Chapter XI. The Southern Attack

The Guns of Shiloh

by Joseph A. Altsheler

The excitement in the Union army was intense and joyous. The
cheers rolled like volleys among these farmer lads of the West.
Dick, Warner and Pennington stood up and shouted with the rest.

"I should judge that our chances of success have increased at
least fifty, yes sixty, per cent," said Warner. "As we have
remarked before, this control of the water is a mighty thing. We
fight the Johnnie Rebs for the land, but we have the water already.
Look at those gunboats, will you? Aren't they the sauciest little
things you ever saw?"

Once more the navy was showing, as it has always shown
throughout its career, its daring and brilliant qualities. Foote,
the commodore, although he had had no time to repair his four small
fighting boats after the encounter with Fort Henry, steamed straight
up the river and engaged the concentric fire from the great guns of
the Southern batteries, which opened upon him with a tremendous
crash. The boys watched the duel with amazement. They did not
believe that small vessels could live under such fire, but live they
did. Great columns of smoke floated over them and hid them at times
from the watchers, but when the smoke lifted a little or was split
apart by the shattering fire of the guns the black hulls of the
gunboats always reappeared, and now they were not more than three or
four hundred yards from Donelson.

"I take it that this is a coverin' fire," said Sergeant
Whitley, who stood by. "Four little vessels could not expect to
reduce such a powerful fortress as Donelson. It's not Fort Henry
that they're fightin' now."

"The chances are at least ninety-five per cent in favor of
your supposition," said Warner.

The sergeant's theory, in fact, was absolutely correct.
Further down the river the transports were unloading regiment after
regiment of fresh troops, and vast supplies of ammunition and
provisions. Soon five thousand men were formed in line and marched
to Grant's relief, while long lines of wagons brought up the stores
so badly needed. Now the stern and silent general was able to make
the investment complete, but the fiery little fleet did not cease to
push the attack.

There was a time when it seemed that the gunboats would be
able to pass the fortress and rake it from a point up the river.
Many of the guns in the water batteries had been silenced, but the
final achievement was too great for so small a force. The rudder of
one of Foote's gunboats was shot away, the wheel of another soon
went the same way, and both drifted helplessly down the stream. The
other two then retreated, and the fire of both fort and fleet
ceased.

But there was joy in the Union camp. The soldiers had an
abundance of food now, and soon the long ring of fires showed that
they were preparing it. Their forces had been increased a third,
and there was a fresh outburst of courage and vigor. But Grant
ordered no more attacks at present. After the men had eaten and
rested a little, picks and spades were swung along a line miles in
length. He was fortifying his own position, and it was evident to
his men that he meant to stay there until he won or was
destroyed.

Dick was conscious once more of a sanguine thrill. Like the
others, he felt the strong hand over him, and the certainty that
they were led with judgment and decision made him believe that all
things were possible. Yet the work of fortifying continued but a
little while. The men were exhausted by cold and fatigue, and were
compelled to lay down their tools. The fires were built anew, and
they hovered about them for shelter and rest.

The wan twilight showed the close of the wintry day, and with
the increasing chill a part of Dick's sanguine feeling departed.
The gallant little fleet, although it had brought fresh men and
supplies and had protected their landing, had been driven back. The
investment of the fort was complete only on one side of the river,
and steamers coming up the Cumberland from Nashville might yet take
off the garrison in safety. Then the work of the silent general,
all their hardship and fighting would be at least in part a failure.
The Vermont youth, who seemed to be always of the same temper,
neither very high nor very low, noticed his change of expression.

"Don't let your hopes decrease, Dick," he said. "Remember
that at least twenty per cent of the decline is due to the darkness
and inaction. In the morning, when the light comes once more, and
we're up and doing again, you'll get back all the twenty per cent
you're losing now."

"It's not to be all inaction with you boys tonight, even,"
said Colonel Winchester, who overheard his closing words. "I want
you three to go with me on a tour of inspection or rather scouting
duty. It may please you to know that it is the special wish of
General Grant. Aware that I had some knowledge of the country, he
has detailed me for the duty, and I choose you as my assistants.
I'm sure that the skill and danger such a task requires will make
you all the more eager for it."

