The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great Stand

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE CROSSING

  Harry left the wagon at midnight and overtook the staff, an orderlyproviding him with a good horse. Dalton, who had also been sleeping ina wagon, came an hour or two later, and the two, as became modest youngofficers, rode in the rear of the group that surrounded General Lee.

  Although the darkness had come fully, the Army of Northern Virginia hadnot yet stopped. The infantry flanked by cavalry, and, having no fearof the enemy, marched steadily on. Harry closely observed General Lee,and although he was well into his fifties he could discern no weakness,either physical or mental, in the man who had directed the fortunes ofthe South in the terrific and unsuccessful three days at Gettysburg andwho had now led his army for nearly a week in a retreat, threatened, atany moment, with an attack by a veteran force superior in numbers. Allthe other generals looked worn and weary, but he alone sat erect, hishair and beard trimmed neatly, his grave eye showing no sign ofapprehension.

  He seemed once more to Harry--youth is a hero-worshiper--omniscient andomnipotent. The invasion of the North had failed, and there had been aterrible loss of good men, officers and soldiers, but, with Leestanding on the defensive at the head of the Army of Northern Virginia,in Virginia, the South would be invincible. He had always won there,and he always would win there.

  Harry sighed, nevertheless. He had two heroes, but one of them wasgone. He thought again if only Stonewall Jackson had been atGettysburg. Lee's terrible striking arm would have smitten with thehammer of Thor. He would have pushed home the attack on the first day,when the Union vanguard was defeated and demoralized. He would havecrushed the enemy on the second day, leaving no need for that fatal andterrific charge of Pickett on the third day.

  "You reached the general first," said Dalton, "but I tried my best tobeat you."

  "But I started first, George, old fellow. That gave me the advantageover you."

  "It's fine of you to say it. The army has quickened its pace since wecame. A part of it, at least, ought to arrive at the river to-morrow,though their cavalry are skirmishing continually on our flanks. Don'tyou hear the rifles?"

  Harry heard them far away to right and left, like the faint buzzing ofwasps, but he had heard the same sound so much that it made noimpression upon him.

  "Let 'em buzz," he said. "They're too distant to reach any of us, andthe Army of Northern Virginia is passing on."

  Those were precious hours. Harry knew much, but he did not divine thefull depths of the suspense, suffered by the people beyond the veilthat clothed the two armies. Lincoln had been continually urging Meadeto pursue and destroy his opponent, and Meade, knowing how formidableLee was, and how it had been a matter of touch and go at Gettysburg,pursued, but not with all the ardor of one sure of triumph. Yet theman at the White House hoped continually for victory, and the Southernpeople feared that his hopes would come true.

  It became sure the next day that they would reach the Potomac beforeMeade could attack them in flank, but the scouts brought word that thePotomac was still a deep and swollen river, impossible to be crossedunless they could rebuild the bridges.

  Finally the whole army came against the Potomac and it seemed to Harrythat its yellow flood had not diminished one particle since he left.But Lee acted with energy. Men were set to work at once building a newbridge near Falling Waters, parts of the ruined pontoon bridges wererecovered, and new boats were built in haste. But while the workmentoiled the army went into strong positions along the river betweenWilliamsport and Hagerstown.

  Harry found himself with all of his friends again, and he was proud ofthe army's defiant attitude. Meade and the Army of the Potomac werenot far away, it was said, but the youthful veterans of the South wereentirely willing to fight again. The older men, however, knew theirdanger. The disproportion of forces would be much greater than atGettysburg, and even if they fought a successful defensive action withtheir back to the river the Army of the Potomac could bide its time andawait reinforcements. The North would pour forth its numbers withoutstint.

  Harry rode to Sherburne with a message of congratulation from GeneralLee, who told him that he had selected the possible crossing well, andthat he had shown great skill and valor in holding it until the armycame up. Sherburne's flush of pride showed under his deep tan.

  "I did my best," he said to Harry, who knew the contents of the letter,"and that's all any of us can do."

  "But General Lee has a way of inspiring us to do our best."

  "It's so, and it's one of the reasons why he's such a great general.Watch those bridge builders work, Harry! They're certainly puttingtheir souls and strength into it."

