The regiment followed a narrow road through the woods, which was thronged with the _debris_ of the conflict, hurled back by the fierce assaults of the rebels. The cowardly skulkers and the noncombatants of the engaged regiments were here with their tale of disaster and ruin; and, judging from the mournful stories they told, the once proud Army of the Potomac had been utterly routed and discomfited. Cowards with one bar, cowards with two bars, cowards with no bar, and cowards with the eagle on their shoulders, repeated the wail of disaster; and the timid would have shrunk from the fiery ordeal before them, if the intrepid officers and the mass of the rank and file had not been above the influence of the poltroons' trembling tones and quaking limbs. "Forward, my brave boys! I've been waiting all my lifetime for such a scene as this!" shouted Captain de Banyan, as he flourished his sword after the most approved style. "Don't mind the cowards!" said Somers, as the stragglers poured out their howls of terror. There was little need of these stirring exhortations; for the men were as eager for the fight as the officers, and laughed with genuine glee at the pitiful aspect of the runaways. They advanced in line of battle to the support of the hard-pressed troops in front of them, and poured a withering fire into the enemy. With that fiendish yell which the Southern soldiers invariably use in the hour of battle, they rushed forward with a fury which was madness, and into which no fear of death entered. "They are coming!" shouted Somers, as the legions of rebellion surged down upon the line, yelling like so many demons, as though they expected the veterans to be vanquished by mere noise. "Stand steady, my men!" "That reminds me of the Russian advance at Magenta," said Captain de Banyan, who happened to pass near the spot where Somers stood. "The Austrians, you mean," replied Somers, trying to keep as cool and unmoved as his companion. "Excuse me; I meant the Austrians," replied the captain. "The fact is----Forward, my brave fellows!" roared he as the order came down the line. The enemy had been temporarily checked, and the brigade advanced to pursue the advantage gained. They poured another terrible volley into the rebels; when a regiment of the latter, infuriated by whiskey and the fierce goadings of their officers, rushed down with irresistible force upon a portion of the Union line, and succeeded in making a partial break in our regiment. The only remaining line officer in one of the companies where the rupture occurred was wounded at this critical moment, and borne under the feet of the excited combatants. "Lieutenant Somers, take command of that company!" shouted the colonel, as he dashed towards the imperiled portion of the line.