CHAPTER IX
CHANCELLORSVILLE
Harry and Dalton sat down on a tiny hillock and waited while the twogenerals carried on their long conference, to which now and thenthey summoned McLaws, Anderson, Pender and other division or brigadecommanders. The two lads even then felt the full import of thatmemorable night.
Nature herself had stripped away all softness, leaving only sternnessand desolation for the terrible drama which was about to be played inthe Wilderness. The night was dark, and to Harry's imaginative mind theforest turned to some vast stretch of the ancient, primitive world.
Naturally cheerful and usually alive with the optimism of youth, the airseemed to him that night to be filled with menacing signals. Often hestarted at familiar sounds. The clank of arms to which he had been solong used sent a chill down his spine. As the campfires died, the gloomthat hung over the Wilderness became for him heavier and more ominous.
"What's the matter, Harry?" asked Dalton, catching a glimpse of his facein 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 oppressedto-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 generalsare talking a long time."
"I suppose they have need to do a lot of talking, George. You knowhow small our army is, and we can't rush Hooker behind the strongintrenchments they say he has thrown up. Oh, if only Longstreet andhis corps were back with us!"
"Well, Longstreet and his men are not here, and we'll have to do thebest we can without them. Hold up your head, Harry. Lee and Jacksonwill find a way."
While Lee and Jackson and their generals conferred, another conferencewas going on three miles away at the Chancellor House in the depths ofthe Wilderness. Hooker, a brave man, who had proved his courage morethan once, was bewildered and uneasy. He lacked the experience insupreme command in which his great antagonist, Lee, was so rich.The field telegraph had broken down just before sunset, and hissubordinates, Sedgwick and Reynolds, brave men too, who had divisionselsewhere, were vague and uncertain in their movements. Hooker didnot know what to expect from them.
Some of the generals, chafing at retreat before a force which they knewto be smaller than their own, wanted to march out and attack in themorning. Hooker, suddenly grown prudent, awed perhaps by his greatresponsibilities, wished to contract his camp and build intrenchmentsyet stronger. He compromised at last amid varying counsels, and decidedto hold his present intrenched lines along their full length. Hisgallant officers on the extended right and left were indignant at thethought of withdrawing before the enemy, sure that they could beat himback every time.
But there were bolder spirits at the Southern headquarters, three milesaway. Lee and Jackson always saw clearly and were always able todecide upon a course. Besides, their need was far more desperate. TheSouthern army did not increase in numbers. Victories brought few newmen to its standards. Winning, it held its own, and losing, it losteverything. Before it stood the Army of the Potomac, outnumbering ittwo to one, and behind that army stood a great nation ready to pourforth more men by the hundreds of thousands and more money by thehundreds of millions to save the Union.
Harry, leaning against a bush, fell into a light doze, from which Daltonaroused him bye and bye. But the habit of war made him awake fullyand instantly. Every faculty was alive. He arose to his feet and sawthat Lee and Jackson were just parting. A faint moon shone over theWilderness, revealing but little of the great army which lay in itsthickets.
"I fancy that the plan which will give us either victory or defeat isarranged," said Dalton.
But neither Harry nor Dalton was called, and bye and bye they sank intoanother doze. They were awakened toward morning by Sherburne, who stoodbefore them holding his horse by the bridle. The horse was wet withfoam, and it was evident that he had been ridden far and hard.
"What is it?" asked Harry, springing to his feet. "I've been ridingwith 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. TheNorthern left, fortified in the thickets, is impossible. We'd merelybeat ourselves to pieces against it; but their right has no protectionat all, that is, no trenches or breastworks. I thought you boys mightbe 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 armyhas cause to dread."
Harry and Dalton looked at a little open space in the center of whichLee and Jackson sat, having met for another talk, each on an emptycracker box, taken from a heap which the Northern army had left behindwhen it withdrew the day before. The generals faced each other and twoor 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 presentsubsequently told them much that was spoken at this last and famousconference. A man named Welford had recently cut a road toward thenorthwest through the Wilderness in order that he might haul wood andiron ore to a furnace that he had built. He had certainly never dreamedof 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, zealousfor the South, he had given him the information that was of so muchvalue. He had also volunteered to guide the troops along his road andhe 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 twogenerals, and spread his map upon it, pointing to Welford's road.The two generals studied it attentively, and then Lee asked Jackson whathe would suggest. Jackson traced the road with his finger and repliedthat he would like to follow it with his whole corps and fall upon theNorthern flank. He suggested that he leave his commander with only asmall force to make a noisy demonstration in the Northern front, whileJackson was executing his great turning movement.
Lee considered it only a few moments and agreed. Then he wrote briefand crisp instructions, and when he finished, General Jackson roseto his feet, his face illumined with eagerness. He was absolutelyconfident that he would succeed in the daring deed he was about toundertake.
"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 otherswere busy carrying orders for a great march that Jackson was about tobegin. Many of these orders related to secrecy. The ranks were tobe kept absolutely close and compact. If anybody straggled he was toreceive 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 StonewallJackson draws back from the enemy he merely does it in order to make abigger 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 forsome time that I provoked the quarrel with you. I'm sorry and Iapologize."
St. Clair looked astonished, but he was not one to refuse so manly anadvance.
"That's so, Captain, we did have a quarrel," he said, "but I hadforgotten it. It's not necessary for anybody to apologize where there'sno rancor."
He took Bertrand's hand in a hearty grasp, which Bertrand returned withequal vigor. Then the captain pushed his horse and rode a little aheadof them.
"Now, that was a singular thing," said Dalton, who came of a deeplyreligious family, "and to my mind it was predestined."
"Predestined?"
"Yes, predestined! Decreed! Captain Bertrand is going to die. He'llbe killed in the coming battle. He was moved to make up the quarrelwhich he forced on St. Clair because of his approaching fate, althoughhe 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 Maymorning. They had started after dawn. A splendid sun was rising in asky 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 regimentsfile past him. General Lee was awaiting him there and the two talkedbriefly. Harry saw that both were firm and confident. It was rare withhim, but Jackson's face was flushed and his eyes shining. He lingeredfor only a few moments, and then rode on with his column. Lee's eyesfollowed him, but he and his great lieutenant had spoken together forthe last time.
