a halo of light that brightened the white, sandy earth and
gave to the moss-laden limbs of the huge pines which stood
sentry-like on the roadside the appearance of a New England
grove on a frosty night, with a shelled road leading through
it.

"It was well in the night when the two Phalanx regiments
filed out of the road into the woods, bringing up the rear
of the army, and took shelter under the trees from the
falling dew. Amid the appalling stillness that reigned
throughout the encampment, except the tramp of feet and an
occasional whickering of a battery horse, no sound broke the
deep silence. Commands were given in an undertone and
whispered along the long lines of weary troops that lay
among the trees and the underbrush of the pine forest. Each
soldier lay with his musket beside him, ready to spring to
his feet and in line for battle, for none knew the moment
the enemy, like a tiger, would pounce upon them. It was a
night of intense anxiety, shrouded in mystery as to what
to-morrow would bring. The white and black soldier in one
common bed lay in battle panoply, dreaming their common
dreams of home and loved ones.

"Here lay the heroic 54th picturing to themselves the
memorable nights of July 17 and 18, their bivouac on the
beach and their capture of Fort Wagner and the terrible fate
of their comrades. They were all veteran troops save the 8th
Pennsylvania, which upon many hard-fought fields had covered
themselves with gallant honor in defense of their country's
cause, from Malvern Hill to Morris Island.

"It was in the gray of the next morning that Gen. Seymour's
order aroused the command. The men partook of a hastily
prepared cup of coffee and meat and hard-tack from their
haversacks. At sunrise the troops took up the line of march,
following the railroad for Lake City. Col. Henry, with the
40th Massachusetts Mounted Infantry and Major Stevens'
independent battalion of Massachusetts cavalry, led the
column. About half-past one o'clock they reached a point
where the country road crossed the railroad, about two miles
east of Olustee, and six miles west of Sanderson, a station
through which the troops passed about half-past eleven
o'clock. As the head of the column reached the crossing the
rebel pickets fired