Nor did all of the Union troops under General McClellan engage in the battle at Williamsburg. Many of the soldiers remained on the river, in transports, and these, afterwards sailing up the York, fought the battle of West Point, Virginia, and assisted in rendering White House the Union base of supplies. Taken as a whole, the battle of Williamsburg was rather a mixed-up although stubbornly fought contest. Through a confusion of orders, nearly every general fought as he thought best. At the main road, Hooker’s division, aided by a few other troops, soon silenced the Confederate guns of Fort Magruder, and the impetuous General Kearney, coming to his aid when he was almost exhausted, made a glorious dash and secured the rifle pits, thus causing a retreat. While this was going on, it was reported that another spot along the line of Confederate defenses seemed to be weak. The place was one called Cub Dam Creek, and General Hancock, with his own and additional troops, was sent forward to cross the stream and secure the strongholds on the other side. With Hancock was a Lieutenant Custer, the same who in later years became General Custer, the great Indian fighter of the West. There was nothing but a narrow bridge over the mill stream, but Custer led his band of soldiers over this, a foothold was secured under a most galling fire, and at last Hancock was able to report the stronghold taken. Soon after this he advanced again and was warmly received by the Confederate Generals Hill and Early. A hard fight followed, and Early and many other officers were wounded, and many soldiers were killed upon both sides. At first it looked as if the Southerners would be victorious, but at last they were forced to withdraw to a distance. Here they rested on their arms all night, during a cold, pitiless rain, which gave many a Union and Confederate soldier his death of sickness--a rain that increased the sufferings of the wounded tenfold. But of all this Louis knew nothing. As he rushed away from the scene of carnage his mind was a total blank. He could not get his breath, everything was black before his eyes, and he felt as though the end of the world had come, so far as he was concerned. He felt himself go down in the wet, and there he lay, not unconscious, but unable to move, unable to think, with a roaring in his ears, a flash of lights before his eyes, and a pain in his lungs which no pen could describe. What had happened to him? The answer is very simple. A cannon ball had rushed close past his mouth just at the second of time when his lungs were heaving out air. The vacuum thus caused had drawn forth more air than was healthful--in other words, had collapsed his breathing apparatus and left him almost powerless. If my young reader wants something of the sensation experienced by Louis let him blow out all the breath he can from his lungs and then stand without air for half a minute, or more--if he can.