The three youths responded quickly and with zeal, and Sergeant
Whitley, when he was chosen, too, nodded in silent gratitude. The
night was dark, overcast with clouds, and in an hour Colonel
Winchester with his four departed upon his perilous mission. He was
to secure information in regard to the Southern army, and to do that
they were to go very near the Southern lines, if not actually inside
them. Such an attempt would be hazardous in the extreme in the face
of a vigilant watch; but on the other hand they would be aided by
the fact that both North and South were of like blood and language.
Even more, many of those in the opposing camps came from the same
localities, and often were of kin.

Dick's regiment had been stationed at the southern end of the
line, near the little town of Dover, but they now advanced northward
and westward, marching for a long time along their inner line. It
was Colonel Winchester's intention to reach Hickman Creek, which
formed their northern barrier, creep in the fringe of bushes on its
banks, and then approach the fort.

When they reached the desired point the night was well
advanced, and yet dark with the somber clouds hanging over river and
fort and field of battle. The wind blew out of the northwest, sharp
and intensely cold. The snow crunched under their feet. But the
four had wrapped themselves in heavy overcoats, and they were so
engrossed in their mission that neither wind nor snow was anything
to them.

They passed along the bank of the creek, keeping well within
the shadow of the bushes, leaving behind them the last outpost of
the Union army, and then slowly drew near to the fort. They saw
before them many lights burning in the darkness, and at last they
discerned dim figures walking back and forth. Dick knew that these
were the Southern sentinels. The four went a little nearer, and then
crouched down in the snow among some low bushes.

Now they saw the Southern sentinels more distinctly. Some, in
fact, were silhouetted sharply as they passed before the Southern
fires. Northern sharpshooters could have crept up and picked off
many of them, as the Southern sharpshooters in turn might have
served many of the Northern watchers, but in this mighty war there
was little of such useless and merciless enterprise. The men soon
ceased to have personal animosity, and, in the nights between the
great battles, when the armies yet lay face to face, the hostile
pickets would often exchange gossip and tobacco. Even in a conflict
waged so long and with such desperation the essential kindliness of
human nature would assert itself.

The four, as they skirted the Southern line, noticed no signs
of further preparations by the Confederates. No men were throwing
up earthworks or digging trenches. As well as they could surmise,
the garrison, like the besieging army, was seeking shelter and rest,
and from this fact the keen mind of Colonel Arthur Winchester
divined that the defense was confused and headless.

Colonel Winchester knew most of the leaders within Donelson.
He knew that Pillow was not of a strong and decided nature. Nor was
Floyd, who would rank first, of great military capacity. Buckner
had talent and he had served gallantly in the Mexican War, but he
could not prevail over the others. The fame of Forrest, the
Tennessee mountaineer, was already spreading, but a cavalryman could
do little for the defense of a fort besieged by twenty thousand well
equipped men, led by a general of unexcelled resolution.

All that Colonel Winchester surmised was true. Inside the
fort confusion and doubt reigned. The fleeing garrison from Fort
Henry had brought exaggerated reports of Grant's army. Very few of
the thousands of young troops had ever been in battle before. They,
too, suffered though in a less degree from cold and fatigue, but
many were wounded. Pillow and Floyd, who had just arrived with his
troops, talked of one thing and then another. Floyd, who might have
sent word to his valiant and able chief, Johnston, did not take the
trouble or forgot to inform him of his position. Buckner wanted to
attack Grant the next morning with the full Southern strength, and a
comrade of his on old battlefields, Colonel George Kenton, seconded
him ably. The black- bearded Forrest strode back and forth,
striking the tops of his riding boots with a small riding whip, and
saying ungrammatically, but tersely and emphatically:

"We mustn't stay here like hogs in a pen. We must git at 'em
with all our men afore they can git at us."

The illiterate mountaineer and stock driver had evolved
exactly the same principle of war that Napoleon used.

But Colonel Winchester and his comrades could only guess at
what was going on in Donelson, and a guess always remains to be
proved. So they must continue their perilous quest. Once they were
hailed by a Southern sentinel, but Colonel Winchester replied
promptly that they belonged to Buckner's Kentuckians and had been
sent out to examine the Union camp. He passed it off with such
boldness and decision that they were gone before the picket had time
to express a doubt.

