SPOTTSYLVANIA
Harry secured a little sleep toward morning, and, although his nervous
tension had been very great, when he lay down, he felt greatly
strengthened in body and mind. He awakened Dalton in turn, and the
two, securing a hasty breakfast, sat near the older members of the
staff, awaiting orders. The commander-in-chief was at the edge of the
little glade, talking earnestly with Hill, and several other important
generals.
Harry often saw through the medium of his own feelings, and the rim of
the sun, beginning to show over the eastern edge of the Wilderness, was
blood red. The same crimson and sinister tinge showed through the west
which was yet in the dusk. But in east and west there were certain
areas of light, where the forest fires yet smoldered.
Both sides had thrown up hasty breastworks of earth or timber, but the
two armies were unusually silent. A space of perhaps a mile and a half
lay between them, but as the light increased neither moved. There was
no crackle of rifle fire along their fronts. The skirmishers, usually
so active, seemed to be exhausted, and the big guns were at rest. The
fierce and tremendous fighting of the two days before seemed to have
taken all the life out of both North and South.
Harry, inured to war, understood the reasons for silence and lack of
movement. Grant had been drawn into a region that he did not like,
where he could not use his superior numbers to advantage, and he must
be shuddering at the huge losses he had suffered already. He would
seek better ground. Lee too, was in no condition to take advantage of
his successful defense. The old days when he could send Jackson on a
great turning movement, to fall with all the crushing impact of a
surprise upon the Northern flank, were gone forever. Stuart, the
brilliant cavalryman, was there, but his men were not numerous enough,
and, however brilliant, he was not Jackson.
The sun rose higher. Midmorning came, and the two armies still lay
close. Harry grew stronger in his opinion that they would not fight
again that day, although he watched, like the others, for any sign of
movement in the Northern camp.
Noon came, and the same dead silence. The fires had burned themselves
out now and the dusk that had reigned over the Wilderness, before the
battle, recovered its ground, thickened still further by the vast
quantities of smoke still hanging low under a cloudy sky. But the
aspect of the Wilderness itself was more mournful than ever. Coals
smoldered in the burned areas, and now and then puffs of wind picked up
the hot ashes and sent them in the faces of the soldiers. Thickets and
bushes had been cut down by bullets and cannon balls, and lay heaped
together in tangled confusion. Back of the lines, the surgeons, with
aching backs, toiled over the wounded, as they had toiled through the
night.
Harry saw nearly the whole Southern front. The members of Lee's staff
were busy that day, carrying orders to all his generals to rectify
their lines, and to be prepared, to the last detail, for another
tremendous assault. It was not until the afternoon that he was able to
look up the Invincibles again. The two colonels and the two
lieutenants were doing well, and the colonels were happy.
"We've already been notified," said Colonel Talbot, "that we're to
retain our organization as a regiment. We're to have about a hundred
new men now, the fragments of destroyed regiments. Of course, they
won't be like the veterans of the Invincibles, but a half-dozen battles
like that of yesterday should lick them into shape."
"I should think so," said Harry.
"Do you believe that Grant is retreating?" asked Lieutenant-Colonel St.
Hilaire.
"Our scouts don't say so."
"Then he is merely putting off the evil day. The sooner he withdraws
the more men he will save. No Yankee general can ever get by General
Lee. Keep that in your mind, Harry Kenton."
Harry was silent, but rejoicing to find that his friends would soon
recover from their wounds, he went back to his place, and saw all the
afternoon pass, without any movement indicating battle.
Night came again and the scouts reported to Lee that the Union army was
breaking camp, evidently with the intention of getting out of the
Wilderness and marching to Fredericksburg. Harry was with the general
when he received the news, and he saw him think over it long. Other
scouts brought in the same evidence.
Harry did not know what the general thought, but as for himself,
although he was too young to say anything, it was incredible that Grant
should retreat. It was not at all in accordance with his character,
now tested on many fields, and his resources also were too great for
withdrawal.
