“You must be a body guard for the general,” he said to Colonel Leonidas Talbot.

“There could be no greater honor for the Invincibles, nor could General Lee have a better guard.”

“I’m sure of that, sir.”

“What’s happening, Harry?  Tell us what’s been going on in the night!”

“Our line of battle has been formed.  General Longstreet and his men on the right are soon to be in touch with General Hill.  I returned from him a little while ago.  I can’t yet smell the dawn, but I think the battle will come before then.”

Harry rode back and resumed his place beside Dalton.  The troops everywhere were on their feet, cannon and rifles ready, because it was a certainty that the two armies would meet very early.

In fact, the Army of Northern Virginia began to slide slowly forward.  It was not the habit of these troops to await attack.  Lee nearly always had taken the offensive, and the motion of his men was involuntary.  They felt that the enemy was there and they must go to meet him.

“What time is it now?” whispered Dalton.

Harry was barely able to discern the face of his watch.

“Ten minutes to five,” he replied.

“And the dawn comes early.  It won’t be long before Grant comes poking his nose through the Wilderness.”

Harry was silent.  A few minutes more, and there was a sudden crackle of rifles in front of them.

“The dawn isn’t here, but Grant is,” said Harry.

The crackling fire doubled and tripled, and then the fire of the Southern rifles replied in heavy volume.  The lighter field guns opened with a crash, and the heavier batteries followed with rolling thunder.  Leaves and twigs fell in showers, and men fell with them.  The deep Northern cheer swelled through the Wilderness and the fierce rebel yell replied.

Gray dawn, rising as if with effort, over the sodden Wilderness found two hundred thousand men locked fast in battle.  It might have been a bright sun elsewhere, but not here among the gloomy shades and the pine barrens.  The firing was already so tremendous that the smoke hung low and thick, directly over the tops of the bushes, and the men, as they fought, breathed mixed and frightful vapors.

Both sides fought for a long time in a heavy, smoky dusk, that was practically night.  Officers coming from far points, led, compass in hand, having no other guide save the roar of battle.  As the Southern leaders had foreseen, Grant was throwing in the full strength of his powerful army, hoping with superior numbers and better equipment to crush Lee utterly that day.