CHAPTER VIII. THE DUEL IN THE PASS
Dick carried the news to Pennington who danced with delight.
"We've got 'em! we've got 'em!" he cried over and over again.
"So we have," said Dick, "we'll be marching in a half hour and then thetrap will shut down so tight on Robert Lee that he'll never raise thelid again."
It was nearly noon, and they expected every moment the order to start,but it did not come. Dick began to be tormented by an astonishedimpatience, and he saw that Colonel Winchester suffered in the same way.The army showed no signs of moving. Was it possible that McClellan wouldnot advance at once on Lee, whom the scouts had now located definitely?The hot afternoon hours grew long as they passed one by one, and many abrave man ate his heart out with anger at the delay. Dick saw SergeantWhitley walking up and down, and he was eager to hear his opinion.
"What is it, sergeant?" he asked. "Why do we sit here, twiddling ourthumbs when there is an army waiting to be taken by us?"
"You're a commissioned officer, sir, and I'm only a private."
"Never mind about that. You're a veteran of many years and many fights,and I know but little. Why do we sit still in the dust and fail to takethe great prize that's offered to us?"
"The men of an army, sir, do the fighting, but its generals are itsbrains. It is for the brains to judge, to see and to command. Thegenerals cannot win without the men, and the men cannot win without thegenerals. Now, in this case, sir, you can see--"
He stopped and shrugged his shoulders, as if it were not for him to sayany more.
"I see," said Dick bitterly. "You needn't say it, sergeant, but I'll sayit for you. General McClellan has been overcome by caution again, and hesees two Johnnies where but one stands."
Sergeant Whitley shrugged his shoulders again, but said nothing. Dickwas about to turn away, when he saw a tall, thin figure approaching.
"Mr. Warner," said Sergeant Whitley.
"So it is," exclaimed Dick. "It's really good old George come to helpus!"
He rushed forward and shook hands with Warner who although thin and palewas as cool and apparently almost as strong as ever.
"Here I am, Dick," he said, "and the great battle hasn't been fought.I knew they couldn't fight it without me. The hospital at Washingtondismissed me in disgrace because I got well so fast. 'What's the use,'said one of the doctors, 'in getting up and running away to the army toget killed? You could die much more comfortably here in bed.' 'Not atall,' I replied. 'I don't get killed when I'm with the army. I merelyget nearly killed. Then I lie unconscious on the field, in the rain,until some good friend comes along, takes me away on his back and putsme in a warm bed. It's a lot safer than staying in your hospital all thetime.'"
"Oh, shut up, George! Come and see the boys. They'll be glad to knowyou're back--what's left of 'em."
Warner's welcome was in truth warm. He seemed more phlegmatic than ever,but he opened his eyes wide when they told him of the dispatch that hadbeen lost and found.
"General McClellan must have been waiting for me," he said. "Tell himI've come."
But General McClellan did not yet move. The last long hour of the daypassed. The sun set in red and gold behind the western mountains, andthe Army of the Potomac still rested in its camp, although privates evenknew that precious hours were being lost, and that booming cannon mightalready be telling the defenders of Harper's Ferry that Jackson was athand.
Nor were they far wrong. While McClellan lingered on through the night,never moving from his camp, Jackson and his generals were pushingforward with fiery energy and at dawn the next day had surroundedHarper's Ferry and its doomed garrison of more than twelve thousand men.
But these were things that Dick could not guess that night. One smalldetachment had been sent ahead by McClellan, chiefly for scoutingpurposes, and in the darkness the boy who had gone a little distanceforward with Colonel Winchester heard the booming of cannon. It was afaint sound but unmistakable, and Dick glanced at his chief.
"That detachment has come into contact with the rebels somewhere therein the mountains," he said, "and the ridges and valleys are bringing usthe echoes. Oh, why in Heaven's name are we delayed here through all theprecious moments! Every hour's delay will cost the lives of ten thousandgood men!"
