CHAPTER IX
AT GRIPS WITH EARLY
Dick felt great excitement and elation as he rode before dawn withColonel Winchester and the spy to see Sheridan. They found him sittingby a small fire receiving or sending reports, and talking with ahalf-dozen of his generals. It was not yet day, but the flames lightedup the commander's thin, eager face, and made him look more boyish thanever.
Dick felt as he had felt before that he was in the presence of a man.He had had the same impression when he stood near Grant and Thomas. Didstrong men send off electric currents of will and power which werecommunicated to other men, by which they could know them, or was it theeffect of deeds achieved? He could not decide the question forhimself, but he knew that he believed implicitly in their leader.
Colonel Winchester paused near Sheridan, but the general's keen eyecaught him at once.
"Good morning, Colonel Winchester!" he exclaimed. "You bring news ofvalue. I can tell it by your face!"
"I do, sir," replied the colonel, "but it was Mr. Shepard here, whomyou know, and Lieutenant Mason who obtained it. Mr. Shepard, showGeneral Sheridan the map."
It was characteristic of Colonel Winchester, a man of the finestfeelings, that he should have Shepard instead of himself carry the mapto General Sheridan. He wanted the spy to have the full measure ofcredit, including the outward show, for the triumph he had achievedwith the aid of his sister. And Shepard's swift glance of thanksshowed that he appreciated it. He drew the map from his pocket andhanded it to the general.
Sheridan held it down, where the full glow of the flames fell upon it,and he seemed to comprehend at once the meaning of the lines. A greatlight sprang up in his eyes.
"Ah!" he exclaimed. "The location of the Confederate forces and theopenings between them and the mountains! This is important! Splendid!Did you make it yourself, Mr. Shepard?"
"No, sir. It was made by my sister who came from Richmond. We met heron the mountain."
Sheridan looked at Shepard and the eyes of general and spy met incomplete understanding.
"I know of her," the general murmured. "A noble woman! There are manysuch as she who have done great service to our cause that can never berepaid! But this is a stroke of fortune!"
"Look, Merritt, Averill and all of you," he said aloud. "Here lies ourpath! Mr. Shepard, you will go over the details of this with us and,Colonel Winchester, you and your aide remain also to help."
Dick felt complimented, and so did Colonel Winchester. Sheridan knewhow to handle men. While the sentinels, rifle on shoulder, walked upand down a little distance away, a dozen eager faces were soon poringover the map, Shepard filling in details as to the last little hill orbrook.
"Since we know where they are and how many they are," said Sheridan,"we'll make a big demonstration in front of Fisher's Hill, whereEarly's works are too strong to be carried, and while we keep himoccupied there we'll turn his left flank with a powerful force,marching it just here into the open space that Mr. Shepard's map shows.Tomorrow--or rather today, for I see the dawn comes--will be a day ofgreat noise and of much burning of powder. But behind the curtain ofsmoke we'll make our movements. Merritt with his cavalry shall go tothe right and Averill will go with him. Crook shall take his twodivisions and hold the north bank of Cedar Creek, and later on Crookshall be the first to strike. Gentlemen, we've won one victory, and Iknow that all of you appreciate the value of a second and a third. Theopportunity of the war lies here before us. We can uncover the entireleft flank of the Confederacy here in Virginia, and who knows what willfollow!"
He looked up, his eyes glowing and his confidence was communicated tothem all. They were mostly young men and they responded in kind to hisburning words. Sheridan knew that he could command from them theutmost fidelity and energy, and he uttered a little exclamation ofconfidence.
"I shall consider the victory already won," he said.
The generals left for their commands, and Sheridan again thankedColonel Winchester, Dick and Shepard.
"I recommend that all three of you take some rest," he said, "you won'thave much to do this morning."
They saluted, mounted and rode back. "You take his advice, Dick, androll yourself in your blanket," said Colonel Winchester, when they wereon the way.
"I will, sir," said Dick, "although I know that great history is beingmade now."
"I feel that way, too," said the colonel. "Look, the sun is coming up,and you can see the Confederate outposts."
