A GLIMPSE OF WAR, CONTINUED.
"Miss Marian," resumed Blauvelt, "the scenes I am now about to
describe are terrible in the extreme, even in their baldest statement.
I cannot portray what actually took place; I doubt whether any one
could; I can only give impressions of what I saw and heard when
nearly all of us were almost insane from excitement. There are
men who are cool in battle,--our colonel was, outwardly,--but the
great majority of men must be not only veterans, but also gifted with
unusual temperaments, to be able to remain calm and well balanced
in the uproar of a bloody battle.
"In a sense, our men were veterans, and were steady enough to aim
carefully as the enemy advanced up the steep hill. Our shots told
on them more fatally than theirs on us. The greater number of us
shared Strahan's impatience, and we longed for the wild, forward
dash, which is a relief to the tremendous nervous strain at such a
time. After a moment or two, that seemed ages, the colonel quietly
nodded to Strahan, who waved his sword, pointed towards the enemy,
and shouted, 'Charge!'
"You know him well enough to be sure that this was not an order
for the men to fulfil while he looked on. In a second his powerful
bay sprung through the centre of our line, and to keep up with him
we had to follow on a run. There was no hesitation or flagging.
Faces that had been pale were flushed now. As I turned my eyes
from moment to moment back to my company, the terrible expression
of the men's eyes impressed me even then. The colonel watched our
impetuous rush with proud satisfaction, and then spurred his horse
to the very midst of our advance. The lieutenant-colonel, undaunted
by a former wound, never flinched a second, but wisely fought on
foot.
"The first battle-line of the enemy seemed utterly unable to stand
before our fierce onset. Those who were not shot fled.
"Again I saw Strahan waving his sword and shouting; 'Victory!
Forward, men! forward!'
"He was in the very van, leading us all. At this moment the second
rebel line fired a volley, and the bullets swept by like an autumn
gust through a tree from which the leaves, thinned by former gales,
are almost stripped. It seemed at the moment as if every other man
went down. Wonder of wonders, as the smoke lifted a little, I saw
to the right the tall form of our colonel still on his gray horse,
pointing with his sword to the second rebel line, and shouting,
'Forward, my men! forward!'
"As the order left his lips, his sword fell, point-downward, and,
with a headlong curve, he went over his horse upon the rocks below.
Even in his death he went towards the enemy. His horse galloped in
the same direction, but soon fell. I thought that Strahan was gone
also, for he was hidden by smoke. A second later I heard his voice:
'Forward! Charge!'
"The men seemed infuriated by the loss of the colonel, and by no
means daunted. Our next mad rush broke the second line of the enemy.
"The scene now defies all my powers of description. The little
handful of men that was left of my company were almost beyond
control. Each soldier was acting under the savage impulse to follow
and kill some rebel before him. I shared the feeling, yet remained
sane enough to thank God when I saw Strahan leap lightly down from
his staggering horse, yet ever crying, 'Forward!' A second later
the poor animal fell dead.
"Our own cannons were bellowing above us; the shells of the enemy
were shrieking over our heads. There was a continuous crash of
musketry that sounded like a fierce, devouring flame passing through
dry thorns, yet above all this babel of horrid sounds could be heard
the shouts and yells of the combatants and the shrieks and groans
of wounded and dying men. Then remember that I saw but a little
section, a few yards in width, of a battle extending for miles.
"In our mad excitement we did not consider the odds against us. The
two remaining lines of battle were advancing swiftly through the
fugitives, and we struck the first with such headlong impetuosity
that it was repulsed and gave back; but the fourth and last line
passing through, and being reinforced by the other broken lines,
came unfaltering, and swept us back from sheer weight of numbers.
We were now reduced to a mere skirmish line. It was at this moment
that I saw Strahan fall, and it seemed but a second later that the
enemy's advance passed over the spot. It was impossible then to
rescue him, for the lieutenant-colonel had given orders for all
to fall back and rally behind the guns that it was our duty to
protect. Indeed, the difficult thing, now, was to get back. The
Union regiment, on our right, had given way, after a gallant fight,
earlier than we had, and the rebels were on our flank and rear. A
number of our men going to the ridge, from which they had charged,
ran into the enemy and were captured. There were desperate hand-to-hand
encounters, hair-breadth escapes, and strange episodes.
"One occurs to me which I saw with my own eyes. It happened a
little earlier in the fight. We were so close to the enemy that a
man in my company had not time to withdraw his ramrod, and, in his
instinctive haste to shoot first at a rebel just before him, sent
ramrod and all through the Confederate's body, pinning him to the
ground. The poor fellow stretched out his hands and cried for mercy.
My man not only wished to recover his rod, but was, I believe,
actuated by a kindly impulse, for he ran to the 'Johnny," pulled
out the rod, jerked the man to his feet, and started him on a run
to our rear as prisoner.
