feet, they repulsed
every attack. The Winchester regiment was forced to cover, and then Dick
heard the booming of cannon in another direction. He knew that Grant and
Sherman were coming up there, and he expected they would rush at once
into Jackson, but it was a long time before the distant thunder came any
nearer.

Johnston, whose astuteness they feared, was proving himself worthy of
their opinion. Knowing that his forces were far too small to defend
Jackson, he had sent away the archives of the state and most of the
army. Only a small force and seventeen cannon were left to fight and
cover his retreat. But so bold and skillful were they that it was far
beyond noon before Grant and Sherman found that practically nothing was
in front of them.

But where Dick and his comrades rode the fighting was severe for a
while. Then everything seemed to melt away before them. The fire of the
Southern cannon ceased suddenly, and Colonel Winchester exclaimed that
their works had been abandoned. They charged forward, seized the cannon,
and now rode without resistance into the capital of the state, from
which the President of the Confederacy hailed, though by birth a
Kentuckian.

Dick and his comrades were among the first to enter the town, and not
until then did they know that Johnston and all but a few hundreds of his
army were gone.

"We've got the shell only," Dick said.

"Still we've struck a blow by taking the capital of the state," said
Colonel Winchester.

Dick looked with much curiosity at the little city into which they were
riding as conquerors. It was too small and new to be imposing. Yet there
were some handsome houses, standing back on large lawns, and surrounded
by foliage. The doors and shutters of all of them were closed tightly.
Dick knew that their owners had gone away or were sitting, hearts full
of bitterness, in their sealed houses.

The streets were deep in mud, and at the corners little knots of negroes
gathered and looked at them curiously.

"They don't seem to welcome us as deliverers," said Warner.

"They don't yet know what to think of us," said Dick. "There's the
Capitol ahead of us, and some of our troops are going into it."

"Others have gone into it already," said Pennington. "Look!"

They saw the flag of the Union break out above its dome, the beautiful
stars and stripes, waving gently in the light breeze. A spontaneous
cheer burst from the Union soldiers, and the bitter hearts in the seal