But the night was very dark and no definite knowledge yet came out of
it. Lee stayed by his little campfire and received reports. Far after
dusk Harry saw the look of doubt disappear from his eyes, and then he
began to send out messengers. It was evident that he had formed his
opinion, and intended to act upon it at once.
He beckoned to Harry and Dalton, and bade them go together with written
instructions to General Anderson, who had taken the place of General
Longstreet.
"You will stay with General Anderson subject to his orders," he said,
as Harry and Dalton, saluting, rode toward Anderson's command.
Their way led through torn, tangled and burned thickets. Sometimes a
horse sprang violently to one side and neighed in pain. His hoof had
come down on earth, yet so hot that it scorched like fire. Now and
then sparks fell upon them, but they pursued their way, disregarding
all obstacles, and delivered their sealed orders to General Anderson,
who at once gathered up his full force, and marched away from the heart
of the Wilderness toward Spottsylvania Court House.
Harry surmised that Grant was attempting some great turning movement,
and Lee, divining it, was sending Anderson to meet his advance. He
never knew whether it was positive knowledge or a happy guess.
But he was quite sure that the night's ride was one of the most
singular and sinister ever made by an army. If any troops ever marched
through the infernal regions it was they. In this part of the
Wilderness the fires had been of the worst. Trees still smoldered. In
the hollows, where the bushes had grown thickest, were great beds of
coals. The smoke which the low heavy skies kept close to the earth was
thick and hot. Gusts of wind sent showers of sparks flying, and,
despite the greatest care to protect the ammunition, they marched in
constant danger of explosion.
Harry thought at one time that General Anderson intended to camp in the
Wilderness for the night, but he soon saw that it was impossible. One
could not camp on hot ground in a smoldering forest.
"I believe it's a march till day," he said to Dalton. "It's bound to
be. If a man were to lie down here, he'd find himself a mass of cinders
in the morning, and it will take us till daylight and maybe past to get
out of the Wilderness."
"If he didn't burn to death he'd choke to death. I never breathed such
smoke before."
"That's because it's mixed with ashes and the fumes of burned
gunpowder. A villainous compound like this can't be called air. How
long is it until dawn?"
"About three hours, I think."
"You remember those old Greek stories about somebody or other going
down to Hades, and then having a hard climb out again. We're the
modern imitators. If this isn't Hades then I don't know what it is."
"It surely is. Phew, but that hurt!"
"What happened?"
"I brushed my hand against a burning bush. The result was not happy.
Don't imitate me."
Dalton's horse leaped to one side, and he had difficulty in keeping the
saddle. His hoof had been planted squarely in the midst of a mass of
hot twigs.
"The sooner I get out of this Inferno or Hades of a place the happier
I'll be!" said Dalton.
"I've never seen the like," said Harry, "but there's one thing about it
that makes me glad."
"And what's the saving grace?"
"That it's in Virginia and not in Kentucky, though for the matter of
that it couldn't be in Kentucky."
"And why couldn't it be in Kentucky?"
"Because there's no such God-forsaken region in all that state of mine."
"It certainly gets upon one's soul," said Dalton, looking at the gloomy
region, so terribly torn by battle.
"But if we keep going we're bound to come out of it some time or other."
"And we're not stopping. A man can't make his bed on a mass of coals,
and there'll be no rest for us until we're clear out of the Wilderness."
They marched on a long time, and, as day dawned, hundreds of voices
united in a shout of gladness. Behind them were the shades of the
Wilderness, that dismal region reeking with slaughter and ruin, and
before them lay firm soil, and green fields, in all the flush of a
brilliant May morning.
"Well, we did come out of Hades, Harry," said Dalton.
"And it does look like Heaven, but the trouble with our Hades, George,
is that the inmates will follow us. Put your glasses to your eyes and
look off there."
"Horsemen as sure as we're sitting in our own saddles."
"And Northern horsemen, too. Their uniforms are new enough for me to
tell their color. I take it that Grant's vanguard has moved by our
right flank and has come out of the Wilderness."
"And our surmises that we were to meet it are right. Spottsylvania
Court House is not far away, and maybe we are bound for it."
