The Guns of Bull Run: A Story of the Civil War's Eve
Page 17
CHAPTER XVI
BULL RUN
Harry rose to his feet and shook St. Clair and Langdon.
"Up, boys!" he said. "The enemy will soon be here. I can see theirbayonets glittering on the hills."
The Invincibles sprang to their feet almost as one man, and soon all thetroops of Evans were up and humming like bees. Food and coffee wereserved to them hastily, but, before the last cup was thrown down,a heavy crash came from one of the hills beyond Bull Run, and a shell,screaming over their heads, burst beyond them. It was quickly followedby another, and then the round shot and shells came in dozens frombatteries which had been posted well in the night.
The Southern batteries replied with all their might and the riflemensupported them, sending the bullets in sheets across Bull Run. Thebattle flamed in fifteen minutes into extraordinary violence. Harry hadnever before heard such a continuous and terrific thunder. It seemedthat the drums of his ears would be smashed in, but over his head heheard the continuous hissing and whirring of steel and lead. TheNorthern riflemen were at work, too, and it was fortunate for theInvincibles that they were able to lie down, as they poured their fireinto the bushes and woods on the opposite bank.
The volume of smoke was so great that they could no longer see theposition of the enemy, but Harry believed that so much metal must dogreat damage. Although he was a lieutenant he had snatched up a rifledropped by some fallen soldier, and he loaded and fired it so often thatthe barrel grew hot to his hand. Lying so near the river, most of thehostile fire went over the heads of the Invincibles, but now and then ashell or a cluster of bullets struck among them, and Harry heard groans.But he quickly forgot these sounds as he watched the clouds of smoke andthe blaze of fire on the other side of Bull Run.
"They are not trying to force the passage of the bridge! Everything isfor the best!" shouted Langdon.
"No, they dare not," shouted St. Clair in reply. "No column could liveon that bridge in face of our fire."
It seemed strange to Harry that the Northern troops made no attempt tocross. Why did all this tremendous fire go on so long, and yet not afoe set foot upon the bridge? It seemed to him that it had endured forhours. The sun was rising higher and higher and the day was growinghotter and hotter. It lay with the North to make the first movement tocross Bull Run, and yet no attempt was made.
Colonel Talbot came repeatedly along the line of the Invincibles,and Harry saw that he was growing uneasy. Such a great volume of fire,without any effort to take advantage of it, made the veteran suspicious.He knew that those old comrades of his on the other side of Bull Runwould not waste their metal in a mere cannonade and long range riflefire. There must be something behind it. Presently, with the consentof the commander, he drew the Invincibles back from the river, wherethey were permitted to cease firing, and to rest for a while on theirarms.
But as they drew long breaths and tried to clear the smoke from theirthroats, a rumor ran down the lines. The attack at the bridge was but afeint. Only a minor portion of the hostile army was there. The greatermass had gone on and had already crossed the river in face of theweak left flank of the Southern army. Beauregard had been outwitted.The Yankees were now in great force on his own side of Bull Run, and itwould be a pitched battle, face to face.
The whole line of the Invincibles quivered with excitement, and thenHarry saw that the rumor was true, or that their commander at leastbelieved it to be so. The firing stopped entirely and the bugles blewthe retreat. All the brigades gathered themselves up and, wild withanger and chagrin, slowly withdrew.
"Why are we retreating?" exclaimed Langdon, angrily. "Not a Yankee sethis foot on the bridge! We're not whipped!"
"No," said Harry, "we're not whipped, but if we don't retreat we willbe. If fifteen or twenty thousand Yankees struck us on the flank whilethose fellows are still in front everything would go."
These were young troops, who considered a retreat equivalent to abeating, and fierce murmurs ran along the line. But the officers paidno attention, marching them steadily on, while the artillery rumbledby their side. Both to right and left they heard the sound of firing,and they saw the smoke floating against both horizons, but they paidlittle attention to it. They were wondering what was in store for them.
"Cheer up, you lads!" cried Colonel Talbot. "You'll get all thefighting you can stand, and it won't be long in coming, either."
