"
"I think you're right, Dick, but the general means to attack at once.
We may carry it by storm."
Dick looked again at the vast entanglement of creeks, bayous, ravines,
forests and thickets. Like other young officers, he had his opinion,
but he had the good sense to keep it to himself. He and the colonel
rejoined the regiment, and presently the trumpets were calling again for
battle. The men of Champion Hill, sanguine of success, marched straight
upon Vicksburg. All the officers of the Winchester regiment were
dismounted, as their portion of the line was too difficult for horses.
Their advance, as at Champion Hill, was over ground wooded heavily and
they soon heard the reports of the rifles before them. Bullets began
to cut the leaves and twigs, carrying away the bushes, scarring the
trees and now and then taking human life. The Winchester men fired
whenever they saw an enemy, and with them it was largely an affair of
sharpshooters, but on both left and right the battle rolled more heavily.
The Southerners, behind their powerful fortifications at the heads of the
ravines and on the plateau, beat back every attack.
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