"And maybe the Yankees are too."
Harry's words were caused by the sound of a distant and scattering
fire. In obedience to an order from Anderson, he and Dalton galloped
forward, and, from a ridge, saw through their glasses a formidable
Union column advancing toward Spottsylvania. As they looked they saw
many men fall and they also saw flashes of flame from bushes and fences
not far from its flank.
"Our sharpshooters are there," said Harry. And he was right. While
the Union force was advancing in the night Stuart had dismounted many
of his men and using them as skirmishers had incessantly harassed the
march of Grant's vanguard led by Warren.
"Each army has been trying to catch the other napping," said Dalton.
"And neither has succeeded," said Harry.
"Now we make a race for the Spottsylvania ridge," said Dalton. "You
see if we don't! I know this country. It's a strong position there,
and both generals want it."
Dalton was right. A small Union force had already occupied
Spottsylvania, but the heavy Southern division crossing the narrow, but
deep, river Po, drove it out and seized the defensive position.
Here they rested, while the masses of the two armies swung toward them,
as if preparing for a new battlefield, one that Harry surveyed with
great interest. They were in a land of numerous and deep rivers. Here
were four spreading out, like the fingers of a human hand, without the
thumb, and uniting at the wrist. The fingers were the Mat, the Ta, the
Po, and the Nye, and the unit when they united was called the Mattopony.
Lee's army was gathering behind the Po. A large Union force crossed it
on his flank, but, recognizing the danger of such a position, withdrew.
Lee himself came in time. Hill, overcome by illness and old wounds,
was compelled to give up the command of his division, and Early took
his place. Longstreet also was still suffering severely from his
injuries. Lee had but few of the able and daring generals who had
served him in so many fields. But Stuart, the gay and brilliant, the
medieval knight who had such a strong place in the commander-in-chief's
affections, was there. Nor was his plumage one bit less splendid. The
yellow feather stood in his hat. There was no speck or stain on the
broad yellow sash and his undimmed courage was contagious.
But Harry with his sensitive and imaginative mind, that leaped ahead,
knew their situation to be desperate. His opinion of Grant had proved
to be correct. Although he had found in Lee an opponent far superior
to any other that he had ever faced, the Union general, undaunted by
his repulse and tremendous losses in the Wilderness, was preparing for
a new battle, before the fire from the other had grown cold.
He knew too that another strong Union army was operating far to the
south of them, in order to cut them off from Richmond, and scouts had
brought word that a powerful force of cavalry was about to circle upon
their flank. The Confederacy was propped up alone by the Army of
Northern Virginia, which having just fought one great battle was about
to begin another, and by its dauntless commander.
The Southern admiration for Lee, both as the general and as the man,
can never be shaken. How much greater then was the effect that he
created in the mind of impressionable youth, looking upon him with
youth's own eyes in his moments of supreme danger! He was in very
truth to Harry another Hannibal as great, and better. The long list of
his triumphs, as youth counted them, was indeed superior to those of
the great Carthaginian, and he believed that Lee would repel this new
danger.
Nearly all that day the two armies constructed breastworks which stood
for many years afterward, but neither made any attempt at serious work,
although there was incessant firing by the skirmishers and an
occasional cannon shot. Harry, whether carrying an order or not, had
ample chance to see, and he noted with increasing alarm the growing
masses of the Union army, as they gathered along the Spottsylvania
front.
"Can we beat them?" "Can we beat them?" was the question that he
continually asked himself. He wondered too where the Winchester
regiment and Dick Mason lay, and where the spy, Shepard, was. But
Shepard was not likely to remain long in one place. Skill and courage
such as his would be used to the utmost in a time like this. Doubtless
he was somewhere in the Confederate lines, discovering for Grant the
relatively small size of the army that opposed him.
Near dusk and having the time he followed his custom and sought the
Invincibles. Both colonels had recovered considerable strength, and,
although one of them could not walk, he would be helped upon his horse
whenever the battle began, and would ride into the thick of it. But
the faces of St. Clair and Happy Tom glowed and their wounds apparently
were forgotten.