But as they came toward the center of the line, and drew
nearer to the fort itself, they met another picket, who was either
more watchful or more acute. He hailed them at a range of forty or
fifty yards, and when Colonel Winchester made the same reply he
ordered them to halt and give the countersign. When no answer came
he fired instantly at the tall figure of Colonel Winchester and
uttered a loud cry of, "Yankees!"

Luckily the dim light was tricky and his bullet merely clipped
the colonel's hair. But there was nothing for the four to do now
save to run with all their undignified might for their own camp.

"Come on, lads!" shouted Colonel Winchester. "Our scouting is
over for the time!"

The region behind them contained patches of scrub oaks and
bushes, and with their aid and that of the darkness, it was not
difficult to escape; but Dick, while running just behind the others,
stepped in a hole and fell. The snow and the dead leaves hid the
sound of his fall and the others did not notice it. As he looked up
he saw their dim forms disappearing among the bushes. He rose to
his own feet, but uttered a little cry as a ligament in his ankle
sent a warning throb of pain through his body.

It was not a wrench, only a bruise, and as he stretched his
ankle a few times the soreness went away. But the last sound made
by the retreating footsteps of his comrades had died, and their
place had been taken by those of his pursuers, who were now drawing
very near.

Dick had no intention of being captured, and, turning off at a
right angle, he dropped into a gully which he encountered among some
bushes. The gully was about four feet deep and half full of snow.
Dick threw himself full length on his side, and sank down in the
snow until he was nearly covered. There he lay panting hard for a
few moments, but quite sure that he was safe from discovery. Only a
long and most minute search would be likely to reveal the dark line
in the snow beneath the overhanging bushes.

Dick's heart presently resumed its normal beat, and then he
heard the sound of voices and footsteps. Some one said:

"They went this way, sir, but they were running pretty
fast."

"They'd good cause to run," said a brusque voice. "You'd a
done it, too, if you'd expected to have the bullets of a whole army
barkin' at your heels."

The footsteps came nearer, crunching on the snow, which lay
deep there among the bushes. They could not be more than a dozen
feet away, but Dick quivered only a little. Buried as he was and
with the hanging bushes over him he was still confident that no one
could see him. He raised himself the least bit, and looking through
the boughs, saw a tanned and dark face under the broad brim of a
Confederate hat. Just then some one said:

"We might have trailed 'em, general, but the snow an' the
earth have already been tramped all up by the army."

"They're not wuth huntin' long anyway," said the same brusque
voice. "A few Yankees prowlin' about in the night can't do us much
harm. It's hard fightin' that'll settle our quarrel."

General Forrest came a little closer and Dick, from his
concealment in the snow, surmising his identity, saw him clearly,
although himself unseen. He was fascinated by the stern, dark
countenance. The face of the unlettered mountaineer was cut sharp
and clear, and he had the look of one who knew and commanded. In
war he was a natural leader of men, and he had already assumed the
position.

"Don't you agree with me, colonel?" he said over his shoulder
to some one.

"I think you're right as usual, General Forrest," replied a
voice with a cultivated intonation, and Dick started violently in
his bed of snow, because he instantly recognized the voice as that
of his uncle, Colonel George Kenton, Harry's father. A moment later
Colonel Kenton himself stood where the moonlight fell upon his face.
Dick saw that he was worn and thin, but his face had the strong and
resolute look characteristic of those descended from Henry Ware, the
great borderer.

"You know, general, that I endorse all your views," continued
Colonel Kenton. "We are unfortunate here in having a division of
counsels, while the Yankees have a single and strong head. We have
underrated this man Grant. Look how he surprised us and took Henry!
Look how he hangs on here! We've beaten him on land and we've
driven back his fleet, but he hangs on. To my mind he has no notion
of retreating. He'll keep on pounding us as long as we are
here."

"That's his way, an' it ought to be the way of every general,"
growled Forrest. "You cut down a tree by keepin' on cuttin' out
chips with an axe, an' you smash up an army by hittin' an' hittin'
an' keepin' on hittin'. We ought to charge right out of our works
an' jump on the Yankees with all our stren'th."

