stern soldier who but just now, with words of tender sympathy and
Christian hope, had bade farewell to his dying comrade.

Dec. 14.

But on December 14, as on the morrow of Sharpsburg, the Confederates
were doomed to disappointment. "Darkness still prevailed," writes
Stuart's chief of the staff, "when we mounted our horses and again
hastened to Prospect Hill, the summit of which we reached just in
time to see the sun rising, and unveiling, as it dispersed the haze,
the long lines of the Federal army, which once more stood in full
line of battle between our own position and the river. I could not
withhold my admiration as I looked down upon the well-disciplined
ranks of our antagonists, astonished that these troops now offering
so bold a front should be the same whom not many hours since I had
seen in complete flight and disorder. The skirmishers of the two
armies were not much more than a hundred yards apart, concealed from
each other's view by the high grass in which they were lying, and
above which, from time to time, rose a small cloud of blue smoke,
telling that a shot had been fired. As the boom of artillery began to
sound from different parts of the line, and the attack might be
expected every minute, each hastened to his post."

But though the skirmishing at times grew hotter, and the fire of the
artillery more rapid, long intervals of silence succeeded, until it
at length became apparent to the Confederates that the enemy, though
well prepared to resist attack, was determined not to fight outside
his breastworks. Burnside, indeed, giving way to the remonstrances of
his subordinates, had abandoned all idea of further aggressive
action, and unless Lee should move forward, had determined to recross
the Potomac.

Dec. 15.

The next morning saw the armies in the same positions, and the
Federal wounded, many of whom had been struck down nearly forty-eight
hours before, still lying untended between the hostile lines. It was
not till now that Burnside admitted his defeat by sending a flag of
truce with a request that he might be allowed to bury his dead.*

(* "When the flag of truce," says Major Hotchkiss, "was received by
General Jackson, he asked me for paper and pencil, and began a letter
to be sent in reply; but after writing a few lines he handed the
paper back, and sent a personal message by Captain Smith."

Captain Smith writes: The general said to me, before I went out to
meet Colonel Sumner, representi