Their ranks held firm everywhere, and now, as the long afternoon drew on, the eye of Lee, watching every rising and falling wave of the battle, saw his chance.

He drew his batteries together in great masses and as the last charge broke on Jackson's lines the trumpets sounded the charge for the Southern troops who hitherto had stood on the defensive.
Dick heard a tremendous shout, the great rebel yell, that he had heard so often before, and that he was destined to hear so often again.
Through the clouds of smoke and dust he saw the long lines of Southern bayonets advancing swiftly.

His regiment, which had already lost more than half its numbers, was borne back by an appalling weight.
Then hope deserted the boy for the first time.

The Union was not to be saved here on this field.

It was instead another lost Manassas, but far greater than the first.