And with that silvery gleam of water came other flashes of red and rapid crackling reports.

The Southern sharpshooters along the stream were already opening fire.
A great shout went up from the cavalry.

All the forces restrained so long in these young men burst forth.

The dawn was now deepening rapidly, its pallor turning to silver, and the river, for a long length, lay clear to view before them.

Trumpets to right and left and in the center sounded the charge, the mellow notes coming back in many echoes.
The horsemen firing their own carbines and swinging aloft their sabers, galloped forward in a mighty rush.