And it is likely that in the end Colonel Winchester's reckoning wastoo moderate. He and Dick gazed long in the direction in which Harper'sFerry lay, and they listened, too, to the faint mutter of the guns amongthe hills. Before dawn, scouts came in, saying that there had been hardfighting off toward Harper's Ferry, and that Lee with the other divisionof the Southern army was retreating into a peninsula formed by thejunction of the river Antietam with the Potomac, where he would awaitthe coming of Jackson, after taking Harper's Ferry.
"Jackson hasn't taken Harper's Ferry yet," said Dick, when he heard thenews. "Many of Banks' veterans of the valley are there, and, our meninstead of being crushed by defeat, are always improved by it."
"Still, I wish we'd march," said Warner. "I didn't come here merely togo into camp. I might as well have stayed in the hospital."
Nevertheless they moved at daylight. McClellan had made up his mindat last, and the army advanced joyfully to shut down the trap on Lee.Dick's spirits rose with the sun and the advance of the troops. They haddelayed, but they would get Lee yet. There was nothing to tell them thatHarper's Ferry had fallen, and Jackson's force must still be detainedthere far away. They ought to strike Lee on the morrow and destroyhim, and then they would destroy Jackson. Oh, Lee and Jackson had beenreckless generals to venture beyond the seceding states!
They marched fast now, and the fiery Hooker soon to be called FightingJoe led the advance. He was eager to get at Lee, who some said did notnow have more than twenty thousand men with him, although McClellaninsisted on doubling or tripling his numbers and those of Jackson.Scouts and skirmishers came in fast now. Yes, Lee was between theAntietam and the Potomac and they ought to strike him on the morrow. Thespirits of the Army of the Potomac continually rose.
Dick remained in a joyous mood. He had been greatly uplifted bythe return of his comrade, Warner, for whom he had formed a strongattachment, and he could not keep down the thought that they would nowbe able to trap Lee and end the war. The terrible field of the SecondManassas was behind him and forgotten for the time. They rode now to anew battle and to victory.
Another great cloud of dust like that at Manassas rolled slowly ontoward the little river or creek of Antietam, but the heat was not sogreat now. A pleasant breeze blew from the distant western mountains andcooled the faces of the soldiers. The country through which they werepassing was old for America. They saw a carefully cultivated soil, goodroads and stone bridges.
None of the lads and young men around Colonel Winchester rejoiced morethan Warner. Released from the hospital and with his tried comrades oncemore he felt as if he were the dead come back. He was in time, too, forthe great battle which was to end the war. The cool wind that blew uponhis face tingled with life and made his pulses leap. Beneath the graniteof his nature and a phlegmatic exterior, he concealed a warm heart thatalways beat steadfastly for his friends and his country.
"Dick," he said, "have they heard anything directly from Harper'sFerry?"
"Not a word, at least none that I've heard about, but it's quite surethat Jackson hasn't taken the place yet. Why should he? We have theretwelve or thirteen thousand good men, most of whom have proven theirworth in the valley. Why, they ought to beat him off entirely."
"And while they're doing that we ought to be taking Mr. Lee and a lot ofwell-known Confederate gentlemen. I've made a close calculation, Dick,and I figure that the chances are at least eighty per cent in favor ofour taking or destroying Lee's army."
"I wish we had started sooner," said Pennington. "We've lost a wholeday, one of the most precious days the world has ever known."
"You're right, Frank, and I've allowed that fact to figure importantlyin my reckoning. If it were not for the lost day I'd fig
ure our chanceof making the finishing stroke at ninety-five per cent. But boys, it'sglorious to be back with you. Once, I thought when we were marching backand forth so much that if I could only lie down and rest for a week ortwo I'd be the happiest fellow on earth. But it became awful as I laythere, day after day. I had suddenly left the world. All the greatevents were going on without me. North or South might win, while I laystretched on a hospital bed. It was beyond endurance. If I hadn't gotwell so fast that they could let me go, I'd have climbed out of thewindow with what strength I had, and have made for the army anyhow. Didyou ever feel a finer wind than this? What a beautiful country! It mustbe the most magnificent in the world!"
