CHAPTER II
THE NORTHERN SPY
But the night remained very quiet. Harry and Dalton, growing tired ofsitting, walked about the camp, and looked again to their horses,which, saddled and bridled, were nevertheless allowed to nip the grassas best they could at the end of their lariats. The last embers of thefire went out, but the moon and stars remained bright, and they sawdimly the sleeping forms of Lee and his generals. Harry, who had seennothing strange in Meade's lack of pursuit, now wondered at it. Surelywhen the news of Vicksburg came the exultant Army of the Potomac wouldfollow, and try to deliver a crushing blow.
It was revealed to him as he stood silent in the moonlight that a gulfhad suddenly yawned before the South. The slash of Grant's sword inthe West had been terrible, and the wound that it made could not becured easily. And the Army of Northern Virginia had not only failed inits supreme attempt, but a great river now flowed between it andVirginia. If the Northern leaders, gathering courage anew, should hurltheir masses upon Lee's retreating force, neither skill nor couragemight avail to save them. He suddenly beheld the situation in all itsdesperation; he shivered from head to foot.
Dalton saw the muscles of Harry's face quivering, and he noticed apallor that came for an instant.
"I understand," he said. "I had thought of it already. If a Northerngeneral like Lee or Stonewall Jackson were behind us we might never getback across the Potomac. It's somewhat the same position that we werein after Antietam."
"But we've no Stonewall Jackson now to help us."
Again that lump rose in Harry's throat. The vision of the sober figureon Little Sorrel, leading his brigades to victory, came before him, butit was a vision only.
"It's strange that we've not come in contact with their scouts orcavalry," he said. "In that fight with Pleasanton we saw what horsementhey've become, and a force of some kind must be hanging on our rear."
"If it's there, Sherburne and his troop will find it."
"I think I can detect signs of the enemy now," said Harry, putting hisglasses to his eyes. "See that hill far behind us. Can't you catchthe gleam of lights on it?"
"I think I can," replied Dalton, also using glasses. "Four lights arethere, and they are winking, doubtless to lights on another hill toofar away for us to see."
"It shows that the enemy at least is watching, and that while we mayretreat unattacked it will not be unobserved. Hark! do you hear that,George? It's rifle shots, isn't it?"
"Yes, and a lot of 'em, but they're a long distance away. I don'tthink we could hear 'em at all if it were not night time."
"But it means something! There they go again! I believe it's a heavyskirmish and it's in the direction in which Sherburne rode."
"The general's up. It's likely that one of us will be sent to see whatit's all about."
General Lee and his whole staff had risen and were listeningattentively. The faint sound of many shots still came, and then asharper, more penetrating crash, as if light field guns were at work.The commander beckoned to Harry.
"Ride toward it," he said briefly, "and return with a report as soon asyou can."
Harry touched his cap, sprang upon his horse and galloped away. Heknew that other messengers would be dispatched also, but, as he hadbeen sent first, he wished to arrive first. He found a path among thetrees along which he could make good speed, and, keeping his mind fixedon the firing, he sped forward.
Thousands of soldiers lay asleep in the woods and fields on either sideof him, but the thud of the horse's hoofs awakened few of them. Nordid the firing disturb them. They had fought a great battle three dayslong, and then after a tense day of waiting under arms, they hadmarched hard. What to them was the noise made by an affair of outposts,when they had heard so long the firing of a hundred and fifty thousandrifles and three or four hundred big guns? Not one in a hundred stoodup to see.
The country grew rougher, and Harry was compelled to draw his horsedown to a walk. But the firing, a half-mile or more ahead, maintainedits volume, and as he approached through thick underbrush, being ableto find no other way, he dismounted and led his horse. Presently hesaw beads of flame appearing among the bushes, seen a moment, then gonelike a firefly, and as he went further he heard voices. He had nodoubt that it was the Southern pickets in the undergrowth, and, callingsoftly, he received confirmatory replies.
A rifleman, a tall, slender fellow in ragged butternut, appeared besidehim, and, recognizing Harry's near-gray uniform as that of an officer,said:
"They're dismounted cavalry on the other side of a creek that runsalong over there among the bushes. I don't think they mean any realattack. They expect to sting us a little an' find out what we're about."
