It was a clear night, with a bright summer sky, a good moon and the stars in their myriads twinkling peacefully over the panorama of human passion and death.

But they seemed very far away and cold to the boy, who was chilled by the night and the impending sense of mighty conflict.
In Virginia they were fighting against the invader and in defense of their own soil.

Now they were the invader, and it was the men in blue who defended.
As he passed over that battlefield, on which the dead and the badly hurt yet lay, his heart was dissolved for the time in sadness.

The dead were thick all around him, and there were many hurt seriously who were so still that he did not know whether they were alive or not.

He heard very few groans.