trong to be resisted. I
repaired to the stone pile and opened on them. At the first shot they
looked to see whence it came; the next, they dodged, and hugged close to
their rifle-pit, and then discovering me, they returned the fire. Their
first shots went wild, but they soon got the range, and began to strike
the stone pile. I gave them a few parting shots from my Spencer, and
went on into the woods.

The skirmishing continued at close range, as before. The rebels fought
stubbornly from point to point. Their works seemed farther off than we
expected, but the crisis must come soon. We had just passed over a
ridge, and the rebels had made a stand among the timber beyond. A slight
depression lay between us, down which a gully had been washed by the
water. None of our men were in sight, but I could hear their firing in
the brush, right and left.

Wishing to gain the timber beyond the gully, I started forward without
waiting to recharge my rifle, which I had just fired. The trees which I
wished to gain were not more than forty feet away, and the gully about
half that distance. I had gone but a step or two when a rebel soldier
rose to his feet in the gully, facing me, with rifle in hand. It was a
groundhog case. As he rose, I rushed at him, aiming at his heart and
calling on him to surrender. He instantly dropped his gun. It was all
over in less time than it takes to pen this sentence. His gun was loaded
and capped. We waited till the line of battle came up. As they pushed
through the brush behind us, seeing a rebel soldier, a dozen rifles were
leveled on us; but they saw how it was in time to withhold their fire.
Leaving my prisoner with them, I started forward again.

We soon reached an abrupt rise of ground beyond which we could not
advance. Before us was the left of the enemy's intrenched position. We
had done our work. We had driven every thing before us, and others must
face the storm now. Some kneeling, others lying flat on the ground, we
continued to fire and waited for the line of battle. In a few minutes we
could see them coming on through the woods. A short distance behind us
was a small patch of swampy, boggy ground. As this was approached orders
were given and executed as coolly as if on the parade ground. The
portion of the line opposite the swamp folded back of the other toward
the left, and when the ground was passed, went back to place again
without the least delay or confusion.

As they moved up the bank