The Star of Gettysburg

rning it had six. The regiment that had crossed held the right bank of the river, th

ped in a pair of heavy blankets, but as he wakened from time to time he heard little from the river. There were no sounds to indicate that great stream

glimpses of the river, the color of steel again, but the farther bank, where the great army of the foe yet lay, was buried in darkness. He wondered why Burnside was n

stab of an icicle. He was glad that he had a pair of blankets and that they were heavy ones, too. But he did not ask anything more. It was remarkable

he walked to the edge of the slope and stared once more toward the river and the Union camp

see, George?"

and Jackson don't merely fight. Plenty of generals are good fighters, but our leaders measure and weigh the generals who a

since Burnside is not crossing to-n

am, and they've been reading his mind all the time he's been sitting here on the banks of the Rappahannock. They knew

rse the

son had overwhelmed the imaginations of both. In their minds all things seemed po

e. A fair moon and clusters of modest stars furnished some light. The general was gazing toward Stafford Heights, tapping his

voice of uncommon gentlen

iver and the dark shore

to-morrow, and they say

l recross the Rappahannock a

ecause he saw that Jac

ly. "I see it throughout the army, and

them also. His whole soul seemed to be absorbed in the searching examination that he was making of the river and the opposite shore. Harry and Dalton watched

now, but toward morning th

ton, "but what do we care? They'll be protected by it as they advance on the br

of the sun over there trying to break through, but as th

ning to cross the river. When the dawn finally came many regiments were already over and the wheels of the heavy cannon were thundering on the bridges. But

"They come in thousands and thousands, regiments, brigades and whole divisi

y. But we're eighty thousand strong, just sitting here on the heights and waiting. Harry, they'll cros

ad it was the boding tone of an old prophe

uick music of many bands, playing the Northern brigades on to death. Then the fog lifted again, and along the heights ran the

heard again the bands playing, and from the grea

" said Dalton, "and this is the

ancing columns as they crossed the river looked almost solid. He knew that men must be falling, dead or wounded, be

r, but the men don't when once they get the word. What a tremendous and thrilling sight! It may be wi

l that you're at the heart of the biggest thi

eard distinctly the sounds made by scores of thousands of men marching, that measured tread of countless feet, the beat of hoofs, the rumbling of cannon wheels over roads now frozen hard, and the musi

eover, by the slope up which the Union troops would have to come, if they got near enough. Fourteen guns, guarded by two regiments, were on Prospect H

fifty thousand more. Lee himself, directing the whole, rode along the lines on his white horse, and whenever the m

Harry thought once that he caught a gleam from the blue eye as he spoke a word or two with Jackson and went on. As he passed near them, Harry, Dalton and all the

pped his head and nuzzled under some leaves for a few blades of sheltered grass that had escaped the winter. But the general took no notice. He

as made any change in his lines. It is important that ou

zement. The gorgeous uniform that Stuart had sent him, worn only once before, and which they had thought discarded forever, had been put on again. The old slouch

gazed at him, many of them not even knowing him. Jackson flushed and looked down apologetically at the rich cloth and gold braid he

inflicting punishment, his soldiers always regarded him as one of themselves, the best man among them, one fitted by nature to lead democratic equals. After the cheers

glittered through the fog itself, was waiting restlessly. But he had not changed any part of his line. Every

aimed eagerly. "Does General

nted me to ride down the line and report to him on the spirit of the soldiers

shook his long yellow hair a

from galloping into the battle, and my feelings are with them. Yet we'll

y one of their generals save Burnside himself knew that it was a hopeless task. In all the mighty events of the war that Harry witnessed

and rode on. With the lifting of the fog the Southern guns were again sending shot and sell into the blue masses. Then, from the other side of the river, the great Union batteries left on Stafford Heights began to

taff as they rode toward the center of the Southern line. Harry did not know their errand, but he surmised that they were to meet General Lee for the final conference. The general said no word, but rode s

ees or the earth. They alarmed him more than the huge cannon thundering away from the other side of the river. But the fog, alt

rning General Lee, mounted on his white horse, was upon its crest awaiting his generals, to give them his last instructions. Longstreet was already there,

