"
On the second day after joining the column Dick was ahead with the
cavalry, riding beside Colonel Hertford, and listening to occasional
shots in their front on the Jackson road. Both believed they would soon
be in touch with the enemy. Sergeant Whitley, acting now as a scout,
had gone forward through a field and in a few minutes galloped back.
"The enemy is not far away," he said. "They're posted along a creek,
with high banks and in a wood. They've got a strong artillery too,
and I think they about equal us in numbers."
Dick carried the report to the commander of the column, and soon the
trumpets were calling the men to battle. The crackle of rifle shots
ahead increased rapidly. The skirmishers were already pulling trigger,
and, as Dick galloped back to Hertford he saw many puffs of white smoke
down the road and in the fields and woods on either side. The Union men
began to cheer. In the West they had suffered no such defeats as their
brethren in the East, and every pulse beat with confidence. As the whole
line moved forward the Southern cannon began to crash and their shells
swept the road.
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