One of his pieces was soon disabled; but with the remaining
gun, captured from the enemy six months before, he maintained the
unequal fight until his limbers were empty, and he received
peremptory orders from Stuart to withdraw.
On Pelham's retirement, Franklin, bringing several batteries forward
to the Richmond road, for more than half an hour subjected the woods
before him to a heavy cannonade, in which the guns on the Stafford
Heights played a conspicuous part. Hidden, however, by the thick
timber, Jackson's regiments lay secure, unharmed by the tempest that
crashed above them through the leafless branches; and, reserving
their fire for the hostile infantry, his guns were silent. The
general, meanwhile, according to his custom, had walked far out into
the fields to reconnoitre for himself, and luck favoured the
Confederacy on this day of battle. Lieutenant Smith was his only
companion, and a Federal sharpshooter, suddenly rising from some tall
weeds two hundred paces distant, levelled his rifle and fired. The
bullet whistled between their heads, and Jackson, turning with a
smile to his aide-de-camp, said cheerfully: "Mr. Smith, had you not
better go to the rear? They may shoot you.
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