two o'clock before
`` Do but start An echo with the clamour of thy drum , And even at hand a drum is ready braced That shall reverberate all as loud as thine . '' -- SHAKESPEARE . Early on the morning of the 4th of May loud explosions were heard in the direction of Yorktown , and the heavens glowed with the light of great fires . At sunrise our division got orders to be ready to march , but the morning wore away , and it was almost two o'clock before the long roll beat . At length we moved with the column , already unnerved by long-continued expectation , westward upon the Williamsburg road . Willis was triumphant . `` We got 'em now , boys , '' says he .