The army of Rosecrans had marched from
Chattanooga directly upon the positions chosen by Bragg, where he was
awaiting them with superior numbers. And the Confederate government in
the East had been quick enough to seize the opportunity and quick enough
to send the stalwart fighter, Longstreet, and his corps to help close
down the trap.
He wondered with many a painful throbbing of the heart what the dawn
would bring, and, unable to keep still any longer, he rose and went to
the brow of the low hill, behind which they lay. Colonel Winchester was
there walking through the scrub and trying to pick out something in the
opposing forest with his glasses. The cold wind still blew from the
mountains, and there were three high but distant torches, where the
clumps of pines still burned.
"Restless, Dick?" said the Colonel. "Well, so am I."
"We have cause to be so, sir."
"So we have, my lad. We thought the danger to the Union had passed with
Vicksburg and Gettysburg, but the day so soon to come may shatter all
our hopes. They must have a hundred thousand men out there, and they've
chosen time and place.
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