The train was
wholly military. There were four coaches filled with officers and
troops, and two more coaches behind them loaded with ammunition.
Harry heard from some of the officers that the army was gathered at a
place called Manassas Junction, where Beauregard had taken command on
June 1st, and to which he would quickly return. But Harry did not know
any of these officers and he felt a little lonely. He slept after a
while in the car seat, awakened at times by the jolting or stopping of
the train, and arrived some time the next day in a country of green
hills and red clay roads, muddy from heavy rains.
They left the train, marched over the hills along one of the muddy roads,
and presently saw a vast array of tents, fires, and earthworks,
stretching to the horizon. Harry's heart leaped again. This was the
great army of the South. Here were regiments and regiments, thousands
and thousands of men and here he would find his friends, Colonel Talbot
and Major St. Hilaire, and St. Clair and Langdon.
The whole scene was inspiring in the extreme to the heart of youth.
Far to the right he saw cavalry galloping back and forth, and to the
left he saw infantry drilling.
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