"No, not anybody," said the Captain; "it shows some independence of mind to prefer it. A man willing to lean on others will not like the battalion. Our duties will be somewhat different for the future. The men get their rations and their pay through their original companies, but are no longer attached to them otherwise. On the march and in battle they will serve as a distinct command, and will be exposed to many dangers that the line of battle will escape, though the danger, on the whole, will be lessened, I dare say, especially for alert men who know how to seize every advantage. But the most of the men have not been trained for such service. As a body, we have had no training at all. We must begin at once, and I expect you to hold up your end of Company A."
"I will do my best, Captain," said I.
"Come to my quarters to-night," said he; "I want you to do some writing for me."
That night a programme of drill exercises for the battalion was prepared, and day after day thereafter it was put into practice. We drilled and drilled; company drill as skirmishers; battalion drill as skirmishers; estimating distances; target firing, and all of it.
Early in June Hill's corps alone was holding the line at Fredericksburg. Ewell and Longstreet had marched away toward the Shenandoah Valley, and onward upon the road that ends at Cemetery Hill. The Federals again crossed the Rappahannock, but in small bodies. Their army was on the Falmouth Hills beyond the river.
On the 6th the battalion was ordered to the front. We took our places--five steps apart--in a road running down the river. On either side of the road was a dry ditch with a bank of earth thrown up, and with trees growing upon the bank, so that the road was a fine shaded avenue. In front, and on our side of the river, was a Federal skirmish-line--five hundred yards from us.
Firing began. The Yankees were screened from view by bushes in the low ground between us and the river. Much tall grass, woods, and broom-sedge covered the unwooded space between the opposing lines; rarely could a man be seen. Our men stood in the dry ditch and fired above the bank, which formed a natural breastwork. At my place, on the left of Company A, a large tree was growing upon the bank. I was standing behind this tree; a bullet struck it. The firing was very slow--men trying to pick a target. When the bullet struck the tree, I saw the smoke of a gun rise from behind a bush. I aimed at the bush and fired. Soon a bullet sizzed by me, and I saw the smoke at the same bush; I fired again. Again the tree was struck, and again I fired. The tree was a good protection,--possibly not so good as the bank of earth, though it gave me a much better view,--and I suppose I was a little careless; at any rate, while loading the next time I felt a sharp little pain on my arm. I jumped back into the ditch. My sleeve was torn between my arm and body. I took off my coat--there was hardly more than a scratch; the ball had grazed the inside of my arm about an inch below the armpit and had drawn some blood.
We skirmished all day, neither side advancing. The battalion had no losses. At night the Federals withdrew to their side of the river. While going back to camp our men kept up a perfect babel of talk concerning their first day's experience in the battalion of sharp-shooters. They were to undergo other experiences--experiences which would cause them to hold their tongues.