"Lieutenant Arthur St. Clair and Lieutenant Thomas Langdon are gone
forever," said Colonel Talbot. "In their places we have Major Arthur
St. Clair and Captain Thomas Langdon. All our majors and captains have
been killed, and with our reduced numbers these two will fill their
places, as best they can; and that they can do so most worthily we all
know. They received their promotions this afternoon."
Harry congratulated them both with the greatest warmth. They were very
young for such rank, but in this war the toll of officers was so great
that men sometimes became generals when they were but little older.
"Is it to be to-morrow?" asked Colonel Talbot.
"I think it likely that we'll fight again then," said Harry.
"And Grant has not yet had enough. He wants a little more of the same,
does he!"
"It would appear so, sir."
"Then I take it without consulting General Lee that he is ready to deal
with the Yankees as he dealt with them in the Wilderness."
"I hope so. Good night."
"Good night!" they called to him, and Harry returned to the staff.
Taylor, the adjutant general, told him and Dalton to lie down and seek
a little sleep. Harry was not at all averse, as he was completely
exhausted again after the tremendous excitement of the battle, and the
long hours of strain and danger. But his nerves were so much on edge
that he could not yet sleep. His eyes were red and smarting from the
smoke and burned powder, and he felt as if accumulated smoke and dust
encased him like a suit of armor.
"I'd give a hundred dollars for a good long drink, just as long as I
liked to make it," he groaned, "and I mean a drink of pure cold water,
too."
"Confederate paper or money?" said Dalton.
"I mean real money, but at the same time you oughtn't to make invidious
comparisons."
"Then the money's mine, but you can pay me whenever you feel like it,
which I suppose will be never. There's a spring in the thick woods
just back of your quarters. It flows out from under rocks, at the
distance of several yards makes a deep pool, and then the overflow of
the pool goes on through the forest to the Po. Come on, Harry! We'll
luxuriate and then tell the others."
Harry found that it was a most glorious spring, indeed; clear and cold.
He and Dalton drank slowly at first, and then deeply.
"I didn't know I could hold so much," said Dalton.
"Nor I," said Harry.
"Let's take another."
"I'm with you."
"Let's make it two more."
"I still follow you."
"Horace wrote about his old Falernian, and the other wines which he
enjoyed, as he and the leading Roman sports sat around the fountain,
flirting with the girls," said Dalton, "but I don't believe any wine
ever brewed in Latium was the equal of this water."
"I've always had an idea that Horace wasn't as gay as he pretended to
be, else he wouldn't have written so much about Chloe and her comrades.
I imagine that an old Roman boy would keep pretty quiet about his
dancing and singing, and not publish it to the public."
"Well, let him be. He's dead and the Romans are dead, and the
Americans are doing their best to kill off one another, but let's
forget it for a few minutes. That pool there is about four feet deep,
the water is clear and the bottom is firm ground; now do you know what
I'm going to do?"
"Yes, and I'm going to do the same. Bet you even that I beat you into
the water."
"Taken."
They threw off their clothes rapidly, but the splashes were
simultaneous as their bodies struck the water. Although the limits of
the pool were narrow they splashed and paddled there for a while, and
it was a long time since they had known such a luxury. Then they
walked out, dried themselves and spread the good news. All night long
the pool was filled with the bathers, following one another in turn.
The water taken internally and externally soothed Harry's nerves. His
excitement was gone. A great army with which they were sure to fight
on the morrow was not far away, but for the time he was indifferent.
The morrow could take care of itself. It was night, and he had
permission to go to sleep. Hence he slumbered fifteen minutes later.
He slept almost through the night, and, when he was awakened shortly
before dawn, he found that his strength and elasticity had returned. He
and Dalton went down to the spring again, drank many times, and then
ate breakfast with the older members of the staff, a breakfast that
differed very little from that of the common soldiers.
Then a day or two of waiting, and watching, and of confused but
terrible fighting ensued. The forests were again set on fire by the
bursting shells and they were not able to rescue many of the wounded
from the flames. Vast clouds again floated over the whole region,
drawing a veil of dusk between the soldiers and the sun. But neither
army was willing to attack the other in full force.