Dick and Pennington laughed. Old George was growing gushy. But theyunderstood that he saw with the eyes of the released prisoner.
"It is beautiful," said Dick, "and it's a pity that it should be rippedup by war. Listen, boys, there's the call that's growing mighty familiarto us all!"
Far in front behind the hills they heard the low grumbling of cannon.And further away to the west they heard the same sinister mutter. TheConfederates were scattered widely, and the fateful Orders No. 191 mightcause their total destruction, but they were on guard, nevertheless.Jackson, foreseeing the possible advance of McClellan, had sent backHill with a division to help Lee, and to delay the Northern army untilhe himself should come with all his force.
In this desperate crisis of the Confederacy, more desperate than any ofthe Southern generals yet realized, the brain under the old slouch hatnever worked with more precision, clearness and brilliancy. He would notonly do his own task, but he would help his chief while doing it. WhenMcClellan began his march after a delay of a day he was nearer to Leethan Jackson was and every chance was his, save those that lightningperception and unyielding courage win.
The lads heard the mutter of the cannon grow louder, and rise to adistant thunder. Far ahead of them, where high hills thick with forestrose, they saw smoke and flashes of fire. A young Maryland cavalryofficer, riding near, explained to them that the point from which thecannonade came was a gap in South Mountain, although it was as yetinvisible, owing to the forest.
"We heard that Lee's army was much further away," said Warner to Dick."What can it mean? What force is there fighting our vanguard?"
It was Shepard, the spy, who brought them the facts. He had alreadyreported to General McClellan, when he approached Colonel Winchester.His face was worn and drawn, and he was black under the eyes. Hisclothes were covered with dust. His body was weary almost unto death,but his eyes burned with the fire of an undying spirit.
"I've been all the night and all this morning in the mountains andhills," he said. "Harper's Ferry is not yet taken, but I think it willfall. But Hill, McLaws and Longstreet are all in this pass or the otherwhich leads through the mountain. They mean to hold us as long as theycan, and then hang on to the flank of our army."
He passed on and the little regiment advanced more rapidly. Dick sawColonel Winchester's eyes sparkling and he knew he was anxious to be inthe thick of it. Other and heavier forces were deploying upon the samepoint, but Winchester's regiment led.
As they approached a deadly fire swept the plain and the hills. Riflebullets crashed among them and shell and shrapnel came whining andshrieking. Once more the Winchester regiment, as it had come to becalled, was smitten with a bitter and deadly hail. Men fell all aroundDick but the survivors pressed on, still leading the way for the heavybrigades which they heard thundering behind them.
The mouth of the pass poured forth fire and missiles like a volcano, butDick heard Colonel Winchester still shouting to his men to come on, andhe charged with the rest. The fire became so hot that the vanguardcould not live in it without shelter, and the colonel, shouting to theofficers to dismount, ordered them all to take cover behind trees androcks.
Dick who had been carried a little ahead of the rest, sprang down, stillholding his horse, and made for a great rock which he saw on one sidejust within the mouth of the pass. His frightened horse reared andjerked so violently that he tore the bridle from the lad's hand and ranaway.
Dick stood for a moment, scarcely knowing what to do, and then, as ahalf dozen bullets whistled by his head, urging him to do something, hefinished his dash for the rock, throwing himself down behind it just asa half a dozen more bullets striking on the stone told him that he haddone the right thing in the very nick of time.
He carried with him a light rifle of a fine improved make, a number ofwhich had been captured at the Second Manassas, and which some of theyounger officers had been allowed to take. He did not drop it in hisrush for the rock, holding on to it mechanically.
He lay for at least a minute or two flat upon the ground behind thegreat stone, while the perspiration rolled from his face and his hairprickled at the roots. He could never learn to be unconcerned when adozen or fifteen riflemen were shooting at him.