Now they settled into silence, save for the marching sounds, of whichthe most dominant was the rumbling of the artillery. But all the men inthe great column knew that they were embarked upon some mighty movement.Very few asked themselves what it was. Nor did they care. They puttheir 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 Wildernessmoved gently like the surface of a lake. But that forest, as dense asever, extended on all sides of them and hid the tens of thousands whomarched in its shade.
Harry presently heard the rolling of artillery fire and the distantcrash of rifles behind them. But he knew that it was Lee with theminor portion of his army making the demonstration in Hooker's front,deceiving him into the belief that he was about to be attacked by thewhole Southern army, while Jackson with his main force was making thewide circuit under cover of the Wilderness in order to fall like athunderbolt upon his flank.
Harry admired the daring of his two leaders, and at the same time hetrembled with apprehension. They had split their force, already farsmaller, in the face of the foe. Suppose that foe, with his army ofsplendid fighters, should come suddenly from his intrenchments andattack either division. Surely the Northern scouts and spies werein the thickets. So great a movement as this could not escape theirattention. It would be impossible for a large army to pass on thatjourney of many miles around Hooker and not one of the hundred thousandmen he had in the Wilderness bring him a word of it.
They might be discovered by one of the balloons, and Harry strained hiseyes toward the far Rappahannock. He saw a black speck floating in thesky, which he thought to be one of the balloons, and he felt a littledread, but in a moment he realized that Jackson's army was as completelyhidden by the Wilderness from any such possible observer as if a blanketlay over it. Then he dismissed all thoughts of balloons and rode on insilence beside Dalton.
Now he listened to the roar behind them. It had the violence of a greatbattle, but he noticed that the sounds neither advanced nor retreated.He smiled a little. Lee was still amusing Hooker, but it was a grimamusement.
A long time passed. Although the army could not move fast in theWilderness, its march was steady. The roar of Lee's attack had becomesubdued, 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 theproportions of a real battle, and with thickets and forests to obscuresight, Hooker might well believe that the whole Southern army was yetin front of him.
The onward march had become rhythmic now. It was to Harry like theregular throbbing of a pulse. The tread of many men, the beat ofhorses' 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 cloudsthat floated in its bosom. The breeze of that May morning waswonderfully crisp and fresh. It came tingling with life to thethousands, so many of whom were about to die.
It seemed to Harry as they went on through the thickets of theWilderness that the Union scouts would never discover them, but Northerntroops on an open eminence of Hazel Grove had seen a long columnmoving away through the thickets and made report of it to the Northerngenerals. But these leaders did not understand it. They had notgrasped the great daring of Jackson's march.
They believed that Lee was merely extending his lines, but an hourbefore noon a battery opened fire from a hill upon the marchingConfederate column. Harry and Dalton heard shrapnel whizzing over theirheads. After the first involuntary shiver they regained the calm ofyouthful veterans and rode on in silence.
But the fire of the Northern artillery was damaging, even at greatrange. Shells and shrapnel sprayed showers of steel over the column.Men were killed and others wounded. As they could not turn back tofight those troublesome cannon, the column turned farther away andforced a road through a new path. It seemed now that Jackson's marchwas discovered and that the whole Northern army might press in betweenhim and Lee. Harry's heart rose in his throat and he looked at hisgeneral. But Jackson rode calmly on.
The curiosity of the Union generals in regard to that marching columnincreased. Several of them appealed to Hooker to let them advance inforce and see what it was. Sickles was allowed to go out with a strongdivision, but instead of reaching Jackson he was confronted by a portionof Lee's force, thrown forward to meet him, and the battle was so fiercethat Sickles was compelled to send for help. A formidable force cameand drove the Southern division before it, but the vigilant Jackson,informed by his scouts of what was happening behind him, turned his rearguard to meet the attack, and Sickles was driven off a second time withgreat loss. Then Jackson's men quickly rejoined him and they continuedtheir 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 greatmarch to detach men for the help of his chief, while never ceasing topursue 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 knowit was there. Hooker's retreat with his great army into the Wildernesshad given his enemies a chance to befog and bewilder him.
Harry's supreme confidence returned. All things seemed possible to hischief, and once more they were marching, unimpeded. It was now muchpast noon, and they turned into a new road, leading north through thethickets.
"It scarcely seems possible that we can pass around a great army in thisway," said Dalton; "but, Harry, I'm beginning to believe the generalwill do it."
"Of course he will," said Harry. "It's Old Jack's chief pleasure to doimpossible things. He leaves the possible to ordinary men. See him.He didn't even stop to look back while our rear guard returned to helpdrive off the Yankees."
The sun was near the zenith and the afternoon grew warm. They had comeupon hard, dry paths, and under the tread of the army great clouds ofdust arose, but it did not float high in the air, the thick boughs ofthe trees and bushes catching it. But as it hovered so close to theground 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 theircomrades or were put into the wagons, and the long column of steel neverceased to wind onward.
Near the middle of the afternoon, when they were about to cross thewestern extension of the plank road, a young cavalry officer galloped upand rode straight for Jackson. It was Fitzhugh Lee, whose services weregreat at Chancellorsville. His glowing face showed that he brought newsof great importance.
As he saluted, General Jackson checked his horse
and Harry heard hisgeneral ask:
"You bring news. What is it?"
"I do, sir," responded young Lee eagerly. "I have something to showyou. A great Northern force is only a short distance away, and it doesnot suspect your advance at all. If you will come with me to the crestof 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 threethen turned and rode through the bushes toward the hill, and Harry'sheart beat so hard that it gave him an actual physical pain when helooked down on the sight below. He glanced at Jackson and saw thathis face was flushed and his eyes glowing.