The two walked on, followed by the soldiers who had come with
them, and Dick heard no more. But he was too cautious to stir for a
long while. He lay there until the cold began to make its way
through his boots and heavy overcoat. Then he rose carefully,
brushed off the snow, and began his retreat toward the Union lines.
Four or five hundred yards further on and he met Colonel Winchester
and his own comrades come back to search for him. They welcomed him
joyfully.

"We did not miss you until we were nearly to our own pickets,"
said the colonel. "Then we concluded that you had fallen and had
been taken by the enemy, but we intended to see if we could find
you. We've been hovering about here for some time."

Dick told what he had seen and heard, and the colonel
considered it of much importance.

"I judge from what you heard that they will attack us," he
said. "Buckner and Forrest will be strongly for it, and they're
likely to have their way. We must report at once to General
Grant."

The Southern attack had been planned for the next morning, but
it did not come then. Pillow, for reasons unknown, decided to delay
another day, and his fiery subordinates could do nothing but chafe
and wait. Dick spent most of the day carrying orders for his chief,
and the continuous action steadied his nerves.

As he passed from point to point he saw that the Union army
itself was far from ready. It was a difficult task to get twenty
thousand raw farmer youths in proper position. They moved about
often without cohesion and sometimes without understanding their
orders. Great gaps remained in the line, and a daring and skilful
foe might cut the besieging force asunder.

But Grant had put his heavy guns in place, and throughout the
day he maintained a slow but steady fire upon the fort. Great
shells and solid shot curved and fell upon Donelson. Grant did not
know what damage they were doing, but he shrewdly calculated that
they would unsteady the nerves of the raw troops within. These
farmer boys, as they heard the unceasing menace of the big guns,
would double the numbers of their foe, and attribute to him an
unrelaxing energy.

Thus another gray day of winter wore away, and the two forces
drew a little nearer to each other. Far away the rival Presidents
at Washington and Richmond were wondering what was happening to
their armies in the dark wilderness of Western Tennessee.

The night was more quiet than the one that had just gone
before. The booming of the cannon as regular as the tolling of
funeral bells had ceased with the darkness, but in its place the
fierce winter wind had begun to blow again. Dick, relaxed and weary
after his day's work, hovered over one of the fires and was grateful
for the warmth. He had trodden miles through slush and snow and
frozen earth, and he was plastered to the waist with frozen mud,
which now began to soften and fall off before the coals.

Warner, who had been on active duty, too, also sank to rest
with a sigh of relief.

"It's battle tomorrow, Dick," he said, "and I don't care. As
it didn't come off today the chances are at least eighty per cent
that it will happen the next day. You say that when you were lying
in the snow last night, Dick, you saw your uncle and that he's a
colonel in the rebel army. It's queer."

"You're wrong, George, it isn't queer. We're on opposite
sides, serving at the same place, and it's natural that we should
meet some time or other. Oh, I tell you, you fellows from the New
England and the other Northern States don't appreciate the
sacrifices that we of the border states make for the Union. Up
there you are safe from invasion. Your houses are not on the
battlefields. You are all on one side. You don't have to fight
against your own kind, the people you hold most dear. And when the
war is over, whether we win or lose, you'll go back to unravaged
regions."

"You wrong me there, Dick. I have thought of it. It's the
people of the border, whether North or South, who pay the biggest
price. We risk our lives, but you risk your lives also, and
everything else, too."

Dick wrapped himself in a heavy blanket, pillowed his head on
a log before one of the fires and dozed a while. His nerves had
been tried too hard to permit of easy sleep. He awoke now and then
and over a wide area saw the sinking fires and the moving forms of
men. He felt that a sense of uneasiness pervaded the officers. He
knew that many of them considered their forces inadequate for the
siege of a fortress defended by a large army, but he felt with the
sincerity of conviction also, that Grant would never withdraw.

