CHAPTER VIII
IN THE WILDERNESS
Stuart's brilliant figure was seen no more in the ballroom that night,but he disappeared so quietly that his absence created no alarm atfirst. There was a low call for Sherburne, and the great cavalry leaderand his most daring horsemen were soon up and away. Harry and Dalton,standing under the boughs of an oak, near the edge of the grounds,saw them depart, but the dancers, at least the women and girls, knewnothing.
Another cannon shot came from some distant point along the stream,and its somber echoes rolled and died away among the hills, but themusic of the band in the ballroom did not cease. It was the Acadianswho were playing now, some strange old dance tune that they had broughtfrom far Louisiana, taken thence by the way of Nova Scotia from itsorigin in old France.
"They don't know yet," said Harry, "but I'm thinking it will be the lastdance for many a day."
"Looks like it," said Dalton. "What time is it, Harry?"
"Past two in the morning, and here comes Colonel Talbot andLieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire."
The two colonels walked out on the lawn. Military cloaks were thrownover their shoulders and all signs of merry-making were gone from theirfaces. They stood side by side and with military glasses were sweepingthe horizon toward the river. Presently they saw Harry and Daltonstanding under the boughs of the oak, and beckoned to them.
"You know?" said Colonel Talbot.
"Yes, sir, we do," replied Harry. "We saw General Stuart and his staffride away, because a messenger had come, stating that divisions ofHooker's army were about to cross the Rappahannock."
"That is true, but we wish no panic here. Go back in the house, lads,and dance. Officers are scarcer there than they were a half hour ago.But you two lads will return to General Jackson before dawn, whileLieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire and I will gather up our young men andreturn to our own place."
Harry and Dalton obeyed promptly, and took their places again in thedancing, but they soon discovered that the spirit was gone from it.The absence of Stuart, Sherburne and others almost as conspicuous wassoon noted, and although those who knew gave various excuses, they werenot satisfactory. Gradually the belief spread that the long vacationwas over. After Fredericksburg the armies had spent four months inpeace along the Rappahannock, but there was a certainty in the mindsof all that the armed peace had passed.
The music ceased bye and bye, the girls and the women went away in theircarriages or on horseback, the lights were put out, and the heroes ofthe ballroom, veterans of the battlefield, too, went quietly to theircommands once more. The youths, including their new friend, Julien deLangeais, parted shortly before dawn, and their parting was characteristic.
"See you again, I think, at the edge of the Wilderness, where we'll beholding converse with Hooker," said St. Clair.
"At any rate you can look for me in the White House with my boots on,"said Happy Tom, returning to his original boast.
Then they shook hands and hurried away to join the two colonels, leavingde Langeais with Dalton and Harry.
"Gallant spirits," said the young Louisianian. "I like them."
"As fine as silk, both of them," said Harry with enthusiasm. "I'm gladwe've met you, de Langeais, and I hope you'll be equally glad you've metus. We'll see you again after the battle, whenever and wherever it maybe."
"Many thanks," said de Langeais. "It gives me much pride to be takeninto your company. My command is several miles away, and therefore Imust ride. Adieu."
He was holding his horse's reins as he spoke. Then he leaped lightlyinto the saddle and was gone.
"A brave and true spirit, if I know one," said Harry. "And now come,George, the sooner we get back to Old Jack's headquarters the better itwill be for us."
"Do you think Hooker's army can cross?" asked Dalton, looking at theblack river.
"Of course it can. Remember that they have four hundred guns with whichthey can cover a passage. Didn't Burnside build his bridges and forcethe crossing in our face, when we had twenty thousand more men than wehave now, and the Union army had twenty thousand less? Their line is solong and they are so much superior in numbers that we can't guard allthe river. As I take it, Lee and Old Jack will not make any greatopposition to the crossing, but there will be a thunderation of a timeafter it's made."
It was sunrise when they reached their own headquarters and entered thegreat mess tent, where some of the officers who had not gone to the ballwere already eating breakfast. They said that the general had beenawake more than two hours and that he was taking his breakfast, too,in the hunting lodge. He sent for various officers from time to time,and presently Harry's turn came.
