THE LONG ROLL

CONTENTS

I. THE BOTETOURT RESOLUTIONS

II. THE HILLTOP

III. THREE OAKS

IV. GREENWOOD

V. THUNDER RUN

VI. BY ASHBY'S GAP

VII. THE DOGS OF WAR

VIII. A CHRISTENING

IX. WINCHESTER

X. LIEUTENANT MCNEIL

XI. AS JOSEPH WAS A-WALKING

XII. "THE BATH AND ROMNEY TRIP"

XIII. FOOL TOM JACKSON

XIV. THE IRON-CLADS

XV. KERNSTOWN

XVI. RUDE'S HILL

XVII. CLEAVE AND JUDITH

XVIII. MCDOWELL

XIX. THE FLOWERING WOOD

XX. FRONT ROYAL

XXI. STEVEN DAGG

XXII. THE VALLEY PIKE

XXIII. MOTHER AND SON

XXIV. THE FOOT CAVALRY

XXV. ASHBY

XXVI. THE BRIDGE AT PORT REPUBLIC

XXVII. JUDITH AND STAFFORD

XXVIII. THE LONGEST WAY ROUND

XXIX. THE NINE-MILE ROAD

XXX. AT THE PRESIDENT'S

XXXI. THE FIRST OF THE SEVEN DAYS

XXXII. GAINES'S MILL

XXXIII. THE HEEL OF ACHILLES

XXXIV. THE RAILROAD GUN

XXXV. WHITE OAK SWAMP

XXXVI. MALVERN HILL

XXXVII. A WOMAN

XXXVIII. CEDAR RUN

XXXIX. THE FIELD OF MANASSAS

XL. A GUNNER OF PELHAM'S

XLI. THE TOLLGATE

XLII. SPECIAL ORDERS, NO. 191

XLIII. SHARPSBURG

XLIV. BY THE OPEQUON

XLV. THE LONE TREE HILL

XLVI. FREDERICKSBURG

XLVII. THE WILDERNESS

XLVIII. THE RIVER



CHAPTER I

THE BOTETOURT RESOLUTIONS


On this wintry day, cold and sunny, the small town breathed hard in its
excitement. It might have climbed rapidly from a lower land, so
heightened now were its pulses, so light and rare the air it drank, so
raised its mood, so wide, so very wide the opening prospect. Old
red-brick houses, old box-planted gardens, old high, leafless trees, out
it looked from its place between the mountain ranges. Its point of view,
its position in space, had each its value--whether a lesser value or a
greater value than other points and positions only the Judge of all can
determine. The little town tried to see clearly and to act rightly. If,
in this time so troubled, so obscured by mounting clouds, so tossed by
winds of passion and of prejudice, it felt the proudest assurance that
it was doing both, at least that self-infatuation was shared all around
the compass.

The town was the county-seat. Red brick and white pillars, set on rising
ground and encircled by trees, the court house rose like a guidon,
planted there by English stock. Around it gathered a great crowd,
breathlessly listening. It listened to the reading of the Botetourt
Resolutions, offered by the President of the Supreme Court of Virginia,
and now delivered in a solemn and a ringing voice. The season was
December and the year, 1860.