every sense and faculty. My sword, that had always hung idle by
my side, the sign of rank only in every battle, I drew, bright and
gleaming, the symbol of command. Was not that a fit occasion, and these
fugitives the men on whom to try the temper of the Solinzen steel? All
rules and proprieties were forgotten; all considerations of person, and
danger and safety despised; for, as I met the tide of these rabbits, the
damned red flags of the rebellion began to thicken and flaunt along the
wall they had just deserted, and one was already waving over one of the
guns of the dead Cushing. I ordered these men to "halt," and "face
about" and "fire," and they heard my voice and gathered my meaning, and
obeyed my commands. On some unpatriotic backs of those not quick of
comprehension, the flat of my sabre fell not lightly, and at its touch
their love of country returned, and, with a look at me as if I were the
destroying angel, as I might have become theirs, they again faced the
enemy. General Webb soon came to my assistance. He was on foot, but he
was active, and did all that one could do to repair the breach, or to
avert its calamity. The men that had fallen back, facing the enemy, soon
regained confidence in themselves, and became steady. This portion of
the wall was lost to us, and the enemy had gained the cover of the
reverse side, where he now stormed with fire. But Webb's men, with their
bodies in part protected by the abruptness of the crest, now sent back
in the enemies' faces as fierce a storm. Some scores of venturesome
Rebels, that in their first push at the wall had dared to cross at the
further angle, and those that had desecrated Cushing's guns, were
promptly shot down, and speedy death met him who should raise his body
to cross it again. At this point little could be seen of the enemy, by
reason of his cover and the smoke, except the flash of his muskets and
his waving flags. These red flags were accumulating at the wall every
moment, and they maddened us as the same color does the bull. Webb's men
are falling fast, and he is among them to direct and encourage; but,
however well they may now do, with that walled enemy in front, with more
than a dozen flags to Webb's three, it soon becomes apparent that in
not many minutes they will be overpowered, or that there will be none
alive for the enemy to overpower. Webb, has but three regiments, all
small, the 69th, 71st and 72d Pennsylvania--the 106th Pennsylvania,
except t