Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/120

92 a general mix-up. Then the fire was concentrated on another set of horses, dragging a second piece, and these, too, went down. The confusion increased, and the entire battery was thrown into disorder. The infantry, in the rear, felt the panic and stood in alarm.

"Now is our time! Forward!" shouted General Hayes, and once again the boys in blue went forward on the double-quick, yelling like demons. The Confederates formed to receive them and gave them a most deadly fire, for they, too, could fight as gamely as the best. And why not, since they, too, were Americans, of the same bone and blood as their Northern brothers?

For a few minutes the result of the onslaught remained in doubt. Shot and shell roared and shrieked on all sides, mingled with the constant rattle of musketry, extending in some places for miles. The ground was torn up in some places to a depth of two or three feet, and the moss of the morass flung in all directions, mingled with the lifeblood of those who had fallen, wearing either the blue or the gray. Surely, surely, war is a horrible thing!