ng every available
regiment, he hurled it upon Pillow and the Southern center.
Dick felt the wild thrill of exultation as they went forward instead of
going back, as they had done for so many hours. Just in front of him was
Colonel Winchester, waving aloft a sword, the blade of which had been
broken in two by a bullet, and calling to his men to come on. Warner and
Pennington, grimed with smoke and mud and stained here and there with
blood, were near also, shouting wildly.
The smoke split asunder for a moment, and Dick saw the long line of
charging troops. It seemed to be a new army now, infused with fresh
spirit and courage, and every pulse in the boy's body began to beat
heavily with the hope of victory. The smoke closed in again and then
came the shock.
Exhausted by their long efforts which had brought victory so near the
Southern troops gave way. Their whole center was driven in, and they
lost foot by foot the ground that they had gained with so much courage
and blood. Grant saw his success and he pressed more troops upon
his weakening enemy. The batteries were pushed forward and raked the
shattered Southern lines.
Pillow, who had led the attack instead of Floyd, seeing his fortunes
pass so suddenly from the zenith to the nadir, gathered his retreating
army upon a hill in front of their intrenchments, but he was not
permitted to rest there. A fresh Northern brigade, a reserve, had
just arrived upon the field. Joining it to the forces of Lew Wallace,
afterwards famous as a novelist, Grant hurled the entire division upon
Pillow's weakened and discouraged army.
Winchester's regiment joined in the attack. Dick felt himself swept
along as if by a torrent. His courage and the courage of those around
him was all the greater now, because hope, sanguine hope, had suddenly
shot up from the very depths of despair. Their ranks had been thinned
terribly, but they forgot it for the time and rushed upon their enemy.
The battle had rolled back and forth for hours. Noon had come and
passed. The troops of Pillow had been fighting without ceasing for
six hours, and they could not withstand the new attack made with such
tremendous spirit and energy. They fought with desperation, but they
were compelled at last to yield the field and retreat within their
works. Their right and left suffered the same fate. The whole
Confederate attack was repulsed. Bull Run was indeed reversed. There the
South snatched victory from defeat and
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