Page:Life of John Boyle O'Reilly.djvu/148

110 fight was so near, they flung down their knapsacks and took off their great coats to be ready for it. Up to this time everything was orderly and soldierly. The men kept their places, and the officers held them in strict command. Col. Brown, who had no definite command, shouldered a breech-loading rifle, and went forward with Cronan's skirmishers. Gen. O'Neill rode at the head of the column, which presented a fine appearance, with its steady line of bayonets and the green flag in the front.

As soon as the column had reached the brow of the hill overlooking the line, Capt. Cronan's and Capt. Gary's companies were sent forward by the road as skirmishers, with orders to deploy when they had reached the base of the hill where stood Alvah Richards's farm-house. This house is about fifty rods from the line. On the Canadian side of the line, for about five hundred yards, the ground is flat, and then rises abruptly into a steep, rocky hill, on which the Volunteers were strongly posted. From Richards's farm on the west side of the road, rose another abrupt hill covered with trees. On this side O'Neill had determined to take position, and, while his men were under cover, draw the fire of the enemy, and find their exact position. His object was to make a flank movement on the Canadian right, and advance on Cook's Corners, a village about two miles to the west.

Capt. Cronan's company advanced steadily to Richards's farm, and on passing it, dashed with a cheer along the road to the bridge. When the first files had crossed the line, and before the company could deploy, the Canadians opened a heavy fire on them. Almost at the first discharge, Private John Rowe, of Burlington, Vt., was shot through the head, and fell dead in the center of the road. The Fenian troops, without deploying, returned the fire for a short time, and then fell back in rear of Richards's house, where General Donnelly commanded a reserve of about fifty men. The Canadians then turned their fire on the troops, which were taking up positions on the hill. The men were filing over the exposed ground between the road and the hill, when the heaviest firing of the day was opened on them. Francis Carraher fell by the roadside, shot through the groin, and, in an instant after, Lieutenant Edward Hope went down in the field, and Mr. O'Brien fell dead, with a Canadian bullet through his heart. When the troops gained the hill, they got the order to advance to the front and open fire. They advanced, but before they had reached the position which General O'Neill wished them to occupy, they fell back again under the close, steady fire of the Canadians. The Fenians also kept up a steady fire, but all the energies of their officers could not get them to advance. Major Murphy, Col. Sullivan, and Capt. Fitzpatrick did all that brave men could do to inspire the men with confidence. It was evident then that the troops were too few to achieve anything. The men felt that they had