Tree of Appomattox — Ch 07: Sheridan's Attack, part 2

Dick could not watch Sheridan long, as the cavalry were quickly sent off to the left to clear away skirmishers, and let the infantry and artillery get up on that front.

There were many groups of trees, and from every one of these the Southern riflemen sent swarms of bullets.

It seemed to Dick that he was preserved miraculously.

Many a bullet coming straight for his head must have turned aside at the last moment to seek a target elsewhere.

To him at least these bullets were merciful that morning.

But they cleared the ground, though some of their own saddles were emptied, and the infantry and the artillery came up behind them.

The big guns were planted and began to reply to those of the South.

Yet the Confederate lines still held fast.

Clouds of smoke floated over the field, but whenever they lifted sufficiently Dick saw the gray army maintaining all its positions.

He looked for the Invincibles again but could not find them.

Doubtless they were hid from his view by the hills.

"It's anybody's fight," said Warner, surveying the field with his cool, mathematical eye.

"We have the greater numbers but our infantry are coming up slowly and, besides, the enemy has the advantage of interior lines."

"And the morning wanes," said Dick.

"I thought we'd make a grand rush and sweep over 'em!"

"Oh, these Johnnies are tough.

They have to be.

There's not much marching over the other by either side in this war."

A heavy battle of cannon and rifles, with no advantage to either side, went on for a long time.

Dick saw Sheridan galloping here and there, and urging on his troops, but the reserves were slow in coming and he was not yet able to hurl his full strength upon his enemy.

Noon came, the battle already having lasted four or five hours, and Sheridan had no triumph to show, save the little fort that the cavalry had seized early in the morning.

"Do you think we'll have to draw off?"

asked Pennington.

"Maybe we'll have to, but we won't," replied Dick.

"Sheridan refuses to recognize necessities when they're not in his favor.

You'll now see the difference between a man and men."

Colonel Winchester's regiment was sent off further to the left to prevent any flanking movement, but they could still see most of the field.

For the moment they were not engaged, and they watched the thrilling and terrific panorama as it passed before them.

Colonel Winchester himself suddenly broke from his calm and pointed to the rear of the Union lines.

"Look!"

he exclaimed.

"All our reserves of artillery and infantry are coming up!

The whole army will now advance!"

They saw very clearly the deepening of the lines in the center.

Sheridan was there massing the new troops for the attack, and soon the trumpets sounded the charge along the whole front.

The Northern batteries redoubled their fire, and the South, knowing that a heavier shock of battle was coming, replied in kind.

"Here we go again!"

cried Pennington, and the horsemen rode straight at their enemy.

It seemed to Dick that the Southern regiments came forward to meet them and a battle long, fierce and wavering in its fortunes ensued.

The wing to which the Winchesters belonged pressed forward, driving their enemy before them, only to be caught when they went too far by a savage flanking fire of artillery.

Early had brought in his reserve guns, and so powerful was their attack that at this point the Northern line was almost severed, and a Southern wedge was driven into the gap.

But Sheridan did not despair.

He had a keen eye and a collected mind, infused with a fiery spirit.

Where his line had been weakened he sent new troops.

With charge after charge he drove the Confederates out of the gap and closed it up.

A whole division was then hurled with its full weight against the Southern line and broke it, although the gallant general who led the column fell shot through the heart.

But Early formed new lines.

It was only a temporary success for Sheridan.

An important division of cavalry sent on a wide flanking movement had not yet arrived, and he wondered why.

Perhaps the thought came into his own dauntless heart that he might not succeed at all, but, if so, he hid it, and called up fresh resources of strength and courage.

It was now far into the afternoon but he resolved nevertheless to win victory before the day was over.

Everywhere the call for a new charge was sounded.

The Winchesters had a good trumpeter, a deep-chested young fellow who loved to blow forth mellow notes, and now as his brazen instrument sang the song that summoned men to death the young men unconsciously tightened the grip of the knee on their horses, and leaned a little forward, as if they would see the enemy more closely.

To the right the fire grew heavier and heavier, and most of the field was hidden by a thick veil of smoke.

Dick saw other cavalry massing on either side of the Winchester regiment, and he knew their charge was to be one of great weight and importance.

"I feel that we're going to win or lose here," he said to Warner.

"Looks like it," replied the Vermonter, "but I think you can put your money on the cavalry today.

It's Sheridan's great striking arm."

"It'll have to strike with all its might, that's sure," said Dick.

He did not know that the force in front of him was commanded by a general from his own state, Breckinridge, once Vice-President of the United States and also high in the councils of the Confederacy.

Breckinridge was inspiring his command with the utmost vigor and already his heavy guns were sweeping the front of the Union cavalry, while the riflemen stood ready for the charge.

The great mass of Northern horsemen were eager and impatient.

A thrill of anticipation seemed to run through them, as if through one body, and when the final command was given they swept forward in a mighty, irresistible line.

In Dick's mind then anticipation became knowledge.

He was as sure as he was of his own name that they were going to win.