They marched only half an hour and then the troops were drawn up on ahill, where the officers rapidly formed them into position. It was nonetoo soon. A long blue line, bristling with cannon on either flank,appeared across the fields. It was Burnside with the bulk of theNorthern army moving down upon them. Harry was standing beside ColonelTalbot, ready to carry his orders, and he heard the veteran say, betweenhis teeth:
"The Yankees have fooled us, and this is the great battle at last."
The two forces looked at each other for a few moments. Elsewhere greatguns and rifles were already at work, but the sounds came distantly.On the hill and in the fields there was silence, save for the steadytramp of the advancing Northern troops. Then from the rear of themarching lines suddenly came a burst of martial music. The Northernbands, by a queer inversion, were playing Dixie:
"In Dixie's land I'll take my stand, To live and die for Dixie. Look away! Look away! Down South in Dixie."
Harry's feet beat to the tune, the wild and thrilling air played for thefirst time to troops going into battle.
"We must answer that," he said to St. Clair.
"Here comes the answer," said St. Clair, and the Southern bands beganto play "The Girl I Left Behind Me." The music entered Harry's veins.He could not look without a quiver upon the great mass of men bearingdown upon them, but the strains of fife and drum put courage in him andtold him to stand fast. He saw the face of Colonel Talbot grow darkerand darker, and he had enough experience himself to know that the oddswere heavily against them.
The intense burning sun poured down a flood of light, lighting up theopposing ranks of blue and gray, and gleaming along swords and bayonets.Nearer and nearer came the piercing notes of Dixie.
"They march well," murmured Colonel Talbot, "and they will fight well,too."
He did not know that McDowell himself, the Northern commander, wasnow before them, driving on his men, but he did know that the courageand skill of his old comrades were for the present in the ascendant.Burnside was at the head of the division and it seemed long enough towrap the whole Southern command in its folds and crush it.
Scattered rifle shots were heard on either flank, and the youngInvincibles began to breathe heavily. Millions of black specks dancedbefore them in the hot sunshine, and their nervous ears magnified everysound tenfold.
"I wish that tune the Yankees are playing was ours," said Tom Langdon."I think I could fight battles by it."
"Then we'll have to capture it," said Harry.
Now the time for talking ceased. The rifle fire on the flanks wasrising to a steady rattle, and then came the heavy boom of the cannonon either side. Once more the air was filled with the shriek of shellsand the whistling of rifle bullets. Men were falling fast, and throughthe rising clouds of smoke Harry saw the blue lines still coming on.It seemed to him that they would be overwhelmed, trampled under foot,routed, but he heard Colonel Talbot shouting:
"Steady, Invincibles! Steady!"
And Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, walking up and down the lines,also uttered the same shout. But the blue line never ceased coming.Harry could see the faces dark with sweat and dust and powder stillpressing on. It was well for the Southerners that nearly all of themhad been trained in the use of the rifle, and it was well for them, too,that most of their officers were men of skill and experience. Recruits,they stood fast nevertheless and their rifles sent the bullets in anunceasing bitter hail straight into the advancing ranks of blue.There was no sound from the bands now. If they were playing somewherein the rear no
one heard. The fire of the cannon and rifles was asteady roll, louder than thunder and more awful.
The Northern troops hesitated at last in face of such a resolute standand such accurate firing. Then they retreated a little and a shout oftriumph came from the Southern lines, but the respite was only for amoment. The men in blue came on again, walking over their dead and pasttheir wounded.
"If they keep pressing in, and it looks as if they would, they willcrush us," murmured Colonel Talbot, but he did not let the Invincibleshear him say it. He encouraged them with voice and example, and theybent forward somewhat to meet the second charge of the Northern army,which was now coming. The smoke lifted a little and Harry saw the greenfields and the white house of the Widow Henry standing almost in themiddle of the battlefield, but unharmed. Then his eyes came back to thehostile line, which, torn by shot and shell, had closed up, nevertheless,and was advancing again in overwhelming force.
Harry now had a sudden horrible fear that they would be trodden underfoot. He looked at St. Clair and saw that his face was ghastly.Langdon had long since ceased to smile or utter words of happyphilosophy.