"When at last what was left of the regiment reached its original
position it numbered no more than a full company. Scarcely a hundred
were in line. Over one hundred of our men and the majority of the
officers were either killed or wounded. While the lieutenant-colonel
was rallying us near the battery, a shell struck a gun-carriage,
hurling it against him, and he was home senseless from the field.
The command now devolved on the senior captain left unwounded.
"One of my men now said to me, 'Captain, why don't you go to the
rear? Your face is so covered with blood that you must be badly
hurt.'
"It was only at that moment that I became conscious of my wound. In
my intense anxiety about Strahan, in the effort to get my men back
in something like order, and in the shock of seeing the lieutenant-colonel
struck down, my mind seemed almost unaware of the existence of
the body. In the retreat I had felt something sting my hand like
a nettle, and now found one of the fingers of my left hand badly
shattered. With this hand I had been wiping my brow, for it was
intensely hot. I therefore was the most sanguineous-looking man of
our number.
"Of course I did not go to the rear because of a wound of so slight
a nature, and my earnest hope was that reinforcements would enable
us to drive the enemy back so that I could go to the spot where I
had seen Strahan fall.
"What I have vainly attempted to describe occurred in less time
than I have taken in telling about it. I think it would have been
much better if we had never left the line which we now occupied,
and which we still held in spite of the overwhelming superiority,
in numbers, of the enemy. If, instead of wasting the morning hours,
we had fortified this line, we never could have been driven from
it.
"Our immediate foes, in front of us did not at that time advance
much farther than the point of our repulse, and, like ourselves,
sought cover from which to fire. We now had a chance to recover
a little from our wild excitement, and to realize, in a slight
degree, what was taking place around us. Information came that
our corps-commander had been seriously wounded. Our own colonel
lay, with other dead officers, a little in our rear, yet in plain
sight. We could only give them a mournful glance, for the battle
was still at its height, and was raging in our front and for miles
to the right. The thunder of three hundred or more guns made the
very earth tremble, while the shrieking and bursting of the shells
above us filled the air with a din that was infernal.
"But we had little chance to observe or think of anything except
the enemy just below us. With wolfish eyes they were watching every
chance to pick off our men. Many of our killed and wounded on the
bloody declivity were in plain view, and one poor fellow, desperately
hurt, would often raise his hand and wave it to us.
"Our men acted like heroes, and took deliberate aim before they
fired. When a poor fellow dropped, one of our officers picked up
the rifle and fired in his place."
"Did you do that?" Marian asked.
"Yes; my sword was of no service, and my handful of men needed no
orders. Anything at such a time is better than inaction, and we all
felt that the line must be held. Every bullet counted, you know.
"Some of our boys did very brave things at this time. For instance:
rifles, that had become so clogged or hot as to be unserviceable,
were dropped, and the men would say to their immediate companions,
'Be careful how you fire,' and then rush down the slope, pick up
the guns of dead or wounded comrades, and with these continue the
fight.
"At last the enemy's fire slackened a little, and I went to take
my farewell look at our colonel and others of our officers whose
bodies had been recovered. These were then carried to the rear,
and I never saw their familiar faces again.
"The horses now came up at a gallop to take away the battery near
us, and I saw a thing which touched me deeply. As the horses were
turning that a gun might be limbered up, a shot, with a clean cut,
carried away a leg from one of the poor animals. The faithful,
well-trained beast, tried to hobble around into his place on three
legs. He seemed to have caught the spirit which animated the entire
army that day.
"As I turned toward the regiment, the cry went up, 'They are flanking
us!'
"The brief slackening of the enemy's fire had only indicated
preparations for a general forward movement. An aid now galloped
to us with orders to fall back instantly. A few of my men had been
placed, for the sake of cover, in the woods on the right, and I
hastened over to them to give the order. By the time I had collected
them, the enemy had occupied our old position and we barely escaped
capture. When we caught up with the regiment, our brigade-commander
had halted it and was addressing it in strong words of eulogy;
adding, however, that he still expected almost impossible things
of his troops.
"It was pleasant to know that our efforts had been recognized and
appreciated, but our hearts were heavy with the thoughts of those
we had lost. We were now sent to a piece of woods about a mile to
the rear, as a part of the reserve, and it so happened that we were
not again called into the fight, which ended, you know, the next
day.
"I had bound up my fingers as well as I could, and now, in reaction
and from loss of blood, felt sick and faint. I did not wish to go
to our field hospital, for I knew the scenes there were so horrible
that I should not be equal to witnessing them. Our surgeon came
and dressed my finger for me, and said that it would have to come
off in the morning, and I now found that my shoulder also had been
slightly cut with a bullet. These injuries on that day, however,
were the merest trifles.