Jackson was sitting at a small table, upon which his breakfast had beenlaid. But all that had been cleared away long ago. He was reading in asmall book when Harry entered, a book that the youth knew well. It wasa copy of Napoleon's Maxims, which Jackson invariably carried with himand read often. But he closed it quickly and put it in his pocket.During the long rest Jackson's face had become somewhat fuller, but theblue eyes under the heavy brows were as deep and thoughtful as ever.He nodded to Harry and said:
"You were present when General Stuart received the message that theenemy was advancing? Was anything more ascertained at the time?Did any other messenger come?"
"No, sir. General Stuart mounted and rode at once. I remained at theball until its close. No other messenger came there for him. Of that Iam sure."
"Very well, very well," said Jackson to himself, rather than to theyoung lieutenant. "One message was enough. Stuart has acted promptly,as he always does. You, Mr. Kenton, I judge have been up all nightdancing?"
"Most all of it, sir."
"We must get ready now for another and less pleasant kind of dancing.But nothing will happen to-day. You'd better sleep. If you are neededyou will be called."
Harry saluted and withdrew. At the door he glanced back. Jackson hadtaken out Napoleon's Maxims and was reading the volume again. The browwas seamed with thought, but his countenance was grave and steady.Harry never forgot any look or act of his great chief in those days whenthe shadow of Chancellorsville was hovering near.
A dozen officers were in the mess tent, and they talked earnestly ofvarious things, but Harry, unheeding their voices, lay down in a cornerwithout taking off his clothes and went quietly to sleep. Many cameinto the tent or went out of it in the course of the morning, but noneof them disturbed him. A man in the army slept when he could, and therewas none wicked enough to awaken him until the right time for it.
He slept heavily nearly all through the day, and shortly after he awokeSherburne and two other officers, their horses splashed with mud,rode up to the hunting lodge. Jackson was standing in the door, andwith a rising inflection he uttered one word:
"Well?"
"It's true, General," said Sherburne. "The enemy is advancing in heavyforce toward Kelly's Ford. We saw them with our own eyes. GeneralStuart asked me to tell you this. He did not come himself, because,as well as we can ascertain, General Hooker has separated his armyinto two or three great divisions and they are seeking the crossing atdifferent fords or ferries."
"As I thought," said Jackson. "It's the advantage given them by theirgreat numbers and powerful artillery. Ride back to General Stuart,Captain, and tell him that I thank him, and you, too, for yourdiligence."
Sherburne, flushing deep with gratification, took off his cap and bowed.But he knew too well to waste any time in words.
That night the Union army laid its pontoon bridges again across theRappahannock near Fredericksburg and began to cross in great force.Hooker, like Burnside four months before, was favored by thick fogs,but he met with practically no resistance. At dawn a strong force underSedgwick was across at Deep Run, and another as strong had made thepassage at Kelly's Ford.
The advanced riflemen of Sedgwick were engaged in scattered firing withthose of Jackson before the fog had yet lifted, but the main force hadmade no move
ment. Dalton had been sent at dawn with a message tellingLee that Sedgwick was over the river. Dalton, some time after hisreturn, told Harry of his ride and reception.
"When I rode up," he said, "General Lee was in his tent. An aide tookme in and I gave him the message. He did not show any emotion. Severalothers were present, some of them staff officers as young as myself.He turned to them and said, smiling a little: 'Well, I heard firing notlong since, and I had concluded that it was about time for some of youyoung idlers to come and tell me what it was all about. Go back toGeneral Jackson, Mr. Dalton, and tell him that I send him no orders now.He knows as well what to do in the face of the enemy as I do.' Ibrought this message, word for word, just as General Lee delivered it tome, and General Jackson smiled a little, just as General Lee had done.It's my opinion, Harry, that Lee and Old Jack haven't the slightest fearof the enemy."
Harry was convinced of it, too, but he felt also the steadily hardeningquality of the Army of the Potomac. Whatever Hooker might be he wasneither dilatory nor afraid. He and his comrades saw the corps ofSedgwick entrenching on the Confederate side of the river, and they alsosaw the great batteries still frowning from Stafford Heights, ready toprotect their men on the plain near Fredericksburg.
But Jackson made no movement. He watched the enemy calmly, andmeanwhile messengers passed between him and Lee. Both were waitingto see what their enemy, who was displaying unusual energy, would do.In the evening they received news that the Union troops had crossed theriver at two more points. They still remained stationary, waiting,and without alarm.
