CHAPTER IX. ACROSS THE STREAM
Dick and his comrades had not heard of the taking of Harper's Ferry andthey were full of enthusiasm that brilliant morning in mid-September.McClellan, if slow to move, nevertheless had shown vigor in action,and the sanguine youths could not doubt that they had driven Lee into acorner. The Confederates, after the fierce fighting of the day before,had abandoned both gaps, and the way at last lay clear before the Armyof the Potomac.
Dick was mounted again. In fact his horse, after pulling the reins fromhis hands and fleeing from the Confederate fire, had been retaken bya member of his own regiment and returned to him. It was another goodomen. The lost had been found again and defeat would become victory.
But Dick said nothing to anybody of his duel with Harry Kenton. Heshuddered even now when he recalled it. And yet there had been no guiltin either. Neither had known that the other lay behind the stone,but happy chance had made all their bullets go astray. Again he wasthankful.
"How did you stand that fighting yesterday afternoon, George?" Dickasked of Warner.
"First rate. The open air agreed with me, and as no bullet sought me outI felt benefited. I didn't get away from that hospital too soon. How faraway is this Antietam River, behind which they say Lee lies?"
"It's only eight miles from the gap," said Pennington, who had beenmaking inquiries, "and as we have come three miles it must be only fivemiles away."
"Correct," said Warner, who was in an uncommonly fine humor. "Yourmathematical power grows every day, Frank. Let x equal the wholedistance from the gap to the Antietam, which is eight miles, let y equalthe distance which we have come which is three miles, then x minus yequals the distance left, which is five miles. Wonderful! wonderful!You'll soon have a great head on you, Frank."
"If some rebel cannoneer doesn't shoot it off in the coming battle. ByGeorge, we're driving their skirmishers before us! They don't seem tomake any stand at all!"
The vanguard certainly met with no very formidable resistance as itadvanced over the rolling country. The sound of firing was continuous,but it came from small squads here and there, and after firing a fewvolleys the men in gray invariably withdrew.
Yet the Northern advance was slow. Colonel Winchester became intenselyimpatient again.
"Why don't we hurry!" he exclaimed. "Of all things in the world the onethat we need most is haste. With Jackson tied up before Harper's Ferry,Lee's defeat is sure, unless he retreats across the Potomac, and thatwould be equivalent to a defeat. Good Heavens, why don't we push on?"
He had not yet heard of the fall of Harper's Ferry, and that Jacksonwith picked brigades was already on the way to join Lee. Had he knownthese two vital facts his anger would have burned to a white heat.Surely no day lost was ever lost at a greater cost than the oneMcClellan lost after the finding of Orders No. 191.
"Do you know anything about the Antietam, colonel?" asked Dick.
"It's a narrow stream, but deep, and crossed by several stone bridges.It will be hard to force a crossing here, but further up it can be donewith ease since we outnumber Lee so much that we can overlap him by far.I have my information from Shepard, and he makes no mistakes. There isa church, too, on the upper part of the peninsula, a little churchbelonging to an order called the Dunkards."
"Ah," murmured Dick, "the little church of Shiloh!"
"What do you mean by that?"
"There was a little church at Shiloh, too. The battle raged all aroundit more than once. We lost it at first, but in the end we won. It'sanother good omen. We're bound to achieve a great victory, colonel."
"I hope and believe so. We've the materials with which to do it. Butwe've got to push and push hard."
The colonel raised his glasses and took a long look in front. Dick alsohad a pair and he, too, examined the country before them. It was a fine,rolling region and all the forest was gone, except clumps of trees hereand there. The whole country would have been heavy with forest had itnot been for the tramp of war.
It was now nearly noon and the sunlight was brilliant and intense. Theglasses carried far. Dick saw a line of trees which he surmised markedthe course of the Antietam, and he saw small detachments of cavalrywhich he knew were watching the advance of the Army of the Potomac.Their purpose convinced him that Lee had not retreated across thePotomac, but that he would fight and surely lose. Dick now believed thatso many good omens could not fail.
