al Gibbon and his staff alone remained.

We dozed in the heat, and lolled upon the ground, with half open eyes.
Our horses were hitched to the trees munching some oats. A great lull
rests upon all the field. Time was heavy, and for want of something
better to do, I yawned, and looked at my watch. It was five minutes
before one o'clock. I returned my watch to its pocket, and thought
possibly that I might go to sleep, and stretched myself upon the ground
accordingly. _Ex uno disce omnes._ My attitude and purpose were those of
the General and the rest of the staff.

What sound was that? There was no mistaking it. The distinct sharp sound
of one of the enemy's guns, square over to the front, caused us to open
our eyes and turn them in that direction, when we saw directly above
the crest the smoke of the bursting shell, and heard its noise. In an
instant, before a word was spoken, as if that was the signal gun for
general work, loud, startling, booming, the report of gun after gun in
rapid succession smote our ears and their shells plunged down and
exploded all around us. We sprang to our feet. In briefest time the
whole Rebel line to the West was pouring out its thunder and its iron
upon our devoted crest. The wildest confusion for a few moments obtained
sway among us. The shells came bursting all about. The servants ran
terror-stricken for dear life and disappeared. The horses, hitched to
the trees or held by the slack hands of orderlies, neighed out in
fright, and broke away and plunged riderless through the fields. The
General at the first had snatched his sword, and started on foot for the
front. I called for my horse; nobody responded. I found him tied to a
tree, near by, eating oats, with an air of the greatest composure, which
under the circumstances, even then struck me as exceedingly ridiculous.
He alone, of all beasts or men near was cool. I am not sure but that I
learned a lesson then from a horse. Anxious alone for his oats, while I
put on the bridle and adjusted the halter, he delayed me by keeping his
head down, so I had time to see one of the horses of our mess wagon
struck and torn by a shell. The pair plunge--the driver has lost the
reins--horses, driver and wagon go into a heap by a tree. Two mules
close at hand, packed with boxes of ammunition, are knocked all to
pieces by a shell. General Gibbon's groom has just mounted his horse and
is starting to take the General's horse to him, when the flying iron
m