They were gazing upon a great Northern force which was to protectHooker's right. Its first lines were only three or four hundred yardsaway. There were breastworks and other lines of defense running farthrough the forest, positions that were formidable, but not manned atthis moment by riflemen or cannoneers. Rifles were stacked neatlybehind the intrenchments, extending in a long line as far as they couldsee. Thousands of soldiers were sitting on the grass and among thebushes, some asleep, some playing games, while others were cooking,reading newspapers sent from the North, and some were singing. It was apicture of idleness and ease in a camp, and not one among them suspectedthat thirty thousand veterans of the South, led by Stonewall Jacksonhimself, were within rifle shot, hidden under the vast canopy of theWilderness.
Harry drew a deep breath, and then another. It was extraordinary,unbelievable, but it was true. He looked again at Jackson and saw thathis eyes were still burning with blue fire. The general gazed for fiveminutes, 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 beupon the enemy.
"What is it, Harry?" asked St. Clair eagerly, as Harry rode along thelines 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 secrecyand silence. He never forgot any detail of that memorable day. Yearsafterwards he could shut his eyes at any time and see the eve ofChancellorsville in all its vivid colors, thirty thousand Southerntroops lying hidden in the thickets, General Jackson, followed byhimself and two other aides, riding upon the hill again and taking onemore look at the unsuspecting enemy below, the spreading out of thecavalry like a curtain between them and Howard's corps to keep even asingle stray Northern picket or scout from seeing the mortal dangerat hand, and then Jackson dismounting and, seated on a stump, writingto Lee that he was on the enemy's flank and would attack as soon aspossible. Harry was in fear lest the general should choose him to carryback the dispatch, as he wished to stay with the corps and see whathappened, but the duty was assigned to another man.
Confidence meanwhile reigned in the Union army. In the morning Hookerhad ridden around his whole line, and cheers received him as he came.Scouts had brought him word that Jackson was moving, and he had takennote of the encounter with the rearguard of Stonewall's force. But asthat force continued its march into the deep forest and disappeared fromsight, the brave and sanguine Hooker was confirmed in his opinion thatthe whole Southern army was retreating. His belief was so firm thathe sent a dispatch to Sedgwick, commanding the detached force nearFredericksburg, to pursue vigorously, as the enemy was fleeing in aneffort to save his train.
While Hooker was writing this dispatch the "fleeing enemy," led by thegreatest of Lee's lieutenants, lay in full force on his flank, almostwithin rifle-shot, preparing with calmness and in detail for one ofthe greatest blows ever dealt in war. Truly no soldiers ever deservedhigher praise than those of the Army of the Potomac, who, often misledand mismanaged by second-rate men, grew better and better after everydefeat, and never failed to go into battle zealous and full of courage.
It seemed almost incredible to Harry, who had twice looked down uponthem, that the whole Union right should remain ignorant of Jackson'spresence. Twenty-eight regiments and six batteries strong, the Northerntroops were now getting ready to cook their suppers, and there was muchlaughter and talk as they looked around at the forest and wonderedwhen they would be sent in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. Six of theregiments 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 andthickets and having the stiffness of Germans on parade. They were atthe first point of exposure, and they were certainly no match for theformidable foe who was creeping nearer and nearer.
Not all the country here was in forest. There were some fields, alittle wooden cottage on a hill, and in the fields a small house ofworship called the Wilderness Church. It was the little church ofShiloh and the Dunkard church of Antietam over again.
Harry and Dalton in the front of the lines often saw the gleam ofNorthern guns and Northern bayonets through the foliage, but there wasstill no sign that anyone in the Northern right flank dreamed of theirpresence. Evidently the unconscious thousands there thought that allchance of battle had passed until the morrow. The sun was already goingdown the western heavens, and behind them in the Wilderness the firstshadows were gathering.
Jackson's troops were filled with confidence and exultation. As theyformed for battle among the trees and bushes they too talked, and withthe 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 fussbefore 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 thatall this talk was the product of exuberant spirits, and officers mucholder 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 forsternness. The soldiers themselves understood and obeyed. They were aseager as the officers to achieve a splendid triumph, and it remains aphenomenon of history how a great army came creeping, creeping withinrifle 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 gunspointed. The cavalry, not far away, were holding back their magnificenthorses. Harry saw Sherburne on their flank nearest to him, and a smileof triumph passed between them. Off in the forest the strong divisionof A. P. Hill was advancing, the sound of their coming audible to theSouth 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 wasresolved 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 someNorthern scout's rifle and his shout of alarm, but the incredible notonly happened--it kept on happening. There was not a single Northernskirmisher in the bushes. The only sounds that came from their campto the Southern scouts were the clatter of dishes and the laughter ofyouths who knew that no danger was near.
The sun was far down the western arch, and it seemed to Harry for amomen
t or two that no battle might occur that day, but a glance atJackson and his incessant activity showed him he was mistaken. Thearrangements were now almost complete. In front were the skirmishers,then the first line, and a little behind it the second line, and thenHill with the third line. Although they stood in thick forest, thelines were even and regular, despite trees and bushes.
The Invincibles were in the second line. Owing to the density of theforest, 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 heclosed 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 Christiansoldier and great genius, Stonewall Jackson."
"You'll both go through it," said Harry. "I know you'll be with us whenour victorious army goes over the Long Bridge and enters Washington."
St. Clair and Langdon stood near, but said nothing. Harry saw that theywere enveloped by the mystery, the vastness and the terrible grandeurof the occasion. So he said nothing to them, but rode back toward hiscommander. 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 ineither direction through the forest farther than he could see, thesoldiers eager, excited and straining hard at the hand that held themthere 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 inthe 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 along, mellow note that was heard far through the forest. It wasfollowed by a shout poured from thirty thousand throats, the guns in theturnpike fired a terrible volley straight into the Union camp, and thenthe whole army of Jackson, line upon line, rushed from the thickets andhurled itself upon its foe.
The Northern army was paralyzed for a moment. Never was surprise moresudden and terrific. Brave as anybody, the Union men rushed to theirarms, but there was no time to use them. The flood was upon them andoverwhelmed them. The German regiments were cut to pieces in an instant,and the demoralized survivors retreated into the mass. Elsewhere abattery was manned and stopped for a moment the Southern advance,but only for a moment. It, too, was overwhelmed by the Southernartillery which rushed forward, firing as fast as the cannoneers couldload and reload.