When he raised his head a little he saw that the Winchester regiment hadfallen back, and that, in truth, the entire advance had stopped until itcould make an attack in full force upon the enemy.
Dick recognized with a certain grim humor that he was isolated. He wasjust a little Federal island in a Confederate sea. Up the gap he sawcannon and masses of gray infantry. Gathered on a comparatively levelspot was a troop of cavalry. He saw all the signs of a desperatedefense, and, while he watched, the great guns of the South began tofire again, their missiles flying far over his head toward the Northernarmy.
Dick was puzzled, but for the present he did not feel great alarm abouthimself. He lay almost midway between the hostile forces, but it waslikely that they would take no notice of him.
With a judgment born of a clear mind, he lay quite still, while thehostile forces massed themselves for attack and defense. Each wasfeeling out the other with cannon, but every missile passed well overhis head, and he did not take the trouble to bow to them as they sailedon their errands. Yet he lay close behind that splendid and friendlyrock.
He knew that the Southerners would have sharpshooters and skirmishersahead of their main force. They would lie behind stones, trees and brushand at any moment one of them might pick him off. The Confederate forceseemed to incline to the side of the valley, opposite the slope on whichhe lay, and he was hopeful that the fact would keep him hidden until themasses of his own people could charge into the gap.
It was painful work to flatten his body out behind a stone and liethere. No trees or bushes grew near enough to give him shade, and theafternoon sun began to send down upon him direct rays that burned. Hewondered how long it would be until the Union brigades came. It seemedto him that they were doing a tremendous amount of waiting. Nothing wasto be gained by this long range cannon fire. They must charge home withthe bayonet.
He raised himself a little in order that he might peep over the stoneand see if the charge were coming, and then with a little cry he droppedback, a fine gray powder stinging his face. A rifle had been firedacross the valley and a bullet chipping the top of the rock shelteringDick warned him that he was not the only sharpshooter who lay in anambush.
Peeping again from the side of the rock, he saw curls of blue smokerising from a point behind a stone just like his own on the other sideof the valley. It was enough to tell him that a Southern sharpshooterlay there and had marked him for prey.
Dick's anger rose. Why should anyone seek his life, trying to pick himoff as if he were a beast of prey? He had been keeping quiet, disturbingnobody, merely seeking a chance to escape, when this ruthless rebel hadseen him. He became in his turn hot and fiercely ready to give bulletfor bullet. Smoke floating through the pass and the flash of the cannon,made him more eager to hit the sharpshooter who was seeking so hard tohit him.
Watching intently he caught a glimpse of a gray cap showing above therock across the valley, and, raising his light rifle, he fired, quick asa flash. The return shot came at once, and chipped the rock as before,but he dropped back unhurt, and peeping from the side he could seenothing. He might or
might not have slain his enemy. The gray cap was nolonger visible, and he watched to see if it would reappear.
He heard the sound of a great cannonade before the mouth of the pass,and he saw his own people advancing in force, their lines extending farto the left and right, with several batteries showing at intervals. Thencame the rebel yell from the pass and as the Union lines advanced theSoutherners poured upon them a vast concentrated fire.
Dick, watching through the smoke and forgetful of his enemy across thevalley, saw the Union charge rolled back. But he also saw the men outof range gathering themselves for a new attack. Within the passpreparations were going on to repel it a second time. Then he glancedtoward the opposite rock and dropped down just in time. He had seen arifle barrel protruding above it, and a second later the bullet whistledwhere his head had been.
He grew angrier than ever. He had left that sharpshooter alone for atleast ten minutes, while he watched charge and repulse, and he expectedto be treated with the same consideration. He would pay him for suchferocity, and seeing an edge of gray shoulder, he fired.
No sign came from the rock, and Dick was quite sure that he had missed.The blood mounted to his head and surcharged his brain. A thousandlittle pulses that he had never heard of before began to beat in hishead, and he was devoured by a consuming anger. He vowed to get thatfellow yet.
