Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/537

 Reunion of Virginia Division A. N. V. Association. 527

The west woods is full of limestone ledges, running parallel to the open.

About II o'clock at night Hood was withdrawn to enable his men to cook, and the brigades of Lawton and Trimble took his place. Hooker withdrew up the Hagerstown pike and went into bivouac, his pickets close to those of the Confederates, which in some places were not over one hundred yards apart. The troops of Jackson ex- tending at right angles across the Hagerstown pike and some hundred yards in advance of the Dunkard church, slept in line of battle, their skirmish line well out. They had been marching and fighting since the morning of the loth, when they left Frederick and had marched all the preceding night. Gaunt with exercise, lean with fasting, they were in that physical condition, which can, by a few days rest and feeding, be made superb. Without fires, their line lay still and grim, under the light of the stars. Hooker's men were comfortable with supper and coffee. The dead silence of midnight was only broken by a stray shot from an advanced picket, until way off to the north- west arose a sound — a stir — a hum of muffled noise. It was Mans- field, with his Twelfth corps, marching into position. He crossed on Hooker's route and took place a mile in his rear. By four in the morning the two armies were astir. With Hooker there was bustle and cooking and coffee and pipes. With Jackson there was only a munching of cold rations and water from the spring. The men stretched themselves and peered out through the darkness that pre- cedes the dawn. By daylight Hooker got into motion, Doubleday's division on his right, Meade his centre, Ricketts his left. Double- day's right brigade, Gibbon, supported by Patrick, was west of the pike. The rest of the corps was west of it. They moved in two Hues, the brigades of each line themselves, formed with front of two regiments and the other two in support. Thus they swept forward through the west woods into the cornfield, their right striking the east woods. They numbered 14,856 men. They had a full supply of artillery, which moved in the intervals of divisions or on the flanks. In the cornfield they struck Jackson's division, 1,600 strong, and the brigades of Lawton and Trimble and Hays, with 2,400 men. The Confederate line of battle numbered 4,000 infantry, well supported by artillery. As the Federal advance came on, Stuart, with his horse artillery from the extreme left, swept their lines with a fierce fire which cut them down in mass. The musketry and artillery in front swept them down by rank and file. But they pressed on. Their batteries poured grape and canister into the Confederate line. McClellan's