nine o'clock
`` I hope not . '' `` Do n't hope anything about it , Tom . Take things as they come . '' But the impatience of the soldier boy was soon relieved ; for at daylight on the morning of the 16th of July , the regiment was routed out , the tents were struck , and at nine o'clock they took up the line of march to the southward . It was `` on to Richmond , '' in earnest , now , and merrily marched the men , who little knew what trials and sufferings , what scenes of blood and death , lay in their path . The little colonel 's command had been put in Franklin 's brigade , which formed a part of Heintzelman 's division ; but little did Tom or his fellow-soldiers know of anything but their own regiment . The `` sacred soil '' of Virginia seemed to be covered with Federal soldiers , and whichever way he turned , columns of troops might be seen , all obedient to the one grand impulse of the loyal nation -- `` On to Richmond . ''