rthern cannon posted in the intervals and along the edges of
the woods opened with a mighty crash, and as the enemy came nearer the
riflemen began to send a hail of bullets. But the charge did not break.
It was led by Buckner, taken at Donelson, but now exchanged, and some of
the best troops of the South followed him.

"Steady! Steady!" shouted Colonel Winchester. The ranks were so close
that he and all of his staff, having no room for their horses, had
dismounted, and they stood now in the front rank, encouraging the men to
meet the charge. But the rush of the Southern veterans was so sudden
and fierce that despite every effort of valor the division gave way,
suffering frightful losses.

Two of the Union generals seeking to hold their men were killed. Each
side rushed forward reinforcements. A stream of Confederates issued from
a wood and flung themselves upon the Union flank. Dick was dazed with
the suddenness and ferocity with which the two armies had closed in
mortal combat. He could see but little. He was half blinded by the
smoke, the flash of rifles and cannon and the dust. Officers and
men were falling all around him. The numbers were not so great as
at Antietam, but it seemed to him that within the contracted area of
Perryville the fight was even more fierce and deadly than it had been on
that famous Maryland field.

But he was conscious of one thing. They were being borne back. Tears of
rage ran down his face. Was it always to be this way? Were their numbers
never to be of any avail? He heard some one shout for Buell, and he
heard some one else shout in reply that he was far away, as he had been
at Shiloh.

It was true. The wind blowing away from him, Buell had not yet heard
a sound from the raging battle, which for its numbers and the time it
lasted, was probably the fiercest ever fought on the American continent.
The larger Union force, divided by ridges and thick woods from the
field, had not heard the fire of a single cannon, and did not know that
two armies were engaged in deadly combat so near.

Dick kept close to Colonel Winchester and Warner and Pennington were
by his side. The sergeant was also near. There was no chance to give
or send orders, and the officers, snatching up the rifles of the fallen
soldiers, fought almost as privates. The Winchester regiment performed
prodigies of valor on that day, and the Ohio lads strove desperately for
every inch of ground.

It seemed to Dick once that they