Amid the massed foliage, the sounds of battle were muffled, seemed curiously distant, but smoke had drifted to this part of the field. Colonel Dexter crouched behind a tree, about at the middle of his line, and peered through the smoke and deep shadows. It wasn't long before he could hear the snapping of branches under appproaching feet, the crackling of leaves, the scraping of clinging brush, the swish of branches pushed back, then let go. Now he could see men in gray, like ghosts coming through a smoking inferno, a solid line of wary and dangerous men. When they were only thirty yards away, Dexter stood up from behind the tree.
"Stand and fire!" he shouted.
A solid line of blue seemed to rise up out of the earth and smoke. Muzzles flashed, illuminating the sunless gloom to catch for an instant the expressions of shock and fear on the faces of the Confederates. The impact of the point-blank volley staggered the Rebel line...
From
Ethan's Peach Tree.
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