Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-04-05

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how changed! Ten thousand men in
gray wero coming across the valley.
1t is q solemn sight at any time to
sec an army moving to strike foe.
There was something in the silent
movement-too far fer him to hear the
tramp Of tho men advancing over the
intervening space, still wearing its sum-
mer robes Of Green-to remind him of
thundercloud rising in a clear sky.
There wero compact columns of infan-
try steadily marching, while on either
flank cavalry trotted forward, head up,
like troop of lions over jungle. Occa'
sionally there came a confusion of dis
tant sounds-orders- murmurings
preceding the storm. The advancing
host seemed rather troop of specters,
moving with the wind, an army of ma
licious spirits coming to scatter plague
from their still silent weapons.
This fancy vanished with the first few
shots from the skirmishers. They We're
too real, too spiteful, to attribute to
any but human agencies. Back goes the
thin line of blue before the scattered
Confederates in advance, supported by
thick columns of dusty gray. No skir-
mish line would care to stand against
these columns coming silently, not yet
in presence of q foe worthy of yolley.
Suddenly there is rumbling, shout
ing, lashing Of horses in Maynard's
rear. Turning, he sees q Union battery,
drawn by horses, galloping up the slope
from the bridge. Dashing into position.
the horses arc swung around, pointing
the muzzles Of cannon toward the ad.
vancing host. The guns are unlimbered.
There is q boom, followed by a Shrek
ing shell arching toward the heavens
and dropping with sound like an en-
ploding rocket over one Of the advanc
ing columns.
The shot produces change in the
disposition of the closely packed Con.
federates as a turn of kaleidoscope
alters the combination of colors The
closed columns halt, quickly extend
wings OH either side, joining tips, each
while deploying, resembling the con-
tinued line, from tip to tip, of some
huge distant bird. Now they are in
line of battle and once more move for
ward while the Union battery drops
shells in their extended and less yulner.
able ranks Marching over open fields,
crossing gulleys, now lost in q wood, to
appear upon its other edge, bisecting
creek and road, slowly drawing coil,
a line of the ribbed sea sand," a
streak of dust before a rising wind, the
southerners move steadily forward. Be-
fore them the Union outposts give way.
retreating under cover Of their guns.
What arc those funereal looking wag-
ons driving up and being stationed at
different points, those men, with strip
of red flannel about their arms, scatter.
ing themselves over the field? To the
young enthusiast for war in the dis
, tance, who has been impatient to see a
battle, these wagons, these men marked
with red, composing the ambulance
corps, getting ready to take care of dead
who have not yet been killed, wounded
who have not yet been hit, bring the
first realization of what war means.
There is none of the harsh music of bat
tie about these grim looking wagons,
these men waiting for victims, to bright.
en- the eye and send the blood coursing
through the veins. They 60 about their
work in q methodical fashion that
dampens ardor as water quenches fire.
They mock soldiers ambition for glo-
~. There is something in tho calcula-
ton, the preparation, to remind him
that, after all, the gold lace, the feath-
ers, the martial music, are but to cause
him, like the pampered sacrifice, to for
get what he is for-to be shot.
But Mark Maynard was veteran
and had seen all this before. He gave
the ambulance corps single glance,
and then, looking toward group of
Union officers partly concealed from
him by the smoke of the battery, saw
one Of them, with the stars Of briga-
dier general OH his shoulder, peer north
ward through feldglass Turning his
eyes in the same direction, he could see
a light cloud rising west of Ringold.
He watched it and observed that one
end of it was trending toward ford,
north of Reeds ridge. The officer soon
shut up his glass, and in another mo.
ment aids were galloping away to give
orders to retreat. A column of Confed-
crates, extending for miles, were march
ing to the ford to turn the Union left,
and 10 time was to be lost i'll getting
the little force back to the bridge.
There is quick limbering Of guns,
and skirmishers, cavalry, gunners, all
hurry back over the ridge. At the bridge
they find two regiments ready for any
duty to which they may be assigned.
They are directed to hold the ford to
which the column of dust is moving.
Protected in that direction, the force at
the bridge awaits more confidently the
coming of the advancing Confederates.