A horseman galloped toward them. It was Shepard again, dustier thanever, his face pale from weariness.
"What is it, Mr. Shepard?" asked Colonel Winchester.
"I've just reported to General McClellan that our whole command atHarper's Ferry, thirteen thousand strong, surrendered early this morningand that Jackson with picked men has already started to join Lee!"
"My God! My God!" cried the colonel. "Oh, that lost day! We ought tohave fought yesterday and destroyed Lee, while Harper's Ferry was stillholding out! What a day! What a day! Nothing can ever pay us back forthe losing of it!"
Dick, too, felt a sinking of the heart, but despair was not written onhis face as it was on that of his colonel. Jackson might come, but itwould only be with a part of his force, that which marched the swiftest,and the victory of the Army of the Potomac would be all the grander. Themore enemies crushed the better it would be for the Union.
"Why, colonel!" he exclaimed, "we can beat them anyhow!"
"That's so, my lad, so we can! And so we will! It was childish of me totalk as I did. Here, Johnson, blow your best on that trumpet. I want ourregiment to be the first to reach the Antietam."
Johnson blew a long and mellow tune and the Winchester regiment swungforward at a more rapid gait. The weather, after a day or two ofcoolness, had grown intensely hot again, and the noon sun poured downupon them sheaves of fiery rays. Dick looked back, and he saw once morethat vast billowing cloud of dust made by the marching army. But infront he saw only quiet and peace, save for a few distant horsemen whoseemed to be riding at random.
"There's a little town called Sharpsburg in the peninsula formed bythe Potomac and the Antietam," said Shepard, who stayed with them, hisimmediate work done, "and the Potomac being very low, owing to thedry season, there is one ford by which Lee can cross and go back toVirginia. But he isn't going to cross without a battle, that's sure.The rebels are flushed with victory, they think they have the greatestleaders ever born and they believe, despite the disparity of numbers,that they can beat us."
"And I believe they can't," said Dick.
"If it were not for that lost day we'd have 'em beaten now," saidShepard, "and we'd be marching against Jackson."
The regiment in its swift advance now came nearer to the Antietam, thenarrow but deep creek between its high banks. One or two shots from thefar side warned them to come more slowly, and Colonel Winchester drewhis men up on a knoll, waiting for the rest of the army to advance.
Dick put his glasses to his eyes, and slowly swept a wide curve on thepeninsula of Antietam. Great armies drawn up for battle were a spectaclethat no boy could ever view calmly, and his heart beat so hard that itcaused him actual physical pain.
He saw through the powerful glasses the walls of the little village ofSharpsburg, and to the north a roof which he believed was that of theDunkard Church, of which Shepard spoke. But his eyes came back fromthe church and rested on the country around Sharpsburg. The Confederatemasses were there and he clearly saw the batteries posted along theAntietam. Beyond the peninsula he caught glimpses of the broad Potomac.
There lay Lee before them again, and now was the time to destroy hisarmy. Jackson, even with his vanguard, could not arrive before night,and the main force certainly could not come from Harper's Ferry beforethe morrow. Here was a full half day for the Army of the Potomac, enoughin which to destroy a divided portion of the Army of Northern Virginia.
But Colonel Winchester raged again and again in vain. There was noattack. Brigade after brigade in blue came up and sat down before theAntietam. The cannon exchanged salutes across th
e little river, butno harm was done, and the great masses of McClellan faced the wholepeninsula, within which lay Lee with half of his army. The Winchesterregiment was moved far to the north, where its officers hopefullybelieved that the first attack would be made. Here they extendedbeyond Lee's line, and it would be easy to cross the Antietam and hurlthemselves upon his flank.
Despite the delay, Dick and his comrades, thrilled at the great andterrible panorama spread before them. The mid-September day had becomeas hot as those of August had been. The late afternoon sun was brazen,and immense clouds of dust drifted about. But they did not hide the viewof the armies, arrayed for battle, and with only a narrow river between.
