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 r