Nevertheless Dick read the words in his comrade's eyes, and they said: "Surprised again, Dick! Good God, surprised!" Yet the young troops fought with a courage worthy of the toughest veterans.

They gave ground, because the rush against them was overpowering, but they maintained a terrible fire which strewed the earth in front of them with dead and wounded.
"Behind those trees! Behind those trees!" suddenly called Colonel Winchester as they continued their sullen and fighting retreat, and he and the remnants of his regiment darted into a little wood just in time.
There was a sudden rush of hoofbeats on their flank, and a cloud of Southern cavalry swept down, shearing away the entire side of the Northern division as if it had been cleft with the slash of a mighty sword.

Besides the fallen a thousand prisoners and seven cannon fell into the hands of the cavalrymen, who rushed on in search of fresh triumphs.
Dick shuddered with horror, but he saw that all his own immediate friends were safe in the wood.

A swarm of fugitives poured in after them, and then came colonels and generals making desperate efforts to reform their line of battle.

But the Southern brigades gave them no chance.