The thin, clear air of September was brilliant with morning light, andthrough glasses the Confederate outposts and works around Fisher's Hillwere quite clear and distinct. Some of the Northern and Southernsentinels were already exchanging compliments with one another, andthey heard the faint popping of rifles. But Dick well knew fromSheridan's words that this early firing meant nothing. It would growmuch heavier bye and bye and it would yet be but the cover forsomething else.
He found Warner and Pennington already sound asleep, and wrappinghimself in his blanket he lay down under a tree and fell asleep to thedistant crackle of rifles and the occasional thud of great guns. Heslept on through the morning while the fire increased, and greatvolumes of smoke rolled, as the wind shifted up or down the valley.But it did not disturb him, nor did he dream. His slumbers were assound as if he lay in his distant bed in Pendleton.
While Dick and his comrades slept Sheridan was moving the men on hischess board. Young in years, but great in experience, he was nevermore eager and never more clear of mind than on this, one of the mosteventful days of his life. He saw the opportunity, and he was resolvedthat it should not escape him. Two great reputations were made in thevalley by men very unlike, Stonewall Jackson and Little Phil Sheridan.In the earlier years of the war the Union armies had suffered manydisasters there at the hands of the leader under the old slouch hat,and now Sheridan was resolved to retrieve everything, not with onevictory alone, but with many.
There was firing in the valley all day long, the crackling of therifles, the thudding of the great guns, and the occasional charge ofhorsemen. The curtain of smoke hung nearly always. Sometimes it grewthicker, and sometimes it became thinner, but Sheridan's mind was notupon these things, they were merely the veil before him, while behindit, as a screen, he arranged the men on his chess board. When nightcame his whole line was pushed forward. His vanguard held the northernpart of the little town of Strasburg, while Early's held the southernpart, only a few hundred yards away. In the night the large forceunder Crook was moved into the thick forest along Cedar Creek, where itwas to lie silent and hidden until it received the word of command.
All the next day the movements were continued, while Crook's force,intended to be the striking arm, was still concealed in the timber. Yetbefore dark there was a heavy combat, in which the Southern troops weredriven out of Strasburg, enabling the Northern batteries to advance tostrong positions. That night Crook's whole strength was brought acrossCedar Creek, but was hidden again in heavy timber. To the greatpleasure of its colonel and other officers the Winchester regiment wassent to join it as a cavalry support.
It was quite dark when they rode their horses across the creek andShepard was again with them as guide. Although he concealed it, thespy felt a great exultation. The map that he had brought from hissister had proved invaluable. Sheridan was using it every hour, andShepard was giving further assistance through his thorough knowledge ofthe ground. Dick was glad to ride beside him and whisper with him, nowand then.
"I haven't known things to go so well before," Dick said, when theywere across the creek.
"They're going well, Mr. Mason," said Shepard, "because everything isarranged. There is provision against every unlucky chance. It'sleadership. The difference between a good general and a bad general isabout fifty thousand men."
The entire division moved forward in the dusk at a fair pace, but somany troops with cavalry and guns could not keep from making somenoise. Dick with Shepard and the sergeant rode off i
n the woods towardsthe open valley to see if the enemy were observing them. Dick's chiefapprehensions were in regard to Slade and Skelly, but they found notrace of the guerrillas, nor of any other foes.
The night was fairly bright, and from the edge of the wood they saw farover hills and fields, dotted with two opposing lines of camp fires. Adark outline was Fisher's Hill, and lights burned there too. From apoint in front of it a gun boomed now and then, and there was still anintermittent fire of skirmishers and sharpshooters.
"That hill will be ours inside of twenty-four hours," said Shepard."We'll fall upon Early from three sides and he'll have to retreat tosave himself. He hasn't numbers enough to stand against an army drivenforward by a hand like that of General Sheridan."
* * * *
While Dick, the sergeant and the spy looked from the woods upon thelights of Fisher's Hill the Invincibles lay in an earthwork before itfacing their enemy. Harry Kenton sat with St. Clair, Langdon andDalton. The two colonels were not far away. For almost the first time,Harry's heart failed him. He did not wish to depreciate Early, but hefelt that he was not the great Jackson or anything approaching him. Heknew that the troops felt the same way. They missed the mighty spiritand the unfaltering mind that had led them in earlier years to victory.They were ragged and tired, too, and had but little food.
