Noon
`` Then I shall do my best , sir , '' said Harry . `` You can rely upon me '' He returned to General Jackson , but found that his commander was yet inactive . He was still waiting and watching with a patience that seemed equal to that of the Sphinx . Noon came , food was served , and the hours trailed their slow length on . Then they saw a great movement in the Union army . The Northern generals were about to make their supreme effort . Hooker , who had shown such desperate courage at Antietam and who had won the name of Fighting Joe , called for men who would cross the river in boats under the fire of the Mississippi rifles .