The Sword of Antietam

over everything, men, animals, wagons and tents. Dick Mason who had struggled so hard through a stor

t the same quiver and thrill, because they looked at him as if in inquiry. Colonel Winchester showed it, too. He said nothing, but gazed uneasily toward the Northern horizon. Dick found himself looking that w

ington, but Dick did not know. Far off toward the capital he saw dust cl

as on the verge of exhaustion. He was black under the eyes and the veins of his neck were distended. Dust covered him from head to foot. He threw himself on the ground and drank deeply from a canteen of cool water that

his lips, drew several long de

ow what I

r, Shepard, that it must be of great

head of half of Lee's army behind us

ble! How could

ked with their men. While they were amusing us here on the Rappahannock with their cannon, Jackson with the best of the army crossed the river highe

ou must be

right there. You ought to have seen the sight, Colonel, when those ragged rebels who had been living on green corn burst into our camp. I've heard about the Goths and Vandals coming down on Rome and it must have been something like it. They ate as I never saw anyb

l this to Ge

y own eyes. He was there at the head of thirty thousand men, and we've already lost stores worth millions and millions. Jeb Stuart was there, too. I saw him. And I saw Munford, who leads Jackson's cavalry since the death of Turner Ashby. Oh, they'll find out

epard spoke that his excitement had increased, but knowing the man'

r-in-chief will recognize what great risks you have run for the cause.

gh they were. He said that Jackson was behind them, that he had done the great destr

quickly recovered his customary self possession. Once more he was the iron-w

ot to go out and get a little food now

e truth of Shepard's news, and they looked northeast for

Warner to Dick, "but it's no re

as any in the world, and, from what we hear they haven't

s will only giv

eral Pope himself returned to his army and dispatch after dispatch arrived stating that J

why doesn't the general move on Jackson at once,

g for it,"

t's going to be don

rch of him. One portion of the army including Colonel Winchester's regiment turned off in the afternoon toward a place of a few houses called Warrenton. It lay over

rn upon him and annihilate him before Lee could come. But he was gone. They had looked upon the smoldering ruins of their great supply camp, but they had found there no trace of a Confederate soldier. Was Harry Kenton right, when he told t

sunshine. The country was well peopled, but all the inhabitants had disappeare

w that the whole forest was filled with troops, and he saw also two batteries galloping from it toward the crest of a r

lue. Now came from the forest a vast shout, the defiant rebel yell and nobody in the column doubted that Jackson was there. He h

nt and flanks. A cry as of anguish arose from the column and it reeled back, but the men, many of them hardy young farmers from the West, men of staunch stu

age and fierceness that was astounding. In a minute the woods and fields were filled with fire and smoke, and hissing shells and bullet

ey were only three or four score yards apart. Ewell, Jackson's ablest and most trusted lieutenant, fell wounded almost to death, an

on his head and springing from his own he pulled the half-stunned colonel to his feet. Both leaped aside just in time to avoid Dick's own falling

by a deep railroad cut and masses of felled timber. The combat redoubled in fury. Cannon and ri

ly pushed back by the weight of numbers, but then the night, the coming of which neither had noticed, swept down suddenly upon them,

fought a draw with superior numbers of the formidable Jackson. Dick, although exultant, was so much exhausted that he threw himself upon the ground and panted for breat

exclaimed Dick in surprise. "Di

re. Where's all the rest of our army? Scattered, while I'm certain that Jackson with twenty-five or thirt

idnight the whole force which had fought with so much heroism was withdraw

y of his dispatches had been captured by the hard-riding cavalry of Stuart. His own division commanders had lost touch with him. It was not possible for

nel Winchester toward Manassas. Could they never win a big victory in the east? The men were brave and tenacious. They had proved it

morning. Messengers were riding in the darkness in a zealous attempt to gather the forces together. There was yet abunda

ght a superior force of Jackson's own men to a standstill. He could never forget that. He cherished it and rolled it under

might even happen that McClellan with the Army of the Potomac would also come upon the field. And then! Lee and Jackson thought t

shness, Dick! Quit, I

d he gripped Dick's arm hard, whil

nued. "What do you find to laugh at? B

and then rubbed his

. I was thinking what would happen to the enemy if McClellan and

gh at a thing until it happens. You

gain, and the nervou

ice, George," he said. "D

ckson again. Dick, see all those moving lights to right and left of us. They're the brigades coming up in the night. Isn't

! I hear 'em on both sides of us, and behind us, and I've no doubt, too, that it's going on before us, where the Southern

itually was, had no words of rebuke for him now, because he, too, was affected in the same way. The fields and plains of Manassa

the railway station, and the Henry House, around which the battle had raged so fiercely. They would have won the victory then

himself was in the trap, and they would destroy him utterly. His admiration for the great Southern general had chan

and moved back, b

fee. I don't remember myself how long we've been in the saddle and how long

addle. He could not say at that moment, whether it had been one night or two. He ate and drank mechanica

y horizon in the east. Dick felt the touch of a

ad turned to silver Dick heard the faint and far thudding of great guns, and closer a heavy regular beat which he knew was the gall

undred and fifty thousand men were gathering for the combat, and Dick was still hoping that McClellan would come with seventy or eighty thousand more. But within the Confederate lines, where they must always win and never lose,

ng him again. The officers of the regiment remained on foot. Colonel Winchester had sent their horses away to some cav

the vivid and burning sunlight. Plain before them lay Jackson's army. Two of his regiments were between them and a turnpike that Dick remembered well. Off to the left ran the

was both deeper and longer than that of the South, and

t here?" Dick heard

d. Our line is two miles long now. We ought to wrap around Jackson and crush him to death. Listen to the bugle

two like prize fighters in the ring before closing in battle. Then they heard the order to charge and far up and dow