  "And they have need to do so. The scouts say that the Army of thePotomac will be before us to-morrow. Don't you think the river hasfallen somewhat, Colonel?"

  "A little but look at those clouds over there, Harry. As surely as wesit here it's going to rain. The rivers were low that we might crossthem on our march into the North, just smoothing our way to Gettysburg,and now that Gettysburg has happened they're high so we can't get backto the South. It looks as if luck were against us."

  "But luck has a habit of changing."

  Harry rode back to headquarters, whence he was sent with anotherdispatch, to Colonel Talbot, whom he found posted well in advance withthe Invincibles.

  "This note," said the colonel, "bids us to watch thoroughly. GeneralMeade and his army are expected on our front in the morning, and theremust be no chance for a surprise in the night, say a dash by theircavalry which would cut up our rear guard or vanguard--upon my soul Idon't know which to call it. Harry, as you can see by the note itself,you're to remain with us until about midnight, and then make a fullreport of all that you and I and the rest of us may have observed uponthis portion of the front or rear, whichever it may be. Meanwhile weshare with you our humble rations."

  Harry was pleased. He was always glad when chance or purpose broughthim again into the company of the Invincibles. St. Clair and Langdonwere his oldest comrades of the war, and they were like brothers tohim. His affection for the two colonels was genuine and deep. If thetwo lads were like brothers to him, the colonels were like uncles.

  "Is the Northern vanguard anywhere near?" asked Harry.

  "Skirmishing is going on only four or five miles away," replied ColonelLeonidas Talbot. "It is likely that the sharp shooters will be pickingoff one another all through the night, but it will not disturb us. Thatis a great curse of war. It hardens one so for the time being. I'm asoldier, and I've been one all my life, and I suppose soldiers arenecessary, but I can't get over this feeling. Isn't it the same waywith you, Hector?"

  "Exactly the same, Leonidas," replied Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St.Hilaire. "You and I fought together in Mexico, Leonidas, then on theplains, and now in this gigantic struggle, but under whatever guiseand, wherever it may be, I find its visage always hideous. I don'tthink we soldiers are to blame. We don't make the wars although wehave to fight 'em."

  "Increasing years, Hector, have not dimmed those perceptive facultiesof yours, which I may justly call brilliant."

  "Thanks, Leonidas, you and I have always had a proper conception of theworth of each other."

  "If you will pardon me for speaking, sir," said St. Clair, "there isone man I'd like to find, when this war is over."

  "'What is the appearance of this man, Arthur?" asked Colonel Talbot.

  "I don't know exactly how he looks, sir, though I've heard of himoften, and I shall certainly know him when I meet him. You understand,sir, that, while I've not seen him, he has very remarkablecharacteristics of manner."

  "And what may those be, Arthur? Are they so salient that you wouldrecognize them at once?"

  "Certainly, sir. He has an uncommonly loud voice, which he uses nearlyall the time and without restraint. Words fairly pour from his tongue.Facts he scorns. He soars aloft on the wings of fancy. Many peoplewho have listened to him have felt persuaded by his talk, but he isperhaps not so
popular now."

  "An extraordinary person, Arthur. But why are you so anxious to findhim?"

  "Because I wish, sir, to lay upon him the hands of violence. I wouldthrash him and beat him until he yelled for mercy, and then I wouldthrash him and beat him again. I should want the original pair ofseven-leagued boots, not that I might make such fast time, but that Imight kick him at a single kick from one county to another, and back,and then over and over past counting. I'd duck him in a river until hegasped for breath, I'd drag him naked through a briar patch, and thenI'd tar and feather him, and ride him on a rail."

  "Heavens, Arthur! I didn't dream that your nature contained so muchcruelty! Who is this person over whose torture you would gloat like ared Indian?"

  "It is the man who first said that one Southerner could whip fiveYankees."

  "Arthur," said Colonel Talbot, "your anger is just and becomes you.When the war is over, if we all are spared we'll form a group and huntthis fellow until we find him. And then, please God, if the gallows ofHaman is still in existence, we'll hang him on it with promptness anddispatch. I believe in the due and orderly process of the law, but inthis case lynching is not only justifiable, but it's an honor to thecountry."

