midnight
`` The dry earth is good enough for me . May I stay on top of it for the next half century . '' Warner and Pennington slept quickly , but Dick lay awake a long time , listening to the stray rifle shots and the distant boom of a cannon at far intervals . After a while , he looked at his watch and saw that it was midnight . It was more than an hour later when slumber overtook him , and while he and his comrades lay there the last of Jackson 's men were coming with the help that Lee needed so sorely . Two divisions which had been left at Harper 's Ferry started at midnight just as Dick was looking at his watch and at dawn they were almost to the Potomac . On their flank was a cavalry brigade and A. P. Hill was hurrying with another of infantry .