"Our supper was the dreariest meal I ever took. The men spoke in
subdued tones, and every now and then a rough fellow would draw his
sleeve across his eyes, as so many things brought to mind those who
had breakfasted with us. We were like a household that had returned
from burying the greater part of its number. Yes, worse than this,
for many, suffering from terrible wounds, were in the hands of the
enemy.
"Of course I grieved for the loss of men and officers, but I had
come to feel like a brother towards Strahan, and, fatigued as I
was, solicitude on his account kept me awake for hours. The battle
was still raging on our extreme right, and I fell asleep before
the ominous sounds ceased.
"Waking with the dawn, I felt so much better and stronger that I
took a hasty cup of coffee, and then started toward the spot where
I had seen Strahan fall, in the hope of reaching it. The surgeon had
ordered that I should be relieved from duty, and told me to keep
quiet. This was impossible with my friend's fate in such uncertainty.
I soon found that the enemy occupied the ground on which we had
fought, and that to go beyond a certain point would be death or
captivity. Therefore I returned, the surgeon amputated my finger,
and then I rested with the regiment several hours. With the dawn,
heavy fighting began again on the extreme right, but we knew at
the time little of its character or object.
"After an early dinner I became restless and went to our corps-hospitals
to look after such of the wounded of my company as had been carried
thither. It was situated in a grove not far away. I will not describe
the scenes witnessed there, for it would only give you useless pain.
The surgeons had been at work all the night and morning around the
amputation tables, and our doctor and chaplain had done about all
that could be accomplished for our poor fellows. There were hundreds
of men lying on the ground, many of whom were in the agonies of
death even as I passed.
"I again went back to see if there had been any change in our front
which would enable me to reach Strahan. This still being impossible,
I continued along our lines to the right at a slow pace, that I
might gain some idea of our position and prospects. My hope now of
reaching Strahan lay in our defeating Lee and gaining the field.
Therefore I had a double motive to be intensely interested in all
I saw. Since nine in the morning a strange silence had settled on
the field, but after yesterday's experience it raised no delusive
hopes. With the aid of a small field-glass that I carried, I could
see the enemy's batteries, and catch glimpses of their half-concealed
infantry, which were moving about in a way that indicated active
preparation for something. Our officers had also made the most of
this respite, and there had been a continuous shifting of troops,
strengthening of lines, and placing of artillery in position since
the dawn. Now, however, the quiet was wonderful, in view of the
vast bodies of men which were hi deadly array. Even the spiteful
picket-firing had ceased.
"I had barely reached a high point, a little in the rear of the
Second Corps, commanded by General Hancock, when I saw evidences
of excitement and interest around me. Eyes and field-glasses were
directed towards the enemy's lines nearly opposite. Springing on
a rock near me, I turned my glass in the same direction, and saw
that Lee was massing his artillery along the edge of the woods on
the ridge opposite. The post of observation was a good one, and I
determined to maintain it. The rock promised shelter when the iron
tempest should begin.
"Battery after battery came into position, until, with my glass,
I could count nearly a hundred guns. On our side batteries were
massing also, both to the right and the left of where I stood.
Experience had so taught me what these preparations meant that I
fairly trembled with excitement and awe. It appeared as if I were
about to witness one of the most terrific combats of the world,
and while I might well doubt whether anything could survive
the concentrated fire of these rebel guns, I could not resist the
desire to see out what I felt must be the final and supreme effort
of both armies. Therefore I stuck to my rock and swept with my glass
the salient points of interest. I dreaded the effect of the awful
cannonade upon our lines of infantry that lay upon the ground below
me, behind such slight shelter as they could find. Our position at
this point was commanding, but many of the troops were fearfully
exposed, while our artillerymen had to stand in plain view. Over
all this scene, so awfully significant and unnaturally quiet,
the scorching July sun sent down its rays like fiery darts, which
everywhere on the field scintillated as if they were kindling
innumerable fires.
"At last the enemy fired a single gun. Almost instantly a flashing
line of light swept along the massed Confederate batteries, I sprung
down behind my rock as a perfect storm of iron swept over and around
me, and my heart stood almost still at the deep reverberations
which followed. This was but the prelude to the infernal symphony
that followed. With remarkable rapidity and precision of aim the
enemy continued firing, not irregularly, but in immense thundering
volleys, all together. There would be a moment's pause, and then
would come such a storm of iron that it seemed to me that even my
sheltering rock would be cut away, and that everything exposed must
be annihilated.
"At first I was exceedingly troubled that our guns did not reply.
Could it be possible that the enemy's fire was so destructive that
our forces were paralyzed? I was learning to distinguish between the
measured cadences of the enemy's firing. After a hurtling shower
flew over, I sprung out, took a survey, and was so filled with
exultation and confidence, that I crept back again with hope renewed.