Cavalrymen on both sides were active, ranging over a wide area. Stuartcame the next morning, having taken prisoners from whom he learned thatthree more Union corps led by Meade, Slocum and Howard, all famous names,had crossed the river and were advancing toward a little place calledChancellorsville on the edge of a region known as the Wilderness.The Southern general, Anderson, with a much smaller force, was fallingback before them.
The Northern leaders had now shown the energy and celerity whichhitherto had so often marked the Southern. Hooker, with seventythousand splendid troops, had gone behind Lee and now three divisionswere united in the forest close to Chancellorsville. Sedgwick, with hisformidable corps, lay in the plain of Fredericksburg, facing Jackson,and thousands of Northern cavalry rode on the Southern flanks.
Harry was bewildered, and so were many officers of much higher rank thanhe. It seemed that the Confederate army, surrounded by overwhelmingnumbers, was about to be crushed. The exultation of Hooker at thesuccess of his movements against such able foes was justified for themoment. He issued to his army a general order, which said:
It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the commanding general announcesto his army that the operations of the last three days have determinedthat our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behindhis defences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certaindestruction awaits him.
Hooker, it can be said again, had cause for exultation. He was closingin with more than a hundred thousand stern fighters, and ten thousandsplendid cavalrymen under Stoneman were hanging on the Southern flank,ready to cut off retreat. Besides, there were reserves, and he couldalso join to the artillery the great batteries on Stafford Heights,on the left bank of the river, which had done such good service forthe Army of the Potomac. He could go into action with men and gunsoutnumbering his enemy more than two to one, and Lee and Jackson wouldhave no such hills and intrenchments as those which had protected themwhile they cut down the army of Burnside at Fredericksburg.
Harry and his young comrades were lost in the mists and doubts ofuncertainty. Nothing could shake their confidence in Lee and Jackson,but yet they were only human beings. Had the time come when there wasmore to be done than any men, great and brilliant as they might be,could do? Yet they refused to express their apprehensions to oneanother, and waited, their hearts now and then beating heavily.
Thus the last day of April passed, and for Harry it was more fullysurcharged with suspense and anxiety than any other that he had yetknown. The forests and the fields were flush with the green of earlyspring. Little wild flowers were peeping up in the thickets, and nowand then a bird, full throated, sang on a bough, indifferent to passingarmies.
But Harry saw a red tint over everything. The spirit of his greatancestor had descended upon him again. The acute sense which warned himof mighty and tragic events soon to come was alive and active. His mindtraveled backward too. Sometimes he did not see the men around him,but saw instead Pendleton, the boys playing in the fields, and hisfather. He also saw again that log house in the Kentucky mountains,and the old, old woman who had known his great-grandfather, Henry Ware.Once more he heard like a whisper in his ears her parting words: "Youwill come again, and you will be thin and pale and in rags, and you willfall at the door. I see you coming with these two eyes of mine."
What did they mean? What did those strange words mean? It was thefirst time in a year, perhaps, that he had thought of that old, oldwoman, and the log house in the mountains. But he saw her now, and shewas strangely vivid for one so old and so withered. Then she vanished,and for the time was forgotten completely, because Lee and Jackson wereriding past, one on Traveler and the other on Little Sorrel, and itwas no time to be dreaming of glens in the mountains and their peace,because mighty armies were closing in, bent upon the destruction of eachother.
All that afternoon Harry heard in a half circle about him the distantmoaning of cannon, and he caught glimpses of galloping horsemen.Stuart, equally at home on the floor of the ballroom or the field ofbattle, was leading his troopers in a daring circuit. When he saw thatthe Army of the Potomac was moving toward Chancellorsville he had cutin on its right flank, taking prisoners, and when a Union regiment hadstood in his way, attempting to bar his path to his own army, he hadridden over it and gone.
All the time the sinister moaning of the guns on the far horizon neverceased. It was this distant threat that oppressed Harry more thananything else. It beat softly on the drums of his ears, and it saidto him continually that his army must make a supreme effort or perish.General Jackson did not call upon him to do anything, and once he rodeforward with Dalton and looked at Sedgwick's Union masses upon theplains of Fredericksburg, still protected by the batteries which hadnot yet been moved from Stafford Heights. Harry thought, for a while,that Lee and Jackson would certainly attack there, but night came andthey had made no movement for that purpose.
