The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-06


to the rear pulled itself together
Then the storm burst A great gray
cloud seemed to spring out of the for
est into the faces of the waiting bat
talions. It was received with a crash
that made the very trees turn up their
leaves For one instant the assailants
paused above their dead, then strug-
gled FORWARD, their Dayonets glitter
ing in the eyes that shone behind the
smoke. One moment, and those I'M
moved men in blue would be impal-
ed What We're they about? Why
did they not fix bayonets? Were they
stunned by their own vOlley? Their
inaction was maddening Another
tremendous crash!-the rear flank had
fired Humanity, thank heaven is
| it not made for this, and the shatter-
ed gray mass drew back a score Of
PAGES, opening a feeble fire Lead had
scored its old-time victory over steel;
the heroic had broken its great heart
against the commonplace. There are
those who say it is sometimes other
wise.
All this had taken but a minute Of
time, and now the second Confeder-
ate line swept down and poured in it's
| fire. The line of blue staggered and
| gave way; in those two terrific vol
leys it seemed to have quite poured
out its spirit. To this deadly work
J the reserve regiment now came up
with run. 1t was surprising to see
it splitting fire with never a sound, for
such was the Internal din that the ear
could take in no more. This fearful
PAGES of our toes, but we were root
ed to the ground as if we had grown
there. But now our commanding Off
Ger rode from behind us to the front,
waved his hand with a courteous ges-
ture that says apres vous, and with a
barely audible cheer we sprang into
the fight Again the smoking front of
gray receded, and again, as the third
line emerged from its leafy covert,
it pushed forward across the piits
Of dead and wounded to threaten with
protruded steel Never was seen so
striking a proof of the paramount i'm
pOrtanCe of numbers. Within an area
of three hundred yards by fifty there
struggled for front places no fewer
than six regiments; and the acces-
sion of each, after the first collision,
had it not been Immediately counter
poised, would have turned the scale.
As matters stood, we were now very
evenly matched and how long we
might have held out God only knows
But all at once something seemed to
have gone wrong with the enemy's
left; our men had somehow pierced
his line. A moment later his whole
front gave way, and springing for
ward With fixed bayonets, we pushed
him in utter confusion back to his
original line. Here among the tents
from which Grants people had been
expelled the day before, our broken
and disordered regiments, inextricably
intermingled, and drunken with the
wine Of triumph, dashed confidently
against a pair of trim battaliOns, pro-
yoking a tempest Of Kissing lead that
made us stagger under its very weight
/ The sharp onset of another against
our flank sent us whirling back with
fire at our heels, and fresh foes in
merciless pursuit-who in their turn
were broken upon the front of the in
Welded brigade previously mentioned,
which had moved up from the rear
to assist in the lively work.
As we rallied to reform behind our
beloved guns, and noted the ridicu-
lous brevity of our line-as we sank
from sheer fatigue and tried to mod
crate the terrific humping of our
hearts-as we caught our breath to
ask who had seen such-and.such a
comrade, and laughed Historically at
the reply-there swept past us into
the open field a long regiment with
fixed bayonets and muskets on the
right shoulder Another followed, and
another; two-three-fourm more! Hea-
vens! where do all these men come
from, and why did they not come be-