"Open up and let the guns through!" some one suddenly cried, and a wildcheer of relief burst from the Invincibles as they made a path. Thevaliant Bee and Bartow, rushing to the sound of the great firing,had come with nearly three thousand men and a whole battery. Neverwere men more welcome. They formed instantly along the Southern front,and the battery opened at once with all its guns, while the threethousand men sent a new fire into the Northern ranks. Yet the Northerncharge still came. McDowell, Burnside, and the others were pressing ithome, seeking to drive the Southern army from its hill, while they wereyet able to bring forces largely superior to bear upon it.
The thunder and crash of the terrible conflict rolled over all thehills and fields for miles. It told the other forces of either armythat here was the center of the battle, and here was its crisis.The sounds reached an extraordinary young-old man, bearded and awkward,often laughed at, but never to be laughed at again, one of the mostwonderful soldiers the world has ever produced, and instantly gatheringup his troops he rushed them toward the very heart of the combat.Stonewall Jackson was about to receive his famous nickname.
Jackson's burning eyes swept proudly over the ranks of his tallVirginians, who mourned every second they lost from the battle. Anofficer retreating with his battery glanced at him, opened his mouth tospeak, but closed it again without saying a word, and infused with newhope, turned his guns afresh toward the enemy. Already men were feelingthe magnetic current of energy and resolution that flowed from Jacksonlike water from a fountain.
A message from Colonel Talbot, which he was to deliver to Jacksonhimself, sent Harry to the rear. He rode a borrowed horse and hegalloped rapidly until he saw a long line of men marching forward ata swift but steady pace. At their head rode a man on a sorrel horse.His shoulders were stooped a little, and he leaned forward in the saddle,gazing intently at the vast bank of smoke and flame before him. Harrynoticed that the hands upon the bridle reins did not twitch nor did thehorseman seem at all excited. Only his burning eyes showed that everyfaculty was concentrated upon the task. Harry was conscious even thenthat he was in the presence of General Jackson.
The boy delivered his message. Jackson received it without comment,never taking his eyes from the battle, which was now raging so fiercelyin front of them. Behind came his great brigade of Virginians, thesmoke and flame of the battle entering their blood and making theirhearts pound fast as they moved forward with increasing speed.
Harry rode back with the young officers of his staff, and now theysaw men dash out of the smoke and run toward them. They cried thateverything was lost. The lip of Jackson curled in contempt. The longline of his Virginians stopped the fugitives and drove them back to thebattle. It was evident to Harry, young as he was, that Jackson wouldbe just in time.
Then they saw a battery galloping from that bank of smoke and flame, and,its officer swearing violently, exclaimed that he had been left withoutsupport. The stern face and somber eyes of Jackson were turned upon him.
"Unlimber your guns at once," he said. "Here is your support."
Then the valiant Bee himself came, covered with dust, his clothes tornby bullets, his horse in a white lather. He, too, turned to that sternbrown figure, as unflinching as death itself, and he cried that theenemy in overwhelming numbers were beating them back.
"Then," said Jackson, "we'll close up and give them the bayonet."
His teeth shut down like a vise. Again the electric current leapedforth and sparkled through the veins of Bee, who turned and rode backinto the Southern throng, the Virginians following swiftly. ThenJackson looked over the field with the eye and mind of genius, the eyethat is able to see and the mind that is able to understand amid allthe thunder and confusion and excitement of battle.
He saw a stretch of pines on the edge of the hill near the Henry house.He quickly marched his troops among the trees, covering their front withsix cannon, while the great horseman, Stuart, plumed and eager, formedhis cavalry upon the left. Harry felt instinctively that the battlewas about to be restored for the time at least, and he turned back toColonel Talbot and the Invincibles. A shell burst near him. A piecestruck his horse in the chest, and Harry felt the animal quiver underhim. Then the horse uttered a terrible neighing cry, but Harry, alertand agile, sprang clear, and ran back to his own command.
