The wind blowing away from him, Buell had not yet heard a sound from the raging battle, which for its numbers and the time it lasted, was probably the fiercest ever fought on the American continent.
The larger Union force, divided by ridges and thick woods from the field, had not heard the fire of a single cannon, and did not know that two armies were engaged in deadly combat so near.
Dick kept close to Colonel Winchester and Warner and Pennington were by his side.

The sergeant was also near.

There was no chance to give or send orders, and the officers, snatching up the rifles of the fallen soldiers, fought almost as privates.

The Winchester regiment performed prodigies of valor on that day, and the Ohio lads strove desperately for every inch of ground.
It seemed to Dick once that they would hold fast, when he heard in front a tremendous cry of: "On, my boys!" As the smoke lifted a little he saw that it was Colonel Kenton leading his own trained and veteran regiment.
Colonel Winchester and Colonel Kenton, in fact, had met face to face, but the Southern regiment was the more numerous and the stronger.
Winchester's men were gradually borne back and the colonel gasped to Dick: "Didn't I see your uncle leading on his regiment ?" "Yes, it was he.

It was his regiment that struck us, but he's hidden now by the smoke." The Southern rush did not cease.