Our men were standing at the guns, which officers were sighting in
order to get more accurate range, and the infantry had not budged.
Of course there were streams of wounded going to the rear, but this
is true of every battle.
"I now had to share my slight cover with several others, and saw
that if I went out again I should lose it altogether. So I determined
to wait out the artillery duel quietly. I could see the effects
of the enemy's shells in the rear, if not in front, and these were
disastrous enough. In the depression behind the ridge on which were
our guns and infantry, there were ammunition-wagons, ambulances,
and caissons. Among these, shells were making havoc. Soon a caisson
exploded with a terrific report and a great cloud of smoke, which,
clearing, revealed many prostrate forms, a few of which were able
to crawl away.
"Minutes, which seemed like ages, had passed, and the horrible din
was then doubled by the opening of all our batteries. The ground
beneath me trembled, but as time passed and our guns kept up their
steady fire, and the infantry evidently remained unshaken in their
lines of defence, my confidence became stronger. By degrees you grow
accustomed to almost anything, and I now found leisure to observe
my companions behind the rock. I instantly perceived that two of
them were press-correspondents, young, boyish-looking fellows, who
certainly proved themselves veterans in coolness and courage. Even
in that deadly tempest they were alert and busy with their note-books.
"When the caisson exploded, each swiftly wrote a few cabalistic
symbols. There was a house to the left, as we sat feeing our rear,
and I saw that they kept their eyes on that almost continually.
Curious to know why, I shouted in the ear of one, asking the
reason. He wrote, 'Meade's headquarters,' and then I shared their
solicitude. That it was occupied by some general of high rank, was
evident from the number of horses tied around it, and the rapid
coming and going of aids and orderlies; but it seemed a terrible
thing that our commander-in-chief should be so exposed. Shells flew
about the little cottage like angry hornets about their nest, and
every few minutes one went in. The poor horses, tied and helpless,
were kicking and plunging in their terror, and one after another
went down, killed or wounded. I was told that General Meade and
staff were soon compelled to leave the place.
"The hours of the cannonade grew monotonous and oppressive. Again
and again caissons were exploded and added to the terrible list
of casualties. Wagons and ambulances--such of them as were not
wrecked--were driven out of range. Every moment or two the ground
shook with the recoil and thunder of our batteries, while the air
above and around us seemed literally filled with shrieking, moaning,
whistling projectiles of almost every size and pattern in present
use. From them came puffs of smoke, sharp cracks, heard above the
general din, as they exploded and showered around us pieces of
jagged iron. When a shell bursts, its fragments strike the ground
obliquely, with a forward movement; therefore our comparative
safety behind our rock, which often shook from the terrific impact
of missiles on its outer side. So many had now sought its shelter
that some extended beyond its protection, and before the cannonade
was over two were killed outright, almost within reach of my arm.
Many of the wounded, in going to the rear, were struck down before
reaching a place of safety. The same was true of the men bringing
ammunition from the caissons in the depression beneath us. Every few
minutes an officer of some rank would be carried by on a stretcher,
with a man or two in attendance. I saw one of these hastily moving
groups prostrated by a shell, and none of them rose again or
struggled. I only tell you of these scenes in compliance with your
wish, Miss Marian, and because I see that you have the spirit of
a soldier. I was told that, in the thickest of the fight, the wife
of a general came on the field in search of her husband, who was
reported wounded. I believe that you could have done the same."
"I don't know," she replied, sadly,--"I don't know, for I never
realized what war was before;" and she looked apprehensively at
Merwyn, fearing to see traces of weakness. His side face, as he sat
in the shadow, was pale indeed, but he was rigid and motionless.
She received the impression that he was bracing himself by the
whole strength of his will to listen through the dreadful story.
Again Mr. Vosburgh suggested that these details were too terrific
for his daughter's nerves, but she interrupted him almost sternly,
saying: "No, papa, I intend to know just what my friends have
passed through. I feel that it is due to them, and, if I cannot
hear quietly, I am not worthy to be their friend. I can listen to
words when Southern girls can listen to bullets. Captain Blauvelt,
you are describing the battle exactly as I asked and wished. My only
fear is that you are going beyond your strength;" and she poured
him out a glass of light wine.
"When you come to hear all I passed through after leaving that
rock, you will know that this story-telling is not worth thinking
about," said Blauvelt, with a slight laugh, "All my exposure was
well worth the risk, for the chance of telling it to a woman of your
nerve. My hope now is that Strahan may some day learn how stanch
was our 'home support,' as we were accustomed to call you. I assure
you that many a man has been inspired to do his best because of
such friendship and sympathy. I am now about to tell you of the
grandest thing I ever saw or expect to see, and shall not abate one
jot of praise because the heroic act was performed by the enemy."