Dick, through his own glasses saw Confederate officers watching themalso. He tried to imagine that this was Lee and that Longstreet, andthat one of the Hills, and the one who wore a gorgeous uniform mustsurely be Stuart. Why should they be allowed to ride about so calmly?His heart fairly ached for the attack. McClellan said that fiftythousand men were there, and that Jackson was coming with fifty thousandmore, but Shepard, who always knew, said that they did not number morethan twenty thousand. What a chance! What a chance! He almost repeatedColonel Winchester's words, but he was only a young staff officer and itwas not for him to complain. If he said anything at all he would have tosay it in a guarded manner and to his best friends.
The Winchester regiment went into camp in a pleasant grove at thenorthern end of the Union line. Dick and his two young comrades had nofault to find with their quarters. They had dry grass, warm air and theopen sky. A more comfortable summer home for a night could not be asked.And there was plenty of food, too. The Army of the Potomac never lackedit. The coffee was already boiling in the pots, and beef and pork werefrying in the skillets. Heavenly aromas arose.
Dick and his comrades ate and drank, and then lay down in the grove. Ifthey must rest they would rest well. Now and then they heard the boomingof guns, and just before dark there had been a short artillery duelacross the Antietam, but now the night was quiet, save for the murmurand movement of a great army. Through the darkness came the sound ofmany voices and the clank of moving wheels.
Dick asked permission for his two comrades and himself to go down nearthe river and obtained it.
"But don't get shot," cautioned Colonel Winchester. "The Confederateriflemen will certainly be on watch on the other side of the stream."
Dick promised and the three went forward very carefully among somebushes. They were led on by curiosity and they did not believe that theywould be in any great danger. The singular friendliness which alwaysmarked the pickets of the hostile armies in the Civil War would prevail.
It was several hundred yards down to the Antietam, and luckily theribbon of bushes held out. But when they were half way to the stream athick, dark figure rose up before them. Dick, in an instant, recognizedSergeant Whitley.
"We want to get a nearer view of the enemy," said the boy.
"I'll go with you," said the sergeant. "I'm on what may be calledscouting duty. Besides, I've a couple of friends down there by theriver, but on the other side."
"Friends on the other side of the Antietam. What do you mean, sergeant?"
"I was scouting along there and I came across 'em. Only one in fact isan old acquaintance, an' he's just introduced me to the other."
"That's cryptic."
"I don't rightly know what 'cryptic' means, but I guess I don't makemyself understood well. In my campaign on the plains against the IndiansI had a comrade named Bill Brayton. A Tennesseean, Bill was an' a finefeller, too. Him an' me have bunked together many a time an' we've dugout of the snow together, too, after the blizzards was over. But whenwe saw the war comin' up, Bill had fool notions. Said he didn't knowanything 'bout the right an' wrong of it, guessed there was some of eachon each side, but whichever way his state would flop, he'd flop. Well,we waited. Tennessee flopped right out of the Union an' Bill floppedwith it.
"I felt powerful sorry when Bill told me good-bye, and so did he. Iain't seen or heard of him since 'till to-night, when I was cruisin'down there by the side of the river in the dark an' keepin' under coverof the bushes. Had no intention of shootin' anybody. Just wanted to takea look. I saw on the other side a dim figure walkin' up an' down, rifleon shoulder. Thought I noticed something familiar about it, an' thelonger I watched the shorer I was.
"At last I crept right to the edge of the bank an' layin' down lest somefool who didn't know the manners of our war take a pot shot at me, Icalled out, 'Bill Brayton, you thick-headed rebel, are you well an'doin' well?'
"You ought to have seen him jump. He stopped walkin', dropped his riflein the hollow of his arm, looked the way my voice come and called out,likewise in a loud voice: 'Who's callin' me a thick-headed rebel? Is itsome blue-backed Yankee? You know we see nothin' of you but your backs.Come out in the light, an' I'll let some sense into you with a bullet.'