  "Well spoken, Leonidas! Well spoken!" said Lieutenant-Colonel HectorSt. Hilaire. "I'm glad that Arthur mentioned the matter, and we'llbear it in mind. You can count upon me."

  "And here is coffee," said Happy Tom. "I made this myself, the campcook liking me and giving me a chance. I'd really be a wonderful cookif I had the proper training, and I may come to it, if we lose the war.Still, the chance even then is slight, because my father, when red warshowed its edge over the horizon, put all his money in the best Britishsecurities. So we could do no more than lose the plantation."

  "Happy," said Colonel Talbot, gravely rebuking, "I am surprised at yourfather. I thought he was a patriot."

  "He is, sir, but he's a financier first, and I may be thankful for itsome day. I'll venture the prediction right now that if we lose thiswar not a single Confederate bill will be in the possession of ThomasLangdon, Sr. Others may have bales of it, worth less per pound thancotton, but not your humble servant's father, who, I sometimes think,has lots more sense than your humble servant's father's son."

  Colonel Leonidas Talbot shook his head slowly.

  "Finance is a mystery to me," he said. "In the dear old South that Ihave always known, the law, the army and the church were and areconsidered the high callings. To speak in fine, rounded periods wasconsidered the great gift. In my young days, Harry, I went with myfather by stage coach to your own State, Kentucky, to hear that sublimeorator, the great Henry Clay."

  "What was he speaking about, sir?" asked Harry.

  "I don't remember. That's not important. But surely he was thenoblest orator God ever created in His likeness. His words flowinglike music and to be heard by everybody, even those farthest from thespeaker, made my pulse beat hard, and the blood leap in my veins. Iwas heart and soul for his cause, whatever it was, and, yet I fear me,though I do not wish to hurt your feelings, Harry, that the state towhich he was such ornament, has not gone for the South with the wholespirit that she should have shown. She has not even seceded. I fearsometimes that you Kentuckians are not altogether Southern. You borderupon the North, and stretching as you do a long distance from east towest and a comparatively short distance from north to south, you thusface three Northern States across the Ohio--Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,and the pull of three against one is strong. You see your position,don't you? Three Yankee states facing you from the north and only oneSouthern state, Tennessee, lying across your whole southern border,that is three against one. I fear that these odds have had theireffect, because if Kentucky had sent all of her troops to the South,instead of two-thirds of them to the North, the war would have been wonby us ere this."

  "I admit it," said Harry regretfully. "My own cousin, who was morelike a brother to me, is fighting on the other side. Kentucky troopson the Union side have kept us from winning great victories, and manyof the Union generals are Kentuckians. I grieve over it, sir, as muchas you do."

  "But you and your people should not take too much blame to yourselves,Harry," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, who had a very softheart. "Think of the many influences to which you were exposed daily.Think of those three Yankee states sitting there on the other side ofthe Ohio--Ohio, Indiana and Illinois--and staring at you so long and sosteadily that, in a way, they exerted a certain hypnotic force uponyou. No, my boy, don't feel badly about it, because the fault, in away, is not so much yours as it is that of your neighbors."

  "At any rate," said Happy Tom, with his customary boldness andfrankness, "we're bound to admit that the Yankees beat us at makingmoney."

  "Which may be more to our credit than theirs," said Colonel Talbot,with dignity. "I have found it more conducive to integrity and a loftymind to serve as an officer at a modest salary in the army rather thanto gain riches in trade."

  "But somebody has to pay the army, sir."

  "Thomas, I regret to tell you that inquiry can be pushed to the pointof vulgarity. I have been content with things as they were, and soshould you be. Ah, there are our brave boys singing that noble battlesong of the South! Listen how it swells! It shows a spiritunconquerable!"

  Along the great battle front swelled the mighty chorus:

  "Come brothers! Rally for the right! The bravest of the brave Sends forth her ringing battle cry Beside the Atlantic wave! She leads the way in honor's path; Come brothers, near and far, Come rally round the bonnie blue flag That bears a single star."

  "A fine song! A fine song most truly," said Colonel Talbot. "Itheartens one gloriously!"

