The combatants, having emptied their pistols or thrust them back in their belts, were now using their sabres alone.

Nearly twenty thousand blades were flashing in the air.

Again the battle was face to face and the lines became mixed.

Riderless horses, emerging from the turmoil, were running in all directions, many of them neighing in pain and terror.

Men, dismounted and wounded, were crawling away from the threat of the trampling hoofs.
The gunners fired the cannon whenever they were sure they would not strike down their own, but the horsemen charged upon them and wrenched the guns from their hands, only to have them wrenched back again by the Southerners.