"'Oh, no I won't,' says I, still layin' close, an' not mindin' his taunt'bout seein' our backs only. 'You couldn't hit me if I stood up an'marked the place on my chest. Nothin' will save you but them days on theplain in the blizzards when you was more useful with a shovel than youare with a rifle, 'cause to-morrow at sunrise we're goin' to cross thislittle river and tie all you fellows hand an' foot an' take you away asprisoners to Washington.'
"That made him mighty mad, but the part 'bout the blizzards on theplains set him to thinkin', too. 'Who in thunderation are you?' sez he.'You're Bill Brayton, of Tennessee, fightin' in the rebel army, whenyou ought to know better,' says I. 'Now, who in thunderation am I?''Sufferin' Moses!' says he, 'that voice grows more like his every timehe speaks. It can't be that empty-headed galoot, Dan Whitley, who neverknew nothin' 'bout the rights an' wrongs of the war, an' had to go offwith the Yanks!'
"'It's him an' nobody else,' says I, as I rose right up an' stood thereon the bank, 'an' mighty glad am I to see you Bill, an' to know thatyour fool head ain't knocked off by a cannon ball.' He shorely jumpedup an' down with pleasure an' he called back: 'The good Lord certainlywatches over them that ain't got any sense. Dan, you flat-headed,hump-backed, round-shouldered, thin-chested, knock-kneed, club-footedson of a gun, I was never so glad to see anybody before in my life.'
"His eyes were shinin' with delight an' I know mine was, too. Reunionsof old friends who for all each know have been dead a year or two, cleanblowed to pieces by shells, or shot through by a hundred rifle bulletsare powerful affectin'. He come down to the edge of the river an' heshot questions across to me, an' I shot questions at him, an' I feltas if a brother had riz from the dead. An' as we can't shake hands wereaches out the muzzles of our guns and shakes them towards each otherin the most friendly way. Then another picket comes up, fellow by nameof Henderson, from Mississippi. Bill introduces him to his good old pal,an' we three have a friendly talk. Guess they're down there yet, if youwant to see 'em. I liked that fellow, Henderson, too, though he was apowerful boaster."
"All right," said Dick. "Lead on, but don't get us shot."
They went cautiously through the bushes to the bank of the river, andthen the sergeant blew softly between his fingers. Two figures at onceappeared on the other side, and Sergeant Whitley and the boys rose up.
"Mr. Brayton and Mr. Henderson," said the sergeant politely, "I want tointroduce my friends, Lieutenant Mason, Lieutenant Warner and LieutenantPennington."
"Movin' in mighty good comp'ny, though young, Dan," said Brayton, whowas about Whitley's age and build.
"They're officers, an' they're young, as you say," said Whitley, "butthey're good ones."
"Them's the kind we eat alive, when we ain't got anything else to eat,"said the Mississippian, a very tall, sallow and youngish man. "We'renever too strong on rations, and when I eat prisoners I like 'em undertwenty the best. They ain't had time to get tough. I speak right now forthat yellow-haired one in the middle."
"You can't swallow me," said Pennington, good naturedly. "I'll just turnmyself crossways and stick in your throat."
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p; "What are you fellows after around here, anyway?" continued theMississippian. "The weather's hot an' we all want to go in swimmin'to-morrow, bein' as we have two rivers handy. Shore as you live if youget to botherin' us we'll hurt you."
"You won't hurt us," said Dick, "because to-morrow we're going tosurround you and drive you into a coop."
"Drive us in a coop. See here, Yank, you're gettin' excited. Do you knowhow many men we have here waitin' for you? Of course you don't. Why,it's four hundred thousand, ain't it, Bill?"
"No, it's just two hundred thousand. I don't believe in lyin' fureffect, Jim."
"I ain't lyin'. There's two hundred thousand men. Then there's BobbyLee. That's a hundred thousand more, which makes three hundred thousand.Then there's Stonewall Jackson, who's another hundred thousand, whichbrings the figures up to exactly what I said, four hundred thousand.Now, ain't I right, Bill?"