Jackson himself was with his artillery, shouting to them and encouragingthem, and Harry, trying to follow him, found it hard to keep clear ofthe guns. The second and third lines of the Southern army pressedforward with the first, and the terrific impact overwhelmed everything.The Northern officers showed supreme courage in their attempt to stemthe rout. Everyone on horseback was either killed or wounded, andtheir bravery and self-sacrifice were in vain. Nothing could stem therelentless tide that poured upon them. Harry had never before seen theSouthern troops so exultant. Jackson's march of a whole day, unseen,almost by the side of the enemy, and then his sudden attack upon hisright flank, made their battle rush fierce and irresistible. They mightbe stayed for a few moments, but they swept on and on, carrying beforethem the blue brigades.
The scene, while extraordinarily vivid to Harry, was nevertheless wildand confused. The fire of the cannon and rifles on a long line was sorapid and terrific that he was almost blinded by the incessant blaze,which was like one solid sheet of flame. The dense smoke gatheredonce more among the bushes and trees and the forest was filling with atremendous shouting.
Harry kept as close as he could to his general, who was now in the veryheart of the conflict. But it was a difficult task. His clothing wastorn 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. Theground was covered with the arms and blankets and tents of the Unionarmy. Ahead of them were great masses of men, retreating and jammedamong the wagons. The horses, many of them wounded, were running about,neighing in pain and terror. Officers, their uniforms often red fromwounds, were rushing everywhere, seeking to stay the panic.
Yet the Union officers at last succeeded in getting some order out ofthe chaos. A battery was rallied on a hill and threw a sleet of steelon the charging men in gray. Some of the seasoned infantry regimentswere managing to form a line and they were beginning to send back arifle fire. Harry felt that the resistance in front of them washardening a little.
But as usual the eye of Jackson saw everything, even through the flameand smoke and confusion of a battle fought in dense forests and thickets.
He galloped up the turnpike himself, his staff hot at his heels, andshouting to the gunners and pointing forward, he urged on the artillery.Then he rode among the infantry, and they, as eager as he, rushed onat increased speed. Yet the Northern resistance was still hardening.Some of the German regiments atoned for their earlier panic by reformingand making a brave resistance. Other regiments formed behind abreastwork.
"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 theofficers in front sword in hand, the whole division with a mighty shoutcharged. Harry saw the Invincibles in the first line, the two colonels,one on either flank, waving their swords and their faces young againwith the battle fire. But it was only a glimpse. Then they were lostfrom 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 thebreastwork, they seized the cannon, they took prisoners, and before themthey swept the right wing of the Union army in irreparable rout andconfusion. Harry had not seen its like in the whole war, nor washe destined to see it again. An entire corps had been annihilated.The Wilderness was filled with the fragments of regiments seeking tojoin 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 thewhole sky, and it was already dark among the dense thickets of theWilderness. An hour had passed since the first rush, and few generalswould have had the daring to push on in the forest, dark already andrapidly growing darker. But Jackson was one of the few. He continuedto urge on his men, and he sent his staff officers galloping back andforth 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 closeddown utterly to plant himself so firmly against the very center of theUnion army that Hooker's complete defeat in the morning would be sure.
The bugles sang the charge again all along the Southern line, and inthe dying twilight, lit by the flame of cannon and rifles, they sweptforward, driving all resistance before them.
It was one of the most appalling moments in the history of a nationwhich 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 forthe extraordinary combination that faced him, two men of genius workingin perfect harmony, had been sitting with two of his staff officerson the portico of the Chancellor House. He was serene and confident.He knew the courage of his soldiers and their numbers. The cannonade inhis front had died down. He was a full-faced man, ruddy and sta
lwart,and with his powerful army of veterans he felt equal to anything.There was nothing to indicate that the Southern army was not in fullretreat, as he had stated in his dispatch earlier in the day. Thethought of Jackson had passed out of his mind for the time, because hislong columns, he was sure, were marching farther and farther away.
Hooker, as the cool of the later afternoon, so pleasant after the heatof the day, came on, felt an increase of satisfaction. All his greatforces would be massed in the morning. Now and then he heard in theeast the far sound of cannon like muttering thunder on the horizon,but after a while it ceased entirely. He heard that distant thunder inthe south, too, but it passed farther and farther away, and he felt surethat it came from his valiant guns hanging on the rear guard of theretreating Jackson.
One wonders what must be the feelings of a man who, sitting in apparentsecurity, is suddenly plunged into a terrible pit. Commanders lessable than Hooker have had better luck. What had he to fear? With onehundred and thirty thousand veterans of the Army of the Potomac withincall, almost any other general in his place would have felt a likesecurity. But he had not fathomed fully the daring and skill of the twomen who confronted him.
It is related that on the approach of that memorable evening there was aremarkable peace and quiet at the Chancellor House itself. Hooker wasconversing quietly with his aides. Officers inside the house werecopying orders. The distant mutter of the guns that came now and thenwas harmonious and rather soothing. The east was already darkening andit seemed that a quiet sun would set over the Wilderness.
The cannonade in the south seemed to pass into a new direction, butthe officers at the Chancellor House did not give it much attention.Hooker was still quiet and confident. Suddenly a terrific crash ofcannon fire came from a point in the northwest. It was followed byanother and then others, so swiftly that they merged. It never ceasedfor an instant and it rapidly rolled nearer. Hooker and his officersleaped to their feet and gazed appalled at the forest whence came thoseominous sounds. An officer ran upon the plank road and took a lookthrough 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 withthem news that did not suffer in the telling, either in magnitude orcolor. Stonewall Jackson and the bulk of the rebel army had suddenlyfallen on their wing, they said, and he and his men were hard upon theirheels. Hooker passed in a moment from the certainty of victory to thecertainty that his army must fight for its very existence. Yet he andhis generals showed presence of mind and great courage in the crisis,bringing forward troops rapidly and, above all, massing the superbartillery.
Harry Kenton, his horse shot under him, again was in the front line ofthe Southern troops that followed the mass of fugitives down the roadtoward the Chancellor House. In the mad rush he lost sight of Jacksonfor the time, and found himself mingled with the Invincibles. Both thecolonels were bleeding from slight wounds, but with fire equal to thatof any youth they were still at the head of their troops, leading themstraight toward the Union center.