  But Harry, usually so quick to respond, strangely enough feltdepression. He felt suddenly in all its truth that they had not onlyfailed in their invasion, but the escape of the army was yet a matterof great doubt. The mood was only momentary, however, and he joinedwith all his heart as the mighty chorus rolled out another verse:

  "Now Georgia marches to the front And beside her come Her sisters by the Mexique sea With pealing trump and drum, Till answering back from hill and glen The rallying cry afar, A Nation hoists the bonnie blue flag That bears a single star!"

  They sang it all through, and over again, and then, after a littlesilence, came the notes of a trumpet from a far-distant point. It wasplayed by powerful lungs and the wind was blowing their way but theyheard it distinctly. It was a quaint syncopated tune, but not one ofthe Invincibles had any doubt that it came from some daring detachmentof the Union Army. The notes with their odd lilt seemed to swellthrough the forest, but it was strange to both of the colonels.

  "Do any of you know it?" asked Colonel Talbot.

  All shook their heads except Harry.

  "What is it, Harry?" asked Talbot.

  "It's a famous poem, sir, the music of which has not often been heard,but I can translate from music into words the verse that has just beenplayed:

  "In their ragged regimentals Stood the old Continentals Yielding not, When the grenadiers were lunging And like hail fell the plunging Cannon shot; When the files of the isles From the smoky night encampment Bore the banner of the rampant Unicorn And grummer, grummer, Rolled the roll of the drummer, Through the morn!"

  The bugler played on. It was the same tune, curious, syncopated andpiercing the night shrilly. Whole brigades of the South stood insilence to listen.

  "What do you think is its meaning?" asked Lieutenant-Colonel St.Hilaire.

  "It's in answer to our song and at the same time a reproach," repliedHarry, who had jumped at once to the right conclusion. "The buglerintends to remind us that the old Continentals who stood so well werefrom both North and South, and perhaps he means, too, that we shouldstand together again instead of fight
ing each other."

  "Then let the North give up at once," snapped Colonel Talbot.

  "But in the trumpeter's opinion that means we should be apart forever."

  "Then let him play on to ears that will not heed."

  But the bugler was riding away. The music came faintly, and then diedin one last sighing note. It left Harry grave and troubled, and hebegan to ask himself new questions. If the South succeeded in forcinga separation, what then? But the talk of his comrades drove thethought from his mind. Colonel Talbot sent St. Clair, Langdon and asmall party of horsemen forward to see what the close approach of thedaring bugler meant. Harry went with them.

  Scouts in the brushwood quickly told them that a troop of Union cavalryhad appeared in a meadow some distance ahead of them, and that it wasone of their number who had played the song on the bugle. Should theystalk the detachment and open fire? St. Clair, who was in command,shook his head.

  "It would mean nothing now," he said, and rode on with his men, knowingthat the watchful Southern sharpshooters were on their flanks. It wasnight now, and a bright moon was coming out, enabling them to use theirglasses with effect.

  "There they are!" exclaimed Harry, pointing to the strip of forest onthe far side of the opening, "and there is the bugler, too."

  He was studying the party intently. The brilliant moonlight, and thestrength of his glasses made everything sharp and clear and his gazeconcentrated upon the bugler. He knew that man, his powerful chest andshoulders, and the well-shaped head on its strong neck. Nor did hedeny to himself that he had a feeling of gladness when he recognizedhim.

  "It's none other," he said aloud.

  "None other what?" asked St. Clair.

  "Our warning bugler was Shepard, the Union spy. I can make him outclearly on his horse with his bugle in his hand. You'll remember mytelling you how I had that fight with him in the river."

  "And perhaps it would have been better for us all if you had finishedhim off then."

  "I couldn't have done it, Arthur, nor could you, if you had been in myplace."

  "No, I suppose not, but these Yankees are coming up pretty close. It'ssure proof that Meade's whole army will be here in the morning, and thebridge won't be built."

  "It may be built, but, if Meade chooses a battle, a battle there willbe. Heavy forces must be very near. You can see them now signaling toone another from hill to hill."

  "So I do, and this is as far as we ought to go. A hundred yards or twofarther and we'll be in the territory of the enemy's sharpshootersinstead of our own."

