"It is not fear, Corporal," continued John, more determinedly. "I"m looking the danger squarely in the face, and am ready to meet it, and I want to be prepared for it."
"Be jabers, John," retorted Terence, "ye should have prepared for it before you left home. I saw Father Mahan just before I left, and he tould me to do my duty like a thrue Irishman; and that if I was kilt in such a cause I wud go straight through, and be hardly asked to stay over night in Purgatory. There"s my poor brother, peace to his soul;--and did ye hear----"
"But, Terence," interrupted John, "I am not afraid of death; and for the judgment after death I have made all the preparation I could in my poor way, and I can trust that to my Maker; but"----and here John clapped his hand over his left breast.
"Oh, I see," said Terence. "It"s a case of disease of the heart."
"I want you, in case I fall, to take the daguerreotype that you will find in the inside pocket on the left side of my blouse, and a sealed letter, and see that both are sent to the address upon the letter,"
continued John.
"Faith, will I, John. But who tould you that you wud be kilt, and meself that"s alone and friendless escape? Well, I"ll take them, John, if I have to go meself; and it"s Terence McCarty that will not see her suffer; and maybe--but it"s hard seeing how a girl could take a fancy to a short curly-headed Irishman, like meself, after having loved a sthrapping, straight-haired man like you."
How John relished the winding-up of the corporal"s offer could not well be seen, as an order to resume the step interrupted the conversation.
Progress was slow, necessarily, from the caution required in the approach to the river. Over the rolling ground, to an artillery accompaniment unequalled in grandeur, the troops trudged slowly along.
Here and there was a countenance of serious determination, but the great ma.s.s were gay and reckless, as soldiers proverbially are, of the risks the future might hold in reserve.
After a succession of short marches and halts, the forward movement appeared to cease about four o"clock in the afternoon, and the men quietly rested on their arms, as well as the damp, and in many places muddy ground would allow. Towards evening countless fires, fed by the dry bushes found in abundance upon the old fields of Virginia, showed that amidst war"s alarms the men were not unmindful of coffee.
Throughout the day, with but brief cessation, artillery firing had continued. The booming of the siege guns, mingled with the sharp rattle of the light, and the louder roar of the heavy batteries, all causing countless echoes among the neighboring hills, completed the carnival of sound.
Night crept gradually on, the fires were extinguished, the cannonading slackened gradually, then ceased, and the vast army, save those whom duty kept awake, silently slept under frosted blankets.
Cannonading was resumed at early dawn of the next day, and the slow progress of the troops towards the river continued. Before night our advance had crossed upon the pontoon bridges, notwithstanding a galling fire of the Rebel sharpshooters under cover of the buildings along the river, and was firmly established in the town. Late in the day our Division turned into a grove of young pines, a short distance in the rear of the Phillips House. Upon beds of the dead foliage, soft as carpets of velvet, after the fatigues of the day, slumber was sound.
The reveille sounded at early morn of the next day,--Sat.u.r.day, the memorable thirteenth of December,--by over three hundred pieces of artillery, again aroused the sleeping camps to arms, and in the grey fog, the groves and valleys for some miles along the river appeared alive with moving ma.s.ses. As soon as the fog lifted sufficiently, a large balloon between us and the river arose, upon a tour of observation. It was a fine mark for a rifled battery of the Rebels, and some sh.e.l.ls pa.s.sed close to it, and exploded in dangerous proximity to our camp.
Under an incessant artillery fire the main movement of the troops across the river commenced. Leaving our camp and pa.s.sing to the right of the Phillips mansion, we found our Division, one of a number of columns moving in almost parallel lines to the river. On the western slope of the hill or ridge upon which the 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 h.e.l.l of thunder volumed from successive batteries,--and relieved by screaming and bursting sh.e.l.l and rattling musketry. The proper use of a single sh.e.l.l 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 G.o.d 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" run along the column. With a firm seat, as his horse clears the railroad track and dashes through the small stream near by, he directs his course to the Lacy House on the bank of the river.
It was near noon when we pa.s.sed over the same ground, and taking a road to the right of the once tasteful grounds of that mansion, debouched by a narrow pa.s.s cut through the bank to the water"s edge. As we did so, some sh.e.l.ls thrown at the mounted officers of the Regiment pa.s.sed close to their heads and exploded with a dull sound in the soft ground of the bank. With a steady tramp the troops crossed, scarcely the slightest motion being perceptible upon the firm double pontoon bridge. Another column was moving across upon the bridge below. Gaining the opposite bank, the column filed to the left, in what appeared to be a princ.i.p.al street of the town. Here knapsacks were unslung and piled in the store rooms upon either side.
The few citizens who remained had sought protection from the sh.e.l.ls in the cellars, and not an inhabitant of the place was to be seen.
Notwithstanding the heavy concentrated artillery fire,--beyond some few buildings burned down,--nothing like the destruction was visible that would be imagined. Deserted by its proper inhabitants, the place had, however, a heavy population in the troops that crowded the streets parallel with the river. The day previous the Rebels had opened fire upon the town. It was continued at intervals, but with little effect.