Harry only had time to glance at his friends and receive their glancesin return, and then he found Jackson again. Catching one of theriderless horses, so numerous, he sprang upon him and rode close behindhis general, where Dalton, a slight bullet wound in the arm, had beenable to remain through all the confusion.
Now the Southern troops were crashing through the woods and bearingdown upon the Chancellor House. The blaze of the cannon and rifles litup the early night, and the crash and tumult around the place becameindescribable. Many a Northern officer thought that all was lost,but the trained artillerymen of the North never flinched. Occupyingan eminence, battery after battery was wheeled into line, until fiftycannon manned by the best gunners in the world were pouring an awfulfire upon the Southern front. Jackson's men were compelled to stop,and elsewhere the Southern line was halted also by the density of thethickets.
Yet it was but a lull. It was far into the night. Nevertheless,Jackson meant to push the battle. He rode among his troops andencouraged them for another effort. Everywhere he was received withtremendous cheers, and the men were willing and eager to push on theattack. Lee, his chief, meanwhile was closing in with the smallerforce. The whole line was reformed. Jackson cried to Hill and Laneand other generals to push on. The whole army was in line for a freshattack, and they could hear the sounds made by the enemy cutting downtimber and fortifying.
It was now nearly nine o'clock at night, and save for the fires thatburned here and there and the flash of the picket firing, the night thathung 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 theirnumbers in the attack, but the wounds of his own friends were notserious.
"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 manyof us attest!"
Bertrand, eager to see the enemy, was standing on a hillock, and he didnot seem to hear the words of his chief. A rifle cracked in the bushesand he fell back without a word. The arms of St. Clair received him andeased him gently to the earth. But Harry saw at a glance that the manand his fevered ambitions were gone forever. He was dead before hetouched 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 reallyliked him, but he went on and rejoined his general. Colonel Talbot wasright. Jackson was still intent upon pressing the attack. Night anddarkness were now nothing to him. He meant to achieve Hooker's ruin.
Harry always believed afterward that he felt the shadow of the greattragedy soon to come. The roar of the cannon had died down, but fromevery direction came the firing of scattered riflemen, skirmishers andpickets. They buzzed like angry bees, and no man on the front of eitherarmy was safe from their sting. But all through the Wilderness alongthe line of Jackson's charge the dead and wounded lay. Here and thereclumps of fallen and dead wood of the winter before, set on fire by theshells, were burning slowly. The smoke from so much firing drifted invast banks of vapor through the forest. The air was filled with bitterodors.
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 oneanother in such deadly combat. Now night did not suffice to stop thetitanic struggle. He saw all around him the regiments ready for a newattack, and he plainly heard in front of him the thud of axes as theNorthern men cut down trees for their defense. Now and then straymoonbeams, penetrating the forest and the smoke, fell over them likediscs of burnished silver, but faded quickly.
The firing of the skirmishers increased. Twigs and leaves cut off bythe bullets fell in little showers to the earth. Harry, on horsebacknow, saw an impatient look pass over the general's face. The intrepidfighter, A. P. Hill, was coming up fast, but not fast enough forStonewall Jackson. He turned and rode back toward him, careless of thedanger from the Northern skirmishers, who might at any moment see him.
"General," said one of his staff in protest, "don't expose yourself somuch."
"There is no danger," said the general quickly. "The enemy is routedand we must push him hard. Hurry to General Hill and tell him to pressforward."
The little group of men, Jackson and his staff, rode on. It was verydark where they were, in the shade of the stunted forest. No moonlightreached them there. Jackson paused, listening to the rising fire ofthe skirmishers. A rifle suddenly flashed in the thickets before them.Northern troops, lost in the bush and the darkness, were coming directlytheir 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 horsemencoming down upon them, thought they were about to be attacked, and anofficer gave an order to fire. He was obeyed at once, and the mostcostly volley fired by Southern troops in the whole war sent the deadlybullets whistling into Jackson's group.
Officers and horses fell, shot down by their own men. Jackson wasstruck 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 LittleSorrel, broke violently away, rushing through the woods toward theNorthern lines. A bough struck Jackson in the face and he reeled in thesaddle. But with a violent effort he righted himself, seized the bridlein his stricken right hand, and turned back his frightened horse.
Harry had sat still in his saddle, petrified with horror. Then he urgedforward his horse and tried to reach his general, but another aide,Captain Wilbourn, was before him. Wilbourn seized the reins of LittleSorrel and then Harry felt the thrill of horror again as he saw Jacksonreel forward and fall. But he was caught in the arms of the faithfulWilbourn.
They laid Jackson on the ground, and a courier was sent in haste for hispersonal physician, Dr. McGuire. Harry sprang down, and abandoning hishorse, which he never saw again, knelt beside his general. Wilbournwith a penknife was cutting the sleeve from the shattered arm.
The whole battle passed away for Harry. Death was in his heart at thatmoment. When he looked at the white, drawn face of Jackson and hisshattered 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 theNorth Carolinians, galloped up, sprang from his horse and helped to bindup the shattered arm.
"Are you much hurt, General?" he asked, his face distorted with griefand alarm.
"I fear so," was the reply, in a weak voice, "and I have suffered all mywounds from my own men. I think my right arm is broken."
Harry remained motionless. He saw Dalton by his side, and he also sawtears on his face. Jackson closed his eyes and uttered no word ofcomplaint, although it was obvious that he was suffering terribly.General Hill felt his pulse. He was rapidly growing weaker. Harry wasso stunned that he would not have known what to do, even had not seniorofficers been present. When his pulse began to beat again he remainedsilent, waiting upon his superiors.
But Harry was now alert and watchful again. He heard the heavy firingof the skirmishers on the right, on the left, and in front, and throughthe darkness he saw the flashes of flame. The little group around thefallen man was detached from the army and the enemy might come upon themat any moment. Even as he looked, two Union skirmishers came throughthe thicket and, pausing, their rifles in the hollows of their arms,looked intently at the shadowy figures before them, trying to discernwho 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 sprangforward and seized the soldiers before they had time to resist. Theywere given to orderlies and sent to the rear. Harry and Dalton returnedto the side of their fallen general. While all stood there trying todecide what to do, an aide who had gone down the road reported that abattery 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 tospeak, although he opened his eyes once, and, as ever, thoughtful of histroops and the cause for which he fought, said.
