noon
The roads were so filled with teams being urged forward or backward that they could not follow them , but had to make their way through the woods and occasional fields , only keeping such direction as would bring them quickest to some part of the stormy firing-line . The Lieutenant and Si and Shorty tried to make themselves believe that the noise was receding , showing that the rebels were being driven . At times it certainly was so , and then again it would burst out , `` Nearer , clearer , deadlier than before , '' and their hearts would sink again . A little past noon they came upon a hight , and there met a sight which , for the moment , froze their blood . To their right front the whole country was filled with men flying in the wildest confusion . All semblance of regimental order was lost in the awful turmoil . Cannon , sometimes drawn by two or three horses , sometimes by only one , were plunging around amid the mob of infantrymen .