"Seems likely to me too. They aren't strong enough, of course, for anattempt at rushing us. What troops are in here in the woods on ourside?"
"Captain Sherburne's cavalry, sir. They're a bit to our right, an'they're dismounted too. You'll find the captain himself on a littleknoll about a hundred yards away."
"Thanks," said Harry, and leading his horse he reached the knoll, tofind the rifleman's statement correct. Sherburne was kneeling behindsome bushes, trying with the aid of glasses and moonlight to pick outthe enemy.
"That you, Harry?" he said, glancing back.
"Yes, Captain. The general has sent me to see what you and the rest ofyou noisy fellows are doing."
"Shooting across a creek at an enemy who first shot at us. It's onlyunder provocation that we've roused the general and his staff fromsleep. Use your glasses and see what you can make out in those busheson the other side! Keep down, Harry! For Heaven's sake keep down!That bullet didn't miss you more than three inches. You wouldn't bemuch loss to the army, of course, but you're my personal friend."
"Thanks for your advice. I intend to stay so far down that I'll liealmost flat."
He meant to keep his word, too. The warning had been a stern one.Evidently the sharpshooters who lay in the thickets on the Union sideof the creek were of the first quality.
"There's considerable moonlight," whispered Sherburne, "and you mustn'texpose an inch of your face. I take it that we have Custer's cavalryover there, mixed with a lot of scouts and skirmishers from theNorthwest, Michigan and Wisconsin, most likely. They're the boys whocan use the rifles in the woods. Had to do it before they came here,and they're a bad lot to go up against."
"It's a pretty heavy fire for a mere scouting party. If they want todiscover our location they can do it without wasting so much powder andlead."
"I think it's more than a scout. They must have discovered long sincejust where we are. I imagine they mean to shake our nerve by constantbuzzing and stinging. I fancy that Meade and his generals afterdeciding not to pursue us have changed their minds, perhaps underpressure from Washington, and mean to cut us off if they can."
"A little late."
"But not too late. We're still in the enemy's country. The wholepopulation is dead against us, and we can't make a move that isn'tknown within an hour to the Union leaders. I tell you, Harry, that ifwe didn't have a Lee to lead I'd be afraid that we'd never get out ofPennsylvania."
"But we have a Lee and the question is settled. What a volley thatwas! Didn't you feel the twigs and leaves falling on your face?"
"Yes, it went directly over our heads. It's a good thing we're lyingso close. Perhaps they intend to force a passage of the creek andstampede at least a portion of our camp."
"And you're here to prevent it."
"I am. They can't cross that creek in face of our fire. We're goodnight-hawks. Every boy in the South knows the night and the woods, andhere in the bush we're something like Indians."
"I'm the descendant of a famous Indian fighter myself," said Harry. Andthere, surrounded by deep gloom and danger, the spirit of his mightyancestor, the great Henry Ware, descended upon him once more. Anorderly had taken their horses to the rear, where they would be out ofrange of the bullets, and, as they crouched low in the b
ushes,Sherburne looked curiously at him.
Harry's face as he turned from the soldier to the Indian fighter of oldhad changed. To Sherburne's fascinated gaze the eyes seemed amazinglyvivid and bright, like those of one who has learned to see in the dark.The complexion was redder--Henry Ware had always burned red instead ofbrown--like that of one who sleeps oftener in the open air than in ahouse. His whole look was dominant, compelling and fierce, as heleaned on his elbows and studied the opposing thickets through hisglasses.
The glasses even did not destroy the illusion. To Sherburne, who hadlearned Harry's family history, the great Henry Ware was alive, and inthe flesh before him. He felt with all the certainty of truth that theUnion skirmishers in the thicket could not escape the keen eyes thatsought them out.
"I can see at least twenty men creeping about among the bushes, andseeking chances for shots," whispered Harry.
"I knew that you would see them."
It was Harry's turn to give a look of curiosity.
"What do you mean, Captain?" he asked.