"You shorely are, Jim. I was a fool for countin' the way I did. Will youoverlook it this time?"
"Wa'al, I will this time, but be shore you don't do it ag'in. Now, seehere, you Yanks: we like you well enough. You're friends of Bill, whois a friend of me. Just you take my advice an' go home. Start to-nightwhile the weather is warm, an' the roads are good. If you're afraid ofour chasin' you we'll give you a runnin' start of a hunderd miles."
"Wa'al now, that's right kind of you," said Whitley. "I for one mighttake your advice, but I was froze up so much in them wild mountains an'plains of the northwest that I like to go south when the winter's comin'on. It's hot now, all right, but in two months the chilly blasts will beseekin' my marrow."
"I was speakin' for your own good," said the Mississippian gravely."Anyway, you won't be troubled by the cold weather 'cause if you don'tgo back into the no'th where you belong, we'll be takin' you a prisonerway down south, where you don't belong. But you could have a good timethere. We won't treat you bad. There's fine huntin' for b'ars in thecanebrake an' the rivers an' bayous are full of fish. Your captivitywon't be downright painful on you."
"Glad to get your welcome, Mr. Henderson," said Whitley, "'cause we'veheard a lot 'bout the hospitality of Mississippi, an' we're shorelygoin' to stretch it. I'm comin', an' I'm bringin' a couple of hundredthousand fellers 'bout my size with me. Funny thing, we'll all wear bluecoats just alike. Think you'd find room for us?"
"Plenty of it. What was it the feller said--we welcome you with bloodyhands to hospitable graves--but we ain't feelin' that way to-night. Gota plug of terbacker?"
The sergeant took out a square of tobacco, cut it in exact halves withhis pocket knife, and tossed one-half across the Antietam, where it wasdeftly caught by the Mississippian.
"Thanks mightily," said Henderson. "Mr. Commissary Banks used to supplyus with good things, then it was Mr. Commissary Pope, and now I reckonit'll be Mr. Commissary McClellan. Say, how many fellers have you gotover thar, anyway?"
"When I counted 'em last night," replied the sergeant calmly, "there wasfive hundred and twelve thousand two hundred and fifty-three infantry,sixty-four thousand two hundred and nineteen cavalry an' three thousandone hundred and seventy-five cannon, but I reckon we'll receivereinforcements of three hundred thousand before mornin'."
"Then we'll have more prisoners than I thought. Are you shore them threehundred thousand reinforcements will get up in time?"
"Quite shore. I've sent 'em word to hurry."
"Then we'll have to take them, too."
"Time you fellers quit your talkin'," said Brayton, "a major or acolonel may come strollin' 'long here any minute, an' they don't likefor us fellers to be too friendly. Dan, I'm powerful glad to see youag'in, an' I hope you won't get killed. I've a feelin' that you an'me will be ridin' over the plains once more some day, an' we won't befightin' each other. We'll be fightin' Sioux an' Cheyennes an' all thatred lot, just as we did in the old days. Here's a good-bye."
He thrust out the muzzle of his gun, an' Whitley thrust out his. Thenthey shook them at each other in friendly salute, and the little groupmoved away from the river bank.
"I'm glad I've seen Bill again," said the sergeant. "Fine feller an'that Mississippian with him was quaint like. Mighty big bragger."
"You did some bragging yourself, sergeant," said Dick.
"So I did, but it was in answer to Henderson. I'm glad we had thatlittle talk across the river. It was a friendly thing to do, before wefall to slaughterin' one another."
They rejoined Colonel Winchester, and Dick worked through a part of thenight carrying orders and other messages. A great movement was goingon. Fresh troops were continually coming up, but there was little noisebeyond the Antietam, although he saw the light of many fires.
He slept after midnight and awoke at dawn, expecting to go at once intobattle. Some of the troops were moved about and Colonel Winchester beganto rage again.
"Good God! can it be possible!" he exclaimed, "that another day will belost? Is General McClellan instead of General Lee waiting for Jackson tocome? With the enemy safely within the trap, we refuse to shut it downupon him!"
