enoon, and he narrated to me some doubtful intrigues which had varied
his career in Piedmont. But Chitty had mingled in no battles, and now
that a contest was about to take place, his heart warmed in
anticipation. He asked me if the hottest fighting would not probably
occur on the right, and intimated, in that event, his desire to carry
despatches through the thickest of the fray. Death was welcome to Chitty
if he could so distinguish himself. Between Chitty and a nap in a wagon,
I managed to loiter out the morning, and at three o'clock, a cannon
peal, so close that it shook the houses, brought my horse upon his
haunches. For awhile I did not leave the village. Cannon upon cannon
exploded; the young ladies ceased their mirth; the landlord staggered
with white lips into the air, and after a couple of hours, I heard the
signal that I knew so well--a volley of musketry. Full of all the old
impulses, I climbed into the saddle, and spurred my horse towards the
battle-field.

The ride over six miles of clay road was a capital school for my pony.
Every hoof-fall brought him closer to the cannon, and the sound had
become familiar when he reached the scene. At four o'clock, the musketry
was close and effective beyond anything I had known, and now and then I
could see, from secure places, the spurts of white cannon-smoke far up
the side of the mountain. The action was commenced by emulous
skirmishers, who crawled from the woodsides, and annoyed each other from
coverts of ridge, stump, and stone heap. A large number of Southern
riflemen then threw themselves into a corner of wood, considerably
advanced from their main position. Their fire was so destructive that
General Banks felt it necessary to order a charge. Two brigades, when
the signal was given, marched in line of battle, out of a wood, and
charged across a field of broken ground toward the projecting corner. As
soon as they appeared, sharpshooters darted up from a stretch of scrub
cedars on their right, and a battery mowed them down by an oblique fire
from the left. The guns up the mountain side threw shells with beautiful
exactness, and the concealed rifle-men in front poured in deadly showers
of bullet and ball. As the men fell by dozens out of line, the survivors
closed up the gaps, and pressed forward gallantly. The ground was
uneven, however, and solid order could not be observed throughout. At
length, when they had gained a brookside at the very edge of the wood,
the