  They remained for a while among some bushes, and secured positiveknowledge that the bulk of the Army of the Potomac was drawing near.Toward midnight Harry returned to his commander-in-chief and found himawake and in consultation with his generals, under some trees near thePotomac. Longstreet, Rhodes, Pickett, Early, Anderson, Pender and adozen others were there, all of them scarred and tanned by battle, andmost of them bearing wounds.

  Harry stood back, hesitating to invade this circle, even when he camewith dispatches, but the commander-in-chief, catching sight of him,beckoned. Then, taking off his cap, he walked forward and presented anote from Colonel Talbot. It was brief, stating that the enemy wasnear, and Lee read it aloud to his council.

  "And what were your own observations, Lieutenant Kenton?" asked thecommander-in-chief.

  "As well as I could judge, sir, the enemy will appear on our wholefront soon after daybreak."

  "And will be in great enough force to defeat us."

  "Not while you lead us, sir."

  "A courtier! truly a courtier!" exclaimed Stuart, smoothing the greatfeather of his gorgeous hat, which lay upon his knee.

  Harry blushed.

  "It may have had that look," he said, "but I meant my words."

  "Don't tease the lad," said the crippled Ewell. "I knew him well onJackson's staff, and he was one of our bravest and best."

  "A jest only," said Stuart. "Don't I know him as well as you, Ewell?The first time I saw him he was riding alone among many dangers tobring relief to a beleaguered force of ours."

  "And you furnished that relief, sir," said Harry.

  "Well, so I did, but it was my luck, not merit."

  "Be assured that you have no better friend than General Stuart," saidGeneral Lee, smiling. "You have done your duty well, LieutenantKenton, and as these have been arduous days for you you may withdraw,and join your young comrades of the staff."

  Harry saluted and retired. Before he was out of ear shot the generalsresumed their eager talk, but they knew, even as Harry himself, thatthere was but one thing to do, stand with their backs to the river andfight, if Meade chose to offer battle.

  He slept heavily, and when he awoke the next day Dalton, who was upbefore him, informed him that the Northern army was at hand. Snatchingbreakfast, he and Dalton, riding close behind the commander-in-chief,advanced a little distance and standing upon a knoll surveyed thethrilling spectacle before them. Far along the front stretched theArmy of the Potomac, horse, foot and guns, come up with its enemyagain. Harry was sure that Meade was there, and with him Hancock andBuford and Warren and all the other valiant leaders whom they had metat Gettysburg. It was nine days since the close of the great battle,and doubtless the North had poured forward many reinforcements, whilethe South had none to send.

  Harry appreciated the full danger of their situation, with the largerarmy in front of them, and the deep and swollen torrent of the Potomacbehind them. But he did not believe that Meade would attack. Lee hadlost at Gettysburg, but in losing he had inflicted such losses upon hisopponent, that most generals would hesitate to force another battle.The one who would not have hesitated was consolidating his greattriumph at Vicksburg. Harry often thought afterward what would havehappened had Grant faced Lee that day on the wrong side of the Potomac.

  His opinion that Meade would not attack came from a feeling that mighthave been called atmospheric, an atmosphere created by the lack ofinitiative on the Union side, no clouds of skirmishers, no attacks ofcavalry, very little rifle firing of any kind, merely generals andsoldiers looking at one another. Harry saw, too, that his own opinionwas that of his superior officer. Watching the commander-in-chiefintently he saw a trace of satisfaction in the blue eyes. Presentlyall of them rode back.

  Thus that day passed and then another wore on. Harry and Dalton hadlittle to do. The whole Army of Northern Virginia was in position,defiant, challenging even, and the Army of the Potomac made no movementforward. Harry watched the strange spectacle with an excitement thathe did not allow to appear on his face. It was like many of thoseperiods in the great battles in which he had taken a part, when thecombat died, though the lull was merely the omen of a struggle, soon tocome more frightful than ever.

  But here the struggle did not come. The hours of the afternoon fellpeacefully away, and the general and soldiers still looked at oneanother.

  "They're working on the bridge like mad," said Dalton, who had beenaway with a message, "and it will surely be ready in the morning.Besides, the Potomac is falling fast. You can already see the muddylines that it's leaving on its banks."