"Tell them it's only a wounded Confederate soldier whom you arecarrying."
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 crowdingaround, supported him. Thus aided he walked among the trees until theycame to the road. It was as dark as ever, save for the flash of thefiring 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 ifthe end of the world had come. The darkness, the flash of the rifles,the mutter of cannon, the blaze of gunpowder, the fierce shouts thatrose now and then in the thickets, the foul odors, made him think thatthey had truly reached the infernal regions.
The lieutenant, who saw the battery unlimbering, had not been deceivedby his imagination. Just as they entered the road it fired a terriblevolley of grape and shrapnel. Luckily in the darkness it fired high,and the little Southern group heard the deadly sleet crashing in thebushes 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 theirheads again. Whether Jackson was conscious of it Harry never knew.
It was one of the most terrible moments of Harry's life. He felt themost overwhelming grief, but every nerve, nevertheless, was sensitive tothe last degree. His first conviction that Jackson's wounds were mortalwas in abeyance for the moment. He might yet recover and lead hisdauntless legions as of old to victory, and he, like the other youngofficers who lay around him, was resolved to save him with his own lifeif he could.
The deadly rain from the cannon did not cease. It swept over theirheads again and again, all the more fearful because of the darkness.Harry felt the twigs and leaves, cut from the bushes, falling on hisface. The whining of the grape and shrapnel and canister united in oneferocious note. Some of it struck in the roadway beyond them and fireflew from the stones.
The general revived a little after a while and tried to get up, but oneof 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 lapsedinto a stupor for a little space. Harry could not tell how long thatdreadful shrieking and whining over their heads continued. It was fiveminutes perhaps, but to him it seemed interminable. Presently themissiles gave forth a new note.
"They're using shells now," said Dalton, "because they're seeking alonger range, and they're going much higher over our heads than thecanister."
"And here are men approaching," said Harry. "I can make out theirfigures. 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 thedarkness, and the young officers who had been so ready to give theirlives for their hero lifted him to his feet. Not wishing to have theardor of his men quenched by the sight of his wounds, Jackson bade themtake him aside into the thick bushes. But Pender, the general who wasleading these troops, saw him and recognized him, despite the heavy veilof darkness and smoke.
Pender rushed to Jackson, betraying the greatest grief, and said thathe was afraid he must fall back before the tremendous artillery fire ofthe enemy. As he spoke, that fire increased. Shells and round shot,grape and canister and shrapnel shrieked through the air, and thebullets, too, were coming in thousands, whistling like hail driven bya 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 awayfrom those who were supporting him, and say:
"You must hold your ground, General Pender! You must hold out to thevery last, sir!"
Once more the eyes shot forth blue fire. Once more the unquenchablespirit had spoken. The figure reeled, and the young officers sprang tohis support. He wanted to lie down there and rest, but the youths wouldnot let him, because every form of missile hurled from a cannon's mouthwas crashing among them. A litter arrived now and they carried himtoward a house that had been use
d as a tavern. A shot struck one ofthe 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 wholeweight crashing upon his wounded arm. Harry heard him utter then hisfirst 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 ontoward midnight, the roar of the battle swelled afresh through theWilderness. They came presently to an ambulance, by the side of whichJackson's physician, Dr. McGuire, stood. The surgeon, tears in his eyes,bent over the general and asked him if he were badly hurt. Jacksonreplied that he thought he was dying.
An officer of high rank, Colonel Crutchfield, whom Jackson esteemedhighly, was already lying in the ambulance, wounded severely. Theyput Jackson beside him and drove slowly toward the rear. Once, whenCrutchfield groaned under the jolting of the ambulance, Jackson madethem stop until his comrade was easier. Then the mournful processionmoved on, while the battle roared and crashed about the lone ambulancethat bore the stricken idol of the Confederacy, Lee's right arm, the manwithout whom the South could not win. Harry heard long afterward that aminister in New Orleans used in his prayer some such words as these, "Oh,Lord, when Thou in Thy infinite wisdom didst decree that the SouthernConfederacy should fail, Thou hadst first to take away Thy servant,Stonewall Jackson."
Harry and Dalton might have followed the ambulance that carried Jacksonaway, as they were members of his staff, but they felt that their placewas on this dusky battlefield. While they paused, not knowing what todo, a body of men came through the brushwood and they recognized theupright and martial figures of Colonel Leonidas Talbot andLieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire. Just behind them were St. Clair,Langdon and the rest of the Invincibles. The two colonels turned andgazed 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 ColonelTalbot. "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 themind 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, shotdown 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 ofthe other."
The moonlight shone on Harry's face just then, and the colonel, as helooked at him, drew in his breath with a deep gasp.
"So bad as that!" he muttered. "I did not think our champion couldfall."
Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire, Langdon and St. Clair, who hadheard him, also turned pale, but were silent.
"We must not tell it," said Harry. "General Jackson did not wish it tobe known to the soldiers, and there is fighting yet to be done. Herecomes 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 afragment of shell, and was taken away. Then Stuart, the great horseman,rode up and led the troops to meet the return attack for which theNorthern forces were massing in their front. Harry saw Stuart as hecame, eager as always for battle, his plumed hat shining in the lightof 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 timeis it, Hector?"
"Nearly midnight, Leonidas."
"And no time for fighting, but fighting will be done. Can't you heartheir masses gathering in the wood?"
"I do, Hector. The Yankees, despite their terrible surprise, have showngreat spirit. It is not often that routed troops can turn and put onthe 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 thelifting of the smoke caused by a lull in the firing. But Harry wasright in his prediction. Within five minutes the Northern artillery,sixty massed guns, opened with a frightful crash. Once more that stormof steel swept through the woods, but now the lack of daylight helpedthe Southerners. Many were killed and wounded, but most of the rainof death passed over their heads, as they were all lying on the groundawaiting the charge, and the Northern gunners, not able to choose anytargets, fired in the general direction of the Southern force.
