Half of our men must be killed or wounded, but how old Sherman fights!" The Southern leaders brought up fresh troops and hurled them upon Sherman.

Again the combat was hand to hand, and to the right and left the supports of the indomitable Northern general were being cut away.
Those brigades who had proved their mettle at Donelson, and who had long stood fast, were attacked so violently that they gave way, and the victors hurled themselves upon Sherman's flank.
Dick and his two young comrades perceived through the flame and smoke the new attack.

It seemed to Dick that they were being enclosed now by the whole Southern army, and he felt a sense of suffocation.

He was dizzy from such a long and terrible strain and so much danger, and he was not really more than half conscious.

He was loading and firing his rifle mechanically, but he always aimed at something in the red storm before them, although he never knew whether he hit or missed, and was glad of it.
The division of Sherman had been standing there seven hours, sustaining with undaunted courage the resolute attacks of the Southern army, but the sixth sense warning Dick that it had begun to shake at last was true.