which should tower above all the grand achievements of the war.

The corps, numbering less than twelve thousand men, now confronted
Early's whole army of more than thirty thousand men, who, flushed with
victory, already bringing to bear against us the twenty-one guns which
they had just captured from the two broken corps, rushed upon our lines
with those wild, exultant yells, the terror of which can never be
conceived by those who have not heard them on the field.

With fearless impetuosity the rebel army moved up the gentle rise of
ground in front of the Sixth corps, and the attack, from one end of the
line to the other, was simultaneous. It was like the clash of steel to
steel. The astonished columns were checked. They had found an immovable
obstacle to their march of victory.

The Second division, on the left, nearest the pike, had received the
most severe shock of the attack, while Bidwell's brigade, which held the
extreme left, and the key to the pike, had sustained the attack of the
whole of Kershaw's rebel division, which came up in compact order to
within very close range. The gallant brigade received the onset with
full volleys, which caused the right of the rebel line to stagger back,
and the whole line was, almost at the same moment, repulsed by the
corps. The cavalry on our flank--and never braver men than the cavalry
of our little army mounted saddles--were doing their best to protect the
pike leading to Winchester, and it was the great aim of both the cavalry
and the single organized corps of infantry to hold this pike; for on
this depended the safety of the whole army, and more, of our cause.

The rebels checked, General Bidwell ordered his brigade to charge.
Rising from their places in the little graveyard and the grove, the
brigade rushed forward, the rebels breaking and running in confusion
down the declivity which they had but just ascended with such
confidence, and across the little stream. But the rebel artillery sent
our men back to their places, to the shelter of the roll of ground. The
charge cost us dearly. Major Brower, of the One hundred and
twenty-second New York, lost his life. Captain Lennon, of the
Seventy-seventh, was mortally wounded, Lieutenant Tabor was killed.
Captain Taylor, commanding the Sixty-first Pennsylvania, was also
killed, and many other valuable lives were lost, but the most severe
blow to the brigade and the corps, was the loss of our gallant General
Bidwell. He fell,