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day's fighting and would not stand long. But he believed that the Kentuckians around him, and the men from beyond the Ohio would not yield an inch. They were largely Kentuckians also coming against them.

The rolling fire burst from the Southern front, and the cannon on their flanks crashed heavily. Then their infantry came forward fast, and with a wild shout and rush the two thousand cavalry on their flanks charged. As Colonel Winchester had expected, the two weak brigades, although Rosecrans in person was among them, gave way, retreated rapidly to the little river and crossed it.

The Confederates came on in swift pursuit, but Negley's Kentuckians and the other Union men, standing fast, received them with a tremendous volley. It was at short range, and their bullets crashed through the crowded Southern ranks. The Winchesters were on the flank of the defenders, where they could get a better view, and although they also were firing as fast as they could reload and pull the trigger, they saw the great column pause and then reel.

Rosecrans, who had fallen back with the retreating brigades, instantly noted the opportunity. Here, a general who received too little reward from the nation, and to whom popular esteem did not pay enough tribute, rushed two brigades across Stone River and hurled them with all their weight upon the Southern flank. Sixty cannon posted on the hillocks just behind the river poured an awful fire upon the Southern column. The fire from front and flank was so tremendous that the Southerners, veterans as they were, gave way. The men who had held victory in their hands felt it slipping from their grasp.

“They waver! They retreat!” shouted Colonel Winchester. “Up, boys, and at 'em!”

The whole Union force, led by its heroic generals, rushed forward, crossed the river and joined in the charge. The two thousand Southern cavalry were driven off by a fire that no horsemen could withstand. The division of Breckinridge, although fighting with furious courage, was gradually driven back, and the day closed with the Union army in possession of most of the territory it had lost the day before.

As they lay that night in the damp woods, Dick and his comrades, all of whom had been fortunate enough to escape this time without injury, discussed the battle. For a while they claimed that it was a victory, but they finally agreed that it was a draw. The losses were enormous. Each side had lost about one third of its force.

Rosecrans, raging like a wounded lion, talked of attacking again, but the rains had been so heavy, the roads were so soft and deep in mud that the cannon and the wagons could not be pushed forward.

Bragg retreated four days later from Murfreesborough, and Dick and his comrades therefore claimed a victory, but as the winter was now shutting down cold and hard, Rosecrans remained on the line of Murfreesborough and Nashville.

The Winchester regiment was sent back to Nashville to recuperate and seek recruits for its ranks. Dick and Warner and Pennington felt that their army had done well in the west, but their hopes for the Union were clouded by the news from the east. Lee and Jackson had triumphed again. Burnside, in midwinter, had hurled the gallant Army of the Potomac in vain against the heights of Fredericksburg, and twelve thousand men had fallen for nothing.

“We need a man, a man in the east, even more than in the west,” said Warner.

“He'll come. I'm sure he'll come,” said Dick.





Appendix: Transcription notes: This ebook was transcribed from a volume of the 16th printing

Despite the fact that this is a fictional work, I myself find it inappropriate that our fictional hero, Dick Mason, is credited with discovering the “lost” copy of Lee's General Order No. 191. In fact, Sergeant Bloss and Corporal Mitchell, of the 27th Indiana Infantry, found the envelope containing the order, along with the three cigars, in a field of clover on the morning of 09/13/1862.

The following modifications were applied while transcribing the printed book to ebook:

Chapter 2 Page 31, para 4, add missing close-quotes Page 51, para 3, add missing comma Page 51, para 6, fix typo (“Pennigton”) Page 52, para 7, add missing open-quotes Chapter 3 Page 68, para 4, changed “it” to “its” Chapter 4 Page 83, para 3, added a missing comma (In these books, I am often tempted to add/move/remove commas, but I generally avoid doing so. In this case, an additional comma was sorely needed.) Chapter 5 Page 105, para 3, add missing open-quotes Page 107, para 2, add missing open-quotes Page 118, para 5, changed “he know not” to “he knew not” Chapter 6 Page 142, para 11, add missing open-quotes Chapter 7 Page 157, para 2, add missing open-quotes Chapter 9 Page 191, para 6, add missing comma Page 196, para 2 and 3, fix closing quotation marks Page 197, para 1, add missing close-quote Chapter 10 Page 210, para 1, fix typo (“Pennigton”) Chapter 13 Page 276, para 1, change “a” to “as” Page 281, para 2, add missing close-quotes Page 283, para 8, change “in” to “is” Page 288, para 4, fix typo (“seeemd”) Page 293, para 4, add missing close-quotes Page 297, para 2, closing double-quote should be single-quote Limitations imposed by converting to plain ASCII: - The word “marquee” in chapter 3 was presented in the printed book with an accented “e”

I did not change:

- Inconsistent spelling/presentation in the printed book: “rearguard” and “rear guard”, “guerrilla” and “guerilla”, “round-about” and “roundabout”, “to-morrow” and “tomorrow” - “bowlder” in chapter 10





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