Then he turned and rode down the hill, and swiftly the word was passed through the army that they would soon be upon the enemy.
"What is it, Harry ?" asked St.Clair eagerly, as Harry rode along the lines with a message for a general for whom he was looking.
"They're just over there," replied Harry, nodding toward his right.
"And they don't know we're here ?" "They don't dream it." "And Lee and Jackson have got 'em in the trap again ?" "It looks like it." Then Harry was gone with his message.

And he bore other messages, and like most of those he had borne earlier, their burden was secrecy and silence.

He never forgot any detail of that memorable day.

Years afterwards he could shut his eyes at any time and see the eve of Chancellorsville in all its vivid colors, thirty thousand Southern troops lying hidden in the thickets, General Jackson, followed by himself and two other aides, riding upon the hill again and taking one more look at the unsuspecting enemy below, the spreading out of the cavalry like a curtain between them and Howard's corps to keep even a single stray Northern picket or scout from seeing the mortal danger at hand, and then Jackson dismounting and, seated on a stump, writing to Lee that he was on the enemy's flank and would attack as soon as possible.

Harry was in fear lest the general should choose him to carry back the dispatch, as he wished to stay with the corps and see what happened, but the duty was assigned to another man.
Confidence meanwhile reigned in the Union army.