y of their advance, the
desperate struggle, the Federal retreat, repeated again and again
through the day. Taking into consideration the circumstances under which
the collision occurred, military _savants_ will, some day, demonstrate
that success ought, with mathematical certainty, to have resulted from
the tactics of General Johnson. An army moving to attack (an enemy,
surprised and unprepared), in three lines, supported by a reserve, and
with its flanks perfectly protected, ought to have delivered crushing
and continuous blows. Such a formation, directed by consummate skill and
the finest nerve in a commander, of troops who believed that to fight
would be to win, promised an onset well nigh irresistible.

The afternoon wore away and no sign in the enemy's camps indicated that
he had discovered our presence. The night fell, and, the stern
preparations for the morrow, having been all completed, the army sank to
rest. The forest was soon almost as still as before it had been tenanted
with the hosts of war. But, before the day broke, the army was astir;
the bugles sounded the reveille on all sides, and the long lines began
to form. About five o'clock, the first gun rang on the front--another
and another, succeeding, as our skirmishers pressed on, until the
musketry grew into the crackling, labored sound, which precedes the roar
of real battle. The troops seemed excited to frenzy by the sound. It was
the first fight in which the majority of them had ever been engaged, and
they had, as yet, seen and suffered nothing to abate the ardor with
which the high-spirited young fellows panted for battle. Every one who
witnessed that scene--the marshaling of the Confederate army for attack
upon the morning of the sixth of April--must remember more distinctly
than any thing else, the glowing enthusiasm of the men, their buoyancy
and spirited impatience to close with the enemy. As each regiment formed
upon the ground where it had bivouacked, the voice of its commander
might be heard as he spoke high words of encouragement to his men, and
it would ring clearer as he appealed to their regimental pride, and bade
them think of the fame they might win. When the lines began to advance,
the wild cheers which arose made the woods stir as if with the rush of a
mighty wind. No where was there any thought of fear--every where were
the evidences of impetuous and determined valor.

For some distance the woods were open and clear of undergrowth, and