Again he was knee to knee with Warner and Pennington, and with these good comrades on his right and left he rode into the Southern fire, among the shell and shrapnel and grapeshot and bullets that had swept so often around him.

In spite of the most desperate courage, the Southern troops gave way before the terrific onset--they had to give ground or they would have been trampled under the feet of the horses.

Cannon and many rifles were taken, and the whole Confederate division was driven in disorder down the road.

Warner's stern calm was broken, and he shouted in delight "We win!

We win!"

Then Dick and Pennington shouted with him: "We win!

We win!"

and as the smoke of their own battle lifted they saw that the Union army elsewhere was triumphant also.

Sheridan along his whole line was forcing the enemy back toward Winchester, raking him with his heavy guns, and sending charge after charge of cavalry against him.

Unable to withstand the weight hurled upon them the Southern troops gave ground at an increased rate.

Yet Early and his veterans never showed greater courage than on that day.

His brave officers were everywhere, checking the fugitives and, his best division turning a front of steel to the enemy, covered the retreat.

Neither infantry nor cavalry could break it, although every man in the Southern command knew that the battle was lost.

Yet they were resolved that it should not become a rout, and though many were falling before the Union force they never shrank for a moment from their terrible task.

The Invincibles were in the division that covered the retreat, and they were exposed at all times to the full measure of the Union attack.

Dalton had joined them that morning, but the bullets and shells seemed resolved to spare the four youths and the two colonels, or at least not to doom them to death.

Nearly every one of them bore slight wounds, and often men had been killed only a few feet away, but the valiant band, led by its daring officers, fought with undimmed courage and resolution.

"I fear that we have been defeated, Hector," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot.

"Don't call it a defeat, Leonidas.

It's merely a masterly retreat before superior numbers, after having inflicted great loss upon the enemy.

As you see, we are protecting our withdrawal.

Every attack of the enemy upon our division has been beaten back, and we will continue to beat him back as long as he comes."

"True, true, Hector, and the Invincibles are bearing a great part in this glorious feat of arms!

But the Yankee general, Sheridan, is not like the other Yankee generals who operated in the valley earlier in the war.

We're bound to admit that."

"We do admit it, Leonidas, and alas!

we have now no Stonewall Jackson to meet him, brave and capable as General Early is!"

The two colonels looked at the setting sun, and hoped that it would go down with a rush.

The division could not hold forever against the tremendous pressure upon it that never ceased, but darkness would put an end to the battle.

The first gray of twilight was already showing on the eastern hills, and Early's men still held the broad turnpike leading into the South.

Here, fighting with all the desperation of imminent need, they beat off every effort of the Northern cavalry to gain their ground, and when night came they still held it, withdrawing slowly and in good order, while Sheridan's men, exhausted by tremendous marches and heavy losses, were unable to pursue.

Yet the North had gained a great and important victory.

* * * * Darkness closed over a weary but exultant army.

It had not destroyed the forces of Early, and it had been able to pursue only three miles.

It had lost five thousand men in killed and wounded, but the results, nevertheless, were great and the soldiers knew it.

The spell of Southern invincibility in the famous valley, where Jackson had won so often, was broken, and the star of Sheridan had flashed out with brilliancy, to last until the war's close.

They knew, too, that they now held all of the valley north of Winchester, and they were soon to know that they would continue to hold it.

They commanded also a great railway and a great canal, and the South was cut off from Maryland and Pennsylvania, neither of which it could ever invade again.

Although a far smaller battle than a dozen that had been fought, it was one of the greatest and most complete victories the North had yet won.

After a long and seemingly endless deadlock a terrible blow had been struck at the flank of Lee, and the news of the triumph filled the North with joy.

It was also given on this occasion to those who had fought in the battle itself to know what they had done.

They were not blinded by the dust and shouting of the arena.

Dick with his two young comrades sat beneath an oak and ate the warm food and drank the hot coffee the camp cook brought to them.

They had escaped without hurt, and they were very happy over the achievement of the day.

The night was crisp, filled with starshine, and the cooking fires had been built along a long line, stretching away like a series of triumphant bonfires.

"I felt this morning that we would win," said Dick.

"I've felt several times that we would win, when we didn't," said Pennington.

"But this time I felt it right.

They say that Stonewall Jackson always communicated electricity to his men, and I think our Little Phil has the same quality.

Since we first came to him here I haven't doubted that we would win, and when I saw him and Grant talking I knew that we'd be up and doing."

"It's the spirit that Grant showed at Vicksburg," said Warner, seriously.

"Little Phil--I intend to call him that when I'm not in his presence, because it's really a term of admiration--is another Grant, only younger and on horseback."

"It's fire that does it," said Dick.

"No, Frank, I don't mean this material fire burning before us, but the fire that makes him see obstacles little, and advantages big, the fire that makes him rush over everything to get at the enemy and destroy him."

"Well spoken, Dick," said Warner.

"A bit rhetorical, perhaps, but that can be attributed to your youth and the region from which you come."

