But he was conscious of one thing. They were being borne back. Tears
of rage ran down his face. Was it always to be this way? Were their
numbers never to be of any avail? He heard some one shout for Buell,
and he heard some one else shout in reply that he was far away, as he had
been at Shiloh.
It was true. The wind blowing away from him, Buell had not yet heard
a sound from the raging battle, which for its numbers and the time it
lasted, was probably the fiercest ever fought on the American continent.
The larger Union force, divided by ridges and thick woods from the field,
had not heard the fire of a single cannon, and did not know that two
armies were engaged in deadly combat so near.
Dick kept close to Colonel Winchester and Warner and Pennington were by
his side. The sergeant was also near. There was no chance to give or
send orders, and the officers, snatching up the rifles of the fallen
soldiers, fought almost as privates. The Winchester regiment performed
prodigies of valor on that day, and the Ohio lads strove desperately for
every inch of ground.
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