Sentence:  One moment there <WSD>was</WSD> a man in the saddle ; the next a headless horror on a horse that bolted through the redcoat ranks , and during the next second or two , we all of us fired into the suddenly disorganized column of soldiers . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  happen, occur, take place; this was during the visit to my parents' house"