Stonewall Goes West: A Novel of The Civil War and What Might Have Been (Stonewall Goes West Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

dozen yards, stopped, leveled their muskets, and returned fire. The lines were now partially obscured by the pall of smoke clinging to the foot of the hill, but Warren could see the dozens of men falling out dead or wounded on his side well enough, along with the skulkers instinctively cringing from the danger, backing off up the hill and towards the rear. The latter were mercifully few.
    Warren watched the stand-up fight ensue as bullets flew all about him, his staff, the gunners, and the skulkers, over-shot misses from the Johnnies. Neither side was entrenched, but his men had the high ground, and they also had the artillery. This will be bloody for us, he thought, but bloodier for them. He looked to the right of his blue line with relief, for not only had Caldwell pulled it back and refused it to face the threat, but he saw that a green flag stood fluttering there. That was the Irish Brigade, and those stubborn micks weren’t going anywhere.
    Even so, through the smoky haze Warren could see the Confederates inch closer, especially on the right. He went back to Ricketts.
    Warren leaned down over the neck of his horse and yelled over the din “Captain, double shot your rightmost pair of guns and hold them back. When you see those Rebs over on the right get close, getting ready to charge us, fire. Tear them apart. You understand?”
    “Yessir!” Ricketts saluted and sprang into action. Warren watched with approval. Ricketts hadn’t been to West Point, but he was a fine gunner nonetheless.
    The lines continued to blaze away at each other, the Confederates moving step by tentative step closer. The distance between them was down to 50 yards, even closer on the critical right. The loud crash of a pair of guns firing in salvo came down, as Ricketts blasted double canister into the flank of the Confederate assault. Through the smoke, it looked almost as if the entire grey regiment posted there had been swept clean away.
    A piercing chorus of shrieks went up, as the Confederates on the right gave a yell and charged forward. Although he had heard it many times before, it still gave Warren a sensation of dread. How the rankers felt about it, he didn’t know, but he guessed the Rebel Yell didn’t hold much terror for at least some of them, as the Irish screamed in turn and leapt forward to meet them, stopping the Rebel charge almost as soon as it started, clubbing, stabbing, shoving and chasing the butternuts off the slope. The charging Rebels recoiled, almost tumbling back down to the foot of the hill. Caldwell sent down his own local reserve, the Irish quickly withdrew back into line, and together they fired at will, shredding the Rebel flank.
    The Rebels were soon in full retreat. More of their artillery had come up, and it now covered the butternuts as they skedaddled back to their starting line.
    Warren breathed a sigh of relief. The fight might have lasted only an hour, but it had been a real brawl for all that. He guessed as much as a fifth of Caldwell’s men were down. Yet whatever he had suffered, for the Rebs it must have been worse. He hadn’t even needed to put Webb in, which meant he still had a fresh division if there was any more trouble. He motioned for the corps chief of staff.
    “First, send to General Webb. He is to put his men on the road to Catlett Station as quick as he can. He leads the march. General Hays to follow, and General Caldwell to bring up the rear. Tell Caldwell he has my compliments, but I expect he has less than an hour to gather up his wounded.”
    11:00 am
    Jackson’s Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, CSA
    Greenwich
    Having left Early’s Division and the head of his column, Jackson rode into Greenwich, a small crossroads at the Warrenton Turnpike and the namesake for the Greenwich Road. It was a little place, marked only by a church and a few widely spaced farmhouses. He expected to find Colonel Owen and Wickham’s Brigade, and he was not disappointed.
    “The Yankees left here about