Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/111

Rh at once and meet her on the road. God grant that this day may bring an end to her grief!"…

It was three o'clock before these arrangements were completed. I have informed my reader that the mountain terminated immediately in front of the outlet from the narrow dell in which Campbell's army had halted, its breast protruding into the plain only some few hundred paces from the head of the column, whilst the valley, that forked both right and left, afforded an easy passage along the base on either side. Ferguson occupied the very summit, and now frowned upon his foe from the midst of a host confident in the strength of their position and exasperated by the pursuit which had driven them into this fastness.

Campbell resolved to assail this post by a spirited attack, at the same moment, in front and on the flanks. With this intent his army was divided into three equal parts. The center was reserved to himself and Shelby; the right was assigned to Sevier and M'Dowell; the left, to Cleveland and Williams. These two latter parties were to repair to their respective sides of the mountain, and the whole were to make the onset by scaling the heights as nearly as possible at the same instant.

The men, before they marched out of the ravine, had dismounted and picketed their horses under the winding shelter of the hills, and, being now separated into detached columns formed in solid order, they were put in motion to reach their allotted posts. The Amherst Rangers were retained on horseback for such duty as might require speed and were stationed close in the rear of Campbell's own division, which now merely marched from behind the shelter of the knoll and halted in the view of the enemy until sufficient delay should be afforded to the flanking divisions to attain their ground. Mildred, attended by Allen Musgrove and his daughter, still maintained her position on the knoll and from this height