ndant of the lance and spear of far-past
warfare, had done remarkable service in its day, but with the advent of
the modern rifle its day ended, except as a weapon useful in repelling
cavalry charges or defending hollow squares. Fearful as their glittering
and bristling points appeared when levelled in front of a charging line,
bayonets were rarely reddened with the blood of an enemy in the Civil
War, and the soldiers of that desperate conflict found them more useful
as tools in the rapid throwing up of light earthworks than as weapons
for use against their foes.

Later in his work Gordon gives a case in point, in his vivid description
of a bayonet charge upon the line under his command on the bloody field
of Antietam. This is well worth repeating as an illustration of the
modern ineffectiveness of the bayonet, and also as a story of thrilling
interest in itself. As related by Gordon, there are few incidents in
the war which surpass it in picturesqueness and vitality.

The battle of Antietam was a struggle unsurpassed for its desperate and
deadly fierceness in the whole war, the losses, in comparison with the
numbers engaged, being the greatest of any battle-field of the conflict.
The plain in which it was fought was literally bathed in blood.

It is not our purpose to describe this battle, but simply that portion
of it in which General Gordon's troops were engaged. For hour after hour
a desperate struggle continued on the left of Lee's lines, in which
charge and counter-charge succeeded each other, until the green corn
which had waved there looked as if had been showered upon by a rain of
blood. But during those hours of death not a shot had been fired upon
the centre. Here General Gordon's men held the most advanced position,
and were without a supporting line, their post being one of imminent
danger in case of an assault in force.

As the day passed onward the battle on the left at length lulled, both
sides glad of an interval of rest. That McClellan's next attempt would
be made upon the centre General Lee felt confident, and he rode thither
to caution the leaders and bid them to hold their ground at any
sacrifice. A break at that point, he told them, might prove ruinous to
the army. He especially charged Gordon to stand stiffly with his men, as
his small force would feel the first brunt of the expected assault.
Gordon, alike to give hope to Lee and to inspire his own men, said in
reply,--

"These men are going