  "And Meade's chance is slipping, slipping away!" said Harry exultingly."In three hours it will be sunset. They can't attack in the night andto-morrow we'll be gone. Meade has delayed like McClellan at Antietam,and, doubtless as McClellan did, he thinks our army much larger than itreally is."

  "It's so," said Dalton. "We're to be delivered, and we're to bedelivered without a battle, a battle that we could ill afford, even ifwe won it."

  Both were in a state of intense anxiety and they looked many times atthe sun and their watches. Then they searched the hostile army withtheir glasses. But nothing of moment was stirring there. Lower andlower sank the sun, and a great thrill ran through the Army of NorthernVirginia. In both armies the soldiers were intelligent men--not merecreatures of drill--who thought for themselves, and while those in theArmy of Northern Virginia were ready, even ea
ger to fight if it werepushed upon them, they knew the great danger of their position. Nowthe word ran along the whole line that if they fought at all it wouldbe on their side of the river.

  Harry and Dalton did not sleep that night. They could not have done sohad the chance been offered. They like others rode all through thedarkness carrying messages to the different commands, insuring exactcooperation. As the hours of the night passed the aspect of everythinggrew better. The river had fallen so fast that it would be fordablebefore morning.

  But after midnight the clouds gathered, thunder crashed, lightningplayed and the violent rain of a summer storm enveloped them again.Harry viewed it at first with dismay, and then he found consolation.The darkness and the storm would cover their retreat, as it had coveredthe retreat of their enemy, Hooker, after Chancellorsville.

  Harry and Dalton rode close behind Lee, who sat erect on his whitehorse, supervising the first movement of troops over the new andshaking bridge. Harry noted with amazement that despite his enormousexertions, physical and mental, and an intense anxiety, continuous formany days, he did not yet show signs of fatigue. Word had come that apart of the army was already fording the river, near Williamsport, butthis bridge near Falling Waters was the most important point. GeneralLee and his staff sat there on their horses a long time, while the rainbeat unheeded upon them.

  Few scenes are engraved more vividly upon the mind of Harry Kenton thanthose dusky hours before the dawn, the flashes of lightning, the almostincessant rumble of thunder, the turbid and yellow river across whichstretched the bridge, a mere black thread in the darkness, swaying anddipping and rising and creaking as horse and foot, and batteries andammunition wagons passed upon it.

  There were torches, but they flared and smoked in the rain and cast alight so weak and fitful that Harry could not see the farther shore.The Army of Northern Virginia marched out upon a shaking bridge anddisappeared in the black gulf beyond. Only the lack of an alarm comingback showed that it was reaching the farther shore.

  "Dawn will soon be here," said Dalton.

  "So it will," said Harry, "and most of the troops are across. Ah,there go the Invincibles! Look how they ride!"

  Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire atthe head of their scanty band were just passing. They took off theirhats, and swept a low bow to the great chief who sat silently on hiswhite horse within a few yards of them. Then, side by side, they rodeupon the shaking bridge, followed by Langdon, St. Clair and their bravecomrades, and disappeared, where the bridge disappeared, in the rainand mist.

  "Brave men!" murmured Lee.

  Harry, always watching his commander-in-chief, saw now for the firsttime signs of fatigue and nervousness. The tremendous strain waswearing him down. But while the rain still poured and ran in streamsfrom his gray hair and gray beard, the rear guard of the Army ofNorthern Virginia passed upon the bridge, and Stuart, all his plumesbedraggled, rode up to his chief, a smoking cup of coffee in his hand.

  "Drink this, General, won't you?" he said.

  He seized it, drank all of the coffee eagerly, and then handing backthe cup, said:

  "I never before in my life drank anything that refreshed me so much."

  Then he, with his staff, Stuart and some other generals rode over thebridge, disappearing in their turn into the darkness and mist that hadswallowed up the others, but emerging, as the others had done, into thesafety of the Southern shore.

  Meade and his generals had held a council the night before but nearlyall the officers advised against attack. This night he made up hismind to move against Lee anyhow, and was ready at dawn, only to findthe whole Southern army gone.