s who had been beaten by Jackson in the valley. There, too, was the brigade of Germans whom Jackson had beaten at Cross Keyes. Many of them were veterans of the sternest discipline known in Europe an

defense received the mighty charge without flinching. The wood now swarmed with riflemen and they filled the air with their bullets, so many of them that their passage was like the

cal sensation. He could see but little save that fearful blaze in their faces, and the cr

erced always in front by the blaze of fire, and by its flaming light Dick saw the long lines

en they could not go on and live. The Germans had longed for revenge, but they did not get it. The South Carolinians fell upon them at the edge of the wood

little more. One of the extraordinary features of this battle was dust. Trampled up from the dry fields by fighting men in scores of thousands it rose in vast floating clouds that permeated everything. It was even more persi

back! They had not crushed Jackson! He forgot all about Colonel Winchester, and his comrades Warner and Pennington. He forgot all about his own danger in this terrible reversal of his hopes, a

on was. The eighty thousand men of Pope were crowding forward to attack him, and the batteries were ga

troops under Kearney had arrived and were attacking the Southerners in the wood. He knew by the immense volume of fire coming f

nd his clothing flecked with blood. But he did not seem to

ck shouted, wh

t the new brigades coming into battle! See them

The front ranks of Longstreet were already in battle, and the most difficult and dangerous of all tasks was accomplished. Two armies coming from points widely divergent, but a

outhern general, A. P. Hill. Rifle fire gave way to bayonet charges by either side, and after swaying back and forth the Union men

gasped for breath, but he was not as much excited as he had been earlier in the day. Perhaps one can become har

were now pouring a deadly fire among the Southern troops who held the wood. They were men of the west and northwest, accustomed all their lives to the use of firearms, and

every point to his aid. So deadly was the fire of the sharpshooters that they regained the wood, driving out the Southerners who had exhausted their cartridges. Hill's division of the Co

od up for action once more he began to shout with the others in triumph. The roar of th

but we're breaking that trap all t

t win a victory," sa

of dust and fire and smoke it seemed for a while that the Union army in truth had shattered the trap. The men in gray were borne back by the courage and weight of their opponents. Hooker,

n in all the fury and turmoil of battle, amid a thousand conflicting reports and appalling confusion, have a

n his immediate front, where accumulating masses under Pope's own eye were gathering. On the other flank

ith the bayonet. Dick saw the massive line of glittering steel coming on at the double quick and he felt his regiment giving back. The men could not help it. Physically exhausted and with am

zed at Warner th

ybe they'll succeed off there to the left! Our own commander is the

t thundered a while longer, and then as night suddenly rushed over the field it, too, sank, l

he fury of conflict he had not noticed the gathering shadows in the west. The dimness around him, if he had t

tread of horses and the wheels of hundreds of cannon raised it in such quantities that it covered the forest

or the dying. Once more the ghosts of the year before walked the fatal field, but the ghosts of this year w

present darkness and rest. He and his comrades had thrown themselves upon the ground, and they f

bringing food and coffee. He saw a figure lying at his

," he said. "Y

ood as dead. You just let

hungry. Warner was already eating and drinking. Off to the left they still heard cannon and rifles, alth

panting, the air surcharged with menace and suspense. The vast clouds of dust, impregnated wit

t was no more than the buzzing of bees to them, and after a while they fell into the sleep of ner

full of confidence. Jackson's men, who had borne the brunt of the first day, rested upon their arms and awaited the dawn

among them, sanguine, full of hope, telegraphing to Washington that the ene

he heavy clouds of dust were not floating about, and Dick whose body had come to life again walked back and forth with his colonel, gazing through their glasses at the enemy. He scarcely noticed it, but Colonel Winchester's manner toward him had become paternal. The boy merel

correct in stating that one wing of the Southern a

quite sure, too, that we have the whole Confederate army in fr

hink the main a

t of us. But we have waited a lon

but I hear the trumpe

calling to

ng for a direct attack upon the Confederate lines. Twenty thousand men sto

marching to the attack and the resolute army awaiting it. Soon he heard behind him the firing of the artillery which sent shot and shell over the

not Colonel Winchester had been right after all, and the Confederates were crushed. Awaitin

ith steel. Still no reply. Surely the sixty thousand Union men would now march over everything. They were driving in th

speedy victory expressed on the faces of both. It seemed to him, too, that nothing could now sto

e crash and thunder of their covering artillery he heard another sound. It was the Southern

, and in truth it was a human avalanche, a far greater force of the South than they expected to meet there. Directl

o face," Dick heard C

vision, wave his saber over his head and shout the charge. A tremendous rolling cry came from

, reach and stand, horse and rider, a moment at the top, then both fall in a limp heap. The next instant the officer, not dead bu

hrown up earthworks at midnight and thousands of riflemen lying behind them sent in a fire at short range that caused

e on their front, but the men did not retreat far. The shrill trumpet called them back to the charge, and once more the blue masses hurled themselves upon the barrier of fire and steel, to break again,

ong afternoon drew on, the eye of Lee, watching every rising and falling wave of the battle, saw his chance. He drew his batteries together in great

to hear so often again. Through the clouds of smoke and dust he saw the long lines of Southern bayonets advancing

first. The genius of Lee and Jackson which bore up the Confederacy was triumphing once again. Dick shut his teeth in grim despair. He heard the triumphant shout

as always superior at the point of contact, and his exultant veterans pressed harder and harder upon their weakening

onfusion. Yet out of it some order finally emerged, and although the Union army was now driven back at every point it inflicted heavy losses upon its foe, and unde

pon the field of battle, lost to the North,

oming darkness they stopped the attack. Night heavier than usual came down over the field, covering with