's Hill, crept down the slope to the front of the wood,
and there, likewise in shadow, hardly a thousand feet from the
bridge and the middle ford, he too watched for the signal.

To crown all, as the dawn drew near a light fog descended upon the
river bottom and covered all objects as with a veil.

Almost from the beginning it had been the custom of the Nineteenth
Army Corps, at all times when in the presence of the enemy, to
stand to arms at daybreak. Moreover as Molineux was to go out on
a reconnoissance by half-past five, his men had breakfasted and
were lying on their arms waiting for the order to march. Birge
and Macauley were to be ready to follow in support after a proper
interval, and Shunk was to cover the front of all three during
their absence. McMillan had also been notified to support the
movement of Grover's brigades. Emory himself was up and dressed,
the horses of his staff were saddled, and his own horses were being
saddled, when from the left a startling sound broke the stillness
of the morning air.

This was the roar of the one tremendous volley by which Kershaw
made known his presence before the sleeping camp of Thoburn. In
an instant, before a single shot could be fired in return, before
the muskets could be taken from the stacks, before the cannoneers
could reach their pieces, Kershaw's men, with loud and continuous
yells, swarmed over the parapet in Thoburn's front, seized the
guns, and sent his half-clad soldiers flying to the rear. Thus
Kershaw, who a moment before had been without artillery, suddenly
found himself in possession of the seven guns that had been planted
to secure Thoburn's ground. Then upon Emory and upon Hayes, as
well as against the flying fugitives, he turned the cannon thus
snatched from their own comrades.

At the first sound Molineux moved his men back into the rifle-pits
they had left an hour before, and Emory, ordering his corps to
stand to arms, rode at once to the left of his line at the valley
road to find out the meaning of this strange outbreak. Knowing
that Molineux was near and ready, Emory drew from him two regiments,
the 22d Iowa and the 3d Massachusetts, to support the artillery
planted on the left to command the bridge. Hardly had this been
done when the shells began to fall among the guns and to enfilade
the lines of the infantry. What could this mean but the thing that
had actually happened to Thoburn? Grover joined Emory, Crook came
from Belle