He said these things only within the hearing of Dick, who he knew wouldnever repeat them. But he was not the only one to complain. Men higherin rank than he, generals, spoke their discontent openly. Why wouldnot McClellan attack? He had claimed that the rebels had two hundredthousand men at the Seven Days, when it was well known that half thatfigure or less was their true number. Why should he persist in seeingthe enemy double, and even if Lee did have fifty thousand men on theother side of the Antietam, instead of the twenty thousand the scoutsassigned to him, the Army of the Potomac could defeat him before Jacksoncame up.
But McClellan was overcome by caution. In spite of everything he doubledor tripled the numbers of the enemy. Personally brave beyond dispute, hefeared for his army. The position of the enemy on the peninsula seemedto have changed somewhat through the night. He believed that thebatteries had been moved about, and he telegraphed to Washington thathe must find out exactly the disposition of Lee's forces and where thefords were.
Meanwhile the long, hot hours dragged on. The dust trodden up by so manymarching feet was terrible. It hung in clouds and added a sting to theburning heat. Dick was wild with impatience, but he knew that it was notworth while to say anything. He, Warner and Pennington, for the lack ofsomething else to do, lay on the dry grass, whispering and watching aswell as they could what was going on in Sharpsburg.
Meanwhile Sharpsburg itself seemed a monument to peace. It was deep indust and the sun blazed on the roofs. Staff officers rode up, and whenthey dismounted they lazily led their horses to the best shade thatcould be found. Within a residence Lee sat in close conference with hislieutenants, Stonewall Jackson and Longstreet. Now and then, they lookedat the reports of brigade commanders and sometimes they studied the mapsof Maryland and Virginia. Lee was calm and confident. The odds againsthim--and he knew what they were--apparently mattered nothing.
He knew the strength and spirit of his army and to what a pitch it waskeyed by victory. Moreover, he knew McClellan, whom he had met at theSeven Days, and he believed, in truth he felt positive that McClellanwould delay long enough for the remainder of Jackson's troops to comeup. Upon this belief he staked the future of the Confederacy in thebattle to be fought there between the Potomac and the Antietam. Histroops were worn by battles and tremendous marches. Jackson's men inthree days had marched sixty miles, and had fought a battle at Harper'sFerry within that time, also, taking more than thirteen thousandprisoners. Never before had the foot cavalry marched so hard.
The men in gray, ragged and many of them barefooted, slept in the woodsabout Sharpsburg all through the hot hours of the day. Their officershad told them that the drums and bugles would call them when needed, andthey sank quietly into the deepest of slumbers. From where they lay RedHill, a spur of a mountain, separated them from the Union army. It wasonly those like Dick and his comrades who mounted elevations and whohad powerful field glasses who could see into Sharpsburg. The main Unionforce saw only the top of a church
spire or two in the village. But eachfelt fully the presence of the other and knew that the battle could notbe delayed long.
Dick, in his anxiety and excitement, fell asleep. The heat and thewaiting seemed to overpower him. He did not know how long he had slept,but he was awakened by the sharp call of a trumpet, and when he sprangto his feet Warner told him it was about four o'clock.
"What's up?" he cried, as he wiped the haze of heat and dust from hiseyes.
"We're about to march," replied Warner, "but as it's so late in theday I don't think it can be a general attack. Still, I know that ourdivision is going to cross the Antietam. Up here the stream is narrowerthan it is down below, and the banks are not so high. Look, the colonelis beckoning to us! Here we go!"
They sprang upon their horses, and a great corps advanced toward theAntietam, far above the town of Sharpsburg. The sun had declined in theWest, and a breeze, bringing a little coolness, had begun to blow. Theydid not see much preparation for defense beyond the river, but asthey advanced some cannon in the woods opened there. The Union cannonreplied, and then the brigades in blue moved forward swiftly.