Lying flat upon his stomach he drew himself around the edge of the rockand watched. There was a great deal of covering smoke from the artilleryin the pass now, and he believed that it would serve his purpose.
But when he got a little distance away from the rock the bank of smokelifted suddenly, and it was only by quickly flattening himselfdown behind a little ridge of stone that he saved his life. Thesharpshooter's bullet passed so close to his head that Dick felt as ifhe had received a complete hair cut, all in a flash.
He fairly sprang back to the cover of his rock. What a fine rockthat was! How big and thick! And it was so protective! In a spirit ofdefiance he fired at the top of the other stone and saw the gray dustshoot up from it. Quick came the answering shot, and a little piece ofhis coat flew with it. That was certainly a great sharpshooter acrossthe valley! Dick gave him full credit for his skill.
Then he heard the rolling of drums and the mellow call of trumpets infront of the pass. Taking care to keep well under cover he looked back.The Union army was advancing in great force now, its front tipped with along line of bayonets and the mouths of fifty cannon turned to the pass.In front of them swarmed the skirmishers, eager, active fellows leapingfrom rock to rock and from tree to tree.
Dick foresaw that the second charge would not fail. Its numbers were sogreat that it would at least enter the pass and hold the mouth of it.Already a mighty cannonade was pouring a storm of death over the headsof the skirmishers toward the defenders, and the brigades came onsteadily and splendidly to the continued rolling of the drums.
Dick rose up again, watching now for his enemy who, he knew, could notremain much longer behind the rock, as he would soon be within range ofthe Northern skirmishers advancing on that side.
He fancied that he could hear the massive tread of the thousands comingtoward the pass, and the roll of the drums, distinct amid the roar ofthe cannon, told him that his comrades would soon be at hand, drivingeverything before them. But his eyes were for that big rock on the otherside of the valley. Now was his time for revenge upon the sharpshooterwho had sought his life with such savage persistence. The Northernskirmishers were drawing nearer and the fellow must flee or die.
Suddenly the sharpshooter sprang from the rock, and up flew Dick's rifleas he drew a bead straight upon his heart. Then he dropped the weaponwith a cry of horror. Across the valley and through the smoke herecognized Harry Kenton, and Harry Kenton looking toward his enemyrecognized him also.
Each threw up his hand in a gesture of friendliness and farewell--theroar of the battle was so loud now that no voice could have been heardat the distance--and then they disappeared in the smoke, each returningto his own, each heart thrilling with a great joy, because its owner hadalways missed the sharpshooter behind the stone.
The impression of that vivid encounter in the pass was dimmed for awhile for Dick by the fierceness of the fighting that followed. Thedefense had the advantage of the narrow pass and the rocky slopes,and numbers could not be put to the most account. Nevertheless, theConfederates were pressed back along the gap, and when night came theUnion army was in full possession of its summit.
But at the other gap the North had not achieved equal success.Longstreet, marching thirteen miles that day, had come upon the field intime, and when darkness fell the Southern troops still held their groundthere. But later in the night Hill and Longstreet, through fear of beingcut off, abandoned their positions and marched to join Lee.
Dick and his comrades who did not lie down until after midnight hadcome, felt that a great success had been gained. McClellan had been slowto march, but, now that he was marching, he was sweeping the enemy outof his way.
The whole Army of the Potomac felt that it was winning and McClellanhimself was exultant. Early the next morning he reported to his superiorat Washington that the enemy was fleeing in panic and that General Leeadmitted that he had been "shockingly whipped."
Full of confidence, the army advanced to destroy Lee, who lay betweenthe peninsula of the Antietam and the Potomac, but just about thetime McClellan was writing his dispatch, the white flag was hoisted atHarper's Ferry, the whole garrison surrendered, and messengers were ontheir way to Lee with the news that Stonewall Jackson was coming.
The Sword of Antietam: A Story of the Nation's Crisis Page 11