nious flight, when he came up in the evening. R---- is in the
line, looking black, silent, and still troubled in his knees. Do these
careless men realize that they are about to decide the fate of a great
nation? Perhaps they are unconscious of the greatness of the present
hour; but what of that? They stood in their lot.

But our waiting is over at last; and, at the word of command, every
soldier is in his place. These men were _not_ stolid, ignorant, nor
inexperienced. Their thinned ranks show how well they know what battle
means. You can see some pale faces, and lips compressed, as
"FORWARD" passes down the line. We pass out of the woods into
the open field. A few rods ahead, some mounted cavalrymen are firing
toward the woods, which conceal the enemy. We can see a puff of smoke
here and there among the trees. A little farther, and the cavalry gallop
away to the right, and bullets begin to whistle past, some over, some
tossing up the dirt at our feet. It would be a waste of powder to return
the fire at this distance; besides, we are going down there. But the
bullets begin to come closer. They are fairly hot as they hiss around
us. We quicken our pace. It is five hundred yards to the woods. The men
on our left open fire--four hundred yards, three, the line slackens a
little, and a volley, and another, and another, bursts in quick
succession from our Spencer rifles. Then a cheer, as we dash for the
woods at headlong speed, yelling and firing as we go. The rebel
skirmishers give way before our charge, and the woods are gained.

Up to this time I had not looked back. I supposed we had advanced about
a thousand yards, and would soon encounter the main force of the enemy.
As we reached the woods, I turned to see if the line of battle was yet
in sight. My eyes fell upon the most stirring scene I ever witnessed.
This was the grandeur, the sublimity of war. The corps was coming in
order of battle, line after line sweeping on with steady step. Their
front extended nearly a mile across the open ground, guns at a
right-shoulder, glittering in the sunlight like silver, battle-flags
fluttering in the air. In front, the skirmishers were fighting savagely;
on the left a score of cannon were thundering, shells screaming out
their horrid warning, as they leaped from the smoking guns. But this
living avalanche swept on in stern silence, as if there breathed within
it a great soul, which scorned to speak or strike but once. A single
glan