between Jackson and his +aide. Jackson turned to the young man and said: + +"Suppose you go to the rear. You might get shot." + +The young man, of course, did not go, and Harry, who was not far behind +them in an earthwork, watched them with painful anxiety. He had seen +the sudden uprising of the Northern skirmisher in the weeds and the +flame from the muzzle. The man might not have known that it was Jackson, +but he must have surmised from the gorgeous uniform that it was a +general of importance. + +Harry, with the trained eye of a country boy, saw a rippling movement +running among the weeds. The sharpshooter would reload and fire upon +his general from another point. The second bullet might not miss. + +But the second shot did not come. The marksman, doubtless thinking that +another shot was too dangerous a hazard, had retreated into the plain. +General Jackson walked on calmly, inspecting the whole Northern advance, +and then returning took up his station on Prospect Hill, where he waited +with the singular calmness that was always his, for the fit time to open +fire. + +The leader of the Army of the Potomac was watching from the other side +of the Rappahannock with a terrible eagerness. The man who had not +wished the command of the splendid Union army, who had deemed himself +unequal to the task, was now proving the correctness of his own +intuitions. He had taken up his headquarters in a fine colonial +residence on one of the highest points of the bank. He was surrounded +there by numerous artillery, and the officers of his staff crowded the +porches, many of them already sad of heart, although they would not +let their faces show it. + +But Burnside, now that his men had forced the river in such daring +fashion, began to glow with hope. Such magnificent troops as he had, +having crossed the deep, tidal Rappahannock in the face of an able and +daring foe, were bound to win. He swept every point of the field with +his glasses, and from his elevated position he and his officers could +see what the troops in the plain below could not see, the long lines of +the Confederates waiting in the trenches or in the woods, their cannon +posted at frequent intervals. + +But Burnside hoped. Who would not have hoped with such troops as his? +Never did an army, and with full knowledge of it, too, advance more +boldly to a superhuman task. He saw the gallant advance of the +Pennsylvanians and he saw them drive off Pelham. Hope swelled into +confidence. With an anxiety beyond describing he watched the further +advance of Meade and his Pennsylvanians. + +Stonewall Jackson also was watching from his convenient hill, and his +small staff, mostly of very young men, clustered close behind him. +Jackson no longer used his glasses, as Burnside was doing. Meade and +his Pennsylvanians were coming close to him now. The great Union +batteries on Stafford Heights must soon cease firing or their shells +and shot would be crashing into the blue ranks. + +"It cannot be much longer," said Harry. + +"No, not much longer," said Dalton. "We'll unmask mighty soon. How far +away would you say they are now, Harry?" + +"About a thousand yards." + +"Over a half mile. Then I'll say that when they come within a half mile +Old Jack will give the word to the artillery to loosen up." + +Harry and George, in their intense absorption, had forgotten about the +other parts of the line. In their minds, for the present at least, +Jackson was fighting the battle alone. Longstreet was forgotten, +and even Lee, for a space, remained unremembered. They were staring at +the brigades which were coming on so gallantly, when the jaws of death +were already opened so wide to receive them. + +"They're at the half mile," said Dalton, who had a wonderful eye for +distance, "and still Old Jack does not give the word." + +"The closer the better," said Harry. Glancing up and down the lines he +saw the men bending over their guns and the riflemen in line after line +rising slowly to their feet and looking to their arms. In spite of +himself, in spite of all the hard usage of war through which he had been, +Harry shuddered. He did not hate any of those men out there who were +coming toward them so boldly; no, there was not in all those brigades, +nor in all the Union army, nor in all the North a single person whom he +wished to hurt. Yet he knew that he would soon fight against them with +all the weapons and all the power he could gather. + +"Eight hundred yards," said Dalton. + +"Fire!" was the word that ran like an electric blaze along the +whole Southern front; and Jackson's fifty cannon, suddenly pushing +forward from the forest, poured a storm of steel upon the devoted +Pennsylvanians. Harry felt the earth rocking beneath him, and his ears +were stunned by the roaring and crashing of the cannon all about him. + +The Union officers on the porches of the colonial mansion across the +river saw that terrible blaze leap from the Confederate line, and their +hearts sank within them like lead. Alarmed as they had been before, +they were in consternation now. Some had said that Jackson was not +there, that it was merely a detachment guarding the woods, but now they +knew their mistake. + +Harry and Dalton stayed close to their general. Shells and shot from +the batteries below on the plain were crashing along the trees, but, +like those from the great guns on Stafford Heights, they passed mostly +over their heads. The two youths at that moment had little to do but +watch the battle. The Southern riflemen crept forward in the woods, +and now their bullets in sheets were crashing into the hostile ranks. +The Union division commander hurried up reinforcements, and the +Pennsylvanians, despite their frightful losses and shattered ranks, +still held fast. But the Southern batteries never ceased for a moment +to pour upon them a storm of death. With red battle before him and the +fever in his blood running high, Harry now forgot all about wounds and +death. He had eye and thought only for the tremendous panorama passing +before him, where everything was clear and visible, as if it were an +act in some old Roman circus, magnified manifold. + +Then came a message from Jackson to hurry to the left with an order for +a brigadier who lay next to Longstreet. As he ran through the trees, +he heard now the roar of the battle in the center, where the stalwart +Longstreet was holding Marye's Hill and the adjacent heights. A mighty +Union division was attacking there, and out of the south from the embers +of Fredericksburg came another great division in column after column. + +Harry heard the fire of Jackson slackening behind him, and he knew it +was because Meade had been stopped or was retreating, and he stayed a +little with the brigadier to see how Longstreet received the enemy. +The hill and all the ridges about it seemed to be in one red blaze, +and every few minutes the triumphant rebel yell, something like the +Indian war-whoop, but poured from thirty thousand throats, swelled above +the roar of the cannon and the crash of the rifles and made Harry's +pulses beat so hard that he felt absolute physical pain. + +He hurried to Jackson, where the battle, which had died for a little +space, was swelling again. As the Pennsylvanians were compelled to draw +back, leaving the ground covered with their dead, the Union batteries +on Stafford Heights reopened, firing again over the heads of the men in +blue. The Southern batteries, weaker and less numerous, replied with +all their energy. A far-flung shot from their greatest gun, at the +extreme southern end of the line, killed the brave Union general, Bayard, +as he was sitting under a tree watching his troops. + +Gregg, one of the best of the Southern generals, was mortally wounded. +A great body of the Pennsylvanians, charging again, reached the shelter +of the woods and burst through the Southern line. At another point, +Hancock, always cool and brilliant on the field of battle, rallied +shattered brigades and led them forward in person to new attacks. +Hooker, who had shown such courage at Antietam, equally brave on this +occasion, rushed forward with his men at another point. Franklin, +Sumner, Doubleday and many other of the best Union generals showed +themselves reckless of death, cheering on their men, galloping up and +down the lines when they were mounted, and waving their swords aloft +after their horses were killed, but always leading. + +The Pennsylvanians who had cut into the Southern line were attacked in +flank, but they held on to their positions. Jackson did not yet know +of Meade's success. He still stood on Prospect Hill with his staff, +which Harry had rejoined. The forest and vast clouds of smoke hid from +his view the battle, save in his front. Harry saw a messenger coming at +a gallop toward the summit of the hill, and he knew by his pale face and +bloodshot eyes that he brought bad news. + +Jackson turned toward the messenger, expectant but calm. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"The enemy have broken through General Archer's division, and he +directed me to say to you that unless help is sent, both his position +and that of General Gregg will be lost." + +Jackson showed no excitement. His calm and composure in the face of +disaster always inspired his men with fresh courage. + +"Ride back to General Archer," he said, "and tell him that the division +of Early and the Stonewall Brigade are coming at once." + +He turned his horse as if he would go with the relief, but in a moment +he checked himself, put his field glasses back to his eyes, and +continued to watch heavy masses of the enemy who were coming up in +another quarter. + +Harry did not see what happened when Early and Taliaferro, who now led +the Stonewall Brigade, fell upon the Pennsylvanians, but the Invincibles +were in the charge and St. Clair told him about it afterward. The Union +men had penetrated so far that they were entangled in the forest and +thickets, and nobody had come up to support them. They were much +scattered, and as their officers were seeking to gather them together +the men in gray fell upon them in overpowering force and drove them back +in broken fragments. Wild with triumph, the Southern riflemen rushed +after them and also hurled back other riflemen that were coming up to +their support. But on the plain they encountered the matchless Northern +artillery. A battery of sixteen heavy guns met their advancing line +with a storm of canister, before which they were compelled to retreat, +leaving many dead and wounded behind. + +Yet the entire Union attack on Jackson had been driven back, the +Northern troops suffering terrible losses. The watchers on the Phillips +porch on the other side of the river saw the repulse, and again their +hearts sank like lead. + +The watchers turned their field glasses anew to the Southern center and +left, where the battle raged with undiminished ferocity. Marye's Hill +was a formidable position and along its slope ran a heavy stone wall. +Behind it the Southern sharpshooters were packed in thousands, and every +battery was well placed. + +Hancock, following Burnside's orders, led the attack upon the +ensanguined slopes. Forty thousand men, almost the flower of the Union +army, charged again and again up those awful slopes, and again and again +they were hurled back. The top of the hill was a leaping mass of flame +and the stone wall was always crested with living fire. No troops ever +showed greater courage as they returned after every repulse to the +hopeless charge. + +At last they could go forward no longer. They had not made the +slightest impression upon Marye's Hill and the slopes were strewn with +many thousands of their dead and wounded, including officers of all +ranks, from generals down. The Union army was now divided into two +portions, each in the face of an insuperable task. + +But Burnside, burning with chagrin, was unwilling to draw off his army. +The reserve troops, left on the other side of the river, were sent +across, and Fighting Joe Hooker was ordered to lead them to a new +attack. Hooker, talking with Hancock, saw that it merely meant another +slaughter, and sent such word to his commander-in-chief. But Burnside +would not be moved from his purpose. The attack must be made, and +Hooker--whose courage no one could question--still trying to prevent it, +crossed the river himself, went to Burnside and remonstrated. + +Men who were present have told vivid stories of that scene at the +Phillips House. Hooker, his face covered with dust and sweat, galloping +up, leaping from his horse, and rushing to Burnside; the +commander-in-chief striding up and down, looking toward Marye's Hill, +enveloped in smoke, and repeating to himself, as if he were scarcely +conscious of what he was saying: "That height must be taken! That +height must be taken! We must take it!" + +He turned to Hooker with the same words, "That height must be taken +to-day," repeating it over and over again, changing the words perhaps, +but not the sense. The gallant but unfortunate man had not wanted to be +commander-in-chief, foreseeing his own inadequacy, and now in his agony +at seeing so many of his men fall in vain he was scarcely responsible. + +Hooker, his heart full of despair, but resolved to obey, galloped +back and prepared for the last desperate charge up Marye's Hill. The +advancing mists in the east were showing that the short winter day would +soon draw to a close. He planted his batteries and opened a heavy fire, +intending to batter down the stone wall. But the wall, supported by an +earthwork, did not give, and Longstreet's riflemen lay behind it waiting. + +At a signal the Union cannon ceased firing and the bugles blew the +charge. The Union brigades swarmed forward and then rushed up the +slopes. The volume of fire poured upon them was unequalled until +Pickett led the matchless charge at Gettysburg. Pickett himself was +here among the defenders, having just been sent to help the men on +Marye's Hill. + +Up went the men through the winter twilight, lighted now by the blaze +of so many cannon and rifles pouring down upon them a storm of lead and +steel, through which no human beings could pass. They came near to the +stone wall, but as their lines were now melting away like snow before +the sun, they were compelled to yield and retreat again down the slopes, +which were strewed already with the bodies of so many of those who had +gone up in the other attacks. + +Every charge had broken in vain on the fronts of Jackson and Longstreet, +and the Union losses were appalling. Harry knew that the battle was won +and that it had been won more easily than any of the other great battles +that he had seen. He wondered what Jackson would do. Would he follow +up the grand division of Franklin that he had defeated and which still +lay in front of them? + +But he ceased to ask the question, because when the last charge, +shattered to pieces, rolled back down Marye's Hill, the magnificent +Northern artillery seemed to Harry to go mad. The thirty guns of the +heaviest weight that had been left on Stafford Heights, and which had +ceased firing only when the Northern men charged, now reopened in a +perfect excess of fury. Harry believed that they must be throwing +tons of metal every minute. + +Nor was Franklin slack. Hovering with his great division in the plain +below and knowing that he was beaten, he nevertheless turned one hundred +and sixteen cannon that he carried with him upon Jackson's front and +swept all the woods and ridges everywhere. The Union army was beaten +because it had undertaken the impossible, but despite its immense losses +it was still superior in numbers to Lee's force, and above all it had +that matchless artillery which in defeat could protect the Union army, +and which in victory helped it to win. + +Now all these mighty cannon were turned loose in one huge effort. +Along the vast battle front and from both sides of the river they roared +and crashed defiance. And the Army of the Potomac, which had wasted +so much valor, crept back under the shelter of that thundering line +of fire. It had much to regret, but nothing of which to be ashamed. +Sent against positions impregnable when held by such men as Lee, Jackson +and Longstreet, it had never ceased to attack so long as the faintest +chance remained. Its commander had been unequal to the task, but the +long roll of generals under him had shown unsurpassed courage and daring. + +Harry thought once that General Jackson was going to attack in turn, +but after a long look at the roaring plain he shrugged his shoulders and +gave no orders. The beaten Army of the Potomac preserved its order, +it had lost no guns, the brigadiers and the major-generals were full of +courage, and it was too formidable to be attacked. Three hundred cannon +of the first class on either side of the river were roaring and crashing, +and the moment the Southern troops emerged for the charge all would be +sure to pour upon them a fire that no troops could withstand. + +General Lee presently appeared riding along the line. The cheers which +always rose where he came rolled far, and he was compelled to lift his +hat more than once. He conferred with Jackson, and the two, going +toward the left, met Longstreet, with whom they also talked. Then they +separated and Jackson returned to his own position. Harry, who had +followed his general at the proper distance, never heard what they said, +but he believed that they had discussed the possibility of a night +attack and then had decided in the negative. + +When Jackson returned to his own force the twilight was thickening into +night, and as darkness sank down over the field the appalling fire of +the Union artillery ceased. Thirteen thousand dead or wounded Union +soldiers had fallen, and the Southern loss was much less than half. + +All of Harry's comrades and friends had escaped this battle uninjured, +yet many of them believed that another battle would be fought on the +morrow. Harry, however, was not one of these. He remembered some words +that had been spoken by Jackson in his presence: + +"We can defeat the enemy here at Fredericksburg, but we cannot destroy +him, because he will escape over his bridges, while we are unable to +follow." + +Nevertheless the young men and boys were exultant. They did not look so +far ahead as Jackson, and they had never before won so great a victory +with so little loss. Harry, sent on a message beyond Deep Run, found +the Invincibles cooking their suppers on a spot that they had held +throughout the day. They had several cheerful fires burning and they +saluted Harry gladly. + +"A great victory, Harry," said Happy Tom. + +"Yes, a great victory," interrupted Colonel Leonidas Talbot; "but, +my friends, what else could you have expected? They walked straight +into our trap. But I have learned this day to have a deep respect for +the valor of the Yankees. The way they charged up Marye's Hill in +the face of certain death was worthy of the finest troops that South +Carolina herself ever produced." + +"That is saying a great deal, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire, "but it is true." + +Harry talked a little with the two colonels, and also with Langdon and +St. Clair. Then he returned to his own headquarters. Both armies, +making ready for battle to-morrow, if it should come, slept on their +arms, while the dead and the wounded yet lay thick in the forest and +on the slopes and plain. + +But Harry was not among those who slept, at least not until after +midnight. He and Dalton sat at the door of Jackson's tent, awaiting +possible orders. Jackson knew that Burnside, with a hundred thousand +men yet in line and no artillery lost, was planning another attack on +the morrow, despite his frightful losses of the day. + +The news of it had been sent to him by Lee, and Lee in turn had learned +it from a captured orderly bearing Burnside's dispatches. But neither +Harry nor Dalton knew anything of Burnside's plans. They were merely +waiting for any errand upon which Jackson should choose to send them. +Several other staff officers were present, and as Jackson wrote his +orders, he gave them in turn to be taken to those for whom they were +intended. + +Harry, after three such trips of his own, sat down again near the door +of the tent and watched his great leader. Jackson sat at a little table, +on a cane-bottomed chair, and he wrote by the light of a single candle. +His clothing was all awry and he had tossed away the gold-braided cap. +His face was worn and drawn, but his eyes showed no signs of weariness. +The body might have been weak, but the spirit of Jackson was never +stronger. + +Harry knew that Jackson after victory wasted no time exulting, but was +always preparing for the next battle. The soldiers, both in his own +division and elsewhere, were awakened by turns, and willing thousands +strengthened the Southern position. More and deeper trenches were +constructed. New abatis were built and the stone wall was strengthened +yet further. Formidable as the Southern line had been to-day, Burnside +would find it more so on the morrow. + +After midnight, Jackson, still in his gorgeous uniform and with boots +and spurs on, too, lay down on his bed and slept about three hours. +Then he aroused himself, lighted his candle and wrote an hour longer. +Then he went to the bedside of the dying Gregg and sat a while with him, +the staff remaining at a respectful distance. + +When they rode back--they were mounted again--they passed along the +battle front, and the sadness which was so apparent on Jackson's face +affected them. It was far toward morning now and the enemy was lighting +his fires on the plain below. The dead lay where they had fallen, +and no help had yet been given to those wounded too seriously to move. +It had been a tremendous holocaust, and with no result. Harry knew now +that the North would never cease to fight disunion. The South could win +separation only at the price of practical annihilation for both. + +The night was very raw and chill, and not less so now that morning +was approaching. The mists and fogs, which as usual rose from the +Rappahannock, made Harry shiver at their touch. In the hollows of the +ridges, which the wintry sun seldom reached, great masses of ice were +packed, and the plain below, cut up the day before by wheels and hoofs +and footsteps, was now like a frozen field of ploughed land. + +The staff heard enough through the fogs and mists to know that the Army +of the Potomac was awake and stirring. The Southern army also arose, +lighted its fires, cooked and ate its food and waited for the enemy. +Before it was yet light Harry, on a message to Stuart, rode to the top +of Prospect Hill with him, and, as they sat there on their horses, +the sun cleared away the fog and mist, and they saw the Army of the +Potomac drawn up in line of battle, defiant and challenging, ready to +attack or to be attacked. + +Harry felt a thrill of admiration that he did not wish to check. +After all, the Yankees were their own people, bone of their bone, +and their courage must be admired. The Army of the Potomac, too, +was learning to fight without able chiefs. The young colonels and +majors and captains could lead them, and there they were, after their +most terrible defeat, grim and ready. + +"The lion's wounded, but he isn't dead, by any means," said Harry to +Stuart. + +"Not by a great deal," said Stuart. + +There was much hot firing by skirmishers that day and artillery duels +at long range, but the Northern army, which had fortified on the plain, +would not come out of its intrenchments, and the Southern soldiers also +stuck to theirs. Burnside, who had crossed the river to join his men, +had been persuaded at last that a second attack was bound to end like +the first. + +The next day Burnside sent in a flag of truce, and they buried the dead. +The following night Harry, wrapped to the eyes in his great cloak, +stood upon Prospect Hill and watched one of the fiercest storms that he +had ever seen rage up and down the valley of the Rappahannock. Many of +the Southern pickets were driven to shelter. While the whole Southern +army sought protection from the deluge, the Army of the Potomac, still a +hundred thousand strong, and carrying all its guns, marched in perfect +order over the six bridges it had built, breaking the bridges down +behind it, and camping in safety on the other side. The river was +rising fast under the tremendous rain, and the Southern army could find +no fords, even though it marched far up the stream. + +Fredericksburg was won, but the two armies, resolute and defiant, +gathered themselves anew for other battles as great or greater. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A CHRISTMAS DINNER + + +After the great battle at Fredericksburg both armies seemed to suffer +somewhat from reaction. Besides, the winter deepened. There was more +snow, more icy rain, and more hovering of the temperature near the zero +mark. The vast sea of mud increased, and the swollen Rappahannock, +deep at any time, flowed between the two armies. Pickets often faced +one another across the stream, sometimes firing, but oftener exchanging +the news, when the river was not too wide for the shouted voice to reach. + +Harry, despite his belief that the North would hold out, heard now that +the hostile section had sunk into deep depression. The troops had not +been paid for six months. Desertion into the interior went on on a +great scale. One commander-in-chief after another had failed. After +Antietam it had seemed that success could be won, but the South had come +back stronger than ever and had won Fredericksburg, inflicting appalling +loss upon the North. Yet he heard that Lincoln never flinched. The +tall, gaunt, ugly man, telling his homely jokes, had more courage than +anybody who had yet led the Union cause. + +Harry often went down to Fredericksburg, where some houses still stood +among the icy ruins. A few families had returned, but as the town was +still practically under the guns of the Northern army, it was left +chiefly to the troops. + +The Invincibles were stationed here, and Harry and Dalton got leave to +spend Christmas day with its officers. Nothing could bring more fully +home to him the appalling waste and ruin of war than the sight of +Fredericksburg. Mud, ice and snow were deeper than ever in the streets. +Many of the houses had been demolished by cannon balls and fire, and +only fragments of them lay about the ground. Others had been wrecked +but partially, with holes in the roofs and the windows shot out. +The white pillars in front of colonnaded mansions had been shattered and +the fallen columns lay in the icy slough. Long icicles hung from the +burned portions of upper floors that still stood. + +Used to war's ruin as he had become, Harry's eyes filled with tears at +the sight. It seemed a city dead, but not yet buried. But on Christmas +day his friends and he resolutely dismissed gloom, and, first making a +brave pretence, finally succeeded in having real cheerfulness in a fine +old brick house which had been pretty well shot up, but which had some +sound rooms remaining. Its owner had sent word that, while he could not +yet come back to it with his family, he would be glad if the Southern +army would make use of it in his absence. + +It was in this house that the little colony of friends gathered, +everyone bringing to the dinner what he could. Colonel Leonidas Talbot +and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire occupied the great sitting +room on the ground floor, and here the dinner would be spread, as a part +of the dining-room had been shot away and was still wet from snow and +rain. + +But the sitting room gladdened the eye. A heavy imported carpet covered +the central portion of the polished oaken floor. Old family portraits +lined its walls and those of the parlor adjoining it. Curtains hung +at the windows. They were more or less discolored by smoke and other +agencies, but they were curtains. All about the chamber were signs of +wealth and cultivation, and a great fire of wood was burning in a huge +chimney under a beautifully carved oaken mantelpiece. + +The room seemed to remain almost as it had been left by the owner, +save that two one-hundred-pound cannon balls, fired by the Union guns +into Fredericksburg, were lying by either side of the door. + +"Tickets, sir," said Langdon, as Harry appeared at the door. + +Harry drew from under his cloak two boxes of sardines which he had taken +from a deserted sutler's wagon on the field of Fredericksburg. He +handed them to Langdon, who said: + +"Pass in, most welcome guest." + +Harry was the first arrival, but Dalton was next. + +"Tickets double price to all Virginia Presbyterians," said Langdon. + +"Instead of a double ticket here are two singles," said Dalton, as he +drew from under his cloak two fine dressed chickens. "Don't these take +me in?" + +"They certainly do. Go in on the jump, Dalton." + +The next arrival was Sherburne, who brought a five-pound bag of coffee. +Then came the two colonels together, one with the half of a side of +bacon, and the other with a twenty-pound bag of flour. More followed, +bringing like tickets that were perfectly good, and it seemed that all +the invited ticket holders were in, when a big black man on a big black +horse rode up and saluted Langdon respectfully. He held out a pass. + +"This pass am from Gen'ral Jackson," he said. + +"Am it?" said Langdon, looking at the pass, "Yes, it am." + +"Is you the orf'cer in command of this yere house?" asked the colored +man, his wide mouth parting in an enormous grin that showed his +magnificent white teeth. + +"For the present I am, Sir Knight of the Dark but Kind Countenance. +What wouldst thou?" + +The man scratched his head and looked doubtfully at Langdon. + +"Guess you're asking me some kind of a question, sah?" + +"I am. Who art thou? Whence comest thou, Sir Knight of Nubia? Bearest +thou upon thy person some written token, or, as you would say in your +common parlance, what's your business?" + +"Oh, I see, sah. Yes, sah, I done got a lettah from Mr. Theophilus +Moncrieffe. That's the owner of this house, and I belong to him. +I'se Caesar Moncrieffe. Here's the lettah, sah." + +He handed a folded paper to Harry, who opened and read it. It was +addressed to the chief of whatever officers might be occupying his house, +and it ran thus, somewhat in the old-fashioned way: + + +SIRS AND GENTLEMEN: + +The bearer of this is Caesar Moncrieffe. He and his ancestors have been +servants of my family and my ancestors in the State of Virginia for +more than two hundred years. He is a good man, as were his father and +grandfather before him. He will not steal unless he should think it +for his benefit or yours. He will not lie unless convinced of its +necessity. He will work if you make him. + +All of his impulses are good, and though he will strenuously deny it at +first, he is about the best cook in the world. Knowing the scarcity of +nutritious food in the army, I have therefore sent him to you with what +I could gather together, in order that he might cook you a dinner worthy +of Christmas. Put him to work, and if he disobeys, shuffles or evades +in any manner, hit him over the head with anything that you can find +hard enough or heavy enough to make an impression. + +Wishing the Army of Northern Virginia the continued and brilliant +success that has attended it heretofore, + + I remain, + Your most obedient servant, + THEOPHILUS MONCRIEFFE. + + +"Ah, Sir Knight of the Dark but not Rueful Countenance, thou art doubly +welcome!" said Happy Tom, now thrice-happy Tom. "It is a stout and +goodly horse from which thou hast dismounted, and I see that he yet +carries on his back something besides the saddle. But let me first +speak to my Lord Talbot, our real commander, who is within." + +Caesar did not wholly understand, but he saw that Langdon meant well, +and he grinned. Happy Tom rushed toward Colonel Talbot, who stood +before the fire with Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. + +"Colonel Talbot! Colonel Talbot, sir!" he exclaimed. + +"What is it, Thomas, my lad? You appear to be excited, and that is not +seemly in a soldier of your experience." + +"But, Colonel, this isn't a battle. Of course, I wouldn't let myself be +stirred up by the Yankees, but it's a dinner, Colonel! It's a Christmas +dinner, and it bears all the signs of being as fine as any we ever ate +in the old times of peace!" + +"Thomas, my lad, I regret it, but I must say that you are talking in +a much more light-headed way than usual. All that we had we brought +with us, and your young brother officers, who I must say excel you in +industry, are now assembling it." + +"But, Colonel, there's a big black fellow outside. He's just come in +with a loaded horse, belonging to the owner of this house, and he's +brought a letter with him. Read it, sir." + +Colonel Talbot gravely read the letter and passed it to +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, who read it with equal gravity. + +"Sounds well, eh, Hector?" Colonel Talbot said. + +"Most excellent, Leonidas." + +They went to the door with Happy Tom, and again Caesar saluted +respectfully. + +"You are welcome, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot. "I am commander here. +What has your kind master sent us?" + +Caesar bowed low before the two colonels and then proceeded to unload +his horse. The young officers had come crowding to the door, but Happy +Tom received the first package, which was wrapped in sacking. + +"An old Virginia ham, nut-fed and sugar-cured!" he exclaimed. "Yes, +it's real! By all the stars and the sun and the moon, too, it's real, +because I'm pinching it! I thought I'd never see another such ham +again!" + +"And here's a dressed turkey, a twenty-pounder at least!" said Harry. +"Ah, you noble bird! What better fate could you find than a tomb in the +stomachs of brave Confederate soldiers!" + +"And another turkey!" said Dalton. + +"And a bag of nuts!" said Sherburne. + +"And, as I live, two bottles of claret!" said St. Claire. + +"And a big black cake!" said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"And a great bunch of holly!" said Colonel Talbot, in whose eye, usually +so warlike, a large tear stood. + +"Dat," said Caesar, "was sent by little Miss Julia Moncrieffe, just nine +years old. She wished she had a bunch for every soldier in the army, +an' she sent her lub to all uv 'em." + +"God bless little Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine," said Colonel Talbot, +much moved. + +"God bless her, so say we all of us," the others added together. + +"And now, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot, "put your horse in the part of +the stable that remains. I noticed some hay there which you can give to +him. Then come to the kitchen. Mr. Moncrieffe, whose name be praised, +says that you're the best cook since those employed by Lucullus. +It's great praise, Caesar, but in my opinion it's none too great." + +Caesar, highly flattered, led his horse to the stable, and the approving +looks of the youths followed him. + +"Sometimes I've had my doubts about Santa Claus" said Happy Tom. + +"So have I," said St. Clair, "but like you I have them no longer." + +"And there's a curious thing about this restoration of our belief in +Santa Claus," said Dalton. + +"Since we see him in person we all observe the fact," said Harry. + +"That he is a very large man." + +"Six feet two at the very least." + +"Weight about two twenty, and all of it bone and muscle." + +"And he is coal black." + +"So black that even on a dark night he would seem to be clothed around +with light." + +"Why did it never occur to anybody before that Santa Claus was a very +black, black man?" + +"Because we are the first who have ever seen him in the flesh." + +Caesar stabled his horse, went to the kitchen, where he lighted a +fire in the big stove, and fell to work with a will and a wonderful +light-handed dexterity that justified Mr. Moncrieffe's praise of him. +The younger officers helped in turn, but in the kitchen they willingly +allowed to Caesar his rightful position as lord and master. + +Delicious aromas arose. The luxury of the present was brightened by the +contrast with the hardships and hunger of two years. More than twenty +officers were present, and by putting together three smaller tables they +made a long one that ran full length down the center of the sitting-room. + +"We'll save a portion of what we have for friends not so fortunate," +said Colonel Talbot. + +"You have always had a generous heart, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"We have much for others and much for ourselves. But many of our +friends and many thousands of the brave Southern youth have gone, +Hector. However, we will not speak of that to-day, and we will try +not to think of it, as we are here to celebrate this festival with the +gallant lads who are still living." + +Caesar proved to be all that his master had promised and all that they +had hoped. No better Christmas dinner was eaten that day in the whole +United States. Invincible youth was around the board, and the two +colonels lent dignity to the gathering, without detracting from its good +cheer. + +The table had been set late, and soon the winter twilight was +approaching. As they took another slice of ham they heard the boom of a +cannon on the far side of the Rappahannock. Harry went to the window +and saw the white smoke rising from a point about three miles away. + +"They can't be firing on us, can they, sir?" he said to Colonel Talbot. +"They wouldn't do it on a day like this." + +"No. There are two reasons. We're so far apart that it would be a +waste of good powder and steel, and they would not violate Christmas in +that manner. We and the Yankees have become too good friends for such +outrageous conduct. If I may risk a surmise, I think it is merely a +Christmas greeting." + +"I think so, too, sir. Listen, there goes a cannon on our side." + +"It will be answered in a few moments. The favorite Biblical numbers +are seven and twelve, and I take it that each side will fire either +seven or twelve shots. It is certainly a graceful compliment from the +Yankees, befitting the season. I should not have said a year ago that +they would show so much delicacy and perception." + +"I think that the number of shots on each side will be twelve," said +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. "It's three apiece now, isn't it?" + +"Yes, three apiece," said Colonel Talbot. + +"Four now," said Sherburne. + +"Five now," said Dalton. + +"Six now," said St. Clair. + +"Seven now," said Harry. + +"Eight now," said Happy Tom. + +"And seven has been passed," said Colonel Talbot. "It will surely be +twelve." + +All were silent now, counting under their breath, and they felt a +certain extraordinary solemnity as they counted. Harry knew that both +armies, far up and down the river, were counting those shots, as the +little group in the Moncrieffe house were counting them. Certainly +there would be no hostilities on that day. + +"Nine," they said under their breath. + +"Ten!" + +"Eleven!" + +"Twelve!" + +Then they listened, as the echo of the twelfth Southern shot died away +on the stream, and no sound came after it. Twenty-four shots had been +fired, twelve by each army, conveying Christmas good wishes, and the +group in the house went back to their dinner. Some glasses had been +found, and there was a thimbleful of wine, enough for everyone. The +black cake was cut, and at a word from Colonel Talbot all rose and drank +a toast to the mothers and wives and sweethearts and sisters they had +left behind them. + +Then the twilight thickened rapidly and the winter night came down upon +them, hiding the ruined town, the blackened walls, the muddy streets and +the icicles hanging from scorched timbers. + +Caesar Moncrieffe washed all the dishes--those left in the house had +been sufficient for their purpose--wiped them carefully, and returned +them to the cupboard. Then he announced that he must go. + +"Come now, Santa Claus," said Happy Tom, "you must stay here. You've +done enough for one day. In fact, I should say that you've earned a +week's rest." + +"I ain't no Santy Claus," said Caesar, "but I done got to git back to +Massa Moncrieffe. He'll be expectin' me." + +"But you'll get lost in the dark. Besides, some Yankee scout may shoot +the top of your head off." + +"You can't lose me anywhar' roun' here. 'Sides, I kin dodge them +Yankees every time. On a dark night like this I could go right up the +gullies and through the biggest army in the world without its seein' me." + +Caesar felt that he was bound to go, and all the officers in turn shook +his big rough black hand. Then they saw him ride away in the darkness, +armed with his pass from General Jackson, and on the lookout for any +prowling Yankees who might have ventured on the right bank of the river. + +"Isn't it odd, Colonel," said Harry to Colonel Talbot, "that so many of +our colored people regard the Yankees who are trying now to free them as +enemies, while they look upon us as their best friends?" + +"Propinquity and association, Harry," replied Colonel Talbot, "and in +the border states, at least, we have seldom been cruel to them. I +hope there has been little of cruelty, too, in my own South Carolina. +They are used to our ways, and they turn to us for the help that is +seldom refused. The Northerner will always be a stranger to them, +and an unsympathetic stranger, because there is no personal contact, +none of that 'give and take' which makes men friends." + +"What a pity we didn't free 'em ourselves long ago!" + +"Yes, it is. I say this to you in confidence now, Harry. Of course, +I would be denounced by our people if I said it. But many of our famous +men, Harry, have not approved of it. The great Washington said slavery, +with its shiftless methods of farming, was draining the life out of the +land, and he was right. Haven't we seen the 'old fields' of Virginia?" + +"And Clay was against it, too," said Harry; "but I suppose it's one of +the things we're now fighting for, unless we should choose to liberate +them ourselves after defeating the North." + +"I suppose so," said Colonel Talbot, "but I am no politician or +statesman. My trade unfits me for such matters. I am a West Pointer--a +proud and glorious fact I consider it, too--but the life of a regular +army officer makes him a man set apart. He is not really in touch with +the nation. He cannot be, because he has so little personal contact +with it. For that reason West Pointers should never aspire to public +office. It does not suit them, and they seldom succeed in it. But here, +I'm becoming a prosy old bore. Come into the house, lad. The boys are +growing sentimental. Listen to their song. It's the same, isn't it, +that some of our bands played at Bull Run?" + +"Yes, sir, it is," replied Harry, as he joined the others in the song: + + "The hour was sad, I left the maid + A lingering farewell taking, + Her sighs and tears my steps delayed + I thought her heart was breaking. + + "In hurried words her name I blessed, + I breathed the vows that bind me, + And to my heart in anguish pressed + The girl I left behind me." + +Most all the officers had leave for the full day. Harry and Dalton in +fact were to stay overnight at the house, and, forgetful of the war, +they sang one song after another as the evening waned. At nine o'clock +all the guests left save Harry and Dalton. + +"You and Langdon will show them to their bedrooms," said Colonel Talbot. +"Take the candle. The rest of us can sit here by the firelight." + +There was but a single candle, and it was already burning low, but Happy +Tom and Arthur, shielding it from draughts, led the way to the second +floor. + +"Most of the houses were demolished by cannon shot and fire," said +Langdon, "but we've a habitable room which we reserve for guests of high +degree. You will note here where a cannon shot, the result of plunging +fire, came slantingly through the roof and passed out at the wall on the +other side. You need not get under that hole if it should rain or snow, +and meanwhile it serves splendidly for ventilation. The rip in the wall +serves the same purpose, and, of course, you have too much sense to fall +through it. Some blankets are spread there in the corner, and as you +have your heavy cloaks with you, you ought to make out. Sorry we can't +treat you any better, Sir Harry of Kentucky and Sir George of Virginia, +but these be distressful times, and the best the castle affords is put +at your service." + +"And I suspect that it's really the best," said Harry to Dalton, as +St. Clair and Langdon went out. "There's straw under these blankets, +George, and we've got a real bed." + +The moonlight shone through two windows and the cannon-shot hole, +and it was bright in the room. + +"Here's a little bureau by the wall," said Dalton, "and as I intend +to enjoy the luxury of undressing, I'm going to put my clothes in it, +where they'll keep dry. You'll notice that all the panes have been shot +out of those windows, and a driving rain would sweep all the way across +the room." + +"Now and then a good idea springs up in some way in that old head of +yours, George. I'll do the same." + +Dalton opened the top drawer. + +"Something has been left here," he said. + +He held up a large doll with blue eyes and yellow hair. + +"As sure as we're living," said Harry, "we're in the room of little +Miss Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine, the young lady who sent us the holly. +Evidently they took away all their clothing and lighter articles of +furniture, but they forgot the doll. Put it back, George. They'll +return to Fredericksburg some day and we want her to find it there." + +"You're right, Harry," said Dalton, as he replaced the doll and closed +the drawer. "You and I ought to be grateful to that little girl whom we +may never see." + +"We won't forget," said Harry, as he undressed rapidly and lay down upon +their luxurious bed of blankets and straw. + +Neither of them remembered anything until they were dragged into the +middle of the room next morning by St. Clair and Langdon. + +"Here! here! wake up! wake up!" cried Langdon. "It's not polite to your +hosts to be snoring away when breakfast is almost ready. Go down on a +piece of the back porch that's left, and you'll find two pans of cold +water in which you can wash your faces. It's true the pans are frozen +over, but you can break the ice, and it will remind you of home and your +little boyhood." + +They sprang up and dressed as rapidly as they could, because when they +came from the covers they found it icy cold in the room. Then they ran +down, as they had been directed, broke the ice in the pans and bathed +their faces. + +"Fine air," said Harry. + +"Yes, but too much of it," said Dalton. + +"Br-h-h-h-h, how it freezes me! Look at the icicles, George! I think +some new ones came to town last night! And what a cold river! I don't +believe there was ever a colder-looking river than the Rappahannock!" + +"And see the fogs and mists rising from it, too. It looks exactly as it +did the morning of the battle." + +"Let it look as it pleases," said Harry. "I'm going to make a dash for +the inside and a fire!" + +They found the colonels and the rest of the staff in the sitting-room, +all except two, who were acting as cooks, but their work ceased in a +moment or two, as breakfast was ready. It consisted of coffee and bread +and ham left over from the night before. A heap of timber glowed in +the fireplace and shot forth ruddy flames. Harry's soul fairly warmed +within him. + +"Sit down, all of you," said Colonel Talbot, "and we'll help one +another." + +They ate with the appetite of the soldier, and Colonel Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, finishing first, withdrew to a wide +window seat. There they produced the board and box of chessmen and +proceeded to rearrange them exactly as they were before the battle of +Fredericksburg. + +"You will recall that your king was in great danger, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"Truly I do, Hector, but I do not think it beyond my power to rescue +him." + +"It will be a hard task, Leonidas." + +"Hector, I would have you to remember that I am an officer in the Army +of Northern Virginia, and the Army of Northern Virginia prefers hard +tasks to easy ones." + +"You put the truth happily, Leonidas, but I must insist that your +position is one of uncommon danger." + +"I recognize the fact fully, Hector, but I assert firmly that I will +rescue my red king." + +Harry, his part of the work finished, watched them. The two gray +heads bent lower and lower over the table until they almost touched. +Everybody maintained a respectful silence. Colonel Talbot's brow was +corded deeply with thought. It was a full quarter of an hour before +he made a move, and then his opponent looked surprised. + +"That does not seem to be your right move, Leonidas." + +"But it is, Hector, as you will see presently." + +"Very well. I will now choose my own course." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire's own brow became corded and knotted as +he put his whole mental energy upon the problem. Harry watched them +a little while, and then strolled over to the other window, where +St. Clair was looking at the ruined town. + +"Curious how people can find entertainment in so slow a game," he said, +nodding toward the two colonels. + +"That same game has been going on for more than a year," said St. Clair, +with a slight smile. "It's odd how something always breaks it up. +I wonder what it will be this time. But it's an intelligent game, +Harry." + +"I don't think a sport is intellectual, merely because it is slow." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire made a move, Colonel Leonidas Talbot made +another, and then promptly uttered a little cry of triumph. + +"My king is free! He is free! You made no royal capture, Hector!" +he exclaimed joyously. + +"It is so, Leonidas. I did not foresee your path of retreat. I must +enter upon a new campaign against you." + +Harry, who was looking toward the heights on the other side of the river, +saw a flash of flame and a puff of smoke. A rumbling noise came to him. + +"What is it, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"A Yankee cannon. I suppose it was telling us Christmas is over. +The ball struck somewhere in Fredericksburg." + +"A waste of good ammunition. Why, they've done all the damage to +Fredericksburg that they can do. It's your move, Hector." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire corded and knotted his brow again, +and once more the two heads nearly met over the chessboard. A whistling +sound suddenly came from the street without. Something struck with a +terrible impact, and then followed a blinding flash and roar. The whole +house shook and several of the men were thrown down, but in a half +minute they sprang to their feet. + +Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire were +standing erect, staring at each other. The chessmen were scattered on +the floor and the board was split in half. A fragment of the exploding +shell had entered the window and passing directly between them had done +the damage. The same piece had gone entirely through the opposite wall. + +Harry's quick glance told him that nothing had suffered except the +chessboard. He sprang forward, picked up the two halves, and said: + +"No real harm has been done. Two strips underneath, a few tacks, +and it's as good again as ever." + +The other lads carefully gathered up the scattered chessmen and +announced that not one of them was injured. + +"Thank you, boys," said Colonel Talbot. "It is a pleasing thing to see +that, despite the war, the young still show courtesy to their elders. +You will bear in mind, Hector, when this game is resumed at a proper +time and place, that the position of one of your knights was very +delicate." + +"Assuredly I will not forget it, Leonidas. It will be no trouble to +either of us to replace them exactly as they were at a moment's notice." + +Harry and Dalton were compelled now to return to General Jackson, +and they did so, after leaving many thanks with their generous hosts. +Heavy winter rains began. The country on both sides of the Rappahannock +became a vast sea of mud, and the soldiers had to struggle against all +the elements, because the rains were icy and the mud formed a crust +through which they broke in the morning. + +While they lingered here news came of the great battle in the West, +fought on the last day of the old year and the first day of the new, +along the banks of Stone River. Harry and his comrades looked for +a triumph there like that which they had won, and they were deeply +disappointed when they heard the result. + +Harry had a copy of a Richmond paper and he was reading from it to an +attentive circle, but he stopped to comment: + +"Ours was the smaller army, but we drove them back and held a part of +the field. Two or three days later we withdrew to Chattanooga. Well, +I don't call it much of a victory to thump your enemy and then go away, +leaving him in possession of the field." + +"But the enemy was a third more numerous than we were," said Happy Tom, +"and since it looks like a draw, so far as the fighting was concerned, +we, being the smaller, get the honors." + +"That's just the trouble," said Dalton gravely. "We are loaded down +with honors. Look at the great victories we've won in the East! +Has anything solid come of them? Here is the enemy on Virginia soil, +just as he was before. We've given the Army of the Potomac a terrible +thrashing at Fredericksburg, but there it is on the other side of the +Rappahannock, just as strong as ever, and maybe stronger, because they +say recruits are pouring into it." + +"Stop! Stop, Dalton!" said Happy Tom. "We don't want any lecture from +you. We're just having a conversation." + +"All right," said Dalton, laughing, "but I gave you my opinion." + +Days of comparative idleness followed. The Army of the Potomac moved +farther up the river and settled itself around the village of Falmouth. +The Army of Northern Virginia faced it, and along the hillsides the +young Southern soldiers erected sign posts, on the boards of which were +painted, in letters large enough for the Union glasses to see, the +derisive words: + + THIS WAY TO RICHMOND + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JEB STUART'S BALL + + +But Hooker, the new Northern commander, did not yet move. The chief +cause was mud. The winter having been very cold in the first half, +was very rainy in the second half. The numerous brooks and creeks and +smaller rivers remained flooded beyond their banks, and the Rappahannock +flowed a swollen and mighty stream. Ponds and little lakes stood +everywhere. Roads had been destroyed by the marching of mighty masses +and the rolling of thousands of heavy wheels. Horses often sank nearly +to the knee when they trod new paths through the muddy fields. There +was mud, mud everywhere. + +Hooker, moreover, was confronted by a long line of earthworks and other +intrenchments, extending for twenty miles along the Rappahannock, +and defended by the victors of Fredericksburg. After that disastrous +day the Northern masses at home were not so eager for a battle. The +country realized that it was not well to rush a foe, led by men like +Lee and Jackson. + +But Hooker was a brave and confident man. The North, always ready, +was sending forward fresh troops, and when he crossed the Rappahannock, +as he intended to do, he would have more men and more guns than Burnside +had led when he attacked the blazing heights of Fredericksburg. Lincoln +and Stanton, warned too by the great disasters through their attempts to +manage armies in the field from the Capitol, were giving Hooker a freer +hand. + +On the other hand, the Confederate president and his cabinet suddenly +curtailed Lee's plans. A fourth of his veterans under Longstreet were +drawn off to meet a flank attack of other Northern forces which seemed +to be threatened upon Richmond. Lee was left with only sixty thousand +men to face Hooker's growing odds. + +It was not any wonder that the spirits of the Southern lads sank +somewhat. Harry realized more fully every day that it was not +sufficient for them merely to defeat the Northern armies. They must +destroy them. The immense patriotism of those who fought for the Union +always filled up their depleted ranks and more, and they were getting +better generals all the time. Hancock and Reynolds and many another +were rising to fame in the east. + +The Invincibles were posted nearly opposite Falmouth, and Harry had many +chances to see them. On his second visit the chessboard was mended so +perfectly that the split was not visible, and the two colonels sat down +to finish their game. Fifteen minutes later a dispatch from General +Jackson to Colonel Leonidas Talbot arrived, telling him to leave at once +by the railway in the Confederate rear for Richmond. President Davis +wished detailed information from him about the fortifications along the +coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina, which were now heavily +threatened by the enemy. + +The two colonels had not made a move, but Colonel Leonidas Talbot rose, +buttoned every button of his neat tunic, and said in precise tones: + +"Hector, I depart in a half hour. You will, of course, have command +of the regiment in my absence, and if any young lieutenants should be +exceedingly obstreperous in the course of that time, perhaps I can prove +to them that they are not as old as they think they are." + +The colonel's severity of tone was belied by a faint twinkle in the +corner of his eye, and the lads knew that they had nothing to fear, +especially as Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire was quite as stern and +able a guardian as Colonel Talbot. + +Colonel Talbot departed, good wishes following him in a shower, and that +day a young officer arrived from South Carolina and took a place in the +Invincibles that had been made vacant by death. + +Harry was still with his friends when this officer arrived, and the tall, +slender figure and dark face of the man seemed familiar to him. A +little thought recalled where he had first seen that eager gesture and +the manner so intense that it betrayed an excessive enthusiasm. But +when Harry did remember him he remembered him well. + +"How do you do, Captain Bertrand?" he said--the man wore the uniform of +a captain. + +Bertrand stared at Harry, and then he gradually remembered. It was +not strange that he was puzzled at first, as in the two years that +had passed since Bertrand was in Colonel Kenton's house at Pendleton, +Harry had grown much larger and more powerful, and was deeply tanned by +all kinds of weather. But when he did recall him his greeting was full +of warmth. + +"Ah, now I know!" he exclaimed. "It is Harry Kenton, the son of Colonel +George Kenton! And we held that meeting at your father's house on the +eve of the war! And then we went up to Frankfort, and we did not take +Kentucky out of the Union." + +"No, we didn't," said Harry with a laugh. "Captain Bertrand, Lieutenant +St. Clair and Lieutenant Langdon." + +But Bertrand had known them both in Charleston, and he shook their hands +with zeal and warmth, showing what Harry thought--as he had thought the +first time he saw him--an excess of manner. + +"We've a fine big dry place under this tree," said St. Clair. "Let's +sit down and talk. You're the new Captain in our regiment, are you not?" + +"Yes," replied Bertrand. "I've just come from Richmond, where I met my +chief, that valiant man, Colonel Leonidas Talbot. I have been serving +mostly on the coast of the Carolinas, and when I asked to be sent to the +larger theater of war they very naturally assigned me to one of my own +home regiments. Alas! there is plenty of room for me and many more in +the ranks of the Invincibles." + +"We have been well shot up, that's true," said Langdon, whom nothing +could depress more than a minute, "but we've put more than a million +Yankees out of the running." + +"How are your Knights of the Golden Circle getting on?" asked Harry. + +Bertrand flushed a little, despite his swarthiness. + +"Not very well, I fear," he replied. "It has taken us longer to conquer +the Yankees than we thought." + +"I don't see that we've begun to conquer them as a people or a section," +said St. Clair, who was always frank and direct. "We've won big +victories, but just look and you'll see 'em across the river there, +stronger and more numerous than ever, and that, too, on the heels of the +big defeat they sustained at Fredericksburg. And, if you'll pardon me, +Captain, I don't believe much in the great slave empire that the Knights +of the Golden Circle planned." + +Bertrand's black eyes flashed. + +"And why not?" he asked sharply. + +"To take Cuba and Mexico would mean other wars, and if we took them we'd +have other kinds of people whom we'd have to hold in check with arms. +A fine mess we'd make of it, and we haven't any right to jump on Cuba +and Mexico, anyway. I've got a far better plan." + +"And what is that?" asked Bertrand, with an increasing sharpness of +manner. + +"The North means to free our slaves. We'll defeat the North and show to +her that she can't. Then we'll free 'em ourselves." + +"Free them ourselves!" exclaimed Bertrand. "What are we fighting for +but the right to hold our own property?" + +"I didn't understand it exactly that way. It seems to me that we went +to war to defend the right of a state to go out of the Union when it +pleases." + +"I tell you, this war is being fought to establish our title to our own." + +"It's all right, so we fight well," said Harry, who saw Bertrand's +rising color and who believed him to be tinged with fanaticism; "it's +all that can be asked of us. After Happy Tom sleeps in the White House +with his boots on, as he says he's going to do, we can decide, each +according to his own taste, what he was fighting for." + +"I've known all the time what was in my mind," said Bertrand +emphatically. "Of course, the extension of the new republic toward +the north will be cut off by the Yankees. Then its expansion must be +southward, and that means in time the absorption of Mexico, all the +West Indies, and probably Central America." + +St. Clair was about to retort, but Harry gave him a warning look and he +contented himself with rolling into a little easier position. Harry +foresaw that these two South Carolinians would not be friends, and in +any event he hated fruitless political discussions. + +Bertrand excused himself presently and went away. + +"Arthur," said Harry, "I wouldn't argue with him. He's a captain in the +Invincibles now, and you're a lieutenant. It's in his power to make +trouble for you." + +"You're not appealing to any emotion in me that might bear the name of +fear, are you, Harry?" + +"You know I'm not. Why argue with a man who has fire on the brain? +Although he's older than you, Arthur, he hasn't got as good a rein on +his temper." + +"You can't resist flattery like that, can you, Arthur? I know I +couldn't," said Happy Tom, grinning his genial grin. + +St. Clair's face relaxed. + +"You're right, fellows," he said. "We oughtn't to be quarreling among +ourselves when there are so many Yankees to fight." + +Mail forwarded from Richmond was distributed in the camp the next day +and Harry was in the multitude gathered about the officers distributing +it. The delivery of the mail was always a stirring event in either army, +and as the war rolled on it steadily increased in importance. + +There were men in this very group who had not heard from home since they +left it two years before, and there were letters for men who would never +receive them. The letters were being given out at various points, +but where Harry stood a major was calling them in a loud, clear voice. + +"John Escombe, Field's brigade." + +Escombe, deeply tanned and twenty-two, ran forward and received a thick +letter addressed in a woman's handwriting, that of his mother, and, +amid cheering at his luck, disappeared in the crowd. + +"Thomas Anderson, Gregg's brigade. Girl's handwriting, too. Lucky boy, +Tom." + +"Hey, Tom, open it and show it to us! Maybe her picture's inside it! +I'll bet she's got red hair!" + +But Tom fled, blushing, and opened his letter when he was at a safe +distance. + +"Carlton Ives, Thomas' brigade." + +"In hospital, Major, but I'll take the letter to him. He's in my +company." + +"Stephen Brayton, Lane's brigade." + +There was a silence for a moment, and then some one said: + +"Dead, at Antietam, sir." + +The major put the letter on one side, and called: + +"Thomas Langdon, the Invincibles." + +Langdon darted forward and seized his letter. + +"It's from my father," he said as he glanced at the superscription, +although it was half hidden from him by a mist that suddenly appeared +before his eyes. + +"Here, Tom, stand behind us and read it," said Harry, who was waiting in +an anxiety that was positively painful for a letter to himself. + +"Henry Lawton, Pender's brigade," called the major. "This is from a +girl, too, and there is a photograph inside. I can feel it. Wish I +could get such a letter myself, Henry." + +Lawton, his letter in his hand, retreated rapidly amid envious cheers. + +"Charles Carson, Lane's brigade." + +"Dead at Fredericksburg, sir; I helped to bury him." + +"Thomas Carstairs, Field's brigade." + +"Killed at the Second Manassas, sir." + +"Richard Graves, Archer's brigade." + +"Died in hospital after Antietam, sir." + +"David Moulton, Field's brigade." + +"Killed nearly a year ago, in the valley, sir." + +"William Fitzpatrick, Lane's brigade." + +"Taken prisoner at Antietam. Not yet exchanged, sir." + +"Herbert Jones, Pender's brigade." + +"Killed at South Mountain, sir." + +Harry felt a little shiver. The list of those who would never receive +their letters was growing too long. But this delivery of the mail +seemed to run in streaks. Presently it found a streak of the living. +It was a great mail that came that day, the largest the army had yet +received, but the crowd, hungry for a word from home, did not seem to +diminish. The ring continually pressed a little closer. + +St. Clair received two letters, and, a long while afterwards, there was +one for Dalton, who, however, had not been so long a time without news, +as the battlefield was his own state, Virginia. Harry watched them with +an envy that he tried to keep down, and after a while he saw that the +heap of letters was becoming very small. + +His anxiety became so painful that it was hard to bear. He knew that +his father had been in the thick of the great battle at Stone River, +but not a word from him or about him had ever come. No news in this +case was bad news. If he were alive he would certainly write, and there +was Confederate communication between Eastern Tennessee and Northern +Virginia. + +It was thus with a sinking heart that he watched the diminishing heap. +Many of the disappointed ones had already gone away, hopeless, and Harry +felt like following them, but the major picked up a thick letter in a +coarse brown envelope and called: + +"Lieutenant Henry Kenton, staff of Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan +Jackson." + +Harry sprang forward and seized his letter. Then he found a place +behind a big tree, where St. Clair, Langdon and Dalton were reading +theirs, and opened it. He had already seen that the address was in his +father's handwriting and he believed that he was alive. The letter +must have been written after the battle of Stone River or it would have +arrived earlier. He took a hurried glance at the date and saw that it +was near the close of January, at least three weeks after the battle. +Then all apprehension was gone. + +It was a long letter, dated from headquarters near Chattanooga, +Tennessee. Colonel Kenton had just heard of the battle of Fredericksburg +and he was rejoicing in the glorious victory. He hoped and believed +that his son had passed through it safely. The Southern army had not +been so successful in the west as in the east, but he believed that they +had met tougher antagonists there, the men of the west and northwest, +used to all kinds of hardships, and, alas! their own Kentuckians. +At both Perryville and Stone River they had routed the antagonists +who met them first, but they had been stopped by their own brethren. + +Harry smiled and murmured to himself: + +"You can never put down dad's state pride. With him the Kentuckians are +always first." + +He had a good deal of this state pride himself, although in a less +accentuated form, and, after the momentary thought, he went on. The +colonel was looking for a letter from his son--Harry had written twice +since Fredericksburg, and he knew now that the letters would arrive +safely. He himself had been wounded slightly in a skirmish just after +Stone River, but he was now entirely well. The Southern forces were +gathering and General Bragg would have a great army with which they +were confident of winning a victory like that of the Second Manassas or +Fredericksburg. He was glad that his son was on the staff of so great a +genius as General Jackson and that he was also under the command of that +other great genius, Lee. + +Harry stopped reading for a moment or two and smiled with satisfaction. +The impression that Lee and Jackson had made upon the South was as +great in the west as in the east. The hero-worship which the fiery and +impressionable South gives in such unstinted measure to these two men +had begun already. Harry was glad that his father recognized the great +Virginians so fully, men who allied with genius temperate and lofty +lives. + +He resumed his reading, but the remainder of the letter was occupied +with personal details. The colonel closed with some good advice to his +son about caring for himself on the march and in camp, drawn from his +own experience both in the Mexican war and the present strife. + +Harry read his letter three times. Then he folded it carefully and put +it in an inside pocket of his tunic. + +"Is it good news, Harry?" asked Happy Tom, who had already finished with +his own letter. + +"Yes, it's cheerful." + +"So's mine. I'm glad to hear that your father's all right. Mine didn't +go to the war. I wish you could meet my father, Harry. I get my +cheerful disposition and my good manners from him. When the war was +about to begin and I went over to Charleston in about the most splendid +uniform that was ever created, he said: 'You fellows will get licked +like thunder, and maybe you'll deserve it. As for you, you'll probably +get a part of your fool head shot off, but it's so thick and hard that +it will be a benefit to you to lose some of it and have the rest opened +up. But remember, Tom, whenever you do come back, no matter how many +legs and arms and portions of your head you've left behind, there'll be +a welcome in the old house for you. You're the fatted calf, but you're +sure to come back a lot leaner and maybe with more sense.'" + +"He certainly talked to you straight." + +"So he did, Harry; but those words were not nearly so rough as they +sound, because when I came away I saw tears in his eyes. Father's a +smart man, a money-maker as good as the Yankees themselves. He's got +sea island cotton in warehouses in more than one place along the coast, +and he writes me that he's already selling it to the blockade runners +for unmentionable prices in British and French gold. Harry, if your +fortunes are broken up by the war, you and your father will have to come +down and share with us." + +"Thanks for your invitation, Tom; but from what you say about your +father we'd be about as welcome as a bear in a kitchen." + +"Don't you believe it. You come." + +"Arthur, what do you hear?" asked Harry. + +"My people are well and they're sending me a lot of things. My mother +has put in the pack a brand new uniform. She sewed on the gold lace +herself. I hope the next battle won't be fought before it gets here." + +"Impossible," said Harry gravely. "General Hooker is too polite a man +to push us before Lieutenant St. Clair receives his new clothes." + +"I hope so," said St. Clair seriously. + +The new uniform, in fact, came a few days later, and as it even exceeded +its promise, St. Clair was thoroughly happy. Harry also received a +second letter from Colonel Kenton, telling of the receipt of his own, +and wishing him equally good fortune in the new battle which they in the +west heard was impending in the east. + +Harry believed they would surely close with Hooker soon. They had been +along the Rappahannock for many weeks now, and the winter of cold rain +had not yet broken up, but spring could not be far away. Meanwhile he +was drawn closer than ever to Jackson, his great commander, and was +almost constantly in his service. + +It was, perhaps, the difference in their natures that made the +hero-worship in the boy so strong. Jackson was quiet, reserved and +deeply religious. Harry was impulsive, physically restless, and now and +then talkative, as the young almost always are. Jackson's impassive +face and the few words--but always to the point--that he spoke, +impressed him. In his opinion now Stonewall Jackson could do no wrong +nor make any mistake of judgment. + +The months had not been unpleasant. The Southern army was recuperating +from great battles, and, used to farm or forest life, the soldiers +easily made shelter for themselves against the rain and mud. The +Southern pickets along the river also established good relations with +the pickets on the other side. Why not? They were of the same blood +and the same nation. There was no battle now, and what was the use of +sneaking around like an Indian, trying to kill somebody who was doing +you no harm? That was assassination, not war. + +The officers winked at this borderline friendship. A Yankee picket in +a boat near the left shore could knot a newspaper into a tight wad and +throw it to the Johnny Reb picket in another boat near the right bank, +and there were strong-armed Johnny Reb pickets who could throw a hunk +of chewing tobacco all the way to the Yankee side. Already they were +sowing the seeds of a good will which should follow a mighty war. + +Harry often went to the bank on the warmer and more sunny days and +leisurely watched the men on the other side. St. Clair, Langdon and +Dalton usually joined him, if their duties allowed. It was well into +March, a dry and warm day, when they sat on a little hillock and gazed +at four of the men in blue who were fishing from a small boat near their +shore. St. Clair was the last to join the little party, and when he +came he was greeted with a yell by the men on the left bank. One of +them put up his hands, trumpet-shaped, to his mouth and called: + +"Is that President Davis who has just joined you?" + +"No," replied Harry, using his hands in like fashion. "What makes you +think so?" + +"Because Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like him. I've got +to put my hands over my eyes to protect them from the blaze of that +uniform." + +St. Clair, who wore his new uniform, which was modelled somewhat after +the brilliant fashion of Stuart's, smiled with content. He was making a +great hit. + +"You can do all the talking, Harry," he said. + +"As I told you, he isn't President Davis," Harry called, "but he's sure, +when he's old enough, to be one of his successors." + +"Bet you a dollar, Johnny Reb, that President Davis has no successor." + +"Take you, Yank, and I'll collect that bet from you when I ride down +Pennsylvania Avenue in my Confederate uniform at the head of the Army +of Northern Virginia." + +"Oh, no, you won't; you'll pay it to me before the State House in +Richmond, with the Army of the Potomac looking on and the Stars and +Stripes waving gracefully over your head." + +"Both of you are betting on things too far off," said Langdon, who could +keep out of the conversation no longer. "I'll bet you two dollars that +not one of those four men in the boat catches a fish inside of ten +minutes." + +"In Confederate bills or in money?" was called back. + +Roars of laughter, from both sides of the Rappahannock, crossed one +another above the middle of the stream. + +"What's this?" exclaimed a sharp voice behind the four. "Conversation +with the enemy! It's against all the rules of war!" + +They looked around and saw Bertrand, his face flushed and his eyes +sparkling. Harry leaned back lazily, but St. Clair spoke up quickly. + +"We've been having conversations off and on with the enemy for two +years," he said. "We've had some mighty hot talks with bullets and +cannon balls, and some not so hot with words. Just now we were having +one of the class labelled 'not so hot.'" + +"What's the matter with you Johnnies?" was called across. "You've +broken off the talk just when it was getting interesting. Are you going +to back out on that bet? We thought you had better manners. We know +you have." + +"You're right, we have," said St. Clair, shouting across the stream, +"but we were interrupted by a man who hasn't." + +"Oh, is that so?" was called back. "If you've troubles of your own, +we won't interfere. We'll just look on." + +Bertrand was pallid with rage. + +"I'm a captain in the Invincibles, Mr. St. Clair," he said, "and you're +only a lieutenant. You'll return to your regiment at once and prepare +a written apology to me for the words that you've just used to those +Yankees." + +"Oh, no, I won't do either," drawled St. Clair purposely. "It is true +that a captain outranks a lieutenant, but you're a company commander and +I'm a staff officer. I take no orders from you." + +"Nevertheless you have insulted me, and there is another and perhaps +better way to settle it." + +He significantly touched the hilt of his sword. + +"Oh, if you mean a duel, it suits me well enough," said St. Clair, +who was an expert with the sword. + +"Early to-morrow morning in the woods back of this point?" + +"Suits me." + +"Your seconds?" + +Then Harry jumped to his feet in a mighty wrath and indignation. + +"There won't be any duel! And there won't be any seconds!" he exclaimed. + +"Why not?" asked Bertrand, his face livid. + +"Because I won't allow it." + +"How can you help it?" + +"It's a piece of thunderation foolishness! Two good Southern soldiers +trying to kill each other, when they've sworn to use all their efforts +killing Yankees. It's a breach of faith and it's silliness on its own +account. You've received the hospitality of my father's house, Captain +Bertrand, and he's helped you and been kind to you elsewhere. You owe +me enough at least to listen to me. Unless I get the promise of you two +to drop this matter, I swear I'll go straight to General Jackson and +tell all about it. He'll save you the trouble of shooting each other. +He'll have you shot together. You needn't frown, either of you. +It's not much fun breaking the rules of a Presbyterian elder who is also +one of the greatest generals the world has ever seen." + +"You're talking sound sense, Harry," said Happy Tom, an unexpected ally. +"I've several objections to this duel myself. We'll need both of these +men for the great battle with Hooker. Arthur would be sure to wear his +new uniform, and a bullet hole through it would go far toward spoiling +it. Besides, there's nothing to fight about. And if they did fight, +I'd hate to see the survivor standing up before one of Old Jack's firing +squads and then falling before it. You go to General Jackson, Harry, +and I'll go along with you, seconding every word you say. Shut up, +Arthur; if you open your mouth again I'll roll you and your new uniform +in the mud down there. You know I can do it." + +"But such conduct would be unparalleled," said Bertrand. + +"I don't care a whoop if it is," said Harry, who had been taught by his +father to look upon the duel as a wicked proceeding. "General Jackson +wouldn't tolerate such a thing, and in his command what he says is the +Ten Commandments. Isn't that so, Dalton?" + +"Undoubtedly, and you can depend upon me as a third to you and Happy +Tom." + +"Now, Captain," continued Harry soothingly, "just forget this, won't +you? Both of you are from South Carolina and you ought to be good +friends." + +"So far as I'm concerned, it's finished," said St. Clair. + +But Bertrand turned upon his heel without a word and walked away. + +"Hey, there, you Johnnies!" came a loud hail from the other side of +the river. "What's the matter with your friend who's just gone away? +I was watching with glasses, and he didn't look happy." + +"He had a nightmare and he hasn't fully recovered from it yet." + +There was a sudden tremendous burst of cheering behind them. + +"On your feet, boys!" exclaimed Happy Tom, glancing back. "Here comes +Old Jack on one of his tours of inspection." + +Jackson was riding slowly along near the edge of the river. He could +never appear without rolling cheers from the thirty thousand veteran +troops who were eager to follow wherever he led. The mighty cheering +swept back and forth in volumes, and when a lull came, one among their +friends, the Yankee pickets on the other side of the river, called at +the top of his voice: + +"Hey, Johnnies, what's the racket about?" + +"It's Stonewall Jackson!" Harry roared back, pointing to the figure on +the horse. + +Then, to the amazement of all, a sudden burst of cheering came from the +far bank of the Rappahannock, followed by the words, shouted in chorus: +"Hurrah for Stonewall Jackson! Hurrah for Jackson!" Thus did the +gallant Northern troops show their admiration for their great enemy +whose genius had defeated them so often. Some riflemen among them lying +among the bushes at the water's edge might have picked him off, but no +such thought entered the mind of anyone. + +Jackson flushed at the compliment from the foe, but rode quietly on, +until he disappeared among some woods on the left. + +"We'd better be going back to headquarters," said Harry to Dalton. +"It'll be wise for us to be there when the general arrives." + +"That's right, lazy little boys," said Happy Tom. "Wash your faces, +run to school, and be all bright and clean when teacher comes." + +"It's what we mean to do," said Harry, "and if Arthur says anything +more about this silly dueling business, send for us. We'll come back, +and we three together will pound his foolish head so hard that he won't +be able to think about anything at all for a year to come." + +"I'll behave," said St. Clair, "but you fellows look to Bertrand." + +Dalton and Harry walked to the headquarters of their general, who now +occupied what had been a hunting lodge standing in the grounds of a +large mansion. The whole place, the property of an orderly in his +service, had been offered to him, but he would only take the hunting +lodge, saying that he would not clutter up so fine and large a house. + +Now Harry and Dalton walked across the lawn, which was beginning to turn +green, and paused for a little while under the budding boughs of the +great trees. The general had not yet arrived, but the rolling cheers +never ceasing, but coming nearer, indicated that he would soon be at +hand. + +"A man must feel tremendous pride when his very appearance draws such +cheers from his men," said Harry. + +The lawn was not cut up by the feet of horses--Jackson would not allow +it. Everything about the house and grounds was in the neatest order. +Beside the hunting lodge stood a great tent, in which his staff messed. + +"Were you here the day General Jackson came to these quarters, Harry?" +asked Dalton. + +"No, I was in service at the bank of the river, carrying some message or +other. I've forgotten what it was." + +"Well, I was. We didn't know where we were going to stay, and a lady +came from the big house here down to the edge of the woods, where we +were still sitting on our horses. 'Is this General Jackson?' asked she. +'It is, madame,' he replied, lifting his hat politely. 'My husband owns +this house,' she said, pointing toward it, 'and we will feel honored and +glad if you will occupy it as your headquarters while you are here.' +He thanked her and said he'd ride forward with a cavalry orderly and +inspect the place. The rest of us waited while he and the orderly rode +into the grounds, the lady going on ahead. + +"The general wouldn't take the house. He said he didn't like to see so +fine a place trodden up by young men in muddy military boots. Besides, +he and his staff would disturb the inmates, and he didn't want that to +happen. At last he picked the hunting lodge, and as he and the orderly +rode back through the gate to the grounds, the orderly said: 'General, +do you feel wholly pleased with what you have chosen?' 'It suits me +entirely,' replied General Jackson. 'I'm going to make my headquarters +in that hunting lodge.' 'I'm very glad of that, sir, very glad indeed.' +'Why?' asked General Jackson. 'Because it's my house,' replied the +orderly, 'and my wife and I would have felt greatly disappointed if you +had gone elsewhere.'" + +"And so all this splendid place belongs to an orderly?" said Harry. + +"Funny you didn't hear that story," said Dalton. "Most of us have, +but I suppose everybody took it for granted that you knew it. As you +say, that grand place belongs to one of our orderlies. After all, +we're a citizen army, just as the great Roman armies when they were +at their greatest were citizen armies, too." + +"Ah, here comes the general now," said Harry, "and he looks embarrassed, +as he always does after so much cheering. A stranger would think from +the way he acts that he's the least conspicuous of our generals, and if +you read the reports of his victories you'd think that he had less than +anybody else to do with them." + +General Jackson, followed by an orderly, cantered up. The orderly took +the horse and the general went into the house, followed by the two young +staff officers. They knew that he was likely to plunge at once into +work, and were ready to do any service he needed. + +"I don't think I'll want you boys," said the general in his usual kindly +tone, "at least not for some time. So you can go out and enjoy the +sunshine and warmth, of which we have had so little for a long time." + +"Thank you, sir," said Harry, but he added hastily: + +"Here come some officers, sir." + +Jackson glanced through the window of the hunting lodge and caught sight +of a waving plume, just as its wearer passed through the gate. + +"That's Stuart," he said, with an attempt at severity in his tone, +although his smiling eye belied it. "I suppose I might as well defer my +work if Jeb Stuart is coming to see me. Stay with me, lads, and help me +to entertain him. You know Stuart is nothing but a joyous boy--younger +than either of you, although he is one of the greatest cavalry leaders +of modern times." + +Harry and Dalton were more than willing to remain. Everybody was always +glad when Jeb Stuart came. Now he was in his finest mood, and he and +the two staff officers with him rode at a canter. They leaped from +their horses at Jackson's door, throwing the reins over their necks and +leaving them to the orderly. Then they entered boldly, Stuart leading. +He was the only man in the whole Southern army who took liberties with +Jackson, although his liberties were always of the inoffensive kind. + +If St. Clair was gorgeous in his new clothes, he would have been pale +beside Stuart, who also had new raiment. A most magnificent feather +looped and draped about his gold-braided hat. His uniform, of the +finest cloth, was heavy with gold braid and gold epaulets, and the great +yellow silk sash about his waist supported his gold-hilted sword. + +"What new and splendid species of bird is this?" asked General Jackson, +as Stuart and his men saluted. "I have never before seen such grand +plumage." + +Stuart complacently stroked the gold braid on his left sleeve and +looked about the hunting lodge, the walls of which had been decorated +accordingly long since by its owner. + +"Splendid picture this of a race horse, General," he said, "and the one +of the trotter in action is almost as fine. Ah, sir, I knew there were +good sporting instincts in you and that they would come out in time. +I approve of it myself, but what will the members of your church say, +sir, when they hear of your moral decline?" + +Jackson actually blushed and remained silent under the chaff. + +"And here is a picture of a greyhound, and here of a terrier," continued +the bold Stuart. "Oh, General, you're not only going in for racing, +but for coursing dogs as well, and maybe fighting dogs, too! Throughout +the South all the old ladies look up to you as our highest moral +representative. What will they think when they hear of these things? +It would be worse than a great battle lost." + +"General Stuart," said Jackson, "I know more about race horses than you +think I do." + +He would add no more, but Harry had learned that, when quite a small boy, +he had ridden horses in backwoods races for a sport-loving uncle. +But Stuart continued his jests and Jackson secretly enjoyed them. +The two men were so opposite in nature that they were complements and +each liked the society of the other. + +The two lads and the staff officers went outside presently, and the two +generals were left together to talk business for a quarter of an hour. +When Stuart emerged he glanced at Harry and Dalton and beckoned to them. +When they came up he had mounted, but he leaned over, and pointing a +long finger in a buckskin glove in turn at each, he said: + +"Can you dance?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Harry. + +"And you, Sir Knight of the Sober Mien?" + +"I can try, sir," said Dalton. + +"But can you make it a good try?" + +"I can, sir." + +"That's the right spirit. Well, there's going to be a ball down at +my headquarters to-night; not a little, two-penny, half-penny affair, +but a real ball, a grand ball. The bands of the Fifth Virginia and of +the Acadians will be there to play, alternating. You're invited and +you're coming. I've already obtained leave from General Jackson for you +both. I wish the general himself would come, but he's just received a +theological book that Dr. Graham at Winchester has sent him, and he's +bound to spend most of the night on that. Put on your best uniforms and +be there just after dark." + +Harry and Dalton accepted eagerly, and Stuart, a genuine knight of old +alike in his courage and love of adornment, rode out of the grounds. + +"There goes a man who certainly loves life," said Dalton. + +"And don't you love it, and don't I love it, Mr. Philosopher and Cynic?" +said Harry. + +"So we do. But, as General Jackson said, General Stuart is a boy, +younger than either of us." + +"I hope to be the same kind of a boy when I'm his age." + +Stuart was riding on, looking about with a luminous eye, fired by +the spirit within him and the great landscape spread out before him. +It was a noble landscape, the wooded ranges stretching to right and left, +with the long sweep of rolling country between. The somber ruins of +Fredericksburg were hidden from view just then, but in front of him +flowed the great Rappahannock, still black with floods and ice yet +floating near the banks. + +Stuart drew a deep breath. It was a beautiful part of Virginia, old and +with many fine manor houses scattered about. And the people, educated, +polite, accustomed to everything, gladly sacrificed all they had for the +Confederacy in its hour of need. They had cut up their rugs and carpets +and sent them to the great camp on the Rappahannock that the soldiers +who had no blankets might use them. The cattle and poultry from the +rich farms were also sent to Lee's men. Virginia sacrificed herself for +the Confederate cause with a devotion that would have brought tears from +a stone. + +Some such thoughts as these were in the mind of Stuart as he rode toward +his own camp. There was a mist for a few moments before the eyes of the +great horseman, but as it cleared he became once more his natural self, +the gayest of the gay. He hummed joyously as he rode along, and the +refrain of his song was: "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" + +Harry and Dalton had gone back to the big mess tent and were already +arraying themselves with the utmost care for Jeb Stuart's ball. Their +clothes were in good condition now. After the long rest they had been +able to brush and furbish up their best uniforms, until they were both +neat and bright. They had no thought of rivalling St. Clair, who +undoubtedly would be there, but they were satisfied--they never expected +to rival St. Clair in that respect. But they were splendid youths, fine, +tall, upstanding, and with frank eyes and tanned faces. + +"Will many girls be there?" asked Dalton. + +"Of course. They'll come in from all the country around to be at Jeb +Stuart's ball. I wish we could invite a few of the Yankees over to see +what girls we have in Virginia." + +"That would be fine, but Hooker wouldn't let 'em, and Lee and Jackson +would certainly disapprove." + +Harry and Dalton started at twilight, and on their way they met Captain +Sherburne, who was bound for the same place. The captain was pretty +fond of good dress himself, and he, too, had a new uniform, perhaps not +so bright as St. Clair's, but fine and vivid, nevertheless. + +"Well, well," said Harry, as he greeted him heartily. "You've got a lot +of shine about you, but you just watch out for St. Clair. He's sure +to be there, and he has a new uniform straight from Charleston. He's +making the most of it, too. Now may be the time to settle that +sartorial rivalry between you." + +"All right," said Sherburne joyously. "I'm ready. Come on." + +The house, a large one standing in ample grounds, was already lighted as +brilliantly as time and circumstances afforded. It is true that most +of these lights were of home-made tallow candles, because no other +illumination was to be had, and they made a brave show to these soldiers +who were used so long only to the light of their fires and the moon and +stars. + +Before these lights people were passing and repassing, and the sounds +of pleasant voices reached their ears. But they were stopped by four +figures just emerging from the shadows. The four were Colonel Leonidas +Talbot, just returned from Richmond, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, +Lieutenant Arthur St. Clair, and Lieutenant Thomas Langdon, all arrayed +with great care and bearing themselves haughtily. Sherburne and +St. Clair cast quick glances at each other. But each remained content, +because the taste of each was gratified. + +The meeting was most friendly. Harry and Dalton were very glad to see +Colonel Talbot, whom they had missed very much, but Harry detected at +once a note of anxiety in the voice of each colonel. + +"Hector," said Colonel Talbot, "I shall certainly dance. What, go +to Jeb Stuart's ball and not dance, when the fair and bright young +womanhood of Virginia is present? And I a South Carolinian! What +would they think of my gallantry, Hector, if I did not?" + +"It is certainly fitting, Leonidas. I used to be a master myself of +all the steps, waltz and gavotte and the Virginia reel and the others. +Once, when I was only twenty, I went to New Orleans to visit my cousins, +the de Crespignys, and many of them there were, four brothers, with +seven or eight children apiece, mostly girls; and 'pon my soul, Leonidas, +for the two months I was gone I did little but dance. What else could +one do when he had about twenty girl cousins, all of dancing age? +We danced in New Orleans and we danced out on the great plantation of +Louis de Crespigny, the oldest of the brothers, and all the neighbors +for miles around danced with us. There was one of my cousins, a third +cousin only she was, Flora de Crespigny, just seventeen years of age, +but a beautiful girl, Leonidas, a most beautiful girl--they ripen fast +down there. Once at the de Crespigny plantation I danced all day and +all the night following, mostly with her. Young Gerard de Langeais, +her betrothed, was furious with jealousy, and just after the dawn, +neither of us having yet slept, we fought with swords behind the live +oaks. I was not in love with Flora and she was not in love with me, +but de Langeais thought we were, and would not listen to my claim of +kinship. + +"I received a glorious little scratch on my left side and he suffered an +equally glorious little puncture in his right arm. The seconds declared +enough. Then we fell into the arms of each other and became friends for +life. A year later I went back to New Orleans, and I was the best man +at the wedding of Gerard and Flora, one of the happiest and handsomest +pairs I ever saw, God bless 'em. Their third son, Julien, is in a +regiment in the command of Longstreet, and when I look at him I see both +his father and his mother, at whose wedding I danced again for a whole +day and night. But now, Leonidas, I fear that my knees are growing a +little stiff, and think of our age, Leonidas!" + +"Age! age! Hector Lucien Philip Etienne St. Hilaire, how dare you talk +of age! Your years are exactly the same as mine, and I can outride, +outwalk, outdance, and, if need be, make love better than any of these +young cubs who are with us. I am astonished at you, Hector! Why, +it's been only a few years since you and I were boys. We've scarcely +entered the prime of life, and we'll show 'em at Jeb Stuart's ball!" + +"That's so, Leonidas, and you do well to rebuke me," and +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire puffed out his chest--he was, in +fact, a fine figure of a man. "We'll go to Jeb Stuart's ball, as you +say, and in the presence of the Virginia fair show everybody what real +men are." + +"And we'll be glad to see you do it, Colonel," said Sherburne. + +The dancing had not yet begun, but as they entered the grounds the +Acadian band swung into the air of the Marseillaise, playing the grand +old Revolutionary tune with all the spirit and fervor with which +Frenchmen must have first played and sung it. Then it swung into +the soul-stirring march of Dixie, and a wild shout, which was partly +feminine, came from the house. + +The two colonels had walked on ahead, leaving the young officers +together. Langdon caught sight of a figure standing before an open door, +with a fire blazing in a large fireplace serving as a red background. +That background was indeed so brilliant that every external detail of +the figure could be seen. Langdon, stopping, pulled hard on the arms +of Harry and Sherburne. + +"Halt all!" he said, "and tell me if in very truth I see what I see!" + +"Go on!" said St. Clair. + +"Item No. one, a pink dress of some gauzy, filmy stuff, with ruffle +after ruffle around the skirt." + +"Correct." + +"Item No. two, a pink slipper made of silk, perchance, with the toe of +it just showing beyond the hem of the skirt." + +"You observe well, my lord." + +"Item three, a fair and slim white hand, and a round and beautiful +wrist." + +"Correct. Again thou observest well, Sir Launcelot." + +"Item four, a rosy young face which the firelight makes more rosy, +and a crown of golden hair, which this same firelight turns to deeper +gold." + +"Correct, ye Squire of Fair Ladies; and now, lead on!" + +They entered the great house and found it already filled with officers +and women, most of whom were young. The visitors had brought with them +the best supplies that the farms could furnish, turkeys, chickens, hams, +late fruits well preserved, and, above all, that hero-worship with which +they favored their champions. To these girls and their older sisters +the young officers who had taken part in so many great battles were like +the knights of old, splendid and invincible. + +There was no warning note in all that joyous scene, although a hostile +army of one hundred and thirty-five thousand men and four hundred guns +lay on the other side of the river which flowed almost at their feet. +It seemed to Harry afterward that they danced in the very face of death, +caring nothing for what the dawn might bring. + +Stuart was in great feather. In his finest apparel he was the very life +and soul of the ball, and these people forgot for a while the desolation +into which war was turning their country. The Virginia band and the +Acadians carried on an intense but friendly rivalry, playing with all +the spirit and vigor of men who were anxious to please. It was a joy to +Harry when he was not dancing to watch them, especially the Acadians, +whose faces glowed as the dancers and their own bodies swayed to the +music they were making. + +Harry and his comrades were very young, but youth matures rapidly in war, +and they felt themselves men. In truth they had done the deeds of +men for two years now, and they were treated as such by the others. +Bertrand also was present, and while he cast a dark look or two at +St. Clair, he kept away from him. + +Bye and bye another young man, obviously of French blood, appeared. +But he was not dark. He had light hair, blue eyes, and he was tall and +slender. But the pure strain of his Gallic blood showed, nevertheless, +as clearly as if he had been born in Northern France itself. +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire welcomed him with warmth and +pride and introduced him to the lads, who at that moment were not +dancing. + +"This is that young cousin of mine of whom I was speaking," he said. +"It is Julien de Langeais, son of that beautiful cousin, Flora de +Crespigny, and of that gallant and noble man, Gerard de Langeais, +with whom I fought the duel. I did not know that you would be here, +Julien, and the surprise makes the pleasure all the greater." + +"I did not know myself, sir, until an hour ago, that I could come," +replied young de Langeais, "but it is a glorious sight, sir, and I'm +truly glad to be here." + +His eyes sparkled at the sight of the dancers and his feet beat time +to the music. Harry saw that here was one who was in love with life, +a soul akin to that of Langdon, and he and his comrades liked him at +once and without reservations. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire saw how +they received him and his splendid mustaches curled up with pleasure. + +"Go with them, Julien," he said, "and they will see that you enjoy +yourself to the full. They are good boys. Meanwhile I have a dance +with that beautiful Mrs. Edgehill, and if I am not there, Leonidas, +honorable and lofty-minded as he is, but weak where the ladies are +concerned, will insert himself into my place." + +"Go, sir. Do not delay on my account," said young de Langeais. "I'm +sure that I'll fare well here." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire hurried away. Both he and Colonel Talbot +were fully maintaining their reputations as dancing men. St. Clair +and Langdon had partners, and making apologies they left to join them. +Harry and Dalton remained with de Langeais. + +"Colonel St. Hilaire said that you were with Longstreet," said Harry. + +"I am, or rather was. At least our regiment belongs with him, but when +he was detached to meet the possible march on Richmond we were left with +General Lee, and I am glad of it." + +"The great operations are sure to be where Lee and Jackson are." + +They got along so well that in another hour they felt as if they had +known de Langeais all their lives. The night lengthened. Refreshments +were served at times, but the dancers took them in relays. The dancing +in the ballroom never ceased, and Jeb Stuart nearly always led it. + +It was after midnight now and Harry and his new friend, de Langeais, +throwing their military cloaks over their shoulders, walked out on one +of the porticos for air. Many people, black and white, had gathered as +usual to watch the dancing. + +Harry glanced at them casually, and then he saw a large figure almost +behind the others. His intuition was sudden, but he had not the least +doubt of its accuracy. He merely wondered why he had not looked for the +man before. + +"Come with me a minute," he said to de Langeais, and they walked toward +the tree. But Shepard was gone, and Harry had expected that, too. +He did not intend to hunt for him any further, because he was sure not +to find him. + +The brilliant spirit of the ball suddenly departed from him, and as he +and de Langeais went back toward the house it was the stern call of war +that came again. The deep boom of a cannon rolled from a point on the +Rappahannock, and Harry was not the only one who felt the chill of its +note. The dancing stopped for a few moments. Then the gloom passed +away, and it was resumed in all its vigor. + +But Stuart came out on the porch and Harry and de Langeais halted, +because they heard the hoofs of a galloping horse. The man who came +was in the dress of a civilian, and he brought a message. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN THE WILDERNESS + + +Stuart's brilliant figure was seen no more in the ballroom that night, +but he disappeared so quietly that his absence created no alarm at +first. There was a low call for Sherburne, and the great cavalry leader +and his most daring horsemen were soon up and away. Harry and Dalton, +standing under the boughs of an oak, near the edge of the grounds, +saw them depart, but the dancers, at least the women and girls, knew +nothing. + +Another cannon shot came from some distant point along the stream, +and its somber echoes rolled and died away among the hills, but the +music of the band in the ballroom did not cease. It was the Acadians +who were playing now, some strange old dance tune that they had brought +from far Louisiana, taken thence by the way of Nova Scotia from its +origin in old France. + +"They don't know yet," said Harry, "but I'm thinking it will be the last +dance for many a day." + +"Looks like it," said Dalton. "What time is it, Harry?" + +"Past two in the morning, and here comes Colonel Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire." + +The two colonels walked out on the lawn. Military cloaks were thrown +over their shoulders and all signs of merry-making were gone from their +faces. They stood side by side and with military glasses were sweeping +the horizon toward the river. Presently they saw Harry and Dalton +standing under the boughs of the oak, and beckoned to them. + +"You know?" said Colonel Talbot. + +"Yes, sir, we do," replied Harry. "We saw General Stuart and his staff +ride away, because a messenger had come, stating that divisions of +Hooker's army were about to cross the Rappahannock." + +"That is true, but we wish no panic here. Go back in the house, lads, +and dance. Officers are scarcer there than they were a half hour ago. +But you two lads will return to General Jackson before dawn, while +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire and I will gather up our young men and +return to our own place." + +Harry and Dalton obeyed promptly, and took their places again in the +dancing, but they soon discovered that the spirit was gone from it. +The absence of Stuart, Sherburne and others almost as conspicuous was +soon noted, and although those who knew gave various excuses, they were +not satisfactory. Gradually the belief spread that the long vacation +was over. After Fredericksburg the armies had spent four months in +peace along the Rappahannock, but there was a certainty in the minds +of all that the armed peace had passed. + +The music ceased bye and bye, the girls and the women went away in their +carriages or on horseback, the lights were put out, and the heroes of +the ballroom, veterans of the battlefield, too, went quietly to their +commands once more. The youths, including their new friend, Julien de +Langeais, parted shortly before dawn, and their parting was characteristic. + +"See you again, I think, at the edge of the Wilderness, where we'll be +holding converse with Hooker," said St. Clair. + +"At any rate you can look for me in the White House with my boots on," +said Happy Tom, returning to his original boast. + +Then they shook hands and hurried away to join the two colonels, leaving +de Langeais with Dalton and Harry. + +"Gallant spirits," said the young Louisianian. "I like them." + +"As fine as silk, both of them," said Harry with enthusiasm. "I'm glad +we've met you, de Langeais, and I hope you'll be equally glad you've met +us. We'll see you again after the battle, whenever and wherever it may +be." + +"Many thanks," said de Langeais. "It gives me much pride to be taken +into your company. My command is several miles away, and therefore I +must ride. Adieu." + +He was holding his horse's reins as he spoke. Then he leaped lightly +into the saddle and was gone. + +"A brave and true spirit, if I know one," said Harry. "And now come, +George, the sooner we get back to Old Jack's headquarters the better it +will be for us." + +"Do you think Hooker's army can cross?" asked Dalton, looking at the +black river. + +"Of course it can. Remember that they have four hundred guns with which +they can cover a passage. Didn't Burnside build his bridges and force +the crossing in our face, when we had twenty thousand more men than we +have now, and the Union army had twenty thousand less? Their line is so +long and they are so much superior in numbers that we can't guard all +the river. As I take it, Lee and Old Jack will not make any great +opposition to the crossing, but there will be a thunderation of a time +after it's made." + +It was sunrise when they reached their own headquarters and entered the +great mess tent, where some of the officers who had not gone to the ball +were already eating breakfast. They said that the general had been +awake more than two hours and that he was taking his breakfast, too, +in the hunting lodge. He sent for various officers from time to time, +and presently Harry's turn came. + +Jackson was sitting at a small table, upon which his breakfast had been +laid. But all that had been cleared away long ago. He was reading in a +small book when Harry entered, a book that the youth knew well. It was +a copy of Napoleon's Maxims, which Jackson invariably carried with him +and read often. But he closed it quickly and put it in his pocket. +During the long rest Jackson's face had become somewhat fuller, but the +blue eyes under the heavy brows were as deep and thoughtful as ever. +He nodded to Harry and said: + +"You were present when General Stuart received the message that the +enemy was advancing? Was anything more ascertained at the time? +Did any other messenger come?" + +"No, sir. General Stuart mounted and rode at once. I remained at the +ball until its close. No other messenger came there for him. Of that I +am sure." + +"Very well, very well," said Jackson to himself, rather than to the +young lieutenant. "One message was enough. Stuart has acted promptly, +as he always does. You, Mr. Kenton, I judge have been up all night +dancing?" + +"Most all of it, sir." + +"We must get ready now for another and less pleasant kind of dancing. +But nothing will happen to-day. You'd better sleep. If you are needed +you will be called." + +Harry saluted and withdrew. At the door he glanced back. Jackson had +taken out Napoleon's Maxims and was reading the volume again. The brow +was seamed with thought, but his countenance was grave and steady. +Harry never forgot any look or act of his great chief in those days when +the shadow of Chancellorsville was hovering near. + +A dozen officers were in the mess tent, and they talked earnestly of +various things, but Harry, unheeding their voices, lay down in a corner +without taking off his clothes and went quietly to sleep. Many came +into the tent or went out of it in the course of the morning, but none +of them disturbed him. A man in the army slept when he could, and there +was none wicked enough to awaken him until the right time for it. + +He slept heavily nearly all through the day, and shortly after he awoke +Sherburne and two other officers, their horses splashed with mud, +rode up to the hunting lodge. Jackson was standing in the door, and +with a rising inflection he uttered one word: + +"Well?" + +"It's true, General," said Sherburne. "The enemy is advancing in heavy +force toward Kelly's Ford. We saw them with our own eyes. General +Stuart asked me to tell you this. He did not come himself, because, +as well as we can ascertain, General Hooker has separated his army +into two or three great divisions and they are seeking the crossing at +different fords or ferries." + +"As I thought," said Jackson. "It's the advantage given them by their +great numbers and powerful artillery. Ride back to General Stuart, +Captain, and tell him that I thank him, and you, too, for your +diligence." + +Sherburne, flushing deep with gratification, took off his cap and bowed. +But he knew too well to waste any time in words. + +That night the Union army laid its pontoon bridges again across the +Rappahannock near Fredericksburg and began to cross in great force. +Hooker, like Burnside four months before, was favored by thick fogs, +but he met with practically no resistance. At dawn a strong force under +Sedgwick was across at Deep Run, and another as strong had made the +passage at Kelly's Ford. + +The advanced riflemen of Sedgwick were engaged in scattered firing with +those of Jackson before the fog had yet lifted, but the main force had +made no movement. Dalton had been sent at dawn with a message telling +Lee that Sedgwick was over the river. Dalton, some time after his +return, told Harry of his ride and reception. + +"When I rode up," he said, "General Lee was in his tent. An aide took +me in and I gave him the message. He did not show any emotion. Several +others were present, some of them staff officers as young as myself. +He turned to them and said, smiling a little: 'Well, I heard firing not +long since, and I had concluded that it was about time for some of you +young idlers to come and tell me what it was all about. Go back to +General Jackson, Mr. Dalton, and tell him that I send him no orders now. +He knows as well what to do in the face of the enemy as I do.' I +brought this message, word for word, just as General Lee delivered it to +me, and General Jackson smiled a little, just as General Lee had done. +It's my opinion, Harry, that Lee and Old Jack haven't the slightest fear +of the enemy." + +Harry was convinced of it, too, but he felt also the steadily hardening +quality of the Army of the Potomac. Whatever Hooker might be he was +neither dilatory nor afraid. He and his comrades saw the corps of +Sedgwick entrenching on the Confederate side of the river, and they also +saw the great batteries still frowning from Stafford Heights, ready to +protect their men on the plain near Fredericksburg. + +But Jackson made no movement. He watched the enemy calmly, and +meanwhile messengers passed between him and Lee. Both were waiting +to see what their enemy, who was displaying unusual energy, would do. +In the evening they received news that the Union troops had crossed the +river at two more points. They still remained stationary, waiting, +and without alarm. + +Cavalrymen on both sides were active, ranging over a wide area. Stuart +came the next morning, having taken prisoners from whom he learned that +three more Union corps led by Meade, Slocum and Howard, all famous names, +had crossed the river and were advancing toward a little place called +Chancellorsville on the edge of a region known as the Wilderness. +The Southern general, Anderson, with a much smaller force, was falling +back before them. + +The Northern leaders had now shown the energy and celerity which +hitherto had so often marked the Southern. Hooker, with seventy +thousand splendid troops, had gone behind Lee and now three divisions +were united in the forest close to Chancellorsville. Sedgwick, with his +formidable corps, lay in the plain of Fredericksburg, facing Jackson, +and thousands of Northern cavalry rode on the Southern flanks. + +Harry was bewildered, and so were many officers of much higher rank than +he. It seemed that the Confederate army, surrounded by overwhelming +numbers, was about to be crushed. The exultation of Hooker at the +success of his movements against such able foes was justified for the +moment. He issued to his army a general order, which said: + + +It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the commanding general announces +to his army that the operations of the last three days have determined +that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind +his defences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certain +destruction awaits him. + + +Hooker, it can be said again, had cause for exultation. He was closing +in with more than a hundred thousand stern fighters, and ten thousand +splendid cavalrymen under Stoneman were hanging on the Southern flank, +ready to cut off retreat. Besides, there were reserves, and he could +also join to the artillery the great batteries on Stafford Heights, +on the left bank of the river, which had done such good service for +the Army of the Potomac. He could go into action with men and guns +outnumbering his enemy more than two to one, and Lee and Jackson would +have no such hills and intrenchments as those which had protected them +while they cut down the army of Burnside at Fredericksburg. + +Harry and his young comrades were lost in the mists and doubts of +uncertainty. Nothing could shake their confidence in Lee and Jackson, +but yet they were only human beings. Had the time come when there was +more to be done than any men, great and brilliant as they might be, +could do? Yet they refused to express their apprehensions to one +another, and waited, their hearts now and then beating heavily. + +Thus the last day of April passed, and for Harry it was more fully +surcharged with suspense and anxiety than any other that he had yet +known. The forests and the fields were flush with the green of early +spring. Little wild flowers were peeping up in the thickets, and now +and then a bird, full throated, sang on a bough, indifferent to passing +armies. + +But Harry saw a red tint over everything. The spirit of his great +ancestor had descended upon him again. The acute sense which warned him +of mighty and tragic events soon to come was alive and active. His mind +traveled backward too. Sometimes he did not see the men around him, +but saw instead Pendleton, the boys playing in the fields, and his +father. He also saw again that log house in the Kentucky mountains, +and the old, old woman who had known his great-grandfather, Henry Ware. +Once more he heard like a whisper in his ears her parting words: "You +will come again, and you will be thin and pale and in rags, and you will +fall at the door. I see you coming with these two eyes of mine." + +What did they mean? What did those strange words mean? It was the +first time in a year, perhaps, that he had thought of that old, old +woman, and the log house in the mountains. But he saw her now, and she +was strangely vivid for one so old and so withered. Then she vanished, +and for the time was forgotten completely, because Lee and Jackson were +riding past, one on Traveler and the other on Little Sorrel, and it +was no time to be dreaming of glens in the mountains and their peace, +because mighty armies were closing in, bent upon the destruction of each +other. + +All that afternoon Harry heard in a half circle about him the distant +moaning of cannon, and he caught glimpses of galloping horsemen. +Stuart, equally at home on the floor of the ballroom or the field of +battle, was leading his troopers in a daring circuit. When he saw that +the Army of the Potomac was moving toward Chancellorsville he had cut +in on its right flank, taking prisoners, and when a Union regiment had +stood in his way, attempting to bar his path to his own army, he had +ridden over it and gone. + +All the time the sinister moaning of the guns on the far horizon never +ceased. It was this distant threat that oppressed Harry more than +anything else. It beat softly on the drums of his ears, and it said +to him continually that his army must make a supreme effort or perish. +General Jackson did not call upon him to do anything, and once he rode +forward with Dalton and looked at Sedgwick's Union masses upon the +plains of Fredericksburg, still protected by the batteries which had +not yet been moved from Stafford Heights. Harry thought, for a while, +that Lee and Jackson would certainly attack there, but night came and +they had made no movement for that purpose. + +But before the sun had set Harry with his glasses had been able to +command a wide view. He saw high up in the air three captive balloons, +from which some of Hooker's officers looked upon the Southern +intrenchments. Hooker also had signalmen on every height, and an ample +field telegraph. What Harry did not see he learned from the Southern +scouts. It seemed impossible that Lee and Jackson could break through +the circle of steel, and Hooker thought so, too. + +When the red sun set on that last day of April the confidence of the +Northern general was at its height. He had sent word to Sedgwick to +keep a close watch upon the enemy in his front, and if he exposed a weak +point to attack and destroy him. And if he showed signs of retreat, +also to follow and attack with the utmost vigor. + +The moaning of the cannon ceased with the night, and it brought Harry +intense relief. He was glad that those guns were silent for a while, +although he knew that they would be far busier on the morrow. The bands +of red and yellow left by the sun sank away, and as the cool, spring +night came down, a pleasant breeze began to blow through the forest. +Harry felt all the thrill of a mighty movement which was at hand, +but the nature of which he did not yet know. + +He had no wish to sleep. The feeling of tremendous events impending was +too strong and his nervous system was keyed too highly for such thoughts +to enter his mind. He was used to great battles now, but there was a +mystery, a weirdness about the one near at hand that sometimes turned +the blood in his veins to ice. + +They were not far from Fredericksburg, but the country about them looked +wild and lonely, despite the fact that nearly two hundred thousand +men were moving somewhere in those shades and thickets, preparing for +desperate combat. Harry knew that just back of them lay the Wilderness, +a desolate and somber region. Dalton, a Virginian, had been there, +and he told Harry that in ordinary times one could walk through it for +many miles without meeting a single human being. + +"And they say that Hooker is along its edge with the bulk of his army," +said Dalton. "He is in our rear ready to attack with his veterans. +What conclusion do you draw from it, Harry?" + +"I infer that Lee and Jackson will not attack Sedgwick at Fredericksburg. +They will go for Hooker. They will strike where the enemy is strongest. +It's their way, isn't it?" + +"Right, of course, Harry. We'll be marching against Hooker long before +the dawn." + +Dalton's prediction came true earlier than he had expected. Jackson +marched at midnight from his position on the Massaponnax Hills to join +the small command of Anderson, which alone faced Hooker. He was as +silent as ever, the figure bent forward a little and the brow knitted +with thought. Close behind him came his staff, Harry and Dalton knee to +knee. They had known as soon as Jackson mounted his horse and turned +his head southwestward that they were marching toward the Wilderness and +against Hooker. Sedgwick at Fredericksburg might do as he pleased. + +Harry and Dalton were glad. They were quite sure now that Lee and +Jackson had formed their plan, and, as they had formed it, it must be +good. It was a long ride under the moon and stars. There was but +little talk along the lines. The noises were those of marching feet and +not of men's voices. All the troops felt the mystery and solemnity of +the night and the deep import of their unknown mission. + +The dawn found them still marching, but that dawn was again heavy with +the fogs and mists that rose from the broad river. The three Northern +balloons could see nothing. The signalmen were of no avail. The clouds +of vapor rolled over the ruins of Fredericksburg and along the hills +south of the river. Neither Sedgwick and his men nor any of the Union +officers on the other shore knew that Jackson had gone, leaving only a +rear guard behind. Before the fog had cleared away Jackson with his +fighting generals had joined Anderson and they were forming a powerful +line of battle near Chancellorsville and facing Hooker. + +Harry now heard much of this name Chancellorsville, destined to become +so famous, and he said it over and over again to himself. And yet it +was not a town, nor even a village. Here stood a large house, with the +usual pillared porticoes, built long since by the Chancellor family and +inhabited by them in their generation, but now turned into a country +inn. Yet it had importance. Roads ran from it in various directions +and in territories very unlike, including the strange and weird region +known as the Wilderness. + +Hooker had come through the Wilderness with his main force, and was now +forming a line of battle in front of it in the open country, when for +some reason never fully known he fell back on Chancellorsville and began +to concentrate his army in the edge of the Wilderness. + +Harry, riding with Dalton and some others to inspect the enemy's front +through their glasses, saw this gloomy forest, destined to such a +terrible fame not alone from the coming battle, but from others as +great. Nature could have chosen no more fitting spot for the mighty +sacrifice to save the Union, because here everything is dark, solemn +and desolate. + +For twenty miles one way and fifteen the other the Wilderness stretched +its somber expanse. The ancient forest had been cut away long since and +the thin, light soil had produced a sea of scrub and thickets in its +place, in which most of the houses were the huts of charcoal burners. +The undergrowth and jungle were often impenetrable, save by some lone +hunter or wild animal. The gnarled and knotted oaks were distorted and +the bushes, even in the flush of a May morning, were black and ugly. +At evening it was indescribably desolate, and save when the armies came +there was no sound but the lone cry of the whip-poor-will, one of the +saddest of all notes. + +It was upon this forest that Harry looked, and he wondered, as many +officers much older and much higher in rank than he wondered, that +Hooker, with forces so much superior, should draw back into its shades. +And many of the Union generals, too, had protested in vain against +Hooker's orders. They knew, as the Confederate generals knew, that +Hooker was a brave man, and they never understood it then or afterwards. + +"It gives us our chance," said Dalton, with sudden intuition, to Harry. +"We'll carry the battle to them in the forest, and there numbers will +not count so much." + +"Look!" exclaimed Harry. "They're withdrawing farther into the +Wilderness. There go the last bayonets!" + +"It's so," said Dalton. "I can still see a few of them moving among the +trees and thickets. Now they're all gone. What does it mean?" + +"It means that Old Jack will follow into the Wilderness, as sure as you +and I are here. He isn't the man to let an enemy retreat in peace." + +"That's so. There are the bugles calling, and it's time for us to +rejoin Old Jack." + +Jackson was not more than a hundred yards away, and they were soon just +behind him, riding slowly forward, while he swept the forest with his +glasses. Riflemen sent far in advance began to fire, and from the +forest came replies. Harry saw bits of earth and grass kicked up by the +bullets, and now and then a man fell or, wounded, limped to the rear. +There was no fog here and the day had become beautiful and brilliant, +as became the first morning in May. The little white puffs of smoke +arose all along the edges of the Wilderness, and, sailing above the +trees and bushes, dissolved into the blue sky. It was yet only a +skirmish between the Southern vanguard and the Northern vanguard, +but the riflemen increased to hundreds and they made a steady volume of +sound. Now and then the lighter guns were fired and the like replied +from the thickets. + +Harry gazed intently at Jackson. Would he with his relatively small +force follow Hooker into the Wilderness, despising the dangers of ambush +and the possibility that his foe might turn upon him in overwhelming +numbers? Lee was with the troops elsewhere, and Jackson for the present +must rely upon his own judgment. + +But Jackson never hesitated. While the fire of the riflemen deepened +he plunged into the Wilderness in pursuit of Hooker, who for some +inscrutable reason was concentrating his masses about the Chancellor +House for pitched battle. They advanced by two ways, a pike and a plank +road, with Jackson himself on the plank road. + +Harry felt a strange prickling at the roots of his hair as the +Wilderness closed in on pursuer and pursued, but it was only for a +moment. The enemy far down the plank road held his attention. Many +riflemen were there and they were sending back bullets, most of which +fell short. Now and then a curving shell struck among the bushes, burst, +and hurt no one. + +It had grown darker when they entered the Wilderness. The scrub forest, +not lofty enough for dignity and nobility, was nevertheless dense enough +to shut out most of the sunlight. Despite the blaze of the firing, +both pursuer and pursued were enveloped in heavy shadows. + +Harry had nothing to do but to keep near his general, in case he was +wanted. But he watched everything with the utmost interest. Once he +looked back and saw the Invincibles, few in number, but still preserving +their regiment, marching in brave style along the plank road. Colonel +Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire were riding side by side +at its head, and in all the army there were not two more erect and +soldierly figures than theirs. + +They soon heard heavy artillery discharges from the other force on the +pike, and the fire in front of them increased heavily. Nevertheless +both forces pushed resolutely onward. Harry had no idea what it all +meant. The movements of Hooker were a mystery to him, but he felt the +presence of an enveloping danger, through which, however, he felt sure +that the sword of Jackson could slash. + +He saw that the generals were neglecting no precautions. The scouts and +hardy riflemen were now pressing through all the forests and thickets, +like Indians trailing in the Wilderness. They kept the two forces, +the one on the plank road and the other on the pike, in touch. McLaws, +who had shown so much spirit and judgment at Antietam, led on the pike. + +Now the fighting increased on both roads. Batteries faced batteries +and cavalry charged. But Harry felt all the time that these were not +supreme efforts. The opposing force seemed to be merely a curtain +before Hooker, and as the Southern army advanced the curtain was drawn +steadily back, but it was always there. + +One of the encounters rose almost to the dignity of a battle. A heavy +division of Northern regulars drove in all the Southern skirmishers, +but Jackson, sending forward a strong force, pushed back the regulars in +their turn. Harry watched the fighting most of the time, but at other +times he watched his general's face. It was the usual impenetrable mask, +but late in the afternoon Harry saw a sudden sparkle in the blue eye. +He always believed that at that moment the general divined the enemy's +intentions, but the boy never had any way of knowing. + +Scouts came in presently and reported that another heavy column was +marching from the Rappahannock to join Hooker in the Wilderness, and +now the advance of the Southern force became slower. It was obvious to +Harry that Jackson, while resolute to follow Hooker, intended to guard +against all possibility of ambush. Harry knew nothing then of the +Chancellor House, but Dalton told him. + +"It's a big place," he said, "standing on a heavy ridge surrounded by +thick timber, and it's a natural presumption that Hooker will stop +there. From the timbered ridge his cannon can sweep every approach." + +Harry had no doubt that Hooker would halt at the Chancellor House. +It was incredible that a great army of brave and veteran troops should +continue to retreat before a force which his scouts had surely informed +Hooker was far smaller, and only a portion of the Confederate army. +It must be merely a part of some comprehensive plan, and he was +confirmed in his belief by the increasing stubbornness of the defense. + +There was not sufficient room on either the plank road or the pike for +all the Confederate infantry, and masses were toiling through the dense +thickets of bushes and briars and creeping vines. The afternoon was +growing late, and while it was yet brilliant sunshine in the open, +it was dark and somber in the Wilderness. + +The division of Jackson seemed almost lost in the forest and +undergrowth. The cavalry riding along some of the narrow paths were +checked by large forces in front, and fell back under the protection +of their own infantry. On another path a strong body of Southern +skirmishers drove back those of the North, but were checked in their +turn by a heavy fire of artillery. + +Harry witnessed the repulse of the Southern riflemen and saw them +crowding back down the path and through the bushes which lined it on +either side. He also saw the usually calm and imperturbable face of +Jackson show annoyance. The general signed to his staff, and, galloping +forward a hundred yards or so, joined Stuart, who was just in front. +Stuart also showed annoyance, but, more emotional than Jackson, he +expressed it in a much greater degree. His face was red with anger. +Harry, who as usual kept close behind his commander, heard their talk. + +"General Stuart," said General Jackson, "we must find some position from +which we can open a flanking fire upon that Northern battery." + +"Aye, sir," said Stuart. "Nothing would delight me more. The +narrowness of the road, and their place at the head of it, give them an +immense advantage. Ah, sir, here is a bridle path leading to the right. +Maybe it will give us a chance." + +The two generals, followed by their staffs and a battery, turned from +the main body into the narrow path and pushed their way between the +masses of thick undergrowth, bearing steadily toward the right. But the +road was so narrow that not more than two could go abreast, the generals +in their eagerness still leading the way. + +Harry, rising up in his stirrups, tried to see over the dense +undergrowth, but patches of saplings and scrub oaks farther on hid the +view. Nevertheless he caught the flash of heavy guns and saw many +columns of smoke rising. It was toward their left now, and they would +soon be parallel with it, whence their own guns would open a flanking +fire, if any open spot or elevation could be found. + +They had gone about a half mile, when Stuart uttered an exclamation and +pointed to a hillock. It was not necessary to say anything, because +everyone knew that this was the place for the guns. + +"Now we'll drop a few shells of our own among those Yankee gunners and +see how they like it," said Dalton. + +The cannon were unlimbering rapidly, but the open space on the hillock +was so small that only one gun could be brought up, and it sent a shot +toward the Union lines. The Union artillery, superb as always, marked +the spot whence the shot came, and in an instant two batteries, masked +by the woods, poured a terrible fire upon the hillock and those about it. + +So deadly was the steel rain that the little force was put out of action +at once. Harry had never beheld a more terrifying scene. Most of the +horses and men around the first cannon were killed. One horse and one +gunner fell dead across its wheels. Other horses, wounded and screaming +with pain and fright, rushed into the dense undergrowth and were +caught by the trailing vines and thrown down. Some of the cavalrymen +themselves were knocked out of the saddle by the fleeing horses, but +they quickly regained their seats. + +A second discharge from many guns sent another rain equally as deadly +upon the hillock and its vicinity. More men and horses fell, and a +scene of wild confusion followed. Attempting to turn about and escape +from that spot of death, the cannon crashed together. There was not +room for all the men and horses and guns. Most of them were compelled +to plunge into the undergrowth and struggle desperately through it for +shelter. + +But Harry did not forget the two generals who were worth so much to the +South. It would be fate's bitterest irony if Jackson and Stuart were +killed in a small flanking movement, when, as was obvious to everyone, +a battle of the first magnitude was just before them. And yet, while +fragments of steel, hot and hissing, fell all around them, Jackson and +Stuart and all the members of their staffs escaped without hurt. + +The deadly fire followed them as they retreated, but the two generals +rode on, unharmed. Harry and Dalton breathed deep sighs of relief when +they were out of range. + +"If a bullet had gone through my left side," said Dalton, "it wouldn't +have come near my heart." + +"Why not?" + +"Because my heart was in my mouth. In fact, I don't think it has gone +back yet to its natural place. The Yankees certainly have the guns." + +"And the gunners who know how to use them. But doesn't it feel good, +George, to be back on the plank road?" + +"It does. I'll take my chance in open battle, but when I'm tangled up +among bushes and vines and briars, I do hate to have a hundred-pound +shell fired from an invisible gun burst suddenly on the top of my head. +What's all that firing off there to the left and farther on?" + +"It means that some of our people have got deeper into the Wilderness +than we have, and are feeling out Hooker. I imagine we won't go much +farther. Look how the night's dropping down. I'd hate to pass a night +alone in such a place as this Wilderness. It would be like sleeping in +a graveyard." + +"You won't have to spend the night alone here. I wish I was as sure of +Heaven as that. You'll have something like two hundred thousand near +neighbors." + +The sun set and darkness swept over the Wilderness, but it was still +lighted at many points by the flash of the firing and, after that ceased, +by the campfires. Jackson's advance was at an end for the time. +He was fully in touch with his enemy and understood him. Hooker had +retreated as far as he would go. When the fog cleared away in the +morning the men in the captive balloons had informed him that heavy +Southern columns were marching toward Chancellorsville. He was sure +now that the full strength of the Southern army was before him, and +he continued to fortify the Chancellor House and the plateau of Hazel +Grove. He also threw up log breastworks through the heavily wooded +country, and his lines, bristling with artillery and defended now by +six score thousand men, extended along a front of six miles. + +Jackson's division lay in the Wilderness before Hooker, but out of +cannon shot. All along that vast front hundreds and hundreds of pickets +and riflemen on either side were keeping a vigilant watch. Jackson and +his staff had dismounted and were eating their suppers around one of the +campfires. The general was again impassive. + +After the supper Harry walked a little distance and found the +Invincibles, resting comfortably on the trodden undergrowth. The two +colonels had preserved the neatness of their attire, and whatever they +felt, neither showed any anxiety. But St. Clair and Langdon were free +of speech. + +"Well, Harry," said Happy Tom, "is Old Jack going to send us up against +intrenchments and four to one?" + +"He hasn't confided in me, but I don't think he means to do any such +thing. He remembers, as even a thick-head like you, Happy, would +remember, how the splendid army of Burnside beat itself to pieces +against our works at Fredericksburg." + +"Well, then, why are we here?" + +"There's sense in your question, Tom, but I can't answer it." + +"No, there isn't any sense in it," interrupted St. Clair. "Do you +suppose for an instant that Lee and Jackson would bring us here if they +didn't have a mighty good reason for it?" + +"That's so," admitted Happy Tom; "but General Lee isn't here. Yes, +he is! Listen to the cheering!" + +They sprang to their feet and saw Lee coming through the woods on his +white horse, Traveler, a roar of cheers greeting him as he advanced. +Behind him came new brigades, and Harry believed that the whole Southern +army was now united before Hooker. + +Lee dismounted and Jackson went forward to meet his chief. The staffs +stood at a respectful distance as the two men met and began to talk, +glancing now and then toward the distant lights that showed where the +army of Hooker stood. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CHANCELLORSVILLE + + +Harry and Dalton sat down on a tiny hillock and waited while the two +generals carried on their long conference, to which now and then +they summoned McLaws, Anderson, Pender and other division or brigade +commanders. The two lads even then felt the full import of that +memorable night. + +Nature herself had stripped away all softness, leaving only sternness +and desolation for the terrible drama which was about to be played in +the Wilderness. The night was dark, and to Harry's imaginative mind the +forest turned to some vast stretch of the ancient, primitive world. + +Naturally cheerful and usually alive with the optimism of youth, the air +seemed to him that night to be filled with menacing signals. Often he +started at familiar sounds. The clank of arms to which he had been so +long used sent a chill down his spine. As the campfires died, the gloom +that hung over the Wilderness became for him heavier and more ominous. + +"What's the matter, Harry?" asked Dalton, catching a glimpse of his face +in the moonlight. + +"I don't know, George. I suppose this war is getting on my nerves. +I must be looking too much into the future. Anyway, I'm oppressed +to-night, and I don't know what it is that's oppressing me so much." + +"I don't feel that way. Maybe I'm becoming blunted. But the generals +are talking a long time." + +"I suppose they have need to do a lot of talking, George. You know +how small our army is, and we can't rush Hooker behind the strong +intrenchments they say he has thrown up. Oh, if only Longstreet and +his corps were back with us!" + +"Well, Longstreet and his men are not here, and we'll have to do the +best we can without them. Hold up your head, Harry. Lee and Jackson +will find a way." + +While Lee and Jackson and their generals conferred, another conference +was going on three miles away at the Chancellor House in the depths of +the Wilderness. Hooker, a brave man, who had proved his courage more +than once, was bewildered and uneasy. He lacked the experience in +supreme command in which his great antagonist, Lee, was so rich. +The field telegraph had broken down just before sunset, and his +subordinates, Sedgwick and Reynolds, brave men too, who had divisions +elsewhere, were vague and uncertain in their movements. Hooker did +not know what to expect from them. + +Some of the generals, chafing at retreat before a force which they knew +to be smaller than their own, wanted to march out and attack in the +morning. Hooker, suddenly grown prudent, awed perhaps by his great +responsibilities, wished to contract his camp and build intrenchments +yet stronger. He compromised at last amid varying counsels, and decided +to hold his present intrenched lines along their full length. His +gallant officers on the extended right and left were indignant at the +thought of withdrawing before the enemy, sure that they could beat him +back every time. + +But there were bolder spirits at the Southern headquarters, three miles +away. Lee and Jackson always saw clearly and were always able to +decide upon a course. Besides, their need was far more desperate. The +Southern army did not increase in numbers. Victories brought few new +men to its standards. Winning, it held its own, and losing, it lost +everything. Before it stood the Army of the Potomac, outnumbering it +two to one, and behind that army stood a great nation ready to pour +forth more men by the hundreds of thousands and more money by the +hundreds of millions to save the Union. + +Harry, leaning against a bush, fell into a light doze, from which Dalton +aroused him bye and bye. But the habit of war made him awake fully +and instantly. Every faculty was alive. He arose to his feet and saw +that Lee and Jackson were just parting. A faint moon shone over the +Wilderness, revealing but little of the great army which lay in its +thickets. + +"I fancy that the plan which will give us either victory or defeat is +arranged," said Dalton. + +But neither Harry nor Dalton was called, and bye and bye they sank into +another doze. They were awakened toward morning by Sherburne, who stood +before them holding his horse by the bridle. The horse was wet with +foam, and it was evident that he had been ridden far and hard. + +"What is it?" asked Harry, springing to his feet. "I've been riding +with General Stuart," replied Sherburne, who looked worn and weary, +but nevertheless exultant. "How many miles we've ridden I'll never know, +but we've been along the whole Northern front and around their wings. +With the help of Fitz Lee we've discovered their weak point. The +Northern left, fortified in the thickets, is impossible. We'd merely +beat ourselves to pieces against it; but their right has no protection +at all, that is, no trenches or breastworks. I thought you boys might +be wanted presently, and, as I saw you sleeping here, I've awakened you. +Look down there and you'll see something that I think the Northern army +has cause to dread." + +Harry and Dalton looked at a little open space in the center of which +Lee and Jackson sat, having met for another talk, each on an empty +cracker box, taken from a heap which the Northern army had left behind +when it withdrew the day before. The generals faced each other and two +or three men were standing by. One of them was a major named Hotchkiss, +whom Harry knew. + +Harry and Dalton did not hear the words said, but one of those present +subsequently told them much that was spoken at this last and famous +conference. A man named Welford had recently cut a road toward the +northwest through the Wilderness in order that he might haul wood and +iron ore to a furnace that he had built. He had certainly never dreamed +of the far more important purpose to which this road would be put, +but he had been found at his home by Hotchkiss, the major, and, zealous +for the South, he had given him the information that was of so much +value. He had also volunteered to guide the troops along his road and +he had marked it on a map which the major carried. + +"What is your report, Major Hotchkiss?" asked General Lee. + +The major took a cracker box from the heap, put it between the two +generals, and spread his map upon it, pointing to Welford's road. +The two generals studied it attentively, and then Lee asked Jackson what +he would suggest. Jackson traced the road with his finger and replied +that he would like to follow it with his whole corps and fall upon the +Northern flank. He suggested that he leave his commander with only a +small force to make a noisy demonstration in the Northern front, while +Jackson was executing his great turning movement. + +Lee considered it only a few moments and agreed. Then he wrote brief +and crisp instructions, and when he finished, General Jackson rose +to his feet, his face illumined with eagerness. He was absolutely +confident that he would succeed in the daring deed he was about to +undertake. + +"It's over," said Dalton. "Whatever it is, we start on it at once." + +Jackson beckoned to all his staff, and soon Harry, Dalton and the others +were busy carrying orders for a great march that Jackson was about to +begin. Many of these orders related to secrecy. The ranks were to +be kept absolutely close and compact. If anybody straggled he was to +receive the bayonet. + +The Invincibles were in the vanguard. Harry and Dalton were near, +behind Jackson. Harry could speak now and then with his friends. + +"It's the Second Manassas over again, isn't it, Harry?" said St. Clair. + +"If it is, why do we seem to be marching away from the enemy?" + +"I don't know any more than you do. But I take it that when Stonewall +Jackson draws back from the enemy he merely does it in order to make a +bigger jump. We all know that." + +The dark South Carolinian, Bertrand, was riding just in front of them. +Now he turned suddenly and said: + +"St. Clair, we're about to go into a great battle, and I've felt for +some time that I provoked the quarrel with you. I'm sorry and I +apologize." + +St. Clair looked astonished, but he was not one to refuse so manly an +advance. + +"That's so, Captain, we did have a quarrel," he said, "but I had +forgotten it. It's not necessary for anybody to apologize where there's +no rancor." + +He took Bertrand's hand in a hearty grasp, which Bertrand returned with +equal vigor. Then the captain pushed his horse and rode a little ahead +of them. + +"Now, that was a singular thing," said Dalton, who came of a deeply +religious family, "and to my mind it was predestined." + +"Predestined?" + +"Yes, predestined! Decreed! Captain Bertrand is going to die. He'll +be killed in the coming battle. He was moved to make up the quarrel +which he forced on St. Clair because of his approaching fate, although +he does not know of it himself." + +"Come, come, George! So much battle has keyed your mind too highly." + +But Dalton shook his head and remained resolute in his belief. + +Harry's confidence returned with action and the glorious flush of a May +morning. They had started after dawn. A splendid sun was rising in a +sky of satin blue. It even gilded the somber foliage of the Wilderness, +and the spirits of all the men in the great corps rose. + +Jackson stopped presently with his staff and let some of the regiments +file past him. General Lee was awaiting him there and the two talked +briefly. Harry saw that both were firm and confident. It was rare with +him, but Jackson's face was flushed and his eyes shining. He lingered +for only a few moments, and then rode on with his column. Lee's eyes +followed him, but he and his great lieutenant had spoken together for +the last time. + +Now they settled into silence, save for the marching sounds, of which +the most dominant was the rumbling of the artillery. But all the men in +the great column knew that they were embarked upon some mighty movement. +Very few asked themselves what it was. Nor did they care. They put +their faith in the great leader who had always led them to victory. +He could lead them where he chose. + +A light wind arose and the bushes and scrub forest of the Wilderness +moved gently like the surface of a lake. But that forest, as dense as +ever, extended on all sides of them and hid the tens of thousands who +marched in its shade. + +Harry presently heard the rolling of artillery fire and the distant +crash of rifles behind them. But he knew that it was Lee with the +minor portion of his army making the demonstration in Hooker's front, +deceiving him into the belief that he was about to be attacked by the +whole Southern army, while Jackson with his main force was making the +wide circuit under cover of the Wilderness in order to fall like a +thunderbolt upon his flank. + +Harry admired the daring of his two leaders, and at the same time he +trembled with apprehension. They had split their force, already far +smaller, in the face of the foe. Suppose that foe, with his army of +splendid fighters, should come suddenly from his intrenchments and +attack either division. Surely the Northern scouts and spies were +in the thickets. So great a movement as this could not escape their +attention. It would be impossible for a large army to pass on that +journey of many miles around Hooker and not one of the hundred thousand +men he had in the Wilderness bring him a word of it. + +They might be discovered by one of the balloons, and Harry strained his +eyes toward the far Rappahannock. He saw a black speck floating in the +sky, which he thought to be one of the balloons, and he felt a little +dread, but in a moment he realized that Jackson's army was as completely +hidden by the Wilderness from any such possible observer as if a blanket +lay over it. Then he dismissed all thoughts of balloons and rode on in +silence beside Dalton. + +Now he listened to the roar behind them. It had the violence of a great +battle, but he noticed that the sounds neither advanced nor retreated. +He smiled a little. Lee was still amusing Hooker, but it was a grim +amusement. + +A long time passed. Although the army could not move fast in the +Wilderness, its march was steady. The roar of Lee's attack had become +subdued, but Harry knew that the effect was due only to distance. +His trained ear told him that the demonstration in Hooker's front, +instead of decreasing, had increased in vigor. It was assuming the +proportions of a real battle, and with thickets and forests to obscure +sight, Hooker might well believe that the whole Southern army was yet +in front of him. + +The onward march had become rhythmic now. It was to Harry like the +regular throbbing of a pulse. The tread of many men, the beat of +horses' hoofs, and the clanking of guns melted into one musical note. +The sun crept slowly up, gilding thickets and forests with pure gold. +The sky was still an unbroken blue, save for the little white clouds +that floated in its bosom. The breeze of that May morning was +wonderfully crisp and fresh. It came tingling with life to the +thousands, so many of whom were about to die. + +It seemed to Harry as they went on through the thickets of the +Wilderness that the Union scouts would never discover them, but Northern +troops on an open eminence of Hazel Grove had seen a long column +moving away through the thickets and made report of it to the Northern +generals. But these leaders did not understand it. They had not +grasped the great daring of Jackson's march. + +They believed that Lee was merely extending his lines, but an hour +before noon a battery opened fire from a hill upon the marching +Confederate column. Harry and Dalton heard shrapnel whizzing over their +heads. After the first involuntary shiver they regained the calm of +youthful veterans and rode on in silence. + +But the fire of the Northern artillery was damaging, even at great +range. Shells and shrapnel sprayed showers of steel over the column. +Men were killed and others wounded. As they could not turn back to +fight those troublesome cannon, the column turned farther away and +forced a road through a new path. It seemed now that Jackson's march +was discovered and that the whole Northern army might press in between +him and Lee. Harry's heart rose in his throat and he looked at his +general. But Jackson rode calmly on. + +The curiosity of the Union generals in regard to that marching column +increased. Several of them appealed to Hooker to let them advance in +force and see what it was. Sickles was allowed to go out with a strong +division, but instead of reaching Jackson he was confronted by a portion +of Lee's force, thrown forward to meet him, and the battle was so fierce +that Sickles was compelled to send for help. A formidable force came +and drove the Southern division before it, but the vigilant Jackson, +informed by his scouts of what was happening behind him, turned his rear +guard to meet the attack, and Sickles was driven off a second time with +great loss. Then Jackson's men quickly rejoined him and they continued +their march, the vanguard, in fact, never having stopped. + +Harry took no part in this, but from a distance he saw much of it. +Once more he admired the surpassing alertness and vigor of Jackson, +who never seemed to make a mistake, a man who was able while on a great +march to detach men for the help of his chief, while never ceasing to +pursue his main object. + +The Northern forces, although they had fought bravely, retreated, +and the great movement that was going on remained hidden from them. +The gap between Lee and Jackson was growing wider, but they did not know +it was there. Hooker's retreat with his great army into the Wilderness +had given his enemies a chance to befog and bewilder him. + +Harry's supreme confidence returned. All things seemed possible to his +chief, and once more they were marching, unimpeded. It was now much +past noon, and they turned into a new road, leading north through the +thickets. + +"It scarcely seems possible that we can pass around a great army in this +way," said Dalton; "but, Harry, I'm beginning to believe the general +will do it." + +"Of course he will," said Harry. "It's Old Jack's chief pleasure to do +impossible things. He leaves the possible to ordinary men. See him. +He didn't even stop to look back while our rear guard returned to help +drive off the Yankees." + +The sun was near the zenith and the afternoon grew warm. They had come +upon hard, dry paths, and under the tread of the army great clouds of +dust arose, but it did not float high in the air, the thick boughs of +the trees and bushes catching it. But as it hovered so close to the +ground it made the breathing of the soldiers difficult and painful. +It rasped their throats, and soon they began to burn with the heat. +Many fell exhausted beside the paths, but they were helped by their +comrades or were put into the wagons, and the long column of steel never +ceased to wind onward. + +Near the middle of the afternoon, when they were about to cross the +western extension of the plank road, a young cavalry officer galloped up +and rode straight for Jackson. It was Fitzhugh Lee, whose services were +great at Chancellorsville. His glowing face showed that he brought news +of great importance. + +As he saluted, General Jackson checked his horse and Harry heard his +general ask: + +"You bring news. What is it?" + +"I do, sir," responded young Lee eagerly. "I have something to show +you. A great Northern force is only a short distance away, and it does +not suspect your advance at all. If you will come with me to the crest +of a little hill here, I can show them to you." + +Jackson never hesitated a moment, signing to Harry to follow him, +evidently meaning to use him as a courier, if need arose. The three +then turned and rode through the bushes toward the hill, and Harry's +heart beat so hard that it gave him an actual physical pain when he +looked down on the sight below. He glanced at Jackson and saw that +his face was flushed and his eyes glowing. + +They were gazing upon a great Northern force which was to protect +Hooker's right. Its first lines were only three or four hundred yards +away. There were breastworks and other lines of defense running far +through the forest, positions that were formidable, but not manned at +this moment by riflemen or cannoneers. Rifles were stacked neatly +behind the intrenchments, extending in a long line as far as they could +see. Thousands of soldiers were sitting on the grass and among the +bushes, some asleep, some playing games, while others were cooking, +reading newspapers sent from the North, and some were singing. It was a +picture of idleness and ease in a camp, and not one among them suspected +that thirty thousand veterans of the South, led by Stonewall Jackson +himself, were within rifle shot, hidden under the vast canopy of the +Wilderness. + +Harry drew a deep breath, and then another. It was extraordinary, +unbelievable, but it was true. He looked again at Jackson and saw that +his eyes were still burning with blue fire. The general gazed for five +minutes, but never said a word. Then he turned and rode down the hill, +and swiftly the word was passed through the army that they would soon be +upon the enemy. + +"What is it, Harry?" asked St. Clair eagerly, as Harry rode along the +lines with a message for a general for whom he was looking. + +"They're just over there," replied Harry, nodding toward his right. + +"And they don't know we're here?" + +"They don't dream it." + +"And Lee and Jackson have got 'em in the trap again?" + +"It looks like it." + +Then Harry was gone with his message. And he bore other messages, +and like most of those he had borne earlier, their burden was secrecy +and silence. He never forgot any detail of that memorable day. Years +afterwards he could shut his eyes at any time and see the eve of +Chancellorsville in all its vivid colors, thirty thousand Southern +troops lying hidden in the thickets, General Jackson, followed by +himself and two other aides, riding upon the hill again and taking one +more look at the unsuspecting enemy below, the spreading out of the +cavalry like a curtain between them and Howard's corps to keep even a +single stray Northern picket or scout from seeing the mortal danger +at hand, and then Jackson dismounting and, seated on a stump, writing +to Lee that he was on the enemy's flank and would attack as soon as +possible. Harry was in fear lest the general should choose him to carry +back the dispatch, as he wished to stay with the corps and see what +happened, but the duty was assigned to another man. + +Confidence meanwhile reigned in the Union army. In the morning Hooker +had ridden around his whole line, and cheers received him as he came. +Scouts had brought him word that Jackson was moving, and he had taken +note of the encounter with the rearguard of Stonewall's force. But as +that force continued its march into the deep forest and disappeared from +sight, the brave and sanguine Hooker was confirmed in his opinion that +the whole Southern army was retreating. His belief was so firm that +he sent a dispatch to Sedgwick, commanding the detached force near +Fredericksburg, to pursue vigorously, as the enemy was fleeing in an +effort to save his train. + +While Hooker was writing this dispatch the "fleeing enemy," led by the +greatest of Lee's lieutenants, lay in full force on his flank, almost +within rifle-shot, preparing with calmness and in detail for one of +the greatest blows ever dealt in war. Truly no soldiers ever deserved +higher praise than those of the Army of the Potomac, who, often misled +and mismanaged by second-rate men, grew better and better after every +defeat, and never failed to go into battle zealous and full of courage. + +It seemed almost incredible to Harry, who had twice looked down upon +them, that the whole Union right should remain ignorant of Jackson's +presence. Twenty-eight regiments and six batteries strong, the Northern +troops were now getting ready to cook their suppers, and there was much +laughter and talk as they looked around at the forest and wondered +when they would be sent in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. Six of the +regiments were composed of men born in Germany, or the sons of Germans, +drawn from the great cities of the North, little used to the forests and +thickets and having the stiffness of Germans on parade. They were at +the first point of exposure, and they were certainly no match for the +formidable foe who was creeping nearer and nearer. + +Not all the country here was in forest. There were some fields, a +little wooden cottage on a hill, and in the fields a small house of +worship called the Wilderness Church. It was the little church of +Shiloh and the Dunkard church of Antietam over again. + +Harry and Dalton in the front of the lines often saw the gleam of +Northern guns and Northern bayonets through the foliage, but there was +still no sign that anyone in the Northern right flank dreamed of their +presence. Evidently the unconscious thousands there thought that all +chance of battle had passed until the morrow. The sun was already going +down the western heavens, and behind them in the Wilderness the first +shadows were gathering. + +Jackson's troops were filled with confidence and exultation. As they +formed for battle among the trees and bushes they too talked, and with +the freedom of republican troops, who fight all the better for it, +they chaffed the young officers, especially the aides, as they passed. +Harry received the full benefit of it. + +"Sit up straight in the saddle, sonny. Don't dodge the bullets!" + +"You haven't told the Yanks that we're comin'." + +"Will me that hoss if you get shot. I always did like a bay boss." + +"Tell old Hooker that we jest had to arrange a surprise party for him." + +"Tell 'em to make way there in front. We want to git into the fuss +before it's all over." + +"Tell Old Jack I'm here and that he can begin the battle." + +Harry smiled, and sometimes chaffed back. They were boys together. +Most of the troops in either army were very young. He recognized that +all this talk was the product of exuberant spirits, and officers much +older than he, chaffed in a like manner, took it in the same way. + +But as they drew nearer, orders that all noise should cease were given, +and officers were ready to enforce them. But there was little need for +sternness. The soldiers themselves understood and obeyed. They were as +eager as the officers to achieve a splendid triumph, and it remains a +phenomenon of history how a great army came creeping, creeping within +rifle shot of another, and its presence yet remained unknown. + +The Southern lines now stretched for a long distance through the forest, +cutting across a turnpike, down which the muzzles of four heavy guns +pointed. The cavalry, not far away, were holding back their magnificent +horses. Harry saw Sherburne on their flank nearest to him, and a smile +of triumph passed between them. Off in the forest the strong division +of A. P. Hill was advancing, the sound of their coming audible to the +South but not to the North. + +For an hour and a half the formation of the Southern army went on. +Despite the danger of discovery, present every moment, Jackson was +resolved to perfect his preparations for the attack. He was calm, +methodical, and showed no emotion now, however much he may have felt it. +Harry rode back and forth, sometimes with him and sometimes alone, +carrying messages. He expected every instant to hear the crack of some +Northern scout's rifle and his shout of alarm, but the incredible not +only happened--it kept on happening. There was not a single Northern +skirmisher in the bushes. The only sounds that came from their camp +to the Southern scouts were the clatter of dishes and the laughter of +youths who knew that no danger was near. + +The sun was far down the western arch, and it seemed to Harry for a +moment or two that no battle might occur that day, but a glance at +Jackson and his incessant activity showed him he was mistaken. The +arrangements were now almost complete. In front were the skirmishers, +then the first line, and a little behind it the second line, and then +Hill with the third line. Although they stood in thick forest, the +lines were even and regular, despite trees and bushes. + +The Invincibles were in the second line. Owing to the density of the +forest, the two colonels and their young staff officers had dismounted. +Harry passed them, and Colonel Talbot said to him: + +"Do you know when we'll advance, Harry?" + +"It can't be much longer. What time is it, Colonel?" + +Colonel Talbot opened his watch, looked carefully at the face, and as he +closed it again and put it back in his pocket, he replied gravely: + +"It's five forty-five o'clock of a memorable afternoon, Harry." + +"It's true, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, +"and whatever happens to us, it will be a pleasure to us both to know, +even beyond the grave, that we have served long under the Christian +soldier and great genius, Stonewall Jackson." + +"You'll both go through it," said Harry. "I know you'll be with us when +our victorious army goes over the Long Bridge and enters Washington." + +St. Clair and Langdon stood near, but said nothing. Harry saw that they +were enveloped by the mystery, the vastness and the terrible grandeur +of the occasion. So he said nothing to them, but rode back toward his +commander. Then he glanced again at the sun and saw that it was low, +filling all the western heavens with bars of red and yellow and gold. +He looked once again at that formidable line of battle, stretching in +either direction through the forest farther than he could see, the +soldiers eager, excited and straining hard at the hand that held them +there so firmly. It seemed now that nothing was left to be done, +and the time had grown to six o'clock in the evening. + +Jackson turned to Rodes, who commanded the first line of battle, just in +the rear of the skirmishers, and said: + +"Are you ready, General?" + +"Aye, aye, sir." + +"Then charge," said Jackson. + +Rodes nodded toward the leader of the skirmishers, who gave the word. +A powerful man put a glittering brazen bugle to his throat and blew a +long, mellow note that was heard far through the forest. It was +followed by a shout poured from thirty thousand throats, the guns in the +turnpike fired a terrible volley straight into the Union camp, and then +the whole army of Jackson, line upon line, rushed from the thickets and +hurled itself upon its foe. + +The Northern army was paralyzed for a moment. Never was surprise more +sudden and terrific. Brave as anybody, the Union men rushed to their +arms, but there was no time to use them. The flood was upon them and +overwhelmed them. The German regiments were cut to pieces in an instant, +and the demoralized survivors retreated into the mass. Elsewhere a +battery was manned and stopped for a moment the Southern advance, +but only for a moment. It, too, was overwhelmed by the Southern +artillery which rushed forward, firing as fast as the cannoneers could +load and reload. + +Jackson himself was with his artillery, shouting to them and encouraging +them, and Harry, trying to follow him, found it hard to keep clear of +the guns. The second and third lines of the Southern army pressed +forward with the first, and the terrific impact overwhelmed everything. +The Northern officers showed supreme courage in their attempt to stem +the rout. Everyone on horseback was either killed or wounded, and +their bravery and self-sacrifice were in vain. Nothing could stem the +relentless tide that poured upon them. Harry had never before seen the +Southern troops so exultant. Jackson's march of a whole day, unseen, +almost by the side of the enemy, and then his sudden attack upon his +right flank, made their battle rush fierce and irresistible. They might +be stayed for a few moments, but they swept on and on, carrying before +them the blue brigades. + +The scene, while extraordinarily vivid to Harry, was nevertheless wild +and confused. The fire of the cannon and rifles on a long line was so +rapid and terrific that he was almost blinded by the incessant blaze, +which was like one solid sheet of flame. The dense smoke gathered +once more among the bushes and trees and the forest was filling with a +tremendous shouting. + +Harry kept as close as he could to his general, who was now in the very +heart of the conflict. But it was a difficult task. His clothing was +torn by bushes and briars, and boughs whipped him across the face. +Now and then in a rift in the smoke he beheld a terrible sight. The +ground was covered with the arms and blankets and tents of the Union +army. Ahead of them were great masses of men, retreating and jammed +among the wagons. The horses, many of them wounded, were running about, +neighing in pain and terror. Officers, their uniforms often red from +wounds, were rushing everywhere, seeking to stay the panic. + +Yet the Union officers at last succeeded in getting some order out of +the chaos. A battery was rallied on a hill and threw a sleet of steel +on the charging men in gray. Some of the seasoned infantry regiments +were managing to form a line and they were beginning to send back a +rifle fire. Harry felt that the resistance in front of them was +hardening a little. + +But as usual the eye of Jackson saw everything, even through the flame +and smoke and confusion of a battle fought in dense forests and thickets. + +He galloped up the turnpike himself, his staff hot at his heels, and +shouting to the gunners and pointing forward, he urged on the artillery. +Then he rode among the infantry, and they, as eager as he, rushed on +at increased speed. Yet the Northern resistance was still hardening. +Some of the German regiments atoned for their earlier panic by reforming +and making a brave resistance. Other regiments formed behind a +breastwork. + +"They are going to make a bold stand," shouted Harry to Dalton. + +"But it will not help them," the Virginian replied. + +The Southern battle front, which for a few minutes had lost cohesion, +now swelled higher than ever. Led by Jackson in person, nearly all the +officers in front sword in hand, the whole division with a mighty shout +charged. Harry saw the Invincibles in the first line, the two colonels, +one on either flank, waving their swords and their faces young again +with the battle fire. But it was only a glimpse. Then they were lost +from his sight in the fire and smoke. + +There could be no sufficient defense against the charge of such a foe, +numerous, prepared and wild with victory. They swept over the +breastwork, they seized the cannon, they took prisoners, and before them +they swept the right wing of the Union army in irreparable rout and +confusion. Harry had not seen its like in the whole war, nor was +he destined to see it again. An entire corps had been annihilated. +The Wilderness was filled with the fragments of regiments seeking to +join the main force with Hooker at Chancellorsville. + +Harry thought Jackson would stop. They were now in the deep woods. +The sun was almost gone. The shadows from the east had crept over the +whole sky, and it was already dark among the dense thickets of the +Wilderness. An hour had passed since the first rush, and few generals +would have had the daring to push on in the forest, dark already and +rapidly growing darker. But Jackson was one of the few. He continued +to urge on his men, and he sent his staff officers galloping back and +forth to help in the task. There was a road in the very rear of Hooker. +He intended to seize it, and he was resolved before the night closed +down utterly to plant himself so firmly against the very center of the +Union army that Hooker's complete defeat in the morning would be sure. + +The bugles sang the charge again all along the Southern line, and in +the dying twilight, lit by the flame of cannon and rifles, they swept +forward, driving all resistance before them. + +It was one of the most appalling moments in the history of a nation +which has had to win its way with immense toil and through many dangers. +Hooker, brave, not lacking in ability, but far from being a match for +the extraordinary combination that faced him, two men of genius working +in perfect harmony, had been sitting with two of his staff officers +on the portico of the Chancellor House. He was serene and confident. +He knew the courage of his soldiers and their numbers. The cannonade in +his front had died down. He was a full-faced man, ruddy and stalwart, +and with his powerful army of veterans he felt equal to anything. +There was nothing to indicate that the Southern army was not in full +retreat, as he had stated in his dispatch earlier in the day. The +thought of Jackson had passed out of his mind for the time, because his +long columns, he was sure, were marching farther and farther away. + +Hooker, as the cool of the later afternoon, so pleasant after the heat +of the day, came on, felt an increase of satisfaction. All his great +forces would be massed in the morning. Now and then he heard in the +east the far sound of cannon like muttering thunder on the horizon, +but after a while it ceased entirely. He heard that distant thunder in +the south, too, but it passed farther and farther away, and he felt sure +that it came from his valiant guns hanging on the rear guard of the +retreating Jackson. + +One wonders what must be the feelings of a man who, sitting in apparent +security, is suddenly plunged into a terrible pit. Commanders less +able than Hooker have had better luck. What had he to fear? With one +hundred and thirty thousand veterans of the Army of the Potomac within +call, almost any other general in his place would have felt a like +security. But he had not fathomed fully the daring and skill of the two +men who confronted him. + +It is related that on the approach of that memorable evening there was a +remarkable peace and quiet at the Chancellor House itself. Hooker was +conversing quietly with his aides. Officers inside the house were +copying orders. The distant mutter of the guns that came now and then +was harmonious and rather soothing. The east was already darkening and +it seemed that a quiet sun would set over the Wilderness. + +The cannonade in the south seemed to pass into a new direction, but +the officers at the Chancellor House did not give it much attention. +Hooker was still quiet and confident. Suddenly a terrific crash of +cannon fire came from a point in the northwest. It was followed by +another and then others, so swiftly that they merged. It never ceased +for an instant and it rapidly rolled nearer. Hooker and his officers +leaped to their feet and gazed appalled at the forest whence came those +ominous sounds. An officer ran upon the plank road and took a look +through his glasses. + +"Good God!" he cried, as he turned quickly back. "Here they come!" + +Down the road was pouring a mass of fugitives, and they brought with +them news that did not suffer in the telling, either in magnitude or +color. Stonewall Jackson and the bulk of the rebel army had suddenly +fallen on their wing, they said, and he and his men were hard upon their +heels. Hooker passed in a moment from the certainty of victory to the +certainty that his army must fight for its very existence. Yet he and +his generals showed presence of mind and great courage in the crisis, +bringing forward troops rapidly and, above all, massing the superb +artillery. + +Harry Kenton, his horse shot under him, again was in the front line of +the Southern troops that followed the mass of fugitives down the road +toward the Chancellor House. In the mad rush he lost sight of Jackson +for the time, and found himself mingled with the Invincibles. Both the +colonels were bleeding from slight wounds, but with fire equal to that +of any youth they were still at the head of their troops, leading them +straight toward the Union center. + +Harry only had time to glance at his friends and receive their glances +in return, and then he found Jackson again. Catching one of the +riderless horses, so numerous, he sprang upon him and rode close behind +his general, where Dalton, a slight bullet wound in the arm, had been +able to remain through all the confusion. + +Now the Southern troops were crashing through the woods and bearing +down upon the Chancellor House. The blaze of the cannon and rifles lit +up the early night, and the crash and tumult around the place became +indescribable. Many a Northern officer thought that all was lost, +but the trained artillerymen of the North never flinched. Occupying +an eminence, battery after battery was wheeled into line, until fifty +cannon manned by the best gunners in the world were pouring an awful +fire upon the Southern front. Jackson's men were compelled to stop, +and elsewhere the Southern line was halted also by the density of the +thickets. + +Yet it was but a lull. It was far into the night. Nevertheless, +Jackson meant to push the battle. He rode among his troops and +encouraged them for another effort. Everywhere he was received with +tremendous cheers, and the men were willing and eager to push on the +attack. Lee, his chief, meanwhile was closing in with the smaller +force. The whole line was reformed. Jackson cried to Hill and Lane +and other generals to push on. The whole army was in line for a fresh +attack, and they could hear the sounds made by the enemy cutting down +timber and fortifying. + +It was now nearly nine o'clock at night, and save for the fires that +burned here and there and the flash of the picket firing, the night that +hung over the Wilderness was dark and heavy. + +Harry passed once more near the Invincibles, who were lying down, +panting with weariness, but exultant. They had lost a third of their +numbers in the attack, but the wounds of his own friends were not +serious. + +"Do you know whether we charge them again, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"I don't know, sir; but you know General Jackson." + +"Then it probably means that we attack. Keep down, Captain Bertrand! +Those Northern pickets in the bushes in front of us are active, and, +upon my word, they know how to shoot, as the honorable wounds of many +of us attest!" + +Bertrand, eager to see the enemy, was standing on a hillock, and he did +not seem to hear the words of his chief. A rifle cracked in the bushes +and he fell back without a word. The arms of St. Clair received him and +eased him gently to the earth. But Harry saw at a glance that the man +and his fevered ambitions were gone forever. He was dead before he +touched the ground. + +"I'm glad that I was the one to catch his body," said St. Clair simply. + +Harry was moved at the fall of this man, although he had never really +liked him, but he went on and rejoined his general. Colonel Talbot was +right. Jackson was still intent upon pressing the attack. Night and +darkness were now nothing to him. He meant to achieve Hooker's ruin. + +Harry always believed afterward that he felt the shadow of the great +tragedy soon to come. The roar of the cannon had died down, but from +every direction came the firing of scattered riflemen, skirmishers and +pickets. They buzzed like angry bees, and no man on the front of either +army was safe from their sting. But all through the Wilderness along +the line of Jackson's charge the dead and wounded lay. Here and there +clumps of fallen and dead wood of the winter before, set on fire by the +shells, were burning slowly. The smoke from so much firing drifted in +vast banks of vapor through the forest. The air was filled with bitter +odors. + +Harry felt a sensation of awe and terror, not terror inspired by man, +but of the unknown or uncontrolled forces that drive men to meet one +another in such deadly combat. Now night did not suffice to stop the +titanic struggle. He saw all around him the regiments ready for a new +attack, and he plainly heard in front of him the thud of axes as the +Northern men cut down trees for their defense. Now and then stray +moonbeams, penetrating the forest and the smoke, fell over them like +discs of burnished silver, but faded quickly. + +The firing of the skirmishers increased. Twigs and leaves cut off by +the bullets fell in little showers to the earth. Harry, on horseback +now, saw an impatient look pass over the general's face. The intrepid +fighter, A. P. Hill, was coming up fast, but not fast enough for +Stonewall Jackson. He turned and rode back toward him, careless of the +danger from the Northern skirmishers, who might at any moment see him. + +"General," said one of his staff in protest, "don't expose yourself so +much." + +"There is no danger," said the general quickly. "The enemy is routed +and we must push him hard. Hurry to General Hill and tell him to press +forward." + +The little group of men, Jackson and his staff, rode on. It was very +dark where they were, in the shade of the stunted forest. No moonlight +reached them there. Jackson paused, listening to the rising fire of +the skirmishers. A rifle suddenly flashed in the thickets before them. +Northern troops, lost in the bush and the darkness, were coming directly +their way. + +Jackson turned and, followed by his staff, rode toward his own lines. +The men of a North Carolina regiment, dimly seeing a group of horsemen +coming down upon them, thought they were about to be attacked, and an +officer gave an order to fire. He was obeyed at once, and the most +costly volley fired by Southern troops in the whole war sent the deadly +bullets whistling into Jackson's group. + +Officers and horses fell, shot down by their own men. Jackson was +struck in the right hand and received two bullets in his left arm. +One cut an artery and another shattered the bone near the shoulder. +The reins dropped from his hands, and his horse, the famous Little +Sorrel, broke violently away, rushing through the woods toward the +Northern lines. A bough struck Jackson in the face and he reeled in the +saddle. But with a violent effort he righted himself, seized the bridle +in his stricken right hand, and turned back his frightened horse. + +Harry had sat still in his saddle, petrified with horror. Then he urged +forward his horse and tried to reach his general, but another aide, +Captain Wilbourn, was before him. Wilbourn seized the reins of Little +Sorrel and then Harry felt the thrill of horror again as he saw Jackson +reel forward and fall. But he was caught in the arms of the faithful +Wilbourn. + +They laid Jackson on the ground, and a courier was sent in haste for his +personal physician, Dr. McGuire. Harry sprang down, and abandoning his +horse, which he never saw again, knelt beside his general. Wilbourn +with a penknife was cutting the sleeve from the shattered arm. + +The whole battle passed away for Harry. Death was in his heart at that +moment. When he looked at the white, drawn face of Jackson and his +shattered arm, he had no hope then, nor did he ever have any afterwards, +save for a few moments. The paladin of the Confederacy was gone, +shot down in the dark by his own men. + +General Hill, who also had been in great danger from the bullets of the +North Carolinians, galloped up, sprang from his horse and helped to bind +up the shattered arm. + +"Are you much hurt, General?" he asked, his face distorted with grief +and alarm. + +"I fear so," was the reply, in a weak voice, "and I have suffered all my +wounds from my own men. I think my right arm is broken." + +Harry remained motionless. He saw Dalton by his side, and he also saw +tears on his face. Jackson closed his eyes and uttered no word of +complaint, although it was obvious that he was suffering terribly. +General Hill felt his pulse. He was rapidly growing weaker. Harry was +so stunned that he would not have known what to do, even had not senior +officers been present. When his pulse began to beat again he remained +silent, waiting upon his superiors. + +But Harry was now alert and watchful again. He heard the heavy firing +of the skirmishers on the right, on the left, and in front, and through +the darkness he saw the flashes of flame. The little group around the +fallen man was detached from the army and the enemy might come upon them +at any moment. Even as he looked, two Union skirmishers came through +the thicket and, pausing, their rifles in the hollows of their arms, +looked intently at the shadowy figures before them, trying to discern +who and what they were. It was General Hill who acted promptly. +Turning to Harry and Dalton, he said in a low tone: + +"Take charge of those men." + +The two young lieutenants, with levelled pistols, instantly sprang +forward and seized the soldiers before they had time to resist. They +were given to orderlies and sent to the rear. Harry and Dalton returned +to the side of their fallen general. While all stood there trying to +decide what to do, an aide who had gone down the road reported that a +battery of Northern artillery was unlimbering just before them. + +"Then we must take the General away at once," said Hill. + +Hill lifted in his arms the great leader who was now almost too weak to +speak, although he opened his eyes once, and, as ever, thoughtful of his +troops and the cause for which he fought, said. + +"Tell them it's only a wounded Confederate soldier whom you are +carrying." + +Then he closed his eyes again and lay heavy and inert in Hill's arms. +Hill held him on his feet, and the young staff officers, now crowding +around, supported him. Thus aided he walked among the trees until they +came to the road. It was as dark as ever, save for the flash of the +firing which went on continuously to right, to left, and in front, +mingled now with the sinister rumble of cannon. + +Harry, helping to support Jackson and overwhelmed with grief, felt as if +the end of the world had come. The darkness, the flash of the rifles, +the mutter of cannon, the blaze of gunpowder, the fierce shouts that +rose now and then in the thickets, the foul odors, made him think that +they had truly reached the infernal regions. + +The lieutenant, who saw the battery unlimbering, had not been deceived +by his imagination. Just as they entered the road it fired a terrible +volley of grape and shrapnel. Luckily in the darkness it fired high, +and the little Southern group heard the deadly sleet crashing in the +bushes and boughs over their heads. + +The devoted young staff officers instantly laid Jackson down in the road, +and, sheltering him with their own bodies as they lay beside him, +remained perfectly still while the awful rain of steel swept over their +heads again. Whether Jackson was conscious of it Harry never knew. + +It was one of the most terrible moments of Harry's life. He felt the +most overwhelming grief, but every nerve, nevertheless, was sensitive to +the last degree. His first conviction that Jackson's wounds were mortal +was in abeyance for the moment. He might yet recover and lead his +dauntless legions as of old to victory, and he, like the other young +officers who lay around him, was resolved to save him with his own life +if he could. + +The deadly rain from the cannon did not cease. It swept over their +heads again and again, all the more fearful because of the darkness. +Harry felt the twigs and leaves, cut from the bushes, falling on his +face. The whining of the grape and shrapnel and canister united in one +ferocious note. Some of it struck in the roadway beyond them and fire +flew from the stones. + +The general revived a little after a while and tried to get up, but one +of the young officers threw his arms around him and, holding him down, +said: + +"Be still, General! You must! It will cost you your life to rise!" + +The general made no further attempt to rise, and perhaps he lapsed +into a stupor for a little space. Harry could not tell how long that +dreadful shrieking and whining over their heads continued. It was five +minutes perhaps, but to him it seemed interminable. Presently the +missiles gave forth a new note. + +"They're using shells now," said Dalton, "because they're seeking a +longer range, and they're going much higher over our heads than the +canister." + +"And here are men approaching," said Harry. "I can make out their +figures. They must be our own." + +"So they are!" said Dalton, as they came nearer. + +It was a heavy mass of Confederate infantry pressing forward in the +darkness, and the young officers who had been so ready to give their +lives for their hero lifted him to his feet. Not wishing to have the +ardor of his men quenched by the sight of his wounds, Jackson bade them +take him aside into the thick bushes. But Pender, the general who was +leading these troops, saw him and recognized him, despite the heavy veil +of darkness and smoke. + +Pender rushed to Jackson, betraying the greatest grief, and said that +he was afraid he must fall back before the tremendous artillery fire of +the enemy. As he spoke, that fire increased. Shells and round shot, +grape and canister and shrapnel shrieked through the air, and the +bullets, too, were coming in thousands, whistling like hail driven by +a hurricane. Men fell all about them in the darkness. + +But the great soul of Jackson, wounded to death and unable to stand, +was unshaken. Harry saw him suddenly straighten up, draw himself away +from those who were supporting him, and say: + +"You must hold your ground, General Pender! You must hold out to the +very last, sir!" + +Once more the eyes shot forth blue fire. Once more the unquenchable +spirit had spoken. The figure reeled, and the young officers sprang to +his support. He wanted to lie down there and rest, but the youths would +not let him, because every form of missile hurled from a cannon's mouth +was crashing among them. A litter arrived now and they carried him +toward a house that had been used as a tavern. A shot struck one of +the men who held the litter in his arm and he was compelled to let go. +The litter tipped over and Jackson fell heavily to the ground, his whole +weight crashing upon his wounded arm. Harry heard him utter then his +first and only groan. The boy himself cried out in horror. + +But they lifted him up again, and the litter bearers carried him on, +the young officers crowded close around him. Although it was far on +toward midnight, the roar of the battle swelled afresh through the +Wilderness. They came presently to an ambulance, by the side of which +Jackson's physician, Dr. McGuire, stood. The surgeon, tears in his eyes, +bent over the general and asked him if he were badly hurt. Jackson +replied that he thought he was dying. + +An officer of high rank, Colonel Crutchfield, whom Jackson esteemed +highly, was already lying in the ambulance, wounded severely. They +put Jackson beside him and drove slowly toward the rear. Once, when +Crutchfield groaned under the jolting of the ambulance, Jackson made +them stop until his comrade was easier. Then the mournful procession +moved on, while the battle roared and crashed about the lone ambulance +that bore the stricken idol of the Confederacy, Lee's right arm, the man +without whom the South could not win. Harry heard long afterward that a +minister in New Orleans used in his prayer some such words as these, "Oh, +Lord, when Thou in Thy infinite wisdom didst decree that the Southern +Confederacy should fail, Thou hadst first to take away Thy servant, +Stonewall Jackson." + +Harry and Dalton might have followed the ambulance that carried Jackson +away, as they were members of his staff, but they felt that their place +was on this dusky battlefield. While they paused, not knowing what to +do, a body of men came through the brushwood and they recognized the +upright and martial figures of Colonel Leonidas Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. Just behind them were St. Clair, +Langdon and the rest of the Invincibles. The two colonels turned and +gazed at the retreating ambulance, a shadow for a moment in the dusk, +and then a shadow gone. + +"I saw them putting an officer in that ambulance, Harry," said Colonel +Talbot. "Who was it?" + +Harry choked and made no answer. + +Colonel Talbot, surprised, turned to Dalton. + +"Who was it?" he repeated. + +Dalton turned his face away, and was silent. + +At sight of this emotion, a sudden, terrible suspicion was born in the +mind of Colonel Leonidas Talbot. It was like a dagger thrust. + +"You don't mean--it can't be--" he exclaimed, in broken words. + +Harry could control his feelings no longer. + +"Yes, Colonel," he burst forth. "It was he, Stonewall Jackson, shot +down in the darkness and by mistake by our own men!" + +"Was he hurt badly?" + +"One arm was shattered completely, and he was shot through the hand of +the other." + +The moonlight shone on Harry's face just then, and the colonel, as he +looked at him, drew in his breath with a deep gasp. + +"So bad as that!" he muttered. "I did not think our champion could +fall." + +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, Langdon and St. Clair, who had +heard him, also turned pale, but were silent. + +"We must not tell it," said Harry. "General Jackson did not wish it to +be known to the soldiers, and there is fighting yet to be done. Here +comes General Hill!" + +Harry and Dalton flung themselves into the ranks of the Invincibles. +Hill took command in Jackson's place, but was soon badly wounded by a +fragment of shell, and was taken away. Then Stuart, the great horseman, +rode up and led the troops to meet the return attack for which the +Northern forces were massing in their front. Harry saw Stuart as he +came, eager as always for battle, his plumed hat shining in the light +of the moon, which was now clear and at the full. + +"If Jackson can lead no longer, then Stuart can," said Colonel Talbot, +looking proudly at the gallant knight who feared no danger. "What time +is it, Hector?" + +"Nearly midnight, Leonidas." + +"And no time for fighting, but fighting will be done. Can't you hear +their masses gathering in the wood?" + +"I do, Hector. The Yankees, despite their terrible surprise, have shown +great spirit. It is not often that routed troops can turn and put on +the defense those who have routed them." + +"Yes, and they'll be on us in a minute," said Harry. + +It was much lighter now, owing to the clearness of the moon and the +lifting of the smoke caused by a lull in the firing. But Harry was +right in his prediction. Within five minutes the Northern artillery, +sixty massed guns, opened with a frightful crash. Once more that storm +of steel swept through the woods, but now the lack of daylight helped +the Southerners. Many were killed and wounded, but most of the rain +of death passed over their heads, as they were all lying on the ground +awaiting the charge, and the Northern gunners, not able to choose any +targets, fired in the general direction of the Southern force. + +The cannon fire went on for several minutes, and then, with a mighty +shout, the Northern force charged, but in a great confused struggle in +the woods and darkness it was beaten back, and soon after midnight the +battle for that day ceased. + +Yet there was no rest for the troops. Stuart, appreciating the numbers +of his enemy and fearing another attack, moved his forces to the side +to close up the gap between himself and Lee, in order that the Southern +army should present a solid line for the new conflict that was sure to +come in the morning. + +All that night the Wilderness gave forth the sound of preparations made +by either side, and Harry neither slept nor had any thought of it. +He knew well that the battle was far from over, and he knew also that +the Union army had not yet been defeated. Hooker's right wing had been +crushed by the sudden and tremendous stroke of Jackson, but his center +had rallied powerfully on Chancellorsville, and instead of a mere +defense had been able to attack in the night battle. The fall of +Jackson, too, had paralyzed for a time the Southern advance, and Lee, +with the slender forces under his immediate eye, had not been able to +make any progress. + +Harry and Dalton finally left the Invincibles and reported to General +Stuart, who instantly recognized Harry. + +"Ah," he said, "you were on the staff of General Jackson!" + +"Yes, sir," replied Harry, "and so was Lieutenant Dalton here. We +report to you for duty." + +"Then you'll be on mine for to-night. After that General Lee will +dispose of you, but I have much for you both to do before morning." + +Stuart was acting with the greatest energy and foresight, manning his +artillery and strengthening his whole line. But he knew that it was +necessary to inform his commander-in-chief of all that was happening, +in order that Lee in the morning might have the two portions of the +Southern army in perfect touch and under his complete command. He +selected Wilbourn to reach him, and Harry was detailed to accompany that +gallant officer. They were well fitted to tell all that had happened, +as they had been in the thick of the battle and had been present at the +fall of Jackson. + +The two officers, saying but little, rode side by side through the +Wilderness. They were so much oppressed with grief that they did not +have the wish to talk. Both were devotedly attached to Jackson, and +to both he was a hero, without fear and without reproach. They heard +behind them the occasional report of a rifle. But it was only a little +picket firing. Most of the soldiers, worn out by such tremendous +efforts, lay upon the ground in what was a stupor rather than sleep. + +As they rode forward they met pickets of their own men who told them +where Lee and his staff were encamped, and they rode on, still in +silence, for some time. Harry's cheeks were touched by a freshening +breeze which had the feel of coming dawn, and he said at last: + +"The morning can't be far away, Captain." + +"No, the first light of sunrise will appear very soon. It seems to me I +can see a faint touch of gray now over the eastern forest." + +They were riding now through the force that had been left by General +Lee. Soldiers lay all around them and in all positions, most to rise +soon for the fresh battle, and some, as Harry could tell by their +rigidity, never to rise at all. + +They asked again for Lee as they went on, and a sentinel directed them +to a clump of pines. Wilbourn and Harry dismounted and walked toward a +number of sleeping forms under the pines. The figures, like those of +the soldiers, were relaxed and as still as death. The dawn which Harry +has felt on his face did not appear to the eye. It was very dark under +the boughs of the pines, and they did not know which of the still forms +was Lee. + +Wilbourn asked one of the soldiers on guard for an officer, and Lee's +adjutant-general came forward. Wilbourn told him at once what had +occurred, and while they talked briefly one of the figures under the +pines arose. It was that of Lee, who, despite his stillness, was +sleeping lightly, and whom the first few words had awakened. He put +aside an oilcloth which some one had put over him to keep off the +morning dew, and called: + +"Who is there?" + +"Messengers, sir, from General Jackson," replied Major Taylor, the +Adjutant-General. + +General Lee pointed to the blankets on which he had been lying, and said: + +"Sit down here and tell me everything that occurred last evening." + +Wilbourn sat down on the blankets. Harry stood back a little. The +other staff officers, aroused by the talk, sat up, but waited in +silence. Captain Wilbourn began the story of the night, and Lee did not +interrupt him. But the first rays of the dawn were now stealing through +the pines, and when Wilbourn came to the account of Jackson's fall, +Harry saw the great leader's face pale a little. Lee, like Jackson, +was a man who invariably had himself under complete command, one who +seldom showed emotion, but now, as Wilbourn finished, he exclaimed with +deep emotion: + +"Ah, Captain Wilbourn, we've won a victory, but it is dearly bought, +when it deprives us of the services of General Jackson, even for a short +time!" + +Harry inferred from what he said that he did not think General Jackson's +wounds serious, and he wished that he could have the same hope and +belief, but he could not. He had felt the truth from the first, that +Jackson's wounds were mortal. Then Lee was silent so long that Captain +Wilbourn rose as if to go. + +Lee came out of his deep thought and bade Wilbourn stay a little longer. +Then he asked him many questions about the troops and their positions. +He also gave him orders to carry to Stuart, and as Wilbourn turned to go, +he said with great energy: + +"Those people must be pressed this morning!" + +Then Wilbourn and Harry rode away at the utmost speed, guiding their +horses skilfully through lines of soldiers yet sleeping. The freshening +touch of dawn grew stronger on Harry's cheeks and he saw the band of +gray in the east broadening. Presently they reached their own corps, +and now they saw all the troops ready and eager. Harry rode at once +with Wilbourn to Stuart and fell in behind that singular but able +general. + +Harry saw that Stuart's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes +fairly blazed. It had fallen to him to lead the great fighting corps +which had been led so long by Stonewall Jackson, and it was enough +to appeal to the pride of any general. Nor had he shed any of the +brilliant plumage that he loved so well. The great plume in his +gold-corded hat lifted and fluttered in the wind as he galloped about. +The broad sash of yellow silk still encircled his waist, and on his +heels were large golden spurs. Harry, as he followed him, heard +him singing to himself, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" That line seemed to have taken possession of Stuart's mind. + +All the staff and many of the soldiers along the battle front noted the +difference between their new commander and the one who had fallen so +disastrously in the night. There was never anything spectacular about +Jackson. In the soberest of uniforms, save once or twice, he would ride +along the battle front on his little sorrel horse, making no gestures. + +It was not until the soldiers saw Stuart in the light that they knew +of Jackson's fall. Then the news spread among them with astonishing +rapidity, and while they liked Stuart, their hearts were with the great +leader who lay wounded behind them. But eagerness for revenge added to +their warlike zeal. Along the reformed lines ran a tremendous swelling +cry: "Remember Jackson!" + +They wheeled a little further to the right in order to come into close +contact with Lee, and then, as the first red touch of the dawn showed in +the Wilderness, the trumpets sounded the charge. The batteries blazed +as they sent forth crashing volleys, and in a minute the thunder of guns +came from the east and south, where Lee also attacked as soon as he +heard the sounds of his lieutenant's charge. + +Nothing could withstand the terrible onset of the troops who were still +shouting "Remember Jackson!" and who were led on by a plumed knight out +of the Middle Ages, shaking a great sabre and now singing at the top of +his voice his favorite line, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" + +They swept away the skirmishers and seized the plateau of Hazel Grove +which had been of such use to Hooker the night before, and the Southern +batteries, planted in strength upon it, rained death on the Northern +ranks. The veterans with Lee rushed forward with equal courage and fire, +and from every point of the great curve cannon and rifles thundered on +the Union ranks. + +Harry and Dalton stayed as closely as they could with their new chief, +who, reckless of the death which in truth he seemed to invite, was +galloping in the very front ranks, still brandishing his great sabre, +and now and then making it whirl in a coil of light about his head. +He continually shouted encouragement to his men, who were already full +of fiery zeal, but it was the spirit of Jackson that urged them most. +It seemed to Harry, excited and worshipping his hero, that the figure +of Jackson, misty and almost impalpable, still rode before him. + +But it was no mere triumphal march. They met stern and desperate +resistance. It was American against American. Once more the superb +Northern batteries met those of the South with a fire as terrible as +their own. The Union gunners willingly exposed themselves to death to +save their army, and from their breastworks sixty thousand riflemen +sent vast sheets of bullets. + +But the Northern leader was gone. As Hooker leaned against a pillar in +the portico of the Chancellor House a shell struck it over his head, +the concussion being so violent that he was thrown to the floor, stunned +and severely injured. He was carried away, unconscious, but the brave +and able generals under him still sustained the battle, and had no +thought of yielding. + +The Southern army, Lee and Stuart in unison, never ceased to push the +attack. The forces were now drawing closer together. The lines were +shorter and deeper. The concentrated fire on both sides was appalling. +Bushes and saplings fell in the Wilderness as if they had been levelled +with mighty axes. + +Harry saw a vast bank of fire and smoke and then he saw shooting above +it pyramids and spires of flame. The Chancellor House and all the +buildings near it, set on fire by the flames, were burning fiercely, +springing up like torches to cast a lurid light over that scene of death +and destruction. Then the woods, despite their spring sap and greenness, +caught fire under the showers of exploding shells, and their flames +spread along a broad front. + +The defense made by the Union army was long and desperate. No men could +have shown greater valor, but they had been surprised and from the first +they had been outgeneralled. An important division of Hooker's army had +not been able to get into the main battle. The genius of Lee gathered +all his men at the point of contact and the invisible figure of Jackson +still rode at the head of his men. + +For five hours the battle raged, and at last the repeated charges of the +Southern troops and the deadly fire of their artillery prevailed. + +The Northern army, its breastworks carried by storm, was driven out of +Chancellorsville and, defeated but not routed, began its slow and sullen +retreat. Thirty thousand men killed or wounded attested the courage and +endurance with which the two sides had fought. + +The Army of the Potomac, defeated but defiant and never crushed by +defeat, continued its slow retreat to Fredericksburg, and for a little +space the guns were silent in the Wilderness. + +The men of Hooker, although surprised and outgeneralled, had shown great +courage in battle, and after the defeat of Chancellorsville the retreat +was conducted with much skill. Lee had been intending to push another +attack, but, as usual after the great battles of the Civil War, +Chancellorsville was followed by a terrific storm. It burst over the +Wilderness in violence and fury. + +The thunder was so loud and the lightning so vivid that it seemed for a +while as if another mighty combat were raging. Then the rain came in a +deluge, and the hoofs of horses and the wheels of cannon sank so deep in +the spongy soil of the Wilderness that it became practically impossible +to move the army. + +After a night of storm, Harry and Dalton rode forward with Sherburne and +his troop of cavalry, sent by Stuart to beat up the enemy and see what +he was doing. They found that Hooker's whole army had crossed the river +in the night on his bridges. + +Twice the Northern army had been driven back across the Rappahannock at +the same place--after Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville--but Harry +felt no elation as he returned slowly through the mud with Sherburne. + +"If it were in my power," he said, "I'd gladly trade the victory of +Chancellorsville, and more like it, to have our General back." + +By "our General" he of course meant Jackson, and both Sherburne and +Dalton nodded assent. The news had come to them that Jackson was not +doing well. His shattered arm had been amputated near the shoulder, +and the report spread through the army that he was sinking. Just after +the victory, Lee, with his wonted greatness of soul, had sent him a +note that it was chiefly due to him. Jackson, although in great pain, +had sent back word that General Lee was very kind, "but he should give +the praise to God." + +The deep religious feeling was no affectation with him. It showed alike +in victory and suffering. It was a part of the man's being, bred into +every fiber of his bone and flesh. + +As soon as the news of Hooker's escape across the Rappahannock had been +told, Harry and Dalton asked leave of Stuart to visit General Jackson. +It was given at once. Stuart added, moreover, that he had merely taken +them on his staff while the battle lasted. They were now to return to +their own chief. But his heart warmed to them both and he said to them +that if they happened to need a friend to come to him. + +They thanked Stuart and rode away, two very sober youths indeed. +Both were appalled by the vast slaughter of Chancellorsville. Harry +began to have a feeling that their victories were useless. After every +triumph the enemy was more numerous and powerful than ever. And the +cloud of Jackson's condition hung heavy over both. When he was first +struck down in the Wilderness, Harry had felt no hope for him, and now +that premonition was coming true. + +They learned that he was in the Chandler House at a little place called +Guiney's Station, and they rode briskly toward it. They passed many +troops in camp, resting after their tremendous exertions, many of whom +knew them to be officers of Jackson's staff. They were besieged by +these. Young soldiers fairly clung to their horses and demanded news +of Jackson, who, they had heard, was dying. Harry and Dalton returned +replies as hopeful as they could make them, but their faces belied their +word. Gloom hung over the Southern army which had just won its most +brilliant victory. + +Harry and Dalton found the same gloom at the Chandler House. The +officers who were there welcomed them in subdued tones, and in the house +everybody moved silently. The general's wife and little daughter had +just arrived from Richmond, and they were with him. But after a while +the two young lieutenants were admitted. Jackson spoke a few words to +both, as they bent beside his bed, and commended them as brave soldiers. +Harry knew now, when he looked at the thin face and the figure scarcely +able to move, that the great Jackson was going. + +They went out oppressed by grief, and sought the Invincibles, whom they +at last found encamped in an old orchard. Colonel Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire sat beneath an apple tree, and the +chessboard was between them. + +"They've been sitting there an hour," whispered Langdon, "but they +haven't made a single move, nor will they make one if they stay there +all day. It's in my mind that neither of them sees the chessmen. +Instead they see the General--they visited him this morning." + +Harry did not speak to the two colonels, but turned away. + +"We found the body of Bertrand yesterday," said Langdon, "and buried it +just where he fell." + +"I'm glad of that," said Harry. + +Harry and Dalton lingered at the Chandler House with the staff to which +they belonged. Three days passed and Sunday came. Jackson was sinking +all the while, and that morning the doctor informed his wife that he was +about to die. Pneumonia had followed the weakness from his wounds and +his breathing had grown very faint. Mrs. Jackson herself told him that +all hope for him was gone, and he heard the words with resignation. + +After a while, as Harry learned, his mind began to wander. He spoke in +disjointed sentences of the army, of his battles, of his boyhood and +of his friends. This lasted into the afternoon, when he sank into +unconsciousness. Then came his death, and it was much like that of +Napoleon. He awoke suddenly from a deep stupor and cried out, in a +clear voice: + +"Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the +front! Tell Major Hawks--" + +He stopped, seemed to sink into a stupor again, but a little later +roused suddenly from it once more, and said, in the same clear voice: + +"Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." + +Then, as his eyes closed, the soul of the great Christian soldier passed +into the fathomless beyond, to sit in peace with Cromwell and Washington, +and in time with Lee and Grant and Thomas, who were yet to come. + +That night a whole army wept. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NORTHERN MARCH + + +It was days before Harry felt as if life could move on in the usual way. +He had loved Jackson next to his father. In fact, in the absence of his +own father the great general had stood in that place to him. He had +received from him so many marks of approval, and, riding as a trusted +member of Jackson's staff, his head had been in such a rosy cloud of +glory and victory, that now it seemed for a while as if the world had +come to an end. + +He was disappointed, too, that they had reaped so little from +Chancellorsville. He believed at times that his general had died in +vain. He had but to ride a little distance and see the enemy across the +Rappahannock, where he had been so many months, with the same bristling +guns and the same superior forces. + +He had been eager, like all the other young officers, to move directly +after the battle and attack the foe on his own ground, but when he +talked with the two colonels he realized that their numbers were too +small. They must wait for Longstreet's great division, which had been +detached from the battle to guard against a possible flank attack upon +Richmond. Oh, if Longstreet and his twenty thousand veterans had been +at Chancellorsville! And if Jackson had not fallen just at the moment +when he was about to complete the destruction of Hooker's right wing! +He believed that then they would have annihilated the Army of the +Potomac, that only a few fugitives from it would have escaped across +the Potomac. The time came to him in after years when he often asked +himself would such a result have been a good result for the American +people. + +But now he was only a boy, as old, it is true, as many boys who led +companies, or even regiments, and the days were sufficient for his +thoughts. He was not thinking of the distant years and what they might +bring. Both he and Dalton felt joy when General Lee sent for them and +told them that, having been valued members of General Jackson's staff, +they were now to become members of his own. All he asked of them was +to serve him as well as they had served General Jackson. + +Harry was moved so deeply that he could scarcely thank him. He felt +springing up in his breast the same affection and hero-worship for Lee +that he had felt for Jackson. And as the close association with Lee +continued, this feeling grew both in his heart and in that of Dalton. + +The soul of youth cannot be kept down, and Harry's spirits returned as +he rode back and forth on Lee's errands. Moreover, spring was in full +tide and his blood rose with it. The Wilderness, in which the dead men +lay, and all the surrounding country were turning a deep green, and the +waters of the Rappahannock often flashed in gold or silver as the sun +blazed or grew dim. Pleasant relations between the sentries on the +two sides of the river were renewed. Tobacco, newspapers, and other +harmless articles were passed back and forth, when the officers +conveniently turned their backs. Nor was it always that the younger +officers turned away. + +Harry was in a boat near the right bank when he saw another boat about +thirty yards from the left shore. It contained a half dozen men, +and he recognized one of the figures at once. Putting his hands, +trumpet-shaped, to his mouth, he shouted: + +"Mr. Shepard! Oh, I say, Mr. Shepard!" + +The man looked up, and, evidently recognizing Harry, he had the boat +rowed a little nearer. Harry had his own moved forward a little, +and he stopped at a point where they could talk conveniently. + +"You may not believe me," said Shepard, "but I felt pleasure when I +heard your voice and recognized your face. I am glad to know that you +did not fall in the great battle." + +"I do believe you, and I am not merely exchanging compliments when I say +that I rejoice that you, too, came out of it alive." + +"Nevertheless, luck was against us then," said Shepard, and Harry, +even at the distance, saw a shadow cross his face. "I saw the great +flank movement of Jackson and I understood its nature. I was on my way +to General Hooker with all speed to warn him, and I would have got there +in time had it not been for a chance bullet that stunned me. That +bullet cost us thousands of men." + +"And the bullets that struck General Jackson will cost us a whole army +corps." + +"We hear that they were fired by your own men." + +"So they were. A North Carolina company in the darkness took us for the +enemy." + +"I don't rejoice over the fall of a great and valiant foe, but whether +Jackson lived or died the result would be the same. I told you long +ago that the forces of the Union could never be beaten in the long run, +and I repeated it to you another time. Now I repeat it once more. +We have lost two great battles here, but you make no progress. We +menace you as much as ever." + +"But your newspapers say you're growing very tired. There's no nation +so big that it can't be exhausted." + +"But you'll be exhausted first. So long, I see some of our generals +coming out on the bluffs with their glasses. I suppose we mustn't +appear too friendly." + +"Good-bye, Mr. Shepard. We've lost Jackson, but we've many a good man +yet. I think our next great battle will be farther north." + +They had not spoken as enemies, but as friends who held different views +upon an important point, and now they rowed back peacefully, each to his +own shore. + +With the return of Longstreet, the Southern army was raised to greater +numbers than at Chancellorsville. With Stuart's matchless cavalry it +numbered nearly eighty thousand men, most of them veterans, and a cry +for invasion came from the South. What was the use of victories like +Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, if they merely left matters where +they were? The fighting hitherto had been done on Southern soil. +The South alone had felt the presence of war. It was now time for the +North to have a taste of it. + +Harry and his comrades heard this cry, and it seemed to them to be full +of truth. They ought to strike straight at the heart of the enemy. +When their victorious brigades threatened Philadelphia and New York, +the two great commercial centers of the North, then the Northern people +would not take defeat so easily. It would be a different matter +altogether when a foe appeared at their own doors. + +Rumors that the invasion would be undertaken soon spread thick and fast. +Harry saw his general, Lee now in place of Jackson, in daily conference +with his most trusted lieutenants. Longstreet and A. P. Hill were there +often, and one day Harry saw riding toward headquarters a man who had +only one leg and who was strapped to his saddle. But a strong Roman +nose and a sharp, penetrating eye showed that he was a man of force and +decision. Once, when he lifted his hat to return a salute, he showed a +head almost wholly bald. + +Harry looked at him for a moment or two unknowing, and then crying +"General Ewell!" ran forward to greet him. + +Harry was right. It was what was left of him who had been Jackson's +chief lieutenant in the Valley campaigns and who had fallen wounded +so terribly at the Second Manassas. After nine months of suffering, +here he was again, as resolute and indomitable as ever, able to ride +only when he was strapped in his saddle, but riding as much as any other +general, nevertheless. + +And Ewell, who might well have retired, was one of those who had most to +lose by war. He had a great estate in the heart of a rich country near +Virginia's ancient capital, Williamsburg. There he had lived in a large +house, surrounded by a vast park, all his own. Even as the man, maimed +in body but as dauntless of mind as ever, rode back to Lee, his estate +was in the hands of Union troops. He had all to lose, but did not +hesitate. + +Harry saluted him and spoke to him gladly. Ewell turned his piercing +eyes upon him, hesitated a moment, and then said: + +"It's Kenton, young Harry Kenton of Jackson's staff. I remember you +in the Valley now. We've lost the great Jackson, but we'll beat the +Yankees yet." + +Then he let loose a volley of oaths, much after the fashion of the +country gentleman of that time, both in America and England. But Harry +only smiled. + +"I'm to have command of Jackson's old corps, the second," said Ewell, +"and if you're not placed I'll be glad to have you on my staff." + +"I thank you very much, General," said Harry with great sincerity, +"but General Lee has taken me over, because I was with Jackson." + +"Then you'll have all the fighting you want," said the indomitable +Ewell. "General Lee never hesitates to strike. But don't be the fool +that I was and get your leg shot off. If anything has to go, let it be +an arm. Look at me. I could ride with any man in all Virginia, a state +of horsemen, and now a couple of men have to come and fasten me in the +saddle with straps. But never mind." + +He rode cheerily on, and Harry, turning back, met St. Clair and Langdon. +Both showed a pleased excitement. + +"What is it?" asked Harry. + +"Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire are at it again, +and there have been results!" + +"What has happened?" + +"Colonel Talbot has lost a bishop and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire has +lost a knight. Each claims that he has gained a technical advantage in +position, and they've stopped playing to argue about it. From the way +they act you'd think they were Yankee generals. See 'em over there +under the boughs of that tree, sitting on camp stools, with the chessmen +on another camp stool between them." + +Harry looked over a little ridge and saw the two colonels, who were +talking with great earnestness, each obviously full of a desire to +convince the other. + +"My dear Hector," said Colonel Talbot, "each of us has taken a piece. +It is not so much a question of the relative value of these pieces as it +is of the position into which you force your opponent." + +"Exactly so, Leonidas. I agree with you on that point, and for that +reason I aver that I have made a tactical gain." + +"Hector, you are ordinarily a man of great intelligence, but in this +case you seem to have lost some part of your mental powers." + +"One of us has suffered such a loss, and while I am too polite to name +him, I am sure that I am not the man." + +"Ah, well, we'll not accuse each other while the issue still hangs in +doubt. Progress with the game will show that I am right." + +When Harry passed that way an hour later they were still bent over the +board, the best of friends again, but no more losses had been suffered +by either. + +May was almost spent and spring was at the full. The Southern army +was now at its highest point in both numbers and effectiveness. Only +Jackson was gone, but he was a host and more, and when Lee said that +he had lost his right arm, he spoke the truth, as he was soon to find. +Yet the Southern power was at the zenith and no shadow hung over the +veteran and devoted troops who were eager to follow Lee in that invasion +of the North of which all now felt sure. + +Doubts were dispelled with the close of May. Harry was one of the young +officers who carried the commander-in-chief's orders to the subordinate +generals, and while he knew details, he wondered what the main plan +would be. Young as he was he knew that no passage could be forced +across the Rappahannock in the face of the Army of the Potomac, which +was now as numerous as ever, and which could sweep the river and its +shores with its magnificent artillery. But he had full confidence in +Lee. The spell that Jackson had thrown over him was transferred to Lee, +who swayed his feelings and judgment with equal power. + +The figure of Lee in the height and fullness of victory was imposing. +An English general who saw him, and who also saw all the famous men of +his time, wrote long afterward that he was the only great man he had +ever seen who looked all his greatness. Tall, strongly built, with +thick gray hair, a short gray beard, clipped closely, ruddy complexion +and blue eyes, he was as careful in dress as Jackson had been careless. +He spoke with a uniform politeness, not superficial, but from the heart, +and his glance was nearly always grave and benevolent. + +General Lee in these warm days of late spring occupied a large tent. +Even when the army was not on the march he invariably preferred tents to +houses, and now Harry saw nearly all the famous Southern generals in the +east passing through that door. There was Longstreet, blue of eye like +Lee, full bearded, thick and powerful, and proud of his horsemanship, +in which he excelled. + +Ewell, too, stumped in on his crutches, vigorous, enthusiastic, but +never using profane language where Lee was. And there was A. P. Hill, +of soldierly slenderness and of fine, pleasing manner; McLaws, who had +done so well at Antietam; Pickett, not yet dreaming of the one marvelous +achievement that was to be his; Old Jubal Early, as he was familiarly +called, bald, bearded, rheumatic, profane, but brave and able; Hood, +tall, yellow-haired; Pender, the North Carolinian, not yet thirty, +religious like Jackson, and doomed like him to fall soon in battle; +Tieth, Edward Johnson, Anderson, Trimble, Stuart, as gay and dandyish as +ever; Ramseur, Jones, Daniel, young Fitzhugh Lee; Pendleton, Armistead, +and a host of others whose names remained memorable to him. They were +all tanned and sun-burned men. Few had reached early middle age, +and the shadows of death were already gathering for many of them. + +But the high spirits of the Southern army merely became higher as they +began to make rapid but secret preparation for departure. The soldiers +did not know where they were going, except that it was into the North, +and they began to discuss the nature of the country they would find +there. Harry took the message to the Invincibles to pack and march. +Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire reluctantly dropped +their unfinished game, put up the chessmen, and in an hour the +Invincibles--few, but trim and strong--were marching to a position +farther up the river. + +The corps of Longstreet was to lead the way, and it would march the +next morning. Harry now knew that the army would advance by way of the +Shenandoah valley. The Northern troops had been raiding in the great +valley and again had retaken Winchester, the pleasant little city so +beloved of Jackson. Harry shared the anger at this news that Jackson +would have felt had he been alive to hear it. + +Harry was well aware, however, that the army could not slip away from +its opponent. Hooker, still in command, was watching on the heights +across the river, and there were the captive balloons hovering again in +the sky. But the spirit of the troops was such that they did not care +whether their march was known or not. + +Harry and Dalton were awake early on the morning of the third of June, +and they saw the corps of Longstreet file silently by, the bugle +that called them away being the first note of the great and decisive +Gettysburg campaign. They were better clothed and in better trim than +they had been in a long time. They walked with an easy, springy gait, +and the big guns rumbled at the heels of the horses, fat from long rest +and the spring grass. They were to march north and west to Culpeper, +fifty miles away, and there await the rest of the army. + +Harry and Dalton felt great exhilaration. Movement was good not only +for the body, but for the spirit as well. It made the blood flow more +freely and the brain grow more active. Moreover, the beauty of the +early summer that had come incited one to greater hope. + +The great adventure had now begun, but it was not unknown to Hooker and +his watchful generals on the other shore. The ground was dry and they +had seen a column of dust rise and move toward the northwest. Their +experienced eyes told them that such a cloud must be made by marching +troops, and the men in the balloons with their glasses were able to +catch the gleam of steel from the bayonets of Longstreet's men as they +took the long road to Gettysburg. + +Hooker had good men with him. He, too, as he stood on the left bank of +the Rappahannock, was surrounded by able and famous generals, and others +were to come. There was Meade, a little older than the others, but not +old, tall, thin, stooped a bit, wearing glasses, and looking like a +scholar, with his pale face and ragged beard, a cold, quiet man, able +and thorough, but without genius. Then came Reynolds, modest and quiet, +who many in the army claimed would have shown the genius that Meade +lacked had it not been for his early death, for he too, like Pender, +would soon be riding to a soldier's grave. And then were Doubleday and +Newton and Hancock, a great soldier, a man of magnificent presence, +whose air and manner always inspired enthusiasm, soon to be known as +Hancock the Superb; Sedgwick, a soldier of great insight and tenacity; +Howard, a religious man, who was to come out of the war with only one +arm; Hunt and Gibbon, and Webb and Sykes, and Slocum and Pleasanton, +who commanded the cavalry, and many others. + +These men foresaw the march of Lee into the North, and the people behind +them realized that they were no longer carrying the battle to the enemy. +He was bringing it to them. Apprehension spread through the North, +but it was prepared for the supreme effort. The Army of the Potomac, +despite Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, had no fear of its opponent, +and the veterans in blue merely asked for another chance. + +On the following morning and the morning after, Ewell's corps followed +Longstreet in two divisions toward the general rendezvous at Culpeper +Court House, but Lee himself, although most of his troops were now gone, +did not yet move. Hill's corps had been held to cover any movement +of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, and Lee and his staff +remained there for three days after Longstreet's departure. + +The Invincibles had gone, but Harry and Dalton were just behind Lee, +who sat on his white horse, Traveler, gazing through his glasses toward +a division of the Army of the Potomac which on the day before had +crossed the Rappahannock, under a heavy fire from Hill's men. + +But Harry knew that it was no part of Lee's plan to drive these men back +across the river. A. P. Hill on the heights would hold them and would +be a screen between Hooker's army and his own. So the young staff +officer merely watched his commander who looked long through his glasses. + +It was now nearly noon, and the June sky was brilliant with the sun +moving slowly toward the zenith. Lee at length lowered his glasses and, +turning to his staff, said: + +"Now, gentlemen, we ride." + +Harry by some chance looked at his watch, and he always remembered that +it was exactly noon when he started on the journey that was to lead him +to Gettysburg. He and Dalton from a high crest looked back toward the +vast panorama of hills, valleys, rivers and forest that had held for +them so many thrilling and terrible memories. + +There lay the blackened ruins of Fredericksburg. There were the heights +against which the brave Northern brigades had beat in vain and with such +awful losses. And beyond, far down under the horizon, was the tragic +Wilderness in which they had won Chancellorsville and in which Jackson +had fallen. Harry choked and turned away from the fresh wound that the +recollection gave him. + +Lee and his staff rode hard all that afternoon and most of the night +through territory guarded well against Northern skirmishers or raiding +bands, and the next day they were with the army at Culpeper Court House. +Meanwhile Hooker was undecided whether to follow Lee or move on +Richmond. But the shrewd Lincoln telegraphed him that Lee was his "true +objective." At that moment the man in the White House at Washington was +the most valuable general the North had, knowing that Lee in the field +with his great fighting force must be beaten back, and that otherwise +Richmond would be worth nothing. + +It was Harry's fortune in the most impressionable period of life to be +in close contact for a long time with two very great men, both of whom +had a vast influence upon him, creating for him new standards of energy +and conduct. In after years when he thought of Lee and Jackson, which +was nearly every day, no weighing of the causes involved in the quarrel +between the sections was made in his mind. They were his heroes, +and personally they could do no wrong. + +As Lee rode on with his staff through the fair Virginia country he +talked little, but more than was Jackson's custom. Harry saw his brow +wrinkle now and then with thought. He knew that he was planning, +planning all the time, and he knew, too, what a tremendous task it was +to bring all the scattered divisions of an army to one central point +in the face of an active enemy. This task was even greater than Harry +imagined, as Lee's army would soon be strung along a line of a hundred +miles, and a far-seeing enemy might cut it apart and beat it in detail. +Lee knew, but he showed no sign. + +Harry felt an additional elation because he rode westward and toward +that valley in which he had followed Jackson through the thick of +great achievements. In the North they had nicknamed it "The Valley of +Humiliation," but Jackson was gone, and Milroy, whom he had defeated +once, was there again, holding and ruling the little city of Winchester. +Harry's blood grew hot, because he, too, as Jackson had, loved +Winchester. He did not know what was in Lee's mind, but he hoped that a +blow would be struck at Milroy before they began the great invasion of +the North. + +Culpeper was a tiny place, a court house and not much more, but now its +eager and joyous citizens welcomed a great army. Although Hill and +his corps were yet back watching Hooker, fifty thousand veterans were +gathered at the village. Soon they would be seventy thousand or more, +and Culpeper rejoiced yet again. The women and children--the men were +but few, gone to the war--were never too tired to seek glimpses of the +famous generals, whom they regarded as their champions. Stuart, in his +brilliant uniform, at the head of his great cavalry command, appealed +most to the young, and his gay spirit and frank manners delighted +everybody. They paid little attention to the Northern cavalry and +infantry on the other side of the Rappahannock, knowing that Hooker's +main army was yet far away, and feeling secure in the protection of Lee +and his victorious army. + +Harry slept heavily that night, wearied by the long ride. He, Dalton +and two other young officers had been assigned to a small tent, but, +taking their blankets, they slept under the stars. Harry seldom cared +for a roof now on a dry, warm night. He had become so much used to +hardships and unlimited spaces that he preferred his blankets and the +free breezes that blew about the world. It was a long time after the +war before he became thoroughly reconciled to bedrooms in warm weather. + +He was aroused the next morning by Dalton, who pulled him by his feet +out of his blankets. + +"Stick your head in a pail of water," said Dalton, "and get your +breakfast as soon as you can. Everything is waiting on you." + +"How dare you, George, drag me by the heels that way? I was marching +down Broadway in New York at the head of our conquering army, and +millions of Yankees were pointing at me, all saying with one voice: +'That's the fellow that beat us.' Now you've spoiled my triumph. +And what do you mean by saying that everything is waiting for me?" + +"Our army, as you know, is spectacular only in its achievements, but +to-day we intend to have a little splendor. The commander-in-chief is +going to review Jeb Stuart's cavalry. For dramatic effect it's a chance +that Stuart won't miss." + +"That's so. Just tell 'em I'm coming and that the parade can begin." + +Harry bathed his face and had a good breakfast, but there was no need to +hurry. Jeb Stuart, as Dalton had predicted, was making the most of his +chance. He was going not only to parade, but to have a mock battle as +well. As the sun rose higher, making the June day brilliant, General +Lee and his staff, dressed in their best, rode slowly to a little +hillock commanding a splendid view of a wide plain lying east of +Culpeper Court House. + +General Lee was in a fine uniform, his face shaded by the brim of the +gray hat which pictures have made so familiar. His cavalry cape swung +from his shoulders, but not low enough to hide the splendid sword at +his belt. His face was grave and his whole appearance was majestic. +If only Jackson were there, riding by his side! Harry choked again. + +Lee sat on his white horse, Traveler, and above him on a lofty pole a +brilliant Confederate flag waved in the light wind. Harry and Dalton, +as the youngest, took their modest places in the rear of the group of +staff officers, just behind Lee, and looked expectantly over the plain. +They saw at the far edge a long line of horsemen, so long, in fact, +that the eye did not travel its full distance. Nearer by, all the guns +of "Stuart's Horse Artillery" were posted upon a hill. + +Harry's heart began to beat at the sight--mimic, not real, war, but +thrilling nevertheless. A bugle suddenly sounded far away, its note +coming low, but mellow. Other bugles along the line sang the same tune, +and then came rolling thunder, as ten thousand matchless horsemen, +led by Stuart himself, charged over the plain straight toward the hill +on which Lee sat on his horse. + +The horsemen seemed to Harry to rise as if they were coming up the curve +of the earth. It was a tremendous and thrilling sight. The hoofs of +ten thousand horses beat in unison. Every man held aloft his sabre, +and the sun struck upon their blades and glanced off in a myriad +brilliant beams. Harry glanced at Lee and he saw that the blue eyes +were gleaming. He, too, sober and quiet though he was, felt pride as +the Murat of the South led on his legions. + +The cavalrymen, veering a little, charged toward the guns on the hill, +and they received them with a discharge of blank cartridges which made +the plain shake. Back and forth the mimic battle rolled, charge and +repulse, and the smoke of the firing drifted over the plain. But the +wild horsemen wheeled and turned, always keeping place with such superb +skill that the officers and the infantry looking on burst again and +again into thunderous applause. + +The display lasted some time. When it was over and the smoke and dust +were settling, General Lee and his staff rode back to their quarters, +the young officers filled with pride at the spectacle and more confident +than ever that their coming invasion of the North would be the final +triumph. + +Northern cavalry, on the other side of the river, had heard the heavy +firing and they could not understand it. Could their forces following +Lee on the right bank be engaged in battle with him? They had not heard +of any such advance by their own men, yet they plainly heard the sounds +of a heavy cannonade, and it was a matter into which they must look. +They had disregarded sharp firing too often before and they were growing +wary. But with that wariness also came a daring which the Union leaders +in the east had not usually shown hitherto. They had a strong cavalry +force in three divisions on the other side of the river, and the +commanders of the divisions, Buford, Gregg and Duffie, with Pleasanton +over all, were forming a bold design. + +Events were to move fast for Harry, much faster than he was expecting. +He was sent that night with a note to Stuart, who went into camp with +his ten thousand cavalry and thirty guns on a bare eminence called +Fleetwood Hill. The base of the hill was surrounded by forest, and not +far away was a little place called Brandy Station. Harry was not to +return until morning, as he had been sent late with the message, and +after delivering it to Stuart he hunted up his friend Sherburne. + +He found the captain sitting by a low campfire and he was made welcome. +Sherburne, after the parade and sham battle, had cleaned the dust from +his uniform and he was now as neat and trim as St. Clair himself. + +"Sit down, Harry," he said with the greatest geniality. "Here, orderly, +take his horse, but leave him his blankets. You'll need the blankets +to-night, Harry, because you bunk with us in the Inn of the Greenwood +Tree. We've got a special tree, too. See it there, the oak with the +great branches." + +"I'll never ask anything better in summer time, provided it doesn't +rain," said Harry. + +"Wasn't that a fine parade?" Sherburne ran on. "And this is the +greatest cavalry force that we've had during the war. Why, Stuart can +go anywhere and do anything with it. A lot of Virginia scouts under +Jones are watching the fords, and we've got with us such leaders as +Fitz Lee, Robertson, Hampton and the commander-in-chief's son, +W. H. F. Lee--why should a man be burdened with three initials? We can +take care of any cavalry force that the Yankees may send against us." + +"I've noticed in the recent fighting," said Harry, "that the Northern +cavalrymen are a lot better than they used to be. Most of us were born +in the saddle, but they had to learn to ride. They'll give us a tough +fight now whenever we meet 'em." + +"I agree with you," said Sherburne, "but they can't beat us. You can +ride back in the morning, Harry, and report to the commander-in-chief +that he alone can move us from this position. Listen to that stamping +of hoofs! Among ten thousand horses a lot are likely to be restless; +and look there at the hilltop where thirty good guns are ready to turn +their mouths on any foe." + +"I see them all," said Harry, "and I think you're right. I'll ride back +peaceably to General Lee in the morning, and tell him that I left ten +thousand cavalrymen lying lazily on the grass, and ten thousand horses +eating their heads off near Brandy Station." + +"But to-night you rest," said one of the young officers. "Do you smoke?" + +"I've never learned." + +"Well, I don't smoke either unless we get 'em from the Yankees. Here's +what's left of a box that we picked up near the Chancellor House. +It may have belonged to Old Joe Hooker himself, but if so he'll never +get it back again." + +He distributed the cigars among the smokers, who puffed them with +content. Meanwhile the noises of the camp sank, and presently Harry, +taking his blankets and saying good night, went to sleep in the Inn of +the Greenwood Tree. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CAVALRY COMBAT + + +Harry was a fine sleeper. One learns to be in long campaigns. Most of +those about him slept as well, and the ten thousand horses, which had +been ridden hard in the great display during the day, also sank into +quiet. The restless hoofs ceased to move. Now and then there was a +snort or a neigh, but the noise was slight on Fleetwood Hill or in the +surrounding forests. + +A man came through the thickets soon after midnight and moved with the +greatest caution toward the hill on which the artillery was ranged. +He was in neither blue nor gray, just the plain garb of a civilian, +but he was of strong figure and his smoothly shaven face, with its +great width between the eyes and massive chin, expressed character and +uncommon resolution. + +The intruder--he was obviously such, because he sought with the minutest +care to escape observation--never left the shelter of the bushes. +He had all the skill of the old forest runners, because his footsteps +made no sound as he passed and he knew how to keep his figure always in +the shadows until it became a common blur with them. + +His was a most delicate task, in which discovery was certain death, +but he never faltered. His heart beat steadily and strong. It was an +old risk to him, and he had the advantage of great natural aptitude, +fortified by long training in a school of practice where a single +misstep meant death. + +The sharp eyes of the spy missed nothing. He counted the thirty pieces +of artillery on the hill. He estimated with amazing accuracy the number +of Stuart's horsemen. He saw a thousand proofs that the heavy firing he +had heard in the course of the day was not due to battle with Northern +troops. Although he stopped at times for longer looks, he made a wide +circuit about the Confederate camp, and he was satisfied that Stuart, +vigilant and daring though he might be, was not expecting an enemy. + +Shepard's heart for the first time beat a little faster. He had felt as +much as any general the Northern defeats and humiliations in the east, +but, like officers and soldiers, he was not crushed by them. He even +felt that the tide might be about to turn. Lee, invading the North, +would find before him many of the difficulties which had faced the +Northern generals attacking the South. Shepard, a man of supreme +courage, resolved that he would spare no effort in the service to which +he had devoted himself. + +He spent fully four hours in the thickets, and then, feeling that he had +achieved his task, bore away toward the river. Taking off his coat and +belt with pistols in it, and fastening them about his neck, he swam with +bold strokes to the other side of the stream. However, had anyone been +on the watch at that very point, it was not likely that he would have +been seen. It was the approach of dawn and heavy mists were rising on +the Rappahannock, as they had risen at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. + +Shepard gave the countersign to the pickets and was shown at once to +General Pleasanton, an alert, vigorous man, who was awaiting him. +His report was satisfactory, because the cavalry general smiled and +began to send quick orders to his leaders of divisions. + +But the peace in Stuart's command was not broken that night. No one had +seen the figure of the spy sliding through the thickets, and Harry and +his comrades in the Inn of the Greenwood Tree were very warm and snug in +their blankets. As day came he yawned, stretched, closed his eyes again, +thinking that he might have another precious fifteen minutes, but, +recalling his resolution, sprang to his feet and began to rub his eyes +clear. + +He had slept fully dressed, like all the rest, and he intended to go +down to a brook in a few minutes and bathe his face. But he first gave +Sherburne a malicious shove with his foot and bade him wake up, telling +him that it was too late for an alert cavalry captain to be sleeping. + +Then Sherburne also yawned, stretched, and stood up, rubbing his eyes. +The others about them rose too, and everybody felt chilled by the river +fog, which was uncommonly heavy. + +"Breakfast for me," said Sherburne. + +"Not just now, I think," said Harry. "Listen! Aren't those rifle +shots?" + +A patter, patter, distant but clear in the morning, came from a point +down the stream. + +"You're right!" exclaimed Sherburne in alarm. "It's on our side of +the river and it's increasing fast! As sure as we live, the enemy has +crossed and attacked!" + +They were not left in doubt. The pickets, running in, told them that +a heavy force of Northern cavalry was across the Rappahannock and was +charging with vigor. In fact, two of the divisions had passed the fords +unseen in the fog and were now rushing Stuart's camp. + +But Stuart, although surprised, never for an instant lost his presence +of mind. Throughout the Southern lines the bugles sounded the sharp +call to horse. It was full time. The outposts had been routed already +and were driven in on the main body. + +Harry ran to his horse, which had been left saddled and bridled for +any emergency. He leaped upon him and rode by the side of Sherburne, +whose troop was already in line. They could not see very well for the +mists, but the fire in front of them from cavalry carbines had grown +into great violence. It made a huge shower of red dots against the +white screen of the mist, and now they heard shouts and the beat of +thousands of hoofs. + +"They're making for our artillery!" exclaimed Sherburne with true +instinct. "Follow me, men! We must hold them back, for a few minutes +at least!" + +Sherburne and his gallant troops were just in time. A great force of +cavalry in blue suddenly appeared in the whitish and foggy dawn and +charged straight for the guns. Without delaying a moment, Sherburne +flung his troops in between, although they were outnumbered twenty to +one or more. He did not expect to stop them; he merely hoped to delay +them a few minutes, and therefore he offered himself as a sacrifice. + +Harry was beside Sherburne as they galloped straight toward the Northern +cavalry, firing their short carbines and then swinging their sabres. + +"They'll ride over us!" he shouted to Sherburne. + +"But we'll trouble 'em a little as they pass!" the captain shouted back. + +Harry shut his teeth hard together. A shiver ran over him, and then his +face grew hot. The pulses in his temples beat heavily. He was sure +that Sherburne and he and all the rest were going to perish. The long +and massive Northern line was coming on fast. They, too, had fired +their carbines, and now thousands of sabres flashed through the mists. +Harry was swinging his own sword, but as the great force bore down upon +them, the white mist seemed to turn to red and the long line of horsemen +fused into a solid mass, its front flashing with steel. + +He became conscious, as the space between them closed rapidly, that a +heavy crackling fire was bursting from a wood between the Northern +cavalry and the river. The Southern skirmishers, brushed away at first, +had returned swiftly, and now they were sending a rain of bullets upon +the blue cavalrymen. Many saddles were emptied, but the line went on, +and struck Sherburne's troop. + +Harry saw a man lean from his horse and slash at him with a sabre. +He had no sabre of his own, only a small sword, but he cut with all his +might at the heavy blade instead of the man, and he felt, rather than +saw, the two weapons shatter to pieces. Then his horse struck another, +and, reeling in the saddle, he snatched out a pistol and began to fire +at anything that looked like a human shape. + +He heard all about him a terrible tumult of shots and shouts and the +thunder of horses' hoofs. He still saw the red mist and a thousand +sabres flashing through it, and he heard, too, the clash of steel on +steel. The Northern line had been stopped one minute, two minutes, +and maybe three. He was conscious afterwards that in some sort of +confused way he was trying to measure the time. But he was always quite +certain that it was not more than three minutes. Then the Northern +cavalry passed over them. + +Harry's horse was fairly knocked down by the impetus of the Northern +charge, and the young rider was partly protected by his body from the +hoofs that thundered over them. Horse and rider rose together. Harry +found that the reins were still clenched in his hand. His horse was +trembling all over from shock, and so was he, but neither was much +harmed. Beyond him the great cavalry division was galloping on, and +he gazed at it a moment or two in a kind of stupor. But he became +conscious that the fire of the Southern skirmishers on its flank was +growing heavier and that many horses without riders were running loose +through the forest. + +Then his gaze turned back to the little band that had stood in the path +of the whirlwind, and he uttered a cry of joy as he saw Sherburne rising +slowly to his feet, the blood flowing from a wound in his left shoulder. + +"It isn't much, Harry," said the captain. "It was only the point of the +sabre that grazed me, but my horse was killed, and the shock of the fall +stunned me for a moment or two. Oh, my poor troop!" + +There was good cause for his lament. Less than one-fourth of his brave +horsemen were left unhurt or with but slight wounds. The wounded who +could rise were limping away toward the thickets, and the unwounded +were seeking their mounts anew. Harry caught a riderless horse. His +faculties were now clear and the effect of the physical shock had passed. + +"We held 'em three minutes at least, Captain," he cried, "and it may +be that three minutes were enough. We were surprised, but we are not +beaten. Here, jump up! We've saved the guns from capture! And listen +how the rifle fire is increasing." + +Sherburne sprang into the saddle and his little band of surviving +troopers gathered around him. They uttered a shout, too, as they saw +heavy forces of their own cavalry coming up and charging, sabre in hand. +Inspired by the sight and forgetting his wound, Sherburne wheeled about +and led his little band in a charge upon the Northern flank. + +A desperate battle with sabres ensued. Forest and open rang with shouts +and the clash of steel, and hundreds of pistols flashed. The Northern +horsemen were driven back. Davis, who led them here, a Southerner by +birth, but a regular officer, a man of great merit, seeking to rally +them, fell, wounded mortally. A strong body of Illinois troops came up +and turned the tide of battle again. The Southern horsemen were driven +back. Some of them were taken prisoners and a part of Stuart's baggage +became a Northern prize. + +This portion of the Southern cavalry under Jones, which Harry and +Sherburne had joined, now merely sought to check the Northern advance +until Stuart could arrive. Everyone expected Stuart. Such a brilliant +cavalryman could not fail. But the Northern force was increasing. +Buford and his men were coming down on their flank. It seemed that the +Confederate force was about to be overwhelmed again, but suddenly their +guns came into action. Shell and canister held back the Northern force, +and then arose from the Southern ranks the shout: "Stuart! Stuart!" + +Harry saw him galloping forward at the head of his men, his long, +yellow hair flying in the air, his sabre whirled aloft in glittering +circles, and he felt an immense sensation of relief. Leading his +division in person, Stuart drove back the Northern horsemen, but he in +his turn was checked by artillery and supporting columns of infantry +in the wood. + +Pleasanton, the Union leader, was showing great skill and courage. +Having profited by his enemy's example, he was pressing his advantage +to the utmost. Already he had found in Stuart's captured baggage +instructions for the campaign, showing that the whole Southern army was +on its way toward the great valley, to march thence northward, and he +resolved instantly to break up this advance as much as possible. + +Pleasanton pressed forward again, and Stuart prepared to meet him. +But Harry, who was keeping by the side of Sherburne, saw Stuart halt +suddenly. A messenger had galloped up to him and he brought formidable +news. A heavy column of horsemen had just appeared directly behind the +Southern cavalry and was marching to the attack. Stuart was in a trap. + +Harry saw that Stuart had been outgeneralled, and again he shut his +teeth together hard. To be outgeneralled did not mean that they would +be outfought. The Northern force in their rear was the third division +under Gregg, and Stuart sent back cavalry and guns to meet them. + +Harry now saw the battle on all sides of him. Cavalry were charging, +falling back, and charging again. The whole forces of the two armies +were coming into action. Nearly twenty thousand sabres were flashing in +the sunlight that had driven away the fog. Harry had never before seen +a cavalry battle on so grand a scale, but the confusion was so great +that it was impossible for him to tell who was winning. + +The Northern horse took Fleetwood Hill; Stuart retook it. Then he +sought to meet the cavalry division in his front, and drove it to the +woods, where it reformed and hurled him back to the hill. The Northern +division, under Gregg, that had come up behind, fell with all its force +on the Southern flank. Had it driven in the Southern lines here, +Pleasanton's victory would have been assured, but the men in gray, +knowing that they must stand, stood with a courage that defied +everything. The heavy Northern masses could not drive them away, +and then Stuart, whirling about, charged the North in turn with his +thousands of horsemen. They were met by more Northern cavalry coming up, +and the combat assumed a deeper and more furious phase. + +Sherburne, with the fragment of his troop and Harry by his side, was in +this charge. The effect of it upon Harry, as upon his older comrade, +was bewildering. The combatants, having emptied their pistols or thrust +them back in their belts, were now using their sabres alone. Nearly +twenty thousand blades were flashing in the air. Again the battle was +face to face and the lines became mixed. Riderless horses, emerging +from the turmoil, were running in all directions, many of them neighing +in pain and terror. Men, dismounted and wounded, were crawling away +from the threat of the trampling hoofs. + +The gunners fired the cannon whenever they were sure they would not +strike down their own, but the horsemen charged upon them and wrenched +the guns from their hands, only to have them wrenched back again by the +Southerners. It was the greatest cavalry battle of the war, and the +spectacle was appalling. Many of the horses seemed to share the fury of +their riders and kicked and bit. Their beating hoofs raised an immense +cloud of dust, through which the blades of the sabres still flashed. + +Harry never knew how he went through it unhurt. Looking back, it seemed +that such a thing was impossible. Yet it occurred. But he became +conscious that the Southern horsemen, after the long and desperate +struggle, were driving back those of the North. They had superior +numbers. One of the Northern divisions, after having been engaged with +infantry elsewhere, failed to come up. + +Pleasanton, after daring and skill that deserved greater success, +was forced slowly to withdraw. Roused by the roar of the firing, +heavy masses of Ewell's infantry were now appearing on the horizon, +sent by Lee, with orders to hurry to the utmost. Pleasanton, +maintaining all his skill and coolness, dexterously withdrew his men +across the river, and Stuart did not consider it wise to follow. +Each side had lost heavily. Pleasanton had not only struck a hard blow, +but he had learned where Lee's army lay, and, moreover, he had shown +the horsemen of the South that those of the North were on the watch. + +It was late in the afternoon when the last Northern rider crossed the +Rappahannock, and Harry looked upon a field strewn with the fallen, +both men and horses. Then he turned to Sherburne and bound up his +wounded shoulder for him. The hurt was not serious, but Sherburne, +although they had driven off the Northern horse, was far from sanguine. + +"It's a Pyrrhic victory," he said. "We had the superior numbers, +and it was all we could do to beat them back. Besides, they surprised +us, when we thought we had a patent on that sort of business." + +"It's so," said Harry, his somber glance passing again over the field. + +Their feeling was communicated, too, to the advancing masses of +infantry. The soldiers, when they saw the stricken field and began +to hear details from their brethren of the horse, shook their heads. +There was no joy of victory in the Southern army that night. The enemy, +when he was least expected, had struck hard and was away. + +Harry rode to General Lee and gave him as many details as he could +of the cavalry battle, to all of which the general listened without +comment. He had reports from others also, and soon he dismissed Harry, +who took up his usual night quarters with his blankets under a green +tree. Here he found Dalton, who was eager to hear more. + +"They say that the Yankees, although inferior in numbers, pushed us hard, +Harry; is it so?" he asked. + +"It is, and they caught us napping, too. George, I'm beginning to +wonder what's waiting for us there in the North." + +It was dark now and he gazed toward the North, where the stars already +twinkled serenely in the sky. It seemed to him that their army was +about to enter some vast, illimitable space, swarming with unknown +enemies. He felt for a little while a deep depression. But it was +partly physical. His exertions of the day had been tremendous, and the +intense excitement, too, had almost overcome him. The watchful Dalton +noticed his condition, and wisely said nothing, allowing his pulses to +regain their normal beat. + +It was nearly an hour before his nerves became quiet, and then he sank +into a heavy sleep. In the morning youth had reasserted itself, both +physically and mentally. His doubts and apprehensions were gone. +The unconquerable Army of Northern Virginia was merely marching again +to fresh triumphs. + +Although Hooker now understood Lee's movement, and was pushing more +troops forward on his side of the Rappahannock, the Southern general, +with his eye ever on his main object, did not cease his advance. +He had turned his back on Washington, and nothing, not even formidable +irruptions like that of Pleasanton, could make him change his plan. + +The calls from the Valley of Virginia became more frequent and urgent. +Messengers came to Lee, begging his help. Milroy at Winchester, with a +strong force, was using rigorous measures. The people claimed that he +had gone far beyond the rules of war. Jackson had come more than once +to avenge them, and now they expected as much of Lee. + +They did not appeal in vain. Harry saw Lee's eyes flash at the reports +of the messengers, and he himself took a dispatch, the nature of which +he knew, to Ewell, who was in advance, leading Jackson's old corps. +Ewell, strapped to his horse, had regained his ruddiness and physical +vigor. Harry saw his eyes shine as he read the dispatch, and he knew +that nothing could please him more. + +"You know what is in this, Lieutenant Kenton?" he said, tapping the +paper. + +"I do, sir, and I'm sorry I can't go with you." + +"So am I; but as sure as you and I are sitting here on our horses, +trouble is coming to Mr. Milroy. Some friends of yours in the little +regiment called the Invincibles are just beyond the hill. Perhaps you'd +like to see them." + +Harry thanked him, saluted, and rode over the hill, where he found the +two colonels, St. Clair and Langdon riding at the head of their men. +The youths greeted him with a happy shout and the colonels welcomed him +in a manner less noisy but as sincere. + +"The sight of you, Harry, is good for any kind of eyes," said Colonel +Talbot. "But what has brought you here?" + +"An order from General Lee to General Ewell." + +"Then it must be of some significance." + +"It is, sir, and since it will be no secret in a few minutes, I can +tell you that this whole corps is going to Winchester to take Milroy. +I wish I could go with you, Colonel, but I can't." + +"You were at Brandy Station, and we weren't," said St. Clair quietly. +"It's our turn now." + +"Right you are, Arthur," said Langdon. "I mean to take this man Milroy +with my own hands. I remember that he gave us trouble in Jackson's +time. He's been licked once. What right has he to come back into the +Valley?" + +"He's there," said Harry, "and they say that he's riding it hard with +ironshod hoofs." + +"He won't be doing it by the time we see you again," said St. Clair +confidently as they rode away. + +Harry did not see them again for several days, but when Ewell's division +rejoined the main army, all that St. Clair predicted had come to pass. +St. Clair himself, with his left arm in a sling, where it was to remain +for a week, gave him a brief and graphic account of it. + +"All the soldiers in the army that he had once led knew how Old Jack +loved that town," he said, "and they were on fire to drive the Yankees +away from it once more. We marched fast. We were the foot cavalry, +just as we used to be; and, do you know, that Cajun band was along with +our brigade, as lively as ever. The Yankees had heard of our coming, +but late. They had already built forts around Winchester, but they +didn't dream until the last moment that a big force from Lee's army was +at hand. Their biggest fort was on Applepie Ridge, some little distance +from Winchester. We came up late in the afternoon and had to rest a +while, as it was awful hot. Then we opened, with General Ewell himself +in direct command there. Old Jube Early had gone around to attack their +other works, and we were waiting to hear the roaring of his guns. + +"We gave it to 'em hot and heavy. General Ewell was on foot--that is, +one foot and a crutch--and you ought to have seen him hopping about +among the falling cannon balls, watching and ordering everything. +Sunset was at hand, with Milroy fighting us back and not dreaming that +Early was coming on his flank. Then we heard Early's thunder. In a few +minutes his men stormed the fort on the hill next to him and turned its +guns upon Milroy himself. + +"It was now too dark to go much further with the fighting, and we +waited until the next morning to finish the business. But Milroy was +a slippery fellow. He slid out in the night somehow with his men, and +was five miles away before we knew he had gone. But we followed hard, +overtook him, captured four thousand men and twenty-three cannon and +scattered the rest in every direction. Wasn't that a thorough job?" + +"Stonewall Jackson would never have let them escape through his cordon +and get a start of five miles." + +"That's so, Harry, Old Jack would never have allowed it. But then, +Harry, we've got to remember that there's been only one Stonewall +Jackson, and there's no more to come." + +"You're telling the whole truth, St. Clair, and if General Ewell did let +'em get away, he caught 'em again. It was a brilliant deed, and it's +cleared the Valley of the enemy." + +"Our scouts have reported that some of the fugitives have reached +Pennsylvania, spreading the alarm there. I suppose they'll be gathering +troops in our front now. What's the news from Hooker, Harry?" + +"He's moving northwest to head us off, but I don't think he has any +clear idea where we're going." + +"Where are we going, Harry?" + +"It's more than I can tell. Maybe we're aiming for Philadelphia." + +"Then there'll be a big stir among the Quakers," said Happy Tom. + +"It doesn't matter, young gentlemen, where we're going," said Colonel +Talbot, who heard the last words. "It's our business to be led, and +we know that we're in the hands of a great leader. And we know, too, +that whatever dangers he leads us into, he'll share them to the full. +Am I not right, Hector?" + +"You speak the full truth, Leonidas." + +"Aye, aye, sir," said Harry. "It's sufficient for us to follow where +General Lee leads." + +"But we need a great victory," said Colonel Talbot. "We've had news +from the southwest. The enemy has penetrated too far there. That +fellow Grant is a perfect bulldog. They say he actually means to take +our fortress of Vicksburg. He always hangs on, and that's bad for us. +If we win this war, we've got to win it with some great stroke here in +the east." + +"You speak with your usual penetration and clearness, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, and then the two rode on, side by +side, firm, quiet figures. + +Now came days when suspense and fear hung heavy over the land. The +sudden blow out of the dark that had destroyed Milroy startled the +North. The fugitives from his command told alarming stories of the +great Southern force that was advancing. The division of Hill, watching +Hooker on the Rappahannock, also dropped into the dark where Lee's main +army had already gone. The Army of the Potomac took up its march on a +parallel line to the westward, but it was never able to come into close +contact with the Army of Northern Virginia. There were clouds of +skirmishers and cavalry between. + +Undaunted by his narrow escape at Brandy Station, Stuart showed all his +old fire and courage, covering the flanks and spreading out a swarm of +horsemen who kept off the Northern scouts. Thus Lee was still able +to veil his movements in mystery, and the anxious Hooker finally sent +forward a great force to find and engage Stuart's cavalry. Stuart, +now acting as a rear guard, was overtaken near the famous old +battlefield of Manassas. For a long time he fought greatly superior +numbers and held them fast until nightfall, when the Northern force, +fearing some trap, fell back. + +Harry had been sent back with two other staff officers, and from a +distance he heard the crash and saw the flame of the battle. But he +had no part in it, merely reporting the result late in the night to his +general, who speedily pressed on, disregarding what might occur on his +flanks or in his rear, sure that his lieutenants could attend to all +dangers there. + +The days were full of excitement for Harry. While he remained near Lee, +the far-flung cavalry continually brought in exciting reports. As Harry +saw it, the North was having a taste of what she had inflicted on the +South. The news of Milroy's destruction, startling enough in itself, +had been magnified as it spread on the wings of rumor. The same rumor +enlarged Lee's army and increased the speed of his advance. + +Sherburne, recovered from his slight wound, was the most frequent +bringer of news. There was not one among all Stuart's officers more +daring than he, and he was in his element now, as they rode northward +into the enemy's country. He told how the troopers had followed +Milroy's fugitives so closely that they barely escaped across the +Potomac, and then how the Unionists of Maryland had fled before the +gray horsemen. + +Sherburne did not exaggerate. Hitherto the war had never really touched +the soil of any of the free states, but now it became apparent that +Pennsylvania, the second state of the Union in population, would be +invaded. Excitement seized Harrisburg, its capital, which Lee's +army might reach at any time. People poured over the bridges of the +Susquehanna and thousands of men labored night and day to fortify the +city. + +Jenkins, a Southern cavalry leader, was the first to enter Pennsylvania, +his men riding into the village of Greencastle, and proceeding thence to +Chambersburg. While the telegraph all over the North told the story of +his coming, and many thought that Lee's whole army was at hand, Jenkins +turned back. His was merely a small vanguard, and Lee had not yet drawn +together his whole army into a compact body. + +The advance of Lee with a part of his army was harassed moreover by the +Northern cavalry, which continued to show the activity and energy that +it had displayed so freely at Pleasanton's battle with Stuart. Harry, +besides bearing messages for troops to come up, often saw, as he rode +back and forth, the flame of firing on the skyline, and he heard the +distant mutter of both rifle and cannon fire. Some of these engagements +were fierce and sanguinary. In one, more than a thousand men fell, +a half to either side. + +Harry was shot at several times on his perilous errands, and once he +had a long gallop for safety. Then Lee stopped a while at the Potomac, +with his army on both sides of the river. He was waiting to gather all +his men together before entering Pennsylvania. Already they were in +a country that was largely hostile to them, and now Harry saw the +difficulty of getting accurate information. The farmers merely regarded +them with lowering brows and refused to say anything about Union troops. + +Harry had parted company for the time with his friends of the +Invincibles. They were far ahead with Ewell, while he and Dalton +remained with Lee on the banks of the Potomac. Yet the delay was not as +long as it seemed to him. Soon they took up their march and advanced on +a long line across the neck of Maryland into Pennsylvania, here a region +of fertile soil, but with many stony outcrops. The little streams were +numerous, flowing down to the rivers, and horses and men alike drank +thirstily at them, because the weather was now growing hot and the +marching was bad. + +It was near the close of the month when Harry learned that Hooker had +been relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac at his own +request, and that he had been succeeded by Meade. + +"Do you know anything about Meade?" he asked Dalton. + +"He's been one of the corps commanders against us," replied the +Virginian, "and they say he's cautious. That's all I know." + +"I think it likely that we'll find out before long what kind of a +general he is," said Harry thoughtfully. "We can't invade the North +without having a big battle." + +The corps of Hill and Longstreet were now joined under the personal eye +of Lee, who rode with his two generals. Ewell was still ahead. Finally +they came to Chambersburg, which the Southern advance had reached +earlier in the month, and Lee issued an order that no devastation should +be committed by his troops, an order that was obeyed. + +Harry and Dalton walked a little through the town, and menacing looks +met them everywhere. + +"We've treated 'em well, but they don't like us," he said to Dalton. + +"Why should they? We come as invaders, as foes, not as friends. +Did our people in the Virginia towns give the Yankees any very friendly +looks?" + +"Not that I've heard of. I suppose you can't make friends of a people +whom you come to make war on, even if you do speak kind words to them." + +"Is General Stuart here?" asked Dalton. + +"No, he's gone on a great raid with his whole force. I suppose he's +going to sweep up many detachments of the enemy." + +"And meanwhile we're going on to Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania." + +"But it seems to me that Stuart ought to be with us." + +"Maybe he's gone to find out just where the Army of the Potomac is. +We've lost Meade, and Meade has lost us. Some prisoners that we've +brought in say that nobody in the North knows just where our army is, +although all know that it's in Pennsylvania." + +But that night, while Harry was at General Lee's headquarters, a scout +arrived with news that the Army of the Potomac was advancing upon an +almost parallel line and could throw itself in his rear. Other scouts +came, one after another, with the same report. Harry saw the gravity +with which the news was received, and he speedily gathered from the talk +of those about him that Lee must abandon his advance to the Pennsylvania +capital and turn and fight, or be isolated far from Virginia, the +Southern base. + +Stuart and the cavalry were still absent on a great raid. Lee's orders +to Stuart were not explicit, and the cavalry leader's ardent soul gave +to them the widest interpretation. Now they felt the lack of his +horsemen, who in the enemy's country could have obtained abundant +information. A spy had brought them the news that the Army of the +Potomac had crossed the Potomac and was marching on a parallel line with +them, but at that point their knowledge ended. The dark veil, which was +to be lifted in such a dramatic and terrible manner, still hung between +the two armies. + +The weather turned very warm, as it was now almost July. So far as +the heat was concerned Harry could not see any difference between +Pennsylvania and Kentucky and Virginia. In all three the sun blazed +at this time of the year, but the country was heavy with crops, now +ripening fast. It was a region that Harry liked. He had a natural +taste for broken land with slopes, forests, and many little streams of +clear water. Most of the fields were enclosed in stone fences, and the +great barns and well-built houses indicated prosperous farmers. + +He and Dalton rode up to one of these houses, and, finding every door +and window closed, knocked on the front door with a pistol butt. +They knew it was occupied, as they had seen smoke coming from the +chimney. + +"This house surely belongs to a Dutchman," said Dalton, meaning one +of those Pennsylvanians of German descent who had settled in the rich +southeast of Pennsylvania generations ago. + +"I fear they don't know how to talk English," said Harry. + +"They can if they have to. Hit that door several times more, Harry, +and hit it hard. They're a thrifty people, and they wouldn't like to +see a good door destroyed." + +Harry beat a resounding tattoo until the door was suddenly thrown open +and the short figure of a man of middle years, chin-whiskered and gray, +but holding an old-fashioned musket in his hands, confronted them. + +"Put down that gun, Herr Schneider! Put it down at once!" said Dalton, +who had already levelled his pistol. + +The man was evidently no coward, but when he looked into Dalton's eye, +he put the musket on the floor. + +Harry, still sitting on his horse--they had ridden directly up to the +front door--saw a stalwart woman and several children hovering in the +dusk of the room behind the man. He watched the whole group, but he +left the examination to Dalton. + +"I want you to tell me, Herr Schneider, the location of the Army of the +Potomac, down to the last gun and man, and what are the intentions of +General Meade," said Dalton. + +The man shook his head and said, "Nein." + +"Nine!" said Dalton indignantly. "General Meade has more than nine men +with him! Come, out with the story! All those tales about the rebels +coming to burn and destroy are just tales, and nothing more. You +understand what I'm saying well enough. Come, out with your +information!" + +"Nein," said the German. + +"All right," said Dalton in a ferocious tone. "After all, we are the +rebel ogres that you thought we were." + +He turned toward his comrade and, with his back toward the German, +winked and said: + +"What do you think I'd better do with him?" + +"Oh, kill him," replied Harry carelessly. "He's broad between the eyes +and there's plenty of room there for a bullet. You couldn't miss at two +yards." + +The German made a dive toward his musket, but Dalton cried sharply: + +"Hands up or I shoot!" + +The German straightened himself and, holding his hands aloft, said: + +"You would not kill me in the shelter uf mein own house?" + +"Well, that depends on the amount of English you know. It seems to me, +Herr Schneider, that you learned our language very suddenly." + +"I vas a man who learns very fast when it vas necessary. Mein brain +vorks in a manner most vonderful ven I looks down the barrel of a big +pistol." + +"This pistol is a marvelous stimulant to a good education." + +"How did you know mein name vas Schneider?" + +"Intuition, Herr Schneider! Intuition! We Southern people have +wonderful intuitive faculties." + +"Vell, it vas not Schneider. My name vas Jacob Onderdonk." + +Harry laughed and Dalton reddened. + +"The joke is on me, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "But we're here on a +serious errand. Where is General Meade?" + +"I haf not had my regular letter from General Meade this morning. +Vilhelmina, you are sure ve haf noddings from General Meade?" + +"Noddings, Jacob," she said. + +Dalton flushed again and muttered under his breath. + +"We want to know," he said sharply, "if you have seen the Army of the +Potomac or heard anything of it." + +A look of deep sadness passed over the face of Jacob Onderdonk. + +"I haf one great veakness," he said, "one dot makes my life most bitter. +I haf de poorest memory in de vorld. Somedimes I forget de face of mein +own Vilhelmina. Maybe de Army uf de Potomac, a hundred thousand men, +pass right before my door yesterday. Maybe, as der vedder vas hot, +that efery one uf dem hundred thousand men came right into der house +und take a cool drink out uf der water bucket. But I cannot remember. +Alas, my poor memory!" + +"Then maybe Wilhelmina remembers." + +"Sh! do not speak uf dot poor voman. I do not let her go out uf der +house dese days, as she may not be able to find der vay back in again." + +"We'd better go, George," said Harry. "I think we only waste time +asking questions of such a forgetful family." + +"It iss so," said Onderdonk; "but, young Mister Rebels, I remember one +thing." + +"And what is that?" asked Dalton. + +"It vas a piece of advice dot I ought to gif you. You tell dot General +Lee to turn his horse's head and ride back to der South. You are good +young rebels. I can see it by your faces. Ride back to der South, +I tell you again. We are too many for you up here. Der field uf +corn iss so thick und so long dot you cannot cut your way through it. +Your knife may be sharp and heavy, but it vill vear out first. Do I +not tell the truth, Vilhelmina, mein vife?" + +"All your life you haf been a speaker of der truth, Hans, mein husband." + +"I think you're a poor prophet, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "We +recognize, however, the fact that we can't get any information out of +you. But we ask one thing of you." + +"Vat iss dot?" + +"Please to remember that while we two are rebels, as you call them, +we neither burn nor kill. We have offered you no rudeness whatever, +and the Army of Northern Virginia is composed of men of the same kind." + +"I vill remember it," said Onderdonk gravely, and as they saluted him +politely, he returned the salute. + +"Not a bad fellow, I fancy," said Harry, as they rode away. + +"No, but our stubborn enemy, all the same. Wherever our battle is +fought we'll find a lot of these Pennsylvania Dutchmen standing up to +us to the last." + +Harry and Dalton rejoined the staff, bringing with them no information +of value, and they marched slowly on another day, camping in the cool of +the evening, both armies now being lost to the anxious world that waited +and sought to find them. + +Lee himself, as Harry gathered from the talk about him, was uncertain. +He did not wish a battle now, but his advance toward the Susquehanna +had been stopped by the news that the Army of the Potomac could cut in +behind. The corps of Ewell had been recalled, and Harry, as he rode to +it with a message from his general, saw his old friends again. They +were in a tiny village, the name of which he forgot, and Colonel Talbot +and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, sitting in the main room of what +was used as a tavern in times of peace, had resumed the game of chess, +interrupted so often. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire was in great glee, +just having captured a pawn, and Colonel Talbot was eager and sure of +revenge, when Harry entered and stated that he had delivered an order +to General Ewell to fall back yet farther. + +"Most untimely! Most untimely!" exclaimed Colonel Talbot, as they +rapidly put away the board and chessmen. "I was just going to drive +Hector into a bad corner, when you came and interrupted us." + +"You are my superior officer, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire, "but remember that this superiority applies only to +military rank. I assert now, with all respect to your feelings, that +in regard to chess it does not exist, never has and never will." + +"Opinions, Hector, are--opinions. Time alone decides whether they +are or are not facts. But our corps is to fall back, you say, Harry? +What does it signify?" + +"I think, Colonel, that it means a great battle very soon. It is +apparent that General Lee thinks so, or he would not be concentrating +his troops so swiftly. The Army of the Potomac is somewhere on our +flank, and we shall have to deal with it." + +"So be it. The Invincibles are few but ready." + +Harry rode rapidly back to Lee with the return message from Ewell, +and found him going into camp on the eve of the last day of June. +The weather was hot and scarcely any tents were set, nearly everybody +preferring the open air. Harry delivered his message, and General Lee +said to him, with his characteristic kindness: + +"You'd better go to sleep as soon as you can, because I shall want you +to go on another errand in the morning to a place called Gettysburg." + +Gettysburg! Gettysburg! He had never heard the name before and it +had absolutely no significance to him now. But he saluted, withdrew, +procured his blankets and joined Dalton. + +"The General tells me, George, that I'm to go to Gettysburg," he said. +"What's Gettysburg, and why does he want me to go there?" + +"I'm to be with you, Harry, and we're both going with a flying column, +in order that we may report upon its conduct and achievements. So I've +made inquiries. It's a small town surrounded by hills, but it's a +great center for roads. We're going there because it's got a big shoe +factory. Our role is to be that of shoe buyers. Harry, stick out your +feet at once!" + +Harry thrust them forward. + +"One sole worn through. The heel gone from the other shoe, and even +then you're better off than most of us. Lots of the privates are +barefooted. So you needn't think that the role of shoe buyer is an +ignominious one." + +"I'll be ready," said Harry. "Call me early in the morning, George. +We're a long way from home, and the woods are not full of friends. +Getting up here in these Pennsylvania hills, one has to look pretty +hard to look away down South in Dixie." + +"That's so, Harry. A good sleep to you, and to-morrow, as shoe buyers, +we'll ride together to Gettysburg." + +He lay between his blankets, went quickly to sleep and dreamed nothing +of Gettysburg, of which he had heard for the first time that day. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE ZENITH OF THE SOUTH + + +The sun of the first day of July, which was to witness the beginning +of the most tremendous event in the history of America, dawned hot and +clouded with vapors. They hung in the valleys, over the steep stony +hills and along the long blue slopes of South Mountain. The mists made +the country look more fantastic to Harry, who was early in the saddle. +The great uplifts and projections of stone assumed the shapes of castles +and pyramids and churches. + +Over South Mountain, on the west, heavy black clouds floated, and the +air was close and oppressive. + +"Rain, do you think?" said Harry to Dalton. + +"No, just a sultry day. Maybe a wind will spring up and drive away +all these clouds and vapors. At least, I hope so. There's the bugle. +We're off on our shoe campaign." + +"Who leads us?" + +"We go with Pettigrew, and Heth comes behind. In a country so thick +with enemies it's best to move only in force." + +The column took up its march and a cloud of dust followed it. The +second half of June had been rainy, but there had been several days of +dry weather now, allowing the dust to gather. Harry and Dalton soon +became very hot and thirsty. The sun did not drive away the vapors as +soon as they had expected, and the air grew heavier. + +"I hope they'll have plenty of good drinking water in Gettysburg," +said Harry. "It will be nearly as welcome to me as shoes." + +They rode on over hills and valleys, and brooks and creeks, the names +of none of which they knew. They stopped to drink at the streams, and +the thirsty horses drank also. But it remained hard for the infantry. +They were trained campaigners, however, and they did not complain as +they toiled forward through the heat and dust. + +They came presently to round hillocks, over which they passed, then they +saw a fertile valley, watered by a creek, and beyond that the roofs of a +town with orchards behind it. + +"Gettysburg!" said Dalton. + +"It must be the place," said Harry. "Picturesque, isn't it? Look at +those two hills across there, rising so steeply." + +One of the hills, the one that lay farther to the south, a mass of +apparently inaccessible rocks, rose more than two hundred feet above the +town. The other, about a third of a mile from the first, was only half +its height. They were Round Top and Little Round Top. In the mists and +vapors and at the distance the two hills looked like ancient towers. +Harry and George gazed at them, and then their eyes turned to the town. + +It was a neat little place, with many roads radiating from it as if it +were the hub of a wheel, and the thrifty farmers of that region had made +it a center for their schools. + +Harry had learned from Jackson, and again from Lee, always to note +well the ground wherever he might ride. Such knowledge in battle was +invaluable, and his eyes dwelled long on Gettysburg. + +He saw running south of the town a long high ridge, curving at the east +and crowned with a cemetery, because of which the people of Gettysburg +called it Cemetery Ridge or Hill. Opposed to it, some distance away and +running westward, was another but lower ridge that they called Seminary +Ridge. Beyond Seminary Ridge were other and yet lower ridges, between +two of which flowed a brook called Willoughby Run. Beyond them all, +two or three miles away and hemming in the valley, stretched South +Mountain, the crests of which were still clothed in the mists and vapors +of a sultry day. Near the town was a great field of ripening wheat, +golden when the sun shone. Not far from the horsemen was another little +stream called Plum Run. They also saw an unfinished railroad track, +with a turnpike running beside it, the roof and cupola of a seminary, +and beside the little marshy stream of Plum Run a mass of jagged, +uplifted rocks, commonly called the Devil's Den. + +Harry knew none of these names yet, but he was destined to learn them +in such a manner that he could never forget them again. Now he merely +admired the peaceful and picturesque appearance of the town, set so +snugly among its hills. + +"That's Gettysburg, which for us just at this moment is the shoe +metropolis of the world," said Dalton, "but I dare say we'll not be +welcomed as purchasers or in any other capacity." + +"You take a safe risk, George," said Harry. "Tales that we are terrible +persons, who rejoice most in arson and murder, evidently have been +spread pretty thoroughly through this region." + +"Both sections scatter such stories. I suppose it's done in every war. +It's only human nature." + +"All right, Mr. Pedantic Philosopher. Maybe you're telling the truth. +But look, I don't think we're going into Gettysburg in such a great +hurry! Yankee soldiers are there before us!" + +Other Southern officers had noted the blue uniforms and the flash of +rifle barrels and bayonets in Gettysburg. As they used their glasses, +the town came much nearer and the Union forces around it increased. +Buford, coming up the night before, had surmised that a Southern force +would advance on Gettysburg, and he had chosen the place for a battle. +He had with him four thousand two hundred mounted men, and he posted +them in the strong positions that were so numerous. He had waited there +all night, and already his scouts had informed him that Pettigrew and +Heth were advancing. + +"Are we to lose our shoes?" whispered Harry. + +"I don't think so," replied Dalton in an undertone. "We're in strong +force, and I don't see any signs that our generals intend to turn back. +Harry, your glasses are much stronger than mine. What do you see?" + +"I see a lot. The Yankees must be four or five thousand, and they are +posted strongly. They are thick in the railroad cut and hundreds of +horses are held by men in the rear. It must be almost wholly a cavalry +force." + +"Do you see any people in the town?" + +"There is not a soul in the streets, and as far as I can make out all +the doors are closed and the windows shuttered." + +"Then it's a heavy force waiting for us. The people know it, and +expecting a battle, they have gone away." + +"Your reasoning is good, and there's the bugle to confirm it. Our lines +are already advancing!" + +It was still early in the morning, and the strong Southern force which +had come for shoes, but which found rifles and bayonets awaiting them +instead, advanced boldly. They, the victors of Fredericksburg and +Chancellorsville, had no thought of retreating before a foe who invited +them to combat. + +Harry and Dalton found their hearts beating hard at this their first +battle on Northern soil, and Harry's eyes once more swept the great +panorama of the valley, the silent town, the lofty stone hills, and far +beyond the long blue wall of South Mountain, with the mists and vapors +still floating about its crest. + +Heth was up now, and he took full command, sending two brigades in +advance, the brigades themselves preceded by a great swarm of +skirmishers. Harry and Dalton rode with one of the brigades, and they +closely followed those who went down the right bank of the stream called +Willoughby Run, opening a rapid fire as they advanced upon a vigilant +enemy who had been posted the night before in protected positions. + +Buford's men met the attack with courage and vigor. Four thousand +dismounted cavalry, all armed with carbines, sent tremendous volleys +from the shelter of ridges and earthworks. The fire was so heavy that +the Southern skirmishers could not stand before it, and they, too, +began to seek shelter. The whole Southern column halted for a few +minutes, but recovered itself and advanced again. + +The battle blazed up with a suddenness and violence that astonished +Harry. The air was filled in an instant with the whistling of shells +and bullets. He heard many cries. Men were falling all around him, +but so far he and Dalton were untouched. Heth, Davis, Archer and the +others were pushing on their troops, shouting encouragement to them, +and occasionally, through the clouds of smoke, which were thickening +fast, Harry saw the tanned faces of their enemies loading and firing +as fast as they could handle rifle and cannon. The Northern men had +shelter, but were fewer in number. The soldiers in gray were suffering +the heavier losses, but they continued to advance. + +The battle swelled in volume and fierceness along the banks of +Willoughby Run. There was a continuous roar of rifles and cannon, +and the still, heavy air of the morning conducted the sound to the +divisions that were coming up and to the trembling inhabitants of the +little town who had fled for refuge to the farmhouses in the valley. + +Harry and George had still managed to keep close together. Both had +been grazed by bullets, but these were only trifles. They saw that the +division was not making much progress. The men in blue were holding +their ground with extraordinary stubbornness. Although the Southern +fire, coming closer, had grown much more deadly, they refused to yield. + +Buford, who had chosen that battlefield and who was the first to command +upon it, would not let his men give way. His great hour had come, +and he may have known it. Watching through his glasses he had seen long +lines of Southern troops upon the hills, marching toward Gettysburg. +He knew that they were the corps of Hill, drawn by the thunder of the +battle, and he felt that if he could hold his ground yet a while longer +help for him too would come, drawn in the same manner. + +Harry once caught sight of this officer, a native of Kentucky like +himself. He was covered with dust and perspiration, but he ran up and +down, encouraging his men and often aiming the cannon himself. It was +good fortune for the North that he was there that day. The Southern +generals, uncertain whether to push the battle hard or wait for Lee, +recoiled a little before his tremendous resistance. + +But the South hesitated only for a moment. Hill, pale from an illness, +but always full of fire and resolution, was hurrying forward his massive +columns, their eagerness growing as the sound of the battle swelled. +They would overwhelm the Union force, sweep it away. + +Yet the time gained by Buford had a value beyond all measurements. +The crash of the battle had been heard by Union troops, too, and +Reynolds, one of the ablest Union generals, was leading a great column +at the utmost speed to the relief of the general who had held his ground +so well. A signalman stationed in the belfry of the seminary reported +to Buford the advance of Reynolds, and the officer, eager to verify it, +rushed up into the belfry. + +Then Buford saw the columns coming forward at the double quick, Reynolds +in his eagerness galloping at their head, and leaving them behind. +He looked in the other direction and he saw the men of Hill advancing +with equal speed. He saw on one road the Stars and Stripes and on +the other the Stars and Bars. He rushed back down the steps and met +Reynolds. + +"The devil is to pay!" he cried to Reynolds. + +"How do we stand?" + +"We can hold on until the arrival of the First Corps." + +Buford sprang on his horse, and the two generals, reckless of death, +galloped among the men, encouraging the faint-hearted, reforming the +lines, and crying to them to hold fast, that the whole Army of the +Potomac was coming. + +Harry felt the hardening of resistance. The smoke was so dense that he +could not see for a while the fresh troops coming to the help of Buford, +but he knew nevertheless that they were there. Then he heard a great +shouting behind him, as Hill's men, coming upon the field, rushed into +action. But Jackson, the great Jackson whom he had followed through all +his victories, the man who saw and understood everything, was not there! + +The genius of battle was for the moment on the other side. Reynolds, +so ably pushing the work that Buford had done, was seizing the best +positions for his men. He was acting with rapidity and precision, +and the troops under him felt that a great commander was showing them +the way. His vigor secured the slopes and crest of Cemetery Hill, +but the Southern masses nevertheless were pouring forward in full tide. + +The combat had now lasted about two hours, and, a stray gust of wind +lifting the smoke a little, Harry caught a glimpse of a vast blazing +amphitheater of battle. He had regarded it at first as an affair of +vanguards, but now he realized suddenly that this was the great battle +they had been expecting. Within this valley and on these ridges and +hills it would be fought, and even as the thought came to him the +conflict seemed to redouble in fury and violence, as fresh brigades +rushed into the thick of it. + +Harry's horse was killed by a shell as he rode toward a wood on the +Cashtown road, which both sides were making a desperate effort to +secure. Fortunately he was able to leap clear and escape unhurt. +In a few moments Dalton was dismounted in almost the same manner, +but the two on foot kept at the head of the column and rushed with +the skirmishers into the bushes. There they knelt, and began to fire +rapidly on the Union men who were advancing to drive them out. + +Harry saw an officer in a general's uniform leading the charge. The +bullets of the skirmishers rained upon the advance. One struck this +general in the head, when he was within twenty yards of the riflemen, +and he fell stone dead. It was the gallant and humane Reynolds, falling +in the hour of his greatest service. But his troops, wild with ardor +and excitement, not noticing his death, still rushed upon the wood. + +The charge came with such violence and in such numbers that the Southern +skirmishers and infantry in the wood were overpowered. They were driven +in a mass across Willoughby Run. A thousand, General Archer among them, +were taken prisoners. + +Harry and Dalton barely escaped, and in all the tumult and fury of the +fighting they found themselves with another division of the Southern +army which was resisting a charge made with the same energy and courage +that marked the one led by Reynolds. But the charge was beaten back, +and the Southerners, following, were repulsed in their turn. + +The battle, which had been raging for three hours with the most +extraordinary fury, sank a little. Harry and Dalton could make nothing +of it. Everything seemed wild, confused, without precision or purpose, +but the fighting had been hard and the losses great. + +Heth now commanded on the field for the South and Doubleday for the +North. Each general began to rectify his lines and try to see what had +happened. The Confederate batteries opened, but did not do much damage, +and while the lull continued, more men came for the North. + +Harry and Dalton had found their way to Heth, who told them to stay +with him until Lee came. Heth was making ready to charge a brigade of +stalwart Pennsylvania lumbermen, who, however, managed to hold their +position, although they were nearly cut to pieces. Hill now passed +along the Southern line, and like the other Southern leaders, uncertain +what to do in this battle brought on so strangely and suddenly, ceased +to push the Union lines with infantry, but opened a tremendous fire from +eighty guns. The whole valley echoed with the crash of the cannon, +and the vast clouds of smoke began to gather again. The Union forces +suffered heavy losses, but still held their ground. + +Harry thought, while this comparative lull in close fighting was going +on, that Dalton and he should get back to General Lee with news of what +was occurring, although he had no doubt the commander-in-chief was now +advancing as fast as he could with the full strength of the army. Still, +duty was duty. They had been sent forward that they might carry back +reports, and they must carry them. + +"It's time for us to go," he said to Dalton. + +"I was just about to say that myself." + +"We can safely report to the general that the vanguards have met at +Gettysburg and that there are signs of a battle." + +Dalton took a long, comprehensive look over the valley in which thirty +or forty thousand men were merely drawing a fresh breath before plunging +anew into the struggle, and said: + +"Yes, Harry, all the signs do point that way. I think we can be sure of +our news." + +They had not been able to catch any of the riderless horses galloping +about the field, and they started on foot, taking the road which they +knew would lead them to Lee. They emerged from some bushes in which +they had been lying for shelter, and two or three bullets whistled +between them. Others knocked up the dust in the path and a shell +shrieked a terrible warning over their heads. They dived back into the +bushes. + +"Didn't you see that sign out there in the road?" asked Harry. + +"Sign! Sign! I saw no sign," said Dalton. + +"I did. It was a big sign, and it read, in big letters: +'No Thoroughfare.'" + +"You must be right. I suppose I didn't notice it, because I came back +in such a hurry." + +They had become so hardened to the dangers of war that, like thousands +of others, they could jest in the face of death. + +"We must make another try for it," said Dalton. "We've got to cross +that road. I imagine our greatest danger is from sharpshooters at the +head of it." + +"Stoop low and make a dash. Here goes!" + +Bent almost double, they made a hop, skip and jump and were in the +bushes on the other side, where they lay still for a few moments, +panting, while the hair on their heads, which had risen up, lay down +again. Quick as had been their passage, fully a dozen ferocious bullets +whined over their heads. + +"I hate skirmishers," said Harry. "It's one thing to fire at the mass +of the enemy, and it's another to pick out a man and draw a bead on him." + +"I hate 'em, too, especially when they're firing at me!" said Dalton. +"But, Harry, we're doing no good lying here in the bushes, trying to +press ourselves into the earth so the bullets will pass over our heads. +Heavens! What was that?" + +"Only the biggest shell that was ever made bursting near us. You know +those Yankee artillerymen were always good, but I think they've improved +since they first saw us trying to cross the road." + +"To think of an entire army turning away from its business to shoot at +two fellows like ourselves, who ask nothing but to get away!" + +"And it's time we were going. The bushes rise over our heads here. +We must make another dash." + +They rose and ran on, but to their alarm the bushes soon ended and they +emerged into a field. Here they came directly into the line of fire +again, and the bullets sang and whistled around them. Once more they +read in invisible but significant letters the sign, "No Thoroughfare," +and darted back into the wood from which they had just come, while +shells, not aimed at them, but at the armies, shrieked over their heads. + +"It's not the plan of fate that we should reach General Lee just yet," +said Harry. + +"The shells and bullets say it isn't. What do you think we ought to do?" + +Harry rose up cautiously and began to survey their position. Then he +uttered a cry of joy. + +"More of our men are coming," he exclaimed, "and they are coming in +heavy columns! I see their gray jackets and their tanned faces, and +there, too, are the Invincibles. Look, you can see the two colonels, +riding side by side, and just behind them are St. Clair and Langdon!" + +Dalton's eyes followed Harry's pointing finger, and he saw. It was a +joyous sight, the masses of their own infantry coming down the road in +perfect order, and their own personal friends not two hundred yards +away. But the Northern artillerymen had seen them too, and they began +to send up the road a heavy fire which made many fall. Ewell's men came +on, unflinching, until they unlimbered their own guns and began to reply +with fierce and rapid volleys. + +The two youths sprang from the brush and rushed directly into the gray +ranks of the Invincibles before they could be fired upon by mistake +as enemies. The two colonels had dismounted, but they recognized the +fugitives instantly and welcomed them. + +"Why this hurry, Lieutenant Kenton?" said Colonel Talbot politely. + +"We were trying to reach General Lee, and not being able to do so, +we are anxious to greet friends." + +"So it would seem. I do not recall another such swift and warm +greeting." + +"But we're glad, Leonidas, that they've found refuge with us," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"So we are, Hector. Down there, lads, for your lives!" + +The colonel had seen a movement in the hostile artillery, and at his +sharp command all of the Invincibles and the two lads threw themselves +on their faces, not a moment too soon, as a hideous mass of grape and +canister flew over their heads. The Invincibles, rising to their feet, +sent a return volley from their rifles, and then, at the command of a +general, fell back behind their own cannon. + +The Northern artillery in front was shifted, evidently to protect some +weaker position of their line, but the Southern troops in the road did +not advance farther at present, awaiting the report of scouts who were +quickly sent ahead. + +"You're welcome to our command," said Langdon, "but I notice that you +come on foot and in a hurry. We're glad to protect officers on the +staff of the commander-in-chief, whenever they appeal to us." + +"Even when they come running like scared colts," said St. Clair. +"Why, Happy, I saw both of 'em jump clean over bushes ten feet high." + +"You'd have jumped over trees a hundred feet high if a hundred thousand +Yankees were shooting at you as they were shooting at us," rejoined +Harry. + +"What place is this in the valley, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"It's called Gettysburg, sir. We heard that it was full of shoes. +We went there this morning to get em, but we found instead that it was +full of Yankees." + +"And they know how to shoot, too," said Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. +"We heard all the thunder of a great battle as we came up." + +"You haven't come too soon, sir," said Dalton. "The Yankees are +fighting like fiends, and we've made very little headway against 'em. +Besides, sir, fresh men are continually coming up for 'em." + +"And fresh men have now come for our side, too," said Colonel Leonidas +Talbot proudly. "I fancy that a division of Jackson's old corps will +have a good deal to say about the result." + +"What part of the corps, sir, is this?" asked Harry. + +"Rodes' division. General Ewell himself has not yet arrived, but you +may be sure he is making the utmost haste with the rest of the division." + +Rodes, full of eagerness, now pushed his troops forward. Hill, who saw +his coming with unmeasured joy, shifted his men until they were fully in +touch with those of Rodes, the whole now forming a great curving line of +battle frowning with guns, the troops burning for a new attack. + +Harry looked up at the sun, which long ago had pierced the mists and +vapors, but not the smoke. He saw to his surprise that it had reached +and passed the zenith. It must now be at least two o'clock in the +afternoon. He was about to look at his watch when the Southern trumpets +at that moment sounded the charge, and, knowing no other way to go, +he and Dalton fell in with the Invincibles. + +Howard was in command of the Northern army at this time, and from a roof +of a house in Gettysburg he had been watching the Southern advance. +He and Doubleday gathered all their strength to meet it, and, despite +the new troops brought by Rodes, Hill was unable to drive them back. +Harry felt, as he had felt all along, that marked hardening of the +Northern resistance. + +The battle wavered. Sometimes the North was driven back and sometimes +it was the South, until Hill at last, massing a great number of men on +his left, charged with renewed courage and vigor. The Union men could +not withstand their weight, and their flank was rolled up. Then Gordon +and his Georgians marched into the willows that lined Rock Creek, +forded the stream and entered the field of wheat beyond. + +Harry saw this famous charge, and during a pause of the Invincibles he +watched it. The Georgians, although the cannon and rifles were now +turned upon them, marched in perfect order, trampling down the yellow +wheat which stood thick and tall before them. The sun glittered on +their long lines of bayonets. Many men fell, but the ranks closed +up and marched unflinchingly on. Then, as they came near their foe, +they fired their own rifles and rushed forward. + +The men in blue were taken in the flank at the same time by Jubal Early, +and two more brigades also rushed upon them. It was the same Union +corps, the Eleventh, that had suffered so terribly at Chancellorsville +under the hammer strokes of Jackson, and now it was routed again. +It practically dissolved for the time under the overwhelming rush on +front and flank and became a mass of fugitives. + +Harry heard for the first time that day the long, thrilling rebel yell +of triumph, and both Howard and Doubleday, watching the battle intently, +had become alarmed for their force. Howard was already sending messages +to Meade, telling him that the great battle had begun and begging him +to hurry with the whole army. Doubleday, seeing one flank crushed, was +endeavoring to draw back the other, lest it be destroyed in its turn. + +Harry and Dalton and all the Invincibles felt the thrill of triumph +shooting through them. They were advancing at last, making the first +real progress of the day. + +Harry felt that the days of Jackson had come back. This was the way +in which they had always driven the foe. Ewell himself was now upon +the field. The loss of a leg had not diminished his ardor a whit. +Everywhere his troops were driving the enemy before them, increasing the +dismay which now prevailed in the ranks of men who had fought so well. + +Harry began to shout with the rest, as the Southern torrent, +irresistible now, flowed toward Gettysburg, while Ewell and Hill led +their men. The town was filled with the retreating Union troops and the +cannon and rifles thundered incessantly in the rear, driving them on. +The whole Southern curve was triumphant. Ewell's men entered the town +after the fugitives, driving all before them, and leaving Gettysburg +in Southern hands. + +But the Northern army was not a mob. The men recovered their spirit and +reformed rapidly. Many brave and gallant officers encouraged them and +a reserve had already thrown up strong entrenchments beyond the town on +Cemetery Hill, to which they retreated and once more faced their enemy. + +Harry and Dalton stopped at Gettysburg, seeing the battle of the +vanguards won, and turned back. Their place was with the general to the +staff of whom they belonged, and they believed they would not have to +look far. With a battle that had lasted eight hours Lee would surely +be upon the field by this time, or very near it. + +There were plenty of riderless horses, and capturing two, one of which +had belonged to a Union officer, they went back in search of their +commander. It was a terrible field over which they passed, strewed with +human wreckage, smoke and dust still floated over everything. They +inquired as they advanced of officers who were just arriving upon the +field, and one of them, pointing, said: + +"There is General Lee." + +Harry and Dalton saw him sitting on his horse on Seminary Ridge, his +figure immovable, his eyes watching the Union brigades as they retreated +up the slopes of the opposite hill. It was about four o'clock in the +afternoon and the sunlight was brilliant. The commander and his horse +stood out like a statue on the hill, magnified in the blazing beams. + +Harry and his comrade paused to look at him a few moments. Their +spirits had risen when they saw him. They felt that since Lee had come +all things were possible and when the whole of the two armies met in +battle the victory would surely be theirs. + +The two rode quietly into the group of staff officers gathered at a +little distance behind Lee. They knew that it was not necessary now +to make any report or explanation. Events reported for themselves and +explained everything also. Their comrades greeted them with nods, +but Harry never ceased to watch Lee. + +The commander-in-chief in his turn was gazing at the panorama of battle, +spread almost at his feet. Although the combat was dying, enough was +left to give it a terrible aspect. The strife still went on in a part +of Gettysburg and cannon were thudding and rifles cracking. The flames +from houses set on fire by the shells streamed aloft like vast torches. +Horses that had lost their riders galloped aimlessly, wild with terror. + +While he looked, General Hill rode up and joined them. Hill had been +ill that day. His face was deadly in its pallor, and he swayed in his +saddle from weakness. But his spirit and courage were high. Harry saw +the two generals talking together, and again he glanced at the valley. +After long and desperate fighting the Southern victory had been +complete. Any young lieutenant could see that. The whole Northern +force was now being driven in great disorder upon Cemetery Hill, and a +man like Jackson, without going to see Lee, would have hurled his whole +force instantly upon those flying masses. Some one had called Ewell and +Hill, brave and able as they were, small change for Jackson, and the +phrase often came to Harry's mind. Still, it was not possible to find +any man or any two men who could fill the place of the great Stonewall. + +The day was far from over. At least three hours of sunlight were left. +More Southern troops had come up, and Harry expected to see Lee launch +his superior numbers against the defeated enemy. But he did not. +There was some pursuit, but it was not pressed with vigor, and the +victors stopped. Contradictory orders were given, it was claimed later, +by the generals, but Lee, with the grandeur of soul that places him so +high among the immortals, said afterward: + +"The attack was not pressed that afternoon, because the enemy's force +was unknown, and it was considered advisable to await the rest of our +troops." + +When failure occurred he never blamed anyone but himself. Yet Harry +always thought that his genius paled a little that afternoon. He did +not show the amazing vigor and penetration that were associated with the +name of Lee both before and afterwards. Perhaps it was an excess of +caution, due to his isolated position in the enemy's country, and +perhaps it was the loss of Jackson. Whatever it was, the precious hours +passed, the enemy, small in numbers, was not driven from his refuge on +Cemetery Hill, and the battle died. + +The Southern leaders themselves did not know the smallness of the +Northern force that had taken shelter on the hill. That hardening of +the resistance which Harry had felt more than once had been exemplified +to the full that deadly morning. Buford and Reynolds had shown the +penetration and resolution of Jackson himself, and their troops had +supported them with a courage and tenacity never surpassed in battle. +Only sixteen or seventeen thousand in number, they had left ten thousand +killed and wounded around the town, but with only one-third of their +numbers unhurt they rallied anew on Cemetery Hill and once more turned +defiant faces toward the enemy. + +Hancock, whose greatest day also was at hand, had arrived, sent forward +in haste by Meade. Unsurpassed as a corps commander, and seeing the +advantage of the position, he went among the beaten but willing remnants, +telling them to hold on, as Meade and the whole Army of the Potomac were +coming at full speed, and would be there to meet Lee and the South in +the morning. + +Both commanding generals felt that the great battle was to be fought to +a finish there. Meade had not yet arrived, but he was hurrying forward +all the divisions, ready to concentrate them upon Cemetery Hill. +Lee also was bringing up all his troops, save the cavalry of Stuart, +now riding on the raid around the Northern army, and absent when they +were needed most. + +Harry did not know for many days that this fierce first day and the +gathering of the foes on Gettysburg was wholly unknown to both North and +South. The two armies had passed out of sight under the horizon's rim, +and the greatest battle of the war was to be fought unknown, until its +close, to the rival sections. + +Harry and Dalton, keeping close together, because they were comrades and +because they felt the need of companionship, watched from their own hill +the town and the hill beyond. Harry felt no joy. The victory was not +yet to him a victory. He knew that the field below, terrible to the +sight, was destined to become far more terrible, and the coming twilight +was full of omens and presages. + +The sun sank at last upon the scene of human strife and suffering, +but night brought with it little rest, because all through the darkness +the brigades and regiments were marching toward the fatal field. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GETTYSBURG + + +Harry took many messages that night, and he witnessed the gathering of +the generals about Lee. He saw Ewell come, hobbling on his crutches, +eager for battle and disappointed that they had not pushed the victory. +Hill returned again, refusing to yield to his illness. And there was +Longstreet, thick-bearded, the best fighter that Lee had since the death +of Jackson; McLaws, Hood, Heth, Pender, Jubal Early, Anderson and others, +veterans of many battles, great and small. + +They talked long and earnestly and pointed many times to the battlefield +and the opposing heights. While they talked, a man appeared among the +men in blue on Cemetery Hill, accompanied only by a staff officer and an +orderly. He had ridden a long distance, and naturally lean and haggard, +these traits in his appearance were exaggerated by weariness and +anxiety. He looked as little like a great general as Jackson had looked +in those days before he had sprung into fame. + +His military hat was black and broad of brim, and the brim, having +become limp, drooped down over his face. There were spectacles on his +nose, and it is said of him that he could have been taken more easily +for a teacher than for a commander-in-chief. Thus Meade came to his +army in the decisive moment of his country's life. He inspired neither +enthusiasm nor discouragement. He looked upon those left from the +battle and upon the brigades which had come since, thousands of men +already sound asleep among the white stones of the churchyard. Then +he turned in a calm and businesslike manner to the task of arranging a +stern front for the storm which he knew would burst upon them to-morrow. +The respect of his officers for him increased. + +Lee's generals went to their respective commands. Harry once more took +orders, and, as he carried messages or brought them back, he never +failed to see all that he could. The great corps of Ewell was drawn up +on the battlefield of the day, Hill's forces extended to Willoughby Run, +and the Southern line was complete along the whole curve. They also had +the welcome news that Stuart at Carlisle had heard of the battle and +would be present with the cavalry on the morrow. + +Harry, riding about in the darkness, recovered much of his spirits. +The whole Southern army would be present in the morning, and while +Jackson was dead, his spirit might ride again at their head. Now he +awaited the dawn with confidence, believing that Lee would win another +great victory. + +Harry was sent on his last errand far after midnight, and it took him to +one of Ewell's divisions, in the edge of Gettysburg. It was a clear +night, with a bright summer sky, a good moon and the stars in their +myriads twinkling peacefully over the panorama of human passion and +death. But they seemed very far away and cold to the boy, who was +chilled by the night and the impending sense of mighty conflict. +In Virginia they were fighting against the invader and in defense of +their own soil. Now they were the invader, and it was the men in blue +who defended. + +As he passed over that battlefield, on which the dead and the badly hurt +yet lay, his heart was dissolved for the time in sadness. The dead were +thick all around him, and there were many hurt seriously who were so +still that he did not know whether they were alive or not. He heard +very few groans. He noticed often on the battlefields that the hurt +usually shut their teeth together and endured in silence. As he +approached one of the little streams, a form twisted itself suddenly +from his path, and a weak voice exclaimed: + +"For God's sake don't step on me!" + +Harry looked down. It was a boy with yellow hair, younger than himself. +He could not have been over sixteen, but he wore a blue uniform and a +bullet had gone through his shoulder. Harry had a powerful sensation of +pity. + +"I would not have stepped on you," he said. His duty urged him on, +but his feelings would not let him go, and he added: + +"I'll help you." + +He lifted the lad, rapidly cut away his coat, and slicing it into strips, +bound up tightly the two wounds in his shoulder where the bullet had +gone in and where it had come out. + +"You've lost a lot of blood," he said, "but you've got enough left to +live on until you gather another supply, and you won't lose any more +now." + +"Thank you," murmured the boy; "but you're very good for--for a rebel." + +Harry laughed. + +"Why, you innocent child!" he said. "Have they been filling your head +with tales of our ferocity and cruelty?" + +He went down to the stream, dipped up water in his cap, and brought +it back to the boy, who drank eagerly. Then he placed him in a more +comfortable position on the turf, and patting his head, said: + +"You'll get well sure, and maybe you and I will meet after the war and +be friends." + +All of which came true. Its like happened often in this war. But he +went out of Harry's mind, as he walked on and delivered his message +in the edge of Gettysburg. He could not return before seeking the +Invincibles, who were surely here in the vanguard--if they were yet +alive. Harry shuddered. All his friends might have perished in that +whirlwind of death. He soon learned that they had suffered greatly, +but that those who were left were lying on the grass of what had been +a lawn. + +He found the lawn quickly and saw dark figures strewed about upon the +ground. They were so still and silent that they looked like the dead, +but Harry knew that it was the stupor of exhaustion. As they were +inside the lines and needing no watch, there was no sentinel. + +Harry stepped over the low fence and looked again at the figures. +The moonlight silvered them and they did not stir. He could not see a +single form move. It was weird, uncanny, and the blood chilled in his +veins. But he shook himself violently, angry at his weakness, and +walked among them, looking for the two colonels and the two lieutenants. +A figure suddenly sat up before him and a dignified voice said: + +"Your footstep awakened me, Harry, and if there is a message, I am here +to receive it. But I ask you in the name of mercy to be quick. I was +never before so much overpowered that I could not hold up my head a +minute." + +Before Harry could speak another figure rose. + +"Yes, Harry, be quick if you can, and let us go back to sleep," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire in a pleading voice. + +"Thank God I've found you both. I have no message for you. I was +merely looking to see if all of you were alive." + +"You've always had a kind heart, Harry," said Colonel Talbot, "and we +can't tell you how much we appreciate what you've done." + +"Are St. Clair and Happy Tom here?" + +"I cannot tell you. We suffered from such tremendous exhaustion that +our men fell upon the grass, we with them, and all of us sank into +stupor. But, Harry, they must be here! We couldn't have lost those +boys! Why, I can't think of them as not living!" + +"If you'll let me make a suggestion, lie down and go to sleep again," +said Harry. "I'll find 'em." + +The two colonels stretched a little, as if they were about to rise and +go with him, but the effort was beyond their powers. They sank back and +returned to sleep. Harry went on, his heart full of fear for the two +young friends who were so dear to him. + +The survivors of the Invincibles lay in all sorts of positions, some +on their backs, some on their sides, some on their faces, and others +doubled up like little children. It was hard to recognize those dark +figures, but he came at last to one in a lieutenant's uniform, and he +was sure that it was Langdon. He was afraid at first that he was dead, +but he put his hand on his shoulder and shook it. + +There was no response, but Harry felt the warmth of the body pass +through the cloth to his hand, and he knew that Langdon was living. +He shook him again. + +Happy opened his eyes slowly and regarded Harry with a long stare. + +"Are you a ghost?" he asked solemnly. + +"No, I was never more alive than I am now." + +"I don't believe you, Harry. You're a ghost and so am I. Look at the +dead men lying all around us. We're just the first up. Why, Harry, +nobody could go through the crater of an active volcano, as we've done, +and live. I was either burned to death or shot to death with a bullet +or blown to pieces with a shell. I don't know which, but it doesn't +matter. What kind of a country is this, Harry, into which we've been +resurrected?" + +"Stop your foolishness, Happy. You're alive, all right, although you +may not be to-morrow night. The whole Army of the Potomac is coming up +and there's going to be another great battle." + +"Then it's just as well that I'm alive, because General Lee will need +me. But, Harry, don't you think I've answered enough questions and that +I've been awake long enough? Harry, remember that I'm your friend and +comrade, almost your brother, and let me go back to sleep." + +"Where is St. Clair? Was he killed?" + +"No. A million shells burst over both of us, but we escaped them all. +But Arthur will be dead to the world for a while, just the same. +His is the fourth figure beyond me, but you couldn't wake him if you +fired a cannon at his ear, and in two minutes you won't be able to wake +me with another cannon." + +Happy's head fell back as he spoke, and in less than half the time he +gave he had joined the band of the original seven sleepers. Harry, +stepping lightly over the slumbering figures--he had left his horse +on the hill--went back to the staff, where he saw that many were yet +watching. At the urgent advice of an older officer he stretched himself +between two blankets to protect his body from dew and slept a little +before dawn. He, too, had felt the exhaustion shown by the Invincibles, +but his nervous system was keyed highly, too high, in fact, to sleep +long. Moreover, he seemed to find some new reserve of strength, and +when Dalton put his hand upon his shoulder he sprang to his feet, +eager and active. Dalton had not been sent on many errands the night +before, and, sleeping longer than Harry, he had been up a half hour +earlier. + +"You'll find coffee and food for the staff back a little," said Dalton, +"and I'd advise you to take breakfast, Harry." + +"I will. What's going on?" + +"Nothing, except the rising of the sun. See it, Harry, just coming over +the edge of the horizon behind those two queer hills." + +The rim of the eastern sky was reddening fast, and Round Top and Little +Round Top stood out against it, black and exaggerated. They were raised +in the dawn, yet dim, to twice their height, and rose like gigantic +towers. + +But there was light enough already for Harry to see masses of men on the +opposing slopes, and stone fences running along the hillsides, some of +which had been thrown up in the night by soldiers. + +"I take it that the whole Army of the Potomac is here," he said. + +"So our scouts tell us," replied Dalton. "Our forces are gathered, too, +except the six thousand infantry under Pickett and McLaws and the +cavalry under Stuart. But they'll come." + +Harry and Dalton ate breakfast quickly, and, hurrying back, stood near +their chief, ready for any service. All the Southern forces were in +line. Heth held the right, Pender the left, and Anderson, Hood, and +McLaws and the others were stationed between. The brilliant sun moved +slowly on and flooded the town, the hills and the battlefield of the +day before with light. The officers of either side with their powerful +glasses could plainly see the hostile troops. Harry had glasses of +his own, and he looked a long time. But he saw little movement in the +hostile ranks. Meade and Hancock and the others had worked hard in the +hours of darkness and the Army of the Potomac was ready. + +Harry expected to hear the patter of rifles. Surely the battle would +open at once. But there was no sound of strife. It seemed instead +that a great silence had settled over the two armies and all between. +Perhaps each was waiting for the other to make the first cast of the +dice. + +Harry studied Lee's face, but he could read nothing there. Like Jackson +he had the power of dismissing all expression. He wore a splendid new +uniform which had recently been sent to him by the devoted people of +Virginia, and with his height and majestic figure, his presence had +never seemed more magnificent than on that morning. It was usually he +who opened the battle, never waiting for the enemy, but as yet he gave +no order. + +Longstreet, Hill and Hood presently joined Lee, and the four walked a +little higher up the ridge, where they examined the Northern army for a +long time through their glasses. Lee must have recognized the strength +of that position, the formidable ridges, the stone walls bristling with +batteries, all crowned with an army of veterans more numerous than his +own, and, even when Stuart and Pickett should come, more numerous yet +by fifteen thousand men. But his army, with the habit of victory, was +eager for battle, sure that it could win, despite the numbers and +position of the enemy. + +The generals came back, but Lee said little. Harry often wished that +he could have penetrated the mind of the great commander that morning, +a mind upon which so much hung and which must have been assailed by +doubts and fears, despite the impenetrable mask of his face. But he did +not yet give any orders to attack, and Harry and Dalton, who had nothing +to do but look on, were amazed. There was the Army of the Potomac +waiting, and it was not Lee's habit to let it wait. + +Slow though the sun was, it was now far up the blue arch and the day was +intensely hot. The golden beams poured down and everything seemed to +leap out into the light. Harry clearly saw the Northern cannon and +now and then he saw an officer moving about. But the men in blue were +mostly still, lying upon their arms. The troops of his own army were +quiet also, and they, too, were lying down. + +It suddenly occurred to Harry that no more fitting field for a great +and decisive battle could have been chosen. It was like a vast arena, +enclosed by the somber hills and the two Round Tops, on both of which +flew the flags of the Union signalmen. + +Yet the day drew on. The two armies of nearly two hundred thousand men +merely sat and stared at each other. Noon passed and the afternoon +advanced. Harry yet wondered, as many another did. But it was not for +him to criticize. They were led by a man of genius, and the great mind +must be working, seeking the best way. + +He and Dalton and some others lay down on the grass, while the heavy +silence still endured. Not a single cannon shot had been fired all that +day, and soon the sun would begin its decline from the zenith. + +"I think I'll go to sleep," said Dalton. + +"You couldn't if you tried," said Harry, "and you know it. If General +Lee is waiting, it's because he has good reasons for waiting, and you +know that, too." + +"You're right in both instances, Harry. I could never shut my eyes on +a scene like this, and, late as it grows, there will yet be a battle +to-day. Weren't some orders sent along the line a little while ago?" + +"Yes, the older men took 'em. What time is it, George?" + +"Four o'clock." Then he closed his watch with a snap, and added: + +"The battle has begun." + +The heavy report of a cannon came from the Southern right under +Longstreet. It sped up the valleys and returned in sinister echoes. +It was succeeded by silence for a moment, and then the whole earth shook +beneath a mighty shock. All the batteries along the Southern line +opened, pouring a tremendous volume of fire upon the whole Northern +position. + +The young officers leaped to their feet. A volcano had burst. The +Union batteries were replying, and the front of both armies blazed with +fire. The smoke hung high and Harry and Dalton could see in the valley +beneath it. They caught the gleam of bayonets and saw the troops of +Longstreet advancing in heavy masses to the assault of the slope where +the peach trees grew, now known as the Peach Orchard. Here stood +the New Yorkers who had been thrust forward under Sickles, a rough +politician, but brave and in many respects capable. There was some +confusion among them as they awaited the Confederates, Sickles, it is +charged, having gone too far in his zeal, and then endeavoring to fall +back when it was too late. But the men under him were firm. On this +field the two great states of New York and Pennsylvania, through the +number of troops they furnished for it, bore the brunt of the battle. + +Harry and Dalton, crouched down in order that they might see better +under the smoke, watched the thrilling and terrible spectacle. The +Southern vanguard was made up of Texans, tall, strong, tanned men, +led by the impetuous Hood, and shouting the fierce Southern war cry they +rushed straight at the corps of Sickles. The artillery and rifle fire +swept through their ranks, but they did not falter. Many fell, but the +others rushed on, and Harry, although unconscious of it, began to shout +as he saw them cross a little stream and charge with all their might +against the enemy. + +The combat was stubborn and furious. The men of Sickles redoubled +their efforts. At some points their line was driven in and the Texans +sought to take their artillery, but at others they held fast and even +threatened the Southern flank. They knew, too, that reinforcements were +promised to them and they encouraged one another by saying they were +already in sight. + +Harry could not turn his eyes away from this struggle, much of which was +hidden in the smoke, and all of which was confused. The cannon of Hill +and Ewell were thundering elsewhere, but here was the crucial point. +The Round Tops rose on one side of the combatants. Round Top itself +seemed too lofty and steep for troops, but Little Round Top, accessible +to both men and cannon, would dominate the field, and he believed that +Hood, as soon as his men crushed Sickles, would whirl about and seize +it. But he could not yet tell whether fortune favored the Blue or the +Gray. + +The generals from both sides watched the struggle with intense anxiety +and hurried forward fresh troops. Woods and rocks and slopes helped +the defense, but the attack was made with superior numbers. Longstreet +himself was directing the action and a part of Hill's men were coming +up to his aid. Sedgwick and Sykes, able generals, were rushing to +help Sickles. The whole combat was beginning to concentrate about the +furious struggle for the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top. + +Hood, in all the height of the struggle, saw the value of Little Round +Top and tried his utmost to seize it. Again the Northern generals were +to show that they had learned how to see what should be done and to do +it at once. Little Round Top rose up, dominant over the whole field, +a prize of value beyond all computation. Just then it was the most +valuable hill in all the world. + +A Northern general, Warren, the chief engineer of the army, had seen the +value of Little Round Top as quickly as Hood. The signalmen were about +to leave, but he made them stay. An entire brigade, hurrying to the +battle, was passing the slope, when Warren literally seized upon them by +force of command and rushed the men and their cannon to the crest. + +Hood's soldiers were already climbing the slopes, when the fire of +the brigade, shell and bullets, struck almost in their faces. Harry, +watching through his glasses, saw them reel back and then go on again, +firing their own rifles as they climbed over the rocky sides of Little +Round Top. Again that fierce volley assailed them, crashing through +their ranks, and again they went on into the flame and the smoke. + +Harry saw the battle raging around the crest of Little Round Top. +Then he uttered a cry of despair. The Southerners, with their ranks +thin--woefully thin--were falling back slowly and sullenly. They had +done all that soldiers could do, but the commanding towers of Little +Round Top remained in Union hands, and the Union generals were soon +crowding it with artillery that could sweep every point in the field +below. + +But Sickles himself was not faring so well. His men, fighting for +every inch of ground about the Peach Orchard, were slowly driven back. +Sickles himself fell, a leg shattered, and walked on one leg for more +than fifty years afterwards. Hood, his immediate opponent, also fell, +losing an arm then and a leg later at Chickamauga, but Longstreet still +pushed the attack, and the Northern generals who had stood around +Sickles resisted with the stubbornness of men who meant to succeed or +die. + +Early in the battle Harry had seen General Lee walk forward to a point +in the center of his line and sit down on a smooth stump. There he sat +a long time, apparently impassive. Harry sometimes took his eyes away +from the combat for the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top to watch his +commander-in-chief. But the general never showed emotion. Now and then +General Hill or his military secretary, General Long, came to him and +they would talk a little together, but they made no gestures. Lee would +rise when the generals came, but when they left he would resume his +place on the stump and watch the struggle through his glasses. +Throughout the whole battle of that day he sent a single order and +received but one message. He had given his orders before the advance, +and he left the rest to his lieutenants. + +"I wish I could be as calm as he is," said Harry. + +"I'll risk saying that he isn't calm inside," said Dalton. "How could +any man be at such a time?" + +"You're right. Duck! Here comes a shell!" + +But the shell fell short and exploded on the slope. + +"Now listen, will you!" exclaimed Harry. "That's the spirit!" + +Immediately