He heard from Colonel Winchester about midnight in one of his
wakeful intervals that General Grant was going down the river to see
Commodore Foote. The brave leader of the fleet had been wounded
severely in the last fight with the fort, and the general wished to
confer with him about the plan of operations. But Dick heard only
vaguely. The statement made no impression upon him at that time.
Yet he was conscious that the feeling of uneasiness still pervaded
the officers. He noticed it in Colonel Winchester's tone, and he
noticed it, too, in the voices of Colonel Newcomb and Major
Hertford, who came presently to confer with Winchester.

But the boy fell into his doze again, while they were talking.
Warner and Pennington, who had done less arduous duties, were sound
asleep near him, the low flames now and then throwing a red light on
their tanned faces. It seemed to him that it was about half way
between midnight and morning, and the hum and murmur had sunk to a
mere minor note. But his sleepy eyes still saw the dim forms of men
passing about, and then he fell into his uneasy doze again.

When he awoke once more it was misty and dark, but he felt
that the dawn was near. In the east a faint tint of silver showed
through the clouds and vapors. Heavy banks of fog were rising from
the Cumberland and the flooded marshes. The earth began to soften
as if unlocking from the hard frost of the night.

Colonel Winchester stood near him and his position showed that
he was intensely awake. He was bent slightly forward, and every
nerve and muscle was strained as if he were eager to see and hear
something which he knew was there, but which he could not yet either
see or hear.

Dick threw off his blanket and sprang to his feet. At the
same moment Colonel Winchester motioned him to awaken Warner and
Pennington, which he did at once in speed and silence. That tint of
silver, the lining of the fogs and vapors, shone more clearly
through, and spread across the East. Dick knew now that the dawn
was at hand.

The loud but mellow notes of a trumpet came from a distant
point toward Donelson, and then others to right and left joined and
sang the same mellow song. But it lasted only for a minute. Then
it was lost in the rapid crackle of rifles, which spread like a
running fire along a front of miles. The sun in the east swung
clear of the earth, its beams shooting a way through fogs and
vapors. The dawn had come and the attack had come with it.

The Southerners, ready at last, were rushing from their fort
and works, and, with all the valor and fire that distinguished them
upon countless occasions, they were hurling themselves upon their
enemy. The fortress poured out regiment after regiment. Chafing so
long upon the defense Southern youth was now at its best.
Attacking, not attacked, the farmer lads felt the spirit of battle
blaze high in their breasts. The long, terrible rebel yell,
destined to be heard upon so many a desperate field, fierce upon its
lower note, fierce upon its higher note, as fierce as ever upon its
dying note, and coming back in echoes still as fierce, swelled over
forest and fort, marsh and river.

The crackling fire of the pickets ceased. They had been
driven back in a few moments upon the army, but the whole regiment
of Colonel Winchester was now up, rifle in hand, and on either side
of it, other regiments steadied themselves also to receive the
living torrent.

The little band of Pennsylvanians were on the left of the
Kentuckians and were practically a part of them. Colonel Newcomb
and Major Hertford stood amid their men, encouraging them to receive
the shock. But Dick had time for only a glance at these old
comrades of his. The Southern wave, crested with fire and steel,
was rolling swiftly upon them, and as the Southern troops rushed on
they began to fire as fast as they could pull the trigger, fire and
pull again.

Bullets in sheets struck in the Union ranks. Hundreds of men
went down. Dick heard the thud of lead and steel on flesh, and the
sudden cries of those who were struck. It needs no small courage to
hold fast against more than ten thousand men rushing forward at full
speed and bent upon victory or death.

Dick felt all the pulses in his temples beating hard, and he
had a horrible impulse to break and run, but pride kept him firm.
As an officer, he had a small sword, and snatching it out he waved
it, while at the same time he shouted to the men to meet the
charge.

The Union troops returned the fire. Thousands of bullets were
sent against the ranks of the rushing enemy. The gunners sprang to
their guns and the deep roar of the cannon rose above the crash of
the small arms. But the Southern troops, the rebel yell still
rolling through the woods, came on at full speed and struck the
Union front.

