But they could have stood no more, and Thomas watching everything hurried to their relief a regiment, which formed up before them to give them breathing time.
The young soldiers threw themselves panting upon the ground, and were assailed by a burning thirst.

The canteens were soon emptied, and still their lips and throats were parched.

Exhausted by their tremendous exertions, many of them sank into a stupor, although the battle was at its zenith and the earth shook with the crash of the heavy batteries.
"General Thomas has had news that we're driven in elsewhere," said Dick.
"And we've yielded ground here, too," said Warner.
"But so slowly that it's been only a glacial movement.

We've made 'em pay such a high price that I think old 'Pap' can boast he has held his ground." Dick did not know it then nor did the general himself, but 'Pap' Thomas could boast of far more than having held his ground.

His long and stubborn resistance, his skill in moving his troops from point to point at the right time, his coolness and judgment in weighing and measuring everything right, in all the vast turmoil, confusion and uncertainty of a great battle, had saved the Northern army from destruction.
Now, as the Winchester men lay gasping behind the fresh regiment, Thomas, who continually passed along the line of battle, came among them.