"It's a great pity, George, about my youth and the region from which I come.

If so many youths in blue didn't come from that same region the whole Mississippi Valley might now be in the hands of the Johnnies."

"Didn't I tell you, Dick, not to argue with him?"

said Pennington.

"What's the use?

New England has the writers and when this war is ended victoriously they'll give the credit of all the fighting to New England.

And after a while, through the printed word, they'll make other people believe it, too."

"Then you Nebraskans and Kentuckians should learn to read and write.

Why blame me?"

said Warner with dignity.

Colonel Winchester joined them at that moment, having returned from a brief council with Sheridan and his officers.

Dick, without a word, passed him a plate of hot ham and a tin cup of sizzling coffee.

The colonel, who looked worn to the bone but triumphant, ate and drank.

Then he settled himself into an easy place before one of the fires and said: "A messenger has gone to General Grant with the news of our victory, and it will certainly be a most welcome message.

The news will also be sent to the nearest telegraph station, and then it will travel on hundreds of wires to every part of the North, but while it's flashing through space we'll be riding forward to new battle."

"I expected it, sir," said Dick.

"I suppose we advance again at dawn."

"And maybe a little sooner.

Now you boys must rest.

You've had eighteen hours of marching and fighting.

I've been very proud of my regiment today, and fortunately we have escaped without large losses."

"And you sleep, too, sir, do you not?"

said Warner, respectfully.

"If we've been marching and fighting for eighteen hours so have you."

"I shall do so a little later, but that's no reason why the rest of you should delay.

How that coffee and ham refreshed me!

I didn't know I was so nearly dead."

"Here's more, Colonel!"

"Thank you, Dick.

I believe I will.

But as I say, go to sleep.

I

want all my regiment to sleep.

We don't know what is before us tomorrow, but whatever it is it won't be easy.

Now you boys have had enough to eat and drink.

Into the blankets with you!"

He did not wait to see his order obeyed, but strode away on another hasty errand.

But it was obeyed and that, too, without delay.

The young warriors rolled themselves in their blankets and hunted a soft place for their heads.

But their nerves were not yet quiet, and sleep did not come for a little while.

The long lines of fires still glowed, and the sounds of an army came to them.

Dick looked up into the starshine.

He was still rejoicing in the victory, not because the other side had lost, but because, in his opinion, it brought peace much nearer.

He realized as he lay there gazing into the skies that the South could never win as long as the North held fast.

And the North was holding fast.

The stars as they winked at him seemed to say so.

He propped himself upon his elbow and said: "George, does your little algebra tell you anything about the meaning of this victory?"

Warner tapped his breast.

"That noble book is here in the inside pocket of my tunic," he replied.

"It's not necessary for me to take it out, but tucked away on the 118th page is a neat little problem which just fits this case.

Let x equal the Army of Northern Virginia, let y equal the army of Early here in the valley, and let x plus y equal a possibly successful defense by the South.

But when y is swept away it's quite certain that x standing alone cannot do so.

My algebra tells you on the 118th page, tucked away neatly in a paragraph, that this is the beginning of the end."

"It sounds more like a formula than a problem, George, but still I'm putting my faith in your little algebra book."

"George's algebra is all right," said Pennington, "but it doesn't always go before, it often comes after.

It doesn't show us how to do a thing, but proves how we've done it.

As for me, I'm pinning my faith to Little Phil.

He won a great victory today, when all our other leaders for years have been beaten in the Valley of Virginia, and sometimes beaten disgracefully too."

"Your argument is unanswerable, Frank," said Dick.

"I didn't expect such logic from you."

"Oh, I think I'm real bright at times."

"Despite popular belief," said Warner.

"I don't advertise my talents," said Pennington.

"But you ought to.

They need it."

Dick laughed.

"Frank," he said, "I give you your own advice to me.

Don't argue with him.

With him the best proof that he's always right is because he thinks he is."

"I think clearly and directly, which can be said of very few of my friends," rejoined Warner.

Then all three of them laughed and lay down again, resting their heads on soft lumps of turf.

They were under the boughs of a fine oak, on which the leaves were yet thick.

Birds, hidden among the leaves, began to sing, and the three, astonished, raised themselves up again.

It was a chorus, beautiful and startling, and many other soldiers listened to the sound, so unlike that which they had been hearing all day.

"Strange, isn't it?"

said Pennington.

"But fine to hear," said Warner.

"Likely they were in the tree this morning when the battle began," said Dick, "and the cannon and the rifles frightened 'em so much that they stayed close within the leaves.

Now they're singing with joy, because it's all over."

"A good guess, I think, Dick," said Warner, "but isn't it beautiful at such a time and such a place?

How these little fellows must be swelling their throats!

I don't believe they ever sang so well before."

"I didn't think today that I'd be sung to sleep tonight," said Dick, "but it's going to happen."

When his eyes closed and he floated away to slumberland it was to the thrilling song of a bird on a bough above his head.

CHAPTER VIII