which
raised his knees in the most ungraceful manner. Neither in his face
nor figure was there the least indication of the great faculties of
the man, and a more awkward-looking personage it would be impossible
to imagine. In his hand he held a lemon, which he sucked from time to
time, and his demeanor was abstracted and absent.

As Jackson approached, Lee rode toward him and greeted him with a
cordial pressure of the hand.

"Ah, general," said Lee, "I am very glad to see you. I hoped to be
with you before!"

Jackson made a twitching movement of his head, and replied in a few
words, rather jerked from the lips than deliberately uttered.

Lee had paused, and now listened attentively to the long roll of
musketry from the woods, where Hill and Longstreet were engaged; then
to the still more incessant and angry roar from the direction of
Jackson's own troops, who had closed in upon the Federal forces.

"That fire is very heavy," said Lee. "Do you think your men can stand
it?"

Jackson listened for a moment, with his head bent toward one shoulder,
as was customary with him, for he was deaf, he said, in one ear, "and
could not hear out of the other," and replied briefly:

"They can stand almost any thing! They can stand that!"

He then, after receiving General Lee's instructions, immediately
saluted and returned to his corps--Lee remaining still at Cold Harbor,
which was opposite the Federal centre.

[Illustration: Lee and Jackson at Cold harbor.]

The arrival of Jackson changed in a moment the aspect of affairs
in every part of the field. Whitney's division of his command took
position on Longstreet's left; the command of General D.H. Hill, on
the extreme right of the whole line, and Ewell's division, with part
of Jackson's old division, supported A.P. Hill. No sooner had these
dispositions been made, than General Lee ordered an attack along the
whole line. It was now five or six o'clock, and the sun was sinking.
From that moment until night came, the battle raged with a fury
unsurpassed in any subsequent engagement of the war. The Texan troops,
under General Hood, especially distinguished themselves. These,
followed by their comrades, charged the Federal left on the bluff,
and, in spite of a desperate resistance, carried the position. "The
enemy were driven," says General Lee, "from the ravine to the first
line of breastworks, over which one impetuous column dashed, up to the
intrenchments on the crest." Here