CHAPTER III.
THE GLORIOUS FOURTH.
“Plumes himself in Freedom’s pride
Tyrant stern to all beside.”
—Burns.
On an insignificant little village built on a narrow flat beside the Savannah river, the sun had been pouring his red hot rays all day, with even greater intensity than was usual at that season of the year.
The inhabitants, however, paid little heed to the extreme heat, and only when the sun sank to the western horizon did they leave their fields and workshops and wend their ways homewards.
Two railroad bridges, and another for the public highway, connected this little village with the city of A——, on the opposite side of the river, and in the neighboring State of Georgia.
A long low trestle carried one of those railroad tracks two or three squares or streets back from the stream towards the hills a half-mile away.
Not far from this trestle, on a broad street which ran parallel with and along the brink of the stream, stood a strong, two-story brick building. Its uses had been various; but at the time of which we write it did service as an armory or drill room for Co. A of the Eighteenth Regiment of National Guards of South Carolina; and also as a dwelling for the Captain of the Company, who, having just returned from his day’s work in the city, now sat with his chair tilted back against the post of the open door, tossing his infant and conversing with his wife, who was preparing their evening meal.