Happy Tom, who concealed under a light manner uncommonly keenperceptions, noticed Harry's depression.
"What are you thinking about, Harry?" he asked.
"Several things, Happy. Among them, the days when we rode here withStonewall from one victory to another."
"We'll have to think of something else. Cheer up. Remember the oldsaying that the darkest hour is just before the dawn."
"Whose dawn?"
"That's not like you, Harry. You've usually put up the boldest frontof us all."
"Happy's giving you good advice," said St. Clair.
"So he is," said Harry, as he shook himself. "We'll fight 'em offtomorrow. They can't beat us again. The spirit of Old Jack will hoverover us."
"If we only had more men," said Dalton. "Then we could spread out andcover the slopes of the mountains on either side. I wish I knewwhether those dark fringes hid anything we ought to know."
"They hide rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, birds and maybe a black bearor two," said Happy Tom. "When we shatter Sheridan's army and drivethe fragments across the Potomac I think I'll come back here and do alittle hunting, leaving to Lee the task of cleaning up the Army of thePotomac."
"I'd like to come with you," said St. Clair, "but I wouldn't bring anygun. I'd just roam through the woods for a week and disturb nothing.If I saw a bear I'd point my finger at him and say: 'Go away, youngfellow, I won't bother you if you won't bother me,' and then he'd ambleoff peacefully in one direction, and I'd amble off peacefully inanother. I wouldn't want to hear a gun fired during all that week. I'djust rest, rest, rest my nerves and my soul. I wouldn't break a boughor a bush. I'd even be careful how hard I stepped on the leaves. Birdscould walk all over me if they liked. I'd drink from those clearstreams, and I'd sleep in my blanket on a bed of leaves."
"But suppose it rained, Arthur?"
"I wouldn't let it rain in that enchanted week of mine. Nothing wouldhappen except what I wanted to happen. It would be a week of the mostabsolute peace and quiet the world has ever known. There wouldn't beany winds, they would be zephyrs. The skies would all be made out ofthe softest and finest of blue satin and any little clouds that floatedbefore 'em would be made of white satin of the same quality. Thenights would be clear with the most wonderful stars that ever shone.Great new stars would come out for the first time, and twinkle for me,and the man in the most silvery moon known in the history of time wouldgrin down at me and say without words: 'St. Clair, old fellow, this isyour week of peace, everything has been fixed for you, so make the mostof it.' And then I'd wander on. The birds would sing to me and everyone of 'em would sing like a prima donna. Wherever I stepped, wildflowers would burst into bloom as I passed, and if a gnat should happento buzz before my face I wouldn't brush him away for fear of hurtinghim. The universe and I would be at peace with each other."
"Hear him! O, hear him!" exclaimed Happy Tom. "Old Arthur growsdithyrambic and hexametrical. He fairly distills the essence ofhighfalutin poetry."
"I don't know that he's so far fetched," said sober Dalton. "I feel agood deal that way myself. I suppose, Thomas Langdon, that the colorsof the world depend upon one's own eyes. What I call green may appearto you like the color of blue to me. Now, Arthur really sees all thesethings that he's telling about, because he has the eye of the mind withwhich to see them. I've quit saying that people don't see things,because I don't see 'em myself."
"Good for you, Professor," said Langdon. "That's quite a lecture yougave me, long though not windy, and I accept it. Those Elysian fieldsthat Arthur was painting are real and he's going to have his enchantedweek as he calls it. Arthur is a poet, sure enough."
"I have written a few little verses which were printed in theCharleston Mercury," said St. Clair.
"What's this? What's this?" asked a mellow voice. "Can it be possiblethat young gentlemen are discussing poetry between battles and with theenemy in sight?"
It was Colonel Leonidas Talbot, coming down the trench, and LieutenantColonel Hector St. Hilaire was just behind him. The young officersrose and saluted promptly, but they knew there was no reproof inColonel Talbot's tone.