On the other side of Bull Run was the Northern command of Tyler, whichhad been rebuffed so fiercely three days before. It, too, heard theroar and crash of the battle, and sought a way across Bull Run, but fora time could find none. An officer named Sherman, also destined for amighty fame, saw a Confederate trooper riding across the river furtherdown, and instantly the whole command charged at the ford. It wasdefended by only two hundred Southern skirmishers whom they brushed outof the way. They were across in a few minutes, and then they advancedon a run to swell McDowell's army. The forces on both sides wereincreasing and the battle was rising rapidly in volume. But in the faceof repeated and furious attacks the Southern troops held fast to thelittle plateau. Young's Branch flowed on one side of it and protectedthem in a measure; but only the indomitable spirit of Jackson and Evans,of Bee and Bartow, and others kept them in line against those chargeswhich threatened to shiver them to pieces.
"Look!" cried Bee to some of his men who were wavering. "Look atJackson, standing there like a stone wall!"
The men ceased to waver and settled themselves anew for a fresh attack.
But in spite of everything the Northern army was gaining ground.Sherman at the very head of the fresh forces that had crossed Bull Runhurled himself upon the Southern army, his main attack falling directlyupon the Invincibles. The young recruits reeled, but Colonel Talbot andLieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire still ran up and down the lines beggingthem to stand. They took fresh breath and planted their feet deep oncemore. Harry raised his rifle and took aim at a flitting figure in thesmoke. Then he dropped the muzzle. Either it was reality or a powerfultrick of the fancy. It was his own cousin, Dick Mason, but the smokeclosed in again, and he did not see the face.
The rush of Sherman was met and repelled. Tie drew back only to comeagain, and along the whole line the battle closed in once more, fiercerand more deadly than ever. Upon all the combatants beat the fierce sunof July, and clouds of dust rose to mingle with the smoke of cannon andrifles.
The advantage now lay distinctly with the Northern army, won by itsclever passage of Bull Run and surprise. But the courage and tenacityof the Southern troops averted defeat and rout in detail. Jackson,in his strong position near the Henry house, in the cellars of whichwomen were hiding, refused to give an inch of ground. Beauregard,called by the cannon, arrived upon the field only an hour before noon,meeting on the way many fugitives, whom he and his officers droveback into the battle. Hampton's South Carolina Legion, which reachedRichmond only that morning, came by train and landed di
rectly upon thebattlefield about noon. In five minutes it was in the thick of thebattle, and it alone stemmed a terrific rush of Sherman, when all othersgave way.
Noon had passed and the heart of McDowell swelled with exultation.The Northern troops were still gaining ground, and at many points theSouthern line was crushed. Some of the recruits in gray, their nervesshaken horribly, were beginning to run. But fresh troops coming upmet them and turned them back to the field. Beauregard and Johnston,the two senior generals, both experienced and calm, were reforming theirranks, seizing new and strong positions, and hurrying up every portionof their force. Johnston himself, after the first rally, hurried backfor fresh regiments, while Jackson's men not only held their ground butbegan to drive the Northern troops before them.
The Invincibles had fallen back somewhat, leaving many dead behind them.Many more were wounded. Harry had received two bullets through hisclothing, and St. Clair was nicked on the wrist. Colonel Talbot andLieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire were still unharmed, but a deep gloom hadsettled over the Invincibles. They had not been beaten, but certainlythey were not winning. Their ranks were seamed and rent. From theplace where they now stood they could see the place where they formerlystood, but Northern troops occupied it now. Tears ran down the facesof some of the youngest, streaking the dust and powder into hideous,grinning masks.
Harry threw himself upon the ground and lay there for a few moments,panting. He choked with heat and thirst, and his heart seemed to haveswollen so much within him that it would be a relief to have it burst.His eyes burned with the dust and smoke, and all about him was a fearfulreek. He could see from where he lay most of the battlefield. He sawthe Northern batteries fire, move forward, and then fire again. He sawthe Northern infantry creeping up, ever creeping, and far behind hebeheld the flags of fresh regiments coming to their aid. The tearssprang to his eyes. It seemed in very truth that all was lost. Inanother part of the field the men in blue had seized the Robinson house,and from points near it their artillery was searching the Southernranks. A sudden grim humor seized the boy.
