The Rock of Chickamauga, Joseph A. Altsheler [best book club books txt] 📗

FOREWORD

"The Rock of Chickamauga," presenting a critical phase of the great

struggle in the west, is the sixth volume in the series, dealing with

the Civil War, of which its predecessors have been "The Guns of Bull

Run," "The Guns of Shiloh," "The Scouts of Stonewall," "The Sword of

Antietam" and "The Star of Gettysburg." Dick Mason who fights on the

Northern side, is the hero of this romance, and his friends reappear

also.

 

THE CIVIL WAR SERIES

 

VOLUMES IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES

 

  THE GUNS OF BULL RUN.

  THE GUNS OF SHILOH.

  THE SCOUTS OF STONEWALL.

  THE SWORD OF ANTIETAM.

  THE STAR OF GETTYSBURG.

  THE ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA.

  THE SHADES OF THE WILDERNESS.

  THE TREE OF APPOMATTOX.

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES

 

HARRY KENTON, A Lad Who Fights on the Southern Side.

  DICK MASON, Cousin of Harry Kenton, Who Fights on the Northern Side.

  COLONEL GEORGE KENTON, Father of Harry Kenton.

  MRS. MASON, Mother of Dick Mason.

  JULIANA, Mrs. Mason's Devoted Colored Servant.

  COLONEL ARTHUR WINCHESTER, Dick Mason's Regimental Commander.

  COLONEL LEONIDAS TALBOT, Commander of the Invincibles,

   a Southern Regiment.

  LIEUTENANT COLONEL HECTOR ST. HILAIRE, Second in Command of the

   Invincibles.

  ALAN HERTFORD, A Northern Cavalry Leader.

  PHILIP SHERBURNE, A Southern Cavalry Leader.

  WILLIAM J. SHEPARD, A Northern Spy.

  DANIEL WHITLEY, A Northern Sergeant and Veteran of the Plains.

  GEORGE WARNER, A Vermont Youth Who Loves Mathematics.

  FRANK PENNINGTON, A Nebraska Youth, Friend of Dick Mason.

  ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, A Native of Charleston, Friend of Harry Kenton.

  TOM LANGDON, Friend of Harry Kenton.

  GEORGE DALTON, Friend of Harry Kenton.

  BILL SKELLY, Mountaineer and Guerrilla.

  TOM SLADE, A Guerrilla Chief.

  SAM JARVIS, The Singing Mountaineer.

  IKE SIMMONS, Jarvis' Nephew.

  AUNT "SUSE," A Centenarian and Prophetess.

  BILL PETTY, A Mountaineer and Guide.

  JULIEN DE LANGEAIS, A Musician and Soldier from Louisiana.

  JOHN CARRINGTON, Famous Northern Artillery Officer.

RUSSELL, Principal of the Pendleton School.

  ARTHUR TRAVERS, A Lawyer.

  JAMES BERTRAND, A Messenger from the South.

  JOHN NEWCOMB, A Pennsylvania Colonel.

  JOHN MARKHAM, A Northern Officer.

  JOHN WATSON, A Northern Contractor.

  WILLIAM CURTIS, A Southern Merchant and Blockade Runner.

  MRS. CURTIS, Wife of William Curtis.

  HENRIETTA CARDEN, A Seamstress in Richmond.

  DICK JONES, A North Carolina Mountaineer.

  VICTOR WOODVILLE, A Young Mississippi Officer.

  JOHN WOODVILLE, Father of Victor Woodville.

  CHARLES WOODVILLE, Uncle of Victor Woodville.

  COLONEL BEDFORD, A Northern Officer.

  CHARLES GORDON, A Southern Staff Officer.

  JOHN LANHAM, An Editor.

  JUDGE KENDRICK, A Lawyer.

CULVER, A State Senator. BRACKEN, A Tobacco Grower.

  ARTHUR WHITRIDGE, A State Senator.

 

 

 HISTORICAL CHARACTERS

 

  ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States.

  JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Southern Confederacy.

  JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, Member of the Confederate Cabinet.

S. GRANT, Northern Commander.

  ROBERT E. LEE, Southern Commander.

  STONEWALL JACKSON, Southern General.

  PHILIP H. SHERIDAN, Northern General.

  GEORGE H. THOMAS, "The Rock of Chickamauga."

  ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, Southern General.

P. HILL, Southern General. S. HANCOCK, Northern General.

  GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, Northern General.

  AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, Northern General.

  TURNER ASHBY, Southern Cavalry Leader.

E. B. STUART, Southern Cavalry Leader.

  JOSEPH HOOKER, Northern General.

  RICHARD S. EWELL, Southern General.

  JUBAL EARLY, Southern General.

  WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS, Northern General.

  SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER, Southern General.

  LEONIDAS POLK, Southern General and Bishop.

  BRAXTON BRAGG, Southern General.

  NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, Southern Cavalry Leader.

  JOHN MORGAN, Southern Cavalry Leader.

  GEORGE J. MEADE, Northern General.

  DON CARLOS BUELL, Northern General.

T. SHERMAN, Northern General.

  JAMES LONGSTREET, Southern General.

G. T. BEAUREGARD, Southern General.

  WILLIAM L. YANCEY, Alabama Orator.

  JAMES A. GARFIELD, Northern General, afterwards President of

   the United States.

 

  And many others

IMPORTANT BATTLES DESCRIBED IN THE CIVIL WAR SERIES

 

  BULL RUN

  KERNSTOWN

  CROSS KEYS

  WINCHESTER

  PORT REPUBLIC

  THE SEVEN DAYS

  MILL SPRING

  FORT DONELSON

  SHILOH

  PERRYVILLE

  STONE RIVER

  THE SECOND MANASSAS

  ANTIETAM

  FREDERICKSBURG

  CHANCELLORSVILLE

  GETTYSBURG

  CHAMPION HILL

  VICKSBURG

  CHICKAMAUGA

  MISSIONARY RIDGE

  THE WILDERNESS

  SPOTTSYLVANIA

  COLD HARBOR

  FISHER'S HILL

  CEDAR CREEK

  APPOMATTOX

CONTENTS

 

I. AT BELLEVUE

II. FORREST

III. GRANT MOVES

IV. DICK'S MISSION

V. HUNTED

VI. A BOLD ATTACK

VII. THE LITTLE CAPITAL

VIII. CHAMPION HILL

IX. THE OPEN DOOR

X. THE GREAT ASSAULT

XI. THE TAKING OF VICKSBURG

XII. AN AFFAIR OF THE MOUNTAINS

XIII. THE RIVER OF DEATH

XIV. THE ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA

XV. BESIDE THE BROOK

CHAPTER I. AT BELLEVUE

 

"You have the keenest eyes in the troop. Can you see anything ahead?"

asked Colonel Winchester.

 

"Nothing living, sir," replied Dick Mason, as he swept his powerful

glasses in a half-curve. "There are hills on the right and in the

center, covered with thick, green forest, and on the left, where the

land lies low, the forest is thick and green too, although I think I

catch a flash of water in it."

 

"That should be the little river of which our map tells. And you,

Warner, what do your eyes tell you?"

 

"The same tale they tell to Dick, sir. It looks to me like a

wilderness."

 

"And so it is. It's a low-lying region of vast forests and thickets,

of slow deep rivers and creeks, and of lagoons and bayous. If Northern

troops want to be ambushed they couldn't come to a finer place for it.

Forrest and five thousand of his wild riders might hide within rifle

shot of us in this endless mass of vegetation. And so, my lads, it

behooves us to be cautious with a very great caution. You will recall

how we got cut up by Forrest in the Shiloh time."

 

"I do, sir," said Dick and he shuddered as he recalled those terrible

moments. "This is Mississippi, isn't it?"

 

Colonel Winchester took a small map from his pocket, and, unfolding it,

examined it with minute care.

 

"If this is right, and I'm sure it is," he replied, "we're far down in

Mississippi in the sunken regions that border the sluggish tributaries

of the Father of Waters. The vegetation is magnificent, but for a home

give me higher ground, Dick."

 

"Me too, sir," said Warner. "The finest state in this Union is Vermont.

I like to live on firm soil, even if it isn't so fertile, and I like to

see the clear, pure water running everywhere, brooks and rivers."

 

"I'll admit that Vermont is a good state for two months in the year,"

said Dick.

 

"Why not the other ten?"

 

"Because then it's frozen up, solid and hard, so I've heard."

 

The other boys laughed and kept up their chaff, but Colonel Winchester

rode soberly ahead. Behind him trailed the Winchester regiment, now

reorganized and mounted. Fresh troops had come from Kentucky, and

fragments of old regiments practically destroyed at Perryville and Stone

River had been joined to it.

 

It was a splendid body of men, but of those who had gone to Shiloh only

about two hundred remained. The great conflicts of the West, and the

minor battles had accounted for the others. But it was perhaps one of

the reliefs of the Civil War that it gave the lads who fought it little

time to think of those who fell. Four years crowded with battles, great

and small, sieges and marches absorbed their whole attention.

 

Now two men, the dreaded Forrest and fierce little Joe Wheeler, occupied

the minds of Winchester and his officers. It was impossible to keep

track of these wild horsemen here in their own section. They had a habit

of appearing two or three hundred miles from the place at which they

were expected.

 

But the young lieutenants while they watched too for their redoubtable

foes had an eye also for the country. It was a new kind of region for

all of them. The feet of their horses sank deep in the soft black soil,

and there was often a sound of many splashings as the regiment rode

across a wide, muddy brook.

 

Dick noted with interest the magnolias and the live oaks, and the great

stalks of the sunflower. Here in this Southern state, which bathed

its feet in the warm waters of the Gulf, spring was already far along,

although snows still lingered in the North.

 

The vegetation was extravagant in its luxuriance and splendor. The

enormous forest was broken by openings like prairies, and in every one

of them the grass grew thick and tall, interspersed with sunflowers and

blossoming wild plants. Through the woods ran vast networks of vines,

and birds of brilliant plumage chattered in the trees. Twice, deer

sprang up before them and raced away in the forest. It was the

wilderness almost as De Soto had traversed it nearly four centuries

before, and it had a majesty which in its wildness was not without its

sinister note.

 

They approached a creek, deeper and wider than usual, flowing in slow,

yellow coils, and, as they descended into the marsh that enclosed its

waters,