"We had to do it, sir," said Harry respectfully. "Something struckArthur here, and like a fountain he gushed suddenly into poetry. Hehad a most wonderful vision of the Elysian fields and of himselfwandering through them for a week, knee deep in flowers, and playingthe softest of music on a guitar."
"He's put that in about the guitar," protested St. Clair. "I nevermentioned such a thing, but all the rest is true."
"Well, if I had my way," said the colonel, "you should have a guitar,too, if you wanted it, and I like that idea of yours about a week inthe Elysian fields. We'll join you there and we'll all walk aroundamong the flowers, and Hector's relative, that wonderful musician,young De Langeais, shall play to us on his violin, and maybe the famousStonewall will come walking to us through the flowers, and he'll havewith him Albert Sidney Johnston, and Turner Ashby and all the greatones that have gone."
The colonel stopped, and Harry felt a slight choking in his throat.
"In the course of this lull, Leonidas and I had some thought ofresuming our unfinished game of chess," said Lieutenant Colonel St.Hilaire, "but the time is really unpropitious and too short. It may bethat we shall have to wait until the war is over to conclude the match.The enemy is pressing us hard, and I need not conceal from you ladsthat he will press us harder tomorrow."
"So he will," agreed Colonel Talbot. "There was some heavy andextremely accurate artillery fire from his ranks this afternoon. Theway the guns were handled and the remarkable rapidity and precisionwith which the discharges came convinces me that John Carrington ishere in the valley, ready to concentrate all the fire of the Unionbatteries upon us. It is bad, very bad for us that the greatestartilleryman in the world should come with Sheridan, and yet we shallhave the pleasure of seeing how he achieves wonders with the guns. Itwas in him, even in the old days at West Point, when we were but ladstogether, and he has shown more than once in this war how the flowerthat was budding then has come into full bloom."
As if in answer to his words the deep boom of a cannon rolled over thehills, and a shell burst near the earthwork.
"That, I think, was John talking to us," said Colonel Talbot. "He wassaying to us: 'Beware of me, old friends. I'm coming tomorrow, notwith one gun but with many!' Well, be it so. We shall give John andSheridan a warm welcome, and we shall try to make it so very warm thatit will prove too hot for them. Now, my lads, there is no immediateduty for you, and if you can sleep, do so. Good-night."
They rose and saluted again as the t
wo colonels went back to their ownparticular place.
"I hope those two will be spared," said St. Clair. "I want them tofinish their chess game, and I'd like, too, to see their meeting afterthe war with their old friend, John Carrington."
"It will all come to pass," said Harry. "If Arthur is a poet as heseems to be, then I'm a prophet, as I know I am."
"At least you're an optimist," said Dalton.
"Go to sleep, all of you, as the colonel told you to do," said Harry."If you don't stop talking you'll keep the enemy awake all night."
But Harry himself was the last of them to sleep. He could not keepfrom rising at times, and, in the starlight, looking at the fires ofthe foe and the dark slopes of the mountains. His glasses passed morethan once over the forests along Cedar Creek, but no prevision, novoice out of the dark, told him that Dick was there, one of aformidable force that was lying hidden, ready to strike the fatal blow.His last dim sight, as he fell asleep, was a spectacle evoked from thepast, a vision of Old Jack riding at the head of his phantom legions tovictory.
* * * *
At dawn all of Crook's forces marched out of the woods along CedarCreek, the Winchester men, Shepard at their head, leading, but theystill kept to the shelter of the forest and wide ravines along thelower slopes of the mountain. The sun was not clear of the easternhills before the heavy thudding of the great guns and the angry buzz ofthe rifles came from the direction of Fisher's Hill.
The demonstration had begun and it was a big one, big enough to makethe defenders think it was reality and not a sham. Before Early'searthworks a great cloud of smoke was gathering. Dick looked over hisshoulder at it. It gave him a curious feeling to be marching past,while all that crash of battle was going on in the valley. It almostlooked as if they were deserting their general.
