twice, and once charging a
battery. All that opposed our advance however was a thin fringe of
troops, intent merely upon causing delay, and making a brief stand, only
to fall back promptly as soon as we flung forward any considerable body
of men. By night-fall we had attained a position well within the bend of
the river, the centre and left wing had achieved a crossing, and our
entire line had closed up so as to display a solid front. The Ninth
bivouacked in the hills, our rest undisturbed, except for the occasional
firing of the pickets. With dawn we were under arms, feeling our way
forward, and, an hour later, the two armies were face to face. Nearly
evenly mated, fighting across a rough country, neither side could claim
victory at the end of the day. While we on the right forced our line
forward for nearly five miles, leaving behind us a carpet of dead, the
left and centre met with such desperate resistance as to barely retain
their earlier position. It required an hour of night fighting to close
up the gap, and we slept on our arms, expecting an early morning
assault. Instead of attempting this the enemy fell back to their second
line of intrenchments, and, after waiting a day to determine their
movements and strengthen our own line, we again advanced, feeling our
way slowly in, but finally meeting with a resistance which compelled
a halt.

The details of this battle belong to history, not to these pages. The
Ninth bore no conspicuous part, hovering on the extreme right flank,
engaged in continuous skirmishing, and scouting along miles of front.
The morning of the third day found the armies fronting each other,
defiant yet equally afraid to join battle, both commanders seeking for
some point of strategy which would yield advantage--we of the North
fearful of advancing against intrenchments, and those of the South not
daring to come forth into the open. For the moment it was a truce
between us--the truce of two exhausted bull-dogs, lying face to face
with gleaming teeth, ready to spring at the first opening.

We of the Ninth were at the edge of an opening in the woods, with low
hills on either hand, our pickets within easy musket-shot of the
gray-clad videttes beyond the fringe of trees. Knowing our own success
we could not comprehend this inaction, or the desperate fighting which
held back the troops to the east, and we were impatient to go in. I was
lying on my back in the shelter of a slight hollow, wondering at