The Star of Gettysburg

st. There was a low call for Sherburne, and the great cavalry leader and his most daring horsemen were soon up and away. Harry and Dalton, st

ills, but the music of the band in the ballroom did not cease. It was the Acadians who were playing now, some strange old

ry, "but I'm thinking it will b

aid Dalton. "What

here comes Colonel Talbot and

-making were gone from their faces. They stood side by side and with military glasses were sweeping the horizon

" said Col

s staff ride away, because a messenger had come, stating that d

r there than they were a half hour ago. But you two lads will return to General Jackson before dawn,

others almost as conspicuous was soon noted, and although those who knew gave various excuses, they were not satisfactory. Gradually the belief spread that the long vacation

out, and the heroes of the ballroom, veterans of the battlefield, too, went quietly to their commands once more. The y

the Wilderness, where we'll be holding

White House with my boots on," said Ha

way to join the two colonels, leavi

aid the young Louisi

've met you, de Langeais, and I hope you'll be equally glad you've met us

ride to be taken into your company. My command is se

as he spoke. Then he leaped lig

. "And now come, George, the sooner we get back to O

can cross?" asked Dalton,

hen we had twenty thousand more men than we have now, and the Union army had twenty thousand less? Their line is so long and they are so much superior in numbers that we

gone to the ball were already eating breakfast. They said that the general had been awake more than two hours and that he was

a book that the youth knew well. It was a copy of Napoleon's Maxims, which Jackson invariably carried with him and read often. But he closed it quickly and put it in his po

sage that the enemy was advancing? Was anything more a

. I remained at the ball until its close. No othe

ng lieutenant. "One message was enough. Stuart has acted promptly, as h

ll of i

kind of dancing. But nothing will happen to-day. You'

ing the volume again. The brow was seamed with thought, but his countenance was grave and steady. Harry never

r without taking off his clothes and went quietly to sleep. Many came into the tent or went out of it in the course of the morning, but non

nd two other officers, their horses splashed with mud, rode up to the hunting lodge

el

eyes. General Stuart asked me to tell you this. He did not come himself, because, as well as we can ascertain, General Hook

great numbers and powerful artillery. Ride back to General Stuart, Cap

ion, took off his cap and bowed. But he

great force. Hooker, like Burnside four months before, was favored by thick fogs, but he met with practically no resistance

yet lifted, but the main force had made no movement. Dalton had been sent at dawn with a message telling Lee

I heard firing not long since, and I had concluded that it was about time for some of you young idlers to come and tell me what it was all about. Go back to General Jackson, Mr. Dalton, and tell him that I send him no orders now. He knows as well what to do in th

he was neither dilatory nor afraid. He and his comrades saw the corps of Sedgwick entrenching on the Confederate side of the river, a

re waiting to see what their enemy, who was displaying unusual energy, would do. In the evening they received news that

e more Union corps led by Meade, Slocum and Howard, all famous names, had crossed the river and were advancing toward a little place called Chancel

and splendid troops, had gone behind Lee and now three divisions were united in the forest close to Chancellorsville. Sedgwick, with h

y, surrounded by overwhelming numbers, was about to be crushed. The exultation of Hooker at the success of his

ons of the last three days have determined that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out f

retreat. Besides, there were reserves, and he could also join to the artillery the great batteries on Stafford Heights, on the left bank of the river, which had done such good service for the Army of the Potomac. He could go in

, but yet they were only human beings. Had the time come when there was more to be done than any men, great and brilliant as they migh

r that he had yet known. The forests and the fields were flush with the green of early spring. Little wild flowers we

o. Sometimes he did not see the men around him, but saw instead Pendleton, the boys playing in the fields, and his father. He also saw again that log house in the Kentucky mountains, and the old, old woman who had known his great-

her now, and she was strangely vivid for one so old and so withered. Then she vanished, and for the time was forgotten completely, because Lee and Jackson were riding past, one on Traveler

or of the ballroom or the field of battle, was leading his troopers in a daring circuit. When he saw that the Army of the Potomac was moving toward Chancellorsville he h

y that his army must make a supreme effort or perish. General Jackson did not call upon him to do anything, and once he rode forward with Dalton and looked at Sedgwick's Union masses upon the plains of Fredericksburg, stil

e of Hooker's officers looked upon the Southern intrenchments. Hooker also had signalmen on every height, and an ample field telegraph. What Harry did n

had sent word to Sedgwick to keep a close watch upon the enemy in his front, and if he exposed a weak point

ew that they would be far busier on the morrow. The bands of red and yellow left by the sun sank away, and as the cool, spring night came down, a pleasan

m was keyed too highly for such thoughts to enter his mind. He was used to great battles now, but there

somewhere in those shades and thickets, preparing for desperate combat. Harry knew that just back of them lay the Wilderness, a desolate and somber region.

his army," said Dalton. "He is in our rear ready to attack wi

Fredericksburg. They will go for Hooker. They will strik

e'll be marching against Ho

ed Hooker. He was as silent as ever, the figure bent forward a little and the brow knitted with thought. Close behind him came his staff, Harry and Dalton knee to knee. They had known a

be good. It was a long ride under the moon and stars. There was but little talk along the lines. The noises were those of marching

clouds of vapor rolled over the ruins of Fredericksburg and along the hills south of the river. Neither Sedgwick and his men nor any of the Union officers on the other shore knew that Jackson had gone, lea

age. Here stood a large house, with the usual pillared porticoes, built long since by the Chancellor family and inhabited by them in their generation, but now turned into

battle in front of it in the open country, when for some reason never fully known he fel

destined to such a terrible fame not alone from the coming battle, but from others as great. Nature could have chosen

, in which most of the houses were the huts of charcoal burners. The undergrowth and jungle were often impenetrable, save by some lone hunter or wild animal. The gnarled and knotted oaks were distorted and the bushes,

oker, with forces so much superior, should draw back into its shades. And many of the Union generals, too, had protested in vain against

tuition, to Harry. "We'll carry the battle to them in

withdrawing farther into the Wilde

ew of them moving among the trees and thicke

ilderness, as sure as you and I are here. He i

ugles calling, and it's tim

llets, and now and then a man fell or, wounded, limped to the rear. There was no fog here and the day had become beautiful and brilliant, as became the first morning in May. The little white puffs of smoke arose all along the edges of the Wilderness, and, sailing above the trees an

ess, despising the dangers of ambush and the possibility that his foe might turn upon him in overwhelmin

uit of Hooker, who for some inscrutable reason was concentrating his masses about the Chancellor House for

only for a moment. The enemy far down the plank road held his attention. Many riflemen were there and they were sendi

for dignity and nobility, was nevertheless dense enough to shut out most of the sunlight.

and saw the Invincibles, few in number, but still preserving their regiment, marching in brave style along the plank road. Colonel Talbot and Lieut

vertheless both forces pushed resolutely onward. Harry had no idea what it all meant. The movements of Hooker were a mystery to

the forests and thickets, like Indians trailing in the Wilderness. They kept the two forces, the one on the plank roa

all the time that these were not supreme efforts. The opposing force seemed to be merely a curtain befor

pushed back the regulars in their turn. Harry watched the fighting most of the time, but at other times he watched his general's face. It was the usual impenetrable mask, but late in

ness, and now the advance of the Southern force became slower. It was obvious to Harry that Jackson, while resolute to follow H

y thick timber, and it's a natural presumption that Hooker will stop

continue to retreat before a force which his scouts had surely informed Hooker was far smaller, and only a portion of the Confederate ar

asses were toiling through the dense thickets of bushes and briars and creeping vines. The afternoon was g

s were checked by large forces in front, and fell back under the protection of their own infantry. On another path a stron

perturbable face of Jackson show annoyance. The general signed to his staff, and, galloping forward a hundred yards or so, joined Stuart, who was just in front. Stuart also showed ann

ust find some position from which we can open

road, and their place at the head of it, give them an immense advantage. Ah, si

pushed their way between the masses of thick undergrowth, bearing steadily toward the right. But the road w

he view. Nevertheless he caught the flash of heavy guns and saw many columns of smoke rising. It was toward their left now, and th

tion and pointed to a hillock. It was not necessary to say anyt

own among those Yankee gunners and

up, and it sent a shot toward the Union lines. The Union artillery, superb as always, marked the spot whence the shot

cannon were killed. One horse and one gunner fell dead across its wheels. Other horses, wounded and screaming with pain and fright, rushed into the dense undergrowth and we

e of wild confusion followed. Attempting to turn about and escape from that spot of death, the cannon crashed together. There was not room fo

re killed in a small flanking movement, when, as was obvious to everyone, a battle of the first magnitude was just before them. And yet, w

he two generals rode on, unharmed. Harry and Dalton br

left side," said Dalton, "it wo

y n

don't think it has gone back yet to its natura

e them. But doesn't it feel good, G

es and briars, I do hate to have a hundred-pound shell fired from an invisible gun burst s

ng out Hooker. I imagine we won't go much farther. Look how the night's dropping down. I'd hate t

ish I was as sure of Heaven as that. You'll have s

had retreated as far as he would go. When the fog cleared away in the morning the men in the captive balloons had informed him that heavy Southern columns were marching toward Chancellorsville. He was sure now that the full strength of the Southern army was before him,

ndreds and hundreds of pickets and riflemen on either side were keeping a vigilant watch. Jackson and his st

on the trodden undergrowth. The two colonels had preserved the neatness of their attire, and

Old Jack going to send us up agai

remembers, as even a thick-head like you, Happy, would remember, how the splend

n, why are

ur question, Tom, bu

Do you suppose for an instant that Lee and Jackson would br

"but General Lee isn't here. Ye

Traveler, a roar of cheers greeting him as he advanced. Behind him came new briga

at a respectful distance as the two men met and began to talk, glancing now