Many of them were
veterans of the sternest discipline known in Europe and they longed
fiercely for revenge. And there were more Germans, too, under Schurz--
hired Germans, fighting nearly a hundred years before to prevent the
Union--and free Germans now fighting to save it.
Driven forward thus by all the motives that sway men in battle, the Union
army rushed upon Jackson. Confident from many victories and trusting
absolutely in their leader the Southern defense received the mighty
charge without flinching. The wood now swarmed with riflemen and they
filled the air with their bullets, so many of them that their passage was
like the continual rush of a hurricane. Along the whole line came the
same metallic scream, and the great battery in the center was a volcano,
pouring forth a fiery hurricane of shot and shell.
Dick felt their front lines being shorn. Although he was untouched it
was an actual physical sensation. He could see but little save that
fearful blaze in their faces, and the cries of the wounded and dying were
drowned by the awful roar of so many cannon and rifles.
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