tilton in that hoarse growl which is apt
to mark the old cavalry officer. "Where shall we find you if we want a
fresh order?"

"I shall be with Colburn, in rear of Gildersleeve. That is our centre.
But never mind me; you know what the battle is to be, and you know how
to fight it. The whole point with the infantry is to fold around the
enemy's right, go in upon it concentrically, smash it, and roll up their
line. The cavalry will watch against the infantry being flanked, and
when the latter have seized the hill, will charge for prisoners. The
artillery will reply to the enemy's guns with shell, and fire grape at
any offensive demonstration. You all know your duties, now, gentlemen.
Go to your commands, and march!"

The colonels saluted and started off at a gallop. In a few minutes
twenty-five hundred men were in simultaneous movement. Five companies of
cavalry wheeled into column of companies, and advanced at a trot through
the fields, seeking to gain the shelter of the forest. The six infantry
regiments slid up alongside of each other, and pushed on in six parallel
columns of march, two on the right of the road and four on the left. The
artillery, which alone left the highway, followed at a distance of two
or three hundred yards. The remaining cavalry made a wide detour to the
right as if to flank the enemy's left.

It was a mile and a quarter--it was a march of fully twenty minutes--to
the edge of the woodland, the proposed cover of the column. Ten minutes
before this point was reached a tiny puff of smoke showed on the brow of
the hostile ridge; then, at an interval of several seconds, followed the
sound of a distant explosion; then, almost immediately, came the screech
of a rifled shell. Every man who heard it swiftly asked himself, "Will
it strike _me?_" But even as the words were thought out it had passed,
high in air, clean to the rear, and burst harmlessly. A few faces turned
upward and a few eyes glanced backward, as if to see the invisible
enemy. But there was no pause in the column; it flowed onward quietly,
eagerly, and with business-like precision; it gave forth no sound but
the trampling of feet and the muttering of the officers. "Steady, men!
For-ward, men!"

The Confederates, however, had got their range. A half minute later four
puffs of smoke dotted the ridge, and a flight of hoarse humming shrieks
tore the air. A little aureole cracked and splintered over the First,
followed by loud cries of angui