[
477]
On the first day of that severe battle, the troops were trembling under a pitiless storm of bullets, when
General Sumner galloped up and down the advance line more exposed than any private in the ranks.
“What regiment is this?”
he asked, as he reined in his horse in front of one of the regiments which stood firmest in that galling fire.
“The Fifteenth Massachusetts,” replied a hundred voices.
“I, too, am from
Massachusetts; three cheers for our old Bay State!”
And swinging his hat, the general led off, and every soldier joined in three thundering cheers.
The enemy looked on in wonder at the strange episode, but was driven back by the fierce charge which followed.
The courage of the old hero was of the grandest order; it was not the mad excitement which hurries a man into deeds of valor, in the rush of battle, of which he would be incapable at any other time; it was cool, calm, and deliberate, but unfaltering.
On this occasion, as on many others, as soon as the heavy artillery began to pound, his usually mild eyes flashed fire.
He removed his
artificial teeth, which became troublesome in the excitement of battle, and placed them deliberately in his pocket, raised his spectacles from his eyes and let them rest upon his forehead, that he might see more clearly objects at a distance, gave his orders to his subordinates, and then galloped headlong into the thickest of the fight.
