The Brigade Commander Read online

was to advance in marching column toward a knoll where thehighway entered and traversed the wood. Some time before reachingit Taylor was to deploy the Eighth to the right, throw out a strongskirmish line and open fire on the enemy's centre and left, supported bythe battery of Parrotts, and, if pushed, by five companies of cavalry.The remaining troops would reach the knoll, file to the left under coverof the forest, skirt it for a mile as rapidly as possible, infold theright of the Confederate position, and then move upon it concentrically.Counting from the left, the Tenth, the Seventh, and the Fourteenth wereto constitute the first line of battle, while five companies of cavalry,then the First, and then the Fifth formed the second line. Not untilGahogan might have time to wind into the enemy's right rear shouldGildersleeve move out of the wood and commence the real attack.

  "You will go straight at the front of their right," said Waldron, witha gay smile, to this latter Colonel. "Send up two companies asskirmishers. The moment they are clearly checked, lead up the othereight in line. It will be rough work. But keep pushing. You won't havefifteen minutes of it before Thomas, on your left, will be climbing theend of the ridge to take the rebels in flank. In fifteen minutes moreGahogan will be running in on their backs. Of course, they will try tochange front and meet us. But they have extended their line a long wayin order to cover the whole ridge. They will not be quick enough. Weshall get hold of their right, and we shall roll them up. Then, ColonelStilton, I shall expect to see the troopers jumping into the gaps andmaking prisoners."

  "All right, Colonel," answered Stilton in that hoarse growl which is aptto mark the old cavalry officer. "Where shall we find you if we want afresh order?"

  "I shall be with Colburn, in rear of Gildersleeve. That is our centre.But never mind me; you know what the battle is to be, and you know howto fight it. The whole point with the infantry is to fold around theenemy's right, go in upon it concentrically, smash it, and roll up theirline. The cavalry will watch against the infantry being flanked, andwhen the latter have seized the hill, will charge for prisoners. Theartillery will reply to the enemy's guns with shell, and fire grape atany offensive demonstration. You all know your duties, now, gentlemen.Go to your commands, and march!"

  The colonels saluted and started off at a gallop. In a few minutestwenty-five hundred men were in simultaneous movement. Five companies ofcavalry wheeled into column of companies, and advanced at a trot throughthe fields, seeking to gain the shelter of the forest. The six infantryregiments slid up alongside of each other, and pushed on in six parallelcolumns of march, two on the right of the road and four on the left. Theartillery, which alone left the highway, followed at a distance of twoor three hundred yards. The remaining cavalry made a wide detour to theright as if to flank the enemy's left.

  It was a mile and a quarter--it was a march of fully twenty minutes--tothe edge of the woodland, the proposed cover of the column. Ten minutesbefore this point was reached a tiny puff of smoke showed on the brow ofthe hostile ridge; then, at an interval of several seconds, followed thesound of a distant explosion; then, almost immediately, came the screechof a rifled shell. Every man who heard it swiftly asked himself, "Willit strike _me?_" But even as the words were thought out it had passed,high in air, clean to the rear, and burst harmlessly. A few faces turnedupward and a few eyes glanced backward, as if to see the invisibleenemy. But there was no pause in the column; it flowed onward quietly,eagerly, and with business-like precision; it gave forth no sound butthe trampling of feet and the muttering of the officers. "Steady, men!For-ward, men!"

  The Confederates, however, had got their range. A half minute later fourpuffs of smoke dotted the ridge, and a flight of hoarse humming shriekstore the air. A little aureole cracked and splintered over the First,followed by loud cries of anguish and a brief, slight confusion. Thevoice of an officer rose sharply out of the flurry, "Close up, CompanyA! Forward, men!" The battalion column resumed its even formation in aninstant, and tramped unitedly onward, leaving behind it two quiveringcorpses and a wounded man who tottered rearward.