after the shell burst a Southern band began to play. +And it played the merriest music, waltzes and polkas and all kinds of +dances. Harry felt his feet move to the tunes, while the battle below, +at its very height, roared and thundered. + +But he promptly forgot the musicians as he watched the battle. He knew +that the Invincibles were somewhere in that volcano of fire and smoke, +and it was almost too much to hope that they would again come unhurt +out of such a furious conflict. But they, too, passed quickly from his +mind. The struggle would let nothing else remain there long. + +He saw that the Union troops were still in the Peach Orchard and that +they were pouring a deadly fire also from Little Round Top. Hancock had +come to take the place of Sickles, and he was drawing every man he could +to his support. The afternoon was waning, but the battle was still at +its height. Men were falling by thousands, and generals, colonels, +majors, officers of all kinds were falling with them. The Southerners +had not encountered such resistance in any other great battle, and the +ground, moreover, was against them. + +Yet the grim fighter, Longstreet, never ceased to push on his brigades. +The combat was now often face to face, and sharpshooters, hidden in +every angle and hollow of the earth, picked off men by hundreds. +The great rocky mass known as the Devil's Den was filled with Northern +sharpshooters and for a long time they stung the Southern flank terribly, +until a Southern battery, noticing whence the deadly stream of +bullets issued, sprayed it with grape and canister until most of the +sharpshooters were killed, while those who survived fled like wolves +from their lairs. + +The day was now passing, but Harry could see no decrease in the fury of +the battle. Longstreet was still hurling his men forward, and they were +met with cannon and rifle and bayonet. The Confederate line now grew +more compact. The brigades were brought into closer touch, and, +gathering their strength anew, they rushed forward in a charge, heavier +and more desperate than any that had gone before. Generals and colonels +led them in person. Barksdale, young, but with snow-white hair, was +riding at the very front of the line, and he fell, dying, in the Union +ranks. + +The Southern charge was stopped again on the left wing of the Union army, +and with the coming of the night the battle there sank, but elsewhere +the South was meeting with greater success. Ewell, making a renewed and +fierce attack at sunset, drove in the Northern right, and, seconded by +Early, took their defenses there. But the darkness was coming fast, +and although the firing went on for a long time, it ceased at last, +with the two enemies still face to face and the battle drawn. + +Harry, who had expected to see a glorious victory won by the setting of +the sun, was deeply depressed. His youth did not keep him from seeing +that very little advantage had been won in that awful conflict of +the afternoon, and he saw also that the Army of the Potomac had been +fighting as if it had been improved by defeat. Nor had Lee thrown in +his whole force where it was needed most. If Jackson had only been +there! Harry pictured his swift flank movement, his lightning stroke, +and the crumpling up of the enemy. Jackson loomed larger than ever now +to his disappointed and excited mind. + +Harry had been all day long and far into the night on Seminary Hill. +Often he had scarcely moved for an hour, and now, when the firing ceased +and he stood up and tried to peer into the valley of death, he found his +limbs so stiff for a minute or two that he could scarcely move. His +eyes ached and his throat was raw from smoke and the fumes of burned +gunpowder. But as he shook himself and stretched his muscles, he +regained firmness of both mind and body. + +"We didn't win much," he said to Dalton. + +"Not to-day, but we will to-morrow. Harry, wasn't it awful? It looks +to me down there like a pit of destruction." + +And Dalton described it truly. The losses of the day before had been +doubled. Thirty thousand men on the two sides had now fallen, and there +was another day to come. + +Harry saw that the generals themselves were assailed by doubts and +fears. He with other young staff officers witnessed the council of +Lee and his leading officers in the moonlight on Seminary Ridge. Some +spoke of retreat. A drawn battle in the enemy's country, and with an +inferiority of numbers, was for them equivalent to a defeat. Others +pointed out, however, that while their losses had been enormous, the +courage and spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia were unshaken. +Stuart with the cavalry, expected earlier, would certainly be up soon, +and, after all, the day had not been without its gains. Longstreet held +the Peach Orchard and Ewell was in the Union defenses on the flank of +Gettysburg. + +But Lee thought most of the troops. These ragged veterans of his +who had been invincible asked to be led once more against the enemy. +A spirit so high as theirs could not be denied. His decision was given. +They would stay and smash the Union army on the morrow. + +Harry heard of the decision. He had never doubted that it would be so. +They must surely win the next day with the addition of Pickett's men +and Stuart's cavalry. He wondered why Stuart had not come up already, +but he learned the next morning that a good reason had held him back. + +The Union cavalry, always vigilant now, had intercepted Stuart in the +afternoon and had given him battle, just when the combat of the second +day had begun at Gettysburg. Gregg led the horsemen in blue and there +was another combat like that at Brandy Station, now about five thousand +sabres on a side. There was a long and desperate struggle in which +neither force could win, young Custer in particular showing uncommon +skill and courage for the North, while Wade Hampton performed prodigies +for the South. At last they drew off by mutual consent, Gregg into the +forest, while Stuart, with his reduced force, rode on in the night to +Lee. But Gregg in holding back Stuart had struck the Southern army a +great blow. + +Harry and Dalton with nothing to do received permission to go among the +soldiers, and as they marked their spirits, their own rose. Then they +passed down toward the battlefield. Harry had some idea that they might +again find the Invincibles, as they had found them the night before, +but their time was too short. The Invincibles were somewhere in the +front, he learned, and, disappointed, he and Dalton turned back into the +valley. + +The night was clear and bright, and they saw many men coming and going +from a cold spring under the shadow of the trees. Some of them were +wounded and limped painfully. Others carried away water in their hats +and caps for comrades too badly wounded to move. Harry observed that +some wore the blue, and some the gray. Both he and Dalton were assailed +by a burning thirst at the sight of the water, and they went to the +spring. + +Here men who an hour or two ago had been striving their utmost to kill +one another were gathered together and spoke as friends. When one went +away another took his place. No thought of strife occurred to them, +although there would be plenty of it on the morrow. They even jested +and foes complimented foes on their courage. Harry and Dalton drank, +and paused a few moments to hear the talk. + +The moon rode high, and it has looked down upon no more extraordinary +scene than this, the enemies drinking together in friendship at the +spring, and all about them the stony ramparts of the hills, bristling +with cannon, and covered with riflemen, ready for a red dawn, and the +fields and ridges on which thirty thousand had already fallen, dead or +wounded. + +"Another meeting, Mr. Kenton," said a man who had been bent down +drinking. As he rose the moonlight shone full upon his face and Harry +was startled. And yet it was not strange that he should be there. +The face revealed to Harry was one of uncommon power. It seemed to him +that the features had grown more massive. The powerful chin and the +large, slightly curved nose showed indomitable spirit and resolution. +The face was tanned almost to blackness by all kinds of weather. +Harry would not have known him at first, had it not been for his voice. + +"We do meet in unexpected places and at unexpected times, Mr. Shepard," +he said. + +"I'm not merely trying to be polite, when I tell you that I'm glad to +find you alive. You and I have seen battles, but never another like +this." + +"And I can truthfully welcome you, Mr. Shepard, as an old acquaintance +and no real enemy." + +It was an impulse but a noble one that made the two, different in years +and so unlike, shake hands with a firm and honest grip. + +"Your army will come again in the morning," said Shepard, not as a +question, but as a statement of fact. + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"No, I don't, but to-morrow night, Mr. Kenton, you will recall what I +told you at our first meeting in Montgomery more than two years ago." + +"You said that we could not win." + +"And you cannot. It was never possible. Oh, I know that you've won +great victories against odds! You've done better than anybody could +have expected, but you had genius to help you, while we were led by +mediocrity in the saddle. But you have reached your zenith. Mark how +the Union veterans fought to-day. They're as brave and resolute as you +are, and we have the position and the men. You'll never get beyond +Gettysburg. Your invasion is over. Hereafter you fight always on the +defensive." + +Harry was startled by his emphasis. The man spoke like an inspired +prophet of old. His eyes sparkled like coals of fire in the dark, +tanned face. The boy had never before seen him show so much emotion, +and his heart sank at the appalling prophecy. Then his courage came +back. + +"You predict as you hope, Mr. Shepard," he said. + +Shepard laughed a little, though not with mirth, and said: + +"It is well that it should be settled here. There will be death on a +greater scale than any the war has yet seen, but it will have to come +sooner or later, and why not at Gettysburg? Good-bye, I go back to the +heights. May we both be alive to-morrow night to see which is right." + +"The wish is mine, too," said Harry sincerely. + +Shepard turned away and disappeared in the darkness. Harry rejoined +Dalton who was on the other side of the spring, and the two returned to +Seminary Ridge, where they walked among sleeping thousands. They found +their way to their comrades of the staff, and their physical powers +collapsing at last they fell on the ground where they soon sank into a +heavy sleep. The great silence came again. Sentinels walked back and +forth along the hostile lines, but they made no noise. There was little +moving of brigades or cannon now. The town itself became a town of +phantom houses in the moonlight, nearly all of them still and deserted. +On all the slopes of the hostile ridges lay the sleeping soldiers, +and on the rocks and fields between lay the dead in thousands. But from +the crest of Little Round Top, the precious hill so hardly won, the +Union officers watched all through the night, and, now and then, they +went through the batteries for which they were sure they were going to +have great use. + +Harry and Dalton awoke at the same time. Another day, hot and burning, +had come, and the two armies once more looked across the valley at each +other. Harry soon heard the booming of cannon off to his right, where +Ewell's corps stood. It came from the Northern guns and for a long time +those of the South did not answer. But after a while Harry's practiced +ear detected the reply. The hostile wings facing each other were +engaged in a fierce battle. He saw the flash of the guns and the rising +smoke, but the center of the Army of Northern Virginia and the other +wing did not yet move. He looked questioningly at Dalton and Dalton +looked questioningly at him. + +They expected every instant that the combat would spread along the +entire front, but it did not. For several hours they listened to the +thunder of the guns on the left, and then they knew by the movement of +the sound that the Southern wing had been driven back, not far it is +true, but still it had been compelled to yield, and again Harry's heart +sank. + +But it rose once more when he concluded that Lee must be massing his +forces in the center. The left wing had been allowed to fight against +overwhelming numbers in order that the rest of the army might be left +free to strike a crushing blow. + +Then noon came and the battle on their left died completely. Once more +the great silence held the field and Harry was mystified and awed. +Lee, as calm and impassive as ever, said little. The ridges confronted +one another, bristling with cannon but the armies were motionless. +The day was hotter than either of those that had gone before. The sun, +huge and red, poised in the heavens, shot down fiery rays in millions. +Harry gasped for breath, and when at last he spoke in the stillness his +voice sounded loud and harsh in his own ears. + +"What does it mean, George?" he said. + +"I don't know, but I think they are massing behind us for a charge." + +"Not against the sixty or seventy thousand men and the scores of cannon +on those heights?" + +"Maybe not yet. It's likely there will be a heavy artillery fire first. +Yes, I'm right! There go the guns!" + +One cannon shot was followed by many others, and then for a while a +tremendous cannonade raged along the front of the armies, but it too +died, the smoke lifted, and then came the breathless, burning heat again. + +The fire of the sun and of the battle entered Harry's brain. The valley, +the town, the hills, the armies, everthing swam in a red glare. The +great pulses leaped in his throat. He was anxious for them to go on, +and get it over. Why were the generals lingering when there was a +battle to be finished? Half the day was gone already and nothing was +decided. + +Conscious that he was about to lose control of himself he clasped his +hands to his temples and pressed them tightly. At the same time he made +a mighty effort of the will. The millions of black specks that had been +dancing before his eyes went away. The solid earth ceased to quiver and +settled back into its place, careless of the armies that trampled over +it. Again he clearly saw through his glasses the long lines of men in +blue along the slopes and on the crest of Cemetery Hill. He marked, too, +there, at the highest point, a clump of trees waving their summer green +in the hot sunshine. Turning his glasses yet further he saw the massed +artillery on Little Round Top, and the gunners leaning on their guns. +A house, set on fire purposely or by shells, was burning brightly, +like some huge torch to light the way to death. + +"You told me they were preparing for a charge," he said to Dalton. + +"So they are, Harry. Pickett's men, who have not been here long, +are forming up in the rear, but their advance will be preceded by a +cannonade. You can see them wheeling guns into line." + +Lee, with Hill and Longstreet, had recently ridden along the lines +followed by the older staff officers, and often shells and the bullets +of sharpshooters had struck about them, but they remained unhurt. +Now Lee stopped at one of his old points of observation. It was now +about one o'clock in the afternoon, and as the last gun took its +place the whole artillery of the Southern army opened with a fire so +tremendous that Harry felt the earth trembling, and he was compelled +to put his fingers in his ears lest he be deafened. + +A storm of metal flew across the valley toward the Northern ranks, +but the guns there did not reply yet. The Union troops lay close behind +their intrenchments and mostly the storm beat itself to pieces on the +side of the hill. The smoke soon became so great that Harry could not +tell even with glasses what was going on in the enemy's ranks, but he +inferred from the fact that they were not yet replying that they were +not suffering much. + +But in a quarter of an hour the tremendous cannonade was suddenly +doubled in volume. The Union guns were now answering. Two hundred +cannon facing one another across the valley were fighting the most +terrible artillery duel ever known in America. The air was filled with +shells, shot, grape, shrapnel, canister and every form of deadly missile. + +Harry and Dalton sprang to cover, as some of the shells struck about +them, but they stood up again when they saw that Lee was talking calmly +with his generals. + +The Southern fire was accurate. General Meade's headquarters were +riddled. Many important officers were wounded, but the Northern gunners, +superb always, never flinched from their guns. They fell fast, but +others took their places. Guns were dismounted but those in the reserve +were brought up instead. + +The appalling tumult increased. The shells shrieked as they flew +through the air in hundreds, and shrapnel and grape whined incessantly. +Harry thought it in very truth the valley of destruction, and it was a +relief to him when he received an order to carry and could turn away for +a little while. He saw now in the rear the brigades of Pickett which +were forming up for the charge, about four thousand five hundred men who +had not yet been in the battle, while nearly ten thousand more, under +Trimble, Pettigrew and Wilcox, were ready to march on their flanks. +Pickett's men were lying on their arms patiently waiting. The time had +not quite come. + +When Harry came back from his errand the cannonade was still at its +height. The roar was continuous, deafening, shaking the earth all +the time. A light wind blew the smoke back on the Southern position, +but it helped, concealing their batteries to a certain extent, while +those of the North remained uncovered. + +The Northern army was now suffering terribly, although its infantry +stood unflinching under the fire. But the South was suffering too. +Guns were shattered, and the deadly rain of missiles carried destruction +into the waiting regiments. Harry saw Lee and Longstreet continually +under the Union fire. They visited the batteries and encouraged the +men. Showers of shells struck around them, but they went on unharmed. +Wherever Lee appeared the tremendous cheering could be heard amid the +roar of the guns. + +Now the Southern artillerymen saw that their ammunition was diminishing +fast. Such a furious and rapid fire could not be carried on much longer, +and Lee sent the word to Pickett to charge. Harry stood by when the +men of Pickett arose--but not all of them. Some had been struck by the +shells as they lay on the ground and had died in silence, but their +comrades marched out in splendid array, and a vast shout arose from the +Southern army as they strove straight into the valley of death. + +Harry shouted with the rest. He was wild with excitement. Every nerve +in him tingled, and once more the black specks danced before his eyes in +myriads. Peace or war! Right or wrong! He was always glad that he saw +Pickett's charge, the charge that dimmed all other charges in history, +the most magnificent proof of man's courage and ability to walk straight +into the jaws of death. + +The dauntless Virginians marched out in even array, stepping steadily +as if they were on parade, instead of aiming straight at the center of +the Union army, where fifty thousand riflemen and a hundred guns were +awaiting them. Their generals and those of the supporting divisions +rode on their flanks or at their head. Besides Pickett, Garnett, Wilcox, +Armistead, Pettigrew and Trimble were there. + +The Southern cannon were firing over the heads of the marching +Virginians, covering them with their fire, but the light breeze +strengthened a little, driving away the smoke. There they were in the +valley, visible to both friend and foe, marching on that long mile from +hill to hill. The Southern army shouted again, and it is true that, +at this moment, the Union ranks burst into a like cry of admiration, +at the sight of a foe so daring, men of their own race and country. + +But Harry never took his eyes for a moment from Pickett's column. +He was using his glasses, and everything stood out strong and clear. +The sun was at the zenith, pouring down rays so fiery that the whole +field blazed in light. The nature of the ground caused the Virginians +to turn a little, in order to keep the line for the Union center, +but they preserved their even ranks, and marched on at a steady pace. + +Harry began to shout again, but in an instant or two he saw a line +of fire pass along the Union front. Forty guns together opened upon +the charging column, and Hancock at the Union center, seeing and +understanding the danger, was heaping up men and cannon to meet it. + +The shells began to crash into the ranks of the Virginians and the ten +thousand on their flanks. Men fell in hundreds and now the batteries +on Little Round Top added to the storm of fire. The clouds of smoke +gathered again, but the wind presently scattered them and Harry, waiting +in agony, saw Pickett's division marching straight ahead, never +faltering. + +But he groaned when he saw that there was trouble on the flanks. +The men of Pettigrew, exhausted by the great efforts they had already +made in the battle, wavered and lost ground. Another division was +driven back by a heavy flank attack. Others were lost in the vast banks +of smoke that at times filled the valley. Only the Virginians kept +unbroken ranks and a straight course for the Union center. + +Pickett paused a few moments at the burning house for the others to get +in touch with him, but they could not do so, and he marched on, with +Cemetery Hill now only two hundred yards away. The covering fire of the +Southern cannon had ceased long since. It would have been as dangerous +now to friend as to foe. Harry, watching through his glasses, uttered +another cry. Pickett and his men were marching alone at the hill. +Half of them it seemed to him were gone already, but the other half +never paused. The fire of a hundred guns had been poured upon them, +as they advanced that deadly mile, but with ranks still even they rushed +straight at their mark, the Union center. + +Then Harry saw all the slopes and the crest of Cemetery Hill blaze with +fire. The Virginians were near enough for the rifles now, and the +bullets came in sheets. Harry saw it, and he groaned aloud. He no +longer had any hope for those brave men. The charge could not succeed! + +Yet he saw them rush into the Union ranks and disappear. A group in +gray, still cleaving through the multitude, reappeared far up the slope, +and then burst, a little band of a few dozen men, into the very heart of +the Union center, the point to which they had been sent. + +A battle raged for a few minutes under the clump of trees where Hancock +had stood directing. There Armistead, who had led them, his hat on the +point of his sword, fell dead among the Northern guns, and Cushing, +his brave foe who commanded the battery, died beside him. All the +others fell quickly or were taken. A few hundreds on the slopes cut +their way back through the Union army and reached their own. Pickett, +preserved by some miracle, was among them. + +Harry gasped and threw down his glasses. Now he knew that the words +Shepard had spoken to him the night before at the spring were true. +The Southern invasion had been rolled back forever. + +He looked at General Lee, who on foot had been watching the charge. +The impenetrable mask was gone for a moment, and his face expressed deep +emotion. Then the great soul reasserted itself and mounting his horse +went forward to meet the fugitives and encourage them. He rode back and +forth among them, and Harry heard him say once: + +"All will come right in the end. We'll talk it over afterward, but +meanwhile every good man must rally. We want all good and true men just +now." + +His manner was that of a father to his children, and, though they had +failed, the spontaneous cheers again burst forth wherever he passed. +The wounded as they were carried to the rear raised themselves up to see +him, and their cheers were added to the others. + +Harry never forgot anything that he saw or heard then. Although the +battle, in effect, was over, the Northern artillery, roaring and +thundering triumphantly, was sending its shells across the valley and +upon Seminary Ridge. But he did not think anything of them, even when +they struck near him. It would be days before he could feel fear again. +He heard Lee say to an officer who rode up, and stated, between sobbing +breaths, that his whole brigade was destroyed: + +"Never mind, General. All this has been my fault. It is I who have +lost this fight, and you must help me out of it in the best way you can." + +To another he said: + +"This has been a sad day for us, a sad day. But we can't expect always +to gain victories." + +Beholding such greatness of soul, Harry regained his own composure. +He rejoined Dalton, and soon they saw the Southern army reform its lines, +and turn a bristling front to the enemy. The Northern cannon were still +flashing and thundering, but the Northern army made no return attack. +Gettysburg, in all respects the greatest battle ever fought on the +American continent, was over, and fifty thousand men had fallen. + +The sun set, and Harry at last sank on the ground overpowered. The +next day the two armies stood on their hills looking at each other, but +neither cared to renew the battle after such frightful losses. That +afternoon a fearful storm of thunder, lightning and rain burst over the +field. It seemed to Harry an echo of the real battle of the day before. + +That night Lee, having gathered up his wounded, his guns and his wagons, +began his retreat toward the South. His army had lost, but it was still +in perfect order, willing, even anxious to fight again. The wagons +containing the wounded and the stores stretched for many miles, moving +along in the rain, and the cavalry rode on their flanks to protect them. + +It was not until the next morning that Harry discovered anything of the +Invincibles. In the dawn he saw a covered wagon by the side of which +rode an officer, much neater in appearance than the others. He knew at +once that it was St. Clair and he galloped forward with a joyous shout. + +"Arthur! Arthur!" he cried. + +St. Clair turned a pale face that lighted up at the sight of his friend. + +"Thank God, you're alive, Harry!" he said, as their hands clasped. + +"Are you alone left?" asked Harry. + +"Look into the wagon," he said. + +Harry lifted a portion of the flap, and, looking in, saw Colonel +Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire sitting on +rolls of blankets facing each other. One had his right arm in a sling +and the other the left, but the chessmen rested on a board between them +and they were playing intently. They stopped a moment or two to give +Harry a glad welcome. Then he let the flap drop back. + +"They began at daylight," said St. Clair. + +"Where's Happy?" + +"He's in the wagon, too. He's lying on some blankets behind them." + +"Not hurt badly?" + +"He was nipped in the shoulder, but it doesn't amount to anything. +What he wanted was sleep and he's getting it. He told me not to wake +him up again for a month." + +"Well, Arthur, we lost." + +"Yes, and I don't know just how it happened." + +"But we're here, ready to fight them again whenever they come." + +"So we are, Harry, and if they ever reach Richmond it will be many a +long day before they do it." + +"I say so, too." + +The great train toiled on through the mud, and the Army of Northern +Virginia continued its slow march southward. + + + + + +Appendix: Transcription notes: + +This etext was transcribed from a volume of the 15th printing + + +The following modifications were applied while transcribing the +printed book to e-text: + + chapter 1 + - page 3, para 4, added a missing open-quote + - page 8, para 3, deleted a misplaced comma + - page 13, Langdon and Dalton are having a conversation, but para 4 + incorrectly stated "said St. Clair". It is clear that this should + be changed to "said Dalton", because Langdon replies to "George" in + his next sentence. + - page 20, para 7, the troop is specified here as "six hundred" men, + but is subsequently repeatedly specified as two hundred - changed + this reference from "six" to "two" + + chapter 2 + - page 25, para 8, Sherburne incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed + to "Harry" + - page 36, para 7, fixed typo "ghose" + + chapter 3 + - page 49, para 3, fixed typo "Jackkson" + - page 53, para 3, fixed typo "lud" + + chapter 5 + - page 105, para 3, Dalton incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed + to "Harry" + - page 109, para 6, changed "Its" to "It's" + - page 120, para 5, added a missing open-quote + - page 121, para 1, fixed typo ("plan" changed to "plain") + - page 121, para 1, fixed typo "cannister" + + chapter 6 + - page 143, para 5, changed an erroneous period to a comma + + chaper 7 + - page 153, para 3, changed "And" to "and" + - page 181, para 2, fixed typo "Longeais" + + chapter 8 + - page 189, para 1, added a missing close-quote + + chapter 9 + - page 259, para 3, changed "outgeneraled" to "outgeneralled" + (whether 'tis a word or not, the variant with double-"l" occurs 3 + times in this book, the single-"l" variant only once) + + chapter 10 + - page 272, para 2, changed "fulness" to "fullness" + - page 273, para 1, fixed typo "marvellous" + - page 282, end of para 2, changed "division" to "divisions" + + chapter 11 + - page 295, para 3, fixed typo "dextrously" + + chapter 13 + - page 347, para 4, fixed typo "occurrred" + - page 351, para 4, fixed typo "wofully" + - page 358, para 9, added a missing close-quote + - page 359, para 1, changed "You" to "Your" + + Modifications resulting from conversion to plain ASCII: + - chapter 1, page 12, the phrase "In forma pauperis" was presented + in italics in the printed book + - chapter 10, page 282, the name "Duffie" was presented in the + printed book with an accented "e" + + +I did not modify: + + - There are instances where the use of the comma in the printed + book seems to me inappropriate. However, I have adhered to the + punctuation as printed (except for obvious printing errors, + which are noted above). + + For example: + + But Harry, having further leave of absence went forth and + answered many questions. + + - Each section of verse is formatted to appear similar to its + presentation in the printed book. Consequently: some verse is + indented more than others, some is left-aligned, some is + staggered on the left margin, some is center-aligned. + + - The author sometimes uses a technique whereby a paragraph introducing + a quotation ends with a colon, with the quotation following as the + next paragraph. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Star of Gettysburg, by Joseph A. Altsheler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG *** + +***** This file should be named 3811.txt or 3811.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/3811/ + +Produced by Ken Reeder. 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The story +centers about the young Southern hero, Harry Kenton, and his friends. + + + + +THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + + + + VOLUMES IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + THE GUNS OF BULL RUN. + THE GUNS OF SHILOH. + THE SCOUTS OF STONEWALL. + THE SWORD OF ANTIETAM. + THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG. + THE ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA. + THE SHADES OF THE WILDERNESS. + THE TREE OF APPOMATTOX. + + + PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + HARRY KENTON, A Lad Who Fights on the Southern Side. + DICK MASON, Cousin of Harry Kenton, Who Fights on the Northern Side. + COLONEL GEORGE KENTON, Father of Harry Kenton. + MRS. MASON, Mother of Dick Mason. + JULIANA, Mrs. Mason's Devoted Colored Servant. + COLONEL ARTHUR WINCHESTER, Dick Mason's Regimental Commander. + COLONEL LEONIDAS TALBOT, Commander of the Invincibles, + a Southern Regiment. + LIEUTENANT COLONEL HECTOR ST. HILAIRE, Second in Command of the + Invincibles. + ALAN HERTFORD, A Northern Cavalry Leader. + PHILIP SHERBURNE, A Southern Cavalry Leader. + WILLIAM J. SHEPARD, A Northern Spy. + DANIEL WHITLEY, A Northern Sergeant and Veteran of the Plains. + GEORGE WARNER, A Vermont Youth Who Loves Mathematics. + FRANK PENNINGTON, A Nebraska Youth, Friend of Dick Mason. + ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, A Native of Charleston, Friend of Harry Kenton. + TOM LANGDON, Friend of Harry Kenton. + GEORGE DALTON, Friend of Harry Kenton. + BILL SKELLY, Mountaineer and Guerrilla. + TOM SLADE, A Guerrilla Chief. + SAM JARVIS, The Singing Mountaineer. + IKE SIMMONS, Jarvis' Nephew. + AUNT "SUSE," A Centenarian and Prophetess. + BILL PETTY, A Mountaineer and Guide. + JULIEN DE LANGEAIS, A Musician and Soldier from Louisiana. + JOHN CARRINGTON, Famous Northern Artillery Officer. + DR. RUSSELL, Principal of the Pendleton School. + ARTHUR TRAVERS, A Lawyer. + JAMES BERTRAND, A Messenger from the South. + JOHN NEWCOMB, A Pennsylvania Colonel. + JOHN MARKHAM, A Northern Officer. + JOHN WATSON, A Northern Contractor. + WILLIAM CURTIS, A Southern Merchant and Blockade Runner. + MRS. CURTIS, Wife of William Curtis. + HENRIETTA GARDEN, A Seamstress in Richmond. + DICK JONES, A North Carolina Mountaineer. + VICTOR WOODVILLE, A Young Mississippi Officer. + JOHN WOODVILLE, Father of Victor Woodville. + CHARLES WOODVILLE, Uncle of Victor Woodville. + COLONEL BEDFORD, A Northern Officer. + CHARLES GORDON, A Southern Staff Officer. + JOHN LANHAM, An Editor. + JUDGE KENDRICK, A Lawyer. + MR. CULVER, A State Senator. + MR. BRACKEN, A Tobacco Grower. + ARTHUR WHITRIDGE, A State Senator. + + + HISTORICAL CHARACTERS + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States. + JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Southern Confederacy. + JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, Member of the Confederate Cabinet. + U. S. GRANT, Northern Commander. + ROBERT B. LEE, Southern Commander. + STONEWALL JACKSON, Southern General. + PHILIP H. SHERIDAN, Northern General. + GEORGE H. THOMAS, "The Rock of Chickamauga." + ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, Southern General. + A. P. HILL, Southern General. + W. S. HANCOCK, Northern General. + GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, Northern General. + AMBROSE B. BURNSIDE, Northern General. + TURNER ASHBY, Southern Cavalry Leader. + J. E. B. STUART, Southern Cavalry Leader. + JOSEPH HOOKER, Northern General. + RICHARD S. EWELL, Southern General. + JUBAL EARLY, Southern General. + WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS, Northern General. + SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER, Southern General. + LEONIDAS POLK, Southern General and Bishop. + BRAXTON BRAGG, Southern General. + NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, Southern Cavalry Leader. + JOHN MORGAN, Southern Cavalry Leader. + GEORGE J. MEADE, Northern General. + DON CARLOS BUELL, Northern General. + W. T. SHERMAN, Northern General. + JAMES LONGSTREET, Southern General. + P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Southern General. + WILLIAM L. YANCEY, Alabama Orator. + JAMES A. GARFIELD, Northern General, afterwards President of + the United States. + + And many others + + + IMPORTANT BATTLES DESCRIBED IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + BULL RUN + KERNSTOWN + CROSS KEYS + WINCHESTER + PORT REPUBLIC + THE SEVEN DAYS + MILL SPRING + FORT DONELSON + SHILOH + PERRYVILLE + STONE RIVER + THE SECOND MANASSAS + ANTIETAM + FREDERICKSBURG + CHANCELLORSVILLE + GETTYSBURG + CHAMPION HILL + VICKSBURG + CHICKAMAUGA + MISSIONARY RIDGE + THE WILDERNESS + SPOTTSYLVANIA + COLD HARBOR + FISHER'S HILL + CEDAR CREEK + APPOMATTOX + + + +CONTENTS + + I. THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY + + II. AHORSE WITH SHERBURNE + + III. JACKSON MOVES + + IV. ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK + + V. FREDERICKSBURG + + VI. A CHRISTMAS DINNER + + VII. JEB STUART'S BALL + + VIII. IN THE WILDERNESS + + IX. CHANCELLORSVILLE + + X. THE NORTHERN MARCH + + XI. THE CAVALRY COMBAT + + XII. THE ZENITH OF THE SOUTH + + XIII. GETTYSBURG + + + + +THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY + + + + +A youth sat upon a log by a clear stream in the Valley of Virginia, +mending clothes. + +He showed skill and rapidity in his homely task. A shining needle +darted in and out of the gray cloth, and the rent that had seemed +hopeless was being closed up with neatness and precision. No one +derided him because he was engaged upon a task that was usually +performed by women. The Army of Northern Virginia did its own sewing. + +"Will the seam show much, Arthur?" asked Harry Kenton, who lay +luxuriously upon the leafy ground beside the log. + +"Very little when I finish," replied St. Clair, examining his work with +a critical eye. "Of course I can't pass the uniform off as wholly new. +It's been a long time since I've seen a new one in our army, but it will +be a lot above the average." + +"I admire your care of your clothes, Arthur, even if I can't quite +imitate it. I've concluded that good clothes give a certain amount of +moral courage, and if you get killed you make a much more decent body." + +"But Arthur St. Clair, of Charleston, sir, has no intention of getting +killed," said Happy Tom Langdon, who was also resting upon the earth. +"He means after this war is over to go back to his native city, buy the +most magnificent uniforms that were ever made, and tell the girls how +Lee and Jackson turned to him for advice at the crisis of every great +battle." + +"We surely needed wisdom and everything else we could get at Antietam-- +leadership, tenacity and the willingness to die," said Dalton, the sober +young Virginia Presbyterian. "Boys, we were in the deepest of holes +there, and we had to lift ourselves out almost by our own boot straps." + +Harry's face clouded. The field of Antietam often returned to him, +almost as real and vivid as on that terrible day, when the dead lay +heaped in masses around the Dunkard church and the Southern army called +forth every ounce of courage and endurance for its very salvation. + +"Antietam is a month away," he said, "and I still shudder at the name. +We didn't think McClellan would come up and attack Lee while Jackson was +away at Harper's Ferry, but he did. How did it happen? How did he know +that our army was divided?" + +"I've heard a strange story," said Dalton. "It's come through some +Union prisoners we've taken. They say that McClellan found a copy of +General Lee's orders in Frederick, and learned from them exactly where +all our troops were and what they intended. Then, of course, he +attacked." + +"A strange tale, as you say, a most extraordinary chance," said Harry. +"Do you think it's true, George?" + +"I've no doubt it fell out that way. The same report comes from other +sources." + +"At any rate," said Happy Tom, "it gave us a chance to show how less +than fifty thousand men could stand off nearly ninety thousand. Besides, +we didn't lose any ground. We went over into Maryland to give the +Marylanders a chance to rise for the South. They didn't rise worth a +cent. I suppose we didn't get more than five hundred volunteers in that +state. 'The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland,' and +it can stay on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland, if that's the way you +treat us. I feel a lot more at home here in Virginia." + +"It is fine," said Harry, stirring comfortably on the leaves and looking +down at the clear stream of the Opequon. "One can't fight all the time. +I feel as if I had been in a thousand battles, and two or three months +of the year are left. It's fine to lie here by the water, and breathe +pure air instead of dust." + +"I've heard that every man eats a peck of dirt in the course of his +life," said Happy Tom, "but I know that I've already beat the measure +a dozen times over. Why, I took in a bushel at least at the Second +Manassas, but I still live, and here I am, surveying this peaceful +domestic scene. Arthur is mending his best uniform, Harry stretched on +the leaves is resting and dreaming dreams, George is wondering how he +will get a new pair of shoes for the season, and the army is doing its +autumn washing." + +Harry glanced up and down the stream, and he smiled at the homely sight. +Thousands of soldiers were washing their ragged clothes in the little +river and the equally ragged clothes of many others were drying on the +banks or on the bushes. The sun-browned lads who skylarked along the +shores or in the water, playing pranks on one another, bore little +resemblance to those who had charged so fiercely and so often into the +mouths of the cannon at Antietam. + +Harry marvelled at them and at himself. It seemed scarcely possible +that human nature could rush to such violent extremes within so short +a space. But youth conquered all. There was very little gloom in +this great army which disported itself in the water or in the shade. +Thousands of wounded, still pale, but with returning strength, lay on +the October leaves and looked forward to the day when they could join +their comrades in either games or war. + +Harry himself had suffered for a while from a great exhaustion. He +had been terribly anxious, too, about his father, but a letter written +just after the battle of Perryville, and coming through with unusual +promptness by the way of Chattanooga and Richmond, had arrived the +day before, informing him of Colonel Kenton's safety. In this letter +his father had spoken of his meeting with Dick Mason in his home at +Pendleton, and that also contributed to his new lightness of heart. +Dick was not a brother, but he stood in the place of one, and it was +good to hear again of him. + +The sounds of shouts and laughter far up and down the Opequon became +steady and soothing. The October winds blowing gently were crisp and +fresh, but not too cold. The four boys ceased talking and Harry on his +bed of leaves became drowsy. The forests on the far hills and mountains +burned in vivid reds and yellows and browns, painted by the master hand +of autumn. Harry heard a bird singing on a bough among red leaves +directly over his head, and the note was piercingly sweet to ears used +so long to the roar of cannon and rifles. + +His drowsy lids sank lower and he would have gone to sleep had he not +been roused by a shouting farther down the little river. His eyes +opened wide and he sat up. + +"What is it, George?" he said to Dalton. + +"I don't know, but here comes Captain Sherburne, and I'll ask him." + +Sherburne was approaching with long strides, his face flushed with +enthusiasm. + +"What is it, Captain?" asked Harry. "What are the boys shouting about?" + +"The news has just reached them that Old Jack has been made a lieutenant- +general. General Lee asked the government to divide his army into two +corps, with Old Jack in command of one and Longstreet in charge of the +other. The government has seen fit to do what General Lee advises it +to do, and we are now the Second Army Corps, two thousand officers, +twenty-five thousand men and one hundred and thirty guns, commanded by +Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, better known to his enemy as +'Stonewall' Jackson and to his men as 'Old Jack.'" + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Harry. "Never was a promotion better earned!" + +"And so say we all of us," said Happy Tom. "But just a moment, Captain. +What is the news about me?" + +"About you, Tom?" + +"Yes, about me? Didn't I win the victory at the Second Manassas? +Didn't I save the army at Antietam? Am I promoted to be a colonel or +is it merely a lieutenant-colonel?" + +"I'm sorry, Tom," replied Sherburne with great gravity, "but there is no +mention of your promotion. I know it's an oversight, and we'll join in +a general petition to Richmond that you be made a lieutenant-colonel at +the very least." + +"Oh, never mind. If it has to be done through the begging of my friends +I decline the honor. I don't know that I'd care to be any kind of a +colonel, anyhow. I'd have to pass the boys here, and maybe I'd have +to command 'em, which would make 'em feel bad. Old Jack himself might +become jealous of me. I guess I'm satisfied as I am." + +"I like the modesty of the South Carolinians, Tom," said Dalton. +"There's a story going the rounds that you South Carolinians made the +war and that we Virginians have got to fight it." + +"There may be such a story. It seems to me that it was whispered to +me once, but the internal evidence shows that it was invented by a +Virginian. Haven't I come up here and shed some of my blood and more of +my perspiration to save the sacred soil of the Mother of Presidents from +invasion? And didn't I bring with me Arthur St. Clair, the best dressed +man in Charleston, for the Yankees to shoot at? Hello, what's that? +This is a day of events!" + +Hoots, cat-calls, and derisive yells arose along a long line. A trim +young officer on a fine bay horse was riding down a path beside the +Opequon. He was as beautifully dressed as St. Clair at his best. +His hands were encased in long white buckskin gloves, and long brown +mustaches curled beautifully up until they touched either cheek. +It was he, this Beau Brummel of the Southern army, who had attracted the +attention of irreverent youth. From the shelter of trees and bushes +came a chorus of cries: + +"Take them mice out o' your mouth! I know they're there, 'cause I see +their tails stickin' out!" + +"What kind o' hair oil do you use? I know your head's oiled, or it +wouldn't shine so." + +"Be sure you keep your gloves on or the sun'll tan your hands!" + +"Oh, my, it's mother's pretty boy, goin' to see his best girl!" + +The young officer flushed crimson through his brown, but he knew it was +no use to resent the words of his tormentors, and he rode steadily on, +looking straight before him. + +"That's Caswell, a Georgian, of Longstreet's corps," said Sherburne; "a +good soldier and one of the bravest men I ever saw." + +"Which proves," said St. Clair, in a tone of conviction, "that clothes +do help make the man." + +Caswell passed out of sight, pursued by derisive comment, but his place +was taken quickly by a new victim. A man of middle age, in civilian +clothes, came riding slowly on a fat horse. He was a well-known sutler +named Williams and the wild lads did not confine themselves to hidden +cries, but rushed from the shelter of trees and bushes, and held up worn +articles of apparel, shouting in his ears: + +"Hey, Mr. Williams! The soles of these shoes are made of paper, not +leather. I bought leather, not paper." + +"What's the price of blue silk neckties? I've got a Yankee sweetheart +in New York, and I want to look well when our conquering army marches +into that city!" + +"A pair of blankets for me, Mr. Williams, to be paid for when we loot +the Yankee treasury!" + +But Williams was not disconcerted. He was used to such badinage. +He spread out his large hands soothingly. + +"Boys," he said, "those shoes wore out so fast because you chased the +Yankees so hard. They were made for walking, not for foot races. +Why do you want to buy blankets on time when you can get them more +cheaply by capturing them from the enemy?" + +His answers pleased them, and some one called for three cheers for +Williams, which were given with a will, and he rode on, unmolested. +But in a few minutes another and greater roar arose. Now it was +swelling, continuous, and there was in it no note whatever of criticism +or derision. It was made up wholly of affection and admiration, and +it rolled in unceasing volume along the stream and through the forest. + +The four lads and Sherburne sprang to their feet, shading their eyes +with their hands as they looked. + +"By the great Jupiter!" exclaimed Sherburne, "it's Old Jack himself in a +new uniform on Little Sorrel! The boys, I imagine, have heard that he's +been made lieutenant-general." + +"I knew that nothing could stir up the corps this way except Old Jack +or a rabbit," said Happy Tom, as he sprang to his feet--he meant no +disrespect to his commander, as thousands would give chase to a rabbit +when it happened to be roused out of the bushes. + +"Thunderation! What a change!" exclaimed St. Clair, as he ran with the +others to the edge of the road to see Stonewall Jackson, the victor of +twenty battles, go past in a uniform that at first had almost disguised +him from his amazed soldiers. Little Sorrel was galloping. He had +learned to do so whenever the soldiers cheered his rider. Applause +always embarrassed Jackson, and Little Sorrel, of his own volition, +now obeyed his wish to get by it as soon as possible. + +"What splendor!" exclaimed Harry. "Did you ever see Old Jack looking +like this before?" + +"Never! Never!" they exclaimed in chorus. + +Stonewall Jackson wore a magnificent uniform of the richest gray, +with heavy gold lace wherever gold lace could be used, and massive +epaulets of gold. A thick gold cord tied in a bow in front surrounded +the fine gray hat, and never did a famous general look more embarrassed +as the faithful horse took him along at an easy gallop. + +All through the woods spread the word that Stonewall Jackson was riding +by arrayed in plumage like that of the dandy, Jeb Stuart himself. +It was wonderful, miraculous, but it was true, and the cheers rolled +continuously, like those of troops about to go into battle and confident +of victory. + +Harry saw clearly that his commander was terribly abashed. Blushes +showed through the tan of his cheeks, and the soldiers, who would not +have dared to disobey a single word of his on the battlefield, now ran +joyously among the woods and bushes. Harry and the other three lads, +being on Jackson's staff, hid discreetly behind the log as he passed, +but they heard the thunder of the cheering following him down the road. + +It was in truth a most singular scene. These were citizen soldiers, +welded into a terrible machine by battle after battle and the genius of +a great leader, but with their youth they retained their personality and +independence. Affection was strongly mingled with their admiration for +Jackson. He was the head of the family, and they felt free to cheer +their usually dingy hero as he rode abroad in his magnificent new +uniform. + +"I think we'd better cut across the woods to headquarters," said Harry. +"I want to see the arrival of Old Jack, and I'd wager any of you five +cents to a cent that he'll never wear that uniform again. Why, he +doesn't look natural in it at all." + +"I won't take your bet," said Happy Tom, "because I'm thinking just as +you do. Arthur, here, would look all right in it--he needs clothes to +hold him up, anyway, but it doesn't suit Old Jack." + +Their short cut took them through the woods to the general's quarters in +time to see him arrive and spring hurriedly from Little Sorrel. The man +whose name was a very synonym of victorious war was still embarrassed +and blushing, and as Harry followed him into the tent he took off the +gorgeous uniform and hat and handed them to his young aide. Then as he +put on his usual dingy gray, he said to an officer who had brought him +the new clothes: + +"Give my thanks to General Stuart, Major, but tell him that the uniform +is far too magnificent for me. I value the gift, however, and shall +keep it in recollection of him." + +The major and Harry took the uniform and, smoothing it carefully, +laid it away. But Harry, having further leave of absence went forth and +answered many questions. Was the general going to wear that uniform all +the time? Would he ride into battle clothed in it? When Harry replied +that, in his belief, he would never put it on again, the young soldiers +seemed to feel a kind of relief. The head of the family was not going +to be too splendid for them. Yet the event had heightened their spirits, +already high, and they began to sing a favorite song: + + "Come, stack arms, men, pile on the rails; + Stir up the camp fires bright. + No matter if the canteen fails, + We'll make a roaring night. + Here Shenandoah brawls along, + There lofty Blue Ridge echoes strong + To swell the brigade's rousing song + Of Stonewall Jackson's way." + +"It's a bully song!" exclaimed Happy Tom, who had a deep and thunderous +voice. Then snatching up a long stick he began to wave it as a baton, +and the others, instinctively following their leader, roared it forth, +more than ten thousand strong. + +Langdon in his glory led his cohorts in a vast circle around Jackson's +quarters, and the mighty chorus thundered through verse after verse, +until they closed in a lower tone with the lines: + + "Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps off! + Old Blue Light's going to pray; + Strangle the fool that dares to scoff! + Attention! it's his way! + Appealing from his native sod + In forma pauperis to God + Lay bare thine arm--stretch forth thy rod, + Amen! That's Stonewall Jackson's way." + +Then Happy Tom threw down his stick and the men dispersed to their +quarters. But they had paid Stonewall Jackson a tribute that few +generals ever received. + +"You're a wild and foolish fellow, Tom Langdon," said Dalton, "but I +like you for this thing you've done." + +"You'll notice that Old Jack never appeared while we were singing," +said Langdon. "I don't see why a man should be so modest and bashful. +Why, if I'd done half what he's done I'd ride the tallest horse in the +country; I'd have one of those Mexican saddles of yellow leather studded +with large golden-headed nails; the stirrups would be of gold and the +bridle bit would be gold, too. I'd have twelve uniforms all covered +with gold lace, and I'd have hats with gold-colored ostrich plumes +waving in them after the fashion of Jeb Stuart." + +"Don't you worry, Tom," said Dalton. "You'll never have any excuse for +wearing so much gold. Have you heard what one of the boys said after +the chaplain preached the sermon to us last Sunday about leading the +children of Israel forty years through the wilderness?" + +"No, George; what was it?" + +"Forty years going through the wilderness," he growled. "Why, Stonewall +Jackson would have double-quicked 'em through in three days, and on half +rations, too." + +"And so he would," exclaimed Harry with emphasis. The great affection +and admiration in which his troops held Jackson began to be tinged with +something that bordered upon superstition. They regarded his mental +powers, his intuition, judgment and quickness as something almost +supernatural. His great flanking movement at the Second Manassas, +and his arrival in time to save the army at Antietam, inspired them with +awe for a man who could do such things. They had long since ceased to +grumble when he undertook one of his tremendous marches, and they never +asked why they were sent to do a thing--they had absolute confidence in +the one who sent them to do it. + +The great excitement of Jackson in his new uniform passed and the boys +resumed their luxurious quarters on the leaves beside the Opequon. +Sherburne, who had left them a while, returned, riding a splendid bay +horse, which he tethered to a bush before rejoining them. + +"That's not the horse I saw you riding at Antietam, Captain," said +Langdon. "I counted that fellow's ribs, and none show in this one. +It's no business of mine, but I want to know where you got that fine +brute." + +"No, it's none of your business, Tom," replied Sherburne, as he settled +himself comfortably, "you haven't anything in the world to do with it, +but that's no reason why you shouldn't ask and I shouldn't answer." + +"Drop the long-winded preliminaries, then, and go ahead." + +"I got him on a wild ride with the general, General Stuart. What a +cavalryman! I don't believe there was ever such another glutton for +adventure and battle. General Lee wasn't just sure what McClellan meant +to do, and he ordered General Stuart to pick his men and go see. + +"The general took six hundred of us, and four light guns, and we crossed +the Potomac at dawn. Then we rode straight toward the north, exchanging +shots here and there with Northern pickets. We went across Maryland and +clear up into Pennsylvania, a hundred miles it must have been, I think, +and at a town called Chambersburg we got a great supply of Yankee stores, +including five hundred horses, which came in mighty handy, I can tell +you. I got Bucephalus there. He's a fine steed, too, I can tell you. +He was intended to carry some fat Pennsylvania colonel or major, and +instead he has me for a rider, a thinner and consequently a lighter man. +I haven't heard him expressing any sorrow over the exchange." + +"What did you do after you got the remounts?" asked Harry. + +"We began to curve then. We passed a town called Gettysburg, and we +went squarely behind the Union army. Mountainous and hilly country up +there, but good and cultivated beautifully. Those Pennsylvania Germans, +Harry, beat us all hollow at farming. I'm beginning to think that +slaves are not worth owning. They ruin our land." + +"Which may be so," interrupted Langdon, "but we're not the kind of +people to give them up because a lot of other people order us to do it." + +"Shut up, Tom," exclaimed Harry. "Let the captain go on with his story." + +"We went on around the Union rear, rode another hundred miles after +leaving Chambersburg, coming to a place called Hyattstown, near which we +cut across McClellan's communications with Washington. Things grew warm, +as the Yankees, learning that we were in the country, began to assemble +in great force. They tried to prevent our crossing the Monocacy River, +and we had a sharp fight, but we drove them off before they could get up +a big enough force to hold us. Then we came on, forded the Potomac and +got back after having made an entire circuit of McClellan's army." + +"What a ride!" exclaimed St. Clair, his eyes sparkling. "I wish I had +been with you. It would have been something to talk about." + +"We did stir 'em up," said Sherburne with pardonable pride, "and we got +a lot of information, too, some of it beyond price. We've learned that +there will be no more attempts on Richmond by sea. The Yankee armies +will come across Virginia soil or not at all." + +"I imagine McClellan won't be in any hurry to cross the Potomac," +said Harry. "He certainly got us into a hot corner at Antietam, and +if the reports are true he had plenty of time to come up and wipe out +General Lee's whole force, while Old Jack was tied up at Harper's Ferry. +They feel that way about McClellan in the North, too. I've got an +old Philadelphia newspaper and I'll read to you part of a poem that's +reprinted in it. The poem is called 'Tardy George.' Listen: + + "What are you waiting for, George, I pray? + To scour your cross belts with fresh pipe clay? + To burnish your buttons, to brighten your guns? + Or wait for May-day, and warm spring suns? + Are you blowing your fingers because they're cold, + Or catching your breath ere you take a hold? + Is the mud knee-deep in valley and gorge? + What are you waiting for, Tardy George?" + +"That's pretty bitter," said Harry, "but it must have been written +before the Seven Days. You notice what the author says about waiting +for May-day." + +"Likely enough you're right, but it applies just the same or they +wouldn't be reprinting it in their newspapers. Some of them claim a +victory over us at Antietam, and nearly all are angry at McClellan +because he wouldn't follow us into Virginia. They think he ought to +have crossed the Potomac after us and smashed us." + +"He might have got smashed himself." + +"Which people are likely to debate all through this generation and the +next. But they're bitter against McClellan, although he's done better +than any other Yankee general in the east. Just listen to this verse, +will you? + + "Suppose for a moment, George, my friend, + Just for a moment you condescend + To use the means that are in your hands + The eager muskets and guns and brands; + Take one bold step on the Southern sod, + And leave the issue to watchful God! + For now the nation raises its gorge, + Waiting and watching you, Tardy George." + +Harry carefully folded up the paper and put it back in his pocket. +The contrast between these verses and the song that he had just heard +ten thousand men sing, as they whirled around Stonewall Jackson's +headquarters, impressed him deeply. + +"It's hard, boys," he said, "for a general to see things like this +printed about him, even if he should deserve them. McClellan, so all +the prisoners say, has the confidence of his men. They believe that +he can win." + +"And we know that we can and do win!" exclaimed Langdon. "We've got the +soldiers and the generals, too. Hurrah for Bobby Lee, and Stonewall +Jackson and Jim Longstreet, and old Jubal Early, and A. P. Hill and +D. H. Hill and Jeb Stuart and--and----" + +"And for Happy Tom Langdon, the greatest soldier and general of them +all," interrupted Dalton. + +"That's true," said Langdon, "only people don't know it yet. Now, +by the great horn spoon, what is that? What a day this is!" + +A great uproar had begun suddenly, and, as if by magic, hundreds of men +had risen from the ground and were running about like mad creatures. +But the boys knew that they were not mad. They understood in an instant +what it was all about as they heard innumerable voices crying, "Rabbit! +Rabbit!" + +Rabbits were numerous in the underbrush and they made good stew. +The soldiers often surrounded them and caught them with their bare hands, +but they dared not shoot at them, as, owing to the number of pursuers, +somebody would certainly have been hurt. + +Harry and his comrades instantly joined in the chase, which led into the +deep woods. The rabbit, frightened into unusual speed by the shouts, +darted into the thick brush and escaped them all. + +"Poor little rascal," said Harry, "I'm glad he got away after all. +What good would one rabbit be to an army corps of twenty-five thousand +men?" + +As they were returning to their place on the creek bank an orderly came +for Harry, and he was summoned to the tent of Jackson. It was a large +tent spread in the shade of an old oak, and Harry found that Captain +Sherburne had already preceded him there. All signs of splendor were +hidden completely. Jackson once more wore with ease his dingy old gray +clothes, but the skin of his brow was drawn into a tiny knot in the +center, as if he were concentrating thought with his utmost power. + +"Sit down, Mr. Kenton," he said kindly. "I've already been speaking +to Captain Sherburne and I'll tell you now what I want. General +McClellan's army is still beyond the Potomac. As nearly as our +spies can estimate it has, present and fit for duty, one hundred and +thirty-five thousand men and three hundred and fifty cannon. McClellan, +as we well know, is always overcautious and overestimates our numbers, +but public opinion in the North will force him to action. They claim +there that Antietam was a victory for them, and he will surely invade +Virginia again. I shall send Captain Sherburne and his troop to find +out where and when, and you are to go with him as my aide and personal +representative." + +"Thanks, sir," said Harry. + +"When can you start?" + +"Within five minutes." + +"Good. I was going to allow you ten, but it's better to take only five. +Captain Sherburne, you have your instructions already. Now go, and bear +in mind, both of you, that you are to bring back what you are sent to +get, no matter what the cost. Prepare no excuses." + +There was a stern and ominous ring in his last words, and Harry and +Sherburne, saluting, retired with all speed. Harry ran to his own tent, +snatched up his arms and blanket-roll, saddled and bridled his horse, +and well within five minutes was riding by the side of Captain +Sherburne. He shouted to St. Clair, who had run forward in amazement: + +"Gone on a mission for Old Jack. Will be back--some time." + +The cavalry troop of two hundred splendid men, led by Sherburne, one of +the finest of the younger leaders, trotted fast through the oak forest. +They were fully refreshed and they were glad of action. The great +heats of that famous summer, unusually hot alike in both east and west, +were gone, and now the cool, crisp breezes of autumn blew in their faces. + +"Have you heard at what point on the Potomac the Union army is gathered?" +Harry asked. + +"At a village called Berlin, so our spies say. You know McClellan +really has some high qualities. We found a heavy reconnoitering force +of cavalry not far in our front two or three days ago, and we did not +know what it meant, but General Jackson now has an idea that McClellan +wanted to find out whether we were near enough to the Potomac to dispute +his passage." + +"We are not." + +"No, we're not, and I don't suppose General Lee and General Jackson wish +to keep him on the other side. But, at any rate, we're sent to find out +whether he is crossing." + +"And we'll see." + +"We surely will." + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AHORSE WITH SHERBURNE + + + + +Harry was glad that General Jackson had detailed him for this task. +He missed his comrades of the staff, but Sherburne was a host in himself, +and he was greatly attached to him. He rode a good horse and there +was pleasure in galloping with these men over the rolling country, and +breathing the crisp and vital air of autumn. + +They soon left the forest, and rode along a narrow road between fields. +Their spirits rose continually. It was a singular fact that the Army of +Northern Virginia was not depressed by Antietam. It had been a bitter +disappointment to the Southern people, who expected to see Lee take +Baltimore and Philadelphia, but the army itself was full of pride over +its achievement in beating off numbers so much superior. + +It was for these reasons that Sherburne and those who rode with him felt +pride and elation. They had seen the ranks of the army fill up again. +Lee had retreated across the Potomac after Antietam with less than forty +thousand men. Now he had more than seventy thousand, and Sherburne and +Harry felt certain that instead of waiting to be attacked by McClellan +he himself would go forth to attack. + +Harry had seldom seen a day more beautiful. That long hot, dry summer +had been followed by a fine autumn, the most glorious of all seasons in +North America, when the air has snap and life enough in it to make the +old young again. + +He was familiar now with the rolling country into which they rode after +leaving the forest. Off in one direction lay the fields on which they +had fought the First and Second Manassas, and off in another, behind the +loom of the blue mountains, he had ridden with Stonewall Jackson on that +marvelous campaign which seemed to Harry without an equal. + +But the land about them was deserted now. There were no harvests in the +fields. No smoke rose from the deserted farm houses. This soil had +been trodden over and over again by great armies, and it would be a long +time before it called again for the plough. The stone fences stood, +as solid as ever, but those of wood had been used for fuel by the +soldiers. + +They watered their horses at a clear creek, and then Sherburne and Harry, +from the summit of a low hill, scanned the country with their glasses. + +They saw no human being. There was the rolling country, brown now with +autumn, and the clear, cool streams flowing through almost every valley, +but so far as man was concerned the scene was one of desolation. + +"I should think that McClellan would have mounted scouts some distance +this side of the Potomac," said Sherburne. "Certainly, if he were +making the crossing, as our reports say, he would send them ahead." + +"We're sure to strike 'em before we reach the river," said Harry. + +"I think with you that we'll see 'em, but it's our business to avoid +'em. We're sent forth to see and not to fight. But if General Stuart +could ride away up into Pennsylvania, make a complete circuit around the +Union army and come back without loss, then we ought to be successful +with our own task, which is an easier one." + +Harry smiled. + +"I never knew you to fail, Captain. I consider your task as done +already." + +"Thanks, Harry. You're a noble optimist. If we fail, it will not be +for lack of trying. Forward, my lads, and we'll reach the Potomac some +time to-night." + +They rode on through the same silence and desolation. They had no doubt +that eyes watched them from groves and fence corners, keeping cautiously +out of the way, because it was sometimes difficult now to tell Federals +from Confederates. But it did not matter to Sherburne. He kept a +straight course for the Potomac, at least half of his men knowing +thoroughly every foot of the way. + +"What time can we reach the river and the place at which they say +McClellan is going to cross?" asked Harry. + +"By midnight anyway," replied Sherburne. "Of course, we'll have to slow +down as we draw near, or we may run square into an ambush. Do you see +that grove about two miles ahead? We'll go into that first, rest our +horses, and take some food." + +It was a fine oak grove, covering about an acre, with no undergrowth and +a fair amount of grass, still green under the shade, on which the horses +could graze. The trunks of the trees also were close enough together to +hide them from anyone else who was not very near. Here the men ate cold +food from their haversacks and let their horses nibble the grass for a +half hour. + +They emerged refreshed and resumed their course toward the Potomac. +In the very height of the afternoon blaze they saw a horseman on the +crest of a hill, watching them intently through glasses. Sherburne +instantly raised his own glasses to his eyes. + +"A Yankee scout," he said. "He sees us and knows us for what we are, +but he doesn't know what we're about." + +"But he's trying to guess," said Harry, who was also using glasses. +"I can't see his face well enough to tell, but I know that in his place +I'd be guessing." + +"As we don't want him hanging on to our heels and watching us, I think +we'd better charge him." + +"Have the whole troop turn aside and chase him?" + +"No; Harry, you and I and eight men will do it. Marlowe, take the rest +of the company straight along the road at an easy gait. But keep well +behind the hedge that you see ahead." + +Marlowe was his second in command, and taking the lead he continued with +the troop. + +Marlowe rode behind one of the hedges, where they were hidden from the +lone horseman on the hill, and Sherburne and Harry and the eight men +followed. While they were yet hidden, Sherburne and his chosen band +suddenly detached themselves from the others at a break in the hedge and +galloped toward the horseman who was still standing on the hill, gazing +intently toward the point where he had last seen the troop riding. + +Sherburne, Harry and the privates rode at a gallop across the field, +straight for the Union sentinel. He did not see them until they had +covered nearly half the distance, and then with aggravating slowness +he turned and rode over the opposite side of the hill. Harry had been +watching him intently, and when he had come much nearer the figure +seemed familiar to him. At first he could not recall it to mind, +but a moment or two later he turned excitedly to Sherburne. + +"I know that man, although I've never seen him before in a uniform," +he said. "I met him when President Davis was inaugurated at Montgomery +and I saw him again at Washington. His name is Shepard, the most +skillful and daring of all the Union spies." + +"I've heard you speak of that fellow before," said Sherburne, "and since +we've put him to flight, I think we'd better stop. Ten to one, if we +follow him over the brow of the hill, he'll lead us into an ambush." + +"I think you're right, Captain, and it's likely, too, that he'll come +back soon with a heavy cavalry detachment. I've no doubt that thousands +of Union horsemen are this side of the river." + +Sherburne was impressed by Harry's words, and the little detachment, +returning at a gallop, joined the main troop, which was now close to a +considerable stretch of forest. + +"Ah, there they are!" exclaimed Harry, looking back at the hill on which +he had seen the lone horseman. + +A powerful body of cavalry showed for a moment against the sun, which +was burning low and red in the west. The background was so intense and +vivid that the horsemen did not form a mass, but every figure stood +detached, a black outline against the sky. Harry judged that they were +at least a thousand in number. + +"Too strong a force for us to meet," said Sherburne. "They must +outnumber us five to one, and since they've had practice the Northern +cavalry has improved a lot. It must be a part of the big force that +made the scout toward our lines. Good thing the forest is just ahead." + +"And a good thing, too, that night is not far off." + +"Right, my boy, we need 'em both, the forest and the dark. The Union +cavalry is going to pursue us, and I don't mean to turn back. General +Jackson sent us to find about McClellan's crossing, and we've got to do +it." + +"I wouldn't dare go back to Old Jack without the information we're sent +to get." + +"Nor I. Hurry up the men, Marlowe. We've got to lose the Union cavalry +in the forest somehow." + +The men urged their horses forward at a gallop and quickly reached the +trees. But when Harry looked back he saw the thousand in blue about +a mile away, coming at a pace equal to their own. He felt much +apprehension. The road through the forest led straight before them, +but the trail of two hundred horses could not be hidden even by night. +They could turn into the forest and elude their pursuers, but, as +Sherburne said, that meant abandoning their errand, and no one in all +the group thought of such a thing. + +Sherburne increased the pace a little now, while he tried to think of +some way out. Harry rode by his side in silence, and he, too, was +seeking a solution. Through the trees, now nearly leafless, they saw +the blue line still coming, and the perplexities of the brave young +captain grew fast. + +But the night was coming down, and suddenly the long, lean figure of a +man on the long, lean figure of a horse shot from the trees on their +right and drew up by the side of Sherburne and Harry. + +"Lankford, sir, Jim Lankford is my name," he said to Sherburne, touching +one finger to his forehead in a queer kind of salute. + +Harry saw that the man had a thin, clean-shaven face with a strong nose +and chin. + +"I 'low you're runnin' away from the Yankees," said Lankford to +Sherburne. + +Sherburne flushed, but no anger showed in his voice as he replied: + +"You're right, but we run for two reasons. They're five to our one, +and we have business elsewhere that mustn't be interrupted by fighting." + +"First reason is enough. A man who fights five to one is five times +a fool. I'm a good Johnny Reb myself, though I keep off the fightin' +lines. I live back there in a house among the trees, just off the road. +You'd have seen it when you passed by, if you hadn't been in such a +hurry. Just settin' down to take a smoke when Mandy, my wife, tells me +she hears the feet of many horses thunderin' on the road. In a moment +I hear 'em, too. Run to the front porch, and see Confederate cavalry +coming at a gallop, followed by a big Yankee force. Mandy and me didn't +like the sight, and we agree that I take a hand. Now I'm takin' it." + +"How do you intend to help us?" + +"I'm gettin' to that. I saddled my big horse quick as lightnin', +and takin' a runnin' jump out of the woods, landed beside you. Now, +listen, Captain; I reckon you're on some sort of scoutin' trip, and +want to go on toward the river." + +"You reckon right." + +"About a mile further on we dip into a little valley. A creek, wide but +shallow and with a bed all rocks, takes up most of the width of that +valley. It goes nearly to the north, and at last reaches the Potomac. +A half mile from the crossin' ahead it runs through steep, high banks +that come right down to its edges, but the creek bottom is smooth enough +for the horses. I 'low I make myself plain enough, don't I, Mr. Captain?" + +"You do, Mr. Lankford, and you're an angel in homespun. Without you we +could never do what we want to do. Lead the way to that blessed creek. +We don't want any of the Yankee vanguard to see us when we turn and +follow its stream." + +"We can make it easy. They might guess that we're ridin' in the water +to hide our tracks, but the bottom is so rocky they won't know whether +we've gone up or down the stream. And if they guessed the right way, +and followed it, they'd be likely to turn back at the cliffs, anyhow." + +They urged their horses now to the uttermost, and Harry soon saw the +waters of the creek shining through the darkness. Everything was +falling out as Lankford had said. The pursuit was unseen and unheard +behind them, but they knew it was there. + +"Slow now, boys," said Sherburne, as they rode into the stream. "We +don't want to make too much noise splashing the water. Are there many +boulders in here, Mr. Lankford?" + +"Not enough to hurt." + +"Then you lead the way. The men can come four abreast." + +The water was about a foot deep, and despite their care eight hundred +hoofs made a considerable splashing, but the creek soon turned around +a hill and led on through dense forest. Sherburne and Harry were +satisfied that no Union horseman had either seen or heard them, and they +followed Lankford with absolute confidence. Now and then the hoofs of a +stumbling horse would grind on the stones, but there was no other noise +save the steady marching of two hundred men through water. + +The things that Lankford had asserted continued to come true. The creek +presently flowed between banks fifty feet high, rocky and steep as a +wall. But the stone bed of the creek was almost as smooth as a floor, +and they stopped here a while to rest and let their horses drink. + +The enclosing walls were not more than fifty or sixty feet across the +top and it was very dark in the gorge. Harry saw overhead a slice of +dusky sky, lit by only a few stars, but it was pitchy black where he +sat on his horse, and listened to his contented gurglings as he drank. +He could merely make out the outlines of his comrades, but he knew that +Sherburne was on one side of him and Lankford on the other. He could +not hear the slightest sound of pursuit, and he was convinced that the +Union cavalry had lost their trail. So was Sherburne. + +"We owe you a big debt, Mr. Lankford," said the captain. + +"I've tried to serve my side," said Lankford, "though, as I told you, +I'm not goin' on the firin' line. It's not worth while for all of us +to get killed. Later on this country will need some people who are not +dead." + +"You're right about that, Mr. Lankford," said Sherburne, with a little +laugh, "and you, for one, although you haven't gone on the firing lines, +have earned the right to live. You've done us a great service, sir." + +"I reckon I have," said Lankford with calm egotism, "but it was +necessary for me to do it. I've got an inquirin' mind, I have, and also +a calculatin' one. When I saw your little troop comin', an' then that +big troop of the Yankees comin' on behind, I knowed that you needed +help. I knowed that this creek run down a gorge, and that I could lead +you into the gorge and escape pursuit. I figgered, too, that you were +on your way to see about McClellan crossin' the Potomac, an' I figgered +next that you meant to keep straight on, no matter what happened. +So I'm goin' to lead you out of the gorge, and some miles further ahead +you'll come to the Potomac, where I guess you can use your own eyes and +see all you want to see." + +"The horses are all right now and I think we'd better be moving, +Mr. Lankford." + +They started, but did not go faster than a walk while they were in the +gorge. Harry's eyes had grown somewhat used to the darkness, and he +could make out the rocky walls, crested with trees, the higher branches +of which seemed almost to meet over the chasm. + +It was a weird passage, but time and place did not oppress Harry. +He felt instead a certain surge of the spirits. They had thrown off +the pursuit--there could be no doubt of it--and the first step in their +mission was accomplished. They were now in the midst of action, action +thrilling and of the highest importance, and his soul rose to the issue. + +He had no doubt that some great movement, possibly like that of the +Second Manassas, hung upon their mission, and Lee and Jackson might be +together at that very moment, planning the mighty enterprise which would +be shaped according to their news. + +They emerged from the gorge and rode up a low, sloping bank which gave +back but little sound to the tread of the horses, and here Lankford said +that he would leave them. Sherburne reached over his gauntleted hand +and gave him a powerful grasp. + +"We won't forget this service, Mr. Lankford," he said. + +"I ain't goin' to let you forget it. Keep straight ahead an' you'll +strike a cross-country road in 'bout a quarter of a mile. It leads you +to the Potomac, an' I reckon from now on you'll have to take care of +yourselves." + +Lankford melted away in the darkness as he rode back up the gorge, +and the troop went on at a good pace across a country, half field, +half forest. They came to a road which was smooth and hard, and +increased their speed. They soon reached a region which several of +their horsemen knew, and, as the night lightened a little, they rode +fast toward the Potomac. + +Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was not much past midnight. +They would have ample opportunity for observation before morning. +A half hour later they discerned dim lights ahead and they knew that +the Potomac could not be far away. + +They drew to one side in a bit of forest, and Sherburne again detached +himself, Harry and eight others from the troop, which he left as before +under the command of Marlowe. + +"Wait here in the wood for us," he said to his second in command. +"We should be back by dawn. Of course, if any force of the enemy +threatens you, you'll have to do what seems best, and we'll ride back +to General Jackson alone." + +The ten went on a bit farther, using extreme care lest they run into a +Northern picket. Fortunately the fringe of wood, in which they found +shelter, continued to a point near the river, and as they went forward +quietly they saw many lights. They heard also a great tumult, a mixture +of many noises, the rumbling of cannon and wagon wheels, the cracking +of drivers' whips by the hundreds and hundreds, the sounds of drivers +swearing many oaths, but swearing together and in an unbroken stream. + +They rode to the crest of the hill, where they were well hidden among +oaks and beeches, and there the whole scene burst upon them. The +late moon had brightened, and many stars had come out as if for their +especial benefit. They saw the broad stream of the Potomac shining like +silver and spanned by a bridge of boats, on which a great force, horse, +foot, artillery, and wagons, was crossing. + +"That's McClellan's army," said Harry. + +"And coming into Virginia," said Sherburne. "Well, we can't help their +entering the state, but we can make it a very uncomfortable resting +place for them." + +"How many men do you suppose they have?" + +"A hundred thousand here at the least, and others must be crossing +elsewhere. But don't you worry, Harry. We've got seventy thousand men +of our own, and Lee and Jackson, who, as you have been told before, +are equal to a hundred thousand more. McClellan will march out again +faster than he has marched in." + +"Still, he's shown more capacity than the other Union generals in the +East, and his soldiers are devoted to him." + +"But he isn't swift, Harry. While he's thinking, Lee and Jackson have +thought and are acting. Queer, isn't it, that a young general should be +slow, and older ones so much swifter. Why, General Lee must be nearly +old enough to be General McClellan's father." + +"It's so, Captain, but those men are crossing fast. Listen how the +cannon wheels rumble! And I know that a thousand whips are cracking +at once. They'll all be on our soil to-morrow." + +"So they will, but long before that time we'll be back at General +Jackson's tent with the news of their coming." + +"If nothing gets in the way. Do you remember that man whom we saw on +the hill watching, the one who I said was Shepard, the ablest and most +daring of all their spies?" + +"I haven't forgotten him." + +"This man Shepard, Captain, is one of the most dangerous of all our +enemies. The Union could much more easily spare one of its generals +than Shepard. He's omniscient. He's a lineal descendant of Argus, +and has all the old man's hundred eyes, with a few extra ones added in +convenient places. He's a witch doctor, medicine man, and other things +beside. I believe he's followed us, that some way he's picked up our +trail somewhere. He may have been hanging on the rear of the troop when +we came through the gorge." + +"Nonsense, Harry, you're turning the man into a supernatural being." + +"That's just the way I feel about him." + +"Then, if that's the case, we'd better be clearing out as fast as we +can. We've seen enough, anyhow. We'll go straight back to the company +and ride hard for the camp." + +They reached the troop, which was waiting silently under the command +of the faithful Marlowe. But before they could gallop back toward the +south, the loud, clear call of a trumpet came from a point near by, +and it was followed quickly by the beat of many hoofs. + +"I see him! It's Shepard," exclaimed Harry excitedly. + +He had beheld what was almost the ghost of a horseman galloping among +the trees, followed in an instant by the more solid rush of the cavalry. + +It was evident to both Sherburne and Harry that the Federal pickets and +outriders had acquired much skill and alertness, and they urged the +troop to its greatest speed. Even if they should be able to defeat +their immediate pursuers, it was no place for them to engage in battle, +as the enemy could soon come up in thousands. + +As they galloped down the road they heard bullets kicking up the dust +behind, and the sound made them go faster. But they were still out of +range and the pursuit did not make any gain in the next few minutes. +But Harry, looking back, saw that the Union cavalry was hanging on +grimly, and he surmised also that other forces might appear soon on +their flanks. + +"We've got to use every effort," he said to Sherburne. + +"That's apparent. You were right about your man Shepard, Harry. +He has certainly inherited all the eyes of his ancestor, Argus, and +about three times as many besides. He's omniscient, right enough." + +"Are they gaining?" + +"Not yet. But they will, as fresh pursuers come up on the flank. +Some of us must fall or be taken, but then at least one of us must get +back to Old Jack with the news. So we're bound to scatter. When we +reach that patch of woods on the left running down to the road, you're +to leave us, gallop into it and make your way back through the gorge. +I'll throw off the other messengers as we go on." + +"Must I be the first to go?" + +"Yes, you're under my orders now, and I think you the most trustworthy. +Now, Harry, off with you, and remember that luck is with him who tries +the hardest." + +They were within the dark shade of the trees and Harry turned at a +gallop among them, guiding his horse between the trunks, pausing a +moment further on to hear the pursuit thunder by, and then resuming +his race for the gorge. + +He continued to ride at a great pace, meeting no enemy, and at last +reached the creek. He was a good observer and he was confident that he +could ride back up it without trouble. He feared nothing but Shepard. +A single horseman in the darkness could throw off any pursuit by cavalry, +but the terrible spy might turn at once to the creek and the gorge. +He had the consolation, though, of knowing that Shepard could not follow +him and all the others at the same time. + +Harry paused a moment at the water's edge and listened for the sounds +of pursuit. None came. Then he plunged boldly in and rode against +the stream, passing into the depths of the gorge. It was darker now, +being near to that darkest hour before the dawn, and the slit of sky +above was somber. + +But he rode on at a good walk until he was about half way through the +gorge. Then he heard sounds above, and drawing his horse in by the +cliff he stopped and waited. Voices came down to him, and once or twice +he caught the partial silhouette of a horse against the dark sky. + +He felt quite sure that it was a body of Union cavalry riding +practically at random--if they were led by Shepard they would have +come up the gorge itself. + +Presently something splashed heavily in the water near him. A stone had +been rolled over the brink. He drew his horse and himself more closely +against the wall. Another stone fell near and a laugh came from above. +Evidently the lads in blue had pushed the stones over merely to hear the +splash, because Harry ceased to hear the voices and he was quite sure +that they had ridden away. + +He waited a little while for precaution, and then resumed his own +careful journey through the gorge. Just as the dawn was breaking he +emerged from the stream and entered the forest. It was a cold dawn, +that of late October, white with frost, and Harry shivered. There was +still food in his knapsack, and he ate hungrily as he rode through the +deserted country, and wondered what had become of Shepard and the others. + +It was not yet full day. The grass was still white with frost. The +early wind, blowing out of the north, brought an increased chill. +The food Harry had eaten defended him somewhat against the cold, but his +body had been weakened by so much riding and loss of sleep that he found +it wise to unroll his blanket and wrap it around his shoulders and chest. + +He was, perhaps, affected by the cold and anxiety, but the country +seemed singularly lonesome and depressing. Sweeping the whole circle of +the horizon with his glasses, he saw several farm houses, but no smoke +was rising from their chimneys. Silent and cold, they added to his own +feeling of desolation. He wondered what had become of his comrades. +Perhaps Sherburne had been taken, or killed. He was not one to +surrender, even to overwhelming numbers, without a fight. + +But he would go on. Drawing the blanket more tightly around his body, +he turned into the narrow road by which he had come, and urged his horse +into that easy Southern gait known as a pace. He would have been glad +to go faster, but he was too wise to push a horse that had already been +traveling twenty hours. + +Harry did not yet feel secure by any means. The lads of the South, +where the cities were few and small, had been used from childhood to the +horse. They had become at once cavalry of the highest order; but the +lads of the North were learning, too. He had no doubt that bands of +Northern horsemen were now ranging the country to the very verge of the +camps of Jackson and Lee. + +The belief became a certainty when a score of riders in blue appeared on +a hill behind him. One of their number blew a musical note on a trumpet, +and then all of them, with a shout, urged their horses in pursuit of +Harry, who felt as if it were for all the world a fox chase, with +himself as the fox. + +He knew that his danger was great, but he resolved to triumph over it. +He must get through to Jackson with the news that the Army of the +Potomac was in Virginia. Others from Sherburne's troop might arrive +with the same news, but he did not know it. It was not his place to +reckon on the possible achievements of others. So far as this errand +was concerned, and so far as he was now concerned, there was nobody in +the world but himself. Swiftly he reckoned the chances. + +He changed the pace of his horse into an easy gallop and sped along the +road. But the horse did not have sufficient reserve of strength to +increase his speed and maintain the increase. He knew without looking +back that the Union riders were gaining, and he continued to mature his +plan. + +Harry was now cool and deliberate. It was possible that a Confederate +troop scouting in that direction might save him, but it was far from +a certainty, and he could not take it into his calculations. He was +now riding between two cornfields in which all the corn had been cut, +but he saw forest on the right, about a half mile ahead. + +He believed that his salvation lay in that forest. He hoped that it +stretched far toward the right. He had never seen a finer forest, +a more magnificent forest, one that looked more sheltering, and the +nearer he came to it the better it looked. + +He did not glance back, but he felt sure that the blue horsemen must +still be gaining. Then came that mellow, hunting note of the trumpet, +much nearer than before. Harry felt a thrill of anger. He remained +the fox, and they remained the hunters. He could feel the good horse +panting beneath him, and white foam was on his mouth. + +Harry began to fear now that he would be overtaken before he could reach +the trees. He glanced at the fields. If it had been only a few weeks +earlier he might have sprung from his horse and have escaped in the +thick and standing corn, but now he would be an easy target. He must +gain the forest somehow. He said over and over to himself, "I must +reach it! I must reach it! I must reach it!" + +Now he heard the crack of rifles. Bullets whizzed past. They no longer +kicked up the dust behind him, but on the side, and even in front. +Men began to shout to him, and he heard certain words that meant +surrender. Chance had kept the bullets away from him so far, but the +same chance might turn them upon him at any moment. It was a risk that +he must take. + +The shouts grew louder. The rapid thudding of hoofs behind him beat on +his ears in that minute of excitement like thunder. Nearer and nearer +came the forest. The rifles behind him were now crashing faster. +It seemed to him that he could almost smell their smoke, and still +neither he nor his horse was hit. After making all due allowance for +badness of aim at a gallop, it was almost a miracle, and he drew new +courage from the fact. + +He passed the cornfields and with a sharp jerk of the reins turned his +weary horse into the woods on the right. The forest was thick with a +considerable growth of underbrush, but Harry was a skillful and daring +rider, and he guided his horse so expertly that in a few moments he was +hidden from the view of the cavalry. But he knew that it could not +continue so long. They would spread out, driving everything in front +of them as they advanced. He was still the fox and they were still the +hunters. Yet he had gained something. For a fugitive the forest was +better than the open. + +He maintained his direction toward Jackson's camp. His horse leaped a +gully and he barely escaped being swept off on the farther side by the +bough of a tree. Then some of his pursuers caught sight of him again, +and a half dozen shots were fired. He was not touched, but he felt his +horse shiver and he knew at once that the good, true animal had been +hit. A few leaps more and the living machinery beneath him began to jar +heavily. + +Another thick clump of undergrowth hid him at that moment from the +cavalrymen, and he did the only thing that was left to him. Throwing +one leg over the saddle, he leaped clear and darted away. Before he had +gone a dozen steps he heard his horse fall heavily, and he sighed for a +true and faithful servant and comrade gone forever. + +He heard the shouts of the Union horsemen who had overtaken the fallen +horse, but not the rider. Then the shouts ceased, and for a little +while there was no thud of hoofs. Evidently they were puzzled. They +had no use for a dead horse, but they wanted his rider, and they did not +know which way he had gone. Harry knew, however, that they would soon +spread out to a yet greater extent, and being able to go much faster on +horseback than he could on foot, they would have a certain advantage. + +He had lost his blanket from his shoulders, but he still had his pistol, +and he kept one hand on the butt, resolved not to be taken. He heard +the horsemen crashing here and there among the bushes and calling to one +another. He knew that they pursued him so persistently because they +believed him to be one who had spied upon their army and it would be of +great value to them that he be taken or slain. + +He might have turned and run back toward the Potomac, doubling on his +own track, as it were, a trick which would have deluded the Union +cavalry, but his resolution held firm not only to escape, but also to +reach Jackson with his news. + +He stood at least a minute behind some thick bushes, and it was a +precious minute to his panting lungs. The fresh air flowed in again and +strength returned. His pulses leaped once more with courage and resolve, +and he plunged anew into the deep wood. If he could only reach a +part of the forest that was much roughened by outcroppings of rock or +gulleyed by rains, he felt that his chance of escape would almost turn +into a certainty. He presently came to one such gulley or ravine, +and as he crossed it he felt that he had made a distinct gain. The +horsemen would secure a passage lower down or higher up, but it gave +him an advantage of two hundred yards at least. + +Part of the gain he utilized for another rest, lying down this time +behind a rocky ridge until he heard the cavalrymen calling to one +another. Then he rose and ran forward again, slipping as quietly as he +could among the trees and bushes. He still had the feeling of being the +fox, with the hounds hot on his trail, but he was no longer making a +random rush. He had become skillful and cunning like the real fox. + +He knew that the horsemen were not trailers. They could not follow him +by his footsteps on the hard ground, and he took full advantage of it. +Yet they utilized their numbers and pursued in a long line. Once, +two of them would have galloped directly upon him, but just before they +came in sight he threw himself flat in a shallow gully and pulled over +his body a mass of fallen leaves. + +The two men rode within ten yards of him. Had they not been so eager +they would have seen him, as his body was but partly covered. But they +looked only in front, thinking that the fugitive was still running ahead +of them through the forest, and galloped on. + +As soon as they were out of sight Harry rose and followed. He deemed it +best to keep directly in their track, because then no one was likely to +come up behind him, and if they turned, he could turn, too. + +He heard the two men crashing on ahead and once or twice he caught +glimpses of them. Then he knew by the sounds of the hoofs that they +were separating, and he followed the one who was bearing to the left, +keeping a wary watch from side to side, lest others overhaul him. + +In those moments of danger and daring enterprise the spirit of Harry's +great ancestor descended upon him again. This flight through the forest +and hiding among bushes and gulleys was more like the early days of the +border than those of the great civil war in which he was now a young +soldier. + +Instincts and perceptions, atrophied by civilization, suddenly sprang +up. He seemed to be able to read every sound. Not a whisper in the +forest escaped his understanding, and this sudden flame of a great early +life put into him new thoughts and a new intelligence. + +Now a plan, astonishing in its boldness, formed itself in his mind. +He saw through openings in the trees that the forest did not extend much +farther, and he also saw not far ahead of him the single horseman whom +he was following. The man had slowed down and was looking about as if +puzzled. He rode a powerful horse that seemed but little wearied by the +pursuit. + +Harry picked up a long fragment of a fallen bough, and he ran toward +the horseman, springing from the shelter of one tree trunk to that of +another with all the deftness of a primitive Wyandot. He was almost +upon the rider before the man turned with a startled exclamation. + +Then Harry struck, and his was no light hand. The end of the stick +met the man's head, and without a sound he rolled unconscious from the +saddle. It was a tribute to Harry's humanity that he caught him and +broke his fall. A single glance at his face as he lay upon the ground +showed that he had no serious hurt, being merely stunned. + +Then Harry grasped the bridle and sprang into the saddle that he had +emptied, urging the horse directly through the opening toward the +cleared ground. He relied with absolute faith upon his new mount and +the temporary ignorance of the others that his horse had changed riders. + +As he passed out of the forest he leaned low in the saddle to keep the +color of his clothing from being seen too soon, and speaking encouraging +words in his horse's ears, raced toward the south. He heard shouts +behind him, but no shots, and he knew that the cavalrymen still believed +him to be their own man following some new sign. + +He was at least a half mile away before they discovered the difference. +Perhaps some one had found their wounded comrade in the forest, or the +man himself, reviving quickly, had told the tale. + +In any event Harry heard a distant shout of anger and surprise. Chance +had favored him in giving him another splendid horse, and now, as he +rode like the wind, the waning pursuit sank out of sight behind him. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JACKSON MOVES + + + + +It was impossible for Harry to restrain a vivid feeling of exultation. +He was in the open, and he was leaving the Northern cavalry far behind. +Nor was it likely that any further enemy would appear now between him +and Jackson's army. Chance had certainly favored him. What a glorious +goddess Chance was when she happened to be on your side! Then +everything fell out as you wished it. You could not go wrong. + +The horse he rode was even better than the one he had lost, and a pair +of splendid pistols in holsters lay across the saddle. He could account +for two enemies if need be, but when he looked back he saw no pursuers +in sight, and he slowed his pace in order not to overtax the horse. + +Not long afterwards he saw the Southern pickets belonging to the +vanguard of the Invincibles. St. Clair himself was with them, and +when he saw Harry he galloped forward, uttering a shout. + +St. Clair had known of the errand upon which Harry had gone with +Sherburne, and now he was alarmed to see him riding back alone, worn +and covered with dust. + +"What's the matter, Harry?" he cried, "and where are the others?" + +"Nothing's the matter with me, and I don't know where the others are. +But, Arthur, I've got to see General Jackson at once! Where is he?" + +Harry's manner was enough to impress his comrade, who knew him so well. + +"This way," he said. "Not more than four or five hundred yards. +There, that's General Jackson's tent!" + +Harry leaped from his horse as he came near and made a rush for the +tent. The flap was open, but a sentinel who stood in front put up his +rifle, and barred the way. A low monotone came from within the tent. + +"The General's praying," he said. "I can't let you in for a minute or +two." + +Harry took off his hat and stood in silence while the two minutes +lasted. All his haste was suddenly gone from him. The strong affection +that he felt for Jackson was tinged at times with awe, and this awe was +always strongest when the general was praying. He knew that the prayer +was no affectation, that it came from the bottom of his soul, like that +of a crusader, asking forgiveness for his sins. + +The monotone ceased, the soldier took down his rifle which was held like +a bar across the way, and Harry, entering, saluted his general, who was +sitting in the half light at a table, reading a little book, which the +lad guessed was a pocket Bible. + +Harry saluted and Jackson looked at him gravely. + +"You've come back alone, it seems," he said, "but you've obeyed my +instructions not to come without definite news?" + +"I have, sir." + +"What have you seen?" + +"We saw the main army of General McClellan crossing the Potomac at +Berlin. He must have had there a hundred thousand men and three or +four hundred guns, and others were certainly crossing elsewhere." + +"You saw all this with your own eyes?" + +"I did, sir. We watched them for a long time. They were crossing on a +bridge of boats." + +"You are dusty and you look very worn. Did you come in contact with the +enemy?" + +"Yes, sir. Many of their horsemen were already on this side of the +river, and this morning I was pressed very hard by a troop of their +cavalry. I gained a wood, but just at the edge of it my horse was +killed by a chance shot." + +"Your horse killed? Then how could you escape from cavalry?" + +"Chance favored me, sir. I dodged them for a while in the woods and +underbrush, helped by gullies here and there, and when I came to the +edge of the wood only a single horseman was near me. I hid behind a +tree and knocked him out of the saddle as he was riding past." + +"I hope you did not kill him." + +"I did not. He was merely stunned. He will have a headache for a day +or two, and then he will be as well as ever. I jumped on his horse and +galloped here as straight and fast as I could." + +A faint smile passed over Jackson's face. + +"You were lucky to make the exchange of horses," he said, "and you have +done well. The enemy comes and our days of rest are over. Do you know +anything of Captain Sherburne and his troop?" + +"Captain Sherburne, under the urgency of pursuit, scattered his men +in order that some of them at least might reach you with the news of +General McClellan's crossing. I was the first detached, and so I know +nothing of the others." + +"And also you were the first to arrive. I trust that Captain Sherburne +and all of his men will yet come. We can ill spare them." + +"I truly hope so, sir." + +"You need food and sleep. Get both. You will be called when you are +needed. You have done well, Lieutenant Kenton." + +"Thank you, sir." + +Harry, saluting again, withdrew. He was very proud of his general's +commendation, but he was also on the verge of physical collapse. +He obtained some food at a camp fire near by, ate it quickly, wrapped +himself in borrowed blankets, and lay down under the shade of an oak. +Langdon saw him just as he was about to close his eyes, and called to +him: + +"Here, Harry, I didn't know you were back. What's your news?" + +"That McClellan and the Yankee army are this side of the Potomac. +That's all. Good night." + +He closed his eyes, and although it was near the middle of the day, +with the multifarious noises of the camp about him, he fell into the +deep and beautiful sleep of the tired youth who has done his duty. + +He was still asleep when Captain Sherburne, worn and wounded slightly, +came in and reported also to General Jackson. He and his main force had +been pursued and had been in a hot little brush with the Union cavalry, +both sides losing several men. Others who had been detached before the +action also returned and reported. All of them, like Harry, were told +to seek food and sleep. + +Harry slept a long time, and the soldiers who passed, making many +preparations, never disturbed him. But the entire Southern army under +Lee, assisted by his two great corps commanders, Jackson and Longstreet, +was making ready to meet the Army of the Potomac under McClellan. +The spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia was high, and the news that +the enemy was marching was welcome to them. + +When Harry awoke the sun had passed its zenith and the cool October +shadows were falling. He yawned prodigiously, stretched his arms, +and for a few moments could not remember where he was, or what he had +been doing. + +"Quit yawning so hard," said Happy Tom Langdon. "You may get your mouth +so wide open that you'll never be able to shut it again." + +"What's happened?" + +"What's happened, while you were asleep? Well, it will take a long time +to tell it, Mr. Rip Van Winkle. You have slept exactly a week, and in +the course of that time we fought a great battle with McClellan, were +defeated by him, chiefly owing to your comatose condition, and have +fallen back on Richmond, carrying you with us asleep in a wagon. +If you will look behind you you will see the spires of Richmond. +Oh, Harry! Harry! Why did you sleep so long and so hard when we needed +you so much?" + +"Shut up, Tom. If ever talking matches become the fashion, I mean +to enter you in all of them for the first prize. Now, tell me what +happened while I was asleep, and tell it quick!" + +"Well, me lad, since you're high and haughty, not to say dictatorial +about it, I, as proud and haughty as thyself, defy thee. George, +you tell him all about it." Dalton grinned. A grave and serious youth +himself, he liked Langdon's perpetual fund of chaff and good humor. + +"Nothing has happened, Harry, while you slept," he said, "except that +the army, or at least General Jackson's corps, has been making ready for +a possible great battle. We're scattered along a long line, and General +Lee and General Longstreet are some distance from us, but our generals +don't seem to be alarmed in the least. It's said that McClellan will +soon be between us and Richmond, but I can't see any alarm about that +either." + +"Why should there be?" said St. Clair, who was also sitting by. "It +would make McClellan's position dangerous, not ours." + +"Arthur puts it right," said Langdon. "When we go to our tents, show +him the new uniform you've got, Arthur. It's the most gorgeous affair +in the Army of Northern Virginia, and it cost him a whole year's pay +in Confederate money. Have you noticed, Harry, that the weakest thing +about us is our money? We're the greatest marchers and fighters in the +world, but nobody, not even our own people, seem to fall in love with +our money." + +"I suppose that General Jackson is now ready to march whenever the word +should come," said St. Clair. "The boys, as far as I can see, have +returned to their rest and play. There's that Cajun band playing again." + +"And it sounds mighty good," said Harry. "Look at those Louisiana +Frenchmen dancing." + +The spirits of the swarthy Acadians were irrepressible. As they had +danced in the great days in the valley in the spring, now they were +dancing when autumn was merging into winter, and they sang their songs +of the South, some of which had come from old Brittany through Nova +Scotia to Louisiana. + +Harry liked the French blood, and he had learned to like greatly these +men who were so much underestimated in the beginning. He and his +comrades watched them as they whirled in the dance, clasped in one +another's arms, their dark faces glowing, white teeth flashing and black +eyes sparkling. He saw that they were carried away by the music and the +dance, and as they floated over the turf they were dreaming of their far +and sunny land and the girls they had left behind them. He had been +reared in a stern and more northern school, but he had learned long +since that a love of innocent pleasure was no sign of effeminacy or +corruption. + +"Good to look on, isn't it, Harry?" said St. Clair. + +"Yes, and good to hear, too." + +"Come with me into this little dip, and I'll show you another sight +that's good to see." + +There was a low ridge on their right, crested with tall trees and +dropping down abruptly on the other side. A little distance on rose +another low ridge, but between the two was a snug and grassy bowl, +and within the bowl, sitting on the dry grass, with a chessboard between +them, were Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire. They were absorbed so deeply in their game that they did +not notice the boys on the crest of the bank looking over at them. + +Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire had +not changed a particle--to the eyes, at least--in a year and a half of +campaigning and tremendous battles. They may have been a little leaner +and a little thinner, but they were lean and thin men, anyhow. Their +uniforms, although faded and worn, were neat and clean, and as each sat +on a fragment of log, while the board rested on a stump between, they +were able to maintain their dignity. + +It was Colonel Talbot's move. His hand rested on the red king and he +pondered long. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire waited without a sign of +impatience. He would take just as long a time with his knight or bishop, +or whichever of the white men he chose to use. + +"I confess, Hector," said Colonel Talbot at length, "that this move +puzzles me greatly." + +"It would puzzle me too, Leonidas, were I in your place," said +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire; "but you must recall that just before +the Second Manassas you seemed to have me checkmated, and that I have +escaped from a most dangerous position." + +"True, true, Hector! I thought I had you, but you slipped from my net. +Those were, beyond all dispute, most skillful and daring moves you made. +It pays to be bold in this world." + +"Do you know," whispered St. Clair to Harry, "that this unfinished game +is the one they began last spring in the valley? We saw them playing +it in a fence corner before action. They've taken it up again at least +four or five times between battles, but neither has ever been able to +win. However, they'll fight it out to a finish, if a bullet doesn't get +one first. They always remember the exact position in which the figures +were when they quit." + +Colonel Talbot happened to look up and saw the boys. + +"Come down," he said, "and join us. It is pleasant to see you again, +Harry. I heard of your mission, its success and your safe return. +Hector, I suppose we'll have to postpone the next stage of our game +until we whip the Yankees again or are whipped by them. I believe I +can yet rescue that red king." + +"Perhaps so, Leonidas. Undoubtedly you'll have plenty of time to think +over it." + +"Which is a good thing, Hector." + +"Which is undoubtedly a good thing, Leonidas." + +They put the chess men carefully in a box, which they gave to an orderly +with very strict injunctions. Then both, after heaving a deep sigh, +transformed themselves into men of energy, action, precision and +judgment. Every soldier and officer in the trim ranks of the +Invincibles was ready. + +But action did not come as soon as Harry and his friends had thought. +Lee made preliminary movements to mass his army for battle, and then +stopped. The spies reported that political wire-pulling, that bane of +the North, was at work. McClellan's enemies at Washington were active, +and his indiscreet utterances were used to the full against him. +Attention was called again and again to his great overestimates of Lee's +army and to the paralysis that seemed to overcome him when he was in the +presence of the enemy. Lincoln, the most forgiving of men, could not +forgive him for his failure to use his full opportunity at Antietam and +destroy Lee. + +The advance of McClellan stopped. His army remained motionless while +October passed into November. The cold winds off the mountains swept +the last leaves from the trees, and Harry wondered what was going to +happen. Then St. Clair came to him, precise and dignified in manner, +but obviously anxious to tell important news. + +"What is it, Arthur?" asked Harry. + +"We've got news straight from Washington that McClellan is no longer +commander of the Army of the Potomac." + +"What! They've nobody to put in his place." + +"But they have put somebody in his place, just the same." + +"Name, please." + +"Burnside, Ambrose E. Burnside, with a beautiful fringe of whiskers +along each side of his face." + +"Well, we can beat any general who wears side whiskers. After all, +I'm glad we don't have McClellan to deal with again. Wasn't this +Burnside the man who delayed a part of the Union attack at Antietam +so long that we had time to beat off the other part?" + +"The same." + +"Then I'm thinking that he'll be caught between the hammer and the anvil +of Lee and Jackson, just as Pope was." + +"Most likely. Anyhow, our army is rejoicing over the removal of +McClellan as commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac. That's +something of a tribute to McClellan, isn't it?" + +"Yes, good-bye, George! We've had two good fights with you, Seven Days +and Antietam, with Pope in between at the Second Manassas, and now, +ho! for Burnside!" + +The reception of the news that Burnside had replaced McClellan was +the same throughout the Army of Northern Virginia. The officers and +soldiers now felt that they were going to face a man who was far less +of a match for Lee and Jackson than McClellan had been, and McClellan +himself had been unequal to the task. They were anxious to meet +Burnside. They heard that he was honest and had no overweening opinion +of his own abilities. He did not wish to be put in the place of +McClellan, preferring to remain a division or corps commander. + +"Then, if that's so," said Sherburne, "we've won already. If a man +thinks he's not able to lead the Army of the Potomac, then he isn't. +Anyhow, we'll quickly see what will happen." + +But again it was not as soon as they had had expected. The Northern +advance was delayed once more, and Jackson with his staff and a large +part of his force moved to Winchester, the town that he loved so much, +and around which he had won so much of his glory. His tent was pitched +beside the Presbyterian manse, and he and Dr. Graham resumed their +theological discussions, in which Jackson had an interest so deep and +abiding that the great war rolling about them, with himself as a central +figure, could not disturb it. + +The coldness of the weather increased and the winds from the mountains +were often bitter, but the new stay in Winchester was pleasant, like +the old. Harry himself felt a throb of joy when they returned to the +familiar places. Despite the coldness of mid-November the weather was +often beautiful. The troops, scattered through the fields and in the +forest about the town, were in a happy mood. They had many dead +comrades to remember, but youth cannot mourn long. They were there in +ease and plenty again, under a commander who had led them to nothing but +victory. They heard many reports that Burnside was marching and that he +might soon cross the Rappahannock, and they heard also that Jackson's +advance to Winchester with his corps had created the deepest alarm in +Washington. The North did not trust Burnside as a commander-in-chief, +and it had great cause to fear Jackson. Even the North itself openly +expressed admiration for his brilliant achievements. + +Reports came to Winchester that an attack by Jackson on Washington was +feared. Maryland expected another invasion. Pennsylvania, remembering +the daring raid which Stuart had made through Chambersburg, one of her +cities, picking up prisoners on the way, dreaded the coming of a far +mightier force than the one Stuart had led. At the capital itself it +was said that many people were packing, preparatory to fleeing into the +farther North. + +But Harry and his comrades thought little of these things for a few +days. It was certainly pleasant there in the little Virginia town. +The people of Winchester and those of the country far and wide +delighted to help and honor them. Food was abundant and the crisp cold +strengthened and freshened the blood in their veins. The fire and +courage of Jackson's men had never risen higher. + +Jackson himself seemed to be thinking but little of war for a day or +two. His inseparable companion was the Presbyterian minister, +Dr. Graham, to whom he often said that he thought it was the noblest and +grandest thing in the world to be a great minister. Harry, as his aide, +being invariably near him, was impressed more and more by his +extraordinary mixture of martial and religious fervor. The man who +prayed before going into battle, and who was never willing to fight on +Sunday, would nevertheless hurl his men directly into the cannon's mouth +for the sake of victory, and would never excuse the least flinching on +the part of either officer or private. + +It seemed to Harry that the two kinds of fervor in Jackson, the martial +and the religious, were in about equal proportions, and they always +inspired him with a sort of awe. Deep as were his affection and +admiration for Jackson, he would never have presumed upon the slightest +familiarity. Nor would any other officer of his command. + +Yet the tender side of Jackson was often shown during his last days in +his beloved Winchester. The hero-worshipping women of the South often +brought their children to see him, to receive his blessing, and to say +when they were grown that the great Jackson had put his hands upon their +heads. + +Harry and his three comrades of his own age, who had been down near the +creek, were returning late one afternoon to headquarters near the manse, +when they heard the shout of many childish voices. + +They saw that he was walking again with the minister, but that he was +surrounded by at least a dozen little girls, every one of whom demanded +in turn that he shake her hand. He was busily engaged in this task when +the whole group passed out of sight into the manse. + +"The Northern newspapers denounce us as passionate and headstrong, +with all the faults of the cavaliers," said St. Clair. "I only wish +they could see General Jackson as he is. Lee and Jackson come much +nearer being Puritans than their generals do." + +Harry that night, as he sat in the little anteroom of Jackson's quarters +awaiting orders, heard again the low tone of his general praying. +The words were not audible, but the steady and earnest sound came to +him for some time. It was late, and all the soldiers were asleep or at +rest. No sound came from the army, and besides Jackson's voice there +was none other, save the sighing of the winds down from the mountains. + +Harry, as he listened to the prayer, felt a deep and overwhelming sense +of solemnity and awe. He felt that it was at once a petition and a +presage. Sitting there in the half dark mighty events were +foreshadowed. It seemed to him that they were about to enter upon a +struggle more terrible than any that had gone before, and those had +been terrible beyond the anticipation of anybody. + +The omens did not fail. Jackson's army marched the next morning, +turning southward along the turnpike in order to effect the junction +with Lee and Longstreet. All Winchester had assembled to bid them +farewell, the people confident that the army would win victory, but +knowing its cost now. + +There was water in Harry's eyes as he listened to the shouts and cheers +and saw the young girls waving the little Confederate flags. + +"If good wishes can do anything," said Harry, "then we ought to win." + +"So we should. I'm glad to have the good wishes, but, Harry, when +you're up against the enemy, they can't take the place of cannon and +rifles. Look at Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. +See how straight and precise they are. But both are suffering from a +deep disappointment. They started their chess game again last night, +Colonel Talbot to make the first move with his king, but before he could +decide upon any course with that king the orders came for us to get +ready for the march. The chessmen went into the box, and they'll have +another chance, probably after we beat Burnside." + +They went on up the valley, through the scenes of triumphs remembered so +well. All around them were their battlefields of the spring, and there +were the massive ridges of the Massanuttons that Jackson had used so +skillfully, not clothed in green now, but with the scanty leaves of +closing autumn. + +Neither Harry nor any of his comrades knew just where they were going. +That secret was locked fast under the old slouch hat of Jackson, and +Harry, like all the others, was content to wait. Old Jack knew where he +was going and what he meant to do. And wherever he was going it was the +right place to go to, and whatever he meant to do was just the thing +that ought to be done. His extraordinary spell over his men deepened +with the passing days. + +As they went farther southward they saw sheltered slopes of the +mountains where the foliage yet glowed in the reds and yellows of autumn, +"purple patches" on the landscape. Over ridges to both east and west +the fine haze of Indian summer yet hung. It was a wonderful world, +full of beauty. The air was better and nobler than wine, and the creeks +and brooks flowing swiftly down the slopes flashed in silver. + +There were no enemies here. The people, mostly women and children-- +nearly all the men had gone to war--came out to cheer them as they +passed, and to bring them what food and clothing they could. The Valley +never wavered in its allegiance to the South, although great armies +fought and trod back and forth over its whole course through all the +years of the war. + +They turned east and defiled through a narrow pass in the mountains, +where the sheltered slopes again glowed in yellow and gold. Jackson, +in somber and faded gray, rode near the head of the corps on his +faithful Little Sorrel, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes +apparently not seeing what was about them, the worn face somber and +thoughtful. Harry knew that the great brain under the old slouch +hat was working every moment, always working with an intensity and +concentration of which few men were ever capable. Harry, following +close behind him, invariably watched him, but he could never read +anything of Jackson's mind from his actions. + +Then came the soldiers in broad and flowing columns, that is, they +seemed to Harry, in the intense autumn light, to flow like a river of +men and horses and steel, beautiful to look on now, but terrible in +battle. + +"We're better than ever," said the sober Dalton. "Antietam stopped us +for the time, but we are stronger than we were before that battle." + +"Stronger and even more enthusiastic," Harry concurred. "Ah, there goes +the Cajun band and the other bands and our boys singing our great tune! +Listen to it!" + + "Southrons hear your country call you; + Up, lest worse than death befall you! + To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie! + Lo! all the beacon fires are lighted-- + Let all hearts now be united! + To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie!" + +The chorus of the battle song, so little in words, so great in its +thrilling battle note, was taken up by more than a score of thousand, +and the vast volume of sound, confined in narrow defiles, rolled like +thunder, giving forth mighty echoes. Harry was moved tremendously and +he saw Jackson himself come out of his deep thought and lift up his face +that glowed. + +"It's certainly great," said Dalton to Harry. "It would drag a man +from the hospital and send him into battle. I know now how the French +republican troops on the march felt when they heard the Marseillaise." + +"But the words don't seem to me to be the same that I heard at Bull Run." + +"No, they're not; but what does it matter? That thrilling music is +always the same, and it's enough." + +Already the origin of the renowned battle song was veiled in doubt, +and different versions of the words were appearing; but the music never +changed and every step responded to it. + +The army passed through the defile, entered another portion of the +valley, forded a fork of the Shenandoah, crossed the Luray Valley, +and then entered the steep passes of the Blue Ridge. Here they found +autumn gone and winter upon them. As the passes rose and the mountains, +clothed in pine forest, hung over them, the soft haze of Indian summer +fled, and in its place came a low, gray sky, somber and chill. Sharp +winds cut them, but the blood flowed warm and strong in their veins as +they trod the upward path between the ridges. Once more a verse of the +defiant Dixie rolled and echoed through the lofty and bleak pine forest: + + "How the South's great heart rejoices + At your cannon's ringing voices; + To arms! + For faith betrayed, and pledges broken, + Wrongs inflicted, insults spoken + To arms! + Advance the flag of Dixie." + +Now on the heights the last shreds and patches of autumn were blown away +by the winds of winter. The sullen skies lowered continually. Flakes +of snow whirled into their faces, but they merely bent their heads +to the storm and marched steadily onward. They had not been called +Jackson's Foot Cavalry for nothing. They were proud of the name, +and they meant to deserve it more thoroughly than ever. + +"I take it," said Dalton to Harry, "that some change has occurred in the +Northern plans. The Army of the Potomac must be marching along in a new +line." + +"So do I. The battle will be fought in lower country." + +"And we will be with Lee and Longstreet in a day or two." + +"So it looks." + +Jackson stopped twice, a full day each time, for rest, but at the end of +the eighth day, including the two for rest, he had driven his men one +hundred and twenty miles over mountains and across rivers. They also +passed through cold and heavy snow, but they now found themselves in +lower country at the village of Orange Court House. The larger town of +Fredericksburg lay less than forty miles away. Harry was not familiar +with the name of Fredericksburg, but it was destined to be before long +one that he could never forget. In after years it was hard for him to +persuade himself that famous names were not famous always. The name of +some village or river or mountain would be burned into his brain with +such force and intensity that the letters seemed to have been there +since the beginning. + +It lacked but two days of December when they came to Orange Court House, +but they heard that the Northern front was more formidable and menacing +than ever. Burnside had shown more energy than was expected of him. +He had formed a plan to march upon Richmond, and, despite the +alterations in his course, he was clinging to that plan. He had at the +least, so the scouts said, one hundred and twenty thousand men and four +hundred guns. The North, moreover, which always commanded the water, +had gunboats in the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg, and they would be, +as they were throughout the war, a powerful arm. + +Harry knew, too, the temper and resolution of the North, the slow, +cold wrath that could not be checked by one defeat or half a dozen. +Antietam, as he saw it, had merely been a temporary check to the +Confederate arms, where the forces of Lee and Jackson had fought off +at least double their number. The Northern men could not yet boast of +a single clean-cut victory in the battles of the east, but they were +coming on again as stern and resolute as ever. Defeat seemed to serve +only as an incentive to them. After every one, recruits poured down +from the north and west to lift anew the flag of the Union. + +There was something in this steady, unyielding resolve that sent a chill +through Harry. It was possible that men who came on and who never +ceased coming would win in the end. The South--and he was sanguine that +such men as Lee and Jackson could not be beaten----might wear itself out +by the very winning of victories. The chill came again when he counted +the resources pitted against his side. He was a lad of education and +great intelligence, and he had no illusions now about the might of the +North and its willingness to fight. + +But youth, in spite of facts, can forget odds as well as loss. The +doubts that would come at times were always dispelled when he looked +upon the glorious Army of Northern Virginia. It was now nearly eighty +thousand strong, with an almost unbroken record of victory, trusting +absolutely in its leadership and supremely confident that it could whip +any other army on the planet. Its brilliant generals were gathered with +Jackson or with Lee and Longstreet. They were as confident as their +soldiers and no movement of the enemy escaped them. Stuart, with his +plume and sash, at which no man now dared to scoff, hung with his +horsemen like a fringe on the flank of Burnside's own army, cutting off +the Union scouts and skirmishers and hiding the plans of Lee. + +Messengers brought news that Burnside would certainly cross the +Rappahannock, covered by the Union artillery, which was always far +superior in weight and power to that of the South. Harry heard that the +passage of the river would not be opposed, because the Southern army +could occupy stronger positions farther back, but he did not know +whether the rumors were true. + +The word now came, and they went forward from Orange Court House toward +Fredericksburg to join Lee and Longstreet. When they marched toward the +Second Manassas they had suffered from an almost intolerable heat and +dust. Now they advanced through a winter that seemed to pour upon them +every variety of discomfort. Heavy snows fell, icy rains came and +fierce winds blew. The country was deserted, and the roads beneath the +rain and snow and the passage of great armies disappeared. Vast muddy +trenches marked where they had been, and the mud was deep and sticky, +covering everything as it was ground up, and coloring the whole army +the same hue. Somber and sullen skies brooded over them continually. +Not even Jackson's foot cavalry could make much progress through such a +sea of mud. + +"A battle would be a relief," said Harry, as he rode with the +Invincibles, having brought some order to Colonel Talbot. "There's +nothing like this to take the starch out of men. Isn't that so, Happy?" + +"It depresses ordinary persons like you, Harry," replied Langdon, +"but a soul like mine leaps up to meet the difficulties. Mud as an +obstacle is nothing to me. As I was riding along here I was merely +thinking about the different kinds we have. I note that this Virginia +mud is tremendously sticky, inclined to be red in color, and I should +say that on the whole it's not as handsome as our South Carolina mud, +especially when I see our product at its best. What kind of mud do you +have in Kentucky, Harry?" + +"All kinds, red, black, brown and every other shade." + +"Well, there's a lot of snow mixed with this, too. I think that at the +very bottom there is a layer of snow, and then the mud and the snow come +in alternate layers until within a foot of the top, after which it's all +mud. Harry, Old Jack doesn't believe it's right to fight on Sunday, +but do you believe it's right to fight in winter, when the armies have +to waste so much strength and effort in getting at one another?" + +He was interrupted by the mellow tones of a bugle, and a brilliant troop +of horsemen came trotting toward them through a field, where the mud was +not so deep. They recognized Stuart in his gorgeous panoply at their +head and behind him was Sherburne. + +Stuart rode up to the Invincibles. Colonel Leonidas Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire gravely saluted the brilliant +apparition. + +"I am General Stuart," said Stuart, lifting the plumed hat, "and I +am glad to welcome the vanguard of General Jackson. May I ask, sir, +what regiment is this?" + +"It is the South Carolina regiment known as the Invincibles," said +Colonel Talbot proudly, as he lifted his cap in a return salute, +"although it does not now contain many South Carolinians. Alas! most of +the lads who marched so proudly away from Charleston have gone to their +last rest, and their places have been filled chiefly by Virginians. +But the Virginians are a brave and gallant people, sir, almost equal +in fire and dash to the South Carolinians." + +Stuart smiled. He knew that it was meant as a compliment of the first +class, and as such he took it. + +"I think, sir," he said, "that I am speaking to Colonel Leonidas Talbot?" + +"You are, sir, and the gentleman on my right is the second in command +of this regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, a most noble +gentleman and valiant and skillful officer. We have met you before, +sir. You saved us before Bull Run when we were beleaguered at a fort +in the Valley." + +"Ah, I remember!" exclaimed Stuart. "And a most gallant fight you were +making. And I recognize this young officer, too. He was the messenger +who met me in the fields. Your hand, Mr. Kenton." + +He stretched out his own hand in its long yellow buckskin glove, and +Harry, flushing with pride, shook it warmly. + +"It's good of you, General," he said, "to remember me." + +"I'm glad to remember you and all like you. Is General Jackson near?" + +"About a quarter of a mile farther back, sir. I'm a member of his staff, +and I'll ride with you to him." + +"Thanks. Lead the way." + +Harry turned with Stuart and Sherburne and they soon reached General +Jackson, who was plodding slowly on Little Sorrel, his chin sunk upon +his breast as usual, the lines of thought deep in his face. General +Stuart bowed low before him and the plumed hat was lifted high. The +knight paid deep and willing deference to the Puritan. + +Jackson's face brightened. He wished plain apparel upon himself, +but he did not disapprove of the reverse upon General Stuart. + +"You are very welcome, General Stuart," he said. + +"I thank you, sir. I have come to report to you, sir, that General +Burnside's army is gathering in great force on the other side of the +Rappahannock, and that we are massed along the river and back of +Fredericksburg." + +"General Burnside will cross, will he not?" + +"So we think. He can lay a pontoon bridge, and he has a great artillery +to protect it. The river, as you know, sir, has a width of about two +hundred yards at Fredericksburg, and the Northern batteries can sweep +the farther shore." + +"I'm sorry that we've elected to fight at Fredericksburg," said General +Jackson thoughtfully. "The Rappahannock will protect General Burnside's +army." + +Stuart gazed at him in astonishment. + +"I don't understand you, sir," he said. "You say that the Rappahannock +will protect General Burnside when it seems to be our defense." + +"My meaning is perfectly clear. When we defeat General Burnside at +Fredericksburg he will retreat across the river over his bridge or +bridges and we shall not be able to get at him. We will win a great +victory, but we will not gather the fruits of it, because of our +inability to reach him." + +"Oh, I see," said Stuart, the light breaking on his face. "You consider +the victory already won, sir?" + +"Beyond a doubt." + +"Then if you think so, General Jackson, I think so, too," said Stuart, +as he saluted and rode away. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK + + + + +The division of Jackson reached Fredericksburg the next day and went +into camp, partly in the rear of the town, and a portion of it further +down the Rappahannock. Harry, as an aide, rode back and forth on many +errands while the troops were settling into place. Once more he saw +General Lee on his famous white horse, Traveler, conferring with Jackson +on Little Sorrel. And the stalwart and bearded Longstreet was there, +too. + +But Harry's heart bled when he rode into the ancient town of +Fredericksburg, a place homelike and picturesque in peaceful days, +but now lying between two mighty armies, directly within their line of +fire, and abandoned for a time by its people, all save a hardy few. + +The effect upon him was startling. He rode along the deserted streets +and looked at the closed windows, like the eyeless sockets of a blind +man. In the streets mud and slush and snow had gathered, with no +attempt of man to clean them away, but the wheels of the cannon had cut +ruts in them a foot deep. The great white colonial houses, with their +green shutters fastened tightly, stood lone and desolate amid their +deserted lawns. No smoke rose from the chimneys. The shops were +closed. There was no sound of a child's voice in the whole town. +It was the first time that Harry had ever ridden through a deserted city, +and it was truly a city of the dead to him. + +"It's almost as bad as a battlefield after the battle is over," he said +to Dalton, who was with him. + +"It gives you a haunted, weird feeling," said Dalton, looking at the +closed windows and smokeless chimneys. + +But the people of Fredericksburg had good cause to go. Two hundred +thousand men, hardened now to war, faced one another across the two +hundred yards of the Rappahannock. Four hundred Union cannon on the +other side of the river could easily smash their little city to pieces. +The people were scattered among their relatives in the farmhouses and +villages about Fredericksburg, eagerly awaiting the news that the +invincible Lee and Jackson had beaten back the hated invader. + +But the Southern army, save for a small force, did not occupy +Fredericksburg itself. + +Along the low ridge, a mile or so west of the town, Longstreet had been +posted and he had dug trenches and gunpits. The crest of this ridge, +called Marye's Hill, was bare, and here, in addition to the pits and +trenches, Longstreet threw up breastworks. Down the slopes were ravines +and much timber, making the whole position one of great strength. +Harry gazed at it as he carried one of his messages from general to +general, and he was enough of a soldier to know that an enemy who +attacked here was undertaking a mighty task. + +But Burnside did not move, and the somber blanket of winter thickened. +More snows fell and the icy rains came again. Then the mercury slid +down until it reached zero. Thick ice formed over everything and some +of the shallower brooks froze solidly in their beds. The Southern lads +were not nearly so well equipped against the winter as their foes. +Not many had heavy overcoats, and blankets and shoes were thin and worn. + +The forest was now their refuge. The river was lined thickly with it, +running for a long distance, and thousands of axes began to bite into +the timber. Hardy youths, skilled in such work, they rapidly built log +huts or shelters for themselves, and within these or outside under the +trees innumerable fires blazed along the Rappahannock, the crackling +flames sending a defiance to other such flames beyond the frozen river. + +Harry had a letter from Dr. Russell, which had come by the way of the +mountains and Richmond. He had already heard of the terrible day of +Perryville in Kentucky, and the doctor had been able to confirm his +earlier news that his father, Colonel Kenton, had passed through it +safely. But the hostile armies in the west had gone down into Tennessee, +and there were reports that they would soon move toward each other for +a great battle. It seemed that the rival forces in both east and west +would meet at nearly the same time in terrible conflict. + +Dr. Russell told that Dick Mason had been wounded in the combat at +Perryville, but had been nursed back to health by his mother, who with +others had found him upon the field. He had since gone into Tennessee +to rejoin the Union army, and his mother had returned to Pendleton. + +Harry folded the letter, put it in his pocket, and for a while he was +very thoughtful. + +It was a great relief to be sure that his father had gone safely through +Perryville, and that Dick Mason, although wounded there, was well again. +His heart yearned over both. His devotion to his father had always been +strong and Dick Mason had stood in the place of a brother. They were +alive for the present at least, but Harry knew of the sinister threat +that hung over the west. The terrible battle that was to be fought at +Stone River was already sending forth its preliminary signals, and for +a little while Harry thought more of those marching forces in Tennessee +than of the great army to which he belonged and of the one yet more +numerous that faced it. + +But these thoughts could not last long. The events in which he was to +have a part were too imminent and mighty for anyone to detach himself +from them more than a few minutes. He quickly returned, heart and soul, +to his duties, which in these days took all his time. Many messages +were passing between Lee and Jackson and Longstreet and the commanders +next to them in rank, and Harry carried his share. + +A few days after the letter from Dr. Russell the cold abated +considerably. The ice in the river broke, the melting snows made the +country a sea of mud and slush and horses often became mired so deeply +that it took a dozen soldiers to drag them out again. It was on such a +day as this that Dalton came to him, his grave face wearing a look of +importance. + +"General Jackson has just told me," he said, "to take you and join +General Stuart, who is going with his horse to the neighborhood of Port +Royal on the river." + +"What's up?" + +"Nothing's up yet. But we understand that some of the Yankee gunboats +are trying to get up, now that they have a clear passage through the +ice." + +"Cavalry can't stop them." + +"No, but Stuart is taking horse artillery with him, and he's likely to +make it warm for the enemy in the water. Harry, if we only had a navy, +too, this war wouldn't be doubtful." + +"But, as we haven't got a navy, it is doubtful, very doubtful." + +They quickly joined General Stuart, who was eager for the duty, and +falling in line with the troop of Sherburne rode swiftly toward Port +Royal, the cavalrymen carrying with them several light guns. + +As they galloped along, mixed mud and snow flew in every direction, +but most of them had grown so used to it that they paid little +attention. The river flowed a deep and somber stream, and all the hills +about were yet white with snow. At that time, colored too, as it was +by his feelings, it was the most sinister landscape that Harry had ever +looked upon. Black winter and red war, neither of which spared, were +allied against man. + +But his pulses began to leap when they saw coils of black smoke blown +a little to one side by the wind. He knew that the smoke came from +gunboats. They must be endeavoring to land troops, and Stuart was no +man to allow a detached force to pass the Rappahannock and appear in +their rear. + +As the cavalry burst into a gallop from the snowy forest Harry saw that +he was right. A fleet of gunboats was gathered in the stream and on +the far shore they were embarking troops. But his quick eye caught a +horseman on their own side of the river who was galloping away. He was +already too distant for a rifle shot, but Harry instinctively knew that +it was Shepard. He had seen the man under such extraordinarily vivid +circumstances that the set of his figure was familiar. + +Nor was he surprised to behold Shepard now. He merely wondered that +he had not seen him earlier, so great was his activity and daring, and +he had no doubt that he had brought the gunboats and the Union troops +warning that Stuart was coming. He was sure of it the moment the +cavalry emerged from the woods, because one of the gunboats instantly +turned loose with two heavy guns which sent shells whistling and +screaming over their heads. Had they been a little better aimed they +would have done much destruction, and Harry saw at once that they were +going to have an ugly time with these saucy little demons of the water. + +Another boat fired. One of the cavalrymen was killed and several +wounded. Stuart promptly drew his men back to the edge of the wood, +unlimbered and posted his cannon. Quick as they were, the black wasps +on the river buzzed and stung as fast. Shells and solid shot were +whistling among them and about them. They were good gunners on those +boats and the men in gray acknowledged it by the rapidity with which +they took to shelter. + +But Stuart's blood was at its utmost heat. He had no intention of being +driven off, and soon his own light guns were sending shell and solid +shot toward the boats, which had relanded their troops on the other side, +and which were now puffing up and down the river like the angry little +demons they were, sending shells, solid shot, grape and canister into +the woods and along the slopes where the horsemen had disappeared. + +Harry and Dalton were glad to dismount and to get behind both the +trees and the curve of the embankment. Harry, despite a pretty full +experience now, could not repress involuntary shivers as the deadly +steel flew by. He and Dalton had nothing to do but hold their horses +and watch the combat, which they did with the keenest interest. + +Stuart's cannon had unlimbered in a good place, where they were +protected partly by a ridge, and their deep booming note soon showed the +gunboats that they had an enemy worthy of their fire. Dalton and Harry +looked on with growing excitement. Dalton, for once, grew garrulous, +talking in an excited monotone. + +"Look at that, Harry!" he cried. "See the water spurt right by the +bow of that boat! A shell broke there! And there goes another! That +struck, too! See the fallen men on the boat! Look at that little black +fellow coming right out in the middle of the stream! And it got home, +too, with that shot! By George, how the shell raked our ranks! Ah, but, +you saucy little creature, that shell paid you back! See, Harry, +its wheel is smashed, and it's floating away with the stream! Guns +on land have an advantage over guns on the water! As the negro said, +'When the boat blows up, whar are you? But if the explosion is on dry +land, dar you are!' Ah, another has caught it, and is going out of +action! Oh my, little boats, you're brave and saucy, but you can't +stand up to Stuart's guns." + +Dalton was right. The gunboats, sinkable and fully exposed, were +rapidly getting the worst of it. Stuart's guns, protected by the ridge, +were inflicting so much damage that they were compelled to drop down the +stream, two or three of them disabled and in tow of the others. + +A covering Union battery of much heavier guns opened fire from a hill +beyond the river, but it was unable either to protect the gunboats or +to demolish Stuart's horse artillery, which was sheltered well by the +ridge. The men in gray began to cheer. It soon became obvious that +they would win. Gradually all of the gunboats, having suffered much +loss, dropped down the stream and passed out of range. The heavy +battery was also withdrawn from the hill and the detached attempt to +cross the Rappahannock had failed. + +Stuart and his men rode back exultant, but Dalton said to Harry that he +thought it merely a forerunner. + +"A good omen, you mean?" said Harry. + +"Good, I hope, but I meant chiefly a sign of much greater things to +come. I'm thinking that Burnside will attack in a day or two now. +Lots of Northern newspapers find their way into our lines, and the whole +North is urging him on. They demand that a great victory be won in the +east right away." + +"I feel sorry for a general who is pushed on like that." + +"So do I, because he hasn't a ghost of a chance. He'll be able to cross +the river under cover of his great batteries, but look, Harry, look at +those frowning heights around Fredericksburg, covered with the finest +riflemen in the world, the ditches and trenches sown with artillery, +and the best two military brains on the globe there to direct. What +chance have they, Harry? What chance have they?" + +"Very little that I can see, but a battle is never won or lost until +it's fought. We'd better report now to General Jackson." + +They saluted General Stuart, and rode away over the icy mud. General +Jackson received their report with pleasure. + +"Excellent! Excellent!" he said. "General Stuart has routed them with +horse artillery! A capable man! A most wonderful man!" + +He said the last words to himself, rather than to Harry, and Stuart soon +proved that his horse artillery was not underrated by winning a second +encounter with the gunboats a day or two later. Early also beat back an +attempt to cross the river at a third place, and it became apparent now +that the Union army could make no flanking attack upon its enemy south +of the Rappahannock. It must be made, if at all, directly on its front +at Fredericksburg. + +But Harry had no doubt that it would be made. The reports of their +numerous scouts and spies told with detail of the immense preparations +going on in the Union camp. He could often watch them himself with his +glasses from the hills. He did not see much of St. Clair and Langdon +these days, as they remained closely with their regiment, the +Invincibles, but Dalton and he were much together. + +It was well into December when they were watching through the glasses +the concentration of Union cannon on Stafford Heights across the river. +One hundred and fifty great guns were in position there and they could +easily blow Fredericksburg to pieces. Harry looked down again at this +little city which had jumped suddenly into fame by getting itself +squarely between the two armies arrayed for battle. + +He felt the old sensation of pity as he gazed at the closed shutters and +the smokeless chimneys. Nobody was stirring in the streets, except some +Mississippi soldiers who had been placed there to oppose the passage, +and who were fortifying themselves in the houses and cellars along the +river front. + +"It's no good looking any more," Harry said to Dalton. "There's nothing +to do now but wait. That's what General Jackson is doing. I saw him +in his tent to-day, reading a book on theology that Dr. Graham has just +sent him." + +"You're right, Harry. If the general can rest, so can we. Well, +not much of this day is left. See how the Yankee batteries are fading +away in the twilight." + +"Yes, Harry, fading now, but they'll come back again, massive metal and +as sinister as ever, in the morning." + +"Which won't keep me from sleeping soundly to-night. Funny how you get +used to anything. Neither the presence nor the absence of the Yankee +army will interfere with my sleep unless the general wants to send me on +an errand." + +"And we also grow used to sights so tremendous in their nature that they +turn the whole current of our history. Look at that winter sun setting +there over the western hills. It may be my fancy, Harry, but it seems +to have the colors of bronze and steel in it, a sort of menace, one +might call it." + +"I see the same colors, George, but I suppose it's fancy. The whole sky +is one of steel to me. I see the gleaming of steel everywhere, over the +hills, the river and the armies." + +"Our imaginations are too vivid, Harry. But look how that darkness +closes in on everything! Now the Yankee cannon and the Yankee army +are gone! The river itself is fading, and there goes the town! Now, +see the lights spring up on the far shore!" + +"It's supper and sleep for me," said Harry. "It doesn't do to let your +imagination run away with you. You know that Lee and Old Jack and Jim +Longstreet have arranged for everything." + +They ate their suppers, and, the general giving them leave, they lay +down in the tent next to his, wrapped in their blankets. Harry slept +soundly, but while the pitchy darkness of a winter night still enclosed +the land he was awakened by a heavy rumbling noise. His nerves had been +attuned so highly by exciting days that he was awake in an instant and +sprang to his feet, Dalton also springing up with equal promptness. + +They saw General Jackson standing in front of his tent and peering down +in the darkness toward the river. Other officers were already gathering +near him. Harry and Dalton stood at attention, where he could see them, +if he wished to send them on any errand. But Jackson was silent and +listening. + +The heavy rumbling reports--cannon shots--came again, but they were +fired on their side of the river. + +"Gentlemen," said General Jackson, "the enemy has begun the passage. +Those are our guns giving the signal to the army." + +Harry's pulses began to throb. But, although fires flared up here and +there, little was to be seen in the darkness. Fortune seemed to have +shifted suddenly to the side of the Union. Not night alone protected +the bridge builders, but a thick, impenetrable fog, rising from the +river and the muddy earth, covered the stream and its shores. The +Southerners could not see just where the bridge head was and their +cannon must fire at random through the heavy darkness. Sixteen hundred +Mississippians were stationed in Fredericksburg below, well concealed +in cellars and rifle pits, but they could not see either, and for the +present their rifles were silent. + +But Harry's imagination immediately became intensely vivid again. +He fancied that he could hear through all the shifting gloom the sound +of axes and hammers and saws at work upon that bridge. These army +engineers could throw a bridge across a river in half a day. He +recognized at all times the great resources and the mechanical genius of +the North. The South had good bridge builders herself, but she had bent +all her powers to the development of public men and soldiers. Harry +felt more intensely all the time the one-sided character of her growth +and its defects. + +Dalton stood by Harry's side, and the darkness was so intense that he +seemed but a shadow. A little further away was Jackson. No fires had +been lighted in his camp, but nevertheless he was not a shadow. That +personality, quiet and modest, was so intense, so powerful that it +seemed to Harry to become luminous, to radiate light in the blackness +of the night. It was imagination, he knew, at work again, but it was +Jackson who had loosed its springs. + +"Can you see your watch, George?" he whispered to Dalton. + +"Yes, and its says only twenty minutes past three in the morning." + +"And our signal guns began about twenty minutes ago. They will have +nearly four hours in which to work before the sun rises and we can see +them well enough to take good aim." + +"And maybe longer than that, Harry. The whole night is permeated with +the heaviest inland fog I ever knew. Maybe it will take the sun a long +time to strike through it or drive it away. It's bad for us." + +"But we'll win anyhow. I tell you, we'll win anyhow! Do you hear me, +George?" + +"Yes, Harry, I hear you. You're excited. So am I. There are mighty +few who wouldn't be at such a time; but look at the general! He stands +like a statue!" + +General Jackson did not move, save to lift his glasses now and then, +as if with their magnifying powers he could pierce the dark. But the +night and the swollen fog still hid everything going on beyond the river +from those on the heights. Down by the shore the Mississippians in +their rifle pits might see a little, and the scouts undoubtedly had seen +much, else the signal guns would not be firing. + +Harry's pulses, after a while, began to beat more smoothly and there was +not such a painful and insistent drumming in his head. Emotions yielded +now to will and he waited patiently. General Jackson for the first time +told some of his young officers that they could lie down and rest. + +"There can be no action before daylight," he said, "and it's best to be +fresh and ready." + +He spoke to them with the grave kindness that he always used, save when +some great fault was committed, and then his words burned like fire. +Harry and Dalton procured their blankets from their tents, wrapped them +about their bodies and lay down on the dryest spots they could find, +but they had no thought of sleep. They permitted their limbs to relax, +and that was a help to the nerves, but neither closed his eyes. + +Those dark hours seemed an eternity to Harry. The floating fog seemed +to grow thicker and to enter his very bones. He shivered and drew the +blanket close. Now, with his ears close to the earth, he was sure that +he could hear the axes and the saws and the hammers beating on steel +rivets on the other side of the Rappahannock. + +The Confederate cannon still fired the signals of alarm at regular +intervals, but the night and the fog always closed in again quickly over +the flash that the discharge had made. After a while a murmur came from +the long Southern line along the heights and on the ridges. Horses +stirred here and there, cannon, moved to new positions, made sighing +sounds as their wheels sank in the mud; sabres and bayonets clanked, +thousands of men whispered to one another. All these varying sounds +united into one great soft voice which was like the murmur of a wind +through the summer night. + +Toward five o'clock in the morning, when the darkness had not diminished +a whit, a messenger from General Lee rode up with a note for General +Jackson. It merely stated that all was ready and to hold the positions +that he had taken up the night before. Jackson wrote a brief reply by +the light of a lantern that an orderly held, and the messenger galloped +away with it. It was the only incident that had occurred in a long time. + +"They're not using many lights on the other side of the river," said +Harry, although he noted an occasional flame in the darkness. "Of +course, they want to hide their bridge building, but you'd think they'd +have fires burning elsewhere." + +"They've learned the value of caution," said Dalton. "I'm bound to say +they're going about the first part of their work with skill." + +He spoke with the calm superiority of a young Officer. + +Harry took out his own watch, and by holding it close to his eyes was +able to read its face. + +"A quarter to six," he said. "According to the watch it is less than +three hours since we first heard those alarm guns, but my five known +senses and all the unknown tell me that it has been at least a week." + +"In an hour we should see something," said Dalton. "Confound this fog. +If it weren't so thick we could see now." + +Harry's pulses began to beat hard again in the next hour. He strove +with glasses even for a glimpse of the winter sun which he knew would +come so late, but as yet the fog showed nothing save a faint luminous +tinge low down in the east. An orderly brought food to them, and while +they ate they saw the luminous tinge broaden and deepen. + +"The sun's rising behind that fog," said Dalton, "but here comes a +little wind that will drive away the fog or thin it out so we can see." + +"Yes, I feel it," said Harry, "and you can see the dull, somber red of +the sun trying to break through. Look, George, unless I'm mistaken the +fog's moving down the river!" + +"So it is, there's the flash of the stream, the color of steel, and by +all the stars, there's their bridge two-thirds of the way across!" + +Heavier puffs of wind came and the fog billowed off down the river. +The whole gigantic theater of action sprang at once into the light. +There were the two great armies clustered on opposing ridges, there was +the deserted town, there was the deep river, the color of lead, flowing +between the foes, two-thirds of its width already spanned by the Union +bridge, the bridge itself covered with workmen, and boats swarming by +its side. + +Harry felt a thrill and a shudder which were almost simultaneous. +Then came a deep muffled roar from the two armies on the ridges looking +at each other. But as the roar died it was succeeded by the rapid, +stinging fire of rifles. The Mississippians in their pits and cellars +near the bank of the river were sending a hail of bullets upon the +bridge builders. + +The rest of the Southern army stood by and watched. Harry knew that +Lee and Jackson would make their chief defense on the ridges, but the +Mississippians were there to keep the enemy from being too forward. +So deadly were their rifles that every workman fled off the bridge to +the Union shore, save those who were struck down upon it, falling into +the water. + +Then came a pause, a period of intense waiting, short, but seemingly +long, even to the veteran generals, after which the gallant builders, +who truly deserved the name of the bravest of the brave, ventured again +upon the bridge in the face of those terrible Mississippi rifles. +A blast of death again blew upon them. Bullets in hundreds struck upon +bodies or rattled on timbers. The workmen could not live in the face of +such a fire, and those who had not been slain retreated again to their +own side of the stream. A third time the heroic bridge builders +returned to their work, and a third time they were driven back by the +deadly Mississippi hail. Harry felt pity for them. + +"I never saw anything braver," he said to Dalton. + +"Nor did I, Harry, nor anything more useless. The bridge builders never +had a chance before the rifles. But now their supports, which should +have been there all the time, are coming up." + +Heavy columns of Union riflemen moved forward to the edge of the river +and replied to the Mississippians. But the Southerners, in the shelter +of the cellars and pits, held their ground. But few of them were hit +and they kept up that deadly hail which swept the uncompleted bridge +clear of every workman who attempted to go upon it. + +The rapid fire of the rifles crashed up and down both sides of the river, +two sheets of flame seeming to reach out as if they would meet each +other. The wind that had driven away the fog also carried off the smoke, +and the river still gleamed like steel between. Then, as the rifle fire +died again, there was another silence for a while. + +"It will take more than rifles," said Harry, "to drive out those +intrenched Mississippians." + +"So it will, Harry," said Dalton, who was watching through glasses, +"and here it comes. Their great batteries are about to open." + +The next instant the whole earth seemed to be shaken by the roar of +heavy cannon. The opposing hills and ridges fairly poured forth flame, +and shells and solid shot crashed upon the whole devoted town. Nor did +this tremendous fire from a hundred and fifty great guns cease for an +instant. The roar and crash were appalling. Harry saw houses crumbling +in Fredericksburg, with flames leaping up from others. + +The artillery of Longstreet immediately facing the Union batteries was +too light and weak to reply, and the gunners remained quiet in their +trenches while the storm rained its showers of steel upon the town. +Yet the Mississippians in the rifle pits held fast, their earthen +shelters protecting them. While the bombardment was at its very height +workmen ran out on the bridge for the fourth time to complete it, +and while the shells and solid shot were whistling over their heads, +the rifles of the Mississippians once more swept it clean. Harry +groaned. He could not help it at the sight of men so brave who were cut +down like grass by the scythe. Then his attention turned away from the +bridge to the mighty cannonade which seemed to be growing in volume. +The wind took much of the smoke across the river and it floated in a +great cloud over Fredericksburg, through which shot the flames of the +burning buildings. + +But the main army of the South, stretched along a front of six miles, +remained silent. Jackson on the right scarcely moved, but all the while +he attentively watched through his glasses the great cannonade. Nearly +all the soldiers were lying down, and to most of them the earth seemed +to heave with the shock of all those blazing cannon. + +Harry and Dalton walked once to the point where the Invincibles lay. +That is, all but Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel +St. Hilaire were lying down. They stood rigidly erect, their eyes on +the great cannonade, and as Harry approached they were exchanging brief +comments with each other. + +"What harm does that cannonade do, Hector?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"Much to the town, little to us." + +"What a pity we don't have an artillery equal to theirs." + +"A great pity, Leonidas." + +"They will presently move forward in much greater force to finish the +bridge." + +"Undoubtedly, Leonidas. They have shown folly, wasting the lives of +such brave men in small efforts one after another. They will try +something else." + +"I see a great many boats against the bank on their side of the river. +I fancy they will use them in their next attempt, whatever it may be." + +"I agree with you. Good morning, Lieutenant Kenton. A mighty and +appalling sight." + +"Truly it is, sir," said Harry, saluting the two officers. + +"The Yankees will force the passage," said Colonel Talbot. "Our +artillery is not strong enough to reply to their covering cannonade. +We are glad to see you safe and whole, Harry. You'll find your friends +lying in that ravine just behind us." + +It was a rather deep ravine, and when Harry looked over its edge, +St. Clair and Langdon greeted him gladly. + +"Come down, Harry," said Langdon, "and be joyful. This gully is pretty +well dried out and you can rest. We've got a West Point fellow here and +he's humming one of his old songs to about the biggest chorus a song +ever had. Captain Swayne, Lieutenant Kenton, once of the Invincibles, +but now of General Jackson's personal staff. Swayne's from Tennessee, +Harry, and you two are well met. Swayne belongs to a regiment a few +yards beyond the gully. He was at the Seven Days and the Second +Manassas. We three thought we won those battles ourselves, but it seems +that Swayne was at both all the time, helping us. Take off your cap, +Harry, and thank the gentleman." + +Swayne, a slender, fair man, not over twenty-three, smiled and extended +a hearty hand, which Harry received with equal heartiness. The smile +turned into a slight twinkle. + +"I've been glad to meet your friends here, Mr. Kenton," he said, "but +the meeting has brought a disappointment with it." + +"How's that?" + +"Until we began talking I thought I had won the Seven Days and the +Second Manassas all by myself. Now, it seems that I have to share the +honors with you fellows." + +"So you do," said Langdon, and then he sang: + + "There comes a voice from Florida, + From Tampa's lonely shore, + It speaks of one we've lost, + O'Brien is no more. + In the land of sun and flowers, + His head lies pillowed low, + No more he'll drink the gin cocktail, + At Benjamin Haven's, Oh! + At Benny Haven's, Oh! + At Benny Haven's, Oh!" + +"Do I get it right, Swayne? Remember that I heard you sing it only +three times." + +"Fine! Fine!" said Swayne with enthusiasm. "You have it right, or as +near right as need be, and you're using it in a much better voice than I +can." + +"I'm a great soldier, but my true place is on the operatic stage," +said Langdon modestly. + +"It's an old West Point song of ours, Kenton," said Swayne. "While I +was lying here listening to the continued roar of all those great guns, +I couldn't keep from humming it as a sort of undernote." + +"This gully has a queer effect," said St. Clair, who, lying on a blanket, +was dusting every minute particle of dried mud from his uniform. +"It seems to soften the sounds of all those guns--and they must be a +couple of hundred at least. It produces a kind of harmony." + +"It's the old god Vulcan and a thousand assistants of his hammering away +on their anvils," said Harry, "and they hammer out a regular tune." + +"Besides hammering out a tune," said St. Clair, "they're also hammering +out swords and bayonets to be used against us." + +As he spoke he drew from his pocket a tiny round mirror, not more than +three inches in diameter, and carefully examined the collar of his coat. + +"Have you found a speck, Arthur?" asked Langdon. "If I hadn't seen you +risk your life fifteen or twenty thousand times I'd say you're a dandy." + +"I am a dandy," said St. Clair. "At least, I mean to be one, if I come +out of the war alive." + +"What do you intend to wear?" asked Harry. + +"Depends upon what I can afford. If I have the money, it's going to be +the best, the very best any market can afford." + +"A dozen suits, I suppose." + +"At least as many, with hats, shoes, overcoats, cloaks, shirts and all +the et ceteras to match. Why shouldn't I wear fine clothes if I want +'em? Do you demand that instead I spend it on fiery whisky to pour down +me, as so many public men and leading citizens do? The clothes at least +don't burn me out and finally burn me to death." + +Langdon put up his hands in defense. + +"I haven't jumped on you, Arthur," he said. "I admire you, though I +can't equal you. And as I'm not willing to be second even to you, +I'm going to our sea island, near the Carolina coast, when this war is +over, lie down under the shade of a live oak, have our big colored man, +Sam, to bring me luxurious food about once every three hours, and +between these three-hour periods I'll be fanned by Julius, another big +colored man of ours, and I won't make any exertion except to tell day by +day to admiring visitors how I whipped the Yankees every time I could +get near enough to see 'em, and how a lot more were scared to death just +because they heard me crashing through the brush." + +"You'll do the bragging part, all right, Happy," said St. Clair. +"I believe you could keep up the sort of existence you describe for +a year at least." + +"I'd like to try. Now, what under the stars is that?" + +Nothing had happened. Something had merely ceased to happen. The great +cannonade had stopped in an instant, as if by a preconcerted signal, +and their nerves, attuned so long to such a continuous roar, seemed to +collapse, because some support was withdrawn. Harry's face turned white +and his heart beat very fast, but in a few moments he recovered himself. + +"I suppose they've given it up for the time being," he said, "but +they're sure to try it again in some other way." + +"That's a safe prediction," said St. Clair. "Burnside is trying to get +across the Rappahannock to attack us, because the whole North is driving +him on, and he hasn't got the moral courage to hold back until he can +choose his time and place. Funny how this silence oppresses one." + +The whole Southern army, along its six miles of length, was now standing +up and looking toward the point on the other shore of the Rappahannock +where the Union batteries were massed. All work seemed to have been +abandoned there, although the troops were still clustered along the +shore and about the bridge head. Clouds of smoke from the great +batteries floated down the river. + +"A Yankee failure so far, Harry," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot. "The +bridge has advanced no further, and I should say that our shore is now +enriched by about fifty thousand pounds of steel hurled from those +batteries and with little harm to us." + +"I've no doubt you're right, sir," said Harry, "and now that a period of +rest has come, I shall hurry back to General Jackson, who may need me to +carry some order." + +"A moment, please, Harry, my boy," said Colonel Talbot, twirling his +mustaches. "You are near to General Jackson, of course, being his +personal aide. If it should fall out conveniently, would you do myself +and my most excellent friend and second, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, +a small favor?" + +"Of course, Colonel. Gladly. What is it?" + +"If the enemy should cross the river, as he probably will, and if you +should be near enough to Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, +and if the moment should be propitious, would you kindly whisper in +his ear that the skeleton regiment, known as the Invincibles, Leonidas +Talbot, Colonel, and Hector St. Hilaire, Lieutenant-Colonel, would be +overjoyed at the honor of leading the attack upon the intrusive and +invading Yankee army?" + +"Promise, Harry, promise!" seconded Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire in his softest and most persuasive South Carolina accent. +"You really owe that to us." + +"I promise gladly," replied Harry; "but you know what General Jackson +is. He makes his plans without telling anybody what they are, and he +carries them out. If it is a part of his plan for the Invincibles to +lead the attack, so far as his division is concerned, you'll lead it. +If not, you won't." + +"But still a word in his ear might have some influence," persisted +Colonel Talbot. "It might come at the very moment when he was +hesitating over a choice, and it would probably decide him in our favor." + +"Then I shall do my best, sir," said Harry. "You can rely upon me" + +He returned to General Jackson, but found that his commander was yet +inactive. He was still waiting and watching with a patience that seemed +equal to that of the Sphinx. Noon came, food was served, and the hours +trailed their slow length on. + +Then they saw a great movement in the Union army. The Northern generals +were about to make their supreme effort. Hooker, who had shown such +desperate courage at Antietam and who had won the name of Fighting Joe, +called for men who would cross the river in boats under the fire of +the Mississippi rifles. It looked like certain death, but four entire +regiments came forward at once. They entered the boats, which promptly +pulled for the right bank, and the great batteries at once opened a +covering fire. + +The Mississippians once more sent forth their hail of bullets, but the +boats were so numerous that, although some were stopped, the majority +came on. Man after man, shot through, fell over the sides into the +deep river. Sometimes a boat itself sank, but the main force rapidly +approached the Southern side. + +"They have lost many men, but they will make the crossing at last, +Harry," said Dalton. + +"So it seems," said Harry. "I suppose our generals could bring up +enough men to drive them back, but it looks as if they don't want to +do it." + +"It may be that they're holding the trap open for the victim to walk in." + +"However it may be, they're across. See, they're landing in thousands, +and the Mississippians, leaving their rifle pits, are retreating. +Now they can finish the bridge and as many more as they need at their +leisure." + +The retreating Mississippians rejoined their comrades, and still the +Southern army did not stir. The Northern army, almost unmolested, +continued its bridge building, and the afternoon and a dark night passed. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FREDERICKSBURG + + + + +Before night the Union army had three bridges across the Rappahannock, +and before morning it had six. The regiment that had crossed held the +right bank of the river, that is, the side of the South, and the boats +moved freely back and forth in the stream. + +Yet the main army itself did not yet begin the crossing. Harry slept a +few hours before and after midnight, lying in the lee of a little ridge +and wrapped in a pair of heavy blankets, but as he wakened from time to +time he heard little from the river. There were no sounds to indicate +that great streams of armed men with their cannon were pouring over the +bridges. After the tremendous cannonade of the afternoon the night +seemed very quiet and peaceful. + +Fires were burning here and there, but they were not many. The +Confederate generals did not care to furnish beacons for the enemy. +When Harry stood up he could catch glimpses of the river, the color of +steel again, but the farther bank, where the great army of the foe yet +lay, was buried in darkness. He wondered why Burnside was not using +every hour of the night for crossing, but he remembered how the same +general had delayed so long at Antietam that Lee and Jackson were able +to save themselves. + +He became conscious that it was growing much colder again. The zero +weather of a few days since was returning. Every light puff of wind was +like the stab of an icicle. He was glad that he had a pair of blankets +and that they were heavy ones, too. But he did not ask anything more. +It was remarkable how fast the youth of both North and South became +inured to every form of privation. They lived almost like the primitive +man, and many thrived on it. + +When he last awoke, about four o'clock in the morning, he did not lie +down to sleep again; he walked to the edge of the slope and stared once +more toward the river and the Union camp. He found Dalton already there, +closely examining the river and the shores with his glasses. + +"What do you see, George?" Harry asked. + +"Not much; they've got all the bridges now they need, but they're not +using them. Why, Harry, the battle's won already. Lee and Jackson +don't merely fight. Plenty of generals are good fighters, but our +leaders measure and weigh the generals who are coming against them, +look right inside of them, and read their minds better than those +generals can read them themselves." + +"I believe you're right, George. And since Burnside is not crossing +to-night, he can't attack in the morning." + +"Of course not. Lee and Jackson knew all the time that he'd waste a +day. They knew it by the way he delayed at Antietam, and they've been +reading his mind all the time he's been sitting here on the banks of the +Rappahannock. They knew just where he'd attack, just when, too, and +they'll have everything ready at the right point and at the right time." + +"Of course they will." + +They were but boys, and the great tactics and brilliant victories of Lee +and Jackson had overwhelmed the imaginations of both. In their minds +all things seemed possible to their leaders, and they had not the least +fear about the coming battle. + +They walked back toward their general's tent and saw him sitting on a +log outside. The night was not so dark as the one before. A fair moon +and clusters of modest stars furnished some light. The general was +gazing toward Stafford Heights, tapping his bootleg at times with a +little switch. But he turned his gaze upon the two boys as they came +forward and saluted respectfully. + +"Well, lads," he said in a voice of uncommon gentleness, "what have you +seen?" + +"Nothing, sir, but the river and the dark shore beyond," replied Dalton. + +"But the enemy will cross to-morrow, and they say they will annihilate +us." + +"I think, sir, that they will recross the Rappahannock as fast as they +will cross it." + +Dalton spoke boldly, because he saw that Jackson was leading him on. + +"The right spirit," said Jackson quietly. "I see it throughout the army, +and so long as it prevails we cannot lose." + +Then he turned his glasses again toward the river and paid them no +further attention. Officers of greater age and much higher rank came +near, but he ignored them also. His whole soul seemed to be absorbed +in the searching examination that he was making of the river and the +opposite shore. Harry and Dalton watched him a little while and then +went back to the shelter of the ridge, where, sitting with their backs +against the earth, they, too, took up the task of watching. + +The earth was frozen hard now, but toward morning they saw the fog +rising again. + +"It will cover the river, the far shore, and what's left of the town," +said Dalton, "but what do we care? They'll be protected by it as they +advance on the bridges, but they wouldn't dare move through it to attack +us here on the heights." + +"Here's the dawn again," said Harry. "I can see the ghost of the sun +over there trying to break through, but as there's no wind now the fog's +going to hang heavy and long." + +Breakfast was served once more to the waiting army on the heights, +and then the youths in gray saw that the Union army, having let the +night pass, was beginning to cross the river. When the dawn finally +came many regiments were already over and the wheels of the heavy cannon +were thundering on the bridges. But the Confederate army lay quiet on +the heights, although before morning it had drawn itself in somewhat, +shortening the lines and making itself more compact. + +"Look how they pour over the bridges!" said Harry, who stood glass to +eye. "They come in thousands and thousands, regiments, brigades and +whole divisions. Why, George, it looks as if the whole North were +swarming down upon us!" + +"They're a hundred and twenty thousand strong. We know that positively, +and they're as brave as anybody. But we're eighty thousand strong, +just sitting here on the heights and waiting. Harry, they'll cross +that river again soon, and when they go back they'll be far less than a +hundred and twenty thousand!" + +He spoke with no sign of exultation. Instead it was the boding tone of +an old prophet, rather than the sanguine voice of youth. + +The fog deepened for a little while, and then some of the marching +columns were hidden. Out of the mists and gloom came the quick music +of many bands, playing the Northern brigades on to death. Then the fog +lifted again, and along the heights ran the blaze of the Southern cannon +as they sent shot and shell into the black masses of the Union troops +crowding by Fredericksburg. + +But as the echoes of the shots died away, Harry heard again the bands +playing, and from the great Northern army below came mighty rolling +cheers. + +"The battle is here now, Harry," said Dalton, "and this is the biggest +army we've ever faced." + +The Union brigades, black in the somber winter dawn, seemed endless to +Harry. From the point where he stood the advancing columns as they +crossed the river looked almost solid. He knew that men must be falling, +dead or wounded, beneath the fire of the Southern guns, but the living +closed up so fast that he could not see any break in the lines. + +"You can't see any sign of hesitation there," said Dalton. "The +Northern generals may doubt and linger, but the men don't when once they +get the word. What a tremendous and thrilling sight! It may be wicked +in me, Harry, but since there is a war and battles are being fought, +I'm glad I'm here to see it." + +"So am I," said Harry. "It's something to feel that you're at the heart +of the biggest things going on in the world. Now we've lost 'em!" + +His sudden exclamation was due to a shift of the wind, bringing back the +fog again and covering the river, the town and the advancing Union army. +The Confederate cannon then ceased firing, but Harry heard distinctly +the sounds made by scores of thousands of men marching, that measured +tread of countless feet, the beat of hoofs, the rumbling of cannon +wheels over roads now frozen hard, and the music of many bands still +playing. The thrill was all the keener when the great army became +invisible in the fog, although the mighty hum and murmur of varied +sounds proved that it was still marching there. + +Jackson was on the right of Lee's line. He would be, as usual, in the +thick of it. His fighting line ran through deep woods, and he was +protected, moreover, by the slope up which the Union troops would +have to come, if they got near enough. Fourteen guns, guarded by two +regiments, were on Prospect Hill at his extreme right, and on his left +the ravine called Deep Run divided him from the command of Longstreet, +which spread away toward Marye's Hill. + +Jackson's own line was a mile and a half long and he had thirty thousand +men, while Longstreet and the others had fifty thousand more. Lee +himself, directing the whole, rode along the lines on his white horse, +and whenever the men saw him cheers rolled up and down. But Lee had +little to say. All that needed to be said had been said already. + +Harry saw the great commander riding along that morning as calmly as if +he were going to church. Lee, grave, imperturbable, was the last man +to show emotion, but Harry thought once that he caught a gleam from the +blue eye as he spoke a word or two with Jackson and went on. As he +passed near them, Harry, Dalton and all the other young officers took +off their hats, saluted and stood in silence. General Lee raised his +own hat in return, and rode back toward the division of Longstreet. + +Harry glanced toward General Jackson, who was also mounted. But he did +not move and the reins lay loose on the animal's neck. Once the horse +dropped his head and nuzzled under some leaves for a few blades of +sheltered grass that had escaped the winter. But the general took no +notice. He kept his glasses to his eyes and watched every movement of +the enemy, when the fog lifted enough for him to see. Presently he +beckoned to Harry. + +"Ride over to General Stuart," he said, "and see if he has made any +change in his lines. It is important that our formation be preserved +intact and that no gaps be left." + +Then General Jackson himself rode to another elevation for a different +view, and the soldiers, from whom he had been hidden before by the fog, +gazed at him in amazement. The gorgeous uniform that Stuart had sent +him, worn only once before, and which they had thought discarded forever, +had been put on again. The old slouch hat was gone, and another, +magnificent with gold braid, looped and tasseled, was in its place. +Instead of the faithful pony, Little Sorrel, he rode a big charger. + +Usually cheers ran along the line whenever he appeared upon the eve of +battle, but for a little space there was silence as the men gazed at him, +many of them not even knowing him. Jackson flushed and looked down +apologetically at the rich cloth and gold braid he wore. His eyes +seemed to say, "Boys, I've merely put these on in honor of the victory +we're going to win. But I won't do it again." + +Then the cheers burst forth, spontaneous and ringing, proving a devotion +that few men have ever been able to command. Stern and unflinching as +Jackson invariably was in inflicting punishment, his soldiers always +regarded him as one of themselves, the best man among them, one fitted +by nature to lead democratic equals. After the cheers were over they +watched him as he looked through the glasses from his new position. +But he stayed there only a minute or two, going back then to his old +point of vantage. + +Harry meanwhile had reached Stuart, who, mounted upon a magnificent +horse and clad in a uniform that fairly glittered through the fog itself, +was waiting restlessly. But he had not changed any part of his line. +Everything remained exactly as Jackson had ordered. He now knew Harry +well and always called him by his first name. + +"Have you an order?" he exclaimed eagerly. "Does General Jackson want +us to advance?" + +"He has said nothing about an advance," replied Harry tactfully. +"He merely wanted me to ride down the line and report to him on the +spirit of the soldiers as far as I could judge. He knew that your men, +General, would be hard to hold." + +Stuart threw back his head, shook his long yellow hair and laughed in a +pleased way. + +"General Jackson was right about my men," he said. "It's hard to keep +them from galloping into the battle, and my feelings are with them. +Yet we'll have all the fighting we want. Look at the great masses of +the Union army!" + +The fog had lifted again and the Northern columns were still advancing, +marching boldly against the intrenched foe, although nearly every one of +their generals save Burnside himself knew that it was a hopeless task. +In all the mighty events of the war that Harry witnessed few were as +impressive to him as this solemn and steady march of the Union army, +heads erect and bands playing, into the jaws of death. + +He stayed only a few moments with Stuart, returning direct to Jackson. +On his way he passed Sherburne, who, with his troop, was on Stuart's +extreme left flank. Harry leaned over, shook hands with him, nothing +more, and rode on. With the lifting of the fog the Southern guns were +again sending shot and sell into the blue masses. Then, from the other +side of the river, the great Union batteries left on Stafford Heights +began to hurl showers of steel toward the hostile ridges a little more +than a mile and a half away. It was long range for those days, but the +Union gunners, always excellent, rained shot and shell upon the Southern +position. + +Harry, used now to such a fire, went calmly on until he rejoined Jackson, +who accepted with a nod his report that Stuart had not changed his lines +anywhere. The general signed to him and the rest of the staff as they +rode toward the center of the Southern line. Harry did not know their +errand, but he surmised that they were to meet General Lee for the final +conference. The general said no word, but rode steadily on. Union +skirmishers, under cover of the fog and bushes, had crept far in advance +of their columns, and, as the fog continued to thin away and the day to +brighten, they saw Jackson and his staff. + +Harry heard bullets whistling sinister little threats in his ear as they +passed, and he heard other bullets pattering on the trees or the earth. +They alarmed him more than the huge cannon thundering away from the +other side of the river. But the fog, although thin, was still enough +to make the aim of the skirmishers bad, and General Jackson and his +staff went on their way unhurt. + +They reached a little hill near the middle of the Southern bent bow. +It had no name then, but it is called Lee's Hill now, because at nine +o'clock that morning General Lee, mounted on his white horse, was upon +its crest awaiting his generals, to give them his last instructions. +Longstreet was already there, and, just as Jackson came, the fog thinned +away entirely and the sun began to blaze with a heat almost like that +of summer, rapidly thawing the hard earth. + +The young officers on the different staffs reined back, while their +chiefs drew together. Yet for a few moments no one said anything. +Harry always believed that the veteran generals were moved as he was by +the sight below. The great banks of white fog were rolling away down +the river before the light wind and the brilliant sun. + +Now Harry saw the Army of the Potomac in its full majesty. On the wide +plain that lay on the south bank of the Rappahannock nearly a hundred +thousand men were still advancing in regular order, with scores and +scores of cannon on their flanks or between the columns. The army which +looked somber black in the misty dawn now looked blue in the brilliant +sun. The stars and stripes, the most beautiful flag in the world, +waved in hundreds over their heads. The bands were still playing, +and the great batteries which they had left on Stafford Heights across +the river continued that incessant roaring fire over their heads at the +Southern army on its own heights. The smoke from the cannon, whitish in +color, drifted away down the river with the fog, and the whole spectacle +still remained in the brilliant sunlight. + +Harry's respect for the Union artillery, already high, increased yet +further. The field was now mostly open, where all could see, and the +gunners not only saw their targets, but were able to take good aim. +The storm of shot and shell from Stafford Heights was frightful. +It seemed to Harry--again his imagination was alive--that the very air +was darkened by the rush of steel. Despite their earthworks and other +shelter the Southern troops began to suffer from that dreadful sleet, +but the little conference on Lee's Hill went on. + +Longstreet, sitting his horse steadily, looked long at the dense masses +below. + +"General," he said to General Jackson, "doesn't that myriad of Yankees +frighten you?" + +"It won't be long before we see whether we shall frighten them," replied +Jackson. + +General Lee said a few words, and then Jackson and Longstreet returned +to their respective divisions, Jackson, as Harry noted, showing not the +least excitement, although the resolute Union general, Franklin, with +nearly sixty thousand men and one hundred and twenty guns, was marching +directly against his own position. + +But Harry felt excitement, and much of it. In front of Jackson in a +great line of battle, a mile and a half long, they were moving forward, +still in perfect array. But there was something wanting in that huge +army. It was the lack of a great animating spirit. There was no +flaming flag, like the soul of Jackson, to wave in the front of a fiery +rush that could not be stopped. + +The blue mass hesitated and stopped. Out of it came three Pennsylvania +brigades led by Meade, who was to be the Meade of Gettysburg, and less +than five thousand strong they advanced against Jackson. Harry was +amazed. Could it be possible that they did not know that Jackson with +his full force was there? + +The Pennsylvanians charged gallantly. The young General Pelham, who had +been sent forward with two pieces of artillery, opened on them fiercely, +but the heavy batteries covering the advance of the Pennsylvanians drove +Pelham out of action, although he held the whole force at bay for half +an hour. In his retreat he lost one of his own guns, and then Franklin +brought up more batteries to protect the further advance of Meade and +the Pennsylvanians. The batteries across the river helped them also, +never ceasing to send a rain of steel over their troops upon the +Southern army. + +But Jackson's men still lay close in the woods and behind their +breastworks. Nearly all that rain of steel flew over their heads. +A shower of twigs and boughs fell on them, but so long as they stayed +close the great artillery fire created terror rather than damage. +The men were panting with eagerness, but not one was allowed to pull +trigger, nor was a cannon fired. + +"Burnside must think there's but a small force here," said Dalton, +"or he wouldn't send so few men against us. Harry, when I look down at +those brigades of Yankees I think of the old Roman salute--it was that +of the gladiators, wasn't it?--'Morituri salutamus.'" + +"They're doomed," said Harry. + +Jackson, like the others, had dismounted, and he walked forward with +a single aide to observe more closely the Union advance. A Northern +sharpshooter suddenly rose out of high weeds, not far in front, and +fired directly at them. The bullet whistled between Jackson and his +aide. Jackson turned to the young man and said: + +"Suppose you go to the rear. You might get shot." + +The young man, of course, did not go, and Harry, who was not far behind +them in an earthwork, watched them with painful anxiety. He had seen +the sudden uprising of the Northern skirmisher in the weeds and the +flame from the muzzle. The man might not have known that it was Jackson, +but he must have surmised from the gorgeous uniform that it was a +general of importance. + +Harry, with the trained eye of a country boy, saw a rippling movement +running among the weeds. The sharpshooter would reload and fire upon +his general from another point. The second bullet might not miss. + +But the second shot did not come. The marksman, doubtless thinking that +another shot was too dangerous a hazard, had retreated into the plain. +General Jackson walked on calmly, inspecting the whole Northern advance, +and then returning took up his station on Prospect Hill, where he waited +with the singular calmness that was always his, for the fit time to open +fire. + +The leader of the Army of the Potomac was watching from the other side +of the Rappahannock with a terrible eagerness. The man who had not +wished the command of the splendid Union army, who had deemed himself +unequal to the task, was now proving the correctness of his own +intuitions. He had taken up his headquarters in a fine colonial +residence on one of the highest points of the bank. He was surrounded +there by numerous artillery, and the officers of his staff crowded the +porches, many of them already sad of heart, although they would not +let their faces show it. + +But Burnside, now that his men had forced the river in such daring +fashion, began to glow with hope. Such magnificent troops as he had, +having crossed the deep, tidal Rappahannock in the face of an able and +daring foe, were bound to win. He swept every point of the field with +his glasses, and from his elevated position he and his officers could +see what the troops in the plain below could not see, the long lines of +the Confederates waiting in the trenches or in the woods, their cannon +posted at frequent intervals. + +But Burnside hoped. Who would not have hoped with such troops as his? +Never did an army, and with full knowledge of it, too, advance more +boldly to a superhuman task. He saw the gallant advance of the +Pennsylvanians and he saw them drive off Pelham. Hope swelled into +confidence. With an anxiety beyond describing he watched the further +advance of Meade and his Pennsylvanians. + +Stonewall Jackson also was watching from his convenient hill, and his +small staff, mostly of very young men, clustered close behind him. +Jackson no longer used his glasses, as Burnside was doing. Meade and +his Pennsylvanians were coming close to him now. The great Union +batteries on Stafford Heights must soon cease firing or their shells +and shot would be crashing into the blue ranks. + +"It cannot be much longer," said Harry. + +"No, not much longer," said Dalton. "We'll unmask mighty soon. How far +away would you say they are now, Harry?" + +"About a thousand yards." + +"Over a half mile. Then I'll say that when they come within a half mile +Old Jack will give the word to the artillery to loosen up." + +Harry and George, in their intense absorption, had forgotten about the +other parts of the line. In their minds, for the present at least, +Jackson was fighting the battle alone. Longstreet was forgotten, +and even Lee, for a space, remained unremembered. They were staring at +the brigades which were coming on so gallantly, when the jaws of death +were already opened so wide to receive them. + +"They're at the half mile," said Dalton, who had a wonderful eye for +distance, "and still Old Jack does not give the word." + +"The closer the better," said Harry. Glancing up and down the lines he +saw the men bending over their guns and the riflemen in line after line +rising slowly to their feet and looking to their arms. In spite of +himself, in spite of all the hard usage of war through which he had been, +Harry shuddered. He did not hate any of those men out there who were +coming toward them so boldly; no, there was not in all those brigades, +nor in all the Union army, nor in all the North a single person whom he +wished to hurt. Yet he knew that he would soon fight against them with +all the weapons and all the power he could gather. + +"Eight hundred yards," said Dalton. + +"Fire!" was the word that ran like an electric blaze along the +whole Southern front; and Jackson's fifty cannon, suddenly pushing +forward from the forest, poured a storm of steel upon the devoted +Pennsylvanians. Harry felt the earth rocking beneath him, and his ears +were stunned by the roaring and crashing of the cannon all about him. + +The Union officers on the porches of the colonial mansion across the +river saw that terrible blaze leap from the Confederate line, and their +hearts sank within them like lead. Alarmed as they had been before, +they were in consternation now. Some had said that Jackson was not +there, that it was merely a detachment guarding the woods, but now they +knew their mistake. + +Harry and Dalton stayed close to their general. Shells and shot from +the batteries below on the plain were crashing along the trees, but, +like those from the great guns on Stafford Heights, they passed mostly +over their heads. The two youths at that moment had little to do but +watch the battle. The Southern riflemen crept forward in the woods, +and now their bullets in sheets were crashing into the hostile ranks. +The Union division commander hurried up reinforcements, and the +Pennsylvanians, despite their frightful losses and shattered ranks, +still held fast. But the Southern batteries never ceased for a moment +to pour upon them a storm of death. With red battle before him and the +fever in his blood running high, Harry now forgot all about wounds and +death. He had eye and thought only for the tremendous panorama passing +before him, where everything was clear and visible, as if it were an +act in some old Roman circus, magnified manifold. + +Then came a message from Jackson to hurry to the left with an order for +a brigadier who lay next to Longstreet. As he ran through the trees, +he heard now the roar of the battle in the center, where the stalwart +Longstreet was holding Marye's Hill and the adjacent heights. A mighty +Union division was attacking there, and out of the south from the embers +of Fredericksburg came another great division in column after column. + +Harry heard the fire of Jackson slackening behind him, and he knew it +was because Meade had been stopped or was retreating, and he stayed a +little with the brigadier to see how Longstreet received the enemy. +The hill and all the ridges about it seemed to be in one red blaze, +and every few minutes the triumphant rebel yell, something like the +Indian war-whoop, but poured from thirty thousand throats, swelled above +the roar of the cannon and the crash of the rifles and made Harry's +pulses beat so hard that he felt absolute physical pain. + +He hurried to Jackson, where the battle, which had died for a little +space, was swelling again. As the Pennsylvanians were compelled to draw +back, leaving the ground covered with their dead, the Union batteries +on Stafford Heights reopened, firing again over the heads of the men in +blue. The Southern batteries, weaker and less numerous, replied with +all their energy. A far-flung shot from their greatest gun, at the +extreme southern end of the line, killed the brave Union general, Bayard, +as he was sitting under a tree watching his troops. + +Gregg, one of the best of the Southern generals, was mortally wounded. +A great body of the Pennsylvanians, charging again, reached the shelter +of the woods and burst through the Southern line. At another point, +Hancock, always cool and brilliant on the field of battle, rallied +shattered brigades and led them forward in person to new attacks. +Hooker, who had shown such courage at Antietam, equally brave on this +occasion, rushed forward with his men at another point. Franklin, +Sumner, Doubleday and many other of the best Union generals showed +themselves reckless of death, cheering on their men, galloping up and +down the lines when they were mounted, and waving their swords aloft +after their horses were killed, but always leading. + +The Pennsylvanians who had cut into the Southern line were attacked in +flank, but they held on to their positions. Jackson did not yet know +of Meade's success. He still stood on Prospect Hill with his staff, +which Harry had rejoined. The forest and vast clouds of smoke hid from +his view the battle, save in his front. Harry saw a messenger coming at +a gallop toward the summit of the hill, and he knew by his pale face and +bloodshot eyes that he brought bad news. + +Jackson turned toward the messenger, expectant but calm. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"The enemy have broken through General Archer's division, and he +directed me to say to you that unless help is sent, both his position +and that of General Gregg will be lost." + +Jackson showed no excitement. His calm and composure in the face of +disaster always inspired his men with fresh courage. + +"Ride back to General Archer," he said, "and tell him that the division +of Early and the Stonewall Brigade are coming at once." + +He turned his horse as if he would go with the relief, but in a moment +he checked himself, put his field glasses back to his eyes, and +continued to watch heavy masses of the enemy who were coming up in +another quarter. + +Harry did not see what happened when Early and Taliaferro, who now led +the Stonewall Brigade, fell upon the Pennsylvanians, but the Invincibles +were in the charge and St. Clair told him about it afterward. The Union +men had penetrated so far that they were entangled in the forest and +thickets, and nobody had come up to support them. They were much +scattered, and as their officers were seeking to gather them together +the men in gray fell upon them in overpowering force and drove them back +in broken fragments. Wild with triumph, the Southern riflemen rushed +after them and also hurled back other riflemen that were coming up to +their support. But on the plain they encountered the matchless Northern +artillery. A battery of sixteen heavy guns met their advancing line +with a storm of canister, before which they were compelled to retreat, +leaving many dead and wounded behind. + +Yet the entire Union attack on Jackson had been driven back, the +Northern troops suffering terrible losses. The watchers on the Phillips +porch on the other side of the river saw the repulse, and again their +hearts sank like lead. + +The watchers turned their field glasses anew to the Southern center and +left, where the battle raged with undiminished ferocity. Marye's Hill +was a formidable position and along its slope ran a heavy stone wall. +Behind it the Southern sharpshooters were packed in thousands, and every +battery was well placed. + +Hancock, following Burnside's orders, led the attack upon the +ensanguined slopes. Forty thousand men, almost the flower of the Union +army, charged again and again up those awful slopes, and again and again +they were hurled back. The top of the hill was a leaping mass of flame +and the stone wall was always crested with living fire. No troops ever +showed greater courage as they returned after every repulse to the +hopeless charge. + +At last they could go forward no longer. They had not made the +slightest impression upon Marye's Hill and the slopes were strewn with +many thousands of their dead and wounded, including officers of all +ranks, from generals down. The Union army was now divided into two +portions, each in the face of an insuperable task. + +But Burnside, burning with chagrin, was unwilling to draw off his army. +The reserve troops, left on the other side of the river, were sent +across, and Fighting Joe Hooker was ordered to lead them to a new +attack. Hooker, talking with Hancock, saw that it merely meant another +slaughter, and sent such word to his commander-in-chief. But Burnside +would not be moved from his purpose. The attack must be made, and +Hooker--whose courage no one could question--still trying to prevent it, +crossed the river himself, went to Burnside and remonstrated. + +Men who were present have told vivid stories of that scene at the +Phillips House. Hooker, his face covered with dust and sweat, galloping +up, leaping from his horse, and rushing to Burnside; the commander-in- +chief striding up and down, looking toward Marye's Hill, enveloped in +smoke, and repeating to himself, as if he were scarcely conscious of +what he was saying: "That height must be taken! That height must be +taken! We must take it!" + +He turned to Hooker with the same words, "That height must be taken +to-day," repeating it over and over again, changing the words perhaps, +but not the sense. The gallant but unfortunate man had not wanted to be +commander-in-chief, foreseeing his own inadequacy, and now in his agony +at seeing so many of his men fall in vain he was scarcely responsible. + +Hooker, his heart full of despair, but resolved to obey, galloped +back and prepared for the last desperate charge up Marye's Hill. The +advancing mists in the east were showing that the short winter day would +soon draw to a close. He planted his batteries and opened a heavy fire, +intending to batter down the stone wall. But the wall, supported by an +earthwork, did not give, and Longstreet's riflemen lay behind it waiting. + +At a signal the Union cannon ceased firing and the bugles blew the +charge. The Union brigades swarmed forward and then rushed up the +slopes. The volume of fire poured upon them was unequalled until +Pickett led the matchless charge at Gettysburg. Pickett himself was +here among the defenders, having just been sent to help the men on +Marye's Hill. + +Up went the men through the winter twilight, lighted now by the blaze +of so many cannon and rifles pouring down upon them a storm of lead and +steel, through which no human beings could pass. They came near to the +stone wall, but as their lines were now melting away like snow before +the sun, they were compelled to yield and retreat again down the slopes, +which were strewed already with the bodies of so many of those who had +gone up in the other attacks. + +Every charge had broken in vain on the fronts of Jackson and Longstreet, +and the Union losses were appalling. Harry knew that the battle was won +and that it had been won more easily than any of the other great battles +that he had seen. He wondered what Jackson would do. Would he follow +up the grand division of Franklin that he had defeated and which still +lay in front of them? + +But he ceased to ask the question, because when the last charge, +shattered to pieces, rolled back down Marye's Hill, the magnificent +Northern artillery seemed to Harry to go mad. The thirty guns of the +heaviest weight that had been left on Stafford Heights, and which had +ceased firing only when the Northern men charged, now reopened in a +perfect excess of fury. Harry believed that they must be throwing +tons of metal every minute. + +Nor was Franklin slack. Hovering with his great division in the plain +below and knowing that he was beaten, he nevertheless turned one hundred +and sixteen cannon that he carried with him upon Jackson's front and +swept all the woods and ridges everywhere. The Union army was beaten +because it had undertaken the impossible, but despite its immense losses +it was still superior in numbers to Lee's force, and above all it had +that matchless artillery which in defeat could protect the Union army, +and which in victory helped it to win. + +Now all these mighty cannon were turned loose in one huge effort. +Along the vast battle front and from both sides of the river they roared +and crashed defiance. And the Army of the Potomac, which had wasted +so much valor, crept back under the shelter of that thundering line +of fire. It had much to regret, but nothing of which to be ashamed. +Sent against positions impregnable when held by such men as Lee, Jackson +and Longstreet, it had never ceased to attack so long as the faintest +chance remained. Its commander had been unequal to the task, but the +long roll of generals under him had shown unsurpassed courage and daring. + +Harry thought once that General Jackson was going to attack in turn, +but after a long look at the roaring plain he shrugged his shoulders and +gave no orders. The beaten Army of the Potomac preserved its order, +it had lost no guns, the brigadiers and the major-generals were full of +courage, and it was too formidable to be attacked. Three hundred cannon +of the first class on either side of the river were roaring and crashing, +and the moment the Southern troops emerged for the charge all would be +sure to pour upon them a fire that no troops could withstand. + +General Lee presently appeared riding along the line. The cheers which +always rose where he came rolled far, and he was compelled to lift his +hat more than once. He conferred with Jackson, and the two, going +toward the left, met Longstreet, with whom they also talked. Then they +separated and Jackson returned to his own position. Harry, who had +followed his general at the proper distance, never heard what they said, +but he believed that they had discussed the possibility of a night +attack and then had decided in the negative. + +When Jackson returned to his own force the twilight was thickening into +night, and as darkness sank down over the field the appalling fire of +the Union artillery ceased. Thirteen thousand dead or wounded Union +soldiers had fallen, and the Southern loss was much less than half. + +All of Harry's comrades and friends had escaped this battle uninjured, +yet many of them believed that another battle would be fought on the +morrow. Harry, however, was not one of these. He remembered some words +that had been spoken by Jackson in his presence: + +"We can defeat the enemy here at Fredericksburg, but we cannot destroy +him, because he will escape over his bridges, while we are unable to +follow." + +Nevertheless the young men and boys were exultant. They did not look so +far ahead as Jackson, and they had never before won so great a victory +with so little loss. Harry, sent on a message beyond Deep Run, found +the Invincibles cooking their suppers on a spot that they had held +throughout the day. They had several cheerful fires burning and they +saluted Harry gladly. + +"A great victory, Harry," said Happy Tom. + +"Yes, a great victory," interrupted Colonel Leonidas Talbot; "but, +my friends, what else could you have expected? They walked straight +into our trap. But I have learned this day to have a deep respect for +the valor of the Yankees. The way they charged up Marye's Hill in +the face of certain death was worthy of the finest troops that South +Carolina herself ever produced." + +"That is saying a great deal, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire, "but it is true." + +Harry talked a little with the two colonels, and also with Langdon and +St. Clair. Then he returned to his own headquarters. Both armies, +making ready for battle to-morrow, if it should come, slept on their +arms, while the dead and the wounded yet lay thick in the forest and +on the slopes and plain. + +But Harry was not among those who slept, at least not until after +midnight. He and Dalton sat at the door of Jackson's tent, awaiting +possible orders. Jackson knew that Burnside, with a hundred thousand +men yet in line and no artillery lost, was planning another attack on +the morrow, despite his frightful losses of the day. + +The news of it had been sent to him by Lee, and Lee in turn had learned +it from a captured orderly bearing Burnside's dispatches. But neither +Harry nor Dalton knew anything of Burnside's plans. They were merely +waiting for any errand upon which Jackson should choose to send them. +Several other staff officers were present, and as Jackson wrote his +orders, he gave them in turn to be taken to those for whom they were +intended. + +Harry, after three such trips of his own, sat down again near the door +of the tent and watched his great leader. Jackson sat at a little table, +on a cane-bottomed chair, and he wrote by the light of a single candle. +His clothing was all awry and he had tossed away the gold-braided cap. +His face was worn and drawn, but his eyes showed no signs of weariness. +The body might have been weak, but the spirit of Jackson was never +stronger. + +Harry knew that Jackson after victory wasted no time exulting, but was +always preparing for the next battle. The soldiers, both in his own +division and elsewhere, were awakened by turns, and willing thousands +strengthened the Southern position. More and deeper trenches were +constructed. New abatis were built and the stone wall was strengthened +yet further. Formidable as the Southern line had been to-day, Burnside +would find it more so on the morrow. + +After midnight, Jackson, still in his gorgeous uniform and with boots +and spurs on, too, lay down on his bed and slept about three hours. +Then he aroused himself, lighted his candle and wrote an hour longer. +Then he went to the bedside of the dying Gregg and sat a while with him, +the staff remaining at a respectful distance. + +When they rode back--they were mounted again--they passed along the +battle front, and the sadness which was so apparent on Jackson's face +affected them. It was far toward morning now and the enemy was lighting +his fires on the plain below. The dead lay where they had fallen, +and no help had yet been given to those wounded too seriously to move. +It had been a tremendous holocaust, and with no result. Harry knew now +that the North would never cease to fight disunion. The South could win +separation only at the price of practical annihilation for both. + +The night was very raw and chill, and not less so now that morning +was approaching. The mists and fogs, which as usual rose from the +Rappahannock, made Harry shiver at their touch. In the hollows of the +ridges, which the wintry sun seldom reached, great masses of ice were +packed, and the plain below, cut up the day before by wheels and hoofs +and footsteps, was now like a frozen field of ploughed land. + +The staff heard enough through the fogs and mists to know that the Army +of the Potomac was awake and stirring. The Southern army also arose, +lighted its fires, cooked and ate its food and waited for the enemy. +Before it was yet light Harry, on a message to Stuart, rode to the top +of Prospect Hill with him, and, as they sat there on their horses, +the sun cleared away the fog and mist, and they saw the Army of the +Potomac drawn up in line of battle, defiant and challenging, ready to +attack or to be attacked. + +Harry felt a thrill of admiration that he did not wish to check. +After all, the Yankees were their own people, bone of their bone, +and their courage must be admired. The Army of the Potomac, too, +was learning to fight without able chiefs. The young colonels and +majors and captains could lead them, and there they were, after their +most terrible defeat, grim and ready. + +"The lion's wounded, but he isn't dead, by any means," said Harry to +Stuart. + +"Not by a great deal," said Stuart. + +There was much hot firing by skirmishers that day and artillery duels +at long range, but the Northern army, which had fortified on the plain, +would not come out of its intrenchments, and the Southern soldiers also +stuck to theirs. Burnside, who had crossed the river to join his men, +had been persuaded at last that a second attack was bound to end like +the first. + +The next day Burnside sent in a flag of truce, and they buried the dead. +The following night Harry, wrapped to the eyes in his great cloak, +stood upon Prospect Hill and watched one of the fiercest storms that he +had ever seen rage up and down the valley of the Rappahannock. Many of +the Southern pickets were driven to shelter. While the whole Southern +army sought protection from the deluge, the Army of the Potomac, still a +hundred thousand strong, and carrying all its guns, marched in perfect +order over the six bridges it had built, breaking the bridges down +behind it, and camping in safety on the other side. The river was +rising fast under the tremendous rain, and the Southern army could find +no fords, even though it marched far up the stream. + +Fredericksburg was won, but the two armies, resolute and defiant, +gathered themselves anew for other battles as great or greater. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A CHRISTMAS DINNER + + + + +After the great battle at Fredericksburg both armies seemed to suffer +somewhat from reaction. Besides, the winter deepened. There was more +snow, more icy rain, and more hovering of the temperature near the zero +mark. The vast sea of mud increased, and the swollen Rappahannock, +deep at any time, flowed between the two armies. Pickets often faced +one another across the stream, sometimes firing, but oftener exchanging +the news, when the river was not too wide for the shouted voice to reach. + +Harry, despite his belief that the North would hold out, heard now that +the hostile section had sunk into deep depression. The troops had not +been paid for six months. Desertion into the interior went on on a +great scale. One commander-in-chief after another had failed. After +Antietam it had seemed that success could be won, but the South had come +back stronger than ever and had won Fredericksburg, inflicting appalling +loss upon the North. Yet he heard that Lincoln never flinched. The +tall, gaunt, ugly man, telling his homely jokes, had more courage than +anybody who had yet led the Union cause. + +Harry often went down to Fredericksburg, where some houses still stood +among the icy ruins. A few families had returned, but as the town was +still practically under the guns of the Northern army, it was left +chiefly to the troops. + +The Invincibles were stationed here, and Harry and Dalton got leave to +spend Christmas day with its officers. Nothing could bring more fully +home to him the appalling waste and ruin of war than the sight of +Fredericksburg. Mud, ice and snow were deeper than ever in the streets. +Many of the houses had been demolished by cannon balls and fire, and +only fragments of them lay about the ground. Others had been wrecked +but partially, with holes in the roofs and the windows shot out. +The white pillars in front of colonnaded mansions had been shattered and +the fallen columns lay in the icy slough. Long icicles hung from the +burned portions of upper floors that still stood. + +Used to war's ruin as he had become, Harry's eyes filled with tears at +the sight. It seemed a city dead, but not yet buried. But on Christmas +day his friends and he resolutely dismissed gloom, and, first making a +brave pretence, finally succeeded in having real cheerfulness in a fine +old brick house which had been pretty well shot up, but which had some +sound rooms remaining. Its owner had sent word that, while he could not +yet come back to it with his family, he would be glad if the Southern +army would make use of it in his absence. + +It was in this house that the little colony of friends gathered, +everyone bringing to the dinner what he could. Colonel Leonidas Talbot +and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire occupied the great sitting +room on the ground floor, and here the dinner would be spread, as a part +of the dining-room had been shot away and was still wet from snow and +rain. + +But the sitting room gladdened the eye. A heavy imported carpet covered +the central portion of the polished oaken floor. Old family portraits +lined its walls and those of the parlor adjoining it. Curtains hung +at the windows. They were more or less discolored by smoke and other +agencies, but they were curtains. All about the chamber were signs of +wealth and cultivation, and a great fire of wood was burning in a huge +chimney under a beautifully carved oaken mantelpiece. + +The room seemed to remain almost as it had been left by the owner, +save that two one-hundred-pound cannon balls, fired by the Union guns +into Fredericksburg, were lying by either side of the door. + +"Tickets, sir," said Langdon, as Harry appeared at the door. + +Harry drew from under his cloak two boxes of sardines which he had taken +from a deserted sutler's wagon on the field of Fredericksburg. He +handed them to Langdon, who said: + +"Pass in, most welcome guest." + +Harry was the first arrival, but Dalton was next. + +"Tickets double price to all Virginia Presbyterians," said Langdon. + +"Instead of a double ticket here are two singles," said Dalton, as he +drew from under his cloak two fine dressed chickens. "Don't these take +me in?" + +"They certainly do. Go in on the jump, Dalton." + +The next arrival was Sherburne, who brought a five-pound bag of coffee. +Then came the two colonels together, one with the half of a side of +bacon, and the other with a twenty-pound bag of flour. More followed, +bringing like tickets that were perfectly good, and it seemed that all +the invited ticket holders were in, when a big black man on a big black +horse rode up and saluted Langdon respectfully. He held out a pass. + +"This pass am from Gen'ral Jackson," he said. + +"Am it?" said Langdon, looking at the pass, "Yes, it am." + +"Is you the orf'cer in command of this yere house?" asked the colored +man, his wide mouth parting in an enormous grin that showed his +magnificent white teeth. + +"For the present I am, Sir Knight of the Dark but Kind Countenance. +What wouldst thou?" + +The man scratched his head and looked doubtfully at Langdon. + +"Guess you're asking me some kind of a question, sah?" + +"I am. Who art thou? Whence comest thou, Sir Knight of Nubia? Bearest +thou upon thy person some written token, or, as you would say in your +common parlance, what's your business?" + +"Oh, I see, sah. Yes, sah, I done got a lettah from Mr. Theophilus +Moncrieffe. That's the owner of this house, and I belong to him. +I'se Caesar Moncrieffe. Here's the lettah, sah." + +He handed a folded paper to Harry, who opened and read it. It was +addressed to the chief of whatever officers might be occupying his house, +and it ran thus, somewhat in the old-fashioned way: + + +SIRS AND GENTLEMEN: + +The bearer of this is Caesar Moncrieffe. He and his ancestors have been +servants of my family and my ancestors in the State of Virginia for +more than two hundred years. He is a good man, as were his father and +grandfather before him. He will not steal unless he should think it +for his benefit or yours. He will not lie unless convinced of its +necessity. He will work if you make him. + +All of his impulses are good, and though he will strenuously deny it at +first, he is about the best cook in the world. Knowing the scarcity of +nutritious food in the army, I have therefore sent him to you with what +I could gather together, in order that he might cook you a dinner worthy +of Christmas. Put him to work, and if he disobeys, shuffles or evades +in any manner, hit him over the head with anything that you can find +hard enough or heavy enough to make an impression. + +Wishing the Army of Northern Virginia the continued and brilliant +success that has attended it heretofore, + + I remain, + + Your most obedient servant, + + THEOPHILUS MONCRIEFFE. + + +"Ah, Sir Knight of the Dark but not Rueful Countenance, thou art doubly +welcome!" said Happy Tom, now thrice-happy Tom. "It is a stout and +goodly horse from which thou hast dismounted, and I see that he yet +carries on his back something besides the saddle. But let me first +speak to my Lord Talbot, our real commander, who is within." + +Caesar did not wholly understand, but he saw that Langdon meant well, +and he grinned. Happy Tom rushed toward Colonel Talbot, who stood +before the fire with Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. + +"Colonel Talbot! Colonel Talbot, sir!" he exclaimed. + +"What is it, Thomas, my lad? You appear to be excited, and that is not +seemly in a soldier of your experience." + +"But, Colonel, this isn't a battle. Of course, I wouldn't let myself be +stirred up by the Yankees, but it's a dinner, Colonel! It's a Christmas +dinner, and it bears all the signs of being as fine as any we ever ate +in the old times of peace!" + +"Thomas, my lad, I regret it, but I must say that you are talking in +a much more light-headed way than usual. All that we had we brought +with us, and your young brother officers, who I must say excel you in +industry, are now assembling it." + +"But, Colonel, there's a big black fellow outside. He's just come in +with a loaded horse, belonging to the owner of this house, and he's +brought a letter with him. Read it, sir." + +Colonel Talbot gravely read the letter and passed it to Lieutenant- +Colonel St. Hilaire, who read it with equal gravity. + +"Sounds well, eh, Hector?" Colonel Talbot said. + +"Most excellent, Leonidas." + +They went to the door with Happy Tom, and again Caesar saluted +respectfully. + +"You are welcome, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot. "I am commander here. +What has your kind master sent us?" + +Caesar bowed low before the two colonels and then proceeded to unload +his horse. The young officers had come crowding to the door, but Happy +Tom received the first package, which was wrapped in sacking. + +"An old Virginia ham, nut-fed and sugar-cured!" he exclaimed. "Yes, +it's real! By all the stars and the sun and the moon, too, it's real, +because I'm pinching it! I thought I'd never see another such ham +again!" + +"And here's a dressed turkey, a twenty-pounder at least!" said Harry. +"Ah, you noble bird! What better fate could you find than a tomb in the +stomachs of brave Confederate soldiers!" + +"And another turkey!" said Dalton. + +"And a bag of nuts!" said Sherburne. + +"And, as I live, two bottles of claret!" said St. Claire. + +"And a big black cake!" said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"And a great bunch of holly!" said Colonel Talbot, in whose eye, usually +so warlike, a large tear stood. + +"Dat," said Caesar, "was sent by little Miss Julia Moncrieffe, just nine +years old. She wished she had a bunch for every soldier in the army, +an' she sent her lub to all uv 'em." + +"God bless little Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine," said Colonel Talbot, +much moved. + +"God bless her, so say we all of us," the others added together. + +"And now, Caesar," said Colonel Talbot, "put your horse in the part of +the stable that remains. I noticed some hay there which you can give to +him. Then come to the kitchen. Mr. Moncrieffe, whose name be praised, +says that you're the best cook since those employed by Lucullus. +It's great praise, Caesar, but in my opinion it's none too great." + +Caesar, highly flattered, led his horse to the stable, and the approving +looks of the youths followed him. + +"Sometimes I've had my doubts about Santa Claus" said Happy Tom. + +"So have I," said St. Clair, "but like you I have them no longer." + +"And there's a curious thing about this restoration of our belief in +Santa Claus," said Dalton. + +"Since we see him in person we all observe the fact," said Harry. + +"That he is a very large man." + +"Six feet two at the very least." + +"Weight about two twenty, and all of it bone and muscle." + +"And he is coal black." + +"So black that even on a dark night he would seem to be clothed around +with light." + +"Why did it never occur to anybody before that Santa Claus was a very +black, black man?" + +"Because we are the first who have ever seen him in the flesh." + +Caesar stabled his horse, went to the kitchen, where he lighted a +fire in the big stove, and fell to work with a will and a wonderful +light-handed dexterity that justified Mr. Moncrieffe's praise of him. +The younger officers helped in turn, but in the kitchen they willingly +allowed to Caesar his rightful position as lord and master. + +Delicious aromas arose. The luxury of the present was brightened by the +contrast with the hardships and hunger of two years. More than twenty +officers were present, and by putting together three smaller tables they +made a long one that ran full length down the center of the sitting-room. + +"We'll save a portion of what we have for friends not so fortunate," +said Colonel Talbot. + +"You have always had a generous heart, Leonidas," said Lieutenant- +Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"We have much for others and much for ourselves. But many of our +friends and many thousands of the brave Southern youth have gone, +Hector. However, we will not speak of that to-day, and we will try +not to think of it, as we are here to celebrate this festival with the +gallant lads who are still living." + +Caesar proved to be all that his master had promised and all that they +had hoped. No better Christmas dinner was eaten that day in the whole +United States. Invincible youth was around the board, and the two +colonels lent dignity to the gathering, without detracting from its good +cheer. + +The table had been set late, and soon the winter twilight was +approaching. As they took another slice of ham they heard the boom of a +cannon on the far side of the Rappahannock. Harry went to the window +and saw the white smoke rising from a point about three miles away. + +"They can't be firing on us, can they, sir?" he said to Colonel Talbot. +"They wouldn't do it on a day like this." + +"No. There are two reasons. We're so far apart that it would be a +waste of good powder and steel, and they would not violate Christmas in +that manner. We and the Yankees have become too good friends for such +outrageous conduct. If I may risk a surmise, I think it is merely a +Christmas greeting." + +"I think so, too, sir. Listen, there goes a cannon on our side." + +"It will be answered in a few moments. The favorite Biblical numbers +are seven and twelve, and I take it that each side will fire either +seven or twelve shots. It is certainly a graceful compliment from the +Yankees, befitting the season. I should not have said a year ago that +they would show so much delicacy and perception." + +"I think that the number of shots on each side will be twelve," said +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. "It's three apiece now, isn't it?" + +"Yes, three apiece," said Colonel Talbot. + +"Four now," said Sherburne. + +"Five now," said Dalton. + +"Six now," said St. Clair. + +"Seven now," said Harry. + +"Eight now," said Happy Tom. + +"And seven has been passed," said Colonel Talbot. "It will surely be +twelve." + +All were silent now, counting under their breath, and they felt a +certain extraordinary solemnity as they counted. Harry knew that both +armies, far up and down the river, were counting those shots, as the +little group in the Moncrieffe house were counting them. Certainly +there would be no hostilities on that day. + +"Nine," they said under their breath. + +"Ten!" + +"Eleven!" + +"Twelve!" + +Then they listened, as the echo of the twelfth Southern shot died away +on the stream, and no sound came after it. Twenty-four shots had been +fired, twelve by each army, conveying Christmas good wishes, and the +group in the house went back to their dinner. Some glasses had been +found, and there was a thimbleful of wine, enough for everyone. The +black cake was cut, and at a word from Colonel Talbot all rose and drank +a toast to the mothers and wives and sweethearts and sisters they had +left behind them. + +Then the twilight thickened rapidly and the winter night came down upon +them, hiding the ruined town, the blackened walls, the muddy streets and +the icicles hanging from scorched timbers. + +Caesar Moncrieffe washed all the dishes--those left in the house had +been sufficient for their purpose--wiped them carefully, and returned +them to the cupboard. Then he announced that he must go. + +"Come now, Santa Claus," said Happy Tom, "you must stay here. You've +done enough for one day. In fact, I should say that you've earned a +week's rest." + +"I ain't no Santy Claus," said Caesar, "but I done got to git back to +Massa Moncrieffe. He'll be expectin' me." + +"But you'll get lost in the dark. Besides, some Yankee scout may shoot +the top of your head off." + +"You can't lose me anywhar' roun' here. 'Sides, I kin dodge them +Yankees every time. On a dark night like this I could go right up the +gullies and through the biggest army in the world without its seein' me." + +Caesar felt that he was bound to go, and all the officers in turn shook +his big rough black hand. Then they saw him ride away in the darkness, +armed with his pass from General Jackson, and on the lookout for any +prowling Yankees who might have ventured on the right bank of the river. + +"Isn't it odd, Colonel," said Harry to Colonel Talbot, "that so many of +our colored people regard the Yankees who are trying now to free them as +enemies, while they look upon us as their best friends?" + +"Propinquity and association, Harry," replied Colonel Talbot, "and in +the border states, at least, we have seldom been cruel to them. I +hope there has been little of cruelty, too, in my own South Carolina. +They are used to our ways, and they turn to us for the help that is +seldom refused. The Northerner will always be a stranger to them, +and an unsympathetic stranger, because there is no personal contact, +none of that 'give and take' which makes men friends." + +"What a pity we didn't free 'em ourselves long ago!" + +"Yes, it is. I say this to you in confidence now, Harry. Of course, +I would be denounced by our people if I said it. But many of our famous +men, Harry, have not approved of it. The great Washington said slavery, +with its shiftless methods of farming, was draining the life out of the +land, and he was right. Haven't we seen the 'old fields' of Virginia?" + +"And Clay was against it, too," said Harry; "but I suppose it's one of +the things we're now fighting for, unless we should choose to liberate +them ourselves after defeating the North." + +"I suppose so," said Colonel Talbot, "but I am no politician or +statesman. My trade unfits me for such matters. I am a West Pointer--a +proud and glorious fact I consider it, too--but the life of a regular +army officer makes him a man set apart. He is not really in touch with +the nation. He cannot be, because he has so little personal contact +with it. For that reason West Pointers should never aspire to public +office. It does not suit them, and they seldom succeed in it. But here, +I'm becoming a prosy old bore. Come into the house, lad. The boys are +growing sentimental. Listen to their song. It's the same, isn't it, +that some of our bands played at Bull Run?" + +"Yes, sir, it is," replied Harry, as he joined the others in the song: + + "The hour was sad, I left the maid + A lingering farewell taking, + Her sighs and tears my steps delayed + I thought her heart was breaking. + + "In hurried words her name I blessed, + I breathed the vows that bind me, + And to my heart in anguish pressed + The girl I left behind me." + +Most all the officers had leave for the full day. Harry and Dalton in +fact were to stay overnight at the house, and, forgetful of the war, +they sang one song after another as the evening waned. At nine o'clock +all the guests left save Harry and Dalton. + +"You and Langdon will show them to their bedrooms," said Colonel Talbot. +"Take the candle. The rest of us can sit here by the firelight." + +There was but a single candle, and it was already burning low, but Happy +Tom and Arthur, shielding it from draughts, led the way to the second +floor. + +"Most of the houses were demolished by cannon shot and fire," said +Langdon, "but we've a habitable room which we reserve for guests of high +degree. You will note here where a cannon shot, the result of plunging +fire, came slantingly through the roof and passed out at the wall on the +other side. You need not get under that hole if it should rain or snow, +and meanwhile it serves splendidly for ventilation. The rip in the wall +serves the same purpose, and, of course, you have too much sense to fall +through it. Some blankets are spread there in the corner, and as you +have your heavy cloaks with you, you ought to make out. Sorry we can't +treat you any better, Sir Harry of Kentucky and Sir George of Virginia, +but these be distressful times, and the best the castle affords is put +at your service." + +"And I suspect that it's really the best," said Harry to Dalton, as +St. Clair and Langdon went out. "There's straw under these blankets, +George, and we've got a real bed." + +The moonlight shone through two windows and the cannon-shot hole, +and it was bright in the room. + +"Here's a little bureau by the wall," said Dalton, "and as I intend +to enjoy the luxury of undressing, I'm going to put my clothes in it, +where they'll keep dry. You'll notice that all the panes have been shot +out of those windows, and a driving rain would sweep all the way across +the room." + +"Now and then a good idea springs up in some way in that old head of +yours, George. I'll do the same." + +Dalton opened the top drawer. + +"Something has been left here," he said. + +He held up a large doll with blue eyes and yellow hair. + +"As sure as we're living," said Harry, "we're in the room of little +Miss Julia Moncrieffe, aged nine, the young lady who sent us the holly. +Evidently they took away all their clothing and lighter articles of +furniture, but they forgot the doll. Put it back, George. They'll +return to Fredericksburg some day and we want her to find it there." + +"You're right, Harry," said Dalton, as he replaced the doll and closed +the drawer. "You and I ought to be grateful to that little girl whom we +may never see." + +"We won't forget," said Harry, as he undressed rapidly and lay down upon +their luxurious bed of blankets and straw. + +Neither of them remembered anything until they were dragged into the +middle of the room next morning by St. Clair and Langdon. + +"Here! here! wake up! wake up!" cried Langdon. "It's not polite to your +hosts to be snoring away when breakfast is almost ready. Go down on a +piece of the back porch that's left, and you'll find two pans of cold +water in which you can wash your faces. It's true the pans are frozen +over, but you can break the ice, and it will remind you of home and your +little boyhood." + +They sprang up and dressed as rapidly as they could, because when they +came from the covers they found it icy cold in the room. Then they ran +down, as they had been directed, broke the ice in the pans and bathed +their faces. + +"Fine air," said Harry. + +"Yes, but too much of it," said Dalton. + +"Br-h-h-h-h, how it freezes me! Look at the icicles, George! I think +some new ones came to town last night! And what a cold river! I don't +believe there was ever a colder-looking river than the Rappahannock!" + +"And see the fogs and mists rising from it, too. It looks exactly as it +did the morning of the battle." + +"Let it look as it pleases," said Harry. "I'm going to make a dash for +the inside and a fire!" + +They found the colonels and the rest of the staff in the sitting-room, +all except two, who were acting as cooks, but their work ceased in a +moment or two, as breakfast was ready. It consisted of coffee and bread +and ham left over from the night before. A heap of timber glowed in +the fireplace and shot forth ruddy flames. Harry's soul fairly warmed +within him. + +"Sit down, all of you," said Colonel Talbot, "and we'll help one +another." + +They ate with the appetite of the soldier, and Colonel Talbot and +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, finishing first, withdrew to a wide +window seat. There they produced the board and box of chessmen and +proceeded to rearrange them exactly as they were before the battle of +Fredericksburg. + +"You will recall that your king was in great danger, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"Truly I do, Hector, but I do not think it beyond my power to rescue +him." + +"It will be a hard task, Leonidas." + +"Hector, I would have you to remember that I am an officer in the Army +of Northern Virginia, and the Army of Northern Virginia prefers hard +tasks to easy ones." + +"You put the truth happily, Leonidas, but I must insist that your +position is one of uncommon danger." + +"I recognize the fact fully, Hector, but I assert firmly that I will +rescue my red king." + +Harry, his part of the work finished, watched them. The two gray +heads bent lower and lower over the table until they almost touched. +Everybody maintained a respectful silence. Colonel Talbot's brow was +corded deeply with thought. It was a full quarter of an hour before +he made a move, and then his opponent looked surprised. + +"That does not seem to be your right move, Leonidas." + +"But it is, Hector, as you will see presently." + +"Very well. I will now choose my own course." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire's own brow became corded and knotted as +he put his whole mental energy upon the problem. Harry watched them +a little while, and then strolled over to the other window, where +St. Clair was looking at the ruined town. + +"Curious how people can find entertainment in so slow a game," he said, +nodding toward the two colonels. + +"That same game has been going on for more than a year," said St. Clair, +with a slight smile. "It's odd how something always breaks it up. +I wonder what it will be this time. But it's an intelligent game, +Harry." + +"I don't think a sport is intellectual, merely because it is slow." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire made a move, Colonel Leonidas Talbot made +another, and then promptly uttered a little cry of triumph. + +"My king is free! He is free! You made no royal capture, Hector!" +he exclaimed joyously. + +"It is so, Leonidas. I did not foresee your path of retreat. I must +enter upon a new campaign against you." + +Harry, who was looking toward the heights on the other side of the river, +saw a flash of flame and a puff of smoke. A rumbling noise came to him. + +"What is it, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"A Yankee cannon. I suppose it was telling us Christmas is over. +The ball struck somewhere in Fredericksburg." + +"A waste of good ammunition. Why, they've done all the damage to +Fredericksburg that they can do. It's your move, Hector." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire corded and knotted his brow again, +and once more the two heads nearly met over the chessboard. A whistling +sound suddenly came from the street without. Something struck with a +terrible impact, and then followed a blinding flash and roar. The whole +house shook and several of the men were thrown down, but in a half +minute they sprang to their feet. + +Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire were +standing erect, staring at each other. The chessmen were scattered on +the floor and the board was split in half. A fragment of the exploding +shell had entered the window and passing directly between them had done +the damage. The same piece had gone entirely through the opposite wall. + +Harry's quick glance told him that nothing had suffered except the +chessboard. He sprang forward, picked up the two halves, and said: + +"No real harm has been done. Two strips underneath, a few tacks, +and it's as good again as ever." + +The other lads carefully gathered up the scattered chessmen and +announced that not one of them was injured. + +"Thank you, boys," said Colonel Talbot. "It is a pleasing thing to see +that, despite the war, the young still show courtesy to their elders. +You will bear in mind, Hector, when this game is resumed at a proper +time and place, that the position of one of your knights was very +delicate." + +"Assuredly I will not forget it, Leonidas. It will be no trouble to +either of us to replace them exactly as they were at a moment's notice." + +Harry and Dalton were compelled now to return to General Jackson, +and they did so, after leaving many thanks with their generous hosts. +Heavy winter rains began. The country on both sides of the Rappahannock +became a vast sea of mud, and the soldiers had to struggle against all +the elements, because the rains were icy and the mud formed a crust +through which they broke in the morning. + +While they lingered here news came of the great battle in the West, +fought on the last day of the old year and the first day of the new, +along the banks of Stone River. Harry and his comrades looked for +a triumph there like that which they had won, and they were deeply +disappointed when they heard the result. + +Harry had a copy of a Richmond paper and he was reading from it to an +attentive circle, but he stopped to comment: + +"Ours was the smaller army, but we drove them back and held a part of +the field. Two or three days later we withdrew to Chattanooga. Well, +I don't call it much of a victory to thump your enemy and then go away, +leaving him in possession of the field." + +"But the enemy was a third more numerous than we were," said Happy Tom, +"and since it looks like a draw, so far as the fighting was concerned, +we, being the smaller, get the honors." + +"That's just the trouble," said Dalton gravely. "We are loaded down +with honors. Look at the great victories we've won in the East! +Has anything solid come of them? Here is the enemy on Virginia soil, +just as he was before. We've given the Army of the Potomac a terrible +thrashing at Fredericksburg, but there it is on the other side of the +Rappahannock, just as strong as ever, and maybe stronger, because they +say recruits are pouring into it." + +"Stop! Stop, Dalton!" said Happy Tom. "We don't want any lecture from +you. We're just having a conversation." + +"All right," said Dalton, laughing, "but I gave you my opinion." + +Days of comparative idleness followed. The Army of the Potomac moved +farther up the river and settled itself around the village of Falmouth. +The Army of Northern Virginia faced it, and along the hillsides the +young Southern soldiers erected sign posts, on the boards of which were +painted, in letters large enough for the Union glasses to see, the +derisive words: + + THIS WAY TO RICHMOND + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JEB STUART'S BALL + + + + +But Hooker, the new Northern commander, did not yet move. The chief +cause was mud. The winter having been very cold in the first half, +was very rainy in the second half. The numerous brooks and creeks and +smaller rivers remained flooded beyond their banks, and the Rappahannock +flowed a swollen and mighty stream. Ponds and little lakes stood +everywhere. Roads had been destroyed by the marching of mighty masses +and the rolling of thousands of heavy wheels. Horses often sank nearly +to the knee when they trod new paths through the muddy fields. There +was mud, mud everywhere. + +Hooker, moreover, was confronted by a long line of earthworks and other +intrenchments, extending for twenty miles along the Rappahannock, +and defended by the victors of Fredericksburg. After that disastrous +day the Northern masses at home were not so eager for a battle. The +country realized that it was not well to rush a foe, led by men like +Lee and Jackson. + +But Hooker was a brave and confident man. The North, always ready, +was sending forward fresh troops, and when he crossed the Rappahannock, +as he intended to do, he would have more men and more guns than Burnside +had led when he attacked the blazing heights of Fredericksburg. Lincoln +and Stanton, warned too by the great disasters through their attempts to +manage armies in the field from the Capitol, were giving Hooker a freer +hand. + +On the other hand, the Confederate president and his cabinet suddenly +curtailed Lee's plans. A fourth of his veterans under Longstreet were +drawn off to meet a flank attack of other Northern forces which seemed +to be threatened upon Richmond. Lee was left with only sixty thousand +men to face Hooker's growing odds. + +It was not any wonder that the spirits of the Southern lads sank +somewhat. Harry realized more fully every day that it was not +sufficient for them merely to defeat the Northern armies. They must +destroy them. The immense patriotism of those who fought for the Union +always filled up their depleted ranks and more, and they were getting +better generals all the time. Hancock and Reynolds and many another +were rising to fame in the east. + +The Invincibles were posted nearly opposite Falmouth, and Harry had many +chances to see them. On his second visit the chessboard was mended so +perfectly that the split was not visible, and the two colonels sat down +to finish their game. Fifteen minutes later a dispatch from General +Jackson to Colonel Leonidas Talbot arrived, telling him to leave at once +by the railway in the Confederate rear for Richmond. President Davis +wished detailed information from him about the fortifications along the +coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina, which were now heavily +threatened by the enemy. + +The two colonels had not made a move, but Colonel Leonidas Talbot rose, +buttoned every button of his neat tunic, and said in precise tones: + +"Hector, I depart in a half hour. You will, of course, have command +of the regiment in my absence, and if any young lieutenants should be +exceedingly obstreperous in the course of that time, perhaps I can prove +to them that they are not as old as they think they are." + +The colonel's severity of tone was belied by a faint twinkle in the +corner of his eye, and the lads knew that they had nothing to fear, +especially as Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire was quite as stern and +able a guardian as Colonel Talbot. + +Colonel Talbot departed, good wishes following him in a shower, and that +day a young officer arrived from South Carolina and took a place in the +Invincibles that had been made vacant by death. + +Harry was still with his friends when this officer arrived, and the tall, +slender figure and dark face of the man seemed familiar to him. A +little thought recalled where he had first seen that eager gesture and +the manner so intense that it betrayed an excessive enthusiasm. But +when Harry did remember him he remembered him well. + +"How do you do, Captain Bertrand?" he said--the man wore the uniform of +a captain. + +Bertrand stared at Harry, and then he gradually remembered. It was +not strange that he was puzzled at first, as in the two years that +had passed since Bertrand was in Colonel Kenton's house at Pendleton, +Harry had grown much larger and more powerful, and was deeply tanned by +all kinds of weather. But when he did recall him his greeting was full +of warmth. + +"Ah, now I know!" he exclaimed. "It is Harry Kenton, the son of Colonel +George Kenton! And we held that meeting at your father's house on the +eve of the war! And then we went up to Frankfort, and we did not take +Kentucky out of the Union." + +"No, we didn't," said Harry with a laugh. "Captain Bertrand, Lieutenant +St. Clair and Lieutenant Langdon." + +But Bertrand had known them both in Charleston, and he shook their hands +with zeal and warmth, showing what Harry thought--as he had thought the +first time he saw him--an excess of manner. + +"We've a fine big dry place under this tree," said St. Clair. "Let's +sit down and talk. You're the new Captain in our regiment, are you not?" + +"Yes," replied Bertrand. "I've just come from Richmond, where I met my +chief, that valiant man, Colonel Leonidas Talbot. I have been serving +mostly on the coast of the Carolinas, and when I asked to be sent to the +larger theater of war they very naturally assigned me to one of my own +home regiments. Alas! there is plenty of room for me and many more in +the ranks of the Invincibles." + +"We have been well shot up, that's true," said Langdon, whom nothing +could depress more than a minute, "but we've put more than a million +Yankees out of the running." + +"How are your Knights of the Golden Circle getting on?" asked Harry. + +Bertrand flushed a little, despite his swarthiness. + +"Not very well, I fear," he replied. "It has taken us longer to conquer +the Yankees than we thought." + +"I don't see that we've begun to conquer them as a people or a section," +said St. Clair, who was always frank and direct. "We've won big +victories, but just look and you'll see 'em across the river there, +stronger and more numerous than ever, and that, too, on the heels of the +big defeat they sustained at Fredericksburg. And, if you'll pardon me, +Captain, I don't believe much in the great slave empire that the Knights +of the Golden Circle planned." + +Bertrand's black eyes flashed. + +"And why not?" he asked sharply. + +"To take Cuba and Mexico would mean other wars, and if we took them we'd +have other kinds of people whom we'd have to hold in check with arms. +A fine mess we'd make of it, and we haven't any right to jump on Cuba +and Mexico, anyway. I've got a far better plan." + +"And what is that?" asked Bertrand, with an increasing sharpness of +manner. + +"The North means to free our slaves. We'll defeat the North and show to +her that she can't. Then we'll free 'em ourselves." + +"Free them ourselves!" exclaimed Bertrand. "What are we fighting for +but the right to hold our own property?" + +"I didn't understand it exactly that way. It seems to me that we went +to war to defend the right of a state to go out of the Union when it +pleases." + +"I tell you, this war is being fought to establish our title to our own." + +"It's all right, so we fight well," said Harry, who saw Bertrand's +rising color and who believed him to be tinged with fanaticism; "it's +all that can be asked of us. After Happy Tom sleeps in the White House +with his boots on, as he says he's going to do, we can decide, each +according to his own taste, what he was fighting for." + +"I've known all the time what was in my mind," said Bertrand +emphatically. "Of course, the extension of the new republic toward +the north will be cut off by the Yankees. Then its expansion must be +southward, and that means in time the absorption of Mexico, all the +West Indies, and probably Central America." + +St. Clair was about to retort, but Harry gave him a warning look and he +contented himself with rolling into a little easier position. Harry +foresaw that these two South Carolinians would not be friends, and in +any event he hated fruitless political discussions. + +Bertrand excused himself presently and went away. + +"Arthur," said Harry, "I wouldn't argue with him. He's a captain in the +Invincibles now, and you're a lieutenant. It's in his power to make +trouble for you." + +"You're not appealing to any emotion in me that might bear the name of +fear, are you, Harry?" + +"You know I'm not. Why argue with a man who has fire on the brain? +Although he's older than you, Arthur, he hasn't got as good a rein on +his temper." + +"You can't resist flattery like that, can you, Arthur? I know I +couldn't," said Happy Tom, grinning his genial grin. + +St. Clair's face relaxed. + +"You're right, fellows," he said. "We oughtn't to be quarreling among +ourselves when there are so many Yankees to fight." + +Mail forwarded from Richmond was distributed in the camp the next day +and Harry was in the multitude gathered about the officers distributing +it. The delivery of the mail was always a stirring event in either army, +and as the war rolled on it steadily increased in importance. + +There were men in this very group who had not heard from home since they +left it two years before, and there were letters for men who would never +receive them. The letters were being given out at various points, +but where Harry stood a major was calling them in a loud, clear voice. + +"John Escombe, Field's brigade." + +Escombe, deeply tanned and twenty-two, ran forward and received a thick +letter addressed in a woman's handwriting, that of his mother, and, +amid cheering at his luck, disappeared in the crowd. + +"Thomas Anderson, Gregg's brigade. Girl's handwriting, too. Lucky boy, +Tom." + +"Hey, Tom, open it and show it to us! Maybe her picture's inside it! +I'll bet she's got red hair!" + +But Tom fled, blushing, and opened his letter when he was at a safe +distance. + +"Carlton Ives, Thomas' brigade." + +"In hospital, Major, but I'll take the letter to him. He's in my +company." + +"Stephen Brayton, Lane's brigade." + +There was a silence for a moment, and then some one said: + +"Dead, at Antietam, sir." + +The major put the letter on one side, and called: + +"Thomas Langdon, the Invincibles." + +Langdon darted forward and seized his letter. + +"It's from my father," he said as he glanced at the superscription, +although it was half hidden from him by a mist that suddenly appeared +before his eyes. + +"Here, Tom, stand behind us and read it," said Harry, who was waiting in +an anxiety that was positively painful for a letter to himself. + +"Henry Lawton, Pender's brigade," called the major. "This is from a +girl, too, and there is a photograph inside. I can feel it. Wish I +could get such a letter myself, Henry." + +Lawton, his letter in his hand, retreated rapidly amid envious cheers. + +"Charles Carson, Lane's brigade." + +"Dead at Fredericksburg, sir; I helped to bury him." + +"Thomas Carstairs, Field's brigade." + +"Killed at the Second Manassas, sir." + +"Richard Graves, Archer's brigade." + +"Died in hospital after Antietam, sir." + +"David Moulton, Field's brigade." + +"Killed nearly a year ago, in the valley, sir." + +"William Fitzpatrick, Lane's brigade." + +"Taken prisoner at Antietam. Not yet exchanged, sir." + +"Herbert Jones, Pender's brigade." + +"Killed at South Mountain, sir." + +Harry felt a little shiver. The list of those who would never receive +their letters was growing too long. But this delivery of the mail +seemed to run in streaks. Presently it found a streak of the living. +It was a great mail that came that day, the largest the army had yet +received, but the crowd, hungry for a word from home, did not seem to +diminish. The ring continually pressed a little closer. + +St. Clair received two letters, and, a long while afterwards, there was +one for Dalton, who, however, had not been so long a time without news, +as the battlefield was his own state, Virginia. Harry watched them with +an envy that he tried to keep down, and after a while he saw that the +heap of letters was becoming very small. + +His anxiety became so painful that it was hard to bear. He knew that +his father had been in the thick of the great battle at Stone River, +but not a word from him or about him had ever come. No news in this +case was bad news. If he were alive he would certainly write, and there +was Confederate communication between Eastern Tennessee and Northern +Virginia. + +It was thus with a sinking heart that he watched the diminishing heap. +Many of the disappointed ones had already gone away, hopeless, and Harry +felt like following them, but the major picked up a thick letter in a +coarse brown envelope and called: + +"Lieutenant Henry Kenton, staff of Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan +Jackson." + +Harry sprang forward and seized his letter. Then he found a place +behind a big tree, where St. Clair, Langdon and Dalton were reading +theirs, and opened it. He had already seen that the address was in his +father's handwriting and he believed that he was alive. The letter +must have been written after the battle of Stone River or it would have +arrived earlier. He took a hurried glance at the date and saw that it +was near the close of January, at least three weeks after the battle. +Then all apprehension was gone. + +It was a long letter, dated from headquarters near Chattanooga, +Tennessee. Colonel Kenton had just heard of the battle of Fredericksburg +and he was rejoicing in the glorious victory. He hoped and believed +that his son had passed through it safely. The Southern army had not +been so successful in the west as in the east, but he believed that they +had met tougher antagonists there, the men of the west and northwest, +used to all kinds of hardships, and, alas! their own Kentuckians. +At both Perryville and Stone River they had routed the antagonists +who met them first, but they had been stopped by their own brethren. + +Harry smiled and murmured to himself: + +"You can never put down dad's state pride. With him the Kentuckians are +always first." + +He had a good deal of this state pride himself, although in a less +accentuated form, and, after the momentary thought, he went on. The +colonel was looking for a letter from his son--Harry had written twice +since Fredericksburg, and he knew now that the letters would arrive +safely. He himself had been wounded slightly in a skirmish just after +Stone River, but he was now entirely well. The Southern forces were +gathering and General Bragg would have a great army with which they +were confident of winning a victory like that of the Second Manassas or +Fredericksburg. He was glad that his son was on the staff of so great a +genius as General Jackson and that he was also under the command of that +other great genius, Lee. + +Harry stopped reading for a moment or two and smiled with satisfaction. +The impression that Lee and Jackson had made upon the South was as +great in the west as in the east. The hero-worship which the fiery and +impressionable South gives in such unstinted measure to these two men +had begun already. Harry was glad that his father recognized the great +Virginians so fully, men who allied with genius temperate and lofty +lives. + +He resumed his reading, but the remainder of the letter was occupied +with personal details. The colonel closed with some good advice to his +son about caring for himself on the march and in camp, drawn from his +own experience both in the Mexican war and the present strife. + +Harry read his letter three times. Then he folded it carefully and put +it in an inside pocket of his tunic. + +"Is it good news, Harry?" asked Happy Tom, who had already finished with +his own letter. + +"Yes, it's cheerful." + +"So's mine. I'm glad to hear that your father's all right. Mine didn't +go to the war. I wish you could meet my father, Harry. I get my +cheerful disposition and my good manners from him. When the war was +about to begin and I went over to Charleston in about the most splendid +uniform that was ever created, he said: 'You fellows will get licked +like thunder, and maybe you'll deserve it. As for you, you'll probably +get a part of your fool head shot off, but it's so thick and hard that +it will be a benefit to you to lose some of it and have the rest opened +up. But remember, Tom, whenever you do come back, no matter how many +legs and arms and portions of your head you've left behind, there'll be +a welcome in the old house for you. You're the fatted calf, but you're +sure to come back a lot leaner and maybe with more sense.'" + +"He certainly talked to you straight." + +"So he did, Harry; but those words were not nearly so rough as they +sound, because when I came away I saw tears in his eyes. Father's a +smart man, a money-maker as good as the Yankees themselves. He's got +sea island cotton in warehouses in more than one place along the coast, +and he writes me that he's already selling it to the blockade runners +for unmentionable prices in British and French gold. Harry, if your +fortunes are broken up by the war, you and your father will have to come +down and share with us." + +"Thanks for your invitation, Tom; but from what you say about your +father we'd be about as welcome as a bear in a kitchen." + +"Don't you believe it. You come." + +"Arthur, what do you hear?" asked Harry. + +"My people are well and they're sending me a lot of things. My mother +has put in the pack a brand new uniform. She sewed on the gold lace +herself. I hope the next battle won't be fought before it gets here." + +"Impossible," said Harry gravely. "General Hooker is too polite a man +to push us before Lieutenant St. Clair receives his new clothes." + +"I hope so," said St. Clair seriously. + +The new uniform, in fact, came a few days later, and as it even exceeded +its promise, St. Clair was thoroughly happy. Harry also received a +second letter from Colonel Kenton, telling of the receipt of his own, +and wishing him equally good fortune in the new battle which they in the +west heard was impending in the east. + +Harry believed they would surely close with Hooker soon. They had been +along the Rappahannock for many weeks now, and the winter of cold rain +had not yet broken up, but spring could not be far away. Meanwhile he +was drawn closer than ever to Jackson, his great commander, and was +almost constantly in his service. + +It was, perhaps, the difference in their natures that made the +hero-worship in the boy so strong. Jackson was quiet, reserved and +deeply religious. Harry was impulsive, physically restless, and now and +then talkative, as the young almost always are. Jackson's impassive +face and the few words--but always to the point--that he spoke, +impressed him. In his opinion now Stonewall Jackson could do no wrong +nor make any mistake of judgment. + +The months had not been unpleasant. The Southern army was recuperating +from great battles, and, used to farm or forest life, the soldiers +easily made shelter for themselves against the rain and mud. The +Southern pickets along the river also established good relations with +the pickets on the other side. Why not? They were of the same blood +and the same nation. There was no battle now, and what was the use of +sneaking around like an Indian, trying to kill somebody who was doing +you no harm? That was assassination, not war. + +The officers winked at this borderline friendship. A Yankee picket in +a boat near the left shore could knot a newspaper into a tight wad and +throw it to the Johnny Reb picket in another boat near the right bank, +and there were strong-armed Johnny Reb pickets who could throw a hunk +of chewing tobacco all the way to the Yankee side. Already they were +sowing the seeds of a good will which should follow a mighty war. + +Harry often went to the bank on the warmer and more sunny days and +leisurely watched the men on the other side. St. Clair, Langdon and +Dalton usually joined him, if their duties allowed. It was well into +March, a dry and warm day, when they sat on a little hillock and gazed +at four of the men in blue who were fishing from a small boat near their +shore. St. Clair was the last to join the little party, and when he +came he was greeted with a yell by the men on the left bank. One of +them put up his hands, trumpet-shaped, to his mouth and called: + +"Is that President Davis who has just joined you?" + +"No," replied Harry, using his hands in like fashion. "What makes you +think so?" + +"Because Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like him. I've got +to put my hands over my eyes to protect them from the blaze of that +uniform." + +St. Clair, who wore his new uniform, which was modelled somewhat after +the brilliant fashion of Stuart's, smiled with content. He was making a +great hit. + +"You can do all the talking, Harry," he said. + +"As I told you, he isn't President Davis," Harry called, "but he's sure, +when he's old enough, to be one of his successors." + +"Bet you a dollar, Johnny Reb, that President Davis has no successor." + +"Take you, Yank, and I'll collect that bet from you when I ride down +Pennsylvania Avenue in my Confederate uniform at the head of the Army +of Northern Virginia." + +"Oh, no, you won't; you'll pay it to me before the State House in +Richmond, with the Army of the Potomac looking on and the Stars and +Stripes waving gracefully over your head." + +"Both of you are betting on things too far off," said Langdon, who could +keep out of the conversation no longer. "I'll bet you two dollars that +not one of those four men in the boat catches a fish inside of ten +minutes." + +"In Confederate bills or in money?" was called back. + +Roars of laughter, from both sides of the Rappahannock, crossed one +another above the middle of the stream. + +"What's this?" exclaimed a sharp voice behind the four. "Conversation +with the enemy! It's against all the rules of war!" + +They looked around and saw Bertrand, his face flushed and his eyes +sparkling. Harry leaned back lazily, but St. Clair spoke up quickly. + +"We've been having conversations off and on with the enemy for two +years," he said. "We've had some mighty hot talks with bullets and +cannon balls, and some not so hot with words. Just now we were having +one of the class labelled 'not so hot.'" + +"What's the matter with you Johnnies?" was called across. "You've +broken off the talk just when it was getting interesting. Are you going +to back out on that bet? We thought you had better manners. We know +you have." + +"You're right, we have," said St. Clair, shouting across the stream, +"but we were interrupted by a man who hasn't." + +"Oh, is that so?" was called back. "If you've troubles of your own, +we won't interfere. We'll just look on." + +Bertrand was pallid with rage. + +"I'm a captain in the Invincibles, Mr. St. Clair," he said, "and you're +only a lieutenant. You'll return to your regiment at once and prepare +a written apology to me for the words that you've just used to those +Yankees." + +"Oh, no, I won't do either," drawled St. Clair purposely. "It is true +that a captain outranks a lieutenant, but you're a company commander and +I'm a staff officer. I take no orders from you." + +"Nevertheless you have insulted me, and there is another and perhaps +better way to settle it." + +He significantly touched the hilt of his sword. + +"Oh, if you mean a duel, it suits me well enough," said St. Clair, +who was an expert with the sword. + +"Early to-morrow morning in the woods back of this point?" + +"Suits me." + +"Your seconds?" + +Then Harry jumped to his feet in a mighty wrath and indignation. + +"There won't be any duel! And there won't be any seconds!" he exclaimed. + +"Why not?" asked Bertrand, his face livid. + +"Because I won't allow it." + +"How can you help it?" + +"It's a piece of thunderation foolishness! Two good Southern soldiers +trying to kill each other, when they've sworn to use all their efforts +killing Yankees. It's a breach of faith and it's silliness on its own +account. You've received the hospitality of my father's house, Captain +Bertrand, and he's helped you and been kind to you elsewhere. You owe +me enough at least to listen to me. Unless I get the promise of you two +to drop this matter, I swear I'll go straight to General Jackson and +tell all about it. He'll save you the trouble of shooting each other. +He'll have you shot together. You needn't frown, either of you. +It's not much fun breaking the rules of a Presbyterian elder who is also +one of the greatest generals the world has ever seen." + +"You're talking sound sense, Harry," said Happy Tom, an unexpected ally. +"I've several objections to this duel myself. We'll need both of these +men for the great battle with Hooker. Arthur would be sure to wear his +new uniform, and a bullet hole through it would go far toward spoiling +it. Besides, there's nothing to fight about. And if they did fight, +I'd hate to see the survivor standing up before one of Old Jack's firing +squads and then falling before it. You go to General Jackson, Harry, +and I'll go along with you, seconding every word you say. Shut up, +Arthur; if you open your mouth again I'll roll you and your new uniform +in the mud down there. You know I can do it." + +"But such conduct would be unparalleled," said Bertrand. + +"I don't care a whoop if it is," said Harry, who had been taught by his +father to look upon the duel as a wicked proceeding. "General Jackson +wouldn't tolerate such a thing, and in his command what he says is the +Ten Commandments. Isn't that so, Dalton?" + +"Undoubtedly, and you can depend upon me as a third to you and Happy +Tom." + +"Now, Captain," continued Harry soothingly, "just forget this, won't +you? Both of you are from South Carolina and you ought to be good +friends." + +"So far as I'm concerned, it's finished," said St. Clair. + +But Bertrand turned upon his heel without a word and walked away. + +"Hey, there, you Johnnies!" came a loud hail from the other side of +the river. "What's the matter with your friend who's just gone away? +I was watching with glasses, and he didn't look happy." + +"He had a nightmare and he hasn't fully recovered from it yet." + +There was a sudden tremendous burst of cheering behind them. + +"On your feet, boys!" exclaimed Happy Tom, glancing back. "Here comes +Old Jack on one of his tours of inspection." + +Jackson was riding slowly along near the edge of the river. He could +never appear without rolling cheers from the thirty thousand veteran +troops who were eager to follow wherever he led. The mighty cheering +swept back and forth in volumes, and when a lull came, one among their +friends, the Yankee pickets on the other side of the river, called at +the top of his voice: + +"Hey, Johnnies, what's the racket about?" + +"It's Stonewall Jackson!" Harry roared back, pointing to the figure on +the horse. + +Then, to the amazement of all, a sudden burst of cheering came from the +far bank of the Rappahannock, followed by the words, shouted in chorus: +"Hurrah for Stonewall Jackson! Hurrah for Jackson!" Thus did the +gallant Northern troops show their admiration for their great enemy +whose genius had defeated them so often. Some riflemen among them lying +among the bushes at the water's edge might have picked him off, but no +such thought entered the mind of anyone. + +Jackson flushed at the compliment from the foe, but rode quietly on, +until he disappeared among some woods on the left. + +"We'd better be going back to headquarters," said Harry to Dalton. +"It'll be wise for us to be there when the general arrives." + +"That's right, lazy little boys," said Happy Tom. "Wash your faces, +run to school, and be all bright and clean when teacher comes." + +"It's what we mean to do," said Harry, "and if Arthur says anything +more about this silly dueling business, send for us. We'll come back, +and we three together will pound his foolish head so hard that he won't +be able to think about anything at all for a year to come." + +"I'll behave," said St. Clair, "but you fellows look to Bertrand." + +Dalton and Harry walked to the headquarters of their general, who now +occupied what had been a hunting lodge standing in the grounds of a +large mansion. The whole place, the property of an orderly in his +service, had been offered to him, but he would only take the hunting +lodge, saying that he would not clutter up so fine and large a house. + +Now Harry and Dalton walked across the lawn, which was beginning to turn +green, and paused for a little while under the budding boughs of the +great trees. The general had not yet arrived, but the rolling cheers +never ceasing, but coming nearer, indicated that he would soon be at +hand. + +"A man must feel tremendous pride when his very appearance draws such +cheers from his men," said Harry. + +The lawn was not cut up by the feet of horses--Jackson would not allow +it. Everything about the house and grounds was in the neatest order. +Beside the hunting lodge stood a great tent, in which his staff messed. + +"Were you here the day General Jackson came to these quarters, Harry?" +asked Dalton. + +"No, I was in service at the bank of the river, carrying some message or +other. I've forgotten what it was." + +"Well, I was. We didn't know where we were going to stay, and a lady +came from the big house here down to the edge of the woods, where we +were still sitting on our horses. 'Is this General Jackson?' asked she. +'It is, madame,' he replied, lifting his hat politely. 'My husband owns +this house,' she said, pointing toward it, 'and we will feel honored and +glad if you will occupy it as your headquarters while you are here.' +He thanked her and said he'd ride forward with a cavalry orderly and +inspect the place. The rest of us waited while he and the orderly rode +into the grounds, the lady going on ahead. + +"The general wouldn't take the house. He said he didn't like to see so +fine a place trodden up by young men in muddy military boots. Besides, +he and his staff would disturb the inmates, and he didn't want that to +happen. At last he picked the hunting lodge, and as he and the orderly +rode back through the gate to the grounds, the orderly said: 'General, +do you feel wholly pleased with what you have chosen?' 'It suits me +entirely,' replied General Jackson. 'I'm going to make my headquarters +in that hunting lodge.' 'I'm very glad of that, sir, very glad indeed.' +'Why?' asked General Jackson. 'Because it's my house,' replied the +orderly, 'and my wife and I would have felt greatly disappointed if you +had gone elsewhere.'" + +"And so all this splendid place belongs to an orderly?" said Harry. + +"Funny you didn't hear that story," said Dalton. "Most of us have, +but I suppose everybody took it for granted that you knew it. As you +say, that grand place belongs to one of our orderlies. After all, +we're a citizen army, just as the great Roman armies when they were +at their greatest were citizen armies, too." + +"Ah, here comes the general now," said Harry, "and he looks embarrassed, +as he always does after so much cheering. A stranger would think from +the way he acts that he's the least conspicuous of our generals, and if +you read the reports of his victories you'd think that he had less than +anybody else to do with them." + +General Jackson, followed by an orderly, cantered up. The orderly took +the horse and the general went into the house, followed by the two young +staff officers. They knew that he was likely to plunge at once into +work, and were ready to do any service he needed. + +"I don't think I'll want you boys," said the general in his usual kindly +tone, "at least not for some time. So you can go out and enjoy the +sunshine and warmth, of which we have had so little for a long time." + +"Thank you, sir," said Harry, but he added hastily: + +"Here come some officers, sir." + +Jackson glanced through the window of the hunting lodge and caught sight +of a waving plume, just as its wearer passed through the gate. + +"That's Stuart," he said, with an attempt at severity in his tone, +although his smiling eye belied it. "I suppose I might as well defer my +work if Jeb Stuart is coming to see me. Stay with me, lads, and help me +to entertain him. You know Stuart is nothing but a joyous boy--younger +than either of you, although he is one of the greatest cavalry leaders +of modern times." + +Harry and Dalton were more than willing to remain. Everybody was always +glad when Jeb Stuart came. Now he was in his finest mood, and he and +the two staff officers with him rode at a canter. They leaped from +their horses at Jackson's door, throwing the reins over their necks and +leaving them to the orderly. Then they entered boldly, Stuart leading. +He was the only man in the whole Southern army who took liberties with +Jackson, although his liberties were always of the inoffensive kind. + +If St. Clair was gorgeous in his new clothes, he would have been pale +beside Stuart, who also had new raiment. A most magnificent feather +looped and draped about his gold-braided hat. His uniform, of the +finest cloth, was heavy with gold braid and gold epaulets, and the great +yellow silk sash about his waist supported his gold-hilted sword. + +"What new and splendid species of bird is this?" asked General Jackson, +as Stuart and his men saluted. "I have never before seen such grand +plumage." + +Stuart complacently stroked the gold braid on his left sleeve and +looked about the hunting lodge, the walls of which had been decorated +accordingly long since by its owner. + +"Splendid picture this of a race horse, General," he said, "and the one +of the trotter in action is almost as fine. Ah, sir, I knew there were +good sporting instincts in you and that they would come out in time. +I approve of it myself, but what will the members of your church say, +sir, when they hear of your moral decline?" + +Jackson actually blushed and remained silent under the chaff. + +"And here is a picture of a greyhound, and here of a terrier," continued +the bold Stuart. "Oh, General, you're not only going in for racing, +but for coursing dogs as well, and maybe fighting dogs, too! Throughout +the South all the old ladies look up to you as our highest moral +representative. What will they think when they hear of these things? +It would be worse than a great battle lost." + +"General Stuart," said Jackson, "I know more about race horses than you +think I do." + +He would add no more, but Harry had learned that, when quite a small boy, +he had ridden horses in backwoods races for a sport-loving uncle. +But Stuart continued his jests and Jackson secretly enjoyed them. +The two men were so opposite in nature that they were complements and +each liked the society of the other. + +The two lads and the staff officers went outside presently, and the two +generals were left together to talk business for a quarter of an hour. +When Stuart emerged he glanced at Harry and Dalton and beckoned to them. +When they came up he had mounted, but he leaned over, and pointing a +long finger in a buckskin glove in turn at each, he said: + +"Can you dance?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Harry. + +"And you, Sir Knight of the Sober Mien?" + +"I can try, sir," said Dalton. + +"But can you make it a good try?" + +"I can, sir." + +"That's the right spirit. Well, there's going to be a ball down at +my headquarters to-night; not a little, two-penny, half-penny affair, +but a real ball, a grand ball. The bands of the Fifth Virginia and of +the Acadians will be there to play, alternating. You're invited and +you're coming. I've already obtained leave from General Jackson for you +both. I wish the general himself would come, but he's just received a +theological book that Dr. Graham at Winchester has sent him, and he's +bound to spend most of the night on that. Put on your best uniforms and +be there just after dark." + +Harry and Dalton accepted eagerly, and Stuart, a genuine knight of old +alike in his courage and love of adornment, rode out of the grounds. + +"There goes a man who certainly loves life," said Dalton. + +"And don't you love it, and don't I love it, Mr. Philosopher and Cynic?" +said Harry. + +"So we do. But, as General Jackson said, General Stuart is a boy, +younger than either of us." + +"I hope to be the same kind of a boy when I'm his age." + +Stuart was riding on, looking about with a luminous eye, fired by +the spirit within him and the great landscape spread out before him. +It was a noble landscape, the wooded ranges stretching to right and left, +with the long sweep of rolling country between. The somber ruins of +Fredericksburg were hidden from view just then, but in front of him +flowed the great Rappahannock, still black with floods and ice yet +floating near the banks. + +Stuart drew a deep breath. It was a beautiful part of Virginia, old and +with many fine manor houses scattered about. And the people, educated, +polite, accustomed to everything, gladly sacrificed all they had for the +Confederacy in its hour of need. They had cut up their rugs and carpets +and sent them to the great camp on the Rappahannock that the soldiers +who had no blankets might use them. The cattle and poultry from the +rich farms were also sent to Lee's men. Virginia sacrificed herself for +the Confederate cause with a devotion that would have brought tears from +a stone. + +Some such thoughts as these were in the mind of Stuart as he rode toward +his own camp. There was a mist for a few moments before the eyes of the +great horseman, but as it cleared he became once more his natural self, +the gayest of the gay. He hummed joyously as he rode along, and the +refrain of his song was: "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" + +Harry and Dalton had gone back to the big mess tent and were already +arraying themselves with the utmost care for Jeb Stuart's ball. Their +clothes were in good condition now. After the long rest they had been +able to brush and furbish up their best uniforms, until they were both +neat and bright. They had no thought of rivalling St. Clair, who +undoubtedly would be there, but they were satisfied--they never expected +to rival St. Clair in that respect. But they were splendid youths, fine, +tall, upstanding, and with frank eyes and tanned faces. + +"Will many girls be there?" asked Dalton. + +"Of course. They'll come in from all the country around to be at Jeb +Stuart's ball. I wish we could invite a few of the Yankees over to see +what girls we have in Virginia." + +"That would be fine, but Hooker wouldn't let 'em, and Lee and Jackson +would certainly disapprove." + +Harry and Dalton started at twilight, and on their way they met Captain +Sherburne, who was bound for the same place. The captain was pretty +fond of good dress himself, and he, too, had a new uniform, perhaps not +so bright as St. Clair's, but fine and vivid, nevertheless. + +"Well, well," said Harry, as he greeted him heartily. "You've got a lot +of shine about you, but you just watch out for St. Clair. He's sure +to be there, and he has a new uniform straight from Charleston. He's +making the most of it, too. Now may be the time to settle that +sartorial rivalry between you." + +"All right," said Sherburne joyously. "I'm ready. Come on." + +The house, a large one standing in ample grounds, was already lighted as +brilliantly as time and circumstances afforded. It is true that most +of these lights were of home-made tallow candles, because no other +illumination was to be had, and they made a brave show to these soldiers +who were used so long only to the light of their fires and the moon and +stars. + +Before these lights people were passing and repassing, and the sounds +of pleasant voices reached their ears. But they were stopped by four +figures just emerging from the shadows. The four were Colonel Leonidas +Talbot, just returned from Richmond, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, +Lieutenant Arthur St. Clair, and Lieutenant Thomas Langdon, all arrayed +with great care and bearing themselves haughtily. Sherburne and +St. Clair cast quick glances at each other. But each remained content, +because the taste of each was gratified. + +The meeting was most friendly. Harry and Dalton were very glad to see +Colonel Talbot, whom they had missed very much, but Harry detected at +once a note of anxiety in the voice of each colonel. + +"Hector," said Colonel Talbot, "I shall certainly dance. What, go +to Jeb Stuart's ball and not dance, when the fair and bright young +womanhood of Virginia is present? And I a South Carolinian! What +would they think of my gallantry, Hector, if I did not?" + +"It is certainly fitting, Leonidas. I used to be a master myself of +all the steps, waltz and gavotte and the Virginia reel and the others. +Once, when I was only twenty, I went to New Orleans to visit my cousins, +the de Crespignys, and many of them there were, four brothers, with +seven or eight children apiece, mostly girls; and 'pon my soul, Leonidas, +for the two months I was gone I did little but dance. What else could +one do when he had about twenty girl cousins, all of dancing age? +We danced in New Orleans and we danced out on the great plantation of +Louis de Crespigny, the oldest of the brothers, and all the neighbors +for miles around danced with us. There was one of my cousins, a third +cousin only she was, Flora de Crespigny, just seventeen years of age, +but a beautiful girl, Leonidas, a most beautiful girl--they ripen fast +down there. Once at the de Crespigny plantation I danced all day and +all the night following, mostly with her. Young Gerard de Langeais, +her betrothed, was furious with jealousy, and just after the dawn, +neither of us having yet slept, we fought with swords behind the live +oaks. I was not in love with Flora and she was not in love with me, +but de Langeais thought we were, and would not listen to my claim of +kinship. + +"I received a glorious little scratch on my left side and he suffered an +equally glorious little puncture in his right arm. The seconds declared +enough. Then we fell into the arms of each other and became friends for +life. A year later I went back to New Orleans, and I was the best man +at the wedding of Gerard and Flora, one of the happiest and handsomest +pairs I ever saw, God bless 'em. Their third son, Julien, is in a +regiment in the command of Longstreet, and when I look at him I see both +his father and his mother, at whose wedding I danced again for a whole +day and night. But now, Leonidas, I fear that my knees are growing a +little stiff, and think of our age, Leonidas!" + +"Age! age! Hector Lucien Philip Etienne St. Hilaire, how dare you talk +of age! Your years are exactly the same as mine, and I can outride, +outwalk, outdance, and, if need be, make love better than any of these +young cubs who are with us. I am astonished at you, Hector! Why, +it's been only a few years since you and I were boys. We've scarcely +entered the prime of life, and we'll show 'em at Jeb Stuart's ball!" + +"That's so, Leonidas, and you do well to rebuke me," and Lieutenant- +Colonel Hector St. Hilaire puffed out his chest--he was, in fact, +a fine figure of a man. "We'll go to Jeb Stuart's ball, as you say, +and in the presence of the Virginia fair show everybody what real men +are." + +"And we'll be glad to see you do it, Colonel," said Sherburne. + +The dancing had not yet begun, but as they entered the grounds the +Acadian band swung into the air of the Marseillaise, playing the grand +old Revolutionary tune with all the spirit and fervor with which +Frenchmen must have first played and sung it. Then it swung into +the soul-stirring march of Dixie, and a wild shout, which was partly +feminine, came from the house. + +The two colonels had walked on ahead, leaving the young officers +together. Langdon caught sight of a figure standing before an open door, +with a fire blazing in a large fireplace serving as a red background. +That background was indeed so brilliant that every external detail of +the figure could be seen. Langdon, stopping, pulled hard on the arms +of Harry and Sherburne. + +"Halt all!" he said, "and tell me if in very truth I see what I see!" + +"Go on!" said St. Clair. + +"Item No. one, a pink dress of some gauzy, filmy stuff, with ruffle +after ruffle around the skirt." + +"Correct." + +"Item No. two, a pink slipper made of silk, perchance, with the toe of +it just showing beyond the hem of the skirt." + +"You observe well, my lord." + +"Item three, a fair and slim white hand, and a round and beautiful +wrist." + +"Correct. Again thou observest well, Sir Launcelot." + +"Item four, a rosy young face which the firelight makes more rosy, +and a crown of golden hair, which this same firelight turns to deeper +gold." + +"Correct, ye Squire of Fair Ladies; and now, lead on!" + +They entered the great house and found it already filled with officers +and women, most of whom were young. The visitors had brought with them +the best supplies that the farms could furnish, turkeys, chickens, hams, +late fruits well preserved, and, above all, that hero-worship with which +they favored their champions. To these girls and their older sisters +the young officers who had taken part in so many great battles were like +the knights of old, splendid and invincible. + +There was no warning note in all that joyous scene, although a hostile +army of one hundred and thirty-five thousand men and four hundred guns +lay on the other side of the river which flowed almost at their feet. +It seemed to Harry afterward that they danced in the very face of death, +caring nothing for what the dawn might bring. + +Stuart was in great feather. In his finest apparel he was the very life +and soul of the ball, and these people forgot for a while the desolation +into which war was turning their country. The Virginia band and the +Acadians carried on an intense but friendly rivalry, playing with all +the spirit and vigor of men who were anxious to please. It was a joy to +Harry when he was not dancing to watch them, especially the Acadians, +whose faces glowed as the dancers and their own bodies swayed to the +music they were making. + +Harry and his comrades were very young, but youth matures rapidly in war, +and they felt themselves men. In truth they had done the deeds of +men for two years now, and they were treated as such by the others. +Bertrand also was present, and while he cast a dark look or two at +St. Clair, he kept away from him. + +Bye and bye another young man, obviously of French blood, appeared. +But he was not dark. He had light hair, blue eyes, and he was tall and +slender. But the pure strain of his Gallic blood showed, nevertheless, +as clearly as if he had been born in Northern France itself. Lieutenant- +Colonel Hector St. Hilaire welcomed him with warmth and pride and +introduced him to the lads, who at that moment were not dancing. + +"This is that young cousin of mine of whom I was speaking," he said. +"It is Julien de Langeais, son of that beautiful cousin, Flora de +Crespigny, and of that gallant and noble man, Gerard de Langeais, +with whom I fought the duel. I did not know that you would be here, +Julien, and the surprise makes the pleasure all the greater." + +"I did not know myself, sir, until an hour ago, that I could come," +replied young de Langeais, "but it is a glorious sight, sir, and I'm +truly glad to be here." + +His eyes sparkled at the sight of the dancers and his feet beat time +to the music. Harry saw that here was one who was in love with life, +a soul akin to that of Langdon, and he and his comrades liked him at +once and without reservations. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire saw how +they received him and his splendid mustaches curled up with pleasure. + +"Go with them, Julien," he said, "and they will see that you enjoy +yourself to the full. They are good boys. Meanwhile I have a dance +with that beautiful Mrs. Edgehill, and if I am not there, Leonidas, +honorable and lofty-minded as he is, but weak where the ladies are +concerned, will insert himself into my place." + +"Go, sir. Do not delay on my account," said young de Langeais. "I'm +sure that I'll fare well here." + +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire hurried away. Both he and Colonel Talbot +were fully maintaining their reputations as dancing men. St. Clair +and Langdon had partners, and making apologies they left to join them. +Harry and Dalton remained with de Langeais. + +"Colonel St. Hilaire said that you were with Longstreet," said Harry. + +"I am, or rather was. At least our regiment belongs with him, but when +he was detached to meet the possible march on Richmond we were left with +General Lee, and I am glad of it." + +"The great operations are sure to be where Lee and Jackson are." + +They got along so well that in another hour they felt as if they had +known de Langeais all their lives. The night lengthened. Refreshments +were served at times, but the dancers took them in relays. The dancing +in the ballroom never ceased, and Jeb Stuart nearly always led it. + +It was after midnight now and Harry and his new friend, de Langeais, +throwing their military cloaks over their shoulders, walked out on one +of the porticos for air. Many people, black and white, had gathered as +usual to watch the dancing. + +Harry glanced at them casually, and then he saw a large figure almost +behind the others. His intuition was sudden, but he had not the least +doubt of its accuracy. He merely wondered why he had not looked for the +man before. + +"Come with me a minute," he said to de Langeais, and they walked toward +the tree. But Shepard was gone, and Harry had expected that, too. +He did not intend to hunt for him any further, because he was sure not +to find him. + +The brilliant spirit of the ball suddenly departed from him, and as he +and de Langeais went back toward the house it was the stern call of war +that came again. The deep boom of a cannon rolled from a point on the +Rappahannock, and Harry was not the only one who felt the chill of its +note. The dancing stopped for a few moments. Then the gloom passed +away, and it was resumed in all its vigor. + +But Stuart came out on the porch and Harry and de Langeais halted, +because they heard the hoofs of a galloping horse. The man who came +was in the dress of a civilian, and he brought a message. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN THE WILDERNESS + + + + +Stuart's brilliant figure was seen no more in the ballroom that night, +but he disappeared so quietly that his absence created no alarm at +first. There was a low call for Sherburne, and the great cavalry leader +and his most daring horsemen were soon up and away. Harry and Dalton, +standing under the boughs of an oak, near the edge of the grounds, +saw them depart, but the dancers, at least the women and girls, knew +nothing. + +Another cannon shot came from some distant point along the stream, +and its somber echoes rolled and died away among the hills, but the +music of the band in the ballroom did not cease. It was the Acadians +who were playing now, some strange old dance tune that they had brought +from far Louisiana, taken thence by the way of Nova Scotia from its +origin in old France. + +"They don't know yet," said Harry, "but I'm thinking it will be the last +dance for many a day." + +"Looks like it," said Dalton. "What time is it, Harry?" + +"Past two in the morning, and here comes Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant- +Colonel St. Hilaire." + +The two colonels walked out on the lawn. Military cloaks were thrown +over their shoulders and all signs of merry-making were gone from their +faces. They stood side by side and with military glasses were sweeping +the horizon toward the river. Presently they saw Harry and Dalton +standing under the boughs of the oak, and beckoned to them. + +"You know?" said Colonel Talbot. + +"Yes, sir, we do," replied Harry. "We saw General Stuart and his staff +ride away, because a messenger had come, stating that divisions of +Hooker's army were about to cross the Rappahannock." + +"That is true, but we wish no panic here. Go back in the house, lads, +and dance. Officers are scarcer there than they were a half hour ago. +But you two lads will return to General Jackson before dawn, while +Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire and I will gather up our young men and +return to our own place." + +Harry and Dalton obeyed promptly, and took their places again in the +dancing, but they soon discovered that the spirit was gone from it. +The absence of Stuart, Sherburne and others almost as conspicuous was +soon noted, and although those who knew gave various excuses, they were +not satisfactory. Gradually the belief spread that the long vacation +was over. After Fredericksburg the armies had spent four months in +peace along the Rappahannock, but there was a certainty in the minds +of all that the armed peace had passed. + +The music ceased bye and bye, the girls and the women went away in their +carriages or on horseback, the lights were put out, and the heroes of +the ballroom, veterans of the battlefield, too, went quietly to their +commands once more. The youths, including their new friend, Julien de +Langeais, parted shortly before dawn, and their parting was characteristic. + +"See you again, I think, at the edge of the Wilderness, where we'll be +holding converse with Hooker," said St. Clair. + +"At any rate you can look for me in the White House with my boots on," +said Happy Tom, returning to his original boast. + +Then they shook hands and hurried away to join the two colonels, leaving +de Langeais with Dalton and Harry. + +"Gallant spirits," said the young Louisianian. "I like them." + +"As fine as silk, both of them," said Harry with enthusiasm. "I'm glad +we've met you, de Langeais, and I hope you'll be equally glad you've met +us. We'll see you again after the battle, whenever and wherever it may +be." + +"Many thanks," said de Langeais. "It gives me much pride to be taken +into your company. My command is several miles away, and therefore I +must ride. Adieu." + +He was holding his horse's reins as he spoke. Then he leaped lightly +into the saddle and was gone. + +"A brave and true spirit, if I know one," said Harry. "And now come, +George, the sooner we get back to Old Jack's headquarters the better it +will be for us." + +"Do you think Hooker's army can cross?" asked Dalton, looking at the +black river. + +"Of course it can. Remember that they have four hundred guns with which +they can cover a passage. Didn't Burnside build his bridges and force +the crossing in our face, when we had twenty thousand more men than we +have now, and the Union army had twenty thousand less? Their line is so +long and they are so much superior in numbers that we can't guard all +the river. As I take it, Lee and Old Jack will not make any great +opposition to the crossing, but there will be a thunderation of a time +after it's made." + +It was sunrise when they reached their own headquarters and entered the +great mess tent, where some of the officers who had not gone to the ball +were already eating breakfast. They said that the general had been +awake more than two hours and that he was taking his breakfast, too, +in the hunting lodge. He sent for various officers from time to time, +and presently Harry's turn came. + +Jackson was sitting at a small table, upon which his breakfast had been +laid. But all that had been cleared away long ago. He was reading in a +small book when Harry entered, a book that the youth knew well. It was +a copy of Napoleon's Maxims, which Jackson invariably carried with him +and read often. But he closed it quickly and put it in his pocket. +During the long rest Jackson's face had become somewhat fuller, but the +blue eyes under the heavy brows were as deep and thoughtful as ever. +He nodded to Harry and said: + +"You were present when General Stuart received the message that the +enemy was advancing? Was anything more ascertained at the time? +Did any other messenger come?" + +"No, sir. General Stuart mounted and rode at once. I remained at the +ball until its close. No other messenger came there for him. Of that I +am sure." + +"Very well, very well," said Jackson to himself, rather than to the +young lieutenant. "One message was enough. Stuart has acted promptly, +as he always does. You, Mr. Kenton, I judge have been up all night +dancing?" + +"Most all of it, sir." + +"We must get ready now for another and less pleasant kind of dancing. +But nothing will happen to-day. You'd better sleep. If you are needed +you will be called." + +Harry saluted and withdrew. At the door he glanced back. Jackson had +taken out Napoleon's Maxims and was reading the volume again. The brow +was seamed with thought, but his countenance was grave and steady. +Harry never forgot any look or act of his great chief in those days when +the shadow of Chancellorsville was hovering near. + +A dozen officers were in the mess tent, and they talked earnestly of +various things, but Harry, unheeding their voices, lay down in a corner +without taking off his clothes and went quietly to sleep. Many came +into the tent or went out of it in the course of the morning, but none +of them disturbed him. A man in the army slept when he could, and there +was none wicked enough to awaken him until the right time for it. + +He slept heavily nearly all through the day, and shortly after he awoke +Sherburne and two other officers, their horses splashed with mud, +rode up to the hunting lodge. Jackson was standing in the door, and +with a rising inflection he uttered one word: + +"Well?" + +"It's true, General," said Sherburne. "The enemy is advancing in heavy +force toward Kelly's Ford. We saw them with our own eyes. General +Stuart asked me to tell you this. He did not come himself, because, +as well as we can ascertain, General Hooker has separated his army +into two or three great divisions and they are seeking the crossing at +different fords or ferries." + +"As I thought," said Jackson. "It's the advantage given them by their +great numbers and powerful artillery. Ride back to General Stuart, +Captain, and tell him that I thank him, and you, too, for your +diligence." + +Sherburne, flushing deep with gratification, took off his cap and bowed. +But he knew too well to waste any time in words. + +That night the Union army laid its pontoon bridges again across the +Rappahannock near Fredericksburg and began to cross in great force. +Hooker, like Burnside four months before, was favored by thick fogs, +but he met with practically no resistance. At dawn a strong force under +Sedgwick was across at Deep Run, and another as strong had made the +passage at Kelly's Ford. + +The advanced riflemen of Sedgwick were engaged in scattered firing with +those of Jackson before the fog had yet lifted, but the main force had +made no movement. Dalton had been sent at dawn with a message telling +Lee that Sedgwick was over the river. Dalton, some time after his +return, told Harry of his ride and reception. + +"When I rode up," he said, "General Lee was in his tent. An aide took +me in and I gave him the message. He did not show any emotion. Several +others were present, some of them staff officers as young as myself. +He turned to them and said, smiling a little: 'Well, I heard firing not +long since, and I had concluded that it was about time for some of you +young idlers to come and tell me what it was all about. Go back to +General Jackson, Mr. Dalton, and tell him that I send him no orders now. +He knows as well what to do in the face of the enemy as I do.' I +brought this message, word for word, just as General Lee delivered it to +me, and General Jackson smiled a little, just as General Lee had done. +It's my opinion, Harry, that Lee and Old Jack haven't the slightest fear +of the enemy." + +Harry was convinced of it, too, but he felt also the steadily hardening +quality of the Army of the Potomac. Whatever Hooker might be he was +neither dilatory nor afraid. He and his comrades saw the corps of +Sedgwick entrenching on the Confederate side of the river, and they also +saw the great batteries still frowning from Stafford Heights, ready to +protect their men on the plain near Fredericksburg. + +But Jackson made no movement. He watched the enemy calmly, and +meanwhile messengers passed between him and Lee. Both were waiting +to see what their enemy, who was displaying unusual energy, would do. +In the evening they received news that the Union troops had crossed the +river at two more points. They still remained stationary, waiting, +and without alarm. + +Cavalrymen on both sides were active, ranging over a wide area. Stuart +came the next morning, having taken prisoners from whom he learned that +three more Union corps led by Meade, Slocum and Howard, all famous names, +had crossed the river and were advancing toward a little place called +Chancellorsville on the edge of a region known as the Wilderness. +The Southern general, Anderson, with a much smaller force, was falling +back before them. + +The Northern leaders had now shown the energy and celerity which +hitherto had so often marked the Southern. Hooker, with seventy +thousand splendid troops, had gone behind Lee and now three divisions +were united in the forest close to Chancellorsville. Sedgwick, with his +formidable corps, lay in the plain of Fredericksburg, facing Jackson, +and thousands of Northern cavalry rode on the Southern flanks. + +Harry was bewildered, and so were many officers of much higher rank than +he. It seemed that the Confederate army, surrounded by overwhelming +numbers, was about to be crushed. The exultation of Hooker at the +success of his movements against such able foes was justified for the +moment. He issued to his army a general order, which said: + + +It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the commanding general announces +to his army that the operations of the last three days have determined +that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind +his defences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certain +destruction awaits him. + + +Hooker, it can be said again, had cause for exultation. He was closing +in with more than a hundred thousand stern fighters, and ten thousand +splendid cavalrymen under Stoneman were hanging on the Southern flank, +ready to cut off retreat. Besides, there were reserves, and he could +also join to the artillery the great batteries on Stafford Heights, +on the left bank of the river, which had done such good service for +the Army of the Potomac. He could go into action with men and guns +outnumbering his enemy more than two to one, and Lee and Jackson would +have no such hills and intrenchments as those which had protected them +while they cut down the army of Burnside at Fredericksburg. + +Harry and his young comrades were lost in the mists and doubts of +uncertainty. Nothing could shake their confidence in Lee and Jackson, +but yet they were only human beings. Had the time come when there was +more to be done than any men, great and brilliant as they might be, +could do? Yet they refused to express their apprehensions to one +another, and waited, their hearts now and then beating heavily. + +Thus the last day of April passed, and for Harry it was more fully +surcharged with suspense and anxiety than any other that he had yet +known. The forests and the fields were flush with the green of early +spring. Little wild flowers were peeping up in the thickets, and now +and then a bird, full throated, sang on a bough, indifferent to passing +armies. + +But Harry saw a red tint over everything. The spirit of his great +ancestor had descended upon him again. The acute sense which warned him +of mighty and tragic events soon to come was alive and active. His mind +traveled backward too. Sometimes he did not see the men around him, +but saw instead Pendleton, the boys playing in the fields, and his +father. He also saw again that log house in the Kentucky mountains, +and the old, old woman who had known his great-grandfather, Henry Ware. +Once more he heard like a whisper in his ears her parting words: "You +will come again, and you will be thin and pale and in rags, and you will +fall at the door. I see you coming with these two eyes of mine." + +What did they mean? What did those strange words mean? It was the +first time in a year, perhaps, that he had thought of that old, old +woman, and the log house in the mountains. But he saw her now, and she +was strangely vivid for one so old and so withered. Then she vanished, +and for the time was forgotten completely, because Lee and Jackson were +riding past, one on Traveler and the other on Little Sorrel, and it +was no time to be dreaming of glens in the mountains and their peace, +because mighty armies were closing in, bent upon the destruction of each +other. + +All that afternoon Harry heard in a half circle about him the distant +moaning of cannon, and he caught glimpses of galloping horsemen. +Stuart, equally at home on the floor of the ballroom or the field of +battle, was leading his troopers in a daring circuit. When he saw that +the Army of the Potomac was moving toward Chancellorsville he had cut +in on its right flank, taking prisoners, and when a Union regiment had +stood in his way, attempting to bar his path to his own army, he had +ridden over it and gone. + +All the time the sinister moaning of the guns on the far horizon never +ceased. It was this distant threat that oppressed Harry more than +anything else. It beat softly on the drums of his ears, and it said +to him continually that his army must make a supreme effort or perish. +General Jackson did not call upon him to do anything, and once he rode +forward with Dalton and looked at Sedgwick's Union masses upon the +plains of Fredericksburg, still protected by the batteries which had +not yet been moved from Stafford Heights. Harry thought, for a while, +that Lee and Jackson would certainly attack there, but night came and +they had made no movement for that purpose. + +But before the sun had set Harry with his glasses had been able to +command a wide view. He saw high up in the air three captive balloons, +from which some of Hooker's officers looked upon the Southern +intrenchments. Hooker also had signalmen on every height, and an ample +field telegraph. What Harry did not see he learned from the Southern +scouts. It seemed impossible that Lee and Jackson could break through +the circle of steel, and Hooker thought so, too. + +When the red sun set on that last day of April the confidence of the +Northern general was at its height. He had sent word to Sedgwick to +keep a close watch upon the enemy in his front, and if he exposed a weak +point to attack and destroy him. And if he showed signs of retreat, +also to follow and attack with the utmost vigor. + +The moaning of the cannon ceased with the night, and it brought Harry +intense relief. He was glad that those guns were silent for a while, +although he knew that they would be far busier on the morrow. The bands +of red and yellow left by the sun sank away, and as the cool, spring +night came down, a pleasant breeze began to blow through the forest. +Harry felt all the thrill of a mighty movement which was at hand, +but the nature of which he did not yet know. + +He had no wish to sleep. The feeling of tremendous events impending was +too strong and his nervous system was keyed too highly for such thoughts +to enter his mind. He was used to great battles now, but there was a +mystery, a weirdness about the one near at hand that sometimes turned +the blood in his veins to ice. + +They were not far from Fredericksburg, but the country about them looked +wild and lonely, despite the fact that nearly two hundred thousand +men were moving somewhere in those shades and thickets, preparing for +desperate combat. Harry knew that just back of them lay the Wilderness, +a desolate and somber region. Dalton, a Virginian, had been there, +and he told Harry that in ordinary times one could walk through it for +many miles without meeting a single human being. + +"And they say that Hooker is along its edge with the bulk of his army," +said Dalton. "He is in our rear ready to attack with his veterans. +What conclusion do you draw from it, Harry?" + +"I infer that Lee and Jackson will not attack Sedgwick at Fredericksburg. +They will go for Hooker. They will strike where the enemy is strongest. +It's their way, isn't it?" + +"Right, of course, Harry. We'll be marching against Hooker long before +the dawn." + +Dalton's prediction came true earlier than he had expected. Jackson +marched at midnight from his position on the Massaponnax Hills to join +the small command of Anderson, which alone faced Hooker. He was as +silent as ever, the figure bent forward a little and the brow knitted +with thought. Close behind him came his staff, Harry and Dalton knee to +knee. They had known as soon as Jackson mounted his horse and turned +his head southwestward that they were marching toward the Wilderness and +against Hooker. Sedgwick at Fredericksburg might do as he pleased. + +Harry and Dalton were glad. They were quite sure now that Lee and +Jackson had formed their plan, and, as they had formed it, it must be +good. It was a long ride under the moon and stars. There was but +little talk along the lines. The noises were those of marching feet and +not of men's voices. All the troops felt the mystery and solemnity of +the night and the deep import of their unknown mission. + +The dawn found them still marching, but that dawn was again heavy with +the fogs and mists that rose from the broad river. The three Northern +balloons could see nothing. The signalmen were of no avail. The clouds +of vapor rolled over the ruins of Fredericksburg and along the hills +south of the river. Neither Sedgwick and his men nor any of the Union +officers on the other shore knew that Jackson had gone, leaving only a +rear guard behind. Before the fog had cleared away Jackson with his +fighting generals had joined Anderson and they were forming a powerful +line of battle near Chancellorsville and facing Hooker. + +Harry now heard much of this name Chancellorsville, destined to become +so famous, and he said it over and over again to himself. And yet it +was not a town, nor even a village. Here stood a large house, with the +usual pillared porticoes, built long since by the Chancellor family and +inhabited by them in their generation, but now turned into a country +inn. Yet it had importance. Roads ran from it in various directions +and in territories very unlike, including the strange and weird region +known as the Wilderness. + +Hooker had come through the Wilderness with his main force, and was now +forming a line of battle in front of it in the open country, when for +some reason never fully known he fell back on Chancellorsville and began +to concentrate his army in the edge of the Wilderness. + +Harry, riding with Dalton and some others to inspect the enemy's front +through their glasses, saw this gloomy forest, destined to such a +terrible fame not alone from the coming battle, but from others as +great. Nature could have chosen no more fitting spot for the mighty +sacrifice to save the Union, because here everything is dark, solemn +and desolate. + +For twenty miles one way and fifteen the other the Wilderness stretched +its somber expanse. The ancient forest had been cut away long since and +the thin, light soil had produced a sea of scrub and thickets in its +place, in which most of the houses were the huts of charcoal burners. +The undergrowth and jungle were often impenetrable, save by some lone +hunter or wild animal. The gnarled and knotted oaks were distorted and +the bushes, even in the flush of a May morning, were black and ugly. +At evening it was indescribably desolate, and save when the armies came +there was no sound but the lone cry of the whip-poor-will, one of the +saddest of all notes. + +It was upon this forest that Harry looked, and he wondered, as many +officers much older and much higher in rank than he wondered, that +Hooker, with forces so much superior, should draw back into its shades. +And many of the Union generals, too, had protested in vain against +Hooker's orders. They knew, as the Confederate generals knew, that +Hooker was a brave man, and they never understood it then or afterwards. + +"It gives us our chance," said Dalton, with sudden intuition, to Harry. +"We'll carry the battle to them in the forest, and there numbers will +not count so much." + +"Look!" exclaimed Harry. "They're withdrawing farther into the +Wilderness. There go the last bayonets!" + +"It's so," said Dalton. "I can still see a few of them moving among the +trees and thickets. Now they're all gone. What does it mean?" + +"It means that Old Jack will follow into the Wilderness, as sure as you +and I are here. He isn't the man to let an enemy retreat in peace." + +"That's so. There are the bugles calling, and it's time for us to +rejoin Old Jack." + +Jackson was not more than a hundred yards away, and they were soon just +behind him, riding slowly forward, while he swept the forest with his +glasses. Riflemen sent far in advance began to fire, and from the +forest came replies. Harry saw bits of earth and grass kicked up by the +bullets, and now and then a man fell or, wounded, limped to the rear. +There was no fog here and the day had become beautiful and brilliant, +as became the first morning in May. The little white puffs of smoke +arose all along the edges of the Wilderness, and, sailing above the +trees and bushes, dissolved into the blue sky. It was yet only a +skirmish between the Southern vanguard and the Northern vanguard, +but the riflemen increased to hundreds and they made a steady volume of +sound. Now and then the lighter guns were fired and the like replied +from the thickets. + +Harry gazed intently at Jackson. Would he with his relatively small +force follow Hooker into the Wilderness, despising the dangers of ambush +and the possibility that his foe might turn upon him in overwhelming +numbers? Lee was with the troops elsewhere, and Jackson for the present +must rely upon his own judgment. + +But Jackson never hesitated. While the fire of the riflemen deepened +he plunged into the Wilderness in pursuit of Hooker, who for some +inscrutable reason was concentrating his masses about the Chancellor +House for pitched battle. They advanced by two ways, a pike and a plank +road, with Jackson himself on the plank road. + +Harry felt a strange prickling at the roots of his hair as the +Wilderness closed in on pursuer and pursued, but it was only for a +moment. The enemy far down the plank road held his attention. Many +riflemen were there and they were sending back bullets, most of which +fell short. Now and then a curving shell struck among the bushes, burst, +and hurt no one. + +It had grown darker when they entered the Wilderness. The scrub forest, +not lofty enough for dignity and nobility, was nevertheless dense enough +to shut out most of the sunlight. Despite the blaze of the firing, +both pursuer and pursued were enveloped in heavy shadows. + +Harry had nothing to do but to keep near his general, in case he was +wanted. But he watched everything with the utmost interest. Once he +looked back and saw the Invincibles, few in number, but still preserving +their regiment, marching in brave style along the plank road. Colonel +Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire were riding side by side +at its head, and in all the army there were not two more erect and +soldierly figures than theirs. + +They soon heard heavy artillery discharges from the other force on the +pike, and the fire in front of them increased heavily. Nevertheless +both forces pushed resolutely onward. Harry had no idea what it all +meant. The movements of Hooker were a mystery to him, but he felt the +presence of an enveloping danger, through which, however, he felt sure +that the sword of Jackson could slash. + +He saw that the generals were neglecting no precautions. The scouts and +hardy riflemen were now pressing through all the forests and thickets, +like Indians trailing in the Wilderness. They kept the two forces, +the one on the plank road and the other on the pike, in touch. McLaws, +who had shown so much spirit and judgment at Antietam, led on the pike. + +Now the fighting increased on both roads. Batteries faced batteries +and cavalry charged. But Harry felt all the time that these were not +supreme efforts. The opposing force seemed to be merely a curtain +before Hooker, and as the Southern army advanced the curtain was drawn +steadily back, but it was always there. + +One of the encounters rose almost to the dignity of a battle. A heavy +division of Northern regulars drove in all the Southern skirmishers, +but Jackson, sending forward a strong force, pushed back the regulars in +their turn. Harry watched the fighting most of the time, but at other +times he watched his general's face. It was the usual impenetrable mask, +but late in the afternoon Harry saw a sudden sparkle in the blue eye. +He always believed that at that moment the general divined the enemy's +intentions, but the boy never had any way of knowing. + +Scouts came in presently and reported that another heavy column was +marching from the Rappahannock to join Hooker in the Wilderness, and +now the advance of the Southern force became slower. It was obvious to +Harry that Jackson, while resolute to follow Hooker, intended to guard +against all possibility of ambush. Harry knew nothing then of the +Chancellor House, but Dalton told him. + +"It's a big place," he said, "standing on a heavy ridge surrounded by +thick timber, and it's a natural presumption that Hooker will stop +there. From the timbered ridge his cannon can sweep every approach." + +Harry had no doubt that Hooker would halt at the Chancellor House. +It was incredible that a great army of brave and veteran troops should +continue to retreat before a force which his scouts had surely informed +Hooker was far smaller, and only a portion of the Confederate army. +It must be merely a part of some comprehensive plan, and he was +confirmed in his belief by the increasing stubbornness of the defense. + +There was not sufficient room on either the plank road or the pike for +all the Confederate infantry, and masses were toiling through the dense +thickets of bushes and briars and creeping vines. The afternoon was +growing late, and while it was yet brilliant sunshine in the open, +it was dark and somber in the Wilderness. + +The division of Jackson seemed almost lost in the forest and +undergrowth. The cavalry riding along some of the narrow paths were +checked by large forces in front, and fell back under the protection +of their own infantry. On another path a strong body of Southern +skirmishers drove back those of the North, but were checked in their +turn by a heavy fire of artillery. + +Harry witnessed the repulse of the Southern riflemen and saw them +crowding back down the path and through the bushes which lined it on +either side. He also saw the usually calm and imperturbable face of +Jackson show annoyance. The general signed to his staff, and, galloping +forward a hundred yards or so, joined Stuart, who was just in front. +Stuart also showed annoyance, but, more emotional than Jackson, he +expressed it in a much greater degree. His face was red with anger. +Harry, who as usual kept close behind his commander, heard their talk. + +"General Stuart," said General Jackson, "we must find some position from +which we can open a flanking fire upon that Northern battery." + +"Aye, sir," said Stuart. "Nothing would delight me more. The +narrowness of the road, and their place at the head of it, give them an +immense advantage. Ah, sir, here is a bridle path leading to the right. +Maybe it will give us a chance." + +The two generals, followed by their staffs and a battery, turned from +the main body into the narrow path and pushed their way between the +masses of thick undergrowth, bearing steadily toward the right. But the +road was so narrow that not more than two could go abreast, the generals +in their eagerness still leading the way. + +Harry, rising up in his stirrups, tried to see over the dense +undergrowth, but patches of saplings and scrub oaks farther on hid the +view. Nevertheless he caught the flash of heavy guns and saw many +columns of smoke rising. It was toward their left now, and they would +soon be parallel with it, whence their own guns would open a flanking +fire, if any open spot or elevation could be found. + +They had gone about a half mile, when Stuart uttered an exclamation and +pointed to a hillock. It was not necessary to say anything, because +everyone knew that this was the place for the guns. + +"Now we'll drop a few shells of our own among those Yankee gunners and +see how they like it," said Dalton. + +The cannon were unlimbering rapidly, but the open space on the hillock +was so small that only one gun could be brought up, and it sent a shot +toward the Union lines. The Union artillery, superb as always, marked +the spot whence the shot came, and in an instant two batteries, masked +by the woods, poured a terrible fire upon the hillock and those about it. + +So deadly was the steel rain that the little force was put out of action +at once. Harry had never beheld a more terrifying scene. Most of the +horses and men around the first cannon were killed. One horse and one +gunner fell dead across its wheels. Other horses, wounded and screaming +with pain and fright, rushed into the dense undergrowth and were +caught by the trailing vines and thrown down. Some of the cavalrymen +themselves were knocked out of the saddle by the fleeing horses, but +they quickly regained their seats. + +A second discharge from many guns sent another rain equally as deadly +upon the hillock and its vicinity. More men and horses fell, and a +scene of wild confusion followed. Attempting to turn about and escape +from that spot of death, the cannon crashed together. There was not +room for all the men and horses and guns. Most of them were compelled +to plunge into the undergrowth and struggle desperately through it for +shelter. + +But Harry did not forget the two generals who were worth so much to the +South. It would be fate's bitterest irony if Jackson and Stuart were +killed in a small flanking movement, when, as was obvious to everyone, +a battle of the first magnitude was just before them. And yet, while +fragments of steel, hot and hissing, fell all around them, Jackson and +Stuart and all the members of their staffs escaped without hurt. + +The deadly fire followed them as they retreated, but the two generals +rode on, unharmed. Harry and Dalton breathed deep sighs of relief when +they were out of range. + +"If a bullet had gone through my left side," said Dalton, "it wouldn't +have come near my heart." + +"Why not?" + +"Because my heart was in my mouth. In fact, I don't think it has gone +back yet to its natural place. The Yankees certainly have the guns." + +"And the gunners who know how to use them. But doesn't it feel good, +George, to be back on the plank road?" + +"It does. I'll take my chance in open battle, but when I'm tangled up +among bushes and vines and briars, I do hate to have a hundred-pound +shell fired from an invisible gun burst suddenly on the top of my head. +What's all that firing off there to the left and farther on?" + +"It means that some of our people have got deeper into the Wilderness +than we have, and are feeling out Hooker. I imagine we won't go much +farther. Look how the night's dropping down. I'd hate to pass a night +alone in such a place as this Wilderness. It would be like sleeping in +a graveyard." + +"You won't have to spend the night alone here. I wish I was as sure of +Heaven as that. You'll have something like two hundred thousand near +neighbors." + +The sun set and darkness swept over the Wilderness, but it was still +lighted at many points by the flash of the firing and, after that ceased, +by the campfires. Jackson's advance was at an end for the time. +He was fully in touch with his enemy and understood him. Hooker had +retreated as far as he would go. When the fog cleared away in the +morning the men in the captive balloons had informed him that heavy +Southern columns were marching toward Chancellorsville. He was sure +now that the full strength of the Southern army was before him, and +he continued to fortify the Chancellor House and the plateau of Hazel +Grove. He also threw up log breastworks through the heavily wooded +country, and his lines, bristling with artillery and defended now by +six score thousand men, extended along a front of six miles. + +Jackson's division lay in the Wilderness before Hooker, but out of +cannon shot. All along that vast front hundreds and hundreds of pickets +and riflemen on either side were keeping a vigilant watch. Jackson and +his staff had dismounted and were eating their suppers around one of the +campfires. The general was again impassive. + +After the supper Harry walked a little distance and found the +Invincibles, resting comfortably on the trodden undergrowth. The two +colonels had preserved the neatness of their attire, and whatever they +felt, neither showed any anxiety. But St. Clair and Langdon were free +of speech. + +"Well, Harry," said Happy Tom, "is Old Jack going to send us up against +intrenchments and four to one?" + +"He hasn't confided in me, but I don't think he means to do any such +thing. He remembers, as even a thick-head like you, Happy, would +remember, how the splendid army of Burnside beat itself to pieces +against our works at Fredericksburg." + +"Well, then, why are we here?" + +"There's sense in your question, Tom, but I can't answer it." + +"No, there isn't any sense in it," interrupted St. Clair. "Do you +suppose for an instant that Lee and Jackson would bring us here if they +didn't have a mighty good reason for it?" + +"That's so," admitted Happy Tom; "but General Lee isn't here. Yes, +he is! Listen to the cheering!" + +They sprang to their feet and saw Lee coming through the woods on his +white horse, Traveler, a roar of cheers greeting him as he advanced. +Behind him came new brigades, and Harry believed that the whole Southern +army was now united before Hooker. + +Lee dismounted and Jackson went forward to meet his chief. The staffs +stood at a respectful distance as the two men met and began to talk, +glancing now and then toward the distant lights that showed where the +army of Hooker stood. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CHANCELLORSVILLE + + + + +Harry and Dalton sat down on a tiny hillock and waited while the two +generals carried on their long conference, to which now and then +they summoned McLaws, Anderson, Pender and other division or brigade +commanders. The two lads even then felt the full import of that +memorable night. + +Nature herself had stripped away all softness, leaving only sternness +and desolation for the terrible drama which was about to be played in +the Wilderness. The night was dark, and to Harry's imaginative mind the +forest turned to some vast stretch of the ancient, primitive world. + +Naturally cheerful and usually alive with the optimism of youth, the air +seemed to him that night to be filled with menacing signals. Often he +started at familiar sounds. The clank of arms to which he had been so +long used sent a chill down his spine. As the campfires died, the gloom +that hung over the Wilderness became for him heavier and more ominous. + +"What's the matter, Harry?" asked Dalton, catching a glimpse of his face +in the moonlight. + +"I don't know, George. I suppose this war is getting on my nerves. +I must be looking too much into the future. Anyway, I'm oppressed +to-night, and I don't know what it is that's oppressing me so much." + +"I don't feel that way. Maybe I'm becoming blunted. But the generals +are talking a long time." + +"I suppose they have need to do a lot of talking, George. You know +how small our army is, and we can't rush Hooker behind the strong +intrenchments they say he has thrown up. Oh, if only Longstreet and +his corps were back with us!" + +"Well, Longstreet and his men are not here, and we'll have to do the +best we can without them. Hold up your head, Harry. Lee and Jackson +will find a way." + +While Lee and Jackson and their generals conferred, another conference +was going on three miles away at the Chancellor House in the depths of +the Wilderness. Hooker, a brave man, who had proved his courage more +than once, was bewildered and uneasy. He lacked the experience in +supreme command in which his great antagonist, Lee, was so rich. +The field telegraph had broken down just before sunset, and his +subordinates, Sedgwick and Reynolds, brave men too, who had divisions +elsewhere, were vague and uncertain in their movements. Hooker did +not know what to expect from them. + +Some of the generals, chafing at retreat before a force which they knew +to be smaller than their own, wanted to march out and attack in the +morning. Hooker, suddenly grown prudent, awed perhaps by his great +responsibilities, wished to contract his camp and build intrenchments +yet stronger. He compromised at last amid varying counsels, and decided +to hold his present intrenched lines along their full length. His +gallant officers on the extended right and left were indignant at the +thought of withdrawing before the enemy, sure that they could beat him +back every time. + +But there were bolder spirits at the Southern headquarters, three miles +away. Lee and Jackson always saw clearly and were always able to +decide upon a course. Besides, their need was far more desperate. The +Southern army did not increase in numbers. Victories brought few new +men to its standards. Winning, it held its own, and losing, it lost +everything. Before it stood the Army of the Potomac, outnumbering it +two to one, and behind that army stood a great nation ready to pour +forth more men by the hundreds of thousands and more money by the +hundreds of millions to save the Union. + +Harry, leaning against a bush, fell into a light doze, from which Dalton +aroused him bye and bye. But the habit of war made him awake fully +and instantly. Every faculty was alive. He arose to his feet and saw +that Lee and Jackson were just parting. A faint moon shone over the +Wilderness, revealing but little of the great army which lay in its +thickets. + +"I fancy that the plan which will give us either victory or defeat is +arranged," said Dalton. + +But neither Harry nor Dalton was called, and bye and bye they sank into +another doze. They were awakened toward morning by Sherburne, who stood +before them holding his horse by the bridle. The horse was wet with +foam, and it was evident that he had been ridden far and hard. + +"What is it?" asked Harry, springing to his feet. "I've been riding +with General Stuart," replied Sherburne, who looked worn and weary, +but nevertheless exultant. "How many miles we've ridden I'll never know, +but we've been along the whole Northern front and around their wings. +With the help of Fitz Lee we've discovered their weak point. The +Northern left, fortified in the thickets, is impossible. We'd merely +beat ourselves to pieces against it; but their right has no protection +at all, that is, no trenches or breastworks. I thought you boys might +be wanted presently, and, as I saw you sleeping here, I've awakened you. +Look down there and you'll see something that I think the Northern army +has cause to dread." + +Harry and Dalton looked at a little open space in the center of which +Lee and Jackson sat, having met for another talk, each on an empty +cracker box, taken from a heap which the Northern army had left behind +when it withdrew the day before. The generals faced each other and two +or three men were standing by. One of them was a major named Hotchkiss, +whom Harry knew. + +Harry and Dalton did not hear the words said, but one of those present +subsequently told them much that was spoken at this last and famous +conference. A man named Welford had recently cut a road toward the +northwest through the Wilderness in order that he might haul wood and +iron ore to a furnace that he had built. He had certainly never dreamed +of the far more important purpose to which this road would be put, +but he had been found at his home by Hotchkiss, the major, and, zealous +for the South, he had given him the information that was of so much +value. He had also volunteered to guide the troops along his road and +he had marked it on a map which the major carried. + +"What is your report, Major Hotchkiss?" asked General Lee. + +The major took a cracker box from the heap, put it between the two +generals, and spread his map upon it, pointing to Welford's road. +The two generals studied it attentively, and then Lee asked Jackson what +he would suggest. Jackson traced the road with his finger and replied +that he would like to follow it with his whole corps and fall upon the +Northern flank. He suggested that he leave his commander with only a +small force to make a noisy demonstration in the Northern front, while +Jackson was executing his great turning movement. + +Lee considered it only a few moments and agreed. Then he wrote brief +and crisp instructions, and when he finished, General Jackson rose +to his feet, his face illumined with eagerness. He was absolutely +confident that he would succeed in the daring deed he was about to +undertake. + +"It's over," said Dalton. "Whatever it is, we start on it at once." + +Jackson beckoned to all his staff, and soon Harry, Dalton and the others +were busy carrying orders for a great march that Jackson was about to +begin. Many of these orders related to secrecy. The ranks were to +be kept absolutely close and compact. If anybody straggled he was to +receive the bayonet. + +The Invincibles were in the vanguard. Harry and Dalton were near, +behind Jackson. Harry could speak now and then with his friends. + +"It's the Second Manassas over again, isn't it, Harry?" said St. Clair. + +"If it is, why do we seem to be marching away from the enemy?" + +"I don't know any more than you do. But I take it that when Stonewall +Jackson draws back from the enemy he merely does it in order to make a +bigger jump. We all know that." + +The dark South Carolinian, Bertrand, was riding just in front of them. +Now he turned suddenly and said: + +"St. Clair, we're about to go into a great battle, and I've felt for +some time that I provoked the quarrel with you. I'm sorry and I +apologize." + +St. Clair looked astonished, but he was not one to refuse so manly an +advance. + +"That's so, Captain, we did have a quarrel," he said, "but I had +forgotten it. It's not necessary for anybody to apologize where there's +no rancor." + +He took Bertrand's hand in a hearty grasp, which Bertrand returned with +equal vigor. Then the captain pushed his horse and rode a little ahead +of them. + +"Now, that was a singular thing," said Dalton, who came of a deeply +religious family, "and to my mind it was predestined." + +"Predestined?" + +"Yes, predestined! Decreed! Captain Bertrand is going to die. He'll +be killed in the coming battle. He was moved to make up the quarrel +which he forced on St. Clair because of his approaching fate, although +he does not know of it himself." + +"Come, come, George! So much battle has keyed your mind too highly." + +But Dalton shook his head and remained resolute in his belief. + +Harry's confidence returned with action and the glorious flush of a May +morning. They had started after dawn. A splendid sun was rising in a +sky of satin blue. It even gilded the somber foliage of the Wilderness, +and the spirits of all the men in the great corps rose. + +Jackson stopped presently with his staff and let some of the regiments +file past him. General Lee was awaiting him there and the two talked +briefly. Harry saw that both were firm and confident. It was rare with +him, but Jackson's face was flushed and his eyes shining. He lingered +for only a few moments, and then rode on with his column. Lee's eyes +followed him, but he and his great lieutenant had spoken together for +the last time. + +Now they settled into silence, save for the marching sounds, of which +the most dominant was the rumbling of the artillery. But all the men in +the great column knew that they were embarked upon some mighty movement. +Very few asked themselves what it was. Nor did they care. They put +their faith in the great leader who had always led them to victory. +He could lead them where he chose. + +A light wind arose and the bushes and scrub forest of the Wilderness +moved gently like the surface of a lake. But that forest, as dense as +ever, extended on all sides of them and hid the tens of thousands who +marched in its shade. + +Harry presently heard the rolling of artillery fire and the distant +crash of rifles behind them. But he knew that it was Lee with the +minor portion of his army making the demonstration in Hooker's front, +deceiving him into the belief that he was about to be attacked by the +whole Southern army, while Jackson with his main force was making the +wide circuit under cover of the Wilderness in order to fall like a +thunderbolt upon his flank. + +Harry admired the daring of his two leaders, and at the same time he +trembled with apprehension. They had split their force, already far +smaller, in the face of the foe. Suppose that foe, with his army of +splendid fighters, should come suddenly from his intrenchments and +attack either division. Surely the Northern scouts and spies were +in the thickets. So great a movement as this could not escape their +attention. It would be impossible for a large army to pass on that +journey of many miles around Hooker and not one of the hundred thousand +men he had in the Wilderness bring him a word of it. + +They might be discovered by one of the balloons, and Harry strained his +eyes toward the far Rappahannock. He saw a black speck floating in the +sky, which he thought to be one of the balloons, and he felt a little +dread, but in a moment he realized that Jackson's army was as completely +hidden by the Wilderness from any such possible observer as if a blanket +lay over it. Then he dismissed all thoughts of balloons and rode on in +silence beside Dalton. + +Now he listened to the roar behind them. It had the violence of a great +battle, but he noticed that the sounds neither advanced nor retreated. +He smiled a little. Lee was still amusing Hooker, but it was a grim +amusement. + +A long time passed. Although the army could not move fast in the +Wilderness, its march was steady. The roar of Lee's attack had become +subdued, but Harry knew that the effect was due only to distance. +His trained ear told him that the demonstration in Hooker's front, +instead of decreasing, had increased in vigor. It was assuming the +proportions of a real battle, and with thickets and forests to obscure +sight, Hooker might well believe that the whole Southern army was yet +in front of him. + +The onward march had become rhythmic now. It was to Harry like the +regular throbbing of a pulse. The tread of many men, the beat of +horses' hoofs, and the clanking of guns melted into one musical note. +The sun crept slowly up, gilding thickets and forests with pure gold. +The sky was still an unbroken blue, save for the little white clouds +that floated in its bosom. The breeze of that May morning was +wonderfully crisp and fresh. It came tingling with life to the +thousands, so many of whom were about to die. + +It seemed to Harry as they went on through the thickets of the +Wilderness that the Union scouts would never discover them, but Northern +troops on an open eminence of Hazel Grove had seen a long column +moving away through the thickets and made report of it to the Northern +generals. But these leaders did not understand it. They had not +grasped the great daring of Jackson's march. + +They believed that Lee was merely extending his lines, but an hour +before noon a battery opened fire from a hill upon the marching +Confederate column. Harry and Dalton heard shrapnel whizzing over their +heads. After the first involuntary shiver they regained the calm of +youthful veterans and rode on in silence. + +But the fire of the Northern artillery was damaging, even at great +range. Shells and shrapnel sprayed showers of steel over the column. +Men were killed and others wounded. As they could not turn back to +fight those troublesome cannon, the column turned farther away and +forced a road through a new path. It seemed now that Jackson's march +was discovered and that the whole Northern army might press in between +him and Lee. Harry's heart rose in his throat and he looked at his +general. But Jackson rode calmly on. + +The curiosity of the Union generals in regard to that marching column +increased. Several of them appealed to Hooker to let them advance in +force and see what it was. Sickles was allowed to go out with a strong +division, but instead of reaching Jackson he was confronted by a portion +of Lee's force, thrown forward to meet him, and the battle was so fierce +that Sickles was compelled to send for help. A formidable force came +and drove the Southern division before it, but the vigilant Jackson, +informed by his scouts of what was happening behind him, turned his rear +guard to meet the attack, and Sickles was driven off a second time with +great loss. Then Jackson's men quickly rejoined him and they continued +their march, the vanguard, in fact, never having stopped. + +Harry took no part in this, but from a distance he saw much of it. +Once more he admired the surpassing alertness and vigor of Jackson, +who never seemed to make a mistake, a man who was able while on a great +march to detach men for the help of his chief, while never ceasing to +pursue his main object. + +The Northern forces, although they had fought bravely, retreated, +and the great movement that was going on remained hidden from them. +The gap between Lee and Jackson was growing wider, but they did not know +it was there. Hooker's retreat with his great army into the Wilderness +had given his enemies a chance to befog and bewilder him. + +Harry's supreme confidence returned. All things seemed possible to his +chief, and once more they were marching, unimpeded. It was now much +past noon, and they turned into a new road, leading north through the +thickets. + +"It scarcely seems possible that we can pass around a great army in this +way," said Dalton; "but, Harry, I'm beginning to believe the general +will do it." + +"Of course he will," said Harry. "It's Old Jack's chief pleasure to do +impossible things. He leaves the possible to ordinary men. See him. +He didn't even stop to look back while our rear guard returned to help +drive off the Yankees." + +The sun was near the zenith and the afternoon grew warm. They had come +upon hard, dry paths, and under the tread of the army great clouds of +dust arose, but it did not float high in the air, the thick boughs of +the trees and bushes catching it. But as it hovered so close to the +ground it made the breathing of the soldiers difficult and painful. +It rasped their throats, and soon they began to burn with the heat. +Many fell exhausted beside the paths, but they were helped by their +comrades or were put into the wagons, and the long column of steel never +ceased to wind onward. + +Near the middle of the afternoon, when they were about to cross the +western extension of the plank road, a young cavalry officer galloped up +and rode straight for Jackson. It was Fitzhugh Lee, whose services were +great at Chancellorsville. His glowing face showed that he brought news +of great importance. + +As he saluted, General Jackson checked his horse and Harry heard his +general ask: + +"You bring news. What is it?" + +"I do, sir," responded young Lee eagerly. "I have something to show +you. A great Northern force is only a short distance away, and it does +not suspect your advance at all. If you will come with me to the crest +of a little hill here, I can show them to you." + +Jackson never hesitated a moment, signing to Harry to follow him, +evidently meaning to use him as a courier, if need arose. The three +then turned and rode through the bushes toward the hill, and Harry's +heart beat so hard that it gave him an actual physical pain when he +looked down on the sight below. He glanced at Jackson and saw that +his face was flushed and his eyes glowing. + +They were gazing upon a great Northern force which was to protect +Hooker's right. Its first lines were only three or four hundred yards +away. There were breastworks and other lines of defense running far +through the forest, positions that were formidable, but not manned at +this moment by riflemen or cannoneers. Rifles were stacked neatly +behind the intrenchments, extending in a long line as far as they could +see. Thousands of soldiers were sitting on the grass and among the +bushes, some asleep, some playing games, while others were cooking, +reading newspapers sent from the North, and some were singing. It was a +picture of idleness and ease in a camp, and not one among them suspected +that thirty thousand veterans of the South, led by Stonewall Jackson +himself, were within rifle shot, hidden under the vast canopy of the +Wilderness. + +Harry drew a deep breath, and then another. It was extraordinary, +unbelievable, but it was true. He looked again at Jackson and saw that +his eyes were still burning with blue fire. The general gazed for five +minutes, but never said a word. Then he turned and rode down the hill, +and swiftly the word was passed through the army that they would soon be +upon the enemy. + +"What is it, Harry?" asked St. Clair eagerly, as Harry rode along the +lines with a message for a general for whom he was looking. + +"They're just over there," replied Harry, nodding toward his right. + +"And they don't know we're here?" + +"They don't dream it." + +"And Lee and Jackson have got 'em in the trap again?" + +"It looks like it." + +Then Harry was gone with his message. And he bore other messages, +and like most of those he had borne earlier, their burden was secrecy +and silence. He never forgot any detail of that memorable day. Years +afterwards he could shut his eyes at any time and see the eve of +Chancellorsville in all its vivid colors, thirty thousand Southern +troops lying hidden in the thickets, General Jackson, followed by +himself and two other aides, riding upon the hill again and taking one +more look at the unsuspecting enemy below, the spreading out of the +cavalry like a curtain between them and Howard's corps to keep even a +single stray Northern picket or scout from seeing the mortal danger +at hand, and then Jackson dismounting and, seated on a stump, writing +to Lee that he was on the enemy's flank and would attack as soon as +possible. Harry was in fear lest the general should choose him to carry +back the dispatch, as he wished to stay with the corps and see what +happened, but the duty was assigned to another man. + +Confidence meanwhile reigned in the Union army. In the morning Hooker +had ridden around his whole line, and cheers received him as he came. +Scouts had brought him word that Jackson was moving, and he had taken +note of the encounter with the rearguard of Stonewall's force. But as +that force continued its march into the deep forest and disappeared from +sight, the brave and sanguine Hooker was confirmed in his opinion that +the whole Southern army was retreating. His belief was so firm that +he sent a dispatch to Sedgwick, commanding the detached force near +Fredericksburg, to pursue vigorously, as the enemy was fleeing in an +effort to save his train. + +While Hooker was writing this dispatch the "fleeing enemy," led by the +greatest of Lee's lieutenants, lay in full force on his flank, almost +within rifle-shot, preparing with calmness and in detail for one of +the greatest blows ever dealt in war. Truly no soldiers ever deserved +higher praise than those of the Army of the Potomac, who, often misled +and mismanaged by second-rate men, grew better and better after every +defeat, and never failed to go into battle zealous and full of courage. + +It seemed almost incredible to Harry, who had twice looked down upon +them, that the whole Union right should remain ignorant of Jackson's +presence. Twenty-eight regiments and six batteries strong, the Northern +troops were now getting ready to cook their suppers, and there was much +laughter and talk as they looked around at the forest and wondered +when they would be sent in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. Six of the +regiments were composed of men born in Germany, or the sons of Germans, +drawn from the great cities of the North, little used to the forests and +thickets and having the stiffness of Germans on parade. They were at +the first point of exposure, and they were certainly no match for the +formidable foe who was creeping nearer and nearer. + +Not all the country here was in forest. There were some fields, a +little wooden cottage on a hill, and in the fields a small house of +worship called the Wilderness Church. It was the little church of +Shiloh and the Dunkard church of Antietam over again. + +Harry and Dalton in the front of the lines often saw the gleam of +Northern guns and Northern bayonets through the foliage, but there was +still no sign that anyone in the Northern right flank dreamed of their +presence. Evidently the unconscious thousands there thought that all +chance of battle had passed until the morrow. The sun was already going +down the western heavens, and behind them in the Wilderness the first +shadows were gathering. + +Jackson's troops were filled with confidence and exultation. As they +formed for battle among the trees and bushes they too talked, and with +the freedom of republican troops, who fight all the better for it, +they chaffed the young officers, especially the aides, as they passed. +Harry received the full benefit of it. + +"Sit up straight in the saddle, sonny. Don't dodge the bullets!" + +"You haven't told the Yanks that we're comin'." + +"Will me that hoss if you get shot. I always did like a bay boss." + +"Tell old Hooker that we jest had to arrange a surprise party for him." + +"Tell 'em to make way there in front. We want to git into the fuss +before it's all over." + +"Tell Old Jack I'm here and that he can begin the battle." + +Harry smiled, and sometimes chaffed back. They were boys together. +Most of the troops in either army were very young. He recognized that +all this talk was the product of exuberant spirits, and officers much +older than he, chaffed in a like manner, took it in the same way. + +But as they drew nearer, orders that all noise should cease were given, +and officers were ready to enforce them. But there was little need for +sternness. The soldiers themselves understood and obeyed. They were as +eager as the officers to achieve a splendid triumph, and it remains a +phenomenon of history how a great army came creeping, creeping within +rifle shot of another, and its presence yet remained unknown. + +The Southern lines now stretched for a long distance through the forest, +cutting across a turnpike, down which the muzzles of four heavy guns +pointed. The cavalry, not far away, were holding back their magnificent +horses. Harry saw Sherburne on their flank nearest to him, and a smile +of triumph passed between them. Off in the forest the strong division +of A. P. Hill was advancing, the sound of their coming audible to the +South but not to the North. + +For an hour and a half the formation of the Southern army went on. +Despite the danger of discovery, present every moment, Jackson was +resolved to perfect his preparations for the attack. He was calm, +methodical, and showed no emotion now, however much he may have felt it. +Harry rode back and forth, sometimes with him and sometimes alone, +carrying messages. He expected every instant to hear the crack of some +Northern scout's rifle and his shout of alarm, but the incredible not +only happened--it kept on happening. There was not a single Northern +skirmisher in the bushes. The only sounds that came from their camp +to the Southern scouts were the clatter of dishes and the laughter of +youths who knew that no danger was near. + +The sun was far down the western arch, and it seemed to Harry for a +moment or two that no battle might occur that day, but a glance at +Jackson and his incessant activity showed him he was mistaken. The +arrangements were now almost complete. In front were the skirmishers, +then the first line, and a little behind it the second line, and then +Hill with the third line. Although they stood in thick forest, the +lines were even and regular, despite trees and bushes. + +The Invincibles were in the second line. Owing to the density of the +forest, the two colonels and their young staff officers had dismounted. +Harry passed them, and Colonel Talbot said to him: + +"Do you know when we'll advance, Harry?" + +"It can't be much longer. What time is it, Colonel?" + +Colonel Talbot opened his watch, looked carefully at the face, and as he +closed it again and put it back in his pocket, he replied gravely: + +"It's five forty-five o'clock of a memorable afternoon, Harry." + +"It's true, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, +"and whatever happens to us, it will be a pleasure to us both to know, +even beyond the grave, that we have served long under the Christian +soldier and great genius, Stonewall Jackson." + +"You'll both go through it," said Harry. "I know you'll be with us when +our victorious army goes over the Long Bridge and enters Washington." + +St. Clair and Langdon stood near, but said nothing. Harry saw that they +were enveloped by the mystery, the vastness and the terrible grandeur +of the occasion. So he said nothing to them, but rode back toward his +commander. Then he glanced again at the sun and saw that it was low, +filling all the western heavens with bars of red and yellow and gold. +He looked once again at that formidable line of battle, stretching in +either direction through the forest farther than he could see, the +soldiers eager, excited and straining hard at the hand that held them +there so firmly. It seemed now that nothing was left to be done, +and the time had grown to six o'clock in the evening. + +Jackson turned to Rodes, who commanded the first line of battle, just in +the rear of the skirmishers, and said: + +"Are you ready, General?" + +"Aye, aye, sir." + +"Then charge," said Jackson. + +Rodes nodded toward the leader of the skirmishers, who gave the word. +A powerful man put a glittering brazen bugle to his throat and blew a +long, mellow note that was heard far through the forest. It was +followed by a shout poured from thirty thousand throats, the guns in the +turnpike fired a terrible volley straight into the Union camp, and then +the whole army of Jackson, line upon line, rushed from the thickets and +hurled itself upon its foe. + +The Northern army was paralyzed for a moment. Never was surprise more +sudden and terrific. Brave as anybody, the Union men rushed to their +arms, but there was no time to use them. The flood was upon them and +overwhelmed them. The German regiments were cut to pieces in an instant, +and the demoralized survivors retreated into the mass. Elsewhere a +battery was manned and stopped for a moment the Southern advance, +but only for a moment. It, too, was overwhelmed by the Southern +artillery which rushed forward, firing as fast as the cannoneers could +load and reload. + +Jackson himself was with his artillery, shouting to them and encouraging +them, and Harry, trying to follow him, found it hard to keep clear of +the guns. The second and third lines of the Southern army pressed +forward with the first, and the terrific impact overwhelmed everything. +The Northern officers showed supreme courage in their attempt to stem +the rout. Everyone on horseback was either killed or wounded, and +their bravery and self-sacrifice were in vain. Nothing could stem the +relentless tide that poured upon them. Harry had never before seen the +Southern troops so exultant. Jackson's march of a whole day, unseen, +almost by the side of the enemy, and then his sudden attack upon his +right flank, made their battle rush fierce and irresistible. They might +be stayed for a few moments, but they swept on and on, carrying before +them the blue brigades. + +The scene, while extraordinarily vivid to Harry, was nevertheless wild +and confused. The fire of the cannon and rifles on a long line was so +rapid and terrific that he was almost blinded by the incessant blaze, +which was like one solid sheet of flame. The dense smoke gathered +once more among the bushes and trees and the forest was filling with a +tremendous shouting. + +Harry kept as close as he could to his general, who was now in the very +heart of the conflict. But it was a difficult task. His clothing was +torn by bushes and briars, and boughs whipped him across the face. +Now and then in a rift in the smoke he beheld a terrible sight. The +ground was covered with the arms and blankets and tents of the Union +army. Ahead of them were great masses of men, retreating and jammed +among the wagons. The horses, many of them wounded, were running about, +neighing in pain and terror. Officers, their uniforms often red from +wounds, were rushing everywhere, seeking to stay the panic. + +Yet the Union officers at last succeeded in getting some order out of +the chaos. A battery was rallied on a hill and threw a sleet of steel +on the charging men in gray. Some of the seasoned infantry regiments +were managing to form a line and they were beginning to send back a +rifle fire. Harry felt that the resistance in front of them was +hardening a little. + +But as usual the eye of Jackson saw everything, even through the flame +and smoke and confusion of a battle fought in dense forests and thickets. + +He galloped up the turnpike himself, his staff hot at his heels, and +shouting to the gunners and pointing forward, he urged on the artillery. +Then he rode among the infantry, and they, as eager as he, rushed on +at increased speed. Yet the Northern resistance was still hardening. +Some of the German regiments atoned for their earlier panic by reforming +and making a brave resistance. Other regiments formed behind a +breastwork. + +"They are going to make a bold stand," shouted Harry to Dalton. + +"But it will not help them," the Virginian replied. + +The Southern battle front, which for a few minutes had lost cohesion, +now swelled higher than ever. Led by Jackson in person, nearly all the +officers in front sword in hand, the whole division with a mighty shout +charged. Harry saw the Invincibles in the first line, the two colonels, +one on either flank, waving their swords and their faces young again +with the battle fire. But it was only a glimpse. Then they were lost +from his sight in the fire and smoke. + +There could be no sufficient defense against the charge of such a foe, +numerous, prepared and wild with victory. They swept over the +breastwork, they seized the cannon, they took prisoners, and before them +they swept the right wing of the Union army in irreparable rout and +confusion. Harry had not seen its like in the whole war, nor was +he destined to see it again. An entire corps had been annihilated. +The Wilderness was filled with the fragments of regiments seeking to +join the main force with Hooker at Chancellorsville. + +Harry thought Jackson would stop. They were now in the deep woods. +The sun was almost gone. The shadows from the east had crept over the +whole sky, and it was already dark among the dense thickets of the +Wilderness. An hour had passed since the first rush, and few generals +would have had the daring to push on in the forest, dark already and +rapidly growing darker. But Jackson was one of the few. He continued +to urge on his men, and he sent his staff officers galloping back and +forth to help in the task. There was a road in the very rear of Hooker. +He intended to seize it, and he was resolved before the night closed +down utterly to plant himself so firmly against the very center of the +Union army that Hooker's complete defeat in the morning would be sure. + +The bugles sang the charge again all along the Southern line, and in +the dying twilight, lit by the flame of cannon and rifles, they swept +forward, driving all resistance before them. + +It was one of the most appalling moments in the history of a nation +which has had to win its way with immense toil and through many dangers. +Hooker, brave, not lacking in ability, but far from being a match for +the extraordinary combination that faced him, two men of genius working +in perfect harmony, had been sitting with two of his staff officers +on the portico of the Chancellor House. He was serene and confident. +He knew the courage of his soldiers and their numbers. The cannonade in +his front had died down. He was a full-faced man, ruddy and stalwart, +and with his powerful army of veterans he felt equal to anything. +There was nothing to indicate that the Southern army was not in full +retreat, as he had stated in his dispatch earlier in the day. The +thought of Jackson had passed out of his mind for the time, because his +long columns, he was sure, were marching farther and farther away. + +Hooker, as the cool of the later afternoon, so pleasant after the heat +of the day, came on, felt an increase of satisfaction. All his great +forces would be massed in the morning. Now and then he heard in the +east the far sound of cannon like muttering thunder on the horizon, +but after a while it ceased entirely. He heard that distant thunder in +the south, too, but it passed farther and farther away, and he felt sure +that it came from his valiant guns hanging on the rear guard of the +retreating Jackson. + +One wonders what must be the feelings of a man who, sitting in apparent +security, is suddenly plunged into a terrible pit. Commanders less +able than Hooker have had better luck. What had he to fear? With one +hundred and thirty thousand veterans of the Army of the Potomac within +call, almost any other general in his place would have felt a like +security. But he had not fathomed fully the daring and skill of the two +men who confronted him. + +It is related that on the approach of that memorable evening there was a +remarkable peace and quiet at the Chancellor House itself. Hooker was +conversing quietly with his aides. Officers inside the house were +copying orders. The distant mutter of the guns that came now and then +was harmonious and rather soothing. The east was already darkening and +it seemed that a quiet sun would set over the Wilderness. + +The cannonade in the south seemed to pass into a new direction, but +the officers at the Chancellor House did not give it much attention. +Hooker was still quiet and confident. Suddenly a terrific crash of +cannon fire came from a point in the northwest. It was followed by +another and then others, so swiftly that they merged. It never ceased +for an instant and it rapidly rolled nearer. Hooker and his officers +leaped to their feet and gazed appalled at the forest whence came those +ominous sounds. An officer ran upon the plank road and took a look +through his glasses. + +"Good God!" he cried, as he turned quickly back. "Here they come!" + +Down the road was pouring a mass of fugitives, and they brought with +them news that did not suffer in the telling, either in magnitude or +color. Stonewall Jackson and the bulk of the rebel army had suddenly +fallen on their wing, they said, and he and his men were hard upon their +heels. Hooker passed in a moment from the certainty of victory to the +certainty that his army must fight for its very existence. Yet he and +his generals showed presence of mind and great courage in the crisis, +bringing forward troops rapidly and, above all, massing the superb +artillery. + +Harry Kenton, his horse shot under him, again was in the front line of +the Southern troops that followed the mass of fugitives down the road +toward the Chancellor House. In the mad rush he lost sight of Jackson +for the time, and found himself mingled with the Invincibles. Both the +colonels were bleeding from slight wounds, but with fire equal to that +of any youth they were still at the head of their troops, leading them +straight toward the Union center. + +Harry only had time to glance at his friends and receive their glances +in return, and then he found Jackson again. Catching one of the +riderless horses, so numerous, he sprang upon him and rode close behind +his general, where Dalton, a slight bullet wound in the arm, had been +able to remain through all the confusion. + +Now the Southern troops were crashing through the woods and bearing +down upon the Chancellor House. The blaze of the cannon and rifles lit +up the early night, and the crash and tumult around the place became +indescribable. Many a Northern officer thought that all was lost, +but the trained artillerymen of the North never flinched. Occupying +an eminence, battery after battery was wheeled into line, until fifty +cannon manned by the best gunners in the world were pouring an awful +fire upon the Southern front. Jackson's men were compelled to stop, +and elsewhere the Southern line was halted also by the density of the +thickets. + +Yet it was but a lull. It was far into the night. Nevertheless, +Jackson meant to push the battle. He rode among his troops and +encouraged them for another effort. Everywhere he was received with +tremendous cheers, and the men were willing and eager to push on the +attack. Lee, his chief, meanwhile was closing in with the smaller +force. The whole line was reformed. Jackson cried to Hill and Lane +and other generals to push on. The whole army was in line for a fresh +attack, and they could hear the sounds made by the enemy cutting down +timber and fortifying. + +It was now nearly nine o'clock at night, and save for the fires that +burned here and there and the flash of the picket firing, the night that +hung over the Wilderness was dark and heavy. + +Harry passed once more near the Invincibles, who were lying down, +panting with weariness, but exultant. They had lost a third of their +numbers in the attack, but the wounds of his own friends were not +serious. + +"Do you know whether we charge them again, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"I don't know, sir; but you know General Jackson." + +"Then it probably means that we attack. Keep down, Captain Bertrand! +Those Northern pickets in the bushes in front of us are active, and, +upon my word, they know how to shoot, as the honorable wounds of many +of us attest!" + +Bertrand, eager to see the enemy, was standing on a hillock, and he did +not seem to hear the words of his chief. A rifle cracked in the bushes +and he fell back without a word. The arms of St. Clair received him and +eased him gently to the earth. But Harry saw at a glance that the man +and his fevered ambitions were gone forever. He was dead before he +touched the ground. + +"I'm glad that I was the one to catch his body," said St. Clair simply. + +Harry was moved at the fall of this man, although he had never really +liked him, but he went on and rejoined his general. Colonel Talbot was +right. Jackson was still intent upon pressing the attack. Night and +darkness were now nothing to him. He meant to achieve Hooker's ruin. + +Harry always believed afterward that he felt the shadow of the great +tragedy soon to come. The roar of the cannon had died down, but from +every direction came the firing of scattered riflemen, skirmishers and +pickets. They buzzed like angry bees, and no man on the front of either +army was safe from their sting. But all through the Wilderness along +the line of Jackson's charge the dead and wounded lay. Here and there +clumps of fallen and dead wood of the winter before, set on fire by the +shells, were burning slowly. The smoke from so much firing drifted in +vast banks of vapor through the forest. The air was filled with bitter +odors. + +Harry felt a sensation of awe and terror, not terror inspired by man, +but of the unknown or uncontrolled forces that drive men to meet one +another in such deadly combat. Now night did not suffice to stop the +titanic struggle. He saw all around him the regiments ready for a new +attack, and he plainly heard in front of him the thud of axes as the +Northern men cut down trees for their defense. Now and then stray +moonbeams, penetrating the forest and the smoke, fell over them like +discs of burnished silver, but faded quickly. + +The firing of the skirmishers increased. Twigs and leaves cut off by +the bullets fell in little showers to the earth. Harry, on horseback +now, saw an impatient look pass over the general's face. The intrepid +fighter, A. P. Hill, was coming up fast, but not fast enough for +Stonewall Jackson. He turned and rode back toward him, careless of the +danger from the Northern skirmishers, who might at any moment see him. + +"General," said one of his staff in protest, "don't expose yourself so +much." + +"There is no danger," said the general quickly. "The enemy is routed +and we must push him hard. Hurry to General Hill and tell him to press +forward." + +The little group of men, Jackson and his staff, rode on. It was very +dark where they were, in the shade of the stunted forest. No moonlight +reached them there. Jackson paused, listening to the rising fire of +the skirmishers. A rifle suddenly flashed in the thickets before them. +Northern troops, lost in the bush and the darkness, were coming directly +their way. + +Jackson turned and, followed by his staff, rode toward his own lines. +The men of a North Carolina regiment, dimly seeing a group of horsemen +coming down upon them, thought they were about to be attacked, and an +officer gave an order to fire. He was obeyed at once, and the most +costly volley fired by Southern troops in the whole war sent the deadly +bullets whistling into Jackson's group. + +Officers and horses fell, shot down by their own men. Jackson was +struck in the right hand and received two bullets in his left arm. +One cut an artery and another shattered the bone near the shoulder. +The reins dropped from his hands, and his horse, the famous Little +Sorrel, broke violently away, rushing through the woods toward the +Northern lines. A bough struck Jackson in the face and he reeled in the +saddle. But with a violent effort he righted himself, seized the bridle +in his stricken right hand, and turned back his frightened horse. + +Harry had sat still in his saddle, petrified with horror. Then he urged +forward his horse and tried to reach his general, but another aide, +Captain Wilbourn, was before him. Wilbourn seized the reins of Little +Sorrel and then Harry felt the thrill of horror again as he saw Jackson +reel forward and fall. But he was caught in the arms of the faithful +Wilbourn. + +They laid Jackson on the ground, and a courier was sent in haste for his +personal physician, Dr. McGuire. Harry sprang down, and abandoning his +horse, which he never saw again, knelt beside his general. Wilbourn +with a penknife was cutting the sleeve from the shattered arm. + +The whole battle passed away for Harry. Death was in his heart at that +moment. When he looked at the white, drawn face of Jackson and his +shattered arm, he had no hope then, nor did he ever have any afterwards, +save for a few moments. The paladin of the Confederacy was gone, +shot down in the dark by his own men. + +General Hill, who also had been in great danger from the bullets of the +North Carolinians, galloped up, sprang from his horse and helped to bind +up the shattered arm. + +"Are you much hurt, General?" he asked, his face distorted with grief +and alarm. + +"I fear so," was the reply, in a weak voice, "and I have suffered all my +wounds from my own men. I think my right arm is broken." + +Harry remained motionless. He saw Dalton by his side, and he also saw +tears on his face. Jackson closed his eyes and uttered no word of +complaint, although it was obvious that he was suffering terribly. +General Hill felt his pulse. He was rapidly growing weaker. Harry was +so stunned that he would not have known what to do, even had not senior +officers been present. When his pulse began to beat again he remained +silent, waiting upon his superiors. + +But Harry was now alert and watchful again. He heard the heavy firing +of the skirmishers on the right, on the left, and in front, and through +the darkness he saw the flashes of flame. The little group around the +fallen man was detached from the army and the enemy might come upon them +at any moment. Even as he looked, two Union skirmishers came through +the thicket and, pausing, their rifles in the hollows of their arms, +looked intently at the shadowy figures before them, trying to discern +who and what they were. It was General Hill who acted promptly. +Turning to Harry and Dalton, he said in a low tone: + +"Take charge of those men." + +The two young lieutenants, with levelled pistols, instantly sprang +forward and seized the soldiers before they had time to resist. They +were given to orderlies and sent to the rear. Harry and Dalton returned +to the side of their fallen general. While all stood there trying to +decide what to do, an aide who had gone down the road reported that a +battery of Northern artillery was unlimbering just before them. + +"Then we must take the General away at once," said Hill. + +Hill lifted in his arms the great leader who was now almost too weak to +speak, although he opened his eyes once, and, as ever, thoughtful of his +troops and the cause for which he fought, said. + +"Tell them it's only a wounded Confederate soldier whom you are +carrying." + +Then he closed his eyes again and lay heavy and inert in Hill's arms. +Hill held him on his feet, and the young staff officers, now crowding +around, supported him. Thus aided he walked among the trees until they +came to the road. It was as dark as ever, save for the flash of the +firing which went on continuously to right, to left, and in front, +mingled now with the sinister rumble of cannon. + +Harry, helping to support Jackson and overwhelmed with grief, felt as if +the end of the world had come. The darkness, the flash of the rifles, +the mutter of cannon, the blaze of gunpowder, the fierce shouts that +rose now and then in the thickets, the foul odors, made him think that +they had truly reached the infernal regions. + +The lieutenant, who saw the battery unlimbering, had not been deceived +by his imagination. Just as they entered the road it fired a terrible +volley of grape and shrapnel. Luckily in the darkness it fired high, +and the little Southern group heard the deadly sleet crashing in the +bushes and boughs over their heads. + +The devoted young staff officers instantly laid Jackson down in the road, +and, sheltering him with their own bodies as they lay beside him, +remained perfectly still while the awful rain of steel swept over their +heads again. Whether Jackson was conscious of it Harry never knew. + +It was one of the most terrible moments of Harry's life. He felt the +most overwhelming grief, but every nerve, nevertheless, was sensitive to +the last degree. His first conviction that Jackson's wounds were mortal +was in abeyance for the moment. He might yet recover and lead his +dauntless legions as of old to victory, and he, like the other young +officers who lay around him, was resolved to save him with his own life +if he could. + +The deadly rain from the cannon did not cease. It swept over their +heads again and again, all the more fearful because of the darkness. +Harry felt the twigs and leaves, cut from the bushes, falling on his +face. The whining of the grape and shrapnel and canister united in one +ferocious note. Some of it struck in the roadway beyond them and fire +flew from the stones. + +The general revived a little after a while and tried to get up, but one +of the young officers threw his arms around him and, holding him down, +said: + +"Be still, General! You must! It will cost you your life to rise!" + +The general made no further attempt to rise, and perhaps he lapsed +into a stupor for a little space. Harry could not tell how long that +dreadful shrieking and whining over their heads continued. It was five +minutes perhaps, but to him it seemed interminable. Presently the +missiles gave forth a new note. + +"They're using shells now," said Dalton, "because they're seeking a +longer range, and they're going much higher over our heads than the +canister." + +"And here are men approaching," said Harry. "I can make out their +figures. They must be our own." + +"So they are!" said Dalton, as they came nearer. + +It was a heavy mass of Confederate infantry pressing forward in the +darkness, and the young officers who had been so ready to give their +lives for their hero lifted him to his feet. Not wishing to have the +ardor of his men quenched by the sight of his wounds, Jackson bade them +take him aside into the thick bushes. But Pender, the general who was +leading these troops, saw him and recognized him, despite the heavy veil +of darkness and smoke. + +Pender rushed to Jackson, betraying the greatest grief, and said that +he was afraid he must fall back before the tremendous artillery fire of +the enemy. As he spoke, that fire increased. Shells and round shot, +grape and canister and shrapnel shrieked through the air, and the +bullets, too, were coming in thousands, whistling like hail driven by +a hurricane. Men fell all about them in the darkness. + +But the great soul of Jackson, wounded to death and unable to stand, +was unshaken. Harry saw him suddenly straighten up, draw himself away +from those who were supporting him, and say: + +"You must hold your ground, General Pender! You must hold out to the +very last, sir!" + +Once more the eyes shot forth blue fire. Once more the unquenchable +spirit had spoken. The figure reeled, and the young officers sprang to +his support. He wanted to lie down there and rest, but the youths would +not let him, because every form of missile hurled from a cannon's mouth +was crashing among them. A litter arrived now and they carried him +toward a house that had been used as a tavern. A shot struck one of +the men who held the litter in his arm and he was compelled to let go. +The litter tipped over and Jackson fell heavily to the ground, his whole +weight crashing upon his wounded arm. Harry heard him utter then his +first and only groan. The boy himself cried out in horror. + +But they lifted him up again, and the litter bearers carried him on, +the young officers crowded close around him. Although it was far on +toward midnight, the roar of the battle swelled afresh through the +Wilderness. They came presently to an ambulance, by the side of which +Jackson's physician, Dr. McGuire, stood. The surgeon, tears in his eyes, +bent over the general and asked him if he were badly hurt. Jackson +replied that he thought he was dying. + +An officer of high rank, Colonel Crutchfield, whom Jackson esteemed +highly, was already lying in the ambulance, wounded severely. They +put Jackson beside him and drove slowly toward the rear. Once, when +Crutchfield groaned under the jolting of the ambulance, Jackson made +them stop until his comrade was easier. Then the mournful procession +moved on, while the battle roared and crashed about the lone ambulance +that bore the stricken idol of the Confederacy, Lee's right arm, the man +without whom the South could not win. Harry heard long afterward that a +minister in New Orleans used in his prayer some such words as these, "Oh, +Lord, when Thou in Thy infinite wisdom didst decree that the Southern +Confederacy should fail, Thou hadst first to take away Thy servant, +Stonewall Jackson." + +Harry and Dalton might have followed the ambulance that carried Jackson +away, as they were members of his staff, but they felt that their place +was on this dusky battlefield. While they paused, not knowing what to +do, a body of men came through the brushwood and they recognized the +upright and martial figures of Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant- +Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. Just behind them were St. Clair, Langdon +and the rest of the Invincibles. The two colonels turned and gazed at +the retreating ambulance, a shadow for a moment in the dusk, and then a +shadow gone. + +"I saw them putting an officer in that ambulance, Harry," said Colonel +Talbot. "Who was it?" + +Harry choked and made no answer. + +Colonel Talbot, surprised, turned to Dalton. + +"Who was it?" he repeated. + +Dalton turned his face away, and was silent. + +At sight of this emotion, a sudden, terrible suspicion was born in the +mind of Colonel Leonidas Talbot. It was like a dagger thrust. + +"You don't mean--it can't be--" he exclaimed, in broken words. + +Harry could control his feelings no longer. + +"Yes, Colonel," he burst forth. "It was he, Stonewall Jackson, shot +down in the darkness and by mistake by our own men!" + +"Was he hurt badly?" + +"One arm was shattered completely, and he was shot through the hand of +the other." + +The moonlight shone on Harry's face just then, and the colonel, as he +looked at him, drew in his breath with a deep gasp. + +"So bad as that!" he muttered. "I did not think our champion could +fall." + +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, Langdon and St. Clair, who had +heard him, also turned pale, but were silent. + +"We must not tell it," said Harry. "General Jackson did not wish it to +be known to the soldiers, and there is fighting yet to be done. Here +comes General Hill!" + +Harry and Dalton flung themselves into the ranks of the Invincibles. +Hill took command in Jackson's place, but was soon badly wounded by a +fragment of shell, and was taken away. Then Stuart, the great horseman, +rode up and led the troops to meet the return attack for which the +Northern forces were massing in their front. Harry saw Stuart as he +came, eager as always for battle, his plumed hat shining in the light +of the moon, which was now clear and at the full. + +"If Jackson can lead no longer, then Stuart can," said Colonel Talbot, +looking proudly at the gallant knight who feared no danger. "What time +is it, Hector?" + +"Nearly midnight, Leonidas." + +"And no time for fighting, but fighting will be done. Can't you hear +their masses gathering in the wood?" + +"I do, Hector. The Yankees, despite their terrible surprise, have shown +great spirit. It is not often that routed troops can turn and put on +the defense those who have routed them." + +"Yes, and they'll be on us in a minute," said Harry. + +It was much lighter now, owing to the clearness of the moon and the +lifting of the smoke caused by a lull in the firing. But Harry was +right in his prediction. Within five minutes the Northern artillery, +sixty massed guns, opened with a frightful crash. Once more that storm +of steel swept through the woods, but now the lack of daylight helped +the Southerners. Many were killed and wounded, but most of the rain +of death passed over their heads, as they were all lying on the ground +awaiting the charge, and the Northern gunners, not able to choose any +targets, fired in the general direction of the Southern force. + +The cannon fire went on for several minutes, and then, with a mighty +shout, the Northern force charged, but in a great confused struggle in +the woods and darkness it was beaten back, and soon after midnight the +battle for that day ceased. + +Yet there was no rest for the troops. Stuart, appreciating the numbers +of his enemy and fearing another attack, moved his forces to the side +to close up the gap between himself and Lee, in order that the Southern +army should present a solid line for the new conflict that was sure to +come in the morning. + +All that night the Wilderness gave forth the sound of preparations made +by either side, and Harry neither slept nor had any thought of it. +He knew well that the battle was far from over, and he knew also that +the Union army had not yet been defeated. Hooker's right wing had been +crushed by the sudden and tremendous stroke of Jackson, but his center +had rallied powerfully on Chancellorsville, and instead of a mere +defense had been able to attack in the night battle. The fall of +Jackson, too, had paralyzed for a time the Southern advance, and Lee, +with the slender forces under his immediate eye, had not been able to +make any progress. + +Harry and Dalton finally left the Invincibles and reported to General +Stuart, who instantly recognized Harry. + +"Ah," he said, "you were on the staff of General Jackson!" + +"Yes, sir," replied Harry, "and so was Lieutenant Dalton here. We +report to you for duty." + +"Then you'll be on mine for to-night. After that General Lee will +dispose of you, but I have much for you both to do before morning." + +Stuart was acting with the greatest energy and foresight, manning his +artillery and strengthening his whole line. But he knew that it was +necessary to inform his commander-in-chief of all that was happening, +in order that Lee in the morning might have the two portions of the +Southern army in perfect touch and under his complete command. He +selected Wilbourn to reach him, and Harry was detailed to accompany that +gallant officer. They were well fitted to tell all that had happened, +as they had been in the thick of the battle and had been present at the +fall of Jackson. + +The two officers, saying but little, rode side by side through the +Wilderness. They were so much oppressed with grief that they did not +have the wish to talk. Both were devotedly attached to Jackson, and +to both he was a hero, without fear and without reproach. They heard +behind them the occasional report of a rifle. But it was only a little +picket firing. Most of the soldiers, worn out by such tremendous +efforts, lay upon the ground in what was a stupor rather than sleep. + +As they rode forward they met pickets of their own men who told them +where Lee and his staff were encamped, and they rode on, still in +silence, for some time. Harry's cheeks were touched by a freshening +breeze which had the feel of coming dawn, and he said at last: + +"The morning can't be far away, Captain." + +"No, the first light of sunrise will appear very soon. It seems to me I +can see a faint touch of gray now over the eastern forest." + +They were riding now through the force that had been left by General +Lee. Soldiers lay all around them and in all positions, most to rise +soon for the fresh battle, and some, as Harry could tell by their +rigidity, never to rise at all. + +They asked again for Lee as they went on, and a sentinel directed them +to a clump of pines. Wilbourn and Harry dismounted and walked toward a +number of sleeping forms under the pines. The figures, like those of +the soldiers, were relaxed and as still as death. The dawn which Harry +has felt on his face did not appear to the eye. It was very dark under +the boughs of the pines, and they did not know which of the still forms +was Lee. + +Wilbourn asked one of the soldiers on guard for an officer, and Lee's +adjutant-general came forward. Wilbourn told him at once what had +occurred, and while they talked briefly one of the figures under the +pines arose. It was that of Lee, who, despite his stillness, was +sleeping lightly, and whom the first few words had awakened. He put +aside an oilcloth which some one had put over him to keep off the +morning dew, and called: + +"Who is there?" + +"Messengers, sir, from General Jackson," replied Major Taylor, the +Adjutant-General. + +General Lee pointed to the blankets on which he had been lying, and said: + +"Sit down here and tell me everything that occurred last evening." + +Wilbourn sat down on the blankets. Harry stood back a little. The +other staff officers, aroused by the talk, sat up, but waited in +silence. Captain Wilbourn began the story of the night, and Lee did not +interrupt him. But the first rays of the dawn were now stealing through +the pines, and when Wilbourn came to the account of Jackson's fall, +Harry saw the great leader's face pale a little. Lee, like Jackson, +was a man who invariably had himself under complete command, one who +seldom showed emotion, but now, as Wilbourn finished, he exclaimed with +deep emotion: + +"Ah, Captain Wilbourn, we've won a victory, but it is dearly bought, +when it deprives us of the services of General Jackson, even for a short +time!" + +Harry inferred from what he said that he did not think General Jackson's +wounds serious, and he wished that he could have the same hope and +belief, but he could not. He had felt the truth from the first, that +Jackson's wounds were mortal. Then Lee was silent so long that Captain +Wilbourn rose as if to go. + +Lee came out of his deep thought and bade Wilbourn stay a little longer. +Then he asked him many questions about the troops and their positions. +He also gave him orders to carry to Stuart, and as Wilbourn turned to go, +he said with great energy: + +"Those people must be pressed this morning!" + +Then Wilbourn and Harry rode away at the utmost speed, guiding their +horses skilfully through lines of soldiers yet sleeping. The freshening +touch of dawn grew stronger on Harry's cheeks and he saw the band of +gray in the east broadening. Presently they reached their own corps, +and now they saw all the troops ready and eager. Harry rode at once +with Wilbourn to Stuart and fell in behind that singular but able +general. + +Harry saw that Stuart's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes +fairly blazed. It had fallen to him to lead the great fighting corps +which had been led so long by Stonewall Jackson, and it was enough +to appeal to the pride of any general. Nor had he shed any of the +brilliant plumage that he loved so well. The great plume in his +gold-corded hat lifted and fluttered in the wind as he galloped about. +The broad sash of yellow silk still encircled his waist, and on his +heels were large golden spurs. Harry, as he followed him, heard +him singing to himself, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" That line seemed to have taken possession of Stuart's mind. + +All the staff and many of the soldiers along the battle front noted the +difference between their new commander and the one who had fallen so +disastrously in the night. There was never anything spectacular about +Jackson. In the soberest of uniforms, save once or twice, he would ride +along the battle front on his little sorrel horse, making no gestures. + +It was not until the soldiers saw Stuart in the light that they knew +of Jackson's fall. Then the news spread among them with astonishing +rapidity, and while they liked Stuart, their hearts were with the great +leader who lay wounded behind them. But eagerness for revenge added to +their warlike zeal. Along the reformed lines ran a tremendous swelling +cry: "Remember Jackson!" + +They wheeled a little further to the right in order to come into close +contact with Lee, and then, as the first red touch of the dawn showed in +the Wilderness, the trumpets sounded the charge. The batteries blazed +as they sent forth crashing volleys, and in a minute the thunder of guns +came from the east and south, where Lee also attacked as soon as he +heard the sounds of his lieutenant's charge. + +Nothing could withstand the terrible onset of the troops who were still +shouting "Remember Jackson!" and who were led on by a plumed knight out +of the Middle Ages, shaking a great sabre and now singing at the top of +his voice his favorite line, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the +Wilderness?" + +They swept away the skirmishers and seized the plateau of Hazel Grove +which had been of such use to Hooker the night before, and the Southern +batteries, planted in strength upon it, rained death on the Northern +ranks. The veterans with Lee rushed forward with equal courage and fire, +and from every point of the great curve cannon and rifles thundered on +the Union ranks. + +Harry and Dalton stayed as closely as they could with their new chief, +who, reckless of the death which in truth he seemed to invite, was +galloping in the very front ranks, still brandishing his great sabre, +and now and then making it whirl in a coil of light about his head. +He continually shouted encouragement to his men, who were already full +of fiery zeal, but it was the spirit of Jackson that urged them most. +It seemed to Harry, excited and worshipping his hero, that the figure +of Jackson, misty and almost impalpable, still rode before him. + +But it was no mere triumphal march. They met stern and desperate +resistance. It was American against American. Once more the superb +Northern batteries met those of the South with a fire as terrible as +their own. The Union gunners willingly exposed themselves to death to +save their army, and from their breastworks sixty thousand riflemen +sent vast sheets of bullets. + +But the Northern leader was gone. As Hooker leaned against a pillar in +the portico of the Chancellor House a shell struck it over his head, +the concussion being so violent that he was thrown to the floor, stunned +and severely injured. He was carried away, unconscious, but the brave +and able generals under him still sustained the battle, and had no +thought of yielding. + +The Southern army, Lee and Stuart in unison, never ceased to push the +attack. The forces were now drawing closer together. The lines were +shorter and deeper. The concentrated fire on both sides was appalling. +Bushes and saplings fell in the Wilderness as if they had been levelled +with mighty axes. + +Harry saw a vast bank of fire and smoke and then he saw shooting above +it pyramids and spires of flame. The Chancellor House and all the +buildings near it, set on fire by the flames, were burning fiercely, +springing up like torches to cast a lurid light over that scene of death +and destruction. Then the woods, despite their spring sap and greenness, +caught fire under the showers of exploding shells, and their flames +spread along a broad front. + +The defense made by the Union army was long and desperate. No men could +have shown greater valor, but they had been surprised and from the first +they had been outgeneralled. An important division of Hooker's army had +not been able to get into the main battle. The genius of Lee gathered +all his men at the point of contact and the invisible figure of Jackson +still rode at the head of his men. + +For five hours the battle raged, and at last the repeated charges of the +Southern troops and the deadly fire of their artillery prevailed. + +The Northern army, its breastworks carried by storm, was driven out of +Chancellorsville and, defeated but not routed, began its slow and sullen +retreat. Thirty thousand men killed or wounded attested the courage and +endurance with which the two sides had fought. + +The Army of the Potomac, defeated but defiant and never crushed by +defeat, continued its slow retreat to Fredericksburg, and for a little +space the guns were silent in the Wilderness. + +The men of Hooker, although surprised and outgeneralled, had shown great +courage in battle, and after the defeat of Chancellorsville the retreat +was conducted with much skill. Lee had been intending to push another +attack, but, as usual after the great battles of the Civil War, +Chancellorsville was followed by a terrific storm. It burst over the +Wilderness in violence and fury. + +The thunder was so loud and the lightning so vivid that it seemed for a +while as if another mighty combat were raging. Then the rain came in a +deluge, and the hoofs of horses and the wheels of cannon sank so deep in +the spongy soil of the Wilderness that it became practically impossible +to move the army. + +After a night of storm, Harry and Dalton rode forward with Sherburne and +his troop of cavalry, sent by Stuart to beat up the enemy and see what +he was doing. They found that Hooker's whole army had crossed the river +in the night on his bridges. + +Twice the Northern army had been driven back across the Rappahannock at +the same place--after Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville--but Harry +felt no elation as he returned slowly through the mud with Sherburne. + +"If it were in my power," he said, "I'd gladly trade the victory of +Chancellorsville, and more like it, to have our General back." + +By "our General" he of course meant Jackson, and both Sherburne and +Dalton nodded assent. The news had come to them that Jackson was not +doing well. His shattered arm had been amputated near the shoulder, +and the report spread through the army that he was sinking. Just after +the victory, Lee, with his wonted greatness of soul, had sent him a +note that it was chiefly due to him. Jackson, although in great pain, +had sent back word that General Lee was very kind, "but he should give +the praise to God." + +The deep religious feeling was no affectation with him. It showed alike +in victory and suffering. It was a part of the man's being, bred into +every fiber of his bone and flesh. + +As soon as the news of Hooker's escape across the Rappahannock had been +told, Harry and Dalton asked leave of Stuart to visit General Jackson. +It was given at once. Stuart added, moreover, that he had merely taken +them on his staff while the battle lasted. They were now to return to +their own chief. But his heart warmed to them both and he said to them +that if they happened to need a friend to come to him. + +They thanked Stuart and rode away, two very sober youths indeed. +Both were appalled by the vast slaughter of Chancellorsville. Harry +began to have a feeling that their victories were useless. After every +triumph the enemy was more numerous and powerful than ever. And the +cloud of Jackson's condition hung heavy over both. When he was first +struck down in the Wilderness, Harry had felt no hope for him, and now +that premonition was coming true. + +They learned that he was in the Chandler House at a little place called +Guiney's Station, and they rode briskly toward it. They passed many +troops in camp, resting after their tremendous exertions, many of whom +knew them to be officers of Jackson's staff. They were besieged by +these. Young soldiers fairly clung to their horses and demanded news +of Jackson, who, they had heard, was dying. Harry and Dalton returned +replies as hopeful as they could make them, but their faces belied their +word. Gloom hung over the Southern army which had just won its most +brilliant victory. + +Harry and Dalton found the same gloom at the Chandler House. The +officers who were there welcomed them in subdued tones, and in the house +everybody moved silently. The general's wife and little daughter had +just arrived from Richmond, and they were with him. But after a while +the two young lieutenants were admitted. Jackson spoke a few words to +both, as they bent beside his bed, and commended them as brave soldiers. +Harry knew now, when he looked at the thin face and the figure scarcely +able to move, that the great Jackson was going. + +They went out oppressed by grief, and sought the Invincibles, whom they +at last found encamped in an old orchard. Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant- +Colonel St. Hilaire sat beneath an apple tree, and the chessboard was +between them. + +"They've been sitting there an hour," whispered Langdon, "but they +haven't made a single move, nor will they make one if they stay there +all day. It's in my mind that neither of them sees the chessmen. +Instead they see the General--they visited him this morning." + +Harry did not speak to the two colonels, but turned away. + +"We found the body of Bertrand yesterday," said Langdon, "and buried it +just where he fell." + +"I'm glad of that," said Harry. + +Harry and Dalton lingered at the Chandler House with the staff to which +they belonged. Three days passed and Sunday came. Jackson was sinking +all the while, and that morning the doctor informed his wife that he was +about to die. Pneumonia had followed the weakness from his wounds and +his breathing had grown very faint. Mrs. Jackson herself told him that +all hope for him was gone, and he heard the words with resignation. + +After a while, as Harry learned, his mind began to wander. He spoke in +disjointed sentences of the army, of his battles, of his boyhood and +of his friends. This lasted into the afternoon, when he sank into +unconsciousness. Then came his death, and it was much like that of +Napoleon. He awoke suddenly from a deep stupor and cried out, in a +clear voice: + +"Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the +front! Tell Major Hawks--" + +He stopped, seemed to sink into a stupor again, but a little later +roused suddenly from it once more, and said, in the same clear voice: + +"Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." + +Then, as his eyes closed, the soul of the great Christian soldier passed +into the fathomless beyond, to sit in peace with Cromwell and Washington, +and in time with Lee and Grant and Thomas, who were yet to come. + +That night a whole army wept. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NORTHERN MARCH + + + + +It was days before Harry felt as if life could move on in the usual way. +He had loved Jackson next to his father. In fact, in the absence of his +own father the great general had stood in that place to him. He had +received from him so many marks of approval, and, riding as a trusted +member of Jackson's staff, his head had been in such a rosy cloud of +glory and victory, that now it seemed for a while as if the world had +come to an end. + +He was disappointed, too, that they had reaped so little from +Chancellorsville. He believed at times that his general had died in +vain. He had but to ride a little distance and see the enemy across the +Rappahannock, where he had been so many months, with the same bristling +guns and the same superior forces. + +He had been eager, like all the other young officers, to move directly +after the battle and attack the foe on his own ground, but when he +talked with the two colonels he realized that their numbers were too +small. They must wait for Longstreet's great division, which had been +detached from the battle to guard against a possible flank attack upon +Richmond. Oh, if Longstreet and his twenty thousand veterans had been +at Chancellorsville! And if Jackson had not fallen just at the moment +when he was about to complete the destruction of Hooker's right wing! +He believed that then they would have annihilated the Army of the +Potomac, that only a few fugitives from it would have escaped across +the Potomac. The time came to him in after years when he often asked +himself would such a result have been a good result for the American +people. + +But now he was only a boy, as old, it is true, as many boys who led +companies, or even regiments, and the days were sufficient for his +thoughts. He was not thinking of the distant years and what they might +bring. Both he and Dalton felt joy when General Lee sent for them and +told them that, having been valued members of General Jackson's staff, +they were now to become members of his own. All he asked of them was +to serve him as well as they had served General Jackson. + +Harry was moved so deeply that he could scarcely thank him. He felt +springing up in his breast the same affection and hero-worship for Lee +that he had felt for Jackson. And as the close association with Lee +continued, this feeling grew both in his heart and in that of Dalton. + +The soul of youth cannot be kept down, and Harry's spirits returned as +he rode back and forth on Lee's errands. Moreover, spring was in full +tide and his blood rose with it. The Wilderness, in which the dead men +lay, and all the surrounding country were turning a deep green, and the +waters of the Rappahannock often flashed in gold or silver as the sun +blazed or grew dim. Pleasant relations between the sentries on the +two sides of the river were renewed. Tobacco, newspapers, and other +harmless articles were passed back and forth, when the officers +conveniently turned their backs. Nor was it always that the younger +officers turned away. + +Harry was in a boat near the right bank when he saw another boat about +thirty yards from the left shore. It contained a half dozen men, +and he recognized one of the figures at once. Putting his hands, +trumpet-shaped, to his mouth, he shouted: + +"Mr. Shepard! Oh, I say, Mr. Shepard!" + +The man looked up, and, evidently recognizing Harry, he had the boat +rowed a little nearer. Harry had his own moved forward a little, +and he stopped at a point where they could talk conveniently. + +"You may not believe me," said Shepard, "but I felt pleasure when I +heard your voice and recognized your face. I am glad to know that you +did not fall in the great battle." + +"I do believe you, and I am not merely exchanging compliments when I say +that I rejoice that you, too, came out of it alive." + +"Nevertheless, luck was against us then," said Shepard, and Harry, +even at the distance, saw a shadow cross his face. "I saw the great +flank movement of Jackson and I understood its nature. I was on my way +to General Hooker with all speed to warn him, and I would have got there +in time had it not been for a chance bullet that stunned me. That +bullet cost us thousands of men." + +"And the bullets that struck General Jackson will cost us a whole army +corps." + +"We hear that they were fired by your own men." + +"So they were. A North Carolina company in the darkness took us for the +enemy." + +"I don't rejoice over the fall of a great and valiant foe, but whether +Jackson lived or died the result would be the same. I told you long +ago that the forces of the Union could never be beaten in the long run, +and I repeated it to you another time. Now I repeat it once more. +We have lost two great battles here, but you make no progress. We +menace you as much as ever." + +"But your newspapers say you're growing very tired. There's no nation +so big that it can't be exhausted." + +"But you'll be exhausted first. So long, I see some of our generals +coming out on the bluffs with their glasses. I suppose we mustn't +appear too friendly." + +"Good-bye, Mr. Shepard. We've lost Jackson, but we've many a good man +yet. I think our next great battle will be farther north." + +They had not spoken as enemies, but as friends who held different views +upon an important point, and now they rowed back peacefully, each to his +own shore. + +With the return of Longstreet, the Southern army was raised to greater +numbers than at Chancellorsville. With Stuart's matchless cavalry it +numbered nearly eighty thousand men, most of them veterans, and a cry +for invasion came from the South. What was the use of victories like +Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, if they merely left matters where +they were? The fighting hitherto had been done on Southern soil. +The South alone had felt the presence of war. It was now time for the +North to have a taste of it. + +Harry and his comrades heard this cry, and it seemed to them to be full +of truth. They ought to strike straight at the heart of the enemy. +When their victorious brigades threatened Philadelphia and New York, +the two great commercial centers of the North, then the Northern people +would not take defeat so easily. It would be a different matter +altogether when a foe appeared at their own doors. + +Rumors that the invasion would be undertaken soon spread thick and fast. +Harry saw his general, Lee now in place of Jackson, in daily conference +with his most trusted lieutenants. Longstreet and A. P. Hill were there +often, and one day Harry saw riding toward headquarters a man who had +only one leg and who was strapped to his saddle. But a strong Roman +nose and a sharp, penetrating eye showed that he was a man of force and +decision. Once, when he lifted his hat to return a salute, he showed a +head almost wholly bald. + +Harry looked at him for a moment or two unknowing, and then crying +"General Ewell!" ran forward to greet him. + +Harry was right. It was what was left of him who had been Jackson's +chief lieutenant in the Valley campaigns and who had fallen wounded +so terribly at the Second Manassas. After nine months of suffering, +here he was again, as resolute and indomitable as ever, able to ride +only when he was strapped in his saddle, but riding as much as any other +general, nevertheless. + +And Ewell, who might well have retired, was one of those who had most to +lose by war. He had a great estate in the heart of a rich country near +Virginia's ancient capital, Williamsburg. There he had lived in a large +house, surrounded by a vast park, all his own. Even as the man, maimed +in body but as dauntless of mind as ever, rode back to Lee, his estate +was in the hands of Union troops. He had all to lose, but did not +hesitate. + +Harry saluted him and spoke to him gladly. Ewell turned his piercing +eyes upon him, hesitated a moment, and then said: + +"It's Kenton, young Harry Kenton of Jackson's staff. I remember you +in the Valley now. We've lost the great Jackson, but we'll beat the +Yankees yet." + +Then he let loose a volley of oaths, much after the fashion of the +country gentleman of that time, both in America and England. But Harry +only smiled. + +"I'm to have command of Jackson's old corps, the second," said Ewell, +"and if you're not placed I'll be glad to have you on my staff." + +"I thank you very much, General," said Harry with great sincerity, +"but General Lee has taken me over, because I was with Jackson." + +"Then you'll have all the fighting you want," said the indomitable +Ewell. "General Lee never hesitates to strike. But don't be the fool +that I was and get your leg shot off. If anything has to go, let it be +an arm. Look at me. I could ride with any man in all Virginia, a state +of horsemen, and now a couple of men have to come and fasten me in the +saddle with straps. But never mind." + +He rode cheerily on, and Harry, turning back, met St. Clair and Langdon. +Both showed a pleased excitement. + +"What is it?" asked Harry. + +"Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire are at it again, +and there have been results!" + +"What has happened?" + +"Colonel Talbot has lost a bishop and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire has +lost a knight. Each claims that he has gained a technical advantage in +position, and they've stopped playing to argue about it. From the way +they act you'd think they were Yankee generals. See 'em over there +under the boughs of that tree, sitting on camp stools, with the chessmen +on another camp stool between them." + +Harry looked over a little ridge and saw the two colonels, who were +talking with great earnestness, each obviously full of a desire to +convince the other. + +"My dear Hector," said Colonel Talbot, "each of us has taken a piece. +It is not so much a question of the relative value of these pieces as it +is of the position into which you force your opponent." + +"Exactly so, Leonidas. I agree with you on that point, and for that +reason I aver that I have made a tactical gain." + +"Hector, you are ordinarily a man of great intelligence, but in this +case you seem to have lost some part of your mental powers." + +"One of us has suffered such a loss, and while I am too polite to name +him, I am sure that I am not the man." + +"Ah, well, we'll not accuse each other while the issue still hangs in +doubt. Progress with the game will show that I am right." + +When Harry passed that way an hour later they were still bent over the +board, the best of friends again, but no more losses had been suffered +by either. + +May was almost spent and spring was at the full. The Southern army +was now at its highest point in both numbers and effectiveness. Only +Jackson was gone, but he was a host and more, and when Lee said that +he had lost his right arm, he spoke the truth, as he was soon to find. +Yet the Southern power was at the zenith and no shadow hung over the +veteran and devoted troops who were eager to follow Lee in that invasion +of the North of which all now felt sure. + +Doubts were dispelled with the close of May. Harry was one of the young +officers who carried the commander-in-chief's orders to the subordinate +generals, and while he knew details, he wondered what the main plan +would be. Young as he was he knew that no passage could be forced +across the Rappahannock in the face of the Army of the Potomac, which +was now as numerous as ever, and which could sweep the river and its +shores with its magnificent artillery. But he had full confidence in +Lee. The spell that Jackson had thrown over him was transferred to Lee, +who swayed his feelings and judgment with equal power. + +The figure of Lee in the height and fullness of victory was imposing. +An English general who saw him, and who also saw all the famous men of +his time, wrote long afterward that he was the only great man he had +ever seen who looked all his greatness. Tall, strongly built, with +thick gray hair, a short gray beard, clipped closely, ruddy complexion +and blue eyes, he was as careful in dress as Jackson had been careless. +He spoke with a uniform politeness, not superficial, but from the heart, +and his glance was nearly always grave and benevolent. + +General Lee in these warm days of late spring occupied a large tent. +Even when the army was not on the march he invariably preferred tents to +houses, and now Harry saw nearly all the famous Southern generals in the +east passing through that door. There was Longstreet, blue of eye like +Lee, full bearded, thick and powerful, and proud of his horsemanship, +in which he excelled. + +Ewell, too, stumped in on his crutches, vigorous, enthusiastic, but +never using profane language where Lee was. And there was A. P. Hill, +of soldierly slenderness and of fine, pleasing manner; McLaws, who had +done so well at Antietam; Pickett, not yet dreaming of the one marvelous +achievement that was to be his; Old Jubal Early, as he was familiarly +called, bald, bearded, rheumatic, profane, but brave and able; Hood, +tall, yellow-haired; Pender, the North Carolinian, not yet thirty, +religious like Jackson, and doomed like him to fall soon in battle; +Tieth, Edward Johnson, Anderson, Trimble, Stuart, as gay and dandyish as +ever; Ramseur, Jones, Daniel, young Fitzhugh Lee; Pendleton, Armistead, +and a host of others whose names remained memorable to him. They were +all tanned and sun-burned men. Few had reached early middle age, +and the shadows of death were already gathering for many of them. + +But the high spirits of the Southern army merely became higher as they +began to make rapid but secret preparation for departure. The soldiers +did not know where they were going, except that it was into the North, +and they began to discuss the nature of the country they would find +there. Harry took the message to the Invincibles to pack and march. +Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire reluctantly dropped +their unfinished game, put up the chessmen, and in an hour the +Invincibles--few, but trim and strong--were marching to a position +farther up the river. + +The corps of Longstreet was to lead the way, and it would march the +next morning. Harry now knew that the army would advance by way of the +Shenandoah valley. The Northern troops had been raiding in the great +valley and again had retaken Winchester, the pleasant little city so +beloved of Jackson. Harry shared the anger at this news that Jackson +would have felt had he been alive to hear it. + +Harry was well aware, however, that the army could not slip away from +its opponent. Hooker, still in command, was watching on the heights +across the river, and there were the captive balloons hovering again in +the sky. But the spirit of the troops was such that they did not care +whether their march was known or not. + +Harry and Dalton were awake early on the morning of the third of June, +and they saw the corps of Longstreet file silently by, the bugle +that called them away being the first note of the great and decisive +Gettysburg campaign. They were better clothed and in better trim than +they had been in a long time. They walked with an easy, springy gait, +and the big guns rumbled at the heels of the horses, fat from long rest +and the spring grass. They were to march north and west to Culpeper, +fifty miles away, and there await the rest of the army. + +Harry and Dalton felt great exhilaration. Movement was good not only +for the body, but for the spirit as well. It made the blood flow more +freely and the brain grow more active. Moreover, the beauty of the +early summer that had come incited one to greater hope. + +The great adventure had now begun, but it was not unknown to Hooker and +his watchful generals on the other shore. The ground was dry and they +had seen a column of dust rise and move toward the northwest. Their +experienced eyes told them that such a cloud must be made by marching +troops, and the men in the balloons with their glasses were able to +catch the gleam of steel from the bayonets of Longstreet's men as they +took the long road to Gettysburg. + +Hooker had good men with him. He, too, as he stood on the left bank of +the Rappahannock, was surrounded by able and famous generals, and others +were to come. There was Meade, a little older than the others, but not +old, tall, thin, stooped a bit, wearing glasses, and looking like a +scholar, with his pale face and ragged beard, a cold, quiet man, able +and thorough, but without genius. Then came Reynolds, modest and quiet, +who many in the army claimed would have shown the genius that Meade +lacked had it not been for his early death, for he too, like Pender, +would soon be riding to a soldier's grave. And then were Doubleday and +Newton and Hancock, a great soldier, a man of magnificent presence, +whose air and manner always inspired enthusiasm, soon to be known as +Hancock the Superb; Sedgwick, a soldier of great insight and tenacity; +Howard, a religious man, who was to come out of the war with only one +arm; Hunt and Gibbon, and Webb and Sykes, and Slocum and Pleasanton, +who commanded the cavalry, and many others. + +These men foresaw the march of Lee into the North, and the people behind +them realized that they were no longer carrying the battle to the enemy. +He was bringing it to them. Apprehension spread through the North, +but it was prepared for the supreme effort. The Army of the Potomac, +despite Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, had no fear of its opponent, +and the veterans in blue merely asked for another chance. + +On the following morning and the morning after, Ewell's corps followed +Longstreet in two divisions toward the general rendezvous at Culpeper +Court House, but Lee himself, although most of his troops were now gone, +did not yet move. Hill's corps had been held to cover any movement +of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, and Lee and his staff +remained there for three days after Longstreet's departure. + +The Invincibles had gone, but Harry and Dalton were just behind Lee, +who sat on his white horse, Traveler, gazing through his glasses toward +a division of the Army of the Potomac which on the day before had +crossed the Rappahannock, under a heavy fire from Hill's men. + +But Harry knew that it was no part of Lee's plan to drive these men back +across the river. A. P. Hill on the heights would hold them and would +be a screen between Hooker's army and his own. So the young staff +officer merely watched his commander who looked long through his glasses. + +It was now nearly noon, and the June sky was brilliant with the sun +moving slowly toward the zenith. Lee at length lowered his glasses and, +turning to his staff, said: + +"Now, gentlemen, we ride." + +Harry by some chance looked at his watch, and he always remembered that +it was exactly noon when he started on the journey that was to lead him +to Gettysburg. He and Dalton from a high crest looked back toward the +vast panorama of hills, valleys, rivers and forest that had held for +them so many thrilling and terrible memories. + +There lay the blackened ruins of Fredericksburg. There were the heights +against which the brave Northern brigades had beat in vain and with such +awful losses. And beyond, far down under the horizon, was the tragic +Wilderness in which they had won Chancellorsville and in which Jackson +had fallen. Harry choked and turned away from the fresh wound that the +recollection gave him. + +Lee and his staff rode hard all that afternoon and most of the night +through territory guarded well against Northern skirmishers or raiding +bands, and the next day they were with the army at Culpeper Court House. +Meanwhile Hooker was undecided whether to follow Lee or move on +Richmond. But the shrewd Lincoln telegraphed him that Lee was his "true +objective." At that moment the man in the White House at Washington was +the most valuable general the North had, knowing that Lee in the field +with his great fighting force must be beaten back, and that otherwise +Richmond would be worth nothing. + +It was Harry's fortune in the most impressionable period of life to be +in close contact for a long time with two very great men, both of whom +had a vast influence upon him, creating for him new standards of energy +and conduct. In after years when he thought of Lee and Jackson, which +was nearly every day, no weighing of the causes involved in the quarrel +between the sections was made in his mind. They were his heroes, +and personally they could do no wrong. + +As Lee rode on with his staff through the fair Virginia country he +talked little, but more than was Jackson's custom. Harry saw his brow +wrinkle now and then with thought. He knew that he was planning, +planning all the time, and he knew, too, what a tremendous task it was +to bring all the scattered divisions of an army to one central point +in the face of an active enemy. This task was even greater than Harry +imagined, as Lee's army would soon be strung along a line of a hundred +miles, and a far-seeing enemy might cut it apart and beat it in detail. +Lee knew, but he showed no sign. + +Harry felt an additional elation because he rode westward and toward +that valley in which he had followed Jackson through the thick of +great achievements. In the North they had nicknamed it "The Valley of +Humiliation," but Jackson was gone, and Milroy, whom he had defeated +once, was there again, holding and ruling the little city of Winchester. +Harry's blood grew hot, because he, too, as Jackson had, loved +Winchester. He did not know what was in Lee's mind, but he hoped that a +blow would be struck at Milroy before they began the great invasion of +the North. + +Culpeper was a tiny place, a court house and not much more, but now its +eager and joyous citizens welcomed a great army. Although Hill and +his corps were yet back watching Hooker, fifty thousand veterans were +gathered at the village. Soon they would be seventy thousand or more, +and Culpeper rejoiced yet again. The women and children--the men were +but few, gone to the war--were never too tired to seek glimpses of the +famous generals, whom they regarded as their champions. Stuart, in his +brilliant uniform, at the head of his great cavalry command, appealed +most to the young, and his gay spirit and frank manners delighted +everybody. They paid little attention to the Northern cavalry and +infantry on the other side of the Rappahannock, knowing that Hooker's +main army was yet far away, and feeling secure in the protection of Lee +and his victorious army. + +Harry slept heavily that night, wearied by the long ride. He, Dalton +and two other young officers had been assigned to a small tent, but, +taking their blankets, they slept under the stars. Harry seldom cared +for a roof now on a dry, warm night. He had become so much used to +hardships and unlimited spaces that he preferred his blankets and the +free breezes that blew about the world. It was a long time after the +war before he became thoroughly reconciled to bedrooms in warm weather. + +He was aroused the next morning by Dalton, who pulled him by his feet +out of his blankets. + +"Stick your head in a pail of water," said Dalton, "and get your +breakfast as soon as you can. Everything is waiting on you." + +"How dare you, George, drag me by the heels that way? I was marching +down Broadway in New York at the head of our conquering army, and +millions of Yankees were pointing at me, all saying with one voice: +'That's the fellow that beat us.' Now you've spoiled my triumph. +And what do you mean by saying that everything is waiting for me?" + +"Our army, as you know, is spectacular only in its achievements, but +to-day we intend to have a little splendor. The commander-in-chief is +going to review Jeb Stuart's cavalry. For dramatic effect it's a chance +that Stuart won't miss." + +"That's so. Just tell 'em I'm coming and that the parade can begin." + +Harry bathed his face and had a good breakfast, but there was no need to +hurry. Jeb Stuart, as Dalton had predicted, was making the most of his +chance. He was going not only to parade, but to have a mock battle as +well. As the sun rose higher, making the June day brilliant, General +Lee and his staff, dressed in their best, rode slowly to a little +hillock commanding a splendid view of a wide plain lying east of +Culpeper Court House. + +General Lee was in a fine uniform, his face shaded by the brim of the +gray hat which pictures have made so familiar. His cavalry cape swung +from his shoulders, but not low enough to hide the splendid sword at +his belt. His face was grave and his whole appearance was majestic. +If only Jackson were there, riding by his side! Harry choked again. + +Lee sat on his white horse, Traveler, and above him on a lofty pole a +brilliant Confederate flag waved in the light wind. Harry and Dalton, +as the youngest, took their modest places in the rear of the group of +staff officers, just behind Lee, and looked expectantly over the plain. +They saw at the far edge a long line of horsemen, so long, in fact, +that the eye did not travel its full distance. Nearer by, all the guns +of "Stuart's Horse Artillery" were posted upon a hill. + +Harry's heart began to beat at the sight--mimic, not real, war, but +thrilling nevertheless. A bugle suddenly sounded far away, its note +coming low, but mellow. Other bugles along the line sang the same tune, +and then came rolling thunder, as ten thousand matchless horsemen, +led by Stuart himself, charged over the plain straight toward the hill +on which Lee sat on his horse. + +The horsemen seemed to Harry to rise as if they were coming up the curve +of the earth. It was a tremendous and thrilling sight. The hoofs of +ten thousand horses beat in unison. Every man held aloft his sabre, +and the sun struck upon their blades and glanced off in a myriad +brilliant beams. Harry glanced at Lee and he saw that the blue eyes +were gleaming. He, too, sober and quiet though he was, felt pride as +the Murat of the South led on his legions. + +The cavalrymen, veering a little, charged toward the guns on the hill, +and they received them with a discharge of blank cartridges which made +the plain shake. Back and forth the mimic battle rolled, charge and +repulse, and the smoke of the firing drifted over the plain. But the +wild horsemen wheeled and turned, always keeping place with such superb +skill that the officers and the infantry looking on burst again and +again into thunderous applause. + +The display lasted some time. When it was over and the smoke and dust +were settling, General Lee and his staff rode back to their quarters, +the young officers filled with pride at the spectacle and more confident +than ever that their coming invasion of the North would be the final +triumph. + +Northern cavalry, on the other side of the river, had heard the heavy +firing and they could not understand it. Could their forces following +Lee on the right bank be engaged in battle with him? They had not heard +of any such advance by their own men, yet they plainly heard the sounds +of a heavy cannonade, and it was a matter into which they must look. +They had disregarded sharp firing too often before and they were growing +wary. But with that wariness also came a daring which the Union leaders +in the east had not usually shown hitherto. They had a strong cavalry +force in three divisions on the other side of the river, and the +commanders of the divisions, Buford, Gregg and Duffie, with Pleasanton +over all, were forming a bold design. + +Events were to move fast for Harry, much faster than he was expecting. +He was sent that night with a note to Stuart, who went into camp with +his ten thousand cavalry and thirty guns on a bare eminence called +Fleetwood Hill. The base of the hill was surrounded by forest, and not +far away was a little place called Brandy Station. Harry was not to +return until morning, as he had been sent late with the message, and +after delivering it to Stuart he hunted up his friend Sherburne. + +He found the captain sitting by a low campfire and he was made welcome. +Sherburne, after the parade and sham battle, had cleaned the dust from +his uniform and he was now as neat and trim as St. Clair himself. + +"Sit down, Harry," he said with the greatest geniality. "Here, orderly, +take his horse, but leave him his blankets. You'll need the blankets +to-night, Harry, because you bunk with us in the Inn of the Greenwood +Tree. We've got a special tree, too. See it there, the oak with the +great branches." + +"I'll never ask anything better in summer time, provided it doesn't +rain," said Harry. + +"Wasn't that a fine parade?" Sherburne ran on. "And this is the +greatest cavalry force that we've had during the war. Why, Stuart can +go anywhere and do anything with it. A lot of Virginia scouts under +Jones are watching the fords, and we've got with us such leaders as +Fitz Lee, Robertson, Hampton and the commander-in-chief's son, +W. H. F. Lee--why should a man be burdened with three initials? We can +take care of any cavalry force that the Yankees may send against us." + +"I've noticed in the recent fighting," said Harry, "that the Northern +cavalrymen are a lot better than they used to be. Most of us were born +in the saddle, but they had to learn to ride. They'll give us a tough +fight now whenever we meet 'em." + +"I agree with you," said Sherburne, "but they can't beat us. You can +ride back in the morning, Harry, and report to the commander-in-chief +that he alone can move us from this position. Listen to that stamping +of hoofs! Among ten thousand horses a lot are likely to be restless; +and look there at the hilltop where thirty good guns are ready to turn +their mouths on any foe." + +"I see them all," said Harry, "and I think you're right. I'll ride back +peaceably to General Lee in the morning, and tell him that I left ten +thousand cavalrymen lying lazily on the grass, and ten thousand horses +eating their heads off near Brandy Station." + +"But to-night you rest," said one of the young officers. "Do you smoke?" + +"I've never learned." + +"Well, I don't smoke either unless we get 'em from the Yankees. Here's +what's left of a box that we picked up near the Chancellor House. +It may have belonged to Old Joe Hooker himself, but if so he'll never +get it back again." + +He distributed the cigars among the smokers, who puffed them with +content. Meanwhile the noises of the camp sank, and presently Harry, +taking his blankets and saying good night, went to sleep in the Inn of +the Greenwood Tree. