blazing with fire and steel, advanced, never
stopping for a moment, while the fire of their cannon beat incessantly
upon the devoted brigades. It was well for the Northern army, well for
the Union that here was the Rock of Chickamauga. Amid all the terrible
uproar and the yet more terrible danger, Thomas never lost his courage
and presence of mind for a moment. Dick saw him more than once, and he
knew how he doubly and triply earned the famous name which that day and
the next were to give him.

But the weight was so tremendous that they began to give ground. They
went back slowly, but they went back. Dick felt as if the whole weight
were pressing upon his own chest, and when he tried to shout no words
would come.

Back they went, inch by inch, leaving the ground covered with their
dead. Dick was conscious only of a vast roar and shouting and the
continuous blaze of cannon and rifles in his very face. But he
understood the immensity of the crisis. By a huge victory in the West
the Confederacy would redress the loss of Gettysburg in the East. And
now it seemed that they were gaining it. For the first and only time in
the war they had the larger numbers in a great battle, and the ground
was of their own choosing.

Elated over success gained and greater success hoped, the Southern
leaders poured their troops continually upon Thomas. If they could break
that wing, cut it off in fact, and rush in at the gap, they would be
between Rosecrans and Chattanooga and the Northern army would be doomed.
They made gigantic efforts. The cavalry charged again and again. Huge
masses of infantry hurled themselves upon the brigades of Thomas, and
every gun that could be brought into action poured shot and shell into
his lines.

Many of the young as well as the old officers in Thomas' corps felt the
terrible nature of the crisis. Dick knew despite the hideous turmoil
that Thomas was the chief target of the Southern army. He divined that
the fortunes of the Union were swinging in the balance there among those
Tennessee hills and valleys. If Thomas were shattered the turn of Grant
farther south would come next. Vicksburg would have been won in vain and
the Union would be broken in the West.

Order and cohesion were lost among many of the regiments, but the men
stood firm. The superb, democratic soldier fought for himself and he,
too, understood the crisis. They re-formed without orders and fought
continuously against overwhelming might. G