house stood, we came to another halt,
until our turn to cross should come.

Whatever modern armies may have lost in dazzling appearance, when
contrasted with the armies of old that moved in glittering armor and
under "banner, shield, and spear," they certainly have lost nothing in
the enginery of death, and in the sights and sounds of the fight itself.
A twelve-pound battery under stern old Cato's control, would have sent
Caesar and his legions howling from the gates of Rome, and have saved the
dignity of her Senate. The shock of battle was then a medley of human
voices, confused with the rattle of the spear upon the shield; now a
hell of thunder volumed from successive batteries,--and relieved by
screaming and bursting shell and rattling musketry. The proper use of a
single shell would have cleared the plains of Marathon. More
appropriately can we come down to later times, when

"The old Continentals,
In their ragged regimentals,
Faltered not,"

for the ground upon which our army stood had repeatedly been used as a
rallying point for troops, and a depot for military stores in
Continental and Revolutionary times. How great the contrast between the
armies now upon either side of the Rappahannock, and the numbers, arms,
and equipage then raised with difficulty from the country at large. Our
forefathers in some measure foresaw our greatness; but they did not
foresee the magnitude of the sin of slavery, tolerated by them against
their better judgment, and now crowding these banks with immense and
hostile armies. Since that day the country has grown, and with it as
part of its growth, the iniquity, but the purposes of the God of battles
prevail nevertheless. The explosion that rends the rock and releases the
toad confined and dormant for centuries, may not have been intended for
that end by the unwitting miner, nor the civil convulsion that shatters
a mighty nation to relieve an oppressed people and bestow upon it the
blessings of civilization, may not have been started with that view by
foul conspirators.

But while we are digressing, a cavalcade of mounted men have left the
area in front of the Phillips mansion, and are approaching us upon the
road at a full gallop. The boys recognize the foremost figure, clad in a
black pilot frock, his head covered with a regulation felt, the brim of
which is over his eyes and the top rounded to its utmost capacity, and
cheer upon cheer for "Burney" ru