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CAVALRY COMBAT + + + + +Harry was a fine sleeper. One learns to be in long campaigns. Most of +those about him slept as well, and the ten thousand horses, which had +been ridden hard in the great display during the day, also sank into +quiet. The restless hoofs ceased to move. Now and then there was a +snort or a neigh, but the noise was slight on Fleetwood Hill or in the +surrounding forests. + +A man came through the thickets soon after midnight and moved with the +greatest caution toward the hill on which the artillery was ranged. +He was in neither blue nor gray, just the plain garb of a civilian, +but he was of strong figure and his smoothly shaven face, with its +great width between the eyes and massive chin, expressed character and +uncommon resolution. + +The intruder--he was obviously such, because he sought with the minutest +care to escape observation--never left the shelter of the bushes. +He had all the skill of the old forest runners, because his footsteps +made no sound as he passed and he knew how to keep his figure always in +the shadows until it became a common blur with them. + +His was a most delicate task, in which discovery was certain death, +but he never faltered. His heart beat steadily and strong. It was an +old risk to him, and he had the advantage of great natural aptitude, +fortified by long training in a school of practice where a single +misstep meant death. + +The sharp eyes of the spy missed nothing. He counted the thirty pieces +of artillery on the hill. He estimated with amazing accuracy the number +of Stuart's horsemen. He saw a thousand proofs that the heavy firing he +had heard in the course of the day was not due to battle with Northern +troops. Although he stopped at times for longer looks, he made a wide +circuit about the Confederate camp, and he was satisfied that Stuart, +vigilant and daring though he might be, was not expecting an enemy. + +Shepard's heart for the first time beat a little faster. He had felt as +much as any general the Northern defeats and humiliations in the east, +but, like officers and soldiers, he was not crushed by them. He even +felt that the tide might be about to turn. Lee, invading the North, +would find before him many of the difficulties which had faced the +Northern generals attacking the South. Shepard, a man of supreme +courage, resolved that he would spare no effort in the service to which +he had devoted himself. + +He spent fully four hours in the thickets, and then, feeling that he had +achieved his task, bore away toward the river. Taking off his coat and +belt with pistols in it, and fastening them about his neck, he swam with +bold strokes to the other side of the stream. However, had anyone been +on the watch at that very point, it was not likely that he would have +been seen. It was the approach of dawn and heavy mists were rising on +the Rappahannock, as they had risen at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. + +Shepard gave the countersign to the pickets and was shown at once to +General Pleasanton, an alert, vigorous man, who was awaiting him. +His report was satisfactory, because the cavalry general smiled and +began to send quick orders to his leaders of divisions. + +But the peace in Stuart's command was not broken that night. No one had +seen the figure of the spy sliding through the thickets, and Harry and +his comrades in the Inn of the Greenwood Tree were very warm and snug in +their blankets. As day came he yawned, stretched, closed his eyes again, +thinking that he might have another precious fifteen minutes, but, +recalling his resolution, sprang to his feet and began to rub his eyes +clear. + +He had slept fully dressed, like all the rest, and he intended to go +down to a brook in a few minutes and bathe his face. But he first gave +Sherburne a malicious shove with his foot and bade him wake up, telling +him that it was too late for an alert cavalry captain to be sleeping. + +Then Sherburne also yawned, stretched, and stood up, rubbing his eyes. +The others about them rose too, and everybody felt chilled by the river +fog, which was uncommonly heavy. + +"Breakfast for me," said Sherburne. + +"Not just now, I think," said Harry. "Listen! Aren't those rifle +shots?" + +A patter, patter, distant but clear in the morning, came from a point +down the stream. + +"You're right!" exclaimed Sherburne in alarm. "It's on our side of +the river and it's increasing fast! As sure as we live, the enemy has +crossed and attacked!" + +They were not left in doubt. The pickets, running in, told them that +a heavy force of Northern cavalry was across the Rappahannock and was +charging with vigor. In fact, two of the divisions had passed the fords +unseen in the fog and were now rushing Stuart's camp. + +But Stuart, although surprised, never for an instant lost his presence +of mind. Throughout the Southern lines the bugles sounded the sharp +call to horse. It was full time. The outposts had been routed already +and were driven in on the main body. + +Harry ran to his horse, which had been left saddled and bridled for +any emergency. He leaped upon him and rode by the side of Sherburne, +whose troop was already in line. They could not see very well for the +mists, but the fire in front of them from cavalry carbines had grown +into great violence. It made a huge shower of red dots against the +white screen of the mist, and now they heard shouts and the beat of +thousands of hoofs. + +"They're making for our artillery!" exclaimed Sherburne with true +instinct. "Follow me, men! We must hold them back, for a few minutes +at least!" + +Sherburne and his gallant troops were just in time. A great force of +cavalry in blue suddenly appeared in the whitish and foggy dawn and +charged straight for the guns. Without delaying a moment, Sherburne +flung his troops in between, although they were outnumbered twenty to +one or more. He did not expect to stop them; he merely hoped to delay +them a few minutes, and therefore he offered himself as a sacrifice. + +Harry was beside Sherburne as they galloped straight toward the Northern +cavalry, firing their short carbines and then swinging their sabres. + +"They'll ride over us!" he shouted to Sherburne. + +"But we'll trouble 'em a little as they pass!" the captain shouted back. + +Harry shut his teeth hard together. A shiver ran over him, and then his +face grew hot. The pulses in his temples beat heavily. He was sure +that Sherburne and he and all the rest were going to perish. The long +and massive Northern line was coming on fast. They, too, had fired +their carbines, and now thousands of sabres flashed through the mists. +Harry was swinging his own sword, but as the great force bore down upon +them, the white mist seemed to turn to red and the long line of horsemen +fused into a solid mass, its front flashing with steel. + +He became conscious, as the space between them closed rapidly, that a +heavy crackling fire was bursting from a wood between the Northern +cavalry and the river. The Southern skirmishers, brushed away at first, +had returned swiftly, and now they were sending a rain of bullets upon +the blue cavalrymen. Many saddles were emptied, but the line went on, +and struck Sherburne's troop. + +Harry saw a man lean from his horse and slash at him with a sabre. +He had no sabre of his own, only a small sword, but he cut with all his +might at the heavy blade instead of the man, and he felt, rather than +saw, the two weapons shatter to pieces. Then his horse struck another, +and, reeling in the saddle, he snatched out a pistol and began to fire +at anything that looked like a human shape. + +He heard all about him a terrible tumult of shots and shouts and the +thunder of horses' hoofs. He still saw the red mist and a thousand +sabres flashing through it, and he heard, too, the clash of steel on +steel. The Northern line had been stopped one minute, two minutes, +and maybe three. He was conscious afterwards that in some sort of +confused way he was trying to measure the time. But he was always quite +certain that it was not more than three minutes. Then the Northern +cavalry passed over them. + +Harry's horse was fairly knocked down by the impetus of the Northern +charge, and the young rider was partly protected by his body from the +hoofs that thundered over them. Horse and rider rose together. Harry +found that the reins were still clenched in his hand. His horse was +trembling all over from shock, and so was he, but neither was much +harmed. Beyond him the great cavalry division was galloping on, and +he gazed at it a moment or two in a kind of stupor. But he became +conscious that the fire of the Southern skirmishers on its flank was +growing heavier and that many horses without riders were running loose +through the forest. + +Then his gaze turned back to the little band that had stood in the path +of the whirlwind, and he uttered a cry of joy as he saw Sherburne rising +slowly to his feet, the blood flowing from a wound in his left shoulder. + +"It isn't much, Harry," said the captain. "It was only the point of the +sabre that grazed me, but my horse was killed, and the shock of the fall +stunned me for a moment or two. Oh, my poor troop!" + +There was good cause for his lament. Less than one-fourth of his brave +horsemen were left unhurt or with but slight wounds. The wounded who +could rise were limping away toward the thickets, and the unwounded +were seeking their mounts anew. Harry caught a riderless horse. His +faculties were now clear and the effect of the physical shock had passed. + +"We held 'em three minutes at least, Captain," he cried, "and it may +be that three minutes were enough. We were surprised, but we are not +beaten. Here, jump up! We've saved the guns from capture! And listen +how the rifle fire is increasing." + +Sherburne sprang into the saddle and his little band of surviving +troopers gathered around him. They uttered a shout, too, as they saw +heavy forces of their own cavalry coming up and charging, sabre in hand. +Inspired by the sight and forgetting his wound, Sherburne wheeled about +and led his little band in a charge upon the Northern flank. + +A desperate battle with sabres ensued. Forest and open rang with shouts +and the clash of steel, and hundreds of pistols flashed. The Northern +horsemen were driven back. Davis, who led them here, a Southerner by +birth, but a regular officer, a man of great merit, seeking to rally +them, fell, wounded mortally. A strong body of Illinois troops came up +and turned the tide of battle again. The Southern horsemen were driven +back. Some of them were taken prisoners and a part of Stuart's baggage +became a Northern prize. + +This portion of the Southern cavalry under Jones, which Harry and +Sherburne had joined, now merely sought to check the Northern advance +until Stuart could arrive. Everyone expected Stuart. Such a brilliant +cavalryman could not fail. But the Northern force was increasing. +Buford and his men were coming down on their flank. It seemed that the +Confederate force was about to be overwhelmed again, but suddenly their +guns came into action. Shell and canister held back the Northern force, +and then arose from the Southern ranks the shout: "Stuart! Stuart!" + +Harry saw him galloping forward at the head of his men, his long, +yellow hair flying in the air, his sabre whirled aloft in glittering +circles, and he felt an immense sensation of relief. Leading his +division in person, Stuart drove back the Northern horsemen, but he in +his turn was checked by artillery and supporting columns of infantry +in the wood. + +Pleasanton, the Union leader, was showing great skill and courage. +Having profited by his enemy's example, he was pressing his advantage +to the utmost. Already he had found in Stuart's captured baggage +instructions for the campaign, showing that the whole Southern army was +on its way toward the great valley, to march thence northward, and he +resolved instantly to break up this advance as much as possible. + +Pleasanton pressed forward again, and Stuart prepared to meet him. +But Harry, who was keeping by the side of Sherburne, saw Stuart halt +suddenly. A messenger had galloped up to him and he brought formidable +news. A heavy column of horsemen had just appeared directly behind the +Southern cavalry and was marching to the attack. Stuart was in a trap. + +Harry saw that Stuart had been outgeneralled, and again he shut his +teeth together hard. To be outgeneralled did not mean that they would +be outfought. The Northern force in their rear was the third division +under Gregg, and Stuart sent back cavalry and guns to meet them. + +Harry now saw the battle on all sides of him. Cavalry were charging, +falling back, and charging again. The whole forces of the two armies +were coming into action. Nearly twenty thousand sabres were flashing in +the sunlight that had driven away the fog. Harry had never before seen +a cavalry battle on so grand a scale, but the confusion was so great +that it was impossible for him to tell who was winning. + +The Northern horse took Fleetwood Hill; Stuart retook it. Then he +sought to meet the cavalry division in his front, and drove it to the +woods, where it reformed and hurled him back to the hill. The Northern +division, under Gregg, that had come up behind, fell with all its force +on the Southern flank. Had it driven in the Southern lines here, +Pleasanton's victory would have been assured, but the men in gray, +knowing that they must stand, stood with a courage that defied +everything. The heavy Northern masses could not drive them away, +and then Stuart, whirling about, charged the North in turn with his +thousands of horsemen. They were met by more Northern cavalry coming up, +and the combat assumed a deeper and more furious phase. + +Sherburne, with the fragment of his troop and Harry by his side, was in +this charge. The effect of it upon Harry, as upon his older comrade, +was bewildering. The combatants, having emptied their pistols or thrust +them back in their belts, were now using their sabres alone. Nearly +twenty thousand blades were flashing in the air. Again the battle was +face to face and the lines became mixed. Riderless horses, emerging +from the turmoil, were running in all directions, many of them neighing +in pain and terror. Men, dismounted and wounded, were crawling away +from the threat of the trampling hoofs. + +The gunners fired the cannon whenever they were sure they would not +strike down their own, but the horsemen charged upon them and wrenched +the guns from their hands, only to have them wrenched back again by the +Southerners. It was the greatest cavalry battle of the war, and the +spectacle was appalling. Many of the horses seemed to share the fury of +their riders and kicked and bit. Their beating hoofs raised an immense +cloud of dust, through which the blades of the sabres still flashed. + +Harry never knew how he went through it unhurt. Looking back, it seemed +that such a thing was impossible. Yet it occurred. But he became +conscious that the Southern horsemen, after the long and desperate +struggle, were driving back those of the North. They had superior +numbers. One of the Northern divisions, after having been engaged with +infantry elsewhere, failed to come up. + +Pleasanton, after daring and skill that deserved greater success, +was forced slowly to withdraw. Roused by the roar of the firing, +heavy masses of Ewell's infantry were now appearing on the horizon, +sent by Lee, with orders to hurry to the utmost. Pleasanton, +maintaining all his skill and coolness, dexterously withdrew his men +across the river, and Stuart did not consider it wise to follow. +Each side had lost heavily. Pleasanton had not only struck a hard blow, +but he had learned where Lee's army lay, and, moreover, he had shown +the horsemen of the South that those of the North were on the watch. + +It was late in the afternoon when the last Northern rider crossed the +Rappahannock, and Harry looked upon a field strewn with the fallen, +both men and horses. Then he turned to Sherburne and bound up his +wounded shoulder for him. The hurt was not serious, but Sherburne, +although they had driven off the Northern horse, was far from sanguine. + +"It's a Pyrrhic victory," he said. "We had the superior numbers, +and it was all we could do to beat them back. Besides, they surprised +us, when we thought we had a patent on that sort of business." + +"It's so," said Harry, his somber glance passing again over the field. + +Their feeling was communicated, too, to the advancing masses of +infantry. The soldiers, when they saw the stricken field and began +to hear details from their brethren of the horse, shook their heads. +There was no joy of victory in the Southern army that night. The enemy, +when he was least expected, had struck hard and was away. + +Harry rode to General Lee and gave him as many details as he could +of the cavalry battle, to all of which the general listened without +comment. He had reports from others also, and soon he dismissed Harry, +who took up his usual night quarters with his blankets under a green +tree. Here he found Dalton, who was eager to hear more. + +"They say that the Yankees, although inferior in numbers, pushed us hard, +Harry; is it so?" he asked. + +"It is, and they caught us napping, too. George, I'm beginning to +wonder what's waiting for us there in the North." + +It was dark now and he gazed toward the North, where the stars already +twinkled serenely in the sky. It seemed to him that their army was +about to enter some vast, illimitable space, swarming with unknown +enemies. He felt for a little while a deep depression. But it was +partly physical. His exertions of the day had been tremendous, and the +intense excitement, too, had almost overcome him. The watchful Dalton +noticed his condition, and wisely said nothing, allowing his pulses to +regain their normal beat. + +It was nearly an hour before his nerves became quiet, and then he sank +into a heavy sleep. In the morning youth had reasserted itself, both +physically and mentally. His doubts and apprehensions were gone. +The unconquerable Army of Northern Virginia was merely marching again +to fresh triumphs. + +Although Hooker now understood Lee's movement, and was pushing more +troops forward on his side of the Rappahannock, the Southern general, +with his eye ever on his main object, did not cease his advance. +He had turned his back on Washington, and nothing, not even formidable +irruptions like that of Pleasanton, could make him change his plan. + +The calls from the Valley of Virginia became more frequent and urgent. +Messengers came to Lee, begging his help. Milroy at Winchester, with a +strong force, was using rigorous measures. The people claimed that he +had gone far beyond the rules of war. Jackson had come more than once +to avenge them, and now they expected as much of Lee. + +They did not appeal in vain. Harry saw Lee's eyes flash at the reports +of the messengers, and he himself took a dispatch, the nature of which +he knew, to Ewell, who was in advance, leading Jackson's old corps. +Ewell, strapped to his horse, had regained his ruddiness and physical +vigor. Harry saw his eyes shine as he read the dispatch, and he knew +that nothing could please him more. + +"You know what is in this, Lieutenant Kenton?" he said, tapping the +paper. + +"I do, sir, and I'm sorry I can't go with you." + +"So am I; but as sure as you and I are sitting here on our horses, +trouble is coming to Mr. Milroy. Some friends of yours in the little +regiment called the Invincibles are just beyond the hill. Perhaps you'd +like to see them." + +Harry thanked him, saluted, and rode over the hill, where he found the +two colonels, St. Clair and Langdon riding at the head of their men. +The youths greeted him with a happy shout and the colonels welcomed him +in a manner less noisy but as sincere. + +"The sight of you, Harry, is good for any kind of eyes," said Colonel +Talbot. "But what has brought you here?" + +"An order from General Lee to General Ewell." + +"Then it must be of some significance." + +"It is, sir, and since it will be no secret in a few minutes, I can +tell you that this whole corps is going to Winchester to take Milroy. +I wish I could go with you, Colonel, but I can't." + +"You were at Brandy Station, and we weren't," said St. Clair quietly. +"It's our turn now." + +"Right you are, Arthur," said Langdon. "I mean to take this man Milroy +with my own hands. I remember that he gave us trouble in Jackson's +time. He's been licked once. What right has he to come back into the +Valley?" + +"He's there," said Harry, "and they say that he's riding it hard with +ironshod hoofs." + +"He won't be doing it by the time we see you again," said St. Clair +confidently as they rode away. + +Harry did not see them again for several days, but when Ewell's division +rejoined the main army, all that St. Clair predicted had come to pass. +St. Clair himself, with his left arm in a sling, where it was to remain +for a week, gave him a brief and graphic account of it. + +"All the soldiers in the army that he had once led knew how Old Jack +loved that town," he said, "and they were on fire to drive the Yankees +away from it once more. We marched fast. We were the foot cavalry, +just as we used to be; and, do you know, that Cajun band was along with +our brigade, as lively as ever. The Yankees had heard of our coming, +but late. They had already built forts around Winchester, but they +didn't dream until the last moment that a big force from Lee's army was +at hand. Their biggest fort was on Applepie Ridge, some little distance +from Winchester. We came up late in the afternoon and had to rest a +while, as it was awful hot. Then we opened, with General Ewell himself +in direct command there. Old Jube Early had gone around to attack their +other works, and we were waiting to hear the roaring of his guns. + +"We gave it to 'em hot and heavy. General Ewell was on foot--that is, +one foot and a crutch--and you ought to have seen him hopping about +among the falling cannon balls, watching and ordering everything. +Sunset was at hand, with Milroy fighting us back and not dreaming that +Early was coming on his flank. Then we heard Early's thunder. In a few +minutes his men stormed the fort on the hill next to him and turned its +guns upon Milroy himself. + +"It was now too dark to go much further with the fighting, and we +waited until the next morning to finish the business. But Milroy was +a slippery fellow. He slid out in the night somehow with his men, and +was five miles away before we knew he had gone. But we followed hard, +overtook him, captured four thousand men and twenty-three cannon and +scattered the rest in every direction. Wasn't that a thorough job?" + +"Stonewall Jackson would never have let them escape through his cordon +and get a start of five miles." + +"That's so, Harry, Old Jack would never have allowed it. But then, +Harry, we've got to remember that there's been only one Stonewall +Jackson, and there's no more to come." + +"You're telling the whole truth, St. Clair, and if General Ewell did let +'em get away, he caught 'em again. It was a brilliant deed, and it's +cleared the Valley of the enemy." + +"Our scouts have reported that some of the fugitives have reached +Pennsylvania, spreading the alarm there. I suppose they'll be gathering +troops in our front now. What's the news from Hooker, Harry?" + +"He's moving northwest to head us off, but I don't think he has any +clear idea where we're going." + +"Where are we going, Harry?" + +"It's more than I can tell. Maybe we're aiming for Philadelphia." + +"Then there'll be a big stir among the Quakers," said Happy Tom. + +"It doesn't matter, young gentlemen, where we're going," said Colonel +Talbot, who heard the last words. "It's our business to be led, and +we know that we're in the hands of a great leader. And we know, too, +that whatever dangers he leads us into, he'll share them to the full. +Am I not right, Hector?" + +"You speak the full truth, Leonidas." + +"Aye, aye, sir," said Harry. "It's sufficient for us to follow where +General Lee leads." + +"But we need a great victory," said Colonel Talbot. "We've had news +from the southwest. The enemy has penetrated too far there. That +fellow Grant is a perfect bulldog. They say he actually means to take +our fortress of Vicksburg. He always hangs on, and that's bad for us. +If we win this war, we've got to win it with some great stroke here in +the east." + +"You speak with your usual penetration and clearness, Leonidas," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, and then the two rode on, side by +side, firm, quiet figures. + +Now came days when suspense and fear hung heavy over the land. The +sudden blow out of the dark that had destroyed Milroy startled the +North. The fugitives from his command told alarming stories of the +great Southern force that was advancing. The division of Hill, watching +Hooker on the Rappahannock, also dropped into the dark where Lee's main +army had already gone. The Army of the Potomac took up its march on a +parallel line to the westward, but it was never able to come into close +contact with the Army of Northern Virginia. There were clouds of +skirmishers and cavalry between. + +Undaunted by his narrow escape at Brandy Station, Stuart showed all his +old fire and courage, covering the flanks and spreading out a swarm of +horsemen who kept off the Northern scouts. Thus Lee was still able +to veil his movements in mystery, and the anxious Hooker finally sent +forward a great force to find and engage Stuart's cavalry. Stuart, +now acting as a rear guard, was overtaken near the famous old +battlefield of Manassas. For a long time he fought greatly superior +numbers and held them fast until nightfall, when the Northern force, +fearing some trap, fell back. + +Harry had been sent back with two other staff officers, and from a +distance he heard the crash and saw the flame of the battle. But he +had no part in it, merely reporting the result late in the night to his +general, who speedily pressed on, disregarding what might occur on his +flanks or in his rear, sure that his lieutenants could attend to all +dangers there. + +The days were full of excitement for Harry. While he remained near Lee, +the far-flung cavalry continually brought in exciting reports. As Harry +saw it, the North was having a taste of what she had inflicted on the +South. The news of Milroy's destruction, startling enough in itself, +had been magnified as it spread on the wings of rumor. The same rumor +enlarged Lee's army and increased the speed of his advance. + +Sherburne, recovered from his slight wound, was the most frequent +bringer of news. There was not one among all Stuart's officers more +daring than he, and he was in his element now, as they rode northward +into the enemy's country. He told how the troopers had followed +Milroy's fugitives so closely that they barely escaped across the +Potomac, and then how the Unionists of Maryland had fled before the +gray horsemen. + +Sherburne did not exaggerate. Hitherto the war had never really touched +the soil of any of the free states, but now it became apparent that +Pennsylvania, the second state of the Union in population, would be +invaded. Excitement seized Harrisburg, its capital, which Lee's +army might reach at any time. People poured over the bridges of the +Susquehanna and thousands of men labored night and day to fortify the +city. + +Jenkins, a Southern cavalry leader, was the first to enter Pennsylvania, +his men riding into the village of Greencastle, and proceeding thence to +Chambersburg. While the telegraph all over the North told the story of +his coming, and many thought that Lee's whole army was at hand, Jenkins +turned back. His was merely a small vanguard, and Lee had not yet drawn +together his whole army into a compact body. + +The advance of Lee with a part of his army was harassed moreover by the +Northern cavalry, which continued to show the activity and energy that +it had displayed so freely at Pleasanton's battle with Stuart. Harry, +besides bearing messages for troops to come up, often saw, as he rode +back and forth, the flame of firing on the skyline, and he heard the +distant mutter of both rifle and cannon fire. Some of these engagements +were fierce and sanguinary. In one, more than a thousand men fell, +a half to either side. + +Harry was shot at several times on his perilous errands, and once he +had a long gallop for safety. Then Lee stopped a while at the Potomac, +with his army on both sides of the river. He was waiting to gather all +his men together before entering Pennsylvania. Already they were in +a country that was largely hostile to them, and now Harry saw the +difficulty of getting accurate information. The farmers merely regarded +them with lowering brows and refused to say anything about Union troops. + +Harry had parted company for the time with his friends of the +Invincibles. They were far ahead with Ewell, while he and Dalton +remained with Lee on the banks of the Potomac. Yet the delay was not as +long as it seemed to him. Soon they took up their march and advanced on +a long line across the neck of Maryland into Pennsylvania, here a region +of fertile soil, but with many stony outcrops. The little streams were +numerous, flowing down to the rivers, and horses and men alike drank +thirstily at them, because the weather was now growing hot and the +marching was bad. + +It was near the close of the month when Harry learned that Hooker had +been relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac at his own +request, and that he had been succeeded by Meade. + +"Do you know anything about Meade?" he asked Dalton. + +"He's been one of the corps commanders against us," replied the +Virginian, "and they say he's cautious. That's all I know." + +"I think it likely that we'll find out before long what kind of a +general he is," said Harry thoughtfully. "We can't invade the North +without having a big battle." + +The corps of Hill and Longstreet were now joined under the personal eye +of Lee, who rode with his two generals. Ewell was still ahead. Finally +they came to Chambersburg, which the Southern advance had reached +earlier in the month, and Lee issued an order that no devastation should +be committed by his troops, an order that was obeyed. + +Harry and Dalton walked a little through the town, and menacing looks +met them everywhere. + +"We've treated 'em well, but they don't like us," he said to Dalton. + +"Why should they? We come as invaders, as foes, not as friends. +Did our people in the Virginia towns give the Yankees any very friendly +looks?" + +"Not that I've heard of. I suppose you can't make friends of a people +whom you come to make war on, even if you do speak kind words to them." + +"Is General Stuart here?" asked Dalton. + +"No, he's gone on a great raid with his whole force. I suppose he's +going to sweep up many detachments of the enemy." + +"And meanwhile we're going on to Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania." + +"But it seems to me that Stuart ought to be with us." + +"Maybe he's gone to find out just where the Army of the Potomac is. +We've lost Meade, and Meade has lost us. Some prisoners that we've +brought in say that nobody in the North knows just where our army is, +although all know that it's in Pennsylvania." + +But that night, while Harry was at General Lee's headquarters, a scout +arrived with news that the Army of the Potomac was advancing upon an +almost parallel line and could throw itself in his rear. Other scouts +came, one after another, with the same report. Harry saw the gravity +with which the news was received, and he speedily gathered from the talk +of those about him that Lee must abandon his advance to the Pennsylvania +capital and turn and fight, or be isolated far from Virginia, the +Southern base. + +Stuart and the cavalry were still absent on a great raid. Lee's orders +to Stuart were not explicit, and the cavalry leader's ardent soul gave +to them the widest interpretation. Now they felt the lack of his +horsemen, who in the enemy's country could have obtained abundant +information. A spy had brought them the news that the Army of the +Potomac had crossed the Potomac and was marching on a parallel line with +them, but at that point their knowledge ended. The dark veil, which was +to be lifted in such a dramatic and terrible manner, still hung between +the two armies. + +The weather turned very warm, as it was now almost July. So far as +the heat was concerned Harry could not see any difference between +Pennsylvania and Kentucky and Virginia. In all three the sun blazed +at this time of the year, but the country was heavy with crops, now +ripening fast. It was a region that Harry liked. He had a natural +taste for broken land with slopes, forests, and many little streams of +clear water. Most of the fields were enclosed in stone fences, and the +great barns and well-built houses indicated prosperous farmers. + +He and Dalton rode up to one of these houses, and, finding every door +and window closed, knocked on the front door with a pistol butt. +They knew it was occupied, as they had seen smoke coming from the +chimney. + +"This house surely belongs to a Dutchman," said Dalton, meaning one +of those Pennsylvanians of German descent who had settled in the rich +southeast of Pennsylvania generations ago. + +"I fear they don't know how to talk English," said Harry. + +"They can if they have to. Hit that door several times more, Harry, +and hit it hard. They're a thrifty people, and they wouldn't like to +see a good door destroyed." + +Harry beat a resounding tattoo until the door was suddenly thrown open +and the short figure of a man of middle years, chin-whiskered and gray, +but holding an old-fashioned musket in his hands, confronted them. + +"Put down that gun, Herr Schneider! Put it down at once!" said Dalton, +who had already levelled his pistol. + +The man was evidently no coward, but when he looked into Dalton's eye, +he put the musket on the floor. + +Harry, still sitting on his horse--they had ridden directly up to the +front door--saw a stalwart woman and several children hovering in the +dusk of the room behind the man. He watched the whole group, but he +left the examination to Dalton. + +"I want you to tell me, Herr Schneider, the location of the Army of the +Potomac, down to the last gun and man, and what are the intentions of +General Meade," said Dalton. + +The man shook his head and said, "Nein." + +"Nine!" said Dalton indignantly. "General Meade has more than nine men +with him! Come, out with the story! All those tales about the rebels +coming to burn and destroy are just tales, and nothing more. You +understand what I'm saying well enough. Come, out with your +information!" + +"Nein," said the German. + +"All right," said Dalton in a ferocious tone. "After all, we are the +rebel ogres that you thought we were." + +He turned toward his comrade and, with his back toward the German, +winked and said: + +"What do you think I'd better do with him?" + +"Oh, kill him," replied Harry carelessly. "He's broad between the eyes +and there's plenty of room there for a bullet. You couldn't miss at two +yards." + +The German made a dive toward his musket, but Dalton cried sharply: + +"Hands up or I shoot!" + +The German straightened himself and, holding his hands aloft, said: + +"You would not kill me in the shelter uf mein own house?" + +"Well, that depends on the amount of English you know. It seems to me, +Herr Schneider, that you learned our language very suddenly." + +"I vas a man who learns very fast when it vas necessary. Mein brain +vorks in a manner most vonderful ven I looks down the barrel of a big +pistol." + +"This pistol is a marvelous stimulant to a good education." + +"How did you know mein name vas Schneider?" + +"Intuition, Herr Schneider! Intuition! We Southern people have +wonderful intuitive faculties." + +"Vell, it vas not Schneider. My name vas Jacob Onderdonk." + +Harry laughed and Dalton reddened. + +"The joke is on me, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "But we're here on a +serious errand. Where is General Meade?" + +"I haf not had my regular letter from General Meade this morning. +Vilhelmina, you are sure ve haf noddings from General Meade?" + +"Noddings, Jacob," she said. + +Dalton flushed again and muttered under his breath. + +"We want to know," he said sharply, "if you have seen the Army of the +Potomac or heard anything of it." + +A look of deep sadness passed over the face of Jacob Onderdonk. + +"I haf one great veakness," he said, "one dot makes my life most bitter. +I haf de poorest memory in de vorld. Somedimes I forget de face of mein +own Vilhelmina. Maybe de Army uf de Potomac, a hundred thousand men, +pass right before my door yesterday. Maybe, as der vedder vas hot, +that efery one uf dem hundred thousand men came right into der house +und take a cool drink out uf der water bucket. But I cannot remember. +Alas, my poor memory!" + +"Then maybe Wilhelmina remembers." + +"Sh! do not speak uf dot poor voman. I do not let her go out uf der +house dese days, as she may not be able to find der vay back in again." + +"We'd better go, George," said Harry. "I think we only waste time +asking questions of such a forgetful family." + +"It iss so," said Onderdonk; "but, young Mister Rebels, I remember one +thing." + +"And what is that?" asked Dalton. + +"It vas a piece of advice dot I ought to gif you. You tell dot General +Lee to turn his horse's head and ride back to der South. You are good +young rebels. I can see it by your faces. Ride back to der South, +I tell you again. We are too many for you up here. Der field uf +corn iss so thick und so long dot you cannot cut your way through it. +Your knife may be sharp and heavy, but it vill vear out first. Do I +not tell the truth, Vilhelmina, mein vife?" + +"All your life you haf been a speaker of der truth, Hans, mein husband." + +"I think you're a poor prophet, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "We +recognize, however, the fact that we can't get any information out of +you. But we ask one thing of you." + +"Vat iss dot?" + +"Please to remember that while we two are rebels, as you call them, +we neither burn nor kill. We have offered you no rudeness whatever, +and the Army of Northern Virginia is composed of men of the same kind." + +"I vill remember it," said Onderdonk gravely, and as they saluted him +politely, he returned the salute. + +"Not a bad fellow, I fancy," said Harry, as they rode away. + +"No, but our stubborn enemy, all the same. Wherever our battle is +fought we'll find a lot of these Pennsylvania Dutchmen standing up to +us to the last." + +Harry and Dalton rejoined the staff, bringing with them no information +of value, and they marched slowly on another day, camping in the cool of +the evening, both armies now being lost to the anxious world that waited +and sought to find them. + +Lee himself, as Harry gathered from the talk about him, was uncertain. +He did not wish a battle now, but his advance toward the Susquehanna +had been stopped by the news that the Army of the Potomac could cut in +behind. The corps of Ewell had been recalled, and Harry, as he rode to +it with a message from his general, saw his old friends again. They +were in a tiny village, the name of which he forgot, and Colonel Talbot +and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, sitting in the main room of what +was used as a tavern in times of peace, had resumed the game of chess, +interrupted so often. Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire was in great glee, +just having captured a pawn, and Colonel Talbot was eager and sure of +revenge, when Harry entered and stated that he had delivered an order +to General Ewell to fall back yet farther. + +"Most untimely! Most untimely!" exclaimed Colonel Talbot, as they +rapidly put away the board and chessmen. "I was just going to drive +Hector into a bad corner, when you came and interrupted us." + +"You are my superior officer, Leonidas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector +St. Hilaire, "but remember that this superiority applies only to +military rank. I assert now, with all respect to your feelings, that +in regard to chess it does not exist, never has and never will." + +"Opinions, Hector, are--opinions. Time alone decides whether they +are or are not facts. But our corps is to fall back, you say, Harry? +What does it signify?" + +"I think, Colonel, that it means a great battle very soon. It is +apparent that General Lee thinks so, or he would not be concentrating +his troops so swiftly. The Army of the Potomac is somewhere on our +flank, and we shall have to deal with it." + +"So be it. The Invincibles are few but ready." + +Harry rode rapidly back to Lee with the return message from Ewell, +and found him going into camp on the eve of the last day of June. +The weather was hot and scarcely any tents were set, nearly everybody +preferring the open air. Harry delivered his message, and General Lee +said to him, with his characteristic kindness: + +"You'd better go to sleep as soon as you can, because I shall want you +to go on another errand in the morning to a place called Gettysburg." + +Gettysburg! Gettysburg! He had never heard the name before and it +had absolutely no significance to him now. But he saluted, withdrew, +procured his blankets and joined Dalton. + +"The General tells me, George, that I'm to go to Gettysburg," he said. +"What's Gettysburg, and why does he want me to go there?" + +"I'm to be with you, Harry, and we're both going with a flying column, +in order that we may report upon its conduct and achievements. So I've +made inquiries. It's a small town surrounded by hills, but it's a +great center for roads. We're going there because it's got a big shoe +factory. Our role is to be that of shoe buyers. Harry, stick out your +feet at once!" + +Harry thrust them forward. + +"One sole worn through. The heel gone from the other shoe, and even +then you're better off than most of us. Lots of the privates are +barefooted. So you needn't think that the role of shoe buyer is an +ignominious one." + +"I'll be ready," said Harry. "Call me early in the morning, George. +We're a long way from home, and the woods are not full of friends. +Getting up here in these Pennsylvania hills, one has to look pretty +hard to look away down South in Dixie." + +"That's so, Harry. A good sleep to you, and to-morrow, as shoe buyers, +we'll ride together to Gettysburg." + +He lay between his blankets, went quickly to sleep and dreamed nothing +of Gettysburg, of which he had heard for the first time that day. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE ZENITH OF THE SOUTH + + + + +The sun of the first day of July, which was to witness the beginning +of the most tremendous event in the history of America, dawned hot and +clouded with vapors. They hung in the valleys, over the steep stony +hills and along the long blue slopes of South Mountain. The mists made +the country look more fantastic to Harry, who was early in the saddle. +The great uplifts and projections of stone assumed the shapes of castles +and pyramids and churches. + +Over South Mountain, on the west, heavy black clouds floated, and the +air was close and oppressive. + +"Rain, do you think?" said Harry to Dalton. + +"No, just a sultry day. Maybe a wind will spring up and drive away +all these clouds and vapors. At least, I hope so. There's the bugle. +We're off on our shoe campaign." + +"Who leads us?" + +"We go with Pettigrew, and Heth comes behind. In a country so thick +with enemies it's best to move only in force." + +The column took up its march and a cloud of dust followed it. The +second half of June had been rainy, but there had been several days of +dry weather now, allowing the dust to gather. Harry and Dalton soon +became very hot and thirsty. The sun did not drive away the vapors as +soon as they had expected, and the air grew heavier. + +"I hope they'll have plenty of good drinking water in Gettysburg," +said Harry. "It will be nearly as welcome to me as shoes." + +They rode on over hills and valleys, and brooks and creeks, the names +of none of which they knew. They stopped to drink at the streams, and +the thirsty horses drank also. But it remained hard for the infantry. +They were trained campaigners, however, and they did not complain as +they toiled forward through the heat and dust. + +They came presently to round hillocks, over which they passed, then they +saw a fertile valley, watered by a creek, and beyond that the roofs of a +town with orchards behind it. + +"Gettysburg!" said Dalton. + +"It must be the place," said Harry. "Picturesque, isn't it? Look at +those two hills across there, rising so steeply." + +One of the hills, the one that lay farther to the south, a mass of +apparently inaccessible rocks, rose more than two hundred feet above the +town. The other, about a third of a mile from the first, was only half +its height. They were Round Top and Little Round Top. In the mists and +vapors and at the distance the two hills looked like ancient towers. +Harry and George gazed at them, and then their eyes turned to the town. + +It was a neat little place, with many roads radiating from it as if it +were the hub of a wheel, and the thrifty farmers of that region had made +it a center for their schools. + +Harry had learned from Jackson, and again from Lee, always to note +well the ground wherever he might ride. Such knowledge in battle was +invaluable, and his eyes dwelled long on Gettysburg. + +He saw running south of the town a long high ridge, curving at the east +and crowned with a cemetery, because of which the people of Gettysburg +called it Cemetery Ridge or Hill. Opposed to it, some distance away and +running westward, was another but lower ridge that they called Seminary +Ridge. Beyond Seminary Ridge were other and yet lower ridges, between +two of which flowed a brook called Willoughby Run. Beyond them all, +two or three miles away and hemming in the valley, stretched South +Mountain, the crests of which were still clothed in the mists and vapors +of a sultry day. Near the town was a great field of ripening wheat, +golden when the sun shone. Not far from the horsemen was another little +stream called Plum Run. They also saw an unfinished railroad track, +with a turnpike running beside it, the roof and cupola of a seminary, +and beside the little marshy stream of Plum Run a mass of jagged, +uplifted rocks, commonly called the Devil's Den. + +Harry knew none of these names yet, but he was destined to learn them +in such a manner that he could never forget them again. Now he merely +admired the peaceful and picturesque appearance of the town, set so +snugly among its hills. + +"That's Gettysburg, which for us just at this moment is the shoe +metropolis of the world," said Dalton, "but I dare say we'll not be +welcomed as purchasers or in any other capacity." + +"You take a safe risk, George," said Harry. "Tales that we are terrible +persons, who rejoice most in arson and murder, evidently have been +spread pretty thoroughly through this region." + +"Both sections scatter such stories. I suppose it's done in every war. +It's only human nature." + +"All right, Mr. Pedantic Philosopher. Maybe you're telling the truth. +But look, I don't think we're going into Gettysburg in such a great +hurry! Yankee soldiers are there before us!" + +Other Southern officers had noted the blue uniforms and the flash of +rifle barrels and bayonets in Gettysburg. As they used their glasses, +the town came much nearer and the Union forces around it increased. +Buford, coming up the night before, had surmised that a Southern force +would advance on Gettysburg, and he had chosen the place for a battle. +He had with him four thousand two hundred mounted men, and he posted +them in the strong positions that were so numerous. He had waited there +all night, and already his scouts had informed him that Pettigrew and +Heth were advancing. + +"Are we to lose our shoes?" whispered Harry. + +"I don't think so," replied Dalton in an undertone. "We're in strong +force, and I don't see any signs that our generals intend to turn back. +Harry, your glasses are much stronger than mine. What do you see?" + +"I see a lot. The Yankees must be four or five thousand, and they are +posted strongly. They are thick in the railroad cut and hundreds of +horses are held by men in the rear. It must be almost wholly a cavalry +force." + +"Do you see any people in the town?" + +"There is not a soul in the streets, and as far as I can make out all +the doors are closed and the windows shuttered." + +"Then it's a heavy force waiting for us. The people know it, and +expecting a battle, they have gone away." + +"Your reasoning is good, and there's the bugle to confirm it. Our lines +are already advancing!" + +It was still early in the morning, and the strong Southern force which +had come for shoes, but which found rifles and bayonets awaiting them +instead, advanced boldly. They, the victors of Fredericksburg and +Chancellorsville, had no thought of retreating before a foe who invited +them to combat. + +Harry and Dalton found their hearts beating hard at this their first +battle on Northern soil, and Harry's eyes once more swept the great +panorama of the valley, the silent town, the lofty stone hills, and far +beyond the long blue wall of South Mountain, with the mists and vapors +still floating about its crest. + +Heth was up now, and he took full command, sending two brigades in +advance, the brigades themselves preceded by a great swarm of +skirmishers. Harry and Dalton rode with one of the brigades, and they +closely followed those who went down the right bank of the stream called +Willoughby Run, opening a rapid fire as they advanced upon a vigilant +enemy who had been posted the night before in protected positions. + +Buford's men met the attack with courage and vigor. Four thousand +dismounted cavalry, all armed with carbines, sent tremendous volleys +from the shelter of ridges and earthworks. The fire was so heavy that +the Southern skirmishers could not stand before it, and they, too, +began to seek shelter. The whole Southern column halted for a few +minutes, but recovered itself and advanced again. + +The battle blazed up with a suddenness and violence that astonished +Harry. The air was filled in an instant with the whistling of shells +and bullets. He heard many cries. Men were falling all around him, +but so far he and Dalton were untouched. Heth, Davis, Archer and the +others were pushing on their troops, shouting encouragement to them, +and occasionally, through the clouds of smoke, which were thickening +fast, Harry saw the tanned faces of their enemies loading and firing +as fast as they could handle rifle and cannon. The Northern men had +shelter, but were fewer in number. The soldiers in gray were suffering +the heavier losses, but they continued to advance. + +The battle swelled in volume and fierceness along the banks of +Willoughby Run. There was a continuous roar of rifles and cannon, +and the still, heavy air of the morning conducted the sound to the +divisions that were coming up and to the trembling inhabitants of the +little town who had fled for refuge to the farmhouses in the valley. + +Harry and George had still managed to keep close together. Both had +been grazed by bullets, but these were only trifles. They saw that the +division was not making much progress. The men in blue were holding +their ground with extraordinary stubbornness. Although the Southern +fire, coming closer, had grown much more deadly, they refused to yield. + +Buford, who had chosen that battlefield and who was the first to command +upon it, would not let his men give way. His great hour had come, +and he may have known it. Watching through his glasses he had seen long +lines of Southern troops upon the hills, marching toward Gettysburg. +He knew that they were the corps of Hill, drawn by the thunder of the +battle, and he felt that if he could hold his ground yet a while longer +help for him too would come, drawn in the same manner. + +Harry once caught sight of this officer, a native of Kentucky like +himself. He was covered with dust and perspiration, but he ran up and +down, encouraging his men and often aiming the cannon himself. It was +good fortune for the North that he was there that day. The Southern +generals, uncertain whether to push the battle hard or wait for Lee, +recoiled a little before his tremendous resistance. + +But the South hesitated only for a moment. Hill, pale from an illness, +but always full of fire and resolution, was hurrying forward his massive +columns, their eagerness growing as the sound of the battle swelled. +They would overwhelm the Union force, sweep it away. + +Yet the time gained by Buford had a value beyond all measurements. +The crash of the battle had been heard by Union troops, too, and +Reynolds, one of the ablest Union generals, was leading a great column +at the utmost speed to the relief of the general who had held his ground +so well. A signalman stationed in the belfry of the seminary reported +to Buford the advance of Reynolds, and the officer, eager to verify it, +rushed up into the belfry. + +Then Buford saw the columns coming forward at the double quick, Reynolds +in his eagerness galloping at their head, and leaving them behind. +He looked in the other direction and he saw the men of Hill advancing +with equal speed. He saw on one road the Stars and Stripes and on +the other the Stars and Bars. He rushed back down the steps and met +Reynolds. + +"The devil is to pay!" he cried to Reynolds. + +"How do we stand?" + +"We can hold on until the arrival of the First Corps." + +Buford sprang on his horse, and the two generals, reckless of death, +galloped among the men, encouraging the faint-hearted, reforming the +lines, and crying to them to hold fast, that the whole Army of the +Potomac was coming. + +Harry felt the hardening of resistance. The smoke was so dense that he +could not see for a while the fresh troops coming to the help of Buford, +but he knew nevertheless that they were there. Then he heard a great +shouting behind him, as Hill's men, coming upon the field, rushed into +action. But Jackson, the great Jackson whom he had followed through all +his victories, the man who saw and understood everything, was not there! + +The genius of battle was for the moment on the other side. Reynolds, +so ably pushing the work that Buford had done, was seizing the best +positions for his men. He was acting with rapidity and precision, +and the troops under him felt that a great commander was showing them +the way. His vigor secured the slopes and crest of Cemetery Hill, +but the Southern masses nevertheless were pouring forward in full tide. + +The combat had now lasted about two hours, and, a stray gust of wind +lifting the smoke a little, Harry caught a glimpse of a vast blazing +amphitheater of battle. He had regarded it at first as an affair of +vanguards, but now he realized suddenly that this was the great battle +they had been expecting. Within this valley and on these ridges and +hills it would be fought, and even as the thought came to him the +conflict seemed to redouble in fury and violence, as fresh brigades +rushed into the thick of it. + +Harry's horse was killed by a shell as he rode toward a wood on the +Cashtown road, which both sides were making a desperate effort to +secure. Fortunately he was able to leap clear and escape unhurt. +In a few moments Dalton was dismounted in almost the same manner, +but the two on foot kept at the head of the column and rushed with +the skirmishers into the bushes. There they knelt, and began to fire +rapidly on the Union men who were advancing to drive them out. + +Harry saw an officer in a general's uniform leading the charge. The +bullets of the skirmishers rained upon the advance. One struck this +general in the head, when he was within twenty yards of the riflemen, +and he fell stone dead. It was the gallant and humane Reynolds, falling +in the hour of his greatest service. But his troops, wild with ardor +and excitement, not noticing his death, still rushed upon the wood. + +The charge came with such violence and in such numbers that the Southern +skirmishers and infantry in the wood were overpowered. They were driven +in a mass across Willoughby Run. A thousand, General Archer among them, +were taken prisoners. + +Harry and Dalton barely escaped, and in all the tumult and fury of the +fighting they found themselves with another division of the Southern +army which was resisting a charge made with the same energy and courage +that marked the one led by Reynolds. But the charge was beaten back, +and the Southerners, following, were repulsed in their turn. + +The battle, which had been raging for three hours with the most +extraordinary fury, sank a little. Harry and Dalton could make nothing +of it. Everything seemed wild, confused, without precision or purpose, +but the fighting had been hard and the losses great. + +Heth now commanded on the field for the South and Doubleday for the +North. Each general began to rectify his lines and try to see what had +happened. The Confederate batteries opened, but did not do much damage, +and while the lull continued, more men came for the North. + +Harry and Dalton had found their way to Heth, who told them to stay +with him until Lee came. Heth was making ready to charge a brigade of +stalwart Pennsylvania lumbermen, who, however, managed to hold their +position, although they were nearly cut to pieces. Hill now passed +along the Southern line, and like the other Southern leaders, uncertain +what to do in this battle brought on so strangely and suddenly, ceased +to push the Union lines with infantry, but opened a tremendous fire from +eighty guns. The whole valley echoed with the crash of the cannon, +and the vast clouds of smoke began to gather again. The Union forces +suffered heavy losses, but still held their ground. + +Harry thought, while this comparative lull in close fighting was going +on, that Dalton and he should get back to General Lee with news of what +was occurring, although he had no doubt the commander-in-chief was now +advancing as fast as he could with the full strength of the army. Still, +duty was duty. They had been sent forward that they might carry back +reports, and they must carry them. + +"It's time for us to go," he said to Dalton. + +"I was just about to say that myself." + +"We can safely report to the general that the vanguards have met at +Gettysburg and that there are signs of a battle." + +Dalton took a long, comprehensive look over the valley in which thirty +or forty thousand men were merely drawing a fresh breath before plunging +anew into the struggle, and said: + +"Yes, Harry, all the signs do point that way. I think we can be sure of +our news." + +They had not been able to catch any of the riderless horses galloping +about the field, and they started on foot, taking the road which they +knew would lead them to Lee. They emerged from some bushes in which +they had been lying for shelter, and two or three bullets whistled +between them. Others knocked up the dust in the path and a shell +shrieked a terrible warning over their heads. They dived back into the +bushes. + +"Didn't you see that sign out there in the road?" asked Harry. + +"Sign! Sign! I saw no sign," said Dalton. + +"I did. It was a big sign, and it read, in big letters: +'No Thoroughfare.'" + +"You must be right. I suppose I didn't notice it, because I came back +in such a hurry." + +They had become so hardened to the dangers of war that, like thousands +of others, they could jest in the face of death. + +"We must make another try for it," said Dalton. "We've got to cross +that road. I imagine our greatest danger is from sharpshooters at the +head of it." + +"Stoop low and make a dash. Here goes!" + +Bent almost double, they made a hop, skip and jump and were in the +bushes on the other side, where they lay still for a few moments, +panting, while the hair on their heads, which had risen up, lay down +again. Quick as had been their passage, fully a dozen ferocious bullets +whined over their heads. + +"I hate skirmishers," said Harry. "It's one thing to fire at the mass +of the enemy, and it's another to pick out a man and draw a bead on him." + +"I hate 'em, too, especially when they're firing at me!" said Dalton. +"But, Harry, we're doing no good lying here in the bushes, trying to +press ourselves into the earth so the bullets will pass over our heads. +Heavens! What was that?" + +"Only the biggest shell that was ever made bursting near us. You know +those Yankee artillerymen were always good, but I think they've improved +since they first saw us trying to cross the road." + +"To think of an entire army turning away from its business to shoot at +two fellows like ourselves, who ask nothing but to get away!" + +"And it's time we were going. The bushes rise over our heads here. +We must make another dash." + +They rose and ran on, but to their alarm the bushes soon ended and they +emerged into a field. Here they came directly into the line of fire +again, and the bullets sang and whistled around them. Once more they +read in invisible but significant letters the sign, "No Thoroughfare," +and darted back into the wood from which they had just come, while +shells, not aimed at them, but at the armies, shrieked over their heads. + +"It's not the plan of fate that we should reach General Lee just yet," +said Harry. + +"The shells and bullets say it isn't. What do you think we ought to do?" + +Harry rose up cautiously and began to survey their position. Then he +uttered a cry of joy. + +"More of our men are coming," he exclaimed, "and they are coming in +heavy columns! I see their gray jackets and their tanned faces, and +there, too, are the Invincibles. Look, you can see the two colonels, +riding side by side, and just behind them are St. Clair and Langdon!" + +Dalton's eyes followed Harry's pointing finger, and he saw. It was a +joyous sight, the masses of their own infantry coming down the road in +perfect order, and their own personal friends not two hundred yards +away. But the Northern artillerymen had seen them too, and they began +to send up the road a heavy fire which made many fall. Ewell's men came +on, unflinching, until they unlimbered their own guns and began to reply +with fierce and rapid volleys. + +The two youths sprang from the brush and rushed directly into the gray +ranks of the Invincibles before they could be fired upon by mistake +as enemies. The two colonels had dismounted, but they recognized the +fugitives instantly and welcomed them. + +"Why this hurry, Lieutenant Kenton?" said Colonel Talbot politely. + +"We were trying to reach General Lee, and not being able to do so, +we are anxious to greet friends." + +"So it would seem. I do not recall another such swift and warm +greeting." + +"But we're glad, Leonidas, that they've found refuge with us," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. + +"So we are, Hector. Down there, lads, for your lives!" + +The colonel had seen a movement in the hostile artillery, and at his +sharp command all of the Invincibles and the two lads threw themselves +on their faces, not a moment too soon, as a hideous mass of grape and +canister flew over their heads. The Invincibles, rising to their feet, +sent a return volley from their rifles, and then, at the command of a +general, fell back behind their own cannon. + +The Northern artillery in front was shifted, evidently to protect some +weaker position of their line, but the Southern troops in the road did +not advance farther at present, awaiting the report of scouts who were +quickly sent ahead. + +"You're welcome to our command," said Langdon, "but I notice that you +come on foot and in a hurry. We're glad to protect officers on the +staff of the commander-in-chief, whenever they appeal to us." + +"Even when they come running like scared colts," said St. Clair. +"Why, Happy, I saw both of 'em jump clean over bushes ten feet high." + +"You'd have jumped over trees a hundred feet high if a hundred thousand +Yankees were shooting at you as they were shooting at us," rejoined +Harry. + +"What place is this in the valley, Harry?" asked Colonel Talbot. + +"It's called Gettysburg, sir. We heard that it was full of shoes. +We went there this morning to get em, but we found instead that it was +full of Yankees." + +"And they know how to shoot, too," said Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire. +"We heard all the thunder of a great battle as we came up." + +"You haven't come too soon, sir," said Dalton. "The Yankees are +fighting like fiends, and we've made very little headway against 'em. +Besides, sir, fresh men are continually coming up for 'em." + +"And fresh men have now come for our side, too," said Colonel Leonidas +Talbot proudly. "I fancy that a division of Jackson's old corps will +have a good deal to say about the result." + +"What part of the corps, sir, is this?" asked Harry. + +"Rodes' division. General Ewell himself has not yet arrived, but you +may be sure he is making the utmost haste with the rest of the division." + +Rodes, full of eagerness, now pushed his troops forward. Hill, who saw +his coming with unmeasured joy, shifted his men until they were fully in +touch with those of Rodes, the whole now forming a great curving line of +battle frowning with guns, the troops burning for a new attack. + +Harry looked up at the sun, which long ago had pierced the mists and +vapors, but not the smoke. He saw to his surprise that it had reached +and passed the zenith. It must now be at least two o'clock in the +afternoon. He was about to look at his watch when the Southern trumpets +at that moment sounded the charge, and, knowing no other way to go, +he and Dalton fell in with the Invincibles. + +Howard was in command of the Northern army at this time, and from a roof +of a house in Gettysburg he had been watching the Southern advance. +He and Doubleday gathered all their strength to meet it, and, despite +the new troops brought by Rodes, Hill was unable to drive them back. +Harry felt, as he had felt all along, that marked hardening of the +Northern resistance. + +The battle wavered. Sometimes the North was driven back and sometimes +it was the South, until Hill at last, massing a great number of men on +his left, charged with renewed courage and vigor. The Union men could +not withstand their weight, and their flank was rolled up. Then Gordon +and his Georgians marched into the willows that lined Rock Creek, +forded the stream and entered the field of wheat beyond. + +Harry saw this famous charge, and during a pause of the Invincibles he +watched it. The Georgians, although the cannon and rifles were now +turned upon them, marched in perfect order, trampling down the yellow +wheat which stood thick and tall before them. The sun glittered on +their long lines of bayonets. Many men fell, but the ranks closed +up and marched unflinchingly on. Then, as they came near their foe, +they fired their own rifles and rushed forward. + +The men in blue were taken in the flank at the same time by Jubal Early, +and two more brigades also rushed upon them. It was the same Union +corps, the Eleventh, that had suffered so terribly at Chancellorsville +under the hammer strokes of Jackson, and now it was routed again. +It practically dissolved for the time under the overwhelming rush on +front and flank and became a mass of fugitives. + +Harry heard for the first time that day the long, thrilling rebel yell +of triumph, and both Howard and Doubleday, watching the battle intently, +had become alarmed for their force. Howard was already sending messages +to Meade, telling him that the great battle had begun and begging him +to hurry with the whole army. Doubleday, seeing one flank crushed, was +endeavoring to draw back the other, lest it be destroyed in its turn. + +Harry and Dalton and all the Invincibles felt the thrill of triumph +shooting through them. They were advancing at last, making the first +real progress of the day. + +Harry felt that the days of Jackson had come back. This was the way +in which they had always driven the foe. Ewell himself was now upon +the field. The loss of a leg had not diminished his ardor a whit. +Everywhere his troops were driving the enemy before them, increasing the +dismay which now prevailed in the ranks of men who had fought so well. + +Harry began to shout with the rest, as the Southern torrent, +irresistible now, flowed toward Gettysburg, while Ewell and Hill led +their men. The town was filled with the retreating Union troops and the +cannon and rifles thundered incessantly in the rear, driving them on. +The whole Southern curve was triumphant. Ewell's men entered the town +after the fugitives, driving all before them, and leaving Gettysburg +in Southern hands. + +But the Northern army was not a mob. The men recovered their spirit and +reformed rapidly. Many brave and gallant officers encouraged them and +a reserve had already thrown up strong entrenchments beyond the town on +Cemetery Hill, to which they retreated and once more faced their enemy. + +Harry and Dalton stopped at Gettysburg, seeing the battle of the +vanguards won, and turned back. Their place was with the general to the +staff of whom they belonged, and they believed they would not have to +look far. With a battle that had lasted eight hours Lee would surely +be upon the field by this time, or very near it. + +There were plenty of riderless horses, and capturing two, one of which +had belonged to a Union officer, they went back in search of their +commander. It was a terrible field over which they passed, strewed with +human wreckage, smoke and dust still floated over everything. They +inquired as they advanced of officers who were just arriving upon the +field, and one of them, pointing, said: + +"There is General Lee." + +Harry and Dalton saw him sitting on his horse on Seminary Ridge, his +figure immovable, his eyes watching the Union brigades as they retreated +up the slopes of the opposite hill. It was about four o'clock in the +afternoon and the sunlight was brilliant. The commander and his horse +stood out like a statue on the hill, magnified in the blazing beams. + +Harry and his comrade paused to look at him a few moments. Their +spirits had risen when they saw him. They felt that since Lee had come +all things were possible and when the whole of the two armies met in +battle the victory would surely be theirs. + +The two rode quietly into the group of staff officers gathered at a +little distance behind Lee. They knew that it was not necessary now +to make any report or explanation. Events reported for themselves and +explained everything also. Their comrades greeted them with nods, +but Harry never ceased to watch Lee. + +The commander-in-chief in his turn was gazing at the panorama of battle, +spread almost at his feet. Although the combat was dying, enough was +left to give it a terrible aspect. The strife still went on in a part +of Gettysburg and cannon were thudding and rifles cracking. The flames +from houses set on fire by the shells streamed aloft like vast torches. +Horses that had lost their riders galloped aimlessly, wild with terror. + +While he looked, General Hill rode up and joined them. Hill had been +ill that day. His face was deadly in its pallor, and he swayed in his +saddle from weakness. But his spirit and courage were high. Harry saw +the two generals talking together, and again he glanced at the valley. +After long and desperate fighting the Southern victory had been +complete. Any young lieutenant could see that. The whole Northern +force was now being driven in great disorder upon Cemetery Hill, and a +man like Jackson, without going to see Lee, would have hurled his whole +force instantly upon those flying masses. Some one had called Ewell and +Hill, brave and able as they were, small change for Jackson, and the +phrase often came to Harry's mind. Still, it was not possible to find +any man or any two men who could fill the place of the great Stonewall. + +The day was far from over. At least three hours of sunlight were left. +More Southern troops had come up, and Harry expected to see Lee launch +his superior numbers against the defeated enemy. But he did not. +There was some pursuit, but it was not pressed with vigor, and the +victors stopped. Contradictory orders were given, it was claimed later, +by the generals, but Lee, with the grandeur of soul that places him so +high among the immortals, said afterward: + +"The attack was not pressed that afternoon, because the enemy's force +was unknown, and it was considered advisable to await the rest of our +troops." + +When failure occurred he never blamed anyone but himself. Yet Harry +always thought that his genius paled a little that afternoon. He did +not show the amazing vigor and penetration that were associated with the +name of Lee both before and afterwards. Perhaps it was an excess of +caution, due to his isolated position in the enemy's country, and +perhaps it was the loss of Jackson. Whatever it was, the precious hours +passed, the enemy, small in numbers, was not driven from his refuge on +Cemetery Hill, and the battle died. + +The Southern leaders themselves did not know the smallness of the +Northern force that had taken shelter on the hill. That hardening of +the resistance which Harry had felt more than once had been exemplified +to the full that deadly morning. Buford and Reynolds had shown the +penetration and resolution of Jackson himself, and their troops had +supported them with a courage and tenacity never surpassed in battle. +Only sixteen or seventeen thousand in number, they had left ten thousand +killed and wounded around the town, but with only one-third of their +numbers unhurt they rallied anew on Cemetery Hill and once more turned +defiant faces toward the enemy. + +Hancock, whose greatest day also was at hand, had arrived, sent forward +in haste by Meade. Unsurpassed as a corps commander, and seeing the +advantage of the position, he went among the beaten but willing remnants, +telling them to hold on, as Meade and the whole Army of the Potomac were +coming at full speed, and would be there to meet Lee and the South in +the morning. + +Both commanding generals felt that the great battle was to be fought to +a finish there. Meade had not yet arrived, but he was hurrying forward +all the divisions, ready to concentrate them upon Cemetery Hill. +Lee also was bringing up all his troops, save the cavalry of Stuart, +now riding on the raid around the Northern army, and absent when they +were needed most. + +Harry did not know for many days that this fierce first day and the +gathering of the foes on Gettysburg was wholly unknown to both North and +South. The two armies had passed out of sight under the horizon's rim, +and the greatest battle of the war was to be fought unknown, until its +close, to the rival sections. + +Harry and Dalton, keeping close together, because they were comrades and +because they felt the need of companionship, watched from their own hill +the town and the hill beyond. Harry felt no joy. The victory was not +yet to him a victory. He knew that the field below, terrible to the +sight, was destined to become far more terrible, and the coming twilight +was full of omens and presages. + +The sun sank at last upon the scene of human strife and suffering, +but night brought with it little rest, because all through the darkness +the brigades and regiments were marching toward the fatal field. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GETTYSBURG + + + + +Harry took many messages that night, and he witnessed the gathering of +the generals about Lee. He saw Ewell come, hobbling on his crutches, +eager for battle and disappointed that they had not pushed the victory. +Hill returned again, refusing to yield to his illness. And there was +Longstreet, thick-bearded, the best fighter that Lee had since the death +of Jackson; McLaws, Hood, Heth, Pender, Jubal Early, Anderson and others, +veterans of many battles, great and small. + +They talked long and earnestly and pointed many times to the battlefield +and the opposing heights. While they talked, a man appeared among the +men in blue on Cemetery Hill, accompanied only by a staff officer and an +orderly. He had ridden a long distance, and naturally lean and haggard, +these traits in his appearance were exaggerated by weariness and +anxiety. He looked as little like a great general as Jackson had looked +in those days before he had sprung into fame. + +His military hat was black and broad of brim, and the brim, having +become limp, drooped down over his face. There were spectacles on his +nose, and it is said of him that he could have been taken more easily +for a teacher than for a commander-in-chief. Thus Meade came to his +army in the decisive moment of his country's life. He inspired neither +enthusiasm nor discouragement. He looked upon those left from the +battle and upon the brigades which had come since, thousands of men +already sound asleep among the white stones of the churchyard. Then +he turned in a calm and businesslike manner to the task of arranging a +stern front for the storm which he knew would burst upon them to-morrow. +The respect of his officers for him increased. + +Lee's generals went to their respective commands. Harry once more took +orders, and, as he carried messages or brought them back, he never +failed to see all that he could. The great corps of Ewell was drawn up +on the battlefield of the day, Hill's forces extended to Willoughby Run, +and the Southern line was complete along the whole curve. They also had +the welcome news that Stuart at Carlisle had heard of the battle and +would be present with the cavalry on the morrow. + +Harry, riding about in the darkness, recovered much of his spirits. +The whole Southern army would be present in the morning, and while +Jackson was dead, his spirit might ride again at their head. Now he +awaited the dawn with confidence, believing that Lee would win another +great victory. + +Harry was sent on his last errand far after midnight, and it took him to +one of Ewell's divisions, in the edge of Gettysburg. It was a clear +night, with a bright summer sky, a good moon and the stars in their +myriads twinkling peacefully over the panorama of human passion and +death. But they seemed very far away and cold to the boy, who was +chilled by the night and the impending sense of mighty conflict. +In Virginia they were fighting against the invader and in defense of +their own soil. Now they were the invader, and it was the men in blue +who defended. + +As he passed over that battlefield, on which the dead and the badly hurt +yet lay, his heart was dissolved for the time in sadness. The dead were +thick all around him, and there were many hurt seriously who were so +still that he did not know whether they were alive or not. He heard +very few groans. He noticed often on the battlefields that the hurt +usually shut their teeth together and endured in silence. As he +approached one of the little streams, a form twisted itself suddenly +from his path, and a weak voice exclaimed: + +"For God's sake don't step on me!" + +Harry looked down. It was a boy with yellow hair, younger than himself. +He could not have been over sixteen, but he wore a blue uniform and a +bullet had gone through his shoulder. Harry had a powerful sensation of +pity. + +"I would not have stepped on you," he said. His duty urged him on, +but his feelings would not let him go, and he added: + +"I'll help you." + +He lifted the lad, rapidly cut away his coat, and slicing it into strips, +bound up tightly the two wounds in his shoulder where the bullet had +gone in and where it had come out. + +"You've lost a lot of blood," he said, "but you've got enough left to +live on until you gather another supply, and you won't lose any more +now." + +"Thank you," murmured the boy; "but you're very good for--for a rebel." + +Harry laughed. + +"Why, you innocent child!" he said. "Have they been filling your head +with tales of our ferocity and cruelty?" + +He went down to the stream, dipped up water in his cap, and brought +it back to the boy, who drank eagerly. Then he placed him in a more +comfortable position on the turf, and patting his head, said: + +"You'll get well sure, and maybe you and I will meet after the war and +be friends." + +All of which came true. Its like happened often in this war. But he +went out of Harry's mind, as he walked on and delivered his message +in the edge of Gettysburg. He could not return before seeking the +Invincibles, who were surely here in the vanguard--if they were yet +alive. Harry shuddered. All his friends might have perished in that +whirlwind of death. He soon learned that they had suffered greatly, +but that those who were left were lying on the grass of what had been +a lawn. + +He found the lawn quickly and saw dark figures strewed about upon the +ground. They were so still and silent that they looked like the dead, +but Harry knew that it was the stupor of exhaustion. As they were +inside the lines and needing no watch, there was no sentinel. + +Harry stepped over the low fence and looked again at the figures. +The moonlight silvered them and they did not stir. He could not see a +single form move. It was weird, uncanny, and the blood chilled in his +veins. But he shook himself violently, angry at his weakness, and +walked among them, looking for the two colonels and the two lieutenants. +A figure suddenly sat up before him and a dignified voice said: + +"Your footstep awakened me, Harry, and if there is a message, I am here +to receive it. But I ask you in the name of mercy to be quick. I was +never before so much overpowered that I could not hold up my head a +minute." + +Before Harry could speak another figure rose. + +"Yes, Harry, be quick if you can, and let us go back to sleep," said +Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire in a pleading voice. + +"Thank God I've found you both. I have no message for you. I was +merely looking to see if all of you were alive." + +"You've always had a kind heart, Harry," said Colonel Talbot, "and we +can't tell you how much we appreciate what you've done." + +"Are St. Clair and Happy Tom here?" + +"I cannot tell you. We suffered from such tremendous exhaustion that +our men fell upon the grass, we with them, and all of us sank into +stupor. But, Harry, they must be here! We couldn't have lost those +boys! Why, I can't think of them as not living!" + +"If you'll let me make a suggestion, lie down and go to sleep again," +said Harry. "I'll find 'em." + +The two colonels stretched a little, as if they were about to rise and +go with him, but the effort was beyond their powers. They sank back and +returned to sleep. Harry went on, his heart full of fear for the two +young friends who were so dear to him. + +The survivors of the Invincibles lay in all sorts of positions, some +on their backs, some on their sides, some on their faces, and others +doubled up like little children. It was hard to recognize those dark +figures, but he came at last to one in a lieutenant's uniform, and he +was sure that it was Langdon. He was afraid at first that he was dead, +but he put his hand on his shoulder and shook it. + +There was no response, but Harry felt the warmth of the body pass +through the cloth to his hand, and he knew that Langdon was living. +He shook him again. + +Happy opened his eyes slowly and regarded Harry with a long stare. + +"Are you a ghost?" he asked solemnly. + +"No, I was never more alive than I am now." + +"I don't believe you, Harry. You're a ghost and so am I. Look at the +dead men lying all around us. We're just the first up. Why, Harry, +nobody could go through the crater of an active volcano, as we've done, +and live. I was either burned to death or shot to death with a bullet +or blown to pieces with a shell. I don't know which, but it doesn't +matter. What kind of a country is this, Harry, into which we've been +resurrected?" + +"Stop your foolishness, Happy. You're alive, all right, although you +may not be to-morrow night. The whole Army of the Potomac is coming up +and there's going to be another great battle." + +"Then it's just as well that I'm alive, because General Lee will need +me. But, Harry, don't you think I've answered enough questions and that +I've been awake long enough? Harry, remember that I'm your friend and +comrade, almost your brother, and let me go back to sleep." + +"Where is St. Clair? Was he killed?" + +"No. A million shells burst over both of us, but we escaped them all. +But Arthur will be dead to the world for a while, just the same. +His is the fourth figure beyond me, but you couldn't wake him if you +fired a cannon at his ear, and in two minutes you won't be able to wake +me with another cannon." + +Happy's head fell back as he spoke, and in less than half the time he +gave he had joined the band of the original seven sleepers. Harry, +stepping lightly over the slumbering figures--he had left his horse +on the hill--went back to the staff, where he saw that many were yet +watching. At the urgent advice of an older officer he stretched himself +between two blankets to protect his body from dew and slept a little +before dawn. He, too, had felt the exhaustion shown by the Invincibles, +but his nervous system was keyed highly, too high, in fact, to sleep +long. Moreover, he seemed to find some new reserve of strength, and +when Dalton put his hand upon his shoulder he sprang to his feet, +eager and active. Dalton had not been sent on many errands the night +before, and, sleeping longer than Harry, he had been up a half hour +earlier. + +"You'll find coffee and food for the staff back a little," said Dalton, +"and I'd advise you to take breakfast, Harry." + +"I will. What's going on?" + +"Nothing, except the rising of the sun. See it, Harry, just coming over +the edge of the horizon behind those two queer hills." + +The rim of the eastern sky was reddening fast, and Round Top and Little +Round Top stood out against it, black and exaggerated. They were raised +in the dawn, yet dim, to twice their height, and rose like gigantic +towers. + +But there was light enough already for Harry to see masses of men on the +opposing slopes, and stone fences running along the hillsides, some of +which had been thrown up in the night by soldiers. + +"I take it that the whole Army of the Potomac is here," he said. + +"So our scouts tell us," replied Dalton. "Our forces are gathered, too, +except the six thousand infantry under Pickett and McLaws and the +cavalry under Stuart. But they'll come." + +Harry and Dalton ate breakfast quickly, and, hurrying back, stood near +their chief, ready for any service. All the Southern forces were in +line. Heth held the right, Pender the left, and Anderson, Hood, and +McLaws and the others were stationed between. The brilliant sun moved +slowly on and flooded the town, the hills and the battlefield of the +day before with light. The officers of either side with their powerful +glasses could plainly see the hostile troops. Harry had glasses of +his own, and he looked a long time. But he saw little movement in the +hostile ranks. Meade and Hancock and the others had worked hard in the +hours of darkness and the Army of the Potomac was ready. + +Harry expected to hear the patter of rifles. Surely the battle would +open at once. But there was no sound of strife. It seemed instead +that a great silence had settled over the two armies and all between. +Perhaps each was waiting for the other to make the first cast of the +dice. + +Harry studied Lee's face, but he could read nothing there. Like Jackson +he had the power of dismissing all expression. He wore a splendid new +uniform which had recently been sent to him by the devoted people of +Virginia, and with his height and majestic figure, his presence had +never seemed more magnificent than on that morning. It was usually he +who opened the battle, never waiting for the enemy, but as yet he gave +no order. + +Longstreet, Hill and Hood presently joined Lee, and the four walked a +little higher up the ridge, where they examined the Northern army for a +long time through their glasses. Lee must have recognized the strength +of that position, the formidable ridges, the stone walls bristling with +batteries, all crowned with an army of veterans more numerous than his +own, and, even when Stuart and Pickett should come, more numerous yet +by fifteen thousand men. But his army, with the habit of victory, was +eager for battle, sure that it could win, despite the numbers and +position of the enemy. + +The generals came back, but Lee said little. Harry often wished that +he could have penetrated the mind of the great commander that morning, +a mind upon which so much hung and which must have been assailed by +doubts and fears, despite the impenetrable mask of his face. But he did +not yet give any orders to attack, and Harry and Dalton, who had nothing +to do but look on, were amazed. There was the Army of the Potomac +waiting, and it was not Lee's habit to let it wait. + +Slow though the sun was, it was now far up the blue arch and the day was +intensely hot. The golden beams poured down and everything seemed to +leap out into the light. Harry clearly saw the Northern cannon and +now and then he saw an officer moving about. But the men in blue were +mostly still, lying upon their arms. The troops of his own army were +quiet also, and they, too, were lying down. + +It suddenly occurred to Harry that no more fitting field for a great +and decisive battle could have been chosen. It was like a vast arena, +enclosed by the somber hills and the two Round Tops, on both of which +flew the flags of the Union signalmen. + +Yet the day drew on. The two armies of nearly two hundred thousand men +merely sat and stared at each other. Noon passed and the afternoon +advanced. Harry yet wondered, as many another did. But it was not for +him to criticize. They were led by a man of genius, and the great mind +must be working, seeking the best way. + +He and Dalton and some others lay down on the grass, while the heavy +silence still endured. Not a single cannon shot had been fired all that +day, and soon the sun would begin its decline from the zenith. + +"I think I'll go to sleep," said Dalton. + +"You couldn't if you tried," said Harry, "and you know it. If General +Lee is waiting, it's because he has good reasons for waiting, and you +know that, too." + +"You're right in both instances, Harry. I could never shut my eyes on +a scene like this, and, late as it grows, there will yet be a battle +to-day. Weren't some orders sent along the line a little while ago?" + +"Yes, the older men took 'em. What time is it, George?" + +"Four o'clock." Then he closed his watch with a snap, and added: + +"The battle has begun." + +The heavy report of a cannon came from the Southern right under +Longstreet. It sped up the valleys and returned in sinister echoes. +It was succeeded by silence for a moment, and then the whole earth shook +beneath a mighty shock. All the batteries along the Southern line +opened, pouring a tremendous volume of fire upon the whole Northern +position. + +The young officers leaped to their feet. A volcano had burst. The +Union batteries were replying, and the front of both armies blazed with +fire. The smoke hung high and Harry and Dalton could see in the valley +beneath it. They caught the gleam of bayonets and saw the troops of +Longstreet advancing in heavy masses to the assault of the slope where +the peach trees grew, now known as the Peach Orchard. Here stood +the New Yorkers who had been thrust forward under Sickles, a rough +politician, but brave and in many respects capable. There was some +confusion among them as they awaited the Confederates, Sickles, it is +charged, having gone too far in his zeal, and then endeavoring to fall +back when it was too late. But the men under him were firm. On this +field the two great states of New York and Pennsylvania, through the +number of troops they furnished for it, bore the brunt of the battle. + +Harry and Dalton, crouched down in order that they might see better +under the smoke, watched the thrilling and terrible spectacle. The +Southern vanguard was made up of Texans, tall, strong, tanned men, +led by the impetuous Hood, and shouting the fierce Southern war cry they +rushed straight at the corps of Sickles. The artillery and rifle fire +swept through their ranks, but they did not falter. Many fell, but the +others rushed on, and Harry, although unconscious of it, began to shout +as he saw them cross a little stream and charge with all their might +against the enemy. + +The combat was stubborn and furious. The men of Sickles redoubled +their efforts. At some points their line was driven in and the Texans +sought to take their artillery, but at others they held fast and even +threatened the Southern flank. They knew, too, that reinforcements were +promised to them and they encouraged one another by saying they were +already in sight. + +Harry could not turn his eyes away from this struggle, much of which was +hidden in the smoke, and all of which was confused. The cannon of Hill +and Ewell were thundering elsewhere, but here was the crucial point. +The Round Tops rose on one side of the combatants. Round Top itself +seemed too lofty and steep for troops, but Little Round Top, accessible +to both men and cannon, would dominate the field, and he believed that +Hood, as soon as his men crushed Sickles, would whirl about and seize +it. But he could not yet tell whether fortune favored the Blue or the +Gray. + +The generals from both sides watched the struggle with intense anxiety +and hurried forward fresh troops. Woods and rocks and slopes helped +the defense, but the attack was made with superior numbers. Longstreet +himself was directing the action and a part of Hill's men were coming +up to his aid. Sedgwick and Sykes, able generals, were rushing to +help Sickles. The whole combat was beginning to concentrate about the +furious struggle for the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top. + +Hood, in all the height of the struggle, saw the value of Little Round +Top and tried his utmost to seize it. Again the Northern generals were +to show that they had learned how to see what should be done and to do +it at once. Little Round Top rose up, dominant over the whole field, +a prize of value beyond all computation. Just then it was the most +valuable hill in all the world. + +A Northern general, Warren, the chief engineer of the army, had seen the +value of Little Round Top as quickly as Hood. The signalmen were about +to leave, but he made them stay. An entire brigade, hurrying to the +battle, was passing the slope, when Warren literally seized upon them by +force of command and rushed the men and their cannon to the crest. + +Hood's soldiers were already climbing the slopes, when the fire of +the brigade, shell and bullets, struck almost in their faces. Harry, +watching through his glasses, saw them reel back and then go on again, +firing their own rifles as they climbed over the rocky sides of Little +Round Top. Again that fierce volley assailed them, crashing through +their ranks, and again they went on into the flame and the smoke. + +Harry saw the battle raging around the crest of Little Round Top. +Then he uttered a cry of despair. The Southerners, with their ranks +thin--woefully thin--were falling back slowly and sullenly. They had +done all that soldiers could do, but the commanding towers of Little +Round Top remained in Union hands, and the Union generals were soon +crowding it with artillery that could sweep every point in the field +below. + +But Sickles himself was not faring so well. His men, fighting for +every inch of ground about the Peach Orchard, were slowly driven back. +Sickles himself fell, a leg shattered, and walked on one leg for more +than fifty years afterwards. Hood, his immediate opponent, also fell, +losing an arm then and a leg later at Chickamauga, but Longstreet still +pushed the attack, and the Northern generals who had stood around +Sickles resisted with the stubbornness of men who meant to succeed or +die. + +Early in the battle Harry had seen General Lee walk forward to a point +in the center of his line and sit down on a smooth stump. There he sat +a long time, apparently impassive. Harry sometimes took his eyes away +from the combat for the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top to watch his +commander-in-chief. But the general never showed emotion. Now and then +General Hill or his military secretary, General Long, came to him and +they would talk a little together, but they made no gestures. Lee would +rise when the generals came, but when they left he would resume his +place on the stump and watch the struggle through his glasses. +Throughout the whole battle of that day he sent a single order and +received but one message. He had given his orders before the advance, +and he left the rest to his lieutenants. + +"I wish I could be as calm as he is," said Harry. + +"I'll risk saying that he isn't calm inside," said Dalton. "How could +any man be at such a time?" + +"You're right. Duck! Here comes a shell!" + +But the shell fell short and exploded on the slope. + +"Now listen, will you!" exclaimed Harry. "That's the spirit!" + +Immediately after the shell burst a Southern band began to play. +And it played the merriest music, waltzes and polkas and all kinds of +dances. Harry felt his feet move to the tunes, while the battle below, +at its very height, roared and thundered. + +But he promptly forgot the musicians as he watched the battle. He knew +that the Invincibles were somewhere in that volcano of fire and smoke, +and it was almost too much to hope that they would again come unhurt +out of such a furious conflict. But they, too, passed quickly from his +mind. The struggle would let nothing else remain there long. + +He saw that the Union troops were still in the Peach Orchard and that +they were pouring a deadly fire also from Little Round Top. Hancock had +come to take the place of Sickles, and he was drawing every man he could +to his support. The afternoon was waning, but the battle was still at +its height. Men were falling by thousands, and generals, colonels, +majors, officers of all kinds were falling with them. The Southerners +had not encountered such resistance in any other great battle, and the +ground, moreover, was against them. + +Yet the grim fighter, Longstreet, never ceased to push on his brigades. +The combat was now often face to face, and sharpshooters, hidden in +every angle and hollow of the earth, picked off men by hundreds. +The great rocky mass known as the Devil's Den was filled with Northern +sharpshooters and for a long time they stung the Southern flank terribly, +until a Southern battery, noticing whence the deadly stream of +bullets issued, sprayed it with grape and canister until most of the +sharpshooters were killed, while those who survived fled like wolves +from their lairs. + +The day was now passing, but Harry could see no decrease in the fury of +the battle. Longstreet was still hurling his men forward, and they were +met with cannon and rifle and bayonet. The Confederate line now grew +more compact. The brigades were brought into closer touch, and, +gathering their strength anew, they rushed forward in a charge, heavier +and more desperate than any that had gone before. Generals and colonels +led them in person. Barksdale, young, but with snow-white hair, was +riding at the very front of the line, and he fell, dying, in the Union +ranks. + +The Southern charge was stopped again on the left wing of the Union army, +and with the coming of the night the battle there sank, but elsewhere +the South was meeting with greater success. Ewell, making a renewed and +fierce attack at sunset, drove in the Northern right, and, seconded by +Early, took their defenses there. But the darkness was coming fast, +and although the firing went on for a long time, it ceased at last, +with the two enemies still face to face and the battle drawn. + +Harry, who had expected to see a glorious victory won by the setting of +the sun, was deeply depressed. His youth did not keep him from seeing +that very little advantage had been won in that awful conflict of +the afternoon, and he saw also that the Army of the Potomac had been +fighting as if it had been improved by defeat. Nor had Lee thrown in +his whole force where it was needed most. If Jackson had only been +there! Harry pictured his swift flank movement, his lightning stroke, +and the crumpling up of the enemy. Jackson loomed larger than ever now +to his disappointed and excited mind. + +Harry had been all day long and far into the night on Seminary Hill. +Often he had scarcely moved for an hour, and now, when the firing ceased +and he stood up and tried to peer into the valley of death, he found his +limbs so stiff for a minute or two that he could scarcely move. His +eyes ached and his throat was raw from smoke and the fumes of burned +gunpowder. But as he shook himself and stretched his muscles, he +regained firmness of both mind and body. + +"We didn't win much," he said to Dalton. + +"Not to-day, but we will to-morrow. Harry, wasn't it awful? It looks +to me down there like a pit of destruction." + +And Dalton described it truly. The losses of the day before had been +doubled. Thirty thousand men on the two sides had now fallen, and there +was another day to come. + +Harry saw that the generals themselves were assailed by doubts and +fears. He with other young staff officers witnessed the council of +Lee and his leading officers in the moonlight on Seminary Ridge. Some +spoke of retreat. A drawn battle in the enemy's country, and with an +inferiority of numbers, was for them equivalent to a defeat. Others +pointed out, however, that while their losses had been enormous, the +courage and spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia were unshaken. +Stuart with the cavalry, expected earlier, would certainly be up soon, +and, after all, the day had not been without its gains. Longstreet held +the Peach Orchard and Ewell was in the Union defenses on the flank of +Gettysburg. + +But Lee thought most of the troops. These ragged veterans of his +who had been invincible asked to be led once more against the enemy. +A spirit so high as theirs could not be denied. His decision was given. +They would stay and smash the Union army on the morrow. + +Harry heard of the decision. He had never doubted that it would be so. +They must surely win the next day with the addition of Pickett's men +and Stuart's cavalry. He wondered why Stuart had not come up already, +but he learned the next morning that a good reason had held him back. + +The Union cavalry, always vigilant now, had intercepted Stuart in the +afternoon and had given him battle, just when the combat of the second +day had begun at Gettysburg. Gregg led the horsemen in blue and there +was another combat like that at Brandy Station, now about five thousand +sabres on a side. There was a long and desperate struggle in which +neither force could win, young Custer in particular showing uncommon +skill and courage for the North, while Wade Hampton performed prodigies +for the South. At last they drew off by mutual consent, Gregg into the +forest, while Stuart, with his reduced force, rode on in the night to +Lee. But Gregg in holding back Stuart had struck the Southern army a +great blow. + +Harry and Dalton with nothing to do received permission to go among the +soldiers, and as they marked their spirits, their own rose. Then they +passed down toward the battlefield. Harry had some idea that they might +again find the Invincibles, as they had found them the night before, +but their time was too short. The Invincibles were somewhere in the +front, he learned, and, disappointed, he and Dalton turned back into the +valley. + +The night was clear and bright, and they saw many men coming and going +from a cold spring under the shadow of the trees. Some of them were +wounded and limped painfully. Others carried away water in their hats +and caps for comrades too badly wounded to move. Harry observed that +some wore the blue, and some the gray. Both he and Dalton were assailed +by a burning thirst at the sight of the water, and they went to the +spring. + +Here men who an hour or two ago had been striving their utmost to kill +one another were gathered together and spoke as friends. When one went +away another took his place. No thought of strife occurred to them, +although there would be plenty of it on the morrow. They even jested +and foes complimented foes on their courage. Harry and Dalton drank, +and paused a few moments to hear the talk. + +The moon rode high, and it has looked down upon no more extraordinary +scene than this, the enemies drinking together in friendship at the +spring, and all about them the stony ramparts of the hills, bristling +with cannon, and covered with riflemen, ready for a red dawn, and the +fields and ridges on which thirty thousand had already fallen, dead or +wounded. + +"Another meeting, Mr. Kenton," said a man who had been bent down +drinking. As he rose the moonlight shone full upon his face and Harry +was startled. And yet it was not strange that he should be there. +The face revealed to Harry was one of uncommon power. It seemed to him +that the features had grown more massive. The powerful chin and the +large, slightly curved nose showed indomitable spirit and resolution. +The face was tanned almost to blackness by all kinds of weather. +Harry would not have known him at first, had it not been for his voice. + +"We do meet in unexpected places and at unexpected times, Mr. Shepard," +he said. + +"I'm not merely trying to be polite, when I tell you that I'm glad to +find you alive. You and I have seen battles, but never another like +this." + +"And I can truthfully welcome you, Mr. Shepard, as an old acquaintance +and no real enemy." + +It was an impulse but a noble one that made the two, different in years +and so unlike, shake hands with a firm and honest grip. + +"Your army will come again in the morning," said Shepard, not as a +question, but as a statement of fact. + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"No, I don't, but to-morrow night, Mr. Kenton, you will recall what I +told you at our first meeting in Montgomery more than two years ago." + +"You said that we could not win." + +"And you cannot. It was never possible. Oh, I know that you've won +great victories against odds! You've done better than anybody could +have expected, but you had genius to help you, while we were led by +mediocrity in the saddle. But you have reached your zenith. Mark how +the Union veterans fought to-day. They're as brave and resolute as you +are, and we have the position and the men. You'll never get beyond +Gettysburg. Your invasion is over. Hereafter you fight always on the +defensive." + +Harry was startled by his emphasis. The man spoke like an inspired +prophet of old. His eyes sparkled like coals of fire in the dark, +tanned face. The boy had never before seen him show so much emotion, +and his heart sank at the appalling prophecy. Then his courage came +back. + +"You predict as you hope, Mr. Shepard," he said. + +Shepard laughed a little, though not with mirth, and said: + +"It is well that it should be settled here. There will be death on a +greater scale than any the war has yet seen, but it will have to come +sooner or later, and why not at Gettysburg? Good-bye, I go back to the +heights. May we both be alive to-morrow night to see which is right." + +"The wish is mine, too," said Harry sincerely. + +Shepard turned away and disappeared in the darkness. Harry rejoined +Dalton who was on the other side of the spring, and the two returned to +Seminary Ridge, where they walked among sleeping thousands. They found +their way to their comrades of the staff, and their physical powers +collapsing at last they fell on the ground where they soon sank into a +heavy sleep. The great silence came again. Sentinels walked back and +forth along the hostile lines, but they made no noise. There was little +moving of brigades or cannon now. The town itself became a town of +phantom houses in the moonlight, nearly all of them still and deserted. +On all the slopes of the hostile ridges lay the sleeping soldiers, +and on the rocks and fields between lay the dead in thousands. But from +the crest of Little Round Top, the precious hill so hardly won, the +Union officers watched all through the night, and, now and then, they +went through the batteries for which they were sure they were going to +have great use. + +Harry and Dalton awoke at the same time. Another day, hot and burning, +had come, and the two armies once more looked across the valley at each +other. Harry soon heard the booming of cannon off to his right, where +Ewell's corps stood. It came from the Northern guns and for a long time +those of the South did not answer. But after a while Harry's practiced +ear detected the reply. The hostile wings facing each other were +engaged in a fierce battle. He saw the flash of the guns and the rising +smoke, but the center of the Army of Northern Virginia and the other +wing did not yet move. He looked questioningly at Dalton and Dalton +looked questioningly at him. + +They expected every instant that the combat would spread along the +entire front, but it did not. For several hours they listened to the +thunder of the guns on the left, and then they knew by the movement of +the sound that the Southern wing had been driven back, not far it is +true, but still it had been compelled to yield, and again Harry's heart +sank. + +But it rose once more when he concluded that Lee must be massing his +forces in the center. The left wing had been allowed to fight against +overwhelming numbers in order that the rest of the army might be left +free to strike a crushing blow. + +Then noon came and the battle on their left died completely. Once more +the great silence held the field and Harry was mystified and awed. +Lee, as calm and impassive as ever, said little. The ridges confronted +one another, bristling with cannon but the armies were motionless. +The day was hotter than either of those that had gone before. The sun, +huge and red, poised in the heavens, shot down fiery rays in millions. +Harry gasped for breath, and when at last he spoke in the stillness his +voice sounded loud and harsh in his own ears. + +"What does it mean, George?" he said. + +"I don't know, but I think they are massing behind us for a charge." + +"Not against the sixty or seventy thousand men and the scores of cannon +on those heights?" + +"Maybe not yet. It's likely there will be a heavy artillery fire first. +Yes, I'm right! There go the guns!" + +One cannon shot was followed by many others, and then for a while a +tremendous cannonade raged along the front of the armies, but it too +died, the smoke lifted, and then came the breathless, burning heat again. + +The fire of the sun and of the battle entered Harry's brain. The valley, +the town, the hills, the armies, everthing swam in a red glare. The +great pulses leaped in his throat. He was anxious for them to go on, +and get it over. Why were the generals lingering when there was a +battle to be finished? Half the day was gone already and nothing was +decided. + +Conscious that he was about to lose control of himself he clasped his +hands to his temples and pressed them tightly. At the same time he made +a mighty effort of the will. The millions of black specks that had been +dancing before his eyes went away. The solid earth ceased to quiver and +settled back into its place, careless of the armies that trampled over +it. Again he clearly saw through his glasses the long lines of men in +blue along the slopes and on the crest of Cemetery Hill. He marked, too, +there, at the highest point, a clump of trees waving their summer green +in the hot sunshine. Turning his glasses yet further he saw the massed +artillery on Little Round Top, and the gunners leaning on their guns. +A house, set on fire purposely or by shells, was burning brightly, +like some huge torch to light the way to death. + +"You told me they were preparing for a charge," he said to Dalton. + +"So they are, Harry. Pickett's men, who have not been here long, +are forming up in the rear, but their advance will be preceded by a +cannonade. You can see them wheeling guns into line." + +Lee, with Hill and Longstreet, had recently ridden along the lines +followed by the older staff officers, and often shells and the bullets +of sharpshooters had struck about them, but they remained unhurt. +Now Lee stopped at one of his old points of observation. It was now +about one o'clock in the afternoon, and as the last gun took its +place the whole artillery of the Southern army opened with a fire so +tremendous that Harry felt the earth trembling, and he was compelled +to put his fingers in his ears lest he be deafened. + +A storm of metal flew across the valley toward the Northern ranks, +but the guns there did not reply yet. The Union troops lay close behind +their intrenchments and mostly the storm beat itself to pieces on the +side of the hill. The smoke soon became so great that Harry could not +tell even with glasses what was going on in the enemy's ranks, but he +inferred from the fact that they were not yet replying that they were +not suffering much. + +But in a quarter of an hour the tremendous cannonade was suddenly +doubled in volume. The Union guns were now answering. Two hundred +cannon facing one another across the valley were fighting the most +terrible artillery duel ever known in America. The air was filled with +shells, shot, grape, shrapnel, canister and every form of deadly missile. + +Harry and Dalton sprang to cover, as some of the shells struck about +them, but they stood up again when they saw that Lee was talking calmly +with his generals. + +The Southern fire was accurate. General Meade's headquarters were +riddled. Many important officers were wounded, but the Northern gunners, +superb always, never flinched from their guns. They fell fast, but +others took their places. Guns were dismounted but those in the reserve +were brought up instead. + +The appalling tumult increased. The shells shrieked as they flew +through the air in hundreds, and shrapnel and grape whined incessantly. +Harry thought it in very truth the valley of destruction, and it was a +relief to him when he received an order to carry and could turn away for +a little while. He saw now in the rear the brigades of Pickett which +were forming up for the charge, about four thousand five hundred men who +had not yet been in the battle, while nearly ten thousand more, under +Trimble, Pettigrew and Wilcox, were ready to march on their flanks. +Pickett's men were lying on their arms patiently waiting. The time had +not quite come. + +When Harry came back from his errand the cannonade was still at its +height. The roar was continuous, deafening, shaking the earth all +the time. A light wind blew the smoke back on the Southern position, +but it helped, concealing their batteries to a certain extent, while +those of the North remained uncovered. + +The Northern army was now suffering terribly, although its infantry +stood unflinching under the fire. But the South was suffering too. +Guns were shattered, and the deadly rain of missiles carried destruction +into the waiting regiments. Harry saw Lee and Longstreet continually +under the Union fire. They visited the batteries and encouraged the +men. Showers of shells struck around them, but they went on unharmed. +Wherever Lee appeared the tremendous cheering could be heard amid the +roar of the guns. + +Now the Southern artillerymen saw that their ammunition was diminishing +fast. Such a furious and rapid fire could not be carried on much longer, +and Lee sent the word to Pickett to charge. Harry stood by when the +men of Pickett arose--but not all of them. Some had been struck by the +shells as they lay on the ground and had died in silence, but their +comrades marched out in splendid array, and a vast shout arose from the +Southern army as they strove straight into the valley of death. + +Harry shouted with the rest. He was wild with excitement. Every nerve +in him tingled, and once more the black specks danced before his eyes in +myriads. Peace or war! Right or wrong! He was always glad that he saw +Pickett's charge, the charge that dimmed all other charges in history, +the most magnificent proof of man's courage and ability to walk straight +into the jaws of death. + +The dauntless Virginians marched out in even array, stepping steadily +as if they were on parade, instead of aiming straight at the center of +the Union army, where fifty thousand riflemen and a hundred guns were +awaiting them. Their generals and those of the supporting divisions +rode on their flanks or at their head. Besides Pickett, Garnett, Wilcox, +Armistead, Pettigrew and Trimble were there. + +The Southern cannon were firing over the heads of the marching +Virginians, covering them with their fire, but the light breeze +strengthened a little, driving away the smoke. There they were in the +valley, visible to both friend and foe, marching on that long mile from +hill to hill. The Southern army shouted again, and it is true that, +at this moment, the Union ranks burst into a like cry of admiration, +at the sight of a foe so daring, men of their own race and country. + +But Harry never took his eyes for a moment from Pickett's column. +He was using his glasses, and everything stood out strong and clear. +The sun was at the zenith, pouring down rays so fiery that the whole +field blazed in light. The nature of the ground caused the Virginians +to turn a little, in order to keep the line for the Union center, +but they preserved their even ranks, and marched on at a steady pace. + +Harry began to shout again, but in an instant or two he saw a line +of fire pass along the Union front. Forty guns together opened upon +the charging column, and Hancock at the Union center, seeing and +understanding the danger, was heaping up men and cannon to meet it. + +The shells began to crash into the ranks of the Virginians and the ten +thousand on their flanks. Men fell in hundreds and now the batteries +on Little Round Top added to the storm of fire. The clouds of smoke +gathered again, but the wind presently scattered them and Harry, waiting +in agony, saw Pickett's division marching straight ahead, never +faltering. + +But he groaned when he saw that there was trouble on the flanks. +The men of Pettigrew, exhausted by the great efforts they had already +made in the battle, wavered and lost ground. Another division was +driven back by a heavy flank attack. Others were lost in the vast banks +of smoke that at times filled the valley. Only the Virginians kept +unbroken ranks and a straight course for the Union center. + +Pickett paused a few moments at the burning house for the others to get +in touch with him, but they could not do so, and he marched on, with +Cemetery Hill now only two hundred yards away. The covering fire of the +Southern cannon had ceased long since. It would have been as dangerous +now to friend as to foe. Harry, watching through his glasses, uttered +another cry. Pickett and his men were marching alone at the hill. +Half of them it seemed to him were gone already, but the other half +never paused. The fire of a hundred guns had been poured upon them, +as they advanced that deadly mile, but with ranks still even they rushed +straight at their mark, the Union center. + +Then Harry saw all the slopes and the crest of Cemetery Hill blaze with +fire. The Virginians were near enough for the rifles now, and the +bullets came in sheets. Harry saw it, and he groaned aloud. He no +longer had any hope for those brave men. The charge could not succeed! + +Yet he saw them rush into the Union ranks and disappear. A group in +gray, still cleaving through the multitude, reappeared far up the slope, +and then burst, a little band of a few dozen men, into the very heart of +the Union center, the point to which they had been sent. + +A battle raged for a few minutes under the clump of trees where Hancock +had stood directing. There Armistead, who had led them, his hat on the +point of his sword, fell dead among the Northern guns, and Cushing, +his brave foe who commanded the battery, died beside him. All the +others fell quickly or were taken. A few hundreds on the slopes cut +their way back through the Union army and reached their own. Pickett, +preserved by some miracle, was among them. + +Harry gasped and threw down his glasses. Now he knew that the words +Shepard had spoken to him the night before at the spring were true. +The Southern invasion had been rolled back forever. + +He looked at General Lee, who on foot had been watching the charge. +The impenetrable mask was gone for a moment, and his face expressed deep +emotion. Then the great soul reasserted itself and mounting his horse +went forward to meet the fugitives and encourage them. He rode back and +forth among them, and Harry heard him say once: + +"All will come right in the end. We'll talk it over afterward, but +meanwhile every good man must rally. We want all good and true men just +now." + +His manner was that of a father to his children, and, though they had +failed, the spontaneous cheers again burst forth wherever he passed. +The wounded as they were carried to the rear raised themselves up to see +him, and their cheers were added to the others. + +Harry never forgot anything that he saw or heard then. Although the +battle, in effect, was over, the Northern artillery, roaring and +thundering triumphantly, was sending its shells across the valley and +upon Seminary Ridge. But he did not think anything of them, even when +they struck near him. It would be days before he could feel fear again. +He heard Lee say to an officer who rode up, and stated, between sobbing +breaths, that his whole brigade was destroyed: + +"Never mind, General. All this has been my fault. It is I who have +lost this fight, and you must help me out of it in the best way you can." + +To another he said: + +"This has been a sad day for us, a sad day. But we can't expect always +to gain victories." + +Beholding such greatness of soul, Harry regained his own composure. +He rejoined Dalton, and soon they saw the Southern army reform its lines, +and turn a bristling front to the enemy. The Northern cannon were still +flashing and thundering, but the Northern army made no return attack. +Gettysburg, in all respects the greatest battle ever fought on the +American continent, was over, and fifty thousand men had fallen. + +The sun set, and Harry at last sank on the ground overpowered. The +next day the two armies stood on their hills looking at each other, but +neither cared to renew the battle after such frightful losses. That +afternoon a fearful storm of thunder, lightning and rain burst over the +field. It seemed to Harry an echo of the real battle of the day before. + +That night Lee, having gathered up his wounded, his guns and his wagons, +began his retreat toward the South. His army had lost, but it was still +in perfect order, willing, even anxious to fight again. The wagons +containing the wounded and the stores stretched for many miles, moving +along in the rain, and the cavalry rode on their flanks to protect them. + +It was not until the next morning that Harry discovered anything of the +Invincibles. In the dawn he saw a covered wagon by the side of which +rode an officer, much neater in appearance than the others. He knew at +once that it was St. Clair and he galloped forward with a joyous shout. + +"Arthur! Arthur!" he cried. + +St. Clair turned a pale face that lighted up at the sight of his friend. + +"Thank God, you're alive, Harry!" he said, as their hands clasped. + +"Are you alone left?" asked Harry. + +"Look into the wagon," he said. + +Harry lifted a portion of the flap, and, looking in, saw Colonel +Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire sitting on +rolls of blankets facing each other. One had his right arm in a sling +and the other the left, but the chessmen rested on a board between them +and they were playing intently. They stopped a moment or two to give +Harry a glad welcome. Then he let the flap drop back. + +"They began at daylight," said St. Clair. + +"Where's Happy?" + +"He's in the wagon, too. He's lying on some blankets behind them." + +"Not hurt badly?" + +"He was nipped in the shoulder, but it doesn't amount to anything. +What he wanted was sleep and he's getting it. He told me not to wake +him up again for a month." + +"Well, Arthur, we lost." + +"Yes, and I don't know just how it happened." + +"But we're here, ready to fight them again whenever they come." + +"So we are, Harry, and if they ever reach Richmond it will be many a +long day before they do it." + +"I say so, too." + +The great train toiled on through the mud, and the Army of Northern +Virginia continued its slow march southward. + + + + + +Appendix: Transcription notes: + +This etext was transcribed from a volume of the 15th printing + + +The following modifications were applied while transcribing the +printed book to e-text: + + chapter 1 + - page 3, para 4, added a missing open-quote + - page 8, para 3, deleted a misplaced comma + - page 13, Langdon and Dalton are having a conversation, but para 4 + incorrectly stated "said St. Clair". It is clear that this should + be changed to "said Dalton", because Langdon replies to "George" in + his next sentence. + - page 20, para 7, the troop is specified here as "six hundred" men, + but is subsequently repeatedly specified as two hundred - changed + this reference from "six" to "two" + + chapter 2 + - page 25, para 8, Sherburne incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed + to "Harry" + - page 36, para 7, fixed typo "ghose" + + chapter 3 + - page 49, para 3, fixed typo "Jackkson" + - page 53, para 3, fixed typo "lud" + + chapter 5 + - page 105, para 3, Dalton incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed + to "Harry" + - page 109, para 6, changed "Its" to "It's" + - page 120, para 5, added a missing open-quote + - page 121, para 1, fixed typo ("plan" changed to "plain") + - page 121, para 1, fixed typo "cannister" + + chapter 6 + - page 143, para 5, changed an erroneous period to a comma + + chaper 7 + - page 153, para 3, changed "And" to "and" + - page 181, para 2, fixed typo "Longeais" + + chapter 8 + - page 189, para 1, added a missing close-quote + + chapter 9 + - page 259, para 3, changed "outgeneraled" to "outgeneralled" + (whether 'tis a word or not, the variant with double-"l" occurs 3 + times in this book, the single-"l" variant only once) + + chapter 10 + - page 272, para 2, changed "fulness" to "fullness" + - page 273, para 1, fixed typo "marvellous" + - page 282, end of para 2, changed "division" to "divisions" + + chapter 11 + - page 295, para 3, fixed typo "dextrously" + + chapter 13 + - page 347, para 4, fixed typo "occurrred" + - page 351, para 4, fixed typo "wofully" + - page 358, para 9, added a missing close-quote + - page 359, para 1, changed "You" to "Your" + + Modifications resulting from conversion to plain ASCII: + - chapter 1, page 12, the phrase "In forma pauperis" was presented + in italics in the printed book + - chapter 10, page 282, the name "Duffie" was presented in the + printed book with an accented "e" + + +I did not modify: + + - There are instances where the use of the comma in the printed + book seems to me inappropriate. However, I have adhered to the + punctuation as printed (except for obvious printing errors, + which are noted above). + + For example: + + But Harry, having further leave of absence went forth and + answered many questions. + + - Each section of verse is formatted to appear similar to its + presentation in the printed book. Consequently: some verse is + indented more than others, some is left-aligned, some is + staggered on the left margin, some is center-aligned. + + - The author sometimes uses a technique whereby a paragraph introducing + a quotation ends with a colon, with the quotation following as the + next paragraph. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Star of Gettysburg +by Joseph A. Altsheler + diff --git a/old/tsgtt10.zip b/old/tsgtt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ea136f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tsgtt10.zip |