Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/102

74 he found parting with them very hard. But a soldier must do his duty, and soon he was on the way with his regiment to join in an attack on the Confederate General Early, who had pushed his way northward through Maryland to Pennsylvania.

The route lay through Martinsburg to Cabletown, where the enemy first appeared and the Confederate pickets were driven in. Then a brigade under General Hayes was sent out to attack Early's entire army of twenty thousand soldiers. Hayes had with him no cavalry and only two sections of an old howitzer battery which was of little or no use, and it was not long before he found himself completely surrounded by General Early's cavalry.

It was truly a trying moment, and for several minutes it looked as if the brigade must either surrender or suffer a tremendous loss, if not complete annihilation. But the courage of the Unionists was equal to the occasion, and guided by their gallant officers, they made a bold rush, and literally cut their way through the cavalry, not, however, without leaving many dead and wounded on the field.