t -- Major-General
Rousseau's Report -- Sketch of Major-General A. McD. McCook.

"Then shook the hills with thunder riven,
Then rushed the steeds to battle driven,
And, louder than the bolts of heaven,
Far flashed the red artillery!"

Many of you have, no doubt, looked upon the field of battle where
contending hosts have met in deadly strife. But there are those whose
eyes have never gazed upon so sad a sight; and to such I may be
enabled to present a picture that will at best give you but a faint
idea of the terrible reality of a fiercely-contested field.

Imagine thousands upon thousands on either side, spreading over a vast
expanse of ground, each armed with all the terrible machinery of
modern warfare, and striving to gain the advantage of their opponents
by some particular movement, studied long by those learned in the art
of war.

Then comes the clang of battle; steel meets steel, drinking the blood
of contending foes. The sabers flash and glitter in the sunlight,
descending with terrible force upon devoted heads, which were once
pillowed on the bosoms of fond and devoted mothers. Jove's dread
counterfeit is heard on every hand; the balls and shells go whistling
and screaming by, the most terrible music to ears not properly attuned
to the melody of war. Thousands sink upon the ground overpowered, to
be trodden under foot of the flying steed, or their bones to be left
whitening the incarnadined field. Blows fall thick and heavy on every
hand. The cries of the wounded and the orders of the commanders mingle
together; and, to the uninitiated, all appears "confusion worse
confounded."

But there is a method in all this _seeming_ madness; and that which
appears confusion is the result of well-laid plans. But as there is
"many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip," so there are slips in the
actions of the best regulated armies. Gunpowder, shot, shell, and
steel are not always to be implicitly relied upon: even they sometimes
fail in carrying out what were conceded to be designs infallible; so
true it is that "man proposes, _but God disposes_."

It has been my province to witness battles wherein Western men were
the heroes; and that Western men will fight, has been pretty well
authenticated during the present war. I have noticed the brave conduct
of the gallant troops, the fighting boys of the various regiments of
the West, and have never known them to falter in the hour of danger.
They left their ho