the flanks
rested. Moreover, instead of massing the troops for a determined
onslaught, driven home by sheer weight of numbers, the attack was
made by successive brigades, those in rear waiting till those in
front had been defeated; and, in the same manner, the brigades
attacked by successive regiments. Such tactics were inexcusable. It
was certainly necessary to push the attack home before the
Confederate reinforcements could get up; and troops who had never
drilled in mass would have taken much time to assume the orthodox
formation of several lines of battle, closely supporting one another.
Yet there was no valid reason, beyond the inexperience of the
generals in dealing with large bodies, that brigades should have been
sent into action piecemeal, or that the flanks of the defence should
have been neglected. The fighting, nevertheless, was fierce. The
Federal regiments, inspirited by their success on the Matthews Hill,
advanced with confidence, and soon pushed forward past the Henry
House. "The contest that ensued," says General Imboden, "was
terrific. Jackson ordered me to go from battery to battery and see
that the guns were properly aimed and the fuses cut the right length.
This was the work of but a few minutes. On returning to the left of
the line of guns, I stopped to ask General Jackson's permission to
rejoin my battery. The fight was just then hot enough to make him
feel well. His eyes fairly blazed. He had a way of throwing up his
left hand with the open palm towards the person he was addressing.
And, as he told me to go, he made this gesture. The air was full of
flying missiles, and as he spoke he jerked down his hand, and I saw
that blood was streaming from it. I exclaimed, "General, you are
wounded." "Only a scratch--a mere scratch," he replied, and binding
it hastily with a handkerchief, he galloped away along his line."* (*
Battles and Leaders volume 1 page 236.)

1.30 P.M.

When the battle was at its height, and across that narrow space, not
more than five hundred yards in width, the cannon thundered, and the
long lines of infantry struggled for the mastery, the two Federal
batteries, protected by two regiments of infantry on their right,
advanced to a more effective position. The movement was fatal.
Stuart, still guarding the Confederate left, was eagerly awaiting his
opportunity, and now, with 150 troopers, filing through the fences on
Bald Hill, he boldly charged the enemy's right. The regiment th