To-morrow he was going to face it at short range. Everywhere were strewn canteens, knapsacks, broken guns and blankets. He came suddenly on a trench behind which the men in blue had fought from dark to dark. It was full of dead soldiers.
His regiment was up before day to move at dawn. His company had been assigned to a regiment of veterans who had fought at Bull Run and had been in three of the battles before Richmond. Their ranks were thin and the Western boys were given a royal welcome.
The seasoned men were in good humor, the new company serious. Ned was carefully shaving by the flickering light of the camp fire.
"What the divil are you doin' that for?" his Irish messmate asked in amazement.
"You want to know the truth, Haggerty?" Ned drawled.
"We're going into our first battle, aren't we?"
"Ah, go'long wid ye--ye bloody young spalpeen--ye're no more afraid than I am!"
"Maybe not, Haggerty, but it's a solemn occasion, and I'm going to look my best."
"Ye'll live ter see many a scrap, me bye!"
"Same to you, old man! But I'm going to be clean for this one, anyhow."
The regiment marched toward Malvern Hill at the first streak of dawn. It was slow work. Always the artillery ahead were sticking in the mud and the halts were interminable.
The new company grew more and more nervous:
They asked it at every halt the first three hours. And then their disgust became more pronounced.
"What in 'ell's the matter?" Ned groaned.
"Don't worry, Sonny," an old corporal called, "you'll get there in time to see more than you want."
The regiment reached the battle lines at one o'clock. The morning hours had been spent in driving in the skirmishers and feeling the enemy's positions. Lee had given orders for a general charge on a signal yell from Armistead's brigade. He was now waiting the arrival of all his available forces before attacking.
Late in the afternoon General D. H. Hill heard a shout followed by a roar of musketry and immediately ordered his division to charge. No other General seemed to have heard it and the charge was made without support. It was magnificent, but it was not war, it was sheer butchery. No army could have stood before the galling fire of those massed batteries.
Ned's regiment had deployed in a wood on the edge of a wide field at the foot of the hill. Their movement caught the eye of a battery on the heights which opened with six guns squarely on their heads.