"My boy's with the army?" she said, looking at him hopefully. "Jimmy Davidson, Fifty-third Pennsylvania. Do you know him?"
"No, ma'am, I'm sorry I don't" "He'll be all right, won't he?" He reached out and touched her arm. "I lost my youngest at Antietam. You'll see that Jimmy is all right, won't you?"
"I'll see what I can do, ma'am." She smiled.
"How far to Gettysburg, ma'am?"
"Only two miles or so. The road comes up behind the cemetery where my husband's buried."
"Thank you, ma'am," and he rode on, not looking back as she called out for him to take care of her precious boy.
It was strange but the sound of battle had drifted off, and he half wondered if the engagement had ended and it had, in fact, been simply a diversion. Was Lee up to one of his usual tricks? He felt a vague uneasiness. The entire army was streaming toward Gettysburg, and to turn it about now would be a nightmare.
Along a ridge to the left he caught glimpses of some troopers, mounted, a Union guidon fluttering fitfully in the hot afternoon breeze. Stragglers by the dozens were corning over the ridge, most of them wounded, moving woodenly, slowly; helping each other. A man collapsed and several comrades gathered around to try to bring him back to his feet
Henry pushed on, caught sight of a rise ahead crested with a graveyard, and felt his pulse quicken. Some guns were up there, the crews digging in, dirt flying. He urged his mount to a swift canter and came up the slope.
There was no need to ask for General Hancock. It was plain to see where he was, marked by his corps guidon and a knot of orderlies and staff. Winfield was in the middle of the road atop the crest, standing out in silhouette like some ancient god of war, wreathed in billowing smoke. He was one of those naturals, Henry realized. You could not help but like him, listen to him, be ready to follow him, even though he was six years younger and not so long ago inferior in rank. War propelled some men forward, and Winfield was one of them.
At his approach Hancock turned, an orderly pointing back down the road, calling attention to Hunt. Winfield smiled and Henry gave a casual salute.
"Good place for your guns here, Henry," Winfield announced, nodding to the cemetery to the left of the road. Henry, saying nothing, appraised the ground. The hill was a clear circular slope, with excellent fields of fire, except for a knoll that extended off to the northeast that would be hard to cover. Ring the upper slope with guns, put a battery or two out on the knoll to secure the flank. Typical of cemeteries, the trees were cut back, well trimmed, "the open area beneath the branches offering clear fields of fire for canister. A cemetery makes a damn good killing ground, he thought. He barely considered the irony of the thought.
"Are things simmering down?" Henry asked.
"Hardly. Storm's about to break any second. The Rebs have Early's division coming down on us from the northeast, I'm told. Rodes's division is to the north, and all of A. P. Hill's corps are hitting us on the far side of that ridge. We had a hell of a fight to the west a couple of hours ago. They drove us back at first; but that's the Iron Brigade up there; and those boys will hold till the bitter end."
As Hancock spoke, he pointed out the lay of the land, the town below diem, the open fields beyond to the north. Henry could clearly see dense columns of Confederate troops coming down the road from the northeast, deploying into battle lines, moving through lush, green, patchwork-quilt fields, turning them dark, macabre with their presence, which implied approaching death. Smoke wreathed the hill to the west of the town, but there was little firing at the moment
"Is this the place for the fight?" Henry asked. '"This morning I looked at a place ten miles south of here. It's even better than this. Do you think we could pull Lee down, or is this where we should fight?"
Hancock grinned.
"This is good ground right here, as everyone's been saying, Hunt. Buford saw it so did Reynolds. We might hold them on the far side of town; if not we fall back to this crest dig in, and wait for the rest of the army to come up. For once we have the right position. Put enough guns in the cemetery, and you'll cut the Rebs down like ripened wheat."
Henry nodded. Yes, the guns could do that; the question was, would the infantry support hold?
"Are you in command here, sir?"
Hancock leaned back in the saddle and laughed softly. "That's what the old snapping turtle back in Taneytown said. You can find Oliver Howard over there," and Hancock pointed to the east side of the road. Less than two hundred yards away was a knot of officers.
"We sort of agreed that he'll handle the situation on the east flank; I'll see to the west Hell of a way to run a war, but the men will come to me."
"Is that Eleventh Corps deployed north of the town?"
"Yes. Damn Dutchmen, I think they'll break when it hits."
Henry nodded, still surveying the ground. Even as he did so, the pace of fire to the west started to pick up, and then, with a startling roll of thunder, four or five Confederate batteries to the north and east of town opened up.
"Ah, here comes the storm," Hancock announced.
Within minutes it was indeed a storm, a thunderous arch of fire that swept from northeast to due west, across a front of several miles. After gaining the heights west of Gettysburg, the rebels were now advancing to finish the battle off and drive the Union army from the field. Henry was tempted to go farther forward, to look over several batteries he could see north of town; but damn all, they were under the command of Eleventh Corps and he knew Howard would not tolerate any interference.
Half a dozen batteries were atop the crest of the cemetery. That was his place; dig them in, lay out the fields of fire. He had a gut feeling that Reynolds and Hancock had bitten off a bit more than they could chew. Two corps of the Union army were up, but it was evident from the volume of Confederate artillery fire, upward of a hundred guns or more, that perhaps half of Lee's army was beginning to circle in.
If Meade decided that this was a holding operation, it was going to take one hell of a lot of holding, and the cemetery was going to be the key.
Even as he reached that conclusion, Henry could see men breaking out of the battle smoke to the north of town. Tiny, antlike figures, running hard, were zigzagging back and forth, panic-stricken men.
"Goddamn Dutchmen breaking," Hancock snapped. "Just like at Chancellorsville. Can't this army ever hold?"
"I'll see to the guns atop the crest here," Henry said. "I only have one orderly. Can you send a courier back, sir? Tell any batteries on the road to come forward at all possible speed."
Hancock nodded, shouted the order, and a rider was off.
"Damn all to hell, Henry!" Hancock cried. "Seems like we have one hell of a battle coming down on our necks this day!"
Henry looked at him in amazement The bastard was actually enjoying it. Thrilling to the challenge, the mastery of it and even the fear. All he knew was that he was scared half to death at what he was seeing. The Rebs were beginning to break through, on a vast arc, all across the north side of town; and in less than an hour they'd be into his guns atop the hill.
His guns, and he'd better get them ready for it Turning away from Hancock, Henry rode through the gate of the cemetery, past the graves, and up to where the guns were digging in.
Chapter Four
4:00 PM, JULY I, 1863
MCPHERSON'S RIDGE GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
The shell burst knocked him to the ground. Maj. John Williamson, of the Fourteenth South Carolina, felt as if he were floating, not sure if he was alive or already drifting into death. He came back up to his knees. Someone was helping him. He could feel hands on his shoulders, pulling him up.