"How far are we going?" he asked Warner.
"I don't know," replied the Vermonter, "but I fancy we'll go farenough. My little algebra, although it remains unopened in my pocket,tells me that we shall continue our progress unseen until we reach thedesired point. These woods have grown up and these gullies have beenfurrowed at a very convenient time for us."
The light was yet dim in the forests along the slopes, but the valleyitself was flooded with the sun's rays. The echoes of the firingrolled continuously through the gorges and multiplied it. Despite theclouds about the earthworks and the hill, Dick saw continual flashes oflight, and he knew now that the battle below was a reality and not asham. Early and all his men would be kept too busy to see the march ofCrook and his force on his flank, and Dick, like Warner, became surethat the great movement would be a success.
But their progress, owing to the nature of the ground and the need tokeep under cover, was slow. It seemed to Dick that they marched aninterminable time under the trees, while the battle flashed and roaredin the plain. He saw noon pass and the sun rise to the zenith. He sawthe brilliant light dim on the eastern mountains, and they were stillmarching through the forests.
The battle was now behind them and the sun was very low, but thecommand halted and turned toward the east. Nevertheless, they werestill hidden by the woods and the low hills of the valley. Yet theylay behind and on the side of their enemy who would speedily be exposedwhere he was weakest, to their full weight. The long flanking movementhad been a complete success so far.
Little of the day was left. The sun was almost hidden behind theeastern mountains but it still flamed in the west, glittering along thebayonets of the men in the forest, and showing their eager faces.Dick's heart throbbed. In that moment of anticipated victory he forgotall about Harry and his friends who were in the closing trap. Thentrumpets sang the charge, and the cavalry thundered out of the wood,followed by the infantry and the artillery.
At the same time, another powerful division that had been moved forwardby Sheridan, charged, while those in front increased their fire. Theunfortunate Southern army was overwhelmed by troops who had movedforward in such complete unison. They were swept out of theirearthworks, driven from their fortified hill, and those who did notfall or were not taken were sent in rapid flight down the valley.
The battle was short. Completeness of preparation and superiority innumbers and resources made it so. Early and what was left of his armyhad no choice but the flight they made. The sun had nearly set whenthe deadly charge issued from the wood, and, by the time it had set,the pursuit was thundering along the valley, the Winchester men in thevery forefront of it. Long after dark it continued. Several milesfrom the field the fragments of the Invincibles and some others ralliedon a hill, posted two cannon and made a desperate resistance. But theattack upon them was so fierce that they were compelled to retreatagain, and they did not have time to take the guns with them.
It was a strange night to Dick, alike joyous and terrible. He believedthat the army of the enemy was practically destroyed, and yet he had agreat sympathy for some who were in it. He was in constant fear lesthe should find them dead, or wounded mortally. But he had no time tolook for them. Sheridan was pressing the pursuit to the utmost.Midnight did not stop it. Fugitives were captured continually. Hereand there an abandoned cannon was taken. Rifles flashed all throughthe darkness, and the horses of the Union cavalry were driven to theutmost.
Neither Dick nor his companions felt exhaustion. Their excitement wastoo great, and the taste of triumph was too strong. They had seen nosuch victory before, and eager and willing they still led the advance.Midnight passed and the pursuit never ceased until it reachedWoodstock, ten miles from Fisher's Hill. By that time Sheridan'sinfantry was exhausted, and as Early was beginning to draw together theremains of his force he would prove too strong for the cavalry alone.
At dawn the army of Sheridan stopped, the troopers almost falling fromtheir horses in exhaustion, while Early used the opportunity to escapewith what was left of his men, leaving behind many prisoners and twentycannon. Yet the triumph had been great, and again, when the telegraphbrought the news of it, the swell of victory passed through the North.
The Winchester regiment was drawn up near Woodstock, alreadydismounted, the men standing beside their horses. The camp cooks werelighting the fires for breakfast, but many of the young cavalrymen fellasleep first. Dick managed to keep awake long enough for his food, andthen, at the order of the colonel, he slept on the ground, awaiting thecommand of Sheridan which might come at any moment.