But before the sun had set Harry with his glasses had been able tocommand a wide view. He saw high up in the air three captive balloons,from which some of Hooker's officers looked upon the Southernintrenchments. Hooker also had signalmen on every height, and an amplefield telegraph. What Harry did not see he learned from the Southernscouts. It seemed impossible that Lee and Jackson could break throughthe circle of steel, and Hooker thought so, too.
When the red sun set on that last day of April the confidence of theNorthern general was at its height. He had sent word to Sedgwick tokeep a close watch upon the enemy in his front, and if he exposed a weakpoint to attack and destroy him. And if he showed signs of retreat,also to follow and attack with the utmost vigor.
The moaning of the cannon ceased with the night, and it brought Harryintense relief. He was glad that those guns were silent for a while,although he knew that they would be far busier on the morrow. The bandsof red and yellow left by the sun sank away, and as the cool, springnight came down, a pleasant breeze began to blow through the forest.Harry felt all the thrill of a mighty movement which was at hand,but the nature of which he did not yet know.
He had no wish to sleep. The feeling of tremendous events impending wastoo strong and his nervous system was keyed too highly for such thoughtsto enter his mind. He was used to great battles now, but there was amystery, a weirdness about the one near at hand that sometimes turnedthe blood in his veins to ice.
They were not far from Fredericksburg, but the country about t
hem lookedwild and lonely, despite the fact that nearly two hundred thousandmen were moving somewhere in those shades and thickets, preparing fordesperate combat. Harry knew that just back of them lay the Wilderness,a desolate and somber region. Dalton, a Virginian, had been there,and he told Harry that in ordinary times one could walk through it formany miles without meeting a single human being.
"And they say that Hooker is along its edge with the bulk of his army,"said Dalton. "He is in our rear ready to attack with his veterans.What conclusion do you draw from it, Harry?"
"I infer that Lee and Jackson will not attack Sedgwick at Fredericksburg.They will go for Hooker. They will strike where the enemy is strongest.It's their way, isn't it?"
"Right, of course, Harry. We'll be marching against Hooker long beforethe dawn."
Dalton's prediction came true earlier than he had expected. Jacksonmarched at midnight from his position on the Massaponnax Hills to jointhe small command of Anderson, which alone faced Hooker. He was assilent as ever, the figure bent forward a little and the brow knittedwith thought. Close behind him came his staff, Harry and Dalton knee toknee. They had known as soon as Jackson mounted his horse and turnedhis head southwestward that they were marching toward the Wilderness andagainst Hooker. Sedgwick at Fredericksburg might do as he pleased.
Harry and Dalton were glad. They were quite sure now that Lee andJackson had formed their plan, and, as they had formed it, it must begood. It was a long ride under the moon and stars. There was butlittle talk along the lines. The noises were those of marching feet andnot of men's voices. All the troops felt the mystery and solemnity ofthe night and the deep import of their unknown mission.
The dawn found them still marching, but that dawn was again heavy withthe fogs and mists that rose from the broad river. The three Northernballoons could see nothing. The signalmen were of no avail. The cloudsof vapor rolled over the ruins of Fredericksburg and along the hillssouth of the river. Neither Sedgwick and his men nor any of the Unionofficers on the other shore knew that Jackson had gone, leaving only arear guard behind. Before the fog had cleared away Jackson with hisfighting generals had joined Anderson and they were forming a powerfulline of battle near Chancellorsville and facing Hooker.
Harry now heard much of this name Chancellorsville, destined to becomeso famous, and he said it over and over again to himself. And yet itwas not a town, nor even a village. Here stood a large house, with theusual pillared porticoes, built long since by the Chancellor family andinhabited by them in their generation, but now turned into a countryinn. Yet it had importance. Roads ran from it in various directionsand in territories very unlike, including the strange and weird regionknown as the Wilderness.
Hooker had come through the Wilderness with his main force, and was nowforming a line of battle in front of it in the open country, when forsome reason never fully known he fell back on Chancellorsville and beganto concentrate his army in the edge of the Wilderness.