Grant commanding all the armies of the East was moving meanwhile. A
powerful cavalry division, he heard, had got behind Beauregard, who was
to protect Richmond, and was tearing up an important railway line used
by the Confederacy. The daring Sheridan with another great division of
cavalry had gone around Lee's left and was wrecking another railway,
and with it the rations and medical supplies so necessary to the
Confederates. Grant, recognizing his antagonist's skill and courage
and knowing that to succeed he must destroy the main Southern army,
resolved to attack again with his whole force.
The day had been comparatively quiet and the Army of Northern Virginia
had devoted nearly the whole time to fortifying with earthworks and
breastworks of logs. The young aides, as they rode on their missions,
could easily see the Northern lines through their glasses. Harry's
heart sank as he observed their extent. The Southern army was sadly
reduced in numbers, and Grant could get reinforcement continually.
But such is the saving grace of human nature that even in these moments
of suspense, with one terrible battle just over and another about to
begin, soldiers of the Blue and Gray would speak to one another in
friendly fashion in the bushes or across the Po. It was on the banks
of this narrow river that Harry at last saw Shepard once more. He
happened to be on foot that time, the slope being too densely wooded
for his horse, and Shepard hailed him from the other side.
"Good day, Mr. Kenton. Don't fire! I want to talk," he said, holding
up both hands as a sign of peace.
"A curious place for talking," Harry could not keep from saying.
"So it is, but we're not observed here. It was almost inevitable while
the armies remained face to face that we should meet in time. I want
to tell you that I've met your cousin, Richard Mason, here, and his
commanding officer, Colonel Winchester. Oh, I know much more about you
and your relationships than you think."
"How is Dick?"
"He has not been hurt, nor has Colonel Winchester. Mr. Mason has
received a letter from his home and your home in Pendleton in Kentucky.
The outlaws to the eastward are troublesome, but the town is occupied
by an efficient Union garrison and is in no danger. His mother and all
of his and your old friends, who did not go to the war, are in good
health. He thought that in my various capacities as ranger, scout and
spy I might meet you, and he asked me, if it so happened, to tell these
things to you."
"I thank you," said Harry very earnestly, "and I'm truly sorry, Mr.
Shepard, that you and I are on different sides."
"I suppose it's too late for you to come over to the Union and the true
cause."
Harry laughed.
"You know, Mr. Shepard, there are no traitors in this war."
"I know it. I was merely jesting."
He slipped into the underbrush and disappeared. Harry confessed to
himself once more that he liked Shepard, but he felt more strongly than
ever that it had become a personal duel between them, and they would
meet yet again in violence.
That night he had little to do. It was a typical May night in
Virginia, clear and beautiful with an air that would have been a tonic
to the nerves, had it not been for the bitter smoke and odors that yet
lingered from the battle of the Wilderness.
Before dawn the scouts brought in a rumor that there was a heavy
movement of Federal troops, although they did not know its meaning. It
might portend another flank march by Grant, but a mist that had begun
to rise after midnight hid much from them. The mist deepened into a
fog, which made it harder for the Southern leaders to learn the meaning
of the Northern movement.
Just as the dawn was beginning to show a little through the fog,
Hancock and Burnside, with many more generals, led a tremendous attack
upon the Southern right center. They had come so silently through the
thickets that for once the Southern leaders were surprised. The Union
veterans, rushing forward in dense columns, stormed and took the
breastworks with the bayonet.
Many of the Southern troops, sound asleep, awoke to find themselves in
the enemy's hands. Others, having no time to fire them, fought with
clubbed rifles.
Harry, dozing, was awakened by the terrific uproar. Even before the
dawn had fairly come the battle was raging on a long front. The center
of Lee's army was broken, and the Union troops were pouring into the
gap. Grant had already taken many guns and thousands of prisoners, and
the bulldog of Shiloh and Vicksburg and Chattanooga was hurrying fresh
divisions into the combat to extend and insure his victory. Through
the forests swelled the deep Northern cry of triumph.