"Tom," he shouted to Langdon, "what was that you said about sleeping inthe White House at Washington with your boots on?"
"I said it," Langdon shouted back, "but I guess it's all off! For God'ssake, Harry, give me a drink of water! I'll give anybody a milliondollars and a half dozen states for a single drink!"
A soldier handed him a canteen, and he drank from it. The water waswarm, but it was nectar, and when he handed it back, he said:
"I don't know you and you don't know me, but if I could I'd give you awhole lake in return for this. Harry, what are our chances?"
"I don't know. We've lost one battle, but we may have time to winanother. Jackson and those Virginians of his seem able to standanything. Up, boys, the battle is on us again!"
The charge swept almost to their feet, but it was driven back, and thencame a momentary lull, not a cessation of the battle, but merely asinking, as if the combatants were gathering themselves afresh for a newand greater effort. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, and the fierceJuly sun was at its zenith, pouring its burning rays upon both armies,alike upon the living and upon the dead who were now so numerous.
The lull was most welcome to the men in gray. Some fresh regiments sentby Johnston had come already, and they hoped for more, but whether theycame or not, the army must stand. The brigades were massed heavilyaround the Henry house with that of Jackson standing stern andindomitable, the strongest wall against the foe. His fame and hisspirit were spreading fast over the field.
The lull was brief, the whole Northern army, its lines reformed, sweptforward in a half curve, and the Southern army sent forth a stream ofshells and bullets to meet it. The brigades of Jackson and Sherman,indomitable foes, met face to face and swept back and forth over theground, which was littered with their fallen. Everywhere the battleassumed a closer and fiercer phase. Hampton, who had come just in timewith his guns, went down wounded badly. Beauregard himself was woundedslightly, and so was Jackson, hit in the hand. Many distinguishedofficers were killed.
The whole Northern army was driven back four times, and it came a fifthtime to be repulsed once more. In the very height of the struggle Harrycaught a glimpse in front of them of a long horizontal line of red,like a gleaming ribbon.
"It's those Zouaves!" cried Langdon. "Shoot their pants!"
He did not mean it as a jest. The words just jumped out, and true totheir meaning the Invincibles fired straight at that long line of red,and then reloading fired again. The Zouaves were cut to pieces, thefield was strewed with their brilliant uniforms. A few officers triedto bring on the scattered remnants, but two regiments of regulars,sweeping in between and bearing down on the Invincibles, saved them fromextermination.
The Invincibles would have suffered the fate they had dealt out to theZouaves, but fresh regiments came to their help and the regulars weredriven back. Sherman and Jackson were still fighting face to face,and Sherman was unable to advance. Howard hurled a fresh force on themen in gray. Bee and Bartow, who had done such great deeds earlierin the day, were both killed. A Northern force under Heintzelman,converging for a flank attack, was set upon and routed by theSoutherners, who put them all to flight, captured three guns and tookthe Robinson house.
Fortune, nevertheless, still seemed to favor the North. The Southernershad barely held their positions around the Henry house. Most of theircannon were dismounted. Hundreds had dropped from exhaustion. Some haddied from heat and excessive exertion. The mortality among the officerswas frightful. There were few hopeful hearts in the Southern army.
It was now three o'clock in the afternoon and Beauregard, through hisglasses, saw a great column of dust rising above the tops of the trees.His experience told him that it must be made by marching troops, butwhat troops were they, Northern or Southern? In an agony of suspensehe appealed to the generals around him, but they could tell nothing.He sent off aides at a gallop to see, but meanwhile he and his generalscould only wait, while the column of dust grew broader and broader andhigher and higher. His heart sank like a plummet in a pool. The cloudwas on the Federal flank and everything indicated that it was the armyof Patterson, marching from the Valley of Virginia.
Harry and his comrades had also seen the dust, and they regarded itanxiously. They knew as well as any general present that their fate laywithin that cloud.
"It's coming fast, and it's growing faster," said Harry. "I've got soused to the roar of this battle that it seems to me alien sounds aredetached from it, and are heard easily. I can hear the rumble of cannonwheels in that cloud."