It seemed to Dick that he was conscious of an actual physical
shock. Tanned faces and gleaming eyes were almost against his own.
He looked into the muzzles of rifles, and he saw the morning sun
flashing along the edges of bayonets. But the regiment, although
torn by bullets, did not give ground. The charge shivered against
them, and the Southern troops fell back. Yet it was only for a
moment. They came again to be driven back as before, and then once
more they charged, while their resolute foe swung forward to meet
them rank to rank.

Dick was not conscious of much except that he shouted
continuously to the men to stand firm, and wondered now and then why
he had not been hit. The Union men and their enemy were reeling
back and forth, neither winning, neither losing, while the thunder
of battle along a long and curving front beat heavily on the drums
of every ear. The smoke, low down, was scattered by the cannon and
rifles, but above it gathered in a great cloud that seemed to be
shot with fire.

The two colonels, Winchester and Newcomb, were able and
valiant men. Despite their swelling losses they always filled up the
ranks and held fast to the ground upon which they had stood when
they were attacked. But for the present they had no knowledge how
the battle was going elsewhere. The enemy just before them allowed
no idle moments.

Yet Grant, as happened later on at Shiloh, was taken by
surprise. When the first roar of the battle broke with the dawn he
was away conferring with the wounded naval commander, Foote. His
right, under McClernand, had been caught napping, and eight thousand
Southern troops striking it with a tremendous impact just as the men
snatched up their arms, drove it back in heavy loss and confusion.
Its disaster was increased when a Southern general, Baldwin, led a
strong column down a deep ravine near the river and suddenly hurled
it upon the wavering Union flank.

Whole regiments retreated now, and guns were lost. The
Southern officers, their faces glowing, shouted to each other that
the battle was won. And still the combat raged without the Union
commander, Grant, although he was coming now as fast as he could
with the increasing roar of conflict to draw him on. The battle was
lost to the North. But it might be won back again by a general who
would not quit. Only the bulldog in Grant, the tenacious death
grip, could save him now.

Dick and his friends suddenly became conscious that both on
their right and left the thunder of battle was moving back upon the
Union camp. They realized now that they were only the segment of a
circle extending forward practically within the Union lines, and
that the combat was going against them. The word was given to
retreat, lest they be surrounded, and they fell back slowly
disputing with desperation every foot of ground that they gave up.
Yet they left many fallen behind. A fourth of the regiment had been
killed or wounded already, and there were tears in the eyes of
Colonel Winchester as he looked over the torn ranks of his gallant
men.

Now the Southerners, meaning to drive victory home, were
bringing up their reserves and pouring fresh troops upon the
shattered Union front. They would have swept everything away, but in
the nick of time a fresh Union brigade arrived also, supported the
yielding forces and threw itself upon the enemy.

But Grant had not yet come. It seemed that in the beginning
fortune played against this man of destiny, throwing all her tricks
in favor of his opponents. The single time that he was away the
attack bad been made, and if he would win back a lost battle there
was great need to hurry.

The Southern troops, exultant and full of fire and spirit,
continually rolled back their adversaries. They wheeled more guns
from the fort into position and opened heavily on the yielding foe.
If they were beaten back at any time they always came on again, a
restless wave, crested with fire and steel.

Dick's regiment continued to give ground slowly. It had no
choice but to do so or be destroyed. It seemed to him now that he
beheld the wreck of all things. Was this to be Bull Run over again?
His throat and eyes burned from the smoke and powder, and his face
was black with grime. His lips were like fire to the touch of each
other. He staggered in the smoke against some one and saw that it
was Warner.

"Have we lost?" he cried. "Have we lost after doing so
much?"

The lips of the Vermonter parted in a kind of savage grin.

"I won't say we've lost," he shouted in reply, "but I can't
see anything we've won."

Then he lost Warner in the smoke and the regiment retreated
yet further. It was impossible to preserve cohesion or keep a line
formed. The Southerners never ceased to press upon them with
overwhelming weight. Pillow, now decisive in action, continually
accumulated new forces upon the Northern right. Every position that
McClernand had held at the opening of the battle was now taken, and
the Confederate general was planning to surround and destroy the
whole Union army. Already he was sending messengers to the
telegraph with news for Johnston of his complete victory.

