"Fierce fever of the steel,
The guilty madness warriors feel."
The sun had dissipated the fog, and shone bright and warm through the young budding foliage.
But the continuous roll, roar and blaze of small arms, the hurtle, shriek and crash of rifled projectiles through the trees, the explosion of shells, the louder discharges and reverberations of more than a hundred cannon, and the hoarse cheers and shouts of the Confederates filled every nook of the forest with the varied, commingled clamors of one of the bloodiest of modern battles.
Earlier, General Gladden, at the head of his brigade, in the first line, had fallen mortally hurt. A merchant in New Orleans when the revolution began, full of martial instincts, as well as love of the section of his birth, A. H. Gladden was among the first to take up arms. Wtih some soldierly experience as an officer of the gallant Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina in the war with Mexico, his military worth was soon apparent, and he had risen to the command of a brigade. This he disciplined in such a fashion as to show in what soldierly shape the splendid war personnel of his countrymen could be readily molded by men fit to lead them.
Soon after Gladden was cut down in the rich promise of his career, his brigade faltered under a desolating fire. Its new commander, Colonel Daniel W. Adams, seizing a battle flag, placed himself in front of his staggering ranks and rode forward upon the enemy. His men, animated by the act, grew steady, resumed the charge and carried the disputed ground, with seven stands of colors taken from Prentiss' Division.
In another part of the field similar examples were multiplied. Brigadier-General Hindman, about 10 A. M., pressing his brigade forward, with notable nerve, constantly close upon the enemy, drew down an overwhelming storm of fire, under which he was severely wounded after conspicuous conduct, and the brigade for a time wavered and recoiled.
There was abundant intrepidity in leading everywhere; but, unfortunately for the Confederate cause, too little knowledge of the right way to handle regiments, brigades, divisions, even