  Then came more screeches, and a shell exploded over the highroad,knocking a gunner lifeless from his carriage. The brigade commanderglanced anxiously along his batteries, and addressed a few words to hischief of artillery. Presently the four Napoleons set forward at a gallopfor the wood, while the four Parrotts wheeled to the right, deployed,and advanced across the fields, inclining toward the left of the enemy.Next Taylor's regiment (the Eighth) halted, fronted, faced to the right,and filed off in column of march at a double-quick until it had gainedthe rear of the Parrotts, when it fronted again, and pushed on insupport. A quarter of a mile further on these guns went into batterybehind the brow of a little knoll, and opened fire. Four companiesof the Eighth spread out to the right as skirmishers, and commencedstealing toward the ridge, from time to time measuring the distance withrifle-balls. The remainder of the regiment lay down in line betweenthe Parrotts and the forest. Far away to the right, five companies ofcavalry showed themselves, manoeuvring as if they proposed to turn theleft flank of the Southerners. The attack on this side was in form andin operation.

  Meantime the Confederate fire had divided. Two guns pounded away atTaylor's feint, while two shelled the main column. The latter was struckrepeatedly; more than twenty men dropped silent or groaning out ofthe hurrying files; but the survivors pushed on without faltering andwithout even caring for the wounded. At last a broad belt of greenbranches rose between the regiments and the ridge; and the rebelgunners, unable to see their foe, dropped suddenly into silence.

  Here it appeared that the road divided. The highway traversed theforest, mounted the slope beyond and dissected the enemy's position,while a branch road turned to the left and skirted the exterior of thelong curve of wooded hillocks. At the fork the battery of Napoleons hadhalted, and there it was ordered to remain for the present in quiet.There, too, the Fourteenth filed in among the dense greenery, threw outtwo companies of skirmishers toward the ridge, and pushed slowly afterthem into the shadows.

  "Get sight of the enemy at once!" was Wal-dron's last word toGildersleeve. "If they move down the slope, drive them back. But don'tcommence your attack under half an hour."

  Next he filed the Fifth to the thickets, saying to Colburn, "I want youto halt a hundred yards to the left and rear of Gildersleeve. Cover hisflank if he is attacked; but otherwise lie quiet. As soon as he charges,move forward to the edge of the wood, and be ready to support him. Butmake no assault yourself until further orders."

  The next two regiments--the Seventh and First--he placed in _echelon_,in like manner, a quarter of a mile further along. Then he gallopedforward to the cavalry, and a last word with Stilton. "You and Gahoganmust take care of yourselves. Push on four or five hundred yards, andthen face to the right. Whatever Gahogan finds let him go at it. If hecan't shake it, help him. You two _must_ reach the top of the ridge.Only, look out for your left flank. Keep a squadron or two in reserve onthat side."

  "Currnel, if we don't raich the top of the hill, it'll be becauseit hasn't got wan," answered Gahogan. Stilton only laughed and rodeforward.

  Waldron now returned toward the fork of the road. On the way he sent astaff officer to the Seventh with renewed orders to attack as soon aspossible after Gildersleeve. Then another staff officer was hurriedforward to Taylor with directions to push his feint strongly, and drivehis skirmishers as far up the slope as they could get. A third staffofficer set the Parrotts in rear of Taylor to firing with all theirmight. By the time that the commandant had returned to Col-burn'sambushed ranks, no one was with him but his enemy, Fitz Hugh.

  "You don't seem to trust me with duty, Colonel," said the young man.

  "I shall use you only in case of extremity, Captain," replied Waldron."We have business to settle to-morrow."

  "I ask no favors on that account. I hope you will offer me none."

  "In case of need I shall spare no one," declared Waldron.

  Then he took out his watch, looked at it impatiently, put it to his ear,restored
it to his pocket, and fell into an attitude of deep attention.Evidently his whole mind was on his battle, and he was waiting,watching, yearning for its outburst.

  "If he wins this fight," thought Fitz Hugh, "how can I do him a harm?And yet," he added, "how can I help it?"

  Minutes passed. Fitz Hugh tried to think of his injury, and to steelhimself against his chief. But the roar of battle on the right, and thesuspense and imminence of battle on the left, absorbed the attention ofeven this wounded and angry spirit, as, indeed, they might haveabsorbed that of any being not more or less than human. A private wrong,insupportable though it might be, seemed so small amid that deadlyclamor and awful expectation! Moreover, the intellect which worked socalmly and vigorously by his side, and