"Why, Mammy?" he asked with a smile.
"Lordy, chile, dey"s thousan"s, an" thousan"s er Yankees des over dat little hill dar--dey"ll kill every one er you all!"
"I reckon not, Mammy," Ned called, hurrying on.
She ran after him, still crying:
"For Gawd"s sake, come back here, honey--dey kill ye sho!"
She was calling still as Ned disappeared beyond the cabin into the woods redolent now with the blossoms of chinquepin bushes and the rich odors of sweet shrub.
They climbed the little ridge on whose further slope lay an open field, and caught their first view of Howard"s unsuspecting division. They halted and sent their couriers flying with the news to Jackson.
Ned looked on the scene with a thrill of exultation and then a sense of deepening pity. The boys in blue had begun to bivouac for the night, their camp fires curling through the young green leaves. The men were seated in groups laughing, talking, joking and playing cards. The horses were busy cropping the young gra.s.s.
"G.o.d have mercy on them!" Ned exclaimed.
It was nearly six o"clock before Jackson"s men had all slipped silently into position behind the dense woods on this little slope--in two long grim battle lines, one behind the other, with columns in support, his horse artillery with their big guns shotted and ready.
Ned saw a slight stir in the doomed camp of blue. The men were standing up now and looking curiously toward those dense woods. A startled flock of quail had swept over their heads flying straight down from the lull crest. A rabbit came scurrying from the same direction--and then another. And then another flock of quail swirled past and pitched among the camp fires, running and darting in terror on the ground.
An officer drew his revolver and potted one for his supper.
The men glanced uneasily toward the woods but could see nothing.
"What"ell ye reckon that means?"
"What ails the poor birds?"
"And the rabbits?"
They were not long in doubt. The sudden shrill note of a bugle rang from the woods and Jackson"s yelling grey lines of death swept down on their unprotected rear.
The first regiments in sight were blown into atoms and driven as chaff before a whirlwind. Behind them lay twenty regiments in their trenches pointed the wrong way. The men leaped to their guns and fought desperately to stay the rushing torrent. Beyond them was a ragged gap of a whole mile without a man, left bare by the chase of Sickles" division now ten miles away. Without support the shattered lines were crushed and crumpled and rolled back in confusion. Every regiment was cut to pieces and pushed on top of one another, men, horses, mules, cattle, guns, in a tangled ma.s.s of blood and death.
Ned was sent to bring the supporting column to drive them on and on. He mounted a horse and dashed back to the reserve line yelling his call:
"Hurry! Hurry up, men!"
"What"s the hurry?" growled a grey coat.
"Hurry! Hurry!" Ned shouted. "We"ve captured fifty pieces of artillery and ten thousand prisoners!"
"Then what"ell"s the use er hurryin" us on er empty stomach--but we"re a-comin", honey--we"re a-comin"!"
The colonel of a regiment s.n.a.t.c.hed his hat off and was getting his men ready for the charge. He waved his hand toward Ned:
"Make that d.a.m.n-fool get out of the way. I"m going to charge. Now you men listen--listen to me, I say! not to that fellow--listen to me!"
Ned could hear him still talking excitedly to his eager men as he dashed back to the battle line.
General Hooker sat on the porch of the Chancellor House, his headquarters. On the east there was heavy firing where his men were attempting to carry out his orders to flank Lee"s retreating army.
Sickles" and Pleasanton"s cavalry were already in pursuit. By some curious trick of the breeze or atmospheric conditions not a sound had reached him from the direction of his right wing. A staff officer suddenly turned his gla.s.ses to the west.
"My G.o.d, here they come!"
Before the astounded Commander could leap from the porch to his horse the flying stragglers of his shattered right were pouring into view--men, wagons, ambulances, in utter confusion. Hooker swung his old division under General Berry into line and shouted to his veterans:
"Forward with the bayonet!"
The st.u.r.dy division plowed its way through the receding blue waves of panic-stricken men and dashed into the face of the overwhelming hosts.
Major Keenan, in command of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, charged with his gallant five hundred into the face of almost certain death and held the grey lines in check until the artillery of the Third Corps was saved and turned on the advancing Confederates. He fell at the head of his men.
The fighting now became a battle. It was no longer a rout.
Ned saw a lone deaf man in blue standing bareheaded, fighting a whole army so intent on his work he hadn"t noticed that his regiment had retreated and left him.
Two men in grey raised their muskets and fired point blank at this man at the same instant. The unconscious hero fell.
"I hit him!" cried one.
"No, I hit him!" said the other.
And they both rushed up and tenderly offered him help.
A grey soldier came hurrying by taking two prisoners to the rear. A cannon ball from the rescued battery cut off his leg and he dropped beside Ned shouting hysterically:
"Pick me up! Pick me up! Why don"t you pick me up?"
The blue prisoner looked back in terror at the battery and started to run. A grey soldier stopped them:
"Here! Here! What"ell"s the matter with you? Them"s your own guns. What are ye tryin" to get away from "em for?"
Men were falling now at every step.
Ned had advanced a hundred yards further when the boy on his right suddenly threw his hands over his head and his leg full to the ground, cut off by a cannon ball, Ned leaped to his side and caught him in his arms. A look of anguish swept his strong young face as he gasped:
"My poor old mother! O my G.o.d, what"ll she do now?"
Ned tied his handkerchief around the mangled leg, twisted the knot, and stayed the blood gushing from the severed arteries, and rushed back to his desperate work.
Four horses dashed by his side dragging through the woods a big gun to train on the battery that was plowing through their lines. A solid shot crashed straight through a horse"s head, blinding Ned with blood and brains.
He threw his hand to his face and buried it in the hot quivering ma.s.s, exclaiming:
"My G.o.d, boys, my brains are out!"