The Little Regiment

an instant changed it to a thing of remnants. It resembled the place of a monstrous shaking of the earth itself. The windows, now mere unsightly holes, made the tumbled and blackened dwellings

heir happening into this caldron of battle. Furthermore, there was under foot a vast collection of odd things reminiscent of the charge, the fight, the retreat. There were boxes and barrels filled with earth, behind which riflemen

h had attacked many dwellings. The hard earthen sidewalks proclaimed the games that had been played there during long lazy days, in the careful, shadows of the trees. "General Merchandise,"

een, brushed like invisible wings the thoughts of the

n the streets. From time to time a sharp spatter of firing from far picket lines entered

erced house, was proclaiming the campaign badly man

scanning the group of his comrades,

on p

ess to go on picket. Why don't some of

acco, seated comfortably upon a horse-hair trunk which he

hat if his brother had been sent on picket it was an injustice. He ceased his argument when another soldier, upon wh

wer. Presently Dan said:

above them, and remarked casually to the man on the horse-hair trunk: "Funny, ain't it?

t his brother's back. "Gett

e white expanses, void of expression. There was considerable excitement a short distance from the group around the doorstep. A soldier had chanced upon a hoop-skirt, and

lie?" demanded Dan of the m

arose and walked away. When he returned he said briefly,

e crowd around the dancer, which in its hilarity swung this way and th

to their minds. They had learned to accept such puzzling situations as a consequence of their position in the ranks, and were now usually in possession of a simple but perfectly immovable faith that somebody understood the jumble. Even if they had been convinced that the army was a headless mons

rst"-"The Fifth"-"The Sixth"-"The Third"-the simple numerals rang with eloquence, each having a meaning which was to f

, an idolatry, a supreme confidence which apparently

rest in war. They could prove that their division was the best in the corps, and that their brigade was the best in the division. And their regiment-it wa

e, unnamed general to whose petulance and busy-body spiri

f the river. "Shucks," said Dan. "Why, we--" He pictured a splendid overflowing of these hills by the sea of men in blue. During the period of this conversation Dan's glance searched the me