"Then tell us, Harry," said Langdon, "is it a Northern rumble or aSouthern rumble that you hear?"
Harry laughed.
"I'll admit it's a good deal of a fancy," he said.
Arthur St. Clair suddenly leaped high in the air, and uttered at thevery top of his voice the wild note of the famous rebel yell.
"Look at the flags aloft in that cloud of dust! It's the Star and Bars!God bless the Bonnie Blue Flag! They are our own men coming, and comingin time!"
Now the battle flags appeared clearly through the dust, and the greatrebel yell, swelling and triumphant, swept the whole Southern line.It was the remainder of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah. It hadslipped away from Patterson, and all through the burning day it had beenmarching steadily toward the battlefield, drummed on by the thuddingguns. Johnston, the silent and alert, was himself with them now,and aflame with zeal they were advancing on the run straight for theheart of the Northern army.
Kirby Smith, one of Harry's own Kentucky generals, was in the very vanof the relieving force. A man after Stonewall Jackson's own soul,he rushed forward with the leading regiments and they hurled themselvesbodily upon the Northern flank.
The impact was terrible. Smith fell wounded, but his men rushed on andthe men behind also threw themselves into the battle. Almost at thesame instant Jubal Early, who had made a circu
it with a strong force,hurled it upon the side of the Northern army. The brave troops in bluewere exhausted by so many hours of fierce fighting and fierce heat.Their whole line broke and began to fall back. The Southern generalsaround the Henry house saw it and exulted. Swift orders were sent andthe bugles blew the charge for the men who had stood so many long andbitter hours on the defense.
"Now, Invincibles, now!" cried Colonel Leonidas Talbot. "Charge home,just once, my boys, and the victory is ours!"
Covered with dust and grime, worn and bleeding with many wounds, butevery heart beating triumphantly, what was left of the Invincibles roseup and followed their leader. Harry was conscious of a flame almostin his face and of whirling clouds of smoke and dust. Then the entireSouthern army burst upon the confused Northern force and shattered itso completely that it fell to pieces.
The bravest battle ever fought by men, who, with few exceptions, had notsmelled the powder of war before, was lost and won.
As the Southern cannon and rifles beat upon them, the Northern army,save for the regulars and the cavalry, dissolved. The generals couldnot stem the flood. They rushed forward in confused masses, seekingonly to save themselves. Whole regiments dashed into the fords of BullRun and emerged dripping on the other side. A bridge was covered withspectators come out from Washington to see the victory, many of thembringing with them baskets of lunch. Some were Members of Congress,but all joined in the panic and flight, carrying to the capital manyuntrue stories of disaster.
A huge mass of fleeing men emerged upon the Warrenton turnpike, throwingaway their weapons and ammunition that they might run the faster.It was panic pure and simple, but panic for the day only. For hoursthey had fought as bravely as the veterans of twenty battles, but now,with weakened nerves, they thought that an overwhelming force was uponthem. Every shell that the Southern guns sent among them urged them togreater speed. The cavalry and little force of regulars covered therear, and with firm and unbroken ranks retreated slowly, ready to facethe enemy if he tried pursuit.
But the men in gray made no real pursuit. They were so worn that theycould not follow, and they yet scarcely believed in the magnitude oftheir own victory, snatched from the very jaws of defeat. Twenty-eightNorthern cannon and ten flags were in their hands, but thousands of deadand wounded lay upon the field, and night was at hand again, close andhot.
Harry turned back to the little plateau where those that were left ofthe Invincibles were already kindling their cooking fires. He lookedfor his two comrades and recognized them both under their masks of dustand powder.
"Are you hurt, Tom?" he said to Langdon.
"No, and I'm going to sleep in the White House at Washington after all."
"And you, Arthur?"
"There's a red line across my wrist, where a bullet passed, but it'snothing. Listen, what do you think of that, boys?"
A Southern band had gathered in the edge of the wood and was playinga wild thrilling air, the words of which meant nothing, but the tuneeverything:
"In Dixie's land I'll take my stand, To live and die for Dixie. Look away! Look away! Look away down South in Dixie."