ts no one said anything. Harry always believed that the veteran generals were moved as he was by the sight be

rmy which looked somber black in the misty dawn now looked blue in the brilliant sun. The stars and stripes, the most beautiful flag in the world, waved in hundreds over their heads. The bands were still playing, and the great batteries which they had left on Stafford He

t were able to take good aim. The storm of shot and shell from Stafford Heights was frightful. It seemed to Harry-again his imagination was alive-that the very air was darkened

rse steadily, looked long

l Jackson, "doesn't that myr

see whether we shall frigh

son, as Harry noted, showing not the least excitement, although the resolute Union general, Franklin, with

oving forward, still in perfect array. But there was something wanting in that huge army. It was the lack of a great animatin

to be the Meade of Gettysburg, and less than five thousand strong they advanced against Jackson. Har

the Pennsylvanians drove Pelham out of action, although he held the whole force at bay for half an hour. In his retreat he lost one of his own guns, and then Franklin brought up more batterie

heads. A shower of twigs and boughs fell on them, but so long as they stayed close the great artillery fire created terro

d so few men against us. Harry, when I look down at those brigades of Yankees I think

doomed,"

the Union advance. A Northern sharpshooter suddenly rose out of high weeds, not far in front, and fired d

to the rear. You

iety. He had seen the sudden uprising of the Northern skirmisher in the weeds and the flame from the muzzle. The man might

t running among the weeds. The sharpshooter would reload and fire up

ated into the plain. General Jackson walked on calmly, inspecting the whole Northern advance, and then returning took up h

had deemed himself unequal to the task, was now proving the correctness of his own intuitions. He had taken up his headquarters in a fine colonial residence on one of the highest points of

annock in the face of an able and daring foe, were bound to win. He swept every point of the field with his glasses, and from his elevated position he and his officers could

advance more boldly to a superhuman task. He saw the gallant advance of the Pennsylvanians and he saw them drive off Pelham.

nd him. Jackson no longer used his glasses, as Burnside was doing. Meade and his Pennsylvanians were coming close to him now. The

much longer,

We'll unmask mighty soon. How far awa

thousan

they come within a half mile Old Jack will

t least, Jackson was fighting the battle alone. Longstreet was forgotten, and even Lee, for a space, remained unremembered. They

who had a wonderful eye for distance, "an

e of himself, in spite of all the hard usage of war through which he had been, Harry shuddered. He did not hate any of those men out there who were coming toward them so boldly; no, there was not in all th

red yards,"

suddenly pushing forward from the forest, poured a storm of steel upon the devoted Pennsylvanians. Harry felt t

te line, and their hearts sank within them like lead. Alarmed as they had been before, they were in consternation now. Som

n crept forward in the woods, and now their bullets in sheets were crashing into the hostile ranks. The Union division commander hurried up reinforcements, and the Pennsylvanians, despite their frightful losses and shattered ranks, still held fast. But the Southern batteries never ceased for a moment to pour upon t

he heard now the roar of the battle in the center, where the stalwart Longstreet was holding Marye's Hill and the adjacent heights. A mighty

gstreet received the enemy. The hill and all the ridges about it seemed to be in one red blaze, and every few minutes the triumphant rebel yell, something like the Indian war-whoop

eir dead, the Union batteries on Stafford Heights reopened, firing again over the heads of the men in blue. The Southern batteries, weaker and less numerous, replied with all their

on the field of battle, rallied shattered brigades and led them forward in person to new attacks. Hooker, who had shown such courage at Antietam, equally brave on this occasion, rushed forward with his men at another point. Franklin, Sumner, Do

cess. He still stood on Prospect Hill with his staff, which Harry had rejoined. The forest and vast clouds of smoke hid from his view the battle, save in

ard the messenger,

s it?"

