At daylight the march was resumed; for the intrepid Hooker, ever faithful to the trust confided to him, was wholly in earnest.  At half-past five the column was halted in the woods.  The rebel works before Williamsburg were in sight, and General Hooker rode to the front to examine the position of the enemy.

In front of the rebel batteries, and on each side of the roads, the trees had been felled, in order to give the guns in the field works full play upon an approaching force.

“Hurrah!” shouted some of the boys on the right of the column.  “Our brigade is to commence the attack.”

“How do you know?” growled Hapgood, who did not think a soldier ought to know any thing about the plan of the battle.

“We are ordered to move,” replied Tom.  “I suppose that’s all they know about it.”

The prophets on the right were correct this time, for the regiment was soon sent to the right of the road, and ordered to deploy as skirmishers.  A battery was thrown forward in front of the felled timber; but before a gun could be fired, two officers and two privates were seen to fall before the unerring aim of the rebel sharpshooters, occupying the rifle pits which dotted the cleared land in front of the forts.

“That’s a hot place,” said Ben Lethbridge.

“We shall all see hot work before the sun goes down to-night,” replied Tom.  “But let us stand up to it like men.”

“That’s the talk, Tom!” exclaimed Hapgood.

“Have you got those socks on, my boy?”

“I have, uncle; and I have the letter and the photograph in my pocket.”

“Good, Tom!  After this day’s work is over, you can write the lady a letter, and tell her that her socks have been in a battle.”

“And that I didn’t run away in them.”

The roar of the guns in Fort Magruder interrupted the conversation.  The gunners of the battery in front of them had been driven from their pieces; but it was almost instantly manned by volunteers, and a destructive fire poured into the works.  Other batteries were brought up, and the fort was soon silenced.  The roar of battle sounded all along the line; the thunder of cannon and the crash of musketry reverberated through the woods and over the plain, assuring the impatient troops that they were engaged in no trivial affair; that they were fighting a great battle, of which thousands yet unborn would read upon the pages of history.

Our regiment closed up its lines, and the gallant colonel gave the order to move forward in the direction of the field works.  On, on, steadily and firmly marched the men of Massachusetts, through ditch and swamp, through mud and mire, loading, firing, and charging, as the enemy presented opportunity.  The hot work of the day had commenced; for, from every bush, tree, and covert, which could conceal a man, the rebels poured a deadly fire into the ranks of the advancing Federals.

Tom stood as firm as a rock.  The doubts and fears which beset him in his first battle had no existence on this day.  So thoroughly had he schooled his mind to the fearful ordeal of carnage, that he felt quite at home.  He was cool and determined, and continually encouraged those around him by his cheering words as well as by his example.