Harry had never before seen the Southern army in such danger, and he
looked at General Lee, who had now mounted Traveller. The turmoil and
confusion in front of them was frightful and indescribable. The Union
troops had occupied an entire Confederate salient, and their generals,
feeling that the moment was theirs, led them on, reckless of life, and
swept everything before them.
Harry never took his eyes from Lee. The rising sun shot golden beams
through the smoke and disclosed him clearly. His face was calm and his
voice did not shake as he issued his orders with rapidity and
precision. The lion at bay was never more the lion.
A new line of battle was formed, and the fugitives formed up with it.
Then the Southern troops, uttering once more the fierce rebel yell,
charged directly upon their enemy and under the eye of the great chief
whom they almost worshiped.
Now Harry for the first time saw his general show excitement. Lee
galloped to the head of one of the Virginia regiments, and ranging his
horse beside the colors snatched off his hat and pointed it at the
enemy. It was a picture which with all the hero worship of youth he
never forgot. It did not even grow dim in his memory--the great leader
on horseback, his hat in his hand, his eyes fiery, his face flushed,
his hand pointing the way to victory or death.
It was an occasion, too, when the personal presence of a leader meant
everything. Every man knew Lee and tremendous rolling cheers greeted
his arrival, cheers that could be heard above the thunder of cannon and
rifles. It infused new courage into them and they gathered themselves
for the rush upon their victorious foe.
Gordon of Georgia, spurring through the smoke, seized Lee's horse by
the bridle. He did not mean to have their commander-in-chief
sacrificed in a charge.
"This is no place for you, General Lee!" he cried. "Go to the rear!"
Lee did not yet turn, and Gordon shouted:
"These men are Virginians and Georgians who have never failed. Go
back, I entreat you!"
Then Gordon turned to the troops and cried, as he rose on his toes in
his stirrups:
"Men, you will not fail now!"
Back came the answering shout:
"No! No!" and the whole mass of troops burst into one thunderous,
echoing cry:
"Lee to the rear! Lee to the rear! Lee to the rear!"
Nor would they move until Lee turned and rode back. Then, led by
Gordon, they charged straight upon their foe, who met them with an
equal valor. All day long the battle of Spottsylvania, equal in
fierceness and desperation to that of the Wilderness, swayed to and
fro. To Harry as he remembered them they were much alike. Charge and
defense, defense and charge. Here they gained a little, and there they
lost a little. Now they were stumbling through sanguinary thickets, and
then they rushed across little streams that ran red.
The firing was rapid and furious to an extraordinary degree. The air
rained shell and bullets. Areas of forest between the two armies were
mowed down. More than one large tree was cut through entirely by rifle
bullets. Other trees here, as in the Wilderness, caught fire and
flamed high.
Midnight put an end to the battle, with neither gaining the victory and
both claiming it. Harry had lost another horse, killed under him, and
now he walked almost dazed over the terrible field of Spottsylvania,
where nearly thirty thousand men had fallen, and nothing had yet been
decided.
Yet in Harry's heart the fear of the grim and silent Grant was growing.
The Northern general had fought within a few days two battles, each the
equal of Waterloo, and Harry felt sure that he was preparing for a
third. The combat of the giants was not over, and with an anxious soul
he waited the next dawn. They remained some days longer in the
Wilderness, or the country adjacent to it, and there was much
skirmishing and firing of heavy artillery, but the third great pitched
battle did not come quite as soon as Harry expected. Even Grant,
appalled by the slaughter, hesitated and began to maneuver again by the
flank to get past Lee. Then the fighting between the skirmishers and
heavy detached parties became continuous.
During the days that immediately followed Harry was much with
Sherburne. The brave colonel was one of Stuart's most trusted officers.
Despite the forests and thickets there was much work for the cavalry to
do, while the two armies circled and circled, each seeking to get the
advantage of the other.