"I knew that you had good eyes and I believed that with the aid of theglasses you would be able to trace figures, despite the shelter of thebushes. Study the undergrowth again, will you, Harry, and tell me whatmore you can see there?"
"I don't need to study it. I can tell at one look that they'regathering a force. Maybe they mean to rush the creek at a shallowplace."
"Is that force moving in any direction?"
"Yes, it's going down the creek."
"Then we'll go down the creek with it. We mustn't be lacking inhospitality."
Sherburne drew a whistle from his pocket and blew a low call upon it.Scores of shadowy figures rose from the undergrowth, and followed hislead down the stream. Harry was still able to see that the force onthe other side was increasing largely in numbers, but Sherburnereminded him that his duties, as far as the coming skirmish wasconcerned, were over.
"General Lee didn't send you here to get killed," he said. "He wantsyou instead to report how many of us get killed. You know that whilethe general is a kind man he can be stern, too, and you're not to takethe risk. The orderly is behind that hill with your horse and mine."
Harry, with a sigh, fell back toward the hill. But he did not yet gobehind it, where the orderly stood. Instead he lay down among thetrees on the slope, where he could watch what was going forward, andonce more his face turned to the likeness of the great Indian fighter.
He saw Sherburne's dismounted troop and others, perhaps five hundred inall, moving slowly among the bushes parallel with the stream, and hesaw a force which he surmised to be of about equal size, creeping alongin the undergrowth on the other side. He followed both bodies with hisglasses. With long looking everything became clearer and clearer. Themoonlight had to him almost the brilliancy of day.
His eyes followed the Union force, until it came to a point where thecreek ran shallow over pebbles. Then the Union leader raised hissword, uttered a cry of command, and the whole force dashed at theford. The cry met its response in an order from Sherburne, and thethickets flamed with the Southern rifles.
The advantage was wholly with the South, standing on the defense indark undergrowth, and the Union troop, despite its desperate attemptsat the ford, was beaten back with great loss.
Harry waited until the result was sure, and then he walked slowly overthe hill toward the point, where the orderly was waiting with thehorses. The man, who knew him, handed him the reins of his mount,saying at the same time:
"I've a note for you, sir."
"For me?"
"Yes, sir. It was handed to me about fifteen minutes ago by a largeman in our uniform, whom I didn't know."
"Probably a dispatch that I'm to carry to General Lee."
"No, sir. It's addressed to you."
The note was written in pencil on a piece of coarse gray paper, foldedseveral times, but with a face large enough to show Harry's name uponit. He wondered, but said nothing to the sentinel, and did not look atthe note again, until he had ridden some distance.
He stopped in a little glade where the moonlight fell clearly. Hestill heard scattered firing behind him, but he knew that the skirmishwas in reality over, and he concluded that no further attempt by Uniondetachments to advance would be made in the face of such vigilance. Hecould report to General Lee that the rear of his army was safe. So hewould delay and look at the letter that had come to him out of themysterious darkness.
The superscription was in a large, bold hand, and read:
LIEUTENANT HARRY KENTON, STAFF OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, C. S. A., COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA.
He felt instinctively that something uncommon was coming, and, as mostpeople do when they are puzzled at the appearance of a letter, helooked at it some seconds before opening it. Then he read:
MR. KENTON:
I have warned you twice before, once when Jefferson Davis wasinaugurated at Montgomery, and once again in Virginia. I told you thatthe South could never win. I told you that she might achieve brilliantvictories, and she may achieve them even yet, but they will avail hernothing. Victories permit her to maintain her position for the timebeing, but they do not enable her to advance. A single defeat causesher to lose ground that she can never regain.
I tell you this as a warning. Although your enemy, I have seen youmore than once and talked with you. I like you and would save yourlife if I could. I would induce you, if I could, to leave the army andreturn to your home, but that I know to be impossible. So, I merelytell you that you are fighting for a cause now lost. Perhaps it ispride on my part to remind you that my early predictions have cometrue, and perhaps it is a wish that the thought I may plant in yourmind will spread to others. You have lost at Gettysburg a hope and anoffensive that you can never regain, and Grant at Vicksburg has given adeath blow to the Western half of the Confederacy.