Z-i-i-s-s! a round shot sings above your head, and with a sharp thud strikes the second story of the brick house opposite, marking its pa.s.sage by a tolerably neat hole through the wall. P-i-i-n-g! screams a sh.e.l.l, exploding in a room with noise sufficient to justify the total destruction of a block of buildings. The smoke clears away, ceilings may be torn, floors and windows shattered, but the building, to an outside observer, little damaged.
From an early hour in the morning the musketry had been incessant,--now in volleys, and now of the sharp rattling nature that denotes severe skirmishing. On the left, where more open ground permitted extended offensive movements, the firing was particularly heavy. But above it all was the continuous roar of artillery, and the screaming and explosion of sh.e.l.ls. To this music the troops in light order and ready for the fray, marched up a cross street, and in the shelter of the buildings of another street on the outer edge of the place and parallel with the river, stood at arms,--pa.s.sing on their way out hundreds of wounded men of different regiments, on stretchers and on foot, some with ghastly wounds, and a few taking the advantage of the slightest scratch to pa.s.s from front to rear. Legs and arms carelessly heaped together alongside of one of the amputating tents in the rear of the Phillips House, and pa.s.sed in the march of the day before, had prepared the nerves of the men somewhat for this most terrible ordeal for fresh troops. Many of the wounded men cheered l.u.s.tily as the men marched by, and were loudly cheered in return, while here and there an occasional skulker would tell how his regiment was cut to pieces, and like Job"s servant he alone left.
From this point a fine view could be had of the encircling hills, with their crowning earthworks, commanding the narrow plateau in our immediate front. On the right and centre the Rebel line was not to be a.s.sailed, but by advancing over ground that could be swept by hundreds of pieces of artillery, while to protect an advancing column our batteries from their position must be powerless for good. A stone wall following somewhat the shape of the ridge ran along its base. Properly banked in its rear, it afforded an admirable protection for their troops. As there was no chance for success in storming these works, the object in making the attempt was doubtless to divert the Rebel attention from their right.
Column after column of the flower of the army, had during the day charged successively in mad desperation upon that wall; but not to reach it. Living men could not stand before that heavy and direct musketry, and the deadly enfilading cannonade from batteries upon the right and left. The thickly strewn plain attested at once the heroic courage of the men, and the hopelessness of the contest.
"Boys, we"re in for it," said a Lieutenant on his way from the right.
"Old Pigey has just had three staving swigs from his flask, and they are all getting ready. There goes "Tommy Totten,"" as the bugle call for "forward" is familiarly called in the army.
Our course was continued to the left--two regiments marching abreast--until we neared a main road leading westward from the town. In the meantime the movement had attracted the Rebel fire, and at the last cross street a poor fellow of the 2--th Regiment was almost cut in two by a sh.e.l.l which pa.s.sed through the ranks of our Regiment and exploded upon the other side of the street, but without doing further damage. At the main road we filed to the right, and amid dashing Staff officers and orderlies, wounded men and fragments of regiments broken and disorganized, proceeded on our way to the front. There was a slight depression in the road, enough to save the troops, and shot and sh.e.l.l sang harmlessly above our heads. When the head of the column--really its rear--as we were left in front, was abreast of a swampy strip of meadow land, at the further end of which was a tannery, our Brigade filed again to the right. The occupation of this meadow appeared to be criminally purposeless, as our line of attack was upon the left of the road; while it was in full view and at the easy range of a few hundred yards from a three-gun Rebel battery. The men were ordered to lie down, which they did as best they could from the nature of the ground, while the mounted officers of the Division and Brigade gathered under the shelter of the brick tannery building.
The movement was scarcely over, before one head and then another appeared peering through the embrasures of the earthwork, then a mounted officer upon a lively sorrel cantered as if for observation a short distance to the left of the work. Some sharpshooters in our front, protected slightly by the ground which rose gently towards the west, tried their breech-loaders upon him. At 450 yards there was certainty enough in the aim to make the music of their bullets unpleasant, and he again sought the cover of the work. An upright puff of smoke,--then a large volumed puff horizontally,--shrill music in its short flight,--a dull, heavy sound as the sh.e.l.l explodes in the soft earth under our ranks,--and one man thrown ten feet into the air, fell upon his back in the ranks behind him, while his two comrades on his left were killed outright, his Lieutenant near by mortally wounded, a leg of his comrade on the right cut in two, and a dozen in the neighborhood bespattered with the soft ground and severely contused. Sh.e.l.ls that exploded in the air above us, or screamed over our heads; rifle b.a.l.l.s that whizzed spitefully near, were now out of consideration. The motions of loading and firing, and as we were in the line of direction, the sh.e.l.l itself, could be seen with terrible distinctness. There was the dread certainty of death at every discharge. All eyes were turned toward the battery, and at each puff, the "bravest held his breath" until the smothered explosion announced that the danger was over. From our front ranks, who had gradually crept up the side of the hill, an incessant fire was kept up; but the pieces could be worked with but little exposure, and it was harmless. Fortunately the sh.e.l.ls buried themselves deeply before exploding, and were mainly destructive in their direct pa.s.sage. Again the horseman cantered gaily to his former place of observation on the left; but our sharpshooters had the range, and his fine sorrel was turned to the work limping very discreditably. This trifling injury was all that we could inflict in return for the large loss of life and limb.
