"
Dick and Warner, worn out by their long ride, soon slept but there was
movement all around them during the late hours of the night. Thomas
with his cautious, measuring mind was rectifying his lines in the wintry
darkness. He occupied a crossing of the roads, and he posted a strong
battery of artillery to cover the Southern approach. Around him were
men from Kentucky, the mountains of Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and
Minnesota. The Minnesota troops were sun-tanned men who had come more
than a thousand miles from an Indian-infested border to defend the Union.
All through the night Thomas worked. He directed men with spades to
throw up more intrenchments. He saw that the guns of the battery were
placed exactly right. He ordered that food should be ready for all very
early in the morning, and then, when nothing more remained to be done,
save to wait for the decree of battle, he sat before his tent wrapped in
a heavy military overcoat, silent and watchful. Scouts had brought in
additional news that the Southern army was still marching steadily along
the muddy roads, and that Captain Markham's calculation of its arrival
about dawn would undoubtedly prove correct.
Dick awoke while it was yet dark, and throwing off the heavy blankets
stood up.
Although the dawn had not come, the night was now fairly light and Dick
could see a long distance over the camp which stretched to left and
right along a great front.
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