As for you, I wish you well.
WILLIAM J. SHEPARD.
Harry stared in amazement at this extraordinary communication, and readit over two or three times. He was not surprised that Shepard shouldbe near, and that he should have been inside the Confederate lines, butthat he should leave a letter, and such a letter, for him was uncanny.His first feeling, wonder, was succeeded by anger. Did Shepard reallythink that he could influence him in such a way, that he could plant inhis mind a thought that would spread to others of his age and rank andweaken the cause for which he fought? It was a singular idea, butShepard was a singular man.
But perhaps pride in recalling the prediction that he had made long agowas Shepard's stronger motive, and Harry took fire at that also. TheConfederacy was not beaten. A single defeat--no, it was not a defeat,merely a failure to win--was not mortal, and as for the West, theConfederacy would gather itself together there and overwhelm Grant!
Then came a new emotion, a kind of gratitude to Shepard. The man wasreally a friend, and would do him a service, if it could be done,without injuring his own cause! He could not feel any doubt of it,else the spy would not have taken the risk to send him such a letter.He read it for the last time, then tore it into little pieces which heentrusted to the winds.
The firing behind him had died completely, and there was no sound butthe rustle of dry leaves in the light wind, nothing to tell that therehad been sharp fighting along the creek, and that men lay dead in theforest. The moon and the stars clothed everything in a whitish light,that seemed surcharged with a powerful essence, and this essence wasdanger.
The spirit of the great forest ranger descended upon him once more, andhe read the omens, all of which were sinister. He foresaw terriblecampaigns, mighty battles in the forest, and a roll of the dead so longthat it seemed to stretch away into infinity.
Then he shook himself violently, cast off the spell, and rode rapidlyback with his report. Lee had risen and was standing under a tree. Hewas fully dressed and his uniform was trim and unwrinkled.
Harrythought anew as he rode up, what a magnificent figure he was. He wasthe only great man he ever saw who really looked his greatness.Nothing could stir that calm. Nothing could break down that loftinessof manner. Harry was destined to feel then, as he felt many timesafterward, that without him the South had never a chance. And thechoking came in his throat again, as he thought of him who was gone, ofhim who had been the right arm of victory, the hammer of Thor.
But he hid all these feelings as he quickly dismounted and saluted thecommander-in-chief.
"What have you seen, Lieutenant Kenton?" asked Lee.
"A considerable detachment of the enemy tried to force the passage ofthe creek in our right rear. They were met by Captain Sherburne'stroop dismounted, and three companies of infantry, and were driven backafter a sharp fight."
"Very good. Captain Sherburne is an alert officer."
He turned away, and Harry, giving his horse to an orderly, againresumed his old position under a tree, out of hearing of the generals,but in sight. Dalton was not there, but he knew that skirmishing hadoccurred in other directions, and doubtless the Virginian had been senton an errand like his own.
He had a sense of rest and realization as he leaned back against thetree. But it was mental tension, not physical, for which relief came,and Shepard, much more than the battle at the creek, was in histhoughts.
The strong personality of the spy and his seeming omniscience oppressedhim again. Apparently he was able to go anywhere, and nothing could behidden from him. He might be somewhere in the circling shadows at thatvery moment, watching Lee and his lieutenants. His pulses leaped.Shepard had achieved an extraordinary influence over him, and he wasprepared to believe the impossible.
He stood up and stared into the bushes, but sentinels stood there, andno human being could pass their ring unseen. Presently Dalton came,made a brief report to General Lee and joined his comrade. Harry wasglad of his arrival. The presence of a comrade brought him back toearth and earth's realities. The sinister shadows that oppressed himmelted away and he saw only the ordinary darkness of a summer night.
The two sat side by side. Dalton perhaps drew as much strength asHarry from the comradeship, and they watched other messengers arrivewith dispatches, some of whom rolled themselves in their blankets atonce, and went to sleep, although three, who had evidently slept in theday, joined Harry and Dalton in their vigil.