and he directed me to say to you that unless help is sent,

nd composure in the face of disaster alw

nd tell him that the division of Early and

e checked himself, put his field glasses back to his eyes, and continued

, and nobody had come up to support them. They were much scattered, and as their officers were seeking to gather them together the men in gray fell upon them in overpowering force and drove them back in broken fragments. Wild with triumph, the Southern riflemen rushed after them and also hurl

oops suffering terrible losses. The watchers on the Phillips porch on the ot

th undiminished ferocity. Marye's Hill was a formidable position and along its slope ran a heavy stone

ged again and again up those awful slopes, and again and again they were hurled back. The top of the hill was a leaping mass of flame and the s

the slopes were strewn with many thousands of their dead and wounded, including officers of all ranks, fro

d to lead them to a new attack. Hooker, talking with Hancock, saw that it merely meant another slaughter, and sent such word to his commander-in-chief. But Burnside would not be mov

ing from his horse, and rushing to Burnside; the commander-in-chief striding up and down, looking toward Marye's Hill, enveloped in smoke, and rep

ng the words perhaps, but not the sense. The gallant but unfortunate man had not wanted to be commander-in-chief, for

ing mists in the east were showing that the short winter day would soon draw to a close. He planted his batteries and opened a heavy fire, in

hen rushed up the slopes. The volume of fire poured upon them was unequalled until Pickett led the matchless charge

ough which no human beings could pass. They came near to the stone wall, but as their lines were now melting away like snow before the sun, they were co

the battle was won and that it had been won more easily than any of the other great battles that he had seen. He wondered what

tillery seemed to Harry to go mad. The thirty guns of the heaviest weight that had been left on Stafford Heights, and which had ceased firing on

with him upon Jackson's front and swept all the woods and ridges everywhere. The Union army was beaten because it had undertaken the impossible, but despite its immense losses

much valor, crept back under the shelter of that thundering line of fire. It had much to regret, but nothing of which to be ashamed. Sent against positions impregnable when held by such men as Lee, Jackson an

ac preserved its order, it had lost no guns, the brigadiers and the major-generals were full of courage, and it was too formidable to be attacked. Three hundred cannon of the first class

ith Jackson, and the two, going toward the left, met Longstreet, with whom they also talked. Then they separated and Jackson returned to his own position. Harry, who had follow

ss sank down over the field the appalling fire of the Union artillery ceased. Thirteen thous

m believed that another battle would be fought on the morrow. Harry, however, was not

but we cannot destroy him, because he will escape

so great a victory with so little loss. Harry, sent on a message beyond Deep Run, found the Invincibles cooking their supp

ory, Harry,"

d straight into our trap. But I have learned this day to have a deep respect for the valor of the Yankees. The way they char

idas," said Lieutenant-Colonel Hec

to his own headquarters. Both armies, making ready for battle to-morrow, if it should come, slept o

Jackson's tent, awaiting possible orders. Jackson knew that Burnside, with a hundred thousand men yet in li

Harry nor Dalton knew anything of Burnside's plans. They were merely waiting for any errand upon which Jackson should choose to send them. Sev

n a cane-bottomed chair, and he wrote by the light of a single candle. His clothing was all awry and he had tossed away the gold-braided cap. His

elsewhere, were awakened by turns, and willing thousands strengthened the Southern position. More and deeper trenches were constructed. New abatis wer

and slept about three hours. Then he aroused himself, lighted his candle and wrote an hour longer. Then he

the enemy was lighting his fires on the plain below. The dead lay where they had fallen, and no help had yet been given to those wounded too seriously to move. It had been a tremendou

appahannock, made Harry shiver at their touch. In the hollows of the ridges, which the wintry sun seldom reached, great masses of ice

ate its food and waited for the enemy. Before it was yet light Harry, on a message to Stuart, rode to the top of Prospect Hill with him, and, as they sat there on their

r bone, and their courage must be admired. The Army of the Potomac, too, was learning to fight without able chiefs. The you

he isn't dead, by any mea

reat deal,"

tified on the plain, would not come out of its intrenchments, and the Southern soldiers also stuck to theirs. Burnside, w

ey of the Rappahannock. Many of the Southern pickets were driven to shelter. While the whole Southern army sought protection from the deluge, the Army of the Potomac, still a hundred thousand strong, and carrying all its guns, marched in perfect order

resolute and defiant, gathered themselves