When their work was over
they simply dropped where they stood and slumbered soundly until morning.
The day opened with a mixture of rain, snow, and fiercely cold winds.
Grant's army moved out of its camp to make the attack, but it was
hampered by the terrible weather and the vast swamp through which its
course must lead. Colonel Winchester, who knew the country better
than any other high officer, was sent ahead on horseback with a small
detachment to examine the way. He naturally took Dick and Pennington,
who were on his staff, and by request, Colonel Newcomb, Major Hertford,
Warner and Sergeant Whitley went also. The whole party numbered about
a hundred men.
Dick and the other lads rejoiced over their mission. It was better to
ride ahead than to remain with an army that was pulling itself along
slowly through the mud. The fort itself was only about three miles away,
and as it stood upon low, marshy ground, the backwater from the flooded
Tennessee had almost surrounded it.
Despite their horses, Winchester's men found their own advance slow.
They had to make many a twist and turn to avoid marshes and deep water
before they came within the sight of the fort, and then Dick's watch
told him that it was nearly noon, the time for the concerted attacks of
army and fleet. But it was certain now that the army could not get up
until several hours later, and he wondered what would happen.
They saw the fort very clearly from their position on a low hill,
and they saw that the main Confederate force was gathered on a height
outside, connected with the fort, and as well as he could judge, the
mass seemed to number three or four thousand men.
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