"Well, Lieutenant, poor John is gone!" said the little Irish Corporal, coming to the side of that officer.
"What, killed?"
"Ivery bit of it. I have just turned him over, and shure he is as dead as he was before he was born. That last shot murthered the boy. It is Terence McCarthy that will do his duty by him, and may be----"
"Corporal! to your post," broke in the Lieutenant. "Old Pigey is taking another pull at the flask, and we will move in a minute."
The surmise of the Lieutenant was correct. "Tommy Totten" again called the men to ranks, and right in front, the head of the column took the pike on another advance. The Rebels seeing the movement, handled their battery with great rapidity and dexterity, and sh.e.l.ls in rapid succession were thrown into the closed ranks, but without creating confusion. Among others, a Major of the last Regiment upon the road, an old Mexican campaigner, and a most valuable officer, fell mortally wounded just as he was about leaving the field, and met the fate, that by one of those singular premonitions before noticed in this chapter,--so indicative by their frequency of a connexion in life between man"s mortal and immortal part,--he had already antic.i.p.ated.
It was now about four o"clock in the afternoon. The day was somewhat misty, and at this time the field of battle was fast becoming shrouded by the commingled mist and smoke.
On the left of the road the Brigade formed double line of battle along the base and side of a rather steep slope which led to the plateau above. The ground was muddy and well trodden, and littered with dead bodies in spots that marked the localities of exploded sh.e.l.ls. Hungry and fatigued with the toil of the day, yet expectant of a conflict which must prove the death scene of many, the men sank upon their arms. From this same spot, successive lines of battle had charged during the day.
Brave souls! With rushing memories of home and kindred and friends, they shrank not because the path of duty was one of danger.
We were there as a forlorn hope for the final effort of the field. With great exertion and consummate skill upon the part of its Commander, a battery had been placed in position on the summit of the slope. Officers and men worked n.o.bly, handling the pieces with coolness and rapidity.
What they accomplished, could not be seen. What they suffered, was frightfully apparent. Man after man was shot away, until in some instances they were too weak-handed to keep the pieces from following their own recoil down the slope, confusing our ranks and bruising the men. Volunteers sprang forward to a.s.sist in working the guns. The gallant Commander, almost unaided, kept order in what would otherwise have been a mingled herd of confused men and frightened horses. No force could withstand the hurricane of hurtling shot and sh.e.l.l that swept the summit.
"Lieutenant, take command of that gun," was the short, sharp, nervous utterance of a General of Division, as in one of his tours of random riding he suddenly stopped his horse in front of a boy of nineteen, a Lieutenant of infantry, who previously to bringing his squad of men into service, a few brief months before, had never seen a full battery.
"Sir!" he replied, in unfeigned astonishment.
"By G--d! sir, I command you as the Commanding General of this Division, sir, to take command of that piece of artillery."
"General, I am entirely unacquainted with----"
"Take command of that piece, sir. You should be ready to enter any arm of the service," replied the General, flourishing his sword in a threatening manner.
"General, I will do my duty; but I can"t sight a cannon, sir. I will hand cartridge, turn the screw, steady the wheel, or I"ll ram----"
"Ram--ram!"--echoed the General with an oath, and off he started on another of his mad rides.
"Fall in," was pa.s.sed rapidly along the line, and a moment after our Brigadier, cool as if exercising his command in the evolutions of a peaceful field, rode along the ranks.
"Boys, you are ordered to take that stone wall, and must do it with the bayonet."
Words full of deadly import to men who for long hours had been in full view of the impregnable works, and the field of blood in their front.
Ominous as was the command, it was greeted with cheers; and with bayonets at a charge, up that difficult slope,--preserving their line as best they could while breaking to pa.s.s the guns, wounded and struggling horses, and bodies thickly strewn over that most perilous of positions for artillery,--the troops pa.s.sed at a rapid step. The ground upon the summit had been laid out in small lots, as is customary in the suburbs of towns. Many of the part.i.tion fences were still remaining, with here and there gaps, or with upper rails lowered for the pa.s.sage of troops.
For a moment, while crossing these fallow fields, there was a lull in the direct musketry. The enfilading fire from batteries right and left still continued; the fierce fitful flashes of the bursting sh.e.l.ls becoming more visible with the approach of night. Onward we went, picking our way among the fallen dead and wounded of Brigades who had preceded us in the fight, with feet fettered with mud, struggling to keep place in the line. Several regiments lying upon their arms were pa.s.sed over in the charge.
"Captain," said a mounted officer when we had just crossed a fence bounding what appeared to be an avenue of the town, "close up on the right." The Captain partly turned, to repeat the command to his men, when the bullets from a sudden flash of waving fire that for the instant lit up the summit of the stone wall for its entire length, prostrated him with a mortal wound, and dismounted his superior. Pity that his eye should close in what seemed to be the darkest hour of the cause dearest to his soul!