ky dusk, that was
practically night. Officers coming from far points, led, compass in hand,
having no other guide save the roar of battle. As the Southern leaders
had foreseen, Grant was throwing in the full strength of his powerful
army, hoping with superior numbers and better equipment to crush Lee
utterly that day.

The great Northern artillery was raking the whole Southern front.
Hancock, the superb, was hurling the heavy Northern masses directly upon
the main position of the South. He had half the Army of the Potomac,
and at other points Warren, Wadsworth, Sedgwick and Burnside were
advancing with equal energy and contempt of death. Fiercer and fiercer
grew the conflict. Hancock, remembering how he had held the fatal hill
at Gettysburg, and resolved to win a complete victory now, poured in
regiment after regiment. But in all the fire and smoke and excitement
and danger he did not neglect to keep a cool head. Hearing that a
portion of Longstreet's corps was near, he sent a division and numerous
heavy artillery to attack it, driving it back after a sanguinary struggle
of more than an hour.

Then he redoubled his attack upon the Southern center, compelling it to
give ground, though slowly. Harry felt that gliding movement backward
and a chill ran through his blood. The heavy masses of Grant and his
powerful artillery were prevailing. The strongest portion of the
Southern army was being forced back, and a gap was cut between Hill and
Longstreet. Had Hancock perceived the gap that he had made he might have
severed the Southern army, inflicting irretrievable retreat, but the
smoke and the dusk of the Wilderness hid it, and the moment passed into
one of the great "Ifs" of history.

Harry, on horseback, witnessed this conflict, all the more terrible
because of the theater in which it was fought. The batteries and the
riflemen alike were frequently hidden by the thickets. The great banks
of smoke hung low, only to be split apart incessantly by the flashes of
fire from the big guns. But the bullets were more dangerous than the
cannon balls and shells. They whistled and shrieked in thousands and
countless thousands.

Lee sat on his horse impassive, watching as well as he could the tide of
battle. Messengers covered with smoke and sweat had informed him of the
gap between Hill and Longstreet, and he was dispatching fresh troops to
close it up. Harry saw the Invincibles march by. The two colonels at
their