midnight
It was upon the two armies in this position that the night of Monday closed down ; and it was upon the two armies with their positions very little changed , that the morning broke on Tuesday , giving light for the double battle , of a whole day 's duration , hereafter to be known as that of Malvern Hill . -LSB- 11 -RSB- -LSB- Footnote 11 : For the close and accurate description of this battle , the correctness of the technical terms employed , the ground occupied , and some of the very language used , -- the writer in this place begs to make his acknowledgments to Mr William H. White , soldier and scholar , a Lieutenant in the Ninth Infantry in the campaign against the city of Mexico , and author of the popular `` Sketches of the Mexican War '' which have supplied our literature with some of the finest battle-pieces in the language . -RSB- Nature has no sympathy with bloodshed and but little with suffering ; and it is only when a God puts off mortal existence that the earth is racked with the thunders and the earthquakes of Calvary . The birds sing as sweetly and the sun shines as brightly as usual , on the day when we lay in the earth all that was mortal of one dearer to us than sunshine or bird-music ; and the moon does not turn red or veil her light , even in the presence of midnight murder . If the skies weep rain upon Waterloo , it does not fall because the powers in heaven are making lamentation over the slaughter so soon to be accomplished , but because the crops of the Flemish farmers have called up to the skies for moisture . The sun peeps lovingly down even on many a battle-field , and it kisses the tips of bayonets soon to be wet with the blood of brothers and the blades of swords that are to be hacked and hammered in deadly conflict , just as it might glint upon the polished barrel of the sportsman or flash from the diamond aigrette of the lady riding forth on her white palfrey to catch the breath of early morning . And how man , with the capacity of thought , shrinks and shrivels within himself when he marks the eternity of the course of nature and the very silent scorn bestowed upon him when he is committing crimes or displaying heroisms that make all _ his _ little world one overwhelming convulsion !