Harry saw that the commander-in-chief was holding a council at thathour, nearer morning than midnight. A general kicked some of thepieces of burned wood together and fanned them into a light flame,enough to take away the slight chill that was coming with the morning.The men stood around it, and talked a long time, although it seemed toHarry that Lee said least. Nevertheless his tall figure dominated themall. Now and then Harry saw his face in the starshine, and it bore itshabitual grave and impassive look.
The youth did not hear a word that was said, but his imaginative powerenabled him to put himself in the place of the commander-in-chief. Heknew that no man, however great his courage, could fail to appreciatehis position in the heart of a hostile country, with a lost fieldbehind him, and with superior numbers hovering somewhere in his rear oron his flank. He realized then to the full the critical nature oftheir position and what a mighty task Lee had to save the army.
One of his young comrades whispered to him that the Potomac, thebarrier between North and South, was rising, flooded by heavy rains inboth mountains and lowlands, and that a body of Northern cavalry hadalready destroyed a pontoon bridge built by the South across it. Theymight be hemmed in, with their backs to an unfordable river, and anenemy two or three times as numerous in front.
"Don't you worry," whispered Dalton, with sublime confidence. "Thegeneral will take us to Virginia."
Harry projected his imagination once more. He sought to put himself inthe place of Lee, receiving all the reports and studying them, tryingto measure space that could not be measured, and to weigh a total thatcould not be weighed. Greatness and responsibility were compelled topay thrice over for themselves, and he was glad that he was only ayoung lieutenant, the chief business of whom was to fetch and carryorders.
Shafts of sunlight were piercing the eastern foliage when the councilbroke up, and shortly after daylight the Southern army was again on themarch, with Northern cavalry and riflemen hanging on its flanks andrear. Harry was permitted to rejoin, for a while, his friends of theInvincibles and he found Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-ColonelHector St. Hilaire riding very erect, a fine color in their faces.
"You come from headquarters, Harry, and therefore you are omniscient,"said Colonel Talbot. "We heard firing in the night. What did it mean?"
"Only skirmishers, Colonel. I think they wanted to annoy us, but theypaid the price."
"Inevitably. Our general is as dangerous in retreat as in advance. Ifancy that General Meade will not bring up his lagging forces until wenear the Potomac."
"They say it's rising, sir, and that it will be very hard to cross."
"That creates a difficulty but not an impossibility. Ordinary menyield to difficulties, men like our commander-in-chief are overcomeonly by impossibilities. But the further we go, Harry, the morereconciled I grow to our withdrawal. I have seen scarcely a friendlyface among the population. I would not have us thrust ourselves uponpeople who do not like us. It would go very hard with our kindlySouthern nature to have to rule by force over people who are in factour brethren. Defensive wars are the just wars, and perhaps it will bereally better for us to retire to Virginia and protect its sacred soilfrom the tread of the invader. Eh, Hector?"
"Right, as usual, Leonidas. The reasons for our retirement are mostexcellent. We have already spoken of the fact that Philadelphia mightprove a Capua for our young troops, and now we are relieved from thechance of appearing as oppressors. It can never be said of us by thepeople of Pennsylvania that we were tyrants. It's an invidious task torule over the unwilling, even when one rules with justice and wisdom.It's strange, perhaps, Leonidas, but it's a universal truth, thatpeople would rather be ruled by themselves in a second rate manner thanby the foreigner in a first rate manner. Now, the government of ourstates is attacked by Northern critics, but such as it is, it is oursand it's our first choice. Do we bore you, Harry?"
"Not at all, sir. I never listen to either you or Colonel Talbotwithout learning something."
The two colonels bowed politely.
"I have wished for some time to speak to you about a certain matter,Hector," said Colonel Talbot.
"What is it, Leonidas?"
"During the height of that tremendous artillery fire from Little RoundTop I was at a spot where I could see the artillerymen very wellwhenever the smoke lifted. Several times, I noticed an officerdirecting the fire of the guns, and I don't think I could have beenmistaken in his identity."
"No, Leonidas, you were not. I too observed him, and we could notpossibly be mistaken. It was John Carrington, of course."
"Dear old John Carrington, who was with us at West Point, the greatestartilleryman in the world. And he was facing us, when the fortunes ofthe South were turning on a hair. If any other man had been there,directing those guns, we might have taken Cemetery Hill."
