Riflemen, by the thousands,
hidden in the thickets rain bullets into our ranks. It's inhuman, wicked,
and our only salvation lies in the fact that it's as bad for them as it
is for us. If we can't see them they can't see us."
"You can hold your ground here?"
"Against anything and everything. Tell General Lee that we intend to eat
our suppers on the enemy's ground."
"That's all he wants to know."
As Harry rode back he saw that the first fires were spreading, passing
over new portions of the battlefield. Sparks flew in myriads and fine,
thin ashes were mingled with the powder smoke. The small trees, burnt
through, fell with a crash, and the flames ran as if they were alive up
boughs. Other trees fell too, cut through by cannon balls, and some were
actually mown down by sheets of bullets, as if they had been grass.
His way now led through human wreckage, made all the more appalling by an
approaching twilight, heavy with fumes and smoke, and reddened with the
cannon and rifle blaze. His frightened horse pulled wildly at the bit,
and tried to run away, but Harry held him to the path, although he
stepped more than once in hot ashes and sprang wildly. The dead were
thick too and Harry was in horror lest the hoof of his horse be planted
upon some unheeding face.
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