Inside the works was the little town of Dover, and they were defended by fifteen thousand men, as many as Grant had without.
When Dick beheld this formidable position bristling with cannon, rifles and bayonets, his heart sank within him.

How could one army defeat another, as numerous as itself, inside powerful intrenchments, and in its own country?
Nor could they prevent Southern reinforcements from reaching the other side of the river and crossing to the fort under the shelter of its numerous great guns.

He was yet to learn the truth, or at least the partial truth, of Napoleon's famous saying, that in war an army is nothing, a man is everything.

The army to which he belonged was led by a man of clear vision and undaunted resolution.

The chief commander inside the fort had neither, and his men were shaken already by the news of Fort Henry, exaggerated in the telling.
But after the first sinking of the heart Dick felt an extraordinary thrill.