Hundreds fell, hundreds swarmed back to the
woods, but still the brigades pressed on, and through the smoke of
battle the waving colours led the charge. But the Federal infantry
had yet to be encountered. Lying behind their shelter they had not
yet fired a shot; but as the Confederates reached close range,
regiment after regiment, springing to their feet, poured a
devastating fire into the charging ranks. The rush was checked. Here
and there small bodies of desperate men, following the colours, still
pressed onward, but the majority lay down, and the whole front of
battle rang with the roar of musketry. But so thin was the
Confederate line that it was impossible to overcome the sustained
fire of the enemy. The brigade reserves had already been thrown in;
there was no further support at hand; the Federal gunners, staunch
and resolute, held fast to their position, and on every part of the
line Porter's reserves were coming up. As one regiment emptied its
cartridge-boxes it was relieved by another. The volume of fire never
for a moment slackened; and fresh batteries, amongst which were the
32-pounders of the siege train, unlimbering on the flanks, gave
further strength to a front which was already impregnable.
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