But the last straw had not yet been laid upon the camel's
back. McClernand was beaten, but the hardy men of Kentucky, East
Tennessee and the northwest still offered desperate resistance.
Conspicuous among the defenders was the regiment of young pioneers
from Nebraska, hunters, Indian fighters, boys of twenty or less, who
had suffered already every form of hardship. They stood undaunted
amid the showers of bullets and shells and cried to the others to
stand with them.

Yet the condition of the Union army steadily grew worse. Dick
himself, in all the smoke and shouting and confusion, could see it.
The regiments that formed the core of resistance were being pared
down continually. There was a steady dribble of fugitives to the
rear, and those who fought felt themselves going back always, like
one who slips on ice.

The sun, far up the heavens, now poured down beams upon the
vast cloud of smoke and vapor in which the two armies fought. The
few people left in Dover, red hot for the South, cheered madly as
they saw their enemy driven further and further away.

Grant, the man of destiny, ill clad and insignificant in
appearance, now came upon the field and saw his beaten army. But
the bulldog in him shut down its teeth and resolved to replace
defeat with victory. His greatest qualities, strength and courage in
the face of disaster, were now about to shine forth. His
countenance showed no alarm. He rode among the men cheering them to
renewed efforts. He strengthened the weak places in the line that
his keen eyes saw. He infused a new spirit into the army. His own
iron temper took possession of the troops, and that core of
resistance, desperate when he came, suddenly hardened and
enlarged.

Dick felt the change. It was of the mind, but it was like a
cool breath upon the face. It was as if the winds had begun to blow
courage. A great shout rolled along the Northern line.

"Grant has come!" exclaimed Pennington, who was bleeding from
a slight wound in the shoulder, but who was unconscious of it. "And
we've quit retreating!"

The Nebraska youth had divined the truth. Just when a
complete Southern victory seemed to be certain the reversal of
fortune came. The coolness, the courage, and the comprehensive eye
of Grant restored the battle for the North. The Southern reserves
had not charged with the fire and spirit expected, and, met with a
shattering fire by the Indiana troops, they fell back. Grant saw
the opportunity, and massing every available regiment, he hurled it
upon Pillow and the Southern center.

Dick felt the wild thrill of exultation as they went forward
instead of going back, as they had done for so many hours. Just in
front of him was Colonel Winchester, waving aloft a sword, the blade
of which had been broken in two by a bullet, and calling to his men
to come on. Warner and Pennington, grimed with smoke and mud and
stained here and there with blood, were near also, shouting
wildly.

The smoke split asunder for a moment, and Dick saw the long
line of charging troops. It seemed to be a new army now, infused
with fresh spirit and courage, and every pulse in the boy's body
began to beat heavily with the hope of victory. The smoke closed in
again and then came the shock.

Exhausted by their long efforts which had brought victory so
near the Southern troops gave way. Their whole center was driven
in, and they lost foot by foot the ground that they had gained with
so much courage and blood. Grant saw his success and he pressed
more troops upon his weakening enemy. The batteries were pushed
forward and raked the shattered Southern lines.

Pillow, who had led the attack instead of Floyd, seeing his
fortunes pass so suddenly from the zenith to the nadir, gathered his
retreating army upon a hill in front of their intrenchments, but he
was not permitted to rest there. A fresh Northern brigade, a
reserve, had just arrived upon the field. Joining it to the forces
of Lew Wallace, afterwards famous as a novelist, Grant hurled the
entire division upon Pillow's weakened and discouraged army.

Winchester's regiment joined in the attack. Dick felt himself
swept along as if by a torrent. His courage and the courage of
those around him was all the greater now, because hope, sanguine
hope, had suddenly shot up from the very depths of despair. Their
ranks had been thinned terribly, but they forgot it for the time and
rushed upon their enemy.

The battle had rolled back and forth for hours. Noon had come
and passed. The troops of Pillow had been fighting without ceasing
for six hours, and they could not withstand the new attack made with
such tremendous spirit and energy. They fought with desperation,
but they were compelled at last to yield the field and retreat
within their works. Their right and left suffered the same fate.
The whole Confederate attack was repulsed. Bull Run was indeed
reversed. There the South snatched victory from defeat and here the
North came back with a like triumph.