rray, stepping steadily
as if they were on parade, instead of aiming straight at the center of
the Union army, where fifty thousand riflemen and a hundred guns were
awaiting them. Their generals and those of the supporting divisions
rode on their flanks or at their head. Besides Pickett, Garnett, Wilcox,
Armistead, Pettigrew and Trimble were there.

The Southern cannon were firing over the heads of the marching
Virginians, covering them with their fire, but the light breeze
strengthened a little, driving away the smoke. There they were in the
valley, visible to both friend and foe, marching on that long mile from
hill to hill. The Southern army shouted again, and it is true that,
at this moment, the Union ranks burst into a like cry of admiration,
at the sight of a foe so daring, men of their own race and country.

But Harry never took his eyes for a moment from Pickett's column.
He was using his glasses, and everything stood out strong and clear.
The sun was at the zenith, pouring down rays so fiery that the whole
field blazed in light. The nature of the ground caused the Virginians
to turn a little, in order to keep the line for the Union center,
but they preserved their even ranks, and marched on at a steady pace.

Harry began to shout again, but in an instant or two he saw a line
of fire pass along the Union front. Forty guns together opened upon
the charging column, and Hancock at the Union center, seeing and
understanding the danger, was heaping up men and cannon to meet it.

The shells began to crash into the ranks of the Virginians and the ten
thousand on their flanks. Men fell in hundreds and now the batteries
on Little Round Top added to the storm of fire. The clouds of smoke
gathered again, but the wind presently scattered them and Harry, waiting
in agony, saw Pickett's division marching straight ahead, never
faltering.

But he groaned when he saw that there was trouble on the flanks.
The men of Pettigrew, exhausted by the great efforts they had already
made in the battle, wavered and lost ground. Another division was
driven back by a heavy flank attack. Others were lost in the vast banks
of smoke that at times filled the valley. Only the Virginians kept
unbroken ranks and a straight course for the Union center.

Pickett paused a few moments at the burning house for the others to get
in touch with him, but they could not do so, and he marched on, with
Cemetery Hill now only two hundred yards