The cannon fire went on for several minutes, and then, with a mightyshout, the Northern force charged, but in a great confused struggle inthe woods and darkness it was beaten back, and soon after midnight thebattle for that day ceased.
Yet there was no rest for the troops. Stuart, appreciating the numbersof his enemy and fearing another attack, moved his forces to the sideto close up the gap between himself and Lee, in order that the Southernarmy should present a solid line for the new conflict that was sure tocome in the morning.
All that night the Wilderness gave forth the sound of preparations madeby 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 thatthe Union army had not yet been defeated. Hooker's right wing had beencrushed by the sudden and tremendous stroke of Jackson, but his centerhad rallied powerfully on Chancellorsville, and instead of a meredefense had been able to attack in the night battle. The fall ofJackson, too, had paralyzed for a time the Southern advance, and Lee,with the slender forces under his immediate eye, had not been able tomake any progress.
Harry and Dalton finally left the Invincibles and reported to GeneralStuart, 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. Wereport to you for duty."
"Then you'll be on mine for to-night. After that General Lee willdispose of you, but I have much for you both to do before morning."
Stuart was acting with the greatest energy and foresight, manning hisartillery and strengthening his whole line. But he knew that it wasnecessary to inform his commander-in-chief of all that was happening,in order that Lee in the morning might have the two portions of theSouthern army in perfect touch and under his complete command. Heselected Wilbourn to reach him, and Harry was detailed to accompany thatgallant 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 thefall of Jackson.
The two officers, saying but little, rode side by side through theWilderness. They were so much oppressed with grief that they did nothave the wish to talk. Both were devotedly attached to Jackson, andto both he was a hero, without fear and without reproach. They heardbehind them the occasional report of a rifle. But it was only a littlepicket firing. Most of the soldiers, worn out by such tremendousefforts, 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 themwhere Lee and his staff were encamped, and they rode on, still insilence, for some time. Harry's cheeks were touched by a fresheningbreeze 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 Ican see a faint touch of gray now over the eastern forest."
They were riding now through the force that had been left by GeneralLee. Soldiers lay all around them and in all positions, most to risesoon for the fresh battle, and some, as Harry could tell by theirrigidity, never to rise at all.
They asked again for Lee as they went on, and a sentinel directed themto a clump of p
ines. Wilbourn and Harry dismounted and walked toward anumber of sleeping forms under the pines. The figures, like those ofthe soldiers, were relaxed and as still as death. The dawn which Harryhas felt on his face did not appear to the eye. It was very dark underthe boughs of the pines, and they did not know which of the still formswas Lee.
Wilbourn asked one of the soldiers on guard for an officer, and Lee'sadjutant-general came forward. Wilbourn told him at once what hadoccurred, and while they talked briefly one of the figures under thepines arose. It was that of Lee, who, despite his stillness, wassleeping lightly, and whom the first few words had awakened. He putaside an oilcloth which some one had put over him to keep off themorning dew, and called:
"Who is there?"
"Messengers, sir, from General Jackson," replied Major Taylor, theAdjutant-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. Theother staff officers, aroused by the talk, sat up, but waited insilence. Captain Wilbourn began the story of the night, and Lee did notinterrupt him. But the first rays of the dawn were now stealing throughthe 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 whoseldom showed emotion, but now, as Wilbourn finished, he exclaimed withdeep 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 shorttime!"
Harry inferred from what he said that he did not think General Jackson'swounds serious, and he wished that he could have the same hope andbelief, but he could not. He had felt the truth from the first, thatJackson's wounds were mortal. Then Lee was silent so long that CaptainWilbourn 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 theirhorses skilfully through lines of soldiers yet sleeping. The fresheningtouch of dawn grew stronger on Harry's cheeks and he saw the band ofgray in the east broadening. Presently they reached their own corps,and now they saw all the troops ready and eager. Harry rode at oncewith Wilbourn to Stuart and fell in behind that singular but ablegeneral.
Harry saw that Stuart's face was flushed with excitement. His eyesfairly blazed. It had fallen to him to lead the great fighting corpswhich had been led so long by Stonewall Jackson, and it was enoughto appeal to the pride of any general. Nor had he shed any of thebrilliant plumage that he loved so well. The great plume in hisgold-corded hat lifted and fluttered in the wind as he galloped about.The broad sash of yellow silk still encircled his waist, and on hisheels were large golden spurs. Harry, as he followed him, heardhim singing to himself, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of theWilderness?" That line seemed to have taken possession of Stuart's mind.
All the staff and many of the soldiers along the battle front noted thedifference between their new commander and the one who had fallen sodisastrously in the night. There was never anything spectacular aboutJackson. In the soberest of uniforms, save once or twice, he would ridealong the battle front on his little sorrel horse, making no gestures.
It was not until the soldiers saw Stuart in the light that they knewof Jackson's fall. Then the news spread among them with astonishingrapidity, and while they liked Stuart, their hearts were with the greatleader who lay wounded behind them. But eagerness for revenge added totheir warlike zeal. Along the reformed lines ran a tremendous swellingcry: "Remember Jackson!"
They wheeled a little further to the right in order to come into closecontact with Lee, and then, as the first red touch of the dawn showed inthe Wilderness, the trumpets sounded the charge. The batteries blazedas they sent forth crashing volleys, and in a minute the thunder of gunscame from the east and south, where Lee also attacked as soon as heheard the sounds of his lieutenant's charge.
Nothing could withstand the terrible onset of the troops who were stillshouting "Remember Jackson!" and who were led on by a plumed knight outof the Middle Ages, shaking a great sabre and now singing at the top ofhis voice his favorite line, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of theWilderness?"
They swept away the skirmishers and seized the plateau of Hazel Grovewhich had been of such use to Hooker the night before, and the Southernbatteries, planted in strength upon it, rained death on the Northernranks. The veterans with Lee rushed forward with equal courage and fire,and from every point of the great curve cannon and rifles thundered onthe 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, wasgalloping 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 fullof fiery zeal, but it was the spirit of Jackson that urged them most.It seemed to Harry, excited and worshipping his hero, that the figureof Jackson, misty and almost impalpable, still rode before him.
