e hit, and a wounded horse, losing its rider, ran
screaming through the wood.

The forest and thickets now grew so dense that the officers dismounted,
giving their horses to an orderly, and led on foot. The country before
them was most difficult. Besides the trees and brush it was seared with
ravines. A swarm of skirmishers in front whom they could not see now
poured bullets among them, and the shells, curving over the heads of
the ambushed sharpshooters, fell in the Union ranks. On either flank the
battle opened and swelled rapidly.

"We may have got Pemberton trapped," said Pennington, "but he's got so
many bristles that we can't reach in a hand and pull out our captive. My
God, Dick, are you killed?"

He was pulling Dick to his feet and examining him anxiously.

"I'm all right," said Dick in a moment. "It was the wind of a big round
shot that knocked me down. Just now I'm thanking God it was the wind and
not the shot."

"I wish we could get through these thickets!" exclaimed Warner. "Our
comrades must be engaged much more heavily than we are. What an uproar!"

The combat swelled to great proportions. The Southern army, being
compelled to fight, fought now with all its might. The crest of the long
hill blazed with fire. The men in gray used every advantage of position.
Cannon and rifles raked the woods and thickets, and at many points the
Union attack was driven back. The sun rose slowly and they still held
the hill, fighting with all the fire and valor characteristic of the
South. They were cheered at times by the expectation of victory, but the
stubborn Grant brought up his remaining forces and continually pressed
the battle.

The Winchester regiment crossed a ravine and knelt among the thickets.
Its losses had not yet been heavy, as most of the cannon fire was
passing over their heads. Grape and canister were whistling among the
woods, and Dick was devoutly grateful that these deadly missiles were
going so high. Yet if they did not hurt they made one shiver, and it
was not worth while to recall that when he heard the sound the shot had
passed already. One shivered anyhow.

As well as Dick could judge from the volume of sound the battle seemed
to be concentrated directly upon the hill. He knew that Grant expected
to make a general attack in full force, and he surmised that one of the
commanders under him was not pushing forward with the expected zeal. His
surmise was correct. A general with fifteen thousand