The officers and the cavalry galloped their horses into the little riverand Dick felt a fierce joy as the water was dashed into his face. Thiswas action, movement, the attack that had been delayed so long butwhich was not yet too late. He thought nothing of the shells hissing andshrieking over his head, and he shouted with the others in exultation asthey passed the fords of the Antietam and set foot on the peninsula. Thecannon dashed after them through the stream and up the bank.
A heavy rifle fire from the woods met them, but the triumphant divisionpressed on. They were held back at the edge of the woods by cannonaiding the rifles, and for some time a battle swayed back and forth,but the Confederate resistance ceased suddenly. Infantry and batteriesdisappeared in woods or beyond a ridge, and then Dick noticed thatnight was coming. The sun was already hidden by the lofty slopes of thewestern mountains, and there would be no battle that day. In anotherhalf hour full darkness would be upon them.
But Dick felt that something had been achieved. A powerful Union forcewas now beyond the Antietam, with its feet rooted firmly in the soilof the peninsula. It looked directly south at the Confederate army andthere was no barrier between. Lee would have to face at once, Hooker onthe north and McClellan on the east across the Antietam. The Union armyhad been numerous enough to outflank him.
Dick was quite sure of success now. They had lost two of the mostprecious of all days instead of one, but they had closed the gap on thenorth, through which Lee's army might march in an attempt to escape. Itwas likely, too, that the last of Jackson's men would come that way andthe Union force would cut them off from Lee. Two entire army corps werenow beyond the Antietam, and they should be able to do anything.
The Winchester regiment lay in deep woods, and the great divisionalthough it had rested nearly all the day was quiet in the night. Butsome ardent souls could not rest. A group of officers, including ColonelWinchester and the three young members of his staff, walked forwardthrough the woods, taking the chance of stray shots from sentinels orskirmishers. But they knew that this risk was not great.
They passed near a mill, its wheels and saws silent now, and presentlyas the moon rose they saw the square white walls of a building shiningin its light.
"The Dunkard church," said one of the officers. "I think we'd better notgo any closer. The Johnnies must be lying thick close at hand."
"The dim light off to the right must be made by their fires," saidColonel Winchester. "I wish I knew what troops they are. Jackson'sperhaps. It's a rough country, and all these forests and ridges andhills will help the defense. I understand that the farms in here aresurrounded by stone fences and that, too, will help the Johnnies."
"But we'll get 'em," said another confidently. "The battle can't be putoff any longer, and we're bound to smash 'em in the morning."
They remained in the darkness for a while, trying to see what waspassing toward the Southern lines, but they could see little. Therewas some rifle firing after a while, and the occasional deep note of acannon, mostly at random and the little group walked back.
"I'm going to sleep, Dick," said Warner. "I've just remembered thatI'm an invalid and that if I overtask myself it will be a bad thing forMcClellan to-morrow. The colonel doesn't want us any longer, and so heregoes."
"I follow," said Pennington. "The dry earth is good enough for me. May Istay on top of it for the next half century."
Warner and Pennington slept quickly, but Dick lay awake a long time,listening to the stray rifle shots and the distant boom of a cannon atfar intervals. After a while, he looked at his watch and saw that it wasmidnight. It was more than an hour later when slumber overtook him,and while he and his comrades lay there the last of Jackson's men werecoming with the help that Lee needed so sorely.
Two divisions which had been left at Harper's Ferry started at midnightjust as Dick was looking at his watch and at dawn they were almost tothe Potomac. On their flank was a cavalry brigade and A. P. Hill washurrying with another of infantry. Messenger after messenger from themcame to Lee that on the fateful day they with their fourteen thousandbayonets would be in line when they were needed most.
Few of those who fought for the Lost Cause ever cherished anything morevividly than those hours between midnight and the next noon when theymarched at the double quick across hill and valley and forest to therelief of their great commander. There was little need for the officersto urge them on, and at sunrise the rolling of the cannon was calling tothem to come faster, always faster.
The Sword of Antietam: A Story of the Nation's Crisis Page 12