"That's true, Leonidas, but it was not possible for any other man to bein such a place at such a time. Granting that such a crisis shouldarise and that it should arise at Gettysburg you and I would have knownlong before that John would be there with the guns to stop us. Why, wesaw that quality in him all the years we were with him at West Point.The world has never seen and never will see another such artillerymanas John Carrington."
"Good old John. I hope he wasn't killed."
"And I hope so too, from the bottom of my heart. But we'll know beforemany days."
"How will you find out?" asked Harry curiously.
Both colonels laughed genially.
"Because he will send us signs, unmistakable signs," replied ColonelTalbot.
"I
don't understand, sir."
"His signs will be shells, shrapnel and solid shot. We may not have abattle this week or next week, but a big one is bound to come some timeor other and then if any section of the Northern artillery showsuncommon deadliness and precision we'll know that Carrington is there.Why, we can recognize his presence as readily as the deer scents thehunter. We'll have many notes to compare with him when the war is over."
Harry sincerely hoped that the three would meet in friendship aroundsome festive table, and he was moved by the affection and admirationthe two colonels held for Carrington. Doubtless the greatartilleryman's feelings toward them were the same.
They went into camp once more that night in a pleasant rolling countryof high hills, rich valleys, scattered forests, and swift streams ofclear water. Harry liked this Northern land, which was yet not so farfrom the South. It was not more beautiful than his own Kentucky, butit was much trimmer and neater than the states toward the Gulf. He sawall about him the evidences of free labor, the proof that man workedmore readily, and with better results, when success or failure were allhis own.
He was too young to spend much time in concentrated thinking, but as helooked upon the neat Pennsylvania houses and farms and the cultivatedfields he felt the curse of black slavery in the South, but he feltalso that it was for the South itself to abolish it, and not for thearmed hand of the outsider, an outsider to whom its removal meant nofinancial loss and dislocation.
Despite himself his mind dwelt upon these things longer than before. Hedisliked slavery, his father disliked it, and nearly all their friendsand relatives, and here they were fighting for it, as one of the twogreat reasons of the Civil War. He felt anew how strangely things comeabout, and that even the wisest cannot always choose their own coursesas they wish them.
A fire, chiefly for cooking purposes, had been built for the generaland his staff in a cove surrounded by trees. A small cold springgushed from the side of a hill, flowed down the center of the cove, andthen made its way through the trees into the wider world beyond. Itwas a fine little spring, and before the general came, the youngermembers of the staff knelt and drank deeply at it. It brought thoughtsof home to all these young rovers of the woods, who had drunk athousand times before at just such springs as this.
Soon Lee and his generals sat there on the stones or on the moss.Longstreet, Stuart, Pickett, Alexander, Ewell, Early, Hill and manyothers, some suffering from wounds, were with their commander, whilethe young officers who were to fetch and carry sat on the fringe in thewoods, or stretched themselves on the turf.
Harry was in the group, but except in extreme emergency he would not beon duty that night, as he had already been twenty-four hours in thesaddle. Nevertheless he was not yet sleepy, and lying on his blanket,he watched the leaders confer, as they had conferred every other nightsince the Battle of Gettysburg. He was aware, too, that the air washeavy with suspense and anxiety. He breathed it in at every breath.Cruel doubt was not shown by words or actions, but it was an atmospherewhich one could not mistake.
Word had been brought in the afternoon by hard riders of Stuart thatthe Potomac was still rising. It could not be forded and the activeNorthern cavalry was in between, keeping advanced parties of theSouthern army from laying pontoons. Every day made the situation moredesperate, and it could not be hidden from the soldiers, who,nevertheless, marched cheerfully on, in the sublime faith that Leewould carry them through.
Harry knew that if the Army of the Potomac was not active in pursuitits cavalrymen and skirmishers were. As on the night before, he heardthe faint report of shots, and he knew that rough work was goingforward along the doubtful line, where the fringes of the two armiesalmost met. But hardened so much was he that he fell asleep while thegenerals were still in anxious council, and the fitful firing continuedin the distant dark.
The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great Stand Page 4