Behind a clump of trees some distance back of the bridge, Beauregard, Johnston, Evans, who was in direct command at the ford, Early, and several other important officers were in anxious consultation.

Colonel Talbot told Harry that he would be wanted presently as a messenger, and he stood on one side while the others talked.

It was then that he first heard Jubal Early swear with a richness, a spontaneity and an unction that raised it almost to the dignity of a rite.
Harry gathered that they could not agree as to the point at which the Northern attack would be delivered, but the balance of opinion inclined to the bridge, before which the command of Evans was encamped.

Hence he was sent farther down the stream, with a message for a North Carolina regiment to move up and join Evans.
The regiment lay about a mile away, but Harry walked almost the whole distance among sleeping men.

They lay on the grass by thousands, and exhausted by the movement and marching of recent days they slept heavily.