The men knew they were going to battle now, for the enemy was only a few miles distant.  The soldier boy’s heart was full of hope.  He knew not what a battle was; he could form no adequate conception of the terrible scene which was soon to open upon his view.  He prayed and trusted that he might be able to do his duty with courage and fidelity.  To say that he had no doubts and fears would be to say that he was not human.

As the brigade toiled slowly along, he tried to picture the scene which was before him, and thus make himself familiar with its terrors before he was actually called to confront them.  He endeavored to imagine the sounds of screaming shells and whistling bullets, that the reality, when it came, might not appall him.  He thought of his companions dropping dead around him, of his friends mangled by bayonets and cannon shot; he painted the most terrible picture of a battle which his imagination could conjure up, hoping in this manner to be prepared for the worst.

The day was hot, and the sun poured down his scorching rays upon the devoted soldiers as they pursued their weary march.  They were fatigued by continued exertion, and some of the weary ones, when the sun approached the meridian, began to hope the great battle would not take place on that day.  Tom Somers, nearly worn out by the tedious march, and half famished after the scanty breakfast of hard bread he had eaten before daylight, began to feel that he was in no condition to face the storm of bullets which he had been imagining.

No orders came to halt at noon, though the crowded roads several times secured them a welcome rest:  but on marched the weary soldiers, till the roar of cannon broke upon their ears; and as they moved farther on, the rattling volleys of musketry were heard, denoting that the battle had already commenced.  These notes of strife were full of inspiration to the loyal and patriotic in the columns.  A new life was breathed into them.  They were enthusiastic in the good cause, and their souls immediately became so big that what had been body before seemed to become spirit now.  They forgot their empty stomachs and their weary limbs.  The music of battle, wild and terrible as it was to these untutored soldiers, charmed away the weariness of the body, and, to the quickstep of thundering cannon and crashing musketry, they pressed on with elastic tread to the horrors before them.

Tom felt that he had suddenly and miraculously been made over anew.  He could not explain the reason, but his legs had ceased to ache, his feet to be sore, and his musket and his knapsack were deprived of their superfluous weight.

“God be with me in this battle!” he exclaimed to himself a dozen times.  “God give me strength and courage!”

Animated by his trust in Him who will always sustain those who confide in him, the soldier boy pressed on, determined not to disgrace the name he bore.  The terrible sounds became more and more distinct as the regiment advanced, and in about two hours after the battle had opened, the brigade arrived at the field of operations.  One regiment was immediately detached and sent off in one direction, while the other two were ordered to support a battery on a hill, from which it was belching forth a furious storm of shells upon the rebels.