"So we have taken their tune from them and made it ours!" St. Clairexclaimed jubilantly. "After all, it really belonged to us! We'll playit through the streets of Washington."
But Colonel Leonidas Talbot, who stood close by, raised his handwarningly.
"Boys," he said, "this is only the beginning."
Appendix: Transcription notes:
This etext was transcribed from a volume printed in April, 1964(Twenty-eighth Printing)
The following modifications were applied while transcribing theprinted book to e-text:
chapter 1: - Fixed typo ("hestitated"), page 22, para 2 - Fixed typo (changed "this father" to "his father"), page 23, first line of para 5
chapter 2: - Changed "t" to upper-case in sentence "to bed!" on page 40, para 3
chapter 3: - Removed an extraneous quotation mark on page 62, at the end of para 4 - Fixed typo ("extaordinary"), page 63, para 2 - Fixed typo ("fews"), page 65, para 5
chapter 4: - Fixed typo ("feeliing"), page 81, para 6
chapter 6: - Added a missing comma on page 111, third sentence - Fixed typo ("tomorow"), page 119, para 7
chapter 9: - Fixed typo ("tomorow"), page 187, para 3
chapter 10: - Page 197, second para: replaced a comma with a period preceding "Yet" (However, It is unclear whether the author intended a period, or whether instead the "yet" should be lower case - either would serve equally well.) - Fixed typo (changed "achievment" to "achievement"), page 208, para 8
chapter 11: - Fixed typo ("thy're") on page 234, para 4
chapter 12: - Page 241, para 1: changed "four o'clock this morning" to "four o'clock this afternoon" - the content of this page and the following pages clearly indicates that the march started in mid-day, not before dawn
chapter 13: - Fixed typo ("persausive") on page 282, para 4 - Fixed typo ("aand") on page 284, para 4
chapter 14: - Fixed typo (changed "hid" to "hide"), page 289, para 1 - Fixed typo ("batallions"), page 292, para 1 - Fixed typo ("aand"), page 293, para 5 - Added missing close-quotation-marks to para 7 on page 295 - Added missing close-quotation-marks to para 8 on page 296 - Fixed typo ("paseed"), page 299, para 1
chapter 16: - Removed a duplicate "to" on page 330, para 3
Limitations imposed by converting to plain ASCII:
- The printed book presented the names of newspapers and ships in italics, but italics are not available in plain ASCII
Chapter 1, page 9: Pendleton News, News, Louisville Journal, News page 10: News Chapter 3, page 71: Mercury, Star of the West Chapter 4, everywhere: Star of the West Chapter 5, page 96: Mercury, Star of the West Chapter 6 and 7: Baltic Chapter 12: Star of the West
- The word "marquee" in chapter 15 was presented in the printed book with an accented "e"
I did not modify:
- The following sentence in chapter 1 does not seem quite right, but I am not sure how to change it, if I would change it:
George Kenton, having inherited much land in Kentucky, and two or three plantations further south had added to his property by good management.
- There are a number of instances where the use of the comma in the printed book seems to me inappropriate, mainly in terms of commas inserted where I would not insert them, and also sometimes commas lacking where I would provide them. However, I have adhered to the punctuation as printed (except for obvious printing errors, which are noted above).
For example:
His abounding youth made him consider as weak and unworthy, an emotion which a man would merely have reckoned as natural.
Forty or fifty thousand, men, women and children, were looking on, but nothing more than a murmur ran through the great mass.
The sea itself, is against them.
Two heavier crashes showed that the cannon were also coming into play, and one shell striking within the fort, exploded, wounding a half dozen men.
The belt of forest into which he had ridden, ran along the crest of a hill, where the soil evidently had been considered too thin for profitable cultivation.
- Each section of verse is formatted to appear similar to its presentation in the printed book. Consequently: some verse is indented more than others, some is left-aligned, some is staggered on the left margin, some is center-aligned.
- The author sometimes uses a technique whereby a paragraph introducing a quotation ends with a colon, with the quotation following as the next paragraph.
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