But it was no mere triumphal march. They met stern and desperateresistance. It was American against American. Once more the superbNorthern batteries met those of the South with a fire as terrible astheir own. The Union gunners willingly exposed themselves to death tosave their army, and from their breastworks sixty thousand riflemensent vast sheets of bullets.
But the Northern leader was gone. As Hooker leaned against a pillar inthe portico of the Chancellor House a shell struck it over his head,the concussion being so violent that he was thrown to the floor, stunnedand severely injured. He was carried away, unconscious, but the braveand able generals under him still sustained the battle, and had nothought of yielding.
The Southern army, Lee and Stuart in unison, never ceased to push theattack. The forces were now drawing closer together. The lines wereshorter and deeper. The concentrated fire on both sides was appalling.Bushes and saplings fell in the Wilderness as if they had been levelledwith mighty axes.
Harry saw a vast bank of fire and smoke and then he saw shooting aboveit pyramids and spires of flame. The Chancellor House and all thebuildings near it, set on fire by the flames, were burning fiercely,springing up like torches to cast a lurid light over that scene of deathand destruction. Then the woods, despite their spring sap and greenness,caught fire under the showers of exploding shells, and their flamesspread along a broad front.
The defense made by the Union army was long and desperate. No men couldhave shown greater valor, but they had been surprised and from the firstthey had been outgeneralled. An important division of Hooker's army hadnot been able to get into the main battle. The genius of Lee gatheredall his men at the point of contact and the invisible figure of Jacksonstill rode at the head of his men.
For five hours the battle raged, and at last the repeated charges of theSouthern troops and the deadly fire of their artillery prevailed.
The Northern army, its breastworks carried by storm, was driven out ofChancellorsville and, defeated but not routed, began its slow and sullenretreat. Thirty thousand men killed or wounded attested the courage andendurance with which the two sides had fought.
The Army of the Potomac, defeated but defiant and never crushed bydefeat, continued its slow retreat to Fredericksburg, and for a littlespace the guns were silent in the Wilderness.
The men of Hooker, although surprised and outgeneralled, had shown greatcourage in battle, and after the defeat of Chancellorsville the retreatwas conducted with much skill. Lee had been intending to push anotherattack, but, as usual after the great battles of the Civil War,Chancellorsville was f
ollowed by a terrific storm. It burst over theWilderness in violence and fury.
The thunder was so loud and the lightning so vivid that it seemed for awhile as if another mighty combat were raging. Then the rain came in adeluge, and the hoofs of horses and the wheels of cannon sank so deep inthe spongy soil of the Wilderness that it became practically impossibleto move the army.
After a night of storm, Harry and Dalton rode forward with Sherburne andhis troop of cavalry, sent by Stuart to beat up the enemy and see whathe was doing. They found that Hooker's whole army had crossed the riverin the night on his bridges.
Twice the Northern army had been driven back across the Rappahannock atthe same place--after Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville--but Harryfelt 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 ofChancellorsville, and more like it, to have our General back."
By "our General" he of course meant Jackson, and both Sherburne andDalton nodded assent. The news had come to them that Jackson was notdoing well. His shattered arm had been amputated near the shoulder,and the report spread through the army that he was sinking. Just afterthe victory, Lee, with his wonted greatness of soul, had sent him anote 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 givethe praise to God."
The deep religious feeling was no affectation with him. It showed alikein victory and suffering. It was a part of the man's being, bred intoevery fiber of his bone and flesh.
As soon as the news of Hooker's escape across the Rappahannock had beentold, Harry and Dalton asked leave of Stuart to visit General Jackson.It was given at once. Stuart added, moreover, that he had merely takenthem on his staff while the battle lasted. They were now to return totheir own chief. But his heart warmed to them both and he said to themthat 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. Harrybegan to have a feeling that their victories were useless. After everytriumph the enemy was more numerous and powerful than ever. And thecloud of Jackson's condition hung heavy over both. When he was firststruck down in the Wilderness, Harry had felt no hope for him, and nowthat premonition was coming true.
They learned that he was in the Chandler House at a little place calledGuiney's Station, and they rode briskly toward it. They passed manytroops in camp, resting after their tremendous exertions, many of whomknew them to be officers of Jackson's staff. They were besieged bythese. Young soldiers fairly clung to their horses and demanded newsof Jackson, who, they had heard, was dying. Harry and Dalton returnedreplies as hopeful as they could make them, but their faces belied theirword. Gloom hung over the Southern army which had just won its mostbrilliant victory.
Harry and Dalton found the same gloom at the Chandler House. Theofficers who were there welcomed them in subdued tones, and in the houseeverybody moved silently. The general's wife and little daughter hadjust arrived from Richmond, and they were with him. But after a whilethe two young lieutenants were admitted. Jackson spoke a few words toboth, 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 scarcelyable to move, that the great Jackson was going.
They went out oppressed by grief, and sought the Invincibles, whom theyat last found encamped in an old orchard. Colonel Talbot andLieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire sat beneath an apple tree, and thechessboard was between them.
"They've been sitting there an hour," whispered Langdon, "but theyhaven't made a single move, nor will they make one if they stay thereall 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 itjust where he fell."
"I'm glad of that," said Harry.
Harry and Dalton lingered at the Chandler House with the staff to whichthey belonged. Three days passed and Sunday came. Jackson was sinkingall the while, and that morning the doctor informed his wife that he wasabout to die. Pneumonia had followed the weakness from his wounds andhis breathing had grown very faint. Mrs. Jackson herself told him thatall 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 indisjointed sentences of the army, of his battles, of his boyhood andof his friends. This lasted into the afternoon, when he sank intounconsciousness. Then came his death, and it was much like that ofNapoleon. He awoke suddenly from a deep stupor and cried out, in aclear voice:
"Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to thefront! Tell Major Hawks--"
He stopped, seemed to sink into a stupor again, but a little laterroused 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 passedinto 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.
The Star of Gettysburg: A Story of Southern High Tide Page 10