Harry, riding with Dalton and some others to inspect the enemy's frontthrough their glasses, saw this gloomy forest, destined to such aterrible fame not alone from the coming battle, but from others asgreat. Nature could have chosen no more fitting spot for the mightysacrifice to save the Union, because here everything is dark, solemnand desolate.
For twenty miles one way and fifteen the other the Wilderness stretchedits somber expanse. The ancient forest had been cut away long since andthe thin, light soil had produced a sea of scrub and thickets in itsplace, in which most of the houses were the huts of charcoal burners.The undergrowth and jungle were often impenetrable, save by some lonehunter or wild animal. The gnarled and knotted oaks were distorted andthe bushes, even in the flush of a May morning, were black and ugly.At evening it was indescribably desolate, and save when the armies camethere was no sound but the lone cry of the whip-poor-will, one of thesaddest of all notes.
It was upon this forest that Harry looked, and he wondered, as manyofficers much older and much higher in rank than he wondered, thatHooker, with forces so much superior, should draw back into its shades.And many of the Union generals, too, had protested in vain againstHooker's orders. They knew, as the Confederate generals knew, thatHooker was a brave man, and they never understood it then or afterwards.
"It gives us our chance," said Dalton, with sudden intuition, to Harry."We'll carry the battle to them in the forest, and there numbers willnot count so much."
"Look!" exclaimed Harry. "They're withdrawing farther into theWilderness. There go the last bayonets!"
"It's so," said Dalton. "I can still see a few of them moving among thetrees and thickets. Now they're all gone. What does it mean?"
"It means that Old Jack will follow into the Wilderness, as sure as youand I are here. He isn't the man to let an enemy retreat in peace."
"That's so. There are the bugles calling, and it's time for us torejoin Old Jack."
Jackson was not more than a hundred yards away, and they were soon justbehind him, riding slowly forward, while he swept the forest with hisglasses. Riflemen sent far in advance began to fire, and from theforest came replies. Harry saw bits of earth and grass kicked up by thebullets, 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 smokearose all along the edges of the Wilderness, and, sailing above thetrees and bushes, dissolved into the blue sky. It was yet only askirmish between the Southern vanguard and the Northern vanguard,but the riflemen increased to hundreds and they made a steady volume ofsound. Now and then the lighter guns were fired and the like repliedfrom the thickets.
Harry gazed intently at Jackson. Would he with his relatively smallforce follow Hooker into the Wilderness, despising the dangers of ambushand the possibility that his foe might turn upon him in overwhelmingnumbers? Lee was with the troops elsewhere, and Jackson for the presentmust rely upon his own judgment.
But Jackson never hesitated. While the fire of the riflemen deepenedhe plunged into the Wilderness in pursuit of Hooker, who for someinscrutable reason was concentrating his masses about the ChancellorHouse for pitched battle. They advanced by two ways, a pike and a plankroad, with Jackson himself on the plank road.
Harry felt a strange prickling at the roots of his hair as theWilderness closed in on pursuer and pursued, but it was only for amoment. The enemy far down the plank road held his attention. Manyriflemen were there and they were sending back bullets, most of whichfell short. Now and then a curving shell struck among the bushes, burst,and hurt no one.
It had grown darker when they entered the Wilderness. The scrub forest,not lofty enough for dignity and nobility, was nevertheless dense enoughto shut out most of the sunlight. Despite the blaze of the firing,both pursuer and pursued were enveloped in heavy shadows.
Harry had nothing to do but to keep near his general, in case he waswanted. But he watched everything with the utmost interest. Once helooked back and saw the Invincibles, few in number, but still preservingtheir regiment, marching in brave style along the plank road. ColonelTalbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire were riding side by sideat its head, and in all the army there were not two more erect andsoldierly figures than theirs.
They soon heard heavy artillery discharges from the other force on thepike, and the fire in front of them increased heavily. Neverthelessboth forces pushed resolutely onward. Harry had no idea what it allmeant. The movements of Hooker were a mystery to him, but he felt thepresence of an enveloping danger, through which, however, he felt surethat the sword of Jackson could slash.
He saw that the generals were neglecting no precautions. The scouts andhardy riflemen were now pressing through all the forests and thickets,like Indians trailing in the Wilderness. They kept the two forces,the one on the plank road and the other on the pike, in touch. McLaws,who had shown so much spirit and judgment at Antietam, led on the pike.