Sheridan, they heard, was trying to curve about with his horsemen and
reach Richmond, and Stuart, with his cavalry, including Sherburne's,
was sent to intercept him, Harry riding by Sherburne's side. It was
near the close of May, but the air was cool and pleasant, a delight to
breathe after the awful Wilderness.
Stuart, despite his small numbers, was in his gayest spirits, and when
he overtook the enemy at a little place called Yellow Tavern he
attacked with all his customary fire and vigor. In the height of the
charge, Harry saw him sink suddenly from his horse, shot through the
body. He died not long afterward and the greatest and most brilliant
horseman of the South passed away to join Jackson and so many who had
gone before. Harry was one of the little group who carried the news to
Lee, and he saw how deeply the great leader was affected. So many of
his brave generals had fallen that he was like the head of a family,
bereft.
Nevertheless the lion still at bay was great and terrible to strike. It
was barely two weeks after Spottsylvania when Lee took up a strong
position at Cold Harbor, and Grant, confident in his numbers and
powerful artillery, attacked straightaway at dawn.
Harry was in front during that half-hour, the most terrible ever seen
on the American continent, when Northern brigade after brigade charged
to certain death. Lee's men, behind their earthworks, swept the field
with a fire in which nothing could live. The charging columns fairly
melted away before them and when the half-hour was over more than
twelve thousand men in blue lay upon the red field.
Grant himself was appalled, and the North, which had begun to
anticipate a quick and victorious end of the war, concealed its
disappointment as best it could, and prepared for another campaign.
Grant and Lee, facing each other, went into trenches along the lines of
Cold Harbor, and the hopes of the young Southern soldiers after the
victory there rose anew. But Harry was not too sanguine, although he
kept his thoughts to himself.
The officers of the Invincibles had recovered from their wounds, and
Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire,
sitting in a trench, resumed their game of chess.
Colonel Talbot took a pawn, the first man captured by either since
early spring.
"That was quite a victory," he said.
"Not important! Not important, Leonidas!"
"And why not, Hector?"
"Because you've left the way to your king easier. I shall promptly
move along that road."
"As Grant moved through the Wilderness."
"Don't depreciate Grant, Leonidas. He never stops pounding. We've
fought two great battles with him in the Wilderness and a third at Cold
Harbor, but he's still out there facing us. Can't you see the Yankees
with your glasses, Harry?"
"Yes, sir, quite clearly. They're about to fire a shot from a big gun
in a wood. There it goes!"
The deep note of the cannon came to them, passed on, and then rolled
back in echoes like a threat.
Appendix: Transcription notes:
The following modifications were applied while transcribing the printed
book to etext:
Chapter 1
Page 6, para 1, change "criticise" to "criticize", for consistency
Page 20, para 6, fix typo, "calvaryman"
Page 21, para 8, change "things" to "thing"
Chapter 2
Page 35, para 2, add missing hyphen in "commander-in-chief"
Chapter 3
Page 48, para 1, change "where-ever" to "wherever"
Page 49, para 2, fix typo, period should be comma
Page 49, para 2, change "gaints" to "giants", which is my best guess
as to what it should be
Chapter 4
Page 74, para 7, add missing period
Chapter 7
Page 124, para 6, fix typo "qouth"
Page 132, para 14, "Pleasonton" should be "Pleasanton"
Chapter 10
Page 182, para 5, add missing close-quotes
Chapter 11
Page 208, para 6, add missing close-quotes
Chapter 12
Page 229, para 3, fix typo, "dulplicate"
Chapter 13
Page 245, para 3, change "with" to "was"
Chapter 14
Page 260, para 2, removed a badly-misplaced comma
Chapter 16
Page 301, para 4, moved a badly-misplaced comma
Chapter 2, page 34, para 3 contains the phrase "rest and realization".
Probably should be "relaxation", but maybe not, so I left it as is.
The following words were printed with accented vowels or with the "ae"
ligature, but these few occurrences hardly warrant an 8-bit version of
the text:
cooperation fete reentered Plataea Thermopylae
As with all the books in this series, there are many instances where
commas seem to be missing or misplaced, but, except as noted above, I
refrained from "fixing" these.