The Star of Gettysburg: A Story of Southern High TideAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
History
The Star of Gettysburg: A Story of Southern High Tide
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Juvenile fiction
But Sickles himself was not faring so well. His men, fighting for
every inch of ground about the Peach Orchard, were slowly driven back.
Sickles himself fell, a leg shattered, and walked on one leg for more
than fifty years afterwards. Hood, his immediate opponent, also fell,
losing an arm then and a leg later at Chickamauga, but Longstreet still
pushed the attack, and the Northern generals who had stood around
Sickles resisted with the stubbornness of men who meant to succeed or
die.
Early in the battle Harry had seen General Lee walk forward to a point
in the center of his line and sit down on a smooth stump. There he sat
a long time, apparently impassive. Harry sometimes took his eyes away
from the combat for the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top to watch his
commander-in-chief. But the general never showed emotion. Now and then
General Hill or his military secretary, General Long, came to him and
they would talk a little together, but they made no gestures. Lee would
rise when the generals came, but when they left he would resume his
place on the stump and watch the struggle through his glasses.
Throughout the whole battle of that day he sent a single order and
received but one message. He had given his orders before the advance,
and he left the rest to his lieutenants.
"I wish I could be as calm as he is," said Harry.
"I'll risk saying that he isn't calm inside," said Dalton. "How could
any man be at such a time?"
"You're right. Duck! Here comes a shell!"
But the shell fell short and exploded on the slope.
"Now listen, will you!" exclaimed Harry. "That's the spirit!"
Immediately after the shell burst a Southern band began to play.
And it played the merriest music, waltzes and polkas and all kinds of
dances. Harry felt his feet move to the tunes, while the battle below,
at its very height, roared and thundered.
But he promptly forgot the musicians as he watched the battle. He knew
that the Invincibles were somewhere in that volcano of fire and smoke,
and it was almost too much to hope that they would again come unhurt
out of such a furious conflict. But they, too, passed quickly from his
mind. The struggle would let nothing else remain there long.
He saw that the Union troops were still in the Peach Orchard and that
they were pouring a deadly fire also from Little Round Top. Hancock had
come to take the place of Sickles, and he was drawing every man he could
to his support. The afternoon was waning, but the battle was still at
its height. Men were falling by thousands, and generals, colonels,
majors, officers of all kinds were falling with them. The Southerners
had not encountered such resistance in any other great battle, and the
ground, moreover, was against them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account