is feet, assured that the moment for making the
attack had arrived. General McClellan and staff came galloping up, and a
thousand faces turned to hear the order to advance; but no order was
given. The General halted a few paces from our line, and sat on his
horse listening to the guns, apparently in doubt as to what to do; and
as he sat there with indecision stamped on every line of his
countenance, the battle grew fiercer in the enemy's rear. Every volley
could be heard distinctly. There would occasionally be a lull for a
moment, and then the uproar would break out again with increased
violence. If the enemy is too strong for us to attack, what must be the
fate of Rosecrans' four regiments, cut off from us, and struggling
against such odds? Hours passed; and as the last straggling shots and
final silence told us the battle had ended, gloom settled down on every
soldier's heart, and the belief grew strong that Rosecrans had been
defeated, and his brigade cut to pieces or captured. This belief grew to
certain conviction soon after, when we heard shout after shout go up
from the fortifications in our front.

Major Keifer with two companies had, early in the afternoon, climbed the
hill on our right to look for a position from which artillery could be
used effectively. The ground over which he moved was broken and covered
with a dense growth of trees and underbrush; finally an elevation was
discovered which commanded the enemy's camp, but before a road could be
cut, and the artillery brought up, it was too late in the day to begin
the attack.

Night came on. It was intensely dark. About nine o'clock we were ordered
to withdraw our pickets quietly and return to our old quarters. On our
way thither a rough voice cried: "Halt! Who comes there?" And a thousand
shadowy forms sprang up before us. The challenge was from Colonel Robert
McCook, and the regiment his. The scene reminded me of the one where

"That whistle garrisoned the glen
At once with full five hundred men,
As if the yawning hill to heaven
A subterranean host had given."

12. We were rejoiced this morning to hear of Rosecrans' success, and, at
the same time, not well pleased at the escape of the enemy under cover
of night. We were ordered to move, and got under way at eight o'clock.
On the road we met General Rosecrans and staff. He was jubilant, as well
he might be, and as he rode by received the congratulations of the