Now the fighting increase
d on both roads. Batteries faced batteriesand cavalry charged. But Harry felt all the time that these were notsupreme efforts. The opposing force seemed to be merely a curtainbefore Hooker, and as the Southern army advanced the curtain was drawnsteadily back, but it was always there.
One of the encounters rose almost to the dignity of a battle. A heavydivision of Northern regulars drove in all the Southern skirmishers,but Jackson, sending forward a strong force, pushed back the regulars intheir turn. Harry watched the fighting most of the time, but at othertimes he watched his general's face. It was the usual impenetrable mask,but late in the afternoon Harry saw a sudden sparkle in the blue eye.He always believed that at that moment the general divined the enemy'sintentions, but the boy never had any way of knowing.
Scouts came in presently and reported that another heavy column wasmarching from the Rappahannock to join Hooker in the Wilderness, andnow the advance of the Southern force became slower. It was obvious toHarry that Jackson, while resolute to follow Hooker, intended to guardagainst all possibility of ambush. Harry knew nothing then of theChancellor House, but Dalton told him.
"It's a big place," he said, "standing on a heavy ridge surrounded bythick timber, and it's a natural presumption that Hooker will stopthere. From the timbered ridge his cannon can sweep every approach."
Harry had no doubt that Hooker would halt at the Chancellor House.It was incredible that a great army of brave and veteran troops shouldcontinue to retreat before a force which his scouts had surely informedHooker was far smaller, and only a portion of the Confederate army.It must be merely a part of some comprehensive plan, and he wasconfirmed in his belief by the increasing stubbornness of the defense.
There was not sufficient room on either the plank road or the pike forall the Confederate infantry, and masses were toiling through the densethickets of bushes and briars and creeping vines. The afternoon wasgrowing late, and while it was yet brilliant sunshine in the open,it was dark and somber in the Wilderness.
The division of Jackson seemed almost lost in the forest andundergrowth. The cavalry riding along some of the narrow paths werechecked by large forces in front, and fell back under the protectionof their own infantry. On another path a strong body of Southernskirmishers drove back those of the North, but were checked in theirturn by a heavy fire of artillery.
Harry witnessed the repulse of the Southern riflemen and saw themcrowding back down the path and through the bushes which lined it oneither side. He also saw the usually calm and imperturbable face ofJackson show annoyance. The general signed to his staff, and, gallopingforward a hundred yards or so, joined Stuart, who was just in front.Stuart also showed annoyance, but, more emotional than Jackson, heexpressed it in a much greater degree. His face was red with anger.Harry, who as usual kept close behind his commander, heard their talk.
"General Stuart," said General Jackson, "we must find some position fromwhich we can open a flanking fire upon that Northern battery."
"Aye, sir," said Stuart. "Nothing would delight me more. Thenarrowness of the road, and their place at the head of it, give them animmense advantage. Ah, sir, here is a bridle path leading to the right.Maybe it will give us a chance."
The two generals, followed by their staffs and a battery, turned fromthe main body into the narrow path and pushed their way between themasses of thick undergrowth, bearing steadily toward the right. But theroad was so narrow that not more than two could go abreast, the generalsin their eagerness still leading the way.
Harry, rising up in his stirrups, tried to see over the denseundergrowth, but patches of saplings and scrub oaks farther on hid theview. Nevertheless he caught the flash of heavy guns and saw manycolumns of smoke rising. It was toward their left now, and they wouldsoon be parallel with it, whence their own guns would open a flankingfire, if any open spot or elevation could be found.
They had gone about a half mile, when Stuart uttered an exclamation andpointed to a hillock. It was not necessary to say anything, becauseeveryone knew that this was the place for the guns.
"Now we'll drop a few shells of our own among those Yankee gunners andsee how they like it," said Dalton.
The cannon were unlimbering rapidly, but the open space on the hillockwas so small that only one gun could be brought up, and it sent a shottoward the Union lines. The Union artillery, superb as always, markedthe spot whence the shot came, and in an instant two batteries, maskedby the woods, poured a terrible fire upon the hillock and those about it.
So deadly was the steel rain that the little force was put out of actionat once. Harry had never beheld a more terrifying scene. Most of thehorses and men around the first cannon were killed. One horse and onegunner fell dead across its wheels. Other horses, wounded and screamingwith pain and fright, rushed into the dense undergrowth and werecaught by the trailing vines and thrown down. Some of the cavalrymenthemselves were knocked out of the saddle by the fleeing horses, butthey quickly regained their seats.
A second discharge from many guns sent another rain equally as deadlyupon the hillock and its vicinity. More men and horses fell, and ascene of wild confusion followed. Attempting to turn about and escapefrom that spot of death, the cannon crashed together. There was notroom for all the men and horses and guns. Most of them were compelledto plunge into the undergrowth and struggle desperately through it forshelter.
But Harry did not forget the two generals who were worth so much to theSouth. It would be fate's bitterest irony if Jackson and Stuart werekilled in a small flanking movement, when, as was obvious to everyone,a battle of the first magnitude was just before them. And yet, whilefragments of steel, hot and hissing, fell all around them, Jackson andStuart and all the members of their staffs escaped without hurt.
The deadly fire followed them as they retreated, but the two generalsrode on, unharmed. Harry and Dalton breathed deep sighs of relief whenthey were out of range.
"If a bullet had gone through my left side," said Dalton, "it wouldn'thave come near my heart."
"Why not?"
"Because my heart was in my mouth. In fact, I don't think it has goneback yet to its natural place. The Yankees certainly have the guns."
"And the gunners who know how to use them. But doesn't it feel good,George, to be back on the plank road?"
"It does. I'll take my chance in open battle, but when I'm tangled upamong bushes and vines and briars, I do hate to have a hundred-poundshell fired from an invisible gun burst suddenly on the top of my head.What's all that firing off there to the left and farther on?"
"It means that some of our people have got deeper into the Wildernessthan we have, and are feeling out Hooker. I imagine we won't go muchfarther. Look how the night's dropping down. I'd hate to pass a nightalone in such a place as this Wilderness. It would be like sleeping ina graveyard."
"You won't have to spend the night alone here. I wish I was as sure ofHeaven as that. You'll have something like two hundred thousand nearneighbors."
The sun set and darkness swept over the Wilderness, but it was stilllighted at many points by the flash of the firing and, after that ceased,by the campfires. Jackson's advance was at an end for the time.He was fully in touch with his enemy and understood him. Hooker hadretreated as far as he would go. When the fog cleared away in themorning the men in the captive balloons had informed him that heavySouthern columns were marching toward Chancellorsville. He was surenow that the full strength of the Southern army was before him, andhe continued to fortify the Chancellor House and the plateau of HazelGrove. He also threw up log breastworks through the heavily woodedcountry, and his lines, bristling with artillery and defended now bysix score thousand men, extended along a front of six miles.
Jackson's division lay in the Wilderness before Hooker, but out ofcannon shot. All along that vast front hundreds and hundreds of picketsand riflemen on either side were keeping a vigilant watch. Jackson andhis staff had dismounted and were eating their suppers around one of thecampfires. The ge
neral was again impassive.
After the supper Harry walked a little distance and found theInvincibles, resting comfortably on the trodden undergrowth. The twocolonels had preserved the neatness of their attire, and whatever theyfelt, neither showed any anxiety. But St. Clair and Langdon were freeof speech.
"Well, Harry," said Happy Tom, "is Old Jack going to send us up againstintrenchments and four to one?"
"He hasn't confided in me, but I don't think he means to do any suchthing. He remembers, as even a thick-head like you, Happy, wouldremember, how the splendid army of Burnside beat itself to piecesagainst our works at Fredericksburg."
"Well, then, why are we here?"
"There's sense in your question, Tom, but I can't answer it."
"No, there isn't any sense in it," interrupted St. Clair. "Do yousuppose for an instant that Lee and Jackson would bring us here if theydidn't have a mighty good reason for it?"
"That's so," admitted Happy Tom; "but General Lee isn't here. Yes,he is! Listen to the cheering!"
They sprang to their feet and saw Lee coming through the woods on hiswhite horse, Traveler, a roar of cheers greeting him as he advanced.Behind him came new brigades, and Harry believed that the whole Southernarmy was now united before Hooker.
Lee dismounted and Jackson went forward to meet his chief. The staffsstood at a respectful distance as the two men met and began to talk,glancing now and then toward the distant lights that showed where thearmy of Hooker stood.