A volcano had burst.

The Union batteries were replying, and the front of both armies blazed with fire.

The smoke hung high and Harry and Dalton could see in the valley beneath it.

They caught the gleam of bayonets and saw the troops of Longstreet advancing in heavy masses to the assault of the slope where the peach trees grew, now known as the Peach Orchard.

Here stood the New Yorkers who had been thrust forward under Sickles, a rough politician, but brave and in many respects capable.