four o'clock
Ned led her gently to an officer 's quarters and made her comfortable . The glory of war was fast fading from his imagination . A grim spectre was slowly taking its place . John 's shattered regiment lay down on the field with the rear guard at four o'clock to snatch an hour 's sleep , their heads pillowed on the bodies of the dead . The cold moderated and a light mantle of snow fell softly just before day and covered the field , the living and the dead . When the reveille sounded at dawn , the bugler looked with awe at the thousands of white shrouded figures and wondered which would stir at his note . The living slowly rose as from the dead and shook their white shrouds .