The Star of Gettysburg: A Story of Southern High Tide, Joseph A. Altsheler [best value ebook reader txt] 📗

whole brigade was destroyed:

"Never mind, General. All this has been my fault. It is I who have lost this fight, and you must help me out of it in the best way you can."

To another he said:

"This has been a sad day for us, a sad day. But we can't expect always to gain victories."

Beholding such greatness of soul, Harry regained his own composure. He rejoined Dalton, and soon they saw the Southern army reform its lines, and turn a bristling front to the enemy. The Northern cannon were still flashing and thundering, but the Northern army made no return attack. Gettysburg, in all respects the greatest battle ever fought on the American continent, was over, and fifty thousand men had fallen.

The sun set, and Harry at last sank on the ground overpowered. The next day the two armies stood on their hills looking at each other, but neither cared to renew the battle after such frightful losses. That afternoon a fearful storm of thunder, lightning and rain burst over the field. It seemed to Harry an echo of the real battle of the day before.

That night Lee, having gathered up his wounded, his guns and his wagons, began his retreat toward the South. His army had lost, but it was still in perfect order, willing, even anxious to fight again. The wagons containing the wounded and the stores stretched for many miles, moving along in the rain, and the cavalry rode on their flanks to protect them.

It was not until the next morning that Harry discovered anything of the Invincibles. In the dawn he saw a covered wagon by the side of which rode an officer, much neater in appearance than the others. He knew at once that it was St. Clair and he galloped forward with a joyous shout.

"Arthur! Arthur!" he cried.

St. Clair turned a pale face that lighted up at the sight of his friend.

"Thank God, you're alive, Harry!" he said, as their hands clasped.

"Are you alone left?" asked Harry.

"Look into the wagon," he said.

Harry lifted a portion of the flap, and, looking in, saw Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire sitting on rolls of blankets facing each other. One had his right arm in a sling and the other the left, but the chessmen rested on a board between them and they were playing intently. They stopped a moment or two to give Harry a glad welcome. Then he let the flap drop back.

"They began at daylight," said St. Clair.

"Where's Happy?"

"He's in the wagon, too. He's lying on some blankets behind them."

"Not hurt badly?"

"He was nipped in the shoulder, but it doesn't amount to anything. What he wanted was sleep and he's getting it. He told me not to wake him up again for a month."

"Well, Arthur, we lost."

"Yes, and I don't know just how it happened."

"But we're here, ready to fight them again whenever they come."

"So we are, Harry, and if they ever reach Richmond it will be many a long day before they do it."

"I say so, too."

The great train toiled on through the mud, and the Army of Northern Virginia continued its slow march southward.

Appendix: Transcription notes: This etext was transcribed from a volume of the 15th printing The following modifications were applied while transcribing the printed book to e-text: chapter 1 - page 3, para 4, added a missing open-quote - page 8, para 3, deleted a misplaced comma - page 13, Langdon and Dalton are having a conversation, but para 4 incorrectly stated "said St. Clair". It is clear that this should be changed to "said Dalton", because Langdon replies to "George" in his next sentence. - page 20, para 7, the troop is specified here as "six hundred" men, but is subsequently repeatedly specified as two hundred - changed this reference from "six" to "two" chapter 2 - page 25, para 8, Sherburne incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed to "Harry" - page 36, para 7, fixed typo "ghose" chapter 3 - page 49, para 3, fixed typo "Jackkson" - page 53, para 3, fixed typo "lud" chapter 5 - page 105, para 3, Dalton incorrectly called Harry "Dick" - changed to "Harry" - page 109, para 6, changed "Its" to "It's" - page 120, para 5, added a missing open-quote - page 121, para 1, fixed typo ("plan" changed to "plain") - page 121, para 1, fixed typo "cannister" chapter 6 - page 143, para 5, changed an erroneous period to a comma chaper 7 - page 153, para 3, changed "And" to "and" - page 181, para 2, fixed typo "Longeais" chapter 8 - page 189, para 1, added a missing close-quote chapter 9 - page 259, para 3, changed "outgeneraled" to "outgeneralled" (whether 'tis a word or not, the variant with double-"l" occurs 3 times in this book, the single-"l" variant only once) chapter 10 - page 272, para 2, changed "fulness" to "fullness" - page 273, para 1, fixed typo "marvellous" - page 282, end of para 2, changed "division" to "divisions" chapter 11 - page 295, para 3, fixed typo "dextrously" chapter 13 - page 347, para 4, fixed typo "occurrred" - page 351, para 4, fixed typo "wofully" - page 358, para 9, added a missing close-quote - page 359, para 1, changed "You" to "Your" Modifications resulting from conversion to plain ASCII: - chapter 1, page 12, the phrase "In forma pauperis" was presented in italics in the printed book - chapter 10, page 282, the name "Duffie" was presented in the printed book with an accented "e" I did not modify: - There are instances where the use of the comma in the printed book seems to me inappropriate. However, I have adhered to the punctuation as printed (except for obvious printing errors, which are noted above). For example: But Harry, having further leave of absence went forth and answered many questions. - Each section of verse is formatted to appear similar to its presentation in the printed book. Consequently: some verse is indented more than others, some is left-aligned, some is staggered on the left margin, some is center-aligned. - The author sometimes uses a technique whereby a paragraph introducing a quotation ends with a colon, with the quotation following as the next paragraph.



End of Project Gutenberg's The Star of Gettysburg, by Joseph A. Altsheler