The Sword of Antietam

s to Pennington who

e got 'em!" he cried

lf hour and then the trap will shut down so tight o

ered in the same way. The army showed no signs of moving. Was it possible that McClellan would not advance at once on Lee, whom the scouts had now located definitely? The hot afternoon ho

we sit here, twiddling our thumbs when t

ed officer, sir, and

any fights, and I know but little. Why do we sit still in th

r the brains to judge, to see and to command. The generals cannot win without the me

shoulders, as if it were n

t I'll say it for you. General McClellan has been overcome by

but said nothing. Dick was about to turn away

" said Serge

ck. "It's really good ol

rner who although thin and pale was as co

one of the doctors, 'in getting up and running away to the army to get killed? You could die much more comfortably here in bed.' 'Not at all,' I replied. 'I don't get killed when I'm with the army. I merely get ne

e the boys. They'll be glad to kn

gmatic than ever, but he opened his eyes wide when they

e been waiting for me," he

tern mountains, and the Army of the Potomac still rested in its camp, although privates even knew that precious hours we

s camp, Jackson and his generals were pushing forward with fiery energy and at dawn the next

an, chiefly for scouting purposes, and in the darkness the boy who had gone a little distance forward with Colo

"and the ridges and valleys are bringing us the echoes. Oh, why in Heaven's name are we delayed her

faint mutter of the guns among the hills. Before dawn, scouts came in, saying that there had been hard fighting off toward Harper's Ferry, and that Lee with the other division of the

the news. "Many of Banks' veterans of the valley are there, and, our

didn't come here merely to go into camp. I

ance of the troops. They had delayed, but they would get Lee yet. There was nothing to tell them that Harper's Ferry had fallen, and Jackson's force must still be detained there far

than twenty thousand men with him, although McClellan insisted on doubling or tripling his numbers and those of Jackson. Scouts and skirmishers came in fast

strong attachment, and he could not keep down the thought that they would now be able to trap Lee and end the war. The ter

was not so great now. A pleasant breeze blew from the distant western mountains and cooled the faces of the soldiers. The co

he were the dead come back. He was in time, too, for the great battle which was to end the war. The cool wind that blew upon his face tingled with life and made hi

hey heard anything direc

taken the place yet. Why should he? We have there twelve or thirteen thousand good men, mo

Confederate gentlemen. I've made a close calculation, Dick, and I figure that the ch

gton. "We've lost a whole day, one of the m

so much that if I could only lie down and rest for a week or two I'd be the happiest fellow on earth. But it became awful as I lay there, day after day. I had suddenly left the world. All the great events were going on without me. North or South might win, while I lay stretched on a hospital b

growing gushy. But they understood that he

it should be ripped up by war. Listen, boys, there's

ere scattered widely, and the fateful Orders No. 191 might cause their total destruction, but they were on guard, nevertheless. Jackson, foreseeing the po

d with more precision, clearness and brilliancy. He would not only do his own task, but he would help his chief while doing it. When McClellan began his m

k with forest rose, they saw smoke and flashes of fire. A young Maryland cavalry officer, riding near, explained to them tha

way," said Warner to Dick. "What can it mean

proached Colonel Winchester. His face was worn and drawn, and he was black under the eyes. His clothes were c

t taken, but I think it will fall. But Hill, McLaws and Longstreet are all in this pass or the other which le

ster's eyes sparkling and he knew he was anxious to be in the thick of it. Other an

g and shrieking. Once more the Winchester regiment, as it had come to be called, was smitten with a bitter and deadly hail. Men fel

o his men to come on, and he charged with the rest. The fire became so hot that the vanguard could not live in it witho

made for a great rock which he saw on one side just within the mouth of the pass. His frighten

urging him to do something, he finished his dash for the rock, throwing himself down behind it just as a half

captured at the Second Manassas, and which some of the younger officers had been allow

le the perspiration rolled from his face and his hair prickled at the roots. He coul

ent had fallen back, and that, in truth, the entire advance had s

cannon and masses of gray infantry. Gathered on a comparatively level spot was a troop of cavalry. He saw all the signs of a desperate defen

arm about himself. He lay almost midway between the hostile fo

defense. Each was feeling out the other with cannon, but every missile passed well over his head, and he did not tak

brush and at any moment one of them might pick him off. The Confederate force seemed to incline to the side of the valley, opposite the s

on sun began to send down upon him direct rays that burned. He wondered how long it would be until the Union brigades came. It seemed to him tha

a little cry he dropped back, a fine gray powder stinging his face. A rifle had been fired across the valley and a bu

point behind a stone just like his own on the other side of the valley. It was eno

body, merely seeking a chance to escape, when this ruthless rebel had seen him. He became in his turn hot and fiercely ready to give bullet for bu

ck as a flash. The return shot came at once, and chipped the rock as before, but he dropped back unhurt, and peeping from the side he cou

e, their lines extending far to the left and right, with several batteries showing at intervals. Then came the re

ge gathering themselves for a new attack. Within the pass preparations were going on to repel it a second time. Then he glanced toward the opposite

while he watched charge and repulse, and he expected to be treated with the same consider

head and surcharged his brain. A thousand little pulses that he had never heard of before began

k and watched. There was a great deal of covering smoke from the artil

quickly flattening himself down behind a little ridge of stone that he saved his life. The sharpshooter's b

of defiance he fired at the top of the other stone and saw the gray dust shoot up from it. Quick came the answering shot, and a litt

ed back. The Union army was advancing in great force now, its front tipped with a long line of bayonets and the mouths of fifty canno

ss and hold the mouth of it. Already a mighty cannonade was pouring a storm of death over the heads of the skirmi

uld not remain much longer behind the rock, as he would soon be

that his comrades would soon be at hand, driving everything before them. But his eyes were for that big rock on the other side of the valley. Now was his time fo

t upon his heart. Then he dropped the weapon with a cry of horror. Across the valley and through t

o voice could have been heard at the distance-and then they disappeared in the smoke, each returning to his ow

d. The defense had the advantage of the narrow pass and the rocky slopes, and numbers could not be put to the most account. Never

come upon the field in time, and when darkness fell the Southern troops still held their ground there. But later

felt that a great success had been gained. McClellan had been slow to marc

ant. Early the next morning he reported to his superior at Washington that the enemy w

c, but just